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

Angel, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?

This is the question that I ask myself quite a bit, along with asking myself, if I did the right thing by taking a risk and starting my own business. And I always come back to the same conclusion, which is, I’m glad I did it! I was actually just thinking about this very thing a couple of weeks ago, it is the slow time of year which means business is slow so then I have to think about the financial aspect of the business. I am a nail artist which means my business soley relies on clientele so if my business is slow, I don’t make as much money to be able to support myself or my family. I have an awesome clientele that supports me and has been with me for over seven years and have supported me along the way. I do think about what it would be like to go back to a regular job, where I have to clock in and clock out, and I have to admit that it kind of freaks me out I guess because I’ve been so used to making my own schedule that adapts to my lifestyle at this point I’m not sure if I could go back to that type of a job setting.

Angel, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Angel Villegas, I am a single mom of three young men. I have been a licensed cosmetologist for over 20 years and have worked in the industry, the whole time, whether it was doing hair or nails, body treatments, waxing. I provide gel manicures, acrylic, services, hard gel services, and also waterless gel pedicures. The majority of my clientele does get nail art on their nails, which I love because I get to be creative. As far as problems I solve for my clients that’s kind of a funny question because I always joke and say I am also a therapist, my clients and I have special relationships and throughout our appointments we have pretty good conversations to where I think we help each other in a lot of ways. I think the best part is if my client comes in and is feeling down and I can uplift her just buy a simple nail polish color or nail design , it’s the little things that mean a lot. I have to say that I am proud of where I am at today compared to a couple of years ago, I am self-employed and a business owner. What I want people to know about me is, I am very passionate about what I do, and I take pride in my work and myself and my business, and I strive to give the best quality service that I can along with proper nail care.

How’d you meet your business partner?

I work in a hair salon on Coast Highway in Oceanside called A Beautiful You Salon, with an amazing hair stylist named Liz (Elizabeth Shipley ). I’ve been working with her for almost a year and a half. I met Liz through a mutual friend that I also worked with named Brie( a wonderful tattoo artist). I am so glad i met Liz and am working with her at the salon, we now share clients, it’s a a one stop shop, hair and nails

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Starting my own business was kind of pushed on me in a way. I was working at a nail salon in San Marcos and when the owners decided to close the salon, I was given the opportunity to continue working as an independent nail artist, I tried it out, and decided that I wanted to pursue being independent and working for myself, so I then started the venture of opening my own business.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Angels_nailn_it
• Facebook: Angel’s Nailin’ It
• Yelp: Angel’s Nailin’ It