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Excerpt

Where was the switch from mourning and grieving to waking up and turning your assets into your first businesses?

Huda did not want to become a burden to her mother anymore. That was when she started to find a way to generate her own income.

However, she couldn’t find a job. She applied for almost 2000 jobs and not once was she called for an interview. Huda didn’t have a university education. She dropped out quite early.

Her boyfriend at the time helped her to brainstorm. All she had was a laptop, her phone, and her camera. They sold her phone for some extra money.

With what they had, they thought of doing a photo booth business because it was trending at the time. All they needed was a backdrop and some props. With some more help from her boyfriend, they were able to start with a capital of roughly $1000. They used it to buy everything that they needed to start their business.

Their first client was a pub. Though she was uncomfortable at first, Huda still pushed through because she absolutely needed it to survive. Needless to say, it was a success.

From that project, people discovered their talent. They started getting offers for more event photography gigs. Through them, they met bigger clients. One client in particular that they got in touch with was IHS Markit. They also got to meet other coaches and trainers that work with a lot of bigger companies at the time.

This was when they started asking Huda a lot more questions. They asked if they can do video editing, video shoots for social media, and personal photoshoots among others.

Although Huda doesn’t have expertise in these requests, she would still always say yes, even if she doesn’t know how to at the moment, because she will figure it out later.

This is how they’ve been for the first three years of their business. The main reason why Huda is able to keep their business growth for the past six, almost seven years is because they have the drive, the talent, the skills, and the resources.

How have you transitioned from your previous business to Fempreneur Secrets? Are your two businesses related? What triggered you to follow through with this?

Through Huda’s interactions with her female clients, friends, and acquaintances, She found a common thread. They all had to go through a huge range of challenges as they start their businesses.

The hardships that they face are unique to women only. Most of these things aren’t talked about by men. One of these troubles include what is known as the “Mom Guilt” whereas much as women want to go out and do business, they get guilty of leaving behind their children. They value the responsibility of helping the young grow up.

The first thing that she did was she started sharing motivational quotes in her Instagram account. She wanted to motivate herself and others at the same time.

Because of her posts, she started to gain traction. People began asking her for specifics. She was even got an invitation to be a speaker.

All of these opportunities to speak in front of young women and to share her story came from sharing motivational things on Instagram.

How did you turn your motivational Instagram posts into a business?

The whole idea behind this business is to simply share Huda’s knowledge. Fempreneur Secrets all started as a podcast. At first, she never had the intention of selling anything through it. It was purely a platform to share her knowledge.

As time passed, people started to ask Huda about the things that she can teach them. She began getting inquiries for workshops, coaching sessions, and mentorship opportunities.

Even just being able to inspire one person, be it your mother, or a friend, that would mean you’ve made an impact in their lives. That was the main reason why the business was built.