Anita Grant wasn’t sure what she was going to do with her business degree, and had never anticipated becoming an entrepreneur. That is, until she saw the struggles her sister faced while trying to book clients and market her business as an independent hairstylist. Grant wondered what she could do for her hardworking sister that would make her business run effortlessly. She tried helping out by taking over many of the day-to-day tasks that tended to bog her sister down, but knew there had to be an easier way. Grant saw an opportunity to create the all-in-one business solution, Fleeky.
Fleeky is a beauty-booking platform that connects independent beauty professionals with clients based on location, price and reviews. The platform empowers independent beauty professionals with an all-in-one solution to market their services, manage their business and securing bookings 24/7.
Grant spent most of 2017 conducting research, customer discovery and validation to ensure her concept for Fleeky was a legitimate pain point for independent beauty professionals. She incorporated and launched her platform in 2018. Launching a year after validation and incorporation was fast, but it wasn’t all easy. Lucky for Grant, if there’s one thing she loves about spearheading a start-up, it’s the ups and downs “I really enjoy the trial and error part of being an entrepreneur. Every day is always new, and it’s so fun and exciting for me. There’s no right or wrong way to do things, which I love. It’s challenging, but it keeps me passionate,” says Grant.
Grant has big plans for 2019. On March 8th, International Women’s Day, the Fleeky 1.0 update will launch and serve as a better user experience for both the customer and beauty professionals, explains Grant. Fleeky has on boarded more than 800 beauty professionals and is planning on rolling out the platform to consumers in March.
Grant turned to Innovation Factory when she incorporated in 2017, working with Executives in Residence, and attending many of their workshops including the Accelerator for Women in Entrepreneurship events.
“Being accountable in the real world is the main reason why Fleeky has propelled, and I owe this to the team at Innovation Factory. Their community is huge and Innovation Factory really gives you the confidence and support system to get to you where you want to be. I recommend to everyone to start there because as an entrepreneur, getting started is hard,” says Grant.
In 2018, Fleeky was awarded the “Hamilton Award” at Innovation Factory’s 8th Annual Lion’s Lair Competition. “A lot came out of my Lion’s Lair experience and the publicity has been amazing. It gave me a lot of confidence and got me out of my comfort zone,” she says.
Grant has one thing she wants the world to know about her business “Our mission at Fleeky, is to encourage diversity, support entrepreneurship and empower women. This is truly why I started the business. There is a lack of diversity in the beauty industry and support for beauty professionals and we want to build a community that celebrates our uniqueness, redefines beauty and empowers women to pursue their passion!”
Learn more about Fleeky here: https://fleeky.ca/
