Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Andrea Joy. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Andrea, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

The process of creating Cute Hoops was an adjustment. Let me start by saying that I own a hair salon, Inception Hair Studio. Integrating Cute Hoops into the salon was seamless. But actually understanding the process of building the back end and foundation of a retail business has been a journey. I knew I wanted to start another business, but I just couldn’t put my finger on it. Now, I have always worn hoop earrings. From my early pre-teen years. It was kind of like my thing. Growing up I stayed in the hair store because I always needed products. It was almost customary that you never left the store without a pair of those 99 cent hoops, even if i didn’t need them at the moment, I was buying them anyway. I needed a backup pair to the main pair and a backup pair to the backup pair just in case I lost one! If i didn’t leave out of the store with some gel and hoops, then what was I there for!? Lol. So that was my thing. As I moved into my teen years, my hoops just got bigger and bigger. So the love for them was always there. Fast forward to many years later, I’m still in love with them. So, one day I’m at the shop doing a friend of mine, daughters’ hair and he made a statement. He said ” You still rocking the hoops and hats I see. You stay with some hoops on. I remember you always wearing them when we were in school.” The lightbulb went off. It just made complete sense. I was always getting compliments on my hoops and people would ask where I got them from. So instead of sending them to someone else, I figured they could just buy them from me. And honestly, it’s been a mixture of fun and stress. The fun part is sourcing. The stress part is learning what makes a business a business. It totally differs, in my opinion, from running my salon. There are more moving parts. What I have essentially done is created another job for myself. Which leads to a lot more work that I did not anticipate. But I’m here for the ride. So, to come up with the name, I just kept hearing Cute Hoops running through my mind. That was the compliment that I had always got. And that was the one I gave, so it made sense. Once I figured out the name, I got my EIN and everything else that comes with setting it up. Now the place I wanted to back track and change the name was when I saw how much the domain was going for (insert OUCH emoji. Lol) The price was $1800. But it was the smartest thing to do because for one, it was the name of the business with a .com. Two, it was clear, to the point, less than 15 characters and easy to remember, Three, it was a .com. Chances are, if you hear a business’s name and that’s all the information you have and you search that name in Google and can’t find it, we are likely to add a .com before we add a .net or .org and so on. Then, I started the purchasing process. which I totally went about wrong. I didn’t understand the vendor/manufacturer selecting process. I dove in headfirst and lost A LOT of money on shipping fees and received a number of shipments with terrible quality products. But once I know better, I do better. I’m big on quality. I just put myself in the shoes of a customer and if I wouldn’t appreciate that quality for my hard-earned money, I won’t sell it. And if someone comes back to me and says how bad the quality is on a pair they ordered from me, I make it right immediately. I sourced all of my packaging material, flyers, set up space in my house at the time and got busy. I would ask my clients how much they would pay for different pairs or what they liked and didn’t like to see who my demo or psychographic would look like. It took alot of money to get started but if I would have been equipped with more information at the time, I could have saved so much. But it’s all a part of learning, growing and STUDYING your industry. Spending time to get to know your industry and understand the foundation of launching a business is invaluable.

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?

I have been a salon owner for 6 years and I have been doing hair since I was a kid. It was always my dream to have my own shop and work for myself. Growing up my uncle was a barber/stylist and I would sit in the salon with him after school and on the weekends and just watch everybody work. I would go in with him on Sundays to help him clean up the shop. I just loved being in the mix. I LOVED the smell of a hair salon. I just always felt that I was in my element when I did hair. I remember one day my uncle let me hold his earnings for the day. He told me to just put it in my pocket. It was so much that my pocket kind of pulled one side of my pants down a bit. He wanted me to know what the hair industry could do for my pockets. He was showing me the ropes. I knew at 14 I wanted to focus on cutting and color because that’s where the money was. Today, cutting is my passion. I could do cuts all day and be satisfied. Sitting in my chair is a safe space. I have grown to understand how important it is to listen to my clients when they are telling me their personal business. That means they trust me and for that moment they need me. They just need to get it off their chest and I’m here for all of that. At times I get to vent. That has backfired on me a time or two but now I know who I can share with. I feel that my open mind, genuine soul and sense of humor is what sets me apart. Hang with me for a few and see how much we laugh. That’s mandatory. I think I’m pretty hilarious! And once I’m your friend, you have a good one on your team, I take friendship to the heart. I’m so proud of the work that I have done on myself to be the woman I am today. From the way I think to the way I treat people to the way I can smile and really mean it. I love it here! As far as my brand, just know that you are buying into a person with morals and a heart. You can get a hairdo, a hug and some hoops all in one place.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

About 6 weeks ago I joined an entrepreneurship academy called Mortar, here in Cincinnati. It has been a game changer for me. Everything I thought I knew, I had no clue. It has made me develop my business strategy and all the little details that add up to a strong foundation. The direction I was walking in, was leading me to being stagnant on the business end. Mortar has inspired me to study my industry beyond what I thought I could absorb. I had to really sit in where I was to understand that I wasn’t supposed to be in that head/operating space anymore. I had to level up my thinking and decision-making skills. It has shown me that I have been operating as a side hustle and not a business. So this pivot is personal.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

I love listening to audiobooks, podcasts and YouTube. The Magic of Thinking Big, Think Yourself Rich and Think and Grow Rich are the lasts audiobooks I’ve listened to/read. I’m currently listening to Napoleon Hills Master Key. But I listen to everything from Les Brown to Seth Godin. Eric Thomas to Jim Rohn. T.D. Jakes to Earn Your Leisure. I have a broad ear. Listening and learning while taking notes helps to retain more of what I hear. I can always go back and grab some tips that I wrote down for myself. Having a journal is a wonderful tool to have. Writing down things never gets old. I can apply so many things that I have learned to my growth and the growth of my business.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.cutehoops.com
• Instagram: cutehoops_earrings
• Facebook: facebook.com/cutehoops
• Other: www.inceptionhairstudio.com Facebook.com/Inception Hair Studio IG: Inception_hair_studio

Image Credits
Jairon Robinson Andrea Joy