June 5, 2024 • 13 mins
As an art teacher, Molly noticed fingernails as a tiny canvas for intricate works of art. With a great deal of determination, a unique business plan, and the backing of a knowledgeable SCORE mentor, Molly founded Spruce Nail Shop in 2015. The business has expanded to a second location, mobile sales, and earned a SCORE Client of the Year award in 2020.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:06):
Welcome. My name is Michael Bawson. You're host of My SINCEI Small Business
Stories. In this episode, I'llbe talking to Mollie Navy, owner of
the Spruce Nail Shop. We'll findout more about that. We'll be right
back after this message. Did youknow twice as many small businesses survive past
five years when they have the supportfrom a mentor. My SINCEY Small Business
(00:27):
Story is brought to you by thevolunteer mentors of Score Greater Cincinnati, a
nonprofit organization that helps launch hundreds ofnew small businesses and even more jobs in
Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky, and Indianaevery year. Our vision is to give
every person the support they need tothrive as a small business owner. Visit
score dot org slash Greater Cincinnati torequest a free business mentor or share your
(00:50):
own expertise. You can also listenand subscribe for more stories about overcoming challenges,
clearing obstacles, and owning a successfulsmall business. Welcome, How are
you today? I'm good? Thanks? How are you today? I am
excited. It's summer, so I'mgood. So I understand you were a
Scores Client of the Year. Whatyear was that? So that would be
(01:14):
in twenty nineteen. That was probablythe last live event because they went virtual
for a couple of years after that. Because yeah, it actually it was
We got to I got to physicallyhold the big check, which was really
fun. So I never thought I'dget to do that. Everyone likes the
big check, but they also quickerone too, that's true. Yeah,
(01:37):
No, it was fun and itwas great to have it be in person
too. It was really nice.So tell me how did you get started
in your business? We are Ialways say we. I Stared Spruce in
twenty fifteen. We eventually like openedour doors in January of twenty sixteen,
but the build out and everything startedin twenty fifteen. My background is in
(01:59):
our so I had been an artteacher for several years. I worked with
Chicago Public Schools and Cincinnati Public Schools, and I absolutely loved teaching art.
On the side, I have alwayshad a love for doing nails, and
I would really love doing really complex, crazy nail art on all of my
friends and family. That was kindof my favorite thing to do, and
(02:22):
I knew I always kind of dreamedof having a space that I could do
that for people that felt more likean art studio as opposed to a traditional
nail slon. So I really wantedit to feel kind of like you were
hanging out with an artist, comingup with a collaboration for a design together,
and so that's kind of how Sprucecame to be. One of the
(02:45):
things that I really wanted to focuson when starting Spruce is really kind of
deep diving into the products that wereused, the systems that were used,
and how we could make it saferfor both both our clients and for our
team. So at Spruce, wereally have a focus on using products that
(03:07):
are safer, which means like fivefree or more so free of the five
most harsh choksins that you find innail polish. We also use hospital grade
standards instead of state board standards,so we have a hospital grade autoclave that
we use to sterilize all of ourmetal implements, and anything that can be
sterilized is one time use only,so we'll never reuse something unless it can
(03:30):
be totally sterilized. Everything else issingle use. But in order for us
to like minimize the amount of wastewe're also producing, we partner with Green
Circle Salons and they are a companythat helps us to recycle all of our
single use products, so we're alsolike a sustainably based business as well,
(03:51):
and we were just certified carbon neutralas of last year, which we are
really excited about. How unusual isthat for this particular industry, It's very
very uncommon, especially in nail slans. I've seen a couple of hair salans
have started doing it, which hasbeen really great to see. And the
really cool thing about our industry isthat, like every day we seem to
(04:13):
be changing for the better and improvingand you know, increasing our own standards
like as an industry, which Ireally love. So, you know,
since we've been doing this, we'veseen I've had other salons kind of reach
out with interest about getting them theirbusiness started with it, and I'm always
happy to like talk about it withanyone that's interested because it's such a great
(04:34):
thing to do, Especially for us. We use a ton of gloves,
nitil based gloves, and to havethose go straight to the landfall continuously is
a big impact, and so forus to be able to kind of shift
that, it's been like really helpful, very good. So you opened your
doors in twenty and sixteen. Whendid you start working with Score. I
(04:56):
started working with Score in twenty fifteen. So when we were like just getting
things off the ground, one ofmy friends who had worked with Score for
just like one project, I wastrying to get Spruce up and running,
and I knew, like doing somethinglike this like costs a lot more money
than I was, you know,prepared to be able to do on my
(05:19):
own, and so she recommended thatI reach out to His name is Carlin
Stram, who I worked with,and Carlin and I had worked together since
twenty fifteen, and he has beenjust such a great mentor to me that
she connected us and I met withCarlin, and within our first meeting,
(05:40):
he was already suggesting me grants thatI could be a part of. And
within a couple of months of Spruceopening, we won the Business First Grant,
which awarded Spruce a grant for tenthousand dollars for our startup costs.
And that was in large part toCarlin Score finding these grants and just really
(06:01):
helping me to kind of open myeyes to the world of grant writing,
which is something was very new tome, but now I'm like, oh
my god, this is such anamazing thing, you know, and a
service that has been like just sohelpful for me. Andrew Spruce, are
you still working with Score? I'mnot a Carlin as a kind of stepped
(06:24):
back into retirement, so I haven'tbeen working with anyone else in Score since.
But you know, it's something thatI would always be open to because
I'm very appreciative of Score and I'vealways like really benefited from any help that
we've gotten. I've looked on yourwebsite and I was curious about your mobile
(06:45):
and specialized care that you want forCan you tell me a little bit more
about that. Yeah, So thisis something that we kind of started talking
about and looking into during COVID wherewe realize there are a lot of people
that might not be able to haveaccessibility to come into our shop and to
come to Spruce and it just doesn'twork for their lifestyle or you know,
(07:10):
what they're able to do. Sowhat we really wanted to do is to
be able to take the experience ofSpruce and bring it to people. And
so, you know, we workedwith State Board and one of our texts,
Danielle has really been our like personthat goes out and she actually comes
from a background of working in differentlike facilities that have helped like care for
(07:38):
you know, different people with specialneeds and things like that. So she's
just comes with like a wealth ofexperience in this. But what's really great
is that they can reach out toSpruce just by emailing mobile at sprucenailshop dot
com. They reach out with Gloria, who's our communications manager. She can
(07:58):
arrange the booking and everything like that, and then Danielle is able to go
into people's homes or businesses and providethese services for people. And you know,
we're limited to just working in theOhio area and we have like a
radius that we can work in sowe're not having to travel too far.
But it's been a really great experience. And what's been really cool about it
(08:20):
is that we have a lot ofclients who come into Spruce who book these
services for their parents who maybe livein a facility where they don't get to
come to Spruce themselves, and soDanielle will go and get to talk with
them and you know, be ableto spend time with them, make them
feel good about themselves, and thenshe'll like send the picture to the family
(08:43):
and they can kind of see whatthey did for their nails and it's really
really a really cool experience. Sowe always love hearing about you know,
her visits and she's got a lotof great regulars now, which has been
really fun. So where are youlocated? We have two locations now.
We are located in Inly Market onRace Street, so it's eighteen eighteen Race
Street, right in between Deeper Rootsand High Five. And then our second
(09:07):
location, which we just opened lastyear, is located in Walnut Hills.
That's right across from Aperture that justopened as well, which really great restaurant.
But yeah, so those are thetwo neighborhoods that we are opened in.
And we knew Spruce from like dayone. We always wanted to be
in city neighborhoods and that's why wechose Finley Market and Walnut Hills, both
(09:33):
great areas. So what's the genesisof the name Spruce? I actually give
credit to that to one of mygirlfriends in Chicago who I was really trying
to think of like a great,like uplifting name for Spruce, like name
for like my Nailslon that had likean upswing to it. It was short,
catchy, had a positive swing,and she was like what about Spruce,
(09:54):
Like spruce it up. So that'skind of like where it came from.
Is like our goal and our jobis to just you know, spruce
things up a little bit, makepeople feel good about themselves, and leave
having had a great experience with us. Where do you see yourself and your
business in five years? Well,in five years, you know, it's
(10:15):
interesting because like we open two locations, and the main reason that we wanted
to open up a second location sothat we were able to provide healthcare to
our staff. So that was likea big goal for us in growth,
and so that's always been my goalwhen we grow, is we grow to
be able to like put that backinto our staff. And so that was
(10:35):
our main reason for having two locations. And so I think maybe locations wise,
I don't know if we would openmore, but I know we want
to like look into expanding like mobile, our retail, our products that we
offer, because we make all ofour own products that we use in all
of our services on the nail side, and we also have a great retail
line that we work with as faras skincare, because now we have a
(10:58):
skincare department at Spruce. We didn'thave only originally started, so you know,
just kind of growing our departments likewithin, and our big goal is
just helping our team to grow theirskill set as they come in and just
seeing people grow from like doing asolid manicure to doing Tier one to doing
like these crazy intricate nail art It'sreally just fun to watch like all of
(11:22):
us like grow in the same spacetogether. Mollie, thank you for being
on the podcast. Is there anythingelse that you would like to tell our
listeners about you or your business?And if not, why don't you tell
us where to find you and yourweb address and all that good stuff.
Yeah, I just would love foreveryone to come and give us a try.
We are by appointment only, soI always recommend that you can either
(11:46):
give us a call look on thewebsite. We also have really easy online
booking and if you're uncomfortable with onlinebooking or not sure how to do it,
if you just email us, wecan call you and walk you through
the process. So it makes itvery convenient for everyone. But all that
information is located on our website whichis at Sprusnailshop dot com. And yeah,
we have to see everybody come inand visit us. If you would
(12:09):
like to sign up with a mentoror you would like to become a mentor,
go to score dot org slash GreaterCincinnati or click on the appropriate link.
Score Greater Cincinnati's Confluence where connections,information and inspiration come together has a
date of September eighteenth of twenty four, from eight thirty am to two pm
(12:33):
at United Way. The theme thisyear is Shine Online. You can go
to score dot org slash Greater Cincinnatiand be able to register for that event.
Also, you can go to thatwebsite and request a mentor or sign
up to be a volunteer. Thankyou for listening. Please subscribe to the
(12:58):
podcast and share the link. FakeCare
Welcome. My name is Michael Bawson. You're host of My SINCEI Small Business
Stories. In this episode, I'llbe talking to Mollie Navy, owner of
the Spruce Nail Shop. We'll findout more about that. We'll be right
back after this message. Did youknow twice as many small businesses survive past
five years when they have the supportfrom a mentor. My SINCEY Small Business
(00:27):
Story is brought to you by thevolunteer mentors of Score Greater Cincinnati, a
nonprofit organization that helps launch hundreds ofnew small businesses and even more jobs in
Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky, and Indianaevery year. Our vision is to give
every person the support they need tothrive as a small business owner. Visit
score dot org slash Greater Cincinnati torequest a free business mentor or share your
(00:50):
own expertise. You can also listenand subscribe for more stories about overcoming challenges,
clearing obstacles, and owning a successfulsmall business. Welcome, How are
you today? I'm good? Thanks? How are you today? I am
excited. It's summer, so I'mgood. So I understand you were a
Scores Client of the Year. Whatyear was that? So that would be
(01:14):
in twenty nineteen. That was probablythe last live event because they went virtual
for a couple of years after that. Because yeah, it actually it was
We got to I got to physicallyhold the big check, which was really
fun. So I never thought I'dget to do that. Everyone likes the
big check, but they also quickerone too, that's true. Yeah,
(01:37):
No, it was fun and itwas great to have it be in person
too. It was really nice.So tell me how did you get started
in your business? We are Ialways say we. I Stared Spruce in
twenty fifteen. We eventually like openedour doors in January of twenty sixteen,
but the build out and everything startedin twenty fifteen. My background is in
(01:59):
our so I had been an artteacher for several years. I worked with
Chicago Public Schools and Cincinnati Public Schools, and I absolutely loved teaching art.
On the side, I have alwayshad a love for doing nails, and
I would really love doing really complex, crazy nail art on all of my
friends and family. That was kindof my favorite thing to do, and
(02:22):
I knew I always kind of dreamedof having a space that I could do
that for people that felt more likean art studio as opposed to a traditional
nail slon. So I really wantedit to feel kind of like you were
hanging out with an artist, comingup with a collaboration for a design together,
and so that's kind of how Sprucecame to be. One of the
(02:45):
things that I really wanted to focuson when starting Spruce is really kind of
deep diving into the products that wereused, the systems that were used,
and how we could make it saferfor both both our clients and for our
team. So at Spruce, wereally have a focus on using products that
(03:07):
are safer, which means like fivefree or more so free of the five
most harsh choksins that you find innail polish. We also use hospital grade
standards instead of state board standards,so we have a hospital grade autoclave that
we use to sterilize all of ourmetal implements, and anything that can be
sterilized is one time use only,so we'll never reuse something unless it can
(03:30):
be totally sterilized. Everything else issingle use. But in order for us
to like minimize the amount of wastewe're also producing, we partner with Green
Circle Salons and they are a companythat helps us to recycle all of our
single use products, so we're alsolike a sustainably based business as well,
(03:51):
and we were just certified carbon neutralas of last year, which we are
really excited about. How unusual isthat for this particular industry, It's very
very uncommon, especially in nail slans. I've seen a couple of hair salans
have started doing it, which hasbeen really great to see. And the
really cool thing about our industry isthat, like every day we seem to
(04:13):
be changing for the better and improvingand you know, increasing our own standards
like as an industry, which Ireally love. So, you know,
since we've been doing this, we'veseen I've had other salons kind of reach
out with interest about getting them theirbusiness started with it, and I'm always
happy to like talk about it withanyone that's interested because it's such a great
(04:34):
thing to do, Especially for us. We use a ton of gloves,
nitil based gloves, and to havethose go straight to the landfall continuously is
a big impact, and so forus to be able to kind of shift
that, it's been like really helpful, very good. So you opened your
doors in twenty and sixteen. Whendid you start working with Score. I
(04:56):
started working with Score in twenty fifteen. So when we were like just getting
things off the ground, one ofmy friends who had worked with Score for
just like one project, I wastrying to get Spruce up and running,
and I knew, like doing somethinglike this like costs a lot more money
than I was, you know,prepared to be able to do on my
(05:19):
own, and so she recommended thatI reach out to His name is Carlin
Stram, who I worked with,and Carlin and I had worked together since
twenty fifteen, and he has beenjust such a great mentor to me that
she connected us and I met withCarlin, and within our first meeting,
(05:40):
he was already suggesting me grants thatI could be a part of. And
within a couple of months of Spruceopening, we won the Business First Grant,
which awarded Spruce a grant for tenthousand dollars for our startup costs.
And that was in large part toCarlin Score finding these grants and just really
(06:01):
helping me to kind of open myeyes to the world of grant writing,
which is something was very new tome, but now I'm like, oh
my god, this is such anamazing thing, you know, and a
service that has been like just sohelpful for me. Andrew Spruce, are
you still working with Score? I'mnot a Carlin as a kind of stepped
(06:24):
back into retirement, so I haven'tbeen working with anyone else in Score since.
But you know, it's something thatI would always be open to because
I'm very appreciative of Score and I'vealways like really benefited from any help that
we've gotten. I've looked on yourwebsite and I was curious about your mobile
(06:45):
and specialized care that you want forCan you tell me a little bit more
about that. Yeah, So thisis something that we kind of started talking
about and looking into during COVID wherewe realize there are a lot of people
that might not be able to haveaccessibility to come into our shop and to
come to Spruce and it just doesn'twork for their lifestyle or you know,
(07:10):
what they're able to do. Sowhat we really wanted to do is to
be able to take the experience ofSpruce and bring it to people. And
so, you know, we workedwith State Board and one of our texts,
Danielle has really been our like personthat goes out and she actually comes
from a background of working in differentlike facilities that have helped like care for
(07:38):
you know, different people with specialneeds and things like that. So she's
just comes with like a wealth ofexperience in this. But what's really great
is that they can reach out toSpruce just by emailing mobile at sprucenailshop dot
com. They reach out with Gloria, who's our communications manager. She can
(07:58):
arrange the booking and everything like that, and then Danielle is able to go
into people's homes or businesses and providethese services for people. And you know,
we're limited to just working in theOhio area and we have like a
radius that we can work in sowe're not having to travel too far.
But it's been a really great experience. And what's been really cool about it
(08:20):
is that we have a lot ofclients who come into Spruce who book these
services for their parents who maybe livein a facility where they don't get to
come to Spruce themselves, and soDanielle will go and get to talk with
them and you know, be ableto spend time with them, make them
feel good about themselves, and thenshe'll like send the picture to the family
(08:43):
and they can kind of see whatthey did for their nails and it's really
really a really cool experience. Sowe always love hearing about you know,
her visits and she's got a lotof great regulars now, which has been
really fun. So where are youlocated? We have two locations now.
We are located in Inly Market onRace Street, so it's eighteen eighteen Race
Street, right in between Deeper Rootsand High Five. And then our second
(09:07):
location, which we just opened lastyear, is located in Walnut Hills.
That's right across from Aperture that justopened as well, which really great restaurant.
But yeah, so those are thetwo neighborhoods that we are opened in.
And we knew Spruce from like dayone. We always wanted to be
in city neighborhoods and that's why wechose Finley Market and Walnut Hills, both
(09:33):
great areas. So what's the genesisof the name Spruce? I actually give
credit to that to one of mygirlfriends in Chicago who I was really trying
to think of like a great,like uplifting name for Spruce, like name
for like my Nailslon that had likean upswing to it. It was short,
catchy, had a positive swing,and she was like what about Spruce,
(09:54):
Like spruce it up. So that'skind of like where it came from.
Is like our goal and our jobis to just you know, spruce
things up a little bit, makepeople feel good about themselves, and leave
having had a great experience with us. Where do you see yourself and your
business in five years? Well,in five years, you know, it's
(10:15):
interesting because like we open two locations, and the main reason that we wanted
to open up a second location sothat we were able to provide healthcare to
our staff. So that was likea big goal for us in growth,
and so that's always been my goalwhen we grow, is we grow to
be able to like put that backinto our staff. And so that was
(10:35):
our main reason for having two locations. And so I think maybe locations wise,
I don't know if we would openmore, but I know we want
to like look into expanding like mobile, our retail, our products that we
offer, because we make all ofour own products that we use in all
of our services on the nail side, and we also have a great retail
line that we work with as faras skincare, because now we have a
(10:58):
skincare department at Spruce. We didn'thave only originally started, so you know,
just kind of growing our departments likewithin, and our big goal is
just helping our team to grow theirskill set as they come in and just
seeing people grow from like doing asolid manicure to doing Tier one to doing
like these crazy intricate nail art It'sreally just fun to watch like all of
(11:22):
us like grow in the same spacetogether. Mollie, thank you for being
on the podcast. Is there anythingelse that you would like to tell our
listeners about you or your business?And if not, why don't you tell
us where to find you and yourweb address and all that good stuff.
Yeah, I just would love foreveryone to come and give us a try.
We are by appointment only, soI always recommend that you can either
(11:46):
give us a call look on thewebsite. We also have really easy online
booking and if you're uncomfortable with onlinebooking or not sure how to do it,
if you just email us, wecan call you and walk you through
the process. So it makes itvery convenient for everyone. But all that
information is located on our website whichis at Sprusnailshop dot com. And yeah,
we have to see everybody come inand visit us. If you would
(12:09):
like to sign up with a mentoror you would like to become a mentor,
go to score dot org slash GreaterCincinnati or click on the appropriate link.
Score Greater Cincinnati's Confluence where connections,information and inspiration come together has a
date of September eighteenth of twenty four, from eight thirty am to two pm
(12:33):
at United Way. The theme thisyear is Shine Online. You can go
to score dot org slash Greater Cincinnatiand be able to register for that event.
Also, you can go to thatwebsite and request a mentor or sign
up to be a volunteer. Thankyou for listening. Please subscribe to the
(12:58):
podcast and share the link. FakeCare
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!