We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Riena Conrad a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Riena , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?
After earning money with my business it made me realize that it should not take an hour to make 20$+. I’ve had plenty regular jobs. I’m a registered Medical Assistant/phlebotomist, cake decorator, med tech. Regular jobs feel slow to me physically and financially while also taking up too much of my time in the week. 40+ hours of my time is not worth the pay for any of the regular jobs I’ve had. You also need to work two or three as we know these days. Every time I’m working for someone else I ask myself everyday “what are you doing”.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
When instagram was fairly new back in maybe 2010, they featured artists based off your likes. I have grown up drawing zen designs and liked art similar to it when henna was in suggested. I bought henna from an artist in Cali and between instagram and YouTube taught myself how to use it. Took me maybe two years before I joined my first farmers market in Jackson, Missouri with maybe 10-15 vendors to the Crowley, Texas market today with 70+ vendors five years later. I’ve lost plenty of money over the years at events and pop up’s. Learning what I should and should not book would be the biggest challenge I have had.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
That my prices are what they are due to my skill and I do not need to lower them to fit anyone’s budget. My first year in Texas I would lower a henna 5-10$ for a sale and I was lowering my work value at the end of day. I was stealing from myself. If you live within your means you can afford the cost and I no longer lower my prices as someone will pay for what they want.
Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?
The designs I charge for 20 today use to be the 10$ designs. Moving to Texas I noticed customers commenting how “cheap” I was. I remade my design book and double my prices and booked my next event and no one questioned prices and tipped.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Razza_dazza_riena
- Facebook: Riena Henna
