Today we’d like to introduce you to Marie Morgan.
Hi Marie, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
It all started with a bad hair day. I was searching online for a new hairstylist and came across one located inside a salon suite. Upon arriving to my appointment, I immediately fell in love with the concept of a one stop hub for beauty and entrepreneurship. It was a semi-absentee model that would allow me to continue spending lots of time with my family while running a business on the side. I saw a way to help young, entrepreneurial salon professionals realize their dream of opening their own salon and running their own businesses. It was a business model where there were only winners… the salon professional won because they got to move from being an employee to being a business owner; the clients won because they got one-on-one personal time with their salon professionals and I won because I got to help them do all of this (and make a little money in the process).
Phenix Salon Suites of Orange opened its doors in November 2017 and houses over 60 salon professionals at this location. Helping over 60 stylists and professionals, mostly women, realize their dream of business ownership has been among the most rewarding aspects of running the salon.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Like with many businesses, the year 2020 brought many struggles as we had to endure months of state-mandated shutdowns. With persistence and grit, we came out of it stronger than ever, and it only strengthened my relationship and trust with our salon professionals as we supported them through such unprecedented times.
Earlier this year, our location suffered a catastrophic flood due to one of the water heaters bursting middle of the night. Roughly half of the hallways and suites were impacted. It placed a load of stress on multiple fronts, not just on the night the flooding occurred, but also in the anticipatory period preceding the flood and during the cleanup and recovery phase. For many weeks, we had overnight crews working endlessly to restore Phenix back to its original state.
Like with many disasters, there is always a silver lining. Coping with the flood has brought our Phenix community together, fostering camaraderie and goodwill amongst our salon professionals.
Through all these hardships, I still believe that this was what God called for me to do and He has taken care of me every step of the way.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Phenix Salon Suites takes retail space and breaks it down into individual private suites. We rent these suites to salon professionals so they can own their own salon without having to make the huge investment or commitment that opening a storefront salon requires. We provide the basics that they need to open up and they are free to create the salon of their dreams by decorating the space we provide.
As of today, our family of salon professionals includes hair stylists, barbers, estheticians, permanent makeup artists, nail artists, med spa professionals and much more!
Phenix is different because we don’t nickel and dime our salon professionals like a lot of our competitors do. We provide all utilities, free WiFi, free laundry facilities, free insurance and free education to help them grow their business. Our competitors charge for most, if not all, of these services. We offer month-to-month agreements where our competitors tie the salon professional down to long-term lease commitments. We have an onsite manager that is there to take care of any needs that might pop up for the salon professional where most of our competitors have a long wait time for problems to be resolved. We distinguish ourselves by creating an environment where our salon professionals can do what they do best and focus on their craft while we handle the rest.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
Networking with other Phenix Salon Suites managing partners throughout the nation has played a crucial role in the success of my location. We provide feedback to each other on what works and what doesn’t.
As for our salon professionals, our salon suites provide them with a large community of like-minded individuals that support and care for each other. As a one stop shop, many refer each other services from within Phenix Salon Suites to their clients.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.phenixorange.com
- Instagram: @phenixoforange
