Dropping the Ball

When I first met Miriam, I was stunned at her lack of attention to the business. She had no idea when bills were overdue, how much she owed, or even how to pay a bill properly. Miriam liked to think of herself and her staff as the cool kids. They work in the hipster neighborhood of Silverlake in LA. But being rock and roll is no excuse for poor management and poor customer service.

Miriam liked to make the excuse that she grew up Amish and had no idea how to take control of her busines, but that to me was BS. Miriam wanted to be friends with her staff and she had no boundaries rules or consequences. The final straw for me was when her manager re-booked one of their clients at someone else's salon. Wow!

The challenge of making Miriam take some responsibility for her business was really daunting, especially because she had a daughter to take care of. I have no problem with wanting to cultivate a rocker reputation but it needs to be done professionally, so I decided to hook up Miriam and her staff with a LA band that needed to shoot their CD cover. But she couldn't step up and all she did was gossip and drop the ball. When I stormed out it was the only thing I could do to force Miriam to take a hard look at herself. And amazingly she did. She actually stepped up, apologized, and tried to right the ship.

I think Miriam and her staff could have a kick ass salon, they just need to continue to follow through and Michelle needs to get a clock and start to perform more efficiently. I hope they all do it. For Miriam's daughter's sake.