Intro:
Do you feel like you were meant to have a kick-ass career as a hairstylist?
Like you got into this industry to make big things happen?
Maybe you’re struggling to build a solid base and want some stability.
Maybe you know social media is important, but it feels like a waste of time because you weren’t seeing any results.
Maybe you’ve already had some amazing success but are craving more.
Maybe you’re ready to truly enjoy the freedom and flexibility this industry has to offer.
Cutting and coloring skills will only get you so far, but to build a life long career as a wealthy stylist, it takes business skills and a serious marketing strategy.
When you’re ready to quit just working in your business and start working on it, join us here where we share real success stories from real stylists.
I’m Britt Seva, social media and marketing strategist just for hair stylists, and this is the Thriving Stylist Podcast.
Britt:
What is up and welcome back to the Thriving Stylist Podcast.
I’m your host, Britt Seva, and I’m really excited for this week’s episode.
We’re going to talk about three game-changing strategies that get you more clients within 24 hours, and that’s not just me speculating.
I’m actually going to be sharing some real stories and strategies from the hundreds of stylists who just completed our boot camp in March of 2025.
So I host these boot camps.
Well, I’ve hosted boot camps since 2016 is what I should say.
For a while, I was hosting two a year, then it was three a year, now we’re back to two a year.
So let’s say I’ve hosted maybe 20 of these over time.
This is the first time I’ve hosted this exact boot camp, and I can really proudly say this is the most effective boot camp we’ve ever had.
We had never run it just like this before.
All of the daily exercises were different.
And the goal with each of these trainings is for those who go through them to get real results in real time.
So it’s not just sitting through a class and learning a bunch of stuff and being like, okay, that’s cool, I’ll try it.
Whenever I host a boot camp, it’s like, okay, we’re all collectively together going to do these things and grow our business over the next four days.
We’ve never seen results like this before.
So a couple of days into boot camp, I was like, dang it, how do we get more people experiencing this?
Because it was so wild to see how rapid the success was.
And I wanted to come here on the podcast and share just some high level tips and tricks from what I learned from our students who went through the program over the last few weeks.
So we taught four exercises total, one of which I’m going to keep secret and close to chest, at least for now.
And then the other three I’m going to share with you here on this podcast.
And then they also got access to a masterclass, which was a kind of a more systematic breakdown of exactly what you would want to do, guest experience wise and marketing wise to fill your chair.
So we’re just going to focus on the three kind of top tier marketing strategies that these stylists put into place that got them real results really fast.
So for example, Alice shared, I just had the highest number of new inquiries for new guests and new services with loyal clients this month, 12.
Wow.
And 11 were for my hair extension services.
So if you’re an extension specialist, imagine getting 11 new inquiries in a month.
And by the way, she shared this about three weeks into the month.
So even by now, she may have even had more.
It’s pretty incredible.
So Audrey says, Wow, I made a few website social media adjustments after the wrap of boot camp and immediately saw three new guests spoke with me.
Very impressive how Britt keeps a pulse on the consumer behavior and can implement it so quickly into her education.
Thank you for staying current and working to keep refining the education for all of us.
I want to focus on what Audrey said for a moment.
Whenever I share a strategy or a system, it’s not something I just cooked up.
It’s not something I watched one person do, and I think it’s super cool.
Whenever I teach anything, it’s because I know it works, and it’s because I’ve seen it work at scale, or I’ve watched at least 30 to 50 stylists implement X, Y, or Z and see really good results.
Once I have that data point, then it’s something I’m willing to come on and talk about and coach through and add to my programs and that kind of thing.
I never just share strategies that I think are interesting or fads.
I want you to get real results fast.
The other thing we talked about a lot going through Bootcamp is that we’re now in a season of kind of undoing a lot of what made sense over the last few years.
So the strategies I’m going to teach to you today might confuse you because you’re going to be like, wait a minute, I don’t get it because, you know, two years ago I did blah, blah, blah, and it worked great for me.
And you might still be believing the lie that the reason why it’s harder to attract clients right now is because the economy sucks.
That’s not why.
And I know it’s not why, especially after hosting this boot camp, because we have hundreds of stories from people who implemented these exact strategies and saw real results in real time.
It’s not the economy.
It’s not that clients don’t want to get their hair done.
It’s that stylist puts systems and structure into place that made a lot of sense a couple of years back that just doesn’t work anymore.
And this is kind of the tough side of being a small business owner, being a stylist or a salon owner, is that, yeah, we do always have to change.
Business is always evolving.
If you don’t want to have to evolve, being an employee somewhere is a really great way to do it.
But if you want to be a stylist or a salon owner, evolving in business is survival.
So a lot of this is based on evolution.
We talked about the fact that 2021 to 2023 was a huge client surplus era for stylists.
We had just about a million stylists doing hair in 2020.
That was a statistic that was provided by the US.
Bureau of Labor and Statistics, about a million, just under a million.
By 2023, we were down to 600,000.
So we had lost 300,000 stylists over a period of two and a half, maybe three years.
So if you were a stylist doing hair 2021, 2022, 2023, and you had this great surge of clients and it felt like business was going super well, a lot of that was due to artificial inflation, which is really tricky.
So the size of the industry is actually increasing again.
So now there’s more options and more choices.
And so what was once easy has now become hard.
I do believe in our industry, stylists and salons put systems and structure into place that made a ton of sense for that huge surge of clients that everybody was experiencing from 2021 to 2023.
That was when business was good and life was easy.
Now, it’s a little bit more like real world again, where it’s like, okay, there’s not a surplus of clients.
Clients are being more discerning about where they’re going to go.
And so we have to adjust our strategy.
So I said a few minutes back and I want to just clarify.
I said, the reason why it’s harder to build and grow clients right now is not because of the economy.
You know, I understand that cost of living has increased by 21% in the last four years.
I’m not saying that life hasn’t gotten more expensive and that people are being more particular about where they’re spending money.
What I’m saying is people are still spending money.
And every data point shows that it’s not that people are spending less or saving more.
That’s not what’s happening.
People are still spending.
Just their discretionary spending has gotten more intentional.
So when we had things like PPP loans and stimulus, people were willing to burn cash.
Well, now people are saying, like, are you worth it?
Does this make sense for me?
And these strategies I’m now going to share are based on those realities.
So the first strategy we put into place, and one of the strategies that saw the biggest impact was removing policies and fees from the pre-guest booking experience.
So Gary said, wow, we saw 21 new guests in a week by opening up our same day online booking and no longer requiring intake forms.
21 new guests in a week, just by making those two changes.
Stephanie said, the guests are feeling better, and we got more online bookings this week with new guests.
I also took down the sign at the front desk with our policies on it too.
Not that we don’t have policies anymore, but it definitely puts both the guest and the stylist at ease, and it’s creating that respect of both individuals at the same time.
As a salon owner, I can see it’s scary, and stylists also get nervous, but if we don’t shift in the industry, I know we’ll be left behind, and I do trust the process.
I can see it works.
Angelina said, yesterday, I updated my booking process and removed the appointment request form from my website, making it easier for guests to book directly.
Just one day later, I already had three new guests book their services.
Quick.
That’s just a handful of the testimonials.
We have so many success stories from this specific bootcamp.
So let me explain what I suggested and what these stylists did.
So the core of this lesson was about how over the last few years, in many ways, we created systems that made us as stylists more comfortable, but it didn’t work in favor of attracting more clients.
And let me explain.
So imagine if I said, I would love to work with you.
I’d love for you to join me in my Thrivers Society program.
What I’m going to need you to do is fill out this form.
I’m going to review your information and I’ll get back to you within 48 to 72 hours and let you know if I think that you’d be a good fit.
It would be a little nerve-wracking and there’s a piece of you that might be like, well, that makes sense.
Like maybe she wants to make sure it’s the perfect training for me or maybe she wants to make sure that I’m somebody that she can help.
But also now you got to wait three days to find out if you can get the thing you want to get today.
What are you going to do over those three days?
So you filled out the form and now you’re going to say like, well, if Britt doesn’t accept me, I better have something else lined up and you start looking at other options.
The other thing too, and I’ve heard this feedback from clients, is that sometimes it can feel like they don’t know exactly what you’re screening for, and it feels very vulnerable.
When a client is looking to see a new stylist for the first time, the idea that they have to apply to be a part of your business, it immediately sets the tone of like maybe you’re not good enough, and I know that’s not why you’re doing it.
Some of you are doing it, so you have a chance to quote prices directly, book appointments properly in the time that you need, buy the supplies that you need to prepare for that client.
I heard that a lot.
A lot of stylists were saying that too.
And I understand that makes your life easier.
I know it does.
I can’t argue against it.
Of course, it makes your life easier.
It makes you more in control.
It makes sure that your days are as seamless as possible.
Just know the counterbalance of that is your demand will be lower.
And the reason why I’m not totally vehemently opposed to having a more extended guest appointment application process.
For some of you, it makes sense.
But you have to be in a place where you don’t want too much demand.
Like you’re pretty good.
If you got one or two new clients every single month, you’d be set.
Then yeah, having an extensive process like that might be fine for you.
What we found going through this bootcamp process is for salon owners, it wasn’t a great fit.
For stylists who needed to attract like four, five, six plus new guests a month, removing those restrictions really opened the floodgates.
So think about it if I said, I shared this as an example on one of the free trainings I hosted recently.
I said, what if I told you, hi, I’d love for you to come in to my training.
You’re going to put a credit card down, and if you don’t show up to my training, I am going to auto charge you $200.
People just aren’t going to sign up for the training.
It’s too risky.
Like what if something comes up?
What if I can’t make it?
What if I change my plans?
Like no thanks.
And I asked to the room, I was like, listen, this is a high value training.
What if I said to sign up for this training, you have to pay a deposit and it’s going to be 50% of rate.
If you don’t show up, I am going to auto bill you for it.
And everyone was like, yeah, I wouldn’t come.
And that’s what happens when we have very stringent policies and processes and 48 hours notice and your credit card’s on file, I’m going to auto charge you.
It feels very scary.
And what we found in the data showed is that when we pulled a lot of that back and we just changed the tone to be, we’re here, we’re excited to work with you.
Come on down, let’s get to your first appointment.
We saw instant results.
So if you are a stylist or salon owner who has cancellation fees and those fees are on your website and they’re talked about and they’re promoted and clients have to agree to it when they book their appointment, if it’s a 50% charge, a 100% charge, a $100 charge, you might be scaring people away.
And so just think about how easy is it to get on your books?
How intimidating is it to work with you?
And is that really a fit for your current demand and where your business is today?
Next, updating our Instagram profiles.
Oh my gosh, if this wasn’t amazing.
So the training that we did on the Instagram day specifically very much echoed what’s already in the Thriving Stylist Method program.
So if you missed bootcamp, but you’re in Thrivers, all of this training is in Thrivers.
You can just log in and get it now.
But I want to share with you some of those stories.
So Megan says, I changed bios on all platforms and I’ve already received two requests in two days, just by changing your Instagram bio.
That’s the only thing she changed.
Jen said, thank you so much.
I’m a commission stylist.
And so far, I just adjusted my bio as you suggested.
I got four new guests.
I’m signing up for Thrivers now.
Thank you.
Maddie said, I redid my bio and my Salon’s bio too.
I already redid module one.
I’m posting more quality content and more videos.
I’ve increased my engagement on Instagram and Facebook 300% plus just this week.
Sarah said, I just wanted to share this win since updating our Instagram bios last week.
My salon has received 11 new guest requests.
Then she says 11 in all caps in one week.
There’s only three of us.
She said, I’m honestly shocked.
Usually as a collective, we’re seeing five, maybe seven a week.
So doubled their demand just by updating their Instagram bios.
And this is the kind of stuff I really enjoy coaching to in that for most of us, we don’t need a gigantic business overhaul to see amazing results.
We just have to make tiny micro adjustments to our business and see the blind spots and change the things that are working against us.
So to clarify as not to oversimplify, there were five different things that I coached to doing on Instagram to see great results.
So those in the bootcamp changed five things.
And in response to changing those five things, they saw great results.
But the bio was definitely the thing that had the most impact.
So that’s what I want to talk a little bit more about.
And if you were in the bootcamp and you’re like, hey, this is not fair, don’t worry.
I’m not going to share every little thing, but I want to share enough that those who listen to the podcast gets some value too.
So those in the bootcamp changed the other four things and then also leaned into the bio.
So what I talked about as far as Instagram bio is having the right words in place that explained who you serve, how you uniquely serve them, how you overcome their problems and you demonstrate market authority.
So some of the things we talked about were weak phrasing and I think just even in learning the weak phrasing, you’re going to have some breakthroughs.
So I said, avoid any of these common phrases in your bio.
Helping women to feel their best, luxury hair salon, barber shop, blondes, balayages, brunettes, certified XYZ brand colorists, certified XYZ brand extension artists, voted number one salon in 2021.
My lovies.
I love that you won an award in 2021.
It is 2025.
When you say, hey, listen, four years ago, we were the best salon in town.
What crosses your mind when I say something like that?
It’s like past your prime.
So if the award is not current, I probably wouldn’t like hang my hat on it.
I’d probably pull that out and use something different for market authority.
Also saying phrases like, leave feeling beautiful, accepting new guests, and please, please, please don’t have anywhere on your bio.
Don’t DM me with like the red X, like DMs are closed.
If I were to imagine you went to my Instagram bio, and there was a big red X that says DMs are closed, how would you feel about me?
You’d be like, oh, she’s kind of elitist, I guess, there.
She doesn’t want to have any conversations with anybody.
Like, you’re willing to take my business, but you don’t want to talk to anybody versus, if you know me, my DMs are always open.
I spend a couple hours a day in the DMs with people responding, and it’s me.
I’m in there.
I’m chatting it up.
The whole point of direct messaging, A, it’s huge for your Instagram reach right now, like having your DMs open and engaging in DM conversations tells the platform that you are an active user.
Instagram has openly said DMs count for a lot when it comes to reach and engagement right now, so to shut that down is really backwards.
Two, think about the impression that you’re setting if you’re like, don’t talk to me, though.
Just go ahead and book an appointment.
Don’t talk to me.
It just is not, generally speaking, the energy that we’re looking for if you’re trying to increase demand.
And then the reason why we stay away from these other phrases that I’m calling weak is that that real estate, those 150 characters you have are too important to use filler words or filler phrases or generic terms that are not going to persuade a guest to want to consider an appointment with you, which is exactly what that bio should do.
So I want you to think about how you could rephrase your bio to better clarify who you serve, how you uniquely serve them, how you’re going to help them overcome their problems and then demonstrate that market authority.
Now, the other thing we did talk about and I’m going to tease to is link and bio problems.
One of the other things that we saw with link and bio was that a lot of Stylists had too many options.
Links in the bio that were not in order of priority.
For example, sometimes when you add to link and bio, whatever you add newest shows up on the top.
So we would go to somebody’s link and bio and at the top, it would be like click here to shop my like to know it, you know, link or whatever, like shop with me.
And then the next one was like buy retail from me.
And the next one was like affiliate link to my favorite, I don’t know, phone charger or whatever.
And then the next one was like learn more about the extension brands they offer.
And then the fourth or fifth one was like check out my website.
And then the sixth one was like book with me.
It was gotten so messy and convoluted that it wasn’t engaging clients in the way that we would want it to.
And it makes it seem like you’re just here for a cash grab versus really using that link in bio as a true directory to show clients how they can work with you.
The other thing I suggested strongly against was having any kind of link in your bio that was like leave me a review because when we do that, it’s like asking for a favor and we don’t want to be asking for favors like that on our social media channels.
So I want you to reevaluate your bio, reevaluate your link in bio and see what opportunities live there for you to elevate.
Lastly, we supported all of our members in rethinking their pricing method.
So when it comes to pricing method, there’s three main methods and then one-fourth are merging.
So we have a la carte, hourly, session based and what we call hybrid, which is a combination and what we’ve discovered, again, through studying thousands of stylist businesses over the past few years, is that all of those methods actually work.
The missing piece is that they don’t work for everybody.
And you can’t just pick the method that’s easiest to you or feels the best to you or that you like the most.
You have to pick the method that matches your market position.
And market position is one of the new additions to the Thriving Stylist method.
It’s never been in there before.
And what we have found is that if your pricing method matches your market position, you’re set up to succeed.
And then in the boot camp, we talked about the biggest pricing mistakes.
One, choosing the wrong pricing method.
Two, pricing based on old demand.
Meaning, well, I charge this much because a couple years ago, or six months ago, I was busier.
And that’s the part where a lot of stylists are like, so what do I do now?
I reduce my prices.
And that feels scary and terrifying.
And I understand.
Another big mistake, aspirational pricing of like, well, I would love to be session based.
Or I would love, in a couple months, I’m going to…
No, no, no, no, no.
It has to be what’s happening right this second.
The charge your worth movement.
Oh my gosh, if that wasn’t just like the biggest shot in the foot to our industry, terrible.
So if you based your prices on charge your worth, meaning like cost of goods increases, how much do you need to be making?
What is the value of your time from an emotional standpoint?
That was devastating.
So if that was how you priced yourself, that could be a huge reason why you’re growing slower than you want to.
Again, that’s aspirational.
And I love that for you.
Clients don’t love it for you as much as I love it for you.
And that’s why it impacts your demand and doesn’t work.
Pricing based on how much you need to be making, like we just talked about.
Confusing service menus on your website was a big one we unpacked.
Too many services listed on your website.
Having pricing only on your booking page and not on the service page of a website, stagnant pricing as demand shifts and moving and not adjusting your price point.
If you change markets, you have to change pricing.
That’s part of it too.
So going back to that question that I just said, if your demand has slumped, should you cut your prices?
Generally speaking, it’s not going to change much.
So the other thing that we talked about a lot in bootcamp is, I have been spending a ton of time in all of the industry Facebook groups, or any of you in any of those Facebook groups.
Like specific color brands have groups.
There’s just generic coaching groups for stylists.
And when you go in there, people are asking questions about their business.
I have seen so many posts from stylists being like, I’m offering such as such a discount.
People still don’t want to book with me.
I did cut my prices.
It’s not changing anything.
Very rarely is a price cut what you need.
Instead, you need to change the way that you are marketing yourself, positioning yourself, the way that you are showing up within your business.
So when people are saying, my demand is down, am I supposed to cut my prices?
I don’t have data that supports, like, if you cut your prices, your business is going to grow faster.
If you cut your prices and your business still stinks, it still stinks.
And that’s more what the data supports.
So what I said to those in the boot camp, or what I’m going to keep saying is like, no, let’s instead elevate your business so that you can truly be thriving in this price point that you once were at.
Let’s just change your business.
Like a lot of the people who are saying, I don’t understand, like, my price point used to make sense, and now my demand is lower, what do I do?
I’m looking at their business, I’m looking at their marketing funnel, I’m looking at their guest experience, I’m like, well, baby, you’re still running a 2020 business, though.
You’re still running a 2021 marketing funnel.
That’s why it doesn’t work.
Let’s just catch you up to 2025.
So if anybody’s on the place of, I think I need a price decrease, I have to be honest with you, for most of you, I don’t think it’s going to help you that much.
I think instead we really need to kind of get back to basics and figure out how you need to be showing up so that clients choose you every single day.
So I know I didn’t get too deep into all of the bootcamp lessons and trainings.
To those who were in bootcamp, I hope you feel like I did right by you and didn’t give away too much.
I know y’all paid to be there, so for those of you who got that training, I hope you really enjoyed it.
We’d love to continue to hear your success stories.
If you listen to this episode and you’re like, wait a minute, I need to know more about this thing or that thing or the other thing, you can leave a rating and review on iTunes.
I go through those every single week or you can hit me up in the DMs.
I’m Britt Seva on Instagram.
So much love, happy business building, and I’ll see you on the next one.
