“I’m dangerously fearless”

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I’ve got another amazing episode of the Anxious Creative for ya, with special guest Anatalie Nicole. 

This incredible woman is making huge changes in the industry and the way salons are run and I’m pretty pumped that she’s joining us today. 

We’ve been friends for several years now and it’s been such an immense pleasure to see how much she’s grown in the short time we’ve known each other. 

You are definitely gonna wanna check this one out. (If you watch on YouTube you’ll get to see her adorable pup make a guest appearance.)

AN UNEXPECTED START

Anatalie grew up in Houston, TX and is a self-proclaimed “salon brat”. 

Her mom owned a salon and when she gave birth to Anatalie’s younger brother, her dad built a salon inside of their house. She’s been around the salon life for a while. 

Due to this immersion into hair, she initially didn’t want to follow in the family business. Her grandma did nails, her aunt was also a hairstylist and her mom was a salon owner. Anatalie wanted to do things differently (and has continued to do so ever since). 

She enrolled in college in an attempt to find her path, but ended up changing her major several times. 

At a recent speaking event at a local high school, Anatalie counted up all her past jobs and she’s racked up about 25(!) in total (this doesn’t include any of her salon jobs). 

Her first taste of the industry was actually working as a sales rep for a color distributor. She had never taken any sort of classes on color and felt completely unskilled for the job.

After bouncing around with majors and different odd jobs, she finally decided to give hair a chance. And she immediately fell in love with it. She finally had found something that didn’t feel like a job, but a purpose. 

FINDING HER PURPOSE

Growing up in Texas, Anatalie always had dreams of moving to the big city, New York City to be precise. 

Although this always seemed to be a pipe dream, always on the back of her mind, but never truly being realized. She finally got the chance for the fresh start she always wanted after a divorce and her sister moving to the east coast. 

She packed up her bags and moved across the river from New York. And she finally got the job she’d always wanted in New York City. 

She explains that this brought on its own set of challenges and excitement. As she puts it: working in NYC is a whole other side of the industry that’s hard to explain if you’ve never worked there. (I can only imagine!)

Although she had finally brought her dreams into existence, she still felt as though she was missing something. She lost her passion, wasn’t excited about doing hair and realized that the reason was the space she was in. 

It wasn’t cohesive with an inspiring environment, and she knew she needed a change.

Instead of trying to find a salon that matched her values, Anatalie decided that she was going to create that space for other stylists who felt as lost as she did. 

NOT-SO-CORPORATE

Anatalie decided that the corporate salon life was not for her. So she decided to do things differently. 

She now owns two salons (her latest of which opened DURING covid) and has 14 stylists employed under her. She’s maintained a small, intimate, boutique feeling in her salon, despite having a larger amount of stylists. 

She’s able to maintain this by giving her stylists flexibility with their schedules.

She’s extremely passionate about making sure her stylists have a healthy work-life balance. 

She even has stylists who have now transitioned to working from home working on different aspects of the business. She has one mother who, after leaving on maternity leave, has since worked from home doing graphic design for the company. 

Anatalie is very passionate about maintaining loyalty and team spirit by recognizing the skills and assets of her employees and finding new ways to make sure that they’re still part of the team. 

This reminds me of my first salon job out of school.

My boss was amazing, she was super flexible and accommodating when it came to our lives outside of work. I was even able to go to Australia for 6 weeks because she was flexible and we found a way to make it work! 

Honestly, if she hadn’t sold the salon to another person, I might still be at that place.

DOING THINGS DIFFERENT

One of the things that sets Anatalie apart from her competition is her branding. It’s different. Not in a bad way, it’s unique and it makes her salon stand out from the crowd.

Anatalie has always looked at the bigger picture of her branding and what she’s communicating with it. She wants you to feel like you’re in her home when you come to one of her salons. She puts it as a:

“Fun clubhouse, where you’re hanging out having snacks with your best friend.”

She puts herself into her salon images and says that they are a direct reflection of her.

When she first opened her brand was a vintage, floral, 1950s vibe. Exactly how Anatalie’s childhood room used to be. Judy Garland posters included. 

She’s recently rebranded to a tubular 80s style. Having grown up in the 80s this brings back all kinds of nostalgia for Anatalie. Not only that, but it’s a great conversation starter with guests who also pine for the simpler times.

ADVICE FOR THE FUTURE

Anatalie hopes to see her biz continue to grow, with the possibility of opening up more salons across New Jersey. Her big dream would be to open a salon back in her hometown of Texas. Giving her mom the opportunity to help run it and a reason for her to come back home more often. 

Her advice for others who are wanting to take a leap in owning a business would be to do it for the right reasons. You will be putting your blood, sweat and tears into it. Working weird hours with little payoff. It’s not as easy as social media makes it look.

If you’re looking to grow, allow yourself to always be learning and educating yourself. There’s always something to learn and a new way to look at things. 

Even if you hear the same thing over and over again you can hear it differently every time. 

“We all do things differently and there’s something to learn from everyone.”

If Anatalie inspired you, why not go and send her an DM on Instagram to let her know. 

You can also find more about her salon on her website or on Instagram.

Are you ready to go out and do things differently?

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