Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Andi Hanson, Owner of Mindful Practice, located in Hermantown, MN, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
Mindful Practice is an intuitive health and beauty space where I offer a variety of low-waste, eco-conscious, cruelty-free services, including facials, brow laminations, lash lifting, tinting, facial waxing, and gentle manicures, as well as holistic nutrition counseling. My clients are individuals who are seeking services that are mindfully crafted to be better for their bodies and the earth.
Tell us about yourself
My name is Andi. I’m 30 years old and deeply empathic. Ever since I can remember, I’ve had an entrepreneurial spirit, and I’ve always been particularly attracted to taking care of my skin, hair, nails, and body. I started noticing the toxicity in western beauty culture when I was enrolled in cosmetology school and was determined to make a difference once I graduated and started working in a salon.
Unfortunately, the salon I worked for post-graduation wasn’t interested in bettering their products, finding healthier options, or really doing any research on ways to improve their carbon footprint, so I left in search of like-minded salon spaces. I found a beautiful non-toxic nail salon in Denver, CO called Basecoat Nail Salon and began doing non-toxic manicures and pedicures and learning from the women in charge about all the ways it’s possible to be more mindful of our health and wellness while simultaneously offering quality beauty services.
It was in that space that I was encouraged to start Mindful Practice as a pop-up booth offering cruelty-free, nontoxic, and low-waste facial waxing. From there, I took Mindful Practice back to my home state of Minnesota and began my journey to create what Mindful Practice has become today, where it resides in our own salon collective.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
My biggest accomplishment as a business owner feels like it has yet to come, but thus far, I would say being in the current space, I now feel like the biggest. My business partner and I now own a collective space where we run our businesses. She is a hairstylist and photographer: at Lovdahl Salon + Studio. We have a massage therapist: Northern Lotus Massage, and I have my own space offering my services: Mindful Practice, all inside one building as a collective.
Each of us owns our own business and works together in a holistic space where we work to dismantle the toxic beauty standards with every service we provide. Opening this space has been the most defining experience because I am no longer answering to anyone else’s business standards. My clients are now all like-minded people who are interested in what we have to offer inside this specific space.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
One of the hardest things that comes with being a small business owner is making the decision to have employees or take care of everything yourself. I am someone who likes to take care of everything within my business and don’t tend to be great with delegation. As of now, I prefer to handle all the different aspects of running a business, including bookkeeping, scheduling, marketing, content creation, inventory, website building/editing, continued education, customer service, and the list goes on.
Someday I think the right idea would be to hire people to do tasks that aren’t my strong suit so I can focus more on the areas in which I do thrive. Juggling all these tasks can cause a certain level of exhaustion at times, which can be uninspiring. I understand; however, this has been completely my choice and within my control, and when the time is right, I will begin to delegate where necessary. I think it will do wonders for my creativity and inspiration.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
As I cannot claim to be an expert and am still learning daily how to successfully run and grow my business, I do, however, have some things I live by that help me to do so;
- Trust the Universe and the process, and constantly foster my mental state and health to be able to trust that what’s needed will come. I do believe that taking care of our mental health and getting our minds right is a huge component of success. This can look like meditation, therapy (if accessible), stoking relationships with family and community, movement, hydrating, getting proper nutrients, vitamin d exposure, spending time out in nature, and doing things that make us feel connected to ourselves and the earth.
- Continued education: learn, learn, learn. Putting in work and investing in constantly learning and growing in your industry of interest, social justice issues, ways to lower your carbon footprint, etc. Being in the energy of furthering your expertise, knowledge, and impact is a space I believe we can attract more success.
- Best interest. Being in the mindset of looking out for your clients and the earth’s best interests is more of what we desperately need in the business world. Instead of a goal to make the most money or profit, adjust the goal to be whatever is in the best interest of the people who come to buy from you and the earth’s survival. We have enough cutthroat and wasteful businesses in the world. We can desperately use more mindful ones.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://mindfulpractice.co/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andi.m.hanson
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindfulpractice_/
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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