Today we’d like to introduce you to Shannara Rasmussen and Jen McFall.
Hi Shannara and Jen, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Jen (my business partner) and I (Shannara) have both been in the beauty industry for roughly 4-5 years. Both graduating from the same school, she had just graduated as I entered. Her focus was cosmetology (hair), and mine was in esthetics (skin). After completing school and receiving our licenses, we both began working as booth renters, bouncing around here and there to different salons, trying to find somewhere that fit our personalities, vibes, and overall business.
In February or March of 2020, coincidentally Jen and I both started working at the same local salon in Alpine. Our friendship actually grew very fast! We found that we had so much in common, both in our businesses, personal lives, interests, goals… you name it, we twinned on it. So, needless to say, we became best friends.
Then, COVID-19 happened, and we were shut down. Along with a lot of other salons, our salon’s owner unfortunately wasn’t able to sustain her business through the shutdown. Jen and I saw a possibly great – and also scary – opportunity to start something new, take over the space, and build our own new salon! Even though we had some skepticism, some nay-sayers, and doubters, we knew we might never get such a good opportunity again to live our dream! So, we decided to take the leap and sign a lease and created JS Collectiv Salon + Spa in March of 2021.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Since this was our first time ever being on the other side of the business – owning it, rather than just renting from it- of course there were plenty of learning curves, bumps in the road, headaches, all nighters, and setbacks. I don’t think you can ever really be totally prepared for the amount of stuff that goes into creating, running and building a brick and mortar business. Yes, both of us had our own businesses functioning as booth renters, but in those cases, you only have to worry about YOURSELF and YOUR stuff. Having the responsibility of maintaining and growing a business -not only for you- but for other people is very overwhelming at times!
Jen and I are both creatives, big dreamers, and have a lot of passion, inspiration and excitement for everything we do in life! So, decorating, choosing all of the fixtures, and paint colors are all the fun things… BUT, now we have to think about money, and the amount of work and hours all of those things take, and budgets, building, and all of the things that sometimes might not be as fun.
We learned very quickly about all of the paperwork, licensing, insurance, permitting, legal paperwork and documents, fees, reporting, and the lists of things to get done before even being able to open and operate. A lot of the time we only got a couple of hours of sleep, going to bed super late, and then waking up crazy early to take our clients or to work on more things in the salon. As always, we worked through all of the insane start-up growing pains and were finally able to start our salon journey!
Then, onto the next hurdle – filling our chairs. Coming out of Covid shutdowns, people being unemployed, and either not wanting to or too scared to work in a salon setting, it was challenging to find someone who wanted to start coming in person to work. We made so many phone calls, reached out to our colleagues, and no bites. Even though it was a stressful thought of possibly having to sustain the salon with only OURSELVES, Jen and I were determined to keep our dream alive! Thankfully we didn’t have to do it on our own for too long, we eventually found three girls to join our family, and since then we have been a full salon with an amazing team!
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about JS Collectiv Salon + Spa?
JS Collectiv is a full-service high-end salon and spa, offering all the beauty things! From haircuts and treatments to skincare and skin revision, lashes, tanning, and everything in-between. We want to be a one stop luxury shop for our clients!
Our retail consists of the best in professional haircare and skincare that is never sold over the counter and only sold at professional licensed salons and spas. Our haircare line is a full pro range of Kevin.Murphy products, which covers any hair type, texture, or condition and strives to improve the look, health and strength of your hair. Our skincare line is DMK Skincare, a botanically based, paramedical grade professional line with the goal of rebuilding your skin from the inside out. DMK works holistically, looking at root causes of skin conditions, and focuses on getting results!
Even though Jen and I are well versed in all aspects of our respective professions, each of us have things we specialize in. Jen specializes in precision hair cuts and styling and vivid fashion colors! For my business, I specialize in skin condition revision, whether it’s acne, aging, or pigmentation. Both of us love creating a drastic change and improvement in our client’s lives to be able to give them not just confidence but stronger and healthier hair and skin for the future.
I think what sets us apart from others is just the amount of attention to detail we give to our clients in the technical service, the atmosphere, the overall experience, and in our relationships/interactions with them. We aren’t a salon that focuses on sales, and upselling, and getting you to buy things you don’t need, and a lot of times we say no to clients – which is a lot of times surprises them! We want actual results for our clients, trust from our clients, and for them to know that our goal is to give them THEIR goal. We pay attention to every strand of hair, every inch of their skin, to make sure everything is PERFECT before they leave our salon. Besides the technical aspect, we consider our clients part of our team, our family, our support and make sure to go above and beyond in everything we do.
I think what we are most proud of brand-wise is that we are beginning to name for ourselves, that WE ARE the go-to spot in our neighborhood, that we are a high-end luxury style salon, and that we don’t settle for sub-par or less than 5 star service. Having people notice and tell you those things is just so awesome, and we are very proud that we were able to achieve that reputation so far.
As I’ve said, we strive to be nothing but the best, not only in getting you the results you are lookin for in your skin or hair, but being a place that you LOVE and WANT to come back to!
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
Jen and I have talked about this so many times, and even though we LOVE what we do, there always needs to be balanced. We find that we are the happiest, and what makes us happy is when we have a solid balance between our business and personal life. If that balance is tilted one way or another, is when we find ourselves stressed, lacking, and tired. When we are always at work and hustling 24/7, we get tired, burnt out, and miss doing hobbies and being with our families. When we are away from work too long, we get bored, miss doing what we love to do, and get restless! So, when we have a perfect balance of the two, we are just happy 100% of the time! We stay motivated but relaxed, excited but able to take time for ourselves without stressing, and we get to be present and enjoy being at home, and also at our home away from home.
Contact Info:
- Email: jscollectiv@gmail.com
- Website: jscollectiv.com
- Instagram: @js.collectiv
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/js.collectiv/about/?ref=page_internal
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/js-collectiv-salon-spa-alpine
