We recently connected with Natalie Whitaker and have shared our conversation below.
Natalie , appreciate you joining us today. It’s easy to look at a business or industry as an outsider and assume it’s super profitable – but we’ve seen over and over again in our conversation with folks that most industries have factors that make profitability a challenge. What’s biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?
In general— service pricing. I come from a small town where most people very salon has the same pricing. Sounds good, but in hindsight I never realized that that isn’t the exact or right thing to be doing. While you need to be competitive, you also need to figure out the formula as to what make sense for yourself, your business and what your mission is. One size does not fit all (and never will). When I moved away, I slowly have realized that there is a science to profitability and learning about numbers is so important. It will make or break you, your business, etc.
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 Natalie Whitaker. I’ve always wanted to be a stylist since I was about 8 years old, even my senior year of high school I didn’t want to look at any other schooling— only cosmetology. For the first 10 years of my career I moved around from salon to salon often trying to find the perfect mix of culture and servicing. Most salons I was a part of often wanted you to do all services on the menu if you’re working from them and alot of them never spoke to me. I was solely interested in mostly color and women’s cuts nothing else. A lot of them you had to sign a contract stating that if you left, you couldn’t take your clients with you wherever you went. That’s when my friend and I decided to open a salon that would cater to that part of the industry, specifically. Both of us has been in a studio working solo and although it was great and fun at the time, we quickly decided we missed being surrounded by a group of like-minded people to share ideas, have fun, and create a culture we love to be in and Bronde culture was born. No contracts to sign— it’s important to us that if any stylist wants to grow, we’d never stop them. It’s important for everyone to have the ability to grow and we don’t want to instill fear and make them stick around just because we think their client is ours. The clients should also be able to see whomever they choose without the stylist being reprimanded in any way if they are no longer with us.
We are exclusively a color and extension boutique salon, it is what we focus on and believe in. Because we make this our focus, we are specialized and try to make each experience unique to the client. I like to use the phrase, “you wouldn’t go to your family doctor for heart surgery” and it’s no different for us. If you want the best color and extensions, that’s what we are here for.
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
Social media. Within the last four years, I’ve learned that I’m not only a creative or stylist, but I am a marketer. You have to market your business. As a young stylist you’re taught that walk-ins and referrals do the trick and while at the time, it did, things have shifted and people want to see what you do and who you are. Clients can actually choose you out of everything they see and it’s super cool. But so important to utilize social media to the full capacity— this is huge and is how I gain most of my business, hands down.
How’d you meet your business partner?
Jamie and I met in third grade! She moved to a different school a couple years later and we lost touch. After school, we ended up in the same salon In our hometown and rekindled the friendship. A few years later, after going solo in our own studios, we took a trip to LA together for a class and at the airport we were like… let’s open a salon. And just like that, here we are.
Contact Info:
- Website: brondeculture.com
- Instagram: thenattystylist