We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lisa Mays a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Lisa , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

Back in 2017 I was working full time for a local chain waxing company. I was back in my groove working in the beauty industry and I quickly learned waxing was my thing. My daughter was involved with a local dance group at the time and they wanted to host a fund raiser called “Wine and Waxing”. I was commissioned to provide services along with a few other people who were also in the beauty industry. Mind you I had never done an event like this and I am not a solo waxer so how do I make this happen, was all that stuck in my head. The director said I needed to choose a business name so she could put it on a flyer. I immediately thought this is real……….. I went home and laid across my bed trying to come up with the best name that fit my business and me. Wallaw… I thought why not Head 2 Toe Body Waxing. I choose that name because I wax everything on the body. “Head 2 Toe”.

At the moment I was so far out of my comfort zone. I had never conceived working for myself let alone coming up with a name and preparing for this event in less than 2 weeks. Needless to say I made it work. My husband found a “Old” massage bed that happened to be on market place. I bought a crock pot to warm up my wax, bed paper, sticks and actual wax. Of course I was nervous but I brought along a week buddy who could help me out and make some money on her own.

Event day finally comes and lets just say that was the start of what is now a well over 6 figure business ……… Head 2 Toe Body Waxing, a year later after that I had opened my own business and left the chain waxing center. I haven’t looked back

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Lisa Mays I am a mother of 3 girls a wife and dog mom. I have been a licensed Cosmetologist over the past 14 years. I have 13 years of Body waxing experience. Before I went into the beauty industry I worked in the Commercial Construction Field as a Project Manger for Government Projects. I did that for 10 years. I’ll never forget the day I told my Father who was my boss that I wanted to pursue a different career path and he just looked at me and asked why. Of course I understood his concern but I couldn’t worry about that and needed to do this for my happiness and well being. That was in 2009 I graduated the Aveda Fredrics Institute in 2010

The level of experience reflects in how I handle and retain my clients. Even though I have been doing this for quite some time it doesn’t mean that I am not willing to learn more about my business, so I can continue to provide a quality consistent service to my clients. I started my own Hard Wax line last year. That was my labor of love and took 2 years to execute.

Outside of being a service provider I am one who loves to network and mingle with other business owners. 2022 I went through and completed Mortar Cincinnati. Thats a program for Small minority owned business owners. It is a 15 week Co-hort where at the end you take your business and Pitch it to a group of your peers and executives. One year after that I applied and got accepted into the Goldman Sachs 10Ks Business Co-hort. This was the highlight of 2023. Getting accepted and completing that program is one of the highlights of my career. The connections I made from that program were invaluable. Last year I also went from being a student of Mortar to a Facilitator. I taught their Fall Co-hort and now their Spring 2024 Co-hort as well.

I like people to understand I am so much more that a business owner and service provider. I consider myself a role model, teacher and an unlicensed therapist..lol.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

As a Female Minority business owner in the City of Cincinnati who owns and operates a Beauty Business Funding is also a sensitive topic for me. As I stated before I have sat in room with other 6 figure earners who own Tech companies, consulting firms, medical business and lastly food. I have learned that my business is not ideal to receive outside funding, Grants or loans. The reason being is that the beauty industry is “unstable” so I have unfortunately self funded my WHOLE journey. I have sponken to banks and investors and this is what they’ve shard with me. Its extremely sad and disheartening. One time I was asked to send in a grant application for money that the City of Cincinnati had allocated for minority, women owned small business who had a product. I though oh great its my time. The grant underwriter loved the idea but again going money to someone in the beauty industry was considered “to risky” even though the pst 2 years Ive cleared well over 200K bymyslef. I started my business with my own money. I started small with no investors just talent and drive. Im glad I did it that way no that I can look back on it. Starting small has allowed. me to grow my business in over 6 years to now owning a Store Front where I offer a nice space for other ladies to work and grow their business’.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Being in the Beauty industry is one of the most interesting journeys I have ever been on. Its a Billion Dollar industry that everyone wants a piece of and will do whatever they can to get a slice of the pie. In the beginning I would offer my expertise and bring up and coming students into my space and allow them to shadow and learn from me while I was offering services to my clients. After having about 15 interns in one year I noticed that having them in my sacred safe space with my clients may not be the right idea. I was torn on how I can help them but not be so open. I decided to start a free mentorship program. The way it works is I get a student referral from one of the local beauty schools. The student has to be one that is eager and ready to learn as well as be coachable and professional. They come in for a quick interview. The interview process allows me to access their needs and see what they need to become successful. Some only need a little extra hands on works with clients. If that’s the case I allow them to block a 2 hour time slot with me and bring in models so I can work with them one on one with the technician and the client. Some may need to learn how to market and build their brand. they clearly have the skill they need but don’t know how to build. I help them build their online persona as well as give them challenges weekly. the challenges consist of making marketing materials and I carefully monitor their social media accounts since this is a new day and age and the key to growing a business is having a strong online presence. in doing this I have watched and been personally involved with these technicians and their growth, I get so much joy and pleasure from doing this. It brings me so much joy watching them succeed and become confident Beauty professionals.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.head2toebodywaxing.com
• Instagram: head_2_toe_body_waxing
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Head2ToeBodyWaxing/
• Youtube: Head2ToeBodyWaxing

Image Credits
Emily Hatton with Get More Marketing handles my digital marketing and website management