We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jazmin Warren a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Jazmin thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Covid has brought about so many changes – has your business model changed?
Oddly enough, I emerged No Broken Nails amidst the beginning of COVID as a college student at Georgia State University so my entire business model was scoped originally completely around the restrictions and rules of COVID. The average day Tuesday and Thursday for me was class from 9am-4:45PM roughly and my evenings were spent completing homework in route to in home clients. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays were completely committed to clients. As a new business owner, I figured where would be more comfortable to clients besides THEIR home. I would bring a table, chair, all my acrylics, and a chair for myself so all clients would need to have was a seat for themselves. Competitively thinking, I also was extremely affordable in comparison to others within the industry.
As a 20-year old only child, this was an extreme risk and extremely scary BUT I knew in order to achieve my goals set for my company it would require risk. Due to the demand for nail techs increasing due to salons being closed, the scope of my traveling was not limited. Somedays I would travel from Hampton to Lithonia and back to downtown Atlanta. Because my business emerged during the time of Covid, it was not any major changes I had to take, it was just about finding the clients , client retention and good reviews.
The biggest change for me was balancing entrepreneurship with being a college student. Due to Covid, a lot of in-person learning was switched to virtual which was the hardest challenge overtime. It was hard sometimes to maintain because I was constantly traveling and I didn’t know any of my clients. Therefore, I couldn’t fairly assume they would be okay with me listening to lecture and completing their nails. This challenge is actually how I got into instructing. Instructing would give me the leverage to make more capital without all the travel and that is how I saved for my first location which helped meet more boundaries and finally feel some sort of freedom to maintain both school and nails.
Although Covid was meant to be detrimental to many, the change pushed me to realize things can change in the blink of an eye so you have to stay on your toes and ready to make changes to get to where you desire to go.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
No Broken Nails was created with an oath to always prioritize quality and happiness and the overall care of our clients while in our care. We are working on expanding to a full service salon with a lash tech, makeup artist and hairstylist. Currently, you can schedule an appointment online or walk-in Sunday-Tuesday. We provide acrylic nails, acrylic toes(forms not tips) , overlays, basic pedicures, deluxe pedicures, jelly pedicures and more. We pride the long retention of our sets (4+ weeks), hence our name. If you are looking for a beautiful, modern, clean environment with free parking in a central location, come visit us for your next self care day.
In addition to providing nail services, I also instruct others on how to do nails all over the United States and sell nail products. I have in person and virtual courses available. Anyone who is interested in how to complete a set of acrylic nails can join. I pride myself in being able to create and teach a technique that works for others as well and allows them to experience financial freedom at different scales. It fulfills me to be able to affordably help others put themselves in a position to make money for themselves and potentially generations to come if they pass down the knowledge. To check out more information, visit www.nobrokennails.com.
I am most proud that I exemplify that age does not define what you can accomplish or how much influence you can have. Often millennials are shunned for believing in being able to accomplish certain goals because within other generations, some things weren’t obtainable. Contrarily, I believe the resources just weren’t provided and therefore the lack of knowledge is why it wasn’t done not that it wasn’t obtainable. I strive to be everything it seems impossible to be and I don’t seek acknowledgment for my influence because it comes from a genuine place. That is what I believe sets No Broken Nails apart from others because many people are providing services and classes for money but gatekeeping the knowledge that needs to be known to be profitable or not giving quality services. All my clients and student often praise how comfortable they feel or how professional but effecient I am although we are always conversing and having a good time. That is what means the most to me that my clients know I value their business.
Long-term, I strive to be an affordable virtual knowledge hub for nail technology and have a federal accredited school, and maintain being a salon owner by 27. I work daily to learn as much as I can to reach these goals and help others begin their nail journey to follow their dreams as well. Follow my journey @nobrokennails on Tiktok and Instagram.
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
The most effective strategies I’ve used to grow my clientele is word of mouth marketing, door to door, and paid advertisement via social media. Personally, word of mouth seems to be the most easiest way to build a client list as it can be done directly by the business owner or the clients you service. The nails I provide not only feel luxury but they look luxurious which is an immediate attention grabber for many. Therefore, many of my clients are gotten when I’m nowhere around because my work speaks for me. I’d advice all service providers to view their work this way as well and I can assure you the clients will come swarming in especially if you are affordable.
In addition to word of mouth, I’ve also found door to door to be effective especially when you are aware of your target audience. This may require a little research but it works. Think about your local Chinese takeout or that new restaurant down the street. In order to increase brand awareness they leave cute flyers with coupons to lure you in. However, it doesn’t stop at passing out flyers for me. Once the client builds the courage to come, its a must their greeted with a smile and an attitude of gratitude for their supporting of my business no matter what their requested service is. Being that customer service isn’t prioritized with many brands, this has also help me retain the clients after found.
Last, paid advertisement is the final way I’ve built my clientele but this one requires a little more time and money then the last two. Paid advertisement is effective because it more quickly allows me to showcase my business to those searching to be serviced. I would not advice newbies to invest in paid advertisement until they have established some sort of brand presence online. This has nothing to with the number followers but everything to do with the presentation of the business. Because I’m in a industry that has been around for years, I had to understand sales come with brand value. Therefore, I post my work but I also post why my work is different: retention, central location, etc. This helps potential clients know exactly why they should come and the rest is history.
Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.
I began my nail supply line realizing that their weren’t many quality products for beginners and realizing that many people give up thinking they aren’t skilled when its the poor quality of products they are using. I would spend hundreds and overtime thousands of dollars on supplies and more times than not, the tips would be flimsy or the rhinestone gel wasn’t effective for my business model. Then it dawned on me that if I can be a hair supplier, I could sale nail supplies also.
What sets me aside from other is, I won’t sell anything I don’t use. Therefore, when looking for a vendor I ordered samples first to ensure the quality of the product , packaging, shelf life of the product and more. Because I see my clients on a monthly basis as opposed to weekly, I just asked that they send me photos throughout their weeks or I would see for myself when they booked a fill-in. Luckily, the first vendors found are the vendors I still work directly with today.
The lessons I’m learning have not so much been about the vendors but about distributing the product and getting it into other salons also. Because my industry is dominated by Vietnamese, there is a language barrier when they call to get supplies that I am working daily to tackle. Aside from salons, I’m researching how to also get the products in stores. Because this is completely different from doing nails, it gets a little complicated but I know it will be well worth it once I figure it out.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.nobrokennails.com
- Instagram: @nobrokennails
- Facebook: No Broken Nails – ATL Based
- Other: Booking site: https://nobrokennails.as.me/schedule.php