|
1.
Give me an overview of the Universal College of Beauty
The Universal College of Beauty is an Institution of itself.
As you know, we’re about to experience something
that very few people experience. That’s 75 years
in business. I have difficulty fixing my mouth to say
it to tell you the truth. We began, just as my mother
began the school back in 1930, to teach minorities how
to come out of the kitchens, the factories and so forth
and become independent entrepreneurs.
2. Tell me how many locations you have.
We’ve been fortunate. We now have four locations.
And over the years, I guess we’ve graduated anywhere
from 30 to 40 thousand qualified cosmetologists.
3. Tell me about when you started your entrepreneurial
career at 12 years old.
In summertime they used to hire high school kids to work
at the post office. I made an application and was hired.
I clocked in, clocked out for a break, clocked in for
lunch, clocked out for a break, clock in from the break,
clocked out for another break, clocked back in and then
clocked out and went home. I was clocked out. I could
tell by that that I was not ready for a nine to five.
There was something in me that didn’t gel with all
this clocking in and clocking out. I was made to be an
independent entrepreneur. So what I did, I bought me a
little hot plate and a number five tub, and a bar of yellow
Castille Soap and some food coloring. And I boiled the
soap in the water, poured it up, and got me some gallon
jugs and some tops. I made me some labels, and made one
blue, one yellow, and one green. And I put them in my
little wagon, and I’d walk up and down Central Avenue
selling it to all of the beauty shops for 50 cents a gallon.
You got a nickel back when you gave me the gallon and
the top back. So that was my introduction to entrepreneurship
(laugh).
4. What are some of the most important business
lessons that your mom passed down to you?
Never lie. It’ll catch with you, then you have tell
another lie to get out of it, and another lie to get out
of that. Always be truthful and up front with anything
and anybody that you pursue. Lay your cards on the table.
My daddy used to have a saying: “Tell them up front
so they won’t be so far behind.” That was
his philosophy—the philosophy that I try to teach
my students now. I ask them a question. “What do
you own?” And some of them begin to tell me about
their cars, and this and that. And I say you don’t
own any of that. They can steal your car. They can steal
your clothes, burn them up. They wear out. You don’t
own but one thing in life: that’s right now. So
I like to live my life right now and for tomorrow. Project
for the years that come. But live the life you love, and
love the life you live right now. And this is what I train
my students. I teach money, not the love of it. But since
they use it as a medium to exchange for things we want,
I teach how to manage that money. They aren’t making
anymore land, so buy some land. It can’t do anything
but go up. Land is something I profess everybody should
own some of. Whether it’s a little shack, whether
it’s a huge apartment house, your own salon, or
whatever the case may be. And the difference is that I
don’t profess that they go out and open their own
salon immediately. I tell them, “Work for somebody
else. Learn from their experiences.” Because experience
is still the best teacher. So after you’ve learned
how they did it, then you can go out and open up your
own salon. I have people that call me everyday: “What
does it take to open up a school?” I say: “Guts.
A little bit of money, and a lot of prayers is what it
takes.” And all the schools in this area are owned
by my ex-students. All of them. And I’m proud of
that. When the lady who owned this building here, Lucy
Wells, a good friend of mine, decided she wanted to open
up a school, she called me and said, “John, I want
to open up a school but I don’t know what to do.”
She was a teacher at Trade Tech. I said, “OK, Lucy.
This is what you do. You get yourself some money going.
Get you some backing. Find you a building. Don’t
rent it. Buy it. Buy it, and I’ll help you get started.”
People thought I was crazy. “John, you’re
helping her? That’s your competition!” I said,
“Competition is good.” If I had no competition,
I’d have nothing to gage what I’m doing by.
So, I helped her get started. Unfortunately, she passed.
I did not want to see another black school close, so I
bought the building and moved the school in here. Almost
through, on a hair, so to speak. So we have four schools
now. My dream is to have ten before I die. I better hurry
up, because like I say, July the seventh I’ll be
80. I better get moving. But now I’m very blessed
because I have my son. I have his wife. I’m blessed.
I think my wife who passed away looked down and said “this
fool needs some help,” and sent me down one just
like her, if not better. I got my grand baby now, who’s
a make-up artist. She’s doing great work, and I’m
real proud of her. All of these people are coming behind
me to carry on what my mother started, which I think is
commendable. I am blessed.
5. How was your business affected by the 1965
Watts Riots?
Tragically. Unfortunately, we burned up everything that
maintained us. We burned up our own jobs. We burned up
our own stores. I often wonder why didn’t we go
up on Wilshire and do some burning. Of course, I was fortunate,
because everyone came by and said, “Paint ‘Soul
Brother’ on your window.” I didn’t know
what they were talking about. I said “What?”
“Paint ‘Soul Brother’ on your window?”
So I got some white paint and painted ‘Soul Brother’
and we were left standing. Now I know why he said paint
“Soul Brother.” It was something I think had
to eventually be done but it left our area devastated.
I drive now, and I still see lots where business used
to be. It was difficult to get back into the trend, because
at one time my mother said, “Oh, I’ve had
it. I’m not going to deal with this anymore.”
I said, “Hold up a minute. Hold up. Don’t
close your doors yet.” So this is when I went to
my congressman, Doug Hawkins. A friend of mine worked
as his community liaison for years. He says “John,
write up a proposal. No black person of any consequence
has ever written up a proposal to open up a business.
His deputy, Charles Kox, he and I got out a typewriter,
a dictionary, a ream of paper. We went and got a motel
room, and wrote the proposal, that we found out, eventually
they used as the model to show other people who were making
applications, to show what a proposal should look like.
We were fortunate. We got the money. We opened up the
school, and we haven’t looked back since.
6. How much money did you get from the SBA, and
what was the result?
We presented it, and in one week, we were given the authorization
of $25,000. Our format became the model by which they
would let other people see and look how it was put together
to gain an SBA loan at that time. So we really started
the ball rolling for minorities getting SBA money to go
into business.
7. What’s your philosophy for success?
When you came out of your mother’s womb, the doctor
smacked you butt and you struggled for breath. So, struggling
is the first emotion that we’ve become acquainted
with. After that you begin to grow, and you look around
and you say, “What do I want to do? What do I like
to do? What’s going to make me a living?”
And I call that “pointing your potential.”
If after 50 or 60 times you point your potential and you
find something that you like, something you like to do,
something that’s going to put you in good shape,
then I call that plateau “acquiring.” Acquiring
is made up of things: clothes, cars, houses, friends,
and money. You know, things. Along with that comes an
appreciation for God. Along with an appreciation of God,
to know that there is a God. I can’t make a tree.
I can’t make birds fly. I can’t do any of
these things. Acquiring is the most appreciative of all
of the stages in life that we go through. The last one
is something else. The last stage that I have experienced
in life is called maintaining. Keeping what you acquire.
You know what you got to do? You got to go back to struggling.
You got to go back to pointing your potential. You got
to go back to acquiring in order to maintain. So my philosophy
is just that. I’m keeping on. I’m keeping
on, keeping on. I’m maintaining my tail off, so
I can acquire some more, okay? (Laughs)
|
|
