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Franchisor Spotlight: Judy Brooks from Blow Dry Bar – Business Wisdom
Judy Brooks is a well-known entrepreneur in Vancouver. Prior to launching Blow Dry Bar in 2007, she ran ProActive ReSolutions; a company working with organizations to build respectful workplaces with offices in Canada and Australia. The first Blo Blow Dry Bar location was born June 6th, 2007. The concept was simple: no cuts, no color — just wash-blow-go. Blo opened three locations in under a year. Since opening, Blo has received over 100 franchise requests from around the world and had over 85 editorial features. Being first to market in the category of Blow Dry Bar has had its advantages. Blo’s cheeky brand has been aggressively built. Blo has a global vision and Judy is working with the young team to capitalize on the success with a well-developed growth strategy. Not only is Judy in great demand as a speaker and advisor to other businesses, but Blo has recently merged with Melonhead, Canada’s largest kids’ haircut salons, to form Head Company Inc.
Judy says that Blo is not in the salon/hair industry business; “we’re in a service business that happens to provide a blow dry”. Growing her company has come from growing the brand and building a strong community, where customers know that they have something in common with the person sitting next to them, whether they ever speak together or not. Her brand is built down to the smallest detail; calling new staff ‘hair cadets’, fit out details for the premises, playing on the name ‘Blo’ and teaching new staff to honour the fact that customers chose to spend their money with Blo. Her staff tend to be young and very plugged in – Blo is active online with Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and online bookings. Judy says that Blo is her first experience of a B-to-C business, and one with public exposure. Both her previous companies were B-to-B, but now she finds herself in demand at dinner parties as people hear more and more about Blo and are increasingly excited by the concept. “It’s a whole new experience that makes me feel awesome.”
Judy’s biggest advice for people considering franchising is:
- The number of requests you get is not indicative of your success or the number of franchisors you will end up with
- You need a robust franchisee selection process so you learn whether the relationship will be a yes, a no or a maybe very quickly – don’t dance around the questions
- You need to find the right fit with potential franchisees; many people have the attitude “this is my own business” – well, it is but it’s not. There needs to be a strong relationship and partnership attitude on both sides to ensure franchise growth.
On a personal level, Judy attributes her success to a number of factors. She says she is very tenacious and figured out early on what was important to her (aesthetics and being around people with a sense of humour). She was given opportunities at an early stage when she didn’t look like a traditional outfit (education and experience) – because of her experience she now tends to give these same opportunities to others.
“We’re often too busy to see generational shifts – in business, it’s conquer, conquer, conquer – and then suddenly one day you realize – maybe it doesn’t have to look like that.”
Currently she is redefining success – she says now she enjoys nothing better than sitting in a room with one of her young staff members and seeing them handle a situation better than she would have done – “that’s the ultimate high.” – she is allowing her young staff members their own experiences and both sides are benefiting as Blo continues to grow.
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