In order to become a top beauty influencer the path there is one that focuses on bringing value to the audience that you are attracting.
IE 186: How to Become a Top Beauty Influencer with Shassity Stevenson
For Shassity Stevenson, hair was always a passion, but enough of a passion to leave medical school for? You’re going to want to hear Shassity’s story of how she became a top beauty influencer and how she manages multiple parts and pieces of her business.
Shassity is not only a beauty influencer, but she also owns Skye Salons (where she uses her hair and texture expertise), and she is also the founder of the Curly Littles Campaign.
Shassity shares in this episode how she lived on the same street as an Aveda studio, and how her curiosity finally overcame her one day about what went on inside those walls.
It only took one time of entering the building to make her decision to leave medical school and pursue hair and beauty as a career and no longer just a hobby.
Taking a Nontraditional Route to a Career
Most hairstylists don’t attend a traditional college. They typically know they want to pursue hair early enough to attend cosmetology school right out of high school.
Shassity didn’t take the path that most hairstylists take, however.
She started working on her friends’ hair in college as a hobby. Her sorority sisters knew that if they needed something done hair-wise, Shassity was the one to go to.
As her work behind the chair was taking off in salons, word spread of her skills and she began doing proms, weddings, etc.
Taking Steps to Become a Beauty Influencer
Shassity was having a very successful career behind the chair, so what pushed her to become a top beauty influencer?
She began with an Instagram account before she ever started building a website.
She wanted a central place where she could share her suggestions and thoughts with others. Shassity was always thinking about broadening her reach and expanding her territory.
She didn’t want people to have to sit in her chair in order to learn from her or get tips on how to style their hair.
Stop Waiting for Things to be Perfect
Shassity is a self-proclaimed perfectionist. She admits to wanting things to be perfect before she puts something new out into the world.
Case in point? Her podcast, If This Chair Could Talk.
In 2018, Shassity learned how to record and all the things associated with podcasting. But her podcast didn’t launch until the fall of 2019. She had to accept the fact that things tend to evolve no matter how perfect they are when we start.
We’ve been talking a lot on this podcast lately about how growth happens in the uncomfortable places. Don’t let the fear of something being less than perfect hold you back from doing something you know you’re supposed to do!
Creating a Vision
Shassity is currently in the middle of her biggest project yet: Skye Salons.
Her vision for Skye Salons is that it will be “a collective beauty experience.” Shassity says she’s a terrible seller of products but she’s a great seller of experiences.
Skye employs some of Charlotte’s top industry professionals and Shassity isn’t afraid of marketing their services. She has created a relaxed luxury environment at her salon that highlights the creatives who work there.
The salon is unique in that each creative partner has their own separate suite within the building so that they are effectively running their own business. They have the benefit of community and culture within the building but the opportunity to manage their business the way they see fit.
Creating Consistency During Uncertain Times
If there is one business that has been hugely affected by COVID-19, it is hairstylists. They can’t have the typical number of people in their salons because of social distancing.
Shassity has dealt with this in a number of ways.
First of all, because of the way her business is structured with the individual suites, this allows her creative partners to see a client while still maintaining the social distancing requirements.
Secondly, the Skye salons are open 24 hours, so the partners can see clients at hours that allow for fewer people in the building overall.
The Curly Littles Campaign
This campaign, started by Shassity a full year after the idea came to her, is a Facebook exclusive community for parents of children with curly hair.
Shassity saw a need for this type of community when she began getting questions from parents who had either adopted a child with curly hair, had a biracial child with curly hair, or had straight hair themselves but a child with curly hair.
These parents were intimidated by their child’s hair. And because hair is so much a part of a woman’s self-esteem, Shassity wanted to serve these families and help the parents care for their child’s hair.
The group is growing and much to Shassity’s delight, the parents are beginning to help each other learn what works and to share tips with each other.
Advice for Beauty Influencers
When asked what her advice would be for beauty influencers, Shassity’s first response is, “Decide what you want to use your influence for.”
Maybe you want to make money selling products through affiliate sales. Maybe you want to grow a follower base or you want to motivate others. Maybe you want to share your story or your experiences.
Secondly, Shassity recommends only promoting products that you can personally stand behind.
As an influencer, your audience trusts you, so you should never promote a product simply because you’re being paid to do so. Don’t promote something just because it’s popular or if you haven’t used it personally.
Shassity also advises against thinking too hard about your numbers. She has less than 3K followers on Instagram but she says, even if you only have 500, your goal should be to turn those 500 followers into 500 customers.
If you have 25 followers, serve them just like you would if you had 2500.
And her last piece of advice? Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. If you have 10K followers on IG, what happens when IG has a glitch and you can’t reach your followers?
You need to build an email list. If you can’t reach your people, you can’t sell anything to them. So, don’t rely on Instagram or Facebook or YouTube to stay in touch with your audience.
Get them on an email list so that you can reach out to them as often as you like and so that they can get to know you better.
Action Steps:
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