The Champion in You J

ill Ellingson Krahn and Jodi Ellingson are about as ubiquitous as you can be in Fargo-Moorhead. You’ve probably seen the twin sisters’ faces and beautifully coifed blond hair gracing magazine covers through the years. You’ve probably read countless articles recounting their success as salon and business owners. And you might already know that these sibling entrepreneurs have been nominated for just about every business award given in the metro, including a nomination this year for the Chamber’s prestigious Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

Jill and Jodi own and operate five businesses — among them, the hugely successful Hair Success Salon and Spa in two Fargo locations and The Salon Professional Academy (TSPA), a cosmetology school they’ve franchised into 40 locations across the country. Since opening the first Hair Success salon in 1984, the twins have worked tirelessly to bring folks in

Fargo-Moorhead the next big thing in cosmetology.

“We always look for voids,” Jill said. “Such as acupuncture facials. That’s the new wave of skin care.”

So it may come as a surprise to learn that one of the biggest voids the Ellingsons stumbled upon was happening right in their own cosmetology school.

“We found a big gap between what schools were giving and what salons needed and what the guests needed,” Jill explained, adding that students were being taught the basics of cosmetology and business but lacked interpersonal skills that would help them communicate with clients. “We realized that when we started the Academy these kids needed more confidence and self esteem, more direction on what respect looks like and how it feels.”

Two years after opening The Salon Professional Academy, and on the cusp of franchising it, the sisters were compelled to totally revamp their teaching philosophy.

“We were forced to change it based on what we were seeing,” Jodi said. “When we opened, we were known for our education. I mean, we have people direct from Redken in New York City training our students, but as we got into doing it we discovered that the young people had no confidence.”

“They would get an inch away from success but would quit just before they got there,” Jill added.

So the sisters decided to create a new curriculum that included what the Ellingsons have dubbed ‘discover skills.’

Now, students at TSPA are not only taught beauty school basics, but also communication skills such as engaging, listening, and relating with guests. Instructors also work hard to develop a student’s confidence and self-respect, and to give students life lessons they can implement when they get their first salon jobs.

Jill and Jodi believe that through mastering these discover skills, students will be empowered to find the champion within themselves.

“Everyone’s got one, and it looks different for every person. So we want to help people find their own personal champion,” Jill stated.

“It’s kind of unique. We started thinking about what’s best for that person first (whether it’s students or clients), not what’s best for us or our business first,” Jodi explained. “Once we learned that, our students learned that, and they’re better employees and better to guests. We learned that backwards though!”

Being the dynamic visionaries they are, Jill and Jodi are turning that learning experience into another of faith. They have developed their discover skills training curriculum into a standardized software platform that can be used by any customer servicerelated business to train its employees. The curriculum is applicable to salons, sandwich shops, even shoe stores — essentially, any business where guest services is crucial to making a sale.

For Jill and Jodi, this newest venture is proof that finding your own champion works. These twin sisters believe in themselves, believe in each other, and believe that they can accomplish whatever they set their minds to.

And, it goes to show that there is something you may not know about a couple of Fargo-Moorhead’s most famous faces. And that’s just the way Jill and Jodi like it. [AWM]