We were lucky to catch up with Ashley C recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Ashley , appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
My resilience comes from my determination to win. There are no business owners in my family and I’m determined to be the first successful one.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
My business is called Ashbelle Wigs, Wig concierge services. It has been an amazing and lesson filled journey. I made my first wig in 2013 when I was still in college. I started making wigs for friends and family and it took me about 3/4 years to start feeling confident about selling my wigs.
I officially started my business in 2018. I was just doing wig making and coloring. I loved expressing through color waves and doing custom wigs but in the last few years the wig hair market has shifted so much. The quality of the hair and the price were not really adding up for me. Affordability has always been one of my major pillars.
3 years ago, I started adding washing and touch up services for my clients which made the investment in their wigs worth while. I noticed I was creating more return clients with these services. I also opened it up to anyone who needed wig fixes, no matter where the wig came from. Most people order wigs and they don’t fit and they just throw it out or never wear it. I rebranded in Fall of 2022 to strictly maintenance services and I’ve really enjoyed doing “surgery” on old wigs, making a plain canvas wig into a head of highlights and all the other fun things hair has to offer.
Im currently working more wig care products to go with the brand. I currently sell Wig brushes, Wash bags, Bonnets and Hanging storage bags. I want to create a full experience for the wig owner to effectively maintain their investments especially when the hair is so expensive.
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?
3 things that were the most impactful on this journey was the support of my tribe, the vision I had for my brand and my ability to keep starting over and remain consistent.
The best advice I can give is to pace yourself. Owning a business is not cheap, it’s not easy and will require resilience. Do not be afraid to pivot and start fresh. It’s less about the logos and cute pages and really about the quality of your work and use of the service you offer your clients. That will stand out above all. Lastly, be okay with learning more even after you think you’ve learned everything!
If you knew you only had a decade of life left, how would you spend that decade?
I wouldn’t specially call this a challenge but I will say I have taken a break from creating content for my social media pages. I realized I was working overtime to post everyday and make new interesting videos that were not moving at all.
Once I stopped I realized I never needed to do all that. My clientele is still strong, old videos are still circulating and new clients are finding me. However I have to force myself to make new content, I have no desire to now. I love not feeling like a slave to content creation.
Contact Info:
- Website: Ashbellewigs.as.me
- Instagram: Ashbellewigs
- Facebook: Ashbelle Wigs
- Other: TikTok: Ashbellewigs
