I can remember standing with a mop in my hand, it was pouring down rain on a Sunday night. I was dragging my 3-year-old son into my place of business where I rented a station to clean up other people’s messes. Let me be clear I was not a hired cleaner. I was simply doing it so that my clients had a nice place to come the next day.It was then that I had the light bulb moment. WHY AM I CLEANING SOMEONE ELSES BUSINESS?

I had literally bounced from salon to salon, leasing chairs for the required lease terms and moving on because something was missing. Meeting wonderful women along the way but never feeling satisfied.  I worked for some very successful owners that were awesome. Some not so successful owners that were not awesome. I worked for one salon in particular that had a big name and seemed to have it together, but after working there for a little over a year I realized this place was a bigger disaster than any I had ever seen.  I was eventually fired from said company for a reason I still don’t know and it was then that I decided that I would NEVER feel like this again. It was time to take control of my career and my security.

I found this dumpy loft in the city and made the decision that I would turn it in to my little corner of the beauty world. IT WAS GROSS.  I am pretty certain my mom cried out of sheer panic when she saw it. It was bad.  But I had a vision. A fire had been lit inside of me.  I would drag my little guy with me day in and day out. With the help of my best friends, ex husband, and parents, we cleaned it up and created a diamond in the rough. It was cool. It was mine.  

That my friends was the easy part. I can remember telling my dad ” I am just going to lease the chairs, pay the bills and do hair. Easy Peasy” He laughed and said  “I am sure there will be more to it.” I had no clue what I had coming, I had no idea what I was doing. (shocking I know)

Desperate to fill my stations I hired basically anyone who could hold a pair of shears and pay the rent. Lord help me. I had no management experience and did not want to “manage” people. What a nightmare. My professional, clean, beautiful salon dream had become me still never feeling satisfied. I had built a team of people with NOT my same vision.

I met Eric a bit after opening London’s and things got serious rather quickly. I had to then balance a relationship on top of being a mom-preneur.

18 months into being in that space, the owner sold the building without my knowledge and we were forced to leave. It was awful. I was 8 months pregnant and having to build a new salon from the ground up AGAIN. Not to mention losing all I had invested in tenant improvements. My heart was broken, but I knew everything happens for a reason. And what other option did I have than to keep on keeping on?

To this day I consider that 18 months a “practice round” of sorts. A little stepping stone into the very big and very complicated world of owning a business.

It was then that I realized that if this is going to be successful, I needed help. I could not run a house, business, have 2 kids and a spouse unless there were going to be more hours in the day. It was time to take a leap of faith. Eric and I decided he would quit his job and come to London’s full time. We bought a building and built a beautiful space. We moved our things from that little dumpy stepping stone and started our husband and wife “empire.”

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My vision and heart has always been to build a place that women and single moms/moms especially could come and be in control of their future. I did not start this business to become a millionaire. I wanted to provide what I could never find. The whole package. A Professional, clean, drama free environment. Where women in my industry could come lease a station and love where they work.  SIMPLE as that.  hahahahahahah! Simple my ass.

Thankfully my husband is a freaking salon running rockstar, or I would be in a world of hurt. Divide and conquer is our strategy . We both operate the business on a day-to-day basis. But we are diligent about our roles and jobs in the business. We have a unique history since we started as a dating couple, our relationship, marriage, and parenthood have all developed while also building our brand . Because of that, it’s easy for us to transition from work to home life. They are one and the same for us. Our lives are based on two things, business(which is our chosen family) and family(our blood family). We are content with those being our biggest and sole focus right now.

LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING. If you are building a business, or thinking about starting a business there are a few things you better saddle up for. It is ANYTHING but EASY. This  process has involved questioning everything I thought I knew about myself, my relationships and what I consider to be success in order to find my truth. It has been a very hard few years.

I can finally say that I am at a place of somewhat having it figured out. Only took 5 years.  Better late than never right? An Award winning salon, a second location, THE BEST team, a few more kids, AND a rock solid marriage.   YOU can have it all.

There are so many things I wish I would have known. SOOOOO many things I would tell my former self, but you live and hopefully learn.

 

Until next time! Thanks for following!

♥Keila Nicole♥