Eaton:air styling not her only job in Orland If you were to run into Nikki Hath at the mall, you'd probably do a double take. Styling hair is what Nikki loves and wants to keep doing, but it's also a challenge, even for such a bright, talented and motivated young lady. "I probably will vote on March 20, but I need to learn more about the people running. "They usually go longer between appointments, and I have to work to get customers in to fill that gap. The demand for hair coloring and other advanced hair treatments has increased in recent years, particularly among baby boomers and young people. She rents her one-chair salon at Sola, 159th Street and LaGrange Road in Orland Park, where she nurtures about 200 customers. After all, as a freelance journalist, I'm self-employed, too, and our simple exchange of skills is part of what makes the American economy work as well as it does. If her now-purple hair doesn't grab your attention, her great smile or array of arm tattoos surely will. ) Nikki put herself through cosmetology school after high school, started working for a hair salon at 18, gained experience in hair coloring and styling and started her own business at 23. "I wish to do all those things but not feel the stress of never being ahead," she said. "You know, asking myself if my supplies are totally stocked, if all my phone calls are answered and if my quarterly taxes are in. But without them, the world that we know and take for granted would dramatically change. I couldn't help but think of Nikki when President Barack Obama stirred a national discussion this week, advocating making college more cost effective. " I recommended that she read the SouthtownStar to locate out about the candidates, their qualifications along with their positions on the issues. She, like most her age and being self-employed, doesn't want more government interference and regulations or more taxes to pay for things she doesn't use or need. Nikki's my hairdresser, and because she loves what she does and does it well she's won my confidence and business for additional than four years. Being the baby boomer conservative I am, who'd have thought I'd go to a salon named If Looks Could Kill? The U. Bureau of Labor Statistics says hairdressers have an exceptionally good future and projects a higher than normal business-growth rate of 20 percent over the next decade. " Nikki also has to find affordable health care and malpractice insurance and work to keep herself in good health, too, because her income depends on it. She won't have to join those in the Occupy Wall Street movement who demand that their college debt be forgiven. (Read: More government assistance. The bureau also reports that more than 44 percent of hairdressers are self-employed, as Nikki is. |