Kechia Taylor of BMA: Building a Business Through Education & Expansion

My journey in the beauty industry is a little different compared to a lot of my peers. Even though I’ve been doing brows since high school and before Keeping Up with Kardashians, I didn’t see myself going into beauty full-time. It was a passion. I went to college for graphic design with dreams of working for one of my favorite publications that was geared toward African American fashion, design and music, Honey Magazine. After graduating, I tried to get into production design, but found it wasn’t for me since at the time print media was phasing out to online and Honey Magazine closed their doors. I went back to my roots in beauty and applied my design skills to launching my beauty brand. My strengths lie in artistry and being able to create beauty masterpieces with brows and the structure of one's face. 

After stepping away from salon ownership for a few years, I decided to become a solopreneur and combine my passion for eCommerce and brow design with a full product line. But, I also really wanted to focus on teaching others.

Ultimately, my goal is to empower women, particularly women of color, to build strong beauty businesses that can compete with the resurgence of salon culture.

Having the right tools helps my business thrive because I can spend more time educating others and less time trying to figure new systems out. I used to work with another booking software company that I wasn’t happy with. The quality wasn’t up to par and they weren’t advancing with technology like some other platforms on the market such as Vagaro. I’m really into tech so I look at the user interface first since the platform has to be simple and easy for the client.  The pricing of that platform was $250 per location and $100 extra to use the marketing features which is insane for beauty pros just starting out. Honestly, the only reason I stayed with them for so long was because I had over 500 reviews on there that I didn’t want to lose. I felt like I was being held hostage a little bit because their system was not growing with the current times and I couldn’t transfer my customer reviews which took me years to build.

When the other founders of BMA and I went to London and met the team at Vagaro, I told them the problems I was having and I would switch to Vagaro if they could get all my reviews transferred over. That was so important to me. And they listened! After my reviews were transferred and I felt comfortable with the software, I dropped the other booking software  and haven’t looked back. I’d recommend Vagaro because it’s an app that can actually help beauty professionals move forward in their own business no matter how big or small. 

• Unique booking links for employees: This way, an employee’s client can book directly with them instead of having a client navigate through all the employees. It helps streamline that booking process for them.
• Fast deposits: Who doesn’t love getting paid quickly? And the deposits are done the next business day.
• Invoicing has been helpful because if someone signs up for a class over the phone, I can send them an invoice directly. It’s efficiency, and that’s what I live for.
• The Booking Widget integration, specifically on Google Maps. My competitors only have their phone number and website. I have my phone number, website and anyone can book right away. It helps me stand out from other businesses.
• Automated Notifications. When a client schedules an appointment with me, I get a notification right away. It helps me stay organized and up to date with bookings.

Part of the reason I decided to franchise my business was because people of color, in general, make up the smallest proportion of franchisors and franchisees. And Black women make up less than 4% of franchisees in the United States. My goal is to break boundaries with the numbers and put more Black women franchisees out here, using my brand as the vehicle to do it. 

In my training, I heard a lot of rhetoric about how it simply can’t be done on darker skin, which is offensive and completely untrue. So, I took it upon myself to learn everything I could to educate women, particularly women of color, and show them it’s possible. I wanted to teach people so that they wouldn't be stuck like I was. And that helped me increase the sustainability of my business. Some people may not agree, but a sustainable business isn’t simply working in it—it's working on it, and helping other people thrive. That's how I thrive! I urge you to get out there and make a difference in the industry—whatever that looks like for you.