We were lucky to catch up with Kelsey Williams recently and have shared our conversation below.

Kelsey, appreciate you joining us today. Looking back, do you think you started your business at the right time? Do you wish you had started sooner or later

To be quite honest, I do believe I started my business at the right exact time. I was in a really bad salon when I first started doing nails, the owner definitely took advantage of all of us and pinned us against each other. Being there, I didn’t have the opportunity to grow. We ended things on a rather bad note and I ended up working at another salon. She ended up being just the same as the one I just left. At that point, I was really tired of working for other people and feeling unappreciated so I opened my own business. I had only been doing nails for one year when I opened my own business. I was afraid that I wasn’t going to succeed. That what my past bosses told me was true; “I am nothing without them”. If you would ask me this question quickly, I would say that I would have wished I would have waited a little bit longer before I started my own business, but I think everything happens for a reason and I do believe that my business started when I needed it at the most. I was actually five months pregnant when I opened my business. It was definitely hard and a learning process being a small business owner, a woman, and while also being pregnant; however, I did it and now my business is thriving.

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

My name is Kelsey Williams. I am 24 years old. I am a small business owner of a little nail salon called Mercury Creations. I’ve been open for about 2 1/2 years now. I offer Gel Manicures, Gel Pedicures, Acrylic Nails & Toes and Gel X Nails. I have an amazing daughter named Juniper and an amazing husband named Anthony. They are my rocks in my world, especially in my business. It’s very hard to be a parent when you are a small business owner you feel like you don’t have enough time for everything that goes on in life, but they definitely keep me grounded. I got into this business because I actually dropped out of college. I was going to college to become a high school art teacher and after shadowing my high school art teacher I decided it’s not something that I wanted to do. I dropped out of college and just worked for a little bit at odd and end jobs. Then I decided to go to cosmetology school. My mother is a hairstylist and has been for the last 20 years. I was scared to go into the business because obviously when I was growing up, beauty professionals didn’t make the money they did now; my outlook on beauty professionals was they didn’t make a lot of money, so I was obviously scared. Although, after I started doing research and I realized how much more money they make now so I figured why not. I started beauty school and I wanted to do hair, but the teachers that I had at beauty school were not the best. They didn’t actually care about us. There were a select few that genuinely did and wanted to actually teach us, but most of them were there just for a paycheck. While I was in school I started working at a nail salon as a receptionist. I just wanted to get a job in the business so I could see how a salon worked because I never actually got to be inside of a salon to see how it actually worked. While working in this nail salon, I would watch the other girls do nails And I thought “hey, I could do this” I used to paint and do a lot of art painting, murals, etc. so I started doing nails by doing nail art and I really enjoyed it. And I wasn’t too shabby if you ask me. I asked my boss if she could teach me how to do nails which in hindsight was probably a bad idea. The other nail technicians actually taught me more than she did. After I graduated cosmetology school, started doing nails there and it’s just been up since then. After I left my last two nail salons, I decided to open my own business and I knew that I wanted this to be a safe place for everybody. I’m an alternative girl and I wanted my business to reflect on that. I wanted all walks of life to walk into my salon and be comfortable in my chair and I think that’s one thing that sets me apart from others is a lot of nail salons. These days they are all super posh and girly and clean looking, but my salon is black. I have dead animals in my room (in jars obviously, wet specimens), dead bugs on my walls and frames, Funko pops, I play heavy metal music; I do believe that that plays a key in making my clients feel comfortable and it makes me feel comfortable too because the way I portray myself is the same clients that I receive. I love what I do when I excel in hand painted nail art which I feel a lot of people these days don’t and nowadays with Instagram and “social media nails” thats exactly what people want. I made myself indispensable and taught myself how to give people what they wanted.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

The best way to grow your clientele is to never shut up about your business. For me personally, I’m a nail technician so I always do my own nails. Anytime someone compliments me I tell them “thank you I actually do them myself I own my own business in Pittsburgh.” This always leads into a follow-up conversation of do you have a business card, what’s your Instagram, etc. Secondly, I always buy a ton of business cards and I always leave them everywhere. I don’t quite know if this is actually legal, but I will leave them in stores on shelves, will give them to my waiters and waitresses every time we eat out, and anytime someone asks me about my nails. I’ll give them a business card. It really works. Another thing that I always do is referrals. I always appreciate referrals and I will give my clients money off of their services if they have confirmed a referral. Lastly, a really important thing to know about growing your clientele is to have a strong, social media presence. Social media is a crucial tool in today’s day and age. You have to be consistent. You have to post what you want to give out to people, but also post about your life and show them that you’re a real person and not just a rob*t who does nails this adds a layer of innocence and humanity to your work.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

A lesson that I had to unlearn very quickly was the mindset of “every man for himself” and “don’t teach anyone anything, they’ll steal your job.” Being a woman in any business industry, you have a target on your back. But if another woman comes to you asking you for help you should help them. I will never turn away a baby nail tech asking me for help on how to do something for my own greed. If they need help, I will help them. If for some reason that they do become better than me and “take my job“, then that has nothing to do with them and everything to do with me. That means that I need to become better at my own job and expand my own skills. But this may also mean that you do not need to expand on your own skills, but it just goes to show you how well you are at teaching other people and helping them in a time of need. The world is a dog eat dog world. People already hate women, those who identify as woman, and anyone that doesn’t fit the “norm”enough as it is, we don’t need to hate each other. Support and kindness is the best thing you will ever learn.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.vagaro.com/mercurycreations
• Instagram: https://Instagram.com//mercurycreationss