Three San Jose State students have discovered a new passion for providing home-based beauty services amid salon closures across California.
As the coronavirus swept through the state in March, various salons were forced to shut down because of local and state quarantine provisions.
“I had gotten laid off from my job and even though I was getting unemployment [benefits] at the time, I felt that I still needed some form of income for my daily necessities,” Alyssa Licea, an undeclared sophomore and home-based nail technician, said over the phone. “Just like any other business, I just wanted [another] form of income because I was struggling a lot through the beginning of quarantine.”
Licea and the other SJSU beauty technicians are licensed and follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention COVID-19 and social distancing guidelines for their home-based businesses.
Licea said she looked at it more as a hobby when she first began. However, she quickly gained customers as beauty treatments rose in demand because of so many salon closures.
“When I first started, I didn't expect as much clientele and I didn't go into it thinking that this would be a [substantial] form of income,” she said. “When I did start, a lot of girls would [direct message] me and reach out to me because they wanted this service done.”
Communications sophomore Monica Gonzalez is a home-based eyelash technician and said she had a similar experience to Licea’s.
“I have customers from all over San Jose now,” Gonzalez said over the phone. “I do think that the pandemic definitely helped build my business, along with other home-based businesses too.”
Social media platforms like Instagram have helped these home-based beauty technicians promote their work, answer client’s questions and create appointments.
Alyssa Varela, an undeclared sophomore and waxing technician said when she began her business, she was unsure how to build it until she posted her work on Instagram.
"When I first started it wasn't too booming because I didn't really know how to get myself out there, but once I started to post more I got around 40 new clients,” Varela said over the phone.
Once the technicians began promoting their work on social media, they started to see how many people in the community wanted to support local small businesses.
“I feel like home-based businesses should be supported through this as long as they’re taking proper safety precautions,” Tess Mosher, a client of Varela’s said.
She said she will continue supporting home-based businesses after salons reopen because she thinks the service is better.
Savannah Beltran is a recent client of Licea’s home-based business after seeing Licea promote her services on social media throughout quarantine.
“I was seeing Alyssa [Licea’s] Instagram posts and saw that her work came out really nice, so I took a leap of faith and put my trust into it,” Beltran said.
She said now she will only go to home-based businesses to support their work because once everything opens back up, she feels that home-based businesses might struggle again.
Licea said she didn’t realize how important it was for people to indulge in self-care practices like getting your nails done during quarantine and she appreciates how many clients she’s gained.
All three artists also said they have benefited in other ways after starting their businesses.
They said they’ve obtained new skills that have even helped them even do better in school.
"Since I got so focused into my business, I feel like I learned new habits like how to stay more organized,” Gonzalez said.
She said having a business at 19 years old has taught her useful practices and that she’s never been more proactive with her school work.
Both Varela and Gonzalez said along with better organization and time management skills, their new businesses have helped pay for additional expenses required for SJSU.
Varela said the extra stream of income allowed her to buy things like textbooks.
The technicians said they appreciate the skills and additional income they've gained during a time of economic uncertainty.
“As I continue to do nails, grow my clientele and see how much girls enjoy getting their nails done by me, it motivates me to keep doing it,” Licea said.
The businesswomen said they want to continue their new endeavors for as long as possible and are looking forward to the future and possibilities growing their home-based businesses.
