A Flavour of How to Use Mindset to Grow your Beauty Business
Tiana Acosta
August 10, 2023
Favour is the dynamic CEO of Flavours Biz, a leading hair braiding enterprise based in San Antonio. Not only is she an expert in the craft, but she also guides other braiders in establishing and growing their own businesses. Initially dabbling with a lip gloss line in her teenage years, Favour transitioned to hair braiding, a skill she had nurtured since she was 16. While her path wasn't always smooth, with challenges including initial lack of parental support and navigating the intricacies of business credit, Favour's resilience and adaptability shone through.
Her secret sauce? Leveraging the power of social media marketing. Despite not producing "perfect" content, her consistent and genuine approach has reaped immense rewards. Tools like Google Calendar and Quickbooks aid her in staying organized, but it's her recent shift to Scale Beauty that promises an integrated business management solution.
For Favour, the journey has been laden with lessons. From understanding the importance of legal structures to the value of investing in oneself, she emphasizes the need to overcome limiting beliefs and to continually seek growth. She encourages aspiring entrepreneurs to believe in themselves, shut out the noise, and be open to guidance.
At just 21, Favour’s achievements are commendable. Her ability to scale her business from $5,000 to $11,000 months in a short span speaks volumes. But, what fills her with the most pride is her ability to make a positive impact, having assisted women in collectively earning over $100,000. As she looks to the future, Favour embodies the spirit of evolution, ensuring that with every twist and turn, she remains rooted in her purpose and vision.
I didn’t think it would be lucrative at first
This is really what I love doing! I've been doing it for free for the longest and didn’t even realize it. I didn’t even think of coaching in this way. As I was growing my own business, I picked up people along the way and they started to grow their own. For example, my sister started her nail business and she’s seen success, along with all of the people I gave tips and secrets to. One of my clients is close to making 6 figures from hers. My assistants have their own clientele. So I thought maybe I should monetize this.
I started braiding around 16. My first business was actually a lip gloss line, but the money wasn't enough. Obviously with product-based business the profit margins are lower because you have to spend money on inventory and it still had to be active for a long time. So I switched to braiding.
I started braiding out my moms living room but my parents didn’t support me initially. I have Nigerian parents so they wanted me to go the traditional route like go to school, get your degree and get a job. So I was supposed to go to school to be an anesthesiologist. I only picked that because I saw a $300,000 salary just to give people injections. Plus it was a lot of school. So my dad told me to go to business school. I enjoy the logistics of business, it doesn't matter the vehicle.
I made it a legitimate business about two years ago and then we just started taking off. I started creating a team and it took off.
Social media has been it for me. It's what I’ve been using since I started. If you look at my content, it's not like I make the best content. So I’m really here for the girls that they need to make perfect content. As long as you’re putting yourself out there, you’re applying pressure, you’re putting in the effort, and you’re staying consistent. People will only take you as seriously as you take yourself. It works.
Currently, my clients and I are using a specific tool that was helpful for getting appointments booked and saving a lot of time getting my schedule together, but we will be replacing that with Scale Beauty. Since I’m braiding and consulting, I use Google Calendar to merge both calendars. For saving money, Quickbooks and having a spreadsheet to plan out expenses every month and figuring out what I do and don’t need or how much I do need to be profitable.
I’m not perfect but these are little things that have really helped me feed myself, my employees and my business, while saving time and money.
I’m switching over to Scale Beauty, first off, because it’s black owned. I have to support my people. I really like the platform. It integrates everything that I need in one place. I’m using so many different platforms for many things so Scale Beauty is like an all in one space. It's super organized and easy to use.
It's actually a lot! There’s so much. Moving forward now we have a lot of information so I can't say I didn't know but I didn't apply it. Honestly when I first started off I didn't know so even when I first started off just like structuring my business,making it legal, filing my LLC. I know this is basic stuff, but starting off I was like “let me collect my cash and enjoy my money.” So structuring my business is something I wish I would have done.
I also wish I would have gotten business credit. I used my personal credit card to invest in my business. I maxed out my personal credit cards because I wasn’t eligible for business credit at the time and was really trying to do everything on my own. Now I know people who are experts in that but at the time I was ready to go. I wish I would have been a little more patient with that.
I would have made my braiding business passive before stepping into the coaching and consulting space because my braiding business is pretty active. Although I do have retail, the bulk of the income comes from clients. My consulting business is working with clients too so both of these are active income. In order to scale, I was my own bottle neck. I should have made my business run to the point where I didn't have to be there and that would have made running the consulting business easier.
Definitely.Although braiding requires my body, I’ve mastered it to the point where I don’t have to think about it, but consulting requires a lot of mental energy. When I would step back into my braiding business, my mind wasn’t there. I would forget to buy snacks, or hair, or even forget I had a client, full transparency, because my mind is over here and I am working with 12 different clients and trying to figure out what we can do to better each of their businesses, while thinking of what I can do to better my business. A lot of my mental energy is dedicated to helping others scale, so if I had someone dedicated to that [braiding business] then it would have been better, but you learn.
That’s probably the hardest part. We are the people that stop ourselves. I had to overcome my limiting beliefs, the mindset that I had at that moment and certain things that held me back.Those are literally the things that shift us to get to that next level. I like to think how people who are making a lot of money think. I like listening to Myron Golden; listening to how he thinks. I had to find what shifts me.
Personally, I had to overcome being around the wrong people, being with the wrong partner, prioritizing, and budgeting and spending my money on stuff I don’t even need.
I learned how to invest. One of the biggest bottle necks with business owners, especially black business owners, is having a broke mindset. I started to invest a lot of money into my business and into myself and that's what really shifted my business.So when business owners are scared of spending money or trying new things, that’s what keeps most people in the gutter. Not only with spending the money, but applying yourself. Spending a lot of money doesn't just solve the problem, but actually stretching yourself and doing things you’ve never done before will push you. Stretching myself has helped me become this person.
I’m proud of the fact that I’m pretty independent. I’m 21 and I don’t have to ask my parents for much. My family has been my motivating force. I wanted to do something different and show them that we are capable of doing more with ourselves. We are capable of being abundant. I like that my business has enabled me to not stress my mom too much.
Also, the impact. I can’t believe I’ve helped women make over $100,000. That actually blew my mind. When I sat back and calculated it, I thought ”that is amazing!” I never would have even thought that I could help women make a lot of money by pushing them.
I’m proud of scaling from $5,000 months to $11,000 months within 90 days. That was a huge transformation in my business. I was like “Oh my gosh, people can really make $11,000 in a month?”I never thought that was possible. After I broke that limiting belief, I knew the sky was the limit.
Those are some things that shifted my perspective and made me grateful for the seeds I sowed.
I would say just believe in yourself. That is all it takes. If you believe in yourself and you have a vision, that is all you need. Keep going. Keep grinding. Keep trekking. God will give you everything you need. So just believe in yourself and block out the noise. Your parents could be the noise. Your siblings could be the noise. Your friends could be the noise.
Also, don’t let social media make you feel like you're less than, like you're not doing the right thing, or that you're moving too slow. Don’t let your family make you feel like you're moving too fast. Don’t let anyone make you feel like you should or shouldn’t be doing something. A Lot of people don’t know what they want so they look on social media and they try to find what they want. So I would say block out everything and ask yourself ‘what do I want?’ And when you figure out what you truly want, you craft that vision for yourself and believe in yourself; the sky isn’t even the limit.
You don’t have to know exactly where you’re going, but have a vision. My vision has changed so many times, but I know that God grants me that vision to bring me to that space.Once I am in that space and learning new things, I think ‘Okay. Maybe I can do this,’ so my vision changes directions.
Humble yourself. Ask for help. If you don’t know what to do, ask someone. You’re going to mess up. Pay for help too.
