This article is posted with permission of the Michigan Chronicle News Paper.

Article By Donald James

Special to the Chronicle

ABA (A Beautiful Association) Salon and Network has, and will always be, a business that provides the best in services, products and opportunities for the empowerment of God's consumers, according to management. Since its inception in 2006, the Southfield establishment, located at 25857 Lahser Rd., has been a leader on the cutting edge of the salon/beauty and barber industry.

ABA Salon and Network is a full-service salon that specializes in a wide range of hair styling, including twists, dreads and other hair enhancements and growth treatments. Additional hair services include hair relaxers, shampoo/blow/curl, flat iron, permanent coloring. ABA also offers services such as manicures (non-shellac or with shellac), pedicures, facials/waxing for men and women, eyebrows (clean up and arching). Barber services are also available for men.

The company produces and sells its own special brand of products, such as ABA Body Wash, ABA Hair Conditioner, ABA Luxury Shampoo, ABA Hand & Body Lotion, and ABA Hand Soap. The business even sells its own ABA Dish Washer Liquid that effectively cleans, but is not an irritant to skin.

While the salon has been successful in its endeavors in the salon and barber industry, Wesley Stamps, ABA's founder, CEO and lead barber, has interwoven a tier of service called networking, which was created to empower consumers (God's people) and the community to reach mutual goals.

"God is about love, people and faith," said Stamps, who has been in the salon and barber industry for 30 years. "With the world being what it is, I want to connect people who have various needs. God gave me this vision, after realizing that through my salon and barber business, 99.9% of the work and things that I've had done in my home came from people who are sitting in the chairs of my business."

In essence, what Stamps had discovered was that his customers had careers, skills, abilities, talents and gifts that could be a blessing to others. However, these attributes would go undiscovered unless some levels of communication and engagement were implemented.

"So I talked to my barbers and cosmologists about being in an industry where people who patronize us could have an impact on other people and communities we serve," Stamps said. "But we must pay attention to the people that come into our establishment for services and products because everybody has God-given talents and skills. So if I don't know the people who are coming into my establishment to do business, I'm actually losing."

Stamps, a native Detroiter, said over the years there have been wide ranges of consumers who've patronized ABA. There are doctors, lawyers, plumbers, electricians, mechanics, teachers, chefs, accountants, childcare workers, tutors, and others in an array of categories that could be beneficial in helping people and communities. Therefore, Stamps has created an information database, which contains customers/consumers in various careers with skills and abilities and with the mindset that such customers/consumers could be a blessing to others in need of services and products.

"We make it personal and we make it about relationships," Stamps said. "ABA is about service. People are about, or should be about, service to God, because God is really the CEO of the service industry."

While many business owners often try to separate the conversation about business and God, Stamps, a trustee at Third New Hope Baptist Church in Detroit and Farmington, believes this is the core strength and reason he has had success in business and throughout the industry.

"Through ABA Salon and Network, God's blessings have been endless," he said. "I want to continue to be a blessing by focusing on providing the best services and products through ABA, but I want to also continue to connect and empower consumers and communities. This is the vision God has given me for my business model.

"We sometimes, as people, believe God as being all spiritual, but he's also a practical God. In other words, God knows who am as an entrepreneur. He knows who you are as a consumer, as well as a person and professional. Yet, we all are consumers. Every time you and I spend money, we have an opportunity to touch bases with business owners, so we must let them know who we are."

One of Stamps' latest ventures is the creation of ABA's "4C Program" (Creating a Community of Conscience Consumers).

"You buy from me and I buy from you," Stamps said. "It's about making a commitment for businesses to patronize other businesses under the ABA network that has been created. It's about conscience consumers recognizing their value and power as consumers to patronize businesses and establish relationships. When a community of conscience consumers come together for the good, it's truly A Beautiful Association."

For more information about ABA Salon and Network, call 248.622.0252, or log on to www.abeautifulassoc.com.

What Can We Do or Mention

That Would Get God’s Attention

As a young man I could put down my gun,

As a father I could go find my son,

As a parent I could go help the teacher,

I could start an economic program

from the pulpit if I was a preacher.

If I was an addict take my last hit,

turn around and say to my father I am truly done,

As a warrior I could hit these mean streets of the "D"

and try to save our sons.

As a billionaire I could commit an unlimited amount of funds

to an effective, phenomenal, amazing class, that would educate and produce

a future for the underserved while releasing them from their past.

If with all our gifts and talents to the table we would bring,

the vision would be His Kingdom, that He mentioned as our King.

So let us remember who's the author of vision,

although it may be buried deep in the depths of your heart,

whether you are 17 or 64 in order to see the ending it requires that you start!

My brothers and sisters, when does the world change?

When we change! Our mandate was and remains, Management!

A Poem By Wesley Stamps