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Join us for our Annual National Convention in April 2024
Larry Brooks Memorial Scholarship Program
The NBTSG is proud to announce the Larry Brooks Memorial Scholarship Program. Larry Brooks, the founder of our organization, passed away in 2017. He, along with his wife Linda, his son Dennis and daughter-in-law Tonya, set up the National Beauty Tool Sharpeners Guild in 2009. The main value and basic premise of the NBTSG was the education and training of quality sharpeners.
To honor Larry Brooks and continue in the spirit of the organization the board of directors has established a way that any member in good standing can be eligible to be awarded free admittance to the annual convention on Saturday & Sunday and attendance at Guild workshops of their choice during pre-convention activities on Friday.
NBTSG Founder Larry Brooks at the 2011 Convention in St Louis, MO.
2019 LBM Scholarship Winner
Award Winning Entry by Jerry Brown
I am a new member of the National Beauty Tool Sharpeners Guild and I am so excited about the opportunity to spend time with dedicated, enthusiastic and engaged members of a profession. In today’s self-focused world, it is very inspiring to see excited people sharing professional ideas, techniques and procedures with each other.
I sold products in the Salon Industry for over 30 years, done numerous tours with the Army Reserve in the Middle East. I started my sharpening business in January 2018 after 2 weeks of training with a Master Sharpener in Atlanta. I had just quit my sales job at Comcast, looking for less stress and more autonomy.
I ran my business for 9 months before reporting to Fort Bliss for training for my current deployment. In those 9 months, my goal was to pay the bills while I discovered what would work, what would not work and the work tasks that are critical to success in a salon sharpening business.
Based on my limited knowledge, I noticed that cold calling in a salon will get you some business today. Salon 123 has 8 stylists but only 5 are working on the day you pop in. An average stylist has probably 5 pairs of scissors. That means that I have a chance of sharpening 25 scissors out of 40 scissors in that salon. That’s only 62.5% of the business opportunity in that salon. I need to find an efficient low-cost way to communicate with every one of those 8 stylists to let them know I will be there. I can be far more profitable for getting more of those 40 shears on that visit If I sharpen 2 scissors for Meaghan at Salon 123, I had 40% of her potential business.
After she pays, I need a low cost and efficient manner to thank her for her business, ask her for suggestions on how to serve her, and most importantly, stay in touch with her .Young people today chat, text , email and use Social media to communicate with each other. Pharmacies text when a prescription is ready for pick up, restaurant’s text when your seat is available and companies e-mail new product offers, coupons and scheduling invitations to their customers. In todays world, these services enhance the professional image of your business, setting you apart from your competition still doing the unannounced pop in.
It would be extremely helpful to me and my business if the NBTSG would explore customer sales applications that can record all my customer info to send postcards, emails, thank you notes, scheduling invitations, text messages and keep track of Facebook reviews. I understand these apps can also track expenses, write and send invoices along with other helpful tasks.
Thank you.
2018 LBM Scholarship Winner
Award Winning Entry by Joe Gomez
As an organisation which sets the standards for those operating in the industry, I recently invested in my development by joining the NBTSG. The skills of people within the Guild is extensive and I am impressed by their drive to share knowledge, experience and connect with other sharpeners.
Therefore initially, my intention is to leverage these resources in an ongoing journey to become the best sharpener I can be, a trusted advisor to my clients and accomplished business operator. In particular, I will be taking advantage of the training and networking opportunities.
In the medium term, I would like to make valid contributions to the organisations educational program by being an active member of the Guild. Long term, my goal would be to “pay it forward” within the community and assist those who are seeking to gain a foothold within the industry. Prior to becoming a full time sharpener, I held senior roles within global organisations. I have served on Advisory Boards for global industry bodies and European Law Enforcement agencies. I was honoured to lead organisational change initiatives, coach and mentor. My experience is something I am happy to share in working with the NBTSG, to assist in delivering the goals and objectives of the organisation.
Dennis Brooks (L) and Joe Gomez (R) at the 2018 Convention in Nashville, TN.
Larry Brooks Memorial Scholarship Fund
Fundraising results for 2019
Thanks to the generosity of our vendors the silent auction raised $552.00 for the Larry Brooks Memorial Scholarship at the 2019 Convention in Nashville, TN. Additionally, our members donated over $50.00 by placing loose change and small bills into the donation basket, plus a number of our certification judges donated all or part of their judging stipend throughout the year.
The Awards committee is also looking for new committee members to help manage the scholarship program and volunteers to help with the Member Swap Meet and Silent Auction at the 2020 Convention. Awards committee members cannot be a board member or a member of the membership committee and are ineligible from applying for the scholarship.
Anyone who would like to assist with the 2020 Convention would be most welcome. Please contact us at info@nbtsg.org for more information on how you can help or make a donation to the scholarship fund.
