As Tevya Finger and Daniel Kaner, co-presidents ofOribe Hair Care, worked to build their own brand, they talked with some of the country's leading salon owners and began to identify those who excelled in certain business practices. Carefully making mental notes of these unsung heroes, they decided to feature them during the Owner's Forum of the Backstage Las Vegas styling event held in Vegas earlier this year. 

Tevya Finger and Daniel Kaner with Stacey Soble
As Co-Presidents and Founders of Oribe Haircare, Tev Finger and Daniel Kaner take us behind the scenes of the Owner's Forum at Oribe Backstage and how they recruited salon owners to share their success strategies with their peers.

"To me, the most valuable learning often comes from people who practice what they preach-who actually use these strategies daily and understand, from experience, what works and what doesn't," says Finger. "Here at Oribe, we deal with the country's top echelon of salon owners, and they all have developed practices they know work really well. Who better to teach salon owners that the owners themselves?"

While the creative jam drew more than 1,000 hairstylists, the Owner's Forum sought some quieter space on the second day, so the 200 salon owners in attendance could gather and focus on business practices. During the forum, Khiem Hoang of Umbrella Salon in San Jose, California, took the stage to explain how he built his own iPhone app to help drive traffic to his salon and create a community among his clientele. Sandy Poirier, owner of Boston's Shag salon, share how he's using social media, including Twitter and Facebook, to promote his salon. And, Jack and Joelle Ray of Samuel Cole Salon in Raleigh, North Carolina, detailed their forward-thinking compensation strategies and how to deploy them. As an added bonus, the Rays gave away an in-salon business review session, valued at $3,000, to one lucky salon owner.

Khiem Hoang with Stacey Soble
As the owner/manager of Umbrella Salon in San Jose, California, Khiem Hoang shares how he developed his own iPhone App to drive traffic to his salon and how other salons can incorporate the technology for a similar competitive advantage.

Sandy Poirier with Stacey Soble
The owner of Boston's Shag Salon describes how he's using social media, including Facebook and Twitter, to promote his salon's products and services and build a community with his clientele.

Jack and Joelle Ray with Stacey Soble
Husband and wife owners Jack and Joelle Ray, of Raleigh's Samuel Cole Salon, walk us through their forward-thinking compensation and employee management strategies.

The idea of having owners share with other owners led to one of the most-talked about sessions of the entire event. And it helped lead to another great idea. Why not spread those ideas further by inviting these owners to do a podcast with SALON TODAY? So, we not only talked to Finger and Kaner about the inspiration behind the Owners' Forum, we talked to each one of these presenters about the ideas they presented onstage. Listen to one or listen to them all by clicking on each podcast.

"This type of learning is very honest, and when you're dealing with an all-star class like the one at Owners' Forum, everyone expects dynamic learning in a fresh format," says Finger. "We're trying to give owners what they want, and in a new format that will challenge them as much as us."

For more Oribe action, click here to see a video about the Oribe Backstage event in Vegas, and click here to read Maggie Mulhern's blog about the event.

Stacey Soble has been involved in the conversation of salon business for 14 years-as a reporter, a consultant and as the editor in chief of SALON TODAY.

Read Stacey Soble's Blogs