Meet Andrea Gibson | Business Owner & Hairdresser

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

Hi Andrea, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
I think the most important factor about our brand is that myself, and every single person on our team has a passion for creating beautiful lived-in and low maintenance looks for our customers but more importantly, we feel it’s important to develop a personal bond with our customers so they can trust us with all of their needs and discuss any issues they’re having with transparency. We want to make sure our customers feel comfortable and valued and go above and beyond to meet their needs. We believe at Balayage Bar & Boutique, that the whole experience should be about the customer from the moment they walk in to the moment they leave and even follow up with them after their visit.

What should our readers know about your business?
I started off my career in the real estate industry and decided to make a change years later. I signed up for the Toni and Guy hairdressing Academy in Carollton, Texas. I started off my career being a single mom with very little help with my son, and limited money to invest. After finishing the Academy, one month early due to dedication and hard work, I went to work for a salon and quickly built a clientele. It wasn’t easy because being a hairstylist required lots of evenings, weekends, and holidays but I was dedicated to make this investment in Hair School worth my while I make a career out of it. After growing my clientele to full capacity, I decided to open a very small shop and hire two assistants to lighten my work load, but then I found another passion! I chose to train these assistants to Hairstylists and they became successful as well building their own clientele. We needed more space so I opened a larger salon in the heart of Frisco Texas called Andrea Jordan Salon. The salon was published in InStyle magazine, Modern Salon Magazine, and American Salon magazine in the time that we were there. I then became pregnant with a second son, and chose to sell that Salon and take a little break., after one short year, I realized how much I missed my passion of owning a salon, catering to lots of customers and my favorite part, training new Stylists so we can reach more customers. So I opened in Balayage Bar & Boutique in downtown McKinney! We have been in the downtown Square for five years and have won two years in a row Best Salon in Mckinney and Allen by Living Magazine! I have had many hurdles along the way and definitely learned how to have a good work life balance, set boundaries, but also to continue training and continue learning the latest and newest techniques and growing my team and creating a positive environment where they can truly thrive. Because I know how hard it was for me in the beginning, in addition to making customers happy, I really want to create a place where people can learn and become the most confident, successful stylists where they can have the flexibility they want and meet their financial needs and teach them how! I have learned how to not take things personally, how to run a business, and not to sweat the small stuff! I feel it’s important to love what you do and love going to work every day, which I have completely accomplished! Being successful in this career has even helped launch learning to invest in real estate, and owning rental properties with another business of my own and I know that anything can be achieved with hard work and passion!

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?
We love to go to a Local in Restaurant in McKinney, called Stixx Icehouse, we love ordering our food for lunch from Cadillac Pizza, the Hub and Hub 121 in Mckinney Allen has become a very fun place to get together eat and hang out! Also, we’re not far from Grandscape that has so many fun activities to do with the family or on a date night!!!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Ashley Barwick Garcia is another local business owner that I met in trade school She has been my best friend and we have both developed into business owners over the years. Her support and advice has helped me through lots of things throughout the years..

Website: Www.gotbalayage.com

Instagram: Balayagebarboutique

Facebook: Balayage Bar and Boutique

Yelp: Balayage Bar & Boutique