Wow- What a Ride!

Ok, I'm sorry if I have not been the most fun person to be around lately. It has been such a rollercoaster with this new salon. Lot's of ups and downs. Not lots of sleep and sanity:). BUT, it's FINALLY here! The GRAND OPENING of Striking Image Salon! We've put our blood, sweat and tears into this salon- literally.

Renovations - We ran into a bunch of complications with the renovations, but it's all done now. What a relief! Wait 'till you see the pictures - what a transformation. (Don't you dare skip down to the bottom to see the pictures before you finish reading...I KNOW you are tempted!)

Interviews and Hiring Process - It felt SO strange to be the interviewer rather than the interviewee! Seriously-you should try it sometime. But we now have two full time stylists and one part time. We're still looking for another part-time and any booth renters.

Grand Opening/Marketing - SO stressful-I must say. We decided that we wanted to do something that would REALLY get people in for the Grand Opening. FREE HAIRCUTS-Thursday through Saturday. We posted adds on KSL, delivered 500 fliers to homes close by, PLUS we hired this guy who rides around on his 6 FOOT TALL UNICYCLE holding our sign. Haha. Needless to say, we're JAM PACKED with clients all the way through Saturday night (and more if we allowed it). We have each client fill out a form with their info and if they want to recieve updates and promotions. Surprisingly-almost everyone wants that. And another check box asks if they want to be called in 6-8 weeks to schedule their next appointment. Again, almost everyone said yes! Awesome. Others have already pre-booked their next appointments and some have scheduled colors. So, it's going really well. Except that our stylists COMPLAIN quite a bit (about working for free). But it will benefit them in the long run. And it's not even that long of a run. They're getting thier business cards out there, they will have returning clients, word of mouth spreads fast- you HAVE TO make sacrifices to build a clientelle. This is just a lot quicker of a way than little 5% off coupons. I just wish they understood that we are LOSING a lot of money to do this. Paying A LOT of money for advertising (we're doing a lot more methods than I've mentioned). Have spent COUNTLESS hours working towards making the salon sucessful. It just seems to me like they think we do nothing. Just sit there and watch the money roll in. I WISH!! It guess it's just teaching me a lot. There is the employee point of view and the business owner point of view. I can see both. I've been in both situations. But they are both SUCH DIFFERENT points of view. The employee has bills to pay and wants the money. The business owner has put a lot of time, effort and money into the business and has to face the fact that it wont be profitable for a while. EVEN IF it doesn't pay for bills. It's a risk that needs to be taken and has been taken for most all businesses. It's actually really interesting for me that I've REALLY been in both situatioins now. As the employee and the boss. Hmmmm... (so sorry to LET IT ALL OUT! It's 1:40am and I'm a bit stressed)Hmmmm....

Anyways, it really has been so exciting though. The stress aside, it's been AWESOME!!! So so so great! Darrin mentioned to me today that he got the chills the first time the phone was answered by an employee: "Striking Image Salon - this is Lisa!". Me too! And to have our very own signage and mail and employees and building (well not quite ours...) and all of that good stuff. YAY! I just want to SHOUT FOR JOY!

We really have been so blessed in this endeavor. Hey-we're not dead, right? haha. I'm so thankful for the opportunity and pray that everything will pan out. And SO thankful for Darrin. It's so great to be able to put our talents together to create something so big.

Anyways, pictures as primised-SORRY it took me so long! Can you guess which ones are before and which ones are after? I sure hope so!
















P.S. My Sister and Brother in law did ALL of the vinyl lettering for the salon and they did an AMAZING job! If you need vinyl let me know and I can get you prices OR her name is Patti Simon and # is (801)502-4868. They have a website but it's under construction www.sticktovinyl.com. Check that out later:). Thanks again Jason and Patti!