Name: Lisa McElhone
Job Title: CEO and Founder of Lacquer Lounge
Experience: background in finance, telecommunications, and real estate
Website: http://lacquerlounge.com/
Twitter Handle: @Lisa_Mcelhone
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-mcelhone-74987b1a2/

Experience: Lisa McElhone has a unique set of talents and skills and accomplished entrepreneur. After graduating from St. Joseph’s University with a degree in management information systems, she went on to pursue a position as a quality assurance technician: a job that well suited her attention to detail and determination to deliver a high-quality experience. From there, Lisa went on to launch company’s in a number of industries including finance, telecommunications and real estate. As a result, she had the opportunity to develop a wide range of business and management skills: skills that she now brings to Lacquer Lounge. 

What does your current job entail?

Lisa McElhone: As a small business owner and an entrepreneur, I am leading my team from the front every day. That means I am always thinking about building the strongest customer service and sales team possible – by hiring, training, and mentoring long-term team members who understand our vision – to provide the best wellness experience possible for our guests in a safe, clean, and uber professional environment.

I always want to turn first-time customers into life-long Lacquer Lounge customers – so I spend a lot of time thinking about how to put that into action – from managing my budget to make sure I can offer competitive prices to sourcing my products from sustainable companies so we can encourage environmentally conscious options, and picking the right music to ordering the best color options for the season. Every day I am a cheerleader, mentor, budgeter, marketer, and customer service wizard. But I love it – that’s what entrepreneurship is all about – it’s not boring!

Is there such a thing as a typical day at Lacquer Lounge?

Lisa McElhone: As customer service professionals our days are set by our clients’ needs as we strive to make each customer’s experience memorable, safe, and luxurious. That means there are some important things we do every day to ensure we provide the absolute highest level of proper salon hygiene in the industry. We focus every day on honoring our clean salon vision – by sterilizing tools and workstations in a standard and conscious way every time – and by educating our customers about our health and wellness practices. We also provide products that promote sustainability, support local businesses, and enhance self-care and personal wellness goals.

After that, each day seems like a new adventure. I love meeting new clients and business partners – educating people about our socially and environmentally conscious practices and promoting the importance of wellness and self-care. It’s also fun to take on the challenges of creating and sticking to a business plan, building effective personnel policies and procedures, training and mentoring new team members, and designing and implementing creative brand marketing campaigns.

What is the best part of your job?

Lisa McElhone: The best part of my job is something I take very seriously – educating our clients about the importance of clean and healthy beauty practices. This doesn’t just mean meeting the highest levels of cleanliness in everything we do – which should be standard industry practice. Our vision continues into the products and services we provide as well.

With thoughtful curation, Lacquer Lounge has hand-selected the healthiest and highest quality products and polishes to use during our treatments.We believe in working hard to minimize our impact on the environment and promoting local businesses and products. I love sharing more about how we do each of these things with our customers – turning them into evangelists for clean and green beauty products and practices as well!

Without a doubt, Lacquer Lounge is the coolest nail salon in Philly. What are some things that you and your team considered when developing the brand?

Lisa McElhone: Thank you! Lacquer Lounge is all about luxury and positive energy. We turn first time customers into lifetime clients with an innovative, safe, and high-quality beauty and wellness experience combined with a fresh, local and sustainable vibe.

We knew educating customers about the importance of safe and high-quality practices in the beauty industry was an essential part of our brand and it was a challenge we were excited to take on. I lived previously in Miami where high end salons are extremely popular, and I wanted to bring that type of high-quality, memorable, and clean experience to my hometown here in Philly. It was also important to me that the experience was open to everyone – and that’s why we offer pricing closer to a local nail salon than a day spa.

What are the biggest challenges you’ve faced in the industry and how did you overcome those challenges?

Lisa McElhone: When you offer a new product that the market is not familiar with, getting that first initial sale is the biggest challenge. We believe in our product and we are so passionate about educating clients about health and wellness practices. Because of that, we knew that once we got people through the door the first time, they’d choose us again.As an innovator and offering a new product to market, it was a challenge to identify the right mix of salon hours, services, pricing, and talent needed to create strong brand awareness and succeed in this competitive market. I had to take a chance, build trust with customers, ask for feedback and respond to it effectively, and communicate our mission and product differentiators every chance I got.

What was your first entry-level job in your field and how did you get it?

Lisa McElhone: I haven’t worked previously in the beauty industry. As an entrepreneur I am coming into the field with a lot of experience as a consumer – especially in Miami where salons have a unique vibe and social environment that really builds a strong brand loyalty and more conscious consumers, creating a community within each salon location. It’s a beauty industry model based on self-care and a superior client experience – rather than just a quick one-and-done service. The focus is on customer service, overall wellness, and a feeling of community. That’s the experience I wanted to bring here to Philadelphia.

What is one thing you wish you knew about your industry when you first started out that you know now?

Lisa McElhone: It was definitely a challenge to build a strong, professional team from the ground up. There are many people working in the beauty industry who lack formal training in the business. I wanted to create a professional team at Lacquer Lounge built on a strong foundation of education and industry training, made up of licensed beauty industry leaders. I also realized quickly that the high level of quality we provide here and our focus on safety, cleanliness, and sustainability was innovative – and that I’d need to provide the training and hands-on experience for my staff to reach my true vision.

What were the most important lessons you learned about running a small business that you can share with our audience?

Lisa McElhone: Having the proper support system in place is key to success as an entrepreneur. This means engaging early with a professional team of attorneys, consultants, and others to guide and support your endeavor every step of the way.

If you don’t have a professional support team – joining your local Chamber of Commerce is a great way to meet local professionals as well as other entrepreneurs. Being an entrepreneur can be isolating when you are just starting out – so seeking out other entrepreneurs to share that emotional journey with is key.

Is there anything specific that would surprise our readers?

Lisa McElhone: Our full team has been here in the most part since we launched, which has helped us develop a strong company culture that positively impacts our clients’ experience. By showing our appreciation for our front-line staff, providing quality employee benefits, and offering a professional working environment with career stability, we’ve been able to retain a high-quality team – which is unheard of within this industry. I truly believe your team is key to your success, whatever industry you are in.

What drives your success and ambitions?

Lisa McElhone: I love the relationships and mutual connections that come out of this hands-on business and the feeling of having customer leave satisfied and happy. It’s the small things in life that make the biggest difference and a quick manicure esthetics is real self-care that helps women build confidence, overcome challenges, and practice wellness in their everyday lives.

Your local salon is a meeting place that inspires reflection, communication, and creativity and I am honored to both educate our clients on the importance of self-care and wellness practices and to connect them with achievable ways to achieve this in their own lives.

What is one decision you had to make in business that turned out to be a blessing in disguise?

Lisa McElhone: I had to transfer major management responsibilities to my staff when I got involved in a new project that required a lot of my attention. It was a blessing in disguise because it showed my staff how much I trust them, it provided a great opportunity for my new team to really gel and succeed together, and it allowed me to take a step back from daily management and spend more brain power on branding and growing the business.

What’s your long-term vision for Lacquer Lounge?

Lisa McElhone: We are at the leading edge of this rapidly evolving industry and I am excited to help move the beauty and wellness industry forward by improving cleanliness and sustainability standards industry wide, to mentor and support other entrepreneurs within the industry, and to help lead the movement towards making self-care a priority here in my hometown. If we can educate our clients about holistic wellness, sustainable and clean salon practices, and support our local community – we will have made a lasting impact on so many lives.

What do you look for when considering hiring someone?

Lisa McElhone: One of our challenges as a leader in the holistic beauty industry was a lack of people with hands-on experience in the field to hire. That also helped us by challenging me to put together a fantastic, licensed team of experts and to provide solid training on our wellness mission – the practices we are based on and the products we use.

Offering a great customer experience involves teamwork. From the front desk to the backend, our entire team needs to work together, communicate and be in sync. Each of our team members is an ambassador for the brand and an innovator in providing holistic beauty practices and products. It takes a strong and openminded person to take on that challenge and dedicate themselves to learning more about the industry and helping educate others about it. We took the most difficult route and the challenge has been worth it every step of the way.

What advice would you give young women starting out in business?

Lisa McElhone: In my experience, women tend to sell themselves short. For example, we can think that sharing our achievements is bragging. But only you can be an ambassador for your own true value. You can also help encourage the next generation of women leaders by sharing your experiences – both good and bad – and challenging women to take on new and more difficult business challenges themselves.

When you are starting out, it’s important to not take no for an answer. You have a vision and a roadmap to get there and it’s a consistent drive for success combined with hard work and perseverance that will get you there. It helps to set short term goals so you can track your success as you go along and see the impact you are making towards your long-term goal.

About Lisa McElhone:

Who would have thought that a move to Miami, Florida, coupled with a poor-quality visit to a luxury spa in her hometown of Philadelphia, would be just the catalyst needed to launch an entirely new business? For Lisa McElhone, this combination of factors served to push her forward, enabling her to embrace her creativity and passions as well as utilizing the business experience she had gained over the years to the fullest.

After launching various successful business Lisa moved to Miami to help her explore her creative drive. While there, she encountered a new-to-her phenomenon in the local nail salons: an amazing experience, not just for having her nails painted, but for socializing as well as visiting an amazing atmosphere. Those salons offered trendy music, plenty of people to talk to, and a welcoming environment as well as a deep dedication to cleanliness.

When she returned home to Philadelphia for a visit, on the other hand, Lisa found that there were not nearly so many opportunities for nail salons. Instead, she discovered that what was otherwise a highly acclaimed and glamorous resort failed to offer basic hygiene practices, leaving her with a skin infection and a new passion in life.

Out of those factors, Lacquer Lounge was born. Lacquer Lounge serves to promote clean and ethical beauty while providing a luxury experience for all of its guests.