NORMAL - They may eat late, but the Hanawalt family will eat dinner together. "It's a big deal to sit down at the table together," said Bonnie Hanawalt, hair stylist and owner of Allure Salon & Tanning, 1702 W. College Ave., Suite B.

Whether her family visits her at the salon for a meal or they wait for her to come home from work, they share that time together.

It's part of Hanawalt's philosophy of balancing being a working woman and a mother. She's been a hair stylist since before her children were born and, as the owner of her own salon, she still places a priority on her personal life. She's never missed one of her children's events - from dance to football - unless she's been sick, definitely not because of work.

"My family comes first, way before my business," Hanawalt said.

As an added bonus for Hanawalt - but one that also comes with some challenges - work also is all in the family.

Her husband, children, mother, brother and sister-in-law played a role in opening Allure last June, and family members also staff the office.

All in the family

Working with family comes naturally to Hanawalt.

She opened Allure following the closure of Bo-lin, which her mother, Linda Alcorn, had opened and owned since 1984. Back in the 1980s, Hanawalt had begged her mother, who previously cut and styled hair out of her home, to open a storefront and let her work there, too.

Last year, the time came for Alcorn to retire and give her daughter the opportunity to open her own salon. She knew she'd fit in somewhere in her daughter's business, too.

And so Alcorn shares duties of answering the phone, making appointments and cleaning the tanning beds with Hanawalt's brother Brett Alcorn, sister-in-law Cheryl Alcorn and 15-year-old daughter Angelica Hanawalt. Son Zach Hanawalt staffs the desk when he's home from college.

Opening Allure took the dedication of family members to come in after work and school and on weekends, Bonnie Hanawalt said.

"They're such an asset," Bonnie Hanawalt said. "They've sacrificed so much for me, so I could have my dream. I'm just blessed to have family like that."

For example, Zach, a freshman majoring in business at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, designed the building set-up with a computer software program. Husband Fred Hanawalt used his expertise as a plumber and played the role of general contractor, and Brett Alcorn was the decorator.

Maybe her family's tie to her business stems from her involvement with them outside of work.

As a hair stylist at Bo-Lin, Bonnie Hanawalt always took her children to school and left work to pick them up. She worked split shifts during summers so she could spend afternoons at the pool with them. She also took time off of work to go on a mission trip to Chicago with her children, and the whole family trekked along on college visits for Zach.

It's harder to make time to be a mom now that she owns the business, but she manages.

She still takes Angelica to school in the morning and schedules her daughter's dance lessons on her days off of work. She'll also clear her schedule to pamper her daughter before a school dance.

"I try to take that time for her, so she feels special," Bonnie Hanawalt said.

That effort is not lost on her teenage daughter.

"No matter how busy she gets, she always makes time for me and my brother," Angelica said. "She's always been there for us; we knew if we could help, we would."

From my family to yours

Bonnie Hanawalt sees the family touch at Allure as an advantage. She shares her family with her customers, and they can talk about their families, too, she said.

"It's very inviting to have a family business," Bonnie Hanawalt said.

Client Dianne Cushing of Normal definitely feels the intimate connection.

"I feel like family," Cushing said.

Besides having complete trust in Bonnie Hanawalt as her stylist, Cushing said the atmosphere in the shop is "just fun."

That's the reaction Bonnie Hanawalt wants. And she works hard to make sure family employees realize they need to keep a level of professionalism and leave any disagreements that are bound to happen at home. If necessary, they'll deal with an issue in the back room, but they don't want to bring that stress to customers who are trying to relax, she said.

"When we're working together, it's business. We need to take stuff on the outside and leave it," Bonnie Hanawalt said. "It's very hard not to bring it in. … We strive not to have a negative impact on anyone."

She admits she and her brother are headstrong and are known to have different opinions at work, but they'll reach an agreement after a while. Her sister-in-law and daughter are good at being calmer, Bonnie Hanawalt said.

"We balance each other out," Cheryl Alcorn said. "We're really, really close. She's as close to me as my own sister."

There's also a different dynamic when Bonnie Hanawalt's daughter is at work one afternoon a week.

"I'm more bossy to her. I'm probably more hard on her," Bonnie Hanawalt said.

She is a mom, after all, and she has to help her daughter learn important people skills and how to handle the pressure of a busy afternoon. Tough love is how she learned the business from her mom, too.

"I think we just passed it on down," Bonnie Hanawalt said.

And so it is that Bonnie Hanawalt blurs the line between business owner and mom - she's always a mom, at work and at home.