Key Idea #1: Your people are more important than your cash. Some would say that Pam was lucky to open her doors for business with a trained, happy and loyal team of employees. I would say, Pam was lucky to learn early that business is about people

Topic for discussion: What was Pam's start-up dilemma?

Answer: She had a group of colleagues who promised to work for her if she would take over an existing salon but she had no cash in the bank. The $500 she was given to repair her car was all she had at the moment the person they were all was working for decided to shut down the operation.

Rather than find another shop to work in, Pam took the helm as owner and we now know she made the perfect decision. The others in the shop believed in her which was all she needed to take on the risk of making the company profitable for everyone. Like all entrepreneurs, Pam has nerves of steel. She understood the business from an employee point of view and she felt it would be no harder to be in charge than it was to come in everyday and make her clients happy.

You think about it: What could you do if there were people lined up to help you achieve your goals?

Key Idea #2: The way you make a person feel will determine your success at growing a company. The only way to grow a business is to grow a team of some sort. We have studied companies that outsource most tasks but the leadership still has to work with the people to whom the outsourcing has been done. There is no way to get around it. People are the raw materials you must commit to working with, day in and day out, if you want to grow a company.

Businesses that lead with service must fully understand this concept because delivering service requires psychological heavy lifting. Every service provider needs psychological muscle. Lots of it. Psychological muscle gives the employee strength to cope with mean, demanding people and even turn them into nice people. The strong employee can can bounce back quickly from a situation that made them feel bad. They are mature and can admit being wrong and can look a person in the eye and say thank you and I'm sorry when necessary.

Topic for discussion: Why does the owner have to deal with a person's feelings?

Possible answer: When people feel good they do good. When they feel bad they do bad. This is especially important when you are delivering a service and when it is one as intimate as facials and haircuts, it is critical.

Pam's goal is to create a place where every employee feels safe, calm and confident. Employees even said, Gadabout is, "one place you can count on in your life." This is an example of the trend we've experienced during the last decade of the 20th century. We have witnessed the break-down of the family unit and at the same time we see businesses trying to create a family-like feel in the workplace.

Pam is on top of this. She was a single Mom for years and she has plenty of women at Gadabout who were the sole support for their families. It is clear that Pam is achieving her goal to be a great place to work.

You think about it: What do you do now to help people feel good about themselves? What can you start doing?

Key Idea #3: Think deeply about what people need. Pam thinks about what she needs and what her employees need all the time. This seems to be what occupies her most. She points out that in the salon and spa business that there are many people who suffer from low-self esteem. I would say, there are many people who suffer from low-self esteem in every business. Pam is simply speaking from her own experience and knows as the leader of people, she must help each person feel good about who they are now and who they can become.

Topic for discussion: What are the results of thinking about needs rather than just wants?

Possible answer: While a doting grand father may think about what you want, a caring parent thinks about what you need. You want ice cream but you need broccoli. Pam is going to feed you the broccoli and once you've cleaned your plate, they'll be plenty of ice cream too. The reason grand parents love being grand parents is they don't have to do the hard part of dealing with the needs. They can spend all their time on the wants.

Pam is one of those tough love bosses who is going to force her employees into dealing with the hard issues. She says, "There is no shortcut to having a trustful (working) environment." She means, it will always be hard to create and maintain a productive workplace.

You think about it: What do the people who work for you need to be doing that they are not now doing? What can you do to move them in the right direction?

Key Idea #4: Be different. Pam's business model is innovative compared to what others do in her industry. While most shop owners create a space for hairdressers to do their own thing, Pam has everyone on her payroll. Also, a new-hire spends 18 months as an intern before they are allowed to handle customers alone.

Topic for discussion: What type of person does Gadabout attract?

Possible answer: Pam recruits people who don't want to own their own business. She attracts the person who doesn't want to be bothered with book keeping, marketing, answering the telephone, doing the laundry or purchasing supplies.

Pam has found a sweet spot. While there are plenty of hairdressers and estheticians who want to have a private practice, Pam has discovered that there are many who want to walk into a lovely place and simply focus on taking care of their clients.

You think about it: Pam started in business with only hairdressers and today she has a myriad of spa services delivered by estheticians. Is there a potential new revenue stream that could be developed around some talented people in your industry?

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Key Idea #5: Teach communication skills constantly. Great communicators can have what they want and do what they want in life. We see this proven in every field and while Pam is not a public speaker, she is a powerful communicator. She understands that communication is the oil in the service machine. Gadabout sells plenty of products but it leads with service and in all service-based businesses, communication becomes the product.

You think back: What kind of communications training had all the employees just completed when we taped this story?

Possible answers: Conflict resolution training. They all learned a four-step process to solving a problem. First, you feel the problem and calm yourself. Second, you deal with it by going to the person with whom you have the problem. You tell them you want to speak with them about a problem. You go to a place away from clients and colleagues. Third, you speak about the problem and listen to the other person. Fourth, you let go of the problem so that it does not affect the future.

The big benefit of this type of training is Pam can now hold people responsible for dealing with conflict. Pam doesn't have to take people into her office and work with them to resolve conflicts. Pam is brilliant because not only will Gadabout as a company experience a higher level of productivity, employees can use these skills in their personal lives as well.

You think about it: Does your company need conflict resolution training? Do you think this is only needed in a female dominated situation? What can you do to improve your own communication skills?

Key Idea #6: Establish high expectations. There are no losers at Gadabout. The reason is, winners want to work in a place that is demanding. A looser wants to be where they can hide and ride on the coat tails of others.

Topic for discussion: How does Pam inspire people to rise to her expectations?

Possible answer: Training. Even though she hires only people who have been licensed by the state, Pam knows that what they learn to pass the state exams is not enough for them perform at a truly professional level.

By putting the 18-month internship program in place, Pam basically, without saying it out loud says, "You're not ready for prime time until we've had you for 18 months." The arrogant or the lazy will not even be attracted to this situation.

Success breeds success. To have a great business, you have to have great people and to have great people you have to have a great business. Over time, Pam made the strategic decisions which brought her to the point we find her today. It doesn't happen overnight when you're doing this with retained earnings, but, inch by inch Pam has done it.

Key Idea #7: Put controls in places they didn't exist before. Business is about rules and numbers. It is regulated on many levels. Owners are asked to tell the truth, files reports, pay taxes and keep records. By being one of the few salons in the country the treats its professionals as employees, Pam took on the paperwork burden.

Topic for discussion: Why bother to do the hard things when nobody else is doing them?

Possible Answers: Two reasons for Pam. One, as we already said, she has been able to hire talent and keep them because those people don't want to be bothered with the paperwork required of business owners. Two, Pam sees the future for her industry and she is ready to face it. The millions of dollars handled by hairdressers that are not now accounted for are being looked at by the IRS.

Key Idea #8: Do for employees what you do for customers. Pam believes in salon and spa products and services enough to sell them to customers so she finds ways to give them to her employees.

You think back: How do the employees of Gadabout afford the services they provide to clients?

Answer: Gadabout officially has a trade-out plan. You can trade a haircut for a message when both professionals can arrange to do so. Or, the salon opens at night just for employees to trade services.

LIGHTBULB: Key Idea #9: As the owner you are minister, social worker, and therapist. Employees at Gadabout told me that Pam has had a tremendous impact on their lives. Some had difficulty explaining why they feel so close to her but one said, "I'm among a large number of people who've had the opportunity to completely transform their lives working here.

Topic for discussion:What benefit does Pam receive because she is willing to be a minister, social worker and therapist?

Possible answers: From a business point of view, the greatest benefit is loyalty. She has dozens of employees who have been with her for over a decade. Loyalty provides stability, maturity and continuity. There are always fresh recruits but long-term employees become the teachers, mentors, ministers and therapists to the new employees.

From a personal point of view, Pam can look at her life and know that she has truly helped people be better than they thought they could be. That achievement brings a personal satisfaction that money can not buy.

You think about it: What are you doing that brings you deep personal satisfaction?

Key Idea #10: Delegate with a design. Spoken like a true artist. Pam is a hairdresser-turned-business woman. Her formal training was all about making her client look her best. How does a great hairdresser do that? She studies the client. She thinks about the type of hair the client has, the shape of her face and then her life-style and personality. Only then does the artist begin to cut and color a person's hair.

Topic for discussion: What do you think Pam means when she says, delegate with design?

Possible answers: She means prepare. Think hard about the job to be delegated and about the person to whom you will delegate. Using the same analytical skills she developed as a hairdresser, Pam is able to turn jobs over to people on her term who are best suited to the task. Just like she used to make her clients look physically good, Pam studies her employees then designs jobs that will make them not only look good but feel good too.

You think about it: When was the last time you delegated a task? Are you happy with the results? What could you do to improve?

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