Faith....Trials of Starting up

As happy as i was to finally have the salon open and running (well....the doors were open), now reality set in. The reality that all the hard work, money and energy that i went into getting the doors opened had ABSOLUTELY nothing do do with paying the rent and light bill on the 1st of the month! LOL! (i can laugh now). I'm one of those personalities where i have to experience something for myself to learn it. I don't like asking for advice or following something that someone else has already done. So with that, i didn't have any advisors, mentors or anyone with salon experience on my side. I didnt ask all the "right" questions..hell i didn't ask any! So, now that the doors were opened and i have two employees looking at me, i had to figure out WHAT NEXT. How did i adverstise? how did i go about getting more barbers and stylists? and most importantly, how the hell am i gonna pay the bills next month? This is where Faith stepped in and took over, i guess. I've always rolled with motto: pray for what you want, work hard for what you need. And dispite not having the peices of the puzzle in clear view..i had and dogmatic confidence in one thing....I WILL NOT LOSE! Failing was not an option. So, i began hitting the streets, talking to whomever i could get an ear from, i slowly learned how to advertise and most of all...i believed in what i was selling, customer service. So, even as we were slow and understaffed, the people we did serve were highly impressed and began to spread the word. and if i hadn't learned anything in this business, its that word of mouth is the greatest adverstisement for a salon. if can be a gift and a curse, depending on what you put out there. And just like a customer wants great service, so do barbers and stylists. I was learning that there were barbers and stylists who wanted an upgrade. They wanted to give their clients more than just a hair service. They wanted to enhance the experience. After all..the more you give, the more you can justify your price. So, not only was my service driven approach reaching customers, but barbers and stylist began to inquire about working for me. WHEW!! now we were beginning to cook with grease. we added 1 barber, then another and 2 more, all by word of mouth. Within 6 months, we had 6 people. Great. All except for 1 thing. I still couldn't cover the bills. I had no clue the light bill would be so high. I had no clue that paper towels and tissue and supplies would cost so much and that anything that could go wrong would...twice. So everything that i'd saved for a rainy day was gone and i was quickly going negative. There were just so many things that went along with opening those doors. How naive was i? But i was determined not to quit. I'd rather a million people know that i failed, than for 1 to know i quit! It got ugly. i mean real ugly. From a financial standpoint, i was strapped. i didn't have any advertising cash, getting supplies was a challenge and paying the bills on time just wasn't a possibility. By this time, i'm juggling my mortgage, car note, house bills and the salon bills and i was in over my head. You always hear about "grand opening...grand closing" for so many small businesses and you wonder why. you wonder how so many good ideas don't make it. and they say that 90% of small businesses don't last 2 years. Hell it hadn't even been 6 months and i was about to become a statistic. NOsir! I had a hot idea, a vision to make it work, but i lacked money and experience. it didn't look for me at all. But i had faith that i'd figure it out somehow, someway. So when all else fails..what do you do....u blow the joint! no, really....u liquidate. I sold the nice leather furniture for a good price and replaced them with cheaper seats. I sold the 20" rims on my car and put back on the factory joints. I sold the desk in the front that wasn't making me any money and bought a vending machine. I sold everything that i knew would go quickly and i was able to scrath up on some investment cash from some friends (good lookin). now, i had something to work with. i took that money and converted some unused space into another room for another barber/stylist. So i took out things that weren't making money and got more revenue opportunites out of my square footage. and the light bulb clicked! "so this is what they mean by maximizing your square footage". i thought i understood it before...but having to go throught that really made me see it clearly. In business, sometimes we get caught up in our ideas and our perfect visions, as i did. but the bottom line is, was and always will be...U GOTTA MAKE MONEY first. not comprimising your integrity...but perhaps altering your vision temporarily to fund your dream. So, even though i was still broke as a joke, with two jobs, Supreme Clientele looked to be on its way to sustaining itself soon. It was then that i thought.."ok, i got the hang of this thing". (Yeah right)


Next entry: The Mutany

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Peace
Ramont