The Drive to Succeed

Growing up in Clay Center, I have watched many businesses come and go. There is one entrepreneur who sticks out when I consider business success. My grandma, Judy Johnston, is someone very important to me who owns a local salon and has had a lot of success in the community with her small business. I decided to interview her about her successes. I started by asking about what got her into cosmetology. “At first I wanted to learn how to do my own hair, but doing others' hair was always something that I thought I wanted to do,” she said.

A drive or passion is something that business owners need to find in order to be successful. Working as a boss and an employee are very different roles. I wanted to dive deeper into this when interviewing Johnston. “I did work for somebody at the beginning, but it wasn't very long that I decided I would like to be by myself so I could do things my own ways,” Johnston said.

There are many things that should be taken into consideration when running a business, such as the atmosphere your business presents. Johnston said there are certain qualities she looks for when hiring new employees. “Honesty, trustworthiness, very friendly, and knowing how to do the job,” Judy said. I can see how these factors are mandatory to the business structure and overall mood that the business portrays.

With a small town comes family priority. Family Priority takes an adjustment in the solon. “When I started having children I was only working part-time and filling in for my employees that worked, I was home more with my kids” Johnston said. The reason I point this out is because of the priority that is presented. It can often be understood that many business owners are too busy for a family, this stigma can be easily proved false when looking at this interview.

But why? Why out of all things is doing hair something that you wanted to make your career? This is what I asked my Grandma Judy. She replied with “it is so much more than doing the hair, it's also listening.” She is not just doing someone's hair, she is becoming an open space for people to share their problems when no one else would listen. This is a bond that not a lot of other jobs may get to experience. “[The clients can] become your best friends,” she said.