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Jay Marshlick, owner of Greener Grass Hair Color and Designs, Inc., wins the Small Business of the Year Award at the 23rd Annual Small Business Awards Banquet at the Savannah Marriott Riverfront on Tuesday. Hunter McRae/Savannah Morning News
Jay Marshlick, owner of Greener Grass Hair Color and Designs, Inc., wins the Small Business of the Year Award at the 23rd Annual Small Business Awards Banquet at the Savannah Marriott Riverfront on Tuesday and recognizes his employees during his speech. Hunter McRae/Savannah Morning News
Joe Driggers, CEO of In the Know Marketing and Public Relations, wins the Entrepreneur of the Year Award at the 23rd Annual Small Business Awards Banquet at the Savannah Marriott Riverfront on Tuesday. Hunter McRae/Savannah Morning News
Tom Campbell, Benefits Representitive of Health Insurance Services, wins the Helen V. Head Small Business Advocate of the Year Award at the 23rd Annual Small Business Awards Banquet at the Savannah Marriott Riverfront on Tuesday. Hunter McRae/Savannah Morning News
Paul Kennedy, owner of Paul Kennedy Catering, wins the Hospitality Small Business of the Year Award at the 23rd Annual Small Business Awards Banquet at the Savannah Marriott Riverfront on Tuesday. Hunter McRae/Savannah Morning News
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Turnaround stories dominated the Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce Small Business Awards on Tuesday night, with two of four top awards going to businesses that went on to thrive after surmounting major business setbacks.
Greener Grass Hair Color and Designs Inc. was named Small Business of the Year, and Paul Kennedy Catering was named the Hospitality Small Business of the Year.
Tom Campbell, benefits representative of Health Insurance Services, was honored as the Helen V. Head Small Business Advocate of the Year, and Entrepreneur of the Year went to Joe Driggers of In the Know Marketing and Public Relations.
"You have to surround yourself with good people, and to get them you have to give," said Jay Marshlick, owner of Greener Grass.
The personal beauty industry is known for heavy turnover, and the business landscape is littered with salons that dissolved as a result.
Marshlick confronted this challenge three years ago and embraced a radically different business model to survive.
In 2006, four employees left to join a new, nearby competitor, putting a financial strain on the company and prompting Marshlick to adopt major changes.
The company implemented an apprenticeship program, keyed its compensation to increasing percentages as more time was invested with the company, and added both a health care and retirement plan.
The result?
In the past three years, Greener Grass has had a 100 percent employee retention program.
He embraced the concept of apprenticing new beauty school graduates in recognition of the education and mentoring he received earlier in his career, he said.
All of the nine hairdressers at his salon are employees with benefits, not independent contractors or renters of space.
"It's certainly an unusual business model in our industry," Marshlick acknowledged.
He told the audience of once being sneered at for studying to be "only a hairdresser" as he attended beauty school.
"That struck me, and I chewed on it and I would become a very good hairdresser and along the way, I became a pretty good businessman, too," he said.
Paul Kennedy Catering also survived business reverses. The business had just relocated when a major contract fell through almost four years ago - and nearly took the company with it. Today, Kennedy reports the business employs nine people and owns its building.
"When you're in trouble, there's only one place to go - to work," he said after being presented the award, as he and other winners were surrounded by well-wishers.
Campbell challenged the audience to become more active in community service, pointing to the advocacy records of this and previous years' winners.
Driggers, who also works full time for Goodwill Industries in marketing, started his PR business in late 2007.
The speaker for the event was Tony Marsella, president of Ranger Data Technologies, a software company dedicated to the newspaper industry. He focused on inspirational humor in what he termed the current "Golden Era of Negativity."
The trade show banquet was at the Savannah Marriott Riverfront and was preceded by a two-hour trade show featuring 81 exhibitors from the local small-business community.
Diana Morrison, of Advertising Specialty Services, is chairwoman of the Savannah Chamber of Commerce this year and has made small businesses the focus of her term's initiatives.
She unveiled a logo for the chamber's small-business segment.
Small Business of the Year
Jay Marshlick, owner, Greener Grass Hair Color and Designs Inc.
Greener Grass opened its doors in 1997 with five employees - that same year, Jay Marshlick become the first board-certified hair colorist in Georgia.
More than a decade later, Greener Grass and its staff of nine board-certified hair colorists moved to a 2,500-square-foot facility on White Bluff Road, which currently provides 14 jobs and experienced double-digit sales gross in 2008.
"One of the 30 Hottest Salons in the USA," Color and Style Magazine, and "Best Hair Salon," Savannah Magazine.
Helen V. Head Small Business Advocate of the Year
Tom Campbell, benefits representative,
Health Insurance Services
Campbell has been a speaker in the Smart Lunch Series and a captain of the Small Business Team, as well as a multiple-year participant in the Total Resource Campaign.
He is a member of Buy Local and the Small Business Chamber. He is a past president of the Small Business Chamber and presently serves on the board of directors.
For 10 years, Campbell was a Junior Achievement business consultant in the Advanced Economics Program at Windsor Forest High School. His student companies won numerous awards in the yearly system-wide Student Company of the Year competition.
Hospitality Small Business of the Year
Paul Kennedy, owner, Paul Kennedy Catering
The company opened in 2001, has grown 40 percent to 50 percent in the past three years, and has nine full-time employees.
Kennedy has been involved with the business community serving a two-year term as chairman of the Small Business Council, is a board member of the Tourism Leadership Council and the Convention and Visitors Bureau, serves on numerous advisory boards and committees, and is a member of several organizations.
Entrepreneur of the Year
Joe Driggers, CEO, In the Know Marketing and Public Relations
Driggers opened In the Know Marketing and Public Relations (ITK) at the end of 2007 while joining Goodwill Industries of the Coastal Empire as their director of marketing and development.
Driggers has been named one of the "40 Under 40" recipients and a "Mover-n-Shaker" in the entertainment industry, has been featured in Skirt, and was recognized in 2004 as a Southern Hero by Southern Linc for his involvement in the community.
He remains active on six nonprofit boards, serves on the city of Savannah's Cultural Affairs Commission, and is active in Asbury Memorial United Methodist Church.
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