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

Josie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

When I started my business, it was very unconventional. I had about $800 to my name and was in a desperate situation with no other route but to keep going forward. A year prior, I was living carefree with a supportive boyfriend and father in which allowed me to be careless and free spirited. Lived in a high rise condo in San Francisco rent free with the support of my boy friend and knowing my dad would just bail me out if I ever gotten into any financial troubles.

Everything changed the day my mother called me and cried telling me my father is going to die from terminal cancer. I didn’t understand what that really meant until 6 months in when he was on hospice, his death bed. I moved home to be closer to After he passed, I fell into depression for months, lying in bed, without a care in the world. By then I’ve already entered a mental state of indifference of what was going on in the world, or my world. I broke up with my loving boyfriend, ignored my friends and just laid in bed all day sleeping to pass time. It was only until one day I heard my mother crying in desperation. After months of isolation, we have already used up all our funds in their savings, took out multiple personal loans to support the medical bills. That’s when I knew out of the two of us, I am the only one who can get us out of this mess.

Scrolling through instagram, I saw how much money girls were paying for a set of eyelash extensions and thought to myself, I’m licensed, I can do this. So with my $800 I paid someone to teach me and got myself a pair of tweezers and asked my friends to be my model. And that was the starting point of my business.

The lessons to my story is to point out a few key points that is required to owning your own successful business. It’s not money, or a great new idea. It’s your willingness to start even when you don’t have all the pieces you think you need. Your business will evolve and grow with you as you continue to discover and learn. I started lashing for free at first in exchange for photos, I never said no to an appointment, and I kept looking to improve my skill through learning from others and starting even though I don’t know how to take photos or had nice equipment.

Identify what you can do with what you have. You’re gonna have to starve a little in the beginning and that could mean, working after your regular job or like me, literally starve and set aside some cash to invest back into your skill or business. Trade what you could offer for things you need since you have no money. I’m not saying it’s easy, but I’m saying it can be done.

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

I’m just an average person who was dealt with a certain hand of cards in life. I understand it’s a struggle for everyone. So I built this brand in a field I enjoy but in hopes to create a working environment where girls like me have a chance to support themselves and learn the elements of overcoming life challenges so they can have a chance to be independent and be able to provide for their family.

That’s why it’s important to share my story, and to lead by example so anyone who works under my hierarchy can see past their doubts in hope for a better future.

My services are made to be accessible to the busy individual but my mission is to create a space where it’s safe and reliable for women to have a chance to grow and be independent for themselves.

Have you ever had to pivot?

During the start of the pandemic, when they announced the shelter in place, at the time I knew from watching the world close for so long there was much uncertainty. At that point I gave all my employees whatever equipment they may need to do services at home so they could earn some money while we all go wait on stand by. I think it’s important to take care of those who follow you, till this day, I still have the same respect and invited previous employees to return if they wanted to. I think the ripple affect here is that they now will also treat others with the same kindness and consideration that was once shown to them.

We pivoted from a store front to into my leaky car garage and then restarted the whole process again from scratch 3 years in the making. I’ve now 5x the size of my very first location and have a loyal team that understood triumph of life obstacles require team work. I would not have been able to survive trying to do it alone.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Next to resilience, is also grit and tenacity. Not only did I not have the choice to quit because I literally have no other skills but I have tenacity to know exactly what I wanted and not to give up no matter the trials life has given me. First my world crashes with reality into struggle, then I learned new skills to be good enough to survive and then comes the stubbornness to not let anything, even a world pandemic stop me from building what I truly believed in and wanted.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.LaBoutique.Salon
• Instagram: Instagram.com/Josiethebeautician
• Facebook: Facebook.com/lijosie
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/JosieTheBeautician
• Youtube: YouTube.com/ThebeautyBusiness