Interview with an Entreprenuer

It was the beginning to a very cold spring break when I wen to visit my aunt Diane who owns and operates her own hair salon. I pulled up to her tiny building and was greeted by an oversized cutout of a large, green cactus. Their small window in front had been filled with shamrocks and green lights for the upcoming St. Patrick's Day. Fighting the chilly March wind, I made my way through the door to hear my aunt's voice coming from the sinks a few feet away. She has never been the quiet type and has that gossipy, girl-talk mentality that I am sure she contributes to being in a salon for days of end so, to hear her shouting that she would be right there was nothing out of the ordinary.

My aunt, Diana Pelissier, is the sole-proprietor of her salon known as the Hair Saloon which is located on Fort Street in Lincoln Park, Michigan. Business seems well now but I wanted to know how it all got started. For starters, I wondered where she had attended school. It turns out that in 1980 there was a beauty school known as Virginia Farrell in Lincoln Park and that is where she perfected her tricks of the trade. Fresh out of beauty school, the young beautician found work in what she jokingly called "fast-food" salons like BoRics and Fantastic Sams. She admitted that it was working in these fast paced, hectic environments that made her want to open her own place. Diane simply sighed and said, "I knew that I could do it better." Her mission to prove she could do just that had only begun.

After some time looking she ran across a local dentist office that had been abandoned for years and decided that it would soon be her salon. They removed the boards from the windows and doors merely scratching the of what needed to be done. I had to know how long it took them to to a rundown building into a place people would even consider to be a beauty shop and she shook her head, "Oh, about six months but it felt so much longer." The renovations took the some time but, they finally opened their doors to the public in Semptember of 1994.

Before we got much further I had always wondered how she got the name of her salon. When I ask, the only woman sitting in the shop's waiting area said she had been wondering the same thing for year. With an audience now, she laughed and said that it was originally going to be the Chop Shop. She was going to have hot rods and fifties decor but, it did not seem as inviting to women so she had to do somet more thinking. Then her mom had mentioned how cute it would be to call it the Hair Saloon and it would solve the dilemma of being more for men or women. The name is also the reason behind that oversized cactus cutout in front. The name gave the place a Southwestern feel and so the seemingly out-of-place plant began to fit right in. One negative of the name is that recently men have begun to wander off the streets in hopes of a drink after a long day's work. She chuckles, "I may have gone into the wrong business."

Now that she has been up and running for sixteen years she had a lot to say when I asked her about costs. She began ranting about the prices of products, "I used to be able to buy a hair coloring for $2.50 but in the last four years that price has doubled. It doesn't seem like much to buy coloring for $5 but purchase 15 at a time and the story gets nasty." Not only are there products but bills to pay. Diane has a higher electic bill than she does gas and she blames it on "all those curlers, straighteners, dryers, and employees that can't umplug something when they are done using it." There is also a cost to stay up to date.

Hair is a trend and it changes so I wondered how she kept up with the ever changing world of hair. She said that she would love to take another class but they're too expensive so she has been studying up on magazines. My aunt enjoys going to hair shows but she cannot get over how ridiculous some of the styles are, "The styles they have are not practical. I don't know a single person who wants their hair straight up on top of their head. I am better off learning something for everyone, not showy models."

Finally I wanted to know how difficult it was to become a boss. She looked around and said, "The biggest challenge for anyone running a business is keeping everyone happy, if your workers aren't happy they will quit, if your customers aren't happy they don't come back, and if you aren't happy you might as well not come into work." I started to realize that she treated her business like a family and her advice furter painted that picture for me. Her daughters both work for her and, every employee she has is much like a friend but she admit that it only makes things tougher. A beauty shop is a place that can be very tight-knit and so her advice was, "Learn to say no. If you want to be a boss you need to act like one and keeping your respect is important so if you can learn one word as an entrepreneur let it be no."

I left the salon that day with a bit more insight into the hair business. From starting a business to sustaining it there is a journey for any entrepreneur. My aunt's story is one that is not quite ready for the press as she expects to remain in business for some time but it offers a tiny picture of success.