Girls Know Nothing - S2 Ep10: Sophie Hannah - TikTok star turned publicist

Episode Date: April 12, 2023

Welcome back to Girls Know Nothing! 🧡 GKN is a female focused podcast hosted by  @SharonNJGaffka ! New episodes of Girls Know Nothing 🧡 will be released every Wednesday, and will also be available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and wherever you get your podcast fixes! GKN Social Channels: Https://linktr.ee/girlsknownothing  Instagram: @girlsknownothingpod  Tiktok: @girlsknownothingpod TikTok: @girlsknownothingh

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Sophie has also worked with some of the biggest beauty brands in the industry, including Charlotte Tilbury, GHD and Rare Beauty. Sophie also owns a successful hair dye brand named Sophie Hannah Hair, which has killed it on TikTok shop and sold out. So welcome to the studio Sophie. Welcome to the studio. Thank you so much for being here today. Thanks for having me. Honestly like every time I've met you I'm like I need to set up my makeup looks today. No, bless you. Normally I'm like oh can I do the podcast makeup free and I was like no because Sophie's coming on today. So I actually have to make a bit of effort. I brush my hair especially for you.

Amazing. Your lashes look insane as well. Oh, thank you. I actually don't know which ones they're from, but I switched to a new brand recently because I've learned a lot about like me. Oh yeah. I'm not a fan of. Okay, fine.

Are they individual or false? These are false. Oh my God, you've stuck them on so well. Yeah, they look seamless. Oh, I'm take that yeah really bad i remember the first time i ever used false lashes was at prom oh yeah and it took me 40 minutes to stick one on oh god i was 16 and very clueless oh bless you they are hard to stick on though they are i remember one being like coming up towards my eyebrow which was great look but you know so when we look back at our old photos of ourselves and we're like terrible terrible decision yeah always I'd rather have that before than now yeah 100% um obviously like I've spoken a little bit about how you literally kill

the beauty industry online I love watching the transformation videos mainly because I'm like I would never be able to do that myself how did you get into doing beauty online so I got a rewind to like 10 years ago so I actually when I left university I well I studied fashion with photography at uni and then when I left I actually wanted to be a freelance fashion stylist so I kind of moved to London and I interned with like Elle magazine and a fashion stylist and just kind of tried to you know make my way make contacts I did that for about a year then realized that it's who you know it's not like what you know how good you are at it and I wasn't really getting any money so then I had to get a job and actually got a job in social media that's when I kind of discovered

blogging and I set up a blog to basically showcase my own style in the hope that someone would book me style them for a shoot that's kind of like the thought process behind it set up Instagram started sharing my outfits of the day every day and then people started saying oh my god like your hair how did you do that or how to do your eye makeup so then I started introducing video tutorials and then it kind of just grew from there and I had a couple of other jobs in social media I worked in a PR agency so essentially I was kind of like working brand side I was running fashion and beauty Instagram Pinterest Facebook like all of their social accounts and then doing mine at home alongside and then I hit 100k on Instagram and I was like I feel like I could potentially take this full time now so then

that was nearly seven years ago when I quit my job wow like when you said 10 years ago you must be like the OG of influence you know I wouldn't even say I'd say maybe like one of the OGs, but not the OGs. I feel like the OG to me is like Zoella. Yeah, 100%. Sorry. I forget. Yeah, one of the OGs to me is like Zoella on YouTube. But I guess it's probably helped you out a lot working brand side

because then you know what brands are looking for as well. Exactly. And then I think working brand side, I was able to kind of know how much influencers were charging at that time to know that when I hit 100k actually I could earn a decent amount you know I could I could actually make this into a job um and also yeah like knowing how to deal with contracts and how it kind of works like between a brand and an influencer kind of that side yeah yeah it's really weird like when you um when I've spoken to people that are probably like on 100k now and stuff and they don't necessarily get paid and it's like no you

should be telling these brands you want to be paid for they are getting paid and they are getting paid so much more than I was when I was on 100k years ago it's crazy yeah I think I think it's because there is so many people in the industry and on the market now um how has the industry evolved for you over the last like 10 years uh it's definitely changed a lot I'd say I mean in so many different ways like even just taking the algorithm on social media channels like back in the day I'd post three still photos on Instagram a day every day and they would do well and it literally didn't even have to be anything crazy. Like I'd post like one outfit, but I'd do a full length shot,

a mid shot, and then a closeup of like my nails with my belt or something on a handbag. And like every single one did so well. Fast forward to today, it's like you're spending, you'll be spending up to 10 hours filming one video, hours editing. It has to be, you know,

really slick content, really thought through. Like it's completely changed like the whole industry um it's a lot more saturated now there's so many people especially since lockdown um i think a lot of people discovered creating content in lockdown because there's nothing else to do and so now there's god i like triple the amount of content creators um also i think back in the day i get a lot of inspo from magazines like I'd buy magazines I don't buy magazines anymore anything everything's digital now so even just that kind of thing in the industry has completely changed maybe I'm the only person that still buys magazines these days

yeah I do I still buy my L like every oh yeah that's so nice the only time I ever bought magazines like recently was if it for my house like homeware magazines like for inspo and stuff yeah they're really cool but it's um really weird when you say like every time you'd post three pictures a day and it would all do well yeah because now you'd be like that would never happen no unless you were like a kardashian yeah literally I mean on tiktok you can post more than once a day but the guarantee of it of every single video doing going like like viral or doing well the percentage is quite low i think well for my channel anyway the other people obviously might do quite well but yeah instagram

for sure you need to post once a day because i feel like if you post twice your engagement kind of spreads across both of those posts yeah rather than just all going to one I missed the OG Instagram algorithm where you would see everything chronologically yeah and also I knew exactly what times to upload I'd be like right I'm posting at 8am in the morning because everyone's on the way to work yeah I'm posting at lunchtime at like one o'clock and I'm posting 6.30pm on the way home, people will see it. So like I knew, and I think everyone else knew when to post when the most engaging time was. Whereas now, you don't know if someone's going to see your post after five minutes in four days.

Like, yeah, I'm seeing stuff come up my timeline now it was four days ago. And I've missed that. Like that's old. So crazy. Yeah. But how, so now that the like industries become more saturated, have you found that it's impacted your, your workload or your work life? So I definitely think in terms of like mental health, I've struggled because I find it's obviously I do what I do and I love what I do, but sometimes it's hard not to compare yourself to other people. Like, cause I mean, I don't sit there and watch my own videos. I sit there and

watch everyone else's videos. So I take in what other people are doing and I'm like, oh, should I be doing this? Should I be talking more? Should I be? And I think, no, like I need to just focus on what I'm doing and just enjoy what I'm, cause I enjoy, I love what I do so just concentrate on that um but yeah it's very very saturated now and I think it's hard in terms of working with brands because there's more of you so sometimes the brands like to go and try different influencers to see how their content would do or maybe there's another influencer more suited to their brand than you are anymore um however I do feel like I'm I do feel like I still dominate what I do yeah there's not many people out there that do beauty hair and fashion I feel like a lot of people niche down

um and just do one thing so I do feel like that kind of sets me aside from a lot of people and also just having colored hair and that's always set me aside um I mean I feel like I'm probably one of the biggest hair dye influencers in the UK so I feel like that kind of I dominate that which is great so yeah I feel like I've still got really good things about my page even in a saturated market yeah I think when I think of like influencers that do makeup and things it's more like day-to-day or neutral whereas when I think of like colorful I do think of you yeah and like colorful hair and stuff like that so I guess that is probably easy for you in that sense it's also easy to stand out on social media when you look and you're like oh my god that's really bright yeah because I always stop and look at your contacts. I'm like, oh, she's painting herself green. Yeah. Amazing. But you are also self-managed. Yeah. And I also think

that's something that's really unheard of in this industry. Like people have managers to help them reach out to brands and help them manage their workload. And you do it all yourself. Yeah. Which I think is wild. What was the reasoning behind the decision to be completely self-managed? So I, so when I quit my job, I actually worked at a PR agency. And when I left, they launched a talent management. So I naturally knew who was managing me. I knew them very well. So I've worked alongside them. I went with them and I stayed with them for about four years, I think. And it it was great like to kick start in the industry and to kind of have someone manage that side of things it worked really well but um after

about four years I'd obviously grown my Instagram um and my YouTube and I was like you know I feel like I just want to take to the next level and I feel like well with all management they're managing a lot of talent and so if jobs come in they might give it to somebody else like I know how it worked behind the scenes and I think I just wanted more um and I thought you know what I'm just gonna take it in-house I also felt like I was lacking relationships with brands and contacts because I never saw my emails. So I didn't know who the PR was behind each different makeup brand. Yeah. And also I never saw any contracts or anything because it was all done for me. So I kind of just wanted to gain a bit of control and yeah, have a bit more of an insight into actually what was going on with my business in in a way so yeah and it's been amazing like I

signed up to diary directory um which you pay a yearly fee and you get access to every single contact in the beauty and fashion industry so it's amazing obviously if you want to manage yourself um and then and I think they do influencer rates um to make it cheaper because I think it's quite expensive if I can imagine a company like look like pays a subscription um so I got that to help me get started and then yeah I've been building contacts with brands um ever since and just building those relationships because I never had those before like I left it's so funny I left management being I had I think like over a million followers on Instagram and I didn't have any contacts in

the industry that is wild yeah I didn't have any contacts it's weird because you would never think that about any other uh like business or industry out there like if you had reached that level yeah you would be able to know everything that's going on exactly and I didn't so whereas now you know I work very closely with lots of different makeup brands and I have relationships with loads of them um you know and I might go go meet them for dinner or lunch or go to events and it's just so much nicer now um because and also it's great in terms of doing campaigns and jobs like if I'm filming something and I think oh I've just had a thought during filming that do I need to do something and I can just whatsapp or email the brand and I know I'm going to get an instant

reply whereas when it's with management it's like you have to then email your manager but then they that do I need to do something? And I can just WhatsApp or email the brand and I know I'm gonna get an instant reply. Whereas when it's with management, it's like you have to then email your manager, but then they might be busy or in a meeting or away. And so to then it's like a train of people. So it just gets stuff done quicker. And yeah, so I think it is tough managing yourself because obviously, you know,

you get inundated with emails. Something I do lack is out outreaching but I'm quite lucky that I have enough work coming in that I don't need to do that yeah and I've recently hired a publicist um to help me with my book launch so hopefully like she kind of picks up anything if there's any brands I want to work with she's there to fall back on so it's nice to have someone else um but managing myself yeah is something that I'm still doing now and it's going great what was it scary when you first like broke away from management uh it was but I think I was just so ready to just have more control um yeah I think I think through doing this like I've

learned that I am a bit of a control freak and in just more like I just like to know what's going on because I feel like if I'm doing a job or something and I'm clueless or I have no idea who this the PR is behind the brand or it just throws me off but like I just want to know the ins and outs of everything and also as well in terms of just actually my schedule, like in this industry, a lot of the jobs are very last minute. So when they come in, they're like, right, we've got this job for you, we need it posted next week.

And I can literally look at my schedule and be like, right, that's not going to work. So can I post on this day or let me move this around to accommodate you? Whereas when I have management, that sort of thing was never really spoken about. It was like, this is a job, this is how much it is and you have to post on this date. And it was quite hard trying to say, well, actually, can we negotiate?

They just never really did that for me. Whereas now I feel like I can do better. There's probably less pressure for you to accept work that you don't want to do either. Exactly. Oh my God, that was another thing as well. Like jobs would come in and I'd be like, like oh i just don't know if that's right and oh were they gonna pay you more money oh i'm still not quite sure okay well i've got you an extra 500

quid and you're like i feel like i can't say no and i am a people pleaser through and through i've learned that through therapy so i would just please my agency and do the jobs whereas now if something comes in and i'm like actually i don't want to do that or i don't like the look of that product i will just say no or if they say uh we've owned like i say my rates and they say oh you know we don't have that budget i'll say well sorry that's my rates because i always think like i always think like this when i renovated my house I hired tradesmen and I said you know I want my kitchen done and they were like okay well it's going to cost you this much I didn't then go to them and say oh I can't afford that can I actually knock you down a couple of

grand or because that's not how it works like they've rate like given me a rate for their service yeah so I always stay true to that like that's my rate and that is that rate because of the quality of my content the engagement amount of hours that goes into the work obviously the fact that I've been doing this for so long all something like my camera equipment and stuff like editing software all adds up so I'm like my rates are I know my rates are good for me so yeah I stick to them and also I find it I don't like giving a lesser rate to one brand and then making another brand pay my rate. Because I feel like it should be equal for everyone.

And I do feel like in this industry, people talk as well. Oh my God. They all get around. Yeah, 100%. But I think it's nice because obviously you were talking earlier about sometimes when you struggle

with your mental health in terms of comparison, when you look at other content creators. But I guess in that sense, it's probably reinstated your your like how much you value yourself and the work you do by saying that this is my price and sticking to it because I do feel like in this industry sometimes you're like too scared to ask or like am I worth this much but actually yes you are yeah because of the skills and like the knowledge you provide like you said with all of the things behind you yeah 100% I think you just got to believe in yourself.

And I mean, I've been in this industry for a long time and like you say, people do talk. So I do roughly kind of know what people are charging. I charge a lot less than some people, but for me, I'm like, that's a good rate. And also like, like you know I'm happy with that rate like I can live off I can pay my mortgage or pay all my bills and stuff like it works for me um yeah it's it's weird because off camera I was saying like oh I used to be one of those people that'd be really guilty and saying that I didn't think it was like a proper job or a full-time job and then you told me some of your looks would take 11 hours yeah Vecna was 11 hours yes honestly like I love doing cosplay like obviously Sophie Hannaween has become a thing now and I think it's funny because when I look back at

my old Halloween makeup looks they never took me that long I never spent time doing them and to be honest like to me I look at them and I'm like they're terrible but obviously I had to start somewhere and it's nice seeing the growth when I look back but obviously when lockdown came I had so much more time on my hands so I just experimented with makeup I spent I was like said to myself it doesn't matter how long I'm sat here for I've got time I don't need to be anywhere so if it takes me 10 hours to do this makeup five hours I'm just going to sit here and do it because I enjoy doing it and then I actually realized that if I spent a little bit more time and more like actually like put more quality into my work and my looks actually did pay off so then I that Halloween that first Halloween of lockdown just people were like oh my god this is crazy like your skills and your Halloween makeup just

grown into and then even last year, just seeing my looks and how much I'd improved from the year before. It's hard though, because it puts pressure on me because every year now I'm like, Sophie Hanna-Ween's got to be bigger and better than the year before. But I love doing it.

So yeah, even though it takes so long, it's enjoyable for me. But yeah, people don't see how long it takes and they just see like a 30 second clip do you think the the desire or need to be bigger and better than your last content yeah has an impact on your mental health it does um and also it just it's just very stressful and overwhelming because obviously you it just puts pressure on you and then I start planning Halloween in August so I start planning

in August wow yeah start planning my looks start ordering everything because all of my looks like I might need contact lenses or special effects makeup so the closer you get to October it all just sells out so I try and be really on it with planning everything um even that's just stressful like I'd have to say last year doing Halloween and um having my hair brand and launching a book was very stressful I just took on so much I think I shot all of my book content so I shot around like 200 photos in my book and I edited all of them as well um two weeks before Halloween whilst doing Halloween looks and people obviously didn't realize because i couldn't share any of it and i kept sharing online that i was really stressed

and like struggling with my mental health and then i was like i need a whole after halloween i was like i need a holiday i went on holiday and i did not shoot any content when i was my first time in 10 years i've ever done that when i didn't do any content and everyone was like good on you and i was like yeah but if you actually knew what i went through you'd be like why did you not take that holiday sooner but yeah it's also really weird to hear someone who's an influencer not shoot any content on holiday I know right because the holiday is not holiday a holiday is time to get content that's another thing I think like being an outsider a lot of people think oh well influencers get to travel and they go to these amazing places and I'm not gonna like yes they are incredible experiences they are amazing like i've been given the opportunity to travel to so many

different countries and see so many different cultures but at the same time for me it's work yeah and so whenever i go on a brand trip it's always i'm professional i won't really drink that much because i want to be professional like it's work at the end of the day I want to please the brand I want to make sure I'm filming content for them the itineraries are jam-packed so you're creating content for them because essentially the reason why a brand's taking you away is because they're paying for you to go away in return you're going to create content for free essentially yeah but they're essentially paying for it for you because they've paid for you to go away um but yeah holidays i would book a trip for myself but it would always be like right what am i going to shoot on this trip then i'm going to do this this and this and he's planned all my

holiday outfits i'm gonna do a styling video this time i was like i'm just gonna put it like pack a suitcase of random stuff in my wardrobe that i don't even care i'm not gonna try on any outfits before i go i'm gonna plan anything and i'm just gonna go and it was actually really nice the control freak in me is like packing clothes without trying them on I know right that's usually me all over but it was actually amazing I felt really weird like my husband said I felt really odd the first like couple of days because I was like I don't know I felt on edge I was like I couldn't relax because it wasn't normal to me to do that. And then I was like, what am I doing? Like, I'm on holiday. I'm not, I don't need to film any content.

I don't need to worry. And then I was like, right, I'm relaxing now. Do you find your husband's not an influencer, is he? No, but he works with me. Oh, okay. Because I was going to say, like, sometimes they don't get it. So how does that impact your relationship? No, he's actually really good.

Like, I mean, I think sometimes we both sit there and we're like, hang on a minute. You're doing this or you're going to this place or you've just got sent this for free. Like, this is wild. Like, we even like still now, you know, 10 years down the line, still pinch ourselves at like what's going on, like in the industry or at home or whatever. But he's really good like he helps me edits my videos sounds really silly but like he'll just help me around the house like it's very 24-7 job and so many parcels and the recycling is crazy I honestly it's crazy you should see I have this lovely little what I thought in my head was gonna be this lovely little courtyard in my house, like in my garden.

I was like, I'm going to have this, I'm going to have all these plants. It's just a dumping ground because of the amount of recycling. And I don't even know what's turning up. Half the time, I don't even like, obviously, I'm very grateful for all of the PR gifting. But sometimes, I wish brands would ask before they send the product because sometimes it's stuff like I'm allergic to quite a bit of makeup now so it's like if I get sent a liquid eyeliner or something like I can't use it so obviously like I'll gift it to my friends and family which I'm very grateful for um but yeah it sometimes it can be very overwhelming when you receive a lot of packaging but I don't know how

people have my address it's crazy I don't know where they get it that does scare me a little bit scares me I reckon PRs must send it round yeah actually that's probably a good point like all friendly yeah I I do really appreciate also sustainability as well like as an influencer I'd rather PRs email me and a lot of them do now and say we've got this gifting would you like to be gifted and sometimes I'm like look I've been saying so much recently I don't want to take it because it's just going to sit there I'm not going to have time to use it. Makeup artists are used by date. Exactly.

Which people don't realize. I did not realize. Yeah. But also, I don't want it to sit there and go to waste. Give it to another influencer that will actually use it. Or I, having a hair brand, know it costs the brand to send samples. So I don't want them to waste their money if I'm not going to use it so I'm very picky now with gifting and with work I can really think about like what I'm using

and yeah no I think that's really cool obviously you mentioned your hair brand yes um how did that come about so that was a that came about in lockdown um it was basically a bit like dragon's den so i had this company that i kind of pitched my idea to essentially and they loved it and then they helped me with everything i helped with like manufacturing production distribution basically took took everything off of my hands created me my brand and my product all like up to kind of the standards that I wanted and I expected and created me this hair dye brand all I had to do was kind of market it essentially so they are known for creating brands for creators and it was great because I had a brand which a lot of people will have trolled me for in the past but I had another brand years ago called Sophie Hannah Beauty

where I sold glitter and face jewels and it was great but I did it all myself so I did all of the design of the products getting them manufactured shipping it out the website everything and I did it on top of getting married and renovating a house and it was just too much and in the end I was like something's got to give and it's got to be that because yeah I couldn't do everything and even now like I remember when I launched my hair brand someone was like oh I wonder if it'll be a failure like a beauty brand and I was like no like they don't people don't know obviously behind the scenes but I couldn't I'm a one woman like business I couldn't do everything and so anyways that's why when I I always wanted to launch a brand again and I wanted it to be hair like I love hair dye I love hair color that's what I'm most known for I love

experiment experimenting with my hair and I thought the next time I launch a brand it's going to be done right and so I believed in this company and I was like it's going to be done right with this company so I thought I was going to say that where's the hurdle coming yeah oh my god honestly I've literally last year I think I cried and again behind the scenes no one knew about this I think I cried every day last year throughout the whole of summer because of just the stress of this brand and how just it was just yeah it's just a lot obviously I'd love to go into details about everything but I can't um but yeah basically from I didn't realize but from day one like the finances of the brand were overlooked okay so the profit margins just weren't there so essentially my

brand was making a loss without me realizing and I only realized because uh the company delayed in sending me like reports and spreadsheets so I didn't realize until a couple of months in and obviously by that point it's too late I've already put a product out the RRP is there can't increase the price I like the product without getting trolled yeah and people have tried the product and they loved it so then I couldn't reformulate I've just launched a brand so it was a bit of a disaster really um but I I did launch into super drug I had to share that launch into super drug to just kind of well it was amazing having them really interested and they wanted to retail my product which was incredible um but recently I

sold out in super drug and I haven't chosen to restock with them um just because I then left the third party company and I've taken Sophie Hannah hair in-house so now I'm doing it all myself yeah I was thinking I was like you've clearly obviously don't pick the easy stuff to do no and also it's annoying because I started out my hair brand wanting to do it properly and now it's just come back and landed in my lap again exactly like Sophie Hannah Beauty did years ago so it lot. However, I am taking it on board and, you know, I'm lucky because my product is already there and it's already done. So that part of it, I don't really need to kind of focus too much on because I've got, and also I've already got so many other colors and formulas

ready to go. It's just a case of being able to afford to restock um obviously I've made quite a loss with my brand but I'm not giving up it's not stopping me so now I am just investing more money and I've started TikTok shop in January which went absolutely wild and I sold out of the leftover stock that I had um in three weeks which is crazy wow yeah um but now I'm having like when you have your own beauty brand there's lots of different regulations and things you have to buy buy in the UK especially when you import beauty products all of this I did not know before now I know having like doing it all so I'm just trying to sort out all of that at the moment until I can restock again but it's just typical that happened at the same time as I went out of stock yeah I was

going to ask you what your what was the biggest lesson that you learned from essentially the failure yeah of sophie hannah beauty um wait sophie hannah beauty or sophie hannah hair wow either either yeah uh you know what I think in this industry I've learned the hard way through 10 years that like business is business and people just want to make money yeah I think that's what ultimately that's literally the lesson I learned I think as well with beauty brands you always have to keep up and come in with like what's the next beauty brand what's trending at the moment and sometimes like colorful hair is trending sometimes it's not and then you're having to like switch between the two but every time I've seen a beauty brand I always think oh someone's just launched a

product and it goes it's successful straight away yeah but then it's not until I actually sit down and speak to people and they've had like well technically I've had like three failed businesses before so yeah before you get the right one 100 and it's funny because i'd say even when i had the brand with the third party company so i launched in december 2021 and i left them december 2022 so it's very recent in that whole year i there wasn't much help with marketing and social media so i essentially was just making up as i went along like obviously the way that I did social media for brands 10 years ago is completely different to how it works now yeah and I'm not in that space so I'm not as educated now um I hired a social media manager for Sophie and she's literally incredible she's Gen Z she's insane at content creating like I'm and I love that I've got

her to help me so literally at the moment doing Sophie Hannah Hare is me my husband and my social media girl and um we're now having like my husband's now um shipping out the product for the brand taking it all in-house I've got a storage unit keeping all the stock like we're starting from essentially starting from scratch again but as a small tiny business how they all start yeah I think maybe it was maybe I shouldn't have gone too big straight away I think and especially with the third party I think they saw my following they saw how many views my hair dye videos get. I think we all just thought it was going to fly off the shelves and sell out. But I'm not Kylie Jenner. Obviously that happens with Kylie Jenner or KSI or all these other creators that, you know, like Prime drinks.

Oh my God, they fly off the shelves. It's crazy. But I'm not them. And I think they were putting me in that bracket. So when I wasn't getting those, I didn't sell out on day one. They were really disappointed. And that made me upset because then I'm like, I'm failed from day one.

I hadn't at all. Brands take years to grow. Like you say, people have to have three, four failed businesses. It's not gonna, it doesn't matter if you're a content creator, like you could launch a product and it might not sell.

But I believe in my hair dye brand I believe in my product it's sustainable vegan cruelty free I have been using it for like the last like three years like I love my range and I was so close at giving it up but I was like what a waste though because it's a good product I just need people to try it and now because of TikTok shop which I'm so grateful for that opportunity to even be on that platform and the fact they set that up so many people have tried it and now the demand of people wanting it is insane I'm gonna get messages and emails every day I'm like what the hell like this is crazy it's like I had a complete like 360 turnaround um I think the hardest thing in business is getting people to try your product yeah when they when it's so saturated yeah it's like it's like you were saying when you just went

try to start too big basically and keep up with brands that have already been established for years beforehand do you find that actually having a really supportive partner has helped you oh a hundred percent like literally bless him he so he used to work at sky sports um and he was really happy with that being his career and he you know we assumed he was going to grow in that um but then obviously i kind of grew on social media and it was very overwhelming and trying to do everything by yourself is really difficult yeah um also I want a life as well like I want to make sure I'm prioritizing my mental health I'm taking time out um because I need to do that for myself I need to have like a work-life balance

um which I've learned the hard way from just having a work life um and yeah he's amazing so he ended up leaving his job just before lockdown and then coming in house with me and helping me. And it's amazing, like just having someone else there to support me, like brainstorm ideas. Like when it comes to Halloween, I'm like, right, you brainstorm's our time to like chat and we'll just chat brainstorm talk about like business stuff or life things or whatever um because yeah I think it's hard when you live together and work together it becomes very we only really talk about work yeah so it's nice in each other's pockets yeah which we it doesn't phase us at all like we get on really well but I think it's nice to have dogs to walk because that gives us that time to actually connect out the house because house to me is associated with work that's the thing with being a content creator you work from home it's hard I think one it's weird did anyone ever criticize the way that you your marriage really works because it's more common

than not a woman would give up her career to support her male partner but not necessarily the other way around I know um no my husband's amazing he's honestly like the most chilled person you'll ever meet and I always check in with him because I always say to him look if you're not enjoying this anymore or if you think you know suddenly want to have your own career doing something then I don't want to stop you so please like just tell me and go ahead and I always check in because I don't want him to sacrifice his life to to work for work why I say for me work with me because I always think like we're a team um but I think a lot of his friends probably think it's crazy because he's they're just like but that's so mad that you just work for your wife um but a lot of people actually will say

like oh god I couldn't do that I couldn't work and live together but actually like we're best friends and it works for us like it won't work for every couple that kind of work life dynamic but it just yeah it just works um obviously we've spoken briefly about your book yes and that is the new thing to the sophie hannah empire yes how did this come about so the publisher is harper collins and they contacted me that i think it was shortly before i launched my hair brand actually so just November December 2021 they contacted me and just said they've got this kind of concept for a book and they thought that I'd be perfect for writing it so the concept was like a bible um and it housed beauty hair

like fashion and they were like we just think that you'd be perfect for it obviously I have I've never ever thought to myself that I would ever write a book it's not something that's been on my list um to achieve in my career um I was never really like I was never really that great at writing at school um yeah and I wouldn't say my vocabulary's that great either Essex girl um but no but when they contacted me I was like I can't give up this opportunity like what an incredible opportunity and also I really wanted the challenge because I was like oh like I wonder if I could actually do this so I said yes had a few meetings and then just I what the hardest thing was starting it they were kind of the first thing I had to do was kind of put a bit of a contents page together.

So I just listed kind of topics within like beauty, hair and style of like what I would talk about. And then they had to, so even though they'd asked me to write a book, hadn't actually been approved. So they then had to take me, like like soviet hannah brand and my contents page and the concept to like the top people at harper collins like pitch it i had to pitch it and then it was all signed off so that was like the first hurdle and then basically was i was allowed to write it but starting to write it was the hardest thing because i was like i didn't know how to to start writing a book i'd never done it before um but I actually kind of treated it as like because obviously my book's very different to other books it's very you look it's you learn a lot it's a lot of information there's a lot of

pictures tutorials so I kind of treated it as like mini blog posts in a way so I'd have one little section which could which might be um how to apply false lashes or something and I'm like right I'm just going to focus on that one topic and not think about the rest of the book so I'm going to write that one section and once that's done I can then move on to another one how to apply eyeliner I'm gonna so kind of like it's like mini sections and I started doing that really I started with makeup first actually kept it in order of the book weirdly so I just literally did it in the order of the book um and took me quite a few months to write it I literally again this is another reason why I stopped weekly vlogging because my life was just sat by a computer and

it's not interesting at all and I couldn't share about it either yeah but I spent like 13 hour days writing for a whole year uh not a whole year no so it was like kind of I'd say it was probably about four five months writing oh wow okay um but obviously not every day no that's still a long time yeah it's a long time I'd say it was towards the end when my deadline was coming I was like I need to up the ante here and I wanted to obviously proofread it all and make sure it was okay um and I didn't want to not miss the deadline because that freaks me out so I spent yeah 13 hours every day I found this weird Spotify playlist that was called like music for writing and I had I put these like noise cancellation headphones on and just sat and just

13 hours a day every day for three weeks towards the end I'm gonna have to find this playlist because it sounds great it's it's really weird it basically sounds like you're in an old house and it's like kind of like classically kind of music like someone's playing like the violin but then it sounds like people are walking upstairs and then like floorboards are creaking it sounds really weird but it worked sounds like something like a horror film it kind of does but actually it's really good and it really just zoned me out and I was able to just concentrate on yeah typing away what was your favorite part about your book oh god um I think the favorite part of the book is actually seeing it in its physical form because I sat for a whole like, well, probably eight months just seeing PDF documents of it and seeing it just on a Word document, like no color, just black and white text.

So I think that was probably the best bit was receiving the actual physical book and opening it up and seeing it all come to life. What was the worst? Like, what was the worst bit about writing it? About writing it? Yeah. Starting it. I think that was the worst like what was the worst bit about writing it writing it yeah um starting it that i think that was the worst bit i think trying to start it because it was just very overwhelming and also had a word count of 45 000 words minimum so even just knowing that was really overwhelming and i was like i i kept going to my computer and being like i can't do

this today i can't do this today I had to like and then when I but once I started I got in the flow it was just actually initially starting it was just very overwhelming and it's funny because I thought 45,000 words never going to be able to write that ended up writing 60 60,000 wow yeah so I actually went way over so but it's weird when I got into it I was like oh I need to mention this now I've just spoken about this oh I feel like I need to develop it and talk about this so just kind of expanded the more I wrote it do you think you'll ever write another one I don't know I'm already asking if you'd write another book do you know what I think it might be a one and done only because like

a lot has got I didn't realize how much work goes into writing a book. Like hands down to people that bring out numerous books, like it's a lot. Like just from planning it to writing it, I shot all of the content as well. Like there's some stock imagery in the book just to kind of, I didn't want the whole book to be my face. So some stock imagery in there,

but a lot of like all the eyes is my eye. like I've shot all of that and I edited everything I've looked at the like briefly through all the pictures as well that is when you said you shot everything yourself I was like wow you would never like think that was all self-shot yeah all self-shot um yeah and like even that I overestimate I was like right I'm probably a week to shoot all the content and I started shooting and I was like okay no'm probably a week to shoot all the content and I started shooting and I was like okay no I'm definitely gonna need I'm gonna need two weeks and I have to say like my eyes and my face were sore by the end of it because I was like doing a look rubbing it off doing another one rubbing it off because I had to cram it because obviously I did this

amongst being an influencer I couldn't not like obviously that's the thing when people write books they still have a job and life that they need to it's very under wraps when you have a book yes it is um and some people get a lot longer to write than others obviously with mine they'd said they wanted it to come out now so it was always that i was going to have like basically a year to really plan sort of i mean the contract didn't actually get signed i think until the april so really i had april until december to kind of get it all done and obviously then you need to get it done in time for the editor to read over it um and for them to put all the imagery into the design of the book obviously that's like another concept that has to happen so yeah there's actually so much that goes into the book into a book i know we said briefly about um how starting something

is really really tough because you don't know where to start and the market in general especially being an influencer or being a beauty creator is very saturated what would you say to anyone that's listening that wants to start doing something in this industry I would say definitely just sit down and kind of have a think about what you want to actually put out there. Like what are your passions? What do you enjoy doing? Is it, I don't know, is it interiors? Is it beauty? Is it gaming? Like really think about what you love doing and then just it's like make content. If you scroll back and look at what content I made when I first started out, it's completely different to what I do now. And you can see that there's growth. So you're not going to be

amazing straight away. You're not going to have the best quality content, but it doesn't matter. I think just start and you will eventually learn from your mistakes, learn different tips and tricks as you go along. Maybe you might watch some YouTube videos about how to film or how to get started. Yeah. I think the, I think the hardest thing is starting but just find what you're passionate about um because you want to enjoy the content that you create yeah i think comparison's a killer as well right oh god such a killer when you compare yourself and the thing is though i think if you're creating something that you don't like, your audience is going to know. Yeah.

Like you can just tell. So I think just, yeah, stay true to you and who you are and yeah, do what you love. What do you think, what's next in your Sophie Hanna empire? So obviously you've got your hair and now you've got the book. I think that's probably it for now, to be honest. I don't actually have any other plans. I think my biggest one at the moment is obviously like book launch. I want to get it out.

I want people to read it. And then just getting Sophie Hannah Hare to a place where actually, like where I've salvaged the brand, really. I need to kind of salvage the brand now and work on that and just grow it from the ground up now really you feel like you've ticked everything off like your big wish list like every person in the industry has like a big thing they want to achieve I think I've ticked off a lot most of my wish list I have other things that um I'd love to do like I'd love to potentially get into tv

um I mean I said to my publicist if Strictly Come Dancing ever asked me that would be amazing um but yeah I mean there's other things that would be such cool opportunities but I think everything that I've kind of ever really wanted I've managed to achieve which is incredible so I think right now I mean I'm one of those people that always wants more and it's like I'm really trying to kind of be grateful for everything that I've got now and then if anything new comes amazing so I'm very content with pretty much yeah how how everything I've got and I mean last year was very stressful um with everything that was going on so I feel like this year I kind of just need to enjoy

a little bit more do you know I really could see you doing being on the panel of like drag race oh my god that would be amazing like with all the colorful makeup I'd love to be on glow up as well I could see you on glow up as well actually I think that's really cool so many comments from people being like you need to be a contestant on there but i feel like i don't need to utilize that show to be a contestant and also i want to take it away from people that actually want to utilize it to build or grow their platform but being like a judge on there or something could be kind of cool i love we're just using this as like a manifestation platform manifesting anyone is listening please put me on i always ask um all of the guests that come

on my podcast very similar last question um and it's what would you say to people in your past or people potentially in your future that doubt your success based on the fact that you are an or um I'd probably say past I feel like a lot of people probably just thought what the hell is Sophie doing posting outfits online and I'd say literally so like I'm glad I well and also I am such a hard worker that I've worked my ass off over the years to be able to do what I do. And yeah, it's funny. A lot of people probably didn't believe in me and that I could do it. Actually, I'd love to tell this story. I had some friends like a few years ago.

I don't know if you ever saw the video. I did like a nose hair uh video yeah I saw that it still comes back to haunt me now it was like a trend we put like false lashes up your nose anyway it went viral and actually had some old friends I saw trolled me on Facebook oh yeah for for that video being like I can't remember what they said but they just like wrote some really horrible stuff about me and I was like I mean to me I'm like that's obviously a trigger like you're clearly just seeing how much I've grown now and you're just saying it to just like get back at me yeah I don't know whether they knew that I'd saw those posts but I saw them and I was just like like just annoying but

I'm kind of glad I'm not friends with them anymore if that's how they think of me a lot of people probably don't realize that you do read everything oh my god yeah oh I read every single one of my comments on Instagram and so and I like and I comment back like I actually appreciate my community yeah it frustrates me some influencers they don't communicate with their audience they never like their comments or they never reply whereas I literally try and reply to everyone DMs is a lot harder because sometimes I just get inundated but always try my best to comment back on everything tiktok instagram um yeah because obviously I wouldn't be here without people loving what I do and enjoying my content obviously most of it you know part of it is me producing the

content but the other side of it is if people weren't engaging then I wouldn't be where I am now so I'm so grateful to my audience and um yeah one was why I've written my book for them really to kind of have something substantial that they can learn from and use to express themselves and yeah I guess your book is also um proof that if you listened to what other people thought about you would never it would never be here in the first place literally exactly and it kind of I talk about that in my book in terms of linking to your makeup and hair and everything like just be who you want to be dress who you want to be don't worry about people judging you or it's it is hard like mentally or you know when you're

having a down day you see a troll comment it does sometimes get to you but I think if you just keep being you and staying true to yourself like you will get to where you want to get to. No I think that's a really amazing message to like end the episode on so I'm really grateful that you've come on and you've spoken to us about your new book and I actually can't wait to read it because um I'm gonna need to use those bright colored eyeshadow palettes they're just chilling in the back of my drawer collecting dust so thank you so much thank you for having me I find it really ego inflating but I also I'm one of those people that doesn't like having my ego inflated yeah I get really self maybe it's just something I need to work on clearly it's clearly just a me problem you just realized your business needed to hire someone

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