WESST Client Profiles

A 2010 San Juan College Cosmetology graduate, Jessica, through her hard work and support from WESST, purchased Hair West Salon in Aztec, NM. She began working as a hairstylist at a franchise salon in Farmington immediately after graduation. She began booth rental at the beginning of 2014 which really immersed her in the details of small business ownership duties. With several years of experience under her belt, a strong service ethic, a loyal customer base and a mind for marketing, Jessica’s realized her dream – owning and operating her own salon. WESST has been with her every step of the way.

With the sale price firmly but reasonably fixed by the seller, Jessica was trained on how to use MS Excel to develop her budget to identify the after-tax earnings target she’d require from her business to meet and exceed her modest level of personal spending. We explored the importance of developing a plan to make regular contributions to a savings account to allow Jessica to better manage through life’s “unforeseens.” As a result of this work, Jessica now first “pays” herself from her earnings.

Next, we looked at whether the new salon was generating an adequate level of business to support Jessica’s needs. We recognized that some of Jessica’s current clients may not follow her to a new location some 15 miles away and some of the Hair West’s current clients may not stay with Jessica when the current owner retires.

WESST, with Jessica involved every step of the way, built a simple financial model that considered several key variables: (1) how many services (tickets) she was providing on an average working day; (2) how much on average her individual service tickets are; (3) how often she is seeing her clients; and, (4) what kind of customer retention she might achieve recognizing that the new salon is a distance away from many of her current clients. These calculations, coupled with the development of her budget, gave Jessica the confidence to make an offer to the salon owner. The seller and Jessica have hit it off and Jessica has now paid off her new salon!

Looking back on the journey, Jessica reflected on how WESST has and is making a major difference to her as an entrepreneur. “WESST and Chris Hunter helped me gain confidence in my business skills. I pay close attention to my numbers and am excited to build on my business base here in my hometown and to earn more income. I look forward to my sessions with WESST and, although I know I’ll come away with more homework to do, I know I’m working on building a better business for my clients and myself.”

WESST is continuing to work with Jessica on additional aspects of business marketing activity including enhanced social media marketing including email and Facebook as well as bookkeeping. Jessica notes that she’s “looking forward to a long profitability-growing relationship with WESST and Farmington Regional Manager, Chris Hunter. I gladly recommend WESST and Chris to my friends who own small businesses!”