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

Tara, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.

One of the biggest risks i’ve taken is starting my business. The idea was planted as a small seed in my head while in beauty school, as some of my classmates were already business owners + had experience in the business world. One woman in particular i’ll never forget, her name we will call S. This woman motivated me to start my own business and quite frankly had me under the impression that I would work FOR/UNDER her after graduating! This was a much easier thought + less risk. Fast forward to graduating and receiving our license to practice, we met at a local My Salon Suite building site as they were still under construction. We spoke outside the building about what plans were to come & she mentioned how i should sign my own lease and work across the hall from her. I was so nervous and shocked to hear that because I was under the impression i would work for her! This totally flipped my entire plan upside down. I didn’t panic though, I just deeply thought about it. Contacted the manager of the building, set up a zoom call to discuss leases, signed the same day, and it’s been history ever since. If it wasn’t for God & S, i may not of had the drive or motivation to even get started with my own business. I took this risk because I knew i had nothing to lose! I knew God would bless any decision i made and He has. I now see over 100 clients a month and am a 6 figure Esthetician. It was well worth the risk.

Tara, 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?

So Poppin’ Skin Spa LLC was merely a dream at first. I was sitting on my floor in my bedroom, pondering what my instagram handle should be and came up with @poppinskinbytara. I think my personality and the word “poppin” fits together quite nicely if you know me personally, haha! I wanted to make sure the men and women coming into my space felt confident and comfortable in their skin and had fun with self care and taking care of themselves. We offer a variety of beauty services from body waxing, to permanent makeup, to facials, but we specialize in Acne Treatments. What sets us apart from others is our dedication and genuine passion to heal and inspire others. We work very hard to achieve our goals and make sure our customers are well taken care of and assisted to the best of our ability. We also differ from the average Esthetician because not only are we an acne positive business — but the CEO (me) struggles with acne! I become even more passionate about what I do and what certifications i wanted to achieve after i started breaking out severely myself. It has given my clients a new sense of trust in me and my work as they feel more comfortable to know the person who is healing their skin has been through the exact same situation as they have.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I highly believe what helped me build my reputation is God, quality work, my passion to heal and repair skin, genuine desire to help others, and word of mouth. I started my business page before i even got out of beauty school so i recorded a lot of content during our school days and people started watching and liking my content!

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

Social media (especially Instagram) and word of mouth. If you can do research on the market and who’s consuming your content + what kind of content they enjoy, you will be able to maintain a clientele. It’s all about research, data, trial and error, prayer, and spreading your brand everywhere you go. I highly recommend having business cards on your person EVERYWHERE you go! You never know who you’ll run into. A lot of my new clients though either find me from instagram, google, or a friend referral.   

Contact Info:

• Website: https://pocketsuite.io/book/poppinskinbytara
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/poppinskinbytara/?hl=en
• Linkedin: https://linktr.ee/poppinskinbytara?fbclid=PAAaZFd1JA1gLP0czdyUFB48oWz8Tswgj_t5Zb_CzKqJ3svhpMXzQW1GA6o7U

Image Credits
All photos were taken by Tara Durnbaugh, CEO of Poppin’ Skin Spa LLC.