Marc Davis woke up alarmed. His heart fluttered. He was in a daze. He knew something was wrong but not quite sure. And then his wife told him he slept through his snooze button. Marc was confused because he never does that but he was reassured by the "I know something you don’t know" expression on his wife’s face that clearly said he inadvertently hit the "off" button instead of the snooze button.

We all know that feeling. It’s among the worse especially if your door bell is ringing and the person outside has his car running because he is picking you up to go to the airport.

I recall doing it at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills. I had an important breakfast meeting downstairs at 7:30AM. The phone rang at 7:45AM and when I awoke to the noise, I noticed the clock and knew I was cooked.

At the end however, the snooze is one of the best inventions of all times. Story has it that Lew Wallace invented the damn thing but we don’t how he profited from it. The story continues that he never used his own invention.

But I do. Every week day. I’m a "oncer" meaning I only use it once. I think my snooze button is 9 minutes and let me tell you, that’s among the best 9 minutes of the day.

I’m lucky. If I am dreaming something, I can go back into the dream after hitting the button. Sometimes I know instinctly while sleeping that the alarm is going to go off just a few seconds before it does (I hate that) because then I have to wait for the alarm to go off or else I can’t hit the snooze.

Marc Davis loves the snooze button. I’ll bet that it will be a long time before he hits the off button again. But for Marc, the worse case scenario is that he shows up a few minutes late to work out and get verbal abuse. But the good news is his heart rate is already elevated.

Happy Friday!

As you know, I’m a raving fan of downtown Detroit. I’m one of the few and one of the proud but there is nothing like a big town city for entertainment, dining and walking around. The problem is Detroit has never been a big town city but the shreds of hope….

….are shredding. Sweet Georgia Brown is the latest casualty of downtown Detroit but it’s demise isn’t because of the economy, it’s because of its owners, past and present. But more of that in a minute.

Compuware was the engine that brought life back into the city. Their new building with restaurants, shops and the new Campus Martius park were milestones. The old Hudson’s building was leveled, the streets were cleaned up, Comerica and Ford Field were bringing millions of fans downtown and the shred of hope was alive………

………and blossoming. Then Mayor Archer announced the Super Bowl, Final Four and then got the casino deal done. Up came MGM, Motor City and Greektown. The Tigers were in the World Series and life was good. Restaurants, night clubs and even Border’s opened up. People were walking the streets and the city even planted flowers on the sidewalks. In the summertime, you could see the blossoms……..

……….and more shreds of hope. Then Kwame came around and brought even more excitement into the city. In fact, he brought optimism. Much like Obama in his early days, Kwame was an enigma and we all thought he would finally be the one to make Detroit a big time city. But his scandal killed the blossoms……

……and shreds of hope went up in flames. Yes, we have a beautiful new Westin and Doubletree hotel and the MGM is perhaps one of the top city hotels in the US. But as I walk the streets I see a shift back to the old Detroit and it’s not good. Border’s is closing its store, the Woodward restaurant is gone, Greektown is a ghost of what is used to be and with GM in dire straits, its community focus is hurting big time……

……but we still must hope. Sweet Georgia Brown was a cool place to be seen, eat grand southern food and listen to the hip jazz band sipping martinis. The urban crowd was dressed to the max and you had to wait for a table. The food was good especially the deep fried lobster tail and sweet potato pie. Frank Taylor knew what he was doing. It was a real big city restaurant. And it’s gone…….

……and another shred of hope is gone. The school system is broken, the city is voting on a new mayor and the deficit is more than $300 Million all while the state is in its worse financial condition ever. I don’t know the future of downtown Detroit but I will continue to walk the streets and hope that one day the shreds of hope reappear.

Happy Thursday!

Who says Michigan is dead? We just landed two new film production studios, one taking over the old MGM Grand casino in which amounts to a $70M deal. The other is taking over an old GM plant in Pontiac for another $80M deal. With film production expanding in Michigan, we will need to provide more hairdressers, makeup artists and nail techs.

One of our Kemon Coaches, John Tarro, has already benefited from the new film business. Tarro has worked on nearly a dozen films already and says the work is fun and fulfilling. Better yet, he states that the actors love Kemon products. This is how buzz starts.

But film isn’t the only thing new to Michigan. Kemon Days, the signature event that has taken place in Italy for the past 15 years is making its first worldwide stop right here in Detroit.

Kemon Days is a networking, education and inspirational two-day event for top hairdressers looking to elevate their career. Hairdressers from all over Europe descend on Italy at the end of March. Now hairdressers from across the USA will descend right here this coming May 3-4.

Kemon Days will be held at the MGM Grand Hotel, one of only 3 AAA 4-Diamond properties. MGM features Immerse Spa (one of the top in the country); two Michael Mina restaurants and the Wolfgang Puck grill. The guest rooms are pure luxury.

The main event is all about hair and the Kemon Artistic Team from Italy will make its ways across the ocean to bring excitement and passion like never seen before. It will also feature the USA Kemon Artistic and Technical Team and plenty of time for networking, cocktails and dining.

I am truly excited about Kemon Days. One of our star beauty experts has already sold 75 tickets herself. With only 400 available the event will sell out before officially announced on March 1.

This is the kind of excitement Michigan needs if just one step at a time. Who knows, perhaps Kemon Days will make into one of the films being produced!

Happy Wednesday!

As Jimmy Buffett sings in his infamous song, Son of a son of a sailor, I am neither a jailer, lawyer or a banker.

Growing up in retail, I never developed a need to belong to a social network (SN). Further, I got married young, had kids young and working six days a week, I didn’t have any time for frivolous stuff. My social network in my 20’s included the few friends from high school and college I kept in touch with.

My friends on the other hand who turned into jailers, lawyers and bankers needed social networks to gain business. Golf, sporting events, concerts and the such were perfect for gaining acceptance. 

Today it doesn’t matter what your profession is and it doesn’t matter even if you work. People in their 20’s have hundreds and even thousands of "friends" on Facebook and other platforms. Business professionals are swarming to LinkedIn where you can learn just about anything and everything about anyone.

Every day I get invited to join someone’s SN. These invitations are from people I know but perhaps the last time we spoke was a month, year or decade ago. It used to be one had friends and acquaintances. Today, one has SN friends and the more, the better.

Like the chain letters of the past that assured riches if you passed them on to ten others, I’m not quite sure what the benefit is to belonging to a SN. Sure I’ve read about finding jobs, opportunities or getting feedback. But really, how much do you really want others to know about you?

Facebook is facing a huge lawsuit because it decided to list its members purchases made online. For instance, if you bought a diamond ring from Blue Nile, Facebook would let the world know that. How about that for keeping it a surprise from your girlfriend! Facebook members revolted and Facebook shut down the feature but still has to deal with the ramifications.

Let’s face it: we are all predictable. People follow the same pattern day-after-day and it’s the nuances that get us in trouble–Michael Phelps knows this better than anyone. SN’s thrive on nuances.

Sorry, I’m not going to join your group when invited. However if you want to chat, I know how to use email quite well.  

Happy Tuesday!

I always love to receive resumes from applicants ages 18-24 that want to be in the beauty business. They think of glamour, lights, action and cameras. They think of celebrities, fashion and press. And most importantly, they think it is fun and a cool thing to do.

While we are in the beauty business and the business of helping others look beautiful, the glamour has typically been reserved for Fashion Week. Fashion Week is the term for the week of fashion shoots, runway presentations and such by name brand designers. Fashion Week takes place in Paris, Milan, New York and LA.

Fashion Week happens twice a year for spring and fall and usually six months prior to the start of the season (Fall 2009 is already out). Invitation only, the editors of the fashion magazines along with hordes of photographers are there to alert the world of  upcoming collections.

Most of us learn the details in magazines such as Vogue, Allure and Glamour. We see celebrities and 16-year old models doing their thing. Women love this stuff and magazines are more than willing to give them all they need to see and know.

However, the recession has brought major changes to the beauty industry and at the end of the day, who really buys the clothes we see in the magazines? Certainly not the typical reader. But those that can throw down $25,000 and up on a Chanel dress or a Prada jacket are no longer wanting to be on the VIP list to be called when the clothes arrive. Hence, stores that cater to this crowd are down big time.

We also know that chains such as H&M dig this stuff and copy what they think is hot. And sure enough, they introduce "what’s hot" into their spring and fall collections.

But a funny thing is happening for the first time since fashion was invented. People no longer care about spring and fall as "tipping" points to buy clothes. This has fashion houses and retailers shaking because if this trend becomes permanent, the entire makeup of the industry will change.

Consumers are no longer swayed by an editorial feature. They have plenty of everything at home including shoes, handbags and cosmetics which all base their sales on seasonal releases.

It’s time to change consumer habits before they change them for good the wrong way. Those that figure this out sooner than later will around once this mess is over.

Happy Monday!