We were lucky to catch up with Crystal Haner recently and have shared our conversation below.
Crystal, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
I believe my work ethic started at a very young age. I remember playing in the large vacant building next store to their home that had a few office desks, registers and lots of fun office supplies. My cousin and I would find ourselves playing there almost every time we went to visit our grandparents and acting as if we were running a shop or teaching school. Listening to my Grandmothers stories about the store they built was exciting to hear. I imagined myself wanting to run a business just like them! Our grandparents eventually shut the store down after a few years and opened up ran a flower shop in the spring/summer which happened to be attached to the vacant building they later tore down. Growing up… I was part of a family of business owners. At a young age, my father decided to quit his two jobs to start his own business as a property manager and flipping homes. At an early age, I had the opportunity to help my dad renovate homes, help him scrape the windows, repaint the trim and clean the kitchen and bathroom areas. It was fun being able to help him when he would truly allow me to. He was a bit of a perfectionist, so by the time he got finished showing me how to paint the window trim, he was practically done. It still makes me laugh, but I also remember the attitude he had and how he cared and was so intentional about everything he did when it came to making a foreclosed home look brand new. I was inspired by my father and my grandparents watching them build the lives they built to support their families and feel pride in the work they were doing.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
From an incredibly young age I always loved to have my nails done. Whether it be playing with different colors, wearing glue on nails or teaching myself how to do my own acrylics I knew I wanted to start my own business and run my own nail/beauty salon.
At the age of 18 I remember begging my father to allow me to rent a small space in a local hair salon downtown to do nails for my local community. I couldn’t believe he said yes, but little did I know then how much he believed in me and knew I was going to succeed at anything I put my mind to. After the Summer ended, I decided to visit with my mother who lived in Little Rock, Arkansas where I eventually began to slowly start budling my career.
In 2014, I was given the opportunity to work for a nationally recognized beauty company that offered a wide range of products from nail care, polish removers and bath & body kits. I absolutely loved the business and working in Product Development to bring new products to market. I found myself working long days and late nights as the Marketing and Creative director for the company and eventually I dreamt of the concept of a one-step, on-the-go, gel application system and mocked it up the next morning to present to my CEO. That same year I was given the opportunity to present this product to Walmart, but with gel polish being so NEW and only available in the nail salons I believe Walmart was uneasy about taking the risk of bringing a NEW product to market with a smaller beauty company.
In 2015 I decided to leave that position and start working on creating a product I could sell online. It was terrifying and thrilling at the same time, but I refused to give up on the product and spent the next few years learning about patents and piecing together all the things necessary to start a business to launch this innovative product into the world!
I knew individuals today simply did not have the time or money to waste on expensive salon visits or lengthy 3 step gel systems. Most gel polish systems on the market were inconvenient glass bottles, lengthy and tiresome with large bulky gel polish lamps that required you to be plugged into an outlet in order to cure your nails. To combat the time spent in nail salons, the expensive price tag, and overall inconvenience, I created the first ever on-the-go gel manicure system that was spill-proof, had a non-toxic formula, and cordless LED lamp giving anyone the ability to do their nails any time and anywhere they wished.
I am most proud of dreaming up a product that has helped women maintain their sanity by saving the one thing we all need more of and that is TIME. It wasn’t easy to bring a new product to market, there were several highs, lows and even doubts not knowing if this product was going to stick or not. It was a risk not knowing how to make this product make an impression in the already over saturated and competitive industry, but we just took it one day at a time and made it happen through networking and having the right people in our path to guide us in the right direction.
Currently, I am in the process of building out a subscription program that will eventually incorporate other brands and products that I love. My goal is to continue to work with other brands that help individuals save time and money through products that were designed to save time and money.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
I would have to say work ethic, understanding that it’s okay to fail and to embrace the opportunities that come out of those situations and surrounding yourself with mentors who believe in you and will help encourage and guide you in the right direction are critical to personal growth and success. I feel having the grit and determination is first and foremost the most important. Nothing comes easy when it comes to building a business… there is a lot of learning that happens along the way. Being positive is second, there will be moment of doubt or decisions that might have negatively affected the business, but you have to keep on pushing through, learn from the lessons and maintain a positive attitude. Looking at every negative situation as an opportunity will get you ahead in life. Lastly, the impact of building relationships in your local community and getting to know other business owners and mentors is the final ingredient with creating success. It’s not easy to start a business, and most of business owners do not even know half of what it takes when initially starting a business, but having the right mentors and business leaders on your side can ultimately save you a lot of time, stress and money and even help fix or help you see areas that could use improvement.
Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?
There is a large list of women and men who have been helping me along my journey! My mentors are everything and I wouldn’t be here without them!
Contact Info:
- Website: enovacosmetics.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/enovacosmetics
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EnovaCosmeticsUSA/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/crystallhaner
