Meet Sally Olivas | Entrepreneur

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sally Olivas and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sally, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
I’m probably the biggest risk taker I know. As of right now my motto has been “I’m old enough to know better and young enough to start over”. The young part isn’t so true any more but with every venture whether I have succeeded or failed there has most definitely been some learning that will benefit MY NEXT BIG DEAL.. Before I start any venture I always look at it from every possible angle and I ask myself 3 questions. How much money will this business generate, How much money & time will this venture take to make it happen and I plan an exit strategy in case it does not work. If it’s not worth the risk, I don’t take it. The role risk has played in my life overall is that I truly don’t believe that anything lasts forever therefore you have to be ok with moving on and possibly reinventing yourself and start over. Life is good and it’s short. I choose to work only in ventures that I’m passionate about and that I wake up and look forward to my day.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
My hopes were to build a Franchise-able concept for The La La Spa and get as many services that would meet every woman’s needs into 1400 square feet. Our spa offers Eyelash Extensions, Facials, Body Contouring, Hair Services including Hair Extensions, Manicure, Pedicure, Nails & Body wraps & scrubs. The La La Spa is more than just a place where women come to get beauty services. Our clients leave here not only looking more beautiful but they automatically become a La La Girl (sisterhood) by just walking in the door. They feel comfortable enough to share their good, bad & ugly of their daily lives and because we have all been there or done that we all join in on colorful, objective conversations that look at their situations from all perspectives and they leave here feeling empowered, motivated and encouraged. My husband asked me “Why do yall talk so much shit?” I said look, if they come in with problems we help solve them and of course sometimes we help cause some too. LOL I’d love to tell you that running a spa is easy but to be real honest with you, it’s the hardest venture I’ve put my hands too. This is a woman’s spa, run by women for women and what do you get when you get allot of women together. Yes, you get drama, hormonal, moody, and did I mention crazy? That’s just the staff now bring in the clients that are all that too and trying to make everyone beautiful and happy is not always easy. We’ve only been in business for 18 months and I’m most proud that we are still here in spite of Covid. Due to Covid we were closed down for 2 months still having to pay rent and 4 days after we were allowed to open our shopping center flooded and we were under 4 inches of water ruining so much of our property & spa. We closed for another month and have done an amazing job in getting back to business. The challenges we face today are trying to grow a business while some people are still afraid to come in because of Covid or perhaps they have lost their jobs and their beauty services are not a priority. We have made the adjustments to our marketing to offer more affordable services without compromising quality and we are over serving the clients that show up. If they show up we show out. We realize that our clients have a choice in where they receive their beauty services and we are so thankful that they choose THE LA LA SPA. They are the reason we look forward to coming to work everyday.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Since I’m a big outdoor nut so are most of my friends. What I love about where I live is that it’s a choice to live here. Covid may have changed allot about how we go about doing things but overall it’s also simplified allot of things. Regardless of what the weather is if we go out to eat I love to eat at restaurants that have outdoor seating. I love to ride my mountain bike in the trails surrounding the Brazos River minutes from my home in Sugar Land. I love to play golf at different golf clubs and the beach is only 45 min drive. Houston has so much to offer in the way we live, love and work. Why would you want to live anywhere else?

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My better half Robert Stachowiak totally deserves a shout out for all he does in the way of emotional support & rolling up his sleeves to get into the ugly part of making things happen. When I dare to dream big he’s there to inspire me, when I doubt he’s there to reassure me and when I fail, he’s there to restore me. This is what “Ugly Success” looks like. It’s the muscle needed to lift and move things that I just can’t do. It’s the shoulder to lean on when things are just not what you thought they would be, after the spa flooded he re-rolled the painted floor 4 times just to get it to where I thought it worked. He is truly my wing man and I love him.

Website: www.thelalaspa.com
Instagram: thelalaspa
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thelalaspa