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Monterey County Business Council
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Haydee Beauty Salon is a Hispanic Woman-owned business located in Salinas’ underserved East Alisal business district. The salon owner is primarily a Spanish-speaker, and her customers primarily speak Spanish as well. She identified a need for a technological boost for her business to reach more clients.
What inspired the owner to start a business?
Haydee has 28 years of experience as a professional hair stylist. When she was living in Mexico, Haydee had three hair salon businesses. Once she moved to the U.S., she wanted to pursue her business entrepreneurship path again and opened a hair salon business in Salinas.
What challenges did SBDC assist the business owner to overcome:
COVID-19 impacted smaller, personal service businesses due to required closures, so part of Haydee Beauty Salon’s recovery efforts included taking advantage of the City of Salinas’ Marketing and Technology Microgrant Program as an opportunity to get more exposure. Haydee needed a computer, printer, and training to work on increasing the marketing exposure for her business, since many younger clients use Instagram, What’s App and Tik Tok.
How was SBDC able to assist the client:
Haydee was contacted by another local service provider who offered help in accessing funding from the City of Salinas. Unfortunately, that provider gave her bad information and didn’t follow through on their promises, so she came to the Cal Coastal SBDC for help in submitting her application and expediting payment from the City of Salinas once approved. Cal Coastal SBDC provided 2 hours of 1:1 guidance, and QuickBooks training, which resulted in helping Haydee access the City of Salinas grant she was seeking and get local media coverage for her business.
Any metrics obtained:
The client received $2,297 in capital funding and was also interviewed for a feature story on KSBW television as one of the first recipients of the Salinas Marketing and Technology Microgrants. https://www.ksbw.com/article/new-grants-aim-to-help-small-businesses-in-salinas/44884253
Central CA Network
Monterey County Business Council
SBA
ASBDC Accredited Member seal
Funded in part through a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration and a Grant with the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development. All opinions, conclusions, and/or recommendations expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SBA or the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development. Reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities will be made if requested at least two weeks in advance. Contact the California SBDC closest to you.