The Entrepreneurial Brain Cramp - for Sally

Sally was employed as a hair stylist at the local hair dressing salon. She was used to the type of shift work that is present in this industry. She had left school to attend a hairdressing course at a college in Vancouver and had from this early stage in her career experienced the changes that had taken place in her line of work. She was now 39 years old and 40 was looming just around the corner. Was she destined to work on her feet cutting and styling hair forever? Working hard to satisfy her boss who appeared always to be money hungry; always increasing prices, always pushing her staff to finish the job in less time. “The more people we move through here the more money we make” were her exact words. Never a caring word for the customer or her staff!

What was Sally’s final straw, the final straw that led to the entrepreneurial brain cramp? It was inevitable, it was going to happen. I asked her, “Sally tell us what drove you into the world of the entrepreneur”?

She said that the continuous uncaring nature of her boss towards a dwindling client base had started the thought process but it was not in her mind to actually make the break. This came as a result of a visit from the courts. The owner had bought one too many fancy cars and now could not make the payments. What followed was a stream of legal action. Sally’s’ boss had been pushing the hairdressers to do more work, faster for more money so she could feed her habit for expensive clothing, fancy cars and a luxurious house in North Vancouver. But alas this self focus resulted in the closure of the business and the loss of jobs for 7 people.

So faced with a crucial decision Sally discussed her options with her husband. He had been employed as a factory worker all his life and had been a union member for just as long. He thought that she was crazy to even think of starting her own business. He urged her to go and find a union job where there was little or no threat of being fired or loosing your job. Sally was not convinced that her husband’s advice was really what she wanted.