Nate Banks: From Nail Artistry to Film - Building His Own Lane
Nate Banks is not your average nail artist—he's a creative force who has transitioned from the beauty industry to filmmaking, redefining his space along the way. In our chat, we dive into the intricacies of forging a path in an industry that wasn’t built with him in mind, all while embracing the philosophy of knowing when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em. His upcoming film, "French Tips," cleverly intertwines the world of beauty with a thrilling narrative, exploring the complexities of trust and obsession in the nail salon. We discuss the challenges he faced as one of the few men in a predominantly female space, his journey of rebranding, and the importance of daring to be different. If you’ve ever felt like an outsider in your own field, this episode serves as a reminder that it's never too late to carve out your own lane.
Transcript
I got obsessed with watching the show.
Speaker B:You, that's a little crazy.
Speaker A:I like the character.
Speaker A:I always had thoughts like, what if I were to be that character, but put it into the nail world.
Speaker B:You have access to thousands of women.
Speaker B:That's kind of dangerous.
Speaker A:Doing your nails, giving you a service, but also on the low is obsessed with you.
Speaker A:The whole premise of it is that the nail artist, he is obsessed with doing nails.
Speaker A:People don't want to just see the nails anymore.
Speaker A:They want to see.
Speaker B:Welcome to the success effect where I bring you success tips and real conversations from successful entrepreneurs, along with my personal journey of building and scaling my own business.
Speaker B:Here we're going to talk about the wins, the losses, the mindset changes, and the lessons.
Speaker B:Because now on this channel, we're not only talking about success, but we're actually talking about building it in real time.
Speaker B:If you're new here, welcome.
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Speaker B:As always, please, please, like share, comment and subscribe because the channel is nothing without you.
Speaker B:And without further ado, we do have a returning guest.
Speaker B:I'm going to go ahead and let him reintroduce himself.
Speaker A:Hello, everybody.
Speaker A:My name is Nathaniel Banks.
Speaker A:I'm owner of Bank Road Nails and Beauty.
Speaker A:I am a nail artist and a salon owner and I create.
Speaker A:I create magic, I create art, I create experiences and I create identities.
Speaker A:But whoever you want to be, whatever you want to, I say implement, I could create it for you and pretty boy, fly boy, all that.
Speaker A:So, yeah, I love the added.
Speaker B:Okay, so obviously we're here to talk about something new.
Speaker B:As you can see, we're in a new studio.
Speaker B:So what is better fitting than to have a conversation about what you got going on?
Speaker B:So what's new and upcoming for you?
Speaker A:So just like you moved into a new space, I'm moving into a new direction within the nail industry or the beauty industry.
Speaker A:So I started to get into short films based on the industry.
Speaker A:And it's kind of based off of like nonfiction based on things that go inside my head that I want to see implemented in the beauty industry.
Speaker A:I see a lot of people, their content is based around tutorials, you know, painting characters and me being a heterosexual male and a female dominated space.
Speaker A:Space.
Speaker A:I wanted to make sure that I got my insight and my input within the industry.
Speaker A:So I decided to give it more of a twist.
Speaker A:And like, I don't want to just show tutorials, I want to show a fantasy.
Speaker A:Because that's what nails is.
Speaker A:That's what the whole Beauty industry is.
Speaker A:But the nail salon, just like the barbershop, it's like a wonderland, a fairy tale Neverland, where you could go and be whoever you want to be, talk about whatever you want to talk about.
Speaker A:So the things that I talk about that I discuss with my clients, like, why can't I just turn that into art?
Speaker B:So when you talk about going into film, what was this specific film about?
Speaker B:Like, is there a key storyline to it?
Speaker B:Can you break that down for me?
Speaker A:So the storyline I kind of piggybacked off of, like crime drama thrillers.
Speaker A:Cause, you know, a lot of women, they like dramas and crime stories.
Speaker A:First 48s, you know, law and Order.
Speaker A:And I got obsessed with watching the show youw on Netflix.
Speaker B:That's a little crazy, but very interesting.
Speaker A:I like the character and always had thoughts like, what if I were to be that character but put it into the nail world?
Speaker A:What would that look like when you.
Speaker B:Have access to thousands of women?
Speaker B:That's kind of dangerous.
Speaker A:Kind of dangerous.
Speaker A:That is like a beautiful play off of what Yu was about.
Speaker A:Or like what crime stories is about.
Speaker A:How the handsome or, you know, the guy who looks innocent is also a crazy psycho killer.
Speaker A:So think about somebody who you trust doing your nails, giving you a service, but also on the low, is obsessed with.
Speaker A:You might be low key, psychotic, medicated, and have a little bit of serial killer inside of them.
Speaker B:That's intense.
Speaker A:It's an intense storyline.
Speaker B:Wait, so are you in the film?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Are you the main character?
Speaker A:So I'm the director.
Speaker A:So I linked up with a.
Speaker A:A production company called Vibelend Films, straight out of San Francisco.
Speaker A:And we collaborated on the script and the direction, how we wanted to go.
Speaker A:And boom, I wrote it, I directed it, and I'm starring in it.
Speaker A:I'm one of the main characters in it.
Speaker B:So how did you go about picking the other actors?
Speaker A:That was my challenge because I try to find people from la.
Speaker A:I try people from up here, and it's like, who wants to work?
Speaker A:And it's like a lot of people got a good game of like, oh, I want to work, I want to work.
Speaker A:Like, I want to be booked.
Speaker A:I want to be, you know, I want to do something.
Speaker A:But when it comes to being about it, a lot of people, they don't show up.
Speaker A:So I went through that whole process, got a little discouraged.
Speaker A:I'm like, I don't know if I want to do this right now.
Speaker A:I paused on it, pump the brakes.
Speaker A:Then something just telling me, kept telling me, just go and do it.
Speaker A:Just do it.
Speaker A:I was going to do it myself.
Speaker A:I was going to do it off of the.
Speaker A:Off of iPhone and just shoot it myself.
Speaker A:But after that, I'm like, if you want to do something, do it right.
Speaker A:So I hired the production company and we like, this is my vision.
Speaker A:Let's do it.
Speaker A:And we had dates down and he was like, if you want to find models, I could do that.
Speaker A:But it's all about chemistry with me.
Speaker A:So I kept looking.
Speaker A:I had a few clients who just moved to California.
Speaker A:They were looking at getting into acting or furthering their career in acting.
Speaker A:I just said, hey, do you want to be a part of this film?
Speaker A:They said, yeah.
Speaker A:And I kind of looked at them like, hmm.
Speaker A:A lot of people tell me, yeah, but how serious are you?
Speaker A:And then set a date.
Speaker A:And they came.
Speaker A:I'm like, all right, cool.
Speaker A:You serious?
Speaker A:And we just started shooting and we started.
Speaker A:We just do the damn thing.
Speaker B:I love that.
Speaker B:So how did you balance all this?
Speaker B:On top of working, you just got a break.
Speaker A:You got to prioritize.
Speaker A:Whatever you really want in life, you got to prioritize it and you got to set time away because that day was a very busy day for me.
Speaker A:Like, all the days that we shot.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's like, do I go make money?
Speaker A:I got clients.
Speaker A:Nope.
Speaker A:I gotta break up my time.
Speaker A:This.
Speaker A:We're going to shoot two hours this time over here.
Speaker A:We're going to go over here.
Speaker A:Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And then I got my sister involved as well.
Speaker A:And she's a very, very busy woman, and getting her involved is like, I need this to all make sense.
Speaker A:So whatever you need, I need for you to be available.
Speaker A:So let me know what it looks like.
Speaker A:We coordinated shot it.
Speaker A:I think we shot our scene in like an hour.
Speaker B:So how long did filming process actually take, like, overall?
Speaker A:So for the short film, we knocked it out in probably two days.
Speaker B:Oh, wow.
Speaker A:It was just straight.
Speaker A:Just straight work.
Speaker A:So we got a studio.
Speaker A:First we shot a studio, then we shot in a house because we needed, like a old home feel.
Speaker A:And then we shot at my studio.
Speaker A:So we just kept bouncing.
Speaker A:This was based in San Francisco, so we just kept bouncing around.
Speaker A:Thank God everybody was on board and everything worked out that we could book each spot.
Speaker B:And what's the name of the film?
Speaker B:Sorry, Get Here.
Speaker A:And what do we do to a world where.
Speaker A:Where Animals do not Adapt.
Speaker A:French tip.
Speaker B:Okay, so what inspired the name?
Speaker B:Like, what?
Speaker B:Was it just the fact that you are a nail artist or what was.
Speaker A:It me personally, Me just Being a man, looking at the French tip.
Speaker A:French tip is like the holy grail of nails.
Speaker A:That's the sexiest nail you could get.
Speaker A:Like, look at what you got on your fingers right now.
Speaker B:Friendship.
Speaker A:Exactly.
Speaker A:French tip.
Speaker A:And I feel like one thing that a man notices, like, just stands out is your nails.
Speaker A:Like, you got beautiful eyes.
Speaker A:We like at your lips, your hair, makeup, all that.
Speaker A:Your shoes, your toes.
Speaker A:But we also.
Speaker A:We always want to look at the aesthetic.
Speaker A:Like, that is.
Speaker A:That is your hairline.
Speaker A:You know how you look at a man.
Speaker B:Don't got a hairline.
Speaker A:That is your hairline right there.
Speaker A:But the French tip always just been sexy to me.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And I've been doing nails for eight years now, and everybody who I've done French tip on, they got a certain Persona about them.
Speaker A:A certain.
Speaker B:Like, it's like a classy, sexy.
Speaker A:Like.
Speaker A:Yeah, you.
Speaker A:A classy, sexy bad woman.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:So it's like I've been obsessed with the French tip now, and.
Speaker B:Oh, so wait, wait, wait.
Speaker B:The obsession with the French tip, does that correlate to the obsession with.
Speaker B:Oh, okay.
Speaker B:Makes sense.
Speaker A:So that's how the film and that.
Speaker A:So I'm obsessed.
Speaker A:So the whole premise of it is that the nail artist, he is obsessed with doing nails, but specifically the French tip.
Speaker A:And that's how the whole storyline is gonna go throughout the film and even the series.
Speaker A:Cause we're planning on shooting a series based off of this.
Speaker B:Is it gonna be a series like you?
Speaker B:That's kind of cool.
Speaker B:I love that.
Speaker B:So are you gonna have, like, a pre screening for this?
Speaker B:How are you doing that?
Speaker A:Yeah, so right now it's in the work.
Speaker A:So trying to find the venue to shoot it.
Speaker A:Cause first I was thinking about doing it on, like, Facebook or doing it on, like, Instagram Live, but it's like, the more people I talk to, people want to see this in person.
Speaker A:They want to come out, put their sexy clothes on.
Speaker A:So I'm looking for a venue right now.
Speaker B:The premiere.
Speaker A:The premiere of Red Carpet Premiere.
Speaker A:You dig?
Speaker B:Sounds pretty cool.
Speaker A:Sounds legit.
Speaker B:Okay, so after this, what's next for you?
Speaker A:After a friendship.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And the series overall, like, what.
Speaker B:What is.
Speaker B:What do you want the outcome to be of this series?
Speaker A:I want it to get bigger.
Speaker A:I just want it to grow.
Speaker A:I want the momentum to keep rolling.
Speaker A:Cause I. I want the Black Renaissance to come back.
Speaker A:For me personally, I want our film, our art, our music to come back and be in a positive light.
Speaker A:Like, I don't know if you're familiar with the Harlem Renaissance, but Everything was positive.
Speaker A:Now, you've seen black art.
Speaker A:It's correlated with negativity.
Speaker A:And it's like, what an excellence at.
Speaker A:And that's what I want.
Speaker A:I'm like, I want this art to be positive again.
Speaker A:Or just, like, creative.
Speaker A:And it's like, even the dark side of it, it's like, that is creative.
Speaker A:We're just not posed at being ignorant or deemed as being ignorant or, like, uneducated.
Speaker A:It's like, we know how to work.
Speaker A:We know how to create our imaginations.
Speaker A:It's just not based off of traumas and crime and bull crap.
Speaker B:We want the same playing field as everybody else.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:So what do you think that this creative outlet for you will inspire others to do.
Speaker A:Do what you want to do.
Speaker A:Like, whatever's in your head, get it out.
Speaker A:Like, stop sitting on those ideas.
Speaker A:Just get it out.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:I sat on so many ideas, and then when I see somebody else do it.
Speaker A:See, that's where bitterness come from.
Speaker A:Because you like, oh, I was going to do that.
Speaker B:When?
Speaker A:Yeah, when was you going to do that?
Speaker A:Oh, that was my idea.
Speaker A:Or, you know, you always hear somebody saying, oh, man, I was going to do that 10 years ago, you know, and then they mad, they sent him back better.
Speaker A:Now they doing Twitter fingers up there talking about that weak.
Speaker A:Or blah, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker B:You know, like, is there anything that you had to prepare for, like, learn in advance before you guys got into this film?
Speaker A:Lighting.
Speaker A:Yeah, I had to learn about lighting.
Speaker A:I had to learn about angles.
Speaker A:I had to learn about sound because it's like certain sounds like, we kept doing the playback and I'm like, oh, I don't like that sound.
Speaker A:It's like learning how to.
Speaker A:Cause I don't like my voice.
Speaker A:I'm just gonna tell you I don't like my voice.
Speaker A:But hearing my voice, I had to keep changing my voice up.
Speaker A:Like, how I'm projecting it.
Speaker A:Like, I've never been to acting school, but it's like I had to learn on the fly, you know?
Speaker A:And if I kept that mindset of, like, oh, I'm not an actor, I don't know how to do this, that would have just stopped me.
Speaker A:And it's like, no.
Speaker A:And at this point, I'm keeping momentum going.
Speaker B:But you know what?
Speaker B:I think a lot of people, they stop because it's not you.
Speaker B:Yeah, everybody gets to a certain extent.
Speaker B:And same thing with fitness.
Speaker B:Like, they get in the gym, they find out like, oh, I really gotta be in pain and I gotta sweat.
Speaker B:I don't wanna do it no more.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:So you're a pretty fit person, so that, like, aligns with your personality.
Speaker A:Thank you.
Speaker B:It's in you to be that discipline.
Speaker B:So as a business owner and now a filmmaker, what is one of the most important things you've learned during this journey?
Speaker A:Discipline.
Speaker A:For surely not giving up.
Speaker A:Just because it's.
Speaker A:You're not getting it on the first time.
Speaker A:It's like repping or learning dealing with new weight or new exercise.
Speaker A:Just because I don't get it on the first try doesn't mean I'm not gonna get it eventually.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:So pretty much just discipline and just staying focused, consistent, and not giving up.
Speaker B:Do you consider this to be like a rebrand or you're just expanding a rebrand?
Speaker A:This one's definitely a rebrand.
Speaker B:So what is the rebrand?
Speaker A:The rebrand is me or my identity.
Speaker A:Taking it away from just I'm doing nails.
Speaker A:It's more like the beauty industry is crossing over.
Speaker A:We're going into a new state, just like technology.
Speaker A:We're going into the AI era, the quantum era.
Speaker A:Just like with the beauty industry, people are tired of seeing the same tutorials.
Speaker A:A lot of people don't even care about how you did the nail.
Speaker A:That's how I'm looking at it.
Speaker A:Like, people don't want to just see the nails anymore.
Speaker A:They want to see a story behind the nails content.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:What is the story behind these nails?
Speaker A:What is the fantasies?
Speaker A:Everybody got fantasies.
Speaker A:Everybody got thoughts, you know, the Peter Pan effect.
Speaker A:Like, everybody are dreamers.
Speaker A:Certain dreams just get killed by growing up.
Speaker A:You know, responsibilities.
Speaker B:What business name are you going for under this or what are we doing?
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:It might be bankrupt films, you know?
Speaker B:Oh, I like that.
Speaker B:Wait, I like that.
Speaker B:That might be LLC added.
Speaker A:Llc.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Let me get it.
Speaker A:Because somebody trying to take it escorp.
Speaker B:I'm feeling it.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:I feel like the expansion is needed, though, because you said it already.
Speaker B:You already feel like you're trapped in a box.
Speaker B:And, you know, that's been the hottest topic right now for me especially, is the rebrand is when you feel like something's forced, something stuck.
Speaker B:It's time to get out of that.
Speaker B:And there's only one way to get out of it.
Speaker B:You try something new.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And did you have any fears when you were starting this film?
Speaker A:Yeah, I would say, like, is anybody going to like it?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:You know, you just always think it's your baby.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:So it's like you're kind of insecure.
Speaker A:It's like, I don't want to show the world yet.
Speaker A:Like, what are they going to think?
Speaker A:Like, but I don't care.
Speaker A:I love it.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I was going to say, how did you prepare yourself for, like, the worst case scenario?
Speaker A:How did I prepare myself for the worst case scenario?
Speaker A:If it doesn't work out, go back to the drawing board and redo it.
Speaker B:And do it again.
Speaker A:You ain't gonna stop me from doing what I want to do.
Speaker B:Now, do you think that's a trait that you learned as a child or you think that's because of business, like you owning your own business?
Speaker A:I would just.
Speaker A:I say life experiences, just going through life like I used to play ball and the times where I didn't score a touchdown or I didn't get a certain time running track, you know, it's like, man, what did I do wrong?
Speaker A:It's just like going back, looking at what I could have did better.
Speaker A:Like, okay, I'm gonna have to train better at this.
Speaker A:This phase.
Speaker A:Cause everything is phases, whether you're playing ball or running.
Speaker A:It's like the way I start is gonna be different than the way I finish.
Speaker A:It's not always gonna be the same.
Speaker A:So my finish is good, but my start is terrible.
Speaker A:So I need to focus more on this because this part, the last part is easy for me.
Speaker A:Yeah, I got that down.
Speaker A:But this part, I need to focus more.
Speaker A:And after a while you get it.
Speaker B:I love that you said go back to the drawing board because a lot of us are afraid.
Speaker B:You know, we fail once and it's like, okay, give up.
Speaker B:But the lesson isn't failure.
Speaker B:You have to fail.
Speaker B:Forward is what one of my mentors always says.
Speaker B:Got to fail in order to learn.
Speaker B:You can't.
Speaker B:You can't grow if you don't fail.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Cuz if you think that everything is good, then you're never going to want more than what you have.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And as a man, personally, it's okay.
Speaker A:You got to be able to cry.
Speaker A:There's been times I didn't want to cry.
Speaker A:There's been times I've been disappointed, and I'm so disappointed.
Speaker A:I'm.
Speaker A:And I'm internalizing it, but it's okay to cry.
Speaker A:Get that cry out.
Speaker A:And then after that you'll be like, all right, going to do it again.
Speaker A:Cuz it's humility.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And we scared.
Speaker A:We don't want to be humiliated.
Speaker A:Cuz it makes it look vulnerable, make us look weak.
Speaker B:But vulnerability and transparency are not weakness.
Speaker B:I think a lot of people are scared to showcase that.
Speaker B:Do you feel like your film gets closer to that, like the transparency and being vulnerable.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:For surely.
Speaker A:Cuz it's.
Speaker A:No, you can't hold back.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:No part of holding back.
Speaker A:Because like you, you know, if that you're holding back.
Speaker A:Cause you gonna look at it like I didn't put my all into that.
Speaker A:Like you look at a scene like, nope, I held back.
Speaker A:And when you hold back, it's like you're cutting yourself short, like selling yourself short.
Speaker B:So you got into your acting bag.
Speaker B:Film directing expanding, like possibly another business for you.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And hopefully, you know, a deal in the future.
Speaker A:Surely A to B, we you at tubi.
Speaker A:Holla at your boy.
Speaker A:You feel me?
Speaker A:Oh my goodness.
Speaker B:Okay, so can you tell me if you could give anybody three tips for expansion, what would you give them?
Speaker A:Expansion.
Speaker A:I would say first you need to organize.
Speaker A:And with organizing you need to get your health together, your mentor together, and just like focus on that first.
Speaker A:And then I would say get in the gym like for surely.
Speaker A:Like that's like the biggest thing.
Speaker A:Because I gonna teach you consistency and discipline and then faith.
Speaker A:That'd be my last.
Speaker A:Just have faith.
Speaker A:Whether you have religion or whatever, you believe in voodoo, I don't care.
Speaker A:Have faith.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And like faith.
Speaker A:Believe in yourself.
Speaker A:Believe like I could do this.
Speaker A:And I know we like to get gratification from our peers because if your peers think it's cool, you're gonna think it's cool.
Speaker A:But your peers, most of them, not even for you.
Speaker A:Nope.
Speaker A:Because they not even for themselves.
Speaker A:It's all a put on.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker B:And you know what?
Speaker B:I say this all the time, especially because I've been in and out of the gym so much.
Speaker B:The gym is more so for you and your promises to yourself.
Speaker B:And for me, if you say you're gonna go to the gym and you never go to the gym, I already know you don't keep your promises to yourself.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:So I'm most likely like not going to work with you.
Speaker B:But it is true also what you said, like your, your friendships, a lot of people seek validation through those and it's not in the right path of life.
Speaker B:Like I just said this earlier today.
Speaker B:Don't take advice from people you don't admire or respect.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Because they've never been where you were going nine times out of 10.
Speaker B:Because if you admire them and you respected them, they're obviously doing something you want to do.
Speaker B:If you don't, then they're just an opinion that you didn't need.
Speaker A:You're right.
Speaker A:You for surely right.
Speaker B:This has been a great conversation.
Speaker B:I'm very, very proud of you.
Speaker A:Thank you.
Speaker B:You don't have a release date yet?
Speaker A:No, I'm thinking about the end of summer.
Speaker A:I'm just trying to get the promotion out.
Speaker A:Promoted the right way.
Speaker B:Is there any last words that you would like to share with each other audience?
Speaker A:Go see my film French tips out soon.
Speaker B:I love that.
Speaker B:Okay, so thank you so much for your time.
Speaker A:Thank you.
Speaker B:You tell them where to find you.
Speaker A:You can find me on Instagram and Tik Tok at Bank Fro Nails.
Speaker A:And yeah, come check me out.
Speaker B:I think you need another page now.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah, it's a new page coming soon.
Speaker A:Yeah, we.
Speaker A:We going to do that.
Speaker A:My film page.
Speaker A:Coming soon.
Speaker B:Soon.
Speaker B:Okay, you guys, thank you for being here.
Speaker B:As always.
Speaker B:Please like share, comment and subscribe because the nothing without you.
Speaker B:And as always, the magic is in you.
Speaker B:Have a great day, y'.
Speaker B:All.
Speaker B:Bye.
