We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Whitney Miller. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Whitney below.
Whitney , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you scale up? What were the strategies, tactics, meaningful moments, twists/turns, obstacles, mistakes along the way? The world needs to hear more realistic, actionable stories about this critical part of the business building journey. Tell us your scaling up story – bring us along so we can understand what it was like making the decisions you had, implementing the strategies/tactics etc.
Business has always a passion for me, but as an entrepreneur we have new ideas every day and before you know it, we have several different windows open while spreading ourselves thin trying to feed all of those ideas. I started out selling clothes, to selling hair, to opening a storefront for making wigs, to becoming a stylist installing them. Once I finished school, I realized that my mind was all over the place lol I had to narrow down a skill, master it, then close in on my target market. I figured after actually learning about the history of hair that I wanted to get into the process of growing it. Anybody can be a good stylist, but who is actually caring for our hair? Thats when I decided to dive deep into natural hair care on top of being a good stylist with great customer service. I discovered who I wanted to serve and how I wanted to serve my clients. I started serving my clients with a natural, organic, vegan, and holistic approach to hair. After that, I started to mass market my services, posting every single day, and show my audience every step of how my clients were being served. It didn’t matter how long or short the video was, as long as it displayed the true nature of my services on top of the beautiful hairstyle. I have been doing this every day since I graduated from school and now new clients have to book me at least 2 months in advance to be guaranteed an opportunity to sit in my chair. It has been such a humbling experience. I am now at a point where I need to hire at least 2 assistants to keep up with bookings. I just think back on how my salon was empty for 2 years while I finished school and to be in this position now is just, beyond anything more than I could ask for. It took 9 1/2 years and 2 storefronts to get here.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am a young African- American female born and raised in a low poverty household on the east side of San Antonio, Texas. I have been an entrepreneur since the age of 8 years old. I would braid everyone’s hair at school for candy and money in the third grade, including the teachers. When I got to middle school, I would cut up clothes and selling school uniforms with iron-on letters for custom wording. By the time I was 16 years old, I was working two jobs and living in my apartment (which my mother did not know about until my sister told her). I would describe myself as a pretty head-driven person with a big idea. As an entrepreneur, I can never stop thinking of a way to make a dollar or a change in the world. It is just something about innovation that drives me from one idea to another. My strength is always finding a way because I am a natural survivor. A weakness of mine would be my love for my family. Coming up as a child, my interest in hair always grew. I began to research distinctive styles, learning about different textures and how to make hair grow. I knew by the time I got to high school that I would be a salon owner or at the least, be an influential asset to my community. When I started my first business, I would ride around selling products out of the trunk of my Nissan Sentra. It grew so much that I was forced to rent a small storefront. Soon after, my fiancé of five years suddenly passed and left me in a really dark place for a while. I needed something to motivate me, so I enrolled in school full time to get my license and associates degree. I lost my home finishing school and put my last dimes into a new location where I could provide a top-tier holistic experience and not just a service to my customers. Here we are in a black-owned full-service salon. Now that this has been accomplished, my goal is to start a school teaching the care for black hair since I’ve noticed in school the main focus was for the care of mainly straight hair. I also want to open several salons across the world creating jobs and a safe place for individuals to expand their creativity.
Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?
One thing I have learned is no matter how good of a talent you have, no matter how skilled you are, it doesn’t mean anything if no one knows about it. You have to market yourself every single day. Don’t worry about likes or followers. When you are doing something great or offering a service that is needed, people are going to watch you regardless and keep up with your progress whether it’s a hater or someone who is interested in what you are offering. Either way, they are watching. It’s just human nature. It is also helpful to find different ways to attract attention even if it circles around the same points. Some people just need to see things in a different way to understand. When I used to post videos, I would insert some type of commentary note to explain what I was doing and why I was doing it. Sometimes people are in need of things or services and don’t even know it until they see it or have an understanding of the process. Another big thing I learned was to never set a limit on who you can serve. The church going clients and the strip club clients both need the same kind of services.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
*Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne -Setting yourself apart from the competition. This is a great read if you are 2nd guessing yourself about starting a business idea that has already been done.
*Acres of Diamonds by Russell Conwell- At one point of time I felt like I needed to leave my city to become bigger. This book taught me how to capitalize where I’m at and gave me 2nd thoughts on moving my operation.
*Richest man in Babylon by George Clason- Displays how important it is to pay yourself and what the payout looks like in the end. Also, in making the right decisions on how to multiply your winnings.
*Creating Wealth by Robert Allen- Demonstrates how all debt is not bad debt and how to make money without using your own money.
*The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene- How to properly utilize the human thought process and understanding how other people think.
These are only a few, but I could go on and on lol. Reading has helped me understand the art of selling, people and their way of thinking.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.qweenskloset.com
- Instagram: Qweenskloset
- Facebook: Qween’s Kloset
- Youtube: @QweensKloset
