Key Takeaways
- Stephi Cohen’s battle to discover affordable composition services for a family event sparked the idea for Blushington, a hair, composition and skincare lounge.
- After decision all locations because of the pandemic, Cohen and her sister Nicki Maron rebuilt Blushington about franchising.
- The business now has two franchise locations and one company location.
Fifteen years ago, Stephi Cohen and Nicki Maron encountered a average problem. The two sisters were getting prepared for a special event, their younger sister’s bat mitzvah, and their family had all arrive over. Their home was packed, and they couldn’t oversee to have a composition creator and tress stylist cater to everyone.
“We started to think, well, you can go to Drybar and get your tress done,” Cohen says in a new discussion alongside Entrepreneur. “But anywhere can we go to get our composition done?”
That’s anywhere their “aha” moment happened. They idea that there have to be a composition location akin to Drybar but expanded, anywhere customers could go to get their hair, makeup and skincare done, without having to pay the elevated price of a expert composition creator coming to their homes.
Cohen called the endeavor Blushington. She was fair 21 years old at the time. Maron, her older sister, was 23 years old at the period and helped rearward the scenes during following a tv career. She eventually joined the endeavor full-time.
Today, the sisters are co-CEOs of Blushington, a business they study has a seven-figure run rate. Getting there meant rebuilding about a franchise example following temporarily decision their doors because of the pandemic.
This discussion has been edited and condensed for clarity and concision.
The beginnings
Stephi, what were you doing before you started Blushington?
Stephi Cohen: I went to the University of Arizona and studied a blend of communications and retail. I studied abroad in London and graduated first since I was prepared to commencement my career. I continually loved attractiveness and manner — I have three sisters, and I was the one who was particularly curious in that world. So, I worked in retail, but whenever I graduated, I wasn’t certain exactly what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to be my own boss.
Nicki, how did you rotate into involved?
Nicki Maron: I was operating in tv promotion as Bill Lawrence’s aide on Cougar Town. Working for him taught me concerning the power of grassroots marketing. While Stephi was evolving the idea, I was assisting her rearward the scenes. Eventually, I realized I was likely spending additional period operating alongside her than operating for Bill, and that wasn’t right. I needed to create the jump.
Also, I was thinking concerning how we could current the business to group who regularly needed their composition done, including actresses akin Courteney Cox. I was entrepreneurial, and I saw the identical need Stephi saw: People didn’t have admission to norm composition applications at an affordable price.
The experience
What did you desire customers to awareness whenever they walked in?
Maron: We watched Pretty Woman as kids, and that environment anywhere she’s treated seriously in the shop stayed alongside us. We wanted Blushington to be the opposite of that. There wasn’t a location anywhere distinct generations of women could get their composition done and awareness that the artists were really listening to them. That was a big part of what we wanted to create.
Cohen: Nicki was there from the beginning, equal whenever she had another job. She helped alongside everything. Having person I trusted so much made a huge difference.
An different name
Where did the name Blushington arrive from?
Cohen: I had fair arrive rear from studying abroad in London. I liked names akin Lexington and Kensington, but another names I considered were already trademarked. I wanted item that felt international, equal although it was really two girls in Los Angeles. We blended “blush” alongside that benevolent of ending and came up alongside Blushington. Nobody had the name, so we could trademark it. Almost everybody in the family disliked it at first.
Maron: Myself included. I didn’t comprehend it. I provision Stephi a lot of credit for trusting her instincts. If it had been up to me, we likely wouldn’t have gone alongside Blushington, and that would have been a mistake.
Identifying customers
How did you discover out whether another group shared your frustration?
Maron: We listened to allies and family. It wasn’t fair us. It was our cousins, aunts, grandmothers and allies coming into town. There wasn’t a location that put assistance archetypal in the way we wanted. The stores were modeled following our mom’s vanity. We wanted them to awareness akin a residence distant from home. We say that strolling into Blushington should awareness akin a heated hug.
Stephi additionally believed composition didn’t have to be reserved for weddings, prom or another particular occasions. We launched services akin Eyes Only for group who didn’t desire a complete visage of composition but motionless wanted to appearance and awareness good.
Turning the idea into a store
What were the archetypal tangible steps you took to get the endeavor started?
Cohen: First, I asked group what they idea of the idea and tried to get their buy-in. Then I worked on a endeavor plan. After that, we started looking for a location. I was driving downward Sunset, near Drybar, and saw a “For Lease” sign. I thought, “This is a sign — I have to call.”
The area was a small bigger than we initially wanted, but it worked out well. From there, we needed architects and had to fig out the buildout. You study as you go, and you encircle yourself alongside group who have additional cognition than you do. For me, creating the area was the most exciting part. Then came finding the brands and sticking to our method to merchandise selection.
What did that method appearance like?
Cohen: We weren’t going to buy an complete merchandise row fair to transport a brand, and we motionless don’t. At the time, bigger brands frequently required you to encounter a minimum or bring in the complete line. We pushed back. We wanted to choose the products that made awareness for our artists and customers.
Finding investors and archetypal customers
How did you prosperity the archetypal location?
Cohen: We brought together a commission and a few investors who helped prosperity the buildout and the start of the business.
The throw was that nobody was doing what we wanted to do. Investors could see the petition for blowout bars, and we were showing them a akin chance for composition applications. Our merchandise selection, artistry, pricing and general example helped create the case.
How did you discover those investors?
Maron: You call everyone you know. You say, “This is what I’m doing. I need to discover the correct group to assistance me, and let’s do it together.”
Cohen: We talked to allies and family and kept getting the term out. Eventually, publicity helped bring group to us, fairly than us continually having to appearance for them. But in the beginning, we pounded the pavement.
How did you get your archetypal paying customers?
Cohen: When we opened in 2011, Drybar was correct next door. We had a awesome relationship, and group getting their tress done would arrive to us afterward for makeup. That helped current the business. We motionless accept in getting out into the community. Sometimes that method exactly position on the street and handing out cards. Nicki volition do that herself.
Location matters, too. We desire to be near complementary businesses — fitness, health and another places our customers already visit. Someone power complete a exercise and arrive to us for a blowout.
Making attractiveness an mundane service
Who did you ideate your representative client would be?
Maron: The women who were in the area for our sister’s bat mitzvah. Someone akin me who didn’t cognize much concerning makeup, person akin Stephi, who knew a lot, our mom and our grandmother.
I was a university football player. I didn’t deteriorate makeup. Stephi would do my makeup, and our younger sister would do our hair.
That customer hasn’t really changed. She’s multigenerational. A mom comes in, and afterward her female comes in.
How did that power your pricing?
Cohen: We wanted to alter the idea that getting your composition done was lone for a particular occasion.
I had extremely bad acne in elevated school, and I understood what composition could do for my confidence. I wanted to bring that experience to our customers.
It could be for a date, or it could merely be since you desire to awareness fine concerning yourself. Keeping services affordable makes it easier for customers to arrive in additional often, fairly than lone for a big event.
Maron: That remains part of our approach. You can get tress and composition done under one rooftop for small than $200.
Closing all locations
What happened whenever the epidemic arrived?
Maron: We signed a flagship area in New York City on March 11. On March 13, we closed our doors. It was among the worst days of our lives. We had spent years construction this family business, putting our hearts into it. We had to near all our locations and let our squad go. Then we had to ask ourselves whether we should keep going at all.
Rebuilding through franchising
How did you decide to continue?
Cohen: Not being capable to provision earnings for our workforce was among the hardest parts. Before we could equal fig out what we were going to do, we were worrying concerning them. We had to decide: Do we near the business, or can we arrive out of this stronger? Ultimately, we felt the franchise example was the finest example for us.
Maron: During the pandemic, we created an online Blushington Academy. We certified artists throughout additional than 40 states, and we have additional than 250 artists in our portal. We wanted to assistance artists whenever group weren’t getting their tress and composition done and we additionally saw additional group wanting to rotate into their own bosses. Franchising made awareness since Stephi and I live in Los Angeles. Someone who lives in another city knows that community improved than we do.
What does the endeavor appearance akin now?
Maron: We have one company location in New York City and two open franchise locations in Boca Raton and Houston. Both franchisees were customers first. Karen, our archetypal franchisee, had visited our Dallas and New York locations. Courtney, our Houston franchisee, had been emailing us concerning franchising since 2015.
What franchisees are purchasing into
Why would person choose a Blushington franchise alternatively of starting an autonomous business?
Maron: Running a endeavor on your own is difficult. In a franchise system, you have support. Our franchisees have Stephi, me and our team. We can assistance alongside genuine asset selection, promotion and operations since we’ve spent years learning how those things work. We additionally accept in the combination of blowouts, composition and skincare in one appointment. Customers preserve time, and franchisees are operating alongside an established idea and brand.
What affects the disbursal of beginning a location?
Cohen: The investment includes the buildout, inventory and the products we select. We recommendation incentives for veterans and multi-unit owners. Our lounges additionally aren’t fair assistance spaces. We presenter personal parties and rent out the space, so that influences how we scheme and build them.
What did you need to display before asking person to allocate in a franchise?
Maron: We needed to display that customers wanted multiple services under one roof. We’re seeing near to two services per appointment. Someone comes in for a blowout and adds makeup or lashes. People don’t desire appointments in distinct locations, lengthy waits, inconsistent norm or an overwhelming merchandise selection. Our endeavor is built about making that easier.
