This time last year I was broke. Not just “Oh my god, I need to stop going out so much,” broke. More like “bills can’t be paid without $0 left to my name at all and diving deep into red” broke.😩 It was the result of approaching my new, shiny business in its infancy with a myopic mindset. Leaving my last job with 125+ clients, I didn’t think I needed to market myself. I told myself I didn’t know how to because I was tucked away in a pre-war building on the 3rd floor with NO signage. The majority of residents STILL don’t know we are there.🤷🏻♀️ New York is transient. People come, people leave. Clients get new jobs and move to other states, boroughs or maybe have totally different hours. It’s natural to shed old clientele, but it’s what you do with that new vacancy. I told myself in August 2017 that something had to change, and soon, or else I’d have to go back to work for another shop. I have lived on my own since I graduated high school at 18 and I wasn’t about to move back home broke and as a failure. 😓 I focused on what I could do to visually improve my business to potential clients. #BeyondTheBeardNYC was a name I had been sitting on for years for other business ventures. So I went for it! I changed the name, created a basic 5 page website and did my best to spruce up our Yelp page. I managed to grow my business by 600% ‼️‼️ in the first 6 months. Potential investors told me it wasn’t possible to continue at that rate and yet, I do. I’m so humbled to say that so far, in August alone, I have seen 30+ new clients. And we’re only halfway done! 🙌🏼 I’m writing all of this to put it out there in the hope that someone will read it and NOT give up. Yes, things don’t always work out. No, you may not get it right the first time. But keep trying until you can’t anymore. CREATE what you wish to see in your industry, because people will notice. Happy Sunday all 🖤 #BeyondTheBeardNYC #HerChairHisHair Photo: @ricokinnard (at Beyond The Beard)