Photo courtesy of Brooke Qualls.
Small business owners gather at Aldridge Gardens in late September for the first meeting of the Hoover Small Business Alliance.
A Hoover hair salon owner has formed a new organization to help small businesses grow and prosper.
In September, Traci Fox, the owner of T. Fox SalonSpa Aveda on Valleydale Road, launched a group called the Hoover Small Business Alliance.
Fox said she has watched many small businesses struggle through the COVID-19 pandemic and wants to pull business owners together so they can learn from one another and share tips and advice to be more successful.
She said she has been a small business owner for more than 20 years who has been through struggles and believes she can use her trials and the trials of others to help others make it through difficult times, too.
“I know how challenging it can be to not only survive and stay open and be profitable, but to thrive,” Fox said. “I’m very passionate about small businesses.”
She wants to pull small business owners together every other month for a gathering where they can learn from one another.
The first event was in September, when about 25 to 30 people gathered at Aldridge Gardens to hear from Gordie Stewart, the former owner of Hoover Toyota who now is running his own ad agency called Lot 22 Media in Cahaba Heights. Stewart shared marketing and social media tips. The group also heard from Bill Powell, a former longtime executive director for the Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce, who talked about the importance of small businesses.
A second gathering at Aldridge was Nov. 17, featuring Krista Conlin Robinson, who runs her own public relations firm called KC Projects. Robinson talked about small business branding.
The beauty of the Hoover Small Business Alliance is that there are no dues to be a part of it, no cost to attend the events and not a lot of time commitment, Fox said.
“As a small business owner, you don’t have time, and you don’t have a lot of money,” she said.
It’s hard to pull away from your business to go to networking events because many business owners don’t have people to take care of things while they are gone, she said. But it’s helpful to pull away occasionally and learn new ideas for running a business, she said.
The gatherings are not meant to compete with chambers of commerce, Fox said. She’s an active member of both the Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce and The Shelby County Chamber and strongly supports both, she said.
But the Hoover Small Business Alliance is targeted strictly for small businesses because they have certain needs that larger corporations don’t, Fox said.
Powell said what Fox is trying to do is a positive thing — just help others who face similar issues. He heard several good ideas from Stewart during his talk in September, including information about how small businesses can effectively use social media to advertise.
The gatherings also are a good way for small business owners to meet other people who may be able to assist them, Powell said.
T. Fox SalonSpa Aveda
Fox opened her first salon called Tangles in Sumiton in 2000. Her family moved to Hoover in 2007 to be in the Hoover school system, and she opened a second salon called T. Fox Salon in 2009. She ended up selling Tangles and in 2015 rebranded her new salon as T. Fox SalonSpa Aveda with a stronger tie-in with Aveda products.
During the early days of the pandemic, she had to shut down her business for two solid months, she said. However, she was able to rebound and ended up having a record year in 2020, she said.
T. Fox SalonSpa Aveda was named the 2016 Small Business of the Year by the Greater Shelby Chamber of Commerce and in 2020 was named one of the top 200 salons in the nation by Salon Today. This year, the salon was named a finalist for Small Business of the Year by the Chamber of Commerce Association of Alabama and Business Council of Alabama.
One key to success is having the ability to pivot and change as circumstances change, Fox said. “I think we can help each other and share our ideas.”
The alliance plans to meet again from 8 to 9 a.m. on Jan. 26 at the Alabama Baptist Children's Homes and Family Ministries office at 2681 Rocky Ridge Lane.
To learn more about the group, email hooversmallbusinessalliance@gmail.com or visit the Hoover Small Business Alliance on Facebook.
