We recently connected with Kim Stahlheber and have shared our conversation below.

Kim, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

In 2010, at 21 years old – my business found me. I was given the opportunity to become a salon co-owner after working in a salon for only 6 months. I was a hairstylist, who was just starting out and had passed my board exam only 18 months prior. Countless hours were spent at the salon; at times with zero guests the entire day. Days were long and time passed slow and I was often discouraged, but I needed to be there to build. After 6 months, by using social media, creating a great street presence and a referral program, business was growing. New guests were calling for appointments and we were also starting to receive calls for on-site bridal services. Now, I wholeheartly believe in divine intervention, and this was one of those life-changing moments for me. With those first 3 calls, I realized that this business was going somewhere. In the first 3 months, we were contracted to provide hair and makeup for 10 events. It felt like a business was just handed over to me. About 6 months later, I officially launched business number 2, EYE DO STL and business has been growing year after year since.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I have always known that I was destined to be a hairstylist. For as long as I can remember, I have been braiding, styling and playing with hair. My skills grew with age + practice and my entrepreneurial mindset followed. By 3rd grade a friend and I had a business making bracelets and beaded keychains. We would sell them to our friends at recess. I can remember the lemonade and tomato stands we had growing up as well – business was always on my mind.

Creative activities and art filled the remainder of my time and as I got a bit older, I would enjoy spending way too much time looking through BRIDES magazine. The trends, the style, it was all fascinating. I am not surprised to be in a field that combines those two things. In fact, it feels like destiny that I am here – doing what I do. My artistic ability and experience in what I do, has help me succeed. I have trained more than 25 local artists through the years and launched my mentor program in 2019. After 13+ years in the wedding industry, I have learned so much and tweaked many things within my business and I am certain that process will continue. I take pride in the joy brought to our brides by the processes I have in place, that started from nothing. I am beyond thankful to be here to help our brides on the happiest day of their life and to help our artist community meet and surpass expectations.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Many people are not aware, that my company was brought to conception with another founder. While the business was started from scratch, we were a team and we helped one another provide the services within our contracted events. While she just enjoyed doing the actual services, I thoroughly enjoyed the administration side of things and that was something I was wanting to develop further. Our business needed processes and a workflow to give a consistent overall bridal experience. As a brand new business, we needed a name. After several weeks, I finally had a name, logo and I had begun creating any and all marketing materials to help with referrals. As the business began to grow, our roles within needed to expand as well.

We were young and many differences in opinion and in the mix words were said that would be hard to forget. While I felt so blessed by EYE DO STL’s growth, I was torn by the greed, the immaturity and ultimately, I mourned. I not only lost a business partner, I lost a close friend. I miss our friendship, but I also give myself grace in the experience, because without our partnership, my entire life would be different and for that, I have to appreciate the tradeoff.

Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?

My ultimate marketing mishap, turned best thing ever, was not having a physical location. Let me explain – My business is an on-site based business. We have contracts at various locations all over the state, and at times, the country. I blasted our name anywhere and everywhere I could for free online. I made brochures and business cards, I networked with bridal shop owners, other wedding pros – pretty much anyone who would give me the time of day. On all our information, was my name and phone number + our logo. Without a location – people began to “Google search” our business name, consistently. At the time, that was all it took, we were ALWAYS in the first position in related searches. Our online visibility was outstanding and our competition at the time, hardly existed. We still rank amongst the highest and are always right where our clients are looking when they are using the primary search engines for “bridal hair and makeup St. Louis.”

Contact Info:

• Website: www.eyedostl.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/eyedostl
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/eyedostl

Image Credits
Jenee Mack, Rachel Myers Photography, Kelly Cook Photo, Elizabeth Lloyd Photography, Danielle Ambry Photography, Lily Notz & Co., Tales of Voyage Photography