We were lucky to catch up with Jessica Mingledorff Catie Mcwhirter recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jessica mingledorff , thanks for joining us today. Often outsiders look at a successful business and think it became a success overnight. Even media and especially movies love to gloss over nitty, gritty details that went into that middle phase of your business – after you started but before you got to where you are today. In our experience, overnight success is usually the result of years of hard work laying the foundation for success, but unfortunately, it’s exactly this part of the story that most of the media ignores. Can you talk to us about your scaling up story – what are some of the nitty, gritty details folks should know about?

OUR original plan was small .
we started in a 1400 sq ft space
Catie and I brought on a few assistants ( two of which we had worked with previously and had plans for them to go on the floor after a while. a manager who was a childhood friend that embodied the welcoming energy we were going for but had never worked in the beauty industry before , and 2 stylists that we had a long standing work relationship with . I think we opened the doors with maybe 8 total employees. it actually felt like a lot in that small space . and we just started grinding and building a reputation. earning a spot as athens BEST hair salon before we even hit our 1 year mark .
after 3 years we were literally busting at the seams … we had even lost a few apprentices due to the fact that we had no space for them in our current salon.
after recovering from covid shut down we decided to start looking for a bigger space . we worked with the sbdc thru uga to do projections on what we could afford and what was possible.
we had a few dead ends and disappointments before finding our current space . after building out what was an old paint store we went from 5 chairs to 10 with 6 over flow essentially doubling in size . we added 4 more stylist and support staff . and went back to the grind . focusing on team culture and guest experience. establishing our name again as athens best salon.
when the opportunity came for us to take over the adjacent space we followed our previous steps and dove in head first ! adding another 8 chairs and 1600 more sq feet making us now not only the best salon but the BIGGEST by far. since the third buildout we now have 32 employees ages 17-42 all women !
we have continued to grow out reputation and established strong brand recognition. Our salon is a teaching salon focused heavily on education. we have an apprenticeship program that allows assistants to earn hours towards a cosmetology license while getting trained in highly advanced techniques which are typically learned after school and cost major $
these girls have such an advantage so early in their career . some move on to other places and others stay but we mentor them and are truly invested in their futures . we are truly a tribe something that is very rare and we are MOST proud of .
our last business scale is the purchase of our entire building something we have dreamed about since day one .
this not only is security for the longevity of the salon but it will also allow for future expansion when the time comes with the addition of another 1500 sq ft upstairs. expanding on the possibility of spa services in the future!

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

we have over 35 years experience between the two of us . our esthetic is very similar we like soft beautiful hair. we guinuinely love solving problems for our guests and truly listening to them while not being afraid to give professional advice on what we think would work best for their hair. one of the biggest “problems” in the hair industry is thinning hair . when we realized that we could give a solution to this thru custom extensions we made sure to learn everything we could about the service. we now are the top extension salon , all of our stylists are highly trained and we source the highest quality hair and we are truly able to change peoples lives with this .
we pride ourselves on our inclusive environment we not only have a team culture that feels like family but our clients even first time are treated the same . we have a fun welcoming environment whike providing the very top experience available

How did you build your audience on social media?

social media is hard these days . I think everyone including clients have a love hate with it but it is absolutely necessary. we started with doing it ourselves but quickly realized we needed a fulltime social media manager . we are constantly changing things up and trying to accurately show anyone that visits our page the true vibe and energy of the salon : authenticity is key

Any advice for managing a team?

this we believe is the hardest part of business especially for a team our size .
clear expectations and holding people accountable is a must. our thing has always been hire someone based on personality and work ethic we can teach them everything else . we also have clear growth plans and quarterly one on ones with every employee.

Contact Info:

• Website: [email protected]
• Instagram: @tribehaircompany
• Facebook: tribe hair company

Image Credits

brandy angel photography