We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Michelle Gray a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Michelle, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today The first dollar your business earns is always special and we’d love to hear how your brand made its first dollar of revenue.

CraigsList! Yeah, it’s hard to believe myself. You have to understand, I started my business just after my divorce, 1000 miles away from where I grew up, so no family nearby and with very little money.

It was Saturday March 5, 2011 and I had five people on my schedule for waxing from advertising on CraigsList. It was scary because who knows if these people are creeps or not. It turned out to be a great day! I made just over $500!

A few weeks later, I gave Groupon and Living Social a call. They would advertise only my business for a day where the public could buy services at a 50% discount. Once the day was over and the sales were complete, they would deposit my cut (25%) of the earnings into my bank account within days. This was great exposure and money up front for me, so I went for it.

So because I was only going to get 25% of the service price, I added in the fine print, there would be an automatic 15% gratuity. Then, after their service I offered the same discounted price if they came in the next month. This way, I was getting 50% of the service cost in my pocket now.

Since then, those coupon companies have diminished greatly. So for the last several years I’ve advertised on Google. I do have experience with SEO and website design, so that’s definitely given me an edge.

It’s all about impressing your target audience with your online presence. Give them knowledge about the services and products, show your confidence and experience and most of all, let them know they can trust you. People go to service providers that they trust, and like. Case in point, my VERY first client from Saturday March 5, 2011 still comes in for her brazilian waxes!

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 am a former corporate ladder climber turned Esthetician. Originally, I got my Esthetics license to work part time at companies where I wanted services done for a discount. I did do that too. I enjoyed working in a spa offering facials and eventually I went to a laser hair removal company.

In 2009, I made the move to Raleigh, NC from Madison, WI. Finding a corporate job was proving to be difficult, especially during a recession, but I found temp work to pay the bills.

It eventually occurred to me that I could be an Esthetician full time instead. So I applied at a popular wax franchise and was hired in December 2010. I quickly realized it was definitely not the kind of culture I wanted to be in long term. It was too stressful for very little pay.

Within weeks of being hired, I thought “if these people can run this big of a business, I definitely can… and much better”! So the hunt for a space and all of my supplies was on. On Saturday March 5, 2011 (almost two months from my hire date at the franchise), I had my very own business!

In the beginning, for several years I offered facials, body treatments and waxing. In 2014, I decided to focus on just wax services. It was what I enjoyed most, that was what most clients were booking and it made the most money. I can confidently say I’ve perfected waxing and now I have employees that I train. They have a pretty stress-free work environment too!

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Word of mouth! There’s nothing like referrals. We give incentives to the referring client and the new client. I also feel that a strong website and effective online marketing is key.

Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?

Near death moments? I thought Covid was going to take my business out and in the long run, it actually made it flourish!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ilovewaxologie.com
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCVFioBbJ31tCivuKfaqh7ew
• Yelp: https://yelp.to/7OLKSJfQzub
• Other: https://www.vagaro.com/waxologiellc https://www.google.com/search?q=waxologie+raleigh+nc&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari