We were lucky to catch up with Louanne Ferro recently and have shared our conversation below.
Louanne, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?
Yes, I earn a full time living from being a creative but no, that didn’t happen from day one. As creatives, I think I speak for many when I say our love for our art comes before the learning of a business. I spent many years making a good living but had no idea because I didn’t have the knowledge or discipline to manage my money. I started my career at 17 years old. I was young and I was naïve. I started to become frustrated because I was working really hard every day and was very driven but somehow couldn’t obtain goals I wanted like getting loans for things like cars/homes. I never seemed to be able to build my savings and tax season would spiral my anxiety. I was very lucky to have friends and family who were in professions like financial planning, and taxes. I sat down and begged for help. I came up with a game plan. I set the back end of my business up and finally knew how much money was coming in and how much money I needed to pay back out to my business like insurances, product, taxes, etc. Becoming knowledgeable in those numbers empowered me. It made me realize the importance of annual service increases, not discounting my self, and factoring in a raise just like any other good boss would do. Fast forward to now, I’ve owned 3 homes, car loans, traveled, have a ongoing retirement I pay into, save for my child’s college, and also set aside money for ongoing professional education, business savings, and so on.
My growth around the back end of my business didn’t happen over night. In fact, it took a couple of years to pay off debt, and get myself to a place where I could be confident in my living wage.
It’s ok to make mistakes. We all do. When they happen though, know that’s your intuition and life telling you that you can grow. If I did it, you can too! If you need to take this out, reach out to me!
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
I’ve always known i wanted to do hair so i went cosmetology school just two days after I graduated from high school. By the time I was 19 I started educating and working for the Haircare brand TIGI. I love not only supporting stylist in my industry but I also love the change of pace that partnering with a manufacturer offers. I’ve gone on music tours, worked NYFW, had contracts with the NBA and NFL, and have worked on a lot of brand campaigns through TIGI. It was in 2021 that I decided I wanted to shift my business values a bit and that lead me to EVO Haircare where I joined their international team. They are a family owned, clean and sustainable beauty company. My salon is one of the few salons in San Diego that is a certified sustainable salon thanks to our partnership with Green circle. Simply put, when you visit us, up to 95% of the materials used can be recovered and recycled.
The other twinkling trait about LaunchPad Salon and my business is our charitable give back. I knew when I opened my doors in 2013 that I wanted to use my unique talents and business to help others.. the first organization that we are partnered with is called The Friends of Scott foundation. It’s a local non-profit that supports children and their families while enduring cancer. We do hair and makeup for their annual prom, donate gift certificates for their auctions, and make a year end donation to the charity every holiday season in leu of client gifts.
The second origination that we are partnered with is the YMCA. We work directly with their social service program and provide haircuts for their homeless youth. We bring beauty professionals from multiple salons together to volunteer of our services through events. We also do one on one visits when someone is getting ready for a job interview.
In 2018 LaunchPad received the philanthropist of the year award from The friends of Scott foundation.
As I type this all out it makes me realize just how many hats I wear as a business owner but that’s the beautiful part of owning your business, you can choose your path, you can choose to do good in the world with it, and in my case you can choose to make people feel extra pampered and beautiful along the way.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
It’s a pretty simple answer but to actually support them both in a monitory way and a word of mouth way. Reposting your favorite businesses, leaving reviews, commenting on their content and regularly visiting your favorite businesses and purchasing services and goods from them is truly everything!
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
I think one of the things that is hard for some people to understand is that although we might be a “dreamer”, we can also be highly grounded, educated, and successful. Creatives are some of the most determined human beings I know. They’re passion far succeeds many. They’re path to sucess might not be on a excel spread sheet but it doesn’t mean they don’t meticulously think out their gateway to sucess.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.LouanneFerro.com
- Instagram: @LaunchPadSalon