We recently connected with Tiana Hardy and have shared our conversation below.

Tiana , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s jump right into the heart of things. Outsiders often think businesses or industries have much larger profit margins than they actually do – the reason is that outsiders are often unaware of the biggest challenges to profitability in various industries – what’s the biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?

Being that I am part of the beauty industry, one can easily assume that it’s an industry that will always make money. In the grand scheme of things, this isn’t always true. I think one of the biggest challenges currently is inflation. This has affected many industries as we have to keep up with the changes in product costs & this affects the cost of labor. We all have to make a profitable living—our prices have to align with this. In turn, this can cause issue with existing or potential clients being able to continue to afford our services sometimes. Some areas of the beauty industry will take a direct hit due to beauty services not being a necessity. I have definitely felt the impact of this. I’ve had clients that come to me less than before or clients that have totally halted getting service. As much as it impacts my business, I understand that people have to do what they see fit to preserve their income. I have to other find ways to increase my income in other ways when my services aren’t enough.

Tiana , 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?

It’s funny to me how I even got started, especially since I initially wanted to become a Forensic Scientist. In my senior year of high school, 2010, I watched a lot of DIY Nail Art videos. I would either do the art on my own nails or I would buy press on nails & do the art on those. I got a lot of enjoyment from doing my nails & I used to get a lot of compliments. Once I went off to college, I began to teach myself how to do acrylic full sets. I would continue to practice on myself or I’d practice on other girls & charge them $15 each. In short— after 1 year of college I decided to enroll into cosmetology school & started working at my first salon job after that in 2013 (I think), Cosmetology school was truly to obtain the license. They didn’t dive too deep into how to do acrylic nails & designs, so I’m 100% self taught. I worked at 3 other salons between 2014-2017 & with each salon experience, I learned more and more about my craft, what I wanted for my work environment, the services I wanted to offer & the type of clientele I wanted to attract.

I used to solely do Acrylic Sets, but currently my services include gel nail art with Apres Gel-X & Structure Gel Manicures. I love being part of my clients self care—the excitement they show after getting their nails done is an amazing feeling for me. What sets me apart from most is my level of care & detail that clients don’t experience from most professionals they’ve encountered. I’m a perfectionist in some ways so when it comes to my work, I want to not only feel good about what I provide, but I want my clients to feel good as well.

I can say that I’m proud of how far I’ve taken this craft for myself. I remember the time of not having a job for like 6 months in the beginning of my nail journey & staying up day + night practicing. I had no money to the point that I had to ask my mom for train/bus fare. This was a horrible experience for me especially since before nails, I worked in a supermarket for 5 years. My family didn’t see the purpose of me “playing” around with nail polish. I had my first salon job & I remembered bringing home $43 from a day of clients. I had clashes with salons I worked for, having a hard time trying to obtain clientele once I started working for myself, etc. I remember these things & how they made me feel, so to now be in a place that almost was too far for me to imagine is a great feeling.

If there is anything that I want everyone to know about me or my work:
When it comes to me, if I do something, it’s going to be to the best of my abilities. When it comes to my work, I’m going to always make sure the work speaks for itself.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

My social media growth came from people that I’ve serviced sharing my work authentically, whether that be on the platform itself or in real life encounters. I’ve also serviced some well known individuals so with that came a bigger exposure to their audience. My work truly spoke for itself & naturally helped me gain an audience.

The advice that I’d give to attain a social media presence would be to put your work out there & make sure it’s work that is good. While social media now has ways to get your work promoted to gain traction, the best kind of marketing is your work being seen by people in real life. Word of mouth is very powerful.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

When a person chooses to no longer be your client, it’s not always your fault & you shouldn’t beat yourself up about it. I’m thankful to be able to say that I don’t have a revolving door of clientele. Most of my frequent clients have been with me 7-8 years, most recent frequent clients have been 2-5 years. There are a few clients that I no longer see due to reasons I’m unclear about, but they don’t owe me an explanation. I would just hope it wasn’t anything that they felt I couldn’t fix. It’s nothing I should feel a way about.

Contact Info:

• Website: Tinylux.as.me
• Instagram: @tiny.luxury & @pressedbytiny
• Other: Pressed by Tiny website (Press On Nails): Pressedbytiny.com