Discovering passion

Hang on friends this is a long jaunt on the blog but its pivitol to understanding how I've been successful. My goal ultimately with this blog in general is to help you grow your passion. It all began with that conversation stemming from a visit to the beauty school.  Wow! What an opportunity I was being offered to take the next step in my career.

The offer on the table seemed like a win win situation. Rebuild the business after a hands off approach for years dwindled the profits to a loss in exchange for the opportunity to purchase it at an incredible price when I was ready. If I was ready.

Own a salon? Me? What? That's what every new cosmetology student dreams of. It was never my dream. It's a lot of work. I thought owning a cosmetology school was my dream.  I knew how to do that.  I was really good at that.  Could I do this? I had the contacts.  I had the knowledge. I was nervous. I knew it was a lot of work. I knew it would consume me. I didn't want my family to suffer again from my ambitious nature. It took a while for me to wrap my head around it. Many prayers and conversations with my friends that were business minded that I trusted later I finally I decided to make the plunge. 

First I had to tell my current salon owner. Naive as I am I thought she would support and encourage me having been there herself. At first she did, then the tables turned. I intended to stay a month to fulfill obligations I had made for events upcoming in the salon. After a few days appointments were "booked with the wrong stylist" and moved from my schedule. I gradually started to feel hurt and angry. I'm sure it showed in my attitude. That inexcusable! I knew better but emotions got the better of me. One morning the owner took me aside and said I think that you need to move on to your next opportunity.

This wasn't my plan. I'm not bridge burner. I wanted to fulfill my obligations. In hindsight I see that the owner was trying to make sure I didn't take any more clients with me or possibly her stylists. I can appreciate that but again I don't burn bridges. So my journey began pretty unprepared for the next step.

In October of 2012 I began working to build Salon Studios. This salon was built around the idea of individual studios all under one roof for boothrenters.  It was no secret that the current owner didn't love the concept of boothrent.  The business operated on a loss monthly. There are so many things that were done in the interest of trying to make that location profitable that ultimately it kept it from being profitable.  My first order of business  though was to set up my own studio business. 

I contacted my clients and thankfully each one followed me in my move. That was so encouraging.  I knew that in this moment this was a change I was supposed to make. God wanted me here. My clientle began to grow. I no longer took walk in clients at this location. I was working solely on referrals and marketing. I dug into the salon and tried to understand what the current renters thought needed to change. 

I needed to change the identity of the salon.  I needed to make it visible to the target market in the area. I created a website. Took tons of pictures. I created a Facebook page and sent messages to all the contacts I had letting them know what I had to offer them. I also began to plan an event to re brand the identity of the salon. The current renters were so supportive. They financially helped to back the event and we met several times to  share our thoughts and ideas to make the event a success.

The FAB event was born. Fashion and beauty.  We had a makeup artist doing mini looks. An airbrush tanner offering tans and several vendors with jeweley, handbags, and original crafts. The food was offered by different vendors and we had a great turnout. It was a sucess. The guests were able to see the salon and meet the stylists.

I began to have stylists contact me showing interest in making the move from commission to boothrent. I had already created game plans for them to show how easy success could be. Time after time they would say they were ready and then they would shy away.   It began to be obvious that so many stylists didn't understand the business behind the beauti industry. Yes, I know Beauti is spelled wrong here but eventually you will understand why.

Don't get me wrong. I don't know all there is to know about the beauty business. I know about passion for my field and I love to learn. I love growing others to exceed their potential. I thought for sure that was the situation I was in. In my position in admissions at the beauty school I had a really high success rate. This lack of commitment was disheartening.  Why were the stylists not making the changes the industry was moving towards? In my heart of hearts I believe the beauty industry is evolving towards this beauty mall concept nation wide.  The Midwest is just slower about it. In 2012, 40 percent of all stylists nation wide were renting chairs and 19 percent of salons used a boothrent concept. I needed to step back and look at my plan and reaccess. What worked in recruiting students wouldn't work recruiting stylists.
Wait, did I just say it was time to reevaluate my plan? What plan? I had no plan I was just doing what I knew. Recruiting students to go to a top rated cosmetology that was 1 of the 2 schools within a 45 mile radius wasn't nearly as hard as recruiting stylists in a town filled with salons that were commission based.
It was time to educate them about the differences.  To explain that as a boothrenter you are only responsible to grow your personal business not the overall salons. It was time to show what set us apart.  Salon Studio's beauty mall concept wasn't understood.

How? My degree from Purdue was in leadership and supervision not entrepreneurship.  I was out of my league. That was when I started to see the value of a networking group. At first the group I had attended and subbed at was all about referrals and growing your individual business. This wasn't what I needed I had a different type of client.  I had clients in my chair sure, and I did want that business to continue to grow, however I needed to reach the stylists that wanted the same.

In March my accountant invited my husband and I to the networking group he co founded. My husband while a full time career firefighter also owned a business with his father that could benefit from the group . We attended a few meetings and I saw the benefits to joining right away. This was a good fit. Weekly meetings and one on one meetings with group members really began to clarify for me the next steps I needed to take.

Our group began reading the Emyth and discussing it. This book opens up the reality of the business owner/entrepreneurs versus the technician. So many technicians look at their jobs and think they could run the business better than the owner.  So they open a business. Then they fail.

Every year stylists leave the industry.  The are disillusioned by the "glamorous" industry they are passionate about. It's not just stylists that love doing hair and because they love it they get rich and have tons of clients.  It's a business. It begins as a creative passion absolutely.  To be successful in your passion you have to treat it as a business.  That's what so many stylists don't get.

Thus began the business plan. I began researching and writing and defining what I wanted my business to be. I began to understand what I needed to know to step away from the salon chair to my desk chair. This is where my growth really began. I sat down with my accountant and showed him the numbers. My numbers. I cannot stress how important tracking numbers is!!!! You can't grow a business if you don't know what you are currently doing. When I saw the numbers I couldn't believe it. I generally only look at my numbers at the end of each month and then again at the end of the year. Now I'm obsessed. I had grown by 35 percent from the year before and it was only April. I knew then I was doing things right, but with a plan it could be even better.  I slowly began writing my business plan.

When u say slowly I'm not kidding! I knew it was going to be a mountain and I had no idea how to begin to climb it.  I asked for guidance from several of my networking group members and I started researching business plans.

Here is when the light bulb went off. This is when I began to understand what I wanted to create and how I was going to do it. This is when I started to visualize my brand, my future and what I needed to do to get there.

It wasn't overnight it was a slow process as I mentioned. Many God moments and prayers later my plan was forming. I finally completed it in September.  I was scheduled to present it at our networking meeting. That accountability pushed me. I have already started modifying and tweaking it but it opened my eyes for sure.

There was a dream in my heart I didn't even know I had. It started with a love for growing others and will blossom from that.  I had really begun to learn the business of Beauti.

Reinvention

"There is no passion to be found in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living." Nelson Mandela

When I made the choice to reinvent what my career looked like I knew that where I chose to work would be key to my success. I met several times with a boothrent salon owner and was encouraged by the salons connection to the community and the other renters attitude towards their salon. I committed to, what was at the time, 350 Hairspa hoping this was my good fit.

The stress of letting go of my "life" at the school and preparing the staff for my exit took a toll on my health. I got horribly sick with the flu. I have never been that sick. I was so dizzy I couldn't drive to the doctors office. Needless to say the last month of my time at the school got interrupted by my illness and my replacement had to begin the process of taking over without me being able to be there. I recovered and when I returned I knew that the staff and students were in good hands. That was a tremendous weight lifted.  I felt I could move forward without the guilt of leaving them behind.

I began at the Hairspa with a very small clientle. As an educator I wouldn't typically have suggested that boothrent was a good option for someone like me (little client following). However, I was confident that with my extensive additional business training I could push my business to the next level quickly. I was lucky to have a salon that had walk in client base and I could begin to grow my client list.

I knew that as the walk ins entered and I was able to perform their services I had to set myself apart and give them a reason to choose me as their stylist. I wanted my clients to have an experience that continued to bring them back. Good customer service, talent and persistence helped me to retain many of these clients that to this day are some of my most loyal. 

Don't get me wrong I still am growing my client base and will continue to do so through the length of my career it doesn't happen overnight. But, I had the knowledge to draw from to do it.  I dropped business cards everywhere I went. I started a Facebook page dedicated to my work. I gave samples with business cards to the dentists office and my children's school. Every chance I got to share my skills in the beauty industry I jumped on it.

I also attended a few networking meetings with the salon owner and subbed as a representative of the salon when she couldn't make it.  That really opened my eyes to the business world. I began to see the importance of knowing who I wanted my clients to be and what I needed to do to get them in my chair. I knew once I got them in my chair I could solve their challenges and that would bring them back.

In my time at the Hairspa the salon was awarded the opportunity to be the Spread the Love salon in Indiana opening several doors for the small 11 station Salon.  In this time we hosted a customer appreciation day thanking our clients for voting for us. We worked on ways our staff would give back to spread the love.

The Wig closet was an incredible idea that was presented that I immediately jumped on. I began to work with the Cancer Society to create a safe environment for cancer patients to be fitted for wigs. It was rewarding and heart wrenching.  We provided this service free of charge and in doing this we were able to lift the spirits of cancer patients and give them some love. The cancer society supplied wigs for us and we were able to reach so many beautiful women in the process.

The Pink Party, the Emma Paige Foundation, a car show and cutathon to benefit the Children's Tumor foundation are just a few of the amazing organizations we did events with in my time at the Hairspa. Giving back was and continues to be important to me. The staff commitment and salon owner support made these opportunities possible.

 

Working with these charitable organization was amazing, but I never forgot my passion.  My heart was in helping others grow.  I continued to visit the school and was encouraged by my former coworkers.  I continue to be contacted by former students to advise them on different topics and I love that they value and respect  my opinion. After a visit in August to the school I ran into the owner. I had a discussion with her regarding a business opportunity that changed the way I looked at everything.  In this part of my journey is where I found the dream I didn't even know was in my heart!