Korean immigrant Inson Byun came to the U.S. with just $20 and today owns 11 Great Clips franchises.
Inson Byun came to visit the United States from South Korea in 1973 as a 23-year-old with just $20 in her pocket. She soon fell in love and got married. A few years later, her life changed dramatically. She found herself divorced—a single mother in Dallas with only a high school education and very limited English. In desperate need of work, Byun did whatever paid—washing dishes, cleaning houses, packing boxes, working in a clothing factory—saving money until she bought a Great Clips hair salon in 1997. Today she owns 11 salon franchises in Texas, is financially comfortable, and free of debt.
Inson Byun came to visit the United States from South Korea in 1973 as a 23-year-old with just $20 in her pocket.
Starting Out in the U.S.
It was Byun’s work ethic and positive attitude that got her through the hard times—and got her noticed. While working at a packing company, Byun was tapped to be a shift manager with responsibility for hiring packers. While she enjoyed managing, the pay was too low. Her solution was to follow in the footsteps of many other Korean women and go to work for a sewing company. Byun worked at night as a seam-ripper, making minimum wage, which was less than $5 an hour at the time. “I went to the manager and asked, ‘How long will it take for me to make $5 an hour?’” says Byun. “She told me, ‘Five years.’ And I thought: There’s no future for me in this.”
Byun generated more than $9,000 worth of business a month. It was an important lesson. “That’s when I discovered, wow, there is a lot of money to be made in this industry.”
Learning the business
Byun had friends in the Korean immigrant community who did manicures and pedicures at nail salons. Following their lead, she began taking classes at a local beauty school, where she first learned how to do nails, then moving onto cutting hair. Because she didn’t have a license, she wasn’t able to find a job. Finally, she heard from a friend that a Supercuts franchise was hiring and would train new recruits. Byun applied and got the job.
Byun’s diligent work ethic impressed management, and she was promoted to shift leader, making around $2,000 a month. For that salary, she generated more than $9,000 worth of business a month. It was an important lesson. “That’s when I discovered, wow, there is a lot of money to be made in this industry,” she says.
Find small-business financing
Byun decided she wanted to purchase her own Supercuts franchise. But her manager explained there were none for sale in Texas. Then a friend at the packing company where she had once worked told her there was another, no-appointment hair salon franchise with plenty of opportunity called Great Clips. Byun called the corporate headquarters and was told she would have to wait as long as two years to open one in Dallas. She would also have to quit her job, because she wasn’t allowed to buy a Great Clips franchise while she worked at one of their competitors. She signed a contract in 1996, left her Supercuts job, lived on savings, and about eight months later, opened the first Great Clips franchise in Texas. To fund the purchase, she borrowed $40,000 from a bank, supplementing the loan with her own savings. Want advice on how to raise funding? Click here.
Expanding her network
The Great Clips training program helped Byun with marketing, her major area of weakness. “I am a people person, so customer service was easy, but I didn’t know how to market myself,” she says. “They taught me everything.” But her biggest lesson may have been in hiring. By not following all the prescribed procedures, she realized she wasn’t bringing on the right stylists. She took more training and improved. Over time, she learned to spot candidates likely to succeed in that job.
“By working hard, trusting my own abilities, and learning the Great Clips system, I’ve been able to succeed. Being a franchisee changed my life.”
Seven months after opening her first franchise, Byun bought a second salon in Rockwall, Texas, near Dallas, and eventually expanded her network to 11 franchises. And she was recently approved to buy another one. “By working hard, trusting my own abilities, and learning the Great Clips system, I’ve been able to succeed,” she says. “Being a franchisee changed my life.”
