Welcome to All About Hair with Danise...where beautiful hair is just the beginning.
I'm Danise, a hairstylist, educator, and salon owner with more than 30 years in the beauty industry. After owning four award-winning salons, I never imagined I'd build another one...until now.
Join me as I document the real journey of creating Panache & Company from the ground up. From finding the perfect location and designing the salon to hiring a team, mentoring stylists, serving clients, and navigating the unexpected, you'll hear the honest conversations that happen behind every milestone.
Whether you're a client looking for trusted hair advice, a stylist building your career, or a salon owner growing your business, you'll find practical education, inspiring stories, and real-life lessons from behind the chair and beyond.
New episodes feature: • Behind-the-scenes salon building • Hair education and healthy hair tips • Business and leadership insights • Stylist career development • Client transformations • Honest conversations about entrepreneurship and life
We got the lease we were waiting for, and it should have been the final step toward opening Panache & Company. Instead, it stopped us cold. After months of planning a new salon location, picturing the natural light, and lining up build-out bids, our attorney read the document and said the words no founder wants to hear: do not sign this as written. That gap between the letter of intent and the actual commercial lease is where a dream can get expensive fast.
We walk you through what changed, why leases often come in far more landlord-protective than expected, and how to think like a tenant who needs to survive for the long term. We unpack real clauses that can quietly shift massive risk onto a small business owner, including personal guarantees, signage rights, operating requirements that can dictate your hours, and default language that can snowball if anything goes sideways. If you are opening a salon, leasing retail space, or negotiating your first commercial lease, this is the kind of checklist you want before you sign.
We also get honest about the emotional trap of falling in love with a location and how having a fallback space keeps you from negotiating out of desperation. If you want more real-time updates as we work through the lease and keep building the salon, subscribe, share this with a friend who is signing a lease, and leave a review. What is the one lease term you would never agree to?
I really thought we were getting close to signing the lease for Panash and Company. So many of you have reached out to me, congratulating me. And I didn't mean to like say something that was wrong. We had agreed on the major business terms. We signed the letter of intent, and the lease did finally arrive. And then our attorney read it and said, do not sign this. So today I want to talk about what happens when the dream location starts bumping up against the realities of a commercial lease.
Welcome to All About Hair with Denise. This is where we talk about hair, confidence, and why a good hair day can seriously change your whole mood. It's like hanging out and chatting about life, feeling good, and loving your hair. No pressure, no perfection. So grab your coffee, settle in, and let's talk about loving your hair and yourself a little more. Okay, guys, um, this week has been such a roller coaster. First of all, I want to thank you for being here. And you know, this journey is crazy. Thank you, thank you for so many people who have reached out. I have had like four or five people reach out wanting to find out more about working at Panash and Company. Thank you. And I cannot wait to make that reality. I've had a lot of people reach out and just say congratulations, lots of people in the industry. It just goes to show that um this is meant to be, okay. However, there's a little snag, and I just kind of want to go through it with you without giving too much away because I don't want to get in trouble either, because this is legal stuff. But we had signed the letter of intent, and basically we agreed on uh basic terms, okay? And we really thought we were getting close. And we and they did say the lease would arrive on Wednesday, and it did, arrived a week ago, and we sent it directly to our attorney to review it, and we had an appointment with our attorney on Friday. And the first thing he said was, You do not want to sign this lease. Not as it's written. So, you know, love and the location, I guess, and love and the lease are two very different things.
So let me just kind of back up and tell you and kind of set the scene of what's been going on, okay. We have been basically for months looking at this location, months, the floor plan, the um all the research of stations and uh just stuff, right? And the design work was already started. We had our construction company already getting bids, the pricing was underway, getting ready for the final kind of you know, sign on the dotted line. And there's a lot of emotional investment in the space. My goodness, I really was have been picturing our salon right there, you know, with all the natural light and the windows and the space, and it's right next to, you know, a market that people go in and out of all day long. And when we finally came to terms with the letter of intent, I thought the major issues were settled. I really did. I thought that um bringing the lease in, yeah, that's just a formality. So really what caught me off guard was that the lease was much more detailed and much more landlord protective than the letter of intent was. Okay, now come on. This is my fifth rodeo, right? I know that a lease has a lot of legal mumbo jumbo in there, and I know that. And yes, I've read leases before and I've coached to people about leases, but it just kind of took me by surprise, I guess, because there were terms and requirements that we had not really discussed at all before. And it just felt a little different when it was written in a legal document. And it just kind of felt, I don't know, harsh. And it made made us both realize, my husband and myself, that this lease uh it really does put the tenant at risk if you un if we would just sign on the bottom line and not read through it with a fine-tooth comb. And it makes me think how many people have done this, right? Because you get excited and you just want it to be over. Trust me, I'm one of those people. I just want to start the fun stuff, right? Get this lease action out of the way. But we went on Friday afternoon, met with our attorney, and uh when we got there, we were really just expecting, you know, a minor review of it and and cleaning up the language because that's what's happened in the past. But instead, he the very first thing he said was, I strongly advise you against signing this as it's written. In fact, he said, I am gonna recommend you bringing it to a commercial lease specialist attorney that represents the the tenant and the tenant's best interest. And it's just like, holy cow, how much is that gonna cost, right? This isn't just paperwork. This is going line by line. It's like 50 pages. Um and I know he's not there to kill the deal, right? The the our attorney's there to show us, show us the that the risk that we might not see up front. I mean, that's what they're there for. They're they're there to protect you, right? So some of the things that they were questioning without getting too legal, and because I don't want that to give away anything that any negotiating strategy or anything, I'm not gonna give away too much,
okay? But I do want to tell you um, you know, some examples. So in case you're going through the process of signing your first lease or your fifth lease, that that things that you might not have considered. Okay, the personal guarantees. Now, most landlords are going to want some kind of personal guarantee because that protects them. So let me explain it this way. So, say you're brand new to business and brand new LLC, you set up your LLC thinking, okay, I'm a business now, it's gonna protect me, right? They're still gonna want a personal guarantee to some point, because maybe your LLC has 10 bucks in the bank, right? And if they, if you're guaranteeing that the business is, you know, that you're gonna pay your rent and all that stuff to the LLC, and for something, something happens and you don't pay your rent, and then the LLC's responsible because you form an LLC to protect yourself, right? I and the LLC has nothing in it, that's as far as they can get. So they want a personal guarantee, at least, and I get it, at least for a couple of years. Okay. And then it should burn off. After you do your due diligence and pay in your bills on time and and you are show that you're a good tenant, it should naturally burn off after like 24 to 36 months, and then you're not personally guaranteed anymore that the LLC is then guaranteeing that the business, because hopefully you've built the LLC. I know this is a lot. Anyway, make sure you're looking at what your personal guarantee is saying, okay, because you don't want to be held responsible for forever, because they can take everything. Everything, if for some reason, say another COVID came. Lord, hopefully not, but and you couldn't be in business, you would still be held personally responsible for paying that lease, even if you couldn't have your business up and running. So just make sure you look at that. Make sure you look at your signage rights. Uh, make sure that um what you're thinking so that you're both speaking the same language, that if you think that you're getting a sign put in at the, you know, like at the street level, that you know, see what that's all about. Because sometimes that's not in there. We don't, in this case, we we don't have to worry about that because there's not a sign at the street. But I've been places that there's a sign at the street, and you definitely want your your um company name on that signage because cars go by there all the time. They need to know what's in that shopping center if you're in a shopping center, right? Okay. Uh what about operating requirements? Are they putting a time limit on when you can be open or when you can be closed? If you are signing a lease within a shopping mall, I know there's not a lot of, you know, indoor shopping malls in the world anymore, but um, that's typically where you'll see that is because if the shopping mall is open, like, I don't know, nine to nine, seven days a week, they can say that you need to be open nine to nine, seven days a week, too. Because they just don't want closed tenants all throughout the shopping mall. That should not um be required of a freestanding retail space or like a shopping center, because everybody has their own hours of doing business. So take a look at that. You also want to take a look at um what happens if you do default? Like what happens if you can't make your payment, uh, your lease payment, what happens? Does it uh do you get a big fine? Do can they just say that you're in default and take over, shut down your business? You know, see what happens. Make sure that it's not compounding. Just make sure you know what's going to happen if for some reason you can't make your rent. Then there's there were things in there too, like responsibilities that weren't they weren't clearly addressed in the letter of intent. Make sure that you're looking at everything in that lease. Because what if what happens if something goes wrong? You need to know what your rights are. And 100%, who carries the financial risk if something does go wrong? Okay. This should be an agreement between a landlord and a tenant. And think about it, it is a relationship that you're going, you're gonna be in for a very long time. It depends on the terms of your lease. But five years, seven years, ten years, twenty years, I don't know, but it is a relationship. And if you can't agree at the very beginning, imagine how terrible that relationship is going to go, right? Now, some of these provisions, they may be completely normal in commercial leases, and I get it. But normal doesn't automatically mean that they're right for our business, okay? All right.
I want to tell you about the emotional side of this because it's kind of been a long weekend, to tell you the truth. Because I can really picture Panach and Company being in this space. I really wanted this location. I really want this location. It's not past tense. We're still talking. Um mentally, I've already moved into that space. I mean, I've had my contractors, you know, giving me estimates, and uh we've been through this space I don't know how many times. But let me tell you, an emotional attachment can be really dangerous when you're negotiating a lease. You have to be willing to walk away from something that you love if the deal doesn't protect the business you're trying to build. Okay. Okay. I do have a fallback position. We are looking at another space, a couple of spaces, actually. And why? Why is this? Well, first of all, I don't want to negotiate our lease from you know a position of desperation. I don't want them to think, oh, I love this, I want this, I have to have this. There's no, you know, Panache can't be anywhere else. No, we're not desperate to open it up in a certain location. We want to open it up. Um, and sometimes, you know, second best is it's okay. And another option gives us perspective of what we're really doing. Plus, you know, build-out costs somewhere else might actually be less expensive or more expensive or just different. I just really need to look at that. And also, if you have options, then you can actually make rational decisions instead of an emotional one. Um we've really had that conversation this weekend. You know, we got to take the emotions out of it. It is business. Business is business. And yes, do we want to bring this to our community? Do we want to bring this salon to our community? Do we think it's gonna really take off and really be a success and really work and give Williamsburg a salon experience like they haven't experienced before? Yes, yes, to all of that, but we still have to be rational about the legalities of it.
So here's what I'm learning, and this is what I've been learning. I guess I've been toying with it, you know, since for almost a week now. Um, letter of intent's not the lease. Yeah, I thought the letter of intent was the hard part. Nope. And just because it was discussed, some of the things doesn't mean that they include it in the lease. You have to have it in writing. And when it's in writing, you need to read everything, every line of that lease. And yes, hire the right attorney. They, I know it's the attorneys cost a lot of money, but they will save you in the long run. Okay. They'll save you a lot of money. And you need to ask questions. Okay. And we're what we're doing right now is going through the process of asking the questions before we spend thousands more dollars on redlining this lease, meaning taking a red magic marker and crossing out all the things we don't want in it. We want to actually have a talk with the landlord and say, hey, is this supposed to be in there? Because we never discuss this or whatever. Okay. And we just need to slow the roll. We just slow things down just a little bit so we don't get emotional about it. It's just business. And we need to protect the business, even though we haven't even opened the doors yet. Okay. So this is where things stand right now. We still love this location. Okay. We still want the deal to work. We're just asking for clarification before moving into a full legal red line with a different attorney. Okay. We're also keeping another option open. And nothing's final yet. Okay. I just don't want to overshare too much of the the legalities and the legal details. So I just want you to remember that opening a salon, it's not just about choosing the colors and ordering the furniture and even though that's kind of fun. Um, but sometimes building this dream, it's really about protecting it before the doors even open up. Okay. Hopefully, hmm. The next update is that we've worked through the lease and we're moving forward. But you never know,
right? I can tell you that this week we are going to Atlanta. We're going to Minerva, the showroom there, and taking a look at salon furniture. Uh, we're gonna sit in it all, you know, sit in the chairs, make sure they're comfy. We're gonna lay down in the shampoo bowls. Not in the bowls, in the chairs with our head in the shampoo bowl. You know what I mean. Anyway, we're gonna look at the colors of the wood, of the materials. It's gonna be fun. I've never done that before. I've always wanted to do that. And then um we uh we're gonna be in Atlanta and then we're gonna go see Hamilton. Yay! Uh if you guys haven't seen the Hamilton, and if you don't know it, I'm a Hamilton nut. Our whole family is. I think this is gonna be the fifth time we're seeing it live. It's so crazy, but we love it. But um anyway, thanks for tuning in. Thanks for listening, thanks for my rambling. I know this isn't what you wanted to hear. You probably wanted to hear, hey, I got the keys. Trust me, I wanted to hear that too. But, you know, if we don't have the least sign, I'm gonna bring you along for whatever's coming next. Maybe I could tell you about this, this other space, other two spaces I'm looking at. And um, who knows? You know, like I always say, when you know better, you do better.
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