Intro: Do you feel like you were meant to have a kick-ass career as a hair stylist? Like you got into this industry to make big things happen?
Maybe you’re struggling to build a solid base and want some stability. Maybe you know social media is important, but it feels like a waste of time because you aren’t seeing any results. Maybe you’ve already had some amazing success but are craving more. Maybe you’re ready to truly enjoy the freedom and flexibility this industry has to offer.
Cutting and coloring skills will only get you so far, but to build a lifelong career as a wealthy stylist, it takes business skills and a serious marketing strategy. When you’re ready to quit, just working in your business and start working on it, join us here, where we share real success stories from real stylists.
I’m Britt Seva, social media and marketing strategist just for hair stylists, and this is the Thriving Stylist Podcast.
Britt Seva: What is up you guys and welcome back to the Thriving Stylist Podcast. I’m your host, Britt Seva, and I’m really excited to be joined today by the incredible Lisa Huff!
Lisa and I have known each other for years. She is a repeat guest here on the podcast. You guys fell in love with her episode. She was part of my original eight episode series that I released right when I started the podcast and her podcast episode has always been a fan favorite.
Her business has evolved dramatically since we first connected just a couple of years ago so today on the podcast, we’re going to talk about her evolution of business and she is going to get down deep into how she uses Facebook groups to better connect with her guests and streamline her business experience. So Lisa, let’s dive in.
Well, Lisa, friend, I think this is a Thriving Stylist Podcast first because I think you’re my first return guest to the show. So welcome back.
Lisa Huff: Thank you so much for having me. I’m glad to hear you say that because selfishly, I was kind of wondering if that was the case and I’ve been dying to get back on here since we did this three years ago, so I’m so excited. Thank you, Britt.
Britt: Oh my gosh, my pleasure. So if you’ll recall—this is where we find the diehard fans—if you’re a die hard Thriving Stylist Podcast fan, you’ll remember Lisa’s podcast was one of the very first.
On the day I launched the podcast, I released eight episodes and Lisa’s was one of them and it’s continued to be a really highly downloaded show. I was looking on Instagram this morning, I saw your post this morning, and Lisa listened to her own episode back and was reminiscing about how far she’s come.
We recorded at the end of 2017 and released in 2018, so tell everyone listening, what’s your journey looked like in the last three years?
Lisa: Oh man. Yeah, it feels like that was forever ago, but it’s so funny because even when we recorded that, I looked back even at the two years of being in Thrivers—I think that’s the number, of the year, year and a half of being in Thrivers—and it felt like so much has happened even since then.
I know I’ve told you this so many times, Britt, you’ve changed my life in so many ways and I can’t even put into words how grateful I am for that.
Since then, whoo, it was 2017, so I was pretty fresh, maybe less than a year in, maybe a year in at my studio suite. I was kind of giving my story because then the journey was from the small town walkin salon inside of Walmart is where I came from all the way through Thrivers, leading me to finally open up my own business and be a studio suite owner.
Since then so much has happened. We went to your retreat soon, shortly after that. That was the video I posted this morning. I remember that conversation we had so well because my focus was really—I thought at the time my focus was—I guess it was, impact influence. Like that can be a dirty word, but we made a really intentional plan for me to double down on content and just really show up a lot, and I feel like I have not—it’s just my daily life now.
I have not stopped just showing up and building a community on all the platforms, mostly Instagram, but all the platforms. I’m still in my same studio suite, it’s going amazing. I now have another business called Stylist Soul Tribe, which is a mastermind group membership just for hair stylists. I just had a launch in January, so last month, and with the help of Jess and Thrivers Elite, it was my biggest launch yet. I have 40 girls in Soul Tribe now, which is just crazy.
Britt: It’s not so crazy to me. I mean, I would’ve guessed this is the empire you would have built. But I hope that you know too, I think one of the things that goes unsaid is somebody like me who chooses to be an educator, yes, I definitely like to create impact. But I think that the piece that we don’t talk about is like the impact you’ve had on my life. So I’m just so thankful and grateful to have known you and to have met you a handful of times now, and to continue to connect with you and build this long-term relationship has been such a joy for me. So it just, it feels so good that it’s mutual.
Let me ask you this, how did Soul Tribe come to be? Because even I think back to that conversation we had at the retreat and you, you are made for more, you were looking for this next level, you would, not conquered studio suite, but you were slaying it and you were like, “I feel good about it. I’m still in it. I’m still here”, but I know there was a what’s next? Like what was the evolution to Soul Tribe for you?
Lisa: Yeah. I don’t know if you remember, because thankfully I feel like we have that relationship where I still can slide into your DMs every so often when I’m totally panicking and losing my way, and you always rein me back in, but I feel like there was a period of time—I don’t know how long it was—but where I knew there was something more, but I couldn’t figure it out quite yet. Now coaching stylists, I see so many people in that stage and there’s really no words to tell people other than just wait for it, like your thing is going to pop up. You’re going to be so sure of it once it finally comes and you just kept telling me, kept telling me, “Pick one thing and go for it.” I didn’t know what that one thing was, so I was like, “Okay, am I doing YouTube? Am I doing this? Am I doing this?” So many different ideas.
I had that period where I had no idea what that was and I was reading a lot of books and just intentionally getting inspired because I hadn’t found it yet. It was a mixture of the book, A Tribe Called Blisse by Lori Harder, which we had our moment with her as well, and Big Magic. Have you read Big Magic?
Britt: Love Big Magic.
Lisa: Okay, so I was getting used to and understanding the idea of universal downloads, and I don’t know what it was between those two books, all of a sudden, it just popped into my head. I like the name, everything. I didn’t have to think of anything. It was like, okay, this is what I want to do.
That was when you were really big into your mastermind and we would hear you talk about that. I’m like, “I don’t think that exists for me, like how do I find that for me?” I tried doing some makeshift masterminds with girls from our retreat and they were wonderful, but they just would fizzle out. They wouldn’t really extend to what we all needed them to extend to.
I have learned since then, there were a few reasons why. When nobody’s in charge of a mastermind, I’ve learned, it just stays really surface level. Nobody wants to selfishly hog all the time and like nobody asks people to go deeper. People are afraid to go deeper if nobody’s really facilitating it.
And there’s just something there with the financial aspect. If you’re not financially invested into something, you don’t show up for it.
So I had all these little groups, which I still do and they’re amazing, but it just wasn’t what I needed for a real, formal mastermind. That’s when I talked to you about the idea and you gave me a little bit of guidance, and my goodness, has it grown since then.
But it’s just waiting for that thing and you would always tell me, “What is the one thing that you can do that nobody else can? Better than anybody else?” I’m like, “Well, shoot, I don’t know,” and then the imposter syndrome would happen. “I don’t think I have that,” and then all of a sudden, actual original—I mean, I guess a mastermind isn’t totally original, but I really was just like, okay, this doesn’t exist in the industry and this is what I want to make. And I’ve just learned a lot since then.
Britt: Oh, I have so much to unpack in that. I think that’s so good. Sometimes I’ll message you and I’ll be like, “Here’s a typical Britt response,” and I’m sure I told you a hundred thousand times, “Just wait for it. Just be patient, find your unique thing, find your one thing that’s that’s so—”
I know that I’ve said that over and over and over, and I can only imagine as the recipient, how frustrating it is to hear that, because you’re like, “I know, I’m freaking looking for it,” and it’s like, you want to speed up time or isn’t there a formula?
And to what you’re explaining, there’s not. But what Lisa did the deep work. She’s like I read and I researched and she continued to go to classes and she learned about herself and she looked externally to see what didn’t didn’t exist and then put those pieces together to create Soul Tribe. There was no step one, step two, step three, and then you do this process, and then you win. I think that is the part that people don’t understand and it’s difficult to call to conceptualize, but you, as somebody who has gone through it, has now seen the incredible journey when you’re able to take a step back and take the time and do the self-reflection and be a tiny touch patient because the payoff in the end is so incredibly massive.
Lisa: Yeah, and you’re right. I mean, frustrating is definitely the word. Now it’s so hard when you watch other people go through that because you’re like, “I know it’s going to come for you, but I can’t tell you what that thing is,” you know?
All I can really tell people in that situation is just get really, really quiet.
And I think we compare ourselves to other people on social media. We’re like, “Okay, well, what steps did they take to get there?” But then you’re just creating what they have and that’s already there and you’re 10 steps behind, so there’s no reason to try to do that. Just get really, really, really quiet and wait for it to appear, and that’s a universal download. But the only way you can do that is if you really go within and think really long-term, like five years from now.
So for the people who are like, “Okay, is my next step opening a salon? Is it educating? Is it this, is it that?”, an exercise I’d like to do is think five years into the future. Put a date on it. I’ve written out an entire journal entry, from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to sleep five years in the future. What do you want that day to look like? Are you at home? Are you traveling? Are you going to the salon that you own? What kind of people are around you? That gives you an idea because sometimes you’re building and working towards this thing, but then you realize you don’t even want to be where that result is
Britt: So true. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve built something and then been like, “Well, this sucks. I want to throw that in the trash can.” Sometimes you do bark up the wrong tree.
Even as you were sharing that example, if I had a quarter for every time somebody DMs me and they’re like, “So I’m launching an educator business, I’m opening a salon in six months, and also I’m creating my own retail line,” I’m like, “Oh no, you’re not doing all three of those things at once.” You must pick a focus or you just end up with a really complicated mess, and I think fighting through the mess is often part of the process. To what you said, not being afraid to bark up the wrong tree for a minute and exploring all the options, but being patient enough to say, “I can’t do everything at once, but if I can do one really well, if I can find my one thing to do really well and see it all the way through,” and then you can tack on the second project.
You can’t chase another dream, but just seeing something all the way through into fruition is going to be the key to the success.
Lisa: Yeah.
Britt: I want to talk more about Soul Tribe, but I want to take a step back for a minute too. The reason I invited you on the show today is, beyond Soul Tribe, you’ve continued to really grow your studio suite. What I always love is you’ve been big on creating a micro-community within your business, and I want you to talk about that. Is there a culture to being one of Lisa Huff’s clients?
Lisa: Yeah, so we’ll dive into the Facebook group a little bit because I made a post and I’m assuming that that’s why you reached out to me because my post really did well.
I created a client only Facebook group back when I did Facebook Lab. I mean, and Facebook mastery doesn’t even exist anymore, right? Yeah, I didn’t think so.
Britt: I launched it I think in 2016 and I closed it in early 2019.
Lisa: Okay, amazing. So that was, yeah, forever ago we did that, but that is one of the biggest game changers in my business through the whole thing.
When you say, “What’s it like to be one of Lisa Huff’s clients?”, I would say definitely that Facebook group is where a lot of the magic happens and something that I didn’t even realize it was going to be so good for was COVID cancellations or a quarantine when we were out of the salon. I communicated with my clients solely through there. That’s what’s so great about it is—I know I mean, I guess it’s like an email blast. I am just not huge into email marketing because as a consumer, I don’t read a lot of emails because my email inbox is so jumbled, but we are all—at least me, I am on Facebook every day.
The beauty of a client-only Facebook group that I don’t think people realize is as long as you’re running it right, your clients aren’t going to turn off their notifications and they will see every single post you make. So when I needed to tell them, “Okay, I’m clearing my books, your appointment is no longer valid,” I just had it type at one time. Everybody knew. I didn’t have to make all these different calls and that’s where cancellations, it really comes in wonderfully.
Britt: Okay, and yes, that post you made recently was when I was like, “Ooh, we’ve got to have her back on the show.”
Yes to exactly what you just said. But the key thing for me in the phrase that you just expressed was I think a lot of times we’re like, “Well, I’m not going to do a Facebook group. I don’t even like Facebook,” okay. Well, likely you’re on it. There’s a huge proportion of the population—I don’t know an exact statistic, it’s probably somewhere over 80% of people within a certain demographic, a certain age range, have Facebook on their phone.
You can like it, you can hate it, that’s totally fine. But clients today use it, consumers today use it. And to what you were saying, not everybody’s going to check their inbox even every day, but the odds of somebody going on Facebook at least once a day are still pretty high.
So when you think about a client Facebook, yes, it does help Lisa Huff for her business, but it’s not for her. It’s for her clients and she sees it that way. She sees it as this communication tool. She’s meeting them where they are at and she’s making the communication as easy for the guest as possible.
I don’t even know what Lisa’s take is on Facebook. She may secretly hate it for all we know, but she sees it as an incredible tool in her business and she’s able to set whatever her beliefs are about to aside so she can double down and use it for her clients.
Okay, first of all, let me ask you this: how many followers do you have in the Facebook group?
Lisa: Hmm, I think close to 200, which I have really stopped—I don’t work behind the chair nearly as much as I did the last time we talked three years ago, so I definitely don’t actively do all of those clients’ hair, but nobody is in it who’s never sat in my chair before. So it is only clients.
But now of course, some of those clients don’t come back to me anymore through price increases and time, but it is really cool because then when I have a last minute cancellation, I do have random people that I haven’t seen in a year snag an opening. and it really keeps that relationship in that front of mind.
And then through quarantine, when I was really pumping out tutorials, customized retail boxes, root touch up kits, maybe if they were seeing a different hair stylist who wasn’t doing that, my client-only Facebook group was really showing them that I was showing up for my people.
Britt: Okay, I hope you guys took note of that. That was a breakthrough moment because we all tell ourselves like, “Well, I posted about that on Instagram.” That’s so great. So then 5% of the people who follow you on Instagram saw that, maybe 10 or 15%, versus in Lisa’s Facebook group, she’s probably getting more like 50 – 60% of those in the group seeing the announcements that she’s making.
And to what she said, it’s a way to get clients back who’ve maybe moved on.
Also to what you said, the reason I asked how many followers you had is the game with a client-only Facebook group is not to have 10,000 followers unless you have a massive salon and you have 10,000 clients. I get the privilege to be in Lisa’s Facebook group, but my guess is if you as listeners request to access in there, she’s going to deny you because you’re not a part of her clientele, so you’re not a part of that community and it doesn’t make sense.
That’s what her clients are looking for in that experience. It is not full of anybody except Lisa Huff’s clientele. She’s essentially created a subculture within this space.
Let me ask you this. How often are you posting in the group?
Lisa: Okay, so what I would say—and this is what’s really important—then a lot of the comments on that post were like, “Well, I just don’t…it’s one more thing. Like I’m already posting so much.” You should not post in it a lot. If you post in it a lot and one single post rubs a client the wrong way, or they didn’t need that information, they’re going to turn off their notifications. It’s supposed to be very limited because it’s just showing up when you need it.
I would recommend absolutely no more than a monthly newsletter that’s valuable, adding value. A weekly AMA (ask me anything) is great and then that’s great ideas for content later. Then last minute openings. That’s all I would post to that. I would not post any pictures of hair that you do. I wouldn’t post storytelling. I wouldn’t post anything like that.
Let that be for your page that people can see as it’s on their feed. But the group is, the point is don’t post in it a lot. It’s not supposed to take a lot of your time or else people turn the notifications off.
Britt: So brilliant. And another key point that Lisa hit on is she’s somebody who’s really good about respecting the platforms. So our Facebook groups work in a certain way. Her Instagram feed works in a certain way. If she’s going to upload to YouTube, it’s a certain thing. The reason all these platforms exist is they all have their own unique purpose and the reason Lisa found success is she honors each for what it is.
To what you said, if you were posting in your Facebook group before and after each hair transformation, you would get muted so fast because nobody wants that. If you want the group and the messaging to be effective, it’s got to stay lean and clean.
Lisa: And all those people in the group are already your clients. They don’t need to see your work. They already like you. That’s not the point.
Britt: So good. They’re already sold on you. You don’t need to resell them.
Do you think your clients are becoming friends with each other in your Facebook community? Is that relevant to you one way or another?
Lisa: Yeah, I do. But I’m in a small town too, so that helps. I feel like a lot of my clients are friends and even my clientele is like pockets of people, like all the girls who work together, all the girls who went to the same college, and that’s how referrals work. I definitely do feel like that.
It’s pretty cool too. I was going to do a model call. My son ended up getting exposed to COVID, so we canceled that, but I posted a model call—he’s fine, he didn’t get that. But I posted a model call and said that my photographer and I are going to be taking pictures for our course coming up, who wants to come in? And obviously people were commenting saying they could come in, but my client Molly is tagging Bailey because she works with Bailey and she knows Bailey’s off work. It’s really cool the way it works and you’re right, it is a community and they can all connect with each other. It’s really neat. Or like if there’s a last minute cancellation and a mom has a daughter, she tags her to snag it. So it’s pretty cool that they all can see the same thing.
Britt: So, so smart. So good. Have you ever taken a break from the Facebook group? Was there ever a time where it felt too heavy for you or have you overall had a really good experience with it?
Lisa: Well, my focus—thanks to you telling me to focus on one thing. I definitely don’t focus on behind the chair nearly as much as I used to because that’s not really what I’m trying to grow, things like that, maintain it.
I would say the only breaks I ever take is I don’t post my AMAs is anymore. I used to do that, but I’m not even trying to make my social media content to clients anymore. I am switching towards hair stylists, so depends on—I mean, if you’re a hair stylist trying to grow your clientele, don’t continue to do that because it’s super helpful.
But no, I would say it’s always there for last minute cancellations and again, nobody would go and leave a Facebook group because it was inactive they wouldn’t think about it. So if anything, they don’t say see a notification for forever, but then you have a last minute cancellation that you want to fill, you post, it shows up in their notifications, they’re like, “Oh, I haven’t heard from Lisa in a while. Let me click that and see what it is.”
No, I would say there’s—really, I mean, I definitely don’t do my weekly posts as much anymore. But even let the stress of another thing go because you really don’t have to do too much in there at all. You can get away with not—I mean, just being a platform to fill cancellations is really the only purpose you even need it to serve.
Britt: So good. Let me ask you this question. I get asked this a lot. Do you allow clients to be your Facebook friends or do you have a personal Instagram? And do you personally friend your clients on Instagram? Do you allow people to personally follow you on social media?
Lisa: Okay. I believe you mean Facebook? Not Instagram, correct?
Britt: Give me all the tea.
Lisa: Yeah, okay, so I have a little bit of an unpopular opinion on this, but I am totally okay with my clients being my Facebook friends. That does not bother me at all. I think it builds connections. My clients feel like they know my kids. They love me. I know that that makes some people uncomfortable. It doesn’t for me. I don’t know why, it’s just not who I am. Now I am Facebook friends with all my clients.
Now that’s where it does get tricky because you can only invite people to your group if you’re friends with them, so that was easy for me. However, you can put the link to your group and email blast. You can make a QR code when you’re in your salon. You can put it on the back of your thank you cards. You can put them in your welcome packet. You can get clients to join other ways. But definitely when I made mine, I went through and friended of all of my clients and I invited all of them in.
I have heard stylists run into that issue of getting clients in the group when they’re not Facebook friends with them.
And then when it comes to Instagram, I used to have a personal Instagram. I haven’t posted on it probably in over a year because I’m just so Lisa Huff-hair focused that I’ve even posted really personal life stuff on there, so I don’t really have any boundaries with that.
I remember Lauryn Evarts from The Skinny Confidential one time was on a podcast talking about how she shares her whole life. That’s what she signed up for. That’s her job. And she almost just introduced people in her life as characters. That’s kind of what it is. My people know Skylar, they know about me, they know my husband, they know my dogs, so that’s how I do it.
Britt: I love that and I actually don’t think it’s an unpopular opinion. I think it’s a polar opposite of what I do, but that’s what I wanted to ask because I was curious as to how you take it.
I call my husband my husband, I call my daughter my daughter. I won’t even mention their names. You may know them, there’s some people who get closer to the inside to start to learn those kinds of things. But I am so guarded when it comes to my family and my personal life, because vulnerabilities and all kinds of things. I’m just starting to break through those. But I think it was important to share because my way is not the right way. It’s just the way that I do it. And your way is not the wrong way or the right way. It’s just the way that you do it. And there are so many paths to success.
I think being a part of Lisa’s culture is like, “Come into my world, let’s be in this together. Let’s be real, let’s be human together,” and I think that’s a really important thing.
For those who are on the fence and they’re like, “Oh, but Britt says, don’t be friends with your clients,” you have to do what works for you.
And listen, if you’re showing pictures of #thirstyThursday on your personal Instagram and that’s not really on brand, then maybe yeah, you don’t find your clients, but it also depends on how you show up and your message and your brand and all of the other things.
Lisa: Yeah, and both ways are authentic. I mean, obviously you’re mega successful. My Facebook group has worked, so definitely do what’s right for you. If it makes you uncomfortable to show your children and have your clients as friends on Facebook, don’t do that, that’s not right. But if you feel comfortable with that—I find that my clients, then we have stuff to talk about when they’re in my chair, because they see what I’m doing all the time. And they saw I got the new puppy, they saw I bought a new house, and we just have stuff to talk about. It doesn’t bother me, but that’s just my personality. I guess.
Britt: I love that. I love that. I love that because what you said, we’ve both found success and we just went different paths to get there, but it all still works and we can respect each other’s differences of opinion, which I love.
Okay. I want to shift back for a second. When you decided to really pursue Soul Tribe and you’re like, Oh my gosh, got it—when did Soul Tribe lunch? Give me a timeframe.
Lisa: Oh, shoot. Definitely 2018, I think, October of 2018, maybe summer or fall 2018.
Britt: Perfect. Okay, so you’ve been on this journey for a minute here now. So how did that transition look like? What did it feel like when you were like—I remember you hitting this crossroads where you’re like, “I can’t just talk about Soul Tribe on Instagram. I can’t just talk about my clients on my website. Like what do I do?” When you’re at that crossroads of you’re launching basically a second business, how did that look and how did it feel?
Lisa: Yeah. I definitely—listening to this advice, everybody listening, remember only do this, if you want to be an educator, because that’s where people get mixed up too. So if your goal is to speak to hair stylists, then this affects you. My Instagram already was much more hair stylist-focused than clients because I was on your podcast. Hair stylists found me. I was really putting myself out there in the industry, so it was not that hard for me because I already had more hair stylist followers there. I want to—I’d be lying if I said it doesn’t still sometimes make me nervous to share all my educator stuff, knowing that my clients see it. Like it does make me cringe a little bit because not everything clients need to know or hear behind the scenes. It’s a tricky rope to walk, but again, I feel like, yeah, Soul Tribe has grown and I can start to release the fear that oh, this isn’t all going to fail and I’m not going to have to go back to doing this at all anymore. Like you just slowly ease it in, you know?
And eventually now I feel like I am solely talking to hair stylists, but that was, I mean, a two, three year process. For a while it was much still just talking hair stylists as it pertains to consumers with little tidbits.
The way I launched Soul Tribe actually was just an Instagram post and it was like, I want a mastermind on my own. If I could get five girls in this thing, that would light me up, and then I ended up with 15 for my first launch. It was really cool.
I would say since joining Elite, there’s been a lot of conversations inside the Elite, the educator conversations, where I’m really understanding, I can, now on Instagram and where I’m focusing that, I can start to release the consumer talk and really focus more towards professionals.
But I just say, do what feels right. And I did it slowly. I mean, you could just one day, boom. Okay, now I’m only talking to hair stylists, but that made me nervous, so.
Britt: Yeah. And I think that’s just such good advice and the key pieces for me, where it took time and you did have nerves and feelings and you still cross check yourself when you go to make a post.
I think a lot of people are like, “Well, Lisa does it. It’s so easy.” No, it just, it looks easy because it’s so strategic and you’ve walked that tight rope and found a way to progressively make it work, but it does take time.
Going back to something you mentioned early, and you just mentioned now, so you’re in Thrivers Society Elite, which is my application-only level of community essentially where you’re coming together with other people who are up to big, ambitious things and chasing three dreams at one time, and all the things. Like the hustlers are all together in this place, in this space.
And something you mentioned earlier was the difference in paid education and paid masterminds versus listening to podcasts, reading books, and free masterminds, which you could call a mastermind, a group of 10 people who get together monthly and chat it up with each other.
But to exactly what you were expressing, I’ve been there, done that, done that free thing, done the paid thing, paid for classes, read a book for $12, listened to podcasts, took a $2000 course instead, and there is just such a vast difference between doing anything for free and doing anything paid.
Can you compare for us, especially in the mastermind world—you touched on it—but what is the difference between—you talked about what it’s like to be in a free group? It kind of fizzles. There’s not a lot of focus. There’s not a lot of directions. So it gets a little funky. What is it like in a paid mastermind? What is the difference by being in something like that?
Lisa: Yeah, I just think when there’s money on the table, you show up and it makes it an equal energy exchange.
The first go round of Soul Tribe was very inexpensive and I was part of the group too. I would share my things as well, where now I pay for Elite. I pay a lot of money for Elite, to me, and I show up for it and I get what I need out of it.
Now I don’t need to use Soul Tribe for that at all. I am there only to pour in. I am not there to pull anything out of it. I think it’s just the more money’s on the table, the more you show up when those Monday calls roll around and there’s something else you could be working on.
If you paid a lot of money to be in that thing, you’re going to show up for the calls and that’s the thing, and that’s what I feel like people—I hope you resonate with this. You’re always searching for that one piece of advice, but then you realize even when you are paying big money, the information isn’t that much different. You just show up because there’s money on the table.
There’s been plenty of breakthrough conversations in Elite, but you know what it is? It’s “Okay. I decided I’m going to pay this money. I’m going to focus on Soul Tribe. When I get into all of these calls, I’m going to ask a question every single week when I get on there and sometimes I get on the call, if I have nothing to ask, I turn the volume down and I just work on my Soul Tribe stuff that I said I was going to work on last time.”
It’s just showing up for it and you think when you buy this next big class or this next big thing, there’s gonna be this one piece of information that solves the problem. It makes it easier, but it’s really just the work and the more you pay, the more you show up for something ‘cause it hurts if you don’t.
Britt: I think that’s so poignant and people tell me all the time, “I wish I had more accountability,” and it’s like, what are you doing to create that? You’re saying here you made an investment, you’re holding yourself accountable to show up, and you show up in the way that works for you.
To what you said, if sometimes you’re just listening passively while you do something else, it doesn’t matter because you’re showing up and that is the missed accountability piece. So often it’s like you’re making that choice to double down in yourself and be in the room and create the space and not just say, “I missed it, whatever.” It’s like, no, no, no, I’m holding myself to this commitment I made to myself and to the other people in the room, which is a really powerful piece.
When you join a mastermind or a paid community at a high caliber, it’s not just about one person. You’ve now promised these people—and I’m going to guess that’s what it’s like in Soul Tribe. Like they’ve made this commitment to each other. They’re not privately coaching with Lisa. It’s like, no, you’ve committed to a group, so we’re going to need you to be here and show up and be accountable.
Lisa: Absolutely. And you just care, and you’re curious what Anna did since our last call. You want to get on and see what’s going on with everybody because you know they’re up to big things. Totally.
Britt: So true. You hit on something else that really deeply resonates with me also, as you were saying how in the early days of Soul Tribe, you would share and you would be there to get inspired too, and then you shifted. And what you said is now I’m able to just pour in there because I’m getting poured into elsewhere.
I’m really big on that energetic exchange of “you can’t pour from empty,” and in order to be an effective, stylist, mother, wife, coach, whatever, you have to be getting filled from somewhere, whatever that looks like. If it’s spiritual, if it’s educational, if it’s motivational, whatever it is, keeping that of, “okay, I am taking care of myself so I can then take care of others.” Would you agree?
Lisa: Absolutely. Absolutely.
Britt: So knowing that, where do you usually find your inspiration? When I was mentioning earlier the value of paid education, I’m a free podcast junkie. I listen to all the things. Where do you get inspiration? Are you a reader. Are you a documentary watcher? Are you a class taker? Are you a podcast—where do you get inspiration?
Lisa: I mean, I feel like I’m an everything. I’m mostly a reader, that would be my free education, and then just the connections I’ve made. So obviously even when I’m not intentionally getting things out of Soul Tribe, they inspire me every day. They bring new ideas to me all the time.
I’ve gotten a really, really close with a group of girls from Elite and we’re on Marco Polo every single day. I now love Clubhouse. I haven’t been listening to as much podcasts, only because I’ve been listening to audio books, but I know you’ve said this before, I go through waves where it’s different things that I’m super into. I have been reading a lot only because I’m doing this challenge right now where I have to read at least 10 pages a day. So I’ve been powering through some books lately.
And then for me it’s just connections because eventually you get to the point where, and I know you say this all the time, there’s just too much input and you can’t do all of those things.
I have found when I ease off of the loads and loads and loads of free education that are just giving you micro ideas to start something, and really decide what I’m doing that is pointing towards my North Star.
Then I just get my really good group of community around me. When I have a question, I’m not digging through books to find the answer, I’m coming to people who know what I’m working on, know what I’m doing, and they give me the direct answer that I need usually.
Britt: I love that. Okay, we could talk for days, but I want you to close it out for us and give me an actionable tip or an inspirational bit of advice that would help our listeners to take some empowered action today.
Lisa: I really would like to circle back to the Facebook group. I feel like that is a no brainer and don’t let there be too much stress around it. Make a client-only Facebook group, send the email blast to all of your clients, a text, however you usually communicate with them. Shoot, you can post it on your social media feeds. I wouldn’t do that all the time, but you can do it once and get as many people in that group as you can in. Don’t overdo it. Like we said, respect the platform.
The maximum is a monthly newsletter, a weekly ask me anything, last minute cancellations. That’s it. That’s what I would say everybody should do. There’s no reason not to have that.
Britt: So good, Lisa. Okay, and where’s the best place to follow you, connect with you, hit you up in the DMs? Give us the deets.
Lisa: Totally. definitely hang out on Instagram the most, I would say. So that’s just @lisahuffhair. I’m really into Clubhouse now and I’m getting out of there everyday. Britt hopped on mine the other day. So that’s @lisahuff. I was able to snag that username without “hair”. I would say that’s it. I mean, my Facebook page is Hair by Lisa Huff. That’s if you don’t want educator stuff, you want to see how I’m running my business. That’s kind of cool to look at. I get that. Yeah, that’s it.
Britt: Lisa, can I just say until next time until we have you on the show again, thank you so much.
Lisa: I can’t wait. Thank you so much.
Oh my gosh, Lisa, thank you so much again for joining me today. Always such a pleasure to get to spend any time with you.
Lisa, as per always, thank you so much for joining me today. You are always such a joy and a gem and until next time, friend.
If you want to follow Lisa on Instagram, she is @lisahuffhair, and if you want to find out more about Stylist Soul Tribe, it’s @stylistsoultribe on Instagram as well.
You guys so much love, happy business building, and I’ll see you on the next one.
