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Home Shopify Blog Overdraft: How One Founder Built a Braiding Business—From Her Living Room Search articles
Overdraft: How One Founder Built a Braiding
Business—From Her Living Room
by Dayna Winter Founder Stories Join 446,005 entrepreneurs
Aug 12, 2020 5 minute read Leave a comment who already have a head start.
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Now more than ever, we look to stories of resiliency to inspire us. In this series, successful Sell
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In Melony Armstrong’s Tupelo, Mississippi, salon, braiding clients sit for hours at a time in the
pursuit of great hair. It’s an exercise in patience. And Melony is no stranger to patience. She Small Business Accounting 101: How to Set Up and
Manage Your Books
painstakingly built Naturally Speaking—a hair studio dedicated to the art of traditional African
hair braiding—from nothing. For years, she worked out of her small living room, sometimes for
Product Description Examples and Tips to Inform and
no money, gaining experience and saving every penny. Persuade Your Customers
Twenty years have passed since Melony opened the salon’s doors. In that time, she How to Sell On Etsy Successfully (While Maintaining
successfully took on Mississippi lawmakers to change beauty licensing regulations, paving the Your Independence)
way for hundreds of other businesses. She also opened Armstrong Braiding Academy to teach
Kid-Powered Businesses: 12 Ideas for Future CEOs
her art to aspiring young entrepreneurs. But getting here wasn’t easy. Here, Melony shares
how perseverance, the kindness of strangers, and a pinch of luck helped her realize her
dream.
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In Melony’s words:
In 1995, I decided that I wanted to be a professional hair braider. I didn’t braid hair growing up,
so I signed up for a class that was being taught in Atlanta. It was $1,200. I was working for a
nonpro it at the time and we had just lost our biggest funding source. Overnight, my job was
gone. We were living from paycheck to paycheck, but I was still signed up to take this class.
I really didn’t have anyone I could borrow from. I solicited funds from church members and I
got some responses but it certainly didn’t make a dent in the $1,200. And so I put together a
garage sale. It was the day before the class started, so I kind of procrastinated. Gladys, the
wife of a gentleman that my husband knew through the church, calls me up and asks me could
she include some items in my garage sale. Not only did she bring some items, she actually
stayed the entire day.
“ We knew we were only going to be able to afford to eat off of the
dollar menu at Wendy’s. But I didn’t care.
”
I ended up not meeting my sales goal and I was really feeling down. I had also just put my car
in the shop because it needed some work just to make the trip. I got a call from the auto
mechanic shop and they said, “I’m sorry, you won’t be able to get your car out today.” So now
all of a sudden, I don’t have the money, nor do I have a car. But I’m scheduled to take this class
the next day. My mother called me that evening and she said, “Well, the funniest thing
happened.” She ended up getting an unexpected check in the mail and was able to Western
Union me the rest of the money. But I still had no transportation.
When I was getting to know Gladys at the garage sale that day, I had found out that she had
just purchased a new van. I hear a voice in my head that tells me to call her. Now, mind you I
had never met Gladys before that day. For me to ask a total stranger to use her vehicle to drive
hundreds of miles to another state just seemed ludicrous. But I dialled her number and I told
her that there are some other things wrong with our car. Before I could complete my
sentence, this woman, who I had just met hours before, tells me to come and get her brand
new van.
I was totally encouraged at that point. My husband and I had the exact amount of money that
we needed, down to the penny, for this trip. Money for a hotel, money for gas, and money to
eat. We knew we were only going to be able to afford to eat off of the dollar menu at Wendy’s.
But I didn’t care.
When I returned from the class, I literally practiced on a mannequin head day and night for six
months. Then, I created a lyer and I would solicit people at Walmart or in grocery stores or
wherever I was. That’s how I got clients in the beginning. I didn’t charge for the services then—
I just wanted to be able to have live people to practice on. I always tried to be as professional
about my business as possible, even though I was working in my home. But our house was
small, like really small. I’m sure it was probably 1,100 square feet. We had one small living
room, a small dining room, a kitchen, and then a hallway that led to the bedrooms. A friend of
mine gave me a styling chair that I put in the small living room. And so my family would have
to hang out in the bedrooms when I was braiding hair.
“ I always saw myself as being able to make something from
nothing.
”
One time, I was doing a client’s hair and her boyfriend came to the door. I felt kind of
apprehensive to let him in my home because it was late and my husband was not there. He
sits down on my couch and immediately I could tell that he was under the in luence of
something. I felt in danger. I felt very unsafe. I was pregnant with my now 22-year-old at the
time. I remember thinking that I really had to look for a commercial space because doing this
in my house was not going to work. It was really challenging.
I tried to save, to move toward that goal. But at the same time money was still very, very tight
for us. We had no savings. My husband and I started looking for a commercial building anyway.
Again, we had no money. We found a space and got in touch with the owner of the building
and told them what we were doing. He said, “I’ll tell you what. You guys don’t have to pay us
any rent until you’re ready to open.” That was good because I found the building in April but,
after renovations that my husband did, I didn’t open the salon until September.
“ I never borrowed money from the bank and we’ve been in business
20 years.
”
When we were ready to open the salon, we had no product, no equipment. Around this time, a
family member of my husband came over to our home and we were just kind of sitting around
visiting and I shared my vision with them. After they left, they contacted us back and said, “We
really believe in what you’re trying to do and we want to give you $5,000 to start.” Here, again,
I’m at another place where I’m struggling—and my struggles were, a lot of the time, centered
around money—but something would always come through to allow me to be able to continue
the journey.
I never borrowed money from the bank and we’ve been in business 20 years. My thinking was
that all I needed to do was to work the system and the system would work. I always saw
myself as being able to make something from nothing.
Melony’s story was originally published in October, 2019. To hear more about Melony, including
how she lobbied Mississippi lawmakers, watch her episode of Beauty Mark, our series
exploring women, beauty, and entrepreneurship around the world.
Feature illustration by German Gonzalez
About the author
Dayna Winter
Dayna Winter is a Storyteller at Shopify, curious about the humans behind the brands and the
moments that motivate them to create. She follows more dogs than humans on Instagram and
isn't a real redhead.
TOPICS: Founder Stories
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