The School of Greatness - 28 From Third World Country to Million Dollar Business with Leyla Naghizada
Episode Date: August 28, 2013Ever wonder what it feels like to be a lifestyle entrepreneur? To wake up with a purpose. Live with passion. Express gratitude for each moment. And love the business you work in, because it never feel...s like work. Well, in today's episode I sit down with a world class female lifestyle entrepreneur who shares her […]
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This is episode number 28 with Leila Nagisada.
Welcome to the School of Greatness.
My name is Lewis Howes, a former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur.
And each week we bring you an inspiring person or message
to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness.
Thanks for spending some time with me today.
Now let the class begin.
What's up, all the greats out there?
Thanks so much for tuning in today.
Got a big episode with my good friend, Leila Nagisada, who is in LA in the studios representing, and I'm super pumped for this.
But I want to start with the quote of the day.
A man who conquers himself is greater than one who conquers a thousand men in battle.
And that was by Buddha.
And I really loved that.
I actually saw that on Layla's Facebook
page today. And it made me think a little bit about what's been happening in my life a lot
lately, which is conquering yourself. Not really conquering yourself, but really, I would say,
understanding yourself. And I guess taking it to the next level, loving yourself could be another word there. So
had a great conversation with Layla about this. And she is going to talk about really her
experience and what an amazing journey she has had coming from the small country of Azerbaijan,
going to Canada when she was 18 and now on her way to Los Angeles and what she's
been able to create. Now here's a powerful young woman who's built with her and her sister and her
brother-in-law multi-million dollar business and without having any experience on business or what
to do or creating a product or selling online. And they've built over 1.2
million subscribers on YouTube in just a couple short years. And it's so amazing and empowering
to see the possibilities for what you can do if you have a powerful idea and a passion and you
take lots of action. And again, it doesn't matter where you're from. She's from a third world country in Azerbaijan. It doesn't matter where you're from, the experience you have,
the school you went to, who your family is, how much money you have or don't have.
It does not matter, people. This is what it's all about. Creating something from nothing,
having an idea, an inspiration, a possibility, and making it happen.
And this is what we're talking about in this week's episode with Layla.
I'm super pumped to bring her on.
I want to give a quick shout-out, though, before we get into it with the fan of the week, and that's with Zach Evan, who is at Zach Evan-ish on Instagram.
We'll link that up on the show notes.
And he says, kick-ass podcast.
If you're not learning, then you're not living.
So thanks so much, Zach.
You posted a picture of him listening to it in the car when he was driving to his gym.
So I appreciate it, Zach.
You the man.
With that, guys, let's go ahead and jump
right into this. Again, I'm bringing you an inspiring young woman, someone who has made
millions in sales in her business with her sister and her brother-in-law. And they are so inspiring
as a group. But Layla has done some amazing things and is doing some other amazing things on her own right now that I couldn't be more excited to share with you and introduce
you to the beautiful and talented Layla Nagizawa.
What is up, everyone?
We're back here with another episode of The School of Greatness.
And I've got a special friend in today in Los Angeles.
It's Leila Nagisada, who is the beautiful woman from Azerbaijan.
I always thought whenever I talked to her, we talked about Azerbaijan,
because I never heard of it actually before I met her,
which makes me sound very ignorant.
But I just like saying Azerbaijan and the way she says it so what's up Leila? Hi. Glad to see you here and we've been talking about this for a while because you have built an amazing brand
on YouTube and also just everywhere online, Instagram and everything else. And started out with you and
your sister with a site called Luxie Hair. And you guys literally just blew up in my two years.
You have over 1.2 million YouTube subscribers and you built a multi-million dollar business,
I believe, from hair extensions, which for me is like amazing to think about that you
can build a business off of hair extensions like that. And I just want to get a quick backstory.
I think we're going to be interviewing your sister Mimi. Hopefully we'll do part two of this to get
her story. But I want to hear your story about your whole journey from Azerbaijan and then coming to Canada and now you're going to be
moving to California soon so tell me about kind of how it all got started all right well
we have 29 years now I'll try to summarize so we like you mentioned we are from Azerbaijan
and for everybody listening in if you haven't heard of this country it is located um by the caspian sea and it's by russia
armenia georgia turkey so it's kind of on the cusp of like being east europe and west asia
just kind of in the middle um it's a beautiful country you know people are amazing very warm
hospitable and about 11 years ago actually a couple days ago was our anniversary 21st of
august i think is when we moved 11 years ago wow yeah i know i just left yesterday and it's crazy
to think that it's been 11 years i mean it's what a fun ride it's been you know and uh yeah i mean
we've moved to toronto with my immediate family my sister and my parents. And, you know, as most immigrants would know, it's not easy.
You know, you start over and you don't know anybody.
Luckily, we had a family from Azerbaijan that moved two years prior,
and they really helped us out.
They have also two daughters, so we are all kind of –
We're all family.
Yeah.
It definitely helped to feel at home.
It would have been a much different experience had they not been there.
And it was really hard for my parents mostly because they're older.
And to start over, leave your family, leave everything behind,
and just take that leap of faith.
And they did it for us, especially my dad,
because he just sacrificed everything for our future.
And I will be forever grateful because I've seen the struggles and, you know, the whole journey.
But it is definitely a happy ending.
You know, after I think about after five years, I don't know if anybody who's an immigrant listening in,
I think five years is kind of a mark where you think start to turn, you know, and, you know,
he finally found a more stable job.
And my mom has been more comfortable because she's a piano teacher so she's always had that and she loves kids so she taught herself
english and everything and um so did you guys know english before you came uh we did my dad did my
mom didn't speak at all she spoke french so she pretty much started learning you and your sister
mimi and your dad knew english yes exactly like pretty
good like this type of english um well grammar was amazing probably better than more spoken
language was a little bit harder sure um and that came i love reading so i was always reading so my
vocabulary was you know extensive but i didn't know how to put it to use you know and then being
in the country and speaking of course it gives you the practice sure um i'm sure i still have an accent so i don't think they'll ever go away but you know
gives character right exactly no it's good right so um so yeah we've been in toronto and it's you
know been lots of ups and downs and you know schooling and stuff like that and um when we
started loves to hear three years ago we were all, it's my sister Mimi and her husband Alex.
At that point was a fiance.
Was he or were they just dating?
I don't know.
Yeah.
And we were all kind of doing our own thing.
You know, I just graduated from interior design program and I was trying to get into home staging and start my own business.
And I had a blog at the time. An interior design blog uh it was kind of a lifestyle thing you know um
had like four different sections and cooking and you know stuff like that and um Mimi was doing
fashion styling and Alex was kind of good at all kinds of things you know social media and graphic
design he was just you know just interested in all that technology, everything.
And he came up with an idea.
Well, she was getting married and people can read on the website more about her story in
more detail, but they were getting married and she was looking for hair extensions and
she couldn't find, you know, a really good quality product for an affordable price.
Like everything that was quote unquote good was $300 and up.
Upwards of thousands of dollars.
For hair extensions.
This is real hair, right?
This isn't horse hair.
Real human hair that you can brush, wash, style,
do whatever you would do to your own natural hair.
She started searching because she just wanted
something for her wedding and she couldn't find anything.
Eventually, Alex was kind of the mastermind that came up with the idea that, okay, well, there's obviously a niche, you know, there's a need on the market for good quality product at an affordable price.
And at that point, YouTube was kind of just starting out and we just started watching tutorials of these girls doing makeup and hair and we were just watching it
one day with Mimi and she was kind of in the background and I remember we're just
like you know kind of making fun of the way girls talk oh hi I'm here I'm gonna
do this and you know and Alex like she was just kind of like observing he's
like well you know what like we can you guys can do this too and we kind of
looked at it and we're like what do you mean? What do you mean we can do it on YouTube?
What are you talking about? He's like, yeah, we can start
a business and I can be
the business guy behind
the scenes, everything, and you can be
the face. That's the first
time ever that I heard anything.
Then some time went by, I think a couple
weeks or whatever, and
Mimi called me and we're talking. She's like,
okay, well, Alex and I were just talking and we we're gonna start this we're gonna do this business and we want you to
be part of it and I was like what it just was so unexpected you know but because you weren't doing
your interior design thing you're trying to get a job exactly no I wasn't gonna get a job I was
gonna whatever it took out of your own clients that's right yes i wanted to be an entrepreneur i don't ever want to work for anybody else um and so at that point i just
said you know like i want to be a yes woman you know i want to say yes to life so it was we didn't
know what we were doing i didn't know what we're starting really at that point but just kind of
started it and we knew we wanted we knew we wanted to create so that's something
that is very important like knowing what is your end goal you know and i think a part of it is a
really important aspect is being passionate you know you gotta be passionate about whatever it
is you're going to do so um i always had um when i was going to interior design school i always had
in the back of my mind subconsciously that if that doesn't work, then I'm going to have my own hair salon.
I mean, it wasn't exactly a hair salon.
It was more of an online hair salon, I guess.
But it was in the same family of an industry.
And so, yeah, that's how it started.
And then now three years later, we look back and it's been a crazy, fun, amazing, blessed journey.
We're so incredibly grateful
for every single step you guys almost have 300 videos and what you do basically so people know
is you basically have tutorials about how to style your hair how to get ready for weddings
or special events or like school or whatever it might be yeah all kinds of occasions dates parties
yeah and how to style
your hair and then also how to use the extensions if you want to style it a certain way exactly
and so you're just giving away free content on youtube that's right tutorials a resource you're
being a valuable resource for people you're doing it in a fun fresh young hip way and then if people
want to buy the product they buy it if not then they get the free resource. Exactly. And that's always been our model is we don't ever, ever use any traditional media or marketing advertising at all.
You know, our main source was YouTube.
Yeah.
And not to sell, but to create, like you said, to create a valuable information product or not even products, I guess.
Just a resource.
A resource, exactly.
And like you said, you know, if you feel like you need this kind of thing in your life,
the link is in the bottom bar and you can just check it out for yourself.
Never, ever just sell, sell, sell.
I think that's what really was inspiring to see as a business owner that you really don't
need to sell.
You just need to fill a niche with a quality product, amazing service treat every single person every customer as a friend and that's
been our mantra from day one you know every we're all in it together you know and we love and
appreciate every single one of our viewers and customers so that's how we treat everyone and
it's it really is something that changes the whole the whole business model
you know it's a very new age way to approach business so and you get a lot of comments or
questions from people like how do i do this style or how to do that style how do i grade it this way
yeah lots of celebrity requests right lots of yeah exactly we always listen in you know what
are people looking for and mostly like you mentioned it's it's special occasions it's
everyday styles it's back to school special occasions. It's everyday styles.
It's back to school and all kinds of stuff.
How do I look like Kim Kardashian?
Right.
Jennifer Aniston or whatever.
Right.
Yeah,
exactly.
So interesting.
So what's the,
now you got 1.2 million now and it's growing like crazy.
It's like a hundred thousand every month.
It seems like it grows.
So what was like the key to getting like your first hundred thousand or like, and then the million, like what in three years, how do you get a million subscribers? And what was like the key to getting like your first 100,000 or like, and then the million,
like what in three years, how do you get a million subscribers?
And what was like the strategy?
You know, the craziest thing is the first thousand is always the hardest.
And I remember we had, I think a giveaway at the first thousand or 5,000.
I can't remember exactly, but it's always the most exciting when you're watching that
number grow, you know, and you're seeing it grow and you every single person that you see like oh it's like
i don't know 795 and then you come back tomorrow and it's 900 whatever and you just think to
yourself like this is really happening like people are watching and this is real you know you have an
audience and with that comes actually a huge responsibility to
you know it's a platform and people are listening so are you gonna be an inspiration are you really
gonna do something to make a difference in the world and to inspire change you know and it might
sound weird that how can you inspire change through hair tutorials but you'd be surprised
that with with all of the comments that we're receiving
the feedback so many people just write in and say that we make their day you know we somehow
inspire their day make their day and you know when mimi starts her videos saying hi my beautiful
friends you know maybe for some people they never hear that they're beautiful you know and
watching that video makes them feel beautiful so it it's a really special, magical thing to be able to provide that for people.
And to go back to your question on how do you, you know, how do you grow it?
I think the key is not to focus on growing and the key is to focus on bringing value and connecting with people.
And that's why YouTube is such an amazing platform.
Like it connects everybody it doesn't matter if you're in new zealand in africa in south america we're all and the distance is
really not that far you know it's only a plane right away and you know um and having social
networking platforms really allows us all to really connect you know and um and we all you know through
getting feedback and getting messages constantly and reading that it makes me cry every day you
know the stories that people share with us and how we impacted their life it's amazing i mean i can
write a book on just the feedback that we've gotten in the past three years and uh so yeah
bring value through whatever you do it's just without
wanting things back you know unconditionally just provide value because it makes you happy you know
it brings you joy and people can feel that you know you'd be surprised how powerful it is to
just be on camera and connect with people and they can sense whether or not you're being genuine
whether or not if you like for some videos you know i'm a person some days i'm not really in it and you know you
still do it because you have a responsibility to yourself a commitment and the days when you
when i just i'm a little bit off and i know i'm a little bit off it's the weirdest thing how people
feel it like they will comment you're seeing off today or something. I'm still smiling.
I'm still saying the same things,
but somehow we have this exactly intuitive thing
and all of us have it,
you know, that people just feel it.
So it's very important to be authentic.
I think that is the key
in everything that you do
in every relationship, business, personal,
it doesn't matter, career.
If you're being yourself and you
just be vulnerable and just be you you know being yourself and but at the same time with doing
things online you have to do something that you're passionate about i know it sounds like a cliche
but it really is because what is it what is it that you're going to be doing that's going to
make you want to get up in the morning
and like jump out of bed, you know, find that thing. We all have it. Every single one of us
have it. And I think the way to find it is to go back to when you're young, you know, when you were
a little girl or a little boy, what was it that made you like come alive? You know, for some kids,
you know, playing in the mud and like playing with I don't know insects and like exploring the world and for girls it's playing with Barbie and like styling the hair
you know so it could be so many different things we're all unique in our passions so find that
thing that made you want to wake up in the morning as a kid and not go back to sleep you know
and if you can do that and be authentic and create value, I think that is the formula for success in anywhere,
not just on YouTube,
but in anywhere in life.
So I think that's the way to do it,
you know,
and not focus on numbers,
just continue putting out great quality content.
Video quality is so important.
You know,
when we started YouTube,
people were just using their laptops and we started with that as well.
Just the camera on our Mac book. And I mean, those videos are still out there. And when I look back
at the quality and you know, it's, it's such crazy night and day difference, but that's what it was.
And we were kind of the first ones to pioneer the DSLR, you know, start to introduce that and
make nice quality with nice lighting. Exactly. And lighting in video is everything. Anybody listening right now wants to make videos, one tip if I have for you, any one tip, even if
you don't use an amazing DSLR camera, if you have natural light, you can create amazing content.
Natural light is where it's at. Natural light is where it's at. We've tried to experiment with
studio lights and you know, and you can make it work, but you have to be really, really good at
it. And it takes a lot of trial and error.
The easiest thing is just find natural light, not direct light, but how we're sitting in right now with the balcony.
So yeah, just great quality videos, amazing content, and just do something you're passionate about.
And don't focus on numbers.
And they say not to focus on the numbers, but when was the first time you hit 1,000?
Since we're going to focus on the numbers right now.
I guess it was maybe a couple months.
Within a couple months?
I think so, yeah.
I mean, we can go back and look at the stats on YouTube, but I think it was a couple months.
And then...
When was the first 100,000?
Do you remember?
Probably...
We did a giveaway. I'm trying to remember where it
was I think it was maybe eight months I could be wrong on dates but yeah it the
first like I said the first thousand or five thousand is the hardest then you
reach a hundred thousand and then it just kind of starts to go from there
right you know so and then yeah next thing you know it's half a million and
then we just celebrated a million a couple months ago.
That's 1.2.
It's unbelievable.
It's really hard to grasp that number.
It's just unreal to think that there is 1 million people out there watching you.
And it's crazy.
It's really crazy.
Now, when did you first start making money?
And did you have side jobs while you were doing this?
I think you said you were a waitress before.
Yeah, I did all kinds of work.
But when we started Luxa Hair, actually, we were all unemployed on paper and we're all trying to do our own thing.
So we didn't have side jobs.
And this became full-time commitment.
Right away.
Right away.
And, you know, there was a lot of work.
You know, you as an entrepreneur, you know how much work it takes to create a business from scratch.
It's your baby.
It's your, it's what you breathe, eat, live. Like it's everything, you know how much work it takes to create a business from scratch it's your baby it's your it's what you breathe eat live like it's everything you know so you know building a website
building all the um you know the beginning uh videos for how to use the product you know and
it was all self-taught i have no experience with hair so when we started this i just knew i love
doing it but that's not enough you actually have to educate yourself, right?
So lots of research and lots of building your education for yourself and studying things so you can then provide that value for people.
So you didn't have a degree.
You didn't go to beauty school or hair salon school or nothing.
You just taught yourself.
All self-taught.
And that's another thing.
I think anybody can learn anything if you're really passionate about it if it if you enjoy doing it you know the amazing thing is with
internet these days everything you possibly want is out there for free a lot of the biggest
challenges people say is i don't have the experience or i don't have the time i haven't
had the credentials or i go to the school or whatever so they don't take action right
you're a great example of someone who didn't go to school for this right didn't have any experience and never had clients
and you were able to build this amazing business with your you know sister and your and alex yeah
and create something amazing because you guys really cared about the people that you were
sharing information with right and they saw the value and they bought the product sure and when was it
then see for how long were you guys going until you started making money and how did you survive
like food and like the amazing thing is with with the whole numbers in terms of you know the sales
coming in um i don't remember the exact number but i remember when we're first starting out and
we're just kind of sitting and brainstorming how we're going to build the business and what the website's going to look like and what the product's going to look like.
And, you know, just all that.
We were just thinking, you know, if we can just sell, because I'm not a numbers guy.
Alex does all the numbers.
Numbers gal.
Numbers girl, I guess.
You know, he was just kind of, you know, adding things up.
um you know he was just kind of you know adding things up and he's like i think he said like if we can do like 20 sales a week or a month or whatever then we can get this many this much
money each one of us because it was all split you know three ways so you know we were just kind of
crunching the numbers and he's like yeah if we can just do this many sales then we can have that
much money and you know we can survive and then you know it will grow because he was very optimistic
about you know building the business and for me personally i really didn't i mean of
course you want to make money you want to live comfortably we all do you know but the most
exciting thing was just seeing this thing from nothing become something and then from our heads
like we had an idea and then we sketched it out and then we send it out to manufacturers.
And then the product came in and you're like,
Oh my God,
like we created this,
this thing in front of me.
And it wasn't there.
And through an idea,
it became something that people can buy and use and get a benefit from.
Because,
you know,
for us as girls,
I don't know if girls listening in can relate to this,
but something about having long
hair makes you feel just beautiful and sexy and confident and it's like a mermaid effect that's
what it felt like you know when the first time i started using them my hair was about shoulder
length and i always always since being young dreamt of having long hair i could just never
grow it out that long i don't know people hairdressers just chop it off and then you
try to grow it and so when i put the extensions off for the first time, it was like a mermaid
effect. I was like, oh my God. Wow. And you start playing with the hair and all of a sudden you feel
like this like goddess, you know? And so it's being able to give that same gift to other women.
And, you know, if you feel a certain way, you're not alone. There's someone out there that can relate to that.
And what we learned the most is that we all can relate.
Right.
You know, and so when we put this thing out there, it just kind of blew up, you know.
And so going back to the numbers, every single time we would set, okay, like we just made, I don't know, 20 sales in a week or whatever.
We were amazed, of of course at first and then we're like oh my god alex would come with numbers because
he would take care of all the numbers and he'd be like guys we just hit i don't know 100 or
something you know sales yeah sales yes exactly and we're like oh my god this is crazy and and
we started you know using the law of attraction like can we like aim higher can we say like 150 a month or
i don't know whatever and we started doing that with every month until we kind of lose track
when it just you know flows and we're so grateful of course for um just having that opportunity
um and yeah so you know you start counting it first and then again we never focused on money
and getting money but it was just amazing
to see it grow when you don't focus on money and you don't focus on what can i get out of it versus
what can i give unconditionally and it's just karma it's how life works you know when you give
you get it's just the you know the world's a mirror you know so uh we're a prime example like
the business model is a prime example that it works you know we put it into practice kind of intuitively we didn't go into it thinking that we're going to do it that way but
it was just very organic it was a very organic process for us just kind of feeling it out
what was the biggest challenge you guys had the whole process uh well the biggest challenge was
that we didn't really know what we're doing you know none of us knew you know alex has never started
or build a business from his point because he did all the operations exactly um and for mimi and i
we like you said we don't have any experience with hair so it's just really constantly being
able to you never done videos right never never and you know exactly that's another thing you know
how do you just sit in a room and pretend you're talking to somebody?
Looking at this camera and if someone's in the background, they'd be like, what is wrong with you?
You're just sitting there talking to a camera.
But you have to remember that there is a person, even if it's just one person on the other side watching you.
You connect to that person. That's what I try to do when I look in the camera.
I don't think, okay, I'm crazy. I'm sitting in a room just talking to a camera.
I'm thinking that I'm connecting to a friend.
How would you feel when you're sitting talking to your friend or mom or dad?
You feel a sense of warmth and you feel a sense of comfort and intimacy. So that's what I try to do when I speak to a camera.
I can't think that there's a million people watching.
Then you're going to freak yourself out.
You think that you're connecting to that one person. And, you know, I truly believe that
we're all one, we're all connected. So when you connect to one, you can connect to all, you know?
And so, um, yeah, the challenge was the challenge still is, cause I'm still making videos is
someday you just don't feel like being on camera, you know? And that is a reality that
you face as a YouTuber, you you're you're human being so
you have off days but you have to remember that well what I do is I remember that my videos inspire
people you know and and I don't take that lightly it's a huge responsibility so when I think of it
that way I think this is bigger than me this is bigger than my own little issues you know the
little conversations in my head that I don't feel beautiful today or my hair is you
know it's not looking pretty or whatever you know so I just kind of get over that
and you know you put yourself out there and you just do your best and you
connect and create value and and then when you when you do it from that way
and you get the feedback that inspires you to do more you know because people
appreciate for the most
part there's haters of course in every avenue online but um yeah so so what was it uh you guys
went from a small country azerbaijan unknown to most people but i didn't know that which makes
me sound ignorant but no no don't feel bad how many million people live there in azerbaijan um i think around eight nine million i could be
off a little but it's around there yeah so you go from there and you move when you're 18
to canada to toronto and from there you get you know side jobs you're trying to figure out what
it's like in a new country two three jobs at jobs at a time, school. Two jobs at a time, school.
And then you go from that to starting this business,
not knowing anything you're going to, you know, not knowing what to do, how to do, a lot of fears,
a lot of like doubts probably.
Like, is this going to work?
Are we going to make money?
What am I going to do?
If we don't make money,
how long can we go without making money until I have to get something else?
Sure.
So what do you say to people who maybe are afraid to get started in something that they love?
They really have like a passion, but they're working some crappy job or, you know, whatever.
What do you say to people about chasing their dreams or about?
Because you, again, you're an amazing example of someone who didn't have a lot of opportunity as a kid in Azerbaijan compared to people in Canada or the United States.
And you created your own destiny, really, under extreme circumstances that didn't allow you to create this.
Yeah.
Or that no one would have thought that you could have done it, probably.
Right.
And you...
The odds were against us, you know.
The odds were really against you.
Right.
And you guys made something unbelievable in a few short years without experience, without
knowledge, without anything.
Yeah.
And it was just three of you.
Right.
So what do you say to someone who's maybe like doubting themselves or just not taking
action or just have no clue what to do?
Sure.
They're afraid.
You know, the best thing, and it's such such a simple thing and it's probably going to sound like oh
really that's all there is to it but honestly it's dare to dream dare to freaking dream because
you know being in azerbaijan we without even knowing did the law of attraction
mimi mimi and i always wanted to for some, just be in North America. Because I think intuitively we knew that anything is possible here.
Sure.
And so, you know, we constantly dreamt of being here.
And we did lots of visualizing without realizing we're doing it.
We're kids, you know, what do we know?
But just dreaming and constantly imagining things and picturing.
And the power of visualization is beyond you know and so when you
just you know we every single one of us has dreams right and the reason why we stop dreaming is
because we think it's impossible and when you just shift your mindset and shift that paradigm that
even if you don't believe it there are days when i don't believe my dreams but i still deep down believe them you know even if i i might not achieve them but i cannot allow myself
to say it won't happen because when i do that i block everything so you have to continue
to just dream and not be afraid of that dream because i think it's scary to like the you know this fear of
failure is very powerful in all of us but i think what we're all afraid of more is fear of success
what happens if you actually achieve that what then you know where do you go from there so okay
so you got the dream you know for us it was for me personally it was this lifestyle of freedom
you know because i just cannot work for someone it was this lifestyle of freedom you know because I
just cannot work for someone else I needed to have the flexibility the freedom and you know
and so when that happens you're like okay so I got this and that's amazing and I'm grateful but
now what you know because you just can't stop dreaming you gotta constantly push yourself okay
so I got this what next so but for someone getting started, I guess, is dare to dream.
You know, just dare to dream.
What is your dream?
Every single one of us have a dream.
So ask yourself, what is my dream?
What is my vision?
Where do I want to be?
And you're going to have conversations every single one of us has with limiting beliefs,
you know, maybe with our parents telling us that it's impossible from our schools or the environment. You know, maybe you're from a third world country like me and you just think, you know maybe with our parents telling us that it's impossible from our schools or the
environment you know maybe you're from a third world country like me and you just think you know
what can i do i'm sitting here i don't know in whatever country and i don't have this or i don't
have that but if you just shift your mindset and you go into possibility mode anything truly is
possible it sounds like a cliche but it really is And when you start to shift your mindset and you go from, you know, oh, I can't do this because of this, this, this, my circumstances.
And you go into how can I start at least first start with a dream?
And then how can I start?
We can all start somewhere, you know, start planning it.
Maybe just putting it out on paper, you know, just start with that.
Put it out into the universe, you know, because it's all in your head.'s all in you but start by just what is it what do i want start planning it out and you
will see magical things happen when you do the work the universe is truly waiting for us to get
started and it will do half the work you know and this is from personal experience every single day
when i commit to something and i start not just dreaming about it,
because that's important, but putting it to work, putting in the work, whether it is research,
you know, if you want to become, I don't know, a lawyer or doctor, whatever. And you think I don't
have the money or, you know, whatever, whatever, at least start researching, you know, that is
already work. You know, you don't have to right away go into school or whatever it is to get you
to your dream. You can put in the work with other,
in other ways,
just do something that will get you closer to your dream.
And when you do that,
you will see amazing things happen and you will think it's magic,
but that's the formula.
That's how life works.
You will meet people.
You will attract circumstances.
You will attract money if that's what you need,
you know?
Right.
So just dare to dream.
There you go.
And luxiehair.com is that business. If you guys want to check that out and read about their story about leila and
mimi you check it out luxiehair l-u-x-y hair.com but now you've ventured off and you're doing some
other things you're doing a couple of other youtube channels on your own which is youtube.com slash get fit with leila and again it's l-e-y-l-a and then you also have
youtube slash real leila and one's about fitness and kind of lifestyle and also eating healthy and
the other one's about beauty tips fashion and kind of whatever goes your own vlogs and everything
and you also have some amazing
images and inspiring pictures that you post on instagram with a huge following there real leila
on instagram so what what's your plan now what's your vision what's what's the next thing for you
with all of this that's got going on i am so excited right now this year 2013 has been
incredible and just going back to dreaming you, my personal dream has always been, for whatever reason, to live in LA.
I don't know what it is.
Before, when I've never even been here up until last summer, I would tell people that and they'd be like, laugh in my face.
Like, you know, oh, LA, this, whatever.
And be like, oh, have you been there?
And I would say no, because I haven't at that point.
And they'd laugh even more saying, well, first go there, you you know because you might not even like it but I'm very intuitive so
I just something in my heart told me that I was going to love it here and it was just going to be
a home so when we got here with Mimi and Alex and our friend Isel last summer it was exactly what I
thought it was going to be like I felt exactly how I knew I was going to feel just something in the
energy in the water I don't know what it is um and so that's been my personal personal
dream of mine and starting this year um in 2013 I decided to completely like get out of my comfort
zone and challenge myself and just move out here I didn't know anybody I mean for a month just to
try it out and it was the best decision I've made in my life ever,
you know, just getting over that fear. And the thing is, though, I think I'm going to paraphrase
myself. It's not about getting over it. It's about feeling the fear and doing it anyways, because
if you're going to do anything in life that's new, you're going to be scared because you don't know
what you're doing, you know,'s something new so I think fear is actually
a great motivator you know what we tend to do is think oh I'm scared so I'll just stop
but if you just think of fear as oh my god it's an opportunity for growth and okay if I'm scared
that's a good thing that means I can learn something new I can stretch myself I can get
out of my own way to create magic. And that's what I did.
And it was scary as hell.
I didn't know anybody.
No,
I started by research.
I didn't know LA at all.
I didn't know areas.
I just researched and intuitively felt like,
you know,
West Hollywood is the area for some reason,
you know,
got here and this beautiful bachelor studio apartment and had the best time of
my life.
Just getting out there,
connecting with people just
exploring the new city going hiking whatever it is you know I'm not a runner and I started running
here because everybody is so inspiring you know you know I'm not gonna say everybody most people
are a lot more health conscious so I just felt like fish in the water so happy so at peace wow
so I went back home and I couldn't get over the thing
that I left a piece of my heart here you know I need to find a way to get myself
here so it's been a journey you know in the past couple months six seven
whatever months that it's been and I'm finally making that decision I'm making
that commitment to figure it out I'm not sure how I'm gonna do it exactly what I
know that I'm committing no matter what I'm going to make it happen. And going back to the business side though,
um, Loxie here has been incredible and such a blessing and I'm forever grateful. And it's
always going to be a baby of mine, but I have so many passions and there's only one life and
there's only 24 hours in a day. And as much as I wish I could do all of it, you need to focus,
you know? So I kind of did a little soul
soul searching when I was here in LA by myself I had a lot of time clearly I was alone um and so
I was like okay what is it really that makes me like wake up in the morning what is it that makes
me want to wake up in the morning and I realized that it's inspiring positive change now that can
come in so many different ways so right now my challenge is actually figuring out what is that one focus?
Because I want to do so many things.
And I think what really gives me purpose is knowing that I can, you know, make people
eat healthier and be active.
Because for me, you know, if I'm eating well and I'm acting, like being active and working
out, I feel at my best.
I feel like anything is possible.
And I truly believe that you are what you eat.
So it's so important to educate people
because the problem is that people just don't know any better,
you know, because we've been brainwashed and it's easy.
Fast food is easy.
You know, it's meant that way
because pharmaceutical companies
wanting to make their billions of dollars.
It's really sad, but that is the reality we're living.
So I want to create, I want to be that beacon of change,
but live it as an example first, you know?
So I want to master the within myself and then spread the message
and educate people on that.
You're basically a vegetarian that eats fish, right?
I still eat seafood, so I'm, I guess, a pescatarian.
I don't like labels, so I prefer to say I eat mostly a plant-based diet,
you know, probably about 90%, 95% plant-based diet.
And it never felt better.
So you're going through a journey for yourself.
You're educating yourself just like you did.
Exactly.
You're self-teaching yourself the YouTube, the hair extension stuff, the business.
And you're now going through this journey to figure out how to live their best life.
Exactly.
How to feel your best through foods or
fitness through everything exactly and you're learning and spreading it out it's kind of what
uh another guest on here rich roll talked about that was very inspiring i love that yeah he's
vegan plant-based and he went through like you know he wanted to learn how to become healthier
so he started sharing i wrote a book about it and teaching people what he was learning as well along the way so it's really inspiring and so you got these different YouTube
channels you're using Instagram to share the message and you're excited about that super
excited yeah you know what's the one thing you're most excited about besides LA um seeing what's
possible for me you know this year I've got, I removed my ego out of the way.
I mean, the ego is always there, but I, I don't listen to it anymore. I've listened to it for
my whole life, you know, 29. And so being able to be in charge is so powerful and knowing that
anything I set my mind to and I commit to is possible. And the reason it's possible is because I get to create it.
No one's giving me anything.
No one is providing.
I mean, no one's there waiting to give it to me.
I got to get out there and I got to make it happen.
And when you find that power inside and every single one of us have it,
I don't care what your circumstances are right now.
You know, if you're abused or if you're whatever sitting in, you know, if you're isolated somewhere, it doesn't matter. Every single one of
us has that power. We're all made equal in that way. So get out of your own way and start dreaming
and anything is possible when you commit to it. I'm not saying that it's going to be an overnight
thing. I'm not saying that it's going to be easy. It's not, it's a challenge. It's, it's going to be an overnight thing i'm not saying that it's going to be easy it's not it's a challenge it's it's a commitment you know it's hard work but it's so goddamn worth it
yeah so okay so final question and it's what is your definition of greatness wow whenever i listen
to all the podcasts i would ask myself that i'm like i don't know what that is you know because
there's so many ways you can answer that, so many ways you can take it.
I think what's my definition of greatness?
I think it's not allowing fear or circumstances to stand in the way
and just continue plowing through, you know,
because there are going to be challenges,
and that's part of learning and growing that's
part of being a human being so being able to be inspired by an end goal and knowing that there's
something out there bigger than you that you're meant to do and every single one of us is here
for a purpose you know and knowing what that figuring out what that purpose is and then going after it, despite the circumstance,
despite the challenges and not allowing anything to stand in the way because
you're in charge,
you're in control.
No one else's,
you get to create your reality.
I think that's greatness.
You know,
you don't allow anything to define you.
You define you.
So that would be that.
I love it.
to define you, you define you.
So that would be that.
I love it.
Well, make sure everyone to go check out the beautiful Leila at leilaslifestyle.com.
And you have all your links on there for social media, right?
For Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube.
Subscribe to her everywhere because she's extremely talented, gifted,
and a warm soul.
Thank you.
And you guys are going to love her. So
leilaslifestyle.com. Leila, thanks so much for coming on. My pleasure. Appreciate you.
And we'll see you soon.
And there you have it, guys. I hope you enjoyed this inspiring episode with Layla. She is definitely a gift to the universe.
And I'm so happy that she was in here today and shared her amazing story.
If you have any questions at all, feel free to hit her up on Twitter or on Instagram or Facebook or subscribe to her on YouTube to all those different channels.
Subscribe to her on YouTube, to all those different channels.
Head over to schoolofgreatness.com to check out all the show notes and more about Layla if you are interested.
And as well, guys, if you enjoyed this episode, please go over to iTunes, leave us a review,
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Give us your honest feedback of what you're getting out of this show.
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It's time to make sure you go out there and do something great. Outro Music