Two Generations of "Black Girl Magic" Put Their Mark In The Beauty Industry
Updated: Jul 22, 2020
The initial thought of starting a business can be a daunting task. I get it! We've talked about starting a business for years but, at some point you have to take a leap of faith and go for it! You have to be your #1 cheerleader.
African-Americans spend roughly $1.2 trillion each year in beauty products, and that number is projected to rise to $1.5 trillion by 2021.
See: The Industry That Black Women Built
https://www.essence.com/lifestyle/money-career/business-black-beauty/
Korean-Americans dominate the black hair industry. My mother, my sister, and I decided that we not only wanted to sell hair care products, but also create a shopping "experience" for our customers. We knew it wouldn't be easy to penetrate the beauty industry. Barriers include securing vendors with extremely high buy-Ins; sometimes minimum orders could be $5,000 up to $20,000.
So, we knew if we were going to DO IT! We had to go BIG! My little sister, who's a Master Wig Specialist said, "lets add a salon." Without hesitation,
"Jeweled Hair Lounge & Beauty Spa" was born in New Britain, CT. Without securing a loan with a local bank, the trio pooled their savings together and opened the doors to a Black Owned Beauty Supply Store and Hair Salon, 2400 square feet of high end natural hair care products, braiding hair, wigs, and four sought after professional hairstylists, with almost 30 years of combined experience in the cosmetology field.
WE MADE OVER $30,000 WITHIN 3 MONTHS
I can go on and on talking about the ups and downs of starting this business, building out a store, navigating tons of vendors, gaining wholesale accounts, and being denied access to some large brand name accounts---but, I'll save it for another time. In spite of it all, we managed to gross over $30,000 in 3 months, which afforded us the opportunity to triple our inventory selection.
Share this post if you can relate to deferring your dreams because you are afraid of failure.
3 WAYS TO KNOW IT'S TIME TO FOLLOW YOUR HEART, EVEN IF YOUR MIND DISAGREES
1. You can't stop thinking about what you should be
doing.
2. You know by following your heart, it will improve
your life.
3. It's who you are, it's what God called you to be!
The New Britain Herald Press Release
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