Up At Night: Interviews with Business Owners ? Darlene Munn ...

(Model outside Chopstix Salon ? Ladysmith)

This is the 6th in my ongoing series of interviews with small business owners. The goal is to tell a story in which other small business owners will find encouragement, ideas, and confirmation that what they are experiencing is shared by others! These interviews are about extending our sense of community as small business owners.

Darlene Munn ? Owner of Chopstix Hair Salon

(Darlene Munn)

Darlene Munn bought the Ladysmith location of Chopstix?Salon in 2005.

That statement is important to me, because the purchase of a business location is a critical step in the life of any small business. But it does not stop there for Darlene. She has been in the industry since she was 18, and by 21 she was managing her first salon. Chopstix is her third salon. In a journey of over 30 years, Darlene has relentlessly carved a parallel path as an educator and as a show artist.

Darlene now holds a position as a Senior National Educator for the Paul Mitchell Group, a position that has her travelling across Western Canada and the United States, training, being trained, and participating in hair shows.

You will find some of Darlene?s work on the Paul Mitchell website here: http://www.paulmitchell.com/EN-US/THEBUZZ/STYLEINSPIRATION/Pages/Home.aspx?(the three portraits below are from the Paul Mitchell series, and featured in a calendar by Darlene and her team).

Darlene is a creative talent. She has a photography studio attached to her salon, and has redone her home and salon more times than I can count since I have known her.

Systems, consistent management, and a passion for her craft as a stylist, photographer, and teacher are Darlene?s hallmarks as a business owner. Her salon has become a destination where clients will drive for an hour for the opportunity to experience Chopstix. There is a deep sense of professionalism and creativity everywhere in the salon.

Hello Darlene? Tell us about the beginning?

?I started working for a salon at 19. ?I remained a full time stylist for five months.? The person I worked for opened a salon and I managed it; she opened a second one and I managed that one too!? I bought that second salon at the age of 21. Chopstix is the third salon that I have owned.? I bought the current building in 2005 when I saw how much the rent was.? I told myself I was going to line my own pockets, not the landlords!? I saw it as an investment in the future.? There are so few ways one can control anything, and I saw that as a way to create a more predictable future.

In hairdressing school at the age of 18 I knew I was going to own a salon and teach.? That was the vision I had.? Early on I started going to trade shows and watching platform artists at hair shows. But instead of watching what they were delivering I watched how they were delivering as educators.

Another realization I had early as a single parent with three kids was that three kids equaled a whole lot of haircuts.? I sold my first salon in a messy divorce so I could buy a house with a salon in it. That way I could survive by not having to pay for day care.

I developed my do-or-die attitude very young watching my mom raising five kids single-handedly, as my dad passed away when I was 17. It was then that I came to understand that independence is everything. I didn?t want to be a drain on others or ever have to rely on anyone else.

What is the biggest challenge your business is facing right now? How are you dealing with it?

?My biggest challenge is that I have so many clients that I can?t accommodate them in a timely fashion, yet I need new clients so that I don?t become stale.? Growth for me means new clients, new clientele, new ideas. So trying to find a way to make that happen when your waiting list is full is a challenge!

The truth is my business doesn?t keep me awake at night ? ?my kids keep me awake at night worrying about them, wondering about them, hoping they will be okay.? I don?t ever worry about my business or myself that way.? I know I will always be employable.? I focus on what I need to do to keep customers coming in, and revenue takes care of itself.

Sometimes I go to bed ready to throw my hands up and toss it all away, it can be such a struggle.? But then I wake up in the morning ready to take on the world world again. I hear myself saying [to the world] ?I don?t think so!?

My focus in addressing all this, especially staying fresh, is developing my staff from the assistant level, until they are working with my long-standing clients to make them comfortable with my assistants. ?I am realizing I don?t need to care directly for each client when I have such a talented staff. ?That is part of my passion for building up younger professionals.? I get the biggest smile on my face see my clients in the chairs of my one-time assistants!

I work hard to bring in the right people and train them well.? I give them the skill; the personality comes in the hiring.

What do you see as your biggest success?

?One thing I?m really proud of and that I see as a success is that all of my renovations are paid for without putting me into debt.? It feels so good to do this on my own and with the support of people around me.

But I also value having the respect of other stylists in other salons and other cities.? To hear from them that I inspire them, that makes the hard work worth it.

I am motivated to be a role model for my kids and for my employees.? I want everyone around me to see that it?s all about choices:? the choices we make.

I believe so strongly that so much depends on who you hang around with.? Hanging around with negative people is like a ship taking on water. The negativity just seeps in. Little bit by little bit your ship settles lower in the water until it sinks.

You really are only as good as the people you surround yourself with.

What concerns you the most in the business environment right now? What are you doing to turn that around to your advantage?

[In classic Darlene Munn style, Darlene responded as if she didn?t even hear the first part of the question. She went straight to solution! You will pick out though, that Darlene is speaking to a common concern out there: the state of the consumer economy.]

?My response? Don?t be the same as anybody else.? All that stuff that Seth Godin says is so true [referring to Godin?s Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable).

Whatever the economy is doing, people like to spend money! They don?t mind paying for it if they?re having a great experience.

Sometimes I send my staff to other kinds of businesses just to come back to report on the experience.? We talk about it at staff meetings how we were treated and how it felt. ?We talk about what kind of experience the other business created.

I keep myself educated so I?m not so concerned.? I work very hard to make my business a destination.? People only travel so far for a haircut, but they will travel a lot further for an experience!

One of the local businesses in Ladysmith is called the Old Town Bakery.? It is an amazing business because it consistently delivers an experience and has become a destination. People from all over come to this little town just to experience the bakery!

When there is a poor economy you don?t have to participate.? You can point out problems all around you, but all you get is four fingers pointing right back at you. It?s your choice how you are going to respond.

I?m just relentless about this stuff.? I make inspirational quotes a part of every staff meeting.? And for the last four or five staff meetings every one of those quotes has been about choice.? We can choose.

What?s next for you and for Chopstix?

Renovations.? I really want to create a different feeling to the salon.? I want to emphasize even more strongly the push for customer experience. ?I want an atmosphere that creates motivation for the staff to provide that experience. It all fits together that way: environment, staff, customer experience.

I found the most amazing mirrors for all of the stations in the salon and I?m going to redesign the rest of the salon around them.? I want to do up something really Hollywood glam including a crystal chandelier.

I think an elegant interior like this would be so inspiring for staff, and add so much to the experience of our clientele.

For myself I?ve been focusing on increasingly specializing my training.

I am focusing more these days on providing training towards photo shoots and classes.? I want to be in that highly specialized 10% bracket, rather than just focusing on cuts and colour in general. ??I think there?s a real creative void that this knowledge could fill.? When I?m asked why I have this particular focus [on photo shoots and styling for shows], I think it is because it is both inspiring and yet so practical.? The skills can be used to produce great before and after photographs of clients, improving web sites, and showing versatility in what we do, and for so many different areas in marketing your business.

I have been in the industry for 35 years and I?m not just doing it to raise three children anymore, so I need something to keep me energized! I love photography, and combining these two areas has so many possibilities for staying fresh and doing something exciting.

I know clients feel good that they are working with someone who is on top of things like that.

When the reno?s are all done I want to keep working on elevating my stylists past the point where it?s only about skills and getting an assistant.? I always present to my staff that there is so much more to this profession.? I want them to see that they can slow down and really do something amazing by working at prices where you can really have a great life and even look at partnerships and ownerships. They work so hard, but the vision is not there yet.? I want to help them see what?s possible, that what I have is possible, that?everything?is possible!

Thank you Darlene!

Previous interviews?

- Up At Night: Interviews with Business Owners ? Brody Funk?(The Super Plumber)

? Christina Platt?(Bamboletta Dolls)

??Aaron Bichard?(Green?Entrepreneur, Cowichan Recyclists)

??Wendy Bowen?(Physiotherapist, Start Line Physiotherapy)

??Mark Paetz?(Sign Maker, Marks Instant Sign Shop)

I work with business to redesign their futures. I help them become what their owners first?dreamed them to be? Want more out of?your?business??Contact me.?From my home base on Vancouver Island, I provide planning and coaching support to businesses across Canada.

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