Million Dollar Keratin

How I Made Over $1,000,000 in One Year and How you can do it too!

By: Nadine Ramos, Founder & CEO of LASIO Professional Hair Care

Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1: DEFINING YOUR DREAM CHAPTER 2: CREATING YOUR BLUEPRINT CHAPTER 3: BUILDING YOUR FOUNDATION CHAPTER 4: BUILDING YOUR TEAM CHAPTER 5: BUILDING ON YOUR SUCCESS CHAPTER 6: NEVER STOP! 23 20 15 11 7 3

CHAPTER 1: DEFINING YOUR DREAM

You see things; and you say, 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say, 'Why not?' - George Bernard Shaw

Twenty-years from now would you be disappointed by the things you didnt do? What would you do if you took fear out of the equation? A roadblock many of us face in our lives is the negative I. I cant, I dont know how, and Im afraid. These are all popular sentence beginners that create the static in our minds, clouding our road to success. When we sit to dream we have to dream as if we are coloring outside of the lines. To dream we must revert to thinking with our childlike minds. Lets think as though there were no red tapes and no rules. Heres a task for you. Get a journal. Take a half hour to sit and write your dreams. Dream things you have never dreamed. Write fearlessly. At the end of your writing session review everything youve written and begin to explore. In order to be successful in any business and in life in general we must first know our dream, which is not always easy to do with all the static that surrounds us. We find ourselves doing either of the two at some point in our lives: dreaming what seems to be a million dreams without clear definition or having our dreams drowned out by people and certain regiments. I personally didnt know I was going to found LASIO Inc. My dreams were hazy in the beginning and I found myself with a lack of clarity of my future endeavors. I was

just coasting trying to find my passion and purpose, something I would love and dedicate myself to. At a young age I was forced to grow up rather quickly when I lost my mom and had to take care of my sister. The pressure was on and I found myself having to do whatever it took to take my moms place. I was working a regular 9-5 job where I felt less than appreciated and rushing home to take care of the house. With no time to think or dream, my true self had become drowned out by the static in my life that kept me stagnant. However, I did remain alert and open to the possibilities of being better. While on your journey to define your dream you have to become a thinker. Be aware of everything around you. Pay attention to things said in conversation, TV, the birds flying, and even the car honking behind you. Think of the possibilities that can be found in everything. About a year before I began LASIO, I was traveling on JetBlue and while surfing through their radio station I heard this man talking about being an entrepreneur. Sadly to say, I had no idea what an entrepreneur was, but regardless if I knew what it was or not, I was about to find out that by nature I was an entrepreneur. The man asked, are you ambitious? In my head I began to answer his questions, yes! Do you get bored with new jobs just after 6 months? Yeah. Do you despise working under someone else? Most definitely! Do you wish you could make your own money running your own business? It was after that question that I experienced my aha moment. I had a rush of excitement and a vision of me owning and running a business flooded my mind. I went from sitting in coach to sitting behind an executive desk. Walking through the halls of my company and running board meetings. My hairs stood up and goose bumps rose. This is what I wanted. I saw it and felt it with everything running through me. It was feeling I couldnt ignore. However what would now be my next steps? The next steps are always the most important and the hardest. The challenge is in taking the infamous next steps. How often do you dream and not take the next steps because of the negative I? Most times we experience our aha moment but never do anything about it. This is when
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you have to become a thinker and a doer. Think about how you are going to make this dream come true and do what you say youre going to do. Period! Let go of your negative I and send the nay-sayers to time out. Since that trip all I could do was dream about having my own business. I began to think. What could my business be? What are my true passions? What could I see myself investing my time and energy in? What was I good at? I knew I had a passion for fashion and beauty. So I decided to learn more about it. Remember that we dont always have to dream of things that are familiar. Dreaming outside of the lines means that we have to be open to learning more. Its okay to have to go back to school. Its okay to have to research and study. And its okay to sometimes have to start over. I began to research fashion schools and enrolled in a 12-week design program at the Parsons School of Design, however that was short lived! Just after 3 courses I dropped out. I knew almost instantaneously that design was not for me, but I knew that I had to be in business for myself. I viewed fashion school as a stepping-stone to figuring out what I really wanted to do. I never stopped researching and I never stopped believing in my dream of being a business owner. I was on high alert seeking to find my right fit. In the meantime, I continued working at my regular 9-5 job as an event planner, which I was beyond miserable at, but I had to pay the bills. What I refused to do was let this job define or deter me. I viewed this job as my way of getting to my next step in life. It was just another stepping stone not a home. I was a business owner temporarily working as an event planner. Then I would guess that what they say about manifesting your dreams and living as though it is already happening must be true, because the next events to occur changed my life! One summer I was having lunch with one of my really good friends and she was telling me about this great stylist from Brazil, where she was from as well. She was raving about this crme treatment he performed that made hair silky, shiny, and straight at this time the major trend was the Japanese strengtheners. He was going
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to be in New York, where he worked six months out of the year, so she invited me to her appointment with him. When I got there and witnessed this treatment I experienced a feeling very similar to the one on that Jet Blue flight. This was the most amazing technique I had ever witnessed! I wanted to learn more. Ones natural reaction may have been to want to make an appointment to get the treatment, but mine was to make an appointment to learn more. I wanted to do this, I wanted to make this, and I wanted to be known for it. I automatically had a million questions. However, the stylist did not speak any English so I had my friend translate for me. I spewed out question after question. Thank God, the gentleman was nice and willing to teach me his technique, offering me on the spot hands on experience in blow-drying and flat ironing. In theory, I had no idea what I was doing, but I wasnt worried because I knew that I could learn. From that day my dream became clearer. I had an overwhelming feeling of assurance; the beauty industry was where I wanted to be! I felt such a passion and thrill in creating beautiful hair. It was an amazing feeling and the fog that existed in my foresight was beginning to clear. Over the course of twelve months I had shaped my dream of becoming an entrepreneur. And through trial, error, and lots of research I cultivated my dream of being an entrepreneur in the beauty industry. Whats important for you to understand is its okay if you are not born with your dream, if it didnt develop in your childhood years, or if it wasnt passed down to you. What is important is that you take the time to dream and to define your passion and purpose. Dont become discouraged when you fail because thats how we learn. If we never failed it means we never really tried. Experiment with your dreams and evaluate the best direction for you. Ask yourself: What are my passions, what is important to me, what are my skills, and what do I need to learn?

CHAPTER 2: CREATING YOUR BLUEPRINT

To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift - Steve Prefontaine

Dreams + Detailed Plans = Blueprint At this point in my life my dream was to conquer this new Brazilian treatment I learned. I wanted to master performing it and I wanted to introduce it to the world. Simple. Dreams dont always have to be complicated and its okay to work on one dream at a time, which sets proper foundation for continued growth. So now we have our dreams on paper the next step into making a dream a reality is to plan your steps out to achieve this dream. A dream without a plan of fruition will always be just a dream. My next step I knew would be beauty school. I couldnt perform this service on anyone without my cosmetology license. I needed to understand hair in order to properly produce, use, and educate people on this keratin service. So I jumped right into beauty school, but it was not easy! Talk about challenging! I really had to push myself to conquer this next step in fulfilling my dream. Before being introduced to this keratin service, I had never taken an interest in hair unless my stylist was doing mine. I have a lot of respect for hair stylists, but beauty school was not for me. Beauty 101 still gives me nightmares. If I could have bypassed that I sure wouldve, but I knew this is what I had to do. This was the price I had to pay in order to achieve my dream.

I remember one incident in beauty school; our instructor was introducing our first assignment, a trim. If I could have crawled under a rock that day I wouldve. My poor mannequins hair was so uneven it needed a V8. However, as much as I troubled with the practical aspect of school I loved the theory part of it. I loved learning how the hair worked, how its made up, and what happened chemically and physically when certain things were done to the hair. That I nailed! As I continued on my journey in school I wanted to waste no time in learning about the Crme treatment. I kept bugging my friend for more information and I told her I needed to go to Brazil to learn more and to find it. So, being the great friend that she is, she helped me arrange a trip to Brazil. She sent her best friend along with me as my translator. She contacted the hairstylist and told him I was on my way there to learn more about the treatment. He accepted me with open arms. He introduced me to the manufacturers and it was then that I received my first taste of business, again, yet another feeling of thrill and excitement. At this point I had distribution on my mind. I knew I wanted to make this product mainstream. After being there I realized that it would not make good business sense to get the product from them, I had to figure out how to manufacture the product myself in the US. I didnt want a middleman, plus the language barrier made doing business directly with them extremely difficult. I purchased a few bottles and brought it back to the US. I used some of the bottles to perform the treatment on my friends and the other bottles to help me study and breakdown the product. I found a great chemist who helped me research and de-construct the formula, who I was able to fund with all the money I made from charging people $300 for performing the service. I spent what must have been hundreds of hours researching each ingredient we uncovered and took advantage of all the resources I had. Once we decoded everything we made our attempt to put it back together using the raw ingredients, talk about trial and error and error and error. The first batches would come out like rubber or completely below my standards for a product I would use. Patience was key at this point and you may often find the same. Things dont always happen overnight but it takes diligence, patience, and most of all commitment! THERES NO SKIPPING STEPS! I could have rushed the process to create
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anything but less than great was just not acceptable. It was very important to me to create a foundation that was strong and sustainable. Nonetheless, we stayed hard at work and devoted a lot of time into developing a new formula that worked, met regulatory guidelinesbecause thats important, and was salon friendly. After twelve months of hard work we finally did it! We crafted whats now known as the LASIO Keratin Treatment. My first LASIO Keratin Treatment was like being on stage with Beyonc at a sold out concert! I was excited, at lost for words, and ultimately so damn proud of myself for not giving up until the formula was perfected. I remember doing the treatment on a friend, using her as a model just in case her hair fell out. I was so nervous and anxious to see the product work. To my excitement it did! First thing first, her hair did not fall out, and even more remarkable her hair looked amazing! Words could not express how excited and proud I was. I did it. I had a dream and I stuck to it and now this was the reward. Meanwhile, performing the treatment that I brought back from Brazil had become a major moneymaker for me. The word spread like wildfire and I was making great money performing strictly Brazilian Straightening Treatments, a name I had given it and lent to my own formula when it was created. The name LASIO came from a brainstorming session with my friends and Brazilian Straightening came from its origin and ultimately what it did. Once I realized that I had a really good product and I was cleared to begin using it I grew my mobile services business. I traveled to the most high-end areas of Long Island and Manhattan performing my treatment on wealthy women, who helped increase my business even more simply through word of mouth. It really only takes one great client to spread the word. Once your product or service is good, which I knew mine was, information spreads! I invested in a cookie-cutter website that I created myself on Yahoo! and made some cheap business cards. My business, hear that my business, had become so successful that I had to make my living room into a salon so I could take more clients in a day, saving on travel time and expenses.

At this point, I was feeling good and doing really well, but I didnt settle. Yes, I was technically now an entrepreneur with my own business, but I wanted more. I still wanted to open distribution, have stylist everywhere using LASIO, and women all over the world experiencing the LASIO Keratin Treatment! With this in mind, I saved every penny I earned and acted like it didnt exist. This is commitment and not to mention discipline. This is how we have to be when we are on our journey to creating success and fulfilling our dreams. I was sticking to the plan! Six months into performing the keratin services I received a call from the New York Times. I thought it was a joke! It had to be a joke. Why would the New York Times be calling me? Needless to say, I was scared out of my pants. She wanted to learn more about the treatment I was performing. I said, Is this a joke? She said No, I saw your website and I am intrigued by this service. I couldve dropped to the floor out of excitement and shock, all the while thinking that the $19.99 that I paid for my website was the best $19.99 I ever spent! Obviously, being featured in such a prestigious paper as the New York Times can change lives and situations. For me, it took my business from a compact to a sports car! Business was booming! I now had stylists and salons contacting me for more information on my treatment and enthused about purchasing it for their use. This was my opened door to begin distribution.

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CHAPTER 3: BUILDING YOUR FOUNDATION

Whatever good things we build end up building us. - E. James Rohn

I started Lasio Studios, my salon, with a friend I met in beauty school. She was a young, ambitious, and talented stylist who was also very driven. She took interest in the services I provided and came along with me as my assistant when I started my mobile services business. After the New York Times article, as my business grew, I saw it as prime opportunity to open a salon and not have people coming to my house. I wanted people to be comfortable and feel as though they were spending money on not just this treatment, but also a luxurious experience. I remember when we started doing two heads at a time. I would be performing one treatment on my living room chair and my friend another on my ottoman. People would also be lined up on my sofa. It was time to grow and with all the money I saved I knew I could afford investing in an actually salon. I pictured the salon being in the East Village with about six stylists with every stylist performing the LASIO Keratin Treatment charging $300 and up. The money and the growth possibilities would be able to fund the building of my distribution channel. The salon would be a great foundation to grow a cash flow to support distribution. The plan now was to develop a solid and stable foundation for LASIO. My friend from beauty school would operate the salon and I would focus on distribution. My
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first task was to find a location. This was the only thing on my mind. While styling one of my best clients, who is still a regular at Lasio Studios, I was telling her how I wanted to invest in a location. She then told me about her friend who is a realtor that focused on storefronts in Manhattan, and he had some available spots in the East Village, my desired location. I contacted him immediately. He showed me about three locations and I fell in love with the first location I saw on 7th Street. It was a high traffic area, it was nice and small, the rent was affordable, and best of all it was three blocks from my house! I was so excited when I signed the lease, an emotion, which, unfortunately, was short-lived because soon after I began to freak out. I started to think of all the what ifs and I wanted to back out. I wanted to run back and keep my business in my little apartment where I felt comfortable. This is the point in life where we learn to breakout of our comfort zone. Growth can sometimes be very scary. I had a fear of taking on more responsibility and challenges. What if I couldnt handle it? What if I failed? What if no one came? I knew I could be successful and but I had a fear of handling success. What if I wasnt ready? How many times have you experienced this? The challenge is in pushing through. Dont be your own roadblock. Its just like those shows on TV where people go to push through their fears for the prize at the end. In this case the prize is success and accomplishment. Someone who is afraid of water must learn to swim, someone who is afraid of snakes needs to hold a snake, and so, someone who is afraid of success must try to succeed. The ultimate goal is to push through fear; youll see and feel the feeling of accomplishment when you do it, even if you fail. Theres no failing in trying because you won when you tried. When setting up Lasio Studios I had a severe case of OCD. I wanted everything to be perfect. This was going to be foundation on which I would build and grow my business. At this stage, I found it helpful to seek a mentor. I went down to a salon not too far from Lasio Studios, who is actually now a client of LASIO Professional Hair Care, using LASIO Keratin Treatments and HYPERSILK aftercare. I spoke to him about my fears and he helped me to build confidence. It was nice having someone one my side offering encouragement and pushing me to overcome
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my fear. We all need this. I remember I spoke to him on Sunday and my salon was opening on that Monday. He told me, dont worry about what you are feeling now, you will see that after tomorrow you are going to feel that feeling of success. And I did. The end of my first day in business at Lasio Studios was the first day ever in my life, up until that point, that I felt accomplished. Lasio Studios is a boutique salon, meaning a matchbox space in Manhattan. I have four styling chairs and a back room to mix color, which also dubbed as my distribution center. I would never forget the first week we opened Lasio Studios. A client traveled all the way from Philadelphia, PA to get her hair treated. Just a minute after she congratulated me again, raved about the service, and how great her hair looked, she stepped outside the door, tripped, and split her chin open on the concrete. Horrified wouldnt even be the word to describe how I felt.
Pictured Above: Lasio Studios located at 117 East 7th Street, NY 10009

I was beyond horrified! That marked the beginning of all things that could go wrong. Within that year I witnessed a clients hair turn green, floods from poor plumbing, and stylists breakdowns. I even had a receptionist go out on her lunch break and never return on one of the busiest salon days. I felt so stressed and overwhelmed and thought to myself, darn it, if this is what having your own business is about then I dont want it! It was a lot to handle! I was juggling clients, the front desk, sales, and distribution, plus not to mention my socalled partner and right hand was beginning to flake out. There were so many days I wanted to flip over the open sign to closed and never return.
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But nonetheless, here I was building the foundation for what would be LASIO Inc. I had the salon running in the front and in a little tiny color mixing room I would package treatment for distribution. My days consisted of performing treatments and packaging five to six bottles of the LASIO Keratin Treatment in between clients, and at the end of the day pushing the boxes to FedEx in a shopping cart. At this time I was also holding massive education classes for an audience filled with hungry stylists and salon owners wanting to learn more and use my product. I would teach them the application process and add them to my sales list for distribution. However, the word on keratin was not really out. The New York Times article did help for the salon side of business but I needed an extra boost to get the attention of the salon owners. I knew this would take a lot of my time and most likely money so I needed the salon running and generating substantial cash flow. My next step might have been what has kept LASIO not as well known as some of the other companies, and what probably has allowed other companies to surpass me in popularity, but I wouldnt change it. I believe this is what made me a success and kept me still in business. I decided to put more focus on the salon. It was important that the salon operated at its best. The salon was the leg of LASIO Inc. I had to clean house at Lasio Studios. My friend from beauty school was not cutting it. She was no longer dedicated to the dream. She began to show up late and acted unprofessional. Here we were selling this luxury service and using a signature product and she was showing up to work in sweats! She showed every sign of self-instability. I knew this was not within my recipe for success and could be the downfall of my business. That was my first lesson in building the right team.

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CHAPTER 4: BUILDING YOUR TEAM

Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success -Henry Ford

When it came to building the right team I once again started first with Lasio Studios. I needed the salon to be left in great hands while I focused on LASIO distribution. I knew I had to let go of my friend from beauty school, but it wasnt easy, we had more than a business relationship, we were friends. I knew letting her go would more than likely end our friendship and as you could imagine the conversation was not easy. I had so many debates and emotions running through my mind. I felt like I was abandoning my child. She was a young girl that relied on the stability Lasio Studios provided her. I thought of her clients, who loved her. Would I now lose business? How would they react? Letting someone go that I shared my dreams and aspirations with was hard but I knew it had to be done for the growth of my business to the levels I imagined. After I let her go, the first thing I did was hire a salon manager. Now being smarter and wiser I looked for someone who knew more than I did. I knew this person had to have more salon experience than I did, did hair definitely better than I did, and who exuded professionalism. I found someone who was amazing and she helped me build the rest of the team for Lasio Studios. She hired and trained the stylists, the receptionist, and truly held down the salon while I focused on the next level for LASIO.
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Because I had separation anxiety from my salon I purchased an office right next door to it where I could run LASIO distribution. The office was literally a 500 square feet hole in the wall, but I had to make it work. At this point, time was not on my side. Brazilian Straightening services started to become popular and competition was growing. There were companies with the right funding creating the product and pushing it mainstream. The office I purchased next door to Lasio Studios was an empty raw space. I remember standing in the middle of the floor thinking what am I going to do? How am I going to make this work because it has to work? Failure was not an option! I ended up going out for drinks with a friend of mine to relieve some stress and I was telling her what was going on. She confided in me that her company was doing layoffs and she would find out in two days if she had a job or not. We both saw this as an opportunity. I needed help and she needed a job. I was skeptical of hiring another friend because of my previous experience, but she was different. She was the most organized person I knew. She came with loads of experience and I knew her to be responsible, loyal, and dedicated. The day she started working for me she helped me to hire a contractor to build out the office. It had two mini office rooms with sliding doors, a small bathroom, and a micro meeting room in the front. It was small but we made it work. While she ran the office, answered the phones, packed the boxes for distribution, and handled customer service, I handled sales. I printed flyers, worked the field, and worked everyday to increase LASIOs awareness, of course while still looking after Lasio Studios. In putting together my team the most important thing to me was dedication and trust. How dedicated was this person going to be to my company and how much could I trust this person. The next person I hired was someone to handle marketing; she was really smart and very good at what she did. She helped me put together pamphlets and distribution packages. She helped me progress a lot, but there was something missing. As good as she was I was never able to trust her. I found myself always having to keep a close eye on her, trying to catch on to her motives before she could take advantage of the vulnerability of my growing company. After about twelve
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months I found out my intuition was right. All of the warnings I received from friends and family became a reality. I found out that she was a con artist and known for running scams, which had also resulted in the incarceration of her boyfriend. At this point, I guess you could say I was rather unlucky in building the right team. I wasnt finding exactly what I needed, but I knew in order to truly grow I would need more than myself and one other person. At this point I had another girl who previously worked with the con artist assisting in marketing. Because the company was growing so rapidly I needed to not be the one going out to salons selling the product. I wanted to be able to manage the office and work on building to the next level. I needed to be there to build structure, work on product development, and make sure my foundation stayed intact for the growth I knew was coming. Now that I was being more proactive in the office, I hired two of my best friends, of course still with some skepticism, but that was overpowered with the history I had with them. I knew that they knew how much my company meant to me. They witnessed my struggles and shared my passion so the thought of them letting me down was distant in my mind. One of them, coming from a sales background, took over sales, building a sales team that would help LASIO dominate New York first and then spread out to every other state. My other friend came on to help us move from the East Village to a larger distribution office in Long Island City. The move to Long Island City provided us with more room to spread out and each do what we had to do in order to grow LASIO. I kept my friend who helped us do the move as the Human Resources Manager, my other friend officially became the Sales Director, the girl that handled marketing as the Marketing Associate, and my first hire as the Shipping Manager. I was feeling good. My company was growing, the salon was doing very well, and I had a strong and focused team backing my vision, or so I thought. From one month to the next things started to crumble. The team that I thought would never let me down started to no longer work towards the common vision. My Marketing Associate, who was my right hand, started to lose interest. She used to be this bubbly, excited, driven person and that turned into someone who locked herself
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in her office and didnt socialize or communicate with the team. Everyone could tell she wasnt happy. Then on the other side of the office my two best friends could not get along. Instead of being focused on growth they were having catfights and completely unable to work with each other. I couldnt believe this was happening. Why did I have to play mediator as two women named called and played the blame game. To make things worst, shipping mistakes were happening left and right. My Shipping Manager went from being the shining star to being overlooked. Orders were being mixed up, shipping charges were coming up as being overcharged, undercharged, or never charged and my companys image was being tainted. It was unbelievable! My once productive office became stagnant. No new ideas were coming in. Everyone was bringing up the same old ideas and nothing was fresh. If everyone in your company has the same thought then no one can possibly be thinking. The company stayed in this rough place for about five months. In the position the company was in I couldnt run the risk of letting go of anyone. I had the major New York International Beauty Show coming up and sales was growing. I kept hoping the motivational talks would help us overcome the BS and I tried to coach my team through this, but sometimes the key to change is to let go. The personalities in the air became toxic. I was dealing with uncooperative, combative, resentful, rigid, uncaring, unwilling, dependent, and indifferent attitudes that started to spread through the office like a virus. One miserable person was passing along the misery to others through their simple attitude and reactions to certain events, questions, comments, thoughts, and ideas. I myself even started to become discouraged and not wanting to be in my own office. I found myself running away and finding solitude at the salon. I didnt want to deal with the stress. This was not what I saw for my company. This was not how we were going to grow. I realized that running away wasnt going to solve anything. I had to start changing and letting things go. The first person to go was the Marketing Associate, which was a mutual agreement. She wasnt happy and as my right hand she was making me more depressed than inspired. I regained control of my shipping department and worked
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hands on to protect my companys image and I promoted an employee that showed tremendous passion, commitment, and capability to Marketing Director. I had to now tackle the tension between my best friends, which worked out because the Human Resources manager decided to leave to explore other career options, and in her place I brought on my sister. She had a strong personality, thought outside the box, and was a self-starter. I knew I wouldnt have to worry too much about the logistics of the office with her there. Now I was beginning to see change. The office became flooded with new ideas and once again had a positive energy. My team was beginning to work towards a common goal, the growth and success of LASIO. I once again became excited and motivated. Thats how I knew that I was moving in the right direction in putting together the right team. As infectious as the negative energy was in the office the positive energy and progression became its replacement. With the right people in my corner we were able to build a foundation, which allowed for my staff to quadruple. We were able to bring on and correctly manage the right people capable of doing one thing, growing LASIO!

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CHAPTER 5: BUILDING ON YOUR SUCCESS

You may not always end up where you thought you were going, but you will always end up where you were meant to be - Jessica Taylor

When I purchased the office space for LASIO distribution I had one goal in mind, get LASIO in every salon. I started out doing this by focusing on all of the high-end salons in the city. I would personally go into these salons with my sales package that included all of my product information and samples. At the time I was going into these salons the competitors were already in most of them. I remember every time I would walk into the salon and see the competition on their shelves I would become enraged but extremely motivated to make that sale. As the owner going into these salons I demanded to only speak with the owner. The owners were impressed that I took the time out to come speak with them and so in turn they gave me some of their time. What they noticed that set me apart from the products on their shelf was my true passion, my belief in my product, and the extensive knowledge I had and was able to give them. I was the only company at the time giving out samples because I believed the power was in the product. My product would speak for and sell itself. As strongly as I believed in my product I often had to combat the feeling of defeat. I did have the thoughts of there not being enough room for me, that the competition had beaten me. I was hurt and would beat myself up over the fact that I worked hard on this product. I worked hard on creating a great product, but because I was slow

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and steady in the race, did they already beat me to the finish line? What do I do? What should anyone do at this stage? Keep going! I studied what the competitors did and sought ways to put myself on the map where I rightfully belonged. That year I also decided to invest in the New York International Beauty Show. I purchased the smallest booth they had and brought along product and a printed banner with my company name. I went there for awareness and also to be in the same spot with the competition. I would now be able to see who was out there and what they were doing.

Picture Above: My first IBS Show! See how small our booth was, but we had to start somewhere.

The key here is what you do with the information you gather. What you want to do is use the information to become better but not to be a follower. I never became obsessed with the competition I became motivated. Sometimes people become so obsessed with the competition that they lose themselves. They change their identity,

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their colors, their logo, their slogans time and time again to match the competition all the while they cant tell you who they really are and what their products really do. I also witnessed as my competitors with extensive funding began to expand their product line offering clients more and more options, but I learned early in this business that achieving sustained success takes refining whats unique about ones own company and highlighting your own genius. What I was able to realize in doing this is that my genius lied in my education on my product. I was able to provide clients with full product breakdown and knowledge. I knew exactly what was in my product and I made sure when I made it that I took my time to make a sustainable and safe product. Shortly after keratin became huge, we all witnessed the daunting articles that sabotaged the keratin industry. This was when LASIOs second genius came to light. While the competitors were being nailed for having 4, 7, and 10 percent formaldehyde in their keratin treatments, LASIO was proudly able to boast 0.02% formaldehyde levels. With all that was going on in the industry LASIO was able to build through the promotion of Education and Safety 1st, a program we created to tackle the negative attention keratin treatments were getting in the media. I watched as my competition became banned in certain international markets and lost consumer trust, in which was good and bad for my company. It was good for LASIO because people started to find us through their research and replaced their old stock with our products and it was bad because we are still to this day combating the fearfulness of salon owners and now even the consumers. It was a scary time for me as well, as I sometimes feared that this would be the end of the keratin industry. However, I have always let my fear be my driving force. I know that working through the fear and pushing through with my goals in mind is the only way I would ever sustain and reach to the next level in business. The key is to never let your competition deter you. Never feel like theres not enough room. Find your true genius and build on that. Competition is a good thing. It pushes you to do your best and filters out your weaknesses.

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CHAPTER 6: NEVER STOP!

Make the most of yourself for that is all there is of you - Ralph Waldo Emmerson

When I started on this journey to begin LASIO I only imagined and dreamed of the success I wanted. The work that it has taken me to get to this level in my company is one that I wouldnt change for anything. My greatest compliments have come from me being a slow and steady player in this industry. For me my success wasnt about a one-day hype but a lifetime commitment. My name may not yet be known by millions but through taking all the necessary steps and building a proper foundation I know that its not too far in the future. I was able to build LASIO from scratch and expand it into several other brands, move my company from a 500 square feet office space to a 15,000 square feet space in less than a year, and yes gross over two million dollars in the first year of business at Lasio Studios. People ask what sets me apart and what keeps me growing, my passion. Defining your passion and staying disciplined and committed takes you to places beyond your imagination. Whats your passion? As said by Field Marshal Ferdinand Foch, the most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire. What sets your soul on fire? What do you think about, dream about, and what are you willing to sacrifice for? LASIO still to this day sets my soul on fire. For me I made lots of sacrifices for LASIO. I sacrificed my young adulthood and many friendships to focus on LASIO. In order to build my company I had to dedicate the time it needed. Success does take work. It does not come to you, you have to run after it and hold on to it.
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It takes diligence and building a solid foundation, which does not come overnight. I would say it has taken me up until this point to truly say I have a foundation that is sturdy enough to hold the growth I see for LASIO. We have to always remember to pay attention to any little cracks in our foundation so that we can fix it immediately, and not let it hinder our growth or allow us to fall from great heights. Along the road I have learned that with success comes failures that we must overcome. Without failing we can never learn what not to do. Not every decision I made or business ventures I embarked on were successful but I would never have known that if I didnt take those risks. I remember having built a long-standing relationship with a distributor. He was a very important account to LASIO and was the one to help us to really start expanding in other states and the outskirts of New York. We worked together for several years, until I found out he was formulating a keratin treatment to resemble and smell like the LASIO One Day Formula. For several years he worked to expand keratin services, building a strong clientele with my product to turn around and take all of those accounts from LASIO by telling his clients LASIO was no longer in business, and his own keratin treatment was the next best thing. He even told accounts that I sold him my formula. He took tens of thousands of dollars from LASIO when he did that and I could have let that tear me down but I didnt. I fought back and fought through all the fears of sustaining my company through this. I have worked very hard through the years to build LASIO on integrity and good business, and because of this those same accounts continue to do their research and find us, the product they know and love. Now that same distributor has gone from spreading lies to spreading apologies. Its so important for you to know your rights and never be afraid to fight back. Never let the fear of losing the battle intimidate you let it always be your motivation to continue to rise to the top. Sustained success takes preparation and education. When I decided to create LASIO products I made sure to dedicate time to product development, I didnt cheat the process or cut corners. I practically worked hand in hand with the chemist and still to this day practice the same. I want to know what I am giving people. I want to see and
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learn for myself what I am putting my name on. This is how I continue to make good products and continue to support the families of my staff whom I hold myself responsible for. Thats what separates any business owner from a great business owner. I have a responsibility to the salon owners, the stylists, and to the consumer. These people put their trust in me and its my job to keep it. Now with a solid team at its core and enthusiasm at the max LASIO is experiencing sky rocking success. We never stop dreaming the impossible, we never stop looking for the right people, and we are always trying to top ourselves. I feel excited more than ever, LASIO is growing, doors are being opened, and people are recognizing our hard work and true passion for what we do and what we live for. This feeling and greater success is what I know is achievable for all who are passionate and committed to their dream.

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