7 Shifts To Make To Be A Six-Figure Stylist

Have you ever wondered what it would take for you to break through financially and achieve the success you dream of? 

If this feels out of reach, you’re not alone, but here’s the thing: massive success in this industry is not reserved for a certain segment of the industry. 

It all comes down to one thing: focusing on the right strategies that can get you there.

That’s why we asked six-figure stylists for the exact strategies they used to achieve success…and we’re sharing them with you today! 

Pricing Shifts

If you want to make more money, you should raise your prices…right? Wrong. 

Thrivers Society CEO and founder Britt Seva always says that “You’re overbooked, raise your prices,” is incredibly reckless advice. If you’re maxed out or feeling too much pressure from your clientele, the answer is not always raise your prices. 

Instead, top stylists reported successfully using the following strategies: 

• “Raising your prices with confidence and not feeling bad about it”
• “Charging accordingly”
• “Stopped emotional discounting” 
• “Using the Thriver Society pricing calculator to actually price what I should instead of making up my prices based on what other people were doing in my market.”
• “Shifting to session-based pricing”

Let’s talk session-based for a minute. In Thriving Stylist Method, Britt breaks down the three most common pricing methods: a la carte, session-based, and hourly. All three work, but they’re not perfect for everybody. It’s up to you to look at your business, speciality, market, and decide if it will work for you. 

Session-based pricing specifically is typically reserved for when you’re in a place of growth and scalability, but if you put it into place too early, it can be devastating. If you want to know if you’re ready for session-based, check out Thriving Stylist Method to ensure you have a solid business foundation! 

Schedule Strategies

There’s this myth that if you want to make money in this industry, you need to work 12+ hour days behind the chair. Not true. In fact Here’s the tweaks top stylists said they made to achieve success. 

• “Slowing down, less hours behind the chair, and having an office day.” 
• “I stopped looking for reasons to block off my schedule and leave work early or late. I set my schedule and I max it out every single week.” 
• “Being consistent with my schedule. I’m not constantly changing my hours or adjusting my day when I have gaps. I always work my full schedule. When I need a vacation, I take one.” 
• “When I’m in the salon, I’m maximizing every hour. When I have an office hours day, I’m working on my business.”

Think of it this way: if you’re in the salon taking clients, you’re in the salon and you’re taking clients. Schedule time to work on your business on your office hours day. And when you’re not in the salon or not in office hours, give yourself full permission to be off. 

Education Shifts 

The moment you stop educating yourself, you stop growing. The industry will pass you by…and your clients will take notice. Whether it’s obvious or a secret, you’re the person who’s choosing to not learn anymore and think you’ll still make lots of money. Trust us…it just won’t pan out. 

Instead, try one of these shifts six-figure stylists shared: 

• “Thrivers education coaching,” 
• “Being consistent with truly everything I do. No more breaks or excuses. If I’m frustrated or overwhelmed, I lean into education. I know that means that I have more to learn.” 
• “Always learning, always growing, never thinking education is something not worth paying for.”
• “Taking masterclasses and advancing my education.”
• “Dedication to continuing education.” 
• “Invest in mentors who have walked the path you want to walk.” 
• “Choosing to be the smallest vessel in the room.” 
• Putting yourself in a position, like humbling yourself, always knowing you don’t know everything, always knowing you have a lot more to learn, always saying, “What are my blind spots? What can I change?”, not making excuses, that will make you successful. 
• “I never feel like I’m done learning, taking classes, or bettering my business. I’m at almost $200,000 gross revenue now and I still know something is missing. I know I can do more.” 

It can be hard to prioritize education, but we’ll be 100…it’s a true game-changer. 

Structure Shifts

How about shifts you can make directly in your business right now? Successful stylists pulled the curtain back on this too. Here’s what they had to say: 

• “When I brought on an assistant, my service revenue increased by 63%.” (Don’t forget that if you’re bringing somebody on to assist you, you also have to pay them, employee taxes—there’s all sorts of expenses too. Just keep an eye on the profit percent and how much time it takes to train them.)
• “I started claiming all of my cash. I was a little sad about it, but it was a commitment to myself to really start taking my business seriously.” 
•  “Getting rid of services I didn’t love.” Getting rid of services made them more money. 
• “Going all in on the clients that bring me joy and letting go of the ones I used to be scared to lose.” 
• “Leaving a toxic work environment, actually paying attention to the numbers, and using that knowledge to make changes.” 
• “Having a true system for contacting clients consistently.” 
• “Tracking numbers, setting goals and sticking to them. Learning to be just as good on the business side of things as I am on the hair side of things.”
• Budgeting, planning, true accountability, and above all else, staying humble.”

Making even small changes in your business’s structure can create huge waves of change, so take a look at your own business to see if you can implement any of these today!

Marketing Shifts 

Changing up how you market your business can help increase your revenue and build your clientele. Here’s how successful industry pros did it: 

• “Solidifying my brand and website, niching down my target market, not doing everybody or ever every service.”
• “I stopped double booking.”
• “I specialized in a particular service that very few in my area offer.” 
• “I honed in on my specialty. I created a true brand that literally draws in the best clients every month.” 
• “I took the time to focus on being good at just one thing and going all in on marketing-wise, education-wise and clientele-wise.”
• “I built a truly well-built website and made such a huge difference for me. And of course I got serious about Google niching way down, only posting about what do I want to attract.”

What was the consistent theme there? Be special, have a specialty, niche down. Don’t be a generalist. Figure out what it is you want to do. Get really freaking good at it. Be the best person at it in your community and you have a business that can grow and scale. 

But here’s the thing is you can’t just be good at it. You know how you need to know how to market it. You need to know how to position it, how to brand it, all the things. 

Experience Shifts

Your guest experience is key to building up your business and achieving success. Here’s the strategies top stylists loved. 

• “People will pay more for quality. I’m now sure to do what nobody else in my area does in every single way that I possibly can. You’re not trying to be as good as the best people in your market. You’re trying to be better than them.” 
• “Elevating the salon experience, prioritizing being on time for every client, dressing more professionally.”
• “Be present. Listen during the consultation, don’t be distracted and don’t rush. Make your guests feel like they are your number one priority.”
• “Treat every guest like they’re planning to tell five friends about you and they just might do it. Never rush through your clientele. Everybody counts.” 
• “Asking myself often, if I was a client in my own chair, how would I feel? Would I feel prioritized? Would I feel important? Would I feel like I’m working with the best stylist in my area? Or would I feel like just one of the many on their calendar that day?”
• “I’m a curl specialist and the number one thing I now hear most often is ‘My last stylist didn’t care about me or listen to my wants or needs,’ so now I ask a ton of questions. I listen, I educate, and not just at the first visit, but at every visit.” 

What experience upgrades are you going to put into place in your business today? Let us know in the DMs at @thethrivingstylist! 

Mindset Shifts

If you’ve been hanging out with the Thriving Stylist community even for a little while, you know how important we think mindset is to business success. The six-figure stylists we talked to thought so too. Here’s what they said: 

• “I got rid of my limiting beliefs around money. I decided to be okay with losing longtime clients in favor of gaining the right clients in my chair. I’m not running a sorority, I’m running a business.” 
• “Joining Thrivers Society. Not really for the business coaching, but mainly because it shifted my mindset massively.” 
• “I got rid of my limiting beliefs around money. People will pay more for quality.” 
• “Believing I truly deserve it” 

It takes a lot of work to achieve success as a stylist, but here’s the truth: it’s a mindset game. Most, if not all, super successful six-figure stylists work from a plan, so choosing to be in the mindset of “This is my time. I’m going to make it. This lifetime’s going to be worth it for me,” is step one.

Take that step, focus on the other strategies, and the rest will fall into place. 

If you want to fast-track success, join us in Thriving Stylist Method and get your hands on the system to 2X your income!