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

Montia, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I always knew one day I would become my own boss! I’ve been getting my nails done since I was 14! Every time I went to the nail salon, I would always watch what they’re doing. I would be so interested in seeing how the whole process worked. The beginning of 2020, I randomly got this thought in my head that I wanted to do nails. I don’t know if I was inspired by looking on social media or what but I knew I wanted to try it out. I gave myself a few months to really think about it. I watched YouTube every single day! Literally! I studied what products people were using, how they held the drill, every little detail. That gave me motivation! When I did my very first set on myself, people were so shocked. They thought I did it before but I was so mind focused that I knew I would be fire at nails one day. I did my first set on myself which was on March 4th, 2020! I practice on my practice hand EVERY SINGLE DAY (literally) for hourssssss. I was dedicated! The whole month of March I was practicing on myself and a few friends. April 2nd, I took my first REAL client. It was up from there! I started posting deals, posting more work, just posting and practicing. It was one point where I was doing $20 sets. Whatever it took to get that practice in and perfecting my shape / acrylic application. Once I started getting more and more booked, the more excited I got. By the time I hit 8 months, I knew I had well over 50 clients. Look at God!!!!!!!

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

My name is Tia, but some people call me Butterfly! I’ve been doing nails for 2 1/2 years now. I am self taught! At one point in my life, I was over everything. I was tired of working for other people. I quit my last warehouse job December of 2019 and haven’t worked for anyone else since! I started doing nails right when Covid hit. Of course I was scared. I didn’t wanna catch Covid but I had no choice. I would definitely call that FAITH!!!!! As far as my work, I’m very versatile. From extra short nails, to medium, to extra long. I do it all. I think that’s what sets me apart from other nail techs. I don’t just do extra long nails, I don’t discriminate. A lot of my first time clients that come to me tell me that’s what caught their eye. The fact I do everything as far as shape & length! Not to mention my work, personality & energy speaks for itself. My main goal is to own my own shop one day. Not just a regular nail salon but clothes, lashes, wax, food lol I wanna do it ALL! One thing I can say about clients is that they can either make or break you. Some clients will respect everything about your business but other clients expect special treatment (and also some client won’t read my rules and policy) but I want to treat all my clients equally. That’s probably my biggest problem with being a nail tech. I’ve lost alot of “friends” due to nails and that’s okay. When you start your own business, you’ll see who’s your real friend and who’s not. Be strict, be serious when it comes to how you treat your clients. Especially be strict when it comes to the way you make your MONEY!
I’m most excited about my GROWTH. MY progress. I’ve came a looooooong way and I’m just excited to see where my future takes me.
To my potential clients / followers, I want to continue to do bomb nails and make bomb friendships. I want to be your therapist, friend and nail tech all in one. Most importantly, I want us to respect each other’!

How did you build your audience on social media?

Building your audience on social media is verrrrrry tricky now a days! Consistency is key. Post every day, do major deals (but still don’t cheat yourself)! Make reels / TikTok’s, be active as much as you can. Being that social media will be your #1 money maker, it has to be top priority. Also, word of mouth can be just as good as social media. Have a good relationship with your clients. Be active with them as well. They will be a marketing tool too. Especially if you do bomb work. Everyone is gonna ask, “who does your nails?”

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

At one point throughout these 2 1/2 years that I’ve been doing nails is that I wanted to give up. I felt like I wasn’t as good as everyone else on Instagram. I felt like I wasn’t getting where I wanted to be at the time, But that was the problem. Comparing myself to others. NEVER do that. Everyone has their own time to shine. Life is a marathon race. Enjoy it, make mistakes, learn from them and move on. I kept pushing. I kept practicing! I got better with my acrylic, shaping and retention.
Whatever you do, just keep pushing through it. Everything doesn’t happen over night and I had to get that thru my head.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @butterflyyymama @tiadidmynails