We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kennedy Whitten a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Kennedy , appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.
As a young business owner, I take the time to stay up to date with the latest industry standards and trends. With that comes a lot of knowledge from whats new and trending with all things creative and artistic, but knowing how to cater to different types of customers is also a huge piece that comes along. I pride myself on providing a memorable experience for each client that sits in my chair. I take the time to get to know them and understand their needs. Each client has blossomed into some sort of friendship whether it be talking every couple of months to see how one another is doing to having full blown besties I never saw coming! Providing a memorable and impactful session for my clients is a huge priority for me and the main artery to maintaining lasting relationships.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I’m Kennedy Whitten, Professional Makeup Artist, Licensed Esthetician, and Business Owner, but you can call me Ken. I have been called Ken my entire life so when creating a name for my new business in 2021 in the floor of my empty college apartment, I knew I wanted to somehow incorporate it into my business name. I graduated from Tarleton State University in December 2021 with a Bachelor’s in Marketing. I remember the day I officially launched Skin by Ken. I was moving out of my college studio apartment in 10 days, I had sold all of my furniture so all I had was a mattress on the floor, and was ready to move back home. I always knew this was the path I wanted to take so it felt natural to start taking the steps to make this dream come to life. When I officially launched my business that late night in December of 2021, I remember how proud I felt. I had ABSOLUTELY no idea what I was getting myself into, I just knew I was ready and I was excited! Here we are, almost 2 years later and Skin by Ken has blossomed into something I never thought I would attain. Here I am with a full clientele, a jam packed schedule and a whole lot of love and passion for my people. I am so thankful to call this my job and my business!
Have you ever had to pivot?
Remember how I just mentioned I started my business right after I graduated college? Well, I was stuck in that college, ‘lets go out every night’ mentality still. It was a hard transition into adult world and learning how to balance being a new business owner and life after college. I feel like it is not talked about enough. I really had to get real with myself one day and evaluate how I was running my business and how I was operating in my social life. I soon realized I was not prioritizing my business like I had always thought I would and it was showing. Discipline and self awareness are KEY when starting and managing your own business. After that moment, I created a master plan of what I wanted my business to look like in a year’s time. I can happily say I exceeded my own expectations and accomplished way more than I thought I would. You’re always going to have to ‘pivot’ at some point, its how you grow! I have learned to be thankful for those moments because I know something great is soon coming!
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
Social media is a key component in todays day in age, in order to run a successful business. It is the gateway into any community/niche, as long as you know how to effectively utilize each channel. When I first founded Skin by Ken, I was blasting every social channel I had just created to get as much fresh exposure as possible. That worked and I had gained about 300 followers in the first couple of days my business accounts were up. I had pretty steady growth after that but about 8 months after creating the social pages for my business, I noticed a plateau in my engagement and was extremely stressed. I was doing the exact same thing I had done to gain all of those followers in the first place, so why wasn’t it working? Thats the thing. I got complacent. I thought the same ole posting schedule and hashtags were working, and they just weren’t. I had a lot of knowledge about how to market myself and receive organic growth on multiple social channels from my college degree, but I knew I needed to go further than that to educate myself on the beauty industry standards and channels. Thats a key component to any beauty business now, educating yourself not only on your craft, but also staying up to date with all social and media trends to stay relevant in the space. After almost 2 years, I have created a community of over 1,100 followers on instagram and 500+ on Facebook. A lot of people do not realize how hard it is to not only catch the attention of a viewer, but also intrigue them enough to press follow. I am so proud of my community and thank them everyday for their support!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @skinby.ken
- Facebook: Group: Skin by Ken
- Linkedin: //kennedywhitten