Business Spotlight: Getting Savvy

Strengthening her business acumen was a goal for Christa Stephens, owner of Inviktus Salon, when she enrolled in a national program last year from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS). The businesswoman, who also co-owns Republic-based Black Lab Coffee Co. with her husband, Case Howard, is on the verge of graduating from 10,000 Small Businesses. The program, free to participants, focuses on business growth and provides education to entrepreneurs.

Along with the cohort she participated with remotely over eight weeks late last year, Stephens will head to the investment banking company’s headquarters in New York City next month for the program’s graduation ceremony. That will be preceded by a presentation to Goldman Sachs officials about topics such as her growth strategy.

“They’re covering my hotel, all my food while I’m there,” she says. “Then we pitch and then we come home, and we’ve graduated with an accelerated MBA degree and I’m really proud of that.”

Asahi Pompey, global head of corporate engagement and president of the Goldman Sachs Foundation, says 14,500 small-business owners have graduated from 10,000 Small Businesses since it launched 16 years ago. She appeared in February at State Fair Community College in Sedalia to announce Goldman Sachs’ planned $100 million investment in Missouri to grow the program, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting.

“Think of it as an MBA, free of charge, to small businesses delivered through Goldman Sachs,” Pompey says.

Balancing act
Stephens says she spent two months in the program beginning in October, balancing classwork with work at Inviktus Salon, which launched in 2010 and has three shops – one in Republic and two in Springfield.

“I blocked out my day to be able to attend my classes and do my homework at night. It was eight weeks of hell; I’m not going to lie,” she says. “To try to work 40 hours a week and then go to school another 20 or 30 [hours], I was exhausted.”

However, Stephens says the opportunity to understand how to better operate her business was worth it.

“Being able to see the inside of my business and financially forecast six years out and look at marketing and look at exit strategies and have growth plan strategies, that kind of stuff is so valuable,” she says.

Hair services at Inviktus include haircuts, highlights and extensions, along with spa offerings such as waxing, nails and microblading. Haircuts typically are $46-$120, while coloring begins at $85.

The salon is named after the poem “Invictus,” which is said to have inspired Nelson Mandela to persevere through hardship. The ‘k’ in her spelling represents a pair of scissors.

Republic remains the flagship store for Inviktus, which Stephens says expanded to Springfield around 2012. She primarily works out of the 4,000-square-foot shop on Waverly Avenue, having purchased the building for an undisclosed price two years ago from Mojo Pie Spalon LLC owner Tony Venute.

While eventually planning a design update, Stephens says she’s left much of the former Mojo Pie’s decor intact, lovingly describing it as “eclectic.” It includes a second-floor balcony where Stephens loves to work, as well as a giant fireplace and a room only accessible by climbing a ladder.

The company’s Glenstone Avenue shop in Plaza Towers Center is a training center for its junior stylists, Stephens says.

“As they come into the salon, we start them out there. We’re actually going to be turning it into a membership salon,” she says, adding prices are still being determined for the concept planned for later this year. “We want to make it to where our junior stylists stay busy, but it’s a membership that people can afford to have their hair cut and maybe roots retouched.”

According to the most recent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the median hourly wage for hairstylists in 2022 was $16.01. Overall employment for the position was projected to grow 8% from 2022 to 2032.

Dream achiever
Stephens graduated from Paul Mitchell The School Springfield in 2010, making good on a childhood dream to become a hairdresser.

“I’ve always wanted to be a hairstylist since I was little bitty,” she says. “I used to cut all my Barbie dolls’ hair and cut my dog’s hair, cut my own hair, cut all the hair. It was just kind of a given that that’s what I wanted to do.”

Jenni Farley, director of education at Paul Mitchell in Springfield, says she remembers teaching Stephens the basics such as how to hold a comb and scissors. Noting the two are now friends, Farley says she quickly recognized the entrepreneurial spirit in Stephens.

“My favorite thing was she was so driven and knew in her core she wanted to get out and graduate and open her own business,” Farley says, adding it’s almost an impossible task for hairdressers because they don’t have a clientele starting out. “When you’re going to open a business, you have to be willing to take a risk. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.”

Farley says Stephens is among salon owners who graduated from Paul Mitchell that she’s invited back over the years to teach students.

“Usually about once a quarter, she’ll come back in and donate an hour of her time just teaching new professionals and sharing information and things that have worked well for her in the industry,” Farley says.

Inviktus sells professional hair care brand Eufora International. Additionally, Stephens is a regional educator for the company, noting Inviktus switched to Eufora from Paul Mitchell products around five years ago. She estimated Eufora retail sales last year made up roughly 22% of the salon’s $700,000 in revenue.

“I’m projecting growth for this year to reach $750,000,” she says. “That’s the goal.”