We were lucky to catch up with Paloma Rodriguez recently and have shared our conversation below.
Paloma, appreciate you joining 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.
Life is definitely all about taking chances. I took a chance on myself and put myself out there. Whether I felt I was ready or not I took a leap of faith and offered my future clients the chance to choose their own price. This was a huge risk to offer a luxury service for “whatever you’d like to tip” but it was the smartest thing I ever did. My very first client came in and paid me full price for my service because she felt that my beginner work was far too superior to lowball. It give me all the confidence I needed to keep going and the reassurance that taking a big risk was the right way to go. After all, they do say “scared money don’t make money!” I had about 80-90% of my new clients paying full price and only a few gave themselves a discount but not because they were unhappy with the service, but solely because they could not afford to pay me more. Those first few clients were my walking billboards and did all the marketing for me. They referred their family, friends and coworkers and my business has grown organically through word of mouth ever sense!
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 born and raised in South Central LA, my father had a small successful landscaping business growing up so I’ve always had the entrepreneurial gene thanks to him. I had many interests growing up so sticking to one thing was never an option for me. I went to college and got my degree in Criminal Justice and have had the pleasure in working many different fields from administrative roles to accounting and project management to the medical field and higher education and more. I was that millennial that was never scared of change and looking for the next challenge. I figured in my late 20’s that I had tried so many different 9-5’s but I had not tried entrepreneurship. I made it a goal to learn a new skill, perfect it and try to make something out of nothing. I never thought it would be this fulfilling. I took everything I learned from my previous work experience and applied it to something that was mine. I planned and executed and I find new ways to expand my brand each day. I not only offer a luxury lash service for my clients that make them feel beautiful and empowered but I also offer a safe space to allow them to speak freely without judgement. I feel like a therapist half the time and it makes me want to go back to school for counseling. Entrepreneurship has given me a voice and I feel fulfilled knowing I make women look and feel better every day.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
Being myself has always been my main priority when it comes to building my audience and targeting my ideal clients. I don’t hold back, I keep it as professional as possible and I show my personality through every post, video, caption, comment, everything. I quickly learned that not everyone will be a perfect fit but that’s okay. At the end of the day you want your business to represent you wholeheartedly and the ones who can relate and support you for you will support your business. Those are your people. I have strategically built a supportive community for my business and they are what keep me going and growing!
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
I am a very detail oriented individual, I won’t say perfectionist because there is no such thing as perfect but I always try to reach that nonetheless. This skill in particular is what has helped build my reputation in a highly competitive industry. I made sure that I was thorough with my research and continuously try to perfect my craft in order to provide a healthy service. I have tried my best to promote healthy lashing and make it the norm because it is very common to receive an unhealthy lash service and I’d like to change that misconception about lash extensions.
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