Today we’d like to introduce you to Scott and Katy Cotten.
Scott and Katy, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
When I meet Katy back in 2006, she owned a salon and we started to talk about business since I was also a business owner. The conversation found it’s way to “Hair Extensions” and my fascination with Katy and hair extensions was born.
Katy and I would later marry and now have two daughters, Dakota, 10 and Bejia, 8. When Bejia was about 3, Katy was ready to get back out into the workforce after being a stay at home mom during the formative years of our daughters.
We rented a small studio and I built a website, detailing our business and Katy’s talents as a hair extension specialist. This was a totally new concept to give up coloring and cut and to only specialize in extensions.
After 6 months, we knew we were on to something. Now, we have 6 hair extension specialists who do extensions all day every day.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
From a growth standpoint, we have been very fortunate. The most difficult part of the business is when we experienced product inefficiencies. Our product being hair is a natural resource which is collected all over the world. Finding the highest quality is not only difficult but risky. Many times in the early years, our orders were tens of thousands of dollars of overseas transactions with little to no recourse for a misrepresented product.
I joke about having a bomb fire with all of the hair that did not past our quality test and is now collecting dust somewhere in our garage.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about AZ Strands Hair Extension Salon – what should we know?
Our business is a specialty hair extensions salon. We are known as the largest hair extension service provider certainly in Arizona and possibly on the west coast.
I’m most proud of creating a new concept that people love.
Obviously, we are good at what we do but there are a lot of great hair extension stylists out there. The relationships we build with clients is incredible, we truly attract the best clients. Putting people before profit is our secret.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
It’s the combined skill set that Katy and I have. Katy is a gifted stylist with exceptional teaching skill, plus she is the hardest working person I have ever meet. I am the visionary and systems builder.
Contact Info:
- Address: 7355 E. Shoeman Lane
Scottsdale, AZ 85251 - Website: www.azstrands.com
- Phone: 480.205.1183
- Email: info@azstrands.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/az_strands/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AzStrands/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/azstrands?lang=en
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/az-strands-hair-extension-salon-scottsdale
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