Hair and makeup artist turns entrepreneur
MANILA, Philippines—Ten years ago, Lourd Ryan Ramos started as an assistant in a high-end salon, shampooing socialites and organizing the makeup box of his boss and mentor, Vicente “Teng” Roma.
Today, he is the proud owner of Creations by Lourd Ramos, which does not run out of customers.
Ramos says the move to open his own salon was driven by an early “midlife crisis.”
He took stock of his achievements during his years at Emphasis, one of Asia’s best salons: he became the official makeup artist of some luxury brands and Asia-Pacific regional trainer for Smashbox cosmetics.
He also won fifth place in the Hairdresser of the World Competition in Spain and named Makeup Artist of the Year by Studio 23.
Before he reached 30 years old last September, he wanted another transition.
His birthday gift to himself was to set an appointment with Ayala Malls Group (AMG) to apply as a tenant in Glorietta 5.
Other prospective tenants would have shirked at the available space at the third floor. The 60-square-meter area was partly hidden from view and didn’t have the foot traffic of the other malls. An optimist, Ramos saw the location as an advantage.
It would offer privacy to his clients and had a balcony overlooking Ayala Center that could serve as a waiting area.
While other tenants gave a staid application and their financial statement, Ramos gave a detailed proposal that showed his salon’s uniqueness, sales projections, staff training, mood boards for the interiors and his father’s bank account. With his father’s retirement funds and Ramos’ savings, Creations was built with posh interiors. For the opening last November, he even organized a fashion show to launch his salon at G5’s atrium and gave out goody bags, which included the look book and service menu.
Ramos still works three days a week at Emphasis Salon as Roma doesn’t consider his salon as competition since Creations caters to a wider market.
In fact, Roma is proud that his ward learned a lot from him. Ramos positions Creations as a “masstige” salon that provides luxury products and services at moderate prices.
On management, Ramos believes in a consensual approach to decision making, thereby eliminating a need for a general manager.
“I don’t want people looking up to just one person,” says Ramos. He works closely with the salon supervisor for finance and purchasing and the operations/marketing manager.
Creations boasts of a human resources department.
“We have a code of ethics to uphold,” he says. “Besides, a salon is like a big house with many problems. If they are not resolved they will get bigger.”
Ramos has absorbed hairdressers and makeup artists from other salons whose contracts had expired.
The salon started with 30 staffers, but in the past four months, it was trimmed down to 20. As in any company, they had undergo a six-month probationary period. Associates with attitude problems such as habitual tardiness and incompetence were booted out.
The salon fits 10 chairs. To make a profit, Ramos says there should be an average of five transactions a day per chair. He credits Roma for giving him pointers on calculating profits, avoiding losses and managing people.
“Teng (Roma) taught me how to be gracious, to love your people and most important, how to value time. Every second counts. You’ve got to know how to budget your time in every service,” he says.
Sales have surpassed his expectations as the salon has been experiencing monthly double-digit growth. Ramos attributes it to marketing.
Before opening the salon, he was pre-selling its services, like a developer pre-selling condominium units.
“We sold gift checks of our services to companies. If a manager buys a hundred pieces, he gets 2 percent commission,” explains Ramos.
He adds that the salon has sold over 230 services through CashCash Pinoy, a website that offers bargains and discount coupons. People’s comments posted on the salon’s Facebook and Multiply.com pages lend credibility.
Ramos imparts exacting standards honed by his training with high-end hair care brands. His staffers will undergo the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) tests to get their professional license.
The Philippine International Cosmetologists Association, of which Ramos is vice-president, prepared the hairdressers’ handbook for TESDA.
To empower his senior stylists, they were trained with L’Oréal, Davines and Wella.
Ramos says he hopes that his staffers would soon be able to own their own homes or buy a car.
On the perks of the job, Ramos says his staffers could easily purchase branded shoes with a month’s worth of tips.
“There’s money in the beauty business,” he says with a wink.
