Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in personal care but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Djuna Day, owner of Bluebird Laser, located in Toronto, ON, Canada.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
Our tagline at Bluebird is “Laser hair removal for everyone!” and I know that sounds obvious. But the esthetics industry has for decades provided services only to a certain kind of people: hetero-normative, gender-normative, skinny, cis, white women. We’re here to blow this open!
At Bluebird, we have two goals: One, to provide the best laser hair removal services available anywhere. And two, to provide those services to everybody: Men and women, cis, trans and non-binary folks, and people of all body shapes, sizes, skin tones, and abilities.
And our numbers tell it all: We opened in 2019, eight months before the pandemic hit. Over the last three years, we have increased our clientele twenty-fold, tripled the size of our staff, and moved to a larger location just to accommodate us all. And we continue to grow!
We grow because our clients are so relieved to finally walk into a space where they are seen for who they are, where they are allowed to be themselves, and where they are made to feel good in their own bodies - whatever special magic those bodies come with!
Tell us about yourself
As a trans woman coming out a decade ago, I had an awful time finding esthetics clinics willing to treat me. Again and again, I was explicitly and implicitly turned away. Until I found the one woman in Toronto who had made it her business to serve us. She had a six-month waitlist just to get in with her, and we all waited. We waited because she took care of us, and she did great work. I was grateful to have found her but knew that one person serving a city of six million was not enough. I vowed to change this when I could.
Fast forward five years: I returned to school, earned my medical esthetics diploma with honours, and opened Bluebird, with a mandate to provide services to everyone. We have been growing since day one!
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
Oh gosh! Each time a new client walks in the door, looks around, takes a deep breath, and visibly relaxes because they see that this place they have entered is not like the others that they are welcome here and safe. This is what I get up for every morning.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
The loneliness, by far. Always working harder, and longer than everyone else. My staff come in after me, and leave before me. My friends go out, sometimes with me, but more often without me. Because there is always work to be done. My two closest friends are also building businesses, so we sneak in 7 am breakfasts or late-night walks because that is mostly the time we have available. But I still wouldn’t have it any other way.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Choose one little thing - a product or a service, but keep it small. And then do it better than anyone else.
- Make sure you know in your bones what your customers really care about. And then give that to them.
- Find three people around you that you can lean on for advice, preferably people more knowledgeable or skilled than you. No one builds anything great alone.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.bluebirdlaser.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bluebird_laser/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
Feel inspired to start, run or grow your own subscription business? Check out subkit.com and learn how you can turn "one day" into day one.