After 11 years as a stay-at-home mom, Jo
was ready for a new challenge and knew she wanted to be her own boss. She chose Blo, because it was the best known and most respected brand.
Q. What were you doing professionally before you opened your first Blo location?
A. Blo was a complete career change for me. I first worked as a nurse practitioner for 10 years in neonatal intensive care units taking care of critically ill newborns. When my husband and I started a family, I decided to stay home to raise our children, and I was a stay at home mother for 11 years until our youngest started kindergarten. At that point, I knew I wanted to go back to work but did not want to return to work as a nurse practitioner. I decided I wanted to run my own business and create my own schedule and was searching for the right opportunity.
Q. What sparked your interest in joining a franchise system?
A. What sparked your interest in joining a franchise system? I knew nothing about hair styling, or about running a business and I wanted the support of an established brand behind me. I didn’t want to reinvent the wheel. I wanted to take something that was a proven success and bring it to my area.
Q. What made you choose Blo?
A. I was an early adopter to the brand. Blow dry bars were just becoming popular and there were few other options out there. I wanted to go with the best known and most respected brand, and that was Blo. It wasn’t that I was really interested in running a blow dry bar specifically. It was that I knew I wanted to run a business, and I had no interest in food service or traditional retail. When researching I learned about blow dry bars and thought that they would be a big hit in the Charlotte area. There was only one small, independent blow dry bar in the city, and it wasn’t even a dedicated blow dry bar: it had two chairs and you had to book a blow out days in advance for them to schedule a stylist for you. I thought that if I could bring in a dedicated bar and make it excellent then it would be a success (and I was right). Most of my family and friends believed I was absolutely crazy. My background was in nursing not business, and I rarely if ever (before owning blo!) styled my hair. It was a great pleasure to prove them all wrong 🙂
Q. What do you enjoy most about owning your location?
A. It’s fun! It’s a great environment that tends to be pretty low stress because these are women who are coming to treat themselves. The atmosphere is fun and engaging. I love making decisions (say, about advertising) and watching to see how those results translate (or don’t) into success. I love having the flexibility to work from home when I want to. I love creating a great workplace where stylists can do great work and get paid well and be treated well.
Q. You have been with Blo for a long time now, what keeps you wanting to be a part of this franchise system?
A. My business is very successful and I enjoy running it. It’s the perfect combination for me with work/life balance. I can work on blo for a few hours daily and still have time for my family. It was very hard work in the beginning, but now that things are running smoothly I love the flexibility of my schedule and the fact that I can run it no matter where I am (travelling, watching yet another kid’s soccer match, etc). It’s really the perfect schedule and so many of my friends are jealous that I have this engaging work life but so much flexibility to also be with my family or travel, etc. I love the corporate team and know that they have my back without micromanaging me. I also love watching the brand grow from strength to strength.
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