We caught up with the brilliant and insightful D’Arcy Harrison a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
D’Arcy, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s jump to the end – what do you want to be remembered for?
The legacy I want to leave behind is the importance of honoring one’s honest, authentic self. 1) I am direct and I do my best to honor my beliefs and values. I don’t shy away from difficult conversations because it might make me or someone else uncomfortable. With age, I have come to care less and less about people’s subjective opinions of me. I would rather express something than to silence it.
2) I hope to be remembered for my care and empathy in my work with hair clients. I work with the LGBTQIA+ community and the radiance and joy that emerges from an individual is so powerful. When they finally feel like the outside reflects their inner identity. I also enjoy conversations with my diverse clientele and offering support and insight when they need it.
3) I hope to be remembered for my ability to speak truth to power not only in my personal or business life- but for the personal services industry as a whole. I support advocating for positive legislation for pros in the field in our state Capital. My work doing that is not paid but I get so much appreciation and respect for the knowledge, expertise and strategy I am able to offer.
D’Arcy, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I graduated with a BFA in Acting from Emerson College in 1999 in Boston- so needless to say I wasn’t ready for getting a steady paycheck. I did what a lot of actors do. I worked in retail, restaurants and I temped in offices. I didn’t really feel passionate or even like those jobs very much. So when my mother offered to send me to beauty school in Seattle (where I had recently moved) to become a cosmetologist I initially said NO. I mean- she didn’t know me better than anyone else what did she know? LOL. However, after a couple months I realized that she was right & I should make my obsession with hair and style a money maker. After all, I had cut off all my hair on the school bus when I was 5 in defiance of my mother telling me not to take the safety scissors out of my lunchbox. Later- I was always experimenting on myself cutting and coloring my hair. I even have a traumatic, cautionary tale to tell hair clients of when I chemically cut my hair in college. Now, I have been doing hair in Seattle for over 20 yrs. I serve an eclectic clientele of all genders who are professionals, students, service peeps, and LGBTQIA+. I specialize in haircuts (shears or clipper), curly/wavy hair, balayage, color correction, vivids and formal/vintage styling. I use Kevin Murphy, Moroccan Oil, Loma, K18, Olaplex, and R&Co to achieve high quality results.
I set myself apart from my competition by making sure I sit down in a chair with a first time client and get to know them BEFORE I start asking about their hair. I find sitting still and absorbing what the client is sharing with me before I begin the service really helps me see their “vibe” and body language tells me a lot. This is also an opportunity to educate about the service and the intended game plan for the appointment. The feedback I receive in reviews is that I truthfully care about listening to them and making sure the result is customized to not only their wants but also their needs.
I am most proud of my work with the trans and gender non conforming community. Unfortunately, many in my industry don’t realize how soul crushing it is to have someone force a gendered haircut on you that you don’t want. The lack of confidence and anxiety is what I see when they sit down. After, when the mirror reflects exactly what they asked for and who they truthfully are- the smile and radiant joy emanating from them is powerful. I will always support them to be themself.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
When I first started doing hair- I only lasted at my first job about 6months due to required return clientele rate % I was not hitting. Many in the industry can tell you that the first year out of cosmetology school is fraught with anxiety and many, many mistakes. I was no exception. Being licensed doesn’t mean you are proficient at everything unfortunately. It means you passed with basic knowledge of services and safety/sanitation. So I tried to pivot to rent a chair in a small salon in a downtown business corridor. I didn’t know how to run a business. I didn’t have enough advanced skills in hair due to my low level experience. So I worked as hard as I could. I even got a cocktailing job at a club to help pay my bills while I built up clientele. After a year and a half- due to some personal circumstances and other items- I nearly had a nervous breakdown. I felt like a failure. I felt like I was a bad hairstylist. So I gave up doing hair and for a year and half I worked as a barista at Starbucks. I didn’t WANT to work there- I had to work there. Ironically, in my new environment I began to embrace this new life and I started to get my “mind back in order.” I wanted to do hair again- but I wanted to be more confident & more proficient at it. So I busted butt and worked at Starbucks and for a high end salon that would pay me to train. I rebuilt myself. By myself. No help from family. And when they laid off a bunch of assistants and managers (me included) I rallied and got a hairstylist job within weeks. I stayed and became the most successful stylist at that salon within 2 yrs until I took over as co-owner in 2014. Now I solely own the brand!
Let’s talk M&A – we’d love to hear your about your experience with buying businesses.
Yes, I have “bought” a business. However, I and my former business partner were lucky. We were able to take over the brand we had worked for. We wanted to stay in the same location and the former owners didn’t want to own a salon anymore. They had “messed up the books” so no buyer would touch it with 10 ft pole. We got a lawyer and negotiated a transfer of the name, the good will (ie, website domain name, social media accounts, review pages etc.) We did not take on any tax or bill liabilities. Because they were over a barrel on the business and no one else would buy it we basically got it and all the assets for very little. But just as an fyi- we had weathered many ups and downs due to bad decisions by the non-industry owners and had helped build the brand for them. They initially did NOT want to have a documented agreement and we informed them that we couldn’t get loans if we couldn’t prove we owned the business. Those negotiations were stressful between our lawyers and theirs. We had been getting business development from a local small business non profit and so we were able to apply for their business builder loan through the SBA. The rest of the $ for the lawyer and the lease was scrounged up by us with less than 4 mos notice. We co-owned it from 2014-2021 as a booth rental salon where we individually all rented our chairs from the salon LLC. We learned from the last owners and had a very clear “buy-sell” agreement for our partnership and in 2021 I bought out my business partner (another documented transfer agreement.) My former business partner wanted to move to Ireland and change careers and I wanted to downsize to a suite so I could work alone. I love it!
Contact Info:
- Website: darcyhairdesign.com & emersonsalon.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drchairdesign/ & https://www.instagram.com/emersonsalon/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EmersonSalon
- Twitter: twitter.com/emersonsalon
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfBJejo3i8I&t=68s
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/d-arcy-hair-design-seattle or https://www.yelp.com/biz/emerson-salon-seattle
Image Credits
all photos taken by me