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 and welcome back to the Thriving Stylist Podcast. I’m your host, Britt Seva, and this week, we’re talking about what the heck it is that stylists are looking for today in the salon.
This is an episode I do every couple of years. I think this is the third time I’ve done it and it changes every time. It’s definitely one of those that’s worth going back and doing. It’s also one of my favorites because I don’t make up the content. This is not my thoughts or my musings. This is based on your feedback and data.
I really tapped into my communities on this one and I said, “Listen, what is it that you were looking for?” I did an Instagram poll. I asked my Thrivers, I said, “I want to know what it is you are looking for when you’re working for a salon,” and this comes on the tail end of—I’ve gotten a lot of iTunes ratings and reviews recently. You can go back and look if you want to crosscheck me on this, of salon owners saying, “How do I find great stylists to work for me?” “Do I need to be running paid ads? I’m seeing a lot of paid ads.” Somebody else was saying, “I ran a paid ad and I only got one person who actually followed the directions on how to apply.”
I’ll just say right at the top of this episode: paid ads are like the final Hail Mary, holy smokes-please-help-me-I’m-desperate-to-find-a-stylist kind of plays, like at the point where you’re having to run paid ads to get people to want to work for you. That should be a fairly significant red flag.
One of the things I talk about quite a bit—I was going to say brag about, I’m going to go ahead and use the word brag. That’s fine. One of the things that I really prided myself on at the salon that I was the director of is my application drawer.
When we were hiring, we only hired assistants, right? We hired one seasoned stylist in the time I was there, and it was a nightmare. She didn’t stick around. But everybody was basically homegrown is how we called it because we did things in a really specific way and it just made for the best environment for everybody. If one new stylist was being promoted and we were ready to bring in another assistant or something like that, I would literally pull open the drawer and start going through resumes and start calling people and that’s how we got people to work for us. I had people leave their existing salons and come in to work for us because the opportunity had risen up. We had salon stylists from every beauty school in the area who would come through on tours. I was doing tours of the salon a couple times every month. There was a huge demand to come in and work for us. It wasn’t a struggle to find anybody ever and it was because we had done everything right.
Now, we were doing everything right in like 2009, 2010, ‘11, ‘12, ‘13, ‘14, ‘15. ‘16 is when I left. So when I look at what stylists and salons are doing right now, I lean to the community and I want to know what’s changed, what’s stayed the same?
What has stayed the same is salons who are doing it really well have the drawer. That is the one common theme that hasn’t changed. For anybody who’s like, “Well, that doesn’t exist anymore,” I have to beg to differ. There are some salons where it’s like people are lining up for a chance to be in the building, and so let’s take a look.
We’re going to do this as a multi-parter. I want to first talk about the feedback that I got when I asked “What is it that you’re looking for from a salon?” We’re going to start there and then I have another episode coming up where I’m going to talk about what beauty school students and what stylists are actively doing when they’re looking to apply. This is like what they’re looking for. The next episode is their search process.
This is like big picture and then we zoom in and we’re going to look at the tactical.
I said recently I did a poll and a survey and asked in Thrivers and on Instagram and I said, “What is it that you are looking for in a salon?”
Here’s the responses.
“Stations that are far apart.”
“A cute space.”
“I definitely want support.”
“Drinks and snacks are nice but not necessary.”
“Good lighting is critical.”
“Location matters.”
“Systems, culture, support.”
“Good culture.”
“Education is mandatory.”
“Opportunity for upward movement is critical.”
“Mentoring is an non-negotiable.”
“A gorgeous and supportive space with stylists who encourage each other.”
“Longevity. Reputation. Structure with reasonable flexibility.”
“No ceiling on income, meaning endless promotions.” Did you get that?
“Opportunity to grow at whatever pace and speed I want to.”
“Symbiosis.”
“Kind leadership.”
“For my voice to be heard.”
“I went through this recently and I looked for a website in Instagram that looked intentional, consistent and branded.”
“Education and security. And by security, I mean no one’s going to be going through my station or my locker when I’m not around.”
“An owner who offers consistent education to employees, not just educational promises and has a good relationship with the community.”
“Culture, professionalism, and flexibility.”
“Flexibility, support, team environment, education, and I don’t mean pre-recorded videos.”
“A great cohesiveness among the stylists.”
“Overall vibe and energy.”
“A clean, uncluttered spa.”
“First, location and parking. Second, support systems and salon environment. Then culture.”
“Flexibility, no double booking required.”
“Some type of benefits. Health insurance, a team player, personality, atmosphere.”
“Flexibility, forward thinking, moving salon environment.”
“Guaranteed education.”
“Clean, good reputation, clear, open, honest, non-judgmental communication.”
“Freedom to set and change my schedule without the need to ask for permission.”
“Co-creation with the owner on my services timing and pricing.”
“Not being shoved into a predecided system or framework.”
“Income growth potential. Not stuck in any kind of pricing level.”
“Established rules, handbook, and all salon employees, including management, are all held equally to the standard.”
“Motivated salon coworkers. It’s very hard to stay motivated when others clearly look uninspired or complain. If somebody is uninspired, fire them.”
I thought that was very interesting.
“A salon owner who leads by example, first always they’ll do what they ask and show that it is possible.”
“For me, I’d be looking for something like a Thriver salon and I actually want them to advertise that on their website. I also want to know what my three, five and 10-year goals would be.”
“People who actually hire stylists who are the vision, not just kind of close,” right? This stylist is like, “I’m a catch, don’t be settling for C players. I’m an A. iIf you want As like me, hire As.”
“A salon that actually lives out the full experience, not just a bunch of stylists who do hair.”
“I want stylists who choose to change lives.”
Looking at the first set of responses, I mean we’re already seeing repeating patterns. I could keep going, but I think that there’s these recurring patterns of flexibility, culture, energy, leadership is a really big one. Unlimited growth, excellent communication, education came through loud and clear, which is fascinating because when I did this podcast in years past, there were times where stylists were like, “Eh, I can get education anywhere. I don’t need that from the owner now. They’re like, “No, no, no, I do need it.”
What’s interesting—I did a podcast on this a few months back. There is a real shift in the education space. Have you noticed some educators getting quiet? Have you noticed some education companies fizzling? There’s a real shift in the education space and there is a real demand for salon owners to start bringing real education back into the salon. I’m super happy to see it. It’s a big push right now.
Professionalism, standards, firing bad people. When you look at what salon stylists are looking for, this is what they’re saying.
Now I also did a poll and I said, “Of these four options, which is the most important?” The options were A, location, B, benefits, C, freedom and flexibility, or D, commission, pay structure, compensation, and/or rental rate.
That last one was the last one all together, so basically location, benefits, freedom and flexibility or compensation/cost.
Which one do you think was most important to people? I’ll go in least popular to most because I think it will shock you.
7% said benefits are most important. For me, when I think of benefits, I think of health insurance, retirement, savings, education, amenities. That to me is everything that falls into benefits. 7%, that’s their priority.
Then we have a tie. 11% said location, 11% said commission split or rental rate. Compensation is something that 11% are prioritizing, which means freedom and flexibility dominated with 71% of the votes.
Y’all, 71%. Eat that for a second.
The majority of stylists today prioritize freedom and flexibility over everything else. You don’t have to like it, it is the truth. That’s one of the things as a business owner I’ve had to come to terms with too of like, damn, this is really the number one priority.
For those of you who are still gripping tight to control or saying things like, “Well, they won’t be able to make the money I need them to make if they work their dream schedule,” that’s fine. They’re just not going to work for you. They’re going to go work for somebody else where they’re going to get the freedom and flexibility that they want to have.
Here’s the other thing where I think that owners and leaders really need to catch up. Do you know how many stylists are working two and three days a week doing over a hundred thousand dollars a year in services? We could do that as an Instagram poll. Raise your hand if you’re working less than 24 hours a week and making six figures. It will blow you away. Versus the amount of people who are working five days a week and barely getting by. It is a huge discrepancy because those who are working part-time with focus and enjoying the freedom and flexibility will work their asses off in the hours that they are in there to produce a result.
It is a very old-timey way of thinking that everybody has to be super full-time or they can’t work here. That’s fine. They’re just not going to work for you.
Freedom and flexibility 71% said was most important.
Then I asked the third and final question, which was, “How will you know you have found the dream salon?”
It was first “What is it that you’re looking for?” Then it was “What of these four things is most important?” And then it was “But then how will you know?”
You know when you’re dating somebody and you’re like, “Oh my gosh, I think they check all the boxes,” and then a few dates in, you’re like, “Oh my gosh, you’re a complete nightmare.” It’s like, what are those red flags you’re looking for of like, did I get this right or are you maybe not my person?
Here’s the answers there. “It’ll be a feeling in my gut. Instinctual. It’s just going to feel right.”
Here’s another one, Kristen said, “When there’s peace in the salon. A strong leader knows how to communicate respectfully and there’s not drama in the space.”
Carly says, “Someone with a clear vision that aligns with what I want and lives that vision every single day.”
Katie says, “I’m looking for an owner who respects me and my clients and has stayed passionate.”
This is an interesting one and I won’t say the name, but it is a stylist out of Denver, Colorado, said, “I’m looking for two things. They follow up on what they promise and don’t ever refer to the team as a family.” And she put family in quotations and then put #redflag.
What’s interesting is we definitely back in the day called our salon team “salon family”. I have never in my business now called my team a family. I’ve never said work family, I’ve never said anything like that.
I took a business psychology class—this was years ago—from a business coach who said that incorporating the word “family” into business is one of the most manipulative tactics a business owner can make. It was very trendy in the nineties and the 2000s. But think about what else was trendy during those times? Think about companies like Google.
Google’s in my backyard, I’m in the San Francisco Bay Area, so Google’s based out of Mountain View, which my grandma lived there. I mean it’s 20 minutes south of me from where I’m recording this podcast. There was a long time where everyone wanted to work at Google. Heck, it’s still a place where people want to work, but Google’s culture has been rattled.
With Google, you got the Google benefits and the Google benefits were three meals a day. You can get your car washed there, they have a gym on site, they have a chiropractor, massage therapists come in, they have an onsite stylist, like a hair stylist comes to your workplace. They do family events. In the nineties and 2000s, it was like, “Whoa, this is everything.”
Facebook, which is now Meta, is another company who completely bought into that culture. This was around the same time when we would call our work our family, my work family, my work wife, my extended family, all those kind of things.
As time went on and divorces happened and people realized like, “Oh my gosh, I am trapped at my work.”
Imagine this. I know some people who have worked at Google. Imagine this. You say, “You know what, I actually need to take a half day on Friday ’cause I have a doctor’s appointment.” Oh, that’s okay. We’ll have the Google doctor come over. It becomes a trap.
What they found was in this business psychology class that I took was using terms like that were unfortunately manipulated to be very negative and were taken advantage of like, “Well, don’t leave the family.” You see that? “Are you turning on the family?” It moves away from culture and aligned values, and it starts to become very negative and nasty.
When this stylist said that to me, I’m like, “Oh, you’re somebody who is very aware of the way that things are shifting and changing.” So just something to keep in mind.
If anybody’s a salon owner who’s ever had a hard time firing somebody and you say, “It’s like firing a friend, it’s like firing a sister,” I understand. It can be hard to let somebody go that you care about. And believe me, I care deeply about my team. I understand that, but in no circumstances do I confuse them for my family. My family is my husband and my two children that I go home to every night. There’s no bones about that.
When you have that perspective of “These are people I care about professionally and this is actually my family,” it’s better for everybody. Just something to keep in mind.
Amber says, “I want somebody who walks the walk, doesn’t just talk the talk. If their website and social media are bad, I’m out.”
Kate says, “I want an owner who brings in the best educator for us.”
Here’s another one. “My boss doesn’t hire just to hire. The culture is dope AF because of that.”
Here’s another one. “My owner’s dependable and efficient. She’s always finding solutions, never venting about problems.”
Here’s another one. “My dream salon is one where it’s not toxic, and everyone stays in their lane, respects each other, and cheers each other on. No drama.”
No drama has come up a couple times. Think about that.
I think sometimes it’s cool to think of the salon as, “Ooh, we’re the senior stylists” and almost like a girl gang or a guy gang or whatever. Be really careful of that. That mentality and that mindset doesn’t really fly anymore.
Rachel says “Someone who does everything in their power to help make my goals achievable, not their own goals, my goals.” I love that.
And lastly, Ashley says, “The overall goals and mission of the salon and the guest experience align. No sacrifices are made in guest experience ever and stylists are held to the same standard.”
Listen, if you are a salon owner that is struggling to hire, I want you to use that as a crosscheck of yourself of like, “Okay, which of these things am I doing well? Which am I doing poorly?” That’s the first step.
The other thing is very few of you will get the chance to have today’s top stylists walk through your space. If your social media looks bad, if your website looks worse, if you don’t have very many online reviews, if your reputation online—I’m not even talking about what the salon looks like visually. If your reputation online is garbage, you’re going to have a really difficult time hiring. I’m sorry, it’s just the way that it is.
It was great 15 years ago when it was word of mouth and reputation, and it’s just not like that anymore. So this idea that “Well, I can do my best and then once people get in here, they’ll realize how great we are.” Honey, they’re not coming in, though. They’re never going to come in. This idea of like, “Oh, well, once they get here, they’ll realize,” but they’re not coming, though. You need to pre-sell them.
Today’s top talent is very selective because they get to be and they get to judge based on your online presence and they are.
I invite you this week to look at your social media, to look at your website, and to say, “Is this me putting my best foot forward? Would I want to work for me? Would today’s top talent want to work for me? Would I make the profit potential that I’m looking to make with this current situation I got going on with the way I’m presenting myself? Will I end up with the drawer full of resumes? Are people going to be lining up to work for me?”
I want to give you at the end of this episode a last-minute checklist of what you should be looking for and what stylists today are looking for, but we are going to double down on this again on the next episode:
Solid branding, a growth path—and not one that you’ve predefined. A growth path that the stylist is in the driver’s seat of. Schedule flexibility, we learned that’s number one.
Friends, true leadership and motivation, education, community and culture, and a steady stream of demand, meaning yes, it’s your job to fill their chairs.
All right, that’s it for this one. I feel like I’m leaving you on a cliffhanger, but I’ll see you next week where we dive in even deeper to the exact process stylists are going through today when they are seeking salons to work for.
Y’all, so much love, happy business building, and I’ll see you on the next one.
