Growing a Business on Social Media with Nai, aka LABeautyologist

<p>Nai Roberts-Smith might be the mega-popular skincare expert labeautyologist these days, but like many entrepreneurs, she started in a dorm room. She was an amateur nail technician, complete with a wall of polish colours, and she would do nails for less than the price of lunch. “I had a group of friends who all did beauty services,” she says a barber, a few pals who did hair, and a league of friends acting as low-key brand ambassadors across campus. </p><p>When she left college, she joined a salon as a nail tech but has aspirations of becoming an esthetician—a licensed professional who does facials and other skin-care treatments, usually at a spa. “I was good at nails, I liked doing it, and I felt kind of stifled by that.” But her hometown shop was full of estheticians, and they were unwilling to add Nai to their roster. She debated bringing her skills onboard cruise ships before realizing she would likely find work anywhere that was beautiful—Jamaica, Hawaii, Miami, or her new hometown, Los Angeles.</p><p>In LA, Nai was “broke,” but she knew the demand was there: she could stand on a busy street corner and see three spas on a single block. As she launched her business, she made a strategic decision to grow her social media presence as well. “I knew I had to reach people who weren’t just right in front of me.” She launched her <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa9iOE-ab8i9cXkUa7wJqOQ" target="_blank">YouTube channel</a> as soon as she moved to LA. “Being on social media has completely advanced and changed my career trajectory;” she now has almost a half-million subscribers. </p><p>Sometimes entrepreneurs get tripped up on how to translate online impressions to actual sales, but Nai has a knack for it. When she started, Nai would demo her treatments on <a href="https://twitter.com/labeautyologist/" target="_blank">Twitter</a> and YouTube and encouraged LA locals to book in with her; at the time, 45% of her clients came from that sales funnel. She examined her analytics for out-of-town interest—like the v