We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Joy Rise a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Joy thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

In order to be successful you must be willing to work longer and harder than anyone. While work ethic and integrity are huge in business success it is often the mission or purpose of the business that is most important. While I provide a service, I truly enjoy meeting strangers and hearing about what’s important to them. The reason I love what I do is because I get to meet strangers and slowly become friends, I see them in good times, bad times, and celebrate new life stages with them. One of my main philosophies in life is “People Matter.” Just that. Everyone has something beautiful and rare but sometimes it just takes a little bit of time to find it, “Everyone has value, but not everyone sees it.” I want to be able to see it. I want to connect with people even if it’s 10 minutes a month. It really makes my just worth it!

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

I am American by birth and southern by the grace of God! Born and raised in the south, I always loved southern hospitality and the way that everyone treated others. I strive to continue that throughout my life and business. I spent 12 years in college and ended up with 4 college degrees before I found myself doing body waxing full time. I graduated beauty school in 2008 and was licensed immediately after. I spent years following various passions and careers that ultimately, in 2017, led me to my true passion; people!

I have been waxing full time since then and I thoroughly LOVE interacting with my clients. I am always here to make sure that you feel comfortable during all services. I am by appointment only but that doesn’t mean I can’t arrange a last minute appointment or that I can be flexible on my schedule to accommodate my clients.
Whether you are an avid waxer or nervous about trying something new, I strongly encourage you to give it a try and see if it truly is something that you never knew you were missing! I encourage anyone to do it at least 2-3 times before deciding if you love it or not. The first appointment comes with a lot of anxiety by not knowing what you expect. Every consistent wax following will be easier and less painful as long as you don’t wait too long or shave in-between. If after 3 you decide you don’t like it, then at least you know you tried! That is highly unlikely though because most people fall in love with the results.
In 2018 I added Lash Lifts to my list of services and have seen many people thoroughly enjoy the results that they produce. Whether you’re a busy mom who doesn’t have time to bother with your lashes on a daily basis, or just want your eyes to help you appear more awake and refreshed, it is a wonderful service that people are loving. It will only take about 30 minutes and lasts 6-8 weeks with no upkeep. It will also not damage your lashes in any way!
My business is ‘veteran owned’ as my husband spent 10 years proudly serving in the US Navy. All military family with ID will receive 10% off all services that are performed. It is a small way to let you know that I appreciate your service and sacrifice.

Can you talk to us about your experience with selling businesses?

When I moved from CA to TX I knew that I was going to have to leave my clients and it really was the hardest part of moving! I knew I wanted to make sure that they were in the best hands possible because I truly wanted them to continue their waxing without having to sacrifice quality. When I originally moved I would fly back to CA one weekend a month Thur-Mon and wax about 150 people and then fly home. It was so great getting to go back and catch up with everyone but eventually got to be too much for my family at the time. I found someone that I knew and spent over 6 months training her and making sure that she was confident, I was confident in what she had learned, and confident that she cared about my clients like I did and also that my clients liked her!
I ended up selling her my business after 6 months of training so that I didn’t have to move everything or sell it off. She bought all my equipment, products and furniture and a small training fee. I helped her set up her business and get going and it really was a great feeling to hand over a fully successful business that I had built from the ground up, by myself in only 2 years.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I went to college for 12 years and knew I wanted to work with people, but never found my niche. I ended up being “over qualified” for every job that I had applied for and could not seem to use my college degrees to save my life! I ended up just doing all the jobs that were on my bucket list. I tried every job I ever wanted and honestly my favorite was driving the beer cart at the golf course! I realized after just trying new things that I really just loved working with people. I didn’t want to work with small children but I loved hearing stories from others and finding hidden gems and sharing life with people. When the offer to do body waxing came up, I took it! Why now? I worked for someone else for about 3 years before going out on my own. It was a great experience and helped me pinpoint that I really wanted to work with people and with waxing it was a fairly vulnerable service that involves blind trust. I strive to always make people comfortable and show them how ‘non-awkward’ it can be.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.southernrootswaxing.com
• Instagram: Instagram.com/Southernroots254
• Facebook: www.Facebook.com/Southernroots254
• Yelp: https://s.yelp.com/JFJALiaaiu