Jenny Nguyen is a celebrity nail artist and the owner of JennPaintt Nail Lounge in Los Angeles. Her star-studded clientele includes the likes of Hailey Bieber, Kourtney Kardashian, Paris Hilton and more.
Nguyen immigrated to the U.S. from Vietnam in 2016 with her three younger siblings. Within the span of 6 years, she has been able to help pay off all of her family’s debt with the help of her nail business, which brought in over $600k in 2022.
In this 9-minute video, Nguyen shares her journey from Vietnam to the US and to building up her own business:
- Early Life and Motivation;
- Entrepreneurial Venture;
- Growing The Business;
- Learnings.
1. Early Life and Motivation
Grew up in Vietnam (1:17)
- Grew up in a little village. Had a happy life.
- But did not have money. Sometimes didn’t have enough food, or water.
- Only job: making rice (which depended a lot on weather).
- Help raise her three siblings while her parents worked.
- Always looked for the opportunity to change our family fortune.
Moved to the US (2:00)
- Landed in New York first.
- Lived in a basement with her families.
- Was scared at first. Could not stand the cold weather in New York.
- Felt the responsibility to take care of families (especially the three younger siblings).
- Always looked for opportunities to make more money to help my family.
- Worked as a substitute teacher at Garden City Public Schools in NY.
- Studied education at Hofstra University.
- Dropped out during the third year.
2. Entrepreneurial Venture
Moved to Los Angeles in 2019 (3:33)
- For better weather and for better opportunities.
- Didn’t plan to have a nail business in the beginning.
Started the nail business (3:40)
- Sense the opportunity during Covid.
- People posted many nail pictures on Instagram. But nail salons were closing.
- Thought to myself: why not give it a try?
- Self-taught myself nail art on Youtube.
- Started doing nails for free to get followers on Instagram.
- Reached out to photographers and started working on building my portfolio.
- Quit teaching two years later after the nail business started making money.
- Decided to open my own nail salon because I always have the dream of having my own business.
- Found a 1700-square-foot space in downtown LA and turned it into a nail salon.
3. Growing The Business
Dealt with stress and challenges. (4:39)
- Saw all red in the bank account, thinking “Oh my God, how can I survive next month?”
- Had to work harder.
- Almost quit.
- But had no choice because I had already signed the five-year lease. I had to make it work.
- Did not have enough money when starting out.
- Couldn’t afford a front desk.
- Because I put all the money into building the salon.
- Had to be everything and do everything myself.
- Being the frontdesk and the manager, while doing nails at the same time.
- Couldn’t afford a front desk.
- People told me that I should close my salon because I only had two people working at the salon.
- I burnt out. I always feel exhausted.
- Not good for my mental health and physical health.
- If you want to go far, you have to go together.
Grew the business
- Invested in and cared about my employees, ensuring they are happy. (6:15)
- If you do nails and you don’t feel happy about it, then you can’t do a good job.
- Working environment is very important in the service business.
- It’s all about people.
- Starting your own company is not as easy as you think it is until you really do it.
- But it will get better over time.
- Invested back in the business. (6:55)
- Money I make goes back into hiring, training new people, and investing in my nail brand.
4. Learnings
Advice for people who want to start their own business: just do it! (8:40)
- The best time to start your own company was yesterday.
- Learn your lesson, move on, and just ignore all the noise on the way.
Do not be afraid of failure. (8:56)
- I believe it’s the universal way of protecting you from the wrong turn.
- One door closes, another better will open. Keep looking for your door.