Miss Jessie's

by Miko Branch

  BIG-GIRL PANTIES

  The fact was that we’d been coasting for too long, and it was time to take back some control. When Titi and I got back together as business partners, we were far from where we needed to be. A start-up in a burgeoning new market should have had much better sales growth, but we were losing ground to cheaper copycats. During our time apart, the business had lost its direction and its status as a leader and product innovator.

  Although the suit had been emotionally and financially draining, it made me more skillful as a manager. Understanding exactly what needed to be done to rehabilitate Miss Jessie’s, I wasted no time implementing the same rules and structure in the warehouse that we had at the salon in the early days. To make up for lost ground, I pursued more retail partnerships, developed new marketing campaigns, built a new website, and followed through on existing relationships to let our customers know that Miss Jessie’s was back.

  There were a lot of cracks to repair. That said, Titi had made some smart moves while I was away from the business. She’d recognized the potential for the Atlanta market and found a retailer to introduce Miss Jessie’s to these customers. Understanding that many retail customers would find it hard to digest Miss Jessie’s fifty-eight-dollar price point for the professional-size product, Titi, who had developed considerable marketing expertise in my absence, also launched an annual “buy one, get one free” promotion, or BOGO. It was an ingenious way to introduce the product to more spendthrift fans and help build a loyal following, and it’s a tradition that we’ve continued over the years in some form or other. Titi called it a “sampling opportunity.” It worked well because it got our products into more hands and brought in a healthy profit, which we reinvested in the business for the upcoming year.

  Sales and promotions, strategically placed and timed, are good for business.

  In my absence, Titi had also hired more people. She got the subcontract manufacturing underway, and kept the distribution, packaging, and shipping side of our product business humming. As the product business grew, she realized the need for better infrastructure to manage our partnerships, contractors, and employees. We’d been flying by the seat of our pants, and it was leading to mistakes on the fulfillment side of the business. Titi invested in a computer system that helped us communicate and keep track of orders. It became a key building block for Miss Jessie’s back-office operations.

  But then Titi faded from view, barely showing her face in the warehouse. It was time for a fresh start.

  Ten

  TRANSITIONERS

  The best think you can do is the right thing;

  the next best thing you can do is the wrong thing;

  the worst think you can do is nothing.

  —THEODORE ROOSEVELT

  One of the hardest things for a small-business owner to do is fire people. There were more than a few bad apples in the bunch but there’s a tendency to hang on to those who were there from the early days out of a sense of loyalty, even when they have not grown along at the same pace with you. But we didn’t have the luxury of holding on to what wasn’t working for us. As we rebuilt, we needed to decide quickly who should stay and who should go.

  Fortunately, my sister had hired a couple of solid employees. Titi told me about one employee in particular who had lots of potential. She had not been able to give him her attention over the past year, so she asked me if I could put his creativity and good intentions to use. After meeting Antonio, I could see we had a gem.

  Titi had hired him in December 2006, about a year into the start of our product company, to help out with packaging and shipping. Antonio had been struggling to find work when he saw our ad on Craigslist. He applied, even though the position was beneath his experience in customer service and computer systems. When he showed up for his interview, Titi could sense his potential right away. His references were glowing. It was clear that he was a worker.

  Like us, he’d been independent from an early age. Titi especially liked the fact that he started off their conversation by quoting the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. Here was another creative type to add to our orbit. He began working at our Hall Street warehouse the very evening Titi interviewed him.

  My sister and I share an instinct for people that we inherited from our grandmother. Miss Jessie was always a shrewd judge of character. She could size you up in a heartbeat. She didn’t need résumés to tell her the people she had time for. Where people went to school, where they came from, what they looked like, or what culture and ethnicity they were a part of made no difference to her. Honesty, loyalty, and a strong work ethic—these were the things she cared about most in a person.

  We watched her dealings with people closely, whether meeting folks who came through our house or shopping at the supermarket. Afterward, she used to tell us, “That one is going to have a hard time in life” or “I’d slow that one down when talking to make sure they don’t try to slide one in.” Miss Jessie was even a filter for some of the friends we brought over.

  “Don’ trust that one, Miko,” Miss Jessie told me after I’d introduced her to one of my new friends from the neighborhood. “She’s bad news.”

  Sure enough, the girl stole money from me. Miss Jessie was always right.

  When hiring, look for integrity, loyalty, and a willingness to work hard. These qualities are worth a hundred MBAs.

  For the most part, when we were hiring on a hunch, we got it right, too. Of course, we interviewed carefully, asking probing questions and paying just as much attention to attitude and body language as we did to applicants’ words. But we weren’t interested in a laundry list of qualifications. A small consumer-product business doesn’t necessarily need a bunch of employees with MBAs or strong pedigrees. We needed people who were passionate about what we did, eager for a chance to prove themselves, and willing to try anything. Skills and experience counted, but members of our team needed to share our entrepreneurial spirit and drive. I can learn about a potential employee or business partner during the course of negotiating compensation and benefits. For example, if a potential employee’s first question and primary concern is the number of sick or vacation days, then I am likely to pass and move on to the next candidate. Not that those matters are not important—they are—but I am more impressed when a potential employee wants to know about opportunities for growth within the company. In addition, when I am selecting a potential business partner, I try to discern whether the prospective partner is interested in building a relationship or simply wants a short courtship with a quick and sometimes expensive payout. To get additional insight, I frequently ask all new hires and partners to suggest their own compensation. I know my budget and limitations, and I do not want to insult or devalue anyone’s worth. If the salary or compensation is just too high, then there is no point in negotiating. Even if a person or partner would accept less compensation, I cannot imagine being happy in a postion that pays less than you wanted and what you thought you were worth. In the end, that person will not be happy or will be constantly looking for the next opportunity. And that’s bad for my business. When done properly, an interview can tell you a lot about a candidate’s experiences and capabilities as well as the candidate’s character and motivation for wanting to be a part of the team. Whether Antonio, for example, was packing boxes or working with me in our marketing department or executing our work on labels and billboards or managing the salon floor, he applied himself.

  We hired another gem in April 2005, when we were still running the product business out of our brownstone. I needed someone to answer the phone—someone with good manners and a pleasant tone. In a business like ours, first impressions count, and you’d be amazed at how hard it is to find someone who knows good phone etiquette. I tried one college student on the phones for about ten minutes, and that was all it took for me to tell she was one of us.

  Fiona had been raised by her grandmother in the British Virgin Islands until she moved to Crown Heights, Brooklyn, at sixteen, to be with her mother. She w
as soft-spoken and respectful, with a Caribbean lilt that made her perfect for customer service. I especially liked her old-school manners. But again, it was her work ethic that got us. She was putting herself through college at Baruch while working two jobs. As soon as she graduated, we offered her a full-time job.

  Your employees’ public demeanor and phone etiquette say something about your brand. They represent you, so hold them to the highest standards.

  Today, having taken additional college courses to improve her skills and better herself, Fiona works in accounts payable. We have a handful of dedicated young employees who have been with us for the whole journey, growing in skills and responsibilities. They all have one thing in common: They have never said no to a task we set for them. They share our DNA of resourcefulness and willingness to do whatever it takes to get the job done. And they are fiercely loyal. It’s why Miss Jessie’s is more like an extended family than a regular place of business. We trust each other and have complete confidence that when we give someone a task or responsibility, there is simply no time for excuses as to why something was not done. You would never hear any of these employees say, “That’s not in my job description.” They enjoy being given new challenges and always rise to the occasion. As the product business started to grow, we placed Fiona in charge of our shipping department, handling everything but packing the boxes. Her gentle demeanor belied a tough streak, because there were a lot of different personalities to manage, or as she put it, “crazy people you might not even talk to in the street.”

  CLEANING HOUSE

  When I came back from my forced hiatus, it was time to bring in additional staff. We needed to bring in someone to identify where we were being inefficient. To that end, we brought in my old college friend Augustus. He had been working in the banking industry for a while, doing training classes and working with the CFO of a large organization. He was someone who understood the creative side of our business and was also familiar with standard business practices. Best of all, he was stern.

  We wasted no time making our operations more streamlined and efficient. We put everyone at our 43 Hall Street location under the microscope. We drilled down into all of our business functions, including order fulfillment, packaging, and shipping. It was like a deep audit of our operations, enabling us to spot the leaks, identify the communication breakdowns, and figure out who was right for what position, who was willing to grow, and who was not. Then we cleaned house—something a lot of small businesses fail to do as they transition to the next level. Think of it as a kind of Big Chop for healthier growth.

  Fire people when you must. Sometimes it’s necessary to make painful cuts to payroll for the long-term health of your business.

  One of our most important realizations from this “taking stock” was that we were spending far too much time and too many resources on taking and processing orders. On one level, it was a good sign that we had too much business to handle under one roof. By 2007, we had more than ten products we were shipping to tens of thousands of customers around the world. We were used to being hands-on for everything, and keeping all our business functions in-house to ensure everything was done right, and it was hard to give up control.

  We liked to work only with partners we trusted, and outsourcing such a huge part of our operations was scary. In the end, we realized that we were a product company, not a shipping and distribution center. We canvassed several different distribution channels until we found the right fit, putting someone reliable in charge of fulfillment and customer care.

  It was a tough decision to make, because there are inherent risks when you take something off the premises and are no longer in complete control of how things are handled. At first we had problems with the way the products were delivered. Items sometimes arrived damaged because there wasn’t enough stuffing in the box. Other times it was the wrong product. We also had issues with late deliveries and theft. When we started shipping to customers, we were using Miss Jessie’s–branded packaging. People were so desperate to get their hands on our product that they were pulling it off the back of the delivery trucks! It was incredibly flattering that our products were being coveted in this way, but also costly. Our solution was to use plain packaging, and the complaints stopped.

  Miss Jessie’s is an affordable luxury, and our customers and retail partners have the right to expect a certain level of service. We put someone on it internally to follow up with the fulfillment company whenever there was a problem. If a customer was unhappy about a parcel arriving late or damaged, for example, we would overnight it to her, but that was the extent of the shipping we handled ourselves.

  This move freed us to concentrate on what we do best: marketing and product development. The natural-hair business had exploded in the previous two years, with more brands clamoring for attention in the category, and bloggers playing a bigger role in the natural-hair space. In an increasingly crowded marketplace, we had to get aggressive, with more print ads, a new website, and hair shows. We also made a push to expand our geographical footprint.

  Don’t be afraid to outsource. Concentrate your energies and expertise in areas of the business that will reap the maximum benefit.

  One of the first things we did was refocus on the Atlanta market. I had a friend living down there, Christine, the woman who had blessed me with the bartending gig all those years ago. It was time to pay her a visit.

  DIRTY SOUTH

  When I arrived in January 2009, Christine picked me up at the airport, and I almost didn’t recognize her as the foxy, go-getting girl I’d known in Brooklyn a decade earlier. Christine had had a successful corporate career in HR, but the recession had hit hard, and the company was forced to downsize. She’d been struggling for months to find a new job. In fact, she’d just sold her house because she could no longer cover her mortgage payments.

  Everything about Christine’s demeanor suggested a woman in a state of defeat. Her shoulders were hunched, she had on no makeup, and she was dressed in sweats, as if she wasn’t accustomed to leaving the house. I couldn’t help but notice that her hair had been randomly cornrowed, with straight relaxed ends on the bottom and grays popping from the temples. Her look didn’t reflect who she really was, because this was a girl who had always taken care of her appearance.

  “Christine, remember when you helped me out that day?”

  “What day?”

  “You know, when you gave me the opportunity to bartend that party.” I actually had to remind her of that kindness. “Well, now I am going to help you!”

  “Help me?” she said, getting a kick out of the conversation and not really taking me seriously.

  “Yes, Christine,” I said.

  I could show her better than tell her, so I started by doing her hair. I snipped off the straight ends to loosen her tightly coiled kinks into a chin-length cascade of ringlets, groomed with Curly Pudding and Baby Buttercreme. Then I took her shopping and got her a whole new outfit, along with a makeover at the MAC counter.

  “Miko, you don’t have to spend your money, I don’t need no charity,” she protested. “Just seeing you and spending time with you is enough to lift up my spirits.”

  As we were browsing through the lipsticks, a couple of women approached me. “Hey, aren’t you that girl from Miss Jessie’s?” one of them asked me, requesting a photo.

  “Oh, my God!” Christine squealed. “What’s going on? Your hair products have people in Atlanta knowing you like that? Now, what have you been doing for the last ten years? Tell me everything, because last time I checked, you were doing a little hair and bartending for me!”

  We both just about fell on the floor, laughing. In that moment, it was as if the previous decade of heartache and stress had just melted away. It was so good to see her and get back to the way we were all those years ago, when we were friends in Brooklyn without too much to worry about in life.

  By the end of her head-to-toe makeover, Christine was looking like her foxy self again. I saw the sparkle a
nd sass I remembered her having, and it gave me an idea. On that trip to Atlanta, Titi and I had planned to visit as many salons as we could, because we sensed something was wrong with our Atlanta partner. We went to Atlanta to scout out other distributors and retailers to diversify the business and found, as we suspected, that this partner was diverting the Miss Jessie’s customer to new competitors.

  Once we linked up with other salons and partners, we decided to introduce Miss Jessie’s by doing some meet-and-greets, in addition to curl demonstrations in Atlanta, to personally connect with our customers. I needed an assistant to do a bit of everything, because we had our work cut out for us. Targeting stylists and doing hair shows wasn’t our usual method for promoting Miss Jessie’s, because most of our core customers—women who rocked their natural curls—did their own hair at home, and few salons besides ours had the knowledge or techniques to adequately cater to their needs. The existing situation with our partner forced us to come at it from all angles. Christine knew the city, so she could drive me around and make sure I hit all the right salons.

  By the end of that day, it was as if Christine had caught the Miss Jessie’s fever. It was a direct example of how Miss Jessie’s empowers women. Christine’s hair transformation was a first step toward getting her self-esteem back.

  I began to gently talk to her about independence. My idea was for her to become her own boss and perhaps sell Miss Jessie’s products, or maybe she should consider a career in hairstyling—she was always pretty good at it.

  Leverage local knowledge when possible. If you know and trust someone in a new market, give him or her a chance to open doors for you.

  “You know, I think I can do this!” she told me. “Send a few cases of product to me, and let’s see if I can sell them.”