To all of you who are reading this blog, HELLO! My name is Jena Cash, and I am the founder of SoCo Lashes. I own my business with my husband, Enguerrand. (Yes, the cute little picture above is of us!)  As far as both of our roles are concerned, I truly believe that I do the fun stuff, and he does the hard stuff and I think he would agree. If you ever send a message on Instagram you are talking to me, but if you are sending an email, you’re likely talking to Enguerrand.

Our story is a tale as old as time and very much like many other companies, however our story shares a positive twist. I have always had a passion to create something, much like others who start a business, however I had a vision that served a purpose and mission to help our planet. This passion was something the industry had not seen yet: a lash company who cared about staying eco-friendly. With this vision in mind, I knew I wanted 100% recyclable/biodegradable packaging. In fact, I heard the word ‘no’ over a hundred times, until one day I was lucky enough to be grossly overcharged for a biodegradable box… and I said yes! I remember thinking that lash artists were either going to think that I was crazy, or that I was a genius. Through the research and the set-backs, I knew that this venture was for me from the start because it WAS me. A woman with a house full of plants and animals and endless donations to nonprofits who care about saving the world for our animals: this brown paper bag packaging was both eco-friendly AND the aesthetic that was perfect for my vision. Once my custom stamp arrived and I placed the first print onto that brown paper mailer, it was at that moment, SoCo Lashes was born and the rest was history.

From ground zero, my goal for SoCo Lashes was to stay small. My goal with our company has always been to max at 10 employees to keep us relatable, reliable, and consistent. I have a lot of experience with owning salons and I have always found the sweet spot number of people under one roof was right around 10. Everyone seemed to have their own ‘place,’ and there weren’t too many hands in the cookie jar, so to speak. As our business has grown, we have kept this goal possible by hiring outside of SoCo Lashes for things like photography, videography, graphic design, or any other smaller jobs that I thought could be finished within a week or so. This also helped everyone stay on task, and not overwhelm anyone by placing too many hats on their desks, myself included. I have found that too many hats given to one individual will inevitably cause them to be overwhelmed, burnout, and can be the cause of death to a small startup. For that reason, I wanted to avoid it at all costs.

We are about 5 years into running our company and to this day our mission has stayed the same: To put our planet and its creatures first. We have been so lucky to have found a tribe of lash artists who feel the same way we do about supporting our ‘why,’ and in the process we have made many lifelong friends because of it.

If I can wrap up what I can attribute the success of SoCo Lashes to, I believe it be the two things that most people don’t do early enough: hire your weaknesses and find an incredible business partner who is a MASTER at what you are terrible at. Chances are that you might be the yin to their yang and vice versa. Business starts to make more sense as you start enjoying your day-to-day tasks a little more each day.

For those of you who feel stuck or need guidance, please feel free to contact me if you’re looking for help. I offer many classes, a business retreat, as well as business mentoring. It is worth it to invest in yourself. I have taken my two decades of experience in business and what I have learned from my personal mentors to create courses and mentorships that will propel your business to the next level. I can’t wait to meet you and get your knowledge AND bank account growing!