Shannon Mann and Harp Sohal started Pink Orchid Studio as a way to use their passion for beauty and fashion into a one-stop service to help brides look and feel their best on their biggest day.
Before long, they had both won numerous industry awards and turned their hair and makeup company into a globally recognized brand that include its own line of beauty products and the largest South Asian bridal academy in Canada.
In this episode, Harp and Shannon share amazing insights into how they thoughtfully and deliberately crafted their empire.
Connect with Harp and Shannon:
instagram.com/shannonmannofficial
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Listen to the podcast here
Pink Orchid Studio: Building An Empire With Intention With Shannon Mann And Harp Sohal
Thank you for taking the time to join me here to learn and grow. I appreciate the support. If you're new here, don't forget to subscribe on YouTube, on Apple Podcasts, and follow along on Spotify. I have two incredible guests I'm truly excited to have on the show here. They have built a huge, globally recognized brand. They are multiple-time award winners in their industry. They have the largest academy in Canada for South Asian Bridal Styling. I'm so grateful to have the Founders of Pink Orchid Studio, Harp Sohal and Shannon Mann. Thank you for joining me.
We also do Western brides but getting a South Asian bride ready, there's a lot to it. We teach everything from A to Z from hair, makeup, pinning, how to calm them down, how to figure out what they want, and execute it on their wedding day.
There's so much more to what you guys have built. We're going to jump right in because Pink Orchid Studio is not just hair and makeup or the academy. You have a line of products as well under your brand. What type of products do you guys carry?
The way the products were born was when we do hair and makeup on our brides, anything that we would find challenging that would make our lives difficult, we always tried to find a solution for it. For example, our hairline began when Shannon was creating these elaborate hairstyles. She found that we needed hair nets, hair buns or hair extensions, so we sourced them and we started using them on our clients. They were fantastic, so we thought, “Why not offer this to the general public as well?” That's how our product line started.
It started organically with hair products and then we decided, “Let's do cosmetics because that's something we use a lot.” There isn't a whole lot of South Asian cosmetic brands out there, so we thought, “Why not? Let's try. Let's see how it goes.” It's been phenomenal. We love our products. We wear our products ourselves. One of the things that we found was in our culture, there's this ceremony called the Doli. When the bride is given away, she cries a lot, so her eye makeup would always smear. We created a lip liner, which is smear-proof and water-resistant. It’s Doli proof, so it made our life easier. That's how our line evolved.
That's amazing and innovative. That's how all the best products are made in our lives. There's a need and somebody said, “This needs to be better,” and then you come up with a way. The subtitle of the show, the word entrepreneurship was there and I like to focus on that side of things. You guys are true entrepreneurs. To me, entrepreneurship is having an idea and then building that thing from the ground up, and then hopefully into something successful. Not all entrepreneurs are as successful as you guys, of course. Tell me where that entrepreneurial spirit came from. When you were kids, were you like, “I want to own a business?” Where did that come from? Did it grow over time?
It did. For me, I have taken marketing and business administration. My degree is in Business Administration, majoring in Entrepreneurial Leadership. When I was little, my dad used to always be like, “You're going to be your own boss.” He always imparted that in me. I don't think that when you go to school, that's necessarily taught to you. In business and places that I worked, I honestly felt like people didn't listen to me. I would get frustrated. I worked at ICBC and I have these ideas. I would walk into the manager's office and they're like, “Go back to your desk.” There was some of that.
It was Pinder purchasing his own pharmacy and buying it from his boss, and then him becoming his own boss, and watching him and helping him through that journey changed my mindset. I used to think that there was maybe something more that people that own businesses have over you. When you sit in a room with a bunch of smart people, you think, “I'm just as smart as these people,” and the ideas start to bubble. We both have that entrepreneurial spirit.
There are no marketing firms that are interesting, at least when I went to school. I love marketing and I love business but there's no place for me to apply or I would have to move to Toronto. You throw marriage and kids in there. I will let her tell you how it came about because we're both passionate about fashion and makeup. Our own experiences with getting ready for our weddings also guided us both to the next part of the story, which is how it was born.
That’s your queue, Harp.
When I was getting married in 2005, we found that the wedding industry was flaky in the sense that you would book a vendor, and then they wouldn't show up. Nobody was reliable. I was finding when I was looking for a hair and makeup artist for myself, that was what was happening. People weren't showing up to their consults or weren’t happy with the service. What you were paying for, you weren't getting in terms of customer service.
When I got married, I ended up doing my own makeup and Shannon helped with the hair. That's where the idea was planted. Whenever there was an event, everyone would come to us to get their hair and makeup done, but we weren't doing it professionally. We decided, “We're best friends. Let's see where this will go.” We did it on the side.
When we first started Pink Orchid Studio, I was still working full time at an insurance firm and so was Shannon. Shannon just came off a mat leave. We knew right away when we did this that we weren't going to just do it half-assed. We were going to put everything that we had into it. I was working 40 hours there, plus working 40 hours here. At one point, we decided, “It's time to take this leap of faith, quit our day jobs, and give it 100%. Let's see where it takes us.”
We've always believed in ourselves in the sense that we have something great here. For my family and me, my parents have always told me, “Get a great job, have benefits, and work for the government.” It’s how I was raised. They were scared that I was going to take this leap of faith in me, start my own business, and not have benefits and all the securities that a 9:00 to 5:00 offers. Being an entrepreneur is not a 9:00 to 5:00. It's 24/7. There's so much reward that I wouldn't see myself doing anything other than working for myself or doing what I was doing now.
I like that the two different aspects of that. Shannon, you have that entrepreneurial education, specifically a little more formally. You guys are taking that leap, if you're able to, I would love to see if we can zoom in on that moment where you decided, “We're going to take the leap full force. We're going to jump in both feet.”
That has to be a switch that goes off. We tell this to our students, too, “If you put in half and do this on the side, it's always going to be something that's on the side.” We are lucky that our husbands can financially support us so that we are able to go after the dream. They both had faith in us and said, “We believe in you guys and we think you guys have something here.”
The most important thing I can say to anybody embarking on the journey of entrepreneurship is that it’s 24/7. From the moment I wake up to the moment I go to sleep, there's always something Pink Orchid-related that I'm doing. I'm reviewing a product, doing graphics for sale, we’re talking on our group chats, or we're talking about new products we want to bring in.
Even as we're speaking, I'm already snapping Shannon and tagging.
It's a constant moving art. If you ignore it, like anything in your life, it's not going to grow. It needs your attention. Some people entertain the idea of, “Maybe I should do this because I feel like it's lucrative or it's good money.” Anything that you do in life, if you're not passionate about it, it's going to read, it's going to show, and people aren't going to feel the product. It takes a lot of energy to grow a business.
You have to be willing to put in the time and the commitment. You have to ask yourself, “Are you really passionate about it?” In the first two years of having a business, it's not a 40-hour. You should be approaching it with a plan. It's an 80-hour week to grow something from nothing. It's not something that comes easily, but if you want it and you want it badly, like anything in life, you've got to put the work in, perfect your craft, whatever it is that you do, and try to share that passion with people. In Vancouver and in Toronto, even in the South Asian community, we have a lot of passionate entrepreneurs. You're seeing it in podcasts, in fashion, and in a lot of social movements. It's that excitement, but keeping it up and not dropping it.
Building An Empire: Being an entrepreneur is like a constant moving art. If you ignore it, it's not going to grow. It really needs your attention.
Have strategies in play. Don't just be like, “I’m going to start this business and wing it.” You have to have strategies, have a business plan, and then commit and pursue it. With Shannon and myself, at the beginning of 2020, we have a meeting on what our forecast for the year is going to look like, and then we go after those tasks. You check them off as you're going, “We wanted to release the spring line. Here it is. This is what it's going to take to release it.” You have to always stay on top of your business and have a game plan.
That's amazing advice. Something that I've heard now, having done a bunch of these podcasts and speaking to different business owners and entrepreneurs, a common practice there is setting those goals, reviewing them regularly, and making sure you're on track. I'm speaking for myself also here. In certain endeavors where it's like, “Let's see. I'll see how it goes,” that's rarely ever going to lead you to that point that you're visualizing. It's going to require you to go back and reset goals and stuff like that.
I'm glad you said that because when people look at Pink overall, they will always say to us, “You guys are so lucky. You guys are so successful,” whatever it is. Shannon and I are like, “Are they talking about us?” We know what it takes. Nobody understands that there have been so many risks that Shannon and I have taken in our business that we've completely failed.
We've landed our face, but you get up and you're like, “That was a waste of time, money, and energy, but it's okay. At least we tried.” I love that about Shannon and myself. At least we always take a chance and we try. We fail many times and there are some times that we succeed, but at least we're trying. You never know unless you try.
A lot of people have a strong sense of self-doubt. We vibe off each other that way, where if one person isn't feeling confident, the other person can pull up their bootstraps if they're not feeling it. It's nice to have someone. For a while, if Harp wants a break, I'll post a bunch of content, and then when she's on, I’ll take a couple of days off. Having to do it by yourself though would be twice as much work and I can't imagine working twice as much.
You guys vibe off each other and you're on the same wavelength. In that scenario, I can imagine it helps build you up or speeds everything up, or helps you guys support each other. A lot of business partnerships don't work quite that well. There are people who are solos who are struggling. I want to go back to what you're saying there, Harp.
People will say well, “It looks nice. You're lucky,” or whatever it might be. From the outside, right now, you're not, but traveling around the world to do hair and makeup for other people. You're meeting actresses and other successful people. It looks glamorous, but I'm sure it hasn't always been glamorous.
It's so funny you say that because that's exactly why we got into this industry. I’d be frank when I'm speaking here, the hair and makeup industry, when I was growing up, if I were to tell my dad or somebody that I was related to that I want to be a makeup artist, it was so looked down upon. In India, “You're a makeup Ali.”
“Parlor Ali.”
It wasn't respected by any means. When we both decided we were going to do this, we wanted to change that narrative. We wanted to glamorize it. It was the advent of Facebook in 2008 when we utilized free social media. We started vlogging. We did everything. We started posting the glamor behind the hair and makeup. We weren't just hair and makeup artists, but we were showing the beautiful outfits, we're in beautiful hotels, and we have this glamorous job. It's all how you want the lens on your business to be. You are in control of what people see.
You got to have a marketing plan. There are times where it's not glamorous because when we’re on a plane, we have our homes and families that are watching our Snapchat and there's work to it as well. Of course, part of the marketing plan is to make it look glamorous and fun. That part is, but then your families are at home and our husbands are changing diapers, doing the dishes, and cooking.
You have to come home and do it all yourself. You’re on your friends’ needs tying somebody else's Louboutins.
That’s the double-edged sword. Being away from our families is tough because there is a family waiting at home and kids watching your Snapchat like, “Mom, that doesn't look like work.” I’m like, “I'm going to the beach right now. I'll call you in an hour.”
Even at these destination weddings, our makeup belt is around our waist. We may look like we're having fun on the beach but we're following the bride around, touching her up the whole day.
Another thing I wanted to touch on definitely is you’re both mothers and wives. You have so many responsibilities at home, but you've built this brand that's so well recognized. You’re businesswomen, entrepreneurs, and both huge on social media. I personally don't like the word influencer, but you guys have a lot of influence and you have a lot of people who look up to you. I don't think this is an easy one to answer. How do you maintain that? How do you balance that? What does your day look like?
If you've ever watched the movie The Truman Show with Jim Carrey, he realizes who he’s speaking to is on the other side of a glass lens. Even when it comes to this pandemic, I do feel a little guilty because when you're a mom and you live in a household, you have two children, Pinder’s got businesses, and Sukh has businesses, our life is so inclusive at home.
It's almost hard to fathom that all these people know you. You'll go to a restaurant or you walk down the street even with a mask on, a woman stopped me and she's like, “Pink Orchid Studio.” She recognized me. Because I'm posting outfits of the day, she probably recognized my coat or what I was wearing. She was watching it.
People will talk to you like they know you, which is cool and I love having that, but with everything that's happened and having a break from work, home is so busy that at the end of the day, that's the thing that matters the most. It takes up most of our time. It doesn't matter what happens outside of the four walls. You’re a family person.
People are surprised when they meet Harp and I, and they're like, “You guys are so nice.” What you see is what you get. How you're seeing us right now is exactly how we are with our friends and with our family. You got to separate yourself as a person at home from the social media part of how people perceive you.
Social media is a beautiful thing but it is a double-edged sword. I've seen both sides of it. I've seen the good and I've seen the bad. I've been through a lot. It's a choice. When we started social media in showing our business, we did it to expand our business. We did it so people could have insight on who we are and eventually will benefit Pink Orchid Studio because then we'll get the business there. It morphed into what it is now and people want to see what we're doing and what our lives entail.
Building An Empire: Have a vision of what exactly is your brand, what makes you different, and then really focus on that.
It's hard because as my kids are getting a little bit older and people are recognizing them as they're going out, I question myself even like, “Is this what I want? Do I want to be so out there that everywhere we go, we're recognized?” I don't mind it. I sometimes question it. We get a lot of love online. The support that we have from our community is overwhelming. We are here because of our community, but sometimes it's a little weird. You're sitting at a restaurant with your family and then you hear your voice. I'm like, “What? Someone's watching my Snap.” I’m like, “That’s behind.”
Before, you would watch celebrities on TV. I'm not saying that we're celebrities at all, but I'm saying when you watch someone on your screen, everyone has a platform now. It's hard adjusting, too because we don't take ourselves that seriously at all. I'm just a brown girl that was raised and born in Suri and I do hair and makeup with my best friend. It’s not a big deal.
I do appreciate that humility. It's safe to call you guys celebrities, at least to some level, in the sense that people recognize you and know who you are. In that regard, for sure. It's not for no reason. It didn't happen by accident. It's not because you're born into a family or anything. It's because you guys built something, so it's something to be proud of.
Shannon, you've touched on marketing a few times. I love talking about branding and marketing and stuff. If you don't mind sharing, if somebody is starting a new brand, whether they got a new product or they have a new service, do you have a few tips on whether it's relating to social media or other resources? What's a good 1, 2, 3, where to start?
Have a mission statement. When we started Pink Orchid Studio, we went into it thinking, “We're going to create what's lacking in the market, a dependable elite marketing team.” We wanted to be the Chanel of the makeup and hair services. When you think of that vision, how you want to brand, how you want to take your photos, the wording that you want to use, and also the level of service that's required to get to where you want to be, having all those things clear before you start is helpful.
Market research is important. With a lot of companies, they'll just mirror what another company is doing. I don't find that works at all because it's not your authentic brand. If you're so busy trying to be somebody else, you're not truly yourself. You have to put in the time and the commitment and have a vision. How is your brand? What makes you different? Focus on that.
For us, it was showing the behind-the-scenes of our relationship and the process of not just the bride getting ready but our jobs and part of doing that. For small businesses, having a clear message of what exactly you are selling. Walk the walk if you want to be perceived a certain way. What are your competitors doing? You have to do at least that much. Also, what's unique about your product? What makes you special?
Cross branding is important. A lot of people reach out to us and we do support a lot of local businesses when they have new products. Rather than doing the same thing over and over again, add your twist. That might take a little bit of brainstorming of figuring out but have that ready to go before you start your business.
Also, you don't have to do it all yourself. If you don't know what you're doing in marketing, hire somebody, get help. We are the talent. This is what Pink Orchid Studio is, but sometimes I need help. I'm not going to go and make the products myself. I'm not going to be at the warehouse doing all the shipping or managing my products. We have a lot of help. It's not just Shannon and I. We have a huge team that helps us run this juggernaut. In the beginning, we didn’t. We also got help where we needed it. If you need to get a loan to get your business off the ground, do it.
Having realistic expectations as well. We don't answer emails. We have an admin team that does that. Everyone has their job. I do say to students when they are taking our academy is I let them know in the beginning how hard it was and how many hours it took. I feel like I'm more of a person that I want to do it myself. I’m figuring out how to do it myself before I delegate, but that also can be taxing because there's so much to do.
It's great that you do that because that way, when the job's being done, you know what it takes to do the job or whether it's being done right or wrong or where it might have gone wrong along the way. Whereas if you hire somebody and you have no idea what their job entails, it's hard to figure out when something's not working right or if you're overpaying someone to do something.
Those are the mistakes that we've made. It's better to grow slowly, learn about the little niches, try to stick your head in it, and figure out what you want to do, and then maybe get an expert in doing it. In every part of your business, you have to know what's going on.
You have a lot of videos on YouTube, and that's fantastic, well-made videos and cool content. If I was a makeup artist or starting out, I'm sure it would be valuable to me. I love that you document your journey and you've done multiple videos where you talk about how you came up or what the process was, or the journey is what you called it.
Along the way, one of the things that I know you touched on a few times is the client experience. We're talking about building the brand and that's extremely important now than ever. There was one story that I heard you share. If you could tell me a little bit about what the client experience means to you and how you make sure you're going the extra mile to make sure the client would feel it.
In our classes, we touched on this quite a bit. One of the first things I say is once you master the hair and makeup, there's so much more to it. The first interaction with your client, brides are anxious, trying to make them feel comfortable, having the right playlist for the right time of day in the occasion, setting the mood for the client experience, and things that we say and do.
Communication is so important to make sure that you're listening to your clients. Makeup artists have such a bad reputation that they do the same thing to everybody. You want to make sure that you spend time communicating with them. Number one thing is not the marketing or the pictures of the beautiful brides. The reason why we get booked is because of how we make our clients feel.
It's all word of mouth. Pink Orchid is such a huge umbrella. There are different side businesses that we have. Whether it's our academy, our freelance artists, or our products, the main thing that holds this whole thing together is our bride. Everything stems from our bride and her experience. The first time we did hair and makeup on a bride, we turned her around and she looked in the mirror and she almost started crying. She was so happy.
That feeling that we get when we make another woman feel that beautiful on such an important day in their life is addicting. It's like adrenaline. That's why we do it. We got into this business not because of the money or to grow the way that we did. We didn't even know it was going to be this big one day. We solely did it because we love the joy of bringing other women joy. For me, it's so rewarding. There's no other gift like that.
I find that with social media, too, brides are so anxious. There are so many things going out of their head that we almost have to bring them back and get them to focus like, “This is your wedding day. You're going to marry your best friend.” As women, especially now more than ever, we have so many insecurities. We're looking at this person and she has the perfect nose and she has the perfect figure. “She had a Sabyasachi lehenga and mine is generic.”
It doesn't matter what the bride is wearing, doing or getting as long as you bring out her personal style and make her feel confident enough to focus on the day. We have so many things running through our heads that I feel like we're good at calming her down and bringing her back to the present. We're married ourselves. We have that big sister advice as well like, “It's not going to happen again. Focus and breathe. Don't be short of breath. Make sure your shoulders are relaxed. Don't be tensed on your wedding day.” There's a lot of that kind of advice.
Building An Empire: You don’t have to do it all yourself. If you don’t know what you’re doing in marketing, hire somebody. Get help.
When she turns around and she's not worried about what she looks like and she feels amazing on that day, and you gave her the great service and all this advice so she can be part of the day, then I feel like we're bonded with our clients for life. We'll see each other and we had so much time with them on their wedding day. It's a privilege. It's work but it's such a rewarding role.
We become friends with them. I can't even explain it. It's the best job in the world.
We’re like three friends having a great chat. The hours do stink. I'm not waking up that early. Other than the hours, I can't complain.
There's so much value in what you're saying there about building that client experience. You're talking about doing hair and makeup and making a bride feel beautiful. At the core of it, something that we as optometrists or anybody in any profession, especially for me because I have one person. Just like you have one person sitting in front of you, for a specific period of time. It should be something that we focus on as maybe the number one thing is to give that person the best experience.
Once you've learned how to do the hair and makeup, that's one thing but then there's so much more beyond that. Once I've learned how to be an optometrist and do the things optometrists are supposed to do, what's the other stuff I'm going to do to make that patient feel like they got the best eye exam ever? The client experience is so important.
They're the ones that are going to refer all their friends and family to you.
I've had a few amazing women guests on the show, entrepreneurs, athletes, and others. I have two little daughters. More than ever, I'm engrossed in the movement to empower women and to get to build this up. I suppose it's a bit selfish of me now. My daughters have the opportunity to succeed, but I've always been, truthfully, in that mindset. I'd love for you to share, if you could, for young girls or young women or young entrepreneurs coming up, advice that you might have for them as far as getting started or challenges you think they might face that they could overcome.
In our culture, it's sad. I'm not speaking to our generation where we're changing things. Women have been raised, particularly in South Asian culture, we are told to not have an opinion, be quiet, don't speak up for yourself, and put other people first. That can damage someone's creativity and self-confidence. There's a lot of that pushing that spirit down of independence. It's not looked upon well.
If you think about the premise of marrying who you want to marry being Punjabi and having your own love marriage versus arranged marriages, there are a lot of cultural things that are there to suppress the South Asian spirit. I find that disheartening. You're seeing a lot of it more broken. You should instill confidence in your child to feel like they don't need anyone in this world to bring yourself happiness, except what's inside of you.
Self-love is so important. There are so many elements in this world that are telling you, “You're not enough. Don't love yourself.” That's the biggest gift. If I could go back to my younger self and talk to her, those would be the words that I would say, “You have to be your number one priority. If you're a good person and you have a good heart, follow your dreams and don't doubt yourself.” So much can come out of that. You're going to see so much growth when it comes to South Asian female dysphoria.
Despite what's happening in the world and all the challenges we're facing, it's a great time to be alive. Growing up, I didn't see women of color on TV. I didn't hear them on the radio. I didn't see supermodels in the magazines that were Indian. It was hard. I didn't know that there was even room for me in many of those fields.
If I were to have a daughter, I'm proud that South Asian women have paved the way. If you turn on the TV, we’re there. If you turn on the radio, we’re there. If you look on Instagram, so many influencers are young entrepreneur women that are doing such amazing things. Look at the vice president-elect. It's a great time. Any young girl that's going to be growing up, there is no ceiling cap. You could do whatever it is you want to do. It's such a beautiful time to be alive. I'm so excited and hopeful. I can't wait for this next generation to come and even surpass us.
There are two questions I like to ask at the end of every show and we've answered one of them, but I'm going to ask it anyway, so maybe you'll come up with a slightly different answer. Your answers may overlap but think of your answers separately if you can. The first question is, if we could hop in a time machine and head back in time to a particular point where you were struggling or you're facing a difficult challenge, you could share that moment. You can share that story if you like but more importantly, what advice would you give to yourself at that time?
A few years ago, I went through hell and my mom gave me some great advice. She said, “Time heals all wounds.” If I could go back to that person that was shattered and broken, I wish I could tell her, “Listen to all the wisdom that all these women that are older than you that have seen things and have been through things. Believe their words because you will come through this. God will only put you through what He could pull you out of.” I wish I hung on to those words and I got me through it. I would go back and I would give myself the same advice.
Anything in life is not a setback. It's an experience. Don't let it kick you off your feet. Learn from it. There's a lesson in everything. Why did something go wrong? Figure out what that point is but keep working. Whatever is not serving you, eliminate that out of your life. Do not let your failures define you, try always to stay positive, and learn from your mistakes.
Not looking at them as failures but more like learning experiences.
Life goes on. That is the one thing that I could get printed on a t-shirt. It's all a state of mind. Success is a state of mind. You choose to be happy. You choose to keep yourself busy. You can focus on the negative or you can focus on the positive. I always try to tell people, “Envision who you want to be. What do you think that person does in their daily life routine? How is that person going to come to life for you?” Start working towards that path. It's like a self-fulfilling prophecy. It’s the whole premise behind The Secret. If you want that life, be that person.
Every day, there are challenges. It's so funny, Sukh and I are going through this whole thing with this house build and he was like, “Either you could dwell in this or you could grow from this. What do you want to do?” I'm like, “Fine, we'll grow.”
That's great that you have a Sukh there and it sounds like Pinder as well. They are such supportive people. Pam is supportive.
Pam is the best. I love her. I communicate with her on Instagram all the time.
Building An Empire: You control your whole reality. You control your state of mind. If you control yourself, there's nothing that you can’t accomplish.
She always tells me that you guys have great conversations, so thank you. Having Pam as this rock, as this person who supports me through so many things. Knowing when to push the right buttons, soft-touch versus kick in the ass, she's got that down pat. It's extremely helpful to have that, too, so that's awesome. The last question is, everything that you've accomplished and there's so much that I couldn't even list it all, how much of that would you say is due to luck and how much is due to hard work?
It's all grit. There's no luck. It's constantly posting, growing, coming up with ideas, coming up with products, and improving your services. It's an evolution. I don't believe in life path or psychics or being born into something. I am 100% believer that you control your whole reality and you control your state of mind. If you control yourself, there's nothing that you can accomplish.
The whole idea, “Somebody is lucky,” yeah, okay. If I put a lottery home ticket and I win that, that's luck. Those things are only going to happen a few and far between. You can't expect luck or fate. Those things don't exist. You control your path, fate, journey, and message. It all stems from inside of you. You have to find that power source and run with it.
I don't believe in luck. I believe in coincidences, but not luck.
Another thing that Harp and I have done, too, is people can get inside their own heads and dealt themselves. Anytime we've had an opportunity, we've always said yes to the opportunity, and then later we'll panic behind closed doors and figure out, “We're going to do this.” We will always say yes first and then figure it out after. Getting something done is better than perfect.
For anyone out there that's now spinning their wheels, “I need to have the perfect website. I need to have the perfect logo,” nope, you need to hit the ground running and figure your journey along the way. Otherwise, you can get stuck in the mud spinning your wheels and not even get the gourd out of the barn. Done is better than perfect. Figure your journey on the way. Take that leap of faith and believe in yourself. It all comes down to believing in yourself. That's number one.
You got this.
Thank you for that shot of inspiration. That motivation is amazing. There was something in there that I wanted to comment on, but it's perfect the way you said it, so I'm not even going to bother. Where can people find you guys, whether it's Instagram or wherever? How can people connect with you?
Instagram is where we’re the most active on, @PinkOrchidStudio, @HarpSohal. @ShannonMannOfficial is my personal as well. We're always on there. We're always connecting with people. We try to get to DMs when people send us messages. We're interactive with people that communicate with us, which is nice. If they want to email us about rates and availability, you can check out our website. There are lots of resources on there, on our classes, and the products we sell out of there.
Our products are on Amazon.
We have all of our artists’ profiles and all of their works on the website as well, so it’s compartmentalized. If you want a daily dose of Pink Orchid Studio, the Instagram account is where you're going to find it.
Any final words or thoughts you guys would like to share before we wrap up?
I wanted to say thank you to you, Harbir. Thanks for always supporting us. Thanks for always encouraging us. Thank you for having us on your show. I listened to your show, so I'm excited to be on it. You're phenomenal. You made optometry fun. I remember when I first started following you, I was like, “This guy's so funny.” Your Instagram account is so funny. I remember telling Shannon, “Shannon, his account is so funny. He's so witty.”
Thank you, Harp. I appreciate that. Shannon, any last words?
I'm always like, “You got this, universe. Believe in yourself.” Those are the best things I could say. Love yourself, believe in yourself, don't doubt yourself. Everybody has something unique to offer. Find your voice and don't doubt. Self-doubt is the killer of all dreams. Don’t worry about, “Loki ki kain gey.” Honestly, that's one thing I feel like is my superpower. I don’t care. I got my four walls, my family, my husband, my kids. Everything else could be atomic bombs going on outside. It doesn't matter.
For anybody reading who doesn't speak Punjabi, don’t worry about, “Loki ki kain gey,” don't worry about what other people are saying. That's a nice little mantra to have. Just keep doing your thing. Thank you, guys. Please, everybody who's reading, make sure you connect. These guys are amazing people. They're saying what you see is what you get. Every time I've met with Harp and Shannon and spoken with them, I always love the experience. Connect with them and follow them if you're looking for inspiration in different ways. If you're looking for makeup and hair, it's a no-brainer, so make sure you check them out.
I do want to say to people as well, it's important for all of us to support each other. There's a vibe where a lot of South Asian businesses do not support each other. As a community, that's something we all need to work on. Reach out. If you like someone's profile, give them a follow, send them a message, encourage them, and buy South Asian products.
#WeStandWithFarmers.
It made us look back, go back, think about who we are as people, where we came from, and where we would like to go as a community. Support Punjabi, South Asian, and Indian-owned businesses. Let's raise each other up. We can do a better job as a community doing that.
Together we stand, divided we fall.
Building An Empire: Anytime there’s an opportunity, always say yes first and then figure it out after. Getting something done is better than perfect.
We stand with farmers because we all came from that, so we need to be united as a community.
It’s an important movement happening there in India. I know in a lot of different ways, unfortunately, the message is not getting conveyed. I appreciate you guys sharing as much as you guys do on social media because you have so much reach. We're talking about how unfortunately social media and other things can block the message, so it doesn’t get out. Anybody who doesn't know about it, please check it out, look it up, or follow these lovely ladies and you'll see their stories and mine too about what's going on there and why we need to support people who need the support.
You should do a show on it.
I might have to. Thanks for the suggestion. Thank you to everyone who's reading, who's watching on YouTube, or listening on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Don't forget to subscribe and watch out for another amazing episode coming soon. Take care.
Bye. Happy holidays.
Important Links
YouTube - Dr. Harbir Sian
Apple Podcasts - The 20/20 Podcast
Spotify - The 20/20 Podcast
YouTube - Pink Orchid
@PinkOrchidStudio - Instagram
@HarpSohal - Instagram
@ShannonMannOfficial - Instagram
Amazon - Pink Orchid Studio
About Shannon Mann and Harp Sohal
Based out of Vancouver, BC, established in 2008, dream team Harp Sohal & Shannon Mann have been providing the ultimate beauty experience providing hair design, makeup art and styling services to Bollywood royalty, Vancouver’s elite, and discerning international clients. They have now expanded their services to include a Team of Bridal Stylists, a product line, and also a beauty education academy to teach the next generation the art of South Asian bridal styling.