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

Alright, Brittny thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Being a business owner can be really hard sometimes. It’s rewarding, but most business owners we’ve spoken sometimes think about what it would have been like to have had a regular job instead. Have you ever wondered that yourself? Maybe you can talk to us about a time when you felt this way?

I love being a business owner, but I will say during the very very beginning I was like what IF…I went to a 9-5. LOL lets just say the thought process didn’t last but about 6 seconds. So this was a few year ago (pre pandemic) and I had a toddler, while working in and on my business and it was SLOW..like slow slow! I was at home living with my parents and I was trying to figure out where this money was going to come from to provide for my baby. more money was going out than it was coming in and I had the boo boo look on my face LOL. Ok (PAUSE) before we go any further let me rewind a bit. For a long time I worked two “jobs” I worked in a salon and I was management in retail for YEARS. So this was maybe 3 years into be a FT entrepreneur. I had my suite and at first things were great then…boom…its dead slow..Ok(PLAY) now where was I??.. Oh right ok so its slow and immediately I went into panic mode and anxiety is on 1000 and I start applying to jobs. Not cooperate America but back to retail because I knew I could easily get in there. Yea…was I wrong. God was like no ma’am. When I say NOBODY would hire me….I mean NO_BO_DYYYY!! I kept getting “you are over qualified” for this position. I was so confused like what do u mean. So I sat in my misery for a long time which nobody really knew what was going on and how broke I really was. Until day the light bulb came on and I was like GIRL! You do not NEED a 9-5 because that will take time away from your passion! You (this is me talking to myself) have all these gifts and you are applying for regular jobs because you are scared of whats about to happen…it was in that moment I realized who I was lol and what I was here for. So I started applying a little more pressure( getting myself known). I got heavily on social media and just started promoting myself, my hair care line and got out of the (I don’t think this entrepreneur life is for me).

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Brittny, NicoleB which is my stylist name. I am a licensed cosmetologist of 14 years, and I always tell people I was born to do this. I love having a skill that makes people smile. Doing hair has always been something I love doing before it actually made me money. I started out a little girl playing beauty shop with my dolls to doing that in real life. I went to beauty school fresh out of high school because I knew what I wanted to do. Outside of my main job which is doing hair, I am a content creator. I love all things beauty and fashion!! In the salon my passion and focus is on healthy hair care and getting people to understand what healthy hair actually looks and feel like. I love educating my clients on what their hair actually needs and how/what can alter it. I am extremely passionate in not just “doing” hair but education as well..but that’s another interview for another day lol. I feel like the “problem” I fix for my clients would be the “unknown” many of my clients come to me through word of mouth because my work shows through the hair. It thrills me when I reverse problems they have been facing for years. my motto is “you don’t go to the gym and see instant results” same with your hair lol, it takes time. I believe I have like a signature “touch” My clients tell me that all the time, especially for new comers the first thing they say is “my hair has never felt this way/looked this way”. So I feel that is a gift I have that can never be taken away.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I was hoping something about social media would pop up. So I love being in front of somebody camera, but a most people do not. I will say is be vulnerable, and show your audience u are a REAL PERSON. someone they can relate to, and please please James brown PLEASE…clean off your cameral lens off! Clear content is the best content.

Don’t overthink it. I used to to this and would never end up posting because it wasn’t perfect. We want to see real not perfect.

I didn’t start seeing real engagement on my social media until recently.. I was so stuck on (I don’t have a lot of followers) that I thought people didn’t see my work. The views matter not the likes or the followers. Long as you have polished clean pics and videos you will begin to grow and audience.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

I send out a email blast to clients or I simply txt them. You have to have some the of system to be able to reach your clients in a vast majority when there is something important you need to say. My clients know I will txt them, especially if its been a while since I’ve seen/heard from them.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.nicolebthestylist.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/nicoleb.haircare
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/NicoleB Beauty Studio
• Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/@NicoleB_TheExperience
• Other: TikTok: www.tiktok.com/nicoleb_thestylist