Christmas elves...

In my next life, I want to be one of Santa's elves. For real.

Well as I am typing this, it's silly, everyone can be a little elf! There are lots of things you & I can do. I know people, tons of people that I love and think the world of. I have always admired nice people and selfless people. They make the world go around. I have nice and kind people all around me, woven through my life. It makes me feel rich in friends and the quality of them! I'm grateful and will always be grateful!
Okay so let me explain why I am posting about Christmas elves and secret missions. It's all very exciting and I almost missed the boat on that. I was told by one of the front desk girls, who was very excited to tell me btw, that someone who read our blog had been inspired by one of our posts about random acts of kindness. She had told me that this person had a friend who had something very sad happen in her life. She wanted to surprise her with a secret elf presents for her and her family. She chose Bijou to be her present. I was so touched when I heard just those details. And we were all excited to be a part of this random act of kindness/secret elf mission.

Then things got busy. Can I just say an amen to my front desk girls. Oh my, they are the backbone of our salon. They really work hard at keeping things running smooth. Our front desk girl took care of it immediately and felt good to be a part of it. Me too!

Then I was lucky. This person (the Christmas elf, doing Xmas magic) reached out in email to me, (probably the best way, because when I read my emails, I am home relaxing and my head is clear(ish:) She told me the whole story and knew I would want to do something. She was right, I certainly do. And what an angel on earth to think of something to do, we all do that, we all have great intentions. But to actually follow through, at this busy time of the year. Well that is heartwarming.

In 2012, my friends here and friends from far, friends I know really well and friends I don't know too well. All of them have inspired me to always act on my thoughts of random acts of kindness. Do! Not just think. Do!

2012 will be a great year, people are good. Sure there are stinkers out there, but good still outweighs the stinkers:) Angels are everywhere, this I know to be true:)

Marketing, making sense of it!

I have a secret weapon.

And you know what? Because I share really well, am a nice person and it makes me super happy to help people! While, I have definitely helped people in the past and somewhat regretted it..nah, not really, because I try not to have regrets and just learn from the "mistakes" I've made. What is a world without making mistakes? Okay, yes, it's late, I digress when I am sleepy!

Okay so marketing. I had a friend who went to college for marketing, I remember asking her if it was fun. IT SOUNDED SO BORING! I remember thinking the only benefit would be working for a big company and being able to wear a suit. What can I say? Suits in the early 90's were cool, especially hounds tooth...Okaaay, digressing...

SO marketing, when I first started my business and even in businesses that I worked for before, I always had ideas and would tell them. Even offer to do them for the owners, eh, but nobody really was interested. Maybe I was bad at pitching them or they just didn't want me helping, I have no idea. BUT obviously, I should say a little thank you to my guardian angel watching over me that they tossed my ideas aside. Or else this little blog may be named something else..it's all about everything happening for a reason! (yes, I know I'm beginning to digress. Believe it or not, I really am trying very hard to stay on track:)

Okay, so I just went about promoting my business in ways that would make me myself look at other businesses. I am good at observing, I do pay attention, I'm creative, I genuinely care, I have passion and I have a wicked good memory. ALL very helpful traits for a good marketing person!

I remember the first full year of opening my business, I started right away with my blog (here was the very first post) and internet researching. These things I enjoyed and found to be fascinating. Guess what, I had NO freaking idea that I was marketing my salon. No clue, I was just doing. Someone actually had to say to me, "You are really good at marketing your salon", for me to realize..OH, I was marketing? Well thank you, (still scratching my head, thinking..marketing is fun??) So, Without a lot of intent, I just did what felt right. I only did what I enjoyed and I have to say, I LOVE marketing. I would market other people for free. WELL I do, things that I LOVE, I could convince everyone and anyone to go there, use them, buy that..you name it.

So are you wondering what my secret weapon for 2012 will be, gosh should I tell? Hehe, yes of course I will...It's my marketing BFF!

Oh and guess what, she also inspires me to blog, it's like magic, I'm mentioned in her blog. And the little voice (who coincidentally speaks with an accent:) in my head (Oh please, we all have them..right?;) Says..blog blog blog. But seriously, don't all good friends do that. My closest friends that I hold dear, they inspire me, I know I have inspired them, that's what real friends do. Even friends that you have never met. The girl who named my shop..never met her in real life, we just were blogging friends, I knew she was creative, we talked about books, I consider her a friend. My favorite editor in chief...never met her (BUT I WILL BE SOON:), but consider her a friend. Sigh, yes different from years ago, this whole internet world has changed many things, but embrace it. Everything happens for a reason, ya know!? ;)

HUGE NEWS!

Do you remember when we won a salon of distinction in the Salon of the Year competition? OMG, I do, what an honor and achievement. It's based on the decor of your salon. I still can't believe we won, what a dream, what a great feeling, what an honor...I can't tell you how grateful we all felt!

Well you remember me saying on Facebook that I was entering the Salon Today top 200 competition? It all happened so fast because, the years that it is judged are not current years, and you enter the competition the year before the competition runs. And like I said you are judged on prior years. SO this year it was judged from 2009 and 2010, you enter in 2011 and the competition is announced as ST 200 2012. Can you see how easily I got all jumbled, when it was time to actually enter.

WHICH is why I almost missed the deadline!! YEP, I almost totally missed it. It was to be postmarked the next day, and I read this at 10pm, ran to the salon and started the reports I needed. OH and essays, I started writing essays while the reports were printing, I was frantic.

Do you remember when I wrote THIS? Well I remembered one thing that my favorite editor in chief said at that time...She asked me if I needed more time, because my photos were being process for Salon of the year, literally the day before the postmarked date. She said, "Some other salons needed extensions, so if you need an extra couple of days, I can do that for you." I didn't need it then for Salon of the Year. BUT I needed it now!! I took a leap of faith and emailed her and facebooked her! I kept telling myself, the answer will be NO! if I don't ask that is for sure, and it could be NO! if I do ask, but it could be YES! too. WHY take that chance!? Always ask, you just never know! She responded by telling me to go to bed tonight and that I could have a few days extension.

We worked our butt's off the next couple days, and got it in! I was SUPER happy with our essays. Thomas edited all my ramblings and since he knows me so well, knew exactly what I was trying to say. We are such a good team!!!! I couldn't accomplish anything without him in my life! We entered several different categories; Customer service, marketing, advanced education and technology to name a few. SO now we just had to WAIT...for this...



When I got the letter, it was in a plain white envelope. My mail lady (you have to love a small town, she knew we were waiting for this..so brought it to me at my chair) handed it to me and I put one finger in the envelope and then stopped. I remembered that the first year I opened Bijou, I had entered Salon of the year. I received a white envelope the same as this one and inside it said. Thank you for entering, we regret to inform you that you have not placed. BUT when we won the salon of distinction I remember getting a huge gold envelope. SO, I told the girls, I'm not crying in front of clients. I'll wait..

The girls grabbed the envelope and held it under the light, sneaky girls! They encouraged me to open it with them in the quiet room. And since I know how protective they are of me, I trusted they knew it was maybe ok... We screamed. We won!!!

We will know what categories we placed in when the magazine comes out in January. Can't wait! SO grateful! Life in 2012 is going to be GRANDE!

Other blogs...

I love people who blog. What did we all do without them? I find them so informative, it's like a friend sharing an idea or an experience with you. I always love a good story!

It's fun to be featured in other blogs. It's usually people I know, but a few times, it's been complete strangers. When you blog, it's a big deal:)

We had someone come into the shop the other day, I didn't get to see them, so I was unaware who it was. The girls brought back this candy jar and on it said 'courtesy of a random act of kindness'.

What I love more than blogs and people who blog...IS RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS!! Oh and paying it forward..and Karma! I love all those things. They govern my life, they should govern everyone's lives..it will be more peaceful and kind! In this town, I witness everyday examples of paying it forward and random acts of kindness. In my home I see them, in my business I see them. I see them everywhere. Sometimes I see not nice things too, but then I see Karma, because almost always, what comes around goes around! Anyway, I digress.

SO on to where Bijou was spotted!

One of our creative genius types that come into the salon, who I love to share APP joy with. She also has a blog, it's very informative with the right amount of fluff. I LOVE that!

Read HERE and HERE! (remember click on the highlighted posts and it should zoom you there, for those that only read this blog by email, I'm not certain it works like that here, BUT if you click on the bottom of this email onto the highlighted name of the blog, it will also take you to the actual blog, you should hear music when you do this..not like angels singing, but real music;)

We were also featured HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE! (the one I didn't know personally...yet;)

Maybe you'll find a love for blogs too, that is, if you don't already love them:)