[52 Weeks - Interviewing Australian Entrepreneurs] Week 1 - Pia Lane

[Clayton Ford]

23rd October 2006
For my very first interview I thought it would be best to stick close to home. With that in mind I thought who better to talk to than my good friend Pia Lane? Pia launched the ultra trendy and cutting edge (sorry about the pun) Brisbane hair salon Pia Lane Hair 2 ½ years ago at age 23.


Pia Lane

After training for seven years at Fadi’s (one of Brisbane's high end salons) and winning host of awards to long to list here, Pia thought it time to branch out on her own. Pia explains “I think it gets to a point when you reach a top level where you are and you can’t move any higher, you need another challenge. There’s nothing worse than thinking you’re just doing something every day instead of learning something [new] every day”.

However, the decision to run her own salon wasn't made on a whim. The intention to do so was there from a young age. Growing up, her family businesses influenced her strongly. Pia explains “With Dad we go and help lay bricks, with Mum we go and cut hair and with my aunty and uncle’s shop we’d pack boxes”.

It is generally accepted theory that entrepreneurs have a higher tolerance to risk than non-entrepreneurs and Pia is no exception. “I’m risky as!” she laughs. “From bungy jumping to parachuting, I don’t care.” She laughs. “I think, what’s the worse thing that could happen? I still have to work the rest of my life. The worse thing that happens is that I’m going to get a job to pay it off if it doesn’t work.”

In order to justify this increased risk, there needs to be a pay-off. What motivations drive Pia? “As a young apprentice you win all the awards. A couple of years later when you are qualified you still win awards. So trophy chasing isn’t important [to me].” She explains, “The only thing that is important is that for my young kids, I can give them that opportunity. I can teach them and they can win awards and they can go and get their own shop and they can be successful”. “That makes me more excited than anything,” she adds.

In order to finance a new business, entrepreneurs typically consider the “Four Fs”, that is founder, friends, family and fools as their options for start-up funding. In her case, Pia used personal savings, combined with a bank loan guaranteed by her family. Pia describes the process, “I had money saved, so that helped… and because the banks don’t want to invest in a 23 year old I had to get mum and dad to guarantee [the bank loan] for me. The loan was to fit out the salon”.

From there the business has financed all of its own extensions and new equipment. Pia explains “Money from the salon goes straight back into the salon. I just draw a wage every week. I’m paid pretty much like all the other staff members”.

That’s not to say that it’s all been plain sailing from day one. Laughing, Pia explains the opening day “The first day that we walked into the shop there were no chairs and no mirrors. We had no shampoo and conditioner so we had to run down the road to the supermarket!” “We managed to cover expenses the first week that we opened” she adds. Becoming serious, Pia goes on to add “I will say that I was scared though. I [always] work till 9pm at night, but I was prepared to work another job if it came to it just to pay the bills!”.

Taking over a location that was previously a cut-price hairdresser also had its challenges. Pia explains, “We had a few dramas because we were changing the salon that this [location] was. [It] was a five chair salon with $20 haircuts that had gone bankrupt. We had heaps of clients walk away as soon as they found out the price of a hair cut.”

However, things soon turned around due to Pia's loyal clientèle built up through the years at Fadi’s and a clear view of their target customer. The salon caters for fashion conscious and “edgy” clients. These tend to be males and females aged 20 to 35 years and older fashion conscious women. “The older women that we have are very high up in fashion. Very groovy and modern” she adds.

In fact, market segmentation is far from a tacked on strategy for this team, it's ingrained into the culture. “We are definitely for the edgier type person. We don’t really do normal anything.” She laughs. “Because we like doing different kind of hair that’s the kind of people we attract, because that’s what we are best at doing.”

A huge part of the culture that makes Pia Lane Hair what it is comes from the staff. Pia tends to hire and train staff from a young age, “They’re there to have a good time. They’re there because they love what they do, not to pay their bills”. “I want people who love what they do because I love what I do,” Pia explains.

Word of mouth has been essentially the only marketing done by the team, “As a first business owner at 23, you spend all your money on trying to fix the shop up. There’s no money left to advertise. I couldn’t even afford a sign above the shop.” “They only advertisements we did was made sure we gave a good hair cut!” she proclaims.

So what of the sacrifices along the way, the long hours etc. that ones needs to give up to build a business? “I don’t think that I have [made sacrifices]. If people say to me ‘What? You’re still working?’ well to me it’s not working. I really like it” she laughs.

Pia’s ultimate goal in life is summed up simply, “My ultimate goal in life is just to be happy and I’m already there”. “I’m not driven by money I’m just driven by being happy. And the most important thing in my life is my family.”

So what’s on the horizon for Pia Lane? “Right now I’m looking for more space” she says. That may end up being a single larger premises or a second shop, “I just let fate take its course. What ever is meant to be will be. I think in life if you really want something to happen it happens. I think it follows through from how hard you are prepared to work for it. What you put in is what you’ll get out.”

Now, with an established clientèle, eight staff and a profile fueled by a growing awards list, what would Pia have done differently given the chance to start again? “I probably would have had a bit more faith in myself of got a bit bigger space.”

Pia Lane’s advice for those about to take the plunge is simple “When you are starting out, as long as you have passion and are prepared to work as hard as you need to work, everything else will fall into place.”

Pia says, definitely do:

• Make sure you have money before you start and don’t over commit yourself. Business is stressful enough. When you over commit yourself financially that’s when problems arise.
  
• Make sure you have someone doing the bookwork that you trust. This way you can put 100% into the business and always be there.

Pia says, definitely do not:

• Don’t trust everybody, or think that everybody will be as dedicated to the business as you are.
  
• Don’t put all you money into the appearance or fit-out of the business. It’s about how hard you work and the customers you attract. All those other things (like the latest equipment or expensive office furniture) will come later.
  
• Don’t be scared. If you don’t have faith in yourself no one else will.
  
• Don’t hold grudges. The people that get over things the quickest will find it easiest to succeed.

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Posted By Clayton Ford to 52 Weeks - Interviewing Australian Entrepreneurs at 10/28/2006 12:48:00 PM