May 15, 2017

Meet Bryanna McLean of The Wax Room in North Shore

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Bryanna McLean.

Bryanna, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I have been an Esthetician for just over 8 years now. Waxing has always been my favorite thing to do in the field. Making people happy and feel comfortable in their own skin is one of the most rewarding parts of my job. I had never thought about owning my own place, until I stumbled upon Sola Salons. At the time, I had a 6 year old son and a 3 year old daughter. I was working at Bliss Spa in the W hotel doing facials as well as waxing. I left because I couldn’t get the flexibility I needed for when my daughter was starting preschool. I lived too far from the city to make it work. I searched on craigslist and found Sola Salons. When I first went for a tour of the building, I instantly fell in love. (Everyone does when they first go there. It’s a unique experience) I had never seen anything like it. It was like a little shopping mall of mostly empty salon studios. Each with their own sliding glass door. At the time there was maybe 10 studios that were occupied and 20+ that were available for rent. There was a whole lot of girl power in there and I loved it! I decided to take the leap. It was a huge risk but totally worth it. I only had about 5 clients that were willing to follow me from the city to the burbs. Most of my clients didn’t even own a car. They were college students, hotel guests, and locals. But I felt like I had enough experience to really understand what people wanted from a waxing professional. My work experience went from one extreme to the other. I once worked at a place that had clients drop their drawers right in front of you, hop on the bed, be given a sales pitch and be out the door within 15 minutes, if their hair didn’t all come out, it was their fault. THEY weren’t exfoliating. THEY weren’t using the right products at home. Then, at Bliss, it was all about pampering. Lollipops and cleansing wipes left on the bed, privacy in the room while changing, unscripted conversation, were all a part of the wonderful wax service that was given. But it came at a hefty price. I thought to myself, why couldn’t there be a place that offered great wax services at an affordable price that still felt pampering and comfortable. That was my goal. After about 6 months, I gained around 200 clients. This was mostly from walk-ins, Groupon, word of mouth, and passing out lots and lots of business cards. I thought 200 wasn’t bad but I knew if I just spent a little more on marketing I could really bring in a lot more people. Takes money to make money right? I won’t say just how much I spent on Yelp advertising (because it’s kind of crazy), but it was worth every penny. It only took me another 3 months and I nearly doubled my clientele. I couldn’t believe it! I did the Yelp advertising for 6 months. At the end of the 6 months, I had almost tripled my client base. I was shocked! I think everyone in my family was too. Especially my husband. (Who I did not tell how much I was spending on advertising.) But he was the most supportive person in the whole process. He never doubted my actions and always pushed me to keep going. Failure never even crossed his mind. He was/is my biggest fan. It’s almost been 2 years. It’s been an amazing journey of trial and error, but so far so good. I haven’t had to spend money on advertising for the past 6 months and I still get new clients every day! I’m extremely grateful and proud. Having my own business couldn’t be any more rewarding. I have the freedom to be there for my clients when they need me and also be there for my kids when they need me. Its’ perfect. The establishment I work in breeds positive energy. It’s awesome being surrounded by so many other successful business women/entrepreneurs. I couldn’t be happier.

Has it been a smooth road?
Since I’m a beauty professional, and have never learned anything about owning my own business, there was a lot of researching I had to do. There were so many things that I had no idea about. Such as paying taxes, choosing a credit card processing company, creating a logo, etc. Luckily, having some other beauty professionals close by that were just started out, I was able to get quite a bit of great advice. So far nothing has been too difficult. Mostly it just gets stressful juggling all aspects of owning my own business, being a mom, and being a wife.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
At The Wax Room, I offer full face and body waxing as well as some really cool brow and lash treatments. One of the most popular treatments right now is the Elleebana Lash Lift. It’s a lash perm that lasts up to 2 months. I have a service called The Ultimate Treatment which includes the lash lift, lash tint, brow tint, and a brow wax. Nothing like enhancing your own natural beauty! Another really cool service I offer is Sleek Brows. Sleek Brows can be done on someone that has no brow hair at all. It lasts 2-3 weeks and looks as natural as you’d like it to. This industry is always changing and gets more and more competitive. I do my best to stay up to date on the latest brow and lash trends and make sure I’m using the best possible wax/products I can find.

What were you like growing up? Personality wise, interest wise, etc.
I had a pretty unique childhood. I was actually an entrepreneur at a very young age. At about 10 years old, I started making and selling jewelry, hair clips, beanie baby sleeping bags, painted pots, wreaths, etc. I had my own business name, I made order forms, and I even hired some of my younger cousins to help me out. I would do local craft fairs and art shows. I had so much drive to make money and be successful. It was all I thought about. Then I started high school. I guess I got too cool to make crafts. Up until almost 2 years ago, I never again thought about having my own business. I did, however, want to do something in the business and marketing field. I spend 2 years at UMASS Lowell before deciding to quit school and go to Esthetics school instead. I actually didn’t even know what an Esthetician was. It was my mom’s recommendation. She knows me so well.

Pricing: