Hi, all.

This is Sami from Hairdressers Strong.

Today's episode is a little different than usual because instead of just talking about business models and things, we're actually gonna walk through them and literally walk through them.

So last month we were in Chicago for Beauty Gives Back, and we visited Dana Fountain, who is a visionary beauty entrepreneur, multi concept salon owner and author of the Beauty Blueprint, and the founder of Chicago's largest bridal beauty agency.

So she built seven different salon concepts, each designed around the stylist who work there.

So different ages, niches, business models, different ways of working, and all of them are thriving because they were created with the stylist at the center.

So in this episode, she takes us on a live tour through all seven spaces and her wedding and event venue, Row 24.

And along the way, we talk to Dana about partnerships, collaboration, and why building for the people creates environments where stylists grow and thrive.

So let's jump right in.

Hey, what's up, everybody?

We are here at Beautyhood in Wicker park with Dana Fountain and her partner, Noemi Deluna, and we're getting a tour.

And just to, like, before we start the tour of the space, why don't you tell me a little bit about, like, your.

Your vision and how this.

How this turned into partnering with Dana.

My vision was just to have everybody here with, like, a girlfriend feel everyone in their own little niche.

Hair, nails, lashes, tattooing.

And I wanted to just to make.

It feel like a living room space.

Like where we could all kind of network between each other.

And when it was that time for me to find my own space, I reached out to Dana because I just look up to her.

She's such a great person, and she loved my vision, and she came in with open arms.

Yeah.

Nice.

And so how did you know Dana?

I worked with her through Pin Me Up.

I still do.

Okay, cool.

Awesome.

So a relationship turned into a partnership, and.

Awesome.

Cool.

So, Dana, tell us what.

What exactly?

How.

How that.

How that created in your.

In your mind.

Yeah.

So Mimi and I've been working together for 17 years now, so we would do weddings together.

I'm here, she's makeup.

So we're a team a lot.

We knew each other really well.

And the space that she was working at was closing.

She was ready for her own space, and I just loved her vision and loved.

She's from worker park area, and this is such a great part of Chicago, and she just wanted space in this area.

So I loved that the niche focused artists could all have a home And I come from the hair side of things and more of like a full service, typical salon.

And so I just thought it was like different and cool and it would have a cool vibe.

And then when we sat down and we put together the website and the branding and everything, it's just a special place.

So I was happy to come in in a partnership role and it was her vision, it was her ideas, it's how she wanted it to look and feel.

So I'm actually 30% owner and I was happy to come in, in that support row just to do kind of the business end of things.

And then she's the one boots on the ground.

She's here every day, you know, kind of take care of, taking care of the day to day.

So it's great.

I love that.

So last, last question.

So being, being the, having a partner to help you with the business side of things, how like, can you just tell the audience, anybody who's thinking about going to business, what that is?

What that is?

Like not feeling like you have that kind of that person, that support, like, does it mean that you get to focus on other things or, or, I don't know, anything that comes to mind when I say that.

You don't even have to answer that question.

It just feels good to have someone to vent to and be like, I'm having a freak out moment and you know, them saying it's okay because I feel like if it was me by myself, there's really no one I could like reach out to, you know, So I just like that, that part of it.

And yeah, her reassuring, like, stay cool, like two.

For us, the innovativeness over the years because, you know, we, we had like one group of people and one of the girls opened their own space and we, we've always like supported that.

Obviously, like, that's what we did.

But there's been some turnover.

So then we had to like come back together and like get innovative again.

So then we brought in like tattoo removal.

We have, we partner with a laser company.

We do tattoo removal now.

So, you know, it's not.

You have to sometimes be innovative as people move in and out of your business.

And if I think when you're alone, it can be, you can take it very personal.

Yeah.

You could be like, yeah, what the hell.

But you know, it's because you just.

Grow a friendship with everyone here and when their time is, you know, I want to open up my own salon.

You're just like, no, we work so well together.

Yeah, love this.

So we've gone We've gone up.

We've gone through that a few times.

There's.

There's been a couple girls that have left here that have then moved on to open their own salon.

And really, that speaks to the success and the mentorship of both of us because they saw us do it and then they knew they could do it.

So we had to be happy for them, even though we were sad.

But then we also had to get back to the drawing board and figure out how do we make up that revenue that we are now losing?

So it's much easier doing that together.

Yeah.

Nice.

Awesome.

Well, we're going to now take a tour.

So for all of you listening on podcast, would you.

Would you all just kind of describe what we're.

What we're going to see on this tour?

Yeah, sure.

So upstairs, we have three hairdressers.

We have two nail technicians.

We have two lash stations back here.

Mimi works out of our lash station.

And then as we move back here, we have our laser room back here we have a shampoo balm.

And then we have our laser room back here.

Restroom on this first floor.

And then we're gonna head downstairs.

So downstairs in the city of Chicago, the license, the tattoo license is per room.

So down here we have it licensed for tattooing, so you have to have a certain kind of hand washing sink within a certain amount of feet within your station.

And then we also have another treatment room back here that an esthetician works out of.

Nice.

Awesome.

So it's licensed for pretty much all different types of technicians, depending on, you know, what field they're in.

And what's great about having an environment like Beautyhood is they're all different.

So then that way they're feeding off each other, they're sharing clients, things like that.

Awesome.

Anything you'd like to say about the space as we wrap it up here?

I mean, it's just a beautiful space for all artists.

Everyone feels super comfortable here.

They're always saying, like, the vibe, the vibe.

And I'm like, I need to unleash the whole vibe, you know, And I just can't wait to see what's next for it.

Awesome.

Well, thank you both for this, and we'll go off to the next one.

All right, all right, all right.

We are at our next stop on this tour of Dana Fountain's businesses and meeting all her partners.

We are at Pure Beauty in Gold Coast Chicago with partner Sam Gazarian.

So, Sam, tell us about the space.

Yeah, so we are a beauty co working space, and we provide A solution for medical aesthetic providers.

So anything from medical director to access to wholesale retail accounts, we're here for them in the Gold Coast.

Awesome.

Okay, and now, Dana, tell us about this partnership and how it happened.

Yeah.

So Sam and I worked together doing hair and makeup.

She's a makeup artist, I'm a hairstylist.

And we were often partners doing weddings together.

So we got to know each other really well and we became friends.

In 2019, I bought out my partner in Pin Me Up.

And when I did that, Sam was like, hey, can I buy in?

And I was like, oh, maybe.

And so then we kept kind of the business conversation going over the years, and then we got through Covid, we both had small children, and we decided that post Covid, there wasn't really a space like hygienic, convenient workspace for beauty professionals to take their clients.

She was not going into people's homes after Covid with new babies.

And we just knew a space was needed.

I had Pin Me up was at its all time high with all the influx of weddings, and people kept asking me to use my one makeup station.

So Pin Me up was kind of growing out of one of my spaces, and her and I wanted to do something together for a long time.

So we got together.

We found first our Kinsey location and created Pure Beauty, which is geared towards freelance hair and makeup artists.

We also had some treatment rooms, and so we started working with some independent beauty practitioners that needed treatments for space.

And then not long after we opened Kinsey, we found this space that came about, and it was already kind of suited with rooms, and we had an influx of renters at our Kinsey location that was also looking for space.

So we then, almost a year later, opened up Pure Beauty Suites.

Okay, so let me get this right.

You all were working on in another space, and you weren't partners there, and then you became partners to open this space?

Yes.

So she was a freelancer for my bridal team.

Okay, got it.

Awesome.

This is so great.

It's a beautiful space for all the podcasters that are just listening to the audio here.

It literally feels like a workspace with rooms around the edges, and in the middle, there are couches along the edges of the open space, and open walls are like countertops.

There's even a conference room room.

But I will let you take us on the rest of the tour.

The Pure Beauty.

And, like, can you explain, like, all of that stuff?

Yeah.

So after we opened this space, we actually entered into another partnership with one of our renters that was A aprn.

And she was a injector, Botox, all the things educator out in the medical space.

So Sam, Alice and I partnered on a platform called Pure Aesthetics.

So we actually have a business inside of this business.

And Puresthetics is a platform that medical aesthetic practitioners can plug into.

So we provide space, medical director, access to wholesale pricing, and just a community and education for new aesthetic practitioners and experienced aesthetic practitioners to come together and have a community to see their clients.

Awesome.

So I'm gonna explain this in a.

And I want you to tell me if I got it right.

So there's the space that you all are partners on, and then there are two platforms with inside or one platform.

One platform.

One platform.

Which is Pure Aesthetics.

Got it.

Okay.

So Pure Aesthetics is a.

Is a business within the brick and mortar business.

Yeah, it's kind of like an umbrella.

So we have.

The first space is Pure Beauty that caters to hair and makeup freelance individuals.

The second space is just the suites.

So we have in total nine rooms that service our service providers.

Right.

And then the third space is paresthetics.

That's for medical injectors.

And in all of that, we put provide a ton of collective resources, education, community, focus.

So that's kind of like the premise of everything.

In short, that's like the short, quick snippet of everything.

I love it.

That was so good.

Thank you for jumping in and Satan.

Because I can see how it gets, like, very convoluted.

And we just had a pre.

Conversation.

Yeah.

And I had it.

I thought I had it.

And Puresthetics is a renter of Pure Beauty.

So, you know, they're separate businesses.

They're run separately.

They just are.

Are, you know, sister companies.

Okay.

And then I have a. I have a business question.

Is.

So the.

The space, does it.

Is it a separate entity that leases out to Pure Beauty and in Pure Beauty leases out to Pure Aesthetics.

Correct.

Yeah.

There is a real estate holding company that owns the building.

Okay.

And then it is like commercial real estate.

So all of the spaces inside the building are then leased to the tenants.

And everything's split up and separate out.

Nice.

Awesome.

Cool.

Let's do a little bit of visual tour here.

So what are we looking at?

What is this?

This is one of the puresthetic spaces.

Yeah.

So Pure Aesthetics has two rooms now in the space.

So we have one of our nurse injectors that was looking for more of a room share situation.

So we have this space that they book by four hour increments.

Four or eight hour Blocks to see their clients.

And then we also have this room that one of our nurse injectors has part time.

And then that opens us up for more inventory for our members to book space as well.

So we have two spaces in the, in the, in the space.

Pure Aesthetics has two spaces in the space.

And then we also have a microblading company called Evertrue.

They rent these two rooms and they have four people on their team.

And then we have a laser hair removal company called Body Laser Studio, and they rent that room and do laser hair removal.

So this space turned into mostly medical aesthetic services.

So it kind of keeps it elevated.

It keeps, you know, the hair and the color and the mess and all of that out of this location and into our other location.

I just love how it's so many.

Like, I feel like you were creative with creating the space and thinking about how to, how to serve the different people versus, like saying, I want to do this thing that already exists.

And let me repeat a model.

Even though you might seem like a similar concept, the nuances of it are so creative.

And it comes down to amenities and what people need to be successful.

And so sometimes a salon environment isn't the best solution for a nurse injector.

Now, it happens often because they can share clients and there's good networking and all of that.

But what I have found is people find their ways into my spaces and it's not necessarily the best solution for them.

But that doesn't mean that we can't do business together.

Totally, totally love it.

All right, well, until the next stop, let's keep on going.

All right, we are at another stop on the journey through Dana Fountain's empire of businesses.

And this one is called Pure Beauty.

We were at Pure Beauty Suites.

Now we're at Pure Beauty and we are in River North Shore, Chicago.

All right, so tell us a little bit about this space and what and then go ahead and feel free to describe what we see for those who are listening.

Yeah.

So Pure Beauty came from a solution for freelance professionals needing a studio home.

Most freelance professionals, like the artists on my team for Pin Me up, their work is on location or if they're in studio, they're only in studio maybe one or two days a week.

Week.

So I have a large bridal team.

I have about 150 artists on my team.

And where we were doing our trials before, there's only one makeup station.

So oftentimes they would say, hey, can I rent your makeup station or use your makeup station?

But we were so busy that there wasn't space.

So Sam and I had the idea to create a shared artist workspace for freelance professionals.

Pin me up.

Who is.

My bridal team would be a member of the space.

So this is a membership based model.

It's a shared artist workspace with a membership based model.

So my bridal team works out of here.

Pin me up.

We do have two other bridal teams that work out of here as well.

We then also have members that take their clients out of here as their studio home.

So the difference between this space and like a full service salon space is it's not dedicated space and there's no storage.

So most of our artists come in with their kits, meet their client, meet their clients needs, and then take their things with them.

It is a kind of keypad, locked door.

The studio is open and available 24 7.

So we cater to all types of freelancers that meet their clients at their shared studio.

Nice.

Nice.

Okay, so cool.

So first of all, the cold co working concept I'm a huge fan of and I've been looking for different ideas on how that would run because I really do think that that is the model of the future.

Not to say anything about regular salons, salon models, but I do think as things evolve with independence is such a big thing.

First of all, I guess, first question, how long have.

How long ago did you think about this idea?

Yeah, so we emerged with the idea of Pure Beauty after Covid.

It was kind of a space where a lot of makeup artists were going into people's homes for trials and things like that.

And we just really wanted to create a hygienic, convenient workspace for professionals.

We also found that there's not a lot of community within the freelance space.

You either work for a team or you have your own clients and your own gigs.

But then if you're booked, you don't really have someone to pass that business along to or to collaborate with.

So we both have not a competitive bone in my body.

Even though I have a large bridal team with a lot of freelancers, it's still plug and play.

So they still have their own clients and their own opportunities.

But we wanted to really create a community.

And then we also saw a void in education for freelance professionals.

So we also offer Peer Edu twice a year, which shows freelancers how to set themselves up as businesses, how to make sure their contracts are done correctly, and communication strategies and all of that.

So Peer Beauty to us was more than just a space, the beauty co working space.

It was the community and then also just being able to share opportunities with each other.

Nice.

Okay, so tell us a little bit about the business model you said.

We were talking before we got on camera about the different tiers.

Can you tell us a little bit about how that works?

Yeah.

So our tiers run from $500 a month down to $99 a month for members.

And then we have by hour, half day or full day station reservations or suite reservation.

So we have three treatment rooms here.

One is available for a by half day or by full day rental.

And then we have our bridal suite, which is a great elevated space.

So someone has like a private client or somebody that they are providing an upscale luxury service to.

They can take them into the bridal room.

It has beautiful lighting and then it's their own private space.

So the bridal room is available also by the half day or full day rental.

Nice.

Awesome.

So yeah, so you could do.

So someone could come in, bring an entire bridal party in and take care of them.

You host classes in here.

Do you ever do any sort of like team, like I guess the.

The built.

Bringing people together is around education.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So we've had, we've had brands like Color, Latin, Latino, Olaplex rent the space and do trainings for their own team.

We've hosted master classes, both partnered with Pure Beauty and artists on their own that just do a full space buyout and host their own class.

We've done master classes where we partner with artists where we both promote the event and then we kind of split ticket costs and then, you know, the space gets paid for that way.

So it's really a collaborative space all the way around and it can house many things.

We've done even like mixers and networking events and wellness events.

Last year we did a wellness event in the winter, I think it was in October, when all the bridal artists were coming off of a very busy wedding season.

So we did like a sound bath and a yoga night where we just all got together and took care of each other.

So the space can do many things.

Nice.

I love it.

Community.

I like the flexibility and I think you said, and I can't remember if you said this before we got on camera after, but the whole, the whole system of getting into the building, having access, there's a, there's a QR code.

Could you tell us a little bit about that?

Yeah.

So the space is pretty much self managed.

You can, when you create, when you create a station reservation, you get the code to get into the building.

And that will get you up into the elevator.

And then the artists that are in and out just kind of, you know, take care of the space.

Whoever's here first open, opens up.

Whoever's gone last locks up.

And then it's just available, readily available 24 7, pretty much.

And all you have to do is go onto our Instagram, onto our link tree, and book a station or a room, and then you can come on in.

Nice.

Awesome.

Okay, cool.

So let's do a little tour, and let's see.

Let's see a little bit more of the space.

So you said that we have treatment rooms available for, like, half day, full day, and by the hour.

Yeah, yeah.

And then we have, like, a massage bed and just some, like, house equipment.

So if you were, like a lash artist or something, you know, you can kind of suit the room for what your needs are.

In this room, we have two spray tanning gals that share this room.

So they usually meet their clients here on, you know, Thursdays or Sundays and do their spray tans here.

Our brides love this service.

And then in our bridal suite, same thing.

We have really great natural lighting in this room.

And then there's both, you know, a hair and makeup station, and, you know, chairs can all move around, so.

Nice.

Awesome.

Cool.

This is amazing.

All right, well, thank you for this, and we're off to the next spot.

Hey, what's up, everybody?

We are continuing our tour through Dana Fountains empire of salon.

Com Concepts.

And not just really salons, but all kinds of, like, different businesses within our industry.

We have a little bit of a.

Of a curveball here with the bodega.

And so we are in the Loop in Chicago, and we are in inside of a building in which you have four salons with the varying concepts.

And then you also have this space that's, you know, know is under construction.

So why don't you give us any other context for the introduction before we go on and we see, like, the story in chronological order of how this whole thing happened.

Yeah.

So I've been here at 111 North Wabash in the Loop for 14 years.

It started from I was renting a chair in the building across the street, and then this building went from rental office space to office condominiums.

So I was presented the idea of purchasing an office condominium for my salon business business.

And so I did that 14 years ago.

And then since then, other opportunities have presented themselves.

So I currently have four salon spaces in the building.

I operate out of two entities.

MainSpace LLC operates out of three of those spaces with a couple different concepts under that umbrella.

And then I have a partner in my 18th floor space called Neon Avenue, and that's a full service, mostly independent contractor environment in this building here.

This opportunity just came about, and we just purchased this space to open a bodega.

So it's kind of the curveball, but really, this building for us is just great investment with owning our spaces, and then also the gamut of people that we can service, both technicians and clients.

One thing that you'll get, everyone will get to notice when we're going through the tour is, one, there's a storyline, which I love, and I think that's a huge part of this portion of this story and this journey.

But also, two, I just want everyone to pay attention to the fact that as a business person, you are building spaces for other people as opposed to building the space that you think it should be.

And I think that that's a really important thing to remember because in the world of business, sometimes that we have to push ourselves away from it and be a business owner looking at our business versus being inside the business and thinking about it there.

So I'm super excited for the tour.

Is there any last context, or should we get going?

Well, we can get going.

I'll show you.

Show you where to go.

Awesome.

All right, let's do it.

So the seventh floor of the Garland building is where I started in 2009.

I was presented with an office condominium that was for sale, and it was already a salon.

So I quickly jumped on the opportunity to own a salon suite before salon suites were ever a thing.

And even though it's a really small space, probably just enough space for what most salon suite owners work out of, I worked out of here with three other artists.

And what was really cool about working downtown was I started with different artists in different spaces right away.

So I worked with two barbers and another hairstylist.

After we moved out of this space onto another space, Reggie, who is still in the space now, has been with me for 14 years.

Amazing.

Awesome.

This is so exciting.

So we're gonna go inside and we're gonna check out the space and even get a chance to talk to Reggie.

Yeah, we're here with Reggie.

One of my longest male relationships in my life.

We've been together for 15 years, and when we were out of this space, when we were working out of the space, it was myself, Reggie, Jave, and our friend Stephanie, who still works with us also to this day, when the other spaces Came about throughout the building.

Reggie decided to stay here and built a small team.

So small team now busting at the seams.

Reggie, what would you say the best part about working in the Garland building.

Is the diversity of Chicago, the diversity of the corporate area.

I think we have three or four colleges, two high schools.

So everybody can come here, feel comfortable.

And I'm like a mentor, a dad, and I try to treat people like I want to be treated.

And then when they can come here from California, Dubai, all over the world, they could get hair art, more than just a regular haircut.

And then they feel like they're at home by us sitting in a little circle.

I made it like, you know, either we.

You could talk to your barber, or we could talk as a group.

And it brings us closer together, especially, you know, the difference in everybody.

So we always started off with, how do you make your chicken?

That's right.

And we just talk about, how do.

You make your chicken?

It brings the diversity in the room.

My mama used to do with curry.

I'm from the South.

We used to do it with this seasoning.

And so we talk about food, then we talk about events, and then we can share and network where you work.

And then they're like, oh, man, I can help you out.

And then become a little downtown.

Could be a community right up here.

And what's so special about all the artists and how we all work together?

What's so special about it?

Everybody's different.

It's not one of us that do the same work.

But we all are professional, and, you know, we tough on each other.

Yeah, you have to do work because I don't like bad reviews.

I found out about Yelp and reviews.

So the thing I want to do is always tell people three bad reviews, and we got to talk.

So do your best.

And what I do is they let me critique.

They work every artist, or even if they've been doing it for years, they'll see me look at them.

Rich, can you show me?

What do you think?

And then it makes the customer.

You would think the customer would be upset about it, but, you know, with me having a reputation, they want to hear my insight on what's next on hair or what technique or what tool they might need.

So my experience is needed still, I feel like.

Yeah.

Thank you so much, and I appreciate that.

Thank you, Dana.

So now we're at the second space.

So tell us this.

Tell us about how this thing.

This one came about.

Yeah.

So I had a pretty good relationship with building management and another Space became available.

They knew we were pretty quaint in 704 working four technicians out of 294 square feet.

And she came up, gave me the opportunity for this space.

And what I loved about it was it was still able to access water, so shampoo bowls weren't a huge issue.

And it had the lake view.

So being downtown, we're right over the bean looking at Lake Michigan.

And it was beautiful lighting.

So for salon, it was beautiful lighting.

So we worked six people out of this space.

A little bit bigger than the other one, but we worked six people out of the space.

And now I rent this space to two men's grooming specialists that have their own basically double suite.

So it's a great space.

Nice.

Awesome.

Well, let's go in and take the tour so we can see what we're working with.

Okay, so we're in the space now.

So tell us what, what we're seeing for those listen on podcast.

Yeah, so we have basically two rooms with a common area with two shampoo bowls.

If you want to come over here and look out the window, we have a beautiful view, great lighting, great natural light.

When I saw this space, I was like, okay, I have to work out of the space.

So I used to work right here in this corner, and I had the bean and the lake out the window and just the best light you could ever imagine, especially being in a office building.

Yeah, the light is amazing.

The view is amazing.

In the summertime, I can open my windows.

I love the water and the green.

My little happy place.

This is amazing.

All right.

All right, cool.

This is so awesome.

All right, well, now we'll go off onto the next one.

Okay, now we are on the 13th floor.

13Th floor.

This is location number three in this building.

So tell us the story about this one.

Yes.

So this is my third space that I operate under the main space LLC umbrella.

And this is our 10 chair salon.

This is where I now work out of.

I was lucky enough to, again, management said there's another space you might be interested in.

You guys are a little tight in here.

And it was my lake view, so it checked all my boxes.

And then also there was already a bathroom in the space.

And so that also gave me access to water to create shampoo bowls.

Again, awesome.

And so we had.

We just looked at two.

Two different sizes.

What were the square footage of those two spaces?

So the seventh floor space is 294 square feet.

The 14th floor space is about 1200 square feet.

And this is actually about 1100 square feet.

So this one's a little bit less square feet.

It's just a bit different use of space.

Yeah.

And you'll see when we walk in that.

That you have.

Well, we'll tell you all the details, but the layout enables you to put a lot more chairs in.

And these are.

They rent each station.

Is that so?

I have both.

Both.

I have some booth rental, some commission in both spaces.

Oh, okay.

Cool.

Yeah.

Awesome.

All right, well, let's go on in and take a tour.

All right, we are in the third location.

As you can see, a completely different concept and a very different layout from the other two.

So take us on the tour and tell us what we're seeing.

Yeah.

So in this space, we have 10 stations.

We have men's rooming specialists, barbers, cosmetologists.

I have a loctician.

I have some.

Back here, I have Dr. Binet, who is a very, very experienced cosmetologist and educator that's pretty famous throughout the business.

We also still do some special occasion clients down here.

So this is my original Pin me up mirror where we did our bridal trials for Pin Me Up.

And then we still have our lake view.

So you kind of come over here and see.

We look over the bean and over the lake and have our lake view in this space space as well.

The view is amazing.

And then over here we have two shampoo bowls.

And then back through here, we have bathroom, little tiny break area.

And our seating area.

Nice.

I love the little seating area.

So we'll definitely get this on camera.

And what we're seeing is these are portraits, hand drawn portraits of the team here.

I love it, the whole vibe.

All right, well, let's go on and see the last of the spaces in this building.

Awesome.

Okay, we are in the last space.

We are on the 18th floor.

And tell us the story about this one.

Yeah, so I love the story.

So my partner in this space, James, he was a booth renter in Mainspace, where we just left.

And he was more of your full service cut and color.

He had a lot of.

He usually double booked and had a.

A client processing while he was servicing his next client.

Very passionate about, you know, client experience and all the things.

And MainSpace was just a little quaint for the way he liked to work in the salon environment.

He came from.

He did come from a commission situation.

So he was grateful to go independent and take his very large clientele into an independent space.

But MainSpace wasn't necessarily the best fit for him.

So what happened was there was another space in the building that set, someone else actually built out and took over and it didn't work out for her.

And so again with my relationship with the building, the first people they came to was us when another space presented itself.

So the great thing about Neon Avenue is this space was built out by another hairdresser.

And so it's built out pretty beautifully.

The other spaces I kind of makeshifted into a salon.

This one was built out to be a salon.

So we kind of got lucky with Neon Avenue and then we came in, we took over this space, and then some people from the salon that he worked with before also joined him now that we had space space for them.

Okay, so the three spaces we just saw you own outright with yourself.

And then this is the one space in this building that you have a partner with, correct?

Correct.

Yep.

Awesome.

James is my partner.

And the other cool thing about this building is being office condominiums.

We first took over the space in a rental situation.

There was a like investor that owned 14 units in the building and then rented them to the businesses that were in them.

And during COVID they actually went under.

And so then we were able to purchase this space out of foreclosure.

So we actually came up twice on the space.

Someone else built it out for us and then someone else owned it before us.

So we were able to purchase the unit.

We now own the unit.

And we didn't do a build out.

So the person who did the build out was.

It was Elise with that.

Oh, interesting.

Okay.

And so what is the model in this one?

Yes.

So this one is a little bit tiered.

So downstairs our booth rent stands starts at about 275 a week.

And it's pretty low amenities.

Everyone shares towels and I provide one shampoo.

But the rest, they all take care of their own things up here.

We knew everybody that joined James were also colorists.

So we came together and we came up with a color budget, a weekly color budget and a weekly back bar budget.

So instead of everyone having their own color stock that would also then need storage for each other color stack, we have a color bar that we stack weekly.

And.

And if anybody needs something above and beyond what is provided, they purchase themselves, like their foils or their bleach or things like that.

But for the most part, everything that they need is here.

And it also teaches them all to like, work efficiently.

Right.

You don't need a bunch of like.

Because you don't want to run out.

Totally.

Right.

So we have eight stations up here and a little bit Higher amenities.

So we provide like coffee, tea, water, wine, things like that.

There's more seating area.

There's more processing area.

There's three shampoo bowls.

There's a small break room and things like that.

So it's just a little bit higher amenity.

And our booth rent here starts at 400 a week, but it includes your product.

Okay.

And having color supplied at a booth rent situation.

Sounds incredible.

So let's go and check it out.

Awesome.

Okay, so we are in Neon Avenue Salon.

This is the last stop and.

And also the last one that you opened.

Take us on the tour.

Yeah.

So we have seating area here.

We have a front desk.

Not that we have a receptionist, but people like to just have a point of sale to check their client in and out.

Nicer client experience.

Robes.

Most of our clients here get color done, so there's some color robes.

And then we have eight stations.

We have a little break room here.

We have laundry and dispensary area here.

And then we have three shampoo bowls back here, some processing stations.

And then this is our color bar being up here on the 18th floor.

We're on the other side of the building now, but we still get beautiful natural light because we're on a corner.

On a corner.

I know.

That's amazing.

So we have some great.

And it's important for color.

Important for color.

Yeah.

Everywhere in the space has great lighting, and we still get all the natural light.

We just don't have the lake view up here.

But, I mean, it's a city view, though.

I mean, which is cool.

Still really cool.

Yeah.

And you can see all what's happening.

Yeah.

So we're.

We're down on jewelers Row.

So this is Wabash Avenue.

That's where Neon Avenue came from.

Color Avenue.

Love it.

And we're here on jewelers Row.

So down here on Wabash is all the jewelers.

Awesome.

All right.

Awesome.

Well, this has been incredible.

We have one more stop on our.

Another curveball.

Another curveball.

Okay.

Another curveball.

So let's go on, and we'll see you soon.

Soon.

We are at our final stop, row 24 in South Loop.

A venue space part of the Dana Fountain Empire tour.

And we are in the space.

So, Dana, tell us.

Tell us, like, how did this space come into.

Into fruition?

Yeah.

So we bought the building in 2016, and we did a full gut rehab and flipped it into a wedding and event venue.

So.

So I met my husband 14 years ago, and he used to run a live music venue in Wicker.

Park.

And then I've had Pin me up my on location bridal beauty agency for 15 years.

And we thought that we could take our joint experiences and what I knew about weddings and what he knew about service industry and venue and that type of business and put it together and create a venue, space, place.

So we were able to do that.

And Here at row 24, we host all types of events.

Weddings, corporate events, things like that.

We're right outside of McCormick Place, so McCormick Place is just back behind us here.

And yeah, it's been kind of our love child and we host all types of events.

So the sign behind us says it was all a dream.

And you were talk, you were talking a little bit about when we first got here before, before we went on camera, a little bit about how you made that dream happen.

Can you kind of give us a little insight to that?

Yeah.

So when we came up with the idea, we thought, okay, we should open a wedding venue.

And then he pulled in one of his cousins and confidants that was a real, a commercial realtor at the time and found us this building.

And when we originally looked at it, what we both loved about it was that it was this free span space.

So a lot of the cool, like venues in Chicago, wedding venues in Chicago that were lofted or exposed brick often were smaller guest counts.

So like 75 or 50 guests.

The sweet spot for weddings is about 150 guests.

So you either invite like no one you know or everyone you know.

Right.

And so that's where that like 150 mark came in.

So when we saw this building and we saw that it was free Spanish and we knew how many people, once we found out how many people we could fit in the space, we knew that it could, it could really, it could really work for a wedding and event venue.

Awesome.

Awesome.

So when you got, when you got here, when you, when you bought the place, what did it, what did it look like?

Because right now, for our podcast listeners, it is.

It's a beautiful exposed brick space, a beautiful chandelier.

You have a loft.

I see a door out there.

We'll.

I'm sure we'll walk during the court.

During the tour, you said there was a balcony.

So what.

Tell us a little bit about that process.

So when we bought the building, it was actually vacant at the time.

It actually had layers of drywall and plaster.

So we didn't even know all of this exposed brick or the foundational brick existed.

We didn't know what condition it was in.

So we didn't know until after we closed.

The first thing we did after we closed is we came in and we took a sledgehammer and knocked down one of the walls.

And it was all brick.

So we were really excited to know that it could be gutted.

And so we gutted the entire building.

And then we brought in all new operating systems.

So we brought in all new plumbing, H vac, electrical, and everything.

My husband says that the chandelier is his second wife.

Because when we found our lighting fixtures, we found this chandelier.

There's two chandeliers, one in the front, one in the back.

And all the sconces came out of a 53 room home home in Wisconsin that was being auctioned.

So we bought this kind of out of, like, salvage.

And this chandelier hung in our loft on a pipe and drape for six months before it was ready to be installed.

So my husband took every single crystal off that chandelier, cleaned it, and re hung it.

And then it was hung the day before our wedding or at our rehearsal the night before our wedding.

And our wedding was the first event in the spring space.

I love that story.

Awesome.

Okay, well, give us the tour and tell us what we're seeing.

Yeah.

So you come in here.

This is our front entrance.

This space can seat about 150 people.

So sometimes we see ceremony here on the first floor, and then room flip, cocktail up and then down for dinner, or vice versa.

Sometimes we see ceremony upstairs and then come down to a beautifully set room for cocktails and dinner.

We have a movable bar that can move anywhere throughout the space space.

Back here we have a photo booth under the stairs that comes with your event rental.

And then we have a private suite here.

This is our bridal room.

So whoever is hosting the event, they have a keypad, locked door that they can store their things and kind of be their little green room area.

Back here is like our back of house.

We have full restrooms, men and women's restrooms here, and then this kind of metal door here.

This was an existing kind of utility pit.

And we created that into our liquor room in my husband's office.

And then back here we have back of house.

So back here is like our tables, our chairs, refrigeration, some linens, things like that.

So this is all the back of house.

And then we can come back this way.

Just this year, we built out.

This used to just be a carport, like a gravel carport back here.

And we paved it.

We built a shed to house some of our equipment.

And now we have some backdoor areas.

So this is great for like cocktail hours.

Or you could do a small ceremony back here.

But it just gives us some outdoor space.

Nice.

And then you also got a loft and.

Yep.

So we'll go back in and I'll show you guys upstairs.

What's the square footage of this space?

So we're about 5,200 square feet.

Oh, wow.

We can host.

So about we say 150 people seated because that usually gives us like room for dance floor and food stations and bar and people can move around cocktail capacities.

We can hold upwards to about 300 people.

So up here's our mezzanine level.

After we went with the it was all a dream wall, we played in some other, you know, 2000s R&B and wrap, because that's kind of the era we came from.

Here was this loft here.

Yep.

This is all existing.

When we purchased the building, this was walled off.

So we knocked down the wall and we put up a banister.

And this is just mezzanine level but open loft.

When we had our wedding, we sat 220 people, which we don't recommend, but we didn't really care for our people.

So we put all of our friends up here and then all of our family and older people down there.

And then once dinner was done, we broke down a bunch of tables and chairs and created a dance floor floor.

So we kind of say 150 people is like our sweet spot.

But when we got married, we packed the place out, so.

Awesome.

And so one thing that we.

You've been mentioning throughout this whole time and we'll spend some time sitting down and talking about more in depth is your Pin Me up membership.

Right.

And so I that.

Can you just tell us like a high level about that and how that isn't and you know, one more time that incorporates into the space.

So Pin Me up operates now.

It started in my main space along with the one makeup mirror, and then turned into a member of Pure Beauty.

Pure Beauty is our studio space.

But Pin Me Up Chicago is my baby.

That's kind of my full time job amongst all my other jobs.

We service over 850 weddings and events a year with a team of 150 freelancers.

So we basically just match artists with clients on their special occasions.

So when I met my husband, he was running a live music venue in Wicker park called Subterranean.

So he knew people and venue and how to keep people safe and how to do the staff and liquor ordering and all that stuff.

And I knew Weddings and I knew brides.

So we took our joint experiences open row 24, and pin me up is still our other, you know, kind of main source of income.

And we have grown that business exponentially since COVID to reach about 850 events a year.

Nice.

Awesome.

Well, this has been an incredible tour.

Thank you so much for taking us on it.

We look forward to kind of digging in and kind of learning a little more about Pin Me Up.

But until then, this has been incredible.

So thank you so much.

Thank you guys for spending the day with me.

And I love talking about all the different ways to do business and would love to just keep the conversation going.

Okay, so before we conclude, what, if any, advice do you have for those that are inspired by what you built?

What advice do you have for that entrepreneur either aspiring or even.

Maybe even struggling a little bit?

Yeah.

So it always comes back to one of my mentors, always tells me is, plan your work and work your plan.

So a lot of us kind of jump right into what we think is going to work or what we've seen other people do or, you know, I'm going to get my own space because I have enough clients or whatever.

But at the end of the day, you really have to understand your break even point.

You have to understand your individual goals, financial and otherwise, in order to make the right business decisions.

So I always, always, always say, work your plan your work, and work your plan.

And then in my beauty blueprint workbook, it helps you kind of break that down.

Another thing that we're gonna have to talk about when we talk about the Pin Me up membership.

But until then, thank you so much, and thank you so much for listening and watching, and we'll see you soon.

Sounds good.

All right.