About Me

 I am here talking as a salon professional just like you. I have been in the beauty business since 2001, when I became partners with one of my best friends. She owned a 900 sq. ft. beauty shop. Have you ever heard the saying “all things happen for a reason” well, I strongly believe that.

I lost my mother when I was 4 years old. My father passed when I was 6. I grew up with my grandparents who did the best they could, taking in 4 very young children after already raising 9 of their own. My grandpa was an alcoholic and my grandma worked and supported us the best she could. She would take in bums, (as we called them) anyone who needed a place to stay and a hot meal. Unfortunately, she wasn’t always there to protect us. Even during my not so great child hood, I always knew I had an angel watching over me…protecting me.

I’ve always had a strong work ethic. As a young child, I started earning my own way. I started babysitting at the age of 10, that gave me an appreciation for earning my own money. I worked from then on doing numerous jobs, at 15 1/2 I entered a job training program at the local hospital . By my senior year, I had worked in all departments except nursing. My favorite was physical therapy.



I’ve always had a “CAN DO” attitude. A few things come to mind. I was in 7th grade and my Art teacher told me I would NEVER be an artist and to stop trying. However, I went on to get a college scholarship for ART.

At the beginning of my junior year, my grandmother was diagnosed with cancer. I would leave school early to pick up medication for her, I would drop it off before going to work. That made me missing the last class of the day. One day, that teacher said to me…In front of the entire class, “why don’t you just drop out of school and get your GED”. Hmmm, I showed her, I went on to graduate! 🙂

I was told by my salon partner that I would NEVER get someone to sit for a 2 hour pedicure, well I was featured in the NAILS magazine in the October 2015 issue for my 2 hour margarita pedicure!

I was told last year I could not get my program into salons…I needed to just STOP trying! Again, I did not take that advice…here I am here talking to you today. 🙂 Don’t tell me I can’t do something, because I WILL find a way to make it happen! Some call it stubborn, I call it my “CAN DO ATTITUDE”!

 Salon Partnership I did go talk to her staff and I became her partner in 2001. I was a at stay home mom for about 3 years in between. Boy did we make a go of it! We turned her 900 sq ft little barber shop into a BEAUTIFUL 3900 sq ft Salon, Spa and Fitness Center! I ran the fitness center and she ran the salon. As time went on in 2005, I became a Nail Technician. We were having trouble keeping salon staff. So, I said I would become a nail tech, I was like, sure…can’t be that hard! Boy, was I wrong! It took me 8 hours to do my first set of Acrylics at school! I could not believe that client came back time after time until I got it right! 🙂

What I realized, she did not come back time after time for my nails, it was for our conversation! You see, she worked at Fred Meyers in merchandising. She LOVED talking with me and getting ideas for her work. I learned as much from her as she did from me. I LOVED IT!

When I started as a nail tech in our salon, my business grew to full time (6 days a week) in 7 months right out of beauty school!

That was unheard of in our little town. I realized pretty quickly WHY we could not keep salon staff. I will keep this part short….after several conversations with my partner, I realized we did not share the same customer service beliefs. Therefore, we did not complement each other as partners and I left the company. However, while we were partners I did most the marketing for the salon, spa and fitness center. The fitness center is what kept the entire business afloat. We were a booth rental salon and you know what that means…not much income for the business.

I lost my shirt in the partnership, she owned 51% and I did not get much out of it. So, when I went to the other salon in town, I went a with mission! I was going to make that salon successful whether they wanted to be or not. Losing my best friend and partner after all we had created, was devastating for me. I had so much anger and disappointment inside me, I felt like a failure.

That was an eye opener and that afternoon life changed for me! An owner walked up, looked me in the eye and shook her finger in my face. She said “when you realize just how valuable you really are, you will be unstoppable!” and she walked away.

That same day, one of the brothers said to me…”well, are you going to go help other businesses with their marketing OR are you going to just continue doing it FREE for your boss?” WOW, that was harsh! I loved my boss and respected her. I kidded with him and said…Auh, why don’t I just work for you?” I could be your rep on the West coast! And that lead to the next step…

That was an eye opener and that afternoon life changed for me! An owner walked up, looked me in the eye and shook her finger in my face. She said “when you realize just how valuable you really are, you will be unstoppable!” and she walked away.

That same day, one of the brothers said to me…”well, are you going to go help other businesses with their marketing OR are you going to just continue doing it FREE for your boss?” WOW, that was harsh! I loved my boss and respected her. I kidded with him and said…Auh, why don’t I just work for you?” I could be your rep on the West coast! And that lead to the next step…

Tammy

Salon Owner ~ Nail Tech ~ Entrepreneur

PS. THANK YOU to my amazing husband Peter and son’s Tyler and Todd for putting up with me, as I fulfill my GOD DREAM.