After 13 years of being a hairstylist, Ciara Pawlicki stepped out of her comfort zone and took a huge leap. The Effort woman decided to leave the salon she was working in and decided to open her own beauty shop.

Hairstyling shops come and go, and there is always a large list of salons on Facebook promising to turn you into the new you.

Pawlicki looked at her new business, Hair Revisions LLC, from a different angle. She has a fully equipped salon that travels.

“I have always dreamed I would start my own business,” she said. Unfortunately renting or buying a building seemed impossible because Pawlicki and her husband already had a home mortgage.

The plan comes together

When everything was shut down in March to June last year, because of COVID-19 it gave her time to plan, she said.

By her own admission, she does not like change and she is not a risk-taker, but her husband encouraged her to follow her dream, even if it meant coming out of her comfort zone.

In some ways, Pawlicki thinks when the shutdown of hair salons happened because of the pandemic it worked to her benefit because it gave her time to consider her options and talk to her friends and family members and get their take on her idea of a mobile hair salon where she would go to her customers instead of them coming to her.

The first thing she did was to notify her clients that as soon as the shutdown was lifted, she would no longer be at her former salon but would be offering a new option.

Next, she shopped for the right vehicle she could fit all her equipment into. Then she worked on buying her supplies, looking at where she could get the best prices for the hair products needed to be a full-service salon.

“I was so nervous. I kept asking my husband if he thought I could really do it, and then I just thought I have to do it and not look back or regret my decision,” she said.

Open for business

On June 19, 2020, Hair Revisions LLC pulled out of the driveway and Pawlicki realized her dream as she drove off to her first customer.

She started with 100 clients who followed her from the salon she left, and since June she has increased her business to 130 clients.

Benefits

According to Pawlicki, the best thing about her business is she is the boss and she can work as much or as little as she wants. Right now she works six days a week and sometimes Sundays, but it is all right, she said. “If I want a day, I can take it.”

She does not have the overhead of a brick-and-mortar building, but there is the cost of gas, insurance, and upkeep of the vehicle and supplies.

The average cost of a month of hair supplies is $800 and she uses Amazon because she does not pay shipping and the order is delivered to her doorstep the next day.

There are so many advantages to owning the business, she has never had one moment of regret. “I am making much more money than when I worked in a salon. Especially in the winter when the weather is bad. I would have to go to work, but usually, customers cancel and then you are standing around all day, but not making any money.”

Another thing she enjoys is getting to spend more time with her clients. “In the salon, you would know their names and a little about their lives, but now I know the names of their cats and dogs as well as the names of some family members because I bring the salon into their homes.”

If you are thinking most of her clients are the older population, you would be wrong. She has clients from young children, teens, as well as adults and seniors and those who have a handicap and love not having to go out to get their hair cut, colored and styled.