Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in beauty services but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Victoria Kuzma, founder of Vancouver Mobile Hairstylist, located in Vancouver, BC, Canada.

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

I'm a mobile hairstylist serving the Vancouver area for cut and colour and for weddings in the Lower Mainland and beyond. Everyone is welcome: LGBTQ+ positive, curly hair 1A-4C inclusive, young or old. If you are a human with hair, I can help you!

My focus is on bringing out my clients' natural beauty - this means I teach you how to be age vibrant, no matter how old or young you are! I am pro-natural hair and specialize in natural curls. I also encourage everyone to embrace their grey hair as it comes in or through transitioning away from colour via my Gracefully Going Grey program.

My customers prefer low-maintenance hair focusing on quality in products and care versus quantity of products and care. I wholeheartedly encourage and support clients who use a variety of regimens from No Poo to Curly Girl Method to full high-end products, using vegan, cruelty-free, and natural lines when requested.

Tell us about yourself

I'm a trained artist who is in love with the ideals of beauty and form that have come down to us from the ages and many cultures. I have a degree in Fine Art from Queen's, where I specialized in portraiture, and I've been doing hair since I graduated in 2004. I had wanted to do hair since around the age of 10 but needed to jump through a few hoops and take some big risks before realizing my lifelong dream. This is all that's needed to motivate me, other than getting to see my clients and their families each day. I've been doing this for a while, so everyone is more like my friend than a client. It's intensely satisfying work.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

My biggest accomplishment has been seeing my business flourish over the years. I have excellent client retention and am now beginning to style my past brides' children and teens. It's such a pleasure to work with them to discover their hair identity.

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

The hardest thing is definitely the sacrifice in time that it has taken to get to where I am. I spent some of my best years investing long hours, and I will never get those back. I missed some important events, weddings, and funerals. It's just the way it has to be.

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

Definitely, the top tip would be to take the risk and DO IT. If I had been scared to fail, I would never have had this success. Next would be to learn self-reflection and how to criticize yourself constructively. It's so important to be aware and to improve yourself and your business model all the time. The third would be to set aside a week every year-end to review your successes and failures for the year and plan for the future year by finding new ways to serve better.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://vancouvermobilehairstylist.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VancouverMobileHairstylist/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vanmobilehair/

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.

Feel inspired to start, run or grow your own subscription business? Check out subkit.com and learn how you can turn "one day" into day one.