Christine Mendoza

Christine Mendoza is an Entrepreneur based out of Los Angeles, California and the creator of Face & N Bawdy. She brought her ideas to life through her extensive experience in the cosmetology industry and the desire to not just be a successful woman but, a successful immigrant’s daughter and mother as well. Christine is fond of her heritage and prides herself on her “Do it yourself” mindset. This is quite remarkable since she has built her entire empire on her own hard earned money and the lessons she has learned through adversity, along with her insatiable drive to help people.

Christine has many humble values. Known for an outstanding work ethic and her ability to take on many complex tasks, her strategy has always been to work as efficiently as possible and keep things simple. She is an expert when it comes to execution as well. Her process involves thoroughly managing her thoughts and ideas until all variables have been considered. This is followed by tactical execution and scheduling, then getting to work and adjusting throughout the process. Christine is working to create programs that will help her to share her business processes with the world. In the business world, Christine is known for her high level of integrity. She firmly believes that reputation is everything in business and will stop at nothing to meet the standards of her customers, family, and friends.

Her kids will always come first, but Christine is a master of time management and eager to share her products and experiences with any up and coming entrepreneurs in all niche markets. She continues to grow her empire while encouraging others to pursue and achieve their dreams as well.

Where did the idea for Face &N Bawdy come from?

The idea for Face &N Bawdy came from my mind, the mind of an immigrant’s daughter, focused on her rise to success, with little to no help. I created Face &N Bawdy because I wanted to be a voice to women like myself who were first-generation immigrant daughters in a new country, a new society, and of broken barriers and show them how I made something for myself in my own way, that was original for minority model.

What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?

I wake up at about 6:30 AM and start my days being grateful to be alive because when I wake up, I have this window I like to look out of, a home to be grateful for, my health, my family. I feel like that’s very important. I get my 2 boys dressed, ready for school and feed them. I make tea, and I start my day according to my schedule. I like to look at my tasks for the day before I begin and then I place my tasks in order. My day is pretty busy, and I do my best to stay very productive.

How do you bring ideas to life?

Don’t keep your ideas locked in your head, put them to the test. That way you have a better understanding of your niche and how you can help those that you want to reach. And you have a better understanding of whatever you want to advertise and promote to the people that you want to reach. Basically, it’s just practical.
I would say I bring ideas to life very practically. I like to work smarter, not harder. I like to find ways to do things that are cost effective. So I take all of those things into consideration when I like to do anything in my life, even if it’s something leisurely. I bring ideas to life that would make it easier for me in all realms of either cost or time.

What’s one trend that excites you?

One trend that excites me is the growth of self-love. I notice that even though social media is so damaging, you can also see a lot of good in it since there are a lot of people promoting positivity as well, such as influencers that can help you with growing your self-love, your self worth and how to run your business. Basically, things that you can learn, that you can’t learn from school, your parents, your friends or your family. I love that trend. I love the trend of self-education and the awareness I see growing through social media too. I think that’s really cool because there’s a lot of very positive ideas growing on social media as well.

What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?

The one habit that makes me more productive as an entrepreneur would be my habit of scheduling. I like to get my day broken down by the hour. Sometimes every other hour or two but still give me wiggle room. I feel like that’s important when it comes to being a business person. An entrepreneur has to know how to schedule things. You need to know how to create a five-year plan, 10-year plan. Scheduling is important because you have to be there on time for appointments, and if you’re not there on time for appointments you have to face the consequences and take accountability for it. I try my best to be as on time and schedule as possible. So that helps me with my day to day, especially with my businesses and new projects that I take on.

What advice would you give your younger self?

One of the biggest pieces of advice I would give myself would be that you can’t help somebody that does not want to be helped. When I was in a position to help people as far as being an entrepreneur goes, I’ve helped so many people that did not actually want to be helped, and I was disappointed all the time. My advice for my younger self would be to save a lot of heartaches, time wasted and money wasted. My advice would be that you just have to pick and choose who you want to help and be wise about it. Then, if they show you their true colors you have to take that for what it’s worth. You can’t help people that don’t want to be helped. Especially in an industry where people just want a handout. I helped so many people that just expected me to do everything for them and I ended up taking a lot of losses. I think it’s good to help people, but I feel like when somebody shows you their true colors then that’s your sign to wrap it up and just keep pushing.

Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.

I think like an entrepreneur, you should use your own money, and not borrow to start a business. That is what has kept me going. By using my own money, even if I take a loss, I still keep my reputation and my credit intact. It’s a controversial opinion, but one that has allowed me to sustain myself entrepreneurially over the long term.

As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?

One thing as an entrepreneur that I recommend everyone do over and over would be scheduling. I believe in structuring your day, practicality, budgeting and knowing your expenses. I feel like if you are exercising those qualities you can build a thriving business, but if you don’t know your expenses and your scheduling, you don’t know the market that you’re trying to work with. Customer service and getting positive feedback through word of mouth is important too.

What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?

One strategy that has helped me grow my business is reputation. As I said, I believe slow and steady does win the race. A lot of people, they want the instant gratification and obviously, that doesn’t really last because that’s why it’s called instant gratification. A lot of times that only goes as far as a wham, bam, thank you, ma’am. Some get rich quick schemes can be lucrative for some people, but it’s not a meaningful business in my opinion because I like to grow and do things for the long term.

I feel like success comes from the driving force, and my driving force when it comes to my businesses is helping people. I guess the overall message that I want to portray and send out, is that rather than making a quick buck and focusing on instant gratification, I would prefer to grow slow and steady. It always does win the race, especially with a good reputation and credibility.

What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?

I put all my eggs in one basket. I got too excited about a particular business. I also trusted a business partner of mine that ended up letting me lose my entire investment and I had to sue him. It was a huge mess for many years because going through litigation takes a long time and a lot of money. That was hell. Definitely, don’t ever put all your eggs in one basket, and even if you do, definitely know who you’re going into business with. Get all your bases covered. That was a huge lesson I learned. I don’t ever really look at it as a loss though. I look at it as a lesson. Luckily, I was able to overcome that lesson because I did not have any loans, so I got back on top by saving and reinvesting in myself and that felt very empowering.

What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?

Call up 100 friends, find out a common denominator in their problems, create a solution and sell it! Or make a subscription box for anything. Makeup, pet products, activities for kids, curate a monthly box of sample products you are passionate about and build subscribers, it’s a great business idea.

What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?

I bought a few Self Help books on Amazon and those have really helped me lately. Especially because I can listen to them on Audible, on my way to work.

What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive?

My whole team collaborates on Slack. It makes it easy to coordinate the many moving parts of owning several businesses, staying on top of creating content, and taking ideas from concept to reality.

What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?

How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie.

What is your favorite quote?

“Give a girl the right pair of shoes and she’ll conquer the world.” Marilyn Monroe

Key Learnings:

• Keep things simple and practical.
• Don’t put all your eggs in 1 basket and know who you’re working with.
• Be grateful and resilient.
• Stick to a well thought out schedule.
• Love yourself.