We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Shelly Shellhorn a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Shelly, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Crazy stuff happening is almost as certain as death and taxes – it’s technically “unexpected” but something unexpected happening is to be expected and so can you share a crazy story with our readers

So, I took the business over from the previous owner at the beginning of 2020…. just a few weeks before the Covid shutdown. I didn’t have any money, and have never in my life owned a business, so I thought we had a zero percent chance of survival. The bills and rent were still piling up as my team and I were all on unemployment, and there wasn’t any income coming through. By some crazy, INSANE stroke of luck, and love from our community, we were able to make it through all three months of being closed! I spent all of my personal money and all of my time during lockdown to repaint, and rebuild the space to make it what it is today, and now we are working at full speed! I have never loved a team so much, and have also never been as successful in this space as I am right now. The future looks extremely bright and I couldn’t be more grateful.

It was terrifying, but we did it!

Shelly, 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?

Like I mentioned earlier, I took the business over from it’s previous owner in 2020. Prior to this, I Iived in Denver Colorado and was a poor, rock n roll kid who sold used pants for a living at a resale shop. I ended up meeting my partner at the end of 2016 and moved to Baltimore with only a little over $1000 to my name. During that time, I had worked at a few extremely dead end jobs here and was in a panic because I thought I had made the wrong decision to move from my home. I soon accepted a job offer from the previous owner of Crafted as a receptionist. I had zero knowledge of the beauty industry, but was able to learn the ropes fast.
I had many opportunities to act as the sole decision maker during that time because the owner was away alot, and finally I approached her to see if she was interested in me taking things over completely. She said yes, and that she was close to shutting the place down anyways. What perfect timing!
I don’t do hair myself, so my role is to always be present and make sure things are running smoothly and that the space is safe and accessible to all different kinds of people. If you call the shop, I’m usually the one on the other line!
I am so happy and grateful for this experience, and I wouldn’t change any of this for the world.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

For any salon owner, I think that the absolute most important thing you can do is CARE. Care about your stylists, your assistants, your receptionists, your clients and yourself. In this industry, it is common for stylists to be overbooked, working way too many hours each day. Most stylists that I have spoken to say that it’s hard for them to even get a bathroom break during their shifts. How is that ok? It’s not.

At Crafted, my team can choose when and what times they would like to work, we have unlimited vacation requests, sick pay, breaks in between each client, mental health days, and I also provide the team with snacks and beverages.

Another thing that I can’t express the importance of enough, is making sure that you pay your people right! Owners should never make more than their top employees in my opinion. If I’m going to be successful, I’m making damn sure that my team is as well.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

The most effective strategy for growing our clientele is integrity and love. We don’t do alot of unnecessary advertising, or boast on social media. What we do is make each and every guest feel so loved and welcome in our shop and we make sure to make each experience meaningful for people. Most of our clientele is gained by word-of-mouth and our reputation for being so welcoming and fun. That is the best feeling in the world!
The fact that we don’t need to fluff our feathers is fantastic, and it’s great to know that we are really making a difference in the community.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.craftedhairstudio.com
• Instagram: @craftedhairstudio
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/crafted-hair-studio-baltimore

Image Credits
Salon photos by: 7hares photography Bumper sticker artwork by: Alex Hagen