Lessons from Meatloaf

I heard a story recently about a young girl watching her mother make meatloaf (stay with me here, it gets better). Before her mother put the meatloaf in the pan, she cut off both ends. The little girl asks,

“Why do you cut off the ends, mom?”

Her mother responded,

“That is how your grandmother taught me.”

So the little girl goes to her grandmother and asks,

“Why do you cut off the ends of meatloaf, grandma?”

She responded,

“That is how my mother taught me.”

 So she goes to her great grandmother and says,

“Why do you cut off the ends of meatloaf, Super G?”

 Her great grandmother said,

“Because my pan was too small.”

Have you been using the same products over and over again without considering the reasons why? Have you ever stopped to think about the reason you stock certain retail products in your salon? Now is your chance to ask “why?”

 Here are some questions to ask yourself about your retail supplier:

 Is this the type of business you want to support?

Have they kept up with the new sciences?

Do they work against you by selling retail directly to consumers?

Is their packaging up to date?

Stop and consider what you are buying.  Are you cutting off the ends, just because that is how it has always been done?

It’s time to take a bigger piece of meatloaf, with Screen Professional Hair Care!

My favorite topic,  DIVERSION— have you checked out the Rite Aid website lately? If not, your clients have...

Rite Aid has 4,700 stores in 31 states and has a website that makes online shopping easy. They sell over 4,000 hair products and over 1,000 of those products are discounted or considered “on sale" and being sold for less than you sell them in your salon.

I can't imagine how so many "Salon Professional Products" got on their website (sarcasm). I mean think about this, Rite Aid feels confident enough in their supply chain to actually represent these lines on their website:

Alfa Parf

American Crew

Aquage

Bed Head

Biolage

Chi

Davines

Enjoy

FHI

Framesi

Goldwell

Joico

Kenra

Kerastase

Loreal Professional

Living Proof

Macadamia Nut Oil

Nexxus

Nioxen

Paul Brown

Paul Mitchell

Phyto

Pureology

Rusk

Scruples

Sebastian

Sexy Hair

Tigi and Wella

My first guess is either Salon Centric or BSG represents all of these brands, but that is not the case.  The list above demonstrates that Rite Aid carries both Salon Centric and BSG brands; therefore it is not one distributor selling professional products to a non-professional outlet.  I have heard of consolidators that sell in this grey market, but I never knew that it was this organized and thorough. This problem is systemic in the industry not just here or there. Don't let them fool you, there is intent to sell via these channels.

You may be thinking that Screen will be sold via these channels eventually, when enough people know about it. After all, Aquage and Scruples (both listed above) tout their no diversion stance, and they both have it pretty well managed. I promise you that we will do our best, but unfortunately, it is legal for people to resell products that they have bought, so we need your help. If you see our product being sold anywhere they should not be, let us know and we will do our absolute best to stop it. This is my pledge to you.

Do you disrespect your art?

 

I was privileged enough to have lunch with a brilliant friend of mine. He told me that Stylist don’t like to sell products because they feel like it cheapens their art and their client’s experience.

Well that sucks for me, seeing as I sell Salon Professional Products. 

We started discussing the Stylist ramifications of not selling high quality products. We likened it to creating a painting and not putting UV glass over the painting when framed, or allowing your favorite color t-shirt be washed with regular or generic detergent.

When a great cut is not styled properly or color is not cared for… not only does the client look bad but the stylist looks bad as well.

The absolute best marketing is a referral. I refer business to Bentley Salon (a Screen Salon) that I go to in all the time in Tampa. From their services and the “extension of their service” to the use of Screen, the highest quality products, the salon make my hair beautiful and healthy.  

Not selling a product that will make your styles more marketable to others is just bad business, and more importantly disrespecting your art.

Bentley Salon

3228 W Kennedy Blvd

(813) 877-9801 

Best of the Best

Just flipping through the Robb Report (the magazine of the super wealthy) this month’s  issue was about the “Best of the Best” in the world. I was thrilled to be reminded about how many of the finest things are from Italy. But most of them are only known by the most discerning customers…. Just like Screen. Have you ever heard of an Azimut or Brioni or Screen… it can still be the “Best of the Best” without the masses hearing of it.

Ferrari 458 Italia



Azimut Yachts

Argento Vivo Kitchens



Cars, Yachts, Kitchen, Clothes and let’s not forget the food. Even the French are inspired by Italian design. Chanel inspired by Venice and Parmigiani Fleurier designed by Bugatti.

Screen’s design and quality is in the same Italian tradition…

Be as Free as your Hair

People express their individuality in so many different ways…clothing, their homes, their cars, tattoos, their music, their friends…

I love Lady Gaga—she has taken showmanship to the next level and I believe she will put Madonna to shame in 20 years.

She recently came out with a single called “Hair”, the lyrics are below.

Gaga uses hair as a way to express herself, she currently has a beautiful pink/peach color which is featured on the cover of Vanity Fair.

Hair has been a form of express for thousands of years, probably longer than clothes. So much can be learned from a hair style: health, economic status, vanity, sexuality, independence…. It acts as a social channel of communication and Gaga, in her genius, knows this.

In her song below, she uses hair as an analogy for Freedom and Independence. If Screen had an anthem, it would be this song.

Be as Free as your Hair.

Hair by Lady Gaga

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, oh
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, woah

Whenever I'm dressed cool,
My parents put up a fight.
(Uh huh, uh huh)
And if I'm a hot shot,
Mom will cut my hair at night.
(Uh huh, uh huh)
And in the morning,
I'm short of my identity.
(Uh huh, uh huh)
I scream Mom and Dad,
Why can't I be who I wanna be?
(Uh huh, uh huh) to be.

I just wanna be myself,
And I want you to love me for who I am.
I just wanna be myself,
And I want you to know, I am my hair.

I've had enough, this is my prayer,
That I'll die living just as free as my hair.
I've had enough, this is my prayer,
That I'll die living just as free as my hair.
I've had enough, I'm not a freak,
I'm just here trying to play cool on the streets
I've had enough, enough, enough,
And this is my prayer, I swear,
I'm as free as my hair.
I'm as free as my hair.
I am my hair.
I am my hair.

As free as my hair, hair, hair,
Hair, hair, ha-ha-ha-hair,
Hair, hair, hair,
Hair, hair, ha-ha-ha-hair.
As free as my hair, hair, hair,
Hair, hair, ha-ha-ha-hair
Hair, hair, hair,
Hair, hair, ha-ha-ha-hair.

Sometimes I waltz around,
Put on red highlights.
(Uh huh, uh huh)
Just because I want my friends,
To think I'm dynamite.
(Uh huh, uh huh)
And on Friday rocks in,
High school dance.
(Uh huh, uh huh)
I got my bangs too hot,
That I don't stand a chance.
(Uh huh, uh huh) a chance.

I just wanna be myself,
And I want you to love me for who I am.
I just wanna be myself,
And I want you to know, I am my hair.

I've had enough, this is my prayer,

That I'll die living just as free as my hair.
I've had enough, this is my prayer,
That I'll die living just as free as my hair.
I've had enough, I'm not a freak,
I'm just here trying to play cool on the streets
I've had enough, enough, enough,
And this is my prayer, I swear,
I'm as free as my hair.
I'm as free as my hair.
I am my hair.
I am my hair.

As free as my hair, hair, hair,
Hair, hair, ha-ha-ha-hair,
Hair, hair, hair,
Hair, hair, ha-ha-ha-hair.
As free as my hair, hair, hair,
Hair, hair, ha-ha-ha-hair
Hair, hair, hair,
Hair, hair, ha-ha-ha-hair.
Ha-ha-ha-hair.

I just want to be free, I just want to be me
And I want lots of friends who invite me to their parties.
I don't wanna change, and I don't wanna be ashamed.
I'm the spirit of my Hair, it's all the glory that I bare.

I am my hair, I am my hair
I'm my hair, I am my hair
I am my hair, I am my hair
I am my hair, I am my hair
(It's all the glory that I bare)

I am my hair, I am my hair
It's all the glory that I bare
I am my hair, I am my hair
I'm my hair, yeah, yeah
(All the glory that I bare)
I'm my hair, yeah, yeah
(All the glory that I bare)
I'm my hair, yeah, yeah
(All the glory that I bare)
I'm my hair, yeah, yeah, yeah

I've had enough, this is my prayer,
That I'll die living just as free as my hair.
I've had enough, this is my prayer,
That I'll die living just as free as my hair.
I've had enough, I'm not a freak,
I'm just here trying to play cool on the streets
I've had enough, enough, enough,
And this is my prayer, I swear,
I'm as free as my hair.
I'm as free as my hair.
I am my hair.
I am my hair.

Ooh, my hair, my hair.

Are you a Wave or Part of the Ocean?

I tend to have a lot of “self-focus”, which is the politically correct way of saying that I am self-centered or egotistical. I take on too many things and I think I do them well. I am impatient and I  get frustrated easily.  In short, I am exactly like everyone else. 

I have decided that I am a wave moving through an ocean of people who work in synergy. I don’t just mean my team at the office, or my husband, or my partners. I mean everyone; my life includes a series of people who help me daily and my wave can work against them or with them.

I think that people can easily forget that they are part of an ocean, that there are millions of waves out there and the energy you give out is the same energy that you take in. Look around you, understand the surrounding waters.  Are they positive or negative?  Is it time to risk crashing on the shore and moving forward, summoning the powers of the waters around you and gain the momentum that life is intended to have.

You will always be part of the ocean.  Even after hitting the shore, we all fall back into the ocean.

Every day we must decide to summon the energy around us and move forward, gaining momentum and letting go of our fears.

It will not take an ocean to change the beauty industry just some big waves all moving in the right direction, away from the stagnant waters of the past.

Use any independent brand and avoid the big boyz.  They are the stagnant, only gaining power when they break your wave.

SURF ON!

Screen is for the Wild Ones

Screen is for the wild ones. The passionate. The individual. The ones who see things in a distinctive way. They detest the mass market. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can dismiss them, love them, vilify or glorify them.

About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them.

Because they transform things. They create. They dream. They inspire. They nurture change. They push their vision forward.

Maybe they have to be a little crazy.

How else can they stare at a head of hair and see a work of art? Or sit in silence and visualize a color they have never seen, or gaze at a person and see them at their best?

We make products for these kinds of stylists.

While some will see them as the wild ones, we see genius. Because the people who are passionate enough to think they can change their industry, are the ones who do.

I Have Never Given Birth

I have never given birth. The fates have decided that I am not to be a mother in the traditional sense. Please know that I think that mothers are amazing. I think that being a mother is one of the most difficult endeavors one can take on, and I have the utmost respect for women who sacrifice themselves for their families. I am frequently in awe of Nancy, my right hand here at the Screen offices in Tampa. She is a single mom who is raising two amazing people yet still manages to mother me and illustrate her un-ending competence at work, and then she still makes time to travel and date and have her own life.

We have birthed a business in the last two months, the gestation period started in November of 2009. Since then, my partners and I have set up the infrastructure to bring the most brilliantly engineered professional beauty line to the United States. The distributors have started, the product is selling and the education team is in place, but it did not all gel until America’s Beauty Show in Chicago this past weekend. We had a perfect space right in the front- thank you Yves and Paul Dykstra. Our booth was beautiful, thanks to the expertise of John Bogdan and imagery from our partners in Italy. And we rocked the house, thanks to Jason Schwind, FM Shortino and our Italian partners who constantly filled the seats with their amazing talents.

This weekend John, Yves and I gave birth to Screen Professional Hair Care in the USA. Our booth in the show marked our first real introduction to the beautiful and creative community of Chicago.

We have brought Screen USA to life, with the best intentions and with a commitment to honor this community of beauty warriors.

I pledge to nurture this business like my child, giving tenderness, education, my attention and my unconditional love.

Andrea

Are you an early adopter?

I have always been an early adopter. I own an iPhone and an iPad. I was quick to get on the web, and absorb all emerging technologies, but it does not stop there, I buy the newest make up, books and toys (for my nieces). Anything that is the latest and has that cool factor, I have to own it.

Early adopters have endless hope, always believing something might be better. Well, sometimes it works for me and other times it misses the mark completely:  I hated the vibrating mascara but I loved the iPad.

In general, I like anything that CHALLENGES THE STATUS QUO! So when we started our company, we wanted Screen USA to CHALLENGE the salon industry.

Screen is challenging the status quo in the way we do business, starting with Micro-Distributors and our technology. But it carries through to everything we do including our education and our approach.

We had an unbelievable month of February; we blew away our sales projections by 3 times. But I had the uncomfortable task of sharing with our Micro-Distributors that we were running out of stock on some popular items. It killed me.  I strive to be a person of my word.  Our company strives to be a company worthy of trust.  These situations make this challenging. All I could do was hurry to fix the problem. We have placed three separate air orders in process from Italy, incurring the additional cost of air freight, but I still feel like I should have preempted any issues.

Do you think that other companies out there feel this way when they inform their clients they are outta stock?  Do you think that there is someone losing sleep over it? Well, we are the type of company where there are plenty of people losing sleep.

We are starting to get an idea of what you stylists like which allows us to stock accordingly. When you buy Screen, please know:  we are different, we really care, and we challenge the status quo.

We are like you!

Andrea

It’s A Boll Weevil

There are many trials and tribulations when starting a new business, including plenty of ways to get discouraged and feel sorry for yourself.  This week was rough for me. Someone who I trusted stole from me and some promises were broken. I took it personally, but then I started thinking about the Boll Weevil.

What is the Boll Weevil, you ask? Well, a Boll weevil is a beetle measuring an average length of six millimeters, which feeds on cotton buds and flowers. Here is a picture.

Ugly little bugger… Boll Weevil.

This bug started infesting the cotton crops of the southern US in the late 1800’s:  this little bug contributed to the Great Depression in the south.

It took awhile for fate to show itself and reveal why this infestation happened. Eventually, the farmers figured out that the annoying bug presented a new opportunity. They realized, “maybe we should grow a different crop”. That crop happened to be peanuts, which were easier to grow, pick and ultimately resurrected farming in the south.

When you feel like something is working against you, stop and think— it might be a Boll Weevil!  It may force you to realize better and more lucrative options.

The lack of service and lack of education that you have received from the big three companies is your Bow Weevil and Screen is your better and more lucrative option.

There is hope!

Andrea

August 28, 1999 changed my life

1999 was a really tough year for me.  I spent the year building a new life in NYC, sharing a 800 sq ft downtown loft and working 70 hour weeks for American Express. I was rebuilding my life after a ferocious break up with a controlling man who spent the last 5 years isolating me from my friends and family.

‘99 was the most difficult year of my life; I had to move from Boston to NYC to get away from the man that I now affectionately refer to as simply, “The Psycho”. I found myself in a new city with no friends and working at a job that I was in no way qualified for, in a city that is daunting even in the best of times.

August 28, 1999 changed my life, and I happened to turn 30 years old on that very day. I invited some friends from work to join me for dinner and clubbing at a hip restaurant.  I knew it would cost me a fortune, but you only turn 30 once and it was worth going broke for. What do you do when you are going for broke; you spend your day at the salon and spa!

So the plan, in true NYC fashion, was to leave my downtown loft with my handbag full of makeup and a clubbing dress and head to mid town for the day. I left around noon and on the subway up to midtown, I realized that no one had called me for my birthday yet… well there is still time. I stopped at my favorite Vietnamese nail salon and got the “Cowardly Lion” treatment, you know when he goes to oz and they do all of his services at once.  

Next stop Warren Tricomi on 58^th.  My hair had been cut many times before, but always just a trim and sometimes, if I was feeling daring, bangs. But I had never had my color done. When I arrived at WT, it was 2pm and still no one had called for my birthday—this is really before texting and facebook so I was truly getting no B-day love.

I spent the next 4hour hours drinking wine with my new Stylist friend Natalie, well I was drinking wine, she colored and cut my hair. She gave me my first “New York Style”.  I became a delicious New York blond, complete with my first ever shaped and dyed eyebrows. I finally looked like a girl, Keep in mind I had been a tom boy and an athlete up to this point. It was like Natalie was my fairy godmother and she just said bippity, bobbity boo.

Natalie showed me exactly how fabulous my hair looked. She gave me the mirror to see the back, and it was absolutely gorgeous. Then, to everyone’s surprise, I spontaneously burst into tears.  It was 6pm and no one had call me to wish me a happy birthday—not my brothers or my mother or my friends. I quickly explained to Natalie that I love my hair but it was my birthday and no one seemed to remember. I had not heard the words “Happy Birthday” out loud yet. Then uncontrollably I went into machine gun crying, it was like the entire staff rushed to their fire engine to save the crying client.

 I was first taken away from the other clients…. Ushered to a treatment room and given a cup of tea, all the while each person wished me a happy birthday. Natalie just let me talk for a minute and I told her about “the pscyco” and my plans for a new life.  The tea started working and I was a little tired from my emotional seizure. She told me to lie down and she would be right back. She returned with Helana from Russia. Natalie told me that Helana was going to do a quick anti swelling facial and later my makeup. She put cold compresses on my face and eye— I think I fell asleep for awhile.

They moved me out to the front and started doing my makeup.  Everyone was going out of their way to complement me and say happy birthday.  As Helena finished my makeup, the salon staff sang happy birthday and brought me a candle in a snickers bar. They then promptly taught me how to not screw up my makeup when crying….dabbing inner eye while tilting the head.

I changed into my evening dress that was hidden in my purse and emerge from that salon beautiful, sophisticated and most importantly, taken care of by the sisterhood of beauty.

That day changed my life; I realized that there is always somewhere to go when you are down.  There is always a way to feel better; just go see the saints in the sisterhood of beauty.

When I met up with my friends from work I had one of the best nights of my life, a true Sex in the City kind of night. I even met a man- that one right over there.

This day changed by life in incredible ways…. First, I found the art of beauty, its practitioners and the love that encompasses a salon. Second, I realized I would be happily spending hundreds of dollars on beauty for the rest of my life. And finally, I found a mature love with a man that champions me, and believes that I can do anything.

Now you know when the Salon Profession hit my personal radar and I have been fighting to be involved with this community ever since.

I challenge you to help these salons as they have helped countless others.

I challenge you to give them back their power of choice in a salon professional brand.

I challenge you to sell salons the items that will enrich their lives.

Andrea and John Bogdan after 8 years of marriage!

THE SCALDED DOG FEARS COLD WATER.

Meyer our no testing on animals mascot is not afraid of the water!

 

In one week we start our First Annual Screen Distributor and Educator Meeting here in Tampa. We have over 40 people attending and I can actually feel the momentum rolling up behind me like a big wave. I have my surfboard and I am ready to shred the ocean! I am visualizing myself wearing this very cool neoprene bikini.

I have talked to over 60 distributors, chains and micro-distributors since Las Vegas Cosmoprof last year. Some of them are brilliant, some are funny, but all of them remain true to themselves. I love that you can actually be yourself and still be accepted in this industry. This is the GREATNESS of the Professional Beauty Industry.

Their talents go beyond their individuality. They are all disgusted by the business ethics of the big boy manufactures. I spend very little time selling my brand because the products sell themselves, everyone I have talked to loves their samples, and loves the product lines. I spend the majority of my time selling my integrity and business ethics to my potential partners.

I understand their suspicions; they have all been burnt before and they don’t know me from Adam. But, I am surprised at how pervasive the fear of manufacturers is to distributors. I have heard a lot of horror stories where a sales person, or distributor builds a brand in an area and the products get pulled from them. This happens because the brand sold to one of the big boyz or because they consolidated with one of the big distributors. The end result is always the same, these hard-working people get their primary product line—the brand they built from scratch—pulled out from under them. The product gets diverted, and the sales person’s credibility is eroded.

These situations make me think of an old Italian proverb- THE SCALDED DOG FEARS COLD WATER.  They have all been scalded by a manufacturer and Screen is the cold water.

Screen USA is a master distributor for North America.  We can’t sell our distribution rights and the mother ship in Italy is family owned. I mean as family-owned as it gets. The owner, Maria Parinzinni, has her two very savvy sons managing the business. I can’t imagine a scenario where they would ever sell to the big boyz.

The Parinzinni family gives us the freedom to manage Screen USA for the long run. We don’t need to pump up our numbers through diversion; it would only work against us.

I won’t claim to know the secret to getting over the scalding from other manufacturers but I will say unequivocally that we have absolutely no intention of screwing anyone over, especially the people who believe in us and who help us build our brand.

I like to think that I made up this quote, and I use it way to frequently but here it goes…

“There is a thin line between fear and excitements, when you feel fear, just push it over the line.”

Move your fear over the line and join the excitement of a true independent brand- Screen Hair Care!

Andrea