Life and Work with Crystal Taylor

Today we’d like to introduce you to Crystal Taylor.

Crystal, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I’m a 26-year-old single mother of two amazing young men. Im from Fort Worth, Texas. When I graduated high school, I really didn’t know what I wanted to be or what I wanted to do career-wise. I was forced to eventually drop out of college to care for my son because I found it so hard to juggle being a parent and providing and going to school. After dropping out of college, I work at various call centers throughout the DFW. I was honestly just jumping from job to job to make ends meet. I had no true desire to work at call centers so I was always late or on days I didn’t want to go to work I would just quit all together and move on to the next job. Like any other 20 years old, I was all over the place.

In 2017, my boys were four and seven just starting school. I worked overnight at a local hospital. During this time, I stayed hooked to my phone and always on social media. I had been brainstorming trying to figure things out. I knew I didn’t want to work for anyone else other than myself. I was always late and I hated going to work , that was the proof. I wanted a career that allowed me to be more active with my children. I was tired of just maintaining. As I was surfing the net, I found someone in Atlanta hosting Lash Extension Training classes. This woman had over 100 girls in one class for around $450 each. As I did the calculations in my head, I thought this looks really cool. For someone to be able to make what others won’t, even make a full year is amazing.

From that day, I told myself I want to do this!!! I want to learn how to Lash Extensions and teach others. This isn’t your average I’m doing what I was destined to do fairy tale. For anyone that knows me personally, I’m the friend that can’t do her own hair can’t do makeup can’t do anything beauty related. This was a total 360 for me. Everyone around me thought this was just a phase and I wouldn’t follow through with it, like anything else I’ve tried in the past. I found a lady in Dallas offering training classes, so I took the training and learned how to lash. I still wasn’t good after taking that one-day training. This definitely wasn’t going to be an easy task, it took lots of practice and trial and error to learn how to properly lash. I promoted myself by word of mouth and all my social media outlets. I went and opened my first location in Fort Worth right away. I stayed at that location for about six months before I relocated to Arlington. Arlington was a much better area for my business and I saw a huge transition in my business.

One particular day, I was on social media once again and the lady that trained me, Shea Scott, helped me to get a scholarship to a Lash school in Dallas, Dallas Lash Academy. Here was this lady that didn’t know me personally, only through this one training class, helped me make the best career move ever. I started school and Shea became my mentor. I began to network with tons of positive inspiring women entrepreneurs in Dallas in an attempt to build my business and clientele. I loved being in Dallas, it’s so big and a lot of the entrepreneurs I come across, set the bar for me and my business. I knew I didn’t want to be one of those people just “doing lashes out of the house.” I wanted to treat my craft as a business, not a hobby. That mindset alone has built my business to what it is today. I completed 320 hours, graduated school, and became licensed!! This was a huge accomplishment for me and something I was so glad to have completed.

I eventually started offering lash extension training classes and my business is exactly what I hoped for. I make my own schedule and work as much or little as I please. My paycheck is based on how hard I work. I’m financially consistent and able to have sufficient enough time to be proactive with my children. I’m happy with every decision I’ve made this far. I’ll be purchasing my first home in a few months and opening my 2nd business. I am proof that anything you want you can get no matter what odds are against you. Working hard, prayer, being consistent, and networking is key!

Has it been a smooth road?
Has my journey been easy? No! Being an adult and trying to go back to school for the majority of the day and depend on income from something I wasn’t really good at was tough. There were days I didn’t know how I was going to make it back and forth from Fort Worth to Dallas to get to school every day. There were days I didn’t have sitters to watch my children. There are still days I have a full day scheduled with no sitter. These are things I have to get through day to day. There were other women in the same field as me that didn’t want to give me information, didn’t want to see me grow. There were times, I tried to start my own lash line, but no one would give me vendor information. The best advice I could give to anyone starting off would be research, research, research! Never allow what you don’t know to hold you back from reaching your full potential. I had to lose a lot of sleep and a lot of money to learn a lot of what I know now. I had to let go of a lot of negativity to get where I am. Don’t focus on what others think about what you want to accomplish. Always think positive and focus on the positive outcome of a situation. Get out and network everywhere. If it’s something you truly want to accomplish don’t let anything stand in your way. If you don’t see a way, make a way.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with iLashTaylor – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
I offer Lash Extensions, Lash Lifting, Teeth Whitening, and Lash Training Classes. I’m most proud of my lash training classes. I love to motivate young women to become financially sufficient doing something I’m passionate about. I see far too many women depending on men for stability and I want to break the cycle. I like to show women there is a way to create your own source of income with a low start-up cost. What sets my business apart from others is my great customer service and ability to connect with just about anyone. I’m not a “money hungry” business out to take take take! My business and training classes are geared more towards educating clients and trainees at an affordable rate! I want to be able to make women beautiful at an affordable rate that won’t break the bank.

Do you think there are structural or other barriers impeding the emergence of more female leaders?
I feel the biggest barriers today to female leadership in my industry is other professionals being “scared “ to educate the next upcoming entrepreneur. I love to educate upcoming entrepreneurs on the mistakes I’ve made first hand, so they don’t make the same mistakes I did in the past.

A lot of our generation feel like wearing designer, driving a nicer car or having a storefront is a success. I’m here to tell you that is not true success. What is a storefront other than another expense if you don’t have a business plan or any legit business? Those nice cars are cute, but they are BILLS. Designer clothing doesn’t validate anything. Don’t get caught up in the social media hype!

Contact Info:

• Address: 110 W Randol Mill Rd Suite 105
  Arlington, TX 76011
• Website: iLashTaylor.setmore.com
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @iLashTaylor_
• Facebook: iLashTaylor

Image Credit:
Credits by iLashTaylor

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