Hello dear guests,
I’m so thankful we’ve made it through another year amid trying times for small businesses. Your loyalty, patronage, and positivity fuel us as we persist toward our goals of being the best luxury hair salon in the greater Madison area.
My goal is to share some of the obstacles we’ve overcome this year as well as our triumphs, what we have planned for 2022, and a personal note.
Obstacles
Throughout the first half of the year, we encountered the loss of some of our very talented stylists who chose to embark on their own. When this happens it always hurts. But we know that they need to do what’s best for them and we need to continue to attract and empower individuals who want to care for one another and truly be a part of a team.
Always with loss of team members there’s loss in our clientele. We want you to know that no matter what, you are always welcome here. We are confident that we have amazing stylists who can deliver exceptional results for you and your hair. If you’re wondering which stylist here is the best fit for you, please try our Meet Your Stylist quiz!
Another obstacle has been sick days. Have you encountered this in your company? We know that we cannot control what we cannot control. So, for those of you who have been called to be rescheduled, thank you so much for your flexibility and willingness to pivot. Please know that we are aware of this burden, and we truly hope that 2022 will be a year of consistency, health, and wellness for everyone.
Triumphs
This year we have grown our team with six new team members! What I’m most inspired by is how our team has embraced every new member with love, kindness, and excitement. They have all rallied around one another to support each other’s growth as many of our new stylists are also new to their professional career. And wow! Their work is incredible. They are as gifted as they are genuine and positive. I see this 2021 team as the most positive, team-oriented group of people we’ve ever had working together. It’s refreshing and invigorating!
To support our team in their growth we invested over $15,000 in advanced education and were able to provide hands-on technical training for every single stylist here. One of the highlights of our year is when Nubia Rezo chose our salon to offer her two-day Rezo Cutting Certification workshop. Each stylist achieved their level-one certification with Rezo which is an advanced curly cutting methodology. You can learn more about that here!
From a business perspective, a major triumph is our ability to keep and maintain our health, dental, and retirement benefits. We have Cadillac plans so that our team has the very best access in our area. We were also able to offer starting wages for guest services that exceed any local retail position in Madison. Along with that, we’ve increased our manager’s compensation by 32%! Bringing the best opportunities to our team members is one of our top values and top priorities and I’m so grateful that we’ve raised every bar and standard within our industry in this area.
Other triumphs include being named Wisconsin’s Bride Magazines’ Best for Bridal Hair and Best for Bridal Makeup! We are also named one of Salon Today’s Top 200 Salons in North America. What an honor to be recognized by these organizations. Thank you to everyone who voted for us this year. We appreciate you!
Our 2022 Vision
Our top three goals for 2022 include growing our team, providing exceptional education, and enhancing your experiences.
We have such a demand with new client bookings and a ton of opportunity for new stylists to develop their craft with a team and salon environment they will love and thrive in. Additionally, we will continue to carry products that provide solutions and results for every guest and every ethnicity.
We will continue to offer monthly advanced education beginning with a Culture & Vibe team-building workshop in January! We believe success for our team goes beyond the technique 🙂
And we will continue to add value to every visit. Most recently we were able to bring back the option of locally sourced wine and bourbon. We are also offering Ghirardelli chocolates which is new for us this year. We hope to bring back the aroma therapy spray, the hand massages, and the steamed towel wraps. I believe 2022 will be the year we can do this again!
Personal Note
Finally, I wanted to share a bit of personal information. As you may have read in last year’s message, Covid was (and has been) the most disruptive and tumultuous season in business we’ve ever experienced. I don’t think I could’ve made it through had it not been for my faith in Jesus, my faithful husband who joined the salon as our VP of Operations and company Controller, or the encouraging words of our loyal team members–both new and seasoned.
Throughout the last couple of years I’ve been stressed and anxious (unlike any other time in my life). I tend to show my stress outwardly in the form of weight gain. It’s been a lifelong struggle. In addition to that my husband and I were trying to grow our family. We are blessed with a four-year-old son, Nash, and our hearts desired a sibling for him. Unfortunately, we lost our second pregnancy to an early miscarriage. I never thought that would happen to me. How could God allow that to happen when we’d been trying for over a year?
I knew this wasn’t God’s doing or anything in particular that I had done wrong. It just wasn’t meant to be at that time. A good friend of mine reminded me that the first face our unborn baby saw was the face of Jesus. I knew that we needed to trust that God did have a plan for us and that His plan is always good.
We continued to pray and I started working with a Naturopathic Doctor, an Acupuncturist, received Mayan-Abdominal massages, and I started working out with a personal trainer three days per week. I also gave up coffee–I’m surprised that wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.
If you saw me today, you’d wonder if any of these efforts have paid off because I’ve put on quite a bit of weight. But I’m happy to share that it’s because we’re 19 weeks pregnant with a baby girl! She is due to arrive in late May, 2022. Our hearts are overjoyed!
Reflection
In hindsight I realize how debilitating stress can be on our health. Thankfully, I believe we’ve made it through the most stressful aspects of the past two years.
And though sometimes things seem hopeless, there is always hope for what good things will come. We just have to persevere. And 2021 was another year of endurance to help shape my character and heart to have greater faith and greater love for others.
I hope this message is encouraging for you and I hope you never give up on your dreams or on yourself. You are precious and perfectly created.
Until next time,
Have an awesome day and stay strong!
