We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Priyanka Narwaria. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Priyanka below.
Priyanka, appreciate you joining us today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard
Other than business and movies I love to write poems. There is a popular poem in Hindi/Urdu
Andez-e-Bayan rang badal deta hay,
Varna duniya main koi baat nai nahi!!
Means it’s the way of presenting and conveying the message makes it all different otherwise there is nothing that’s new to the world.
There are multiple places for facials and there are 100’s or hair care products available but quality and results is something still everyone craves for!
When we are dealing with 1on1 clients it is a different experience. When we scale up it’s different. PBS started with a handful of satisfied clients and now so many people are benefiting but still products are purely handmade, free of chemicals, no preservatives absolutely safe. It is hard to survive when we want to deliver the same quality because the supply chain, components of the market forces you to bend towards the masses. When we enter the retail market, quality is the last thing that they ask for, who reads the ingredients? How low can the price be ? people expect results. They expect new brands to bring quality but expect pricing as a giant manufacturing company (where they are on mission to make products look good, available and affordable) but at PBS we want products to look good and do what they are supposed to do, deliver results, be available and value for money.
Priyanka, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Hello Everyone, I am Priyanka, by education I am B.Sc (Biology), MS in Public administration and MBA drop out! I am also a certified cosmetologist in India and the US. I have done freelancing, small businesses, part time and full time work for 8-9 years. With some bitter experiences in my later years of corporate culture I had to quit jobs! My side hustles beauty and skin care made my career. Anything we start may look beautiful initially but at some point it becomes a responsibility to make it purposeful so that others can be served. That is when you recognize yourself – what you are made up of. I am sure that success is a long journey and I am not there yet. Throughout the journey I need to learn and make my journey purposeful by helping others and I am sure that I will not quit. Beauty & business was always my passion, I like to talk to people, I like to solve their problems related to their skin and hair. My attitude of learning helped me understand the problems and available solutions in a better way so that I could help many people and have satisfied customers. Business may give the choice of working hours, work style, but there is no alternate to commitment and hard work. Desire to grow will make you committed and disciplined. The choices made by us in our journey will determine how smooth or rough the journey will be.
When I talk to my clients, I like to ask questions to develop a plan for them where they can get the results they want with minimum effort and money. There are hundreds of products available in the market for hair fall but still 6 out of 10 people complain about hair fall. Hairs are the beauty of your crown. A woman gets worried and stressed if she sees hair fall, in the bathroom, after a shower, on the floor, on the clothes and on pillows! They avoid combing and shampooing. It hurts them even more when they see thinning happening, their beauty going away and aging coming closer. Worry for being less attractive and less presentable. And then the worst happens when they start losing confidence. It kills! The issue is so much larger than it seems. Aging is just a number if beauty is maintained. It makes me think so much that no woman deserves such worry. Unfortunately, many of these worried women in desire of looking good tend to fall for some kind of chemical treatments such as – coloring, using products to create a thick hair look and these solutions end up giving them more problems. The Pia Beauty Squad was born because I was going through all of this. I wanted to do home remedies first before using anything. It took me some time to figure things out but I was able to solve my problems of graying, hair fall and thinning.
Today along with products we also provide services. My facials are unique and the steps are different. I want to feel as a client if someone does my facial what I would expect. I feel my massage steps on my face are what relaxes me most. The more my brain is curious about my client’s needs, style, time preference, choices, more questions I ask and I can offer a better solution.
Earlier when people sold they were salesmen now we need to provide solutions and that’s what we do at Pia Beauty Squad. We offer beauty services at your doorstep and herbal natural handmade products for your basic hair and skin care needs.
Small businesses are mostly born out of dreams and passion. If you are dealing with an owner of a business (here I want to mention not the manager, not the relative who takes care of business) whose blood and sweat equity along with money is invested, they will never ever intentionally hurt or try to do anything wrong with a customer. I want to convey to our potential clients that I really care about you because I want the satisfaction of offering a solution for your concerns. I have 2 boys. I truly feel PBS is my 3rd baby girl because I know a boy is a son till he gets his wife, but a daughter is a daughter for his whole life.
I am really keen and looking forward to seeing how I can make other women independent by offering them opportunities. In this big world I have a small dream to be big enough to be noticed, to do enough so some can see and think, oh yes she is doing it well. There will be a lot of mistakes done, a ton of hard work, frustrations and patience but I feel my intentions being right, and ready to pay the price God is on my side.
Have you ever had to pivot?
Ha ha! Small businesses who want to survive have to pivot. In fact I feel it’s part of the growth. And the funny part is we ourselves think it’s a crime! I have done that many many times to survive. I was never clear what I wanted to do but I had seen my father working so hard to survive. Not that he did not do much, he made a lot of money, had success and fame and at a time he was the best in town for his work. His innocence and gullible nature made things easier for his family to take advantage of. So I was telling myself that I was never clear on what exactly I would do but I knew what I didn’t want to do. I started my career with tutoring when I was in 11th grade and I kept changing my career as needed. I will share a story. I was doing beauty services and it was going great (my older boy was 6 going to school) and I had a lot of time. Team was building. I wanted to open my salon. I got pregnant but with the help of other girls I was still working. But because of covid business was shut down. Everyone was isolated. I thought I would utilize this time to finish my cosmetology hours (my pregnancy was also not very smooth). During lockdown I learnt a lot, studied a lot. I knew it would take time for me to get back. Can you imagine how much time it actually took? 3.5 years (because I now started services again) Can an entrepreneur endure that time? It is not easy. But even during the lockdown with pregnancy I was working, I started offering products to clients that I was using when I was serving them. Like a 10 mins facial kit (made with the same products I was using in facial), henna herbal hair color ready to use (herbal color application. My products and services are unique. I take absolute pride in quality and customer services. During a conversation with my husband he said a line “you need to think how to survive” and it worked out. That’s where the PIA beauty squad product range was born. That one pivot opened up opportunities for me and many others around me. Today we have 20 products skus locally available in grocery stores, Amazon, Walmart marketplace and our own website. Another mom, Harshita, took charge in india. PBS India is getting bigger and Harshita opened up PBS Angola, Africa. Yes it is a proud moment, absolutely a blessing (I haven’t made a single penny from other 2 businesses but i can see the future so bright that I am collecting sunglasses.)
Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.
Beauty products manufacturing was never my area of expertise. I worked full time and enjoyed it so much and made money for my employers, my bosses respected me and my work. But I always wanted to do extra, after my B.Sc I had a full time job, worked part time as a Radio Jockey, learnt and practiced skin care and make-up part time. As a bachelor you have a ton of time even after working full time. I was utilizing every ounce of my time. I came to America with no work permit. It took me a few years to start serving people around me with my side hustle of makeup and skin. Later I learnt to use social media and that became the game changer. I knew I wanted to do something of my own; this happened to be a perfect choice at that moment. My first facial and makeup was in 2002. I have been in beauty for 20 years. Can you imagine? I can’t! Today when I talk to a client and when they say someone is doing makeup for just this much. Ha ha! 2 months/ 20 months/ 20 years in the same line. Anyways this was my side hustle now that’s my career. I see in the next 10 years PBS as a brand for herbal natural skin care personal care products and services.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.piabeautysquad.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/piaherbforhairs/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/piabeautysquad/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/priyanka-narwaria-15b10425
- Youtube: @piabeautysquad2866