We were lucky to catch up with Jessica Scott Santo recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Jessica thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Almost all entrepreneurs have had to decide whether to start now or later? There are always pros and cons for waiting and so we’d love to hear what you think about your decision in retrospect. If you could go back in time, would you have started your business sooner, later or at the exact time you started?

I opened up my business “Jessica Scott Hair“in May of 2019.

A few years prior to opening up my salon, I was at a salon, where it was not bringing me joy anymore. I was a mom of 3 kids, wasn’t making the income I wanted, and others around me just had a negative outlook on life. I’m the type of person where I’m always thinking to myself. What else is out there or what else can I achieve? So I worked with a company and I started educating. At the time there were not a lot of educators that were teaching, the traditional hand paint Balayage. So as I started building up my Instagram page and posting videos, and basically creating an educating platform for myself. I started teaching more and more classes and traveling and took all of my class sales and saved it because I knew I wanted to open up my own business. I save for about a year and a half, and this is how I opened up my own business without any loans. The best piece of advice I got was start small and if you don’t have to take out a loan, don’t! So I think I was at a perfect spot in my life to open up my business when I did. That’s why social media can have such a big impact for a business owner or for an educator to generate awareness for your salon, bring new clients in, and or book other clients for your classes like I did.

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?

It all started when I was in my second year in college when I suddenly had to get my appendix out and drop out of school. I actually wanted to go into nursing. I wasn’t about to sit back and no nothing with my life at that time, so I decided to go to cosmetology school. I knew I was always good at hair and had a natural talent for it. During my third month at cosmetology school at just 20 years old, I became pregnant with my first child. I knew that was not going to hold me back and I graduated at the the top of my class. Looking back now, Working behind the chair for years seemed almost repetitious until I really found my passion in Balayage. Balayage in French, means “to sweep.” At that time, instagram was evolving and I was always thinking to myself on how I can Create a presence on social media for myself, not knowing how instagram changed my life now. I started filming myself on hand painting techniques and talking about balayage, since a lot of stylists still didn’t do the technique. I also started to teach a lot of balayage classes since there was a need for balayage education. This lead me to save up for over a year and opening my salon “Jessica Scott Hair” in 2019 without any loans. Which is so important to someone interested in opening up their own salon!

The number one question I get from other stylists is “How do you do it all.” Im a very driven person and I’m always looking for ways on how I can better myself as a stylist. Im lucky that I have a good support system in place at home that allows me to do all the things I can with my career. But I would be the type of person who will go to bed at 3am because I was researching all I could about social media, or about camera photography, and anything hair related. Things don’t come easy in life, and you have to really work on them to see growth within yourself.

Aside from winning multiple hair competitions such as ONESHOT from Behind the Chair, teaching at large events as an international artist, and winning Colorist of the Year twice for AIAawards, I accepted the role of Global Color Ambassador for Moroccanoil. It allowed me from taking a step back from behind the chair a few days a week, traveling to events and hair shows, meeting amazing people along the way, and really showcasing this amazing color line and new hair techniques.

How did you build your audience on social media?

On social media the biggest thing you have to do is find your niche. Basically what makes you you! Almost like if you think of the singer, Carrie Underwood, you immediately would say she is a country singer. That is what it’s like on social media just because you can do foilayage, do blondes, and vivid colors, it Doesn’t mean you should post everything about each one. You really have to niche down and pick one topic. So when I started educating for a Balayage Company at that time, I really focused in posting educational videos relating about Balayage and my page really soar from then. I gained over 100,000 followers and under a year. This led me into teaching, my Balayage classes, saving all sales, and let me to open up Jessica Scott Hair without any loans.

I always say if you want it that bad enough, you’ll make it happen, no excuses. You really have to make the time to research and create good content. For example, if you know your client that’s coming in next week and she has the most amazing hair book 15 minutes extra for timing to take pictures. Or if you want to start getting into recording videos, come in on your day off and do a family member. I remember when I would be on the treadmill every night, watching YouTube videos about hair photography or the algorithm on Instagram. It’s definitely tough to get into but very very rewarding at the end because it can give you also financial freedom depending on what route you wanna go with your social media presence. It doesn’t happen overnight so I would say don’t give up and learn everything you want to learn and apply it..

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

The best advice I ever got was start small and don’t take out loans. I first opened up my location in 2019. It was around 1300 ft.². I actually worked alone for about a year and a half and I decided to start hiring employees. About a year and a half after I opened, the location next to me was available so I opened up the wall and I expanded. So as I mentioned previously, I started educating my Balayage classes and saved all my sales for over a year. This is what led me into opening up my own business without taking out any loans! If you are not an educator, I would say open up a savings account just for you to save if you’re really interested in opening up your own business and dedicate a certain amount each week to set aside.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.jessicascotthair.com
• Instagram: Https://www.Instagram.com/jessicascotthair
• Facebook: HTTPS://www.Facebook.com/JessicaScottHair
• Youtube: HTTPS://www.YouTube.com/@jessicascotthair

Image Credits
Just myself Jessica Scott Santo