We were lucky to catch up with Carissa Larson recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Carissa, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

Risk taking can be very scary. I think it’s natural for most of us to avoid it. It’s natural for us to stay in a place that is safe and comfortable.

From a young age, I felt that my professional success would be vastly limited if I didn’t get comfortable with risk taking. I didn’t have a traditional college education and I felt I was going to have to find opportunities for growth, a different way in life. I stopped looking at everything as a risk and started looking at everything as an opportunity.

Still, to this day, I keep my mind open to new ideas and new opportunities. The most recent risk I took was in the beginning of 2022. I chose to stop doing hair after 17 years, and focus specifically on growing my business. I felt that doing hair full time was a job worth giving 100% too and it was becoming clear that 100% was impossible if I wanted any sense of balance in my life.

I had this strong urge to work in other areas of my business. These other areas are equally as demanding as managing a full clientele. Hiring and managing a team, mentoring and teaching advanced hair techniques, marketing a large busy salon. These were all necessary to grow to the next level.

The moment I stepped away from the chair my business soared. It was as if I was stepping out of the way of myself. It was an interesting phenomenon to experience and it is still happening. I needed to give myself time and space to understand what the business needed and then of course, execute.

It was very scary to give away a clientele of 17 years. The very foundation that our business was created was being put directly at risk by me retiring from hair. 100’s of clients that could use this moment to move on to another salon was scary and risky. We did our best to place them with amazing stylists on our team but they have free will and there was no guarantee that they would choose to stay at our salon.

The risk proved to be a smart one. Thanks to the hard work of many on my team, we retained a good amount of my clientele. I am now in a position where I can see what the business needs and implement what is needed. I have better balance in my life and the business has seen month after month growth since I stepped away from the chair.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

I grew up outside of Chicago and was a free spirited child. I had a hard time focusing in school and had interests that spanned all areas of life. My mother was a businesswoman that never stopped educating herself. My father was a carpenter and was self employed for most of my life. He told me that if I couldn’t commit to something to study in college that I should learn a trade instead. Both my aunt and Grandmother were “beauticians” and I loved the salon environment. I have always been very creative so hairdressing checked a lot of boxes for me.

My husband and I work as a team. I used to specialize in Color and He specializes in cutting. We strive to educate our clients so they have an understanding of what is being done to their hair and why and most importantly, how to maintain it at home. We think communication is the key to our success and it helps to create deep bonds with our clients. We are an education based salon which means we are always offering advanced education to our staff.

Prior to COVID we would travel regularly to NYC for advanced training and inspiration. Always bringing our knowledge back to our team. I have learned that Hairdressers need their freedom to express themselves through their craft. This business lends to creatives and free spirits. We strive to give our team the freedom to be themselves within their career while teaching them how to be true professionals and the best communicators in the Denver area. I would love for the the world to know that latherhouse strives to be the best in Denver through education, communication and impeccable hair services.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Our level of professionalism. I’m not saying we are fancy or extravagant, We are professional. We focus on elevating the level of service the client receives through communication. We teach communication to our team. We Believe that we can provide a better service if we fully understand the clients needs, execute and follow through.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I am actively working to unlearn old labor practices. I came from an era where you were defined by how hard you worked. Working smarter was not a thing.

Having a young team, I have learned that they see their employment very different than my generation. They do not feel as though they should have to give themselves over to their job to experience success. In most cases, I think they have a much healthier perspective than older generations. In some cases, mentoring is needed so a balance can be made. Truly, I have adopted a better balance for myself by learning about their needs and expectations with their work.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.latherhouse.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/latherhouse/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/latherhouse
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carissa-larson-2416635b/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/latherhouse-lakewood

Image Credits
Photography by: Bex Williams latherhouse staff