My Fat Assets

A long time ago when making a living was far far from my mind , I accidentally found myself starting a business.
It was months before graduation
My girlfriend was getting her hair cut , and the semi-guy working on her hair jokingly asked me if I wanted to go into the beauty business. Specifically , a small beauty salon.
A beauty salon!?!?! heehee maybe a gym or a bar , but a beauty salon??
I dismissed it at once
I couldn’t exactly picture myself holding a brush in one hand and a hairdryer in the other

At home , my mom thought it was a great idea.
She argued that I’d just put up the money and manage the salon , I wont’ be in the front lines shampooing ladies’ hair
Hmmm…..I suspected she saw an opportunity to keep me busy and stay out of trouble while having her hair and nails done for free at the same time.
The more I thought about it , the better it sounded.
The hairdresser was popular with the students in town and was more than willing to be a partner in the salon.
I had money from the Yamaha I had just sold.
I even saw a great location for the salon on a busy avenue
Fate? Beginner’s Luck? Whatever ! Let’s do it!

I was now a businessman!
I got the paperwork moving. I needed permits from the mayor , leaking fire extinguishers from the fire department , and bookkeepers.
After a mind numbing argument with the smart people from the DTI , I now had a name for my salon - Mane Cut
By the way  dear blog readers, if your wondering why my real estate company has such a generic name , you can thank the good people at DTI for that.

Now back to my story -
I had to admit that at the time , I was quite shy about promoting my …ahem…beauty business.
But despite my hang-ups , the salon’s opening was a success.
In 6 months I got my money back instead of the 1 year I had projected.
Now that it was a success , I began spending a lot of time at the salon micro-managing and generally making a nuisance of myself.
But this management style quickly changed when I overheard one of the customers pointing to me and asking the hairdresser if I was his boyfriend
I believe that was the last time I set foot at the salon during open hours again.

A few months later , I started in the real estate business.
The salon was doing well without my help and continued to do well for years.
I became busy with my projects and barely paid attention to the salon.
One day , my partner the hairdresser proposed that he buy me out of the business.
The salon had given me a steady income over the years without any help so I decided to give him my share of the salon for free.

Looking back , I get a kick out of how small the day to day problems of running a small beauty salon were.
When the biggest emergency were rushing to Hortaleza’s Cubao to buy beauty products if we suddenly ran out.
It’s recession proof , everybody needs a haircut or their nails done
I doubt the government will issue restrictions on hot oil treatments and change policies on the conversion of curls to straight hair.

I smile whenever I pass by the place
I’m sure I’ll be looking for a small business to keep me busy when I retire someday.
…….why not……….?