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: Charlie, I want to thank you so much for being here today. From the moment you slipped into my DMS, I was like, “Oh my goodness, this is a story that we absolutely have to share.” So thank you so much for coming on the show. I’m excited to connect.
Charlie Butenschoen: Oh my gosh. The pleasure is all mine for sure.
Britt: Well, like I said, we’re going to have a lot of fun today, so get ready for it. So tell us a little bit about who you are, where you’re from, and kind of how you came into the industry.
Charlie: My route is not exactly a typical one. I wasn’t like seventh generation hair stylist, like I knew I was going to be, you know, a hair stylist from day one. I actually didn’t know it was gonna be here. So I was still in my late twenties.
I grew up here in Washington state and I grew up an athlete: volleyball, ski racing, you know, I was such a tomboy. I was in the mud with the boys. I had no idea I would end up in the beauty industry. But after high school, when it comes time to declare what you want to be when you grow up and go off to college, I decided I would just stick with the fitness route because, doing a quote-unquote typical job of behind the desk, on the phone, in front of a computer sounded horrible to me. So I stuck with the exercise route. I graduated from Western Washington University with a degree in exercise and sport science, and at that point, I ended up getting hired as a personal trainer at a gym here in Washington state.
I shouldn’t say gym; picture like the Bellagio of sports clubs.
Britt: Ooh, I love it.
Charlie: Yeah, like this place, it’s super like — in the best terms, bougie. Like there’s a floral shop, there’s a salon and spa, there’s an auto detailing place, there’s doctors onsite, there’s a full bar and restaurant. I mean, it’s like 520,000 square feet of amazingness.
Britt: Sign me up, that sounds amazing.
Charlie: Right? I personal trained there for about five years. And at that point I met my now husband. We were both personal trainers there and I would watch him spring out of bed in the morning, at 4:30 in the morning. No one should be up that early. I know you do, Britt, cause you’re Britt —
Britt: I’ve got a little touch of the crazy though, it’s a little — yes.
Charlie: So yeah. You and my husband like, yeah, exactly. So he really spring out of bed in the morning, 4:30 and just be super excited to train 12 people in a row from 5:30 in the morning until like six o’clock at night and I’m over there looking at him, going, I do not have that passion. That is not me. Like, I stumble out bed at the last second to get myself to work to do this.
And so I thought to myself like, okay, this has to stop. I have to find something that I am passionate about. I have to find something that I love, because if I’m going to do this the rest of my life, I want to be in love with my career.
And they always say, you know, do what you love, the money will come. Do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life. So I was like, “Okay, well, what do I love?” And I literally just drew a blank. I’m like, “Oh my goodness, like I need to find my passion.”
So I just went around the world, just with eyes wide open. I was just waiting. I was like, “Okay. Somebody gave me a sign. I’m open and I’m ready. Somebody gives me a sign.”
And it was the funniest thing, a couple of months after this little moment, my personal training manager, he’s ex-military, and he had gone and gotten his military haircut. I don’t want to say making fun of him, but I was kinda teasing him a little bit. I was like, “Oh, rocking the high and tight, looking good.” And he laughed at me and said, “Oh girl, that’s what we love about you. Every time somebody changes their style or their look, you compliment them on it.” And that was my aha moment. All of these memories come flooding back of me being in the salon and watching all the stylists blow dry, color, cut. I mean, just, I was obsessed with it all. Like my favorite part was when the stylist was done placing my highlights and I would sit there and just watch the salon for 30 minutes.
Also, I remembered a conversation I’d had with a hair stylist at the time and she told me, she said, “You know, you seem like really into this, like you should probably look into beauty school.” I thought, no, I’m just graduated a four-year degree. My parents just spent thousands of dollars on my education. I can’t just scrap all that and go to beauty school like that. That’s not what I’m going to do.
Well, fast forward five years. And that’s exactly what I decided to do. I said, “You know what, no, this is the sign that I was looking for. I am meant to do hair. That’s what I love. That’s what I’m into and I could probably make a career out of that.”
So I did. I looked into local beauty schools and there is one that had a three-day-a-week program. So I was still able to personal train three days a week and then go to school three days a week.
Britt: Wow.
Charlie: Yeah, it was kind of crazy. It was like 80-hour weeks for a year straight. Thank God for my husband because he literally just kept my head above water the whole time.
Britt: Like thank goodness for so many reasons, like, I’m just thinking that at all these crossroads you hit in your life, like for you to have that self-awareness to watch your husband jump out of bed and be like, “I want that.” Like what is his secret sauce that he’s got? He’s found this passion that he loves so much. He’s so fired up about what he does. And you were able to see that that fire wasn’t burning in you yet. And then to face the fear of, “Oh my gosh, I’m basically not abandoning, but taking a step back from this degree I’ve earned, I’m taking a step back from this career I’ve started, and I’m just going to 180, do something that could potentially be the career I’m supposed to chase for the rest of my life. And it’s like, all the signs were there and you choose to make that leap of faith.”
Charlie: And it was a leap of faith because I was terrified. I was terrified to tell my parents like, “Hey, thanks for the thousands of dollars you just invested in me, but I’m going to go to beauty school now.”
And my parents, I will never forget that. Bless my parents. I’ll probably start crying when I talk about this. They told me, “Don’t you dare say that to us. Education is never wasted.They were like, and my mom even said — when I said I’m going to go to beauty school, she said, “You know what? It’s about time.”
So I don’t know how she — probably, because I was always cutting the dog’s hair, who knows, — but she, she saw it and was just like, “Yeah, that’s what you’re meant to do. If that’s what your passion is, we support you. So I did. And then, like you said, with a lot of help from my husband.
So what happened? Graduated from beauty school and then I knew my route was apprenticeship. Like I knew that from day one. All the best stylists do an apprenticeship. You learn the basics and beauty school, and my goal was always to get to the salon in the health club that I was working at. Like I loved going there. I loved the stylists that were there, as a client, I loved to be in that room. And I said, “I want to be in this room as a stylist. So how do I be in that room as the apprentice?” Especially since they did not have an apprenticeship program at the time.
Britt: Oh, wow.
Charlie: Yeah. So I happen to be personal training one of the hair stylists, I happen to be personal training a couple — I don’t want to say like the VIPs cause that sounds, I don’t know —
Britt: But call a spade, a spade. Sure.
Charlie: Yeah. So I was personal training the owner’s son. I was personal training one of the senior directors of one of the programs in the company. Snd the vice president of the company happened to be a huge fan of my husband’s, so he was basically like, “Well, if we keep her happy, then he’ll be happy. So let’s make this work.”
And so they all went to bat for me with the salon management team and basically said, “You need to create this apprentice program or we’re going to lose her in this company. And it’s kind of silly to lose her when you can literally take someone who already knows the business culture, already understands how we do things in this building. Now we just need to kind of adjust her from personal training to a salon stylist.” And so they within a week put together this apprentice program for me and I spent the next year shadowing all the senior stylists.
Britt: This is huge and I just want to make note for the people listening because some people might hear that and think, “Oh, well she got lucky,” or, “Oh, she had a leg in.”
No. When I hear Charlie explain, she saw opportunities and made things happen for herself. She shows to have the conversation, not say, “Oh, well, they don’t have an apprenticeship program so I guess I’m out. She paved her own path, like she made power plays to make all of these things possible. And the reason I want to point this out now is because I know where this story is going and when you hear the success she’s achieved, you’re going to want to ask yourself, “Well, you know, that’s so nice that it worked for her. How could it work for me?”
She made these things happen, you guys, and so I just want to make that really clear right now. You created this career path for yourself. I just think it’s really admirable.
Charlie: Thank you. And it’s funny, so I’m one of those stylists that has a stylist name, separate from my actual name. And I swear, like when I go by my stylist name, it’s like my superpower, my super identity. Because I am not the person in — I shouldn’t say I’m not the person in real life, but I’m not really the person in real life that will attack what I want, will make these power plays. But I knew that no, this is what I want. This is where I want to do it. This is how I want to do it. And why not just ask, “Hey, is it possible?” Because the worst that can happen is you get the answer “no.” Okay, well, you’re right where you started, so that’s no big deal. You just choose a different path. Or in my case, the answer was, yeah, we can make this happen. Let’s do it.
Britt: I think it’s really interesting that you actually say that. So I also have, I call her my alter ego. Britt is my alter ego. All, if you were to hang out with me in personal life, my friends all call me Brittany, so when they hear me referred to as Britt, they’re like, “What are people talking about?” It’s the same for me. So I didn’t know that you had a stylist name, but it’s like putting on a different hat, right? It’s like tapping into a superpower.
Charlie: Exactly. In fact, there was a time in my career where I tried to change back to my actual birth name and it lasted about a week and it felt so weird to me. I couldn’t do it. I was like, “Absolutely not like I’m going back to Charlie.” My birth name is not who I am in the salon and I don’t like it.
Britt: I think there’s something to that. Like not saying that anybody listening to this needs to change their name, but she and I have both found success and kind of tapping into this inner superhero. Give him or her a name, however you want to do it, even if you don’t share that name publicly.
But I — and I’ve heard this from other people too — a lot of people who find success almost categorize that success differently from their personal life. It’s like creating a different folder for it or a different resource bank to tap into when you need to charge up that super power. And it’s like you can push aside the things like, “Oh, well I’m naturally an introvert.” Or “I would never ask for something like that.” It’s like you crank the heat up on that alter ego and he or she is able to achieve really amazing things.
Charlie: Yeah, exactly.
Britt: I love that. Okay. So you start working as an apprentice then?
Charlie: Yeah. So I started working as an apprentice, which again, I was still — at this time — I was still personal training. So I would personal train from 6:00 AM to 10:00 AM, go in the closet, Superman change into my salon clothes out of my personal training uniform, run downstairs. Oh, also change my name tag because I was my birth name as the personal trainer and then I was my salon name as a salon stylist.
People were so confused. They thought I was a twin. I mean, it was just crazy
Britt: That’s fun. I love it. This is so interesting. You really had two different even personas within the same business. I love that.
Charlie: Yes, totally. So yeah, personal trained from like 6:00 AM, 10:00 AM, change my clothes, go downstairs into the salon. And then I was in the salon from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM.
I got to shadow the most amazing stylists. I learned so much from them. I always say like — you know, that saying that you’re the combination of the five people you hang around with most? I, as a stylist, am a combination of those six stylists. I took the best from each of them and I just created my own little Charlie. I created my own little stylist out of them. So I owe so much to those women, like just all the feels for them.
Britt: I love that and it’s such a gift and blessing to be able to be mentored in that way. It does make such a tremendous difference. How long did you shadow under that group before you started taking your own clients?
Charlie: My apprenticeship lasted a year total and I was with each person for about three months. And basically the first portion, the first three months was blow drying and updos. And so once I finished that three months, I would test out of it. Then on Fridays, I would be put on the books and I could receive paying clients for those services.
I did my first three months, and on Fridays I could do the services, but on Monday through Thursday, I was with another hair stylist to learn about haircuts. And then I test out of that. I could then take blow dries and haircuts while I was learning about color and then test out that. So it was like these three month chunks while I was learning the different tools and then I was able to essentially start to build a clientele while I was going through the program.
Britt: I love this. Okay. And follow up question: Did any of your personal training clients sit in that chair?
Charlie: You know what, not very many, but you know who did? A lot of my personal trainer coworkers. So a lot of them, I like, I mean again, think Bellagio of sport clubs: there was over a hundred personal trainers on the team, so I had this large pool of people to essentially pick from. They saw me do my Superman change in the closet and they’re like, “Girl, what are you doing?” And I’m like, “Oh, well, I’m going to be a hair stylist. I’m working down on the salon now.” And because I was the apprentice, my prices were dirt cheap. They were like, “Well, we know you, we’re comfortable with you and you’re inexpensive. I’m going to go see you.”
And they’re like, “I can personal train from noon to one. I have a break from one to two. I can go get my haircut real quick and then get back to my next client at 2:00 PM.” Like it was easy for them and it was easy for me.
Britt: I love this again as well, because I always try and think like, “What is the listener gonna think?” And I’d imagine that some thought, “Well, easy for her to say because she already had all these personal training clients so she just transitioned them to the salon”. But for you to say like, “No, no, I had to build a second network of these men and women who were my peers and sell them on what I was doing now and my next chapter and how easy it’s going to be for them. My prices are right in their price.” You had to resell yourself to this community.
Charlie: And Britt, I totally thought that when I transitioned from personal training to being a hair stylist, I just thought that all of my personal training clients would naturally just want to meet to do their hair too.
Britt: Of course you did because that’s what we all think. That’s what we all think is going to happen.
Charlie: Exactly. And I had to have like a kind of a little — I don’t want to say an ego check, but I had to have a little bit of an ego check saying, “well, why don’t they want me? I’m nice and I’m fun, and we already get along so well, fitness wise, like, why wouldn’t they want to me to do their hair?”
And then I realized that’s completely different. I mean, I’m not going to go up to the quarterback of the Seattle Seahawks and be like, “Hey, give me some highlights.” It’s not the same. It’s not the same industry.
Britt: I love that we’re going here because a lot of people have to have that ego check that you talked about. Even some people will say, “Well, I don’t understand. So me and so-and-so have been friends for years and she won’t come see me in the salon.” Maybe she doesn’t see one that way. She just sees her as her friend or whatever, and that is okay.
Charlie: You know what’s really funny is most of my friends — okay, I’ve been a hair stylist, let’s see, I went to beauty school in 2010, so I’m coming up on 10 years now. I just started doing my mother’s hair about two years ago.
Britt: I believe it.
Charlie: And most of my girlfriends, like my college roommates, like my besties — like ride or die girls — I just started doing their hair within the last couple of years. Basically the only reason that those people transitioned was because their stylists like left, just dropped off the face of the earth.
Britt: But they were already attached to somebody they loved and they love you too. “Love you girl, but I’ve already got my person.”
Charlie: Exactly.
Britt: And that’s just a great example of there is a tremendous difference between being a business owner and running a business based on friends. And you’ve chosen to be the business owner and that is the zone you’re in and I think that’s why you’ve found so much success.
Okay. So you went through this apprenticeship program, you’ve gone through all of the training. So now what happens?
Charlie: Now I start working as a full time stylist and did that for about five years, had a couple of babies in the meantime. So again, like every time — everyone who’s gone on a maternity, leave knows this: every time you leave, you kind of have to rebuild. So I rebuilt twice and when I came back after my second son was born, I actually became the salon supervisor.
At this time I was noticing that this salon was starting to go downhill. Our management was starting to have a lot of turnover. There was a lot of micromanaging going on, there was a lot of high expectation but low like feedback, low give back. It was a very imbalanced relationship from the management side to the stylist side. And I thought to myself, “You know what, I’m going to try and fix this. I’m going to try and be the supervisor and try and bridge the gap between management and the stylist. I want to fix this. I want to fix morale as a stylist. I want to give an educated opinion to the management team of what we go through on a daily basis as stylists and how we see things, how we perceive things. And when you do A, B, C, and D you might be thinking it’s coming off this way, but it’s actually coming off this way and it’s just not resonating with everyone.”
The stylist team was suffering and I wanted to fix it.
Britt: Okay. And yet again, tell me how that position came to be. Did you say, “Listen, I see this opportunity, may I have a chance to take a stab at it?” Or were they looking for somebody to be this kind of liaison person?
Charlie: Ultimately, they were looking, but it had come up in conversation a couple of times. And when they did decide, “Yeah, this is something that we need,” they came to me and they said, “We think you’d be the perfect person for this. Please tell us you’re going to apply.” And so I did.
Britt: And taking on that role, did you have to take any time away from your time behind the chair?
Charlie: I did. Yep.
Britt: And how did you feel about that? Were you scared? Were you confident? What were the emotions that you went through at that pivot?
Charlie: I was so excited to make change within the salon. I was willing to do that. I love it. They basically told me, “We know you’re going to take time away from your chair. We’re going to compensate you for that.” So I wasn’t worried financially with that decision.
Like I said, I was so excited to try and make a change and bridge the gap and create a work environment where people like wanting to be there. They were excited to go to work. They were excited to thrive and reach their full potential and not just be… Did you ever see the movie Trolls?
Britt: Yes.
Charlie: You know, like the sad town, I don’t remember what they call them, but there’s no color and everyone just kind of [mumbles]. I wanted to take our salon from that to troll town: Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake singing, and all the color, and it was happy, and it was fun, and everybody got along and everybody reached their full potential.
And at this point, Britt, I started telling everyone about you. I was telling all my stuff. I was like, we need to follow Britt’s program.Let’s do this Thrivers thing. Let’s start our own website and let’s beef up our social media. We need to start getting the ball rolling to get into 10 years —
I always say that in the hair industry, you need to be 10 years ahead because if you’re not, then you’re 10 years behind. So we were a hundred years behind and I’m like, “Girl,” — I shouldn’t say girls. There were gentlemen too — “People, let’s catch up. Let’s get this ball rolling and let’s make this salon what it can be,” because there was so much potential to just be the premier amazing salon in the area…and it just was falling short completely.
Britt: You, you explained this vision: troll town’s gonna be amazing (and I know you didn’t use troll town as an example), but you’re fired up. You’re like, “Let’s do this together.”
Was everybody like, “Yeah. Fist bump in the air”? Was everybody on board or was there some resistance? How did that look?
Charlie: I had one stylist who was “Yay, fist bump in the air” and she actually followed your program. I had a couple other stylists that were like, “Yeah, great. Like, whatever you do, we’ll just follow you. We want you to make it better. We’re going to come to work and you can do you,” and then there were some that were just like, “Girl, what are you talking about? I just show up. I do hair and I go home.”
Then management was like, “Yeah, no, that’s not the way we do things.” And oh really. The part when I knew I couldn’t do it anymore was A) I was coming home for like six months straight, just unloading on my husband for like an hour every night, just complaining.
I had so much anxiety — I can’t even believe I’m gonna say this — I had so much anxiety on the way to work that I was actually throwing up in the car on the way to work. But still when I was there, I was like,”Nno, we can change things. We can do this.”
I put together this three page spreadsheet of problems I saw in the salon along with potential solutions and I had a two-hour meeting with my management team and said, “Hey, I’m going to present this to you. You might just crinkle it up and put it in the trash or you might actually believe me when I say the stylists are struggling and we have to make a change, but I’m going to present this to you. Here it is, you guys do what you will with it.”
The moment I knew it was time to leave was when my senior director told me hair stylists are unhappy because hair stylists are unhappy. I walked out of that meeting — like I will never forget walking down the hall, looking around everywhere, just being in a fog, I’m in a daze. Where am I? This is not my real life. This is not my room. This is not what I have worked so hard for. This was not my fantasy seven years ago when I wanted to work in this amazing salon environment.
Britt: I want to touch on something for a second because when you explain how fired up you are and you create this three page document and you come with all these ideas and the fire is burning. You’re so amped. There’s a lot of owners who were like, “Yeah, I wish I had a stylist like that.” Or, “Yeah, I wish I had somebody like that, who was able to take the reins.”
But exactly what you’re experiencing is so common in that owners or leadership will put somebody in place. They’re like, “We know we need to change. Charlie or whoever is eager to do it. Let’s do it.” And then you come with the plan for change and they’re like, “Oh yeah, hair stylists are unhappy.” Or, “Oh yeah, that’s not how we do things here.”
And because of that, you had anxiety, you took a look around, and decided this wasn’t a place that even made you happy anymore even though you had the answers to likely turn this salon potentially around, it was too much change, too scary. The fear took over leadership and the resistance came up. And so what happened for you?
Charlie: I decided to leave. I did not want to leave. I’ve been gone for like 18 months. I still have so much hurt in my heart because I didn’t want to leave. I would have stayed there forever, but I could not continue to move forward with a management team that wouldn’t get on board with that, that wouldn’t allow me to, that wouldn’t basically just put any sort of time and effort into their salon team.
Britt: Agreed. I don’t know how much you’ve heard my story, but our stories are very similar. I got to a point where I would cry in my car at lunch. My husband was tired of me coming home unhappy. And it was the same thing: I’ve come to the table with these amazing ideas. And it was “Cool, we’ll think about that.” Or “We’ll do that later.” Or “That doesn’t seem right”.
And you feel like you’re holding the golden ticket and honestly, Charlie, you were and good stylists get to a point, good leaders get to a point where if nothing’s going to change, they’re going to walk.
I get asked a lot by salon owners, “How do I attract good stylists?” By being a receptive owner, by being open to change, by doing the work because people are going to hear this and they’re gonna say, “I wish I had a Charlie.” Somebody did have a Charlie and they lost her, right?
So where did you go? 18 months ago, what did you decide to do? You’re like, I can’t be here anymore. I’ve this is not my happy place. So what happened next?
Charlie: Yeah, so I actually, I reached out to a girlfriend. She was one of my first mentors at the salon. I was working at that previous salon and she had actually left and opened a tiny little two chair salon. And I reached out to her and I said, “Girl, tell me how to do it. I’m leaving. I can’t be here anymore. I want to open my own salon.” She told me, “Don’t do that. Look into a suite first.” She goes, “go and find a salon suite, and basically baby step yourself into salon ownership.”
Because it’s hard leaving your salon, rebuilding your clientele, trying to hire stylists as well as rebuild their clientele and make sure everything is picture perfect. And making sure it’s a well oiled machine. She said do the baby step with the suite first.
Britt: I love this. Had you considered a suite? And you’re like, “No, no, no. I need it to be a salon.” Or had you not even really considered a suite until she brought it up?
Charlie: Girl, I didn’t even know what a suite was. I didn’t even know it was a thing. I didn’t even know what it was. I thought you were just like a commission stylist, or you were a booth rent stylist, or hair out of your house.
Britt: Which is how our industry has been for literally centuries, right? I mean, there’s only a couple of models and this is a new and emerging space.
So when she said, all you need is a suite, was it a light bulb moment where you like, “Oh my gosh, this is it for me”?
Charlie: Kind of. I also kind of have this thing because I still want to open a salon. Like it will happen. So it was almost a blow. I was like, “Oh no, I want to be a salon owner. I don’t want to do a suite,” but I realized after talking to her and looking into the options, well, no, this is the perfect setup. I just have to pay like a weekly rent and then I get to do whatever I want in this space. Heck yes. Sign me up.
Britt: I love that. You said that and you succumb to the fact that maybe it wasn’t exactly the next step you wanted, but it was the right step to take knowing that you’re still going to get every dream you’re chasing. That’s also going to happen, but this was just the next logical step and you took it.
So when you made the leap — I have to ask this question because I see suite owners do this. I don’t even know if I want to say wrong. I think a lot of suite owners are like, “Oh my gosh, my own suite!” And they do one of two things: They don’t decorate it at all because it seems too expensive so they just take the space as it is, and like, “Well, this is cool. It has everything I need,” but it’s essentially like a plug and play salon space, right? I mean, nice, clean, but not much to it.
Or I’ve seen them go the flip side and just go all out. I mean, you can spend as much money decorating a suite as you want to. So what did that customization process look like for you? If you’re comfortable, about how much did you spend to get your suite ready? What did that investment look like for you?
Charlie: Oh, for sure. I definitely went the route of decorating. My aunt is actually an interior designer. My mother is a phenomenal decorator. It just kind of runs in the family. So between my mother and I decorating the suite, we went all out. I was very Britt: I was very branded. I only certain I would only allow certain color palettes in my room. Everything is very neat and tidy has a place.
My salon name is Salon Fika. Fika is Swedish; quick translation is like coffee break. But what it really is is taking a break out of your crazy busy day in life to just sit down, reconnect with a friend or a family member over a cup of coffee and a sweet treat. It’s basically like a cozy escape and just a breath of fresh air. And that is what I wanted the vibe of my room to be.
I wanted people to come in and just feel comfortable, so I did really soft color palettes. It’s very clean and tidy. Everything has its place and it was very branded.
I do not know off the top of my head, but I mean, probably with color and buying all my product and my chair and my decor, I mean, a few thousand dollars.
Britt: That’s good. That’s a good roundabout budget. Do you think all that effort you put into making it branded — not just cute, not just comfortable, but truly branded — made a difference for you?
Charlie: 1000%. When my clients would come in and see it, they were almost like surprised at how nice it could be. Honestly, Britt, I was surprised at how nice it could be because when I went to go tour these salon suites, I was looking around and I was looking at these just blank rooms. And I’m like, “That’s a lot of brown and I don’t really like brown. I’m more of a gray person, so how am I going to make this work?” And I just adjusted things and I surprised myself and I surprised my guests.
Every time, I guess, would sit in my chair, they would just say, “Oh my God, this is so cozy. It’s just feels so nice. I just love being here.” That just made my heart sing, like it made me feel so good. And it was just validation that I made the right choice.
Britt: I love that. I’ve heard from a lot of people, “I’m considering a studio suite, but it feels like doing hair in a cubicle.” And I always say it’s because you haven’t seen it done right yet. Cause it doesn’t have to feel like doing hair in a cubicle. It can be a true experience. And I feel like that’s what you’ve created in Salon Fika.
So tell us what it was like building for the first year. So here you are this beautiful salon suite. Okay. Go time. What happens next?
Charlie: I was terrified when people come.Like you loved me back at my old salon, but was that — because keep in mind, with my old salon, a lot of people ended up being in that salon because they were already members of the health club. It was just quote unquote, convenient to get your hair done at the same place.
I was like, “Whoa, it’s not going to be convenient for them to go down the road and park in a different parking garage and do the whole suite thing.” “Oh, I’m down this hallway with these different rooms.” I didn’t know if anyone would come, but I knew that if I didn’t try, I could not stay at my old place and be so unhappy. I had to try.
And if I failed, I failed, but if I was successful, then that’s the best thing in the world.
I did online booking just right out of the gate because that was something that I wanted my old salon to do and they didn’t do it. I did online booking right out of the gate and I basically made an Instagram post and I said, “Hey, you can now find me at Salon Fika! Don’t be shy, book your appointment.” Then I reached out to my guests that were scheduled on my book two weeks out from my departure date and I did actually reach out to them. I wasn’t supposed to, but I reached out to them and I said, “Hey, you’re going to be getting a phone call from my former employer, saying that I have left the salon. Please don’t be surprised. I’m okay. Nothing crazy happened with the family. I’ve just moved on if you want to come join me, great. If not, let me know and I can recommend a stylist that I think you would jive with.”
And from there, my books just filled up. Everyone was calling, texting, emailing, booking online appointments, just showering me with their love and support on social media. It was amazing.
Britt: I want to touch on that for a second because I know some of the salon owners listening to this are outraged. They’re like, “Yeah, she shouldn’t have been able to call those guests.” Here’s my take on clients in general, salon clients, call them whatever you want to.
Clients are human beings. They can’t be owned by anybody. Charlie doesn’t own those men and women, her salon doesn’t own those men and women. They are individuals. And from a guest experience perspective, Charlie should have called them and let them know what was happening because they’re human beings. That’s what is a good experience for them. Some of those people likely did stay with the old venue and that’s because that’s what they chose to do as human beings. But if we’re putting the guest experience first, that’s what happened. In that situation, they heard from the person that they have an emotional connection with and she’s making sure they’re taking care of one way or another. I just want to share that as a reminder.
So these people are coming into your new studio salon space and what is the feedback you’re getting?
Charlie: They’re loving it. I talked to them about it. I was very much an open book with them. I said to each one of them, “Thank you so much for coming here. I didn’t know if anyone would come. So thank you so much for coming because I know leaving the Bellagio of health clubs and this amazing salon with this $80,000 chandelier over your head is hard to just come to the hair cubicle.”
They all said, “We have been waiting for you to leave for years. We’re not there for the salon. The salon is what initially got us in the door, but we stayed because of you.”
That was my aha moment where I was like, “Okay, I can do this as long as I showcase myself and I am my true, authentic self. Then I can do this.”
Britt: I love that and I hope that’s inspiring and empowering for others to hear too. And honestly, I hope it’s inspiring for salon owners to hear as well, that clients do have that loyalty and that affinity to the heart that’s behind the chair, not just the chandelier they’re sitting under. I just think it’s such a great reminder that it is the work and the heart and the soul and the efforts of the individual that really do build and grow the business.
So has your business grown since moving into the suite?
Charlie: Holy moly. Yeah.
Britt: Tell us about that.
Charlie: It has been absolutely amazing. I am just bursting at the seams, fully booked with so many amazing, wonderful, phenomenal target market clients. Like every single person that sits in my chair is someone I want there. They’re happy to see me. I am happy to see them. My schedule is like everything I’ve ever dreamed of, the money I am making is everything I’ve ever dreamed of and is just continuing to increase.
I ran my numbers the other day and in the first six months of last year versus the first six months of this year — now keep in mind, I was out of work for 11 weeks because of the pandemic — I’m still I’m ahead this year compared to last year,
Britt: Freaking amazing. I’m so excited that you’re here on this episode to say that because I’ve been sharing that successful stylists were able to take weeks off and are up and nobody believes me and you are the perfect example of what is possible.
Charlie: Yeah. 11 weeks off. And I’m still ahead from last year.
Britt: And tell me, you said you’re really happy with your schedule. Are you working less now or are you just happy with the amount?
Charlie: Yeah, I am both. I am working less now and basically I work nine to 4:30, Tuesday through Friday and then every other Saturday. And I’m actually — in August — getting rid of my Saturdays. I’m not working weekends anymore.
Britt: Charlie, you are so goals. Everyone is like, “How do we make this happen?”
How do you think you created so much buzz around your business? What do you think your X factor is? Or what are the efforts you’ve put into place to create this beautiful business for yourself?
Charlie: I think it’s twofold. I think number one, I’m a happy stylist. When you come to see me, we’re going to laugh, we’re going to have fun. I’m going to tell you stories about what my crazy children did and you’re going to tell me stories. I want us to be fun and casual and lighthearted yet at the same time professional, like let’s not get weird. But at the same time I always put the guests first. It’s always about the guest experience. If the guest wants all of those stories, I’m going to gladly give them to her. If she wants to be totally silent, I’m going to be totally silent. If she wants to work on her laptop and she’s on a conference call, I’m going to work around her while she does that. I’m going to do whatever I can to make her comfortable and calm and happy and make it so that she can continue on essentially with her daily life.
Because most of my clients, if they’re not like CEOs or execs of a company, then they’re running their house like they’re a CEO or executive of a company. They all have kids and they all have lives and I’m a part of that. And some of them really want to sit down and connect, but some of them really also just want to be able to do their thing and have me make them feel beautiful.
I joke that sometimes I’m a chameleon. I adjust to what the guest needs, but what I consistently do is I consistently do good hair and I consistently am happy. I don’t bring my drama to the salon. I don’t bring my unhappiness. If I’m having problems at home, I don’t bring that to the salon because everyone else has their own problems and they don’t want to hear about mine.
Britt: I love that. You’ve really taken ownership of the fact that it is about the guest. Like when they sit in your chair, it’s not about you. They are the star of the show. You’re simply there to make the magic happen. And I think a lot of people think they’re doing that, but when I hear you explain it, it’s like you actually walk that walk. You’re making it a concierge level experience for that person who is in your seat at the moment and that is exceptional. It’s something that a lot of people think they’re doing, but aren’t as effectively as I can clearly see you are.
Charlie: I mean, I try.
Britt: You do an amazing job. Okay. I have another question for you. Can you tell us about self care stylist?
Charlie: Oh my goodness. So @self.care.stylist is my Instagram page, which I’ve just started. I am taking my former personal training life and my current hair stylist life, and I am combining them and the fact that I truly really feel that hair stylists need to take better care of ourselves.
We take so much care of our clients. We take so much care of husbands, wives, family members, children, dogs, whatever, like throw whoever in there. Our friends and we give so much and we forget to give to ourselves.
I just see people with these aches and pains that don’t necessarily need to be there. I see them just burnt out and they don’t need to feel that way if they would just give a little bit of time and effort to themselves, whether it is through taking a moment to just sip your coffee on their front porch and watch the sunrise, or it is to do you know certain core exercises or like glute or leg strengthening exercises in order to create like a nice stable core so that as you’re blow drying or shampooing at the bowl, that is engaged and it’s not stressing your neck or your upper back, lower back, or anything like that.
I want to create this movement where hairstylists take care of themselves,
Britt: Amen because it’s such a missing piece, doing the things like you said, like engaging your core. Just the things that you can do to take the pressure off our bodies.
I know somebody’ll say I’ll retire when I’m 80. You’d be lucky if your body hangs on that long because we abuse it. We don’t take good care of ourselves in that way and if our health goes, we have nothing.
I love what you’re doing as this next phase and chapter, and I want to highlight something. Charlie is now seeking out what I consider to be a secondary passion, right? She has conquered the hair styling world, and in doing that, she now has the place and space to take on this second layer. The reason I want to spotlight that is because I know a lot of people are multi-passionate. My hand is in the air. I could chase all my dreams all day long, but it’s so important to do what you’ve done, in that you’ve taken these — like you said — baby steps. Will you open a salon one day? 100%. I have no doubts. But you’re taking all of these pieces and you opened and created an incredibly successful salon suite. Now you’re creating this movement for stylists. You’ll be opening a salon.
It’s like you’retaking everything in phases versus trying to tackle it all at once and it’s just serving you so well. I’m just so impressed by everything you’ve done and continue to do.
So, Charlie, where can we learn more about you?
Charlie: Well, I am highly active on Instagram and my page there is @charlieb.hair.artistry. Then, as you mentioned, @selfcare.stylist and then my salon website is www.salonfika.com
Britt: Wonderful. And we will link to all of those URLs in the notes within whatever podcast platform you’re listening to this on. If you just scroll down and look at the notes, we’ll have those all linked in there for you.
Charlie, you are an absolute joy and a dream. Thank you so much for being here and inspiring all of us today. I so appreciate it.
Charlie: Oh my gosh. Thank you so much. It was a true pleasure.
