Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ciera. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Ciera, appreciate you joining us today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

I found out I was pregnant in April 2019. I was in my last month of cosmetology school – working at an engineering firm during the day and went to school in the evenings. My days were packed, As I was prepping for my baby’s arrival, I knew that I had to figure out my new life. My main focus was being able to be at home with my son while still bringing in income – this was the driving force, I knew I could not work full-time the first 2-3 years of my son’s life.

Mathematically, it made complete sense to quit my full-time job two weeks before giving birth and dive head first into entrepreneurship. What took me 7.5 hours to make at a full-time job would only take me 3 hours working on a client’s hair. I built my clientele fairly quickly by posting on facebook, instagram, and tik tok daily. Unfortunately, COVID shut the world, including salons, down temporarily. To keep income consistent, I began offering glueless wigs and met up with my clients at Quiktrips. The wig business picked up fairly quickly as well bringing in consistent income, so I decided to launch a website to reach an even larger audience. My day to day included being at home with my son, coloring and customizing wigs and working on the backend of my businesses during the week and styling my in person clients on the weekends. I had to figure out how to create content, create my website, legalize my business, and how to market my business online. As it became difficult to juggle both businesses, I decided to open a salon storefront, which is an intriguing story for another day :-)

Ciera, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My brand is With Poize which describes my personality – cool, calm, and confident. I became a full-time entrepreneur at the most terrifying time of my life. I had just become a new mom and entrepreneur during a pandemic. Hairstyling provided the flexible schedule and unlimited income I needed. The industry is forever changing, which keeps me challenged. I offer healthy and voluminous silk press finishes and glueless custom-colored wigs. I am an efficient, personable, and punctual stylist which is the leading force to create a high retention of returning clients.

I am most proud of juggling the multiple hats I carry every day – a child of God, mother, three-time business owner, mentor, daughter, and sister. It is not easy, but I have reached a point where I can juggle it all safely.

Being an entrepreneur is a personal development and spiritual journey. If you don’t work on yourself, become disciplined, take breaks, set boundaries, and operate off of moral code and standards, your personal life and business will plummet. My brand is for the every day woman that focuses on getting closer to God, family, and business oriented. My brand is bigger than just me – we inspire and motivate women every day.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

The most effective strategy for growing my clientele was figuring out my target audience and requesting that they book their future appointments before they leave my chair. This led to my schedule being full of styles I wanted to specialize in and clients I thoroughly enjoyed.

After a few months of this strategy, I no longer had to promote my hairstyling business. My hair business was on auto pilot, income consistent, clients satisfied. I could then focus on promoting my glueless wig business. Before I moved onto another business, I make sure the previous businesses is sustaining.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

My resilience started from the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey, but the real test came when I opened my salon. I did not have the funds to start, so I obtained funding from my bank. I had 30 days to come up with first and last month’s rent and the security deposit. Once my lease was signed, my salon sat vacant for 4 months due to needing city plans approved, upgrades on plumbing and electricity, paint, and flooring.

During those 4 months, the rent, utilities, insurance, contractor costs stacked quickly. In addition to the salon costs, I was paying my home rent, utilities, child care costs, car insurance, and booth rent in the temporary work space, My days consisted of me working at Amazon Flex 3:45am – 8am, working clients 8:30am to as late as 8pm. My carpenter stopped coming to work which led to me installing my own floors, painting the suites to finish out the last half. It took serious resilience to finish through. Of course there were times where I questioned why am I doing this or maybe I should give up. The resilience paid off because now my salon is fully staffed and I have taken ownership of the neighboring storefront which is also occupied. I am now also able to work part-time hours, relay clientele to the renters in my salon, I have an awesome assistant, I am fully in tune with motherhood, and I have cut back working behind the chair.

Contact Info:

• Website: www,shopwithpoize.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/withpoize/