We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Alexis Williams a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alexis , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?
Success can be defined many many ways. For me, its defined by the amount of peace I can create for myself and others. Meaning creating and implementing solutions that make life a bit easier and enjoyable. My success feels like having a life I don’t have to escape from. I enjoy what I do for work each day and I enjoy the personal life I have as well. Success for me is in my personal development and the ability to see my growth and commitment to activating my visions. I have been an entrepreneur for 12 years now and manifesting visions and ideas are mandatory. I can gratefully look back on a decade of dreaming, learning, working, traveling, and creating dope experiences around my ideas.
As a business owner in the beauty industry, my clients often lack clarity or confidence about their image and sometimes the root of the problem is much deeper than styling. Success in my professional space, is seeing the results of the systems I have created for my clients. Whether its creating a consistent routine that reduces the opportunity for breakage, or the finding the right hair replacement solution, or healing a client’s scalp through consistent treatment. New clients often come to me burdened, with cancellation PTSD, damaged hair treated by Youtube solutions, and so many other crazy stories simply wanting to someone to take care of their hair without all of the drama. My spoiled consistent clients often tease their friends for having such long appointment times or for being discarded by IG stylists who get deposits before they disappear. Success feels like having a community of people who advocate for your reputation and results and genuinely support your business. I have been a brick and mortar business owner for 10 years and maintaining so many dope relationships feels like the ultimate success.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am a beauty based entrepreneur that started in St. Louis, MO. My interest in cosmetology stemmed from wanting a really fun career and not wanting to conform to society for a corporate job. I was surrounded by entrepreneurs in my teenage years, and their influence inspired me to bet on myself. They seems so knowledgeable about life, and seemed to enjoy what they did for a living, and I wanted a piece of that. I got into the industry as a teen at a technical high school that allowed me to get my professional license and high school diploma at the same time. I can say with my whole heart that I have learned this industry from the floor up, working in every avenue. I learned how to really hone my skills as an assistant, and challenged myself by moving to an entirely new state at 20 years old. When I moved to Georgia, I learned how to survive completely on my own. I learned how to trust myself and be disciplined to maintain the life I wanted. Although I started in Savannah, I thrived in Atlanta. I moved to Atlanta with big dreams and enjoyed living them out. My salon and my marketing business are my most proud accomplishments. In 2014, I opened my first hair salon that specialized in healthy hair solutions. Atlanta has a very saturated market for hair styling, but I was still able to carve out a piece of the market for myself for a decade now. I am so unbelievably proud of my salon and the safe space I have created. I love how it runs, how it nurtures and relaxes clients, how they leave looking and feeling so beautiful. I love how they all come back healthier and fuller each time. I love that my clients feel educated and empowered to make great decisions for themselves and their hair. That same energy is present in my marketing business. I run a boutique marketing agency that takes on the problems of small business owners. Whether they are launching their business or new projects, I love supporting them until they cross their finish lines. I am grateful that I am able to infuse my MBA education with my entrepreneurial experience to give them real solutions that work.
We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.
Whew, manufacturing my products has been quite the journey. I have a background as a product knowledge educator and platform artists, so understanding the chemistry and impact of products is important to me. During the pandemic in 2020, product accessibility became scarce, along with open salons due to Covid restrictions. I needed a way to connect with my clients without physically servicing them in the salon. I started the manufacturing process by creating a consignment relationship with a Black-owned locally operated product company that I supported with education and marketing consulting in the past. This was great initially, allowing me to ship products to my clients that were consistent with the salon services they were accustomed to. This was fine and dandy until they closed. Well, I did endless research to find a distributor that would provide the same quality products for me. It was not easy and I tried a lot of options that did not meet the requirements that I expected. I finally found a private label company that provided me with the right ingredients and quantities to start a complete shampoo and conditioning line. My products create stronger, longer, and healthier hair. Over the years, the process has escalated. I have added a vegan oil line that’s also eco friendly. Maintaining products is no joke. Overseeing production elements like labeling, ingredients, and brand consistency require detailed attention and patience above all else. Along the way, I had to be comfortable with completing the task over making it perfect. I learned that the first version will teach you what you need to know about the second version. Each production season, I learned more about what worked and what didn’t and created the new collections around updated knowledge. Another lesson I learned, was to be created about how I produced my products allow for flexibility and new options. For any well developed business, they have learned how to maximize their resources and assets to increase their client experience and company profits.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
What helped build my reputation is my authenticity and my consistency. Anyone I have worked with understands my commitment and therefore my reliability to completing my task. I trust myself and the people around me, so we are able to approach projects with a memorable sense of joy and curiosity. As I have stated before, I enjoy the life I have created for myself and people can see the fruits of my labor in my business and actions. Especially in an industry that is riddled with scammers, my clients are able to trust me and advocate that trust to others.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.hqhairclinic.com / www. blushbizonline.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mba.lexi.show
- Other: Energy Is Currency Podcast
Listen on Spotify: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/energyiscurrency
Listen on Apple: Energy is Currency Podcast Alexis WilliamsApplehttps://podcasts.apple.com › podcast › energy-is-currenc…Listen on Pocket Cast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/energyiscurrency
Image Credits
Cameron Mitchell