We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Lakeisha Holley. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Lakeisha below.

Alright, Lakeisha thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. One deeply underappreciated facet of entrepreneurship is the kind of crazy stuff we have to deal with as business owners. Sometimes it’s crazy positive sometimes it’s crazy negative, but crazy experiences unite entrepreneurs regardless of industry. Can you share a crazy story with our readers?

I started working at my salon as an apprentice back in April 2006. My goal was to learn a valuable trade to help support me financially while I pursue my business management degree. I was tired of working meaningless jobs in call centers. I absolutely dreaded going to work. Backstory; when I was younger, maybe seventh or eighth grade my mom always had her nails done and I would ask her if I could get mine done and she would tell me “You can get them done when you can pay for them” so one day in a drugstore, I bought myself a little nail kit and taught myself how to do a full set of acrylic nails. I even ended up doing a few of my friends nails. So problem solved lol. I had done exactly what my mom said.
After the first semester of my freshman year at community college, I saw a sign that said “nail classes enroll now” it was like my car just turned into the parking lot before I could think. I filled out the application and started nail school the next month. Within a week I saw a job ad in the local newspaper that said “now hiring nail technicians no license required.” I left my call-center job making $12.13 per hour and was hired as a nail apprentice at natural nail care clinic and spa making $6.50 an hour and it was the best damn decision of my life!
Fast forward to it January 2015, I am still working at what is now called Polish Nail Bar for my boss and previous coworker Crystal Davis. Crystal and her husband Denny had just welcomed their third baby when Crystal was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. With her being out on maternity leave and then transitioning into chemotherapy treatment I was running the nail salon on her behalf. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing. Lol me trying to figure out how to process payroll and order supplies was nothing short of a comedic sitcom. A few months later, Crystal with failing health sits me down and asked me to purchase the salon from her because I was already pretty much running the show and she wanted to spend her time at home with her kids. I can remember telling her that she was crazy. March 2015 Crystal text me saying that she really needed to finalize the sale of the salon because her chemo wasn’t working and that she may not make it through the summer. Exactly 2 weeks later Crystal gained her wings. Her husband and I spent the next couple of months, trying to crack into accounts and reset passwords and he tells me “the salon is yours. I just have to figure out how to get it to you, I don’t know anything about nails and Crystal wanted you to have it and she’s not gonna hunt me”
By January 1 2016 at the age of 30, I had purchased what is now Polished Natural Nail Bar and was the proud rightful owner of the very place I started off as a nail tech apprentice almost 10 years prior.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Polished Natural Nail Bar is an all natural, vegan nail salon located in Newport News, Virginia. We specialize in not only nursing your natural nails back to their healthiest state, but also educating clients on the structure of your nail, how it works, how you feed it and take care of it what tools and products to use and what to avoid. Every first time client gets what we call an instructional manicure where we explain all of our tools, all the products, we do a full nail analysis and create a program specifically for you and your needs. Being previously named Natural Nail Care Clinic, we offer a more clinical approach to nail care where glamour is more optional and health is the priority. We are recommended by a few podiatrist and dermatologist in the area, because we offer a clean sterile nail salon as opposed to some of the other places that have a lot of dust and employees wearing masks. Our salon is completely odor free as we do not use any harsh, harmful chemicals or products. All of our tools and products are designed specifically for a natural nail. We have requested health inspectors to come in to our salons and give us feedback to ensure that we are providing the best possible results. We care for a lot of clients who have been wearing artificial nails and now their natural nail bed is damaged and we put them in what we call a rehab program where we rehab your natural nails back to their best potential. Our salon is literally set up as a bar so clients come in and sit at the bar which provides a much more social atmosphere and our nail techs act kind of like a bartender. We all work together as a team and we work on multiple clients at one time. So it’s far from your typical one on one nail table where you’re sitting across from someone and there’s usually some sort of a language barrier. At the bar we keep an inflatable microphone in case we have random moments of karaoke. We also host lots of parties especially bridal parties, because all the bridesmaids can come sit side by side at the bar together. All in all, if you want to learn about your nails, even if you’re suffering from some type of nail fungus on your nails or they are thin and weak and peeling or you just want to have a good time and hang out with friends while getting pampered, then you’d want to be at Polished Natural Nail Bar.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

Our number one source of new clientele has been word of mouth referral from clients who have been to the salon and experienced nail care Polished Nail Bar style. We truly believe that if you wow every client, they are most likely to share their experience with others. And people tend to favor those they know, like, and trust. So a recommendation from someone you know, is very likely to be an honest representation of that business. Also, a lot of our first time clients find us simply from doing a Google search and we have the best reviews and the highest ratings in the area so that automatically moves our salon to the top of the Google search list. First time clients want to know what to expect, they want to know what other people have to say about Your business and their experience with the staff how their finished product came out, etc.
At times, when we need to increase the flow of new clientele, we offer some type of incentive for our regular clients who already love us. That way they are rewarded for simply telling someone that we exist.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I recently started a new social media marketing strategy where I simply post more informative post. Meaning I have so much knowledge about proper nail care and unorthodox practices that I’ve decided to share that information on our social media platforms. This gives potential clients a chance to gain trust in my salon and in my staff. It’s like “oh I didn’t know that?” “these nail techs know what they’re talking about.” it’s not only informative but it’s enlightening and some of them are just simply funny because everybody likes a good laugh every now and then.. we have gained 50 to 100 new followers just from making those posts and using lots of hashtags. Now I think more locals are learning that there is an alternative to the typical stereotypes that we’ve grown to know and accept as standard nail salons. It is time we start changing and challenging the nail industry and Polished Natural Nail Bar is here for it.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.polishedva.com
• Instagram: @mypolishnailbar
• Facebook: Polishnailbarva
• Yelp: Polish nail bar