The year I got to run a small social media account for a nail salon because the owner didn’t know english very well and we are friends, year in review.

I don’t know. Looking back, it probably was okay in a pinch but maybe not the best thing in the world for them. But I loved it.

I started going to my local nail salon in 2016.

I went every two weeks. I often found myself watching how the place was run. The small quick conversations between the employees on how to handle whatever was happening (in Vietnamese) and the way they handled it when it was super busy. I am a workflow nerd anyway, so I loved watching this unfold in real time when I was there.

It was always hard to tell who was the boss. Everyone did all the jobs. Everyone rotated doing everything so it was never clear who was leading. I loved it. I was fascinated that there was this blended full team, running seamlessly, in a way that 99% of the customers never noticed a single one of them individually.

Over time, I got to know each person, little by little. This took 4 years by way of every two week appointments. The women telling me their chosen american names first and then eventually telling me their vietnamese names.

After the first year, I finally learned who the boss was. I’ll call her Jasmine to keep her life private. Once I learned it was her, I realized I should have known all along. She is like a guardian of that entire show. THE showrunner. First, she is listening to EVERYTHING all at once, and with one small look, one small sip of iced coffee, while doing someone’s nails and putting her head back down, she would say about 3 words and no matter how busy — how line-out-the-door-people-are-irritated busy — she would quickly handle it and everyone would be whisked away to their spa treatment.

As we started to become friends, she would look up new ideas for nails in anticipation of my next appointment. I would bring her champagne for New Year’s, birthday cards, — stuff like that. Not close, but friendly.

In late 2019 she asked if I would run her social media account. She didn’t have one, she didn’t know how to do it, she didn’t know what to say, she had some photos but didn’t know what to put up. She didn’t have email. And she couldn’t pay me anything.

So, of course I said yes immediately.

Once 2020 hit, this nothing much, little-social-media-account was suddenly a lifeline for her business and a way to communicate openings, closings, hours, whatever needed to be communicated — as well as growing the account and keeping them open. It was suddenly everything. It mattered.

I learned so much about this local, tiny community and how everyone interacts. I learned SO MUCH I didn’t know. How to watch for the leaders of the small, micro communities online and if you get 3 of them following you, you suddenly get 25 of their friends following you. I kept notes along the way about people I didn’t know IRL — to map out the community a little bit. Who is connected to whom and why. Ages, social circles, things in common. Things I know on a grander scale you can just hire a data science company to sort — but with no money and a tiny town, we did it all the old fashion way. By actually knowing our audience in real life.

In so many ways most of these types of Vietnamese owned nail salons in the US are brandless, impersonalized treatment — and yet, kinda branded in their own way by that, unintentionally. So creating hype around a specific salon that was like so many others was a major challenge. It had to be based entirely on the community who went there.

During the COVID outbreak — it had to be up to the nail team to send me photos from the salon. Trying to explain photography styling and direction over text to friends whom english-is-a-second-language created many, many funny learning moments for us both. It was all actually fun.

I won’t go into all the details, but in the end of November 2020, she had to sell the salon. The new owner took the social media account back (it was part of the sale, the community I built, I’m proud to say).

I like to think that in some way this social media account helped keep them open or maybe helped in the sale, but who can really know the truth of those things. It was an honor to help support, to learn the community, to know this crew as individuals.

All this to say, I encourage you to do the same, with any local small business you normally would support, that is struggling. It doesn’t have to be the social media account obviously. But maybe follow theirs if they have one, leave a great review on one of the review sites, stop by with a bottle of wine and make someone’s day. Look up your dog groomers shop and leave a great review. Shout out your deli. Leave something in your mailbox for your postman.

Support how you can, even from home. I’m glad I spent a year doing that. Again I say, I don’t know. Looking back, it probably was okay in a pinch but maybe not the best thing in the world for them. But I loved it.