We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Victoria Laessig. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Victoria below.
Victoria, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?
The Challenges of Being a Business Owner
Sometimes I wonder what it’d be like to have a 9-5 job. Do I catch myself daydreaming about a weekly paycheck? YES! It would definitely beat having no-shows and cancellations at the salon. Being a business owner, you need to face these challenges. I work roughly 20 hours a week in the salon—100% optional. I love having the choice of picking my own hours and days. This is a career choice that is incredibly important to me. I believe in having a work-life balance. I wouldn’t have much of an option if I had a “9-5 job”!
Slow Months and Building a Career
Here, in snowy Northern MI, we have our slow months. It’s challenging as a hairstylist. Booth renting at a salon, I had to build my career from scratch. I am on year 4, and things behind the chair can be slow! As a level 3 stylist, I feel like I need to do more work advertising and getting my name out there to get my work noticed. During holidays and season changes, I’ve noticed there is a steady workflow, which is fantastic, and I feel like all my hard work has paid off! Promoting, advertising, and creating content is hard work, and that’s something I believe is a never-ending task for a business owner. I enjoy creating!
Bridal Work and Success
In the summer and autumn months, I’m very busy traveling all over Michigan and Wisconsin as a bridal hairstylist/makeup artist. On average, I book 20-25 weddings for the season. I think this is where I feel most successful! Weddings usually take place on Saturdays, but I also book weekdays and Sundays. I would say 70-80% of my income comes from the wedding industry. I love it so much! I work extra hard during this season, so it’s all worth it when the salon gets slow.
Working with People and Independence
Working with other people is no walk in the park. At the end of the day, I’m exhausted and need a coffee. There are so many different personalities and energies that I engage with! They’re all awesome though, truly! Being around so many people really puts a perspective on my work life. I ask myself, do I really want to have coworkers or a team? Wouldn’t I be more exhausted? Working independently—being my own boss—has always been something I’ve wanted to pursue. I honestly can’t picture myself working for someone else in the hair or makeup industry. Yes, I am a happy business owner even though it takes so much work!
Victoria, 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?
Everyone has an idea of what they want to do when they’re little—career-wise. I 100% knew I wanted to be a hairdresser; my heart was SET!
I’m Victoria Pauline, I am from a small town in the Upper Peninsula of MI; born and raised!
My dream was to open my own salon one day, with one chair. Nothing else struck my interest. I was that “hair girl” throughout middle school and high school—well, my sister too. I can’t take all the credit. I was that friend in school who styled hair for formal events and cheer. It was a blast, but I never knew that I was good at it! I thought it was fun! Since I knew what I wanted, that’s what I aimed for! I started college right after high school at age 18.
My main focus was haircutting, extensions, and being a colorist. Honestly, styling wasn’t my main priority. Once I started my first semester, there was so much to learn. It was overwhelming—not just the hair part, but the anatomy! Along with 40 hours a week in the classroom and the stress from the tests, I found out I was expecting a baby, What a year, it was a rollercoaster; I stressed over my high school exams, my boyfriend was leaving for the miliary, starting college & then expecting a plus one! It was not easy, & i really had to think about my life and career!
I finished the first semester and took a break before I completed semesters 2 and 3. Years went by and I didn’t feel ready to go back. the classes were 8 hours a day, 5 days a week! I chose to be a stay-at-home mom for the time being. I had another daughter two years later, and I had no idea when I would feel ready to return to college. It was hard being a stay-at-home mom, but it was harder making the decision to go back to college. I got the courage and strength to go back and finish in the year 2019! I felt ready, and I was doing it for my kids! I’m not the type of person to start something and never finish! I was ready to take the next steps toward my career. I did everything I needed to do to take my boards exam, but unfortunately, everything got interrupted in 2020. My boards application was lost, I couldn’t take my test, and I wasn’t able to work anywhere because salons and businesses were shut down. So what was I supposed to do!?
During the “lockdown” in 2020, I had a lot of time on my hands, and I took advantage of the situation. I extended my education, completing many color classes and getting certified in many different color lines and products. I did what everyone else had to do—stay occupied! I was finally able to move forward with my testing in December 2020. I remember passing it like it was yesterday. It was the BEST birthday gift to myself. This was the first time I cried tears of joy. I was so proud of myself for sticking through it all.
Spring 2021 came around. It was the most random thing—I was tagged in an art appreciation post online, which required an online portfolio. So I created a small portfolio online. I had some paintings on there and some photos of hair that I styled from high school events. I also practiced updos on my daughters and uploaded them. Somehow, my little portfolio made its way to people, and I was being asked to do wedding hair and prom hair that spring! My college instructor encouraged us to take photos of our work, so I tried to get as many photos as I could from these events. I recreated my website for bookings, got licensed in WI, and I was booked—locally and far—up to 4 hours away all summer and fall. Now that I look back at it, I’m truly proud of myself, and I can’t believe I had the courage to do it. It wasn’t until Summer 2021 that I offered makeup. Makeup was never a business move for me! I worked with a local stylist who needed assistance with makeup, so I said yes. It really wasn’t that bad! I created a mini kit along with my big hair kit, and I started offering makeup services. I wasn’t aware of how few travel makeup artists/stylists there were in the area. This made me want to make a difference.
On October 1, 2021—MOTIVATION. I called around because I was more than ready to work in a salon. I live in a small area, so there really aren’t a lot of options, but I found a place! I welcomed myself in that day, and I did my first haircut as a licensed hairstylist! I’ll never forget it!
Fast forward to 2024—I gained many loyal clients over the years. I have worked 100+ weddings all over WI and MI. I’ve traveled to TN, MN, and Lower MI! I’ve worked with amazing vendors over the years, i was invited to do styled shoots, and grew my social media!
I never thought that in my career, I’d book 1-2 years out for weddings or go from only wanting to cut hair in a salon to traveling across the state to do makeup! I ‘ve found myself in my work space, I stepped out of my comfort zone & challenged myself, It was not easy—I had to invest in so much (inventory, electronics, software, etc.). After 4 years, I was finally set on a logo, a theme, and i settled on the aesthetic i want to be known for. It’s wild to think I’ve accomplished all this in my twenties! I’m truly proud of myself, and I think my daughters are too!
Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?
I always thought creating content, sharing photos of your work is the important way to gain clientele. Yes it is important to show your work in any industry but there are so many AI generators online, its hard to pick what’s real and what’s edited. Salon-70% of my clients come to me by word-of-mouth. Weddings- 90% of my brides found my online. The difference here, is that i work locally in the salon, and people talk! word of mouth is the most effective way to gain clientele. Not only do I have photos of their hair online but you can visually see their hair in different light, different styles and you can see their confidence. I travel all over for weddings, and most of the time unfortunately i never see those clients again so there is no connection or communication amongst each other. The most these clients can do is leave a testimonial on my website!
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
The Role of Social Media in My Career
Everyone is on some sort of social media platform or has at least heard of one or two. Social media was just starting out when I was in middle school, so I really got to see how it bloomed throughout the years. I kept all my original accounts with a decent amount of followers—it was average, just some friends and family. When I made the decision to use social media as a marketing platform instead of sharing my personal life, it was a lot of work. I shared fun, vibrant, creative editorial makeup looks on Instagram and Facebook. I gained about 40% more followers. I didn’t have a goal, but I wanted to share my talents and interests in the beauty industry. From there on, I shared whatever hair photos I had from the few weddings I did. Eventually, I lost interest in having private accounts and moved on to only having business platforms.
As I got busy through the years, my audience grew—not to celebrity status, but I am content! I now have so many photos of my work that it’s overwhelming, and I never know when or what to post, so I keep things in my notes for future posts. Since I work both in a salon and travel for weddings, I felt it was important to separate the two on Instagram. That way, my followers can view one topic; it’s all about aesthetics and keeping up with trends. I took a marketing class and learned that 65%+ of people prefer to view videos or reels on social platforms.
If I gave advice to someone about growing their audience, I would say staying consistent is key. Getting “likes” isn’t important at all—it’s about who sees it and how many people see it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.victorialaessig.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/victorialaessig
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/victorialaessighair/
- Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@victorialaessigsalon
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/victorialaessig/
Google: https://g.co/kgs/fK25ZWu
Image Credits
Madison Dahlquist Photography
Katlyn Kretzschmar Photography
Sophia Helen Photography