How to start a hair extensions business from scratch

If you want to start a hair business but wonder what are the exact steps to get started, this blog is for YOU! As a wholesale hair supplier that helps women launch their own hair businesses, we often get a lot of repetitive questions such as “should I register LLC first?”, “what are the steps to build Instagram?”, “where to get the best hair websites?”, so on and so forth.

This article covers topics to help you decide what to do in every and each step of your entrepreneur process!

Here is a summary of what we will cover in this blog.

1. Name your new hair business
2. Register LLC
3. Register Trade Mark
4. Register domain, choose website provider, choose payment gateways
5. Get social media accounts and what are the must-have channels for your hair business
6. How to set up a sales funnel according to shopper’s psychology
7. How to choose branding and packaging
8. How to handle customer service
9. How a solid foundation will help your hair business make consistent sales

Name your new hair business

Naming your business seems like a simple job, but it really isn’t. A good name for your business should not only fit into what you are selling. It should also reflect your brand’s attitude.

What to consider when naming your business?

1. Is it easy to remember? A name shouldn’t be too long, too obvious or too short
2. Does the name relate to what you sell? Naming a hair company “diamond outfit” is likely to remind customers of a clothing store instead of a hair business
3. Is the name often used? Get your own name! Don’t copy what’s popular. Too many brands with similar names will only hurt your marketing dollars.
4. Try to not name your business with your own name if you don’t want to be the face for it.
5. Is the name already taken? If it’s taken, let’s scratch that and keep brainstorming!
6. Does your name have general words that make it hard to rank on Google?
7. Does your business name resemble many similar brands in your niche on Social media? It’s necessary to have Instagram and Facebook nowadays for ANY business. If your name does not stand out among your competitors, scratch that, and let’s start over with the brainstorming!

For example, there are probably 50-100 hair companies, big and small, registered or unregistered, legitimate or illegitimate, are using “diamond” in their business names. You want to avoid names that can confuse your customers, who may end up mixing your company with another.

4. Check Domain Availability

Domain is a website’s URL in the form of “yourname.com/co/company/online”. If another company already have your domain, you can’t use the same domain.

To check availability, you can type your potential domain in your browser’s address bar to see if it is taken already.

It’s recommended to have a domain that matches your business name.

How to register LLC for your hair business (USA ONLY)

Registering LLC sounds complicated, but it’s really simple if you just spend a little time to learn how to do it yourself at home.

You don’t have to have an LLC to start selling hair extensions. However, it’s recommended to make your business official. Many social media and advertising platforms such as Facebook and Instagram ONLY allow registered companies to use their advertisement tools.

You can simply register your LLC by looking up “register LLC in your state” on Google. There will be a “.gov” website that allows you to register your LLC online.

There will be a fee to register for an LLC, this fee is different depending on which state you are in. Generally, this fee can range from $50 – $300USD.

Business address and registered agent

Before you register for LLC, you should also consider getting a business address and a registered agent for your LLC.

A business address is a place of your store or a mailing address that you use to receive government and import letters.

A registered agent is someone who represents your business to the government. If you have fees that are due to the government, your registered agent will be the contact point between the treasury office and your business. LLC requires a registered agent for any business because they need a reliable point of contact for businesses that have multiple locations.

S-Corp vs LLC for hair business?

Some people wonder if they should register for LLC + S-corp to save taxes. If you are not sure what LLC and S-corp mean, please see here.

LLC single member and LLC partnership:

LLC is a pass-through entity, meaning that your personal income is your business income. Your net profit will be taxed for personal income tax and social security tax.

LLC with S-corp structure:

You can file for an LLC and apply for an S-corp tax structure within 75 days after filing for LLC. Companies opt in for S-corp because they can pay less social security tax.

S-corp treats the owner as an employee of the business. In order to apply for S-corp, you will need to make enough revenue to give yourself a “reasonable” wage.

As a start-up company, you don’t need to consider S-corp. But if you want to pay less taxes down the line when your business gains more profit, S-corp can help you save a considerable amount.

Register Sales Tax License

If you have a nexus (a physical location, or a high sales volume to the single state), you are required to collect sales tax from customers from that state.

In order to collect sales tax, you are required to get a sales tax license. You can apply for the sales tax license together with your LLC on the state’s government website.

Sales tax schedule

You can choose to submit your sales taxes every 3 months (Quarter schedule) or every month if your sales volume is very high. This varies depending on the state your business is located in.

Remember, even if you didn’t make any sales during the filing period, you are sill required to submit sales tax even if the amount is zero.

Trade Mark Your Hair Company’s LOGO

We often hear questions like “Should I trademark before LLC?”. The answer is, you should definitely LLC your company first then trademark the LOGO. Trademark is to make sure that your LOGO won’t be copied by competitors and LLC is to give you legal protections.

Your small hair business need LLC to operate, but a trade mark to protect your LOGO is not necessary unless your brand becomes famous and a lot of people copy your LOGO.

Domain, Website Platform, Payment Gateway

1.How to choose a great domain for your hair business

If you don’t have a hair website, you should start thinking of getting one now! There are so many benefits of selling hair extensions on your own website.

Sell Hair Extensions Worldwide On eCommerce Website

The best type of domain is yourbusinessname.com. There are also other options such as “.co”, “.us”, “.company”, etc. These options are usable, however, major search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo consider “.com” domains as a top-ranking factor. This means a “.com” domain has a better chance at ranking higher on the search page when someone searches words that are similar to what you sell.

2. How to choose a great website provider for your hair business

WordPress and Shopify are great website providers for hair extensions business.

WordPress is more versatile than Shopify but Shopify is easier for beginners to use.

We always recommend WordPress to our clients because that what we use to build custom eCommerce hair websites for them!

3. How to choose a reliable payment gateway for your hair business

You can start off with Paypal and Stripe to take payments directly from your customer’s bank cards.

These payment gateways are free to sign up and doesn’t charge monthly fees.

However, once you start processing a big amount of sales, we recommend finding a reliable local bank and see what they can offer.

Local banks usually provide amazing payment gateways that offer fraud filters. They also tend to charge less fees for each transaction.

Open social media business accounts

Every business needs social media nowadays. We will list a few that are usually “must-have” for hair businesses.

1. Instagram

Amazing ways to keep your viewers in your own glorified page! It’s a great way to expand your brand and keep your current customers interested for more!

2. Facebook

Facebook is necessary because it’s the biggest social media on earth! You can reach a lot more people with Facebook and Instagram ads. If you don’t have a Facebook account for your business, you won’t be able to run ads properly.

Facebook allows you to install facebook pixel on your website so it can track your visitors, conversions, and user age/country/gender. You can then run ads to target these people and sell your products!

3. Youtube

Youtube is a great way to post lengthy content about your brand. It can be a great information platform for your brand! Youtube also has high conversions meaning that if someone sees your video, they may be more likely to buy your product than if they see a shorter video of the same product on Instagram or Facebook.

How to automate the best funnel for faster checkouts

This is how a shopper shops online: Discover a brand ->browse their products quickly->look for information of the products->research reviews->buy it

In highly competitive industries like hair extensions business, the process may be: Discover your hair brand->browse your product pages->research and wait->forget about buying or gets distracted->see ads of your company again->comes to your shop with high buying intent->ask a specific question->add to cart->check out shipping fees->abandon the cart or buy your hair.

So as you can see, in order for your customers to checkout faster, you should have:

1. Detailed product descriptions on each page
2. Enticing, realistic photos
3. Influencer marketing so your customers can trust your brand without having to look up reviews everywhere.
4. FAQ page, shipping policy page, return policy page.
5. Easy to reach and fast customer service such as live chat, and you should answer your DMs and private messages as well. The “no dm” kind of attitude may make your customers feel neglected.
6. Simple checkout form on one page so your customers can see how much “form” she will need to fill out before putting in card information.

If you set up your shop this way, you will see a significant reduction in repetitive questions in your inbox. Not everybody likes to message a business before they buy something. If you lay out all the information your customers seek for, you can close the sale faster.

Shop hair websites with free hosting and free product images here.

How to choose your branding and packaging for your hair business

Branding is the first impression of your company. Good packaging can increase the “value” of your products.

For hair extensions, we recommend sticker labels, bundle chokers (the label that goes around a bundle), as well as a business brochure that offers valuable insights of your company and hair care instructions.

You can also choose to satin hair bags to protect the hair from getting frizzy in the mail.

You can also include a hair care brochure, which is what A LOT of customers need when they buy hair but don’t know how to treat the hair properly

Shop hair packaging at ONE STOP SHOP wholesale hair supplier Branded Hair Extensions

How to properly provide customer service

In a retail hair business, there are a few situations where you might need your customer service skill:

1. Pre-sale questions: product information, shipping and processing time, etc.
2. after-sale questions: hair care, how to wear, etc.
3. Problem-solving: Lost package, wrong items, etc.

We will explain how to react in each of these 3 situations below.

1. Pre-sale questions

Before buying a product, a customer might ask simple questions about your hair before they make a purchase decision. The best you can do is to quickly answer their questions so your customer can decide if they want to purchase hair from you.

However, any retail business will run into “troll” and “window shoppers”. They ask questions after questions, but usually ignores your answers and go on to ask for questions. They like to challenge your answers instead of listening to what you have to say.

In this situation, you need to recognize “trolls” and just kindly reply with a link. 99% of the time, a troll will leave you alone after not getting the anticipated attention.

2. After-sale questions

After-sale questions often include questions about hair care. If a customer has questions such as “how to wash curly hair?”, “Why does hair shed”, it’s your time to provide enough information so your paying customers know how to take care of the hair extensions they bought from you.

We recommend including a “Hair Care” section on your website so your customers can just look up online.

3. Problem-solving skill

Regardless of how great your business is, returns and mistakes WILL happen. It can be a wrong shipping address, a missing product, or a defect problem. Your customer might be upset at the beginning but if you are able to resolve the issues quickly, you might even gain a loyal customer.

No matter what it is that your customer is mad about, stay clam, answer professionally. Never slash out at the customer and blame them.

When a customer is angry, find the reason why they are angry and quickly provide a solution that works for you and the customer. If a customer is unable to be satisfied and make ridiculous demands, kindly turn down the request and lay out your policy.

How to build a solid E-commerce foundation to sell hair extensions consistently

There is a saying ” the money you make during your sleep is the best money you can make”. A hair company that can make sales on off days, is a good business!

In order to make sales consistently, you need to use ads and marketing. There is NO other ways around this unless you are a famous celebrity.

There are a few things that can bring consistent sales and exposures to your hair company.

• Use Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Youtube.

• Try Influencer marketing

• Use paid ads on Instagram and Facebook, Youtube and Pinterest.

• Learn how to gain organic traffic on your website by posting on social media and writing blogs on your hair website

• Learn how to sell hair extensions efficiently using an eCommerce website.

• Learn about various technologies that can help your customers to communicate with you, such as live chat, Whatsapp, messengers, etc.

If you are not a “tech” person, become one! Modern retail hair business cannot live without website funnels and online ads. Your time is better spent on learning about ads and website than looking for sales from a “family friend”

Conclusion

Being an entrepreneur is hard. A hair business, whether it’s dropshipping or traditional retail, it’s still a business that requires hard work. Starting a hair business is just like starting any other business, it requires learning new things, investment, consistency, and patience to make it work.

We have helped many people start their hair businesses from dropshipping. We have seen people who quit after a week because they didn’t make any sales, we have also seen hair boss who signed up for our hair extensions dropshipping program, made no sales in the first 4 months, then 3 orders in a week on the fifth month and only going up.

If you have an open mind to learn new skills and understand that it takes investments to make money, your hair extensions business will most likely sustain to bring your great extra incomes!