Meet Aja Freeman | Licensed esthetician & Business Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Aja Freeman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Aja, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
I stand by the quote “no risk, no reward” I honestly think that if you stick to playing it safe, you’ll always get the safe reward. Everything about my business has been a risk from the start I had no prior business, sales, or management skills. I quit my job at office depot to pursue a dream that I truthfully didn’t even know I had. Everything that I did for the sake of my business was a risk and I didn’t know how any of it would turn out but I ultimately had faith in myself and I calculated each risk that I took.

At the beginning of covid I had to close my doors for two whole months, prior to this I was an owner/operator for three years servicing my clients single handedly for six days a week. I knew that I had reached a point where I could only see so many clients in one day and I could only work so many hours in that day, but I couldn’t bring in anymore estheticians because I only had one private treatment room. When I was able to open back up, I decided to make the investment and hired a contractor to construct two additional treatment rooms. This was a risk and a major leap of faith construction started July 2020 and we were finished December of that year. I hired my first esthetician, Antrenette, in April 2021, I rented out one room to an esthetician, Jasmine, that was moving back to Memphis from Knoxville and needed a space to take on her clients, then I hired another esthetician, Quinise, in July of 2021 and by August we had grossed over $100,000.00 while for the entire previous year I had grossed $78,000.00 for the entire year. In September I hired another contractor to add one more treatment room because our clientele has grown tremendously and now, I am looking for a building to purchase. This was all a great reward, but it was a great risk as well. I believed whole heartedly in the business and the brand that I put so much of myself into.

What should our readers know about your business?
It has not been a smooth road at all! For me this entire process has been and still is a learning experience every single day. I don’t come from a business background, and I had no previous knowledge how to run or maintain a business or how to manage employees. In the beginning I struggled a lot with marketing and understanding my target audiences as well as content creating and being able to show case my skill and talent. Another struggle I ran into early on was deciding whether to follow certain trends. The beauty industry is forever evolving and there are always new skin care treatments, products and techniques coming out. I had to make the decision to put all of my energy into becoming the best at what I knew how to do instead of being mediocre at a trend. Don’t get me wrong I am all about continuing education and learning beneficial services for your clients, but I know there are many trendy services that come and go as well. Being able to know where to place my time, energy and money is extremely important. Another struggle of mine was defiantly accounting (lol) going from being an employee to an employer as well as self-employed was entire experience. Understanding all the different taxes, what they mean and when they are due was overwhelming at first. Now I always highly recommend finding Certified Personal Accountant as well as a financial advisor to anyone, not even just business owners. Having these team members in place have allowed my business to grow and stay organized financially. Early on one struggle that I had was understanding the peak season and the slow season as with anything this industry ebbs and flows and being able to flow with it is important as well. Even though these have been struggles these have also been very pivotal learning moments as well and I wouldn’t trade them for anything.

I make it point to use my platform to give back to the community. We host free wax drives where we offer free waxes in exchange for teddy bears for the Memphis Child Advocacy center where they provide each child with a brand new stuffed animal or teddy bear. We also host a wax drive for the children at St. Jude where we collect toys for Christmas. In any free time I have I love to go to beauty schools and talk to upcoming estheticians giving them my story hoping to inspire and encourage whomever I can. At Aja’s each staff member has a true and undeniable passion for the job that we get to get up and do every single day. We truly believe and know that we change lives in this industry every single day through helping our clients rediscover confidence or gain confidence in themselves. We believe and know that when you look good, you feel good and when you feel good, you do good, and we all know when you do good then good comes to you. It is a full circle moment. We specialize in full body waxing and corrective skin care among the many services that we offer. We are known for being a black owned business, for being a woman owned and operated business and for being your ultimate one stop shop for all of your self-care needs. What sets us apart from others is our drive and determination to make sure each client has a pleasant and memorable experience. The atmosphere that we create at Aja’s is comfortable, calming and very familiar. Often we have first time clients that tell us how it feels as if they’ve been here before simply because we go above and beyond to make each person feel more than comfortable. I am most proud of the integrity and consistency of my brand. No matter how many clients we see, or which esthetician is doing the service the quality of the service, customer care and satisfaction does not waver. I would like for readers to know that we value every one of our clients because without them there would be no Aja’s that is why customer service and satisfaction are our number one concern. This same reason is why we work tirelessly to make sure the quality of service will only change for the better. At Aja’s we offer full body waxing, facials, chemical peels, teeth whitening, all natural skin care products, lash extensions, body treatments and much more.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If my best friend was visiting the area first I would take him to my favorite restaurant Flight which is in downtown Memphis. This is one of my favorite areas outside of the Midtown Memphis area. We would go to the Memphis Botanical Gardens and walk around there where we could observe nature, I would take him to the Brooks Museum of Art to see an art exhibit, then we could head to Overton square to eat and listen to live music at Lafayette’s Music Room. I would take him to Shelby Farms on a Sunday morning to get in the kayaks and chill on the river then when we are done we could go to Coastal Fish Company to grab some charbroiled oysters and a pineapple upside down cake. If there is a good show on I would take him to the Orpheum, I saw the Lion King play there this past winter. Lastly, I would walk the Mississippi River with him and show him the beautiful homes down there which are very inspiring.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would like to dedicate this shoutout to my beautiful mother, my grandmother and a dear friend of mine that I’ve had the pleasure of knowing since 2014. I also want to dedicate this shoutout to each and every person that has supported my business directly or indirectly since the doors opened in February of 2016.

My mother provided the initial investment and she carried the financial burden for the first year and a half until I was able to build my clientele. In 2018 after I had graduated cosmetology school and I was able to implement more services into my business where I was only offering teeth whitening I can remember calling my mother and telling her that I was finally able to pay the lease and light bill with the proceeds form the services that I had done for the month, even though thats all I was able to do because I was only able to break even, it was still a great accomplishment. This was a great milestone for us both, I could never repay her for working a full time job to help fund my business and ultimately my dreams.

I would like to dedicate this shoutout to my beautiful mother, my grandmother, and a dear friend of mine that I’ve had the pleasure of knowing since 2014. I also want to dedicate this shoutout to each person that has supported my business directly or indirectly since the doors opened in February of 2016.

My mother provided the initial investment, and she carried the financial burden for the first year and a half until I was able to build my clientele. In 2018 after I had graduated cosmetology school and I was able to implement more services into my business where I was only offering teeth whitening I can remember calling my mother and telling her that I was finally able to pay the lease and light bill with the proceeds from the services that I had done for the month, even though that’s all I was able to do because I was only able to break even, it was still a great accomplishment. This was a great milestone for us both, I could never repay her for working a full-time job to help fund my business and ultimately my dreams. My grandmother has been a great source of inspiration for me as well. I remember the first time she graced my table for a facial it was truly the greatest honor that I’ve ever had as a licensed esthetician. She’s always sure to comment on my posts and she always gets her friends gift cards to the spa, she’s always telling her church members about me and I know that it’s always her prayers that get me through rough times.

To my dearest friend that I’ve had by my side since 2014, he has been there from the beginning giving me great, solid and sound advice for my business. He is the reason that I changed the name of my business to Aja’s, from 2016-2018 I was under a franchise and knew that I wanted to grow a business and brand for myself and for myself only. I no longer wanted to put in endless work and hours toward building someone else’s brand and my dear friend helped me navigate through those waters, for which I’m forever grateful.

To all of my supporters since 2016 I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for each of them and I continue to base my business around that principle. Customer services is EVERYTHING and without the customer we are nothing, that is what I preach to my team today.

Website: beautybeginshere3.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ajas_beautybeginshere/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jerrilyn-freeman-166b351ba/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beautyybeginshere

Image Credits
Tanner Horton with Horton Photography