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Successful Freelance Career

More top tips are being shared on Great Lengths Coffee Talks. Recent guest, Christina Reilly  shared advice on how to build a successful freelance career. If you missed it, we’ll be sharing her top tips below…
 
Christina began her hairdressing career with a Saturday job in a local salon and immediately knew she’d found her calling. After completing an apprenticeship, Christina built up a loyal salon clientele and began experimenting with clip in hair pieces. Recognising the demand for transforming hair with extensions, Christina enrolled on a Great Lengths course and quickly became inundated with appointments which gave her the push to launch her freelance career.
 
Christina became the first freelance Great Lengths extensionist to reach Platinum, then Elite status and now works out of her own salon in Glasgow, where clients travel from all over the world to experience her expertise.
 

Christina Reilly’s Top Tips

 

Use social media

‘If you’re pursuing a freelance career, make use of social media as much as possible. Facebook was the biggest platform when I was starting out, so I used that to maximum capacity but now, we have Instagram and TikTok which are brilliant too. Word of mouth will help build your clientele but use social media to the best of your ability to really maximise your potential.’
 
 

Stay inspired

‘For me, one of the hardest things with going freelance was staying up to date with the latest trends and techniques. You don’t have others around you to inspire you and learn from. I made sure I was always improving by doing courses regularly – whether in-person or online – and using social media and magazines to stay on top of what’s new and on trend.’
 
 

Work hard and make sacrifices

‘I still pinch myself that I achieved Great Lengths Elite status – and to be recognised for something I enjoy makes it ten times better! I’d advise anyone starting out in a freelance role to work hard and dedicate yourself to your craft. You’ll need to make sacrifices – at the beginning of my career, I worked all the time. I only took two weeks off when I had my daughter which was a huge sacrifice, but I had reached a level of business that I didn’t want to lose. I worked around the clock and accommodated everyone – for the first six months I did a lot of friends and family for free to build up my image library. The first two years is probably the hardest, but the rewards outweigh everything and it does pay off after that. Give it 100%, stay focused, keep control and write your dreams down. If I can do it, you can do it!’
 
 

Keep pushing on

‘Whatever changes you are making in your career, it’s natural to worry that it might not work out. I think it’s human nature to second guess yourself – there are plenty of things that I have done that maybe haven’t been straightforward, but I just run with it. I’m the kind of person that never stands still. I’m quite ambitious and love pushing myself out of my comfort zone. The hairdressing industry is so fast moving that you have to keep pushing on or you’ll get left behind.’
 

Use consultations to your advantage

‘One of my biggest fears when I started out was that people wouldn’t understand why Great Lengths extensions cost more than other brands. Consultations helped play a massive part in this – they gave me time to explain the benefits and to let clients see the difference in the quality of the hair. Fortunately, they quickly understood that they get ten times the quality and the hair lasts twice as long – I always say if you buy cheap, you buy twice and most of my clients were happy to switch over because of this.’
 

For more news from Great Lengths, click HERE.

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