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

Tino, 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.

I’d say the biggest risk I’ve taken as it pertains to my business is branching off and opening my own little salon studio after only being graduated from cosmetology school and assisting at a salon for less then a year. I had a friend that had opened up one and after visiting theirs I was intrigued by the concept of the suite life. I definitely didn’t have a steady clientele built up yet being so new to the industry, but I was determined to make it work. Thanks god it did haha!

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

My name is Tino, and I own T.G. Hair Studio. It’s a little 1 man salon studio that I’ve had since June of 2016. I literally started in the business kind of self taught. I had always been that guy that was cutting friends and family in the basement, garage, etc growing up and have also been cutting my own hair since middle school. So I guess it just kind of came natural to eventually gravitate towards this field as a profession. I specialize in Men’s Grooming and Sunkissed Balayage looks. I also have my own hair product line called T.G. Hair Product, consisting of 2 different clays, a cream, a paste, and a volume powder.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

For me specifically, hands down I built my clientele off the previous industry of Nightlife that I worked in for several years here in San Diego and Scottsdale, AZ. I quickly became a go to guy for my fellow industry friends just from meeting and interacting with so many people on a nightly basis. From that I just built up a loyal clientele that I still have to this day.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I’ve definitely built up resilience in this industry from all the ups and downs that come along with relying off of having a steady clientele. From either having a slow season to, the multiple floods and issues my shop has had that misplaced me from my place of work, to being shut down 6+ months due to the Pandemic. I always tried to keep my head up and stay positive and just know this is my passion and I’m not letting anything take my business away from me.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.tg-hairstudio.com
• Instagram: Tg_hairstudio
• Yelp: T.G. Hair Studio