Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Marina Vogel. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Marina, appreciate you joining us today. Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?
I love owning my own business. I opened my first hair salon when I was only 21 years old. I had a salon in Germany for over 8 years. I thought if I can do it in Germany, I can do it in the US. And even more successful. Sometimes I really wonder how life would be just working for someone, like a 9-5 job. But I don’t think I would like it. I love working overtime but only if it goes into my own pocket. I would get bored working for someone else. I like the responsibility as a business owner. I like to motivate my employees and when I see more happy clients & my income is raising, it’s such a great feeling. I don’t think I would get that feeling if I would work for someone else.

Marina, 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 started doing hair in Germany when I was only 15 years old, right out if Highschool. I was the lazy kid, I wasn’t smart enough to do anything else. My father & my teachers don’t wanted me to do hair, because the reputation & money in Germany is pretty bad as a stylist. My mother believed in me, she said go for it! I was terrible in Highschool but I was the best in Beautyschool. I found my passion. I am now a stylist since over 21 years and I still love my job. I even love it more & more with every day I spend in the salon. I specialize in balayage, blondes & hair extensions. Customers appreciate my professionalism & charisma. I give 100% when I’m at work. I don’t wanna make people wait. My timing is everything. Clients like me and my story and I am pretty easy going. I can talk with them about everything, Family, Dating, travelling, adventures, things to do etc. What sets me apart, I guess just the way I am and the way I work. I call it the German way, I’m very straightforward and on point. If I don’t feel comfortable doing a requested service I have no problem to tell a client, that I’m not comfortable doing this service. I am proud of my brand and my team. People like our vibe & how we work together. We have similar styles and all work professional but we are all a little different characters. Coming in and getting your hair done with us, is the feeling of having clients coming to my living room & we all hang out & chat together.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?
Definitely social media, especially instagram. It is a must for every salon/stylist to have it. I had stylists they hated instagram, they don’t wanna do it. Well sorry, If you wanna be successful you gotta do what you gotta do. If you don’t wanna do it yourself, than hire someone! I can not believe how my business would be without Instagram.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
Coming from Germany and being able to move and work in the US, i had to invest quite a amount of money. I started working when I was 15. I didn’t made much money in the first years of my career but for my age it was good money. I lived with my parents and haven’t had a lot of expenses. When I was in my mid 20’s in my free time I loved to dance, so out of fun I created a dance duo with my best friend for events and I made some extra money that I was able to safe up for my dream to move to the US and to open my own salon in Florida.

I just opened a brand new Salon in Flaglervillage, Fort Lauderdale.  It has been a rough journey the last few month. After 3 years in my Salon, my lease expired last summer, I had trouble with the landlord and the Salon was getting to small, since my business was growing so much within the last few years. I signed a lease 1.5 years ago for a new location in a brand new building just around the corner from the old Salon. My team and I had to move out off our old Salon in July 2021. We were without a actual Location. Luckily I found a existing booth rental salon, where we re-located as our “temporary” home. It wasn’t the perfect fit for us, it was a different vibe, but I pretty much had no other choice. We made the best out of the situation. Luckily most of our clients followed us to this Salon.
Due to delays in constructions, the Landlord from the new Space never started the built out of our Salon and after over 1 year of patiently waiting, I was finally able to back out of this lease. I found another empty space just diagonally across the street from our old salon, that I signed a new lease for. Since it has been previously a salon, the built out wasn’t as complicated. But I still did a whole makeover of the space to give it the “MaVo Vibe”. The new MaVo Hairlounge was born. FINALLY!
Big thanks to my Mom who came from Germany to help me moving, cleaning & building furniture day & night for the past 3 weeks. We put a lot of effort, sweat and sleepless nights into this project! But I think it was worth it & it came out amazing. Much bigger but still a boutique style salon. We are looking forward welcoming our loyal clients and lots if new clients in the new Space… We expended our team with a few new stylists.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mavohairlounge.com
• Instagram: mavo_hair
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/mavohairlounge
• Yelp: https://yelp.to/uJ7QrV5IDmb

Image Credits
All images are under my rights. First picture with the dogs was taken by photographer lightnhue photography