We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Brittnay Did It. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Brittnay below.
Brittnay, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Your ability to build a team is often a key determinant of your success as a business owner and so we’d love to get a conversation going with successful entrepreneurs like yourself around what your recruiting process was like -especially early on. How did you build your team?
When I first started it was just me. I was a hairstylist in St. Petersburg, FL and I rented a booth and worked as an independent contractor. I was blessed to be apart of an amazing unisex shop with an amazing team, we literally became family. As, I started to grow clientele and out grow my environment I started making plans to open up my own salon. The shop I was at taught me what practices I wanted to incorporate into my own salon, and also taught me what practices I didn’t want to allow in my salon. One thing I definitely knew that I wanted to incorporate in my salon was the family dynamic. Working with people you actually like, who genuinely make you laugh, is an amazing thing. I was always motivated to get up and go to work because I got to see my friends! I was also willing to stay late, because I got to stay late with my friends! When I would come in and not be in the most talkative mood, they would notice and pick up my slack by engaging with my clients! They would even go out of their way to cheer me up and I would do the same for them. It is hard to have a bad day at work when you are surrounded by genuine love and encouragement. Now, when I hire I take talent into great consideration, of course, quality is important. However, I also equally weigh the compatibility of personalities, because a good vibe matters just as much! Not just for the staff in my salon, but, also for the clients who patronize my business and eventually turn into family members as well.
One quote that has always stuck with me when deciding to add members to my family is “Hire slowly, fire quickly”. There’s no rush to fill my salon, specially if it’s not being filled with the most positive, loving, genuine, stylist. Energy needs to be match. Work ethic needs to match. If you have both these things, the business will grow itself organically.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
Brittnay Did It is an all inclusive brand dedicated to enhancing the beauty of all people. My goal is to make my clients feel as beautiful on the outside as they are on the inside. If you have hair I can do it, and honestly, even if you don’t, I can give you some. Confidence is one of our most important assets as individuals and when our hair is damaged, unmanageable, or simply just not done, sometimes that takes a hit on our confidence. It’s my job to change that. I am more so of a jack of all trades rather than a specialist. I like seeing my clients all year and I love that every work day provides me with new adventures and my many talents are consistently put to use. I love having a diverse clientele base, as well as, service list.
My salon operates in the same manner. We are a judgment free self improvement zone! We are an open floor salon and we take pride in building a strong rapport with each of our clients. We offer a fun, relaxing, adult focused environment. We pride ourself in thorough consultations prior to starting each service to ensure our clients get the look they truly desire, and if they don’t… we fix it! Our main goal is making sure our clients love their look and want to come back.
How did you build your audience on social media?
My biggest advice to anyone just starting out their social media portfolio is to keep posting, be consistent! Don’t judge your content, post it and let the people judge it. We are our own biggest critics, and sometimes the flaws we see others don’t even notice. When I first started doing hair I didn’t want to really advertise to my followers on my personal page, I was honestly a little insecure about my work and didn’t want the people I knew to see it. This led me to create a separate business page completely devoted to hair, best decision I ever made. Now, 80% of my current clientele finds me off of social media, mainly instagram. The remaining 20% is referrals. Without the help of social media I would have never been able to grow my extensive clientele base in just a few short years. My content even began to reach celebrities and professional athletes. Yet, none of this would have ever happened if I didn’t post my work. I made it a habit of taking photos of every single client whose hair I did, I even kind of became known for it. New clients would come in dressed super nice , sometimes even with a full face of makeup and they would say to me “I know you like to take photos. so I came prepared.” I took pride in this, and made it part of the Brittnay Did It experience. Who doesn’t want a photoshoot after being glammed.
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
Majority of my clients come from social media. My extensive photos and high quality content allows me to show off my talents, individuality, and client relationships to a vast audience. Social media makes the world a lot smaller place and I am extremely grateful for it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thelaboratory.as.me/schedule.php
- Instagram: @Brittnaydidit
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brittnaydidit?mibextid=LQQJ4d