We were lucky to catch up with Bee Khuu recently and have shared our conversation below.

Bee, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you have a hero? What have you learned from them?

My dad Choua Dang Vang is my hero. He is the bravest man that I have known. His strength and endurance were honed as a freedom fighter in the “Secret War “in Laos 1961-1975 during the Vietnam War against the oppression of communism. It was called the Secret War among the America CIA Special Activities Center and Hmong veterans. He is a decorated soldier recognized by both his native Laos and America.

With my dad’s strength and courage in 1979 he took our family and escaped the communist of Laos. We travel many days and nights through the deep jungles of Laos and crossing the dangerous Mekong River to Thailand. It was a very dangerous journey as we all could have been killed by the communist at any time if we were to be captured. We have many struggles during our journey to freedom through the jungles of Laos and lost many family members along the way.

Through all the struggles and hardship my dad has never give up. He always stays strong even though I know at times he was unsure himself. In May of 1981 my family and I step onto the land of the free America. Even thought my dad know very little of English and did not read or write he know that hard work will help him achieve his dreams and goals. My dad worked endless days and nights in this new world that he knows nothing about to support our family. He worked multiply jobs and became the head Chef of a Chinese restaurant to provide for our growing family of ten children. He has never taken a sick day or vacation time off so he can provide a better life for us. He always makes the time to encourage and guide us to go for higher education, work hard and believe in your dreams and always have integrity in everything you do. Today my nine siblings and I have made my dad very proud, we have accomplished his dreams of us working hard to make a better life for us all. In honor of my dad, he is watching us from heaven and smiling down on us knowing that all of his struggles, hardship and dedication have been worth every bit of it. My dad’s life tip he left for us is “No matter how small your progress is you must acknowledge all of it, celebrating the little wins, accomplishments, shifts and gains are important to building the life you love”.

I am not where I am today if I did not have my dad as my hero. Everything about him is what define me today as a daughter, mother and a business woman. I have my struggles and hardships too but it was his courage and determination to never give up that got me to where I am today.

Bee, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Bee Khuu Master Hairstylist and Founder of A New Chi Salon located in the heart of McKinney, Texas. I am in the services of the Beauty industry where we offers a whole new way to embrace your inner priestess of styles. We believe it is an intrinsic part of overall health and wellness. A New Chi Salon offer services from hairdressing that are customized and designed for each individual guest with specific hair types, shape of the face, personality and even their lifestyle will be taken into account. With Aveda’s naturally derived amazing hair colors you will enjoy healthy hair, lots of shine, fade resistant and damage free hair. We are proud to be associate with Aveda, using products that are naturally derived from flowers and plant essences to connect beauty and well-being to the environment that we live in. We care for our guests who come to A New Chi Salon to have a healthy and pleasant experience.

A New Chi Salon promised an unforgettable experience every time you visit us, from our stress relieving scalp massage using an oil composition than to a refreshing relax shampoo, follow by a haircut design of our guest’s choice and end with an aroma hot towel for our men’s haircut and women’s haircut ends with a blowout style.

I have been in the beauty industry for over twenty plus years and own my own business for thirteen years. Doing hair has always been a passion of mine. I love the arts of hair, from haircutting, coloring, updo’s style for special events and bridal party. The most rewarding part of a professional Master Hairstylist is creating a great haircut or color services for guests who has been searching for the results that they want and finally A New Chi Salon is able to make that happen. The excitement and the honor of being a part of a bride’s big day is an incredible feeling that you have, making sure everything is perfect from a strand of hair to the right type of curls and the finish results of the bride’s updo is so rewarding.

Our mission statement is all in our name “A New Chi” means a new energy. Our mission is to give our guests a positive energy flow that helps them destress, feeling refreshed, rejuvenated and full of a new energy. A New Chi Salon is a place where our guests could step in and immediately feel all their stress and troubles melt away.

There are so many salons out there but each one has its differences and unique in their own way. What set us apart from other salons is that at A New Chi Salon we don’t just provide our services, we give our guests an experience and we build a lifetime relationship with our guests. As our relationship grows, they become our family. A big percentage growth in our business is word of mouth from our current guests who have been a part of our A New Chi Salon family. I believe that the people come into our life rather it’s personal or professionally create the person we are today. Throughout my many years as a professional Master Hairstylist I have met so many wonderful people that have made an impact to my professional and personal life today. I have made all kinds of connection to each and everyone of our guests from our hearts to theirs. The heart is a place where we experience many of our feelings. When you have the opportunity to meet and get to know new guests and make the connection to change the way a person feels about themselves, to share their thoughts and feelings and hear their life story is a blessing to me.

Our success come from our guests who believes in us. They know that we provide our services from our heart in the way we listen to their needs, making sure they are happy and encourage them to freely communicate with our team of any concerns or questions they have.

Our work is our passion and it comes naturally for us to care for our guests like our families. They are the ones who give us the opportunities to do what we love in the beauty world. I want to thank everyone who has crossed my path since the beginning of my career as a professional Master Hair Stylist and looking forward to those that will cross my path in the future.

Can you talk to us about your experience with buying businesses?

I bought Classic Cuts in 2009. Classic Cuts was a walk-in base salon like Great Clips and Super Cuts. The year 2009 was not the best time due to the recession that was going on. When I bought Classic Cuts, it was going to be a starter business for me to learn the salon business and build my clienteles to get me to where I am today as A New Chi Salon. I was new to Texas and knowing that in the beauty industry building your clienteles was a big part of growth to be successful.

When I took over Classic Cuts, the business model was totally different from what I was used to. It’s a walk-in base so you could be sitting around for hours with no one coming in and then five people walk in and you continue working without a break or some guest will wait till the last thirty minutes of closing time and walk-in with their family and then you are working over closing hours. You would have a walk-in for color and there may not be enough time to do their service so you have to have them come back at a different time or day. It was a very inconsistent business; you have no control of your daily schedule and very tiring of over work. The most frustration part is that you want to provide your guests the best quality of service but you can’t due to the unpredictable of what walks in the door.

I slowly made changes as to what I want to take the business to in the future to a create a beautiful salon with a difference. I educated my guests on the importance of booking appointments and pre booking for their future appointments to guarantee that if they have a special event or going on vacation, they will get their hair done and don’t have to wait for hours if they were to walk-in when there are multiple people in front of them. If they have an appointment, they will be service before walk-in guests. This has also built a good loyal relationship between my guests and me. The guests that booked appointment will be able to get the best of service because we are able to book the amount of time that is needed for their full service. The transition over to A New Chi Salon was a challenge but during the time of taking over Classic Cuts it helps me see a vision of what kind of salon I want to have and gives me the opportunity to build a strong and loyal relationship with my guests to follow me to a better upscale salon that they can enjoy. In Feb 2016 was when A New Chi Salon was born.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I believe that when your work is your passion it’s really not work it’s your daily life, it shows and your guests know that. Since I become a Master Hairstylist, I don’t recall a day where I do not want to go to work. I have people asked me “don’t you get tired of doing hair?” My answer is “it’s not about the hair it’s the guest in my chair, the relationships that develops throughout the years.”

In the Beauty industry it’s a never-ending learning, staying on top of new trends and continuing education. This gives us the knowledge to meet our guest’s expectations on their haircuts, hair coloring and any concerns they have about their needs. We provide our services from our heart, so it come naturally that we take care of them like our family. We listen to their needs, making sure they are happy and encourage them to freely communicate with our team of any concerns or questions they may have.

A great team is a key to our reputation, working well together, build our team culture at A New Chi Salon and all team members value the importance of it. We take pride and believe in our mission to give our guests a positive energy flow that helps them destress, feeling refreshed, rejuvenated and full of a new energy when they visit us.

We give back to our communities by volunteering in events, donate our services to schools and churches.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.anewchi.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/anewchi
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bee-khuu