Small business clipping along-CA Mom goes from welfare to hair clip empire

WHAT STARTED OUT as a way for Cindy Twomey to keep her young daughter’s hair from falling in her face has turned into a successful and growing business.

By Brian McClimans, BUSINESS WRITER Oakland Tribune

Twomey, 29, of Pleasanton started No Slippy Hair Clippy Inc. in September 2000, with her only customer, Sweetie Face in San Ramon, giving her about $100 a month in business. Now her business generates about $5,000 to $6,000 a month in sales, with the product sold at 85 stores in 13 states.

She said that she hopes to have about $200,000 in sales by the end of this year.

While Twomey isn’t getting rich off her home-based business, she is far ahead of where she was before that fateful day when someone discovered a hair clip she had created for her then 10-month-old daughter.

"Her hair was falling in her face and I was looking for something just to stay in her hair," Twomey said.

Most products Twomey found fell off and she was worried her daughter possibly would choke on the hair clips she purchased.

Prior to starting No Slippy Hair Clippy, Twomey was a single, stay-at-home mother, living on welfare. She had to care for her mother who was suffering from Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Twomey participated in the Women’s Initiative Self Employment program, which provided her with 14 weeks of training on drawing up a business plan, running a business, and finances.

"It’s designed for women who are low income, who want to start their own businesses," she said.

She is the company’s only employee and runs the business from a part of her father’s Pleasanton home. The dining room table has been converted to a work table.

She said she hopes to one day hire a staff and move into a true office setting. But she doesn’t want to grow too fast and spend too much money in the process.

"I expect to grow in a small business way," she said.

With some financial assistance from the Oakland Business Development Corp., help from the Small Business Administration, and some free legal representation, Twomey launched her business. Last summer she incorporated her business and has a patent pending on her core product.

"That will give us a lot of credibility," she said.

Her product, which retails for about $8, tweaks a standard hair clip by attaching a magnet, wrapping the clip in velvet cloth and adding a stylish design. The magnet and velvet help the clip stay in baby hair.

At first Twomey was making the hair clips for friends, but when she persuaded Sweetie Face to give the product a spot in the store she knew the product had sales potential.

"I figured out my target market was boutique stores," she said.

She said that she is now targeting shoe stores after a Stride Rite franchisee picked up her products.

She said children’s shoe stores order more often and help boost sales over the boutiques.

"You need a high volume for this to really be making a lot (of money)," she said.

Without a sales team early on, Twomey visited many Bay Area children’s boutique and clothing retailers. Most were small businesses, where she was able to deal directly with store owners.

"It was really easy for me to come in and talk from owner to owner," said Twomey, who figured 90 percent of the people with whom she talked liked her product.

She has since contracted with two sales representatives who help sell her products in Texas and the Midwest, California, Oregon and Washington.

Twomey changes her product line twice a year. She comes up with the designs on her own, one year in advance, using the latest fashion trends as a guide and attends industry trade shows in Los Angeles to get design samples.

"My customer is a higher-end customer," she said.

Originally, Twomey had to make the hair clips on her own, but with so many stores selling her product, she has to have them manufactured by another company in Stockton. Each clip takes about five minutes to make.

Twomey said she didn’t envision starting her own business when she graduated from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, in 1997 with a degree in nutrition.

Twomey also credits her daughter for providing the impetus to start her own business. "If I would never have had a girl, I would never have had a business," she said.

Twomey said that she hopes to launch other hair products so her customers can use them as they grow. Among her product ideas are hair ties and headbands, she said.

She has started selling one of her products to the public on the Internet ( http://www.hairclippy.com There are no plans to offer the entire product line on the Web because she doesn’t want to compete with her retailers. Retailers can order from her wholesale catalog over the Internet.

"As my daughter grows, my products will grow," she said.

Brian McClimans can be reached at (925) 416-4807 and [email protected] .

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