NOLA and ST200 top fastest growing salon in North America

Winning ST 200 was an amazing experience. Visiting NOLA to receive the award and attend the Serious Business Conference was very exciting! The four days we spent learning new business practices were days well spent! And we ate really good food:)

New Orleans is a very INTERESTING city. The culture is...interesting and diverse! We took it all in, everything that was there we tried to experience it. But we also are setting our sites at going back next year to receive another award!

The highlight for me? Other than spending it with my beloved new froggy husband? Meeting the most amazing woman in this industry. A person that is so lovely...ugh that is just not enough of a description....My best explanation is this, you know how in Ugly Betty there is the character Wilhelmina Slater? And in The devil wears prada, there is Miranda Priestly! Well they are both editor in chiefs of major magazines and they are...SCARY! Maybe just because of those movies, do I have a preconceived notion of what an editor in chief should look and act like. But can you blame me?

Well my favorite editor in chief, and the only editor in chief that I know...Is nothing of the sort. She gives her time to the people who read her. Honestly the main fuel in why I wanted and needed to go to NOLA, was to meet her. I hope that other people get the experience of meeting someone in their industry that they admire and are so grateful for the job they do and I hope they meet your expectations. I had her on a pretty high pedestal. She did not disappoint. She was just as excited as I was, to finally be able to meet each other. She didn't have to tell me this for me to know. I just knew:)


The conference, Serious business, was a great way to learn better business practices so that we can keep growing our little business! We joined PBA, something I have been wanting to do for quite some time. We are looking into new systems to try in the field of marketing and computer programs. Anything to make things better for clients and more options is what we are looking for!

Here are some quick snaps of our 4 day whirlwind trip. We had a great time and next year we will be even more prepared to explore NOLA! We met some people at the award ceremony and maybe next year will be braver to go outside our box and talk to some more:)

Bijou Salon in the tiny village of Skaneateles wins Salon Today magazines top 200 growing salons in the country!

Remember when I wrote this? I had just found out we WON!

Okay, if you don't feel like backflashing to that post last month, here is the gist:

Salon today 200 magazine chooses the top 200 fastest growing salons in north America every year.

This year Bijou qualified to enter the competition. With thousands of applications by salon businesses across the country, this honor is bestowed upon the salons that showcase the best management/business practices that contribute to overall success. We didn't know if we had a chance, but nothing ventured, nothing gained was going to be our motto!

Thank God we tried, because luck and hard work bestowed us the honor to be ranked with 199 other salons who put their best foot forward too!

Until just last week, we didn't know what categories we had won or placed in. NOW we do! We won in overall growth of our salon business. AND we also placed in philanthropy and technology!

Please click here to see our picture in the magazine and read our mention! We also got lucky and they mentioned us on the last page where they wrap up the whole issue:) Such an honor!

Next week, Thomas and I, will head to New Orleans to accept the award and attend the Serious Business conference. I believe attending this conference will teach us more, give us more serious ideas and take our little gem of a salon to a whole new level!

Feeling so blessed!

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!