Meeting the woman that built the Dry Bar empire!

So lets get this started, meeting the the woman that built the Dry Bar empire…

It all started on a Friday night. My husband and I decided to stay in and watch a movie when I received an email. The email stated I would be a part of a shoot with Dry Bar and that it would be held at Alli Web’s personal home, Founder of Dry Bar.

Instantly, I read the email to my husband and he was so excited for me! I’ll give you a little back story on why he was so excited because maybe you’re a little confused.

My husband is obsessed with podcasts and he primarily focuses on ones that are about self-improvement, leadership, and entrepreneurship. One of his favorite podcasts is “How I built this” with Guy Raz which features how brands got started. Some brands featured on his podcasts are: Spanx, Rx Bar,  Lfyt, and of course Dry Bar.

Last year on our way to Vegas, he was listening to the Dry Bar episode and I was listening to her story and I was intrigued. Usually, I’m not really interested but this episode was different. I asked who it was, and he said, “It’s Alli Web, founder of Dry Bar.” The whole road trip we listened to how she got started and her story was absolutely incredible.

So when I got that email, it brought me back to the road trip and hearing her amazing story. I felt blessed that I would  have the opportunity to meet the woman that built the Dry Bar empire.

The Dry Bar Empire

Alli Web was working as a hair salon stylist, she then got married, had kids, and later became a full-time mom. She took a lot of time off to raise her kids but in the meantime began meeting up with moms to blow out their hair for free. Eventually she started to charge for her services as she was getting several appointments. She started to book appointments based off children’s nap times which made it very convenient for her mom clients.

As Alli starting getting extremely busy, she decided to open up her first location in Brentwood, Calfiornia. With the help of her brother as an investor, and her husband behind her, she opened up the first location. They continued to add more locations and eventually they were able to franchise Dry Bar.

They now have over 100 locations and the company is estimated to be worth  over $100 million dollars, based on an article by Forbes.

My experience

Knowing all this information now you can imagine how excited I was to be able to meet her. As the Uber driver dropped me off in front of her house, I approached her big yellow front door. I met her as soon as I entered her home and felt blessed to be there.

I really admired the interior design of her home and imagined myself owning a home of that magnitude. Once I finished makeup, I starting shooting the tutorial, my look was my usual waves and half-up half-down. I had a great experience filming the tutorial and can’t wait to see the finished product. Once I completed the filming, it was time to take pictures, which is where I felt most comfortable.

This is not Instagram

It’s so different to take pictures for Instagram or film videos for your IGTV then to be shooting & filming for such a huge brand. I felt like it was a test for me as a blogger, can I really perform? I feel like I did a good job and I looked at some pictures during the process to adjust myself. It’s not like when I take pictures with Cesar and I look at all the shots to see what I should change. I would say that was the most difficult part me because I was concerned if I looked OK.

During the shoot I didn’t have a chance to actually talk to Alli Web because she was so busy with the shoots and she is completely hands on!

Finally at the end of the shoot once I was waiting for my Uber, I asked if I could take a picture with her. Of course she took a picture with me, I thanked her for having me, and told her how big of a fan my husband is of her. Cesar has listened to her story twice because he thinks it’s amazing how she started.

I was able to tell her the story of how I was even introduced to her. Cesar wanted to make sure I included that part when talking to her.  My Uber arrived and again, I thanked her for having me.

My take away

For me the take away was, you can do anything you put your mind to you just have to keep pushing. Alli started doing blow-outs for just a couple of moms and now she has an empire. Can you imagine, what ever you are doing now, is going to completely worth it if you keep pushing yourself.

It was motivating and encouraging to me to think of her story and just see where she is now. We all have goals, dreams, and ambitions, we just have to put in the work.

 

I hope you found this post inspiring and I hope it pushed you to follow your dreams.

Thank you for stopping by!

It’s been real.

XOXO

Liz-Laugh-Love