We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sharday Watkins a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Sharday thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?
Becoming a business owner you have to truly be passionate about what you’re pursuing , and not just doing it for the dollar amount you can gain from it. Your belief system and faith is the moving muscle of everything else, as being a business owner is not easy. You definitely operate strictly from a place of faith and sometimes sacrificing and making decisions without a doubt of knowing if it will work. I say that to say, I’m happy as a business owner because I care , and nothing has yet pushed me to give up.I say yes because I would not trade any of the things I have sacrificed, worked hard for, or built for the world. I enjoy the way I’m being grounded, molded, and becoming a boss that I was destined to be. I enjoy overcoming the tough strides and learning new ways to become better each day. But in order for me to enjoy the ugly party of being a business owner I had to be sure I was in love with what I’m doing and I absolutely love the beauty industry , my team, and the salon I have created. I never think about what it would be like to have a regular job because I started off as an entrepreneur but I also had a 9-5 as well. I stepped out on faith and left my 9-5 to fully pursue my salon and clothing boutique and I don’t ever regret the decision I made. To be transparent, when I first took a leap of faith and chose to do something new in my business plan and leave my 9-5 it was extremely nerve wrecking and scary. After my first month I wanted to operate in comfort and go back to my 9-5. BUT, I was not passionate about my 9-5 and I knew where I was heading with my business and it was easy to focus back on the end goal of my why.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Lacey, and I’m the CEO & founder of Shade of Beauty Bar & La Beauty Room. I’m the aesthetic queen of all things beauty and enjoy investing my time into other beauty individuals. Besides being a salon owner I provide services such as Social media management, marketing management, business mentorship, content creating, and social media influencing. I started off as a makeup artist in 2010 and specialized in film/ photography makeup. Being on set and working with upcoming models in photography helped me find my gift in beauty mentorship. The journey that was made for me , helped ground me into the business owner I am today, and helped equip me to pour into many other beauty individuals. Being a full time entrepreneur is never easy and at times can become very overwhelming but my discipline of growing what I started have helped extremely. What sets me apart from others is how involved I am as a salon owner, and the favor I have over my life in regards to how much I pour into others. My brand is more than just servicing clients and providing what every salon is providing to clients. I created a salon atmosphere that makes all clients feel at home, with a fun aesthetic, while also feeling luxury at a comfortable cost. I also value giving back to the community and doing all I can to share the wealth in any way possible. It feels amazing to have a platform that hold so much impact in just creating a space that makes women feel beautiful , while also building up my beauty team by mentoring them to reach their beauty goals.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
The lesson I had to unlearn for my business was using my personal money to finance my business. I don’t regret not one decision I ever made for my business as it did play a major part in keeping the doors of the salon opened. Due to lack of resources, and not having a network of entrepreneurs to receive advice from, I completely started the Shade of Beauty salon with my personal funds. In the beginning it felt right to do, but eventually I knew it was a better way of doing so. The real goal is building your business credit up enough to utilize other resources to fund your business.
Has your business ever had a near-death moment? Would you mind sharing the story?
I have a million stories of times I almost missed payroll, had a million close calls and sacrificed everything to keep business afloat. I have an amazing support system, and besides the family or friends I have, god have made a way for my business many times the doors we’re supposed to be closed. Somehow due to the many things I have skill sets in, those services always helped keep things afloat.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: __shadeofbeautybar
- Facebook: shadeofbeautybar