Today we’d like to introduce you to Nicole Boyd.
Hi Nicole, 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 backstories with our readers?
I am from Cary, NC, and an NCSU grad. While I have always loved fashion and trendsetting personally, out of college the path I knew and the route I wanted to go was corporate. I wanted a big name on my resume and to have a good job and get paid! I knew nothing about entrepreneurship.
That all changed when I had some real time off to think about the next step in my career (I was a bit over the corporate rat race) and started to apply what I learned in my nine-year career in the corporate/consulting world around solving problems and creating beautiful customer-centric solutions.
Prept got its start from a brainstorm sesh, while I was on maternity leave, on the back of my closet door with sticky notes – true story. I wanted to solve a problem for women that I was passionate about because I experienced it in my own life – that being the stress getting “prept” for moments in my life. I wanted to look & feel my best, but couldn’t find the right, personalized, yet affordable solution to master my style + beauty situation (outside of a box/subscription and out of my price range personal stylist).
Fast forward to now I have successfully built and launched this company during a pandemic, grown a community of amazing women through social media, listened to our community and clients to learn, evolve, and pivot, invested in tech (we have an app!), invested in countless relationships and partnerships, etc. We are now in full-blown growth mode as we scale up virtually and in major cities through our in-person Prept Party concept.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Oh smooth?! Not a chance, my entrepreneurship journey has been filled with ups, downs, and all around. I thought since I worked for major Fortune 500 businesses that I knew business…. and quickly found out small business and building a business ground the ground up is a whole different ballpark!
Some of my struggles include having my life revolve around trying to grow on social media only to find it is not our only or most profitable marketing channel, finding the right people/partners to do business with through a couple of costly wrong moves, in the beginning, pitching my story to get the press to then hear crickets the majority of the time, running around cities like a literally crazy person to set up our Prept Party events just in time (no wonder event planning is a full-time job)!
BUT it has without a doubt been the most rewarding journey to build something, see the fruits of your labor, & have that labor start to pay off…
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Prept provides personalized, yet affordable style + beauty services that are designed to help you save time/stress and feel beautiful, confident, & “Prept” for anything. We know women have different needs when it comes to style/beauty – so we try to offer something for everyone. From special occasion styling to everyday wardrobe advice, and makeup lessons to makeup bag makeovers, we match you to professionals (aka BFFs) that you can work with 1:1, virtually.
What sets us apart is that we are truly personalized to you, yet affordable. Our clients are everyday women that want to look beautiful and put together…but without having to deal with putting it all together and figuring out how to master style/beauty on their own! We have helped everyone from professionals, to creatives, to moms/moms-to-be, to brides, and everyone in between. Further, we help all ages, all shapes/sizes, and all budgets/preferences.
What we are most proud of is definitely seeing the difference we are making for women. Seeing them feel empowered and confident… it fuels us to keep living our mission and making this company the best it can be for our clients/community.
You can check us out and even try us out right from www.prept.club or finding “Prept Club” on the App Store.
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk-taking?
I am a huge fan of taking risks and a believer that the bigger the risk the bigger the reward. I have taken risks throughout my whole career from deciding to jump from one big four firms to another to get more into tech/consulting to leaving a corporate job for a boutique consulting firm with a more flexible and entrepreneurial working environment, to spending my personal savings and bootstrapping that company.
I have always kept my eyes open for career opportunities and have found it helps me see what is possible, identify my worth to the market, broaden my skillset, and push me to be uncomfortable vs. comfortable and truly grow as a professional!
Pricing:
- Feel free to take $10 off your first Prept service with code PREPT10!
Contact Info:
- Email: hello@prept.club
- Website: www.prept.club
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/prept_
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/preptclub
Image Credits:
Danielle Riley Photography
