How Karen Mitchell Turned a Side Hustle Into an Eight-Figure Hair Empire –

From Rihanna to Demi Moore, Lizzo, and even Beyoncé, Hollywood’s greatest stars have turned to True Hair Firm for luxurious hair extensions and wigs. However behind the glam is Karen Mitchell, a Jamaican-born, Brooklyn-bred entrepreneur who remodeled a aspect hustle into an eight-figure enterprise that’s redefining the Black hair business.

The corporate not solely provides hair items for A-list celebrities, but in addition offers skilled ladies, businesswomen, and the on a regular basis fabulous lady with premium hair models and items, giving them the arrogance they should stroll into any room whereas constructing their companies and careers.

Mitchell, a famous hair extension knowledgeable, launched True Indian Hair, the product model beneath the umbrella of True Hair Firm, after noticing a scarcity of variety in possession inside the billion-dollar Black haircare business. Coupled together with her ardour for hair and wonder, she launched into a mission greater than 20 years in the past to offer profession ladies with high-quality extensions and wigs.

“I began True Hair Co/True Indian Hair in 2004 as a aspect hustle whereas working my 9-to-5,” she informed BLACK ENTERPRISE. Initially, it was “simply one thing to make more money for my social actions,” she stated. Nevertheless, she realized that promoting imported Indian hair to family and friends was a profitable enterprise that finally mirrored the $60,000 yearly wage she earned as a manufacturing coordinator within the style business.  

“So, after I obtained laid off from my 9-to-5 in 2006 and was unable to search out one other job, I made a decision to gamble on myself and open a retailer,” she stated.

With simply $15,000 in financial savings, she cashed in her 401(okay) retirement fund and used loans from household and pals to open the primary official True Hair Firm retailer in Brooklyn, New York, in 2007.

“It was the scariest choice of my grownup life as a result of I had no enterprise data exterior of school economics lessons. However I felt I had no different choice.”

Mitchell’s lack of financing and expertise as a full-time entrepreneur introduced a brand new set of challenges, forcing her to outlive on canned soup for months. She realized that stocking a hair retailer with bundles, closures, frontals, and wigs, together with buying inventory items for on-line orders, required tons of of 1000’s of {dollars} in upfront prices. “I didn’t have the funding for that,” she stated.

“The primary two years, my retailer inventory was fairly weak,” she admits. On the time, “there was no different hair retailer in Brooklyn promoting uncooked Indian hair, and everybody needed some True Indian Hair. So, there was an enormous demand for my product and clients had been prepared to attend,” she defined. The excessive demand pressured her to be taught what she calls “the flipping recreation” rapidly.

“I’d promote and use the earnings to purchase twice the quantity of the final order, after which thrice the quantity, and so forth.  Finally, the constructive money circulate flowed sufficient from flipping bundles to totally stocking my retailer.”

At the moment, True Hair Firm has turn out to be an eight-figure enterprise, offering clientele with luxurious hair ethically sourced instantly from donors in India. Along with the unique brick-and-mortar in Flatbush, Brooklyn, Mitchell additionally runs a 3,000 sq. ft, multi-level flagship retailer within the coronary heart of Manhattan in addition to a profitable e-commerce web site.

“True Indian Hair was a kind of aspect hustles that developed past a hustle into an actual enterprise. It wasn’t deliberate, however as soon as I noticed the trajectory. I knew I had one thing particular to supply,” she stated.

Past enterprise success, Mitchell based the nonprofit True Power, which offers month-to-month hair and wonder makeovers to ladies who’ve skilled hair loss as a result of cancer-related therapies.

Mitchell and her workforce intend to develop inside the subsequent couple of years to different markets, together with Atlanta and New Jersey. Her long-term objectives embrace franchising, launching a brand new haircare product line, and opening places in Houston, Miami, Washington, Washington, D.C., and London.

In an interview, the hair mogul shared insights about her journey, constructing her celeb clientele, and methods for these seeking to launch or develop a enterprise.

BE: The place does your entrepreneurial spirit stem from?

I’ve at all times had an entrepreneurial mindset since I used to be in highschool and faculty. From promoting Avon to promoting bracelets out of catalogues, I simply had a factor for enterprise. My long-term aim was to open a hair salon. 

I believe my entrepreneurial mindset comes from my mother, who offered commodities in Jamaica for a residing. Additionally, my first job out of school was for a style firm led by a lady. I stayed with that firm for 10 years and, trying again, I now see how my boss influenced me as a lady in enterprise.

BE: What makes True Hair Firm completely different from different hair extension and wig firms?

We set our firm aside by primarily specializing in ethically sourced uncooked Indian hair for our hair bundles and wigs. Now we have partnered with our manufacturing unit in India and have our personal workforce available within the manufacturing unit to pick solely the most effective premium uncooked hair for our manufacturing. The standard management continues to our NYC hub the place each piece of hair is rewashed to make sure there are not any tangles or seen hair points earlier than it’s offered to clients. Due to this, we’ve got a lower than 3% return or criticism charge. I believe being a lady who really wears my merchandise has been an awesome asset. I have a look at each piece of hair as if it’s going into my head. I’m not solely the proprietor; I’m additionally a shopper.

BE: How did you construct and preserve relationships with celeb purchasers?

Now we have been blessed to have a tremendous checklist of celeb stylist and types who belief our merchandise for his or her purchasers. Usually, they may attain out to us with their particular wants. Yusef, who kinds Rihanna, to Tokyo Stylez, who kinds Cardi B, to Hairassasin, who kinds JT, to Tym Wallace who kinds Mary J. Blige and Taraji P. Henson, to Chis Appleton, who kinds Kim Kardashian, and [celebrity hair stylist] Q Hardy, who has trusted our merchandise from day one. This contains working with style manufacturers equivalent to LaQuan Smith for NYFW.  They love and belief our high quality, and we nurture these relationships.

BE: What ideas would you share with entrepreneurs struggling to generate income and construct their enterprise?

Entry to info for funding is less complicated now than it was after I began my journey virtually 20 years in the past. Small Enterprise Loans (SML) can be found for companies to borrow for startup or reinvestment. There are additionally grants out there for startups. I discover that we generally don’t do sufficient analysis in our communities. Info won’t come to you. You need to search it out. Begin with Google. Go to your native chamber of commerce. They’re there to serve you.

Discover a mentor to information you and be a sounding board, however achieve this solely after you have got executed your personal analysis and may talk your needs or wants.  Nobody desires to assist somebody who doesn’t wish to assist themselves.

Earlier than beginning a enterprise, an entrepreneur should know who their target market is as a way to know who to market to. At the moment, digital advertising and marketing is big, and the most effective free digital advertising and marketing is social media. Use it to your benefit. You need to know your viewers and interact your viewers with content material that not solely appeals to them however drives them to purchase. 

Construct relationships along with your clients to create belief and repeat consumers.

Rent strategically. Your workforce has so as to add worth to your organization.

Lastly, lower pointless bills that aren’t contributing to the expansion of your small business.