Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Carr.
Hi Chris, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My name is Christopher Carr. I’m 36 years old. I have a younger brother, Josh, and a younger sister, Andrea. I was born in Virginia and the family moved to Texas while we were all young children. My dad’s name is Richard. He’s a machine programmer and a general jack-of-all-trades if you will. My mom’s name is Margie and she was a cosmetologist for about 25 years. She’s owned her own businesses in the past and has since gotten out of the beauty industry. I say I grew up in the beauty industry; the school bus would literally drop us off at the salon after school. So I grew up helping sweep up hair, wash and fold towels, organize the storeroom, and generally help out around the salon. I absolutely loved it. That was always my favorite time of day, getting to go to the shop and help. So as you can probably guess, my dream ever since I was a kid was to have a shop of my own. I ended up making it happen, but it wasn’t a straight shot. I graduated high school a year early. For what, I’m not sure. I had no plans for college or even beauty school at that time. At the ripe age of seventeen, I joined the United States Navy and became a photographer. How or why I came to that decision, I still don’t know, but I did it. I actually had my eighteenth birthday while in bootcamp. I actually had a blast, met some amazing people, did a little traveling, and learned some photo skills that I still use today. The most important things I learned while in the service was that I am a lot stronger and more capable than I thought and the importance of discipline.
After I got out of the Navy, I was kind of aimless. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I ended up drinking and partying to pass the time. I tried college and I just couldn’t make it work for me. It seemed to be an endless string of dead end jobs and partying. Where was I going? Nowhere fast. I was drunk all day from the time I woke up until I passed out, whenever that may be. It eventually got to the point where I couldn’t work, I couldn’t drive… I could hardly feed myself. It was a really low time in my life that I didn’t think I would make it out of. After about nine years of drinking my life away, I went to a treatment facility at the request of my dad. I had wanted help for a long time but I didn’t think there was any for me. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. So I went! It was the absolute best decision I’ve ever made. I spent about 30 days in a facility out in the beautiful Texas hill country.
After my little stay at “camp,” as we all liked to call it, I began to finally see clearly. I began to feel again. I began to feel ambition and hope for the future! I actually made it through esthetician school back in 2015 before things got too out of control. I did really well in school and I loved every minute of it! However, I never scheduled my practical exam. In 2017 after I sobered up, I realized that I needed to get my practical exam scheduled and passed before the two years mark. Otherwise, I was going to have to go back for the 750 hours! I got it done in time, and I received my license to practice esthetics in the state of Texas.
My first real job in the beauty business was at Amazing Lash Studio. I learned a lot while I was there. I learned how to apply classic lashes and how to sell products. I’m grateful for the time I spent at ALS because I got to practice my new craft on their steady stream of clients without my name being on the line. It was a great proving ground.
I lasted there about nine months before I was ready to move on to the next step. I made the leap into working privately. I had a friend, Kristen @thetxlashlady on Instagram, who had been doing lashes at a small spa in town called Beautiful Reflections, and was looking to pass off all of her classic clients so she could focus on volume clients. I happily accepted and basically walked right into a full book of clients! (she had a ton of clients and was super overbooked!) If I could have made a career out of classic lashes, I would have done it. I didn’t want to learn volume at all! However, I begrudgingly learned. Kristen was a trainer for LashBomb and she taught me her technique. I’m super grateful to Kristen and all the ladies at LashBomb.
Up to this point, I had almost no experience with social media. I knew Facebook. I was using Instagram as a portfolio. The idea that Instagram could be used as a marketing tool hadn’t occurred to me. I began to see pictures of really full looking perfect lashes. I had never seen anything like it. What I was looking at was pictures of mega volume on the LashBoxLA Instagram feed. “HOW?” I would ask myself. “Why don’t my sets look like that?” I wondered. I saw that they were having a training in Austin and decided to save money for it.
My lash life changed the moment I walked in that door! There was music, balloons, and everything was branded Tiffany Blue! I knew from that moment that I wanted to create that feeling for other people, but we’ll get there. I had purchased all the lashbox supplies and tried the flower bouquet technique at home to no avail. I had watched all of the lashbox videos and did a deep dive on the lashbox page for all of the tips and tricks. I thought I was prepared and was going to knock it out of the park! Boy was I wrong! I couldn’t make a fan to save my life! Lydia, the Global Education Director for LBLA had to finish my model for me because I could only get about five fans on each eye! I was so embarrassed.
However, I was not going to give up. I knew the steps, I had the supplies, and I had some time. So I went home and sat at my coffee table and practiced for a whole afternoon until I nailed it!
After I felt confident with my work, I sent Lydia a super long text saying how much I loved lashbox and the training and how I felt like I had finally made it somewhere, and I was super overcome with emotion. She got back to me and was moved by my message. She ended up calling me and offering me a position as a Brand Ambassador. Of course, I said yes! Not knowing what that even was, I agreed! She explained exactly what the job entailed and agreed to work with me for a couple of weeks training me on how to use Instagram and how to make a successful profile.
I was a brand ambassador for the company for about a year or so and I loved every minute of it! During this time, I moved away from the small spa into my own suite in Austin. Everything was steady as she goes for a while. At some point late in 2018, early 2019, I let lashbox know that I was interested in becoming a trainer for them. And on Super Bowl Sunday 2019, I got the call that would change my life forever. Lydia called from a Super Bowl party to officially offer me the training position! Of course, I jumped at the opportunity! Then in March… Covid hit and shut everything down. The demand for in-person trainings plummeted. I was able to participate in a couple of trainings as an assistant but was never brought on to the schedule because of Covid.
Well, I didn’t want to wait anymore, almost a year had gone by and I wanted to start training and sharing this skill with others! So, I made a terribly hard decision. I left Lashboxla. I left on good terms and still talk to the girls on occasion. But I wanted to start working on my own brand of products and classes. I felt I had more to bring to the lash industry than just pushing someone else’s products.
I wrote a training manual, ordered a bunch of supplies, and started advertising for classes. I started holding private 1:1 classes in my little 100 sq. ft. suite! It was rocky at first, but I eventually got the hang of it. I was terrified the first couple of classes because I didn’t want to let anyone down.
That’s how I ran my business for a couple of years. I had my first group training in a hotel banquet hall in downtown Austin and it was fabulous! Now we’re getting somewhere! It was May of 2021 and the training class was a success. At that time, I was also toying with the idea of opening my own salon. For fun, I got in contact with a commercial real estate broker by the name of Kat and asked her to show me around town and get some rent prices. We looked at a few places in different parts of the city and at different price points. My goal was to have enough space to hold my own group classes so I didn’t have to rent a hotel banquet hall every month and to have room for private suites to rent out. I just happened to find a giant space, about 2600 sq ft about 2 miles from my house. It needed some work, but the price was right and it had everything I wanted. After some negotiations, I signed the lease that spring and we began construction immediately. Also during this time, I created my first branded products which were ready for the May group class. That was no small feat in itself. I’m currently doing a brand make over and creating a whole new line which should be out summer 2022.
I opened the doors of LashGuyPro headquarters in July of 2021 with all four private suites already leased. There are four private suites, a lobby/waiting room, my office, a nice break room, and a giant space for my group classes that can comfortably fit up to 16 students. I knew I didn’t want employees; I don’t like messing with other people’s schedules. So anyone who works there is their own business. I chose an “off the beaten path” location because we don’t rely on foot traffic or walk-ins; again, I don’t want a front desk employee. High traffic locations are also much more expensive when it comes to rent. Not worth the hassle to me. I’m absolutely loving my salon, the space, the freedom to create and host lash get togethers! We hosted Jena from SocoLashes last month for LashBoothCollective and it was a blast! (look those up on Instagram!)
I couldn’t have gotten where I am today without my amazing partner, Chase. We’ve been together for four years. He’s a Financial Planner/Advisor with his own firm, so I’ve been privy to some amazing business and financial advice along the way, not to mention the constant emotional support it took to get here! We have a lovely home in North Austin, a couple of miles from the salon. Our two golden doodles Sandy and Dusty are the center of our world. We travel as often as we can. We love to camp and have a camper that we like to take out to the lake with the dogs. We enjoy hiking, scuba diving, working out at the gym. I wouldn’t be here without his help, love, and support. Thanks beb!
The crazy life I lived before made me who I am today. Today, I am fiercely ambitious. I work more than most people I know, and I love it. I feel like I am playing catch up in a way; like life is short and I don’t want to wast a single second of it. My goal for the future of LashGuyPro is to be the “Paul Mitchell” or “Kevin Murphy” of the lash world. Every day I’m getting closer to realizing my goal!
If I had to say one thing about my journey so far, is to never give up on yourself. It’s never too late to start something new, and whether you believe you will succeed or fail, you’re probably right. Keep a positive mindset through it all, and you will get there! Enjoy living in the process because the process never ends if you’re constantly growing!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I faced some financial obstacles because I was determined to open my new salon without going into massive debt. I did most of it out of pocket. I hired talented family members and shopped at inexpensive stores to outfit my salon. What’s the point of opening a new salon if you have to take on crippling debt to do it??
I also opened during Covid. So that in itself posed some challenges; meeting outside, six feet apart with masks on when we needed to meet with builders or landlords. Building materials were also significantly more expensive because of the supply shortages. But we managed to make it through successfully!
While I was working on opening my salon, I was also working with lash supply vendors trying to create my own brand of products. This presents its own challenges; working with people in different countries in wildly different time zones, trying to make them understand exactly what I want to the best of Google’s translating abilities. Samples aren’t cheap, shipping costs were high, and the time it took to ship between countries was uncertain at best. So I would be getting ready for bed, and it was time to start correspondence with the product vendors. It definitely put a strain on family life for a while. The time zone difference made it difficult for me to be present in the evenings with my partner and our dogs. Thankfully we made it through and we both learned a lot about how to compromise and how to turn off our phones and be more present.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I started as a lash artist, working for a franchise. Then I moved on to work for myself as a lash artist renting space from a spa. After that, I leased my own suite. Finally, I opened my own salon and am renting space to other talented lash artists. I’ve had to learn how to be a graphic designer; I taught myself how to use ProCreate and Illustrator on my iPad. I’ve learned to market my business on social media. I was already a trained photographer, but I had to polish up those skills and learn lash photo editing. I’ve learned to be a mentor to my renters. I learned how to be a better instructor. I had to learn how to do bookkeeping for my business and briefly did payroll before I realized I didn’t want employees. I’ve learned to network within the beauty industry. As the business owner, you have to wear a bunch of different hats and interact with a bunch of different people that you don’t when you’re simply a lash artist. As the business grows, so does the list of responsibilities, and if you’re not able to or willing to hire those jobs out, you just have to learn it! “Necessity is the mother of invention”, as they say. I think that saying applies. What do I want my job to look like in the future? I would love to oversee the creative aspects of the marketing and advertising for social media, have a team for order fulfillment, hold one class a month in a different city around the world, and become a lash industry giant.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
I don’t really believe in luck, per se. I believe that you need to get out there and make your own opportunities, seek them out. If you’re waiting around on luck to happen, you’ll wait forever.
Good timing and knowing the right people is more important than “luck.”
Pricing:
- Group Classes: $975
- Private Lessons: $1299
Contact Info:
- Email: info@lashguypro.com
- Website: lashguypro.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/lashguypro
- Facebook: Facebook.com/lashguypro
- Twitter: twitter.com/lashguypro
- Other: linktree.com/lashguypro
