Kashmir Salon owner, Kiki Tobar, speaks to her growth mindset and how it’s impacted her transition and success as a business owner.
Kiki has a distinct outlook on entrepreneurship. Throughout her career she’s undergone a mindset shift that’s helped her not only grow her business but also sustain it.
Kiki has always stayed true to her uniqueness while building a business, being a leader and becoming a mom.
Read on to find out more about Kiki’s story and how her mindset shift has translated into success.
At what age did you start doing hair and what (or who) influenced you to start?
I started doing hair at the age of 20 and at this point I already had a degree in business and entrepreneurship. I delayed starting hair school because my parents wanted me to explore other industries since hair was the family business.
And by family business, I mean I was born in the hair industry and watched my mom do hair throughout my childhood. My mom started doing hair in the basement of our house where she built a clientele from neighboring families. She then started teaching at a hair school which inspired my parents to open a hair school of their own which they still have today.
While obtaining my degree in business and entrepreneurship, I met my husband Austin. When I was done with school, I realized hair was still the industry I wanted to be in. With my parents' blessing, I started hair school.
Although I always knew I wanted to do hair, I am still grateful that I waited and explored other industries. My degree has only helped me be more knowledgeable in what I am doing today.
Did you always know you wanted to be in the hair industry? If not, what else did you aspire to do?
I had an interest in graphic design and copywriting. The college I went to didn’t have a program specifically for that so I studied business and entrepreneurship. Once I got my degree and started my career in hair, I knew this was what I was meant to do.
I grew up in the hair industry and always knew this was what I wanted to do. It wasn't because it was the easier option, because it wasn’t. I started hair because it’s what I always dreamed of doing.
What inspired you to open your own salon?
So I’ve actually owned two salons in my career, Kashmir being the second.
My first salon was opened with my best friend and it was a suite model before suites even existed. We were motivated to open our own salon after working in Utah salons that had an environment and culture we didn’t want to be a part of.
Our salon specialized in color and cutting and it was called the K Lounge.
When I moved to Los Angeles, I started working at a high end salon as the only one offering NBR extensions. After a couple years being there, I grew out of it and needed to step into a bigger box.
That’s when I opened Kashmir - going from one chair in someone else’s salon to five chairs at my own salon.
What’s crazy is the pandemic is what gave me the stepping stone to step into that bigger box.
When everything shut down I was forced to do house calls where I went to the homes of clients to do their hair. The demand for clients wanting their hair done during the pandemic drove up my revenue that I’d later put towards my own salon.
At that point, I realized that I could and needed to do it on my own, in my own salon. The demand was there.
Why did you name your salon Kashmir?
Between the pandemic and building a salon, I got pregnant with my beautiful daughter Kashmir.
I knew I was naming my baby girl Kashmir and didn’t have the mental capacity to come up with another name for my salon. So I thought why not name the salon after my daughter.
Kashmir is also (and more famously) a Led Zeppelin song and my dad is a huge Led Zeppelin fan. My daughter Kashmir has my dad’s name as her middle name so having her first name be his favorite song felt right.
What’s the most important thing to you when it comes to client service at Kashmir?
It’s hard to compete in Los Angeles.
In the hair industry, art is a standard. You have to deliver to that standard but that standard doesn’t bring you long standing clients. What sets a salon apart is the client experience.
Elevating the client experience is fun because you can take it as far as you want. We’ve gone from offering drink service to ordering a masseuse to come in to give our client a leg massage during her appointment.
There should be a new standard for the client experience and we’re changing that for our clients.
We want our clients to arrive in a welcoming and friendly environment. We want them to be excited about coming to their appointment. We want them to feel comfortable ordering lunch to the salon chair, bringing their laptops to work or just treating it like a relaxing spa day.
They deserve that standard.
What do you think sets Kashmir apart from other salons?
The biggest theme we hear from clients is how much different the energy feels at Kashmir compared to other salons.
They feel welcomed, peaceful and excited to come to Kashmir.
Everyone has their own space and everyone is welcome. We want our clients to feel like they deserve the absolute best because they do.
We go the extra mile for them. We enjoy our conversations with them just as much if not more than they do.
We care about the details - not just in the art of their hair but by remembering how they like their drink, what their career is, what their significant other's name is, and how old their kids are.
We always want our clients to know that they're our main priority during their appointment so we never double book or overbook.
That’s our standard.
Extensions are an investment and considered a luxury, can you speak to that statement?
Kashmir extensions are a choice, just like anything else in luxury.
It’s a choice to have a luxury and everyone has a choice to use their money where they see fit. You’re paying for a feeling and as a result you’re giving that to yourself with a service we offer.
I like to use the example of handbags. You might buy a Lululemon crossbody bag and it may be really functional and cute. It may be exactly what you want and that is great.
Then there’s a Chanel bag and that bag will make you feel totally different. It makes you feel something. It makes you feel good.
You don’t NEED hair extensions, you CHOOSE to feel amazing and you CHOOSE to wear extensions because they help you feel amazing.
Your hair is the one thing that you can change that will instantly give you a completely new look.
Hair extensions aren’t invasive and you can be completely transformed in less than 4 hours. It’s a quick transformation resulting in immediate gratification.
If you could give three pieces of advice to a new business owner, what would it be?
Be addicted to the process, not the outcome. As a business owner you have to fall in love with the process. You have to find enjoyment in the process. There’s always something that needs to be done and that’s normal. So when you learn to enjoy that and you shift your mindset from the outcome to the process, it is so rewarding.
Expand and then learn to stabilize. Grow and then stabilize that growth and sustain it. Sustaining growth can be the most challenging part but learning how to sustain it early on will make you that much more successful.
Understand that your team is who will get you there. And the team that got you there may not be the team that is always with you - there will be turnover. Find a team that will take it as high as you and sometimes higher than you. That love and service inside of being a business owner means you see those transformations. Always keep open communication with your team so there’s trust. You’re helping them jump to the next step whether that’s with you or without you. You’re guiding and mentoring them, it’s all give and take so I always recommend taking the human-first approach.
How do you balance parenthood and being a business owner?
I have been so lucky to have friends and mentors in this business. I’ve been able to learn from their past without living it. I’ve had friends struggle and show me what not to do and how to set boundaries.
Boundaries are different for everyone. What works for you and makes you happy is the balance.
My perfect balance is working three days in the salon and four days off with my daughter, Kashmir.
I do administrative work on my days out of the salon which works for me but that may not work for others.
Everyone wants balance in their lives and you need to do what works for you. It’s a custom approach, not one size fits all.
This also may change throughout the seasons of your life so assess yourself and make adjustments as you see fit.
What have you had to overcome in order to take the leap and open a salon?
For me it was a mindset shift.
Opening up the possibility of doing something that felt impossible and then giving myself permission to actually consider the fact that it could happen.
I was allowed to give myself the permission to think about it and that permission gave me the confidence to do it.
There was a time when I didn’t feel good enough or experienced enough. I played the comparison game and living in Los Angeles, it’s easy to do.
I had to open my mind and shift my mindset. I had to have hard conversations and make several difficult decisions.The conversations I had to have and hoops I had to jump through felt enormous at that time.
Now I understand that those things needed to happen for me to take it to the next level and get out of my comfort zone.
I look back and I realize that those hard conversations and challenges weren’t so scary and I did them step by step.
As my mom says, “eat the elephant one bite at a time.”
Pushing yourself to have those hard conversations and do those difficult things will help you jump through bigger hoops in the future.
When you think of your career journey up to this point, what comes to mind?
When I think of my career journey as a whole I catch myself starting to get frustrated because if I had this mindset shift in my early 20s, I can't help but wonder where I’d be today.
On the other hand, I’m so proud of where I am today so maybe if I did have it in my 20s, I wouldn’t have used it the way I am using it now.
I don’t think time was wasted because I think I needed that time to become who I am today.
During my 20s, I spent a lot of time being mentored, learning and discovering - staying curious. So in a way I am grateful the mindset shift came later because when I stepped into this role, I felt more than prepared.
My mental game is what has changed the most. I am a completely different person than I was four years ago.
I’m just grateful I gave myself permission to see myself in a new light.
What are you most excited about in the near future?
I am most excited about where the Kashmir team will go.
I’m so proud of the team we’ve created. Everyone who is at Kashmir, belongs at Kashmir. We’ve curated a team that works so well together.
I want to showcase them as individuals in addition to us as a team. I am excited for fans and followers to see more of them and learn about who they are.
How do you see Kashmir evolving in the next 5 years?
I don’t like to put a number on it because I don’t think quantity is best in this game.
I believe quality is.
In the next five years, our team will be bigger but we aren’t trying to be the biggest salon. We want to continue being and growing into being a household extension brand in Los Angeles that puts quality and client service before anything.
You need time in this city. The more time we have in this city, the more credibility we will have.
The Kashmir team has set lofty goals for the next year and I’m excited to see them and support them in accomplishing those goals. When we hire new team members, I am looking forward to seeing the current Kashmir team mentor the new team members. This mentoring has already happened with our newest team member and I only see it growing.
Seeing the work I’ve put into the culture of Kashmir and witnessing how it’s starting to catapult is incredible. The culture of Kashmir is so rich in quality, empathy, and growth. It’s in the chemistry the team members have and how they delegate, support and mentor one another.
Even when I am not physically present at the salon, I know they’re living the brand and culture of Kashmir and that’s how I know the next five years will be nothing shy of exceptional.
Click here or text (310) 340-1053 to book a consultation/schedule your next appointment with Kashmir.