"Always keep pushing forward even when you get thrown a curve ball, even when you must make hard decisions"
Amie Migirova is the owner and lead stylist of Emma Justine Color & Extension Lounge. Over the years, with the help of their beautiful and loyal guests, the Emma Justine Tribe took great pride in upholding the salon’s mission statement by “Creating a one-of-a-kind salon experience that is led by a team with exceptional talent to ensure every guest feels Bold, Beautiful, & Confident!”
Emma Justine Salon continues to set the bar for what it means to be experts in the field. Focusing on complete transformations and complex coloring services can only be achieved through proper training, special attention to detail, and an individual guest approach that is not bound to a time-limited appointment. With this type of sincere focus, the Emma Justine Tribe has built a strong reputation, bringing about a heavy responsibility that is passionately executed.
In the first year of opening, the salon received the Nationally Distinguished Salon of the Year Award, a recognition that they attribute to the trust their guests have put in them. They have also been featured in several magazine articles that showcased their work and talented team. In 2022, Emma Justine Salon received another award and was named to Inc.
Magazine’s Annual Best Workplaces List. This list is the result of a comprehensive measurement of American companies that have excelled in creating exceptional workplaces and company culture. We humbly realize that none of this would be possible without our loyal guests.
In addition, with the help of their loyal guests, the salon makes monthly contributions towards disaster relief work, as well as other charitable contributions.
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Table of Contents
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company.
Amie Migirova: I’m Amie Justine Migirova, and I am the owner and lead stylist of Emma Justine Color & Extension Lounge. We take great pride in creating a one-of-a-kind salon experience that is led by a team with exceptional talent to ensure every guest feels Bold, Beautiful, & Confident!
We focus on complete transformations and complex coloring services that can only be achieved through proper training, special attention to detail, and an individual guest approach that is not bound to a time limited appointment.
With this type of sincere focus, the Emma Justine Tribe has built a strong reputation, bringing about a heavy responsibility that is passionately executed.
2020 and 2021 threw a lot of curve balls into business on a global scale. Based on the experience gleaned in the past couple years, how can businesses thrive in 2022? What lessons have you learned?
Amie Migirova: Always keep pushing forward even when you get thrown a curve ball, even when you must make hard decisions. Sometimes those decisions are what really makes your business stand out.
There were so many curveballs this past couple of years that we have had to take on with no choice, for example, shut down and reopening with restrictions. Some curveballs we have thrown at our self to push the business forward.
For example, we shifted our hours to Tuesday-Friday with only two nights available until 7:00 pm.
This is not the industry norm and we received a lot of comments from potential clients about it just not being what salons do.
We also decided not to offer some services that we had in the past.
We decided to niche down to provide soley complex color and hair extensions. This was a very bold move on our part because we are a very busy salon and doing this would require cutting out about 30% of the clientele that we had at the time.
But it was the right move because it helped us to conform to our new hours and have the biggest impact in the amount of hours we are open.
Change can be the hardest thing to do but can be the biggest thing you can do to grow your business.
The pandemic seems to keep on disrupting the economy, what should businesses focus on in 2022? What advice would you share?
Amie Migirova: Customer experience.
Notice the next time you go into your favorite coffee shop—how does it feel? Is it different than when you first started going there? Were you greeted or just asked, ‘what do you want?’ or were you told, ‘here is your coffee.’
People miss the, ‘Hi how are you today?’ and the, ‘Can I do anything else for you?’ or just something as simple as, ‘I hope you have an amazing rest of your day.’ Sometimes just these little things go a long way, and if you can up that experience for your customers in other ways, you will stand out from others in your industry.
How has the pandemic changed your industry and how have you adapted?
Amie Migirova: Our guests want the best service in the fastest amount of time and not have to be in the salon as often.
We have adapted by bringing in a new innovative color line to speed up our processing time as well as bringing in a new extension method that will take half the time and will not need maintained as often.
In this way, for the guests that need an amazing, yet relatively quick experience we have the tools to do so.
What advice do you wish you received when the pandemic started and what do you intend on improving in 2022?
Amie Migirova: Slow down. Everyone was in a frenzy after coming back from being closed, and I think every business lost some of the personal touches we once had.
We have already brought back all of the guest experience touches we had before, and we are working on streamlining our whole guest experience from first point-of-contact to checkout to make sure each person’s experience is amazing each and every time they come in.
Online business surged higher than ever, B2B, B2C, online shopping, virtual meetings, remote work, Zoom medical consultations, what are your expectations for 2022?
Amie Migirova: This is something that has affected us in the salon as far as where our clients get their products from.
We find that most want to quickly order their hair care online and have it shipped to them. We are working on integrating this into our website to be able to offer to all of our clients a quick and easy way to get their products without having to come into the salon.
I feel that with time already being a huge factor in our everyday life, we will only see more of this in the year to come.
How many hours a day do you spend in front of a screen?
Amie Migirova: Since I work behind the chair 3 days a week, I’m not always working behind a screen, but I would still say at least eight between work and off time catching up of social media and relaxing at the end of the day with a show.
The majority of executives use stories to persuade and communicate in the workplace. Can you share with our readers examples of how you implement that in your business to communicate effectively with your team?
Amie Migirova: I think the strongest persuasion is understanding the WHY behind what we do. It is important for each of our employees to know and fully understand our mission.
This is where we can find the passion and drive our team needs to excel in their career. As far as stories go, practical examples are useful to help explain certain policies or protocols and again, the reason ‘why’ behind them. Sure, as a business owner, I am not obligated to explain everything we put into practice. However, I do believe this is what sets us apart, and we can feel the respect gained from our team.
Business is all about overcoming obstacles and creating opportunities for growth. What do you see as the real challenge right now?
Amie Migirova: The industry is changing as well as our customers wants, needs, and desires. This change is so fast, and it is hard to keep up with.
Every day, every week, and every year is a race to make the right move, make the right post, reel, TikTok, etc. Pick the right educational opportunity to stay ahead of the trends.
This is where we depend on our team to stay on top of the social media trends while we keep up with the ever growing and fast-paced techniques, products, and marketing. We avoid being content. If you are not moving forward, you are moving backward.
In 2022, what are you most interested in learning about? Crypto, NFTs, online marketing, or any other skill sets? Please share your motivations.
Amie Migirova: Online marketing: This effects our business the most and is everchanging.
You almost have to be omnipresent to succeed in the salon industry. Every social media outlet, search engine, website, review site, etc.. You name it, we must keep up with it.
A record 4.4 million Americans left their jobs in September in 2021, accelerating a trend that has become known as the Great Resignation. 47% of people plan to leave their job during 2022. Most are leaving because of their boss or their company culture. 82% of people feel unheard, undervalued and misunderstood in the workplace. Do you think leaders see the data and think “that’s not me – I’m not that boss they don’t want to work for? What changes do you think need to happen?
Amie Migirova: I can’t speak for other industries. But I think there is a lack of education for salon owners. You are a stylist; you want to open a salon. You open a salon, you hire other stylists, and then you are a business owner with employees. You do not have to have any education in business or leadership to be a salon owner.
This can lead to a lot of hardship on both the employees and the salon owner, and you end up failing a lot before you start getting it right.
If there was more education from the industry for business and leadership that was available to stylist or new salon owners before opening, I feel like the industry would have a better overall reputation!
On a lighter note, if you had the ability to pick any business superpower, what would it be and how would you put it into practice?
Amie Migirova: Being able to stop time around me.
There is never enough time in a business owners’ day to get all of the things you have to get done, things you want to get done, and still have time for a personal life.
What does “success” in 2022 mean to you? It could be on a personal or business level, please share your vision.
Amie Migirova: I find success in the smallest things. I am so grateful that we not only were able to stay open during and after Covid, but also to grow the business year after year.
My vision of success is being able to not just grow the business, but to help each of our employees reach their financial and personal goals whether it is to buy a house or just have the freedom to travel thoughout the year.
We have spent this last year changing out schedule and niching down our services to be able to provide a really great work/life balance for our team and next year we want to continue that growth.
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Amie Migirova for taking the time to do this interview and share her knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Amie Migirova or her company, you can do it through her – Linkedin Page
Disclaimer: The ValiantCEO Community welcomes voices from many spheres on our open platform. We publish pieces as written by outside contributors with a wide range of opinions, which don’t necessarily reflect our own. Community stories are not commissioned by our editorial team and must meet our guidelines prior to being published.
