Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to D’Erika Gaines. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, D’Erika thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.
Business is all about taking risk, as well as entrepreneurship. I didn’t know exactly what I was getting myself into prior to starting my business. However, I did know that I no longer wanted to work a 9 to 5. Long story short, I was tired of my current job I had working as a receptionist at a medical clinic. I’ve never had a job that paid me a decent amount of money. I’ve always knew I had many talents, the hustler and drive to get what I want by any means. At this time, I was dealing with so much in my personal life and decided I was going to quit my day job and start making wigs and selling them. I had no idea exactly how I was going to do all of this. I did a little research, other than that I just knew I was good at doing my hair. Everyone would always ask about my hair and the wigs I currently made for myself. So I figured, why not just quit today and just start making wigs. I had a little bit of money saved up for the next two months worth of bills—if this didn’t go as planned. I sat there at work and starting typing up my 2 weeks notice, the same day I thought of just taking a leap of faith. From that day forward I just never stopped. My first two months into making wigs was very successful. Needless to say all risk aren’t bad risk. Just add some faith behind it.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
The DStyles Collection is currently based in Houston Texas and is ran by owner D’Erika Gaines—a 25 year old luxury custom wig maker. Since I was a child I’ve always been into hair and expressing myself through my creativity. Doing hair in general as always been something that came easy to me. However, I never thought I’d be here today making and selling wigs. It wasn’t until early 2018 when I first started making wigs for myself. I posted a hair video of the wig I had made on YouTube and received so many views and positive feedback. Many hair vendor started to reach out to me to make more wigs and post more content on my youtube channel. The more I did it the better I got. Soon friends and family started asking me to make wigs for them as well. I was extremely nervous and continued to decline the offers. Towards the end of 2018, September to be exact. I was very dependent on my current 9 to 5 that paid little to none. I couldn’t save much or focus on any other outside activities. I became so fed up I just decide to quit and type up my 2 weeks notice in the middle of my shift. My last day was October 4, 2018 and I stayed making wigs immediately. After 2-3 months of being very successful I was so determined that I can take this and make something of myself with it. It took a lot of discipline in the beginning that I had to learn. I couldn’t just spend all the money I was making if I wanted to keep the business running. It has definitely taught me so much.—with money management, patience and just have faith within myself and staying positive. The first year was actually the easiest for me. Until Covid-19 hit… everything shifted from there and my business was completely on hold for 4 months. Once things started to get a little better I began taking in clients. I was no longer just selling and making wigs but now installing units on clients. I was able to build a strong clientele because of this. I started and still—offer fuax ponytails, half up and half down sew-ins, wig installments, wig maintenance, bring your own bundle service, and now build your own wig service. I’ve slowly be surely started to add more and more thing to my business to keep my clientele in gaged and expand to others that might not be into wigs, just yet! At the start of 2020, I started teaching one on one hands on wig classes. The more wig makers begin to become popular i figures this would be a great way to add another service and start teaching other how to do exactly what I do with all my techniques included. The Dstyles Co isn’t just your regular wig shop. I’ve build amazing relationships with a lot of clients and I’m extremely grateful to be able to consistently make women feel great about themselves. Everyone loves getting there hair done so why not make it easier for them and construction the wig ‘Ready to Wear’. Not everyone has the time to learn or take a wig making class whether it’s for themselves or for a future business. So of course that’s where I come in! Many people questioned me about teaching others how to make wigs, worrying if I’d lose clients if they learned. But quite frankly it did the opposite. I genuinely love teaching others what I do. However, with the advantage of being a “neat freak” I take my work extremely serious. Everything must be perfect! Everyone loves how natural and neat my work is. It literally speaks for itself. I knew that having certain techniques and being extremely neat would set me apart from others. Regardless of how long other wig makers have been doing hair or making wigs. Not only that, I’m also gifted with graphic design which plays a huge part in marketing and the design of your business. I was able to make my own website, flyers, business cards etc. something most people would have to hire or pay someone to do. You’ve guessed it! That was the next service I provided for my clients and up and coming business owners! What about the entrepreneurs that don’t want to do everything themselves and just starting with a strict budget, you ask? I also, started to make downloadable templates at an affordable prices for those as well. It may seem like a lot but that’s what I love about what I do. I make the rules and the results are amazing. Doing something that I love while making others happy and teaching people to invest into themselves is probably the most rewarding thing. Other than that my most proudest moment is waking up and realizing I’m still going. I would have never thought that I’d still be here making wigs and building a name for myself. I’ve been able to achieve so much in life because of it. Because I simply step out on faith and believed in myself when no one didn’t. If anyone reading this that wants to become an entrepreneur or just need motivation to do something they truly love, I’m here to tell you to do it! I share my story with everyone because I was once in a position where I didn’t think I’d ever be here, move out my parents house, own my own car, travel, gifted others, etc. Regardless if you think or feel like no one is rooting for you, I am! The first support you need is within yourself. If you don’t have the mindset to not care what others think you won’t succeed in this industry or doing what you love.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
This has to be the time where I was doing extremely well in my business having little to no hiccups. Before I knew it all of that was soon going to change. At this time I was receiving some payments through cash app for easier convenience, which I highly don’t recommend. I had one client that I had made a wig for as well as installing her unit for her. Almost a month later I received a chargeback through cash app. Cash app had alerted my phone with the clients first and last name. I was extremely devastated and confused of why this was happening. My client never complained about any dissatisfaction regarding her unit or installment. Especially it being almost a month later. I reached out to the client trying to get an understanding before resulting to my bank. Soon after I received no information I contacted my bank and thankfully they were able to help me but suggested to not work with cash app—since they did not have a customer service line at the time. Before I was able to switch things over and make new polices for my business on no longer accepting cash app. I was scammed over 1k not even knowing how this all happened. I wasn’t able to receive the funds back unfortunately. It was the first time I had gone through something like this and with my business. I knew I couldn’t let this discourage me. I had to continue to push harder regardless of being over 1k short. It took a while but once I was able to get past this. I felt like anything thrown my way I could get past that as well. I never let my hard times keep me down to long.
Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?
Majority of my clients are via social media Instagram, Facebook and now a few on TikTok. Im always keeping in touch with my clients. I make sure to give as much honestly and quick communication with each client. As I know the hair industry isn’t a cheap thing to come by especially wigs. Answering as many question to make my clients and customers feel comfortable with working/purchasing from me. The more you build trust the easier it’ll be for you. A lot of my clients look at me as their ‘hair friend’. I give great feedback or hair advice rather or not the client is ready to purchase with me now or 3 months from then.
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.thedstylesco.com
- Instagram: Thedstylesco
- Youtube: Derikdashay
- Other: http://beacons.ai/derikadashay/