We recently connected with Danielle Johnson and have shared our conversation below.
Danielle, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Growth is exciting, but from what we’ve seen across thousands of conversations with entrepreneurs it’s also dangerous if costs aren’t watched closely – sometimes costs can grow out of control outpacing revenue growth and putting the viability of the entire business at risk. How have you managed to keep costs under control?
There were a few ways that I kept costs low as I grew my brow business.
One of the first and main things I did was delay getting my own salon space. I am a permanent makeup artist, which requires you to have a tattoo license to perform that service in the state of Texas. The license is $1000, which is nothing to sneeze at, especially after dropping a few thousand dollars on training! That coupled with a monthly salon rent before I even had any clients, just didn’t sit well with me.
So what I did starting out was rent a room at a daily rate whenever I had a client (which was very sporadic at first) at other artist’s salons that were already licensed. That way I only had to pay for that one day and save money in the process as I grew my clientele.
Another thing I did to keep costs down as I grew my business, was keep my day job lol. I kept my full-time job until I started getting enough clients to be able to work in my business full-time, which was about 3 years.
Lastly, I kept costs low by figuring out how to do a lot of things myself starting off. I made my own website, social media graphics, and so much more until I could afford to outsource some of it.
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 background and context?
My name is Danielle Johnson and I am the Owner, Master Artist and Trainer of Posh and Pretty Brow Bar in Houston, TX.
I am a brow artist that offers permanent brows, henna brows, brow grooming, and saline tattoo removal. I also teach classes in all of these areas as well.
I also service clients in my hometown of Baton Rouge, LA in addition to my salon in Houston.
I have been doing brows since I was 15 years old with my first client being myself! However, I have been professionally doing brows since 2018.
I am multi-certified, with about 13 certificates in various areas of brow artistry.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
The COVID-19 shutdown happened 2 weeks after I signed the lease and got the keys to my first suite space. I freaked out because I was already nervous about getting the space because it would mean that I would have an additional set of bills every month.
When the shutdown first happened, I had a breakdown. However, after about a week, I decided that I instead of being down about it, was going to focus on the positives that came out of that situation. Those positives included the fact that I was still employed full-time at the time, so I had a steady income that could cover the rent, I could take my time and set the space up how I wanted it without stress about a grand opening, and I also used the downtime to practice and improve my skillset.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
Although I don’t have a huge social media audience, the audience that I do have is very engaged. My advice on building your social media audience is, as cliché as it sounds, be your authentic self. I’ve found that speaking, posting, and presenting “me” to my audience is the very thing in which they connect with most.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.poshandprettybrows.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/poshandprettybrows
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/poshandprettybrows
Image Credits
Camille Percy Branding Posh and Pretty Brow Bar