More Money Podcast - 143 How to Manage Your Money as a Professional Beauty Blogger - Jessica Desjardins, Founder of Beautezine

Episode Date: February 7, 2018

It's not easy to become a professional beauty blogger, but it's not impossible. And it doesn't mean you have to spend all of your money on beauty products to do it. Just take it from Jessica Desjardins, the founder of popular beauty website Beautezine. Long description:  I’ve always been fascinated by beauty bloggers and vloggers, and not just because I have no clue how they transform their faces into beautiful masterpieces (and I can barely do my own mascara without smudging), but because the beauty space is so competitive! Believe me, every time I meet a new hair stylist or makeup artist, they usually share that they have their own blog or YouTube channel. I sometimes find it competitive in the personal finance community, I couldn’t imagine trying to build an online business in the beauty industry. But, there are people out there like Jessica Desjardins, founder of Beautezine, who are proof that it is in fact possible to make a good living and have a broad reach as a full-time beauty blogger and content creator. You just have to be really good at it, and hustle until you make a name for yourself. And that’s exactly what Jessica did. Before quitting her job to focus on her online business full-time, she was actually headed to medical school to pursue a career as a doctor (no joke, she went so far as to do the MCAT). But at a certain point in her studies, she realized that her true passion was beauty, and instead of always wondering “What if?”, she decided to take a big leap of faith and start her own online beauty magazine called Beautezine. It took her 6 years to make it the go-to beauty resource for Canadians, but now she’s able to do what she loves and be her own boss. In this episode, we chat about how she was able to build her business into what it is today, how she manages her business finances and personal finances, and why no matter what she puts a high priority on staying out of debt and investing for her future. Top Posts You’ll Want to Check Out on Beautezine Time-Saving Beauty Products That Cut The Right Corners Victoria Beckham x Estée Lauder Red Carpet Ready Eye Look 5 Fashion Bloggers Share Their Go-To Hairstyle Secrets Learn More About Jessica & Beautezine About Beautezine Beautezine on Instagram Beautezine on Twitter Jessica Desjardins on Twitter Jessica Desjardins on Instagram For full episode show notes, visit https://jessicamoorhouse.com/143 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to episode 143 of the Mo Money Podcast. I'm your host, Jessica Morehouse. Thanks so much for joining me again for another episode of the Mo Money Podcast. I'm super excited about this episode. I'm talking to someone who is in a completely different industry than me, the beauty industry. I've always been very fascinated by anyone who is kind of a full-time beauty blogger or a vlogger, probably because I have no idea how to do my own makeup. I'm 31 years old and still don't really know how to do my mascara. I just don't. Like, I don't know how to do it without smudging. It just doesn't work for me. So I am going to be talking to Jessica Desjardins. She is the founder of Beautyzine, an online magazine all about beauty. And she, yeah,

you can bet your bottom dollar, as they never say, because that's a very old saying, you can bet she knows how to do anything and everything when it comes to makeup and beauty and just has a wealth of knowledge when it comes to makeup and beauty and just has a wealth of knowledge when it comes to everything in the beauty industry. But what I'm talking about in this episode with her is just how she was able to take this passion for beauty and turn that into a full time online business. She's been doing this for over six years. She has a huge following. She makes her money by, you know, just having this website. I'm in awe. I know you might think, but like, but that's what you do.

Yes, but I would not even know where to start, um, in the beauty industry because it is, I know for a fact, it is so crazy competitive. Everyone has a video channel. Every, I've met so many like amazingly talented makeup artists and they all have YouTube channels or blogs. So I know it's a very competitive space. So you need to be very, very good at what you do to make a voice for yourself. So yeah, we're going to be talking about how she was able to quit her job to do her own beauty business full time, how she manages her money with a variable income because she is obviously self--time, how she manages her money with a variable income because

she is obviously self-employed, how she also makes the concerted effort to also invest her money so it can grow because she mentions in the podcast, she's like, I'm not getting a pension. I need to save for my future. And so we talk about all that good stuff in this interview. But before I get to the interview, here are just a few words about this episode's sponsor. Support for this episode comes from Tangerine Investments. Did you know that according to a recent study by Tangerine, over a quarter of Canadians, 28% to be specific, are committing to better money management practices for 2018? Did you also know that 63% of Canadians feel that investing is scary? If you're nodding your head right now because you're in one, if not both of those groups, then let's turn those

New Year's resolutions into actionable goals this year. And let's start by getting you over that fear of investing so you can start working toward reaching your financial goals. Not sure where to start? Why not start by checking out Tangerine? Tangerine offers investment funds that are low cost and they follow a simple approach that doesn't require you to be an expert. Tangerine offers five diversified portfolios that are recommended based on your needs, risk tolerance, and investment goals. The best part? You can get started online in minutes and their investment experts are just a phone call away if needed. You can learn more at tangerine.ca slash investments. Once again, that's tangerine.ca slash investments. Thank you, Jessica, for joining me on the Mo Money podcast. I'm so excited to

talk to, I've never talked to anyone who does kind of beauty professionally, and that's actually something that I'm so interested in because I'm so bad at it. Oh gosh. So thank you so much for joining me. Before we kind of hop into, I have all these questions about, I'm so curious about your brand, how you started the business. But I would like to get to know like you a little bit more. What is your background? Have you always been interested in beauty? Is that kind of like this is exactly the direction you thought your life would be in? First of all, thank you so much for having me. And so a little bit of background on me.

I've always enjoyed beauty. When I was younger, I would play in my mom's makeup bag and all that kind of stuff. And throughout high school, I liked experimenting with makeup. But it wasn't my vision at all. As much as I loved it, my background is in science. So my degree is in health science from the University of Ottawa. And my original plan was actually to go to medical school. And that's what I that was the path that I was on until about my in my last year, I actually started, you know, my website because it was more of a hobby outlet. There weren't a lot of girls in my program that were that liked makeup or were wearing a lot of makeup. And certainly I got like weird stares when

I would show up at my 830am labs with makeup on. I found this kind of community online of women that were kind of like sharing tips and talking about products. And so I was kind of like a part of that. And I decided to try to create my own website. And so that's what I did. And it actually took off quite quickly. When did you start your website, by the way? I started it in January of 2011.

So it's been a little while now. And six years ago is actually when I quit, you know, my job to do it full time. So it did in about a year, a little bit over a year, I went from, you know, starting it as a hobby to it becoming my job. And I did that because, you know, I had this decision, do I go to med school? Like I did, you know, the MCAT and I applied and everything. And so I was like, do I go to med school and then just completely have to get rid of this, you know, fun project I've started? Or do I, you know, go for it and give it a chance because school will always be there and I can always go back if I want to. And so that's what I did. I decided to give it a chance because school will always be there and I can always go back if I, if I want to. And so that's what I did. I decided to give it a shot and see if I could, you know, just, just do it a little bit longer. I actually didn't really have any expectations for it. I just kind

of wanted to see what would happen if I took another year to, to work on it. And you know, the rest is really history. Um, I, when I first quit my job, so I was working a job at the time just to like pay my bills and I wasn't making enough money yet when I was like, I really want to try doing this full time. And I remember I had a conversation with my mom and she was like, you know, give yourself three months and if you, you've never given yourself, you know, that kind of investment. So give yourself three months and if you can't never given yourself you know that kind of investment so give yourself three months and if you can't do it go get it like you can go get a job it's fine and so I was like you're right mom like I'm gonna do it and so I gave myself three months

and it was like so much pressure that like at the end of three months I was able to pay my bills. I like made it happen. And you know, since then it kind of has just kept going. Three months is like a pretty, you must have hustled in those three months to make it happen. I did. Um, and it was like a continue hustle. It wasn't just like three months and then, okay, great. You know, I have a business that's working. It was still a lot of struggle, but it was kind of that, you know, point that I set that, um, you know, that deadline for myself. This is what I'm giving myself in terms of investment because in my time and my money, um, and you know, let's see what we can do with it. So it was six years ago. So I think that it's going okay. It's been going pretty okay for sure.

Um, so what did you do, I guess, in those three months to go from, oh my gosh, I'm not making enough money to I'm making a living now? Well, I think that it was also, you know, I had, I was working a full-time job and so I had 40 extra hours, you know, per week to really dedicate to working on it. And the extra time that I got from that, you know, was just, that was exactly what I needed. I knew that like I had the ideas, I had the drive, I had, you know, all that kind of stuff, but I didn't have the time. So when I gave myself that time, I was able to make it happen and spend even more time developing strategy and, you know, doing more outreach and stuff like that. It was, it was a very different, you know, business model back then than it is now. Um, but at the time it

was, it was challenging, but, um, I think just having that extra time to really just focus in on it, that helped. Absolutely. So yeah, you kind of mentioned that it's a very different business model and yeah, so much has changed in six years. It's incredible. It doesn't seem like that long. I know, it doesn't seem like it went like that, but how much? So what, I guess, what did your business look like at the beginning to what it is now? I'm sure it's completely different.

So the one thing that has remained the same, and I feel will always remain the same, is that there's the advertising revenue stream. However, back then, it was mainly about banner advertisements. There wasn't a lot of, you know, content collaborations and there was hardly social media. And if like what there was at the time, like Facebook and Twitter, it wasn't really being sponsored. The whole sponsored thing hadn't really come to be yet. So it was heavily relying on banner advertisements and that is now going down. You know, I think that you can speak to anyone who relies on advertising to monetize and

they're like, Oh yeah, banner ads. Like there's, there's not much coming in from there. Exactly. So that has definitely shifted. There was,

I, in the beginning, you know, as I was getting into it, there was the idea of affiliate commissions and affiliate networks, which is still very much a, that has grown in importance in the industry for sure. But back then it was like, it was kind of like beginning. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I know. It's crazy how, yeah, just like you said, like when I started my blog, I mean, yeah,

six years ago. And I mean, I didn't monetize it for a while, but it was like, everyone's like, it was all about the Google AdSense and all that kind of stuff. And I'm like, no, I don't have ads on my website because there's no point to have that clutter because you just can make better money in different ways. Yeah. A lot of people don't have banner ads on their website anymore. It's actually, it's interesting. Yeah. It is interesting. Um, one thing that I've always been curious about with, um, kind of brands that are focused on like beauty and fashion is it seems to get started. You have, you do have to kind of put

that investment. You do have to spend some money to make some money. Whereas like for me, I got to write about personal finance. I just got to write about it. And I talked about saving. So I like literally did not spend a dime. So like how I just feel like there's so whenever I talk to people and they're like, Oh, I'd love to start like a, a beauty blog or whatever. It sounds like, well, do you have money to buy all that makeup and stuff? Cause you, I guess you have to build up to create those partnerships and then you start getting that product to review for free. Is that kind of how it works? 100%. So when I started there, the reason why I like digital business so much is that there is relatively low overhead, you know, like I was able to start it in my apartment and

you don't have to pay for, you storage and overhead and that kind of thing. So relatively, starting a business in the digital world is cheaper. However, I spent all my money on beauty products, stuff that I didn't necessarily want, but I wanted any content. I wanted to review this stuff. And one of the strategies or one of the things that I told myself very early on was that I didn't want to reach out to PR people and work with PR people until I had something to offer them. And I think you probably heard, you know, with influencers and just a lot of people who

work in PR will tell you they get so many emails every day from people asking for free product, they want to collaborate. And I remember thinking like, no, I'm going to wait until I have like a decent amount of followers or readers before reaching out. That way they won't be able to say no. They'll want to work with me. Right. So, um, that took a little while and I did definitely spend like pretty much all of the money that I made on products because it is expensive. Um, but it was, it was something that was very necessary. And I think that is something that a lot of people need to understand, you know, these brands don't just send you product because they like you because they, you know, they want to give you something. You have to have something

to give them in return, which has coverage and which is, you know, um, reach and impressions because that's their job. And you really have to look at it as a business in that in that way. And so it was definitely a huge relief when I started working with PR slowly, but surely, you know, I'd work with brands here and there. Either I would reach out to them, or they would email me and ask if they could send me stuff. So that was very helpful financially. And also just, that was a very, I remember that was a very exciting part about starting, you know, this company and watching it grow because when like my favorite brands would email me and be like, we want to send you a product, I'd be like, oh my gosh.

Big moments. Do you ever feel like if, well, I guess you probably say no, but if you get reached out by some brand and you're like, I'm not actually a big fan, do you just say no? Or do you're like, I'll give you a review, but I may not say that I like it. So when, yeah, there's, there's two very, very different scopes when it comes to what I do. And a lot of brands will send product samples for free, but it's for consideration. So you don't necessarily have to talk about it if you don't want to, especially if you don't, you know, if you don't like it or it just doesn't sit in with your, your calendar. So you're under no obligation and the brands know that, um, if they want something more guaranteed and they want

to, you know, like really have a say or they really want you to post about it, then, then that goes down the advertorial road. But in terms of sponsors, in terms of editorial, yeah, there is no, there's no like mandatory, you know, kind of agreement that you have when you receive a product sample. And so when I get, you know, contacted by a brand and I know that I'm not necessarily going to, um, that I'm not necessarily going to like put their product priority just because I do work with a lot, a lot of brands. I get a lot of product samples and I'm not even able to feature, um, you know, all the ones that I do get. So back when I started, I would try everything. You know, if someone wanted to send me something, absolutely. I would, I would love to try it and I would review it. Um, but more recently I feel like I'm getting a little bit more, well, I'm trying

to be more honest and just tell them, you know, like if, if it's not going to get featured, I will tell them. And if it's not a fit, then I don't want them to send me their product. If, uh, if I know that I'm probably not going to feature it. However, I definitely am open to, you know, trying new products and discovering new brands. I think that that's a really cool part of what I get to do. So for the most part, I definitely like, you know, like trying new things and will accept them. But there is that, you know, that agreement. Like it is only if I, if I want to, and if there's room in the calendar. Exactly. Yeah. That's one of the things that I was kind

of, I've been curious about. And I also get asked about too, when I talk about certain brands, we're like, Oh wow. Like it seems like I'm just always giving positive reviews. I'm like, well, I'm only giving positive reviews because I'm only going to talk about brands that I actually like or use. Like what's the, you know, it's kind of a waste of space to like, you know, do a video or a blog post being like, and in the end it wasn't worth it. Like, there are a lot of products that I receive that I do like that I don't even get to feature because just of the sheer number. But in some cases I do think that doing a net, well, I don't like calling them negative reviews. I think that every, you know, every review should have a good or bad point. Like there are pros and cons to everything. But if it's something that I personally don't like, um, you know, sometimes I still will talk about it because

it's very trendy. A lot of people are wondering about it. And if I think it's something that, you know, people really need to save their money on that, maybe there's something better. Then I think that that's worth mentioning. I think a lot of my followers appreciate that. Staying away from something might just be as important as telling someone to go buy something because at the end of the day, it's their money. And you know, they want to, they want to really enjoy what they are buying with it. Having said that, I also keep in mind that something that works for me won't always work for everyone else and vice versa, you know, something that doesn't work for me, um, or does work for me, it goes, you know, it's different for everybody. So you have to kind of keep that

objective, um, mindset instead of always being super subjective when it comes to your impressions of the products. Totally. I, and that must be like the struggle too. It's just like, there's so many different products out there, especially like I get overwhelmed when I go to Sephora and I'm just like, I don't know. I just need like, can someone help me? I'm just like, I can't, but I, but there's certain things I need together. Cause I'm like, they really do work with me. And I've tried a lot of things over the years. It's not that lots of the products that I used weren't good, but I think they just weren't good for my skin or my coloring or whatever. So it's a bit crazy.

So we talked a little bit about how you made money. Thanks for sharing that because I'm sure so many people are like, how do these people make their money? Because everyone's always talking, oh, it's so easy to make money online. It's not that easy. Clearly, you've been doing this for six years. It's a long game. That's for sure. Um, so we know how you kind of make your money in your business. I would love to dive into like, so how do you, what do you do with your own personal finances? Like how do you save money? Do you budget? Do you

invest? Yeah. Okay. So the thing is, is because I didn't have a business background, I kind of like learned the whole financial thing. Like as I went, like, I think I went my first, you know, year without even, without even like keeping track of not, not, um, advisable by any means, but I, I kind of learned, you know, over time how to proper manage the finances, especially because I do have so many different revenue streams and, you know, different clients and different ways that I'm making money. So I have to really be very diligent about keeping track of that. when it comes down to, you know, like how, how I budget, it's difficult when you're self-employed and, and your finances can go up and down by the month, you know, dramatically, like quite, quite a bit. So the way that I do it is I usually go by my last six months. I'll try to take an, you know, an average of like, what have I been making per month, like averaged over the last

six months. And that's kind of like the number that I work with in order to kind of like be safe when it comes to finances. But it is tricky, you know, there are times where paychecks are late or, or, you know, there's an unexpected one time my camera broke right before I had to do a shoot and I had to go out and buy a new camera. And I was like not expecting that massive expense that day. But it was necessary. So you want to make sure that, you know, you cover your bases and you have some wiggle room with that kind of thing.

But at the same time, yeah, it's important to keep track of where it's coming and where it's going. So I just, I use like a spreadsheet to, to keep track of everything. Um, and when it comes to saving, I've always been a pretty good saver. Um, even when I was, you know, working like part-time jobs when I was in school, I was always pretty good at saving my money. I think my parents, my parents taught me pretty well, you know, how to save money and be good with it. So I always, the way I look at things is, you know, if I want something, then I have to save up for it. It's not like, I don't usually buy some, I don't ever buy something if I don't have the money for it yet put aside. Nice. So that's just, that's something that I've kind of always had ingrained in me as I was growing up and it's definitely helped now.

Yeah. So yeah, the whole, like I didn't, I didn't ever take a loan or any sort, anything like that to start my business except for like those three months where I kind of like just invested in myself. But externally I'd never took a loan for it because maybe that's why it took so long. Um, but I think that that is, it kind of helped me, you know, really, really be careful with the money partially because of fear because I'm like, well, I want to make sure that I have money in case there's an emergency yeah and you know it like it's me like being self-employed like it's not just money for a business it's money for my life and for

uh you know my spending money my rent my bills and so um I think better safe than sorry is like a good way to put how I save my money. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's, I think that's actually really smart that you didn't rely on credit or take out a loan. I think a lot of people have this misconception that you need to take out a loan to start a business because you always see in the movies, they go to the bank, they ask for a loan to start a business. It's like, you don't need to do that, especially if you're doing an online business where the overhead, you don't have to, you know, rent a space or anything like that. If you can just take that extra time, even if it means staying at your job, saving up for another six months or a year to have that cash, you'll be so much more further ahead because then you

won't be worried about paying back your loan, which you, I think people forget you have to pay it back and there's interest on top of that. Exactly. You're paying back more. Exactly. So that is awesome. I love that you're very conservative with your money because I feel like most people wouldn't expect that from someone who is talking about buying products and spending. I think you do have to have that balance where it's like, it's okay to spend. And I just like, I'm kind of doing this YouTube series about let's talk about spending, but let's talk about spending based on your values. So if your values are, I like makeup, I'm really passionate about it, that's where I want some of my dollars to go, that's fine as long as you save that money for that purpose

and make sure your budget works, right? Exactly. I think that it's really important to allow yourself those things that you do enjoy. It's kind of like, you know, if you're on a diet and you just like don't eat anything bad, then you just will go crazy and crave it all and just, you know, just gorge on all of the treats because you deprive yourself. So it's the same thing with spending. Like you still have to have those joys in life and those pleasures. And if it's traveling, then you save up for traveling. If it's clothes, you save up and then you, you know, you buy the clothes. Um, you can't have it. You just need to, you gotta save for it. Yeah. Yeah. And sometimes you have to sacrifice something. So it's like, maybe you just won't go out to eat as

much, eat in a bit more so you can afford the things that you want. Um, kind of talking more about maybe some longer term goals. How do you kind of save or do you invest your money for, are you like starting to invest for your retirement already? Is that something that you're thinking about? Yeah. So I'm quite new to the world of investing, but in the last like year or two,

I've really gotten more, not concerned, but just like that is something that I now need to think about. For the first little while, I was just really focusing on developing my business and trying to just establish, you know, the business itself. And I was always scared to start investing because I was like, yeah, no, I need that money now. You know, like I might need it. What if I need it? So I was like, yeah, no, I need that money now. I might need it. What if I need it? So I was so scared to put money away. But at the same time, I knew that in the future, I'm self-employed. I don't have a pension. I have to save my money. I don't know where this industry is going. I don't know where things are going. And as much as that will always be a concern,

at the end of the day, I'm always going to want, you know, my savings for when I'm older. Yeah. So looking far down the line, I do have investments. I have a tax-free savings account, which is kind of more of my short term investment. That's money I can still spend if I really want to, but I also have started contributing to our RSPs. Um, and that I was even more intimidated by, but I knew it was important. I didn't really know how to do it. Um, so I was just like, no, this is important and I have to do it. So that's, um, something that I did two years ago and I'm, I'm still, you know, I'm still getting, getting into the investments, but I know it's important and I'm, I'm still, you know, I'm still getting, getting into the investments, but I know it's important and I know that it's doable, you know, even, even a

small amount at it, like adding to that is, is going to make a huge difference down the road. And just creating that habit of, and I think that the more you do it, the longer you are an investor for the less scary it is. Cause I still remember, when I was in my early 20s. And just like you, I'm like, I know investing is important. I don't think I understand all the ins and outs. I understand the basics. And so I opened up my first RRSP. Because even though I was really young, I knew RRSPs are for retirement. I know I'll probably never get a pension no matter what kind of job I get. Start putting some money into that. I think at the time it was with Tangerine and just started kind of putting like a hundred bucks a month because I was really broke at the time. That's literally all I could afford. And then I just got into that

habit. And at the time I'm like, oh my gosh, putting a hundred dollars a month is like, you know, it's not going to add up to that much. But then as you realize, time flies so fast, six years, seven years, eight years, you're like, oh my gosh, I'm really glad I started then because time just flew by and now it's accumulated to this actual amount. That's like, oh, that's, that's nice. It's more than just like a thousand bucks in the bank. So yeah, like you said, it's, it's nice. It's more than just like a thousand bucks in the bank. So yeah, like you said, it's important. So well, I guess one thing that I'm curious about, because you mentioned that

you were kind of hesitant and afraid of investing. I think that is a very common fear, especially with people that like everyone knows you need to invest. It's the smart thing to do, but I think most people don't even know where to start. So where was your starting point? Like how did you start kind of educating yourself about different options and what you should do? Um, I mean, like I said, I didn't know, I didn't know how to do it, but I ended up, you know, I just like made an appointment at the bank and I was like, someone tell me what I need to know and help me make this decision because I'm not, you know, I'm not the one that knows this kind of stuff. But someone else can help me.

So yeah, I went to the bank and I had them show me and guide me through the options. And I trusted their advice. And I mean, that's just kind of how it started. And I think that's the same for most people. We're so intimidated by something that we don't know anything about. Totally. Which is like totally fair, you know? Yeah. I mean, and it's like, you're talking about money for years and it's intimidating and there's so much language and jargon and stuff like that. But yeah, a hundred percent, if you don't know where to start talking to someone, Googling it, just looking at some blog posts or

some articles going like the Globe and Mail and read their financial section just to kind of get familiar. And I would definitely recommend, you know, talking to an advisor or someone, you know, on the phone, you know, if it's an online kind of situation. But definitely I'd always recommend like having a list of questions because there's nothing worse than like going to talk to somebody and then they start talking. You're like, I have no idea what you're talking about. Exactly. Yeah. What I was most surprised about was how many, like, like there were so many different options. I like walked in and I was like an RSP please. And they were like, sit down. What do you want in it? I don't know. I know. Well, yeah. I like, I was

just talking to a friend. It was a few years back now and she's like, I'm going to invest in RRSP. I'm like, well, what are you going to put into it? They're like, I don't, what do you mean? I thought I was just going to buy one. I'm like, no, no, it's a vehicle. Then you have to decide what you want to put in it. Is it investments? Is it cash? So many people don't know that because I think when we kind of talk about it on a day-to-day basis, they're like, oh yeah, RRSP. but no one really understands that it's, it's a vehicle and not, it's just, you know, but hopefully with us talking about it, more people will understand. And I think, you know, honestly, like, like I said, I was not a business person to start,

but over the years, you know, I've just kind of like acquired more business knowledge. Yeah. And it's the same thing. It's the same thing financially. Like over time, you get more comfortable with it and you don't have to be an expert right away. Yeah. And I think that that's something that, you know, we need to allow ourselves a little bit more wiggle room there. Exactly.

And you don't have to be, you know, an expert full stop to manage your money. I think there's, and that's one of the things that I've always been trying to get the message across is you don't need to have a financial background to know how to be good at managing your own money. Just like you didn't have a business background and now you have a business. And same with me. I'm like, I have a film degree. I do not have a business degree. Okay. And you can figure it out. Right. And it's sometimes trial and error. Um, but I think a lot of it is just like, Oh, it's just like kind of intuition or just, you know, this makes sense. That doesn't make sense. And I think something that everyone

has in common is that everyone knows it's important, right? Like, you know, it's important if you're not, if you're not doing it because you're scared, like, oh, I don't have enough money to invest. Yeah, you do. Yeah, exactly. It's a portion, right? Like it's a, it's a, it's a percentage. It's a portion that you decide you can put aside. Um, so yeah, you do, you just make your budget afterwards.

Right. Like, absolutely. And, and one thing that I always think is like a good way to kind of motivate, cause you talked a lot about how important it is for you to track your spending. I think that's awesome. I always recommend tracking your spending. It's really helped me feel more confident and have more clarity with my money, especially when you're also running a business and you really do need that clarity with both your personal finances and your business finances, but also the other

element of tracking your net worth on a regular basis. So you can see, okay, is my money growing? Am I saving? Is that number going up? So I feel like when people feel like they can't afford to invest, just start doing it and then track your net worth. And as hopefully your investments, you know, grow and go up, you'll see, oh, wow, it's actually growing on its own. My money's making money off my money. It's, it's a good motivating factor. That's such a good feeling when you're like, it's so good. Like there's nothing better than looking at like all of your finances. You're like, Oh, I'm okay. We're just like seeing, seeing like the, the, you know, the sum go up. You're like, Oh, look at that. Look at that. Like what I didn't need to do. I just did it on its own. Very gratifying.

Okay. Before I let you go, we talked a lot about a lot of things. Is there any kind of tip? Well, okay. I'm going to ask you two things. One, what is your kind of go-to beauty tip? And for someone like me who really, this is as good as it gets. This is all I know how to do.

And this was actually like a seven step process. Thank you. But it's very basic. I just watched a video on your website of doing, I think it was like a Victoria Beckham kind of makeup. I'm like, how on earth do you know how to do that? Like, I don't even know how to do those brush strokes. Oh yeah.

It's just like, I don't even know how to do mascara properly. So I'm in awe. This is my, one of my goals literally on my vision board is to learn how to do my makeup better. So I'm going to go on your website a lot and just like binge read and look at everything. But what is your, I guess one basic beauty tip that anyone who doesn't know that much about you know, like how to do your mascara properly or, and I don't know. Okay. Because you want to learn how to do your mascara properly or, and I don't know. Okay. Because you want to learn how to do your mascara. I do. I actually really do. I smudge every morning. That's probably not. Yeah. Um, I think that, okay. So a tip that I

know a lot of people do is like when they're, they're putting on their mascara, they're like looking in the mirror or they're looking down at a mirror. And the first thing they do is like, they look up to see themselves. I do that. Mascara all over your eyelids. If you put your head back while you're doing it. Um, and then the opposite way when you're doing underneath your lashes and like, wait, don't, don't like go look around, like just kind of hold off for a little bit and just let it kind of dry for a few seconds before you start blinking and moving around. Okay. So that's a pretty good one for mascara. I'm going to try that because actually I do exactly what you just said. I'm like, yeah, I do. And I'm like, why is it always smudge? It's because I'm always like

looking at myself. It's because we get impatient. We just like go look at something else. It's true. Give it a couple of seconds to dry. Yeah. Okay. And so second question, what kind of tip or advice would you give for someone who is thinking about maybe kind of going your route, doing a side hustle or launching their own kind of online business, but they don't have the business background, but they just have a passion for something? Oh man. I don't know if I have like one specific thing I could say, but just first of all, know that you can, you know, like know that you, you have that ability. And if you have that drive and that passion, I think that that surpasses, you know, any type of formal training ever. Whenever I'm, you know, talking to someone

that I might be interested in like hiring them or, or working with them, like to me, it doesn't matter what their degree is. I want to see their passion and that kind of thing. So that will take you so much further. Um, I think so definitely know that you can do it. And I think that people don't give themselves enough credit for being able to try new things and practice, you know, like try a new skill. If you want to, you know, start a business, like start playing around with building a website. Like, you know, I didn't know anything about coding when I started, but I knew that I wanted to. And so I made that a, you know, a priority. And I knew I wanted, you know, as time went on that I wanted to make this into a business.

And so when you really want something, you start, you know, practicing went on that I wanted to make this into a business and so when you really want something you start you know practicing and studying and learning more about it so believe that you can because you definitely can if I can yet you can um and yeah like try to do things on your own that you maybe think that you can't instead of just automatically assuming oh I can't do that you know practice try I think that we I think that we're able to do so much more than we know. And I think you just got to give it a shot and that's also going to, you know, save some money. Yeah, absolutely. Great, great advice. Um, where can people learn more about you and your business, Jessica? So, um, on Instagram and social media everywhere,

it's at beauty zine. Um, my website is beauty zine.com. And I also have my own personal Instagram and Twitter, um, which is at Jessica underscore D E S J. So that's where they can find me and my business. Perfect. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me for this episode. It was a pleasure chatting with you. Thank you so much. And that was episode 143 with Jessica Desjardins from Beautyzine. Make sure to check out her website, beautyzine.com and follow her on all of her socials because, man, if you need some beauty tips, she will have your back.

She knows what's going on. I definitely am going to take her tip about the mascara because I should know how to do that by now. Anyways, I have a few things and some shout outs to get to. But before I get to that, I have a few words about this episode's sponsor. Support for this episode comes from Tangerine Investments. I don't have enough money. I'm worried that I'll lose it all. I don't know enough about investing. It's just too complex for me. Have you ever thought like this before? You're not alone. But that still shouldn't stop you from investing your money and putting it to work toward your financial goals. And a great way to do this is through long-term index-based investing, which you can do easily

through Tangerine. Tangerine offers low-cost, diversified investment funds. And the best part is you can get started without ever having to leave your couch. You can learn more at tangerine.ca slash investments. Once again, that's tangerine.ca slash investments. All right. Well, first off, the show notes for this episode, which you may want to check out, are jessicamorez.com slash 143. But more importantly is tonight is the night. It is book club night. We will be getting together on Facebook with Kate Flanders to discuss her new book, The Year of Less. And you will not want to miss it. Even if you haven't

read her book yet, it is a great opportunity to ask her questions if you're a big fan of her blog or her podcast called Honest Money Conversations. It used to be called Budgets and Cents. Now it's called Honest Money Conversations with Keri Smith. But this is a great chance to join us, have some fun, talk about, uh, consumerism, minimalism, personal finance, all that kind of good stuff. Uh, again, it's on my Facebook page, facebook.com slash Jessica I Morehouse, or in my Facebook group, facebook.com slash groups slash money life balance. And we will be going live tonight at 7 PM Eastern time.

So I hope you are going to join us. Also got a few more shout outs from lovely people who've been leaving me iTunes reviews throughout the past couple months. So I'm going to get to those now. All right. So first one is from Salehulu. I can't. It's just a bunch of letters. Saleh from Canada. They say, this is an awesome podcast. It's super interesting and educational about financial matters. Keep it up. Awesome. Sorry, I butchered your name or your fake name.

Okay. After that, I've got from Paola Loves from the US of A. After a long search for practical, informative, and engaging podcasts on all things money matters, Jessica Morehouses is my favorite and the absolute best. Most other money podcasts are overly technical or extremely boring. It's hard to find one that offers practical advice for everyday people without being judgmental or condescending. Jessica's absolutely neither. She is interesting to listen to and covers topics that are on the minds of everyday people. She also seems to really care about everyone's success and is a great interviewer of her guests, covering a broad range of topics. Thank you, Jessica, and keep up the amazing work.

Love it. Thank you. And yeah, that is 100% why I'm doing this podcast. So I can help everyday people like myself because I'm an everyday person and I can't stand being talked down to or, you know, someone not thinking that I actually know what I'm talking about. So that is why I'm doing the podcast. That's why I have the listener series is because this is the whole idea that finance is a specialized thing. Only certain smart people with specific finance degrees can understand. That's crap in my books. Everyone can understand how to manage their money. And the first step is educating yourself by listening to interviews on my podcast. So thank you so much for that lovely, lovely review. Next is Sabu Wex from Canada. Jess and her guests inspire me to get

my money in shape and pursue my financial dreams while also being realistic about how to achieve your goals. Every time I finish an episode, I have a notebook full of tips and new business ideas. Oh my gosh, that makes me so happy. Thank you so much for that lovely review. Okay, just a few more. Just a few more. Okay, this is from Mariel Sabel from Canada. I freaking love this podcast.

I listen to at least one a day and it's helped me immensely with understanding what it means to use my time and money well. I've been struggling to understand my finances for years and this podcast has been such a gift. Jessica is honest but also challenges listeners to use their money well. I've been struggling to understand my finances for years, and this podcast has been such a gift. Jessica is honest, but also challenges listeners to use their money wisely. I would recommend this to anyone who is feeling like they need some help with their money, which is probably all of us. Seriously, give it a listen. Damn. Thanks, girl. Or I'm going to assume it's a girl. Thank you so much for that lovely review. One more, let you go. Okay. Okay. Last one is from Eshi54 from the USA. Jessica's podcast is great to listen to. I find that her guests all have something interesting to convey. Many make me consider aspects of personal finance I would have never thought of before. There are a few times where anything is Canada specific and therefore not applicable

to me. I know, I know. I'm sorry. I find it's one of the podcasts I most look forward to when I see a new episode pop up in my queue. Yay! Thank you so much for your review, SG54. And if you're listening and you haven't given me a review yet, but you want to let me know what to think and want to get a shout out on a future episode, please do so.

All you have to do is go to iTunes and it takes like two seconds to leave a review. You can also leave one on Stitcher. But yeah, it'll be a lot of fun. You'll hear your name and your review read live by yours truly. Okay, I think I need to go. And I will see you back here next Wednesday for a fresh new episode of the Mo Money Podcast. This podcast is distributed by the Women in Media Podcast Network. Find out more at womeninmedia.network.