We recently connected with Colette Francel and have shared our conversation below.

Colette, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

My mission in my business is to create an environment that says “welcome to my living room”
The studio is quite large and I am fortunate enough to be able to work by myself. Being that I’m the only stylist in there it provides an environment for people to openly share their celebrations, their disappointments and sadness in life without any disturbance from anybody else listening or making comments about what they’ve said, not too many stylist have that availability .
My services include a comprehensive two page consultation, which I acquired from my masters degree a few years ago with Vivienne Makinder in New York. It was an intensive year long training and absolutely no stylist in my area conduct this fantastic consultation!
we take into consideration, lifestyle, face shape, head shape, measure the face and find where the hair needs to compensate or accentuate. The customers asked what their favorite feature is and we try to highlight that.
It’s also about fashion, so if a person comes in and they’re very conservative and buttoned up, I am not going to give her a big curls and large hair. She’d be very uncomfortable with that style so it really truly matters and start to finish how you execute this style.that by suits each individual.
Each Haircut includes an aromatherapy essential oil massage on the scalp and a back massager on the chair. The client gets to choose from several different fragrances for their experience.
I’m a kenra professional hair salon I use kenra color as well as their back bar products and retail. I believe in kenra professional products and take advanced education about every three months. I’ve been doing hair for over 35 years and I’m always keeping up with all the trends..
The environment I work in is very peaceful and very quiet. Lavender is more of a feeling than a color and you experience that as soon as you walk in .The front entry eating room has an electric fireplace, a comfortable half round couch, coffee table, coffee, beverage, service, available, and snacks upon request.
in the background you will hear Soft classical Piano playing . everything about my studio says come in , sit back , relax and feel Beautiful
I absolutely love my clientele and everything that I do! Google keeps my clientele growing with a waitlist every month
Thank you for choosing me to share about my business !

Colette, 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’ve always wanted to be a hairdresser ever since I was in high school graduating at 18 I had a father that was a foreman of a construction company and he was all about business. He didn’t think hairdressers made very much money so he really was not enthused when I told him that that’s the career path I wanted.
My father suggested I register at a community college to start working on a degree in the law professional or something respectable .
Fortunate for me I had a family friend that knew that I already had a talent for hairdressing as I’ve been working on her daughter’s hair for years. She negotiated with my father and told him that perhaps to encourage me to stay with the professional and actually do something with it that maybe he should write a contract for me and so he did agree with much reluctance to write a contract stating that if I was no longer doing hair or had not created a successful life for myself within five years that I owed him every penny of the school tuition back.
I am happy to say that I never had to pay one dime of that money back to my father although after about 10 years, I did pay him back every penny so we were squared up with one another.
I’ve done a lot of things in my career after 10 years. I decided to get my massage license so I could perform all the services in a full service salon..
I was a manicurist doing manicures and pedicures. I did all the services with hair back in the 80s. We did a lot of perms. I was excellent at highlighting ,coloring , formal styling for weddings and proms and then after my massage license came I was also doing massage . In one salon I worked doing massage, facials and body waxing. there wasn’t a service in the studio that I worked in that I couldn’t perform, I wore a lot of hats and it was exhausting working 11 hour days I had a lot more energy when I was in my 20’s.
I’ve had experience with working and outside sales which also help me in the business industry. Now that I own my own business I understand about productivity and profitability setting goals had to increase my service dollar every year by 20%. My business continues to grow and I’m able to raise my prices because the quality of work just keeps getting better and better..
I would say the thing I am most proud of in the services I provide is I’m a fantastic listener and secret keeper. My four walls in my studio are absolutely sacred. I do not gossip no matter how much some of the crotchety old men loved to pry about what the new gossip is. It’s none of my business and I told them so., I no longer do massage, manicures, pedicures facials,.my studio focuses on hair. The only waxing I do are eyebrows and upper lip, and I still do a bit of make up and I’ll do hair for someone’s wedding if it’s a referral only.
I would say my personal brand is if you want to enhance what God gave you to look natural and absolutely beautiful but the right haircut the right hair color the right shape for your face and where you live in Fashion then lavender hair studio is the place for you to come..

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

Well, like I said, my father wasn’t a big fan of me becoming a hairdresser, and there were several people in the family that also felt that way his girlfriend once told my niece at Christmas when my little niece who couldn’t have been more than five or six told me with big brown eyes that she wanted to be a hairdresser when she grow up .
my dad‘s girlfriend lean down and said “oh honey hairdressers don’t make any money. You don’t wanna do that. “I was standing right there and I heard that loud and clear, and I was probably in my 20s that resonated with me and I felt that my family was never going to respect the job that I had chosen in my career,
I’m happy to say that I have been very successful. I’m a six figure hairdresser working by myself traveling the world raising my daughter by myself living my best life ever! Now, I do not believe that I don’t make any money or I’m not worthy of the money I make ! I’ve overcome that statement from my family and proven them all wrong .

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

The business I’m working in right now was created by this woman named Megan. She had spent several thousand dollars removing an old barbershop and creating a very modern state of the art gorgeous studio, with crystal chandeliers electric fireplace all the details of a fine designer . I worked with her for about a year when she came to me and told me that she had an inoperable tumor in her brain and that she wouldn’t be able to keep the salon and she knew how much I loved it and asked if I would be interested in buying it from her. The amount she asked would be what was needed to pay off the loan before things got bad for her. I was terrified. I looked around and saw all the beauty that surrounded me and thought to myself there’s no way I could afford all of this so I sheepishly asked her how much she was going to ask for the studio. It was amazing . The amount matched exactly what I had in savings ! I got a cashiers check and the rest is history ! I got all the equipment all the hair color, blow dryers curling irons all the chairs all the decor. Absolutely everything was gifted to me. I feel incredibly blessed.! I owe all of what I have and my continued success to God!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Lavenderhairstudio.net
• Instagram: Lavender_hair_studio
• Facebook: Lavender hair studio
• Other: Google me !

Image Credits

Colette francel