We were lucky to catch up with Haley Newman recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Haley, thanks for joining us today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.

After being behind the chair for only a year, I decided to step out of a commission salon & become my own boss. My first initial thoughts were “this is going to go really good, or really bad”. Stepping out on your own as a stylist, or any sort of entrepreneur, is a scary feeling. I moved everything into my suite over the weekend, and started taking clients that following Tuesday. When my first client stepped through my doors, I felt an immediate breath of fresh air. I made it. I finally have what I’ve only been dreaming of for the past few years. The beauty industry, ironically, can get a little ugly sometimes. I had a moment where I thought all of my clients were being snatched out from underneath me. I started to wonder if I made the right choice. But I continued working hard, and held my head high – and ALL of my clients followed me. Looking back, my only regret is not taking this risk sooner.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I’m Haley, a lived in blonde & extension specialist, and social media educator located in Fort Worth, Texas. I was originally going to school to become a Powerlifting coach. After my second semester, I decided to pursue my career as a cosmetologist – something I had always fantasized about, but never followed through with. I have always had a very creative & artistic background, so when I started cosmetology school – I felt right at home. I wanted to specialize in lived in blondes, because the number one complaint I hear from most women is that they dislike having to be in the salon so often to have their roots touched up. Not only is it time consuming, but expensive! Creating custom, lived in, seamless blondes solved that problem. I added extensions as a service a little over a year ago, and instantly fell in love. The confidence it gives women who struggling with hair loss, or stagnant hair growth is like no other. Not only are extensions a great way to add length and volume, but they allow you to create a custom color without chemically altering the hair. How cool is that?
I grew my dream clientele strictly through social media from the ground up. Social media has become a huge part of our industry, and is here to stay. So I figured out a way to make social media work FOR ME, and quickly grew a clientele full of services that fulfill my passion. I now educate other stylists how to attract their dream clientele, grow on social media, and build relationships with big brands.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

My biggest advice to anyone wanting to build a social media presence is to be authentic. Don’t try to be someone you’re not for the sake of followers. I built my presence by staying consistent with posting & offering solutions to peoples hair problems, while also being personable so people could see there’s a real human working behind the scenes in my business. You have to build connections with people online to not only gain their interest, but their trust as well.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

You will hear from a lot of veteran hairstylists, and even in cosmetology school, that you need to work late nights, every weekend, and service tons of clients in a day to be successful and build a full clientele. I assisted a stylist, at the beginning of my career, who would service upwards of 10 clients a day & I remember starting to feel burnt out.. and I had just started!! I thought to myself, this can’t be the only way to be successful. I shouldn’t have to break my back to have a fulfilling career. That’s when I decided to start specializing rather than generalizing, and began to build a full clientele of only lived in blondes & extensions. Doing so allowed me to only service 2-3 lived in blonde/extension clients a day, and make the same amount of money as doing 3 all over colors, a full highlight, and 6 haircuts a day. Once I became my own boss, I stopped working late nights and every weekend – and I’m even more successful now. If doing hair is something you want to do long term, you have to figure out how to work smarter & not harder. This career takes a toll on your body. You have to take care of yourself.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://live-2-dye.square.site/
• Instagram: Www.instagram.com/live2dyebyhaley
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTdnrLnFs/

Image Credits
Anna Lang Photography