Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Courtney Graham. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Courtney, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So, folks often look at a successful business and think it became a success overnight – but that often obscures all the nitty, gritty details of everything that went into the growth phase of your business. We’d love to hear about your scaling story and how you scaled up?

In high school, becoming a hairstylist sounded like a fun career path. I went to cosmetology school, got my license and landed my first job inside a hair salon. Soon I learned, not everyone is easy to please. I decided to hone in on my craft and focus on furthering my education. Unfortunately, the salon thought it was more important for me to focus on building my clientele. How could I do that when there was so much left to learn? That’s when I decided to find a salon that focused on educating their stylists. I found a great fit and truly started the first 13 years of my career. I took every class and opportunity and became extremely confident in my craft. Eventually, I hit a plateau. I tried becoming an educator, and decided that was not the direction I want to go in. I then began to study up on the business and management aspect, and discovered that part really exited me. It wasn’t long after that, that I decided to branch off with a business partner and open up our own studio. 6 years, ALOT of mistakes and wins and a booth renter later, we own a rooftop salon location in downtown Herndon. We could not be more proud of how far we have come!

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

At Indigo Hair Studio, we love that we are able to give our clients a personal and impactful service every time. We keep up with our education, we are easy to contact and we truly put our clients first. We are known for our coloring and cutting styles and techniques along with extension installations. If you are just looking for a reliable and professional stylist, or if you are looking for a whole new look then we are the ladies for you.

Have you ever had to pivot?

The biggest pivot and learning curve of my entire career, was branching off with my business partner and learning how to run our very own business. “Go off on your own” they said, “it will be fun and you’ll make more money” they said. It’s all fun and games until your previous salon threatens to shut you down, and lets not forget tax season. Oh, and did I mention navigating a pandemic 8 months after opening? This was probably the hardest and scariest thing we have both ever done. However, two minds are better than one. It helped to have two different mindsets a views of how to maneuver through everything. We banned together, hired an amazing attorney. We went through several accountants until we found the perfect fit. We also created personalized color touch up kits to deliver contact free, just to get us through the pandemic until we were finally able to open our doors again. Scary? Yes. Resilient? Also yes.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

Hair has always been my biggest passion in life. The older I get, the more I realized work/life balance is very important along with my health. 20 years into the craft and I realized, I can’t keep going with this much momentum without falling apart physically and mentally if I don’t have structures. Structure for pricing and structure with my personal and professional boundaries. Being able to rest my body and keep it strong to avoid many common problems is very important for sustainability. My time behind the chair is valuable, so I need to price accordingly to keep a nice healthy balance without stress. These are things I overlooked for a very long time, but now I make top priorities. It’s the only way I can continue to give my passion 100% of me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sites.google.com/view/indigohairstudioherndon
• Instagram: @_courtneycolors_ @yanashighlights_ @indigo_hair_studio_