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OMI's road map of success - Early history
OMI was formed in 1979 by Robert Oakwell-Morgan and Nicolette Reaume. At the time Nicolette had completed her six-month training program in electrolysis at the Electrolysis College of Canada and then completed a three month post graduate course.
Robert Oakwell-Morgan had intentions of opening a business for Nicolette whom he intended to marry, so he went to New York for a three week intensive training program with Kree International located at 1600 Broadway in Manhattan. During his time there , he had a very broad range of cases, normal in New York, which would have taken him twenty years to receive the same variety of exposure while working in Toronto .
Robert Oakwell- Morgan returned to Toronto and formed OMI in 1979 and he had one staff member who was Nicolette. Robert structured OMI as if it was a large corporation, based on his extensive previous business back ground. He established protocols and methodologies that would be the same as if he had a large corporation. These procedures and methodologies were then used to train Nicolette in order to meet the standard that was to be the best available in the business of Hair Removal.
Robert Oakwell-Morgan’s motto was and still is that whatever business you are going to go into, there is bound to be competition and you should be determined to be the best. The design and development of the company has been based on that as a foundation and it has been religiously maintained over the years and the success of the company is clearly an indication that it has been successfully done. From 1979 onwards, OMI has continually grown and has attained a high level of acceptance from the general public as well as their peers as regards to being the best in the business.
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OMI's road map of success - OHIP challenge
Indicative of how effective the company really was at being the best was illustrated back in the early 1980s. OHIP did not allow hair removal to be billed by doctors and then changed their regulations and allowed doctors to bill for hair removal.
Prior to that decision by OHIP, the billing used to be negligible ($16,000/year) however after the decision to allow OHIP billing, the costs escalated dramatically. By the time OHIP reversed their decision and stopped doctors from billing for hair removal in the later 1980s, billing had escalated collectively to multi millions ($11,000,000/year) throughout Ontario. For example one doctor in the Eglinton Yonge area had over thirty part time staff providing electrolysis treatments for him under OHIP.
As an interesting point, many of the people who worked for that doctor tried to gain employment through OMI. Since OMI did not offer part time, only full time, this was not possible in a general sense. However OMI could not have employed these applicants anyway due to a low level of skill. Most of it had to do with hand eye dexterity which of course automatically excluded them from employment due to OMI's extremely high standards. Therefore during this time of OHIP billings, OMI had to compete with the hourly fee of $60.00 per hour against Free through a doctor.
Although in 1981 we were a tiny little organization, growth was amazing from 1981 through 1990. OMI's revenues rounded out were as follows:
Remember that during the majority of that time, OMI was competing against Free from the doctors while charging $60.00 per hour. This revenue was generated by electrolysis only because laser for hair removal had not as yet come into the marketplace.
How much more of an endorsement could anyone ask for that clearly illustrates the integrity of a company, its ability to provide successful treatment completed with total professionalism to the obvious satisfaction of the general public?
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OMI's road map of success - Laser Hair Removal Begins
When laser became a viable proposition as a form of hair removal, what OMI did was to fee split with some medical practitioners on Avenue road and did so for about one and a half years. OMI clients and staff went to the doctor’s premises and used the doctor’s equipment. What OMI determined during that time was to establish for themselves that OMI staff were experts in the field and far ahead of any others who were in the field at that time. We then acquired our first piece of laser equipment which was an Alexandrite, the best piece of equipment on the market at that time even though it had its limitations related to hair colour, texture, skin type etc. it was still the best piece of equipment available.
The second piece of equipment OMI acquired was the Cool Glide which is available through Cutera in California. It was then and continues to be the premier piece of equipment with which to provide permanent hair reduction through laser. OMI has continually established in the marketplace that we are better than anyone in the field throughout the world regardless of where they are and whether they are providing hair removal through electrolysis or laser. OMI has added other technology and will continue to do so as we maintain our state-of-the-art position as the Number ONE provider of 100% permanent hair removal world-wide as we have done since 1979.
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OMI's road map of success - Training Optimization
During the 1980’s OMI employed Bill Trantor, a world class educator, and the company he owned who provided educational training manuals and systems and methodologies through out the world. At the very high cost to OMI at that time of $22, 500.00 OMI had Mr. Trantor and his company compile comprehensive state-of-the-art documentation about hair removal that was available in the public domain. OMI methodologies that were already very successful were incorporated as well. In the end OMI gained a basic and an advanced set of training manuals highly superior to anything available world-wide. This allowed OMI to train new staff who, as a prerequisite to employment already possessed the hand-eye co-ordination and dexterity, so that within a matter of several weeks a level of competence and ability that was consistent with OMI’s high standards was attainable.
Consequently, OMI’s new staff members trained using these proprietary new training systems were able to deliver treatment highly superior to others who had been providing hair removal all their lives and that is counting those who were actually providing reasonably good treatment!! This comprehensive training system has over the years been maintained, updated and expanded to include laser as it came into the hair removal market place. OMI continues to provide exceptional training regarding any aspect of hair removal including electrolysis, laser, skin care products etc. OMI is truly second to no one world-wide.
When OMI opened in 1979 almost everyone consulted by the company “KNEW” that electrolysis did not work!! Of course if the treatment is performed properly using the scheduling methodologies and protocols established by OMI before offering treatment to the public, then success is assured. At the time OMI entered the hair removal profession, it was not really “professional”. For want of a better description, most of those involved in this business at the time were truly amateurs. This was why OMI very often turned potential clients away unless they were prepared to adhere to the scheduling necessary for successful treatment. As time went by and these same people, who went elsewhere for treatment and received poor or no results, ended up coming back to OMI where they finally did receive the successful results OMI has always and continues to provide.
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OMI's road map of success - Recent History
Now that laser has been around for many years, OMI is in the sad position of once again having to explain to people why they received poor results elsewhere and why they should allow OMI to do the job that others have failed to do. It is the same story all over again as it was with electrolysis. OMI is truly the professional provider of service while everyone else, with the exceptions proving the rule, are the amateurs. From the first days of OMI providing Laser hair removal service the laser equipment providers (agents or sales presentatives for the manufacturers) continually questioned why OMI incurred the highcosts of operating as we do. They continually said “Why don’t you just grab the money and run to the bank with it like everyone else is doing???’ Well the fact of the matter is you can only be the best at what you do by investing the hard work and money necessary to generate maximum treatment success.
From day one up to the present the standard method when selling a new laser for laser hair removal to a doctor for instance, includes up to one half day of training on that piece of equipment. That’s it and the next day they are open for business!
Therefore it is no surprise that treatment results are poor and the client’s money is sadly wasted. What happens is they do pay again, this time to OMI and they do receive exceptional results from OMI. As a reasonable comparison, if you were to go to someone else and they acheive 35% reduction in your hair growth, you would have received 75%-85% reduction at OMI if you had come to us first.
That is the quality of difference in OMI’s skill and their ability to provide successful treatments compared to anyone else in the field. A reasonable and verifiable comparison is to say that OMI are professionals, while most of the others are essentially amateurs.
Hair removal is all we do at OMI and we are the best world-wide since 1979. We have not only proven it, we continue to do so over and over again.
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