Style file:
VICTORIA HOULLIS Victoria Houlis, founder of Mannequin Hands, is a small-business owner who has reached cult-status within two years of opening shop. Ruby Feneley talked to her about growing your business, the perks and pitfalls of social media and surviving COVID and lockdowns.
Background “I studied journalism and worked in marketing and copywriting for fashion and hospitality brands, but my passion was always beauty. I trained and started working with nails when I was nineteen. I worked full-time in marketing for years, but I was seeing clients after hours and on weekends! I used any spare minute I had to pursue, what I considered then, a hobby I loved. My work in marketing specifically really taught me to scale ideas. I think big and my boss would always so “okay, but we need to work to this budget, on this timeline, in this location” – that ability has been incredible building Mannequin Hands!”
Taking the leap “I decided to devote myself to Mannequin Hands full-time in 2019. I didn’t know if there was “full-time demand” though. People kept asking for more appointments but coming from a corporate mindset I wasn’t sure if clients were available during the week, or even during the day. I had a lot of back-up plans, like specials I could run if I had appointment gaps, just to keep the cashflow coming in. I underestimated how much work I’d done building the brand. I quit my job on Monday, put my bookings up on Wednesday and
58
|
WWW.PROFESSIONALBEAUTY.COM.AU
was booked out for a month. I had not allotted for lunch breaks; I had not allotted for bathroom breaks. It was a lot, but I consider myself really lucky.”
Social Media “Instagram, to me, is in some ways a bit of a fallacy. I had a couple of thousand followers when I went full time with my business; my following kicked off later. I personally find that no matter how big my Instagram presence gets it doesn’t translate to my earnings. I’m launching a new product and I’m interested to see if sales will correlate with my social media growth. People say they love certain things but that doesn’t mean they will buy them. I started making and shipping press-on nails during Covid and I’ve continued doing them for those who can’t get in for appointments. Followers see client work and are like “Oh my god, make these as press-ons.” But one of my press-on kits with the most likes, sends and saves has literally not sold a single set! Instagram is a great way to build community and set trends, but there is no way of knowing if anything that happens online will reflect the sales that you make, or the value people place on your work. In some ways as a small business you really need it, but it can also be a bit of a trap.”
Working with influencers “When I started I was really lucky, Flex (Mami) and Rowi Singh were people I knew socially. When Flex started coming to me her following was growing and by the time she was a regular her following had become massive. I really enjoy working with those people because they never came to me asking for freebies or expecting a PR exchange. Other than friends I don’t seek out influencers because I don’t really like the transaction of not being paid for work and I’m not sure of the value exchange. I have people that message me expecting free trade, it doesn’t make up for the time I’m spending because even if their followers are interested, my books are full. In a service-based industry where your time is crucial, I’m not sure I would back it, unless there is an existing relationship.”
Style “When I started doing nails, I had strong ideas about what I did and didn’t like. I was super into Japanese nail art which has a totally different look to anything else, you can pick it from Russian, American or British nails - it’s very distinct. My dream has always been to have Russian cuticle technique, Japanese perfection and American pop art references. That said, I’m still developing
