IAM582- Savvy Entrepreneur Shares Her Knowledge and Experiences

Niki Montgomery is a savvy entrepreneur with an eye for innovative and classic business models. The notion that one can create products, opportunities, and experiences for others in exchange for capital has always been inspiring. Her entrepreneurial portfolio includes a myriad of businesses – consulting, real estate, e-commerce, and brick-and-mortar.

Despite a seemingly innate acumen for free enterprise, Niki earned a certificate in Women’s Entrepreneurship from Cornell University. Through workshops and events like Business Over Brunch, speaking engagements, and other outlets, Niki has shared her knowledge and experiences with many aspiring and current business owners.

• CEO Hack: (1) Setting my intention for the day when I wake up (2)
• CEO Nugget: Be patient and start somewhere
• CEO Defined:  Leadership and responsibility for the impression of those who follow me

Website: http://www.nikimonty.com/

IG – @nikimonty
IG – @Hazelosalon
Twitter – @iamnikimonty

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Transcription

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Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview?

If so, you've come to the right place, Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of.

This is the I AM CEO podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:29

Hello. Hello. Hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Nikita Montgomery of Hazel Oh Salon.

Nikita, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Niki Montgomery 0:38

Thanks for having me. I'm really excited about the opportunity to chat with you.

Gresham Harkless 0:42

Yeah, no problem. Definitely excited to hear a lot more from you. Before we jump right in, I want to read a little bit more about Nikita so you hear about all the awesome things that she's doing.

Nikita is a savvy entrepreneur with an eye for innovation, innovative and classic business models. The notion that one can create products, opportunities, and experiences for others in exchange for capital has always been inspiring. Her entrepreneurial portfolio includes a myriad of business consulting, real estate, e-commerce, and brick-and-mortar.

Despite a seemingly intimate, innate acumen for free enterprise, Nikki earned a certificate in women's entrepreneurship from Cornell University. Through workshops and events like business over brunch speaking engagements and other outlets, Nikki has shared her knowledge and experiences with many aspiring and current business owners.

Super excited to get an opportunity to do that today Nikki, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO Community?

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Niki Montgomery 1:26

Yes, I'm ready.

Gresham Harkless 1:27

Awesome. Let's do it. So I know reading your bio, I touched a little bit on that entrepreneurial spirit you have. So I wanted to hear a little bit more about your background, and what led you to get started with all the awesome things you're working on.

Niki Montgomery 1:38

So I've always been a little bit of a rebel for a good cause. But just my personality type, I need to kind of be free to move about and work on things in the way that I like to work on them. I'm still very productive. But the long and short is that I'm not getting to have a boss for long. So I started in middle school, and I've always kind of had like a hustle. But somewhere along the lines, I got into the college-to-job track. I worked for the federal government for 10 years, but six months after working there, I knew that I just shouldn't be there any longer.

Unnfortunately, well not, unfortunately, because I was able to learn to paint. I just stayed there for nine and a half years because I was too scared to implore other options and having a job especially one with the federal government, might be the safest, secure, most profitable option for me at the time. So during that time, I had three kids and mothering while you're on someone else's time, especially when your kids are young. I know people do it all the time but that coupled with the fact that I knew that I always had an entrepreneurial spirit. didn't mix along.

So by my third child, I resigned. I didn't hate my job at the time. I worked from home four days a week, it was just an internal thing where I was like, Okay, I know that there's more for me. So, I resigned from my job in July of 2016. I went directly into copywriting, proofreading, consulting, and PR. So at that time, I honestly was just kind of honing all the things that I knew I could do well and leveraging them so that I could earn income. I've always been an excellent writer so I edited a ton of books for some independent authors and also did some independent public relations projects with some other companies that I knew, and on my own as well, which involved a little bit of event management. So I just kind of went full force into whatever I could use my talents to do to make money at the time.

Then in February of 2019, I got together with Mark Kagame and we had always talked about going into business together. She's an entrepreneur as well, and we decided to open a hair salon and it has actually been in my vision book for 10 years. So I have a book where I write down all the things that are in my head because I didn't get a moment there can be 3000 to 5000 so I just kind of put them on paper so that you know if it works out when they've been cool if it was just a fleeting thought and fine. So yes, in February we decided we're gonna go full force and do this. Our grandmother was a hairstylist and this thing area where we have the business now, I used to do celebrity makeup and I actually used to assist in a salon and college but the beauty industry has just always been something that's very intriguing to me.

I have a love for it, and of course it's profitable. So um, we decided to just go short and here we are.

Gresham Harkless 4:51

Nice. I definitely appreciate that. It's kind of sometimes interesting and funny when you can look back at your life and see how the dots all kind of align as you were talking to your grandmother had the hair salon business always been interested in it, you've always had that entrepreneurial spirit and your cousin did too. So how all those things are in line and even though sometimes we're not always on our full path, we kind of are on our on our path where it's right in alignment with our skills and our talents.

I say our calling, a lot of times we know exactly where it is, and we know how to get back to it.

Niki Montgomery 5:19

Absolutely.

Gresham Harkless 5:20

Awesome. So I know, you touched on a little bit, could you take us through exactly like exactly what we can find at the salon, like how it works, how you work with your clients, and, just all the awesome things you guys are doing there?

Niki Montgomery 5:30

You're a gentleman, so I don't know how long you've been on. But there are not a lot of salons that provide an overwhelming, great experience. I've talked to so many people who love getting their hair done that they hate going to the hair salon, me being one of them. It's time-consuming, there are often a lot of people there. There can be that kind of Salon talk that goes on in there. So um, sometimes it's not, you know, the most relaxing or most upscale environment. So we wanted to create that. I mean, we literally call ourselves like an urban oasis. So if you were to come in here, you would find that it has a Floridian vibe, which is where my grandmother's from.

So she's from Florida, she loved the sun, she loved the beach and we infused that all throughout the salon. The other reason why it was important was because we're in the DMV, and everybody is always moving fast. There's a lot of trash like you don't get to really kind of sit back and relax, especially when you're getting like temper and services just because of all the commotion that's going on around. So we really wanted to make sure when people came into the space that they felt relaxed, they felt warmth, they felt like they could just kind of take a deep breath. I think that what makes us most unique is that we are a diverse salon. So we are not an African American salon. We're not a Caucasian salon, we don't just focus on one hair type. It's not like we primarily do African American hair, but we have stylists who can do Caucasian hair.

Now, if you look at our branding, all of our services, and the clientele who comes in and out of here, we really have staff who can do both, because we kind of believe in like, if you have hair, you should be able to go to any hair salon and get your hair done. I mean I shouldn't really have to take pause and consider. well, are they able to do my hair because it's relaxed or, you know, do they do blinding because they're African American? So we are really passionate about that, and about keeping that vibe so that all can kind of enjoy the space and feel welcome and that it can kind of be a bridge and educate people on either side who may not be as familiar with how beauty works in specific cultures.

Gresham Harkless 7:45

Yeah, that makes so much sense. And yeah, I definitely haven't been to very many salons other than when I was a kid, I had to go with my mom. I don't have much hair at all anyway. But I love that overall kind of how you focused on the experience and as you kind of talked about, you know being able to work on anybody that has hair. I imagine that's part of that, and definitely correct me if I'm wrong.

Sounds like that can be part of the stress too. And trying to figure out if you're going to the right salon is good. Even before you actually get there you have that stress and kind of hesitation from the beginning.

Niki Montgomery 8:13

Absolutely. For women it's a big deal. We actually had a client come in here one day, and she was very frustrated and she stomped up the steps and you know, we were like what just happened? And she said, can you guys do my hair? I'm like sure. Um, she said she walked up and down the street and went in about three different salons and no one was able to do her hair so she basically had extensions.

But once we got them out which took maybe 15 minutes she really just wanted to blow out which was disappointing because even though she was African American, it's a service that even most Caucasian salons provide but no one was willing to investigate to even see if it was something that they could do. So yes, we're very passionate about being able to service anyone basically.

Gresham Harkless 9:00

Yeah, that makes so much sense so definitely appreciate that. I know you gave us our your secret sauce and everything, I wasn't sure if there's anything additional you want to add to what kind of sets you guys apart or did you definitely touch on it?

Niki Montgomery 9:10

Well, I haven't been to every salon obviously in the country, around the world but everyone who has been here having said from professional to client, um these are people who are well traveled in the industry and just clients who have traveled a lot. They say hands down this is the nicest salon that they've ever been in. So just being here and seeing the decor and the warmth and the vibe. I definitely think that if nothing else sets us apart because we've created something really experiential here.

Gresham Harkless 9:43

Yeah, it makes so much sense. And I think that as you said, you know having that that makes it less stressful is distressing, you know, that overall process and I love the fact that you were able to incorporate you know, everything that was important to your grandma as well too is just having that Floridian by the sun and all of those things, especially when it sometimes gets you No super cold here in the DMV a probably helps that as far as alleviating some of that stress.

Niki Montgomery 10:04

Absolutely.

Gresham Harkless 10:05

Awesome. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So that could be like an app or a book or habit that you have,  but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

Niki Montgomery 10:17

So I'll kind of give two things. Well, the one thing is just like setting my intention for the day when I wake up. It's not even really setting my attention but I'm a Christian. So I believe in God, I believe in Jesus. I really wake up and kind of pray like, Okay, what's my priority for the day, because I think it's really easy to like, wake up and just start doing and then like, you're checking emails, and your kids are pulling on you, your staff needs something.

So you can really just wake up and get thrown into the day without having prepped for it. So it's really important that I have a little bit of quiet time in the morning, you know, play music and listen to podcasts in a way so that I can just kind of set my footing for the day.

Gresham Harkless 11:01

Awesome. Now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. So that could be like a word of wisdom or a piece of advice or if you could hop into be a time machine, what would you tell your younger self?

Niki Montgomery 11:11

I would tell my younger business self to start somewhere. So one of the things that I did and have recently returned to now that I have this up and running is small business consulting. So I always get people who are like, but I don't know where to start, I don't have a ton of followers and I don't have a website. It's a process and I think that that was one of the things that kind of got me when I first started. I was like I'm willing to work hard, but I want to see the fruits of my labor like quickly. The bigger the projects get, the bigger the investment gets. Oftentimes, the slower than return, the return is great, but it may not happen overnight. So I would definitely tell people to be patient and to start somewhere.

So you may not have a ton of followers. But if you only have 50, who could patronize your business and don't be intimidated by the fact that you only have to be you know, it's a growing, it's a steep timing and receipt printing. If anyone has ever purchased that, and just monitored how something like an Amazon or an apple has grown over the years, there were people who purchased that stock when it was $50 and not worth much, but they're cashing in now. So if you have to cash in later, that's fine. But start somewhere, be patient, and be consistent.

Gresham Harkless 12:34

Absolutely. I love that nugget. I think sometimes we forget that it's a marathon. I think as you said, like sometimes the bigger the goal or the aspiration or thing if you're trying to do often the more patient you have to be because it does take a lot longer. And I think that sometimes a lot of times life is about perspective as well in business, especially too, but you don't realize that those 50 followers, you have two people that can you know, as you said, patronize your business. So we're always looking at why don't I have 100,000 followers, when in reality, you have a lot of things in place already.

Now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're hoping to have different, quote and quote, CEOs on this show. So Nikita, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Niki Montgomery 13:11

Being a CEO essentially means leadership to me and not leadership in the sense that I'm at the pinnacle of some organizational structure, but leadership in the sense that I'm responsible for the impressions of those who follow me. I don't take that lightly. I don't take it lightly with my children. I don't take it lightly with anyone who I lead. As a CEO or a leader, you have a duty to kind of mentor and raise people, if you will, and whatever that thing is that you are the CEO of, I know, there's been a big debate for years about how celebrities aren't, you know, mentors, or they're not responsible for having good impressions upon children or people who are not in a market. But the fact of the matter is, by virtue of us being leaders, we become stewards of people.

That just means a lot to me, I wouldn't never want to steer anyone in the wrong direction. No, it doesn't mean I'm gonna be perfect. But it always means that I'm mindful that people are watching me. And if people are watching me, I want to leave them with the best of me, not just my flaws, they'll inevitably see them. But I think that as long as there is a track for growth, and the good outweighs the false, then I'm on the right track.

Gresham Harkless 14:33

Yeah, absolutely. It makes so much sense. I think a lot of times we don't realize who's looking at us, who's looking at the things that we're doing as leaders and I think as you said, not being perfect, but at the same time understanding that we have flaws, making mistakes, but always having that kind of strive for greatness is definitely something that is incredibly important to be in a CEO in any shape or fashion and in our lives. So definitely appreciate that definition.

I appreciate your time even more. What I want to do is pass you the mic so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you and let our readers and listeners know and then of course, how best they can find out about you on this line and all the awesome things you're working on.

Niki Montgomery 15:06

Finally, I would just say pursue your purpose. As an entrepreneur, I know we continue to have our hands in multiple paths as to why I'm not necessarily as passionate about all subjects as I am about some, I do carefully evaluate what things on purpose to do in this life, and how they transfer over to me being an entrepreneur.

So if any of you are contemplating entrepreneurship, or just starting out your growth, I would always start with what are you here to do? So you got to reach me at Niki Monty. That's my handle on Instagram. And that is my website. So it's at nikimonty on Instagram and online. It's nikkimonty.com Hazel Salon is hazelohsalon.com. We are located in Alexandria, Virginia and you're welcome to reach out to us or any of those platforms.

Gresham Harkless 16:03

Awesome. Thank you so much, again, Nikki, for doing all the awesome things you're doing and for giving us a reminder to keep our purpose as a Northstar as always. Well we'll definitely have those links and information in the show notes so that everybody can follow up with you and connect with you see all the awesome things you're working on.

But again, appreciate you tremendously and hope you have a phenomenal day today.

Outro 16:22

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO podcast powered by Blue 16 Media tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co. I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community.

Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE And leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co This has been the I AM CEO podcast with Gresham Harkless.

Thank you for listening.

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