Kathy McCarthy-Westbrook: The moment that I realized I wanted to be a hairdresser I was seven years old and I went and had my hair done by the local stylist down the block from our house, and I felt beautiful, and I knew I wanted to do that for the rest of my life, make other people feel beautiful. I stepped into the industry in 1988, so I've been in it just about 33 years now. When I was able to meet with my Salon Suite, I knew instantly that this was the group that I wanted to work with because they put their members first.
My Salon Suite is a suite concept franchise. We have a building with anywhere from 27 to 35 suites located inside of it. So we offer an opportunity to beauty industry and other service providers to rent space and make it their own. We have over 5,600 entrepreneurs in the beauty industry, and we are coming up on our 200th location that's probably happening as we speak. They needed someone at this time of growth that can help expand on the industry resources that the members needed to be successful in their business.
When we received feedback from our members in 2018, we found that a majority of our members were using Square. So why are we going to try and change anybody's mind from something that they're using? But more importantly, they said it was easy and it was fast to set up. So we chose to try and partner with Square and build a relationship there.
Cheryll Cannon: We supply Square to our members when they come in and start their own business, and the convenience of the technology allows the member to concentrate on their craft, and that's bottom line, why they're here. Anything to simplify and make their job easier is what we are all aiming to do behind the scenes.
Jenna Schermerhorn: I am actually very lucky. I feel like I don't have, my work stays at work. I don't take a lot of work home with me, and I've set those boundaries. I use square appointments for literally every part of my business, like 90% of it. But I mean, I use it for making appointments. It sends out appointment reminders, which a lot of people love that. Of course, use it for checkout. I mean, it's kind of like a one-stop shop with everything I need for my business. It's helped me with my time management. When I'm at work, I'm at work when I'm at home, yes, I have to maybe answer a couple messages, but that's it. But I mean, really Square has done everything else for me.
Cheryll Cannon: I love the uniqueness of each individual suite. That's what makes us so beautiful. I think. I mean, 85% of why someone goes to you is because they like you, they trust you. It's a relationship.
Jenna Schermerhorn: When we created our relationship with Square, our vision and our values aligned, and that's economic empowerment for the entrepreneur. From being able to charge a credit card, holding it on file, being able to book my appointments, marketing and promoting myself, and rewarding my clients. That runs the business side. We create the beautiful space that they make their own. So now I know when I received that feedback three years ago when everybody told me that they were using Square because it was easy and fast, I've absolutely experienced that with our network for the past two years, that we've been excellent partners.
