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901-828-7093
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Daily News
Memphis Tennessee
Story got its beginning sitting in the Starbucks Coffee shop on Poplar Ave. in Memphis Tennessee. Andrew Bell the writer of the story was the Greatest. At the end of the interview I said to him,"I sure hope it was not too boring for you and he assured me it was the best and most exciting one he remembered doing that week. After reading his finished work I had to agree that I could tell a good story afterall. He wrote just as I told the story word for word. That day was a new beginning for many new ventures to take place.
Mobile Hairstylist Helps the Homebound
ANDREW BELL
The Daily News
Memphis TN
When Billy Joel sat down in Cathy Turner’s swivel chair on an otherwise ordinary workday back in 1972, she didn’t know who the “piano man” was. In time, the stylist’s client that day would earn musical stardom. In time, she, too, would find success from her own professional dreams. It’s been 10 years since Turner, a native Memphian, took the bold step of starting her own business, Mobile Comb Inc., which offers in-home salon services for the physically challenged and homebound. And the challenges and personal obstacles she faced in making the business financially successful are more than just fond memories, she said. They are humbling milestones. “When I look back on the first three years of the business, I wouldn’t trade anything for them,” she said. “There were a lot of trials and tribulations along the way, that’s for certain.” A rough road. Her struggles included simultaneously working two other jobs – including one “slinging pizzas” – and suffering through an accident that broke her foot, putting her on crutches for several weeks. Still, Turner persevered. “I had a friend who told me once that if you can find a void and fill it, then you can make a life for yourself,” she said. “The second thing he said was that the void needs to be one that you enjoy filling.” Mobile Comb offers its customers permanents, cuts, weaves, shampoos, manicures and pedicures. Turner, who works alone, travels to homes from Eads, Tenn., to Olive Branch, Miss, with a bag that contains irons, blow dryers, towels and lots of shampoo. She charges between $35 and $85 per visit. As her friend suggested, Turner saw an unfilled market niche and pursued it. It was not a niche, however, that Turner initially embraced based on personal experience from her first job. A rocky start. She was fresh out of high school when she accepted a job at a beauty salon in an area hospital – one in which she helped style patients’ hair. “I had to take care of the sick in their own rooms; it was so depressing,” she remembered. So, after four years at the hospital, she moved on to work as a stylist at other salons around town, including Gould’s Spa. Finally, it was during a job that had nothing to do with curlers or scissors – one as a receptionist for a construction company – that Turner’s future began to unfold. Time away from being a hairstylist helped her gain a new appreciation for the profession. And, ample free time at her receptionist job enabled her to explore the idea of running her own business. She began to think of those emotionally trying days of caring for the bedridden in a new, more compassionate light. “I knew there was a need, because when I was a stylist and my clients would get sick, I would go to them to take care of them because it was simply my duty – they had taken care of me,” she said. Paving her way. Turner tried to research established, similar businesses, but found none. So, she contacted the state’s licensing board for stylists and the Better Business Bureau of the Mid-South to ensure her business was fully accredited, then secured malpractice and general liability insurance. To her knowledge, Mobile Comb is the only accredited business of its type in the area, and perhaps one of only a few across the state. “There are some who do this kind of work, but they are doing it on the side and are moonlighting,” she said. “The elderly are already being taken advantage of, and so I wanted to establish a reputation by being fully professional.” In her first year of business, Turner set a goal of one appointment per day, then pushed it up to two appointments per day. She said she worked relentlessly to publicize Mobile Comb, contacting friends, former clients, churches and retirement homes before establishing her current client base of about 200. Intangible benefits. Turner said by being in contact with the elderly and sick – who often live alone – she has gained satisfaction, wisdom and friendships. She carries a wallet full of photos taken with her clients. The downside, she said, is an ever-changing customer list resulting from clients who pass away. Still, Turner said her job not only lets her make friends and hear interesting stories from people anxious to share them, it also has given her sort of a mission in life. “I used to ask myself, ‘What difference do I make in the world?’” she said. “With my career, I work out in an everyday world most people aren’t even aware of. “But it’s the greatest job. One lady, and there’s nothing wrong with her mind, swears that my hair dryer sings ‘Glory, Glory Hallelujah.’” Turner said she’s living proof that people who dream of owning their own businesses can make it – as long as their hearts are completely in it. “I have no college education, no computer skills – if I can do it, then anyone can do it,” she said. She gives prospective entrepreneurs one word of advice she’s picked up over the years. “One thing I’ve learned through my work is that you have to take time to smell the roses,” she said. “In fact, one of my client’s sons grows rose bushes in the front yard, and every time I visit, I make a point to stoop down and smell them.”
Box:
Company: Mobile Comb Inc.
Owner: Cathy Turner
Founded: 1993
Basics: Offers salon services to homebound clients.
To make an appointment call memphis 901-828-7093
Always ask your personal hairstylists about doing your homebound hair requests. Most likely they will help accommadate your needs. Always take them to a salon when possible. The outing is good for the homebound and it keeps them looking forward to going the next time.
Goulds Day Spas and hair salons are very professional salons.
Need a doctor at home call for Dr. David Weber for your homebound medical needs.
Send E-Mail to: richcat@bellsouth.net
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