The team of Ann Manon, Amber Paladino, and Danielle Wolff have been working together for over 7 years as licensed cosmetologists. With nearly 55 years of combined experience in the field, they came to the Illinois Small Business Development Center at Sauk Valley Community College with a dream of starting their own salon but were unsure of the various start-up complexities that they would need to follow to become an official Salon in Illinois.
Ann Manon, Amber Paladino, and Danielle Wolff began working with the Assistant Director of the Illinois SBDC at Sauk Valley Community College, Justin Bergman, in March of 2020 after hearing about the SBDC from Janna Groharing from Sterling Main Street. Together, they established a detailed action plan to establish their company – Simply Hair Studio – into a dream come true!
The Simply Hair Studio team and their Advisor, Justin Bergman, worked through numerous meetings to establish the company as a Professional Limited Liability Company , obtain their FEIN number, establish their Illinois Department of Revenue accounts, obtain salon licensure through the IDFPR, create a professional website with online booking and online sales capabilities, establishing their recordkeeping through Intuit Square and Intuit QuickBooks, establishing their online presence through social media channels, business location planning, and developing a comprehensive business plan with detailed 3-year financial forecasts.
The no-cost services provided by Justin Bergman and the Illinois SBDC at Sauk Valley Community College were invaluable and instrumental in the start-up assistance needed to turn Simply Hair Studio’s dream into a reality as their grand opening was held in September 2020 at 603 Freeport Road in Sterling, IL.Ann Manon and the team appreciated the assistance they received from the Illinois SBDC: “Without the help of the Justin Bergman, we know we would not be where we are today. We were truly fortunate to be connected with Justin very early on in our business planning. He has helped us through every step of opening our small business, from drawing up our initial business plan, to teaching us to do our bookkeeping, building an online presence, and many other areas of assistance. Justin has gone above and beyond any expectations we could have had and helped us in ways we did not even know we would need. We started this journey in January, kept the dream alive during a pandemic, worked on every aspect of our business, from building the website to building the salon walls, and we have now finally been able to open our doors! None of which would have been possible without the help of the SBDC and Justin Bergman. We will never be able to thank you enough!"