We were lucky to catch up with Brittany Foster recently and have shared our conversation below.
Brittany , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Innovation comes in all shapes, sizes and across all industries, so we’d love to hear about something you’ve done that you feel was particularly innovative.
The most innovative thing I’ve done within my career was transition from offering artificial enhancement services (acrylics, nail extensions, overlay, etc) to natural nail care services (gel polish manicures, pedicures, and natural nail care products).
Brittany , 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?
I have over 22 years of industry experience. I am a Natural Nail & Product Specialist, Thriving Business Owner, Coach, Trailblazer, and Philanthropist.
Frequently referred to as the Nail Diva, I have won the praises of my seniors and peers, because of my fresh and innovative ideas. I’m passionate and love to share my gifts and talents with others by teaching them how to enhance their skill set, confidence behind the nail chair, and how to take their business/career from surviving to thriving!
I graduated from Inner State Beauty School in 2001, and later went on to obtain an Associate’s Degree in Small Business Management.
As a trendsetter, my desire was to create something different, to stand apart- which is what inspired the superior line of “green” Polizhed products and elite services. As the proud owner of Polizhed Natural Nail Studio & Product Line, I invite you to treat yourself to a Polizhed experience!
How did you build your audience on social media?
Our audience and clientele soared leaps and bounds solely from Instagram! Daily. (3x) a day I’d post before and after pictures of my work-and noticed that our social community + engagement was growing,
Seeing this inspired me to continue those efforts and make IG (Instagram) my main source of advertisement-as this is where our audience was. Our salon page was literally gaining 1k or more new followers per week!
My advice to someone building a social media presence are the following:
1. Post the same content on multiple social sites (FB, IG, Twitter, etc) and see what gets the most engagement. Monitor that for a few weeks and this will help you discover where your audience is.
2. Post a minimum of 3x per day (breakfast, lunch, dinner). This is key to keeping your brand in your followers news feed.
3. Post content that is most popular within your business. (For example) if you offer pedicure services, and it’s your most booked service-post (before/after) pictures of the client transformation.
4. Be consistent! Post your content at the same time each day, so your followers can get use to your schedule.
Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.
Yes, at Polizhed our natural nail & foot care products are made and manufactured in house.
The start to our natural nail care line stemmed from a business class I took in college. One of the assignments at the time was to create a sales pitch to the class, so I decided to make mines relatable to my day to day life-which inspired me to create a cuticle oil.
From there I created samples, passed them out during my pitch-and the response was GREAT! After that I decided to give samples to my clients, and asked them to use this product in between their visit-and I noticed immediately how healthy/hydrated their cuticles were.
Many clients begin to inquire about purchasing the product, which let me know I was on to something. From there I got in the lab, designed a logo, created labels, made the product, and the rest is history.
The lessons I’ve learned along the way about manufacturing a product are:
1. Know your capacity. While you want to grow and make money-start small, so that you can gauge/manage the supply/demand.
2. Launch 1 product at a time. This way you can measure the success or lack there of for each product.
3. Make sure the products you offer fit your brand. (I.e. if you’re a nail technician, create nail products that relate to the services you provide).
4. Make sure you seek legal council to ensure your brand/products are protected.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.polizhedstudio.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/polizhed?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/polizhednaturalnailstudio
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/polizhednaturalnailstudio
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/polizhed?s=21&t=syF_SPq-wvWNJOQeCcVJbA
- Pinterest link: https://pin.it/4OMYCND
Image Credits
Kamron Khan Photography