Imagine walking away from a successful career in pursuit of something else at the age of 33 and then finding out that this leap of faith has led you to your true calling well that's exactly what our guest today has lived out from musical Acclaim to the founding of the number one most requested hair extension method in the industry please join us in welcoming McKenzie turly the creator of invisible bead extensions and Goldilocks thank you was so excited to be here I'm so grateful uh just for your time and excited to get into your story but I've covered a little bit of your story in the intro um but I'd love for you just to tell people um a little bit about your journey and how you've navigated this stretch um you know from the music industry initially now to a life of business ownership oh man I mean how much time do we have I'll give you in a nutshell it's been it's been a whirlwind really I could have never thought even just you know know 10 years ago that this would be where my life would take me um but when you you know when you kind of are intent on being led and you kind of listen and allow yourself to have that intuition on where you should go it's crazy what life will open up to you so yeah I went from being a professional musician and kind of having this like strange call if you will to to do something different and um I do feel like the two played into each other I I've always loved the idea of you know being creative and before I was using my creativity through music through you know singing performance writing arranging things like that and then you know I was able to use that in just a different way with a different medium and hair became you know that medium for me to express my creativity so although it seems like it was just a complete 180 and it kind of was there were a lot of similarities that I feel like like you know allowed it to be a place where I felt comfortable even though it was so new and I will say I did find some old music and you have an amazing voice not just saying that but you're very talented on on that side of things but I I toured for a little bit I was on the Vans Warp Tour for summer most people may not even remember that but um I know that go like the the the touring industry is can be a bit brutal um it can be a little bit like being refined by the fire but like you were saying um I do think that the industry can help prepare you for you know your career path beyond that so just talk a little bit more specifically about you know maybe what you learned from your journey in the music industry and how it's kind of helped prepare you for what you're in now you know I think part of being a entrepreneur and I guess a successful one at that is you have to learn to show up even when you maybe don't feel like it right I feel like that's what separates Ates the true successful business owners from maybe the rest is we learn to show up consistently regardless of our emotions and so that's something that I feel like I learned through being a performer is you know a lot of times you don't want to be on stage a lot of times you know you're you're tired you're worn out you got a bum audience you know whatever it might be but you learn to show up and deliver because you don't have a choice so I think that's one of the huge things that I've taken with me into you know being a successful entrepreneur is that concept right there I love that and yes the the bum audiences sometimes can make it hard to perform but I think that's man the bum audience still exists the business world yeah because they're still out there they're just not in front of you you know either clapping or booing but they're on the internet you know sharing their opinions and so it's the exact same thing learning how to deal with that you know the feedback whether it's good or bad and not letting it slow you down when it is something that's negative is is huge so what I love about a lot of your story but you know I saw some other podcasts read some stories too but you you know you transitioned from the music industry over to a New Passion um you were again a sought-after um hair stylist and you kind of ran into a problem with some of the current um extension methods and I saw that they were very painful um damaging to the hair difficult to hide but what I love is you know not really having a ton of experience you just did research um you just kind of figured it out because you I felt like you genuinely wanted to come up with a solution for the people that you were serving and so my question is you you mentioned it earlier like being led but where do you think this like push to you know you you face a robot with this push to like go beyond that to create something that now is is really like one of the best products on the market you know I've always been driven by the why in life like really strongly heavily even from you know when I was a little girl I always needed and wanted to know why things were happening what the insides looked like I would you know I would break open rocks for hours and hours because I needed to know what was inside like even from a little girl when I was eight years old and so I do feel like that is something that is car with me again all the way through to creating invisible bead extensions is I you know I studied all of these methods I was certified I was educated in but nobody could tell me why I was doing specific things well why am I making the section size the side why if there is damage what would be the cause for it to happen and so for me you know driven by that need to really understand why I was doing something it wasn't enough to just go to a a 4-Hour class and then walk out with the certificate it I was like wait I I don't know what I'm doing I don't know why I'm doing what I'm doing and so for me that was kind of the driving force behind it is again like I never I never set out to create anything that I would teach anyone and so I do feel like that authenticity of me just trying to figure out why I was doing something for myself and then for my clients translated really well to those who kind of were watching my journey because they realized I was creating something not just to sell it you know not just to like put myself up here and say look what I did it was more of just hey I'm I'm genuinely trying to figure something out that works for the guests in my chair and let me show you how I did it I love that well you talked about I love the story about breaking Rocks open as a young girl just trying to figure out what's inside this wasn't one of my questions but can now that you you are in this industry and and you seem like you're just constantly innovating new things because that's just who you are can you you ever like look back at when you were a young girl and even see more like confirmation back then that this was kind of the path way that you would be on today does that make sense oh totally makes sense and you know I you kind of get stuck with these labels throughout your life that you that you stick with and for me I was the I was the singer and so I never leaned in a whole lot to this part of myself because I was always just I was labeled as the singer the performer that's what I did that's you know maybe what I was known for in my small community or what not but as I have kind of shed those those labels and really been able to like lean into who I am I realize this is who I've always been I'm just channeling her in a different way now that's so good yeah I think those moments are like even me I'm a I'm more of on the creative industry side but there were things when I was a you know a young boy that I'm just like wow if I had if I had just it was like a preview of what's to come I just had no clue that it was coming so I love that about you yeah so you know this EP this uh this podcast is called fulfilled and we're gonna kind of cover a lot of things about that but I actually found this awesome quote where you say hair extension not only transforms the way you look but also the way that you feel about yourself um being able to provide this service to other women and watching as they leave your chair feeling empowered and more confident they than they did before is so fulfilling there's nothing like it so um I think this kind of encapsulates you know what that means but um how do you feel like your business is making uh a good impact on the people that that you serve oh you know I think from an outside perspective you could look at the beauty industry and just see it at like a real surface value right you think hair extensions it's it's fake this fake that I get those comments all the time in fact literally this morning I opened up my Instagram and there was a woman who was sounding off about you know how I had built something based off this concept of being fake and you know I didn't get into it with her I would love to have a conversation with her and what I would tell her is that you know until you have something happen where you lose your sense of like self-confidence as a woman and you you regain that that feeling of of having that confidence is incredible but what's even better is being able to give that to somebody else and that's you know these hair stylists that are that are doing these incredible Transformations Behind the Chair like at a surface level it's just about you know adding inches to their guest hair it's so much more than that these women walk out of the salon with you know a whole new Swagger they are ready to to take on the day and it it's like a Pay It Forward effect I mean when you're happy when you feel good about yourself you act you show up differently and so you know for us to be able to provide that and give that to to another woman I feel like is just like the greatest gift that you can give to someone else I often think about the times when I just got my haircut I know it's a different industry alog together but I always like tell the um the lady cutting my hair I was like I should I need to pay you like double this amount like I feel like you should be a certified counselor because one I'm just like dumping all of my daily problems on you and and I leave like feeling good like physically because I'm you know I got a new haircut but I also just feel like yeah you know I just release something so I I I totally agree that people see as a very superficial industry but I think it's completely the opposite of that yeah I mean we are dealing with women who have lost their hair because of chemo they are dealing with health issues with you know disorders that way and so it is so much more than just hey I want to become a mermaid today most of the time it is not that most of the time you are trying to restore you know a woman's you know the thickness or whatever because she has been through it and for us it is the crown that we never take off and so it means a lot so one thing that I resonate with you a lot is I can I can just tell that you are a true creative and being a creative myself like I it's hard for me sometimes to stay locked in on a single task um my wife gives me a hard time because I probably own like a hundred domains because I'm always thinking of the next best idea oh my gosh that we do the same thing yeah I was one of our questions was gonna be like to ask you like how many domains do you think that you that you own um I yeah there quite a few quite a few for that exact same reason right there it's like oh man you think of something and you're like someone's gonna really want this name someday and I'm gonna own it yeah and five years later it's still just sitting there kind of collecting dust in your GoDaddy account yeah but I have a question I think a lot of us like entrepreneurs do come from a creative background and so my question for you is how do you find that balance of giving space for creativity because I think as a creative you have to have that but also being able to see something through to completion you know this has been difficult for me because of that strong strong drive to create and I mean that's what got me here in the first place but there have been times throughout the past four years where I've realized that my creativity was really being stifled because I was like having to go over into the management and like the organization of the business and for me I don't I don't Thrive there at all that's where I start to feel claustrophobic and I start to feel like my creativity is just like flatlined because that was something that doesn't like call to me and so the creation of building teams where you bring in people that excel at those specific things so that it frees you up to continue being the creative that got everybody there in the first place so that's a huge thing that I've realized over the past four years is you know as a strong creative be really aware when you start to feel that drawing back and usually it's because you are you're having to do things that don't necessarily speak to that strength that you have and so as soon as I started bringing in people who could you know handle the management handle you know certain aspects and I was freed up again emotionally and mentally to be able to create that's when all of a sudden like the engine goes again yeah I imagine you probably just felt like wow I missed this it's feel so good to be back in this spot again yeah and it's it's hard as an entrepreneur you know we forget what got us to where we you know wanted to be in the first place and it was that creative entrepreneurial spirit all of a sudden you get drowned in running a company and you're like this is not what I thought this was going to look like I thought I was just going to be able to you know dream and create and build forever but it's not always you know rainbows and butterflies and so to bring in people and build teams that can um you know that can kind of help you do that is really the move yeah no that's huge and that's it's it's a journey I know for me I struggle with that like how do how do I even get to that point and it's it's not even just like the financial resources to be able to hire out but to me was like how do I even I don't even know how to delegate or how to to to send some of these things onto the next person so I love that you've been able to kind of get to that place because I think not only you're in a better spot but the recipients of your products are in a better position because they're getting your best yeah it definitely took me a while I mean that is not the head space that I lived in the first I would say yeah between like the first two years I was trying to do everything thing and just you know I was burnt out yeah I've been there too so another thing uh you're married and I also feel like you're my soul sister because I also am a father of four too um okay and you are a mother of four y so tell me uh I know there's a lot of probably parents that are listening um or ones that have you know a good bit of kids so are there any specific practices that have helped you stay focused uh on being able to to thrive in your professional setting but also like be present in the Prof in the personal side of things too oh this is this is a tricky one when you you know are so busy and you're in the trenches I think one of the things for me that has been helpful for both my kids and I is I involve them in the business so they when I first started this on Sundays they were my packing crew I mean I had my little four-year-old was packing extension beads and little plastic jars every Sunday we would line the kitchen table and I'd be like okay we have to have you know we have got 25 stylists this week we have to pack their their starter kits for and so my kids have been you know throughout this journey with me really right kind of by my side even still my my daughters went in and helped me pack orders after Black Friday just you know a couple weeks ago yeah and so they're very aware and involved and they I think you know that's very helpful because your kids actually can can understand what you're going through if you let them and so they know a lot they know the struggles um a lot of the hardships that I have faced have been through you know dealing with with haters on social media and so I'm very open with my teenagers about social media and I feel like you know I I can teach them a lot we can kind of go through a lot of things together because I'm experiencing it and so that's one of the things I would recommend is just involving your kids no matter how young or small I mean now my oldest is 18 and we started when my youngest was just four and she's nine now so they all know what's up what Mom does and what she deals with I kind of felt the same when my he's my oldest my oldest is 10 but some of the things that would come out of his mou mouth I remember one time we were playing with with some toys and he he said that he designed this toy for good and I was like what did you just say like you just you designed this for good and you know that that ended up being like one of the tag lines for our company so I've also found like just surrounding yourself with your family it's it's very lifegiving too oh yeah absolutely nothing's more gratifying I mean my my daughter for fun she will start businesses you know my 13-year-old she'll like have an idea and then she'll she'll get on canva and create you know some advertising and I'm like oh what have I done like my poor kids for fun they're starting businesses but you know I don't think that's a bad thing they've learned to be independent they've learned how to think on their own and I feel like that's one of the best gifts that we can give to our children is that gift of you know Forward Thinking and Independence no I think it's an Incredible Gift so one thing I also see is U I think this has really been from the start I think it's because you're so you're truly passionate about what you do but you have not only created um Innovative products but you also do a really good job of just like putting content out there that's like hey here's the problems that you face here's how to use uh certain um products um and I know this even this industry too like it's probably continuing to innovate just like you innovated back you know few years ago so tell me how do you stay up with the changing Trends in your industry oh yeah the hair man the hair extension industry the beauty industry in general is always shape-shifting so it it is you know tricky I'm going to tell you though I I want to be the trend Setter I want to be the one who's ahead of the curve and so although I do pay attention you know to Trends and stuff like that I don't pay too much attention if that makes sense because I feel like if you are following Trends you are already steps behind because someone's already said that and so I think if you're only focusing that way and building your business and trying to grow you're always just copying somebody else's move and to me that's never felt exciting to just do what someone else has already done and so I like to just I like to just try to listen more to The Stylist I listen to the industry and then I choose how we are going to respond with my companies and you know sometimes we we begin and we start the trend and other times it's like oh well that didn't hit like we thought it was going to but that's you know that's part of that's part of running companies is trying to figure out what works what doesn't yeah no it's so true yeah the ones sometimes the ones that you're like this is going to be a home run they fall flat and then the ones they like it's it's okay it's like the home run right yep yep exactly if you you had to like narrow it down to like some key lessons that you've learned along the way that have contributed to your success what would be some of those lessons oh you know I I would think one of the things that I've learned that has been you know really helpful for me is just to not be afraid to fail I that's something that I can say I'm super grateful that I am in that mindset and I I do feel like that's attributed greatly to my success is I just I'm not afraid to mess up I think what's the worst that could possibly happen you know oh people are going to talk about you guess what they do anyway people are going to judge you they are anyway you know so what for me I live in the head space of not what if I fail but what if I don't try that's what keeps me up at night that's what fuels me is what if I don't give this a chance to me there's a much greater cost of not starting versus maybe you know making a few wrong steps along the way and I think that's something that successful entrepreneurs have in common is they're not afraid to to fail to make mistakes that just shows that you know they're blazing Trails they're trying to do something different unique and that's usually when those results are worth it yeah yeah there's I feel like there's one of my favorite podcast is how I built built this and it just seems like the same story it's it's like most of the entrepreneurs who we now look at as like the heroes in the space they were like I feel like a night away from just throwing the towel but they just kept on failing and then they found found that like pocket of gold and then here they are now so yeah absolutely okay so another thing again I'm just singing your praises today but I do feel like you and your team do a really good job on the social media front um and I know this is this is like a beast it's never ending like you said it has its you know you have your it's a creative outlet but then you also have um the voices that are that are non-stop as well but I know a lot of people listening in some may not even be in the social game some may be kind of like a tow in but what's what's your advice for just how to do it how to do it well and what's the potential like Roi for something like this I think the success that we've had with our social media platforms is a fact that I've always looked at it as my home so this is kind of with with my personal social media I am always like if somebody comes to the door and and comes up to your door number one you have a choice whether you want to answer it or not so if you got haters that are coming you know coming and knocking you do not have to let them in you do not have to respond they do not have to be there their negative comments don't you know they they don't have to live there you have a right to do whatever you want with that but also if somebody comes and is you know introducing themselves to you whether it's through DMs comments or even a follow it I always like to respond back and be like hey how are you you know happy to have you here appreciate you being here what's up you know so if you remember that social media is a way to communicate it's a place to engage it's a place to connect and I think the brands that are able to do that do really well the brands that forget about that and they start going my gosh my landscapers are here can you hear that noise person here too so we're in the same boat they're literally blowing leaves right outside my window right now yeah I can't hear it and I you can't hear it I hope she doesn't hear like the bathtub running in the back okay I'm like bro I'm literally doing a podcast um this is real life right okay real life um so yeah I do feel like the social media accounts that just start to use it as a um as a lookbook or a billboard I feel like those are the ones that lose connection with their followers and so on all of our accounts we've really tried to stay connected to our followers and it's just as simple as a response back to a comment or a say hello if you get a follow that's what I think can really Drive growth and a loyal following yeah well I I will say you know I've I'm I'm a guy from you know rural Tennessee but I've been really blessed to I told you we've we've had some really amazing guests on the podcast before so I just I feel you know just really fortunate but even you know with you like my wife loves your products I have other people that I know that I I've told them hey I'm gonna have um a McKenzie on they're like I love I love her stuff and uh but I remember just reaching out and I'm like you know yes I do have I do have some people under my belt that are you know of a certain name but you know you um you got back to me and you were super kind and even if you had said no like I you know it still would have been so gracious so I I can attest that you you do the things that you say you do and then it's let us have this conversation today ah well you came in so kind and So Graceful not everybody enters my DMs in quite such a fashion so when it does I am like hey another nice person what's up that's right yeah we gota we gotta hang tough together so right so kind of a big question but it really is the kind of the center point of of this podcast so we do cover things about e-commerce Trends and fulfillment but we're really trying to kind of go past that and say well what is what does it mean to live a life that's truly fulfilled and for everybody it looks a little different so it's a big question but when you reflect on your own life professionally and personally what is what does it mean to you to be fulfilled oh such a loaded question um I think first you know what comes to my mind is I I feel the most fulfilled when I am when I'm helping people and I'm so fortunate that you know for what I do in this career it's it's truly changing lives not only the stylists who you know learn the method and use the products but also you know they are able to pay it forward to their clients so for me that fulfillment comes from from just knowing that I'm I'm doing something good in the world I'm helping others to be able to you know be solid financially to have freedom in their careers all the things that we want but are you know often hard to obtain I I just feel super grateful that we've been able to create a program a product that has done this for thousands of you know of women I just I I feel super fulfilled that way and I you know I love to work I love to stay busy fulfillment for me Isn't kicking back my feet and like chilling that's not I'm I'm always like I I want something to do I want to have a task I want to help somebody I want to have you know something like that going so maybe I'll change my mind when I hit my you know 70s or something I don't know but for now film is is staying busy and staying productive and finding you know continuing to find ways where I can help um give back yeah that's such a good answer I love that and you uh always look for those moments when someone's kind of sitting on the edge of their chair like it's just you just you find that pocket and you're like they are really passionate about that like you that's exactly what you did when I asked that question and you found your groove and you're like I just want to keep keep doing the things that are going to make an impact on other people so yeah that all right few more questions but one again this wasn't on my my list of questions but I just keep going back to this image of of you breaking open a rock to see what's in there and then I think about you know you you know not in a bad way but you got labeled you were very talented and you got pushed in not pushed in you got you were in the music industry for a while um and then you were like it's time for something new um is there something that you haven't done yet that you're like I want to do that before I hit my 70s have you thought about that um you know I do feel like a cat like I've got nine lives and I am just like always kind of I always have this fire like this this fire of what is next like what else could I try um but I'm so locked in with what I'm doing now that I you know I think I think something I've always wanted to do is like create some kind of Foundation or charity where I can really turn my efforts and focus on on helping you know in it even different way um so that's something that I do have my my mindset on and I feel like that you know that would unlock a whole new level of becoming fulfilled um you know if I could if I could find a a way to do something like that so watch watch for that maybe here in the next the next year or two that sounds great we we'll get the second in when that goes live yeah yeah well kind of a good segue too and and that's uh I think it's perfectly align with the next question was you I since I've been following you and following um the businesses it seems like every week you guys are just pushing out something new so tell me like what's for those like my wife and others listening that are are big F fans of you and and the brands um what's what's coming down the pipeline if you can share anything with us oh my my gosh um let me think let me kind of separate I mean for Goldilocks we I've got some products that I am so excited about that we have been working on for over a year that we are going to be launching um kind of probably the first quarter of next year okay um so always with Goldilocks we are innovating and creating you know new hair products that way and there there is a system that we've created that I'm super excited about it's like a restorative system for hair that will blow everybody's Minds new technology new science behind it that the industry hasn't seen um so that's coming for for Goldilocks a lot of growth there and for invisible bead extensions we just are continuing to to create the best education that we can we are redoing our master's program so we have a continued education program program for those who become certified and want to go on and learn kind of more intensely some of the finer you know Arts of hair extensions coloring cutting the business aspect of it and we are bringing in a brand new round of Educators refilm all of that that's going to be going out next year so we're I I mean it's always unfortunately I feel like I'm always living like six months to a year ahead because I'm always like you know you have to kind of be forecasting and planning for growth and it takes a long time I mean what you see on social media and on the internet has taken you know sometimes up over a year to create on the back end yeah so you know it's it's a crazy process and the wheels are always turning and everything's always going and then it's like you see it out here but there's there's been a lot of planning on the back end which you know is exciting and I think when you are you know when you are a Creator or entrepreneur you own your own business you understand what I'm saying it's it's like the the celebration happens on the internet but the work has happened for so many you know countless hours beforehand yeah yeah well I've been seeing some of the some you guys have been doing some like video production stuff and I loved I got to see just a little snippet of your personality you guys shared some of like the bloopers and like behind the scenes stuff but it just looked like you're having a lot of fun and I love that yeah I we try to have a good time I mean other wise there's so much you know I again I've got to stay in that creative mindset and if I'm not having fun then my creativity like goes again to a zero so yeah as soon as the camera starts rolling I'm gonna be messing up saying the wrong things and yeah it's it's all captured on film so sometimes it surfaces and we have a good laugh yeah well you're brave so I usually like to be behind the camera or be on the one side of the camera not the the one with the lens so right I like that part too but I I have gotten to the point where I feel a little bit more comfortable being in front I mean the very first videos that we filmed I think it took me a good 45 minutes just to give a 15-second intro I could not say my name I didn't know how to hold my body I felt so awkward and you know I've grown into that yeah yeah I think that's that's one of the sweetest things too as a business owner or even just across all spectrums of life being able to you know you mentioned like learning just to be okay with failure because it's just an opportunity for growth but you can actually look back and and say wow like I've it's not even like you're you're downplaying what you've done in the past but it's like that was what it was in that time but just look how much I've grown since then and I think you're just nailing that I appreciate that so much it's it's been a ride that's for sure well it has been um an amazing time with you again you have uh from the day that I reached out to you um um to today you've just been incredibly kind and um you are every bit of what you say you are and so I just am really grateful for your time but um for those that um that know of you or your companies or maybe they haven't and they're just now coming into your story what's the best way for them to kind of stay in touch with you um I mean my personal Instagram is hair. extension. Queen and we also have the invisible bead extensions Instagram and website and also Goldilocks dcom for my product line and get Goldilocks is our Instagram handle there so yeah come say hi crawl into my DMs again you come in happy I will love to connect and and I love you know I love that part of my story yeah it's so true well McKenzie thank you so much again for being on with us today it really means a lot absolutely thank you

‍