Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Katalin Kiss. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Katalin, looking forward to hearing all of your stories 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?
We came to America in 2010 following my husband’s job. I only had a vision to someday start my own hair salon in a progressive city like Austin. English is not my first language so I had communication challenges in America. I took accent modification late evening classes and read a lot of books to help with my English language. I started volunteering to network and found that it also gave me the opportunity to practice my English. Despite being a challenge and plenty of back-and-forth, I was finally able to use my European academic credentials and obtain the Texas Department Licensing & Regulation (TDLR) license for cosmetology/instructor. I began my career in Austin as a hairdresser in a local Salon, then joined a local beauty and wellness school, Avenue Five Institute (AFI), as a part time cosmetology instructor. I have been teaching there since 2013 and still find it to be fulfilling. I leared a lot at AFI and got the amazing opportunity to learn from some really great mentors. I started offering hair services – Hair Kiss By Katalin (HKBK) – from my one car garage in Crestview. We decorated the garage, installed a window unit air-conditioner, fitted a hair washing station and a large mirror. Word was spreading around and I started building a steady client base. I did not have a website, just business cards. My clients became my friends and complimented my service. Then we relocated to Mueller where we bought a shop home. It took about 2 years for the construction to complete and I had a clear idea on how I wanted my salon-shop to look. So, as we were getting closer to taking possession of the shop, I ordered equipment and furniture online. Once the shipment arrived at the salon, we stored it in the garage. And then piece by piece we assembled it. I had to redo the plumbing and electric in the shop space due to inspection and permit issues and had to learn about TDLR requirements, but finally I was able to open the business. It was a long road with many challenges, but I learned much and proudly opened Haute European Salon & Beauty Products in 2013. I recruited two of my brightest graduates from AFI, and together we had a plan to turn this place into a successful business where clients can feel good (If you look good you feel good). I had a basic website up and running and my loyal clients followed me from my garage salon to my urban salon. Like the rest of the country, we had a hard time during the Pandemic. But as things eased, business started to pick up. I then launched my academy in 2020 to pursue my passion to teach about hair styling to professional and licensed hair stylists in Texas. I partnered with Armstrong McCall (major distributor for hair and care products) and started to offer classroom-based courses and I’m proud to say that my classes have been completely full. With all the hard work I have put in and the proven successes, Haute European Salon truly deserves the State wide award that we just received for being the best salon in Texas. We are looking forward to continued success and growth.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
At HAUTE European Salon and Beauty Products® our priority is YOU!
Starting with professional, courteous and well-educated consultation, we formulate the best possible plan for the individual needs and desires of our clients, that will be sure to please!
We believe in community, customer service, education, but most importantly we LOVE what we do. Our location offers a beautiful park square, plenty of natural lighting and happy hair stylists! We have created a relaxed, warm and friendly Austin charm with very like-minded and talented professionals.
We listen to our clients needs and we discuss the vision and look they are going for. Many times, clients provide us celebrity images from the internet. They want the look, hair color, style exactly or similar. We will find the combination and right mix of color schemes to achieve the goal, taking head shape and lifestyle into consideration and discussing alternatives if needed. Sometimes we have clients who had bad experience elsewhere and need a fix. We also service weddings for bridal up-dos and bridesmaids hair styling. As a resident in a vibrant urban community, we have participated in many community events like hair braiding at Fall Festival, hosting carol singers at the salon during Christmas holidays, participation at July 4th parades etc., offering not just hair services, but makeup and face-painting, as well as retailing haircare products for both men and women. We are a licensed continued education provider and provide cosmetology related courses to licensed and professional cosmetologists who are working on renewing their license with TDLR. As a business owner who believes in consistent, sustained growth, we are launching a European born service not offered before called Hot Scissor. Of course owning my salon, teaching at the school, running continuing education classes both in-person and online, as well as launching a new service keeps me busy, I could not be more thankful for the opportunities I’ve had and the support I’ve been given here in Austin. We could not be successful without the community, which is why giving back is so important to me and my team.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
You have to get ahead of everyone and ensure your business is present on all the popular social media. Do not overbuild on one and ignore the others. All popular social medias need to be in sync. I did not hire any experts but I did my best to build my website and maintain the content to be fresh. I know that my social media growth is slower because I have built it myself, but the growth has been organic and I have truly enjoyed the process. I believe that a professional hair salon should be posting pictures daily on their websites and all social media. By staying active on social media, I am able to attract and keep new talent and continue my growth. There are many tools available to keep your multiple social media profiles in sync. Also, have a plan to achieve a weekly blog on modern styles and techniques to stay your competitive advantage. When your clients and audience continuously feel they are receiving advanced knowledge on modern styles and your salon is using cutting edge techniques, a special bond is formed between them and the stylists.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
The Pandemic was very hard on my business. We were doing so well before COVID-19 hit and then we were in a sky is falling situation. The salon was locked down. My kids were with me 24/7. My clients were calling me to check on me how I was doing. Some were buying gift cards for use in the future while others were purchasing hair products for self-care. I would mail or deliver the product in person, leaving it on their doorstep. Once back home and the Client has received the product, I would call them and walk them through the steps in great detail on how to use the product. This would include self-hair color, wash & blow, dry frizzy hair etc. My clients would call me anytime of the day with any question they had about their hair. It kept me going and inspired that all is not lost. Not the best but somehow the business was “running”. I spent my time and energy in redesigning my salon website, drawing up a plan on how to launch my academy for in-person cosmetology courses when things opened up. I kept in regular touch with all my suppliers and distributors to keep aware of what products are phasing out and what the supply chain of products looks like. I wanted to ensure that when things are opening up, I have the correct color tubes and unexpired products and I will have a steady supply of them. I drew up a detailed cleaning schedule for the salon. I maintained regular contact with my hair stylists and we all were comforting each other. We ensured we maintained our knowledge through research and reading.
Things were slow post pandemic but we did not lose hope. We proactively reached out to our clients, getting them on the schedule and maintaining regular hygiene at the salon. We made sure everyone was vaccinated, contact tracing and were adhering to the mask policy. All in all, it felt like a battle and we survived to become the award winning salon of the year 2024 across all of Texas.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.haute-salon.com/about-us
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/haute.european.salon/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hautesalons
- Twitter: https://x.com/HauteSalonATX
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@hautesalonhairchannel3993
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/haute-european-salon-and-beauty-products-austin
Image Credits
Jesse Day