For M. Evan Parker and Frank Campos, business is pretty lousy these days — and that’s just fine.
The Pasadena pair started their in-home lice removal service, Lousey Nitpickers, in July, budgeting $8,000 to launch a website and buy a supply of hair care products, towels and nit combs.
Six months later, the company’s revenue is still very small. And like most fledgling entrepreneurs, Parker and Campos face several tough challenges if they are to establish a sustainable and profitable venture, business consultants said.
The firm fields an average of 10 calls a day, some days as many as 25. Most are direct referrals from past customers.
“People don’t tend to book us in advance,” Parker said. “By the time they call, their child’s been sent home from school and they want treatment that day.”
Accommodating as many as 90 itchy customers a month can keep Campos, the firm’s chief nit-picker, another full-timer and three part-time employees busy from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m., shuttling to homes across the Los Angeles area.
The two men, who have known each other for a couple of years, found their nit niche after years in the hair care business. A licensed cosmetologist, Parker had earlier developed and marketed a line of hair products. Campos had worked at a children’s hair salon in Los Angeles. Neither is a stranger to lice.
6 million to 12 million Americans are infested with head lice each year, according to the National Science Foundation.
Given a permanent bull market for nit-pickers, Parker thought an in-home service would be a more cost-effective business than a salon with fixed overhead.
Photo by LA Times.
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