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Jeanne Ann Kenning hosts the Beauty Pro Elite Podcast, where she helps beauty business owners with marketing, mindset, finance, and social health. In this episode, she interviews Ryan Silver, a 23-year-old hair extensionist from Calgary, Canada. Ryan started doing hair extensions after getting them done herself and being inspired by the flexible lifestyle of her friend who was doing them. She initially worked as a mobile hair extensionist before renting a chair in a salon. Ryan now offers nano hair extensions, which are smaller and more comfortable than traditional extensions. She credits her busy schedule to Instagram marketing, offering promotions, and reaching out to influencers for free services. Welcome to the Beauty Pro Elite Podcast. I'm your host Jeanne Ann Kenning and my mission is to help beauty business owners create a dynamic business they can be proud of with marketing, mindset, finance, and social health so you can start attracting those dream clients and building a brand you always wanted and deserve. If you are ready to explode your beauty biz then this is the place for you. It's time to get started. All right welcome to the Beauty Pro Elite Podcast. I'm so excited just pulling up her bio should have had that prepared my bad um to have Ryan on here with us today. I am very excited. So Ryan Silver is I can't believe this when I saw this you're 23 years old I was like girl if I was doing the things that you're doing at 23 you're going to be a millionaire. Mark my words. I love it. I hope so that's the goal right? Calgary Alberta Canada and she's been doing nano extensions since hair extensions since 2020 and started out as a small mobile hair extensionist and has since expanded into education and training which is much like my story and now a six-figure business owner who has grown over the last few years and currently offering online and in-person courses which we're going to talk about. Welcome so happy to have you and thank you. Okay so we're gonna so as I was telling you we just kind of wing it around here and just have a conversation and see where it goes. So tell me about what was it that made you get into like right from the beginning what was it that made you get into doing hair extensions? I have worn extensions since I was 12 years old maybe even 11 years old. I've always had super super thin fine hair. I basically always struggled my entire life and then I found nanos. My mom's best friend actually got nanos done and I got them done from a girl in Ontario. She actually like flew down to Calgary and did my hair which I'm like that's freaking amazing I would love to travel and do that eventually. No kidding. Like you should do this like you should do this. I was like okay. How old were you at the time? I was 20. 20. Or 19 turning 20. 19. My heart. So what was it when she said to you you should do this that you were like yeah I want to do this like what was it inside you that piqued that interest? I think it was her flexible lifestyle and just her saying she has like two young kids and she was like you know like I can go on vacation for three weeks if I want to like I can do this whenever I want I make my own schedule and at the time I was working two jobs like both part-time so I was like working one running to the other so I was like no. Yeah and that's the thing like when to recognize that so young like I didn't even start hold on to your socks this is gonna be a statement people. I didn't even start my beauty business until I was 32. I'd already had two kids I was already like married but I've worked for somebody else for so long and I was like this is ridiculous. I was like I was a wedding and event planner I was making really good money but I was literally a slave to the man like you know so for you to recognize that so young it's like the possibilities are like endless for you at such a young age. Okay so tell me so so you were like yeah I want to do this so you did your training with her yeah and how was that tell us about that. It was awesome so it was a one-day training I did the group course I think there was about seven or eight other people. Wow okay like pretty crazy. In Calgary? In Calgary yeah it was north that I went to like the hotel and there was like a bunch of us and I even started I was fully booked for like my one week when I wasn't even finished the course because I already started promoting yeah I was how do I have clients before I'm certified I'm like this is crazy but I was super super excited but my course is different like I offer like a one-on-one yeah I do different when I was with like seven to eight other people. Yeah so like not to like rain on somebody else's parade because you know it's like the uplift right other beauty professionals but like what was your experience in a group setting did you find it was lacking a little bit? I just found doing hair extensions that I needed more time more practice all of that stuff. I thought it was actually lovely working with other people around me who were like what are we all doing together like that sort of thing because we could all come together yeah but yeah. But you needed more of that one-on-one attention which is so common in the industry because with any beauty course it's group is obviously better because you get you know a lower price you get this but sometimes you get what you pay for right so you know so if anybody's just the reason why I'm bringing this up is it's very common that people take courses and I see it in my business all the time and then they complain they're like well I took a group course and I didn't really learn anything keep that in mind what type of learner you are because maybe you need to do a one-on-one. 100% and I offer a group myself. I just found for myself that that's what made me want to offer a one-on-one course. Right okay so you took your course and you had people right away were you freaking out right after like you were like yes where am I doing this oh my gosh like what is happening and that's kind of how I went to be mobile. Okay so you started out mobile right from the start so you went to people's houses and what was that experience like? It was different I mean some people loved it to be honest like I found like a lot of moms liked it when they had like young kids and I totally understood that but it was different going into someone's home when I didn't have the proper equipment or set up or you know like I'm a huge animal person but with like their animals and stuff and I'm like sorry I'm stepping over your dog while I'm doing your hair. Yeah yeah yeah exactly like a lot of girls come like when I used to teach lash extensions they were like I'm gonna be a mobile and I'm like you can try but it's a lot of work I'm like trying all that stuff with you and you don't even know like what kind of sanitation you're going into like what the environment's going to be like but you know like you said like whatever works for you when you start like do that like if that works for you. Awesome. So how long did you take mobile for? About six or seven months. Oh wow so a long time and then what did you do where did you go from mobile to? Well when I started to build up my clientele I found it tricky because I couldn't do as many clients as that I wanted because I was traveling from one end of the city to the other. Yeah. Exactly so I was like oh my gosh like I can't I can only do two to three clients a day. Right. And then after that I went into a salon and I rented a chair for a bit. Okay so you rented like you were booth renting from in a salon and how long were you there for? I was it was only a temporary opening I was there for maybe four months. Yeah and how was that experience for you? It was it was really good the girls were amazing it's basically what I'm doing now as well. Yeah okay. My current location for yeah like three years. Oh wow. I love it. Yeah so then you moved from there to your current like you're renting a chair at your current salon. So the services you're offering are nano hair extensions right? Yeah. So explain to the peeps that don't know like me what is the what is a nano like what's the difference between all the different kinds we'll start there. Yeah so nanos are a strand method they are one of like the newer hair extension technologies. Okay. They're 90% smaller than any other strand method. They're like super comfortable you can wear your hair up you can do French braids. Oh so they're really fine? Very very fine. Okay. Okay. Super tiny little beads that's why it's like a nano bead I guess. Okay okay gotcha. They were originally made for those with medical hair loss. Oh. Yeah yeah so like traction alopecia, postpartum so they were meant for like very very fine thin hair but you can use them on thick hair as well. Yeah so how busy give us a picture of so you're doing nano hair extensions how busy are you like what is your schedule like? I work five days a week full-time. Okay. Right now I don't have any availability in March and I'm booked halfway through April so I'm pretty busy. Okay we're gonna dive into it. Okay so this is like the hot like all I talk about every day all day is how do we get clients how do we fill our books how do we get people in our space like you know so what would you say I don't want to say just your secret I know for me when I started like I made $10,000 in my second month ever in business and everybody was like how did you get all your clients and I'm like I just had a wicked referral program and people referred to me and I built my clientele super fast because we didn't really like that was like 13 years ago we didn't have social media like it is now so what is your like getting clients secret that you can share with people about how you're so booked out and so full and it could be faceted obviously. Yeah I would say Instagram is absolutely huge. Okay. And when I did start I relate to you when you say offering like a crazy like promotion and stuff like that so my pricing was quite low and has increased over like the last few years yeah and then word-of-mouth I also reached out to like a few influencers in Calgary and I was like can I do your hair for free and yeah okay so let's touch on that let's expand on that so you reached out to them what did you say hey my name is Ryan I do hair extensions I reached out to a lot of like fitness athletes actually okay I was like you can wear your hair up with this method I'm like would you like hair extensions I'm like gave them a bit of background like I gave you guys and they were like yeah they were like I've never thought about it but I'm looking at your work like let's do this and then from there it was like boom boom boom yeah so once they posted your work and on their socials you found you fill that fairly quickly yeah yeah yeah wow that's amazing okay so now so pretty much now you have a pretty good full rotation of regular clients probably right yeah yeah so you're full like you're full for new clients basically I still take new clients just because they do come see me every six to eight weeks for me now right yeah I'm not seeing those clients like all the time for maintenance that's when I can sneak in the new installs but I am looking to hire an assistant actually oh look at this girl she's like a boss babe that's 23 okay so give us some insight on so the other thing so number one beauty business owner stuffer getting clients number one number two keeping clients so what would you say is a tip or a secret that you have like people would die to be in the position that you're in because they want to have that regular rotation of clients so I like I know for me I was always known for high-level sanitation and thorough work that's why people came to me that's why I kept such a high level retention for so long so what would you say is your kind of tip for that they honestly feel like it's my relationship with my clients it's the type of person I am I'm super personable and I feel like we've kind of built that friendship to where they're like oh my gosh like I like you like I want to like keep coming back to I want to tell people about you they liked the hair quality I was using right like their hair like their hair was lasting they're like oh my gosh this is amazing I haven't lost any extension so it was also the type of work I was providing exactly so you're doing thorough work using good product but not only that you're just a nice kind person right which I always say that and people are like like look at me like I'm weird and I'm like but it goes so far because if you're so fine and you are grateful for their business they're gonna like like I said I was telling one of my clients a few weeks ago when I started I literally I took my course in Calgary I started off doing just extensions and when I came back I was the worst lash tack in the world like literally horrible like I was so grateful and I was like thank you so much for sticking with me at these poor people oh my god girl it was bad but they stuck with me and most when I feel like to this yeah right so in so this is the thing even though you're not so great in the beginning when you're grateful and kind and appreciative they're gonna stick with you along the ride right yeah yeah yeah okay so high quality products being kind so let's dive into so you got a really good thing going right and you know you've built a brand give us like one or two tips on Instagram how are you showing up on Instagram we talk a lot about that around here so what what are you doing that you think attracts clients I would say story I think stories are huge and giving people the chance to like communicate with you like asking questions doing polls and stuff like that like engaging with your audience I think it's super huge yeah yeah and then doing reels as well so you can reach people like outside of Calgary for me like I come from Edmonton by me they're just like reaching that far reels and stories for sure okay so when you say asking questions give can you give some examples to the girls like I meant that listen you know of certain stories that you would ask for questions you would ask honestly just anything in general like even the other day I was like walking and I was like did anybody get the movement in today and then people are like no I'm so lazy haha how do you do this and then we're just chatting just something so frightening like yeah yeah and then you can also be like educating like for you yeah right you know and and asking those questions like I always talk about so every person that follows me I follow back so my business feed is full of beauty business owners and 99% of it is before and afters before and afters hair before and afters and I'm like okay we need to do something different because everybody's doing the same thing right so it's like doing something that stands out asking questions educating giving you know advice on how do you take care of your extensions how do you you know all these things right is going to attract the right people now here's a loaded question okay you're like oh god how what would you say is like your how much do you post are you posting five days a week seven I could be better okay why that is something I struggle with is posting okay I struggle sitting down and like making this like amazing reel or post and caption that I want to make yeah my goal this year 2024 is to get better at that I would and not stories for sure because they're just quick like I can talk to the camera and then I hit post yeah I would think tricky for me okay so what would you say like on a regular consistent basis are you doing right now three times on my feed probably yeah okay and your stories every day okay that's why I asked this because it's a loaded question and it shows the power of even though you think you're not showing up quote-unquote to the best of your ability you still are because you're attracting right and you're putting a purposeful thought provoking content it's not just and I'm gonna throw up before and after yes no alright so it's actually utilization okay so you work five days and the other thing that you we talk a lot about is you know when you work five days behind the chair behind the bed in service the last thing you want to do at night is go home and make social media like that crap like it's you know you're tired and then especially if you have a family or you have kids and you got to deal with all that it's like now it's like nine o'clock and you're like yeah no I'm out right yeah so talk to us about what is next for you what so you're educating that start there so you educate in Calgary only in a Calgary only yes I am travel to Edmonton once each hair salon I would actually love to travel so I would say that's what for me is traveling throughout Canada even the States if I that would be fantastic yeah so you teach in person you can do one-on-one or group I mean I know for me I've flown all over North America to take classes and I know a lot of people you know are are into that like definitely don't mind doing that right if you're finding the right person you know you got to go where the person is right yeah it's not just convenient you got to go where the quality yeah so give us a picture of what is your class like just a broad overview I'm not going to like hold you to it but like give them like an idea of what your class entails what does it include that sort of thing right now this is my in-person one-on-one nano boot camp it is three weeks long oh really it's three weeks long they get a hair extension kit so like their beads their pliers their shears their mannequin head their practice hair they get the whole spiel and then they actually get the opportunity to come shadow me one to two three one to two times a week to watch me do a maintenance appointment a new install and basically record me ask a million questions yeah a lot of people seeing it like behind and then they get access to me throughout the week on boxer it's kind of like a what's up boxer up thing kind of thing and we talk a lot about how to run their business Instagram all of that kind of stuff yeah and at the course they get to do a realized model and we sit there and we do a full head install together right so the genius behind that is you're learning your theory then you're shadowing and then you're doing the live model it's not like you're thrown in you're like I have no idea what I'm doing but I'm gonna put a chair extensions on me today right yeah it's like actually thoughtful and then so with that with the three weeks you do not have to have previous experience I know okay y'all are gonna message me and I know y'all are gonna send me messages I'm telling you right now I know it's different in the United States everywhere so make sure you check your state regulations or your promise I know I get the messages all the time but for most X in Canada at least you do not need to have previous experience hair experience nothing like that correct okay okay I think it's a little more complicated in the United States depending on the state I think there's like five or six states in the United States that are not where you don't have to have a cosmetology license and the rest you way I didn't even know that okay well there you see girl knowledge right so so that's nice so you are like it could be really an add-on service for anybody really all my hair stylist and everything like that yeah okay so let's talk about your online course okay is it out yet no it is not okay I'm hoping March okay March it is going to be tomorrow okay so sometime in March you're launching your online course and pink is the picture what does that look like for you it is a self-study course okay seven seven and what do they have to do to graduate an online course course complete all of the modules yeah I do provide them like with everything that they need like okay and everything yes okay I think so I'm still in the midst of figuring it out which is why I yes yeah I would like to provide them with a hair extension kit possibly but I do let them know like that that's hair suppliers to use what tools they need okay yeah like it's not released yet guys yeah yeah so obviously like it's better to do it in person but if you are on a budget or you are in Newfoundland like I just want to quickly learn a method like I already know hair they don't need all this you know stop it's not how to do it it's perfect for them perfect yeah and how is that experience been for you doing an online course I'm just it has been a rollercoaster honestly this is the first course I'd like it's a lot of work like I think I think for the last three months yeah and I'm like holy moly and like you know I don't want to forget anything I'm double-checking making everything perfect yeah it's a lot more work than I thought honestly but I love it it is and then the nice thing about having like you know on my page we talk a lot of I've talked to a lot of girls who are at your level that are like looking to grow into the digital product and it's like the effort that you put behind it now will pay you a hundredfold later on because you're putting the quality you're putting the heart you're putting the knowledge you're putting the call like everything it's gonna be good quality that people will take it and they won't be like oh you know a lot of it there's a lot out there that are like that was bad right so they're gonna know that it's great quality and they will you know love that so whatever you put into it now it will pay you a hundred percent yeah like I know some of the courses that I've put out some of them taking me ten months to do and I keep going back and then right now right now I go back and I'm like oh maybe I should redo some of that right like it takes time to put something out in the beauty industry that is good quality it's out there it's out there so I'm like really taking my time like as you've heard I'm figuring out every little detail still yeah yeah yeah and it's a learning curve but the thing is you're hitting all the different types of people all across the board right like hitting you know the people that can come and see you you're hitting the people that can't come and see you in person that sort of thing okay so the end I like to ask this one question what would you at 23 years old you have a vibrant in-person business you have an online course that's just in the launch of an education business what would you say if you had one piece of advice to somebody in the beauty industry that's struggling right now what would you say to them I would say never give up and stay consistent always since this is key when you're like beating yourself up and you're posting and nothing's happening I think great things take time and just kind of like what you said what you're putting into it like you're going to get out of it yeah resilience I like girl that is like total food swamp moment because I literally have had this conversation 20 times this week study well there's a study let me just share you with a study so there's a study by the Harvard School of Business that says when you are an entrepreneur 75% of the success is based on your mindset your resilience your ability to overcome obstacles 25% is still yeah so like I would say when you were a crafty lash artist like Jean Anne in the beginning but you have the resilience and the you know to push through and get better and add more services and learn different things then that's what you know pushes you forward so that's the same as what you're saying like it's it's not just the skill you can have these certificates on your wall but if you don't have this sorted out manifestation is real I tell you 100% it is really so how can people find you tell us like where do they find you what's your social all that stuff I am on Instagram my Instagram name is envy hair coat e and the e hair cup okay and what do you have a website I do not know okay so it's all on Instagram okay perfect so I've checked out your stuff it's beautiful congratulations on all your success you're gonna blow it out of the water I mean at 23 years old whoo you're just getting started girl thank you thank you for being on okay so a little bit of a quick note to this version of the podcast a couple of days after Ryan and I recorded this she did release the waitlist for her online nano extension boot camp so I thought I would come in and just record a little quick cliff note for you so you know how to get that information so it is going to be the nano so it's an online nano extension boot camp you can get the waitlist so what you have to do is you have to go on to her Instagram so she's going to be launching it on March 8th I was just looking for the date so if you go on to her Instagram which is envy so enve hair coat all one word lowercase and then on the third post out on the main grid you'll see the introducing the online nano boot camp you go on there and you comment the word waitlist and she'll send you the link to get on the wait list you guys get on this this is an amazing add-on service even if you just do a few clients if you're looking for something that's really great to do and like this girl is super talented and going places so just thought I would share that with you would also be in the show notes below and I will see you next week hey thanks so much for tuning in today it means everything to me to have your support my mission is to help thousands of beauty business owners grow as big as they possibly can so if you found today's episode valuable the best way to share the love is to screenshot this episode share to your socials or even better share with another business owner perhaps you could leave me a review however you're listening to this podcast and if you are looking for additional support please reach out to me at beauty defined coach on Instagram can't wait to see you next week