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

Samantha, appreciate you joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

While in hair school, back in 2005, I begged my dad to pay $1000 for a hair extension certification that wasn’t included in the tuition he was already covering. I recognized the value of knowing how to do extensions and what that would mean to my future self financially. My accountant father reluctantly said yes, while others in my class were turned down by their parents or couldn’t come up with the money themselves.

Throughout my professional career as a stylist, I have spent tens of thousands of dollars on dozens of continuing education classes. In all of these classes, there aren’t a lot of stylists attending, for various reasons.

In 2012, I became an educator myself for a large color company and realized two things. I was really good at facilitating classes and that I wanted to be able to share my passion with anyone who did hair. Often times, stylists can’t attend classes due to the fact that classes are so expensive.

This has been my driving force for Harvey J Hair. Our mission is to give quality hair extension certifications to stylists at an affordable price to then in turn make hair extensions more affordable to the general public. We want to give stylist the financial freedom they have always dreamed of.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Harvey J Hair is committed to giving quality education to stylists at an affordable price. We believe that everyone should have access to hair extensions, yet often times that isn’t possible because there are stylists out there charging $3000+ for hair extensions. They charge this because their initial investment is thousands of dollars to learn various extension methods. This is one avenue where Harvey J Hair is different. We only $200 for our extension certification to keep the stylists investment low.

We also offer a warranty on our hair extensions which is absolutely unheard of in the industry. We are the Nordstrom of hair extensions. If you have any issues with your hair, we are here to problem solve with you. We have full trust in stylists out there and are here to support stylists in everywhere that we know how.

We want stylists to know that we are here for you to help you grow your hair extension clientele. By doing this, you will be able to work less behind the chair while still making money you never dreamed possible. Since we are a 100% debt-free business, we have the flexibility to do what is right for the customer every time. We support you and in turn know that you will support us.

We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.

I, Samantha, started the journey of Harvey J Hair with zero intention of having a business partner. I started sourcing hair, meeting with potential marketing teams, etc. I have an amazing dad who has his hand in a lot of different businesses, so he has always been a great resource for me with my other business (hair salon.)

Along the journey of Harvey J Hair, I would pick his brain during all of his haircut appointments. Often times I discovered that I didn’t know what I didn’t know in the realm of e-commerce. After one haircut, we continued to talk for another 3 hours. I was at a crossroads on what step to take next and had to make a decision on whether to go into debt to start the company, or pause for a few months to save the money.

My dad asked me how much money was needed to kickstart things. After I told him the number, he paused to think and then said, “I want in.” This was a shocking statement to me as I wasn’t even looking for a business partner. I had already done so much work myself and, honestly, didn’t want to split any profits with anyone. I clarified with him that I wasn’t looking for a partner. He understood but said he recognized something good when he saw it and wanted in. After mulling it over for a few weeks, I decided to bring him on. It was the best decision for this company.

Do you have multiple revenue streams – if so, can you talk to us about those streams and how your developed them?

Within Harvey J Hair, we have multiple revenue streams. Having a long extensive background in the service industry, I have always been intrigued with the idea of passive income. We created a pro membership account for our company to scratch that itch. With the pro membership, any licensed professionals as well as those in hair school, can pay a monthly membership fee that gives them perks to being a member. Some of these perks are discounted product, free shipping and our warranty.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.harveyjhair.com
• Instagram: @harveyjhair
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HARVEYJHAIR
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harvey-j-hair-264a6a240/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/HARVEYJHAIR1