BY MILT THOMAS

Calvetti & Company on Royal Palm Pointe is not only the most successful non-chain, owner-operated hair salon in Vero, but one of the most successful in the country. How it earned that reputation is a lesson for anyone who dreams of succeeding in business.

When 23-year old Eric Johnson moved to Vero Beach in 1986, the furthest thing from his mind was owning a hair salon or even cutting hair. That is, until he met Tami Calvetti, known by all as T.C. “We dated for three years,” says Eric, “It was clear she loved what she did, had a loyal following and wanted to open her own shop.”

So, in 1993, they opened Calvetti & Company in a 1200-square foot store near Miracle Mile. According to Eric, “We had Tami and her mother along with a nail technician. I wasn’t part of it at first because I knew nothing about the business. So I helped out as the receptionist in addition to my day job.”

Eric and Tami married in 1994, the hair stylist and her receptionist. But his role in the business would soon change dramatically. “I went to cosmetology school at night to learn hairdressing and started reading everything I could about business.”

Through their primary supplier, Redken, he took courses on running a hair salon and managing people. He needed the latter because their business had grown to where they needed another hair stylist.

Emily Levanti joined them right out of high school. She was shy, lacked self-confidence and not sure she even wanted to be a hairdresser. Today, 20 years later, she is bubbling over with personality, exudes self-confidence, is by all accounts successful and she credits it all to Eric and Tami. So, you may ask, what happened? Read on to find out.

Calvetti & Company grew through word-of-mouth and after they hired their fifth hairdresser, it was time to find a bigger location. They looked at an abandoned former restaurant bulding on Royal Palm Pointe, known for many years as Bahama Joe’s, but most recently the Tanaka Japanese Steak House. Eric says, “Tanaka’s had left town and the building sat for a while, so we leased it with an option to buy. Tami and I spent an entire year renovating 5,000 square feet of the 8,000 square foot building, working nights and weekends while running the business full time. We did all the work ourselves because we were unable to get a bank loan at the time.”

When it was finished, they needed equipment. Eric continues, “We went to Citrus Bank over on Indian River Boulevard and they gave us a loan. We opened for business in November 1998.”

Calvetti & Company would be a success story if it stopped right there, but it didn’t. For any business to succeed on a long term basis, it must go through an evolutionary process. At no point does that process end so the business owner can coast to retirement.

For Tami, whose talents “behind the chair” had brought them success, needed to train more staff as the business grew. “Training people to cut hair,” says Tami, “is also a process that requires discipline, encouragement and education. As the trainee improves, so does the income. For us, it is a nine month process before a hair stylist can work on her or his own.”

On the business and management side, Eric looked for outside guidance beyond his books and seminars. “Over the years we hired excellent business coaches – Michael Gerber, Michael Cole and most recently, Blair Singer, all experts in different areas that we felt would help us grow our company.”

But hiring consultants, attending seminars and reading books do not guarantee success. They are merely tools that must be used properly to achieve positive results. And the results have been stunning. A good example is the above-mentioned Emily Levanti. “I had gone to cosmetology school and my first job didn’t work out for me. Then my mother had met Eric and liked him. She told him about me and he told her to have me come in for an interview. Frankly, I was so down on myself I never went in. Then he called me. So, I had to go see him. By the end of the interview I took the job. I trained with T.C. for nine months and loved it. In 2006, Eric and Tami offered to let me buy into the company, which I did. That meant added responsibilities like training an associate and being responsible for the company’s inventory control. We all get paid vacations, health insurance and 401ks. I will complete 20 years in June at age 39 and I never plan to work anyplace else.”

Emily is not the exception. Of the 24 full-time employees at Calvetti & Company, 14 have worked there at least ten years and 21 at least five years. Jamie Kenny, who sits at the reception desk started in 2001 and is also a partner. She is responsible for training all the people at that desk and scheduling.

Eric adds, “Our employees are all rated based on levels of performance. They begin as Level One trainees and can work up to Level Four based on skill development, number of clients, referrals, advance scheduling and other factors.

“Everything worked so well that our business grew every year, with 2008 our best year ever. Tami and I started taking vacations, confident the company was in good hands.”

But nothing could prepare them for the Great Recession of 2009. So, the vacation plans were put on hold and it was back to work. “We really didn’t know how it would go,” says Eric, “and our business did suffer, but looking back, we weathered the downturn by offering more services to our clients and improving the operation wherever we could. Two thousand nine was the first year we did not increase over the year before and 2010 was below even that. But then it started coming back and this year we are trending toward our 2008 numbers.”

A key factor in just about every successful company is making the employees feel they are an important part of the business.  According to Eric, “All our employees have a say in how we run the business. We have a staff huddle at the beginning of every shift. I also meet individually with every employee at least once a year and we have staff meetings, go to trade shows, and continue to educate our people. We require education and we pay for it as well.

Tami says, “We are like a family and anyone who walks in here can sense it immediately.  Many of our people are single mothers and if they need help adjusting their schedules or taking care of emergencies, we cover for them. Even Eric will pick up someone’s kids at school if mother is running late on an appointment.”

Eric and Tami say they could grow their business at least another 50%, which is music to the ears of their suppliers. Calvetti’s is one the the country’s largest Redken salon retailers. In addition, they lease out space in their building for one of Vero’s premier restaurants, The Amalfi Grill.

Tami Johnson is in semi-retirement mode these days, coming in 2-3 days a week, but still looks forward to those days. Eric loves the business end so much he often works until nine o’clock at night, not because he has to, but because it isn’t work to him.

As Emily Levanti says, “Calvetti’s is a magical place.”

A Michigan native, he had graduated from Wayne State University, then decided to go to University of Detroit School of Dentistry. That lasted one month. “I didn’t see myself staring into peoples’ mouths the rest of my life.”

After moving to Vero, he went through a succession of jobs. “I worked for the Sebastian Sun newspaper, sold cars and managed a night club in West Palm. He even tried his hand at multi-level marketing as a representative of NuSkin. It was at a time when just about everyone thought they would get rich with NuSkin. Eric actually did quite well, but he did not see it as a career.

He did manage to start dating a fellow NuSkin representative in 1991 though, Tami (T.C.) Calvetti.  She and her mother moved to Vero from Pekin, Illinois in 1983, where they both worked as hairdressers. Eric and T.C. dated three years while she dreamed of opening her own beauty shop. She had worked at Hairbenders and Great Cuts, developing a loyal following.

Gerber is a legend of entrepreneurship. Inc. Magazine called him “the world’s #1 small business guru.” He believes to flourish a small business must touch the lives of its employees, customers and even suppliers, not simply sell products and services.

Another business coach Eric and Tami have used is Michael Cole, who specializes in helping beauty salons achieve dramatic growth. According to Eric, “By 2005, Tami and I were both burned out, working seven days a week and talked about selling the business. But in talking with the people at Redken, I came to the realization that my problem was really one of confidence. I didn’t know how to take the company to the next level. They recommended Michael Cole and he came in once a month for about a year. In that time he taught me the business skills I needed to move ahead.”