We were lucky to catch up with Chris Bible recently and have shared our conversation below.

Chris, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We love asking folks what they would do differently if they were starting today – how they would speed up the process, etc. We’d love to hear how you would set everything up if you were to start from step 1 today

It’s a catch 22 because you don’t want to feel like you would change too much otherwise you feel ungrateful for what’s transpired to get you to where you are now. Truth be told, we all have to reflect in order to grow. The few things that stand out would be nurturing my inner belief system, clear visualization on how I want my business to feel vs look and putting a heavy focus on obtaining customer feedback.

Customer feedback is priceless and can be achieved for free. I would have implemented automation for customer reviews on products, training and services much earlier. Thats social proof! Word of mouth is still the strongest marketing strategy with the biggest ROI.

Lacking personal belief in your potential or worthiness will have you dreaming small and playing it safe. One of my favorite things my mentor would tell me is get comfortable with playing in traffic. Meaning start putting myself in unfamiliar environments and practices that will challenge me to evolve.

If you don’t take the time to see your business plan with 20/20 vision, you’re making moves blind folded. It’s wasted energy and effort with no direction. Sometimes we have an idea and posses ambition but that’s not enough. Having a clear organized plan will help keep you on track even when you fall astray. Which you will over and over again.

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’m a free spirited entrepreneur who prior to starting my business was just looking for a creative outlet from my 9-5 in human resources. Though I enjoyed working in HR and being a core component to helping staff and new hires, I dreaded the corporate politics and stagnant growth and opportunities. The thought of working hard year round to get a 1-3% raise annually was pathetic to me.

To help balance that dreadful feeling I started to explore and unlock my creative potential. I tried fashion blogging, freelance writing for lifestyle magazines to event production before getting into the beauty industry.

Back in 2015 I had been wearing lash extensions for a few years and admired the flexibility, freedom and environment my lash artist had. After always asking her 101 questions about how she got into the industry, she finally convinced me to invest in getting my lash certification. At the time it was an expensive investment, $1,300 for the training, $600 to travel out of state to attend the training and roughly another $1000 in equipment and supplies. I immediately fell in love with it. From there I invested another $12,000 to obtain my esthetician license to legally perform lash extension services.

Saying it was worth every penny would be an understatement. I got certified in 2015 and in June of 2017 became a full time entrepreneur. By 2018, I was earning 6 figures.

Now, I’m blessed to own a thriving beauty bar in Los Angeles, alongside a retail product collection and training academy. I’ve been able to employ my daughter and reach a level of financial freedom I never thought I’d obtain in corporate America.

I get to create unique relationships with my clients, boost their self confidence and be apart of my students journey to entrepreneurship. In a way it’s like supporting my community. One of the main things I want my audience to know about me and my brand, is the sacrifice and intention behind each decision. Today’s culture glorifies entrepreneurship. In reality, you’re leaving a 9-5 to work 24/7! You’re sacrificing time, money, energy and moments away from people you love.

So when you support a small business, you’re supporting their dream, their vision! You’re helping validate their sacrifice and scaling their business. I’m grateful for every single client, student and sale.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

To be honest, it was a blessing to have started my business in the early days of Instagram. Hash tags weren’t over saturated and it was and still is my top three resources for growing clientele. Though I use it as a resource vs strategy.

My number one strategy for growing and retaining clientele is having a strong positive customer experience. Cliche maybe but 100% the TRUTH. I understand the importance of creating a smooth addictive customer journey. That means from the time a customer finds us online to the time they complete a service or purchase a product they are engaged and catered to.

We love to automate processes, use simple effective platforms customers can easily navigate, offer beautiful aesthetics for product packaging and salon interior design. Our store always smells amazing and has a killer playlist clients find themselves singing along to.

Customers are greeted with a warm smile and helpful attitude. We aim to exceed expectation. On top of that we offer the most rewarding customer loyalty programs. This highlights sincere customer appreciation.

An event becomes an experience once an emotions is tied to it. SheLuvsLashes strives to evoke peaceful energy alongside a calm vibrant atmosphere.

Once you understand your customer needs and problems, you can cultivate a unique solution and strategy that your competition can’t mimic. Remember there’s only one YOU, make it reflect in your business.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Hands down, my scarcity mindset. I grew up in a single parent household with 5 children, I’m the youngest with 4 older brothers. My mother did an amazing job with what she had. I learned how to stretch a dollar for sure, but unfortunately got fooled into thinking that’s all I could do…stretch a dollar.

I had to unlearn that. I began to reprogram my mind. Started reading self improvement books, found mentors and implemented daily practices to affirm I AM WORTHY of financial abundance. Affirmations in the mirror went from a ridiculous uncomfortable ritual to a time for self love. It built my confidence. Have you ever talked to yourself in the mirror? The first few times almost feel shameful.

How sad is that! I was able to learn how to treat money like energy. It’s always present and in constant exchange. I spend more freely without guilt. I understand my value and price my time and talent accordingly. My products are competitively priced yet sustain healthy profit margins.

Learning how to budget is vital. I realized money has seasons too. Sometimes I’m in a season of saving, other times it’s investing or harvesting!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sheluvslashes.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sheluvslashes
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sheluvslashes
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SheLuvsLashes
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/she-luvs-lashes-hawthorne

Image Credits
NA