Roxanne Loveless Owner of Jackson Harlow Beauty Lounge

When life handed Roxanne Loveless lemons, she made a beauty empire. Sit back as we uncover the riveting tale of Roxanne, a beauty industry maven who transformed her passion into a flourishing full-service beauty lounge. From her roots in salon culture to mentoring the next generation of styling stars, Roxanne's story is a masterclass in resilience and growth. We navigate through her unique approach to team building, ensuring that every piece of feedback becomes a stepping stone for her staff's development, rather than a stumbling block.

Our intimate conversation with Roxanne peels back the curtain on the trials and triumphs that have shaped her both personally and professionally. The candor is palpable as we discuss the poignant reasons behind her brand's name and the challenges that came with rebranding amidst the storm of COVID-19. Roxanne's insights on creating a positive workplace culture resonate deeply, as do her stories of personal transformation, from managing a divorce and co-parenting to spiritual exploration and self-reflection. It's a journey that reminds us of the power of leading with our hearts and the transformative effect it can have on our lives and businesses.

We round off with a candid look at the seismic shifts brought forth by the pandemic, examining how Roxanne adapted her business model to weather the storm. Her pivot to a hybrid booth renting and commission structure is a testament to her strategic acumen and dedication to her team's welfare. As Roxanne shares the highs and lows of navigating government assistance programs and the complexities of maintaining a thriving business, the episode becomes a beacon for entrepreneurs seeking to find balance and hope in the face of adversity. Join us for an episode filled with heart, hard-earned wisdom, and the relentless pursuit of positivity – hallmarks of Roxanne's extraordinary journey.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:30

So yeah, tell me a little bit about the business start.

Speaker 2: 0:33

So I've been in the industry my entire life. My mom was in the industry and so I started out like really young being in salons and everything like that. I didn't know until I was like a teenager that I really wanted to be in this industry. So here I am now and I started with a corporate company and then eventually I ventured on my own and it's been an exciting journey. All of my knowledge and everything that I've learned up to this point has really been like just life experience.

Speaker 1: 1:02

So, in terms of, like the industry, what do you do?

Speaker 2: 1:06

Oh, okay. So industry, beauty industry yeah, so I own a full service beauty lounge. I started out just doing hair and I worked for a corporate company, worked my way through it, did a lot of different positions within the industry and then eventually I opened up my own place, Jackson Harlow, and we started out like just aesthetics and then eventually I merged and put aesthetics and hair and everything under one roof. It just makes it easier on my staff and my clients, our clients, our guests and yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:39

So what do you guys incorporate? The nails, so you know we had nails.

Speaker 2: 1:46

We had nails for a little bit, but it was really on that person wanting to be there, right? So sometimes Jackson Harlow can just be a stepping stone for people where I have been mentoring in this industry for 20 plus years now. It's been a long time. I actually had one of my mentors mention something as she had posted something on Facebook and she was like and Roxanne, da, da, da and like I tagged the timeline and I was like, oh my gosh, I've been doing this for a long time because I had already been doing it a few years before I even had met her.

Speaker 2: 2:21

So that's when I realized I was like yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 2:25

Why do you mentor? Why is that integral into?

Speaker 2: 2:27

your. It's who I am as a person. It's just naturally who I am. I feel like I always want to like help people and people. You know, everybody needs a little guidance and if I can give my knowledge and my experience in life and within this industry to somebody else, then like, why not share it? Why not help the younger generation maybe make less mistakes because they're able to learn from us?

Speaker 1: 2:53

Yeah, do you take that like high expectation into your own environment there at Jackson Harlow in terms of like Absolutely, you know what I mean.

Speaker 2: 3:04

Yeah, like when it comes to hair, like these are all things where it's like you can take a talented person, you can get the expectations from a client, but nonetheless, if you don't have that like detailed eye, yeah, there's definitely high expectations, but at the same time, I'm understanding about the fact that there are newer, younger people coming into industry and you have to start somewhere and you can't learn and you can't improve and evolve unless you make mistakes. That's part of life. So mistakes are a huge lesson and are needed for us. So I'm not hard on people, but I definitely make sure that they're okay with constructive criticism.

Speaker 1: 3:42

Yeah, no, that's good and that's such a good it's hard. I don't know. You tell me the beauty industry do your team members see that as a reflection of themselves? Cause I know in the photography industry you give constructive criticism to somebody. It's very easy for them to internalize that as like oh my gosh, I'm a horrible person, I suck Versus removing yourself from like.

Speaker 2: 4:05

And that's time and experience with dealing like being in a leadership position or dealing with numerous people. You learn that you can't speak and treat like not treat everybody the same, but you can't speak to somebody. The same way you might speak to another person because somebody might be more sensitive, like you want to give them constructive criticism based off of, like you know, respect is huge, but like when you know the person and you kind of just I don't know how to explain it, cause after you've been doing it for so many years you catch on quick to somebody's personality and you're like, oh, this isn't really a talker, or they're more timid, or you just approach the situation as is to make sure that you can make that person feel as comfortable as possible and know that this is a positive thing, it's never a negative thing and, yeah, Say, okay, let's roll flag here for a second.

Speaker 1: 4:55

Yeah, so I am one of your stylists and I just cut someone's hair and you see it. You see that it's not meeting the standards. Cause you've worked with that client before. How would you give me that feedback? Knowing that I'm new, I'm fresh, you had confidence that I would take care of it, but it's not gonna be taken care of. You can see that I'm very sensitive. How would you give me that feel like deliver that feedback to?

Speaker 2: 5:25

me. Okay. So a few things. In this scenario my mind is constantly strategizing life. It's probably it's kind of bad actually, like I'm always scenarios and like how do I damage control, okay, solve the problem. Next let's do this. So a few things you mentioned there. You're an existing client. We have somewhat of a relationship established. This is a newer stylist. They probably know that this is a newer stylist.

Speaker 2: 5:52

I don't know what degree this person like in a sense of like how far along they've cut into the hair at this point and what the person. So it matters. So it's done, it's done. Can we salvage it and can we correct it?

Speaker 2: 6:04

Because the thing about it is I wouldn't put somebody in a position to mess up someone's hair that bad where we couldn't go back and correct it. If there was something that I didn't agree with to my expectations, then it's gonna be something that's slightly off, because I would never put somebody behind the chair to do that to somebody. I would make sure that they were prepared enough to really get by. And if it's just a little correction here, then that's cool. And because I have a relationship with this current client and I'm comfortable enough to approach and be like we have. I don't know our vibe and our shop with all of our clients and guests. It's like it's a hub for like Loudoun County women, where we all just cut up and have conversation, where I could be like I'm just gonna go in here, I'm just gonna refine it and just don't think.

Speaker 1: 6:49

How would you talk to the team member?

Speaker 2: 6:51

How would I talk to a team member? I would just be like, hey, I'm gonna come in, let me show you this. But yeah, I would just go in and be like, can I step in, can I check? And then I would just do it, that's good yeah, I feel like it just comes natural. For me it just comes natural, but literally I would approach and be like I'm just gonna go through and double check, but this looks great. Besides this, you know, yeah that's kind of that's my.

Speaker 1: 7:14

I was just curious.

Speaker 2: 7:15

I just don't wanna let somebody walk out looking crazy.

Speaker 1: 7:18

Yeah, cause I find that a lot of people too, when it comes to, I'm gonna say, our industry cause it's kind of in that creative feel good, we do headshots I would step in similar to how you do it Be like oh my gosh, it looks like I really wanna photograph this person. Do you mind if I grab the camera? Cause I wanna, like, get in there and get some cool shots too. And they'll like, of course, you hear, boss, you know, and so it still keeps that high energy, energy. And then afterwards I would, after the clients gone, be like hey, just FYI, this is why I stepped in, yeah, and they already know why you stepped in and they're probably watching and they should be watching.

Speaker 2: 7:52

That says a lot about your employees, is they? If you're stepping in, it's for a reason. They should know that and they should be paying close attention to what you're doing so that they would that way they can correct themselves as well. If it were a newer client, that's exactly what I would do. I would go in completely in a different situation because I wouldn't want a newer client who's new to this environment and doesn't really know anybody yet to be comfortable enough for me to approach like that. So I would kinda sweep in the same as you in that sense and then we would go from there. But certain staff, you're hiring them based off of their skills and where they're at in their career. So a newer employee that's new to the industry, I should say they know that we're going to work a little bit closer with each other versus somebody who's more established and has been doing it for many years. Everybody kind of knows their role.

Speaker 1: 8:48

Yeah, no, that's good. I always try to learn as much as I can from my guests.

Speaker 2: 8:52

so that's why I'm yeah, I know, and I think that's the best way to do it. Again, it's working with people. You know how to approach every situation and although you might approach the situation a little similar, it's always going to be different with each person.

Speaker 1: 9:07

That's the hard thing with training, I find too. As I'm trying to train my team is giving them enough scenarios but also telling them it's not going to be the same thing, it'll be a little twist. You've got to be able to navigate it on your feet and understand kind of the basis around how you would approach different situations, because things will always be a little bit different. I can say, if this happens, do this, but this thing will never happen. It'll always be a twist to it.

Speaker 2: 9:37

Experience is everything and anything you do experiences everything, and as you continue to experience different things in life, you're going to always learn which way you can approach it better. To this day, nobody's perfect and to this day, I still learn things every day. I tell my staff as well. I'm not knocking them just because they're newer to the industry. Education is constantly evolving and changing. Things are done differently now than they were back then when we were doing it. I'm always open to learning and I let them know I'm human. There's going to be times where I make a decision or I do something where I'm like oh, I need to reel myself in and I need to correct this because this isn't so great or I know I can be better than this. I have to hold myself accountable, but also teach me some things too, because you might cross things that I haven't come across, and I would love for you to share that with me, just as much as I'm giving you constructive criticism and sharing things with you.

Speaker 1: 10:37

Yeah, I love that open type of engagement.

Speaker 2: 10:40

Yeah everybody can always make improvements to be better in all aspects of life. You know what I mean. I'm 100% in terms of marketing oh glad, but also being happy with yourself.

Speaker 1: 10:50

That's right. I just put that out there. In terms of marketing, how do you approach that? Because your studio is a studio Beauty Lounge Lounge yeah, you got to use the right word there. So your beauty lounge, like how it's very popular in our area, always referred recommended. How have you built it into that?

Speaker 2: 11:16

So I started out as Lashes by Ricky Vox, where we were just aesthetics, and then I did hair on the side and it was completely separate, and then eventually, in 2019, I merged the two together, calling it Jackson Harlow. So Jackson is my oldest daughter's name and Harlow is my youngest daughter's middle name, so that's where Jackson Harlow came from. Thank you, yeah, you know they're the most important things to me in this world. So I'm like, of course, I'll name it this so don't have any more kids. Oh no, I'm done. I am absolutely done.

Speaker 1: 11:53

How long have we known each other?

Speaker 2: 11:54

That's a valid straight no I am done, girl, we are done, we are full force business retirement Close. Yeah, we're coming to the end. Yeah, so definitely done. But yeah, so, jackson Harlow I started it and I don't know things have changed. Your social media is huge now, so marketing, you know, having to switch over Ricky Vox to Jackson Harlow a lot of people didn't realize that there was a transition there and I transitioned it into Jackson Harlow for numerous reasons, but eventually people caught on that Jackson Harlow was affiliated with Ricky Vox because Ricky Vox was the first exclusive lash line to facility to open in Loudoun County. You know Vicky and I I don't know. You know Vicky, right, so Vicky of Salon V. So we were business partners for lashes by Ricky Vox and it was the first place in this area. So we really grew something amazing. But by the end of Ricky Vox, when it was time to renew, we decided that we were going to go separate ways and we're still great friends. I actually just talked to her this morning.

Speaker 2: 13:04

I told her I was like I'm going to see Aliyah today. I was telling her about it, but yeah, so she has Salon V. She's doing great there. And then I have Jackson Harlow and yeah, it's been good, but marketing is different, Like we're having to change a lot during these times, not to mention most of the majority of the first half or the start of Jackson Harlow has been during COVID. So I had to really adjust and change marketing.

Speaker 2: 13:35

During COVID Everything changed. We were shut down for like three months. I had a ton of products. I had just money sitting, just money sitting, but also money going out because I still had to pay for my space. So marketing during that time was during, like I called it, quarantine kits. You have to get savvy and fun and then figure out what people's needs are and just adjust to it. And right now everything is social media. So doing social media, word of mouth, like supportive guests, supportive friends and family that's really what counts and matters. And we're on the fourth floor. We have like about half the fourth floor on an office building, so it's not like we're in a retail area where people are walking by. We're really kind of that hidden gem where you hear about us and you come in and say yeah, you're driving your own traffic and they're not walking by.

Speaker 1: 14:29

In terms of like. Personality wise, are you more of a personality driven business when it comes to how you're like on social media in person? You said friends and family, supportive friends and family. Is that where you see a lot of your clientele coming from?

Speaker 2: 14:46

Yeah, absolutely. It's word of mouth and social media, for sure. Google, you know everything is just internet based right now, but a lot of it has to do with I don't just hire people because of their skills only.

Speaker 1: 15:02

I hire, that's to be a local influencer. What did you say? So they have to be a local influencer?

Speaker 2: 15:05

No, they have to be a good person, they have to have good energy, they have to have good person, like be a good person because that says a lot for the people that you're bringing into your space. Like I'm big on energy and high vibrations, being positive, like not sitting on the negative, not saying that we don't all have mental health days.

Speaker 1: 15:32

We call them mental health days.

Speaker 2: 15:34

I rather somebody say hey, rexanne, I need the day off, I just need a mental health day. I need a day where I just need to like I'm just having a day.

Speaker 1: 15:43

So those days are turned into weeks and then months? No, because I think that they took that day.

Speaker 2: 15:47

Yeah, well yeah, and it can for some people, you know, because it's real. But that's why it's important for you to have quality of life as much as like being successful. And running a successful business is taking consideration of quality of life not only for yourself, for other people, and that you don't have to call sick. Like I said, you can just be like, hey, I need a day and be like, okay, cool, as long as you're responsible going about it. You know what I mean In a sense of rescheduling clients, being accommodating, being considerate of others as well, like you can do all those things and still take a day for yourself. So I'm big on that. But I think that runs a successful business. And also, like I said, I'm big on energy, in a sense of I'm not hiring just anybody just because they're great at what they do. I need somebody who's going to be a good person and not bring in bad energy. And You're like you start holding your eye, yeah yeah no, for sure.

Speaker 1: 16:49

How do you know somebody's a good person Do? You need me in their space for a while. Can you tell right off the bat?

Speaker 2: 16:56

I'm still getting better. I mean, I feel like being able to notice right away.

Speaker 1: 17:01

Yeah, yeah. Like you're looking higher somebody. How do you do that?

Speaker 2: 17:05

I'm just I'm getting better at that. I wasn't so great at that before I had to experience it, I suck At it.

Speaker 1: 17:09

Yeah, I suck, I suck At it, I suck, I suck, I suck. Obviously, I like the people that are here. That's why they're still here, but I've made a lot of not great hires because I didn't pay attention to that gut reaction. So that's why I'm asking, because I want to learn how do you.

Speaker 2: 17:24

Yeah, no, it's a work in progress, for sure, and I think it goes back to boundaries. We have to set boundaries for ourselves. I want to see everybody win. I want to see the best in people. I want to be like, okay, let's do this.

Speaker 2: 17:39

And because I'm that person and I want to give chances and I want everybody to win and I want to pour out for them, I'm missing and not noticing certain things that I should be noticing in a sense of like this isn't going to be good, this person's not a good fit for this place, and I need to just know that.

Speaker 2: 18:02

I saw this saying where it's like you can want everybody to eat, but that doesn't mean you have to make their plate for them. Yeah, and I have to learn that and I've gotten so much better at it and I've gotten better at like when, immediately, when I notice that it's not going to work out or personalities might not be the right fit for my space, I'm quicker to address the issue versus sitting on it for too long and then getting burned. That's right. I hate to say that. I hate to say that, but that's like the reality of it, you know, and one person can really throw off the vibe of your entire space, you know, and I want a place where people feel happy and feel like it's a getaway, like we always say, like use work and because we're all really different personalities but we're pretty close and we're like a sorority house basically. You know, men are welcome too, but right now it is all women.

Speaker 2: 19:03

It's all women right now and so I say sorority house, but we're all different personalities, different ethnicity, we're just a little mixing bowl of the spot and because we're like sisters and we're like family, we spend a lot of time together. You know, we have the ups and downs and it really like, you know, it depends on what's going on in each individual's life and stuff like that. But we try to use the space as time to decompress and let go of anything that's going on, you know, in your personal life. Come in and use this time to just chill and have great conversations and just, you know, just be in a happy, good place. You know, and that's what I think my staff and the clients you know really enjoy the most is you can feel the energy when you walk in. So making sure that I'm calling out, not calling out but I'm removing anything that really doesn't feel like belongs is important, and I have to do it sooner rather than later, because sometimes it takes a little time to mend things back.

Speaker 1: 20:06

Yeah, yeah, I have to. I've caught myself doing like having to remove myself, sometimes because of a personal challenge or issue that I've got going on at home, and then I know that if I bring that into the workspace, I really do believe that energy is so big that, you know, everyone else is going to be able to feel it. I might come and be like hey guys, how are you? But then there's like little things that will you just know.

Speaker 2: 20:34

Yeah, you're intuitive, you know.

Speaker 1: 20:36

Well, another people will know too, we're something similar.

Speaker 2: 20:38

Yeah, but I guess you kind of have to be. When you're in leadership and you're dealing with people, you know you, you pick up on people's energy and again, not everybody's an energy person or whatnot.

Speaker 1: 20:48

How'd you get into that, by the way?

Speaker 2: 20:52

You know, during COVID I had a lot of time to reflect. I had a lot of change in my life you know I be so I ended up getting separated and right at the end of COVID, so that's when, like, my separation from my divorce started. And we are, we're great at co-parenting, we have a great relationship, like it's it's been. Actually it's been a pretty good you know, considering it's divorce, like I can say that we're on good terms and it feels good, because you always want to choose peace if you can in life, you know. So I'm glad that my ex-husband and I are in a good place. You're still getting used to saying that? Huh, I said, are you still getting used to saying that I kind of, yeah, like I'm really keeping it real with you guys right now on here.

Speaker 2: 21:36

But yeah, during COVID I ended up being alone and I started reflecting a lot and I had to really do some inner work with myself and, not to mention, it was COVID, so you couldn't go anywhere, so you were really forced to say it. You were distracted by in your feelings, yeah, so I, I sat in my feelings and I've always been religious and spiritual. I was raised Catholic, I have gone to Christian churches. I you know love doing. You know the energy and the healing work of like. You know manifestation and meditating as well. I started taking these classes at the shock heat rising and I guess, sterling or hernedin, but I really kind of got to tap into a different place and learn a little bit more, like within Um. But you know, I believe that there is a higher power and that there's a God and praying is important and um manifesting is important and really trying to stay as positive as possible. So I just kind of take from everything and um, I'm running with it.

Speaker 1: 22:42

I'm running with it.

Speaker 2: 22:43

So, like I'm not like just one thing, I'm just a ball of all of it, I'm just a ball of all of it, but yeah, but yeah. Manifestation is huge for me, you know, really staying positive, really trying to keep your energy, like you know, and vibrate high and like literally vibrating, as you're saying.

Speaker 1: 23:01

Now you're like yeah.

Speaker 2: 23:03

And prayers. Yeah, yeah, you can't stop praying. You know, trust the process, put in the work and pray on it.

Speaker 1: 23:10

I love that Hallelujah, I haven't seen. I went into the Beauty Lounge. Was it the Beauty Lounge when you had tanning, the spray tanning? We still have spray tanning. Okay, yes we I was sure you switched it up already by then, or not?

Speaker 2: 23:25

Yeah, so we're still doing it, but the brand is different. It's been different for a long time. Okay, okay, okay, cool.

Speaker 1: 23:30

Yeah, so yeah, I have to come and see the actual updated.

Speaker 2: 23:35

Oh, it's in a completely different space. Yeah, it's, I love my space.

Speaker 1: 23:40

I know just listening to you talk about all this I'm like I'm sure that's reflected in her space as well.

Speaker 2: 23:44

Yeah, so we were going to. I was actually looking at new spaces. I looked at so many new spaces in Loudoun County and I was kind of like entertaining verifax. Everything I liked wasn't available. It was listed and we would go look at it and they'll be like, oh yeah, it's not available, or it was already fitted for a kitchen and et cetera. So anything I wanted was either not available or like the cost of it was insane and I was like that's just not doable. Again, keeping it real as a business owner, you know what I mean Like doing the numbers and the projections. Real estate around here is expensive.

Speaker 1: 24:20

It's expensive.

Speaker 2: 24:21

it's tough, you know what I mean. And I just didn't like anything and I felt like, if we were going to make this move, I'm making it to be better. I want the space to be better. So, yeah, that wasn't going to happen. My space is amazing. I love my space. So I couldn't find anything where I was like really confident, like, oh, if I move this to this location, it's going to be better. I'm like, no, it's not. Why would I downgrade? So I have windows all the way around the space.

Speaker 1: 24:51

So natural lighting is huge for me.

Speaker 2: 24:53

I once was in a space where, like I didn't have any windows and I'm busy, like I go in, like when I go in, I go in and I don't leave until like nighttime. So when there's that time change and it's dark when you go in and dark when you leave.

Speaker 2: 25:08

Oh my gosh, after a couple of years, that's depressing. That is depressing. So I knew when I got this space, like what I was looking for in a spot, I was like I want windows, Windows, natural lighting. I want to see the seasons change, I want to see what's going on down there. There's a lot going on down there Let me tell you it's fun. The girls and I tend to watch out the window. People watch. Oh yeah, we're people watching. It's crazy how people are parking these days. I'm probably one of those.

Speaker 2: 25:37

I'm actually one of those sometimes too, but like some of it's just like really, come on now, like that's pretty bad, like I'm bad, but that is bad. But yeah, no, I love my space. So the windows are everything. We're just going to do some revisions. We have. I had built it out with plans to expand, so I had already kind of set up the space to expand and so we're going to stay and we're doing some things right now. But yeah, the windows are everything. But I love my space and it's very eclectic. My style is very artsy and eclectic, but I also am organic and neutral. I need to come see it, it's like.

Speaker 1: 26:17

It's like it's just the you know Kind of the inside, the way you're talking about you're just a you know you take from this, yeah, take from this, and take from this.

Speaker 2: 26:27

And it all ties in together somehow. You know what I mean. Like I love a style, that's like I love different. Yeah, I like different, like I always notice, like different things and and I think that's what sets people apart from each other it's like just be you, you know, and apply what you really like, because it's easy to fall into the tracks of what's trending and what everybody's doing. Like you can do what's trending, but put a little twist on it.

Speaker 1: 26:56

Yeah, do it the way you want to do it. Yeah, in terms of like hardships or growth journeys like what's what would you say has been the hardest thing about your journey so far.

Speaker 2: 27:09

COVID was so hard. Yeah, covid was scary, it was hard. It really made you think like, like, okay, what can I do? Like what? Like I mean, that just changed up. Either people really thrived during COVID or people were just maintaining, you know, and so maintaining it was, but mentally, emotionally, physically, that was hard being a business owner's, because that's all you have, you know, and I was so.

Speaker 1: 27:35

So like your baby is like on life support during that time.

Speaker 2: 27:38

Yeah, and also the fact that like I feel like for me as a boss and as a leader, as a boss and a leader, I'm just a caring person, so like I really lead and me in, just like go through life, like I go through, like with my heart. So that's why I reason like. Another reason why I have to be like very particular about who I deal with and I'm setting boundaries and I'm working on being really good about that, is because you know I have to. I can't be that person for everybody, because I have these intentions but not everybody else does, and I've seen that and it's unfortunate, but it is what it is. So but anyways, with that being said, I had a team of people that were out of work as well and I'm leading us, and so I felt responsible leading, you know, I think at the time it was maybe 15 or so like people so, and they have families, you know, some of them were younger and no kids, no husband, some, you know. But then there were people that were single moms, had families, et cetera. So I felt responsible for not only worrying about myself and my kids and taking care of us, but taking care of them and their family. So every decision I made wasn't just for myself, it was for my entire team when it came down to insurance and their unemployment, because people were getting unemployment.

Speaker 2: 29:11

During COVID they were offering grants business grants, ppe. There were a lot of things that they were offering at this time and, as a business owner, you making certain decisions will affect everybody else, and so I had to think about other people. So it was like very overwhelming for me and stressful to like. I'm always that person, but in that time everybody was like kind of lost and you didn't know what was gonna happen. And you know, it got to the point.

Speaker 2: 29:44

After a while I stopped watching you know the conferences and the announcements because I was like I'm just gonna wait and recap it later, because it was like it got like I don't even know how many times he did a press release. You know what I mean? I didn't watch anything at all. Yeah, people waiting to see like am I gonna be able to open my business back up? Like what's going on? You know, eventually, after like the second or third, I'm like I'm not watching through this, I'm just gonna look it up afterwards. And eventually we opened back up. But that was a tough time it was. You really had to adjust your hustle.

Speaker 1: 30:14

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 30:15

You know, like I just claimed press for my business. I just I stayed open the whole time, yeah, because I'm very much. I never watched the news except for now, but previously I've never watched the news, like ever. Yeah, so I didn't even know. Like I'm like, are you allowed to? And like, why not? We've got masks on, we'll keep ourselves. You know? Spaced enough. What is it? Six feet away? We're good. Yeah, and it's like my biggest learning lesson from that whole time period is like you have to take into account, like, what's happening, but also like don't base all your decisions off of entities or groups that have no idea how you operate, or don't just follow the trends of what everybody else is doing.

Speaker 2: 31:04

Yeah, well, it was also hard, because you also need to respect other people you know, 100% and try to continue to respect people along the way, and that everybody was gonna make their own decisions and stand on what they believed, because people did have different opinions. As far as like, are you going to get the vaccination? Are you not going to get?

Speaker 1: 31:22

the vaccination.

Speaker 2: 31:24

Are you like some people took it so serious and didn't leave the house at all, like I mean at that time, anything it was like anything goes.

Speaker 1: 31:32

Yeah, so do. We have a team.

Speaker 2: 31:33

Yeah, and I always say you're damned if you do or if you don't. You know it's always going to be the lesser two evils. So which is less? You know and be respectful when you move. And that was just one of those things. And we legally could not open. Yeah, I know you're a sister and I didn't trust to like. I just I didn't trust to open and know for sure that there wasn't gonna be any problems. You know what I mean. Just because there is so many people and traffic, I just didn't want any problems. But it was very contradicting because they said that we were able to go to people's homes and perform services but not open up the shop and perform services, and I thought that was that's very contradicting, because you're sending somebody into somebody's household. Yeah, I think that's more dangerous than coming into a facility where it could be way more controlled, Sanitized, cleaned, controlled yeah.

Speaker 2: 32:26

Exactly, sanitized, clean the amount of people in there, and eventually that's what they ended up doing. Right, when we reopened, we could only have, you know, there was a capacity limit, you know, and then you had to have boards up, et cetera. I remember when we were all trying to I mean, I call them lunch lady gloves because you couldn't get gloves back Like back during COVID, you could not get gloves. So before COVID, like before, I was worried that the borders were gonna shut down. So before COVID got like really bad, and they really shut things down, I did a huge color order because we expedite our product from Italy and I did a huge order because I was like I need to make sure. I didn't know what was gonna happen. So I'm like I need to make sure that we're ready to go when the door is open. So I ordered a bunch of color, could not get gloves, so I called them the lunch lady gloves. They're literally food preparation gloves. I think we just used our last box.

Speaker 1: 33:20

Well, the last.

Speaker 2: 33:21

Last week I really was the only one using them Like cause. Eventually, once we were able to get like real gloves for coloring and stuff, I ordered those. But I was like these aren't going to waste. Like some of the, I'll use them. But yeah, it's taken us this long to go through this because that's all you could get then.

Speaker 1: 33:35

So Well, the scary part, though, is just like there was, you know and that's just a good metaphor for business in general it's like there's always gonna be things that are slung in front of you, whether it's team related or, you know, out of your control, with what happened during the COVID times. Yeah, but yeah, it's like you've got to make the best judgments, not just for you, but also for your team, in terms of how are you going to navigate the ship forward, and you know some people ship got shipwrecked and they sunk, and you know they found another vote to jump on, but then there's other people that Well and a lot and you know, a lot of people found themselves that, yeah, a lot of people found themselves.

Speaker 2: 34:15

During COVID I definitely had booth-running is a big thing and has become a big thing, has become a, you know, an option to stylists and specialists and people here where they can be their own.

Speaker 2: 34:31

They can be their own business, they can be their, you know, self-employed. And during COVID I think that showed a lot of people and gave people the courage to be confident enough to make that leap. So after COVID, a lot of people ended up going booth-running and starting their own business and just kind of being self-employed, and that was a shift in change as well. I also shifted my business strategy at that time as well, where I was just commissioned and then when we reopened, I became booth-running and commissioned, so that way I could teach people how to run a business. But also they didn't have to completely up and leave the space to go somewhere else, because every time you move you're compromising 10% of your clientele, being lost along the way. So not only do they get to stay comfortable and still do their own thing, they lack. Having to not lack, they don't have to lose clients along the way, it just makes sense.

Speaker 1: 35:36

Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, that totally makes sense and it's nice because you almost have a graduation program that's still staying within the yeah, I just want to give people that option, so like, and some people still want their own space.

Speaker 2: 35:46

You know what I mean. Sometimes my space is not their space, and that's okay. But I want to give people the option to be able to grow in any direction, and it's cool. Do what you need to do for yourself. But I'm going back to COVID you know that was like a thing and then making sure that I was taking care of everybody along the way too.

Speaker 1: 36:06

So it helps you grow as a leader. When you have to, you know, not just focus on yourself.

Speaker 2: 36:12

Well, and even with the PPE loan, like, and these things that they were giving out during COVID I spoke to lawyers during that time. So some of these things I didn't take advantage of because my biggest question was like, so once we've done this, and what happens afterwards? Like once you take the PPE, like, oh, you take all this stuff, what's going to happen after this? Because they didn't tell us what comes, that'll be new. They I don't think they knew either. And the lawyers were like that's a great question, Roxanne, we'll look into that. Came back, we don't know. They didn't know there were no answers. So we were blindly accepting this stuff, like you know not people were blindly accepting the PPE, et cetera. Would I have done things differently? Absolutely, but we were accepting things blindly, not knowing what the outcome's gonna be once we got back to real life. And that was a little bit scary because I was like I don't want any penalties, I don't want anything, you know, because nothing's for free.

Speaker 2: 37:10

Yeah, nothing's for free, Well so the you're talking about the PPP loan. Yeah, all of the government. Everything the government was rolling out.

Speaker 1: 37:17

You know what I mean Do you regret not taking it now, though, so many years after I do Okay, I was gonna say because, yeah, because we definitely tapped into that.

Speaker 2: 37:24

I did yeah.

Speaker 1: 37:26

Part, because there was a few months that we had to. Yeah, there were a lot of stipulations, you had to prove all the things and I was very like hesitant. For us it wasn't that much, but it definitely helped, you know.

Speaker 2: 37:39

Yeah, yeah, no, it definitely helped, but at the time they didn't have an answer to what happens afterwards and I was like I can't my anxiety can't help it.

Speaker 1: 37:48

Yeah, that's a healthy fear, because I know I was like, okay, what am I selling my? You know, this little bit of change for me.

Speaker 2: 37:56

And I guess maybe they had so much going on that they just left it as is. So if I could go back, would I do it, Absolutely I would.

Speaker 1: 38:05

But hopefully that doesn't.

Speaker 2: 38:06

But my staff was getting unemployment and it. Had I gotten the PPE loan, they would have gotten received less than unemployment, so I wanted to make sure that they were getting the most that they could get. And there were stipulations on the PPE loan where you had to use like 80% of it towards payroll and then the rest of it you could use towards whatever.

Speaker 2: 38:27

I think it was 80, 20. For 20. And at the time I was just like and like, if I think back to it and I see what the outcome has been since then, I absolutely would have taken it and I would have made sure that, like my staff, I went to payroll for my staff and then they would have been unemployment was like forever long, so then they would have just jumped back on unemployment. So yeah, but I at the moment I was making the best decision as a business owner for my people and as a business owner for my pocket, cause I was like, oh, I don't, I don't. What are the penalties? What? What's going to happen? How am I going to get hit on taxes? Yeah, we had no clue. And my lawyers were like, yeah, yeah, we don't know. And I was like, all right, it's like a gamble, it is a gamble and I should have gambled.

Speaker 1: 39:18

Well, I was going to say I wouldn't say, well, now you know, because it could always change and hopefully we're not in any type of circumstances, I think.

Speaker 2: 39:25

I think everybody's out of the works on that. So, yes, I absolutely should have gambled.

Speaker 1: 39:32

So, in terms of just kind of wrapping this up, do you have a specific message that if you could give the world that you would say?

Speaker 2: 39:40

Oh gosh, so many things. My biggest one right now is you can choose peace or chaos, you can go left or right, you know, and it's your decision, and the decisions that we make for ourselves and for people affect every step of the way. So I would just be positive and have boundaries. Boundaries are huge and that's okay to have boundaries and I don't know like. I guess, just do what you love and lead with your heart and you know, care, care about people, use your platform to give back, even if it burns you sometimes.

Speaker 2: 40:21

No, not even if it burns you sometimes. Just continue doing it, but the thing like no, like I would not want to like openly be like. I know this is gonna burn me, but I'm still gonna do it.

Speaker 1: 40:33

But it's not meaning, meaning, knowing that sometimes it will burn you to lead with your heart oh yeah, that's human nature Care and still do it.

Speaker 2: 40:42

Yeah, well, you can't be scared. Don't be scared, that's a good one. Don't be scared to move forward. And yeah, you're gonna get burned and things are gonna happen. Life is gonna be lifeing and we adjust.

Speaker 1: 40:56

Life is gonna be lifeing.

Speaker 2: 40:57

Yeah, life is lifeing and we're gonna adjust to it and you're gonna be okay, you know, but just be a good person and just lead like that. But yeah, things are gonna happen and you'll be okay, you're gonna deal with it. And we're still gonna get burned, but I'm not purposely going to go into getting burned.

Speaker 1: 41:16

You're like no, look at you, idiot, I'm not gonna go into it knowing.

Speaker 2: 41:20

I'm like, no, like if I knowingly I'm going to get, no, I'm not, I'm out, I'm out, I'm done. I've been doing this for way too long. I am not doing it anymore. But yeah, it's gonna happen sometimes because it's who I am as a person. I, you know, I love hard, so in all aspects of things I do, so it's gonna happen for sure. But I think I've come a long way where it's more controlled. Now it's happening less, but yeah, I'm still lifeing now, yeah, still lifeing.

Speaker 2: 41:53

You don't have a choice, right. We just we're just going with it and just know that in every moment there's a positive. There's a positive in every moment, you know. So, even when you're having tough days, stop and think about like the positive and apply that, because you can find something good in everything.

Speaker 1: 42:16

Thank you so much for being on the show. That was a perfect ending, thanks, thank you.