We were lucky to catch up with Krystal Leitner recently and have shared our conversation below.
Krystal , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love for you to start by sharing your thoughts about the pros and cons of family businesses.
Myself and my husband are self-employed and run our own businesses while maintaining a balance with our home and family. • Me: 2 Buffalo Mane locations one barber shop in KCMO and one salon in Lenexa
• My Husband owns and runs @wheatandwaves. He designs and builds custom ironwork, he is truly a visionary for his business and our family.
• 3 kids
• We have also been remodeling our home that sits on 7 acres with chickens, goats, cats, ducks, guinea foul, 11 cats, and a dog.
We balance a lot of things..
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Buffalo Mane was started because I couldn’t find a place that allowed us the grace between family and work. My children and family are my life and I needed something that could allow me to be a mom first. Our motto is family first. We are really thankful to have built a space where people feel like our family and they are welcomed in this space that feels like our home.
I knew that I wanted to do this from a young age I went to business school first and then hair school. We love that we have a successful business plan with a strategy for growth for barbers and our stylists. We also love that we have a defined aesthetic sense that we can make things feel cool but also really comfortable. Our core values guide us and have been the same since day one. Everyone is welcome here and everyone can find a home with us. We don’t follow styles or trends, we work to make you the best version of yourself. It’s very approachable and comfortable for every age of our clients.
The most amazing thing that we create for our clients is that it’s a very instant gratification service. You come in wanting a new look or just maintaining what you have and love and you walk out feeling amazing.
We get to know clients and their families, word of mouth allows us to host generations of families and friends and we get to follow up on how their family is, etc. We want to know how your mom’s surgery went, or your best friend’s newest journey with her flower business. We love to chat so we get to hear it all! The continued relationship of vent/share/celebrate. I get to be everyone’s confidant and build a really special relationship with them.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
We did things differently. We didn’t have traditional advertising. We donated more to charities than we made some years, worked in the community, and made personal relationships with our neighbors around us.
We focus on giving back and being involved in our city. We got out and met people, donated coats or food or anything we could to help our community, and got to know a lot of people in those organizations. Once people got to know us, they would come in and have a great experience so we encouraged them to tell their friends and give us referrals. It has been a great way to make sure we are working with people that we love and friends and friends of friends so it just became a really great environment in which we all flourish and grow. There are a lot of families and generations of families that come to us.
Do you have multiple revenue streams – if so, can you talk to us about those streams and how your developed them?
Anything we can do to promote the people around us.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.buffalomane.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buffalomane/
Image Credits
Photos by Tiffany Anderson @tifology