We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Katrina Nguyen a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Katrina, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s something you believe that most people in your industry (or in general) disagree with?
I think people view the beauty industry as a get rich quick scheme. That if you enjoy doing nails or lashes while you’re in beauty school, once you graduate you’ll just make tons of money and clients will be lining out the door. People think their passion will sustain the momentum but when you can’t afford to pay your booth rent or your bills, your passion will take you no where. Discipline will take you farther than motivation ever will. The coveted idea of being a “boss babe girl boss” is not just brandshoots and kitschy captions on social media. The amount of work it takes to run a successful business happens behind the scenes and it’s not glamorous. I don’t think everyone is meant to be an entrepreneur and if you don’t have the discipline even when you’re not making money, when no one is liking your posts, or when clients don’t book with you – the beauty industry will eat you up and spit you out.
Katrina, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I started doing nails when I was 10 years old at my parents salon growing up. In the nearly 20 years I’ve been in the industry I’ve watched how much it’s evolved and I’ve been part of this next generation of nail techs and salon owners who take this seriously as a career. I grew up working in walk in salons and corner shops where the goal was to get clients in and out as fast as possible. When you’re a creative and perfectionist and you want to take you time, you get criticized and demoted.
I felt called to open my own salon because I couldn’t find a place where I fit in. Everything that I dealt with growing up in salons has stuck with me. From fighting for the chance to be creative, for my work to be seen, for salon ethics to be fair, for the owner take accountability for their indolent behavior – I have never forgotten how disheartening that feels.
I set out to cultivate a creative and supportive environment for my salon and my team. Investing in high quality supplies, salon equipment, esthetics, brandshoots, training, continuing education – I’ve put my money where my mouth is. I put in countless hours at my salon even when I’m not behind the chair working with my clients, I’m cleaning, organizing, assembling furniture, always looking for ways to improve. I don’t expect anything handed to me and would never ask my team to do anything that I haven’t done myself. I think that’s the biggest difference that sets 211 Studio a part from other salons. This was the missing factor that I didn’t see in the industry so I did it myself.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
I spent 3 years in business school and nothing I learned could’ve prepared me for the real world. When you’re getting your business together in the early stages, creating your LLC, getting your use and occupancy permit, and passing city inspections, you’re dealing with a lot of middle aged contractors. For whatever reason, it can be disheartening in a room for a full of men when they shake everyone’s hand except for yours, when they don’t take your opinions seriously because you’re a woman of color, I always have to remind them that I write the checks for their invoices, decisions have to be approved by me, I am the boss.
Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?
Consistency is the most effective strategy for growing clientele. It feels redundant and it sounds so simple but creating content is a job within itself. You have to be consistent to stay relevant. More importantly, the clients that follow you want to see what you’ve been working on. I meet new clients everyday that tell they found me through social media and that they’ve followed me for a long time to see how my work has progressed and what I stand for. When I get client referrals the first thing people do is pull up my Instagram to see the nails that I do. It’s a win win situation for everyday. In order to make it feel less like a job, you have to find content that you enjoy watching and recreate those posts.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/211studio
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/211nails
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katrinanguyens
- Yelp: https://yelp.to/F12GKKizbF
Image Credits
https://www.instagram.com/phanypaxk?igsh=aXY0bzd4dWhqNDYw