We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kurnita Wallace. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kurnita below.
Alright, Kurnita thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear the backstory of how you established your own practice.
I decided to open my own salon and spa because in my hometown there wasn’t a spa that catered to people of color. To get a spa treatment you had to go to the suburbs. I am from a small town in Ohio that is predominately black. I wanted a place where you could get “affordable Luxury” spa treatments. So I opened it in our downtown area. I wanted it to be centrally located and accessible for all sides of town.
The biggest thing was to find a building. I was fortunate enough to find a building that was previously a salon, which was perfect. It had the square footage and even came with some equipment. The only down side was the parking. As in any downtown area parking is an issue unless you have your own private parking garage, which I didn’t have. So this lead to me having to pay out of pocket to cover the numerous parking tickets my clients were getting because the stylists were not getting the clients out in a timely manner. Anyone who has ever had their hair done in a typical African American salon knows exactly what I’m talking about, LOL.
Then there is always the issue of hiring good help. I wanted to start with fresh out of school stylists and techs because I thought that they would be moldable/coachable but that wasn’t the case. Millennials have their own way of doing things and me being Generation X was more of tried and true practices. This sometimes led to conflicts but in the end we all learned from each other.
If I knew then what I know now I would have done this entrepreneurial endeavor alone. When I started out I had a business partner but she was not as dedicated to the business as I was. I would have also started out on a smaller scale. My salon and spa had 8 hair stylists, 2 nail techs, 2 massage therapists, and 1 esthetician. Hind sight I could have cut the staff in half and looked for a smaller space. But you know in the beginning of starting a business your mindset is ” go big or go home” because that is what everyone tells you. I have since learned to not despise small beginnings; baby steps are still steps.
What I tell all newbies is to take a corporate job at sometime in their career. I call it paid on the job training. Work for someone else and use that time to make mistakes and find out what you love/hate about that particular industry. Then when you are ready to venture out on your own you will have a better concept as to how you want your business to look.
Kurnita, 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?
I was literally born into the beauty industry. My mother and grandmother were both cosmetologists. I like getting my hair done but I didn’t like doing hair. But I was obsessed with skin. I wanted people to look on the outside the way they looked on the inside, which was beautiful.
So I started out in the field of social services working with the homeless, mental health, drug and alcohol addicted population. I did that for 10 years. Then because that line of work is so stressful I was always looking to up my selfcare routine because life/work alignment is essential. I found that there was no place for people of color to go where we were catered to and felt welcomed. So that led me to start my own in my hometown of Youngstown, Ohio.
Fast forward 18 years and I uproot my family and move to Arizona to start all over but this time I added health and wellness. I partnered with an already established grassroots wellness center that was just starting out and I brought my vast knowledge of customer service, med spa and various other resources to the table and now we have a full service one stop shop of all African American and people of color practitioners.
We offer acupuncture, facials, massage, chiropractic, reiki, reflexology, tai chi/yoga, yoni steams, martial arts, cooking/nutritional classes and sound therapies. All holistic modalities to help your body heal itself.
When you enter our space you are met with an eclectic mix of wellness, Afrocentric decor and incense. It is very inviting, zen and peaceful.
Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?
Customer service and grace is huge in any business. What I mean by that is that your customer service has to be impeccable. Open when you say you are open, return all correspondence in a timely manner, give all customers the same service, greet clients with a smile even over the phone they can tell even over the phone. If a customer/client is unhappy try and make it right. It won’t always be a happy ending but definitely try and fix it. No the customer isn’t always right. Sometimes they are wrong and just want to argue; those are the people you quickly refund their money and move on. All money ain’t good money. Do give people grace and a chance to make it right.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
I had to learn to protect my peace and time. I would spend hours with people answering the same questions over and over not realizing they understood me the first time they just thought that if they kept asking long enough that I would change my mind. I’ve learned to charge accordingly for my time and expertise. In the beginning I was not comfortable with that. I have since learned to charge what I’m worth and for my knowledge. It took a lot of blood, sweat, tears, and bumping my head to become an expert in my industry.
Contact information:
Email: [email protected]
Instagram: Laserlady72az
Website: www.maawc.org