Intro: Do you feel like you were meant to have a kick-ass career as a hair stylist? 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 aren’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 lifelong 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 Seva: What is up you guys, and welcome to the Thriving Stylist Podcast. I’m your host Britt Seva and this is a Thriving Stylist Podcast first because this week, I’m introducing you to salon owner Cara Camiscioli—I hope I said that, right, Cara!—and this is going to be a two part episode.
Cara is one of the most experienced, most driven, most fascinating salon owners I’ve ever interviewed, and we got into so many good topics, I had to make this a two-parter.
So this week we are going to dive deep into salon partnerships. You guys, Cara was part of the 12-person partnership as well as a more traditional two-part person partnership, and she navigates us completely through both.
You are going to absolutely love this interview. If you’re considering salon ownership, if you’re an existing salon, or if you’re in a partnership, this is a must listen. Cara goes deep and she gives us everything we need to know about partnership.
You guys, I can’t wait to introduce you to my friend, Cara.
You guys, I am so beyond excited for my guest coming up today. It’s funny. I was joking with her before we came in here to record, this episode has literally, at this point, been one year in the making. We are almost at our one year anniversary of me receiving an email from this incredible woman and saying, “Oh, I need to know more about her.” I’ve literally been holding on to her email for over 365 days because I was so blown away by what she reached out and shared.
Now we all know about a year ago that global pandemic hit. We really had to pause the brakes and make sure that we did this interview at the best possible time. I’m just so honored and excited to have you in this place in space, sharing your brilliance with us. So Cara, welcome to the podcast. I’m so excited to have you here.
Cara Camiscioli: Hi Britt. I’m so excited to be here.
Britt: This is going to be so much fun! I always like to start by having you tell us a little bit about where you are now, how you work, and when I say how you work, I always mean like booth renter, commission stylists, salon owners, studio suite owner, where you’re located. Give us just a 60 second overview of who you are, how you work, and then I want to go through a trip back in time over your career and how you got to where you are, but where are you today? Give us a quick glimpse.
Cara: Okay! I own a salon in Morristown, New Jersey, and I also work behind the chair for lots of days, but Britt, I promise I’m cutting back here and there. I’m doing it.
Britt: I love it, and you know what makes me happy is I can tell that you have a lot of joy around your business. I support you in exactly where you are and where you’re headed.
So tell us what was your journey to salon ownership? When you got your license was salon ownership always in the picture for you? Did it evolve that way? Did you buy your salon from somebody else? How did you get to where you are?
Cara: Okay, so, if we go way back in time, I actually gave my first hair cut at nine years old.
Britt: No way. Okay. You may officially be the youngest haircut on record. Whoa.
Cara: Yes, yes I did. I felt like the profession chose me and I didn’t choose the profession. I know that it’s not like that for everybody out there, but in my mind, it was.
I had always been into hair. I did silly things with my hair. I curled my brother’s hair with curling irons and at nine, I was convincing people I can cut your hair, I know how to do it.
Anyway, in high school, I actually enrolled in the cosmetology program right within high school, but to not do hair at all. It was never going to be my profession.
Britt: Okay, so what were you going to do with it?
Cara: I was just going to charge people. I felt like if I had a license, I can now charge people because I’ve been doing hair for so long for free. I just said that I’m going to be able to charge people and be able to put myself through college. That was my whole big picture.
Britt: Okay, this is wild to me for so many reasons. First of all, you’re describing my daughter’s boyfriend, who essentially is a teenage barber, but he’s got a full clientele and same thing. He doesn’t want to be—at least now, but I’m going to come back and tell him about this interview. He doesn’t want to be a barber for life. He wants to go to a university. He has his eye on some kind of degree and he’s like, “I should freaking get my license so at least all I’ll earn my worth.” This is so fascinating to me.
Okay, so you go to school. Then what happened?
Cara: I graduate and I, of course, I seeked out one of the best salons in my area and I’m like, I have to go work there. It was just opening, and I’m like, I have to go work there. So I applied as an assistant position where we all start and I also was going to college.
I call myself the real dinosaur. [laughs]
Britt: So when I joke and call myself a dinosaur, you’re like, let me tell you, you don’t even know.
Cara: Yes, yes. Yeah. I’m actually in this for 36 years already.
Britt: Wow.
Cara: Yes.
Britt: That is inspirational to me and so many others. That’s incredible.
Cara: So I worked at this fabulous salon and I was putting myself through college, and that was the late eighties. The salon industry was fascinating and fun and, I mean, it was like a young group of people. It wasn’t like work and that’s why I thought it was never going to be my profession because my parents had jobs and I didn’t love their jobs, so I always thought you just need a job.
I got into it and I worked for this incredible man who was very successful and had four kids. Being in the salon industry and then going to college, and I wasn’t into that whole scene. We were going into New York, it was just like very—I was having fun.
Then one day something hit me and I’m like, “Wait a minute. If he’s successful and he has four kids, why can’t I do this? Why am I thinking that I can’t enjoy my job?” That would be really the golden ticket to actually enjoy and love what you do.
Britt: That’s so poignant. I think for a lot of us who stumble—I was a stumble-into-the-industry too, and to what you said, if you end up at a great salon like the one you’re describing, the culture is truly second to none.
And to what you said, to see people show up to work every day enjoying what they do, it opens your eyes to, “Oh my gosh. I didn’t even know this existed.”
I think what you said is so poignant because I think a lot of people actually still to this day haven’t walked into the salon and seen what you’re describing. Like this can be amazing. It can be so fun and people really can live a well-rounded life where family comes first.
So, okay, you saw that firsthand in this salon. What happened next?
Cara: And then I was like, “Okay, I’m jumping in with like two feet. This is going to be my career. I’m going to make sure that I make enough money to support a family.” That’s exactly what I did. I just jumped in with two feet and I became an educator as a young person for two different companies. I worked seven days a week. I educated on days off, and I just did hair five days behind the chair and just started building a clientele.
Britt: I have two questions. We’re going to take a tiny sidebar. Are you still educating?
Cara: No.
Britt: When did you know it was time to stop?
Cara: I actually met my husband and got married and had children right away. It was time. It was time to take that step back because you can’t work seven days a week.
Britt: That was a golden nugget whether you realize it or not, because there is so much opportunity in this industry. It’s very easy to seek out what’s next. How do I fill up all seven of the days? I don’t want to miss an opportunity and it’s very easy to get caught up in the I-have-to-do-everything, and almost feeling like you have to choose between career growth and family.
I think it’s just a really beautiful reminder that you were like, “You know what, once I met my husband, once I was having my family, I had that great experience as an educator, but it was too much. I wanted to take the reins again.”
You chose to make that business decision and that life decision to find a little bit more balance and you found wild success on the flip side of that. I just want to share that as a reminder. I know a lot of my listeners are the type like us who like to do all the things, and I think as a reminder that it’s okay to tap out or make a change if something doesn’t serve you anymore.
Cara: Oh, absolutely. And my head, though, always was that I would own a salon. It was always in my head. I actually just collected manuals and I just really dove into education and every single thing that I could find to just keep it in my memory bank because I knew I was going to do it at some point in time. It was always a dream.
Britt: Again, I think that’s a golden nugget. So for those of you who aspire to be a salon owner, your journey starts today. Whatever today is for you, can you hear how she’s expressing that she was literally a lifetime student of what would it look like for me to be a successful salon owner and started collecting manuals and reading and studying and learning along the way? Long before she was an owner, it sounds like.
I am so there with you: if you’re willing to take the next step, the preparation starts, so when you do make that leap, you’re ready for it.
Cara: Right. Correct.
Britt: Okay, so how did you become an owner?
Cara: I mean, I have probably a very different scenario that nobody else probably has in the world.
Britt: I love it.
Cara: Yes, it’s crazy. It’s actually a crazy story. So what happened was I had one child and I came back from maternity leave pregnant again. My boss at the time would not allow us to work part-time. You had to work five full days and there was just no way. My children ended up being 10 months apart.
Britt: Oh my gosh. You’re like my sister! My sister has the same thing and you don’t hear that a lot. Wow.
Cara: There was just no way to work the hours. I mean, I was working from morning to night from opening to close every single day, and there was just no way to do that. While I was on maternity, a group of people—which I know you’ve probably never heard this before—a group of 11 people got together to open up their own salon.
Britt: Wait, time out.
Cara: Yes, time out.
Britt: 11 people got together to open a salon, correct?
Cara: Yes, yes, yes.
Britt: ThIs wild to me. If 11 people came and they asked me, “Do you think this is a good idea?” I would say, “In no world is this a good idea,” but you did it.
Cara: And I was number 12.
Britt: Oh my gosh.
Cara: Yes. 12 of us went into partnership, which was a perfect time in my life. I know everybody out there is like, “Oh my God, that’s the craziest story ever. That’s never going work.” Everybody was like, “You’re out of your mind. That is never going to work.”
We structured it and you know, it worked. Also for me, it was a perfect time in my life. I had a lot of life changes while I was a partner there, so it would allow me to have a lot more flexibility within my life. The first five years it worked beautifully. It was amazing.
Britt: And for the first five years, did all 12 of you stay?
Cara: One person left.
Britt: One person left, but 11 of you hung on. Okay. So what happened after the first five years? When did it stop working?
Cara: After the five years, and then obviously we renewed our lease for another five years.
What I found about partnerships is that when somebody goes into a partnership, you have the same dreams and aspirations and you all have that same avenue, so to speak, or that same road that you want to take. And then years start to creep in and people’s lives change in many different ways. It could be from moving. It doesn’t matter. Who got married, who had children, who didn’t, everybody’s lives start to change, including my own. I unfortunately became a single living parent, my husband passed away and my kids—thank you—and my kids were very little. They were just turning three and four. So just like my partners, my partners’ roads changed, so did mine.
So with that, after the five years, everybody’s goals changed and as goals change, now you are no longer on the same road where we were in the beginning, then all of a sudden it was like all the roads were just turning all different ways and everybody had their own new goals, so to speak. And then slowly but surely, it just started to fall apart.
Britt: What were the signs that it was falling apart? Was it tension, were people like, “I got to get out of here?” What did it look like when the wheels were falling off?
Cara: Oh, it was so much tension. It was arguing and fighting and just not getting along. We really liked each other. I still today can say that I like a lot of the people, it’s not a negative thing. But it was just the tension grew, our employees started feeling the tension. It became like, “Well, if she’s only working four days and I’m going to work less,” and then everybody started working less. It just crumbled and fell apart.
Britt: I want to go back just briefly. This is so fascinating to me. When times were good, would the 12 of you collectively make decisions? Was everybody assigned almost like a chore chart? Was everybody assigned something in the business to manage or would you guys just get together and be like, “Hey, should we hire this person? Does this sound good?”, you take a vote. What did the dynamic look like when times were good?
Cara: When times were good, we did have people in place, like who did the books. And yes, we voted on a lot of things and that’s how we made our decisions, on voting.
But like I said, remember, when it was going good, everybody had the same goal.
Britt: Right. And I think, gosh, you’re so incredible. And that’s the key when you’re all chasing the same goal and the same dream, decisions are pretty darn easy. It’s when everybody’s life changes exactly like what you said, that the tension starts to build, and it becomes much more challenging.
When you were hiring employees, were all 12 of you registered business partners? Like everybody owned a piece?
Cara: Yes.
Britt: So when you were hiring employees, they were just working for the business. It’s not like one was working for you and an assistant was working for somebody else. They were working for the business.
Cara: Yes. They were working for the business. Yes. We were an LLC and they were working for the business.
Britt: Wow. My mouth is dropped.
Okay, so when it started to not go so well, what did that look like? Was there an unraveling? Who decided to leave? What did all that look like?
Cara: Yeah, so as it started to unravel, I felt there were things going on in the business and other people didn’t feel the same. And so I actually decided to just remove myself completely out of the entire situation. Actually two other owners actually left, so three of us left and we actually went back to our original salon that we started with.
Britt: All three of you did.
Cara: Yes.
Britt: Wow. Oh my gosh. What a journey. This is incredible.
Cara: Yeah. So three partners left, which was the three of us.
Britt: When you say three partners left—I get this question a lot, so I’m going to ask you, tell me if you’re fine with it. But when three partners left, was there a buyout? Did you just walk away? What did the leaving look like?
Cara: We walked away. We walked away. We didn’t invest too much money in the beginning and fortunately we were making profit right away. It was best, especially because we felt like things that were going on behind the scenes, it was just better left to walk away. It was a better feeling.
Britt: I love that you shared that because I think for a lot of people I’ve at least spoken to—I’m sure there’s a lot of different experiences here—but from the people I’ve spoken to, they say, “I want to get back what I invested in,” or “I want to make sure that I don’t get burned in the walkout.” And to what you said, it just was probably emotionally, mentally, logistically easier to say, “We had a good run and it’s time for me to choose my best life, and going back to the salon is what feels right to me.”
Cara: Yes, and behind the scenes, the owner of the salon that we went back to already approached me about actually becoming his partner. So it was already in the making that I was becoming a partner—to the salon that I left, I was actually now going to become a partner of, okay.
Britt: Okay, this is so much fun for me. Okay, so what do you think he saw in you where he was like, if I’m going to have a business partner, Cara, is it?
Cara: I started working for him when I was 24 years old, and when I went there, I had an okay book, so to speak. I was making good money for a 24 year old and everything like that. He had superstars working for him, like people that—and you’re going back like 26 years—that were already making like the six figures in the pocket. Yes.
Britt: Which is, I mean, massive money now, but you’re right, 20 years ago, that’s practically unheard of. That’s some big money.
Cara: I was just like, “Wow, really? I can do that,” and he’s like, “Yes, you can.” That’s why he said to me, “You have to work from morning to night. You come here at 10 o’clock in the morning, you leave at nine o’clock at night, and you fill your book.”
One thing that he said to me—and when I went there when I was 24, I was hired as a stylist. But one thing that now that I can actually dig deeper and find out who I was at that point, and of course because I have had assistants over the years. Like I used to stock the shelves for him. I did all the ordering for him, and he would do these crazy little tests. He would throw a towel on the floor and I would pick it up. And he’s like, “It’s like you’re doing it for yourself. You’re not doing it for me. You’re actually in your own business.”
He came up to me one time and he goes, “You’ve doubled your income in less than a year.” I was shocked. I’m like, “Wow, doubled it?” He’s like, “Yeah, and you keep doubling it.” And he said something to me. He goes, “You know what? You know why you’ll always be successful? Because it’s not about the money for you.”
Britt: Oh my gosh. I love that so much. Yeah.
Cara: I think he always knew that I had this drive and the passion behind everything. He also knew losing my husband that I also needed some sort of a stronger career path. Let’s put it that way.
Britt: When you guys entered into—are you still a part of that partnership now?
Cara: No. Unfortunately he passed away during our agreements and I ended up purchasing the salon in full from his widow.
Britt: Got it. Okay, I want to take one step back then. When you were deciding to enter that partnership, if you don’t mind me asking, was there some sort of buy-in and did you set up any kind of agreement where it was like, “All right, if one of us chooses to walk away,” like, did you set up the partnership agreement any differently entering a partnership with him?
Cara: Yes, there was a buy-in and no, we didn’t finalize everything because before I went to go work back for him, he got sick. So then it wasn’t the right time to continue talks about the partnership, so to speak. I did go back to work there and then I waited about a year to approach his wife about purchasing the entire business.
Britt: Wow. What did that look like? Did you bring in an evaluator? Did you and she just agree on this is going to work for both of us? How did that process look?
Cara: We already had people, like I already had lawyers and everybody looking at it. I was very well aware of what it was worth at the time, and so I made, I thought it was a very reasonable offer to her.
Britt: Love that. Ah, you’re just literally one of the most fascinating conversations I’ve ever had. This is incredible to me. Okay. Oh my gosh.
Okay, so this is the salon you currently own today, however, you’re the sole owner?
Cara: No, it’s not the salon I own today.
Britt: Oh my gosh, the road keeps winding. Okay.
Cara: I know, the onion is peeling.
Britt: Oh, I love it. I’m getting to the core. I’m going to get there.
Okay. That’s it. I’m going to stop it right there.
I promise I do go deep and I keep peeling back the layers of that onion, but you’re going to have to wait until next week when this interview actually takes a turn.
We talk about unexpected bankruptcy, we talk about how to use Yelp to market your business, and how she became the top salon in her area in a matter of weeks.
You guys, until next time, so much love, happy business building, and I’ll see you on the next one.
