Meet Ishani Vyas | Manicurist & Small business owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ishani Vyas and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ishani, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I have always been interested and passionate about designs and arts from very young age. I was always really good at doing paintings and crafts in school. When I started attending college for Business degree nothing was setting right in my mind what I wanted to pursue in College. I learned about being manicurist where I can apply my passion of art thru nails. I finished my manicurist course at Chattanooga Cosmetology College. I started in this field via doing various rolls from being a receptionist and working at a nail salon over the years. After the pandemic where I couldn’t work for nearly six months the thoughts starting running thru my mind that I have a good client base that are loyal to me and with background in business thru my family upbringing I decided to rent my own space to start a small business. Over the last couple of years my client base have grown via doing digital marketing on Instagram and Facebook. I really enjoy what I do and I get to express my love for art by making people feel beautiful.

What should our readers know about your business?
I am a sole proprietor and one woman show with everything I have built. I am a woman of color owning a small successful business. I book my own clients and keep up with very high success rate of returning clients that visits me at least twice a month. I operate appointment based business only and work very diligently to book further appointments before the client’s leave my chair for their future visit. I never leave this business model as I give great importance to my clients time and appointments as well as my time. Lot of times I face challenges for cancelations etc. and I make sure I fill in those appointment slots properly to utilize my time efficiently while I am away from my family and personal life. Lessons I have learned is that I have to provide competitive prices for my services and time to make sure that my business is profitable as I have had incurred few losses due to last minute cancellations. I require cancellation fees that all of my clients are aware and they understand why I require this to provide the best services possible. I want to make people feel beautiful and powerful and to express them selves thru their nails where people ask them “hey where did you get your nails done”.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Southern Cal is one of the unique place in this country where you can have all kinds of season and terrain with in two hour distance. I am very outdoorsy and but I also love going out to have drinks or to a club with friends. I would start by taking them to a various different beaches out here. I would take them particularly to Redondo beach. Where you get to see so many different people and have some of them best local fresh seafood by the pier. Next thing I would take them to do is the challenging hike up to wisdom tree near the Hollywood sign where you feel like you have conquered the world once you get to the top and see the view of the whole city. I would then take them to eat at Yamashiro Hollywood to finish the day. The next thing in the itinerary would a trip to the Big Bear mountain to soak up the vastness of the view of the whole inland empire and enjoy beautiful big bare lake. To finish off the trip I would take them to experience West Hollywood and the clubs and the bars there where you meet amazing people and you feel like you can dance the night away without any worries or anyone judging you.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My husband and my parents. My husband have always been supportive of my decisions and always have been there for me along every steps and decisions I have had to make to be where I am today. He even was helping me study before I had to take the state board test and made sure I was comfortable and prepared. My husband even came shopping with me for my supplies to start my business and took interest in what all I would need to start up my endeavor. He assisted me starting up my own website and helped me learn how to keep up with book keeping to make sure I am setup for success. My parents have raised me to be strong and independent woman I am today. I wouldn’t be where I am today in my life if it weren’t for these folks supporting me.

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Image Credits
Ishani Vyas (myself)