You would like to know how to start a hair business, but you also want to keep your daytime job. After all, you do not know when you will earn enough when you start selling to quit your daytime job. And you do not know how much time you will need to keep your own hair line going and if your current job will leave you enough time. This post will help you to learn how to start a hair business next to your other job or school.
To start a hair line successfully forget the hair vendors
This might sound odd, but to start a hair line you do not need to think of the hair. It is because I want to start this post about how to start a hair business by telling you about the biggest mistake people make when they want to start selling hair. Never start with the hair, when launching a hair line.
Forget about the hair vendor if you want to know how to start a hair business. It is not the hair you buy, but the hair your clients want to buy that matters. Yeah, your clients, the people that will give you their hard earned money in exchange for a look and feel good experience, thanks to the hair they like! A product that is part of your hair line.
Too bad many sites, that also want to advice clients about how to sell hair extensions or wigs, make the same error. Or perhaps they tell you on purpose it is all about the hair they sell. They just want you to buy their hair, no matter what your clients need.
So please, forget the hair when you want to start a hair line, the basic of a good hair business is to start to put all your focus on the client.
Knowing how to start a hair business starts with the ideal Client
Your Ideal client is a fictional person. Please, do not stop reading now and click to another site that will tell you only their hair will make you successful. What I mean is you need to ask 20 or 30 people about their hair needs. Armed with their feedback you will be able to see what the most common need, challenge or goal is of the people you spoke with. This insight you will use to create one persona, your ideal client of your own hair line.
What would you like to know? In our all-in-one hair business package, we have a template that guides you. The questions mentioned in the template will help you to get the best idea about who your ideal client is (demographics, like age, family, geography, and cultural background). Although I prefer you invest in the all-in-one hair business package, I will tell you more about the ideal client now. I just want you to have the right start with your hair line. I really do not want you to spend your last money in hair nobody is going to buy from you. Simply because you did not define your ideal client.
Wat else you need to know. Well, what are the challenges your client face. Not only with the installment of the hair, but also with the buying experience. Was it easy for her to find the right store? How did she find this store? Social media, google or friends? This insight will help you to decide what channels you can use to reach her with your own hair line. When she uses Instagram to find information about fine hair, you should dedicate enough time to be on Instagram also. You must be where your ideal client is.
Further what is her goal, what does she wants to achieve with the hair product? You might think there is only one goal, and that is to look good. But there is so much more. A wig you can wear to quickly go out, weaves for your best friend’s wedding, a colored wig for a roleplay. There are so many goals and when you understand the goal of your client, you will be in a much better position to sell the hair. Why? Because you will offer the hair your ideal client is looking for!
Now you know your client, time for your move
Okay, when you know the background, needs and goals of your clients, it is time for your emotional skills. Try to discover what your client really wants. The idea behind the need. The stress behind the challenge. You know, your client is not looking for some strands of hair, not even for a bundle of Cambodian straight 14 inches. No, she is looking for an experience. The hair is a small part, but an important one, to reach a certain goal.
To know how to start a hair business, you need to know how to understand your ideal client. And when you understand your client, it is time for the creative part of your brains, you need to figure out what kind of solutions you can offer. What can you do, to help your Ideal client to reach her goal? Start to be creative and think out of the box. Any possible solution is allowed. Write every idea on a piece of paper or on your phone. There are no limits.
When you cannot think of any other solution, it is time to be rational. What is needed to offer these solutions and can you deliver these solutions. What is needed in terms of resources (like money), time and knowledge?
This will be your hair business basics for your store, the power to understand your clients needs and the skill to turn this understanding into a product your client wants to buy.
There is more to learn before you can start a hair line
Your clients might tell you what they need, but the competition, the other stores on the market selling hair can help you also to become successful. Once you know what your clients really need. Remember the idea behind the need. You can check on the competition to see if they have found a solution already. It will not always be easy to discover but the good thing of the internet is you can visit and analyze any hair and beauty store if you want. Image you visit a brick and mortar store. The owner of the hair store will tell you, that you are welcome and please feel at home. You can ask any question that pops up in your kind. Now you take a chair to see how clients behave, you the note all the hair prices, measure the length of the hair and check on the wigs. The owner will quickly ask you what you are doing, and you just answer, “I just want to know how to start a hair business just like yours!” How welcome will you feel now?
Check the other hair stores, see how many monthly visitors they have, what their clients are looking for (keywords) and see the price level of their hair and beauty products. On social media you can even see more questions their clients ask. Do not forget to check the design of the store. What do you like, how catchy are the images of the hair and the models and what is the menu structure of the online hair store?
Learn from this, most of it is for free and it helps you to finetune your service and product offering for your hair brand. You now know what they want, and you know how other hair businesses try to meet their needs.
Now finally it is time to visit the hair vendors, because now you know what your clients need, and at what prices the other hair stores, is offering the hair.
You want Your Own Fast Selling WooCommerce Webstore?
It is time for talking to hair vendors!
I recommend visiting my post about the 40 questions you can ask wholesale hair vendors. Thanks to this extensive list of questions, you will save time and you can be sure, when you end the conversation with the hair vendors you have the right insight about the hair they offer and the conditions they sell the hair.
Tell the world you are selling hair and wigs
Now you got all the essential basics for your hair business in place. You know who wants to buy hair from you, you know what hair to sell, and you have the best hair vendor for the hair you are going to sell. Now only one thing is missing, you must let the world know you are in the hair business. Your need your own hair store, an online hair store that will be the head office of your hair line.
Design an Ecommerce business, that will have all the components you liked of the competition. You have studied them a lot, so you know how your hair store should look like.
You need a page that shows the collections. A collection is a group of hair products. These collections or categories in Woocommerce will make it easier for your client to choose the hair products they want. Make it easy for your clients to shop in your hair and wig store. Do not show them products they are not looking for now. But help them by grouping the hair pieces, weaves, extensions, and wigs. Show the collections in your menu and home page and create a page for every collection.
Add information on the collection page about the hair you offer and make sure t looks appealing. Not only hair bundles, but also images, videos, and stories about that group of hair.
Give your visitor the impression she knows how she will look when she has received the hair.
Tell the world about your mission and vision on the hair business with a great about us or about me page. You know how to start a hair business, so tell the visitors why you started selling hair. Make sure the story is not only about you and your achievements. You started with the client and make sure she knows your store is all about her needs, challenges, and goals. You only have the solution for her, your hair!
Of course, if you like to share your expertise and the trends in the hair business, you could also start a blog. This is a great way to entertain and educate your visitors and clients. Remember, visitors need to hear about you several times before they will start to think buying hair from you. A blog and of course new images of hair will keep your site interesting enough for people to return. That is what you need, returning visitors.
And, you already know enough on how to s tart a hair business or you are ready to learn about the last three steps?
social media
Social media, like Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and TikTok are great platforms that will help you to engage with your ideal client. Do not only share images of your latest hair offer, but also add information and entertainment. Act in a similar way as if you would have a brick and mortar store. You would also chat about other things, and not only about hair, right. Thanks to your ideal client profile you know what the interest are, and the cultural background. Feel free to use this insight to post, next to hair pieces, hair extensions, and wigs.
Social media is not one way traffic, off course you reply to comments if appropriate, but you can also like and comment on postings of your clients who follow you. This will create a relationship, but you must avoid it starts to feel you are stalking your clients. You do not need the ideal client template to understand this.
Do not neglect the packaging of the hair
When you have your first sale, you will first jump in the hair, and you get my congratulations. But now you need to post the hair to your first client. What is the best packaging for the hair? The packaging of the hair has two reasons. First, you want your precious hair to be protected during the shipment. You do not want the hair to be damaged by the post or courier. That will disappoint your client and you will have to take care of another shipment. No good, so select a packaging for the hair that will give maximum protection.
The other reason to package the hair is because you can advertise for free. Imagine your client to receive the hair while she has her friends visiting her. These friends will not only see the joy the receipt of your hair will cause, but they will also see your brand name. They will not even have to ask, your company name on the packaging will give them something to search on later. They will search for your online hair store to find hair they like! All you must do is to add your brand name on the packaging for the hair.
Of course, you consider our environment, so, if possible, no plastic. There are awesome solutions in other materials, a great way to show your clients you are interested in their wellbeing in the long run too.
Grow your hair line
Now you have everything working you can really start to make your hair store grow. Use the footprint of your visitors of your online store that is visible in Google Analytics. See where they leave your store and find solutions to keep them. Like better navigation, another hair image, or an internal link to a related product they may like more. Keep them in your store until they have found what they are looking for. Show a sign up form for your newsletter, to keep them informed about your special offers and to make sure they will keep your brand name in their mind. So, when they are ready to buy, they think first of visiting your store!
Good luck growing a hair line!
