We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Allyssa Halbert a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Allyssa, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

If you really knew me personally, I believe the LAST thing someone would describe me as is a “Risk Taker.” I like predictable, I like results driven, I like playing it safe. I tend to worry a lot about things beyond my control and fear the unknown.

That was, until I started to ask myself, “What’s the absolute WORST thing that could happen.”

I knew at an early age that I wanted to go into the field of cosmetology. I was influenced by multiple family members and friends telling me that I had natural talent for hair and makeup. I started my career by going to beauty school at age 15, to then getting licensed at 19.

I always had a passion for helping others and making people feel good, but that was just the beginning. As the years went on and I gained experience in my field, I found that newer stylists or beauty school students would come to me with questions or looking for advice. This would be when my confidence started to grow as a leader. Seeing the knowledge I had gained passed on to others gave me a new sense of fulfillment in my career.

In September of 2022, I had been working at the same salon for nearly 5 years. Needless to say I was very comfortable, but I knew I needed to do more. I started daydreaming about what it would be like to create my own vision for a business and became obsessed with it.

I started putting the pieces together about what it would really take to open and run a salon, but I had no idea where to take action first. I went to other salon owners for advice. These were all powerful women that I had either worked with or inspired me in some way. They all said the same thing, “You’re ready.”

When I started playing out the worst case scenarios in my head, I made myself be okay with them. I felt that if I could be alright with the worst that could happen, then I could start thinking about “What’s the best thing that could happen?”

On October 28th, 2022 I signed my lease to my very own small business, Kind Beauty Company. I left my other salon job to do something completely out of my comfort zone, and I have no regrets. I have grown so much in so many different ways this past year, all because I took a risk. Being a salon owner has taught me that we are so much more than “Hairdressers.” I’m so glad I did this and can’t wait to see where my company will be in the next 5,10, or even 20 years. When you take that first step to following your dream, you start to see a clearer picture into what is really possible if you put the work in to achieve it.

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 tell us how you came up with the idea for your business?

I truly feel that coming up with my business name was one of the hardest parts of the start up. I wanted people to feel a certain way when they heard about my business and know that we offered so much more than basic hair care, so the name had to be perfect.

I feel like people nowadays, myself included, are being more conscious about how they spend their time, who they spend it with and what they put into their bodies. I kept seeing these sayings pop up about “Be kind to yourself” or “Be kind to your mind” and that’s where something clicked for me, Kind Beauty Company. I wanted to create an atmosphere that was relaxing and uplifting for my guests and staff. “A wholesome hair care experience.”

I chose the word “Company” because I know someday we will be more than just a hair salon. I hope to one day expand our location and create our own line of hair care. The products we currently use are by Eufora International. We choose to partner with them because of all the reasons above. They are all organic, products with naturally derived ingredients, and are based in aloe vera. Products like aerosol sprays can be hard on the lungs, for us stylists especially, breathing it in all day long. Eufora has no plastics in their aerosols and uses pressurized air instead of propane or butane, so that gives me peace of mind for myself and my staff.

One of the most important pieces of the KBC experience is our consultation process. Each guest gets a thorough, personalized consultation experience, even for just a simple haircut. We go over everything from style routine, to hair history, product preferences, and maintenance. Our goal is to educate our guests on how to properly care for their hair, while giving them a style that is maintainable for their current routine and makes them feel beautiful.

My salon’s culture is my top priority. It’s important to me that there is no animosity between stylists. We all share clients, keep detailed records of everyone’s formulas, and have the same goal of keeping our guests happy. Everyone has freedom and flexibility in their schedules and are able to grow at their own pace to make the most out of their career. I’ve always been a firm believer that if you take great care of your staff, you don’t have to worry so much about unhappy clients. I’m creating a brand that I am proud to be apart of every single day.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

The bulk of our new clients have either found us through a google search or word of mouth referrals. Our wonderful clients are always spreading the word and leaving us great reviews to build our reputation. A lot of our new guests are also finding us through Instagram and Facebook.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

Being only 24 years old and never owning a business before, to say I was a little naive as to how much a startup salon would cost would be an understatement. I don’t exactly come from a family of entrepreneurs either so I was really doing this research all on my own.

I was lucky enough to land on a salon space that was fully furnished, so that saved me a lot of money at first, and figured we could always upgrade the equipment later on. So I still needed to come up with money for retail products, color and backbar supplies, salon decor, software, utilities, and marketing supplies just to name a few.

I built a great credit reputation starting at 18 so I was able to get a small loan from my bank of about $5,000. I was able to cover the rest of my startup expenses through some savings and a few credit cards that had 0 interest for the first 18 months. I was determined to make it work no matter the cost. I would say the initial startup was somewhere around $30k.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.kindbeautyco.net
• Instagram: @kind.beauty.co
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/z2DuZcNeHeSGvecW/?mibextid=WC7FNe
• Yelp: https://yelp.to/ab1QnvFpbR

Image Credits
Brettina Mae Photography