NORTHAMPTON — Not everybody has a clear plan for their business when they wish to move on from it. Not so for Linda Hannum, owner of Salon Herdis, who will be turning over the business to longtime employee Tim Fisk on Jan. 1.
Salon Herdis isn’t the first downtown business to hand the reins over to an employee. Both A2Z Science and Learning Store and Gazebo were sold to employees in 2015 and 2016 respectively. Nor was Hannum’s decision spur-of-the-moment. She and Fisk have been discussing the transfer for 2½ years.
Neither Hannum nor Fisk has a background in hair and beauty. Hannum started Salon Herdis 15 years ago, after her job at Reader’s Digest was downsized. She started the salon alongside hairstylist Herdis Eriksson, after whom Salon Herdis is named, although Eriksson was bought out fairly early in its history.
Fisk, who was working as a consultant at the time, was connected to Hannum, and their partnership began. Initially hired on to help with accounting, Fisk has worked for Salon Herdis off and on ever since. Currently, he is a manager there, and he has become deeply involved in the running of the business over the last few years.
This summer, Summit Salon Business Center, a consulting company that Fisk also does work for, gave Salon Herdis a valuation, after which a purchase price was settled on. Starting at the begining of the year, Fisk will become the majority owner of Salon Herdis, while Hannum will stay on as a shareholder and retain ownership of the space. All control over the business will pass on to Fisk.
Fisk has plans to expand the business and acquire another space.
“We’re going to reach escape velocity,” he said.
However, he has no intention of doing away with Salon Herdis’ current space on Main Street.
“There’s no reason to,” he said.
Fisk and Hannum will be working together on a shareholder agreement over the course of 2018, and firming up what the business’s leadership team will look like. They plan then to offer shares to two or three employees in 2019.
“Opening that up as a possibility allows you to retain talent,” Fisk said.
He noted that this shareholder program will also allow staff to be trained to possibly run new locations for Salon Herdis, and Fisk said he would like to pursue an aggressive growth strategy.
“We can grow,” he said. “And have … a deeper leadership bench to grow.”
Eventually, he said, he would like to do what Hannum is doing.
Both Hannum and Fisk emphasized Salon Herdis’ philosophy of allowing the clients to define how they see beauty.
“You define what beauty is,” Hannum said. “Let us help you get there.”
Fisk said the salon has a diverse staff who do all kinds of hair, and Salon Herdis also serves transgender clients.
“We have a responsibility to be that kind of salon,” he said.
Both Hannum and Fisk noted that going to the salon is the favorite day of the month for many of their clients. Hannum also observed that this may be the only day that some of the clients are touched by another human being.
“It’s profound,” Fisk said.
Fisk estimated that 80 percent of the salon’s customers are women.
Both current and future owner expressed pride in the fact that they are able to offer their employees a good living. The salon industry is a place, they said, where women can thrive.
“It is a female-dominated industry,” Fisk said.
“No glass ceiling,” Hannum said.
Salon Herdis is a commission-based salon, which pays its stylists minimum wage for their hours or commission, whichever is higher. All stylists who work there must go through a monthslong associates program.
Pay for a Level 1 stylist, which is the level stylists go to after doing their time as an associate, was given by Salon Herdis at $48,086, which rises to $97,126 for a Level 4 stylist.
Hannum noted that Salon Herdis has offered health insurance to its customers since the very beginning. She also noted that the business keeps its books open to its employees, and that any one of them who wants to learn the nuts and bolts of management is welcome to do so.
Salon Herdis currently has 20 employees, 19 once Fisk becomes the owner. However, it is in the process of hiring more.
One of the longtime employees of Salon Herdis is Sarah Blackmore, who has worked there since she got out of hair school in 2004.
“It’s a great place to be,” Blackmore said.
Blackmore also gave her stamp of approval to the transfer, saying that it was organic and natural.
“Linda has done an amazing job with this business,” Blackmore said. “I know Tim is going to fill those shoes and take it to the next level.”