How Banana Nails Built a Full-Service Hub for Nail Professionals

Meet Anastasiia Rozdobutko, who has transformed from a skilled nail artist to the innovative business mind behind Banana Nails. Her journey is a blend of creativity, resilience, and strategic growth. In this interview, Anastasiia shares her inspirations, the challenges she faced in building her brand, and how she continues to evolve in the ever-changing landscape of the nail industry, offering valuable insights for aspiring entrepreneurs and beauty professionals alike.

If you’re in Chicago or passing through, visit them at one of their two locations. Also, don’t forget to check Banana Nails on Instagram and Facebook!

The Birth of Banana Nails and The Story Behind the Name

SBS – What inspired you to start Banana Nails, and how did you get into the industry? Have you had any experience with it before?  

Anastasiia – I have a Master’s Degree in Transport Engineering. I moved to the United States from Ukraine eight years ago. Coming to a different country, I knew it would take me a long time to transfer all my degrees. I had no clue if I’d easily find a job because my English was not very good either. I asked my friend to teach me how to do nails because if you know how to do something with your hands, you can do it anywhere in the world.

After I came to the US, I worked at a cleaning service for about six months. Then, I found a salon across the street from my house. I went to their Google page and then their website and learned everything about the company I could find. The next day, I woke up and saw on their Instagram that they were hiring. I went in there, introduced myself, and they hired me. I worked there for two and a half years and decided to try having my own salon. That’s how it started.

SBS – How did you come up with the name?

Anastasiia – Do you want a real story that is for adults only? The potential name, “Anastasiia Nail Spa,” was bothering me. I’m from a small town in Ukraine where every business was named after the owner. I was looking for ideas to name my business something else since there’s a huge makeup brand, Anastasia Beverly Hills, and it would take me many years to make my name louder than hers.

One morning, my husband and I were having breakfast, and he was just randomly saying names, like “Apple Nails.” I couldn’t name the business “Apple Nails” because there is a whole brand called Apple. He continued with the random names, “Oatmeal Nails,” “Raspberry Nails,” “Banana Nails,” and so on. Banana just caught my mind because it was different. Our logo is a hand holding a banana, which is halfway open. In my adult head, that put on some different associations. Plus, when this whole branding thing was happening, I was pregnant and always turned on, so my mind went that way, and I thought that other people might have the same association as I had. Sex always sells, no matter what it is.

SBS – Did you transfer your degrees in the end?

Anastasiia – No. So far, I didn’t need to.

Overcoming Early Challenges

SBS – What difficulties did you face when you started? How have you overcome them?

Anastasiia – Well, the biggest struggle was that I went on maternity leave two months after I opened. Opening a salon being seven months pregnant is a very risky thing. I don’t know if I can recommend this to anyone. I was lucky to have everything working without me while I was off. However, it wasn’t working very well. There were a lot of struggles because I kind of left the team on their own. I had no experience in managing the business. 

Luckily, I hired a couple of nail technicians who were great. But again, it is very hard to work when there is no management in place. You are dealing with clients, and they sometimes complain, something goes wrong, or someone needs to buy supplies. 

While being off physically, even though I lived a five-minute walking distance from the salon, I wasn’t there mentally because I had postpartum depression. I wasn’t even thinking of managing that business, helping those people, providing for them, and being responsible for them. So far, that has been the biggest struggle, and I’m very happy I got out of there.

SBS – How long did it take you to return to the business after you gave birth? 

Anastasiia – About two years. Very long time. I would come to the salon a couple of times a week, and I was responsible for paying salaries and purchasing supplies or asking someone to buy them. My nail techs were handling customer service. However, I was not fully in my business. It was living on its own, and I was on the side of it. Back then, I thought that I was 100% involved. Now I know that I was not. 

Expanding Through Education

SBS – When did you start offering nail classes, and how have they contributed to your business? 

Anastasiia – When I was on maternity leave, I couldn’t take clients because I could go to work only when my husband was not working. At that time, he made much more than I did, so it was logical that he would go to work and I wouldn’t. I figured I couldn’t take clients because his schedule would have to change, and I’d probably need to reschedule (which is not the best thing to do). I decided to take one day a month for nail classes so that he could put it in his calendar and make it work for me. That was the only option I had at the time.

In the US, all nail technicians must be licensed, and we need to renew our license every two years. In order to do it, we need to take 10 continuing education hours. I got a continuing education sponsor license and started giving those continued education hours to other nail technicians. Eventually, we started teaching other classes, like a manicure class, nail extension class, or sometimes nail art, and that grew slowly. As of today, I have three educators in my team (plus me), and we teach all kinds of classes under our own brand and for other brands. 

SBS – Do you still do nails yourself, or do you only teach classes? 

Anastasiia – I don’t do nails. Two years after I opened the business, I came back for four or five months, which was not the best idea, and I’m happy I figured that out. I stopped taking clients and focused on managing the business and teaching classes.

Inventory Management

SBS – How do you manage inventory and ensure the right products are available in your supply store?

Anastasiia – It’s not that hard. Right now, I have two salons and a person managing both. She’s the one in charge of providing the supplies when we need them. On top of that, each salon has its team lead. That’s a lead nail technician who is in charge of tracking the inventory. They will gather everything we need and pass the list to the manager, who buys or orders everything.

Effective Marketing Strategies

SBS – What marketing strategies have proven successful for you, and how have they evolved over time?

Anastasiia – Word of mouth is always the best for us. In the case social media ever goes down, we know we can still work. We could ask our clients for referrals, and we’ll be growing. We never forget about the customer experience because word of mouth is an amazing strategy that has been working really well for five years. Prior to that, when I worked at the salon, the same thing worked for me.

Besides that, I must say that it’s much harder to build clientele nowadays. This year has been the hardest in that regard so far. Before that, like in 2022, the clients were just pouring in. My only headache was where to get more nail techs to service all these people. Nowadays, it is very different. The economy affected everything. People still have money but are now a little more picky about where to spend it. They want to see the value in the service. Also, people used to come in for their nails every two weeks. Now, they come every four weeks, and I need to get double the clients because they’re stretching out the time between appointments. Again, that’s because people don’t see the value as much as they used to. Right now, we’re working on increasing the perceived value for the clients so they will understand that it’s not just about putting nail polish on— it is the whole experience.

SBS – Do you run advertising through Google Ads or Instagram stories? Do you think that’s necessary for your business? 

Anastasiia – It is absolutely necessary. An Instagram profile isn’t the only thing you should set up and call it a day. Website is very important. We are working on improving our website and adding more information because we need to increase our visibility. We need to make sure our website and Google Business profile are updated because it can be really easy to get people’s attention — one just needs to look up “nail salon near me.” 

For marketing, we also post on our social media channels and do UGC marketing, where we give clients a little gift and ask them to tag us on their social media so we will catch more attention. We also do local parties for our exclusive clients. We have a hand spa and provide some snacks and a glass of champagne. It brings more attention to the brand and gives it more value. We also rely on Yelp.

Future Trends

SBS – What exciting trends do you see in the nail industry in the future?

Anastasiia – The trends differ. Some people scream from the rooftops about the designs and all kinds of nail art, especially 3D nail art, which is very popular now. On the other hand, we have a whole bunch of people who are going back to classics and prefer neutral shades, shorter nails, and more elegant, feminine shapes. 

I have ten nail techs, each with a different personality and clientele. Nail techs who like doing design themselves attract clients who want a lot of designs. Nail techs who prefer simple one-color nails attract the same type of clientele.

Collaborations and Partnerships

SBS – Have you done any partnerships or collaborations that have benefited you and your business? 

Anastasiia – Not yet. We just started the program for brand ambassadors for the nail salons. So far, we have only one, a local influencer. Why did we pick her? Because she has been our loyal client for three or four years already. Now, working with her, I see more following and more engagement on Instagram and TikTok, but so far, that’s all.

We also collaborate with local businesses. We collaborated with a local restaurant for the last spa retreat party, and they provided us with drinks and snacks for the clients. It’s a win-win for both of us because we tried to do it locally, not for the entire city. We invited clients from that neighborhood only.

Employee Development and Training

SBS – Since you now have two salons, how do you approach development and training, especially with your employees? Do they have to complete some program?

Anastasiia – First, we only hire licensed nail technicians, which means they already have basic knowledge from the local nail schools. That’s about 350 hours of education they went through. Every year, we give our team members nine hours of continuing education.

Recently, in April, we had an educator who was originally from Ukraine but now lives in the United Kingdom. We flew her in to give a four-day training for the entire team, improving the manicures, nail extensions, and shaping. She also taught pedicures. It was, of course, on me.

I try to see what my team members like to do and where they want to grow. For some of them, I paid for their advanced pedicure classes. One of the nail technicians, who is also an educator, went for advanced training for the specific brand. Now, we use this brand at our salon, and she teaches classes for this brand in my space. My senior nail technician also became an instructor. She liked some brands, so I contacted them and made it work for all of us. Now, she will teach the classes in my space from that brand, representing that brand and, of course, my brand.

Balancing Work and Life and Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

SBS – How do you achieve a balance of personal and professional life, and what advice would you give someone who wants to start this business?

Anastasiia – I don’t know what the balance is. The only balance I have in my life is my personal life. It’s very balanced, and I know it’s stable. I know that if I come home exhausted, I could tell my husband, “Can you please take care of all of us tonight? I am very tired,” and he will cook dinner, let me rest, and take care of our son. When he comes home exhausted, I’ll do the same thing. I always know I can count on him. That helps me a lot through my days when it’s very rough. I know I’ll go home where everything is great and fully relax until the next day.

At work, I’m way too energized for balance. I listen to many podcasts, watch many YouTube trainings, and take a lot of paid trainings, and there are always new ideas. Especially lately, I’ve been studying a lot about marketing. The trends are passing by so fast, and I’m trying to catch up with everything and see where we can implement new ideas. At work, it’s always fun and always busy.

I advise someone who wants to start this type of business to get educated first so they will not waste time. When I opened the salon, I was thinking as a nail technician and building this brand on my thinking as a nail technician. That does not work in a business life. As much as nail technicians would not like to hear that, it is true. I had to change my whole mindset and start thinking as a business owner, and then this business started growing and making money.

If it is only me, one person handling two salons, a nail supply store, and nail classes, I don’t have time to handle everything. That would mean I do 30% of work here, 30% here, 30% here, so the growth is 30% everywhere vs. if I hired a manager and she spent 100% time on the salons that will grow 100% more.

Right now, I do some business consultations for other business owners locally. Because I went through so much, I have experience to share. Many nail technicians think hiring a receptionist is another expense for their business. I had to change their mind and convince them it’s not an expense but an investment that, in return, will bring them three or four times more. A receptionist will also free up the owner’s time.