Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in personal care but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Anne Truong, Co-Founder of AX Art Atelier, located in Vancouver, BC, Canada.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

We run a beauty company with a focus on hair styling, makeup, and permanent makeup services. Our customers are all clients who want to look and feel like the best version of themselves. We don't aim to change or alter who the client is; rather, we complement their unique features, so they leave feeling confident and like themselves.

Tell us about yourself

We started our business being recent graduates of Blanche Macdonald Makeup school. I was in the program with my now business partner. We were working individual freelance jobs after graduating, and it was very difficult trying to manage the business and job as individual contractors. We confided with one another and thrived on being able to navigate the challenges of a new business together.

What drives us personally is the empowerment of being a minority and a 100% female-owned company. My business partner and I come from immigrant parents who fled the war in Vietnam. We both grew up with very little, and our families struggled with financial hardships. It motivates me to be able to provide for my family and loved ones. We also employ other first-generation Canadians, minorities, immigrants, and recently Ukrainian refugees.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Our biggest accomplishment as a business owner is our recently opened Yaletown studio. We have worked for five years to get to this point, and we are very proud of what this means as a business. We are also incredibly proud to employ three girls and ten subcontractors, with a majority of them working with us from the very beginning. I think this is a testament to how we treat our staff and the family environment we aim to achieve with our team.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

One of the hardest things about being a business owner is the constant day-to-day tasks and admin work. Every day there are new challenges to navigate, from building permits to unique client situations, and the lists of to-do's are never-ending.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

1. Utilize social media and tech integrated systems for booking, and new customer leads.

  • This is a new generation. We find our biggest advantage over other makeup artists and beauty studios in our industry are our ability to organize and relay to our clients in the most efficient and professional way with our streamlined online booking systems.
  • We have found that 60% of our new leads also come from social media. It is the preferred choice of clients looking for vendors in our industry, and it is essential to our business.

2. Be patient and relentless.
Starting a business is incredibly difficult.
One of my favorite quotes is: "Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years."
This has always been my philosophy on running a business, and the first three years were very difficult, but if we were discouraged by what we thought we should have accomplished in year one and gave up, we would not be where we are now.

3. Don't be afraid of hard work
If you put in the overtime, the extra effort, and the free services, they will pay off in other ways. What you put into your business will be what you reap in the future. The reality is you will have to sacrifice either time and or effort to get to your goals, and you need to mentally prepare yourself for a constant uphill struggle until you get where you want.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://axartatelier.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/axartatelier/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/axartatelier/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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