How I Started My Custom Wig Business At 17| Business Advice

Hey guys today, i'm going to be telling y'all, basically how i started my business specifically how i started my wig business. Someone asked about like information and stuff, and i decided like i was just going to tell you guys exactly what i did. I'M specifically saying like how i started my business, because the way that i started my business might not work for someone else. It really just depends on how much time you have like your budget and stuff like that, so i did actually start my business when i was 17, i'm 18 now so yeah i started when i well. I started it when i first turned 17 um because i turned 17 in may not this may, but in may and then i started my business in july, so i'm now 18 and i've already made wait. First of all, i just want to say i'm not trying to like brag or anything i'm just trying to tell y'all like you can do it. So i already made like ten thousand dollars in sales my first year and i'm just going to tell y'all like how i did everything. So maybe you know if you want to start a business, it doesn't even have to be like a weakness, but you can still know how to do it yourself. So the first thing is how much money did i start with. I did start my business off with 600, so i was basically working at fast food and i saved up my money. I saved up my money, i saved up 600 and then i was already thinking about starting a wig business for a while, but like i actually decided to like try it out. So the 600 is like i didn't. One thing i would say is like, when you start off, make sure that whatever you want to sell like make sure you're using your money for that because like when i started off, i think i bought like lashes um. I just was buying like a lot of stuff that i didn't really need the stuff that i did need was like hair, like i don't even think i started off with any hair. I, like my first wig, was old, bundles that i already had and of course i didn't sell it. It was just like the practice, but if i could start over again now and i had six hundred dollars, i would specifically just use that six hundred dollars to buy hair for one wig and then i would buy um. I would buy a ring light. I would buy trying to think like what else do you need? I would buy a mannequin head. You'Re definitely going to need that and i would probably buy like the supplies. So that's how i would use it now, but yeah. When i started off, i didn't buy that i bought like lashes. I did buy a wig head um. I bought like shipping label paper, but i mainly just got lashes, and that was a big mistake because, like if i'm a wig business, why am i buying lashes, like you know, and that goes into the second thing like when you're starting a business focus on that? One thing because one thing i did notice about myself was: i was like kind of all over the place so like i was mainly selling lashes. Like i said when i was supposed to be a wig business and i don't know like i just feel like. That'S really weird, especially just starting off because, like nobody really knows what you sell, yet nobody really knows your brand. So if you're selling lashes but then like you calling yourself a wig company like that's weird so, but i didn't really know because i was just starting off myself like nobody was really telling me anything and i still was doing good. But it didn't really make much sense to be like advertising lashes when i'm trying to sell wigs. So how much do you actually need to start, even though i started with 600, i feel like you need to have enough to buy at least two weeks. I mean i don't really know how much that is. I could estimate like enough to buy two weeks and your supplies, because two weeks you can start off with two weeks for with like maybe five hundred dollars, you could buy two weeks, but you still need to buy a light. You need to get your boxes, your packaging, so i probably would start off with at least seven hundred dollars, which is kind of close to 600 for a week. Business and that's another thing you need to know like starting a wig business or a hair business in general is expensive, like you can start like a lip gloss business or something with - i don't know like 200 and it's you know, you're fine, but with wigs, like Especially if you're trying to sell quality hair it's expensive like now for each week, i spend over 200 just for one week. So that's definitely something to start to think about, like it's kind of harder to start up just because it costs so much money. And then you have to think about, like am i willing to like sacrifice this money or take this risk with this money to have successful business? Next thing is like: should you work a nine to five while starting so when i started my business? I did have another job i feel like. You should always have another job because you still want to have money coming in, like that's how you, how you're going to fund your business unless, like you, have a nice family, that's like oh i'll! Just give you a thousand dollars to start your business um. You definitely should have a job, because the job can also help to fund your business, and you know, like you, might have an emergency or something like that. So it's really important to me at least like you can just get like a little part-time job like i was working fast food. I still work at nine to five right now and i have a business. I worked at a fast food job and then i worked at like a convenience store and then now i work at a pet store, but i actually like animals a lot. So i actually like that job and, like i said, like it's still helping me to fund my business like i'm having a restock on the 28th of this month, and i would not be able to afford it if i didn't have a job giving me money to Pay for the business and that's another thing. So when you start making your money like, you have to be smart with it. So a mistake that i made was like. I made a lot of money my first year, but i spent it and like basically, you have to have self-control when you make your money like you need to understand, like that's your that money belongs to your business like and you can make a thousand dollars. But you need to put that thousand dollars back into your business, because if you keep spending it, then you know your business is never gon na grow, basically you're gon na end up with the same amount of inventory or whatever it's okay to pay yourself a little Bit but like don't go crazy like with me, i don't think i really went crazy but, like i did buy stuff that actually needed so, like i bought my first car like i posted a video i feel like that was definitely worth it like. I wouldn't that's something like i don't regret, buying a car because i needed a car um. What else then, i used like my money for it to pay for college. I do regret that, but not going to talk about that right now. So um just like be smart with the money because you don't want to have to keep like you, don't want to have to keep basically starting at the same point. You want your business to grow. You want like, when you sell your wigs, like you need to use that extra money that you made to buy another wig and keep buying another wig or like flipping your money, basically packaging. As far as packaging. I just use like the regular usps boxes when you first start off. Don'T try to like get fancy packaging because you're just starting the main thing that matters when you start your business is like are, is your stuff looking good? Is this something that you would want to buy like other? If it wasn't your family member or your friend like, if you saw this on somebody's page like would you want to buy this because some people sell stuff and like only their friends or family, will buy it and they'll be wondering like? Why am i not getting any customers and you're not getting customers, because, like your products, don't look good, so you need to know like how to advertise. You can probably look at like some pages. That'S all the same stuff that you sell, and you know like take notes like look at how they take their pictures or look at the lighting. Um like look at what's popular basically and then try to like not copy but like just use that as a reference. Because, like people are buying that and then compare it to your stuff and be like you know like see, if it's a difference, so this is like tricky because with picking a vendor like it's really, it just depends like do you want to pay somebody to like Pick a vendor for you. I know some people, some people do that. I didn't do that, because, what's good to somebody else might not be good to you. Some places that you can test like a hair vendor are alibaba. That'S really all i know um. I would not recommend getting a vendor from aliexpress, and i mean that's just me like when i looked at aliexpress. That'S like the lower lower quality here i would not shop. There. Alibaba has like most of the main vendors in china or wherever you're gon na get hair from that actually have like decent hair, and then there are something called like hair grades. So there's like a day grade, hair nine, eight ten eight. I think it goes up to like 12. You know, sometimes they be lying, but basically like the higher the grade, the better the quality hair. Basically like with picking hair. You want to find somebody that has like a higher grade, hair, um and then after that you basically contact them. You send like an inquiry on alibaba, then they'll like ask you for your whatsapp number, so you'll have to like download an app called whatsapp and they will text you off of there and that's when you just basically ask for pictures and like um. You can also ask for a sample of the hair and just keep doing that over and over that can get expensive. So with that, you just want to be picky like when you look at the pictures. You need to ask yourself like: does this look like quality, because some of them, like you, can tell just from the pictures along like this, isn't going to be good um, some important things to also look for is like? Are there frontal enclosures? Do they come pre-plucked? Um, like do they have hd lace. Do they have transparent lace? Ask them for pictures of their lace, because some people have like dark brown leaves that's not gon na, not gon na cut um and yeah. That'S the most important thing. So it's really just doing your own research. I found my vendor through alibaba, so that's why i'm recommending it to y'all, but you can always just you know, pay somebody. I don't recommend paying somebody, because some people charge like three hundred dollars for a vender. You could have tested like you could have tested at least five different vendors with that 300. So i really don't recommend that. But if that's just how you want to go, you want something quick. Then you could just pay someone to um, sell you their vendor, but then another thing with that, like some people be lying and it don't even be their vendor, so it's really up to you. The next thing i'm going to talk about is like um branding and like really just professionalism. So as far as branding i feel like before you even start your business. You need to have a logo. You need to have a name. Then you need to ask yourself like it's, this logo professional - and i know it's like kind of hard to be honest with yourself. So maybe ask like a family. No, no! Don'T ask the family member, because one thing like your family might not tell you the truth. Like they're going to say it looks good, especially like if they don't really know like, i wouldn't really ask a family member, but act like a friend or just ask someone. You know you can trust to be honest with you like. If your logo looks professional, then, like you can also think about other bigger brands, so think about like um, i don't know like mac, cosmetics ulta. I guess i don't know, like other hair brands and then like just compare and see like look at how like most of their logos and stuff, are like pretty simple. They don't have like cartoons and stuff in their local like stuff. Like that being honest, does not look professional, so you just have to think about that pick. Your name um professional, like don't, try to include too much of your own name into it. The only time that really works out, if this is if it's is, if it's a celebrity so like kylie jenner like she does that with all of her stuff, i wouldn't recommend doing that. I don't think that's very professional to put your own name inside of your own business. So, in order to like have a successful business, you are going to need to like market, so you're going to need like to have social media um. You can do like ads and stuff. I feel like social media is the best way because most of my sales came from instagram um. There are also other platforms, so like facebook, tic, tac and instagram. I feel like those are the biggest and youtube of course, but i don't really get my sales from youtube most of them. I mean i get a lot of website visits from youtube, but not actual sales. Most of my sales come from instagram. So that's what i know the most about um on instagram. You can run ads but, like i noticed when i was running my ads, they weren't getting me sales. So i don't really know. I can't really tell you like too much about how to run an ad, but as far as growing followings um before you get to like a thousand followers, i would just like follow other rig makers. Most of them are going to follow you back unless they have like a ridiculous amount of followers like if they have like. If they have over 10k followers, they might not follow you back because they, like don't even know if your page is legit, because there are a lot of scammers in the wig business. So just try to like follow. Other wig makers. Follow your friends right now. Um, like follow people, you know that'll help you like gain followers quickly and then, like once, you start building your followers up. Like start posting content consistently making sure your content is good so like that means having good lighting. You have to ask yourself like if i was scrolling on instagram like when i click on this, like when i want to watch this, but i like this um, because some people post stuff and like the lighting is bad. Like i don't know like it's just not something that like, i would look at, let alone even spend my money on and um yeah, so basically just make sure you're posting consistently make sure that your content looks professional. I really don't feel like getting into all of that, because this video is already probably going to be long, but you just want to make sure that you're posting content, that's like appealing to look at and just actually showing off like what you sell. Also, there are reals on instagram. Some of my reels will have like um like 10 000 views or something because reals are popular like a lot of people watch them and that can help you to get exposure that can help people to come to your website. That can help people to like check your page out, so i definitely would recommend that um and then just posting consistently and using hashtags. I can't really tell y'all like exactly what hashtags to use, but just try to use hashtags are like related to your business. So like, if you sell wigs like tag like your city and wigs tag like closure, wigs 5x5 closure, wigs, etc stuff like that, this is probably going to be one of the last topics. So, as far as pricing, when i picked out my pricing at first, i started out with how much i wanted to make. So when i first started making wigs i started off with like making like 85 dollars a week. I just wanted to say i don't make 85 a week now, but when i started i was making 85 dollars a week because i just wanted to start and i feel like it is good to start low. But don't like low ball yourself because, like wigs, are a lot of work like you have to pluck the hairline, you got to bleach the knots you have to style it like you're using your own um products and stuff. Then you got to like uh. Well me personally, i pay for shipping for my customers so like when they pay me the money for the wig. I give them free shipping because they already paid so much so you just have to think about like how much money are you paying yourself so yeah, but basically think about how much money that you want to make? And then you have to look at how much your product is going to cost. So let's say your weight costs like 200 or so then you say you want to make 100 a week, so you just basically add in how much money you want to make and then i would add in like another 30 on top of that, because sometimes you Might have a sale or something like that, and if you have a sale, then you don't want to be making less money so like if you're doing like 30 off or something you're still going to be making the 100 that you want to make for every week. Another thing is: you have to price smart. So when you price like how much money you have to make, you also have to be realistic. So, like you can go to another influencers page or not influencer, but another like person that sells the same stuff as you and like take notes to like what their prices are, and that can also help you a lot like figuring out how to price your stuff. Because you don't want it to be too high, especially like if you're just starting out like when i first started out my wigs were. I think i had ways that were like um in the 200s, like low 200s to like low 300s, where my price is in. Like now, my wigs cost, maybe high 300s. If it's, i don't think any of my weights are 300. I think most of them are like low 400s to like mid 500 now and as you grow like as you build customers as people like know, they can trust. You you can like you know you can charge more and as you like, no more too like when i first started out, i didn't really know. I knew what i was doing, but like the quality of my wigs weren't, the same so like if you're selling, better quality, you can charge more because their hair is going to cost more and like the prices of my hair, that i sell now cost more than The prices of the hair when i started so of course, like you know, i'm going to charge more, so i can be making the same amount of money that i want to make um. Also like you have to think about it. So i know like at the beginning of the video i said like i made ten thousand dollars in a year, so you have to think about it like wigs cost more money. So if i'm selling each week for like 400 and then i only have to sell like three wigs to make a thousand dollars, so you have to think about that talking about sales by the way is the difference between making a thousand dollars in sales and making A thousand dollars in profit so like if your wigs are like four hundred dollars and you sell three you made like twelve hundred dollars in sales, but if you're making two hundred dollars, you only really made six hundred dollars in profit. So you have to think about that um and just like ask yourself like how much money do you want to make? I personally, i don't want to tell you like how much i make, but just try to make sure like you make enough where you can still keep growing your business. You can still have a little bit of money for yourself and stuff like that. Last thing is like you need to make sure that your page looks unbelievable, so not believable, but like um, it doesn't look like a scammers page, because there are a lot of scammers in the hair business right now, because you can make like so much money like The average wig costs well, the average, like human hair lace, front wig cost like 400 to 500. So it's a lot of scammers because, like that's the easy way to make money, if you know if people believe that your page is real, so a way that you can avoid like looking like a scammer is showing your face on the page. If you came um interacting with your followers every day, so like posting stuff on your story, even if it's just like an old picture like just try to post something um, if somebody like comments in your picture respond like say, thank you make a youtube channel. Some people can see your face. Um make a tick tock like make rules like just show your face, so people know like it's. You, like you're, taking accountability for this page like you're, not a scammer stuff like that, because i feel like that's something really hard like when you first start off. A lot of people might think you're a scammer like because, like you, don't have a lot of followers and like most of the scammer pages, like the fake pages, i try to take people's money. They don't really have that many followers. So you just want your page to look real um, try to use like a consistent background for every picture so like every way picture that post has this background, because it's like this is like my i don't know just my background. Like people know like, i have flowers behind it's my work, so you want to have something that, like people can know like you know like this person is real like this is not somebody trying to take my money um, and you also want to have a website. So i see like a lot of people like they'll start for business and then they'll be like cash up only or like so only like you can. You can't expect like a stranger to cash out, you money like a complete stranger to cash up you like 200 to 300 for a week. You can't like, at least if you have like a shopify account or whatever, and then you have a website up. People know like okay, like this person took their time to build a website like they took their time to do all of this they're, taking their time to post pictures they're taking their time to build a social media. Following like that, you know it makes you look more um, what's somewhere like authentic, i guess okay guys. So that is the end of this video. I hope you guys enjoyed. I hope, the stuff that, like i told y'all, was actually helpful um. This is just basically stuff that, like i used myself stuff that helped me to get still stuff that i wish people wouldn't tell me. So that's what i'm telling y'all um but yeah follow me. Follow my business page wig royalty on instagram, if you guys want to shop wigs, my website will be down below in the description subscribe to my channel. If you haven't, because i can make more videos like this most of my videos are going to be like big content, because that's what i do - and i hope you guys enjoyed this video thanks for watching