Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kiki Taylor. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Kiki, appreciate you joining us 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?
My business is remarkably larger than when I first started. There were many obstacles along this journey, but I’m so blessed and grateful to be where I am today. I started in the nail industry in high school and immediately went to nail school shortly after that. After taking a brief pause to have my first and only child, Kiaja, I quickly returned to school and finished gaining my nail license. I was eager to build my skill level for the most part. I just wanted to do amazing and creative nails. I started my first job inside Northgate Mall at Glamour Nails. I was finally immersed in the fast-paced world of being a nail tech. My excitement started to take a turn when I started to feel singled out at my workplace. I decided in the moment of packing up my supplies the day I quit that job that I would create my own space where I could be creative and run on my own terms. My mother bought a small nail table and let me set up an area in her living room to practice in my free time. I moved through a few salons and practiced freely on my friends and family to build my techniques. I wanted to be known for colorful freestyle designs while maintaining healthy natural nails on my clients. After I was able to leave the salon life and set up my own prices and schedule my skill level began to grow exceptionally. I was making enough profit to take care of my daughter and move into my own apartment where I set up an area for myself to work on my clients. Things were going smoothly until another local nail tech called The NC State Board of cosmetics to try and have me shut down. After speaking with them and getting through that situation I decided to scale up and rent a small office space to take care of my fast-growing clientele. I was able to take that obstacle that was sent to destroy my business and use it as motivation to go bigger and better. Unfortunately, this new space I acquired wouldn’t last past six months as the landlord at the time and I came to a disagreement on the initial lease. I quickly searched for a new space, hopefully, bigger because my products and supplies were outgrowing their already expansive storage space. I came across just what I wished for and moved immediately. In this new space, I was able to expand, teach my skills and began to have small events. There were so successful, it was only six months before I was signing a new lease for a bigger space in the same building with a business partner. We created TIps and Needles, Durham’s only premier tattoo and nail studio. That partnership almost lasted a year, during which, I began hiring other nail techs and training them on my techniques. I had a lot of overflows and could not realistically service everyone who wanted to get in my chair. I started with an apprentice and branched out to add more stations to give multiple nail techs the same opportunity. Making that decision came with it’s own ups and downs. I met some great people and others took advantage of my kindess. At the end of the partnership with my business partner, I was left with the decision to scale back or continue to grow. I decided to keep moving forward and turned the space into a complete nail salon with six stations besides my own. In December of 2018, I was in a terrible car accident breaking my right leg and wrist. I spent about a year in recovery and therapy to be able to return to work. pushing through the mental, emotional and physical pain to get back to doing what I love as my only goal. It’s now 2022 and I have since moved to an even bigger suite in the building. The obstacles never end unfortunately but it’s about learning what you can from them and moving forward. I’m happy to be where I am and even though I’m still learning through trial and error, I look forward to the future of my business.
Kiki, 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?
My name is Kiea Taylor but most call me Kiki! I’ve been a nail tech for about 12 years and I absolutely love what I do. I specialize in healthy custom acrylic enhancements and natural nails. I’m known for my colorful personality and creative freestyles. In high school, I wanted to be different, so I started to paint and design my own nails. My friends and classmates quickly took a liking to the miniature art on my fingers and started to ask me to design their nails as well. You could find me in the cafeteria or in the photography room with my bag of polish and with $5 you could have whatever our minds could come up with at the time. After high school, my grandmother found a nail school for me to enroll in and the rest is history! I pride myself on my customer service and my ability to educate my clientele. I want you to be happy and know how to maintain your nails with or without me. I handmake and sell nail supplies to my clients and the nail world. You would love my Goddess cuticle oil or sugar scrub for home nail care!
How did you build your audience on social media?
I built my immense audience on social media by posting consistently and staying genuine. I post pictures and videos of my work as well as engage with others online. It’s important to not get easily discouraged as some people will not be dazzled by you or your business. My advice to those building their social media presence is to be ok with those that will never agree with you. It’s easy to lose motivation if you let these people or unsatisfactory situations get under your skin. Post your work, let the world see your journey, and have fun being yourself!
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
My car accident has to be my most resilient story. I’ve been through a lot of ups and downs but going from being completely independent to having to relearn how to walk and work in my career field was the hardest thing I’ve ever been through. December 8, 2018, a friend and I were struck on the way to work. The impact shattered my right leg and fractured my right wrist. My friend suffered a broken ankle. My car was completely totaled and I found myself in Duke hospital for a month waiting for leg surgery. Once that surgery finally happened It was time to recover and learn how to live life again. I couldn’t work or even do simple things for myself and i fell into a depression. I was very open about my experience with my social media audience. From the beginning to the end they witnessed the doctors, therapists, tears and loneliness I was going through. I used all of those negative emotions to help fuel my desire to get back to work. I worked through the pain and agony of physical therapy and even continued to teach my classes in my wheelchair. Once I graduated to crutches I was back at work. Nothing was going to stop me from coming back and becoming better than I was before.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.kreationsbykiki.shop
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kreationsbykiki/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kiki.taylor.9
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/KreationsbyKiki
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChVr2fTRJ7yooE3JqNQY_Fw/videos
- Other: Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@kreationsbykiki?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc https://www.tiktok.com/@kreationsbykiki