New Business Concept Growing at EDC
Salon Service Central

Salon Service Central, founded by Sheri Smith and Jamie Pogany, is located in Suite 137 at the EDC.  This growing business outsources reception services and also provides marketing and business consulting services to the beauty business.  

Sheri and Jamie have a perfect blend of skills for their business,  Sheri has expertise in the beauty industry and Jamie has experience managing a call center in the health care industry.
 
Q:  How long have you been in business and what motivated you to start your own business?
A:   We started the business five years ago, and have been at the EDC for one year.  Discovering the business was a happy accident,  I had been consulting with a new salon, a staff was in place and a building was being renovated.  At the last minute the salon space fell though, I was able to get booth space for the sylists at other salons and set-up computers and telephone service so that clients could call in to one location and make appointments with the stylists.  After that last minute effort was successful, I decided to start developing a business plan for outsourcing reception duties.   We provide personal service that appears that it is coming directly from the salon.

Q:  What has been your biggest success or challenge?
A:    Our success is that we continue to see growth,  we have doubled our business in the one year we have been at the EDC.  We handle 17 customer groups with a total of 75 chairs and have five staff members besides ourselves.  

A challenge that continues is collections.   The beauty industry tends to be recession proof, and the clients that are using us are benefiting from the costs savings, but we still have to chase a few customers to maintain cash flow.

Q:  What do you like best about being a tenant at the EDC?
A:  I feel that we have received a lot of good advice and direction here.  Ron Mueller at Small Business Development has been instrumental in developing our business, Craig Frahm helped us negotiate with our software provider to lower our costs,  and the Graduate School of Entrepreneurs program has been very helpful.

I also like being with other entrepreneurs and giving each other advice and leads.  I have used Kb Data to solve some phone issues and received a lead from Choices Catering, you never know who has a service or a connection that can help you.

Q:  Where do you see your business three years from now?
A:   Our business model is set-up to accommodate growth, we are set-up in teams.   When we have enough new salons, we will develop a second team, and so on.   We are almost ready for that second team now.  The goal is to have the same people answering the phones for the same group of salons.   Currently most of our business comes from New York, California, and Florida but we just hired a sales person for the midwest region.  This is a new concept for some salons and we are designed for growth in an exciting industry.

Special Tenant Benefit
Alliance Training - Attend FREE  
                       
EDC and ATC tenants can now attend the Alliance and Business Boost seminar series FREE!  One person from each tenant business can attend each month at no charge.   The training seminars are presented by world-class facilitators from the Missouri Training Institute, St. Charles Community College, and the American Marketing Association.  The schedule is packed with information to benefit your business and seminar topics include human resources, marketing, customer service, and public speaking.  To view the complete training schedule click here.

The  next seminar,  is a Business Boost, "Building Your Personal Brand", Thursday, June 11 at
St. Charles Community College (Social Science Building Auditorium).  Registration and  networking begin at 10 a.m, the seminar begins at 10:30 and ends at 12 noon.   click here to register.

Fund Raiser for EDC Tenant
After Hours Event Benefit Planned for Choices Catering Owner

Friends of EDC tenant Gina Keeven of Choices Catering are hosting a "My Girlfriend Gina Happy Hour" on Thursday, May 21, from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Winery of the Little Hills.  Your donation of $25 includes a glass of wine and appetizers.  Gina is recovering from a life threatening health condition but has not been able to work for several weeks.  Click here to register, 100% of the money collected will go to Gina and her family.

Choices Catering is also featuring 10 new lunch menus for under $10.  click here for details and contact information.

EDC of St. Charles County * 5988 Mid Rivers Mall Drive * St. Charles, MO 63304
Toll-Free 1-877-441-6880 * www.edcscc.com * info@edcscc.com