Mother/Daughter Team Makes Good Business Sense

Journal Newspapers:

Colleen Buck had retired from 30 years in the corporate world and was wondering what to do next. Her daughter Lorry Green had been working as a hair stylist for five years and wasn’t sure where her job was heading. Then one night at dinner, Green half-jokingly suggested they open a hair salon together. Buck thought about it for a few hours and called her daughter later that night to say, “Let’s look into it.”

They researched the industry and decided to go for it. Elle Marie was opened a year and a half ago and, according to both women, it’s been a huge success.

“The thing that has worked is that we each bring our own skills to the business and we’ve done a good job of respecting each other’s skills and roles,” says Buck.

Soon after the idea took root, the women brought in Green’s brother to do the marketing side of the business. “We all bring in totally different things that the other people don’t know anything about,” said Green.

Green manages the salon as well as working as a stylist full time and Buck takes care of the business side of things.

“When we first opened,” recalled Green, “Mom said, ‘To be professional, I don’t want you calling me Mom at the salon.’ Well, that lasted about two hours. I just can’t do it.” She went on to explain that their guests like the fact that Elle Marie is family owned. “They know our roles and they feel like they’re a part of the family in a sense,” she said.

Other mother-daughter business owners agree. “We’re all good at a different aspects of the business,” said Haley Sullivan from Haley’s Cottage in Mill Creek. “Mom’s really great at doing the bookkeeping, my sister’s great at doing the buying and she knows every product like the back of her hand. We complement each other.”