Saturday, September 5, 2009

Lessons from the Trenches

Seattle Woman Magazine        July- August, 2009

Local women share some of what they’ve learned building and maintaining their successful businesses by: MarianneSCAN0012 Scholl

Focus on the Positive

By February and March of this year, things were looking scary, says Kay Hirai, owner of Studio 904 on Mercer Island and in Pioneer Square. Business was down at her hair studios and like everyone else, she wasn’t sure where the economy was headed. But instead of focusing on how bad things could get, she committed herself to being positive and doing things for the community.

“I think it helped to concentrate outward and to not focus so much on my own business, especially since I couldn’t do anything about it anyway. Working through local churches, she gave free haircuts to people who had lost their jobs, and she held a fundraiser to raise money for Ginger’s Pet Rescue. Hirai is not new to community service but she stepped it up significantly.

“I keep doing things to invite the community in and this really helps to create excitement in a place of business. It has brought new clients in, but it also helped me get through.”

Marianne Scholl co-founded Seattle Woman in 2004 to help connect women in the Seattle are.

To read  entire article, click here.

1 comments:

  1. Wonderful article!

    "Hirai is not new to community service but she stepped it up significantly." Great sentence about Kay Hirai!

    From your #1 Fan,

    Carolyn
    ReplyDelete