We were lucky to catch up with DEANNA MONROE recently and have shared our conversation below.

DEANNA, appreciate you joining us today. Folks often look at a successful business and imagine it was an overnight success, but from what we’ve seen this is often far from the truth. We’d love to hear your scaling up story – walk us through how you grew over time – what were some of the big things you had to do to grow and what was that scaling up journey like?

First order of business… being an entrepreneur is not for the faint of heart. In order to build your business to be successful, you have to work more than anyone with a regular job. I didn’t quite know what I was getting into when I started. All I knew was that the 9 to 5 life was not for me because I enjoyed the freedom of making my own schedule & running things how I wanted them to be ran. My business started off as a side hustle actually. I was in college, majoring in media studies with aspirations to be on the radio or TV. And of course, college kids gotta eat so I started doing hair on the side since doing so had been a skill of mine going back to middle school. After graduating & overtime, I developed such a love for the niche of crochet braids & my clientele was steadily growing so I quit my good benefits having job to work for myself full-time. It was indeed a risk but I had faith that my clientele would continue to build. No doubt, there were bumps, challenges & losses I like to call lessons along the way. There had been different weeks when I wasn’t plentifully booked, when multiple clients canceled & I was left to cry then think of solutions because the bills don’t’ stop. I started making crochet wigs & eventually developed a healing hair care line to supplement income. I would also use the advertising skills I learned in college, also with my graphic design/artistic skills I was naturally born with to market myself via social media. Being a sole-proprietor business owner comes with the full responsibility to be EVERYTHING…. the sole stylist, marketer, photographer, videographer, accountant, receptionist, editor, hair care line mixer & sales representative. Small business owners seldom have the help or funds truly needed to excel expeditiously. So we grind when we’re sleepy, hungry, fed-up, exhausted & even when we sometimes feel like giving up, we keep going. The easy alternative would be to throw in the towel & get a regular more-guaranteed job but when you’re strong-willed like myself you don’t give in to defeat. Even during COVID when my mother almost died, I miraculously managed to not let QPS dwindle. I honestly didn’t have a choice because I then had 2 households to manage. Mostly, the support of my beautiful QPS Queens & even strangers kept me afloat/encouraged. The genuine relationships forged with them has been a major driving force behind continuing on. Being someone that truly cares for people, their well-being & experience has brought me a long way. I stay consistent no matter what I may be going through & this is what has kept Queen’s Protective Styling running strong for 8 years. The journey hasn’t always been easy & I believe you can never truly appreciate being a boss if you never took a loss. With all lessons learned & coming from true humbled beginnings, I am thankful for what I’ve built.

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

My business is Queen’s Protective Styling LLC. I’ve been operating since 2014 and full-time since 2017. My specialty is crochet braids in which I started off doing on myself as an alternative to my natural afro. This was when crochet braids was in it’s infancy & hadn’t been popular in my area yet. I would do my own hair so nicely that random women would always ask me about it. So once I realized how interested people were, I started offering it as a service in order to make money on the side while in college. At that time in 2014, I was calling my business, DeAnna’s Hair Services then eventually in 2015, I created the name Queen’s Protective Styling & it stuck. I love the name because it sets the standard for what kind of women we are (Queens) & what I aim to do (style & protect). Crochet braids have grown by leaps & bounds overtime. It is truly a healthy way to protect Black women’s hair from extreme weather conditions, heat damage, relaxers & constant everyday styling. More & more we are taking pride in our hair, protecting it & trying our best to reverse the damage we may have inflicted. This is why I also created my healing hair care line which includes a growth oil (QPS Royal Oil), beard oil (All the Queen’s Men Beard Oil) & a scalp refresher spray (QPS Royal Mist). I was very intentional when creating the formula for these products because I wanted them to aid in the healing of our hair. My products are made with all natural ingredients that are powerful to help grow, strengthen & moisturize. The QPS Royal Oil is the star, my best seller with many amazing reviews of actual results. I can also attest to my products because I use them myself. With Queen’s Protective Styling as a whole, I strive to create an experience of genuine love & care through what I create. I’ve been called the greatest in the city of St. Louis due to my skill level & I don’t take that title lightly. I remain humble & continue to strive at making my clients happy. I don’t have a business degree so I’ve had to learn business fundamentals along the way but thankfully I learned many lessons early on so I know to keep structure, which creates order, which creates success. I am most proud of the fact that without a business degree, I smoothly run a successful business. Eventually, I plan to offer classes on crochet braids to help others on their journey.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Staying consistent & professional. These are the 2 major keys in my opinion. You can be great at what you do but if your consistency & professionalism lacks, you will lose business. People want someone that is not only good at what they do but reliable & respectful. These are the 2 main reasons my clients have stated as to why they love coming to me. They know that when I say I’m going to do something or be there, they can depend on me. And that makes people come back and word of mouth pleasant.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Contact Info:

• Website: https://qpstyling.as.me/, https://queens-protective-styling.myshopify.com/
• Instagram: @queensprotectivestylingllc, @qpshealinghaircare
• Facebook: Queen’s Protective Styling LLC
• Youtube: Queen’s Protective Styling