Beauty and Business

By Amy Yard, Contributing Writer

For Carol Venzin, President of Fantastic Sams of Pennsylvania, family and business have always fit hand in hand. She even went so far as to drag hers along for informal mystery shopper haircuts as she and her husband investigated the possibility of salon ownership.

Now in business for over 17 years, Venzin almost missed the business opportunity that catapulted her venture as the regional franchiser of Fantastic Sams. As such, she is responsible for developing the territory, selling franchises, and providing support to salon owners.

"Our business is essentially three businesses in one," explains Venzin. "We're in franchise sales, business development and consultation, and distribution business. At the time [we were investigating this business opportunity], my husband worked with Republic Steel in Ohio and talked with a broker about business opportunities in manufacturing. He suggested Fantastic Sams, and my husband thought 'I sell steel, not beauty products!'"

Yet after reviewing all of the information, Venzin and her husband decided that it might just be the opportunity they'd been looking for, and into disguise they went.

"We took the whole family to some salons in Ohio and had our hair cut," admits Venzin. "Shortly after, we met with Sam Ross (the founder of Fantastic Sams) in Tennessee and bought the entire Pittsburgh region, and then a year and a half later we bought the central region, too."

An inspiring personality herself, Venzin credits other women business owners with motivating her: "I'm inspired by other successful woman business owners. They just energize me."

Given that, many people may be surprised to find out that it's not a woman who serves as Venzin's role model.

"Each of my grandfathers served as tremendous role models for me. My mother's stepfather always talked business with me so it was all just part of the natural course of things. He enjoyed being in business for himself. In fact, he really enjoyed what today we would call networking, but he would have called it hob-nobbing," Venzin laughs.

Venzin speaks proudly of her other grandfather as well, "My father's family owned oil rigs and a general store in West Virginia. My grandfather was considered a man of stature and consequence."

She recalls a humiliating moment with him in which she learned a very valuable lesson: "I always wanted to help in the general store, so one day, my grandfather let me stock canned peaches on the top shelf. I was very proud to help him and did a very quick job of the project. Yet when he came over to inspect my work, he never said a thing, but took a chair and turned all of the cans around-here I had them backwards. I was so humiliated! But I learned that it's not important to do things fast, but to do it right." Venzin recalls that her grandfather was also in the business of helping other people. "During the depression, he was very good at taking credit from customers or bartering goods and services."

Even today, Venzin's proudest business accomplishment is family-oriented. "My daughter has started to work for our company part-time while she goes through school, and I'm very proud of that."

However, like many employers, Venzin considers finding good employees the largest obstacle she's had to overcome.

She explains, "Finding licensed cosmetologists is tough. There are just not enough of them going through school. That's why my company has instituted a new program-which became a pilot program and then was rolled out to all the national salons as well-where we send our training development officer into 40 schools 2 days per week, and this has been an excellent source for finding employees. In addition, the program is very well regarded and is now a model for the beauty school company manual."

Venzin's training center does more than just educate people about beauty techniques and trends. It also offers goal-setting classes as well as courses in communication and merchandising. She finds that it helps cultivate well-rounded employees and business associates. "We have also presented these courses to organizations such as the Girl Scouts, other women business owners and even Seton Hill University's entrepreneurial summer program for young women."

So what gets Venzin through the inevitable moments of frustration in business ownership?

"Working with my husband," she says. "That gets me through tough times, and I'm grateful that we've worked together since 1985." Venzin adds that it's helpful that they each understand what the other is going through day in, day out. "It's hard to know how the other person feels if they're not going through something with you."

Venzin's secret to success is hard work. "More than that, though," she admits, "it's learning to ask others for assistance." She cites the expertise and assistance of an advisory board as a good example. "Take advantage of things like that; they can really help your business." As a PowerLink Company in 2000, Venzin had access to an advisory panel of experts who volunteered their time to help her business grow. This ultimately helped her form her own advisory board.

"The best advice that I've ever receive is to pray… sincerely," she admits. And she offers the following advice, which is taken from a poster that hangs on the wall across from her desk: "Continually affirm yourself, and give people more than expected and do it happily."

She also cautions that you should never do anything that wouldn't make your mother proud. "Cultivate the relationships that surround you - whether it's family, friends, or co-workers."

When asked what she knows for sure about business, Venzin says that's it's really fun. "Business ownership is a wonderful lifestyle," she says. True to her fun-loving and innovative nature, Venzin's group can be found at the Pittsburgh Zoo during Halloween, where her company offers scary hairdos to all!

If offered a new career opportunity, Venzin would like to be a professional speaker. Still, she's not changing courses just yet. In ten years, she envisions owning a company with 50 salons, 200 employees and strong brand recognition throughout Pennsylvania.

And she's well on her way. Her company has been ranked number one out of forty Fantastic Sams regions in the country since 1996.

Venzin's business is a strong advocate for the Locks of Love Program, a program that encourages people to donate their ponytails for wig-making purposes. In fact, her company has raised $17,000 from 3,000 cut ponytails. "Our Locks of Love program has even been rolled-out nationally to all the other salons."

She is currently the president of Pittsburgh's National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) and was named one of Pennsylvania's Best 50 Women in Business and the Women's Business Network (WBN) Woman of the Year in 2001. In 2000, she participated as a delegate in Governor Ridge's Pennsylvania Small Business Conference.

December 2002