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 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 hairstylists. And this is the Thriving Stylist podcast.
What is up? And welcome back to the Thriving Stylist Podcast. I’m your host, Britt Seva, and today we are talking about something incredibly timely, but I actually hope that the conversation we have today can be quite timeless. We have noticed over the last five years, six years, I guess it is now, that our business is relatively fragile. They can change in any moment. There’s so many pros to being a part of the service industry, however, there’s some cons to and when times are good, they’re really, really good. And when times are bad, they can be terrible. And we’ve had several situations in very recent years and it feels like hitting back to back to back where a lot of stylists and service providers in general have felt a little bit out of control in the volume of clients in which they serve. And whenever I talk about building clientele, I talk about like a faucet, like faucet on faucet off.
And when faucet is on, there’s abundance and clients pouring in and everything feels amazing. And when it’s faucet off, it can feel dry, it can feel like a drip, it can feel dismal, stressful. Most stylists don’t like to operate with a dry bank account. So it’s frustrating. Based on very recent events, uh, the government shut down to be specific. That happened in the fall of 2025. We experienced a period in a season for some stylists and salon owners that felt a little bit like COVID, like their business that once was dried up overnight and their community was deeply impacted. And it felt like once again they were completely out of control. And while I wish we could say, no worries, that’s never gonna happen again. The reality is it will likely continue to happen. It will likely continue to be unpredictable. And this episode is dedicated to the times when a community, a group, an area a nation, hits a point where business is not operating as normal and things need to change.
However, we want to make decisions that don’t just serve us in the now, but really support our business and our community for the long haul. So let me start by reading you a DM and then I have some facts and figures to share. So this DM came in, a stylist in Maryland and this stylist says DMV has been hit hard once in the beginning of the year when they laid off and made everyone not be able to work from home anymore. And then in parentheses, government employees, to clarify, we live in an area where there’s a lot of people who work for the government and or are contractors through the government. I do think that the DMV area has likely been hit harder than most. However, I’m in the Silicon Valley area and we too saw a huge pushback when coming back to the office was a thing.
San Francisco I know saw it. I’m gonna guess a lot of major cities did. So I think DMV has been hit particularly hard because they’re so government focused, but I think there’s a lot of areas that can relate to this. Then she says, I lost a decent amount of clients from that. Now with the government shutdown, I am at a 15 year low when it comes to my business. I’ve been doing more than ever before and have never had so many openings, November’s in the past. I’ve always been fully booked. I’m completely stressed out because I am fully booked for December. However, I’m worried that everything is gonna fall apart before those appointments ever come together. I network with lots of other stylists in my area and they all said that they’re having the same issues around here. So I tend to think it’s not just me.
Here’s the part that I think is key. She says, I feel like I’ve tried everything running promotions, I’ve done emails, I’ve done text blasts. I’m not even sure at this point where to go. I’m feeling completely lost. This feels like one of those situations where it’s affecting everybody. Our clients aren’t getting paid, which means we aren’t getting paid and I can’t find the solution to all of this. Ugh, the way that was asked was just so relatable. I think we’ve all been at that point. Even if in your area over the last few months or the last year you haven’t felt that pressure for most of us we did in 2020. And that feeling of it’s not just me who’s struggling, I don’t think it’s just me doing something wrong. We as a community are in this together and we’re having a hard time. Now, what I do have to say is I am very well aware that I see things from a different angle and a different perspective because when you talk to a lot of our thriver society members, they’re not feeling it quite in the same way because they’ve built systems and funnels and, and some of them have been doing this for a decade now they’ve insulated their business in a way where they are going to get the limited demand that there is is going to go to them because they have positioned themselves to be the one that catches the fall.
Not everybody, I’m gonna say the minority of the industry is feeling that way. I think a lot are taking the heat of where the economy is right now and are feeling the pinch massively. And this is what we talk about when we talk about great divide like the haves and the have nots. We knew this pain was coming, but now that it’s here, it’s feeling incredibly intense and it can feel like we’re completely out of control. So for me, you know, my classic go-to Brit response is always like, well let’s focus on the marketing funnel. Like what can we do to better position you in your market? Let’s take a look at your pricing. However, I was having a very powerful conversation just last week with somebody who really opened my eyes and shifted my perspective a bit and I chewed on the conversation that was had and I messaged this person and said, is there any way you come on the podcast and talk about this? Because I think that the way that you’re seeing this is so correct and open-minded and creative and graciously this person said yes. And I’m very excited to welcome to the podcast our very own coach nine who has a really, I think, interesting and what could be a very powerful approach to navigating challenges like this. So welcome to the Thriving Stylist Podcast, coach nine.
Coach Nine:
Hi everyone. I am so thrilled to be here today, so thank you for having me on Britt.
Britt Seva:
My pleasure. And the audience doesn’t even know what they’re in for, I’m just, just so, so excited to have you here. So thank you for joining us. So first things first, tell us a little bit about what you’ve noticed as far as some of the contributing factors to why I think kind of as a nation, cities and communities are feeling this pinch.
Coach Nine:
Yeah, so I really was looking at this from a bird’s eye view and taking a look at like, okay, what are all the things that are currently happening right now but have also been kind of happening in the background for, you know, the past year plus at least. And so the first one is that job losses. And just this October of 2025, the US has, it’s been reported from US employers that over 153,000 jobs have been cut. And that’s just what’s been reported. And the crazier part for me looking at those stats is that this is the highest number of job losses for any October in over 20 years. So even worse than in the great recession, which that is what really like shook me personally. And if we take a look at the full 20, 25 year from January to October, that’s actually been over a million jobs, which is up 65%. I was looking at those stats and I was just, I was blown away by that. I had no idea just how bad it was. Like you feel it in in the air, but then actually looking at the numbers is really wild.
Britt Seva:
Totally agree. And it does feel like it happens slowly and then all at once. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Because we’ve been talking about this, it’s not like a complete blindside, but it’s almost like the plane has landed and it does, it still feels shocking. I love when you said at the beginning that there was this 153 K job loss in one month. Like in one month, but that’s what was reported and that’s what’s important is that a lot of small companies and small meaning like under a hundred people, which to me is still huge, but a lot of companies are not required to report anything at all. So even this 153 K is probably to what you said, like a fraction of what’s actually happened. It has to be more significant than that.
Coach Nine:
Absolutely. And that was always what was in my mind, I’m like, that word reported was kind of big. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. So mm-hmm <affirmative> Then I was like, okay, well what are the major industries that have been the most impacted by what has been reported, which ends up being technology and information sector, no surprise there. So Silicon Valley for sure. And then also retail and consumer services. I think about all of the reports on Starbucks and how many jobs are being lost by big, big corporations that were like, ooh. Yeah. And that’s been going on for a while too, but we’re seeing it even more at scale. Also warehousing and logistics and then media and nonprofits and even other services within that as well. So realistically I’m like, wow, that is, it’s a huge range when I think about it from like income standpoint of like who’s working those jobs, it’s a huge range, right?
Britt Seva:
You’re right. And and there’s a complete trickle down effect. Like we’re all gonna be impacted by warehousing shortages. We’re all gonna be impacted by nonprofits losing funding and losing a place. The impact is going to be massive. Nobody’s gonna be spared. It’s just the pace and rate at which anybody feels the shift.
Coach Nine:
Absolutely. So that was just one contributing factor to be considering. Another one is that 43 million Americans have had their food benefits either reduced or cut entirely or are going to become ineligible for those benefits in the near future just because bills and bills have passed, laws are changing, policies are changing all of the time and some of those benefits have been restored. There are things going through the courts now, then there’s still going to be for a while. But either way, there’s so much uncertainty around it, which you know, and it depends on what state you’re living in and and what those benefits look like. But either way it’s uncertain. And when you think about that, the trickle down of that even can go farther. So I think when I think about it, it’s like even if I’m not directly impacted by those, the secondary indirect impact is also huge.
Britt Seva:
Completely agreed. And when you look at a statistic like that, 43 million Americans, it’s massive. And we know that there are people who are reliant on support from the state or federal government, but when you look at a number like that, and I know for me too, when I saw my community surrounding communities, national conversation around people who could not feed themselves, their families, their children, it really hit a fever pitch because it went on for so long and was so massive and the desperation was there. And we all need to put food on our tables. I completely understand. But we’re here, as you know, stylists are service professionals and we’re trying to keep our business going. And some people are like, I, I’m just trying to eat today. And it’s, the disparities is significant there. It’s huge.
Coach Nine:
Absolutely. And then like you mentioned earlier, we recently had the longest government shutdown in American history and I, I was looking at that and I didn’t realize this was only the 11th shutdown that ended up resulting in federal employees being furloughed, which means they still have to go to work, but they’re not getting paid. And so they, and they don’t know when they’re going to get paid again. And it’s up to, you know, when the government opens back up and it was 43 days, that was a month and a half so long. And just the looming in the air of that where we’re like, how long is this gonna be? Nobody knows
Britt Seva:
You are right. And when you said that statistic, I was like, is she sure you’re, you were completely right. And it makes you realize how rare this is, how impactful it was. And to what you’re saying, like the ripple effect of people being told you gotta work, you’re actually not gonna get paid at all until we know when, but if you don’t come to work, you’re losing your job forever. It’s scary, it’s very vulnerable for everybody.
Coach Nine:
Absolutely. And it was just kind of, you know, nobody feels totally safe. And I just keep thinking of the word uncertainty. And so like I mentioned earlier, like there’s very few people regardless of their socioeconomic status that are not going to be impacted. If you’re directly impacted, then you’re feeling it right now indirectly then it might be a six months, a year, it might be a little bit longer until you realize and it happens so slowly, but then all of a sudden when you realize, whoa, okay, and that’s the shakeup that’s happening right now. And I think that that is huge. And so, so many people are just worried or just nobody wants to sit and and wait and see. And so I’m having a ton of, I’m seeing all of these things on the interweb and on social media where people are like, should I move forward with a price increase or should I not? Or they’re noticing that some of their clients or their communities are being affected and they’re like, what do I do? What do I do?
Britt Seva:
That’s such a great point when you bring up like the price increase and the gap that we continue to circle back to of talking about how some people are impacted right now, they’re feeling it, they’re in it and some see it from a distance but aren’t quite feeling it yet. And you’re right. How do you not isolate a piece of your clientele? How can we be certain that you’re not positioning yourself poorly now and in the future as a stylist? And I think it is overwhelming for any business owner, any service provider to say, how do I take care of my community? How do I take care of my guests that are suffering while still take care of my guests that are all good and take care of myself at the same time? It’s like you’re looking at all these facets and saying, what is the right answer? What is the right direction? And I think that there’s some things that we can all do and we could dig deep into like pricing and all that kind of stuff. And I know we’ll touch on that in a minute also, but when you were, we were brainstorming, that was the context of this conversation as we were talking about what’s going on and we were brainstorming ideas together, what were some of the things you considered when you kind of came up with this very innovative solution?
Coach Nine:
Well I think the big thing is that as a coach we can’t just, you know, really it’s a tricky spot because we can’t just coach to strategies that could have long-term effects are not easy to roll back on. And so we can’t just like blanketly coach to things, especially when there are things that could be temporary or can change on a dime government shutdown. Absolutely. Right. And it was like we, we were talking about this but the government had just opened back up like a couple of days before, but there’s so many different things that can just change. So we can’t just like blanketly be like, yeah, do this and that’s gonna, you know, fix everything. So how can we also be, but we can’t just tell people to like, oh, just wait and see, right? Nobody wants to do that <laugh>, we wanna take an active and proactive step moving forward. And so for me it’s really, okay, how can I serve my community and how can I still be there and how can we collectively be part of this together and help those that need help? And then also for those who are not affected, how can they also get in on this too again collectively as a community. So that was a big one for me.
Britt Seva:
I love that. And we’re about to share the idea. I know we’ve had such a huge buildup, but when you shared your concept, it was the piece that really hit all facets where it’s like you’re taking care of those who need the support, you’re looking out for your community and you are still taking care of yourself. Which I think that for us is stylists and service providers we’re always like the last to we, we know we have to do it, but it becomes last because you look at everything else going on and you think, listen, I just wanna stay in this game. I’ll just do whatever I have to do. And I think the solution you’ve come up with or the opportunity you’ve come up with really hits all sides. Okay. So tell us a little bit more about your concept.
Coach Nine:
Okay, so this was very much inspired by what I’ve been seeing other community based businesses doing. So cafes, restaurants, coffee shops, all of that across the us. I know that there’s several in my local community in Savannah, Georgia that I’ve seen doing this. And I think it’s absolutely wonderful. So, and again, this is a win-win win situation. Everybody wins here is that doing something like a beauty community fund. And so basically reaching out to your current clients and your community as a whole and paying it forward for somebody else who is affected by this so that they can donate towards beauty services of somebody else. So the clients who are unaffected, they, they feel good, they’re supporting their community, whether or not they’re gonna know who the person is, they’re probably not. And so, but they feel good about contributing and making somebody else’s day.
Stylist still gets paid and the person who is going through any kind of economic hardship still gets to come in and feel beautiful, get their services done. And they’re not having to make the hard decisions between groceries and grooming. And I think that they’re already having to make so many hard decisions and especially if it was something like job losses, just something that I consider there too. Getting your hair done is kind of a thing. Like you kind of do have to look well groomed, you can’t just like stop doing your roots all together and, and it’s just one of those things that, especially as women, I think is is huge for our identity, for our confidence in all of that. So I think that this is a really beautiful concept and we’ll get into more of the strategy as well.
Britt Seva:
I love that you said not having to make the choice between groceries and grooming. That quote really resonates with me because we see a lot of narrative, you know on social media. You and I are talking about like what’s going on in Instagram, what’s going on, TikTok, that’s something we’re talking about all the time. And there is such a narrative of getting your hair done is a luxury. If you can’t afford it, don’t do it. There are luxury services, no doubt about it, but grooming is a human necessity. And when we come back down to our simplest form, it’s a form of self-care, it is a health choice and it’s a confidence build. And I know I’ve been in the place too where it’s like if you’re not able to take care of yourself and you’re looking in the mirror and you’re not proud of what you see, it does have an additional double down kind of impact.
I loved, I know you’re gonna dig into the logistics of your concept, but as you were talking about the different people in the community and how people like to support, I remember remember it was only a few weeks ago when it was very clear that people weren’t able to feed themselves. My community specifically was like, how do we help? How quick can we help? It was like there was this outpouring need of no one’s gonna struggle, we’re in this together. And man, if it didn’t come together it was so beautiful. And I think that it can honestly feel like isolating to be somebody who’s like, I really need to get in, get a, get a haircut. Especially if the narrative is here’s the luxury, don’t worry so much about it. Like I even talked about the beginning of this episode, people are worried about feeding their families and you’re worried about getting your roots done and there can be this almost narrative around it like that’s not important, don’t worry about it.
Normalizing the conversation and allowing those who really do want to help is such an opportunity for everybody. I think about in my community, there’s a program, it’s an adopt a family. I know a lot of communities do it. Mm-hmm <affirmative> there is a wait list to be able to adopt a family because so many people wanna do it and there’s only so many who need help and you are just really taking a look at our human desire to help others and really making it work well-rounded. I just, I think that what you’ve put together is so brilliant. Okay, so tell us a little bit more about the logistics. Let’s say we’re into it, we like the idea of those who are able to help, being able to help those who really could use a hand, being able to get the resources they need while also having the stylists be able to continue to pay their bills and feed their family and take care of themselves, which we’ve already decided in this episode is as equally as important as everything else. So tell us about some of the logistics of how we can do this. ’cause I know you have a bunch of different options.
Coach Nine:
Yeah, so there’s a few different options that kind of came up. So one is just kind of a really simple pay it forward kind of pot that things go into. And there’s different ways that someone could do this and any dollar helps, right? $5, $10, $50, whether it’s like partially covering somebody fully cover, they don’t have to commit to like covering a partial highlight or an entire haircut appointment. Even the smallest amount helps. So that’s one way to do it. You could also do it as like a gift certificate or a gift card. And I think that that could be a really great way to go to, especially if you have that ability on like your online booking system where you could set it up that way. I think that that would be really well received and just easier logistically as well and easier for tracking too.
And then another option would be to do something more of like a community care day. So one day a month or a certain amount of, you have like certain blocks of time where you know you’re taking three to five appointments and so you can kind of batch that all together instead of having it sprinkled throughout your day. So it really just kind of depends on what feels like it’s most in alignment for you and your business. Also, you can do this as an independent stylist. You could also do this as a salon and have some of your stylists participate. It really just kind of depends logistically what ends up working best for your business.
Britt Seva:
I love that. And tell us a little bit more about the logistics as far as like one of the things that came up for me was love this idea. Let’s say I’m not a contributor or a donor, I’m somebody really needs to take advantage of the funds that are being raised or of the opportunities that are available to me. Would you create specific qualifications? How would you kind of get this out into the world? What would that look like?
Coach Nine:
So in my mind, I mean really the world’s zero oyster on this one for sure. You do what works best for you and your community, but for me I would ideally be extending this first and foremost to my existing clients that I know are going through a financial hardship. Or even just, I’ve heard so many people say like, oh yeah, my clients are just like stretching the time in between their appointment or, or they’re just like, hey, the clients will mention like I’m just trying to kind of cut down on some of my spending and you can just kind of pop in and say, you know what? I’m able to cover this for you so that you don’t have to do that, right? You can come in a little bit more frequently. And I mean I think that that is really beautiful and a and a great way to do that. Then alternatively, maybe you don’t have clients who are feeling this because maybe your clientele, your target market isn’t specifically affected by this, then that is an option that you can open it up to more of your community depending on what’s in alignment.
Britt Seva:
I love that and I like that there’s different ways and different approaches based on where any stylist or any salon is at. Do you think there’s a situation, I don’t think we’ve talked about this before, but it came up to me now. Do you think there’s a specific situation where you would decline somebody or if somebody came to you and said, I’m in a time of need, I understand you have a beauty fund, I could really use that during this time. For you as a stylist, how do you think you would handle that or navigate that?
Coach Nine:
I think I would really take a look at, you know, kind of what is my purpose, my personal purpose in this and you know, we still wanna be generous in everything, but at the same time I do think that there are certain times when it’s like, okay, I don’t wanna open up the floodgates to certain, you know, this isn’t my target market. I still am running a business at the end of the day. And so I do think that it’s okay to to mention like, you know, and you can just say I can see what is possible within our current program, but I can also reach out to my network of stylists outside of who’s in my building to see if anybody has the capacity for that as well. So I think that there is absolutely, there’s so many more options too, if that particular person or scenario isn’t necessarily what’s going to work for you and your business. Also there’s capacity issues as well, right? That’s a big one. So I think that that’s something to consider too, where you gotta get your clients in first. Again, you’re running a business at the end of the day, right?
Britt Seva:
Completely. And I think that’s such a good point of there’s serving, there’s the servant’s heart, there’s community support, there’s giving back, but then coming back around to and then taking care of yourself and taking care of your own. Again, this is gonna be, I what did you say at the beginning, the world is your oyster. Like this is gonna be something that anybody’s gonna customize. Whether they want to have a form on their website that somebody fills out or if they just wanna be shot a DM or whatever it looks like. But when you were talking about maybe having a little bit more guardrails on it, when you’re talking about the day of beauty or maybe having a limit of announcing the community fund raised $600 last month, I’m so excited to allocate that this month. If you think you’re a good fit for it, I’d love to chat with you.
So it’s always like, I’m here, I’m supporting, this is what I can do as a local small business this month. So happy to do it without allowing the floodgates to overrun your business. And that’s where I think your concept is so good and where I think it differs from, you know what, let’s do discounts. Let’s say 20% off, 30% off. Someone loses their job, they get free haircuts. That’s such a slippery slope. And I think that’s how our industry usually responds is we feel terrible. We have these huge hearts and so we’re like, you know what slash the prices, you know what price cut, you know what you get to come in for free, which is so beautiful and there’s always this appreciation, it’s like, but then there’s the resentment of like, I can’t run this business doing free hair and it creates this really overwhelming cycle and I like that your method allows for everybody to win. I think it’s so, so beautiful.
Coach Nine:
Yeah. And you can also open it up for your clients to nominate somebody, right? Anonymously nominating somebody and extending that out to them as well. And then also, you know, you can still have boundaries in this as far as like choose your own adventure here as far as what’s gonna work best implementation wise too. Now I do think that there are some other opportunities too that could even take this to the next level. Yes, exactly. Next level is brand partnerships. Oh tell us. I know so many other brands in my, in just my local community when I saw one coffee shop do it, other brands were reaching out to that coffee shop to be like, how can we participate too? And not in a way of like, Ooh, we’re trying to get in on like the cross-promotion of marketing. No. Like sure could that make great connections with one another for Absolutely great.
That’s an awesome little, you know, side thing benefit that comes out of it, but more so where you can partner with other local coffee shops and boutiques and whatever that may be. And so that way they could also sponsor it. Maybe they wanna match the donations. Mm, I love that idea. I love that. Right? Or they wanna also give a gift card for anybody who is, is receiving any of those benefits and partaking in the fund. I think that that would be killer. I know grocery stores, big grocery stores, big box grocery stores who would probably donate to this as well and get in on it. So there’s so
Britt Seva:
Many and I think a lot of people are saying, I wanna help and I don’t know how and a stylist or salon being the first one or any local business being like, I know how, I know how we can do it. You’d be amazed at how many other businesses are like, wow, they’ve done all the hard work, I wanna support it. They’ve already got a system up and running, let me just jump on board. It really is such a great opportunity for a business partner to get involved, to give back, to connect without kind of having to do the heavy lift themselves, which is what your concept would take care of. Okay. I loved you talked about the monthly share back and I really liked your approach on that because you just mentioned it, the whole point of this opportunity is not a big marketing campaign and it’s a real slippery slope between marketing gimmicky and actually serving. And I liked how you talked about the share back and how to make it feel like it comes full circle. Tell us more about that.
Coach Nine:
Yeah, I think it would be absolutely beautiful if you are able to kind of let the people who have donated have contributed understand what the impact that has made in the community and there’s different ways to go about that. You don’t have to name anyone, right? Keep, we can keep it anonymous, keep everyone’s dignity intact. We don’t have to go and overshare, but if they want to say a thank you, want to write a note and we can put that in an email, share that on our social media and put that out there and just letting people know this is how many appointments and how many people’s lives your donations were able to impact, this is how much money. I think that that is incredible.
Britt Seva:
I love that and I think that for me, when I’m supporting, I’ve done the adopt a family thing at the holidays and I personally never hear back and that’s okay. I know that the organization I do it through is great, but man, if it wouldn’t make me feel good just to hear like listen the family that you help, it really just that personal story, that personal touch, if anybody is willing to share, I mean wow it does, you do it for the impact. So I think that that idea of seeing the impact completely anonymously, whether it be an email or it is a social post that says we’re so proud we were able to, you know, fund 12 haircuts this last month, thank you to our beautiful community. Anything like that where it really is focusing on the impact versus the promotion itself. I just thought that was such a, such an incredible concept. And then your last but not least, tell us about the opt-in donation.
Coach Nine:
Yeah, so I think that, I mean we touched on this a little bit earlier as far as like kind of figuring out how this could work. I think that you could also, you can put it on social media, absolutely talk about it. That’s how this is gonna actually get off the ground is you have to talk about it and talk about it relatively frequently through your, but also having different ways that people can donate and donate anonymously. So while they’re in the salon too, so just having a QR code in the salon but also mentioning it, having some way to opt in or purchase a gift card for somebody while somebody is checking out I think would be really, really great. Again, if it’s a full appointment that they’re funding or if it’s just a couple of bucks, it’s always going to be powerful no matter what.
So I think we need to talk a little bit more about actually like implementing this and so like kind of the steps and breaking it down as far as how are you gonna get this off the ground. Now I don’t want this to be a huge lift for anybody to get off the ground. That is like the biggest part of this. So for step one, we need to clarify what the fund is, who is benefiting from the fund and what kind of those, those parameters are for you. And then what it’s going to cover. Is it covering partial appointments, is it covering full appointments? And kind of seeing what direction you wanna go in with that. Then step two is gonna be how are we gonna set up the logistics with the donations and the payments and everything? So I did mention a few different things where you could do a QR code digital kind of like tip jar almost, or the gift cards and gift certificates as an add-on at checkout.
You can absolutely do that. But also figuring out like, okay, how are we keeping track of this? And so I do like the gift certificates and gift cards because I think that that’s gonna be a really seamless way in your POS in your backend system to kind of keep track of everything, know how much is like in there and how much you can pull and redeeming that money essentially. And then alternatively, you could also do like a business Venmo donation and that way you would see it has to be business though it does have to be the business Venmo account. Let me clarify that and make sure that is crystal clear. And so that could be an easier way to kind of track it as well. So I think those are kind of like my two preferred ways would be keeping it separate in that way and keeping the tracking really easy.
And then we have step three is going to be kind of building the communication piece of this and so coming up with some names for this and a description, maybe you even wanna build out a page on your website with an FAQ or some simple explanation of how it works so that way you can start putting the pieces together of any of like your marketing material, what you’re gonna say on social, whether it’s stories, posts, all of those different things. And I did come up with a few little like quick names, which was like the pay it forward beauty fund, the Beauty bridge program, the community beauty initiative. There’s so many different fun names and you can also kind of play on this depending on like your brand as well and putting in your little, I think about the ish dolls from <laugh> from Ish and I’m like, oh they’re, I get, I’m sure they would come up with some really fun clever names.
So then we come to step four and before we really launch everything and announce it to the world, let’s do a test run. Let’s test that everything’s working well do a dry run sending test donations and all of that. Then we’re gonna jump into actually launching. So like I said, in order to really maintain this as well, you’re gonna have to talk about it and you’re gonna have to talk about it pretty frequently to get it off the ground. I do imagine that there will be other people sharing this and so you put it out there. I mean it’s not a field of dream situation where if you build it they will come. But at the same time I’ve seen what this has brought other businesses as far as like people want to share, people want to help. Right now everybody feels it, everybody feels this uncertainty. So making sure that you’re talking about it in your emails, in your social media, whatever that may be, talk about it, talk about it with your clients, let them know they can share it, make it easy to share and easy to contribute is going to be the big one. And then checking in and seeing how much you’ve raised, sharing those things on social as well. Like we mentioned earlier too.
Britt Seva:
Okay, nine, first of all, thank you for all the steps because as we were talking I was like, oh my gosh, we’ve inspired for like 35 minutes and everyone’s gonna be chomping at the bit to like dive in, but you’d have to listen back to the episode nine times to get all the pieces and parts in order. So thank you for summarizing like the order of operations. Thank you for sharing suggested names. I’m somebody who I’m, I’m relatively aware of my flaws and one of them is naming anything. So thank you for the name suggestions. I would certainly be something that I would need. And I thank you for the reminder also to like put your ducks in a row before you pull the trigger because for as amazing and beautiful as this is, it could also become a giant mess and it could actually get into some murky waters if it’s not run properly because you’re kind of running like a, a give back a community fundraising organization mini within your business and if, if it doesn’t feel organized, it’s gonna flop before it starts.
And so slowing down for just a minute, taking a few weeks to get it together is so smart. The other thing I wanted to share too is if anybody’s in a community where you’re like, oh this is so great, it probably doesn’t work for us by, I think it’s really cool, this is one of those things that is so timely right now, feels so appropriate for right now, but will likely be important for years to come. Like get it started now and then in any downturn somebody will always say, well I know Seva Salon’s got that amazing community give back. I’m definitely gonna contribute there this season. This is would just be a great thing to have going all the time. And it’s gonna have seasons of highs and lows and everything in between. I just think it’s such a genius concept.
Coach Nine:
Thank you. And I’m I, I want people to do this <laugh> so bad. So if you do tell us about it, I, I wanna see it. But I think too, keep it simple. That’s the number one thing. Keep it simple, keep it easy, see how it starts going, then you can take it to the next level, right? I’m a big dreamer so like I gotta reel myself back and be like, alright, here’s all the things that you can do. Here’s so many great ideas. And then I’m like, okay, but what realistically is going to be something that I can actually manage long term? So keep it simple to start. Then you can reach out to those business partners if you want to. If they come to you first. Awesome. Even better, they did half like work for you, but just, you know, we’re all, I think we’re all a little bit of big dreamers, so just kind of, you know, keep it simple, keep it manageable and, and yeah, I think it’d be so beautiful to just like keep it going if you can.
Britt Seva:
Totally agreed. As a fellow dreamer, thank you for that reminder at the end, coach nine, this has been absolutely wonderful. Where can somebody DM you on Instagram if they want to tell you about their success story with this strategy?
Coach Nine:
I’m on Instagram at Coach nine at Thrivers and that’s where you can find me. And I want to thank you so, so much for having me. This was so much fun and I love getting to talk about these really fun ideas that I’m also really passionate about as far as like community and giving back and all of that. So I’m really excited to see what some of you kind of take and run with and how you make
Britt Seva:
This your own. Likewise, it’s been an honor to have you. This is the first guest I’ve had on the podcast in I believe, five years. You are the perfect person for it. It’s been such a joy talking with you. If anybody loved what they heard from Coach nine, you can leave us a rating or review on iTunes. Let us know that you want to hear more at nine. I’m sure we’ll be having you back, as I always say, so much love, happy business building and I’ll see you on the next one.
