How This Hairstylist Tripled Her Income and Built a Design Education Business With Just 5,000 Followers
by
Jordyn Kerr
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TL;DR: When the pandemic forced Aly to pause, she rapidly designed her new salon suite—a catalyst that tripled her income in its first year. Her success sparked a new digital products business that helps stylists worldwide transform their spaces and find financial freedom.
Aly McKinnon is a hair stylist, interior design educator, and heart-led entrepreneur who turned her skills into a sustainable business she genuinely loves. After signing a lease for her dream salon suite in early 2020—just one week before a statewide COVID-19 shutdown—she panicked. Her livelihood felt threatened.
What could have been a career-altering setback became the catalyst for her success. With three months at home to plan and curate every detail, Aly was able to open a beautifully designed, fully operational salon suite within 48 hours while her neighbors were still scrambling. That head start not only set her apart, but also inspired a new business that now reaches hairstylists globally.
Discover how Aly went from a season of financial instability to sustainable success with digital products, a service-based mindset, and Stan Store.
The Challenge: Finding Stability in Uncertain Times
After six years of working in a traditional salon, Aly knew she wanted her own space—a place she could make her own and foster deeper relationships with her clients. She waited over a year for a spot at a coveted oceanfront property and finally signed the lease, only to face an imminent shutdown days later.
“It was probably the scariest thing I’ve ever done,” Aly recalls. “It was the weirdest, scariest, perfect thing that could have happened.”
Like many stylists in 2020, Aly faced a rollercoaster of closures, lost income, and uncertainty.
“I was the average stylist in the average space making the average income,” she says. “Going all in on my space was the scariest thing, but I had to figure out how to make it work.”
She channeled her anxiety into planning, meticulously measuring, hand-drawing layouts, and designing her suite with both beauty and function in mind.
Turning Design Into Demand
When the first COVID-19 shutdown lifted, Aly was up and running in less than 48 hours thanks to her design planning. The result? A memorable space full of intentional details that her clients noticed and loved. They shared photos of her suite online, raving about the experience and referring dozens of new clients her way.
“Once I went all in on my space and really paid attention to my design, the clients came pouring in,” says Aly.
Clients weren’t the only ones who noticed her suite. Neighboring stylists turned to Aly for help as they rushed to open their own spaces, asking where she found items, how she set up her space, and why she made certain design decisions. Even her property manager took notice, using Aly’s space as the showpiece for potential renters.
Aly suddenly found herself booked out and earning more than she ever had before. She was able to see clients immediately and earn a few weeks’ worth of pay between closures, while many others just had a few days.
As she watched her community struggle to navigate ever-changing COVID-19 restrictions, she realized she could use her expertise to help other stylists safeguard their income and achieve similar success.
The Solution: Diversifying Her Income With Digital Products
There was a surge of online education in the hair industry during the pandemic, but it was all the same: hair coloring classes, business guides. Aly felt like there was a missing piece that her knowledge could fill.
She funneled everything she’d learned about interior design for hairstylists into Curated, her first digital program. The course walks fellow stylists through the step-by-step process of setting up their suites quickly and designing a space that feels grounding. Not just for their clients, but for themselves.
At first, Aly hosted and sold products through her website provider. But the cumbersome interface, limited analytics, and lack of customization eventually drove her to look for a better tool. Switching to Stan gave her the streamlined, customizable experience she wanted—for herself and her students.
“With Stan, everything lives in one place. It’s easy for students to use and easy for me to run my business.”
The Results: Tripled Income, Global Reach, and 100 Students
Aly’s tenacity paid off in unexpected ways. In her first year in her salon suite, she tripled her income, built a robust client waitlist, and grew her following by sharing her space online.
“Going all-in on this space, and really myself, in that first year, I tripled my income. I had a longer waitlist than anything I’ve ever experienced before. It wasn’t even just my neighbors who noticed—it was my clients. And it was potential clients.”
She quickly scaled her impact by selling digital products through Stan—including landing her first-ever international customer in Portugal!
Her proudest achievement? The 100 stylists she’s helped redesign their space, boosting not just their income but also their confidence and mental health.
“Watching my students realize what’s possible—that’s my biggest win. Within a suite environment, there are essentially 50 identical boxes. Watching students pour into their space again, relight that fire, and fall back in love with what we do is pretty cool.”
Helping Others Find Freedom in Their Space
Aly’s digital resources have truly been transformative for her customers. One of her first students, Abby, used Curated to design her suite. Within a year, she attracted new clients, expanded into bridal services, and was able to open her own brick-and-mortar salon—a larger space that Aly helped her redesign.
The ripple effect of her work extends far beyond aesthetics and earnings. It’s changing how stylists and their clients feel. Everything she teaches is backed by neuroaesthetics—the science behind how our brains perceive our environments.
“Curated, well-kept spaces signal abundance. They improve well-being. You really can improve your mental health just by shifting things in your space.”
What’s Next: Redesigning the Future of Styling
Today, Aly splits her time between styling hair and growing her online business. She’s excited to continue scaling her digital products and supporting stylists worldwide.
Inspired by Stan’s 30-day challenge with Steven Bartlett—which helped her stay motivated and consistent—she has her sights set on debuting one of her own. A new interactive challenge where stylists can jumpstart their design journey together.
Until then, she’s busy preparing for the launch of her next Curated cohort this September, where she’ll host a live free webinar: Overwhelmed to Curated—the step-by-step guide to creating your dream salon suite.
“I want to see everyone win. If this silly little thing that I love doing so much helps others win too, that’s more than I could ever ask for.”
Ready to make your dream business a reality? Stan Store is the easiest way to get started. Try it for the next 14 days and see why Creators like Aly love growing with Stan.
Jordyn is a Copywriter at Stan, where she helps educate, inspire, and support Creators as they build their businesses. As an entrepreneur herself, she’s passionate about celebrating others’ growth and success on their own terms.
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