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…when Ross was transferred to Memphis to develop the Southeast region for his employer, a tennis shoe company. It was great money but too much travel. In fact, he got his hair cut at the barbershop in front of his townhouse because it was close and fast. One day he walked in and the owner, Sarge, was busy, so he let the new guy cut his hair. The cut wasn’t that much better, but the attitude was. “I really enjoyed visiting with him. He was fun,” Ross said. A couple of visits later, that friendly barber announced that he had bought the business and was changing the name to Fantastic Sam’s. Ross watched as the business skyrocketed. So when he was approached by Sam, his barber, to purchase two franchise salons in the Knoxville area that had gone bankrupt, he agreed. As part of the franchise agreement the stylists had nicknames, so Ross took one too. He became Ross the Boss and used the name to promote awareness of the new management. When the franchisor decided to become a “budget” operation, Ross bought his way out of the franchise agreement and dropped the stylists’ nicknames. But he got stuck with his own nickname because he felt it only made sense to keep a name people knew; thus “Ross the Boss and Co.” became the salon name and was soon to become a registered trademark. Most agree that Ross the Boss and Co. does not sound like a typical salon name; however, the name and his rhyming ads quickly earned him plenty of giggles, but also recognition and clients. People remembered the name, some enjoyed the ads, and they liked the staff and skills they found at Ross the Boss. The number of stores has grown to 12.