The impending ban could disrupt millions of businesses TikTok is encouraging people to use the platform. This includes small businesses, like McLean’s, that use the short-form video platform to promote their stores, sell their products and build a customer base. TikTok denies any national security threat and has sued to block the ban, arguing it is “clearly unconstitutional.”
For McLean, who runs a Nashville hair salon and TikTok channel called “Slay By Stay,” the ban means rethinking how she reaches current and potential customers.
“It would be such a shame,” she said, “but I’m trying to move my fanbase to Instagram and Facebook so I don’t lose everything if that happens.”
Born in East Brooklyn and raised by a single mother, McLean struggled financially for most of her life, spending three years in a homeless shelter in Queens in her early 20s., She juggled a variety of jobs: Always ambitious, she worked as a bank security guard and a museum guard, self-published a book about trust and relationships, and, while her gallery was closed during the pandemic, Ms. McLean, a single mother, started giving manicures and pedicures in her living room.
A friend suggested she also try her hand at hairstyling, so she started braiding hair, and to fill the time, she began streaming her styling sessions on TikTok.
“As long as you can see my face, there’s work.”
— Fanstacia McLean
MacLean’s first TikTok livestream after joining the platform the previous year In 2020, she hit 27,000 followers, and in less than a year, her number grew to 20,000. Initially, she used the account to showcase her personality and get free products from some brands. Then, she started promoting her own business.
“It’s my personality that draws people in,” McLean said.
MacLean’s business has grown so much that in spring 2022, she was able to hold a fashion show in the courtyard of her apartment, inviting 20 hair models and more than 100 fans.
Not only has her TikTok account become a platform for attracting new customers; McLean’s videos are intimate diaries of her personal life. When she’s not streaming her braided creations, she raps, dances, and shares her daily thoughts about frustrations, financial struggles, and more. Viewers ask her questions about her braided style, her life, and her daughters, Isabella and Taliyah, now 10 and 5, who often appear in her streams.
Matthew Quinto, a brand expert at Columbia Business School, said TikTok is especially popular with small businesses because it uses a proprietary algorithm to attract new viewers based on their interests. [to follow]”TikTok is about discovering content from people you don’t know,” he said.
Before starting TikTok, MacLean had tried growing a following on Facebook and YouTube, but had little live interaction, so when she tried TikTok in late 2019, her engagement soared.
Ms MacLean admitted that having her life online all the time had affected her mental health – initially she would spend her free time glued to her phone while her daughters fought for her attention.
She began looking for changes to help her regain work-life balance and achieve a better schedule.
MacLean soon gained enough virtual followers and customers that he was able to save more money. As Her business grew and she Also Her living situation It was hindering her, especially when clients complained about the commute to their apartments.
So, with a bit of faith, McLean said she and her daughters packed up and moved to Nashville, where the cost of living (and weather) is cheaper, in August 2022. With the help of TikTok and word of mouth, new customers easily found her, and within two months, her business grew from two to 40.
McLean said she is now able to save thousands of dollars a month and no longer has to rely on food stamps or rent assistance. She and her daughters have moved to a larger apartment and she is working part-time in a salon space.
Last year, McLean’s small business made more than $70,000 in profits.
“If you can see my face, you can get a job,” she said. Now she I’m saving for a down payment on a house.
“I don’t want to go back,” she said. “I want to move on.”
Edited by Monique Wu, Carly Domb-Sadoff.
