When Rachael Waggoner opened her first nail salon in 2016, she had no idea her new life path would lead to changing the face of nail education in Colorado. Today, not only is her award-winning salon, The Beauty Collective Studio, still going strong, she’s the owner of a nail school that rewrote the state curriculum for hybrid schooling from scratch.
To date, there are 87 graduate nail entrepreneurs who are grateful that she did!
How it all began
Rachael first identified a hole in the market when people who had reached out to her for advice on going to nail school struggled to find a program that fit with their schedule.
“They went off to the world and came back and were like, ‘I have called every single school and there’s just nothing for me where I can go to school and work full time,’” she said. “And I realized, wow, this is a huge problem.”
She took action immediately and went to the state with her plans to open a full-time accelerated school designed exclusively for working adults looking to make a career change.
But Colorado said, “No.”
Undeterred, Rachael hounded the state until they gave her an excuse she had the perfect counter for. When Colorado explained the underlying issue was a lack of state curriculum for a hybrid format, she created one.
And The Beauty Collective Academy was born.
More than just a nail school
Aside from the flexible class format, what sets The Beauty Collective Academy apart is Rachael’s drive to help other people achieve what she has – a career that’s outside of the 9 to 5 and allows more flexibility.
Only a handful of her graduates have gone on to work for someone else. Almost everyone strikes out on their own to start their own business.
“It’s been an amazing experience,” she explained. “I love watching people learn, and I love watching them grow. And I think my ‘why’ is empowering people to have a career outside of the corporate world. To watch them do things they never thought they would be able to do.”
What’s next for Rachael?
Despite both taking care of her own clientele and teaching two nights a week at the academy (her other instructor covers the other two nights), Rachael has been able to continue a tradition she began during the pandemic: Permanent 3-day weekends!
“During COVID I was like, I’m going to have a 3-day weekend now. So, that’s what I did.”
A fact that is surely an inspiration to all her aspiring salon owners in search of a better work-life balance.
The Beauty Collective Academy recently celebrated its third anniversary, along with being named one of the top three beauty schools in the state. From our perspective, we’re thrilled to have been able to support Rachael in her mission and look forward to being part of her financial journey. With luck, we’ll be able to give many of her students the same peace of mind as their businesses grow and they’re ready for a CPA partner.
