We were lucky to catch up with Kristin Riddick recently and have shared our conversation below.

Kristin, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

I wanted a name that had meaning and significance but was different and unique. I decided to create my own word by combining the first letter sound of my daughters’ name. L and B created the word Ellebee!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My journey begin with attending La’James College in small town Iowa. I was not one of the girls who dreamed of being a hairstylist. Honestly, I attended a college fair and saw many different opportunities, but for me attending a 4 year school sounded overwhelming! Learning that I could graduate in 14 months, express my creativity through hair and didn’t have to take general classes, BINGO sign me up!

At the time I had no idea where this career was about to take me. Over 20 years later I still feel super fortunate to absolutely love what I do on a day to day basis. This industry is all about experience and honing your craft. Having a mentor to shadow is super important, as is wanting to suck up all the advice they have to offer. This is an ever-changing industry that evolves with the seasons and keeps us on our toes with the new fads and innovations.

Building a career as a stylist takes hard work and dedication. You must be disciplined and consistent to continue to grow. Specializing in one service is great, but, I feel like offering a wide variety of services keeps me from getting bored. I believe it’s important to try to provide the best experience to every guest every time. You cant give them “your all” on the first visit and then after visit 3 lose your mojo.

Setting milestones is super important, it gives you something to push for. I started out in a commissioned based salon and after building a strong clientele took a leap of faith and went into a studio rental. Having my own little space was exciting, but scary. It was all on me to make this work! After years of renting I thought about passive income and from there I found an adorable cozy house that had 5 rooms. I used 1 for myself and rented the others out to other stylists. Fast forward 8 years from there it was time for commercial ownership. We transformed a property from residential to commercial, totally gutted the entire space and transformed it into a salon that offers a unique farmhouse style set up of studios and an open concept with booth rental. And I am still working behind the chair just as hard! Why? Because I love what I do!

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

I would say capitalizing on the clients that are in your chair. Each person in your seat knows someone and they know people, word of mouth is by far the best way and most original way to grow. We are more likely going to take a recommendation from someone we know, right? Of course social media presence is important. Building a portfolio of your work speaks volume as well. As I have said before consistency, delivering consistent results sets expectations.

Any advice for managing a team?

Be a leader! Support your staff, encourage them to grow and give them opportunities to thrive. Be fair and kind, but also set standards and be an example. You have to come to work with a smile on your face and energy to fill the room EVERY DAY! Your staff feeds off of this, leave personal conflicts at the door. It’s not easy but the environment will be telling if you don’t. I brag about my ladies all the time, they are truly the best group of girls to work with! We work as a team and recognize when one another needs an extra hand. We have 16 ladies under 1 small roof, does shit happen? Yep. Do we figure out a solution and resolve it? Yep, we sure do!

Contact Info:

• Website: Ellebeesalon.com
• Instagram: @ellebeesalon
• Facebook: @ellebeesalon

Image Credits
Kathleen Nolis Photography