Jim Petrillo

The 5 Values of Growing a Family Business

Principal of Be Aveda Institutes & Chair of American Association of Cosmetology Schools

Read the Transcript

Warning: Strong language

Thank you, thank you, and hello everyone and happy Earth Day. I hope you’ve enjoyed the day.

I’m truly honored to be here. Chris and Oozle, thank you for the invite. I just want to go on record to say that this ain’t easy, talking to a virtual audience, so good job by all the other presenters today for your work and your inspiration.

I’m going to share with you the five F-bombs that have become the guiding principles of how I grew up and how I have raised my family. They are the same principles in which I lead and grow my business.

The core principles are:

• Faith
• Family
• Fortune
• Fun and
• Accepting the ohh f##ks.

Let me explain the ohh f##ks.

They are threaded throughout life. They are big decisions in life that have impact. Since they happen all the time, I will be referencing them throughout this talk. Please don’t be offended. The ohh f##ks are the crossroads, the rights, the lefts, the yes, the nos, the rights, the wrongs.

It’s the go-time decisions.
It’s the commitments.
It’s the lessons.
It’s that thing that stretches you, makes you uncomfortable.

I’ll give you a quick ohh f##k. Chris Linford, Oozle Media, calls me and asked if I could be a keynote speaker at his upcoming conference. “A keynote?” I asked and I laughed immediately.

He explained he’s having this virtual conference. There will be subject experts presenting on industry topics. “Winn Claybaugh has committed to be the opening keynote, I would love for you to be the closing keynote.” More laughter.

I’m like, “Ohh f##k, are you kidding me?” Winn Claybaugh, a global speaker endorsed by Larry King, Betty White, author of a book, one of the best speakers and motivators in the country, 38,000 Instagram followers, started Paul Mitchell Schools. He’s an industry icon, a huge philanthropist.

Have you ever seen him walking in one of his 110 Paul Mitchell Schools? He’s a rock star. He’s got an entourage. They cheer. They take pictures. He gives autographs out. He gets standing ovations, all deserving, because he’s a wonderful person and loves this industry.

And now, you get Jim Petrillo with 660 Instagram followers, owner of six Be Aveda Institutes in Florida, to be a closing keynote speaker. Hell. When I walk in my schools, they look at me like, “Holy s##t, dad’s here.” And everyone starts tidying things up like they just had a house party.

I’m honored to speak. And thank you, Winn, for being a mentor of mine. Of course, I said, “Yes” to Chris. “I will close your conference because I too love this industry. And I’m sure this ohh f##k experience will stretch me and make me more uncomfortable.”

About Jim and His Family

A little about me. I grew up in a business, a family business, working for my father’s hardware store. I had great parents. They gave us opportunity and responsibility at a very young age. They were entrepreneurs. They instilled that philosophy in myself and my two brothers. They owned and operated several businesses. My two brothers are very successful entrepreneurs, Tom in the beauty industry and Tim and the restaurant industry.

To tell who the boss was in our family, circa 1976, a hot Florida summer, I’m 12 years old, my mother calls us in for dinner. The table was set in the screened-in patio and food was on the table.

My brothers and myself were in the pool with my dad. We toweled off, sat down for dinner. We said our grace and started eating. At that time, my mom takes off her shirt and her bra and then starts to eat. Now, she’s a busty woman. Boys were like, “What are you doing?” Sitting at the table topless, she says, “If you boys can come to the table without a shirt on, so can I.” We all quickly popped up, put our shirts on and so did mom. Mom was the boss in our house growing up.

Throughout my career, I’ve always worked in family businesses where the family members were always involved in the business. The Biel family of Houston restaurants, the Morton’s family of Mortons of Chicago, the Rechelbacher family of Aveda, the Lauder family of Estee Lauder companies, the TSP Aveda family with my brother, Tom. I was partners with the Neill family. I worked with the Blackwell family of Beauty Basics, Aveda. And now I’m working with the AACS family.

There was such little drama in those companies, I decided to create Be Aveda Institutes with Paul, my partner, and my kids. Restaurant business and the beauty business are very similar.

Lots of work and lots of drama, all stuff that we love.

My parents, those companies, and families have shaped my life as a leader and an owner. It’s where the five F-bombs originated: faith, family, fortune, fun, and make sure that you accept those ohh f##ks.

Faith

Let’s talk about faith.

To me, it’s believing in something, the universe, a religion, a person, yourself.

I grew up Catholic. I had 12 years of Catholic school education. That’s a lot of crazy nun and priest’s impact in your life. For me, faith has given me courage, comfort, discipline. It’s what centers me. It gives me an opportunity to be grateful, a guide to live a good life, and to give back.

In business, faith gives you the hope to move forward. Faith in process, faith and trust in people, faith in industry, faith that most people are good people. We give back. We donate our time. Many times in business, you have to drop to your knees to pray, to pray for whomever for help.

In my life, most times it’s been answered. It’s a fulfillment. It’s a gratitude.

You have to have hope. Horst, the founder of Aveda, had a shaman. I had a priest that I met that hugely impacted my life.

One Sunday, Michelle, my wife and I booked to look at this boat in the St. Petersburg basin. While looking at the boat, this guy kind of appeared over my shoulder, and he was awkwardly close. The boat was 210 feet. Straddling my bike, I made the joke that I was making sure my boat was tied up. He said, “It’s not your boat. It’s the Tatoosh. It’s Paul Allen’s yacht.” I asked, “How do you know?” He said, “I Googled it.”

My wife immediately asked him if he was a priest. He said, “Yes. How did you know?” She said, “You look like a priest and you have an Irish brogue.”

He said he was a retired priest for after 50 years. At that time, Michelle takes the next step and invites him to dinner that night at our home and gives him our address. I’m thinking, “Are you nuts?”

After an extensive Google search and a background check, I confirmed he was legit. Of course, he showed up. That started our friendship. He had been our friend from that day forward. He lived half the year in Florida and the other half of the year in New England. He would do everything with our family.

He, too, would become part of our work family. I would take him to the schools. When I was working, he was getting services. He was well pampered, haircuts, facials, pedicures, manicures. He became known as the priest in our company.

Students and teams loved him. He cared for everybody. He was like our chaplain. Never spoke about religion, he just listened and gave sage advice. My only request was, “Hey, can you make sure that you bless those registers when you go by?”

My ohh f##k moment came when I was closing an important business deal and I got news that my mother passed away. I called Father Pat right away. He told me that he was in the hospital. He wasn’t sure how much time he had left.

Shocked, “I told him I was closing this deal on Friday. I will fly up to see you the day before my mother’s funeral.” On my flight up to Manchester, I thought of all the loss I felt, which I needed to release and talk to him about. The same way it was all the time as he did as my advisor.

When I arrived, he was in a chair. We spent the whole time talking. I was there from 7:00 to 4:00. He talked about his life, his experiences. And I knew in that moment, he had much faith in me as I had in him. After four hours of him talking, he told me it was time for me to go. I hopped on an earlier flight, got home and by the time that I landed, unfortunately, he had passed away.

I was honored that I was there. That relationship really solidified my faith and one I hold dear to my heart. I’m also glad he got to touch so many people in my life and in my company. Father Pat’s memory lives on forever with us.

Family

Family, my second core, is very important to me. I have a great wife of 31 years, four kids, Ellie, Emma, Julia, and Oliver.

Each family member is different, different personalities, different in their beliefs, different skillsets, but all have common respect and care for each other. My kids are very driven. My wife did a fantastic job raising them. We always told our kids that they had to either get a job or play a sport.

They all chose a competitive sport. The sports taught my kids discipline, commitment, teamwork, and how to win.

It was a pain in the butt for us parents to divide and conquer to travel to all over the country to those tournaments. As many parents know, it’s expensive, especially for four kids. Michelle and I felt that this commitment in the long run was going to be a lot cheaper than rehab.

In business, hire people you want to work with, that make you better, that share the same values.

I love working with leadership teams. They all bring a different perspective and a talent to the team. The same with my AACS family. It’s people who care for the industry and each other.

Always hire leaders who have different beliefs, different skillsets, who respect and care for people, who are competitive and love to win. It’s about appreciation, respect, accountability, dedication, discipline, love.

I believe those are the things that drive success in a family and in a business. If you love and take care of your families, they will take care of you. Here’s a significant ohh f##k story that happened in my life.

In 2010, I’m in San Francisco, working with Cinta Gibbons from the Cinta Aveda salons and schools on her business. At 4:30 a.m., my phone rings in my hotel and it’s my doctor from Florida. “I need you to come in right away,” he tells me. I said, “I’m in San Francisco.” I asked, “Should I go to the hospital?” He said, “No. When are you back?” I said, “Friday.” He said, “Okay. It’s okay. Don’t worry. It’s about your numbers. They’re elevated. And I’ll see you on Friday.” I’m like, “Okay, I’ll see you then.”

I have a hereditary kidney disease that was passed on from my mother from my grandmother, and I’m the only son who got it. I tell this story because I went on a donor list for a kidney. And when I was on the list, suddenly my family, friends, work colleagues were getting tested to see if they were a match.

The best match was my younger brother, Tim. My doctors told me, “There’s a lot of good people in your life that care about you.”

My message is take care of your family. Nurture your friends and colleagues. They stepped up for me in a time of need. Register to be an organ donor because you can save somebody’s life. I am healthy and forever grateful. It has been 11 years with my borrowed part and kidney from my brother, Tim.

Fortune

My next F-bomb is fortune.

Fortune is not just about money. It’s about protecting your name, your business, your brand. It’s about getting everyone to protect the assets of the organization.

Family members in my business make sacrifices to help the whole. We take pay cuts when things are not good. We work harder when no one is watching. We help each other get through the impossible. Our leaders and teams do the same thing. They are deeply invested in the business.

The big ohh f##k here was the pandemic.

Like many owners and leaders, we had to make significant sacrifices to keep the businesses rolling. We over communicated, we were completely transparent, we shared everything with the bank, our teams, the industry.

It was daunting and magical at the same time. I was coming out of a major reorganization and I felt like we got kicked in the face. Fortunately, we’re coming out the other side stronger and better. We all had to do things differently. It was uncomfortable. It was stressful. It stretched each of us.

What it told us is we are stronger and better together.

It gave us confidence that we can overcome anything. And then also continue to share and continue to give back. And most importantly, it taught us to be kind. Today, many people are in different stages trying to protect their fortune from this pandemic.

Be patient, be kind to each other, and we’ll get through it. And please, please, get vaccinated.

Fun

Lastly, fun is my final F-bomb. It’s my favorite. Don’t take things so seriously. Enjoy your work equally as you enjoy your time off. Enjoy your work family, as much as you enjoy your family. You spend the same amount of time together, do things to make memories. Integrate work, and play.

I’m a big Dave Matthews fan. I’ve been to 128 shows all over the world. My first show was in a bar in 1991 in Charlottesville and I was living in Northern Virginia.

I had just gotten married and that band has always been a part of my adult life. My family has met the band. Yes, we are Petrillo stalkers. We always took our kids to shows. In fact, they’ve been smelling weed at shows since they were little babies in car seats, listening from the lawn at the amphitheater.

The band is celebrating 30 years this year. I’ve been married 31 years. My oldest daughter, Ellie, is now 28.

So of course, I’ve integrated Dave Matthews into my work culture, the band tours every summer. Fortunately, with my work with Aveda, I can set up a travel schedule around Dave’s shows in every city we have Aveda Institutes. I would always get tickets and take a work group to a show. It was our bond, our fun. To this day, I still get texts, voicemails related to Dave’s songs, Dave quotes. It’s my jam.

So, find your connection to something to share with your family and the people you work with that connects you at a deeper level.

Also, I do annual strategy meetings. We rent different beach houses with at least 12 bedrooms for five days. We have yoga in the morning. We do business strategies for five hours. We have some free time and we all participate in chef teams to cook a different meal each night. It’s our work family vacation. We bond, we laugh, we cry, and we get a lot of work done.

One year, the budget didn’t call for a beach house because we were not meeting our sales expectations. So we went camping or kind of glamping. Not much fun but the best memories. That strategy meeting did get everyone back on plan to hit their budgets for the following year.

Cascade this fun throughout your company. Make sure you put a budget in for it. Those meetings brought our leadership teams closer together. Those teams had double digit growth for five straight years. Make the investment, it pays off. Even if HR hates it and gives you a hard time.

I hope my five F-bombs of faith, family, fortune, and fun, and getting over those ohh f##ks have inspired you to incorporate in your business. I know not much of this is revolutionary, but I wanted to share with you how I’ve been doing it with my team over the years. I’m grateful for my family. I’m grateful for my work. Treat them the same and believe me, you’ll have success.

So Chris, thank you very much. I appreciate the folks paying attention and staying until the end. I hope you’re out there.

A last minute plug, I am the chair of AACS. I share on the board with Chris. We’re doing an offering of 25% off for our annual registration fee. Email info@beautyschools.org and put in the subject line “LAUNCH PAD” and you’ll get the 25% off. Thanks again and back to you, Mr. Chris.