We recently connected with Mandy Zehnder and have shared our conversation below.

Mandy, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.

In December of 2019 I endured a career ending back injury that took me away from the traditional salon setting. It took me a full year to process, grieve, and pick myself back up. I had always thought about being a business coach for hairstylists; I mean, I had built my business so rapidly, even my tax accountant was impressed! But when I got injured, I believed that dream was gone for good, because I could no longer ‘practice what I preach.’

Then one day, I realized…. coaches coach from the sidelines, look at every sport ever played. The coach isn’t on the court or running plays on the field, they are ON THE SIDELINES. It was that moment that I gave myself permission to launch Mandy Zehnder EDU – Business Coaching for Independent Hairstylists. And now, a year later, I am growing , dreaming, and proud of the clients I have and the results they are getting as they transform the way they do business.

In addition to the risk of starting a business from the ground up, I am a Faith-based Business Coach. This was a bold move in my industry, but I also realized, I don’t know how to do business without my faith and I’m sure there are others who feel the same but struggled to find someone in our industry who understood.

My clients and I not only monitor how their business is doing, but we monitor ‘Mind, Body, Soul.’ We look at the whole person and instead of chasing success as a number, we redefine it with contentment and God’s calling for our life. It’s amazing to see how our mindset, physical care, and spiritual connection can create abundance!.

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?

I remember giving my dad a flat top on our back porch when I was 13. It took me 3 hours! I also remember going to the Medieval Fair and falling in love with all the braided upstyles the girls had. I signed up to get my hair braided and while she was braiding, I closed my eyes, felt how she did it on my hair, and went home and did the same style on my mom and sister, which led to doing hair for proms and homecomings, and eventually weddings.

I fell in love with making people feel confident and beautiful! I finished high school early to attend beauty school and 1 year after graduation, I became a single mom, the recession hit, and I found myself searching for a “real job.’

For several years I did hair on nights and weekends out of the sheer love for it. And after several years, I decided I wanted back in! The only thing is, this time, everything was different. I didn’t have time to waste building a business because I now had 3 mouths to feed – including my hubby.

I build my clientele so fast, 10-15 new clients each month, put myself on a salary based pay, committed to a 6 week rotating schedule so I wouldn’t be booked out for months at a time.

I became an educator for Kenra Professional and learned everything I could so that I could serve my clients at the highest level.

Mastering client experience and clearly communicating not only led to sales, but allowed me to create financial stability for my family that weathered many storms.

And now, coaching independent hairstylists to do the same has been the most rewarding, life changing decision I’ve made thus far.

I receive text messages all throughout the week about their $700 in retail sales in just 3 days! Or how they were able to book 2 vacations without rescheduling one client – oh, and those vacations are PAID vacations!

Hearing my clients talk about LIVING life to the fullest while they are creating a business they love is beyond humbling for me as a business coach.

How did you build your audience on social media?

You know, I have a love/hate relationship with social media. I love it because I have met some incredible people through Facebook groups, friends of friends, and referrals. My advice to someone just starting to build a social media presence is don’t let it consume you. Create a strategy to engage authentically and show up, but I have a phrase ‘Spend time with things that love you back’ and while having a social media presence can absolutely help your business, don’t let it steal you away from the one’s you love. So, ask for help, hire someone to run it, and continue to pour into those who are already paying for your services. Those 3 things will ALWAYS give you a return on your investment.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I feel like resilience is my greatest strength. I have been through so much in life, from being a single mom, to building my business, to a back injury which led to uncovering a chronic illness, which led to losing the business I built, and now starting over.

My health is a challenge each and every day. I won’t go into the details but I will say, if you know what it’s like to have to ‘choose’ to get up and show up for yourself and your family because of pain or not feeling well, I get it. I get it on a DEEP level.

I have decided that the fact is I am beautifully broken, but the truth is, I am wholely loved and have a God given purpose that I will faithfully live out.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mandyzehnder.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mandy_inspired/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063535602613

Image Credits
Kenra Professional