Today we’d like to introduce you to Andy Tran.
Hi Andy, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I used to work for corporate America at Wachovia and was a manager at Bank of America. At the time, my family started venturing into the nail business over in Alabama. They have been recruiting me to come help run the family business when I started working for a marketing company. I was spearheaded in that marketing business until my brother passed away in 2011 and that’s when I needed a change of scenery and moved to Birmingham, AL! I only had my customer service skills and my Marketing background and knew NOTHING about nails! I couldn’t tell the difference between a “manicure” and a “pedicure”! I thought like “man”icure meant something that a “man” gets! Then after learning the ins and outs and purely leaning on my customer service background from corporate America, that’s where I set up my foundation. Couple years later, I met my wife, Amy, and together we were helping my family run our family businesses until we decided that missed Georgia. We both grew up and went to college in Georgia.
So we decided to move back to Atlanta where we started with a smaller nail salons in Lawrenceville and Suwanee area. “The struggle was real” at first and we were living with her dad at first and he was helping us babysit our kids while we worked our butts off. But in God, we trust and stayed laser focus on being customer-oriented and my wife always eager to learn and keeping up with new trends in nail arts and designs. We respect everyone’s race, religion, and creed and built our business models around these pillars and I believe that’s what contributed to our success. We eventually sold our two small salons and Lush Nail Bar in Atlantic Station. We eventually expanded into currently three salons and in which actually two are named Lush Nail Bar and our third one being named Hammond Nails of Buckhead. We now employ over 100 employees and feel blessed with what each team member have contributed. We use a lot of the profits that are generated from our salons to do a lot of charity work related to orphanages and child sex trafficking and also currently sponsor 12 children in 3rd world countries. We pray that God will continue to bless us!
Alright, 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?
Our first salon that we purchased turned out to be a scam! As soon as we purchased, the previous owner (tom, computer guy) sent out a mass email blast to all the existing clients stating that the salon had moved to a new location across the street and even offered promotions to check out the new spot. We lost more than half the book of business and were devastated financially and mentally. Eventually, we picked ourselves back up and knew that God would always be in our corner and we carried on.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
We try to pride ourselves in our customer service and our nail art designs. We have thousands of designs on our Instagrams #lushnailbaratlantic and #lushnailbarthebattery. Some of the designs that our artists do, I look at it and go “how the heck?” Sometimes clients would bring in a picture from a random magazine and our artists be like, “oh ok, got it” and it always amazes me!
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
I myself am trying to cooperate with other larger salon owners and eventually, I want to elevate the nail industry as a whole. I want the nail artists of today’s times to feel proud of what they do and that it is a privilege being a nail tech. I want it to be where if a child says I want to go grow up to be a nail tech then the parents would be fully supportive of them. I want all nail techs to be treated as professionals and be respected as if it was any other lifelong career.
Contact Info:
- Email: Lushnailbaratlantic@gmail.com
- Website: www.nailsalon-atlantaga.com
- Instagram: #lushnailbaratlantic
- Yelp: Lush nail bar atlantic
