LaToya Kelly runs a home-based hairstyling business specializing in sew-in extensions, which she taught herself rather than learning in cosmetology school. She prefers the flexibility and comfort of working from home over opening a salon, and uses deposits and strict booking processes to filter out uncommitted clients.
Chapters
I personally love working from home and I love my clients and I having our own personal space. I love if I need to go do number 2, I can go to my own bathroom. I love that if I need a quick meal, I'm at my kitchen and I don't work in my kitchen. I'm not a kitchen beautician, but you know, like I can actually go to my kitchen. I love that I'm home. I'm not an early bird, so I love to be able to set a 7 o'clock appointment and know that I can wake up at 6:30 30 and get up and be ready for it. So I have just gotten comfortable working from home for years, um, from my dorm room, from my grandmother's house to my dorm room, to college, um, on-campus apartments, to my own apartments. So I have just become accustomed to working from home, and I've gotten comfortable and used to it, so it's very hard to give up. Um, I've been thinking maybe one day about managing the salon opening up a school for extensions or something like that. But I don't know, if the opportunity presents itself, then I'll probably be all for it. But as of now, I'm a traveling hairstylist and I still work from home. I have heard so many things about being a hairstylist that works from home, and it does not work for everybody. It doesn't. It really doesn't work for everybody, like in every everyone is not meant to be a stylist at home. I don't want to color clients' natural hair. I am very good at pressing natural hair and doing a cut and a color, but I don't enjoy it as much as I do sew-ins, so I don't want to offer it. I am very happy off of just doing sew-ins. I am very happy off of not offering cut and color for people's natural hair. To me, that's what cosmetology schools teach publicly. Everyone can go to a cosmetology school and they can get financial aid nowadays, or you can pay out of pocket and you can learn cut and color. Some people still may not get it after learning, but you have the option to learn it. With extensions, not everybody has that option. Either you are self-taught like myself, or you have someone in your family who has taught it to you. Whatever it may be, extensions are— a professional, nice, very detailed extension expert is harder to come by than someone who can cut and color your hair. So I choose to offer the services which I enjoy the most but are harder for my clients to come by in the way that I give them. So yeah, I just, I choose to stick to extensions. With that being said, I don't have to shampoo clients' hair to offer extensions to them. I don't have to color their hair to offer extensions to them. The most important part of my job is installing and styling it to a T, and you can't get that everywhere. So if you want color, you can go to such-and-such down the street that offers professional color services, or if you want a cut, you can go to a salon that offers cuts. You know, like, those are easier to come by than a good in. So that's what I choose to stick to. And again, I like it better. It's easier, it's faster for me. Yeah, I like it. So with that being said, I don't have to offer shampoo services, I don't have to offer color services, so I don't need to use— I don't need to be a kitchen beautician. My clients never have to see my kitchen unless I'm offering some of my food. So I don't think there's anything wrong. I have someone who has done my hair. Hey, Fia! And she actually works in-home. And when I tell you she's on point, her work is on point, honey. And she's making a good deal of money, I'm pretty sure of. But I mean, it just doesn't matter where you're from, it just matters that your heart's into it and that you do good work. So I hate the fact that I let people talk me so down as to where I felt like I needed school to be as successful or to be as— to live up to their standards, I guess you would say. I don't know, but whatever it is, please do not think that you need a license to be a successful hairstylist. If you're doing all the cutting and coloring and stuff, it is beneficial. I won't deny that. And I don't deny having your license will help you in some sort of way, shape, or fashion, but to each his own. Not everybody's path has been mine, so your path may not be the same path as mine. Your goals may not be the same goals as mine, so you got to pick and choose your battles and choose what you want to do and what's the right path for you, because mine may not be. Um, so we talked about cosmetology schools, we talked about working from home. Um, oh, and then another thing, I require all of my clients to pay a deposit. Oh, and then another thing, I require all of my clients to pay a deposit. So I have their email address, their credit card information, their address, and I don't book out a week or two weeks, you know, like people are booking a month in advance. So by that time, a fraudulent alert has already been in effect. So I know whether or not this person's real or not. Someone's already detected it on their account. So with me requiring a deposit, all of their personal information is already on my my website, um, stored so that only I can see it. So that, between that and just having my own personal security, um, if you know what I mean, it's helpful. So, um, that is how I'm so okay with working from home. Plus the loops and tricks and hoops that everyone has to go through to even book an appointment through me, I just feel like a crook would find it a waste of their time. Like, by the time you to book an appointment with me, you'd be sick of reading if you're really not trying to book an appointment. It's like the people who book an appointment with me really want their hair done by me, and those are the clients that I really want. So one tip that I did get from my hairstylist growing up— hey Francis— was to go to college first.
