What I'm "Worth"

I've had the chance to work with the Detroit Glam Squad as a hairstylist now for a few months.  I love it!!  The girls I work with are amazing artists in their own right, and it's a lot of fun to share a creative vision with someone and then execute it.

This past week I've had the opportunity to work with two brides.  And WOW--I don't think they could be any more different!!

The first bride was a joy!  She was a little indecisive at times, but whenever dealing with a bride, you expect that.  They want their big day to be perfect.  We had the opportunity to do hair and makeup for her, her mother, and her entire bridal party.  They were a blast!  Everyone was upbeat, positive, trying to make sure that everything went perfect for the bride, and extremely appreciative of our skills so that they too, could look awesome on the bride's big day.  I'd do these ladies again in a heartbeat!

Bride number two has been a different story.  She's been all but non-responsive until the last minute for absolutely everything.  I'd sent an email three days prior to confirm the trial date and didn't get a response until FOUR HOURS before the trial was supposed to happen.  Then, after the trial, there was a dispute about prices.  Mind you, I sent the bride a copy of our contract about three weeks in advance.  Over a month before that, I gave it to one of her bridesmaids, who was the original contact.

Apparently nobody read it.

We charge $65 for bridesmaids, $75 for the bride.  I did research before setting these prices because I wanted to be competitive and fair.  These costs match what people in this area pay to get their hair done in a salon--except if you hire us, we travel to you.

Turns out the bride was given slightly lower prices originally.  She'd been told $50 for bridesmaids, $65 for the bride.  No big deal, I can work with it.  Because she'd had my contract for about three weeks and didn't bring the discrepancies to my attention until the day of the trial, I did feel she was trying to bully me into lower prices, but I wasn't going to abandon her because of it.

It gets better...  Alongside both sets of the prices, we offered a 15% discount due to her party size.  Somehow, the math was done wrong and she'd told her bridesmaids we were charging $33 post-discount.

Let me see.... $50 x .85 = $42.50.

Maybe it was $50 x .15?  Nope.  That's $7.50

Did she do $50 - $15?  Hmm... still comes to $35....

Uhhhh........  I have no idea how it got to $33.

So now I've got a non-appreciative, cheap bride who wants me to work for LITERALLY half price because of her mathematical error.  I explained that I'd have to have her sign the contract at full price, because that's what we charge, but I would talk to the girl who originally gave her those prices and if there was a reason behind it, we might honor them.  She signed, wrote a check for the deposit, and I headed home.

When I called back later that day to explain the pricing options that I could let her pick from (NOT $33), she told me that she's not sure everyone is still going to want their hair done and that the number of people in the party may shrink due to the price.

Excuse me?  You JUST signed a contract.  Did you not read ANY of it?  There's a number of things that you should have paid attention to, but the biggest would be this one:

1. You are liable for the full amount on the contract, once signed.  (The only time this would be swayed is if we feel we've messed something up and want to make amends by lowering prices.  I was clear in saying that we MIGHT lower them.  Not that we would.)

Did I mention that this is a party of 11, and that both myself and the assistant I've hired are taking a Saturday off at Nordstrom (which is frowned on because it's retail) to do this wedding?  Did I mention that I'm paying the assistant?  Did I mention it's 45 minutes away?  Did I mention the bride's disorganization/non-responsiveness has been a pain in the butt?  Did I mention she wants me to stay for an additional two hours so that I can give her a second undo before the reception? (Which I had agreed to do for free before the price conversation came about)

I'm frustrated and I feel bad that she's gotten herself in this predicament, but I'm pretty sure it's not my fault.

No, I Don't Have Multiple Personality Disorder.

Recently, some of you may have gotten an invite from me to become my friend on Facebook.  "Wait," you might have thought, "I was pretty sure we already ARE friends.  What's going on?"

Don't worry.  You're not losing your marbles.  We probably are.  However, I've taken on another project. Those of you who know me well are probably already smiling because you know when I taken on a project, I take it on.

This one is called: Project Bring In Clients To Pay Off Student Loans.

In order to complete this project, I decided to build a digital presence, which will include my Facebook Business Page, a Twitter, and a Blog (under construction).  Alas, once I started on my project, I learned that Facebook requires Business Pages to be linked to a profile.  In keeping with the rule of thumb to separate business and personal, I decided to create another Ashley Hinton to which my page can be linked, without disclosing my entire "private" life to current and potential clients.  

The whole thing is a little bit weird, because as those of you who have been my clients know, I don't really separate the two in real life.  My friends are my clients, my clients are my friends.  And I love my friend and I love my clients.  However, it was recommended to me to go about it this way by a MUCH wiser person than myself, and so I am following through on her instruction.

We shall see how this goes.

In other news, things have been relatively peaceful around our apartment.

Isaac keeps eating my chocolates and then making fun of me when I happen to take the last one in the bag, saying "man, you sure downed those fast!"  Turd.  He also did something super sweet last Sunday.

I was invited to go with Ken Paves Salon, Clinton Township to a Bridal Show at Fern Hill Golf & Country Club.  We made up and styled eight models for the fashion show and then handed out information and cards afterward.

The night before the show, I had run around the house gathering whatever I might possibly need for the show and putting it in a pile beside the door.  My plan was to wake up early and then finish packing.  When I got up in the morning though, Isaac had already packed it all up (very nicely, I might add) in a rolling suitcase and placed little love notes on it (see below).  In addition, he went to WalMart and bought me a little lock for it so that nobody could steal my makeup kit.

My sweet husband is smart, but doesn't have the best grammar... and it was pretty late!

What a gem.  A handsome gem at that!!  

The next morning when I woke up, I had just opened my mouth to ask him if he could get me the rolling suitcase from the closet when I walked around the corner into his surprise.  I was so happy!!  I mean really, can a girl get it any better?

On top of all that, he made me breakfast that I barely had time to eat.  Bless his big ol' heart!

I've just been slaving away on gaining a digital presence.  The goal is to gain a presence which will hopefully translate to ranking higher on Google, which will hopefully bring in more clients, who will hopefully enjoy paying me for my services so that I can pay off student loans.

That's a lot of hopefully's.

In case it doesn't happen that way, or in case it takes longer than the Department of Education would care for, I've also been applying for jobs since we got back from Christmas.  I had an interview with Nordstrom this morning and I'm hoping that they liked me.  I should know by the end of the weekend.

Aside from that, we're just keeping on, keeping on!

Who Says You Can't Blog At 1 AM?

Things have been looking up rather quickly!

I've been spending the past week reading articles and doing research about what it takes to run a successful business and how to advertise to your niche clientele.  One thing in particular that I kept seeing was that a company should have an internet presence.  In this day and age, it seems that everyone wants to meet the digital you before they spend time investing in getting to know the real, live you.

Okay.

So I started doing research on how to create website, see if domain names are free, buying domain names, etc...  Turns out that Intuit is doing something fabulous for the state of Michigan.  Any small business owner can get a domain name (provided it's available) and a website setup for FREE.  Of course, this offer only lasts for the first year, but even so, if it serves it's function, many small businesses won't mind paying for the subsequent years because the revenue it helps create should severely outweigh the cost of the site.  And if it's not making money... well... I'd probably drop the site and start over.  Or reconsider whether entrepreneurship was my thing.

Anyway, I long story short: I am now the excited owner of www.ashleyhinton.com!  (It's up and running if you want to check it out!)

I had conducted a survey toward the end of last year asking for the public's opinion on what a good website name would be, but I am reserving that one for when I have the ability to invest more into freelance wedding work again.

Additionally, I have an interview at Nordstrom for a Cosmetics/Fragrances position on Thrusday.  I'm very hopeful that this is where God wants me.  Because I want to be there.

We'll see what all of this brings, but so far the results have been lots of excitement and Isaac receiving less of my attention than normal because I've been learning the in's and out's of the software for the website design.

He is so sweet.  Right now he's sitting at the table, decked out in his latest Parilexx gear.  He gets so excited to wear it because the company is run by one of his former track members--and because the shirts are SUPER comfy!  I think he looks quite handsome in them.  They hug his biceps very nicely.

That's it for the night--rather, the early morning update!  We hope you have an awesome weekend!