 Matthew Landis, Author |
Image Studios is kind of like a warehouse. . . well, more like a high-end mall of small businesses with everything beauty related. You can have your hair done, tan, get a pedicure and finish off with a massage. Brothers Jason and Shaun Olsen developed Image Studios when they saw that many established hair stylists and beauty professionals were interested in starting their own business but lacked the resources and business background to get started. They are also co-owners of Prestman Auto. Image Studios has two locations in Salt Lake City and Draper, with another coming soon to Sandy.
I sat down with these two hot, brilliant men awhile back to get more insight into this awesome business. I have now become a part of myself because I love them so much.
Matthew: So where did this idea for Image Studios come from?
Jason: I have a lot of friend in the salon business – hairstylists. Talking with them, it always seemed like something was missing. They were getting nothing for their work or they were booth renting and weren’t getting support. They were paying a lot and getting nothing in return. Megan Oviatt (Manager, Image Studios Draper) is one of my best friends.
Matthew: Why hair salons? Was this something you came up with over drinks?
Jason: I was having dinner with Steve (Steve Petersen, current manager at Image Studios Salt Lake) and I was telling him about my idea. He said, “Why don’t you do it?” I said, “Maybe I will.” The next day I went to Shaun.
Shaun: I get to work and he tells me he wants to talk to me about something big and I think, “Well, maybe he’s invented a Snuggy or something, and I’m already thinking infomercials. . . “ Then he told me about it and I’m thinking, “A salon?” What are we doing in the hair business? Then the more I thought about it. . . I remember when the car business was dead and people were falling asleep at their desk. . . but Megan was booked three months out. . . and right then and there it made sense. No matter what, people won’t sacrifice beauty. That’s the first priority for people – looking good.
Matthew: Its funny because I still think there’s a stigma attached to being a hairdresser, but in times of recession like this last time, we fare a lot better than most businesses. We felt a small blip, I think, but nothing like the rest of the country.
Jason: For the good hairdressers it was just a small blip, I think.
Matthew: Absolutely. We felt a drop in retail, but not in services.
Shaun: It just made sense after we talked about. As weird as it was to think about a hair salon, in the end, for us, it’s a landlord/tenant relationship. I don’t have to know how to cut hair. I wash my hair with bar soap.
Jason: (laughing) Don’t publish that.
Matthew: You guys have been in business at Prestman Auto for how long? Is this your dad’s business?
Jason: Yeah. My dad, Cory Olsen, started it in 89. Shaun and I both moved out in here January of 2004 from Atlanta. Shortly after, my dad asked us to come and work with him. We worked on growing the business and it’s been fun, but it’s an up and down business directly tied to the market.
Matthew: So this business, Image Studios, felt like something more stable?
Jason: Yeah. It’s fun. You get to help someone become a business owner and then they. . . It’s exciting opening a business.
Matthew: So what’s been the best part of opening Image Studios so far?
Shaun: The different personalities. You learn everyone has their own needs and wants. Everyone is different.
Jason: I have this vision of just walking in and seeing everyone happy and successful. The people have been even more fun than I thought.
Matthew: Hairdressers are fun, right? We throw a slumber party every day. Not a bad way to make money.
Jason: We thought there’d be a lot of drama, but everyone is really professional and motivated so it’s amazing how that many people mesh so well together. I don’t think you’d find the same thing anywhere else.
Matthew: I think that’s also a testament to your leadership and the atmosphere you guys have created. People leave their jobs usually 
because the owner or the manager isn’t effective. If you watch Tabatha on Bravo, it’s always the owner or manager that is the problem. For example, I signed a lease for some stylists who were coming from a place where they had use a garden hose to wash their clients’ hair because the owner wouldn’t get the shampoo bowl fixed! On the flip side, being an owner is so stressful that it often takes the fun and creativity out of owning a business when you have to manage people. So what you’re creating is a way for people to own their business with minimal headache. That’s really cool. And the facility is out of this world.
Matthew: Now, since this is for The Gay Hot Spot, let’s get to the gay stuff. You are gay, Jason. Shaun, you are not.
Shaun: I bat for the other team.
Matthew: What’d you think when he came out? You guys used to party together, right? Bang chicks and all that?
Shaun: Yeah. Before I came out to Utah, Jason called me one night and said he had something to tell me. I was in Virginia at the time. I was thinking maybe he had cancer or something. He’s like, “I’m gay.” I laughed at first, but then it made sense. You’re really creative, artistic. You play the piano. . .
Matthew: Well, there you go.
Shaun: It was wild. Didn’t really phase me too much. I’m glad he’s gay. Gay people are some of the most non-judgmental, fun people, because they themselves are always under a microscope. It’s been awesome.
Jason: It’s great because everyone in the family has said that it’s another world that’s opened up to them, meeting all my friends.
Matthew: So Jason, what do you think about the term, “straight-acting”? I’m asking because you’re someone who might be described that way, and yet most of your friends are not people I would describe that way.
Shaun: (laughing) Queens.
Matthew: They’re really good friends of mine too. I call them the Super Gays.
Jason: I call them the Trunk Trannies (inside joke). Someone said to me the other day, “All your friends are crazy.” Every person I’m attracted to on a personal level is entertaining and fun. They love people. It’s always an experience. For me, being in the closet for so long, I had built up a façade to protect myself which is why I seem so “straight acting” – because I was hiding for a lot longer than friends of mine.
Matthew: You were banging chicks.
Jason: Yep. Banging chicks. I thought the more I did it, the straighter I would get. After awhile, my fear wasn’t so much about what people would think about me being gay, it was about the fact that I had lied to them for so long. A lot of people wished I had told them sooner because they felt bad that I felt the need to hide it for so long. But then they started doing the math and thinking about the past, and it all started to make sense for them.
What are you most looking forward to with Image Studios?
Shaun: Doing more.
Jason: We’d like to do as many as we can without losing the culture we’ve created. We wanna be able to keep attracting people like you who make it fun and interesting.
Matthew: As long as it’s still fun. Anything else you wanna add?
Shaun: I love gay people. I love hairdressers.
