Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in personal care but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Andrea Nguyen, owner of Ivory Noir Salon, located in Edmonton, AB, Canada.

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

Ivory Noir Salon is a hair salon that specializes in colour corrections. My mission was to build a salon that could offer tangible solutions for hair color challenges. The most common complaints about hair colour, in general, are "my hair is too ashy, too brassy, too light or too dark." To bridge that gap of unhappy clients with knowledgeable hairstylists became my business model. As long as I could systematically train hairstylists utilizing a back-to-basics approach with colour theory combined with advanced technical training, that was how I could offer a great salon experience to our clients. When people trust you, see positive results, and find solutions to problems, that is how business is built. My mission was for Ivory Noir Salon to be a solution salon.

Tell us about yourself

I have been a hairstylist for 20 years and have always been passionate about hair. I could always visualize hair cuts and hair colours even before starting hair school. I have worked in a range of salons, worked full time as a hair colour educator for Wella, and have worked alongside sales reps to help support and drive salon business. Having experienced all these different facets in the hair industry combined with my natural entrepreneurial mindset, it was natural my next step in my career would be to open my own salon. I would say besides the knowledge and experience I have with hair colour; my strength would be my passion for mentoring. I thrive and feel the most purposeful when I am building up and supporting people. To be a part of someone's growth journey is both rewarding and inspiring.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

That's a hard one; as I sometimes feel like an entrepreneur, it's hard to recognize your wins because the journey of building a business to become a successful brand often feels like a constant climb up a never-ending, steep mountain. I think my biggest accomplishment is simply not giving up! In all those moments of intense challenge and feeling completely defeated, there's always that fork in the road moment- give in to fear and quit or have faith and keep going. August 2022 will be Ivory Noir's ten-year anniversary, so to look back at my growth journey, I now understand why all those moments of challenges needed to happen in order for my business to grow. I am proud I pushed through my hardest days and trusted the process.

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

The hardest part is always maintaining a consistent, positive, solution-driven mindset, especially in times of challenges. Being a leader to a team and offering impeccable service/products to customers involves so much direction from a business owner. Everyone is coming to you for answers to problems, and most often, you feel like your job is putting out fires all day long. When you are constantly problem-solving, it's easy to lose sight of your vision and feel overwhelmed with negativity. For myself, being disciplined to compartmentalize my own personal emotions in order to be productive and solution-driven at all times is always the hardest. This is especially true when I am dealing with personal challenges aside from the business cause I still have to show up as a strong leader with a positive mindset to lead my team.

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

  1. The single most important thing about building a business is making sure you are either 1000% passionate about your business idea/product or you have knowledge/skill with the service you are offering or the product you are selling. People will only believe in your business and want to support it if they know it adds genuine value to them, and if you, yourself, do not have this "all in" feel towards your business, there will be nothing anchoring you and preventing you from quitting when the going gets tough.
  2. Understand that challenges are gateways to growth, not roadblocks to stop you. Every time you feel tested, choose to see it from a perspective of growth vs. a perspective of fear; that alone will allow you to openly and gracefully see opportunities to build your business better and stronger.
  3. Have a strong vision, have a plan, and set goals but BE FLEXIBLE. Being able to pivot and to go with the flow allowing your business itself to direct you sometimes as it organically grows, is essential.

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

Have fun building your business and celebrate all the wins, big or small, cause so much of the time, we are just head down, busy working and building the business that we can't enjoy the journey. Dream big, and don't give up! Always go back to your "WHY" Why did you start your business, to begin with? What was that dream you committed to chasing? What was that life you envisioned your business would reward you with? Always revisit your why, so when you want to quit, you will be reminded of why you started, and once that passes, and you are back on track, DREAM BIGGER and keep committing to chasing that bigger dream to build your business legacy stronger and wider and deeper.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: http://www.ivorynoirsalon.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IvoryNoirSalon
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ivorynoirsalon/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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