Experienced salon/spa section member Rowena Yeager, owner of Studio Wish Salon & Colour Café in Streetsboro, OH, recently started a networking group for salons and spas in her area called "The Ohio Salon Connection." Here's her take on the importance of networking in this business.

Twenty years ago when I was born into the hairdressing world (on graduation day), I already wanted to be ahead of where I was. I would go to my mentors and ask, "How do I get there?" Whether I wanted to be a platform artist, editorial stylist or hairdresser to the stars, I always heard the same thing. Network, network, network. At the time, I didn't really understand what it would mean to me later in life, but I began getting to know all those I looked up to and longed to learn from.

Developing friendships through PBA on a national level has been one of the most important things I have done to date in my salon owner life. I will never forget the first time I spoke with Domenic Cicala of O'Hair Salon and Spa in Gaithersburg, MD. I called him to talk about non-tipping. After a few questions, Domenic told me that I had bigger problems on my hands with my insane commission payscale and that if I didn't do something about it, I wouldn't have a salon in a few years. That shocked me into reality. With the help of many Listees (listserve participants), lots of networking and looking at several payscale options, I altered my payscale and learned what it meant to become a leader. I took back my salon that was controlling me. I cleaned a little house where needed, added the right people back into the mix and began to feel I finally understood what it meant to be a business owner.

I felt very compelled to begin a local networking group that could become a support system for Ohio salon owners. Having someone close by to call on-to lend an ear, be a shoulder to cry on or simply slap you back to reality when you are about ready to lose it-is heaven sent. When you are down in the trenches and need advice, networking groups will always be your best friend. My goal with this group is to give back whatever I can just as I have received from those who have the same drive and passion for the beauty industry that I do.

We had our first networking "meet and greet" for the "The Ohio Salon Connection" at Studio Wish in February, and it went very well. We had six salons attend, representing a range of experience from new salon owners (less than 3 years) to long-time owners (20 years plus). For the first meeting, we decided to keep things very informal. We each took a moment to introduce ourselves and talked a bit about what we would like to gain from a networking group and what we had to offer to others within the group. Following are some of the issues we discussed:

Workman's Comp. Can a stylist have an injury that is a permanent partial disability and still work while collecting?

Franchising Your Salon. How does it work and what's in it for me?

Employee Issues. Schedules, education, vacation time, walkouts, policies.

Team. How to create a team that really works together. What works, what doesn't. Can you be too large to work as a team and have everyone on the same page with your cultural values?

Cultural Salon Values. What does this mean to our team? How do we establish them? Accountability.

Hiring. What our hiring procedures are-our standards for hiring out of school versus a veteran stylist or salon hopper.

Credit Card Fees. How high are yours? What can we do to get them lower?

Marketing Promotions. Yellow pages are definitely on the out. Websites, direct mail, radio, in salon.

Payroll %. What is a healthy percent? How do you pay your employees?

Stylist Incentives. Bonuses, motivation, prebooking, retailing.

This is just to name a few things that we touched on during our first gathering. We currently have 15 salon owners showing interest in this group and hope that more will be able to attend our next meeting. We are planning to meet every other month, and we will be traveling to each of our locations. Voices are always stronger in numbers. We hope to grow our group in the next few years to be a strong voice for salons at our Ohio State Board as well as a support for each other.

Networking has become a staple for me in running my salon. I feel very blessed to have met such wonderful people and encourage anyone interested in joining or starting a networking group to do so. It will be some of your time best spent.

The Ohio Salon Connection Motto:
"Helping salons grow from the inside out."

Rowena Yeager
Studio Wish Salon & Colour Cafê