November 25, 2024 • 26 mins
Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Damon Haley.
He has delved into the beauty industry by acquiring and transforming existing beauty businesses. His beauty brand ‘Glow + Flow Beauty’ is reimagining the shopping experience for black and brown communities.
Gone are the days of poor service, fractured relationships and harmful products. Damon’s goal is to create a healthy environment for women, men, girls and boys to shop, learn and grow as their needs change. He is also launching multiple product lines and is franchising the business model.
They Intelligently and Excellently (1). Buy Cost Effective & High Demand Products, (2)Sell Product at a High Velocity Pace, (3) Attract Volumes Of & Diverse Customers (4) Serve the Beauty Community THE BEST. We are a beauty retail concept that provides manufacturers of color an opportunity to share, socialize and sell its products to women of color directly. We also reinvent the shopping experience by providing best in class service with a connective twist. We are the future of beauty.
They believe the program will help us obtain retail excellence in the form of new trends, best practices and scalability. With our franchise model and opportunity, we want Glow + Flow in every community and to create generational wealth from people that over index on purchasing beauty products. Business excellence is vital to allowing franchise owners to believe in the idea. And, greater access to capital 'models' will allow us to scale the business across the country and abroad.
Prior to his entrepreneurial pursuits, he served as Sports Marketing Director at TroikaTV, launched Nike's Western Region Marketing Office and rose through the ranks at Chevron in its Treasury, Overseas, Corporate Planning and Investment Strategy Groups. Damon has mastered the art of designing, developing and implementing campaigns that appeal to consumers, sponsors, clients, partners and investors, all the while attracting targeted audiences and promoting the brand as well as delivering millions in impressions and revenues. Damon formed his own 'communication solution' agency for several years, where he focused on launching new products, consumer activations, theatrical film releases, affinity programs and sports experiences. His portfolio of clients included Nike, Pepsi, Time Warner, Viacom and Turner Broadcasting Family of Brands and Networks spanning North America, South America, Europe and Asia.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to the show. I am Rashwan McDonald, the host
of Money Making Conversations Masterclass, where we encourage people to
stop reading other people's success stories and start planning their own.
Listen up as I interview entrepreneurs from around the country,
talk to celebrities and ask them how they are running
their companies, and speak with nod profits who are making
(00:25):
a difference in their local communities. Now sit back and
listen as we unlock the secrets to their success on
Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Hi, I'm Rashan McDonald, our host
of weekly Money Making Conversation Masterclass show. The interviews and
information that this show provides are for everyone. It's time
to stop reading other people's success stories and start living
(00:46):
your own. I'm here to help you reach your American dream.
Just keep listening or watching. My guest is an entrepreneur
that leverages ingenuity, passion and inclusion and his business venture,
Damon is delve into the beauty industry, acquiring existing beauty
businesses and transforming them. His beauty brand, Glow and Flow Beauty,
is reimagining the shopping experience for black and brown communities.
(01:09):
Please work with the money Making Conversations Master Class. Damon
Hayley big.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
D Hey Hey, Hey, my Godshan hey Man, thanks for
having me.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Man appreciate you always.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Looking everybody a little backstory history. One of the incredible
live activation producers in Hollywood history. Now you're in the
beauty business. Your customer service was always fantastic in the
live activistion space. I'm talking about he did events for
me at the Playboy Mansion, he did events for me
(01:40):
in downtown Hollywood. We were talking about multi level events,
thousands of people are attended. But what always stood out to me, Damon,
was your detail. What always stood out to me was
your customer service. Talk about why are you transitioning to
the beauty business.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Well, one, it's a huge opportunity for us as African Americans, blacks.
It's a huge space, and it's recession proof and it's
not going away. And as a as a guy who
grew up in a family with a mother, sister, wife, daughter,
it really really means a lot to our community.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
When we look good.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
We feel good, when we feel good, we be good,
we do good, all of that, all of that type
of stuff. And so when my wife wanted to launch
more of a retail scenario. That's when I really start
looking at the industry and saying we've had the short
end of a stick only from recycling our black dollars,
(02:43):
but also the concept of service. I grew up in
an all black community like most of us did, you
and I Rishima, when when we were coming up and
a lot of folks we just haven't we weren't served
by the people who own businesses, be it a corner
liquor store or where we get our fish, our chicken,
our takeout, and so we thought it was one a
(03:06):
good business model to one that it was time for
us to seize. In three we can restore some of
the pride and some of the feeling good about shopping
in your own community.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Let's talk about that. The industry. You're in, the beauty industry,
Like you're said, it's an industry that is very dominated
by African Americas from a sales standpoint, from a beauty
from an activation you know, but from a product distribution standpoint,
that's where we lack explain that that I want to
(03:38):
say the word of lack of participation.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Yeah, we're buyers, I mean we're consumers. I mean, you know,
the status if we were a nation, we would be
the eighth or ninth largest nation on the planet. We
just don't own and so I think that once again
in our own communities we didn't set up shop. You know,
became a time you know, after I think the seventies
we didn't set up shop, and then obviously we had
(04:02):
that crack academic and all that kind of stuff. We
weren't able to build businesses. And this is just one
of the businesses that we support daily. If you think
about hair care, skincare, nail care, that's twenty four to seven,
that's three sixty five. And we don't manufacture anything. We
don't sell it, we don't whost sell it, and so
(04:24):
it's just been really dominated by Koreans who are on
the distribution side of it, and then the Chinese tend
to make the product, and then to a lesser degree
to Japanese people come up with great and ingenious synthetic
and chemical driven ideation that gets made by the Chinese
and distributed by the Koreans in our neighborhood. So we
(04:45):
do not participate at all in that space. But I
will say over the last couple of years, you may
have heard of shade Moisture selling to Unilever, Mael selling
to Procter and Gamble. Another one was Honeypot. I can't
remember who they sold to. But we're now solving our
own problems, developing our own product right.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Which is really important now when I'm talking to Damon
Haley Glow and Flow Beauty, he said, as he says,
go on other days of poor service, fractured relationship, and
harmful products. Dama's goal is to create a healthy environment
for women, men, girls and boys to shop, learn and
grow as their needs change. He's also launching multiple product
(05:29):
line and is franchising the business model. That's why this
money made conversation master class Dame franchising the business model.
What is that business model?
Speaker 2 (05:40):
What we've done is we've created the playbook. We've created
the recipe on how to do this business from a
retail perspective. And you know, there's a lot of legalities
that you have to do, and we've gone through all
of that process so that I can now say, hey,
if you're interested in investing in yourself, investing in your family,
(06:03):
investing in your community and this industry, here's a way
to do it and will help you do it and
So that's what franchising is about for us, and I
do believe it's probably only two or three black owned
beauty supply franchises in the United States now.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
You know, I've read been an article that said one
of the great ways to get into entrepreneurship is through franchising.
Can you explain to me why it is so advantageous
to pursue a franchise opportunity versus a startup. It's just
going in and starting up your own beauty store, starting
up your own supply center. That's beauty related talk to us.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Yeah, you don't start from zero with a franchise. You
have a company or corporation behind you, and you have
this playbook that's how to and if you just follow
those instructions in the supply chain and those materials, you
should be able to win because it's a proven model
versus just going from scratch. I mean, I came up
(07:06):
with glow and flow. The glow is for the skin,
the flow is.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
For the hair. You know.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
You know, I have a history of being a marketer.
Everybody isn't a marketer. You talked about details and how
we used to do activation, you know, for me, for Nike, PEPSI, coke,
all of these entities. If you don't have that kind
of experience, you can't start from zero. I was able
to look at the finances of the beauty and say, hey,
(07:34):
this can work. I was able to look at someone
else's business model and say I can double it, I
can two times it, or I can increase it by
sixty six or two thirds percent, and stuff like that.
But if you don't have all of those skills or
don't have a team, franchising is not a bad scenario
because you start with support.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Now here are some four pointers that you talked about
that you do intelligently and excellently at Glow and Flow
Beauty by cost effective and high demand products. When you
say that, what do you mean, Well.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
You know, I've always prided myself and you know, I'm
I got degrees and all that kind of stuff. And
the corporate stuff in the suites is one place. But
I'm always with the consumer. I'm always figuring out, like you, Rashan,
what do the people want you with that you know
high demand? You know you know what they are demanding.
(08:33):
What that twenty year old, thirty year old, forty year
old teenage consumer wants so you always have to have that.
And then you have to be cost effecting at buying.
At buying, I buy from different sources throughout the country
and negotiate shipping so it gets to my locations. So
you have to have that kind of sensibility because I
(08:55):
will say, if there are some barriers, the barriers are costs.
You know that inventory. You want to make sure that
you're buying products competitivelyss versus you know target who can
can outprice you or they can create a lower price
because they're getting it at a lower price. So you
have to search and do that. So those are two
(09:15):
things you have to know. You got to know what
the consumers want because it's ever changing. You got to
make sure you're getting it at a competitive price. Right.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
That competitive price is the key because you don't want
to move in. And then people because people one thing
about black people, especially when it comes to beauty, They're
gonna want to evaluate their dollar spend and then all
of a sudden, the reputation can get out that you know,
this location is a lot higher in this location. It
might not be fair because that's not how you do business.
(09:43):
But you've done business over the years, and as I've
seen it. You're in the beauty industry, explain exactly the
location that you have your two locations in Los Angeles
correctly currently. Explain those locations to us before I start
asking some additional questions.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Okay, So we have a location in Inglewood, California, for
those of you who might not know LA That's where
Sofi Stadium is. That's where the new Intuit Dome is,
the YouTube scenario they have so ingle And it's where
the Lakers used to play, the form all that kind
of stuff that's in Inglewood, and it's it's great in
(10:22):
terms of black and brown support. So that's one thing.
Even though you hear a lot of stuff going on,
Inglewood has always had a lot of black and brown
professional women and so that tends to really work well
and that has its product mix. And then our other
location is in Hawthorne that could considered considered maybe South
(10:43):
Bay or south of LA just slightly south of Inglewood
and south of the Sofi. It's a different community. It's
a little more laid back. It's not as accessible like
like you would say you're in La per Se, but
it has a different, different audience. It is still working
class of a lot of brown women, a lot of
(11:06):
latinas uh. And then we're not too far from the
beach communities either. So that brings about a different product offering.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
It brings out.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
About a different level of offering that we can give
to that consumer.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Now, David Haley, Glow and Slow Beauty. You come from
a sports background. Now you're in a beauty field. A
lot of people are afraid to make transitions. A lot
of people are afraid that because people tell you you
go out there, maybe mentors or people you don't know,
or people you know. People are always willing to give
(11:39):
their opinions. When you made this decision of this conscious
this thought process of saying, you know something I see
an opportunity to hear, I'm gonna go in it. What
were the naysayers and how did you or did you
worry about the naysayers when you felt that Glow and
Flow Beauty was going to be an option of growth
for you, create a legacy for you and your family.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Yeah, there there were some naysayers. There's still a few
out there that that that want.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
To still out there now, David. Jealous people, jealous people.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Yeah, yeah, I would say, you know, there's jealous envy
and naysayers right, jealous that the haters, but there's some
that marvel at my ability to just shift, pivot, you know,
swerve whatever they're calling it these days.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
But that's my nature. You know.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
My background is really in finance. I know you a
math guy, right right, yep?
Speaker 3 (12:35):
I know. That's that's why I love you, that's why
we connect.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
So so I always tell people if you're not good
at math and numbers, when you put a dollar sign
in front of it, you're not gonna be good at
that either, you know. So, so I was a finance dude.
Then I switched to mark marketing. I launched the UH,
the marketing office for Nike because somebody saw that I
had the ability to do it, to take a big undertaking,
(12:58):
and so I did that. And then of course I
launched in my entrepreneurial pursuits with an agency. So I've
never been fearful of change. If I really can get
behind it, I think I'm a smart enough dude to
figure it out when I saw the people that are
doing it. Like I said, I mean no offense to
I've competed with Asians at Berkeley and at University of Michigan.
(13:20):
When I was getting my MBA and all of that,
and so now I'm just competing with other Koreans. You know,
to do the job better because I know us better.
I know culture better, and I know how to shape
it and put it in a business model that will win.
So I think that when I talk to people about
it like that, they kind of understand to say, okay,
because even when I was in sports, I still work
(13:42):
with the Michael Jordan's, the Lebrons, the Kobe's, but we
still need to deal with foot locker, which is a
house of brands. Right in the Nike House of Hoops
is a house of basketball products. So in working on
that retail scenario, I knew this was no different. This
is a house of brands. So I have to take
a house of brands and make it make sense. I
(14:04):
have to treat beauty like sport. I have to treat
looking good like competition. So all of those things I
bring to the business, and like I said, that's why
we've been able to flourish for five years.
Speaker 4 (14:16):
Now, Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with
more money making conversations, Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money
Making Conversations Masterclass hosted by Rashaan McDonald.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Right, let me ask you this about breaking into a
new game. There are always things that you plan and
then there are things you go I didn't see that coming. Wow,
I didn't know that. Can you talk to my audience
about some of the hurdles of breaking into the beauty industry.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Yeah, there's a big rumor out there that Koreans and
other Asians try to lock us out. I believe that
to be true in two ways. One is it is
their business, like, even though we're consumers, it's theirs, and
(15:14):
so anybody that tries to threaten that, you're going to
have opposition. Two, it's just business, and whether you know,
they compete against each other and they compete harder against us, So.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
The competition is a huge one.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
And then two the access to information because I don't
have a mentor. I can mentor others, but I myself
didn't have a mentor per se because it's just not
a lot of us that are doing it. So those
are the big hurdles, which means you have to go
and search even more for the information. You have to research, read, etc.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
To get it.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
So that became a big you know when you talk
about trend and when you talk about you know, stay
on top of things, and you don't have anyone to source.
That's a huge, huge hurdle. In addition to capital, I
must say that when you are in this space, you know,
I'm in one, I'm in my Hawthorne location. But it's inventory,
(16:15):
it's money sitting on the shelves, it's money hanging on
the wall. So you got to make sure that you
have enough to fund the venture. And I would say
that we tend to stay stocked with inventory because I
don't want anybody to think that I can't solve their
problem when they come through the door. Others have that
(16:38):
luxury to go shopping every Monday after the weekend or
shop on Thursday. Now, when somebody comes in, like you
say that reputation on pricing, you know, well, since it's
not a lot of us in there, I can't do
group economics to get a lower rate. So my price
might be a little bit more. But I try to
give you other stuff, you know, I try to give
(17:01):
you a smile. You come in and you coughing, I'm
gonna give you some water. You know, we have pretty
bad yeah, yeah, you know, And I must admit. You know, well,
you know, my wife, the great and the fabulous Diane Valentine,
she is gonna make me super service these women because
(17:22):
that's what her life and destiny is about. And that's her,
the yin yang. You know, I do my thing, but
but she does her. So we try to create certain
fabulousness around and inexperience too. So like I said, we
we we we're in breast cancer month, so we celebrate
that because we know we we know our sisters, mom's
(17:44):
grandma are afflicted by that. So we do that and
others won't because it doesn't mean as much. You know,
we celebrate Black History Month, we celebrate Black Business Month,
we celebrate you know, a Hispanic Heritage month. You know,
we we sell celebrate all of that kind of stuff.
And once again, we create community where you want to
(18:05):
come because you're coming for what you're coming for, but
you're always going to get something extra. So those hurdles
I tend to circumvent with service, detail, caring, love, and consideration.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
Which I appreciate. Now it's two bad headed men here
by talking about hair. Right hair, but that is such
a dominant part of your industry. Talk to us about
how that is, how what really plays into your business model?
And where do you get your hair?
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Here is the cornerstone of our of our beauty industry,
to be honest, I mean that's where it starts. I
mean it starts. We have our own synthetic hairline called Sleigh.
That's Slay with three wives.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
That's your own that's Glow and Flow Beauties.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
It's a it's yeah, it's a separate company. Legally it's separate,
but it's us. We just we distribute Slay hair. So
we have our product in our own stores. And so
we we felt that.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
That's the market that grew the most.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
If you look at a bunch of women in all
the braids and the ponytails and the long hair, that's
a huge market. That became my number one seller. So
I was able to read the data of my first
Glowing Flow and say, wow, we sell a lot of
this hair. We need to sell our own, so we we.
And then that's when Diane said, hey, we got to
(19:38):
make it better. We got to make it the best.
And so so it is synthetic. It still is that
and we have distribution in TJ Max and Marshall's current
Thank you and then the first quarter of next year
will will more than likely be in Target and Walmart
because we are official vendors with Target in Walmart. So
(20:01):
hair is the cornerstone. So that's synthetic. And so when
you see a lot of ladies with the braids, that's synthetic.
Some of it's crochet where it's all the style is
already there and then you crochet it among your braids.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
All of that.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
That's huge because it's low cost. You know it's low cost.
Now when you scale a little bit and you talk
about human hair, that is a little bit more because
the process on human hair is human when it lasts forever,
and to get it over from Asia and Africa and
(20:34):
Southeast Asia and all of that, it takes a lot
to get it on the shelves. But that's a cornerstone
as well. And we actually had a human hair salon
before we actually had the retail in Hancock Park, which.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
I'm sure you're familiar with. Welt it over.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
There, and we decided not to go forward with it
during COVID and to go all in on glow and
flow the retail side.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
But hair is the cornerstone.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
We get our we we we get our the formula
for our hair started here, started out of the mind
of dying Valentine and a bunch of black women to
really figure out what the additive to the fiber is.
But it gets manufactured overseas. And then the human hair,
most of the human hair that we find here in
(21:21):
the United States is all from from from Asia, certain
parts of Africa and UH and uh Southeast Asia.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
And you know the process is just real. Uh.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Young ladies go and they cut their hair and then
it's processed and put on a weft most of the time,
and then it's huged. But but that's that's huge, and
it's a tarket.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
That's the cornerstone.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
That's the cornerstone.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Yeah, and then I would even say, when you talk
about wet products, are the chemicals to to properly treat
the hair? Like, who knows if we have If you
and I have better products growing up, we might still
have ours.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
But that in the process.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Yeah, come on now, because we don't have no hair.
David and I, we are shining. We're telling us a
violas shining. We talked about franchises, We talked about overcoming hurdles.
You know, you have a strong marketing background, you understand
about customer service and activations. And I always say when
you walk through a door, every damage someone walks in there,
that's an activation. How they're treated, how they walk out,
(22:25):
the reputation you build in the community city wide. Can
they buy Can they buy your products online? Damon?
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Oh yeah, yeah, we're at glow and Flow Beauty dot com.
We're e commerce platforms so they can go and buy
the products as well as our hair slay hair Slay
with Three wiveshair dot com. So yeah, we we are
constantly evolving e commerce because that's just where the world
is going to and if people really want to support
(22:53):
a black owned businesses, that's the easiest place to do
it is online. Sometimes you know that's shipping is an
issue or the cost or whatever, but yeah, we offer
that and we also offer pickups, so if you put
the order in and then you want to pick it up,
we offer that too.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Now are strategies you know for winning and gaining We
talked about gaining trust in the community. We talk about
consistent we talk about customer services, we talk about competitive pricing. Okay,
but what is the overall winning plan for you guys?
I know you want to franchise. How can one contact
you about franchising?
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Hello at Glowinflow Beauty dot com. Hello at Glowinflowbauty dot com.
Put franchise in the in the subject line, and then
that'll come directly to me. And I usually call people
I don't I might send an email, but I always
call people interested because I'm learning what are some of
the hurdles that other people have when they make the
(23:56):
call or do the outreach, so that that's an easy one.
I think for us, US it is being able to
see glow and Flow in every metropolitan area that services
black and brown women because it's more than just products.
It really creates a community. It creates a belonging. It
(24:17):
creates a space once again that you can come and
get great information, happy happy vibes. And also we do
like even now, we have what I call back stuff
or so if someone has an initiative or a fundraiser,
I'm like, yeah, I'll put it in everybody's bag, right,
so it'll get to maybe five thousand people a month,
(24:39):
you know, on a good month, we get that and
then we help promote. So once again, we know when
we all win, when one of us win we all win.
So I always look for young people. I always look
for our mature customers to say, hey, what's your big
win and let's help you get there. And I think
once again, and that's the word of mouth where people
(25:01):
will only want to really come for us. So I
would say someone asked my exit strategy, I would love
to have maybe forty Glow and Flows nationwide. I love
our hair and other products in those stores, and I
could just consult and help like you're doing Rashan, helping
more people capture their dreams, live their dreams, and build
(25:25):
better families.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Cool. Thank you Damon for coming on Money Making Conversation Masterclass.
The beauty of this is that you are who you are. Brother,
You have not changed, you know detail. I'd always loved
that about you. So you're getting in business if you're
interested in franchising with a person who who walks to talk,
He's consistent and he will not ask you for your
(25:47):
money because he gonna treat your money like it's his money.
And that's what you're building with Glow and Flow Beauty.
And he's building a legacy. Like you said, he just
wants forty stores, but one hundred would really make him smile.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
That would that would that would?
Speaker 1 (26:02):
I thank you, thank you for coming on money Making
Conversation master Class. I appreciate you, brother, I really really
appreciate you.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
Appreciate too, you were Sean.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
I've always been there, man, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
This has been another edition of Money Making Conversation Masterclass
hosted by me Rushawn McDonald. Thank you to our guests
on the show today and thank you listening to audience now.
If you want to listen to any episode I want
to be a guest on the show, visit Moneymakingconversations dot com.
Our social media handle is money Making Conversation. Join us
next week and remember to always leave with your gifts.
(26:33):
Keep winning.
Welcome to the show. I am Rashwan McDonald, the host
of Money Making Conversations Masterclass, where we encourage people to
stop reading other people's success stories and start planning their own.
Listen up as I interview entrepreneurs from around the country,
talk to celebrities and ask them how they are running
their companies, and speak with nod profits who are making
(00:25):
a difference in their local communities. Now sit back and
listen as we unlock the secrets to their success on
Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Hi, I'm Rashan McDonald, our host
of weekly Money Making Conversation Masterclass show. The interviews and
information that this show provides are for everyone. It's time
to stop reading other people's success stories and start living
(00:46):
your own. I'm here to help you reach your American dream.
Just keep listening or watching. My guest is an entrepreneur
that leverages ingenuity, passion and inclusion and his business venture,
Damon is delve into the beauty industry, acquiring existing beauty
businesses and transforming them. His beauty brand, Glow and Flow Beauty,
is reimagining the shopping experience for black and brown communities.
(01:09):
Please work with the money Making Conversations Master Class. Damon
Hayley big.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
D Hey Hey, Hey, my Godshan hey Man, thanks for
having me.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Man appreciate you always.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Looking everybody a little backstory history. One of the incredible
live activation producers in Hollywood history. Now you're in the
beauty business. Your customer service was always fantastic in the
live activistion space. I'm talking about he did events for
me at the Playboy Mansion, he did events for me
(01:40):
in downtown Hollywood. We were talking about multi level events,
thousands of people are attended. But what always stood out to me, Damon,
was your detail. What always stood out to me was
your customer service. Talk about why are you transitioning to
the beauty business.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Well, one, it's a huge opportunity for us as African Americans, blacks.
It's a huge space, and it's recession proof and it's
not going away. And as a as a guy who
grew up in a family with a mother, sister, wife, daughter,
it really really means a lot to our community.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
When we look good.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
We feel good, when we feel good, we be good,
we do good, all of that, all of that type
of stuff. And so when my wife wanted to launch
more of a retail scenario. That's when I really start
looking at the industry and saying we've had the short
end of a stick only from recycling our black dollars,
(02:43):
but also the concept of service. I grew up in
an all black community like most of us did, you
and I Rishima, when when we were coming up and
a lot of folks we just haven't we weren't served
by the people who own businesses, be it a corner
liquor store or where we get our fish, our chicken,
our takeout, and so we thought it was one a
(03:06):
good business model to one that it was time for
us to seize. In three we can restore some of
the pride and some of the feeling good about shopping
in your own community.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Let's talk about that. The industry. You're in, the beauty industry,
Like you're said, it's an industry that is very dominated
by African Americas from a sales standpoint, from a beauty
from an activation you know, but from a product distribution standpoint,
that's where we lack explain that that I want to
(03:38):
say the word of lack of participation.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Yeah, we're buyers, I mean we're consumers. I mean, you know,
the status if we were a nation, we would be
the eighth or ninth largest nation on the planet. We
just don't own and so I think that once again
in our own communities we didn't set up shop. You know,
became a time you know, after I think the seventies
we didn't set up shop, and then obviously we had
(04:02):
that crack academic and all that kind of stuff. We
weren't able to build businesses. And this is just one
of the businesses that we support daily. If you think
about hair care, skincare, nail care, that's twenty four to seven,
that's three sixty five. And we don't manufacture anything. We
don't sell it, we don't whost sell it, and so
(04:24):
it's just been really dominated by Koreans who are on
the distribution side of it, and then the Chinese tend
to make the product, and then to a lesser degree
to Japanese people come up with great and ingenious synthetic
and chemical driven ideation that gets made by the Chinese
and distributed by the Koreans in our neighborhood. So we
(04:45):
do not participate at all in that space. But I
will say over the last couple of years, you may
have heard of shade Moisture selling to Unilever, Mael selling
to Procter and Gamble. Another one was Honeypot. I can't
remember who they sold to. But we're now solving our
own problems, developing our own product right.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Which is really important now when I'm talking to Damon
Haley Glow and Flow Beauty, he said, as he says,
go on other days of poor service, fractured relationship, and
harmful products. Dama's goal is to create a healthy environment
for women, men, girls and boys to shop, learn and
grow as their needs change. He's also launching multiple product
(05:29):
line and is franchising the business model. That's why this
money made conversation master class Dame franchising the business model.
What is that business model?
Speaker 2 (05:40):
What we've done is we've created the playbook. We've created
the recipe on how to do this business from a
retail perspective. And you know, there's a lot of legalities
that you have to do, and we've gone through all
of that process so that I can now say, hey,
if you're interested in investing in yourself, investing in your family,
(06:03):
investing in your community and this industry, here's a way
to do it and will help you do it and
So that's what franchising is about for us, and I
do believe it's probably only two or three black owned
beauty supply franchises in the United States now.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
You know, I've read been an article that said one
of the great ways to get into entrepreneurship is through franchising.
Can you explain to me why it is so advantageous
to pursue a franchise opportunity versus a startup. It's just
going in and starting up your own beauty store, starting
up your own supply center. That's beauty related talk to us.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Yeah, you don't start from zero with a franchise. You
have a company or corporation behind you, and you have
this playbook that's how to and if you just follow
those instructions in the supply chain and those materials, you
should be able to win because it's a proven model
versus just going from scratch. I mean, I came up
(07:06):
with glow and flow. The glow is for the skin,
the flow is.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
For the hair. You know.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
You know, I have a history of being a marketer.
Everybody isn't a marketer. You talked about details and how
we used to do activation, you know, for me, for Nike, PEPSI, coke,
all of these entities. If you don't have that kind
of experience, you can't start from zero. I was able
to look at the finances of the beauty and say, hey,
(07:34):
this can work. I was able to look at someone
else's business model and say I can double it, I
can two times it, or I can increase it by
sixty six or two thirds percent, and stuff like that.
But if you don't have all of those skills or
don't have a team, franchising is not a bad scenario
because you start with support.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Now here are some four pointers that you talked about
that you do intelligently and excellently at Glow and Flow
Beauty by cost effective and high demand products. When you
say that, what do you mean, Well.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
You know, I've always prided myself and you know, I'm
I got degrees and all that kind of stuff. And
the corporate stuff in the suites is one place. But
I'm always with the consumer. I'm always figuring out, like you, Rashan,
what do the people want you with that you know
high demand? You know you know what they are demanding.
(08:33):
What that twenty year old, thirty year old, forty year
old teenage consumer wants so you always have to have that.
And then you have to be cost effecting at buying.
At buying, I buy from different sources throughout the country
and negotiate shipping so it gets to my locations. So
you have to have that kind of sensibility because I
(08:55):
will say, if there are some barriers, the barriers are costs.
You know that inventory. You want to make sure that
you're buying products competitivelyss versus you know target who can
can outprice you or they can create a lower price
because they're getting it at a lower price. So you
have to search and do that. So those are two
(09:15):
things you have to know. You got to know what
the consumers want because it's ever changing. You got to
make sure you're getting it at a competitive price. Right.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
That competitive price is the key because you don't want
to move in. And then people because people one thing
about black people, especially when it comes to beauty, They're
gonna want to evaluate their dollar spend and then all
of a sudden, the reputation can get out that you know,
this location is a lot higher in this location. It
might not be fair because that's not how you do business.
(09:43):
But you've done business over the years, and as I've
seen it. You're in the beauty industry, explain exactly the
location that you have your two locations in Los Angeles
correctly currently. Explain those locations to us before I start
asking some additional questions.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Okay, So we have a location in Inglewood, California, for
those of you who might not know LA That's where
Sofi Stadium is. That's where the new Intuit Dome is,
the YouTube scenario they have so ingle And it's where
the Lakers used to play, the form all that kind
of stuff that's in Inglewood, and it's it's great in
(10:22):
terms of black and brown support. So that's one thing.
Even though you hear a lot of stuff going on,
Inglewood has always had a lot of black and brown
professional women and so that tends to really work well
and that has its product mix. And then our other
location is in Hawthorne that could considered considered maybe South
(10:43):
Bay or south of LA just slightly south of Inglewood
and south of the Sofi. It's a different community. It's
a little more laid back. It's not as accessible like
like you would say you're in La per Se, but
it has a different, different audience. It is still working
class of a lot of brown women, a lot of
(11:06):
latinas uh. And then we're not too far from the
beach communities either. So that brings about a different product offering.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
It brings out.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
About a different level of offering that we can give
to that consumer.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Now, David Haley, Glow and Slow Beauty. You come from
a sports background. Now you're in a beauty field. A
lot of people are afraid to make transitions. A lot
of people are afraid that because people tell you you
go out there, maybe mentors or people you don't know,
or people you know. People are always willing to give
(11:39):
their opinions. When you made this decision of this conscious
this thought process of saying, you know something I see
an opportunity to hear, I'm gonna go in it. What
were the naysayers and how did you or did you
worry about the naysayers when you felt that Glow and
Flow Beauty was going to be an option of growth
for you, create a legacy for you and your family.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Yeah, there there were some naysayers. There's still a few
out there that that that want.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
To still out there now, David. Jealous people, jealous people.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Yeah, yeah, I would say, you know, there's jealous envy
and naysayers right, jealous that the haters, but there's some
that marvel at my ability to just shift, pivot, you know,
swerve whatever they're calling it these days.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
But that's my nature. You know.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
My background is really in finance. I know you a
math guy, right right, yep?
Speaker 3 (12:35):
I know. That's that's why I love you, that's why
we connect.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
So so I always tell people if you're not good
at math and numbers, when you put a dollar sign
in front of it, you're not gonna be good at
that either, you know. So, so I was a finance dude.
Then I switched to mark marketing. I launched the UH,
the marketing office for Nike because somebody saw that I
had the ability to do it, to take a big undertaking,
(12:58):
and so I did that. And then of course I
launched in my entrepreneurial pursuits with an agency. So I've
never been fearful of change. If I really can get
behind it, I think I'm a smart enough dude to
figure it out when I saw the people that are
doing it. Like I said, I mean no offense to
I've competed with Asians at Berkeley and at University of Michigan.
(13:20):
When I was getting my MBA and all of that,
and so now I'm just competing with other Koreans. You know,
to do the job better because I know us better.
I know culture better, and I know how to shape
it and put it in a business model that will win.
So I think that when I talk to people about
it like that, they kind of understand to say, okay,
because even when I was in sports, I still work
(13:42):
with the Michael Jordan's, the Lebrons, the Kobe's, but we
still need to deal with foot locker, which is a
house of brands. Right in the Nike House of Hoops
is a house of basketball products. So in working on
that retail scenario, I knew this was no different. This
is a house of brands. So I have to take
a house of brands and make it make sense. I
(14:04):
have to treat beauty like sport. I have to treat
looking good like competition. So all of those things I
bring to the business, and like I said, that's why
we've been able to flourish for five years.
Speaker 4 (14:16):
Now, Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with
more money making conversations, Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money
Making Conversations Masterclass hosted by Rashaan McDonald.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Right, let me ask you this about breaking into a
new game. There are always things that you plan and
then there are things you go I didn't see that coming. Wow,
I didn't know that. Can you talk to my audience
about some of the hurdles of breaking into the beauty industry.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Yeah, there's a big rumor out there that Koreans and
other Asians try to lock us out. I believe that
to be true in two ways. One is it is
their business, like, even though we're consumers, it's theirs, and
(15:14):
so anybody that tries to threaten that, you're going to
have opposition. Two, it's just business, and whether you know,
they compete against each other and they compete harder against us, So.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
The competition is a huge one.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
And then two the access to information because I don't
have a mentor. I can mentor others, but I myself
didn't have a mentor per se because it's just not
a lot of us that are doing it. So those
are the big hurdles, which means you have to go
and search even more for the information. You have to research, read, etc.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
To get it.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
So that became a big you know when you talk
about trend and when you talk about you know, stay
on top of things, and you don't have anyone to source.
That's a huge, huge hurdle. In addition to capital, I
must say that when you are in this space, you know,
I'm in one, I'm in my Hawthorne location. But it's inventory,
(16:15):
it's money sitting on the shelves, it's money hanging on
the wall. So you got to make sure that you
have enough to fund the venture. And I would say
that we tend to stay stocked with inventory because I
don't want anybody to think that I can't solve their
problem when they come through the door. Others have that
(16:38):
luxury to go shopping every Monday after the weekend or
shop on Thursday. Now, when somebody comes in, like you
say that reputation on pricing, you know, well, since it's
not a lot of us in there, I can't do
group economics to get a lower rate. So my price
might be a little bit more. But I try to
give you other stuff, you know, I try to give
(17:01):
you a smile. You come in and you coughing, I'm
gonna give you some water. You know, we have pretty
bad yeah, yeah, you know, And I must admit. You know, well,
you know, my wife, the great and the fabulous Diane Valentine,
she is gonna make me super service these women because
(17:22):
that's what her life and destiny is about. And that's her,
the yin yang. You know, I do my thing, but
but she does her. So we try to create certain
fabulousness around and inexperience too. So like I said, we
we we we're in breast cancer month, so we celebrate
that because we know we we know our sisters, mom's
(17:44):
grandma are afflicted by that. So we do that and
others won't because it doesn't mean as much. You know,
we celebrate Black History Month, we celebrate Black Business Month,
we celebrate you know, a Hispanic Heritage month. You know,
we we sell celebrate all of that kind of stuff.
And once again, we create community where you want to
(18:05):
come because you're coming for what you're coming for, but
you're always going to get something extra. So those hurdles
I tend to circumvent with service, detail, caring, love, and consideration.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
Which I appreciate. Now it's two bad headed men here
by talking about hair. Right hair, but that is such
a dominant part of your industry. Talk to us about
how that is, how what really plays into your business model?
And where do you get your hair?
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Here is the cornerstone of our of our beauty industry,
to be honest, I mean that's where it starts. I
mean it starts. We have our own synthetic hairline called Sleigh.
That's Slay with three wives.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
That's your own that's Glow and Flow Beauties.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
It's a it's yeah, it's a separate company. Legally it's separate,
but it's us. We just we distribute Slay hair. So
we have our product in our own stores. And so
we we felt that.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
That's the market that grew the most.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
If you look at a bunch of women in all
the braids and the ponytails and the long hair, that's
a huge market. That became my number one seller. So
I was able to read the data of my first
Glowing Flow and say, wow, we sell a lot of
this hair. We need to sell our own, so we we.
And then that's when Diane said, hey, we got to
(19:38):
make it better. We got to make it the best.
And so so it is synthetic. It still is that
and we have distribution in TJ Max and Marshall's current
Thank you and then the first quarter of next year
will will more than likely be in Target and Walmart
because we are official vendors with Target in Walmart. So
(20:01):
hair is the cornerstone. So that's synthetic. And so when
you see a lot of ladies with the braids, that's synthetic.
Some of it's crochet where it's all the style is
already there and then you crochet it among your braids.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
All of that.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
That's huge because it's low cost. You know it's low cost.
Now when you scale a little bit and you talk
about human hair, that is a little bit more because
the process on human hair is human when it lasts forever,
and to get it over from Asia and Africa and
(20:34):
Southeast Asia and all of that, it takes a lot
to get it on the shelves. But that's a cornerstone
as well. And we actually had a human hair salon
before we actually had the retail in Hancock Park, which.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
I'm sure you're familiar with. Welt it over.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
There, and we decided not to go forward with it
during COVID and to go all in on glow and
flow the retail side.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
But hair is the cornerstone.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
We get our we we we get our the formula
for our hair started here, started out of the mind
of dying Valentine and a bunch of black women to
really figure out what the additive to the fiber is.
But it gets manufactured overseas. And then the human hair,
most of the human hair that we find here in
(21:21):
the United States is all from from from Asia, certain
parts of Africa and UH and uh Southeast Asia.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
And you know the process is just real. Uh.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Young ladies go and they cut their hair and then
it's processed and put on a weft most of the time,
and then it's huged. But but that's that's huge, and
it's a tarket.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
That's the cornerstone.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
That's the cornerstone.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Yeah, and then I would even say, when you talk
about wet products, are the chemicals to to properly treat
the hair? Like, who knows if we have If you
and I have better products growing up, we might still
have ours.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
But that in the process.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Yeah, come on now, because we don't have no hair.
David and I, we are shining. We're telling us a
violas shining. We talked about franchises, We talked about overcoming hurdles.
You know, you have a strong marketing background, you understand
about customer service and activations. And I always say when
you walk through a door, every damage someone walks in there,
that's an activation. How they're treated, how they walk out,
(22:25):
the reputation you build in the community city wide. Can
they buy Can they buy your products online? Damon?
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Oh yeah, yeah, we're at glow and Flow Beauty dot com.
We're e commerce platforms so they can go and buy
the products as well as our hair slay hair Slay
with Three wiveshair dot com. So yeah, we we are
constantly evolving e commerce because that's just where the world
is going to and if people really want to support
(22:53):
a black owned businesses, that's the easiest place to do
it is online. Sometimes you know that's shipping is an
issue or the cost or whatever, but yeah, we offer
that and we also offer pickups, so if you put
the order in and then you want to pick it up,
we offer that too.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Now are strategies you know for winning and gaining We
talked about gaining trust in the community. We talk about
consistent we talk about customer services, we talk about competitive pricing. Okay,
but what is the overall winning plan for you guys?
I know you want to franchise. How can one contact
you about franchising?
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Hello at Glowinflow Beauty dot com. Hello at Glowinflowbauty dot com.
Put franchise in the in the subject line, and then
that'll come directly to me. And I usually call people
I don't I might send an email, but I always
call people interested because I'm learning what are some of
the hurdles that other people have when they make the
(23:56):
call or do the outreach, so that that's an easy one.
I think for us, US it is being able to
see glow and Flow in every metropolitan area that services
black and brown women because it's more than just products.
It really creates a community. It creates a belonging. It
(24:17):
creates a space once again that you can come and
get great information, happy happy vibes. And also we do
like even now, we have what I call back stuff
or so if someone has an initiative or a fundraiser,
I'm like, yeah, I'll put it in everybody's bag, right,
so it'll get to maybe five thousand people a month,
(24:39):
you know, on a good month, we get that and
then we help promote. So once again, we know when
we all win, when one of us win we all win.
So I always look for young people. I always look
for our mature customers to say, hey, what's your big
win and let's help you get there. And I think
once again, and that's the word of mouth where people
(25:01):
will only want to really come for us. So I
would say someone asked my exit strategy, I would love
to have maybe forty Glow and Flows nationwide. I love
our hair and other products in those stores, and I
could just consult and help like you're doing Rashan, helping
more people capture their dreams, live their dreams, and build
(25:25):
better families.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Cool. Thank you Damon for coming on Money Making Conversation Masterclass.
The beauty of this is that you are who you are. Brother,
You have not changed, you know detail. I'd always loved
that about you. So you're getting in business if you're
interested in franchising with a person who who walks to talk,
He's consistent and he will not ask you for your
(25:47):
money because he gonna treat your money like it's his money.
And that's what you're building with Glow and Flow Beauty.
And he's building a legacy. Like you said, he just
wants forty stores, but one hundred would really make him smile.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
That would that would that would?
Speaker 1 (26:02):
I thank you, thank you for coming on money Making
Conversation master Class. I appreciate you, brother, I really really
appreciate you.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
Appreciate too, you were Sean.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
I've always been there, man, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
This has been another edition of Money Making Conversation Masterclass
hosted by me Rushawn McDonald. Thank you to our guests
on the show today and thank you listening to audience now.
If you want to listen to any episode I want
to be a guest on the show, visit Moneymakingconversations dot com.
Our social media handle is money Making Conversation. Join us
next week and remember to always leave with your gifts.
(26:33):
Keep winning.
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