We recently connected with Lizbeth Hita and have shared our conversation below.
Lizbeth , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Alright, so we’d love to hear about how you got your first client or customer. What’s the story?
While growing up in a hair salon, I always admired watching my grandmother and mother become amazing stylists and care for their guests, but nothing truly prepares you for the surreal moment that comes with meeting your first client. Now, up to this point I had been blessed to shadow and learn with a great local stylist after I got done with beauty school and later assisted my mother on weekends until I had attained my license but after a few sessions and obtaining my license at the salon, I truly felt ready to start taking clients. I remember that morning perfectly, I remember preparing everything for a cut while the stylist at the salon encouraged me. I was so nervous, but I started the consultation and I guess the nerves got the best of me and forgot to put on the cutting cape. I remember talking to the client about what cut she wanted and how she would like it styled, next thing I know, while still talking to the guest, I started dividing the hair, putting it up and bringing down the first section to be cut and as I took the shears to make the cut I can see the confusion in my guest’s face as I cut the first piece. Suddenly, I realized what I did and saw the mess I made on her clothes, and I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry out of embarrassment. Thankfully, my client completely understood, and she became a regular till I moved to university.
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 background and context?
Hi, My name is Lizbeth and I am a Curly Specialist and owner of Ritual Hair Studio. My studio is a holistic space where we use low to nontoxic products to create the latest movements in color and cuts for all hair types. I have been practicing for 13 years and what keeps me thriving in this industry is by restoring women’s love in their appearance in a more natural way and by guiding them through their curly journey while shaping a community. Although everyone is welcome in my chair, 98% of my guests are wavy, curly and coily textured guests and I believe this is due to the amount of detail our “First Time Guest Services” includes. If you ever visit our studio you can expect a very detailed consultation, where we talk about your lifestyle, realistic goals, and what you would like to achieve with your hair, and of course, a personalized cut that will help your curls thrive and is fitting to you. Most importantly, your experience will include a styling lesson that will help you understand the process, the state of your hair along with what curly hair products benefit you the most.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Owning a small business comes with many challenges. Some are small, such as dealing with difficult guests or a bad review. I find that the best way to combat these issues and keep your business moving forward is to understand that not everyone will love your services, prices, products, etc. And try to learn from any criticism that may be included in the review but most importantly I always ask my returning guests to leave an honest review about their experience and what made their appointment special.
Some other challenges can be a lot bigger, like recently, we found out that Ritual has to move to a different space. As you can imagine this came as a surprise and with a lot of stress. As a small business that opened 3 years ago, and 1 of those years having to shut down due to the pandemic, it feels like we haven’t had a chance to truly serve the community fully. Although it has been stressful, I believe that searching for a space and preparing creative ways to continue our services in the community is what will keep our doors open. Being consistent and staying focused on Ritual’s mission has led me to people that have been helping us in this process and our current guests have been super supportive and helping in ways unimaginable.
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
I think the best strategy that has helped me grow my clientele has been connecting with my guests. Although connections start on social media, I find that listening to each and every guest during our consultation has helped. I think this is crucial because most Curly girls are often told what they need to get done on their hair and how to tame it rather than understanding the guest’s concerns and everyday life. So, before I offer any help, I like to meet them where they are and truly join their curly journey. Connections have helped me offer better services to my guests and in return they recommend me to other curly girls in the area and even other states. I like to nourish these connections with after care services that are just as detailed as the first time they visit the studio and offer them a safe space to ask questions, even after they go home.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ritualhairknox.com
- Instagram: @ritualbyl
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ritualbyliz
- Other: studio instagram: @ritualhairknox studio facebook @ritualhairknox