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, my loves and welcome back to the Thriving Stylist Podcast. I’m your host Britt Seva, and I am bringing to you this week an incredible salon owner who is a part of my Thrivers Society community named Jorie.
When I invited Jorie onto the podcast, I just knew I loved her energy and her outlook on business. As our interview evolved, it became so clear that she is one of the fortunate few who has found her voice on social media.
Through this episode, she is going to show you how to be authentically yourself and how to use that authentic brand to attract all of the right clients to your business week after week. You guys are going to absolutely love this one.
Jorie, thank you so much for making the time and you guys, let’s get into it.
Jorie, I am so beyond excited to be here with you today. You’ve been on my radar for some time, but there’s something about the way you’ve shown up in the last few months where I was like, this woman is something incredible and exceptional. I’m really honored to have you on the show today and to have you share your story. Thank you for being here.
Jorie DiMeco: Oh my gosh. Thank you so much. When I got the call, I was like, “Hmm, no way. She actually wants to talk to me. Why?”
Britt: Because you’re amazing. You’re amazing in all the ways, so take it for what it is.
Give us in 60 seconds or less-ish who you are, where you work, how you work. And when I say how you work, I mean are you a studio suite owner, commission stylist, salon owner, et cetera, where you’re located, and if you have a salon team, what that looks like.
Jorie: Okay. Yeah. I’m Jorie, I’m in the Central Valley of California, a small town called Exeter. I recently took over a booth rental salon for my mom, so I am a salon owner now, and I’ve been a booth rental stylist for 10 years before that.
Britt: Wow. Okay, so your mom was a salon owner. Did you grow up smelling perm solution and thinking that felt like home? Did you know you were going to go into hair?
Jorie: Totally, that’s totally a nostalgic smell for me. Yes. I smell perm solution, it’s like, “Oh my childhood.”
Britt: That’s right. I know that feeling. Yes, yes.
Tell me, was there an expectation for you to become a stylist or was there a knowing that you were going to be a stylist? What did that look like?
Jorie: No, it was actually the exact opposite. I got into serving and bartending and I went into real estate. I did other things and as soon as I told my mom that I was gonna go to beauty school, she was like, “Yeah, no, you’re not.”
She was like, “I don’t want you to be self-employed. I don’t want you to go down that road. It’s—no, just no.” I mean, I had to fight her on it a little bit. It was definitely not an expectation by any means.
Britt: What do you think she was so worried about?
Jorie: I think for her, she’s always been a one-woman show and she is very independent, very strong, very hard-headed, so she didn’t really ever take or get a lot of help. So she did everything herself, whether it was right or wrong, it was just like do it and get by. It’s a struggle and she was a single mom and…it was just not ideal in her mind for me.
Britt: I think that is actually fairly common. People hear, “Oh, your mom was an owner, no wonder you got into hair.” But actually what you’re saying is just the opposite is very common because a lot of people who were in the industry, 30, 40, however many years ago, 20 years ago were like, “You know what? It’s hard. I don’t want to have to watch you claw your way to the top. I don’t want that for you.” So to hear that was your take makes a lot of sense for me.
Tell me a little bit about the community that you live in. We’re both in California, but for those of you who don’t know, California could be broken up into four different planets, so she and I are nowhere actually near each other.
So tell me a little bit, your community. Is it big, is it small? Is it a closely knit? Tell me a little about it.
Jorie: Super small town. We’re right up against the Sequoia National Park, so we’re up in the foothills. It’s gorgeous. I love it, but it is a small, conservative town.
I actually went to high school here. I left. I moved away for a few years and came back. It’s very close knit. Everybody has known everybody forever. Everybody knows your mom, your dad, your brothers, your sisters, your dog’s name.
It’s very close knit, which at times can be alienating at the same time because if you’re not part of that, it can be a little on the scary side.
Britt: Completely. Did you think being in the smaller close-knit town was a benefit and a blessing when you were building clientele or did it make it that much harder? The reason I ask is because I’ve heard people explain it both ways, like people in a big community are like, “Well, I don’t know anyone here, so it’s going to be impossible.” But then you talk to people who are like, “I know everybody here already has a person, so that’s why it’s impossible.”
For you, was it a benefit or was it harder building?
Jorie: Right, so it’s both. Super beneficial because I did know people and people knew that my mom owned the salon that I was going to work in, so for some reason, I don’t know if they thought it was hereditary, but they already trusted me for some reason. But then on the opposite side of the spectrum, it was like this expectation. I was terrified. Like, what if I wasn’t as good as my mom? What if I didn’t build like my mom, you know? It was hard.
And just like you said, everybody already had a stylist, and one of my best friends also worked at that salon, so our friends went to her. Everybody did have their stylist, so I did have to come in and eek my way in there and carve my own little corner of it because yeah, the roles were filled.
Britt: In your booth rental salon, are you building like culture within the salon? What does that look like and how do you enforce—I’m doing air quotes so nobody can see, but rules or cultural guidelines, how are you enforcing those?
Jorie: Right. As you know, in California, it is a touchy subject. Basically what I am putting into effect is more of a culture agreement rather than me sort of—a rule book to follow, or even included in the lease agreement because I really can’t do that.
But it is more of an expectation and it is something that I’ve already been really explaining to them and really emphasizing for the last year or so. I would say since I started Thrivers, it’s just been this eye opening, like, “Oh my God, there’s so much more we can be doing,” and I had no idea before that.
I think that for me, it’s just going to be a really big push to—and really to benefit them because yes, you get the freedom of being your own boss in a booth rental salon, but you also get the support, the structure out of a commission by me creating that culture and the expectations there.
For me, I think that would be really a perk if you get the best of both worlds, like I’m not going to have my thumb on top of you at all times, but there are expectations within the building.
Britt: How are you attracting the right stylist to work on your salon team? How are you finding the right people who believe in that vision?
Jorie: That’s a great question. We’re actually in the middle of that right now. I have one stylist who’s moving away, so that’s gonna be an open chair soon. I think that me just trying to put it out there within my social media platforms, who we are and what we stand for, I think that’s probably going to be my best bet. Because like I said, there’s nothing to put in a lease agreement or culture. It’s really just putting our vibe and our belief system out there for people to see and either relate to or not.
Britt: I love that, and I’m going to guess if somebody doesn’t relate to your belief system, they can see their way out. You’d rather somebody choose to exit out the left and get the right person in the building.
Jorie: Absolutely. Yeah.
Britt: Do you generally have open chairs or more often or not, you have a full team?
Jorie: Not at all. I mean, we have lifers, which is great for the most part. But no, and I attribute that to the way my mom has run things. We’re a family. There’s not high turnover at all. Literally the only reason that we’re losing the stylist that we are is because her and her husband are just moving away. It’s not, nothing—
Britt: It happens.
Jorie: Right, so I think that because of that, it has to be a right fit. And that’s the thing too, which I learned from you, I really have to take that time to feel somebody out and let them feel me out at the same time—and the salon—to see if they’re a fit, because that’s a commitment.
You’re getting into a relationship there, and so I think having maybe somebody come and shadow for a day or two and hang out in the salon and really get the vibe of who they are in the workplace and then get the vibe of our salon. Like they could show up and be like, “Yeah, this actually isn’t for me. I thought it was and it wasn’t,” and that’s absolutely fine. It needs to go both ways.
Britt: How have you marketed yourself to stand out in your community? When you say, “Well, I put it on social media and you either resonate or you don’t,” what efforts have you made to stand out as the exceptional salon, both for stylists and clients?
Jorie: Right. That’s, again, new to me. As a stylist myself, the way that I’ve marketed myself is really touching on the more the human relationship there. And me being really vulnerable. I’m a total oversharer, like I literally tell everybody too much all the time, but that’s a good thing because then I can connect with people.
You know, if I create that vulnerability in my chair, then they’re like, “Oh, okay. I can go there too.” You know what I mean?
I can be that on social media too. If you look at my Instagram, you’ll know a lot about me before you sit my chair and I want that clarity. I don’t want somebody to show up not knowing that.
I’m really just getting into that with the salon side of it. It’s not just hair. That’s my biggest thing right now. It’s not just hair, especially coming off on COVID and being closed.
People need that connection. People—it’s not just a haircut. It’s not just color. You’re coming in and spending three to five hours if you’re getting extensions in our chair. It has to be more than that and that’s really what I want to convey through social media.
Britt: Okay, I love that.
How did you in a social media world that is so anti-vulnerability and pro make everything look pretty and nice and sunshine and fake, at what point were you like, “No, I’m not doing that and I’m showing up as myself?” How did you find the confidence to do that and how did you know that was the right thing to do?
Jorie: I started doing that, I would say about a year or two, maybe two years ago, just on my personal stylist page. Because I am so vulnerable. I mean, I got married, I go into a fertility journey, my wife and I are going through a lot of things and I wanna be able to share that and people really responded to that.
I took a leap of faith thinking either this is gonna fall flat or people are going to really connect and appreciate what I’m kind of sharing, and so within my stylist page, I can really connect with people on different levels, not just the hair, and being able to do that really helps me connect once I do get my hands in their hair.
I think that that’s the same thing with doing stuff like with finding stylists and clients with the salon. I want them to know the vibe and know what they’re going to expect when they come to our salon and sit in our chair and know that it’s more about the connection and the relationship and not just wham, bam, thank you ma’am who cares factory. So that’s a big one.
Britt: I freaking love this and a spoiler alert you and your wife are expecting, yes?
Jorie: Yes.
Britt: So exciting! Congratulations. That’s so huge.
Have you shared a bit about your fertility journey on social, on your professional?
Jorie: Yeah, a little bit. I didn’t really want to jinx it. I’m almost seven months now, so I’m okay. But I think that I didn’t want to jinx it by telling my story, so yeah. My plans are probably like blog about it and all that stuff just so, I mean, I’ve had just a little bit that I’ve shared like our announcement and things like that. I’ve had people reach out to me, other LGBTQ couples or individuals say, “Hey, like, can I pick your brain about that? I want to be able to know your journey and I’m thinking about taking the same road and I really want to be able to pick your brain,” moment. Oh my gosh. Yes. I’m always an open book about that. So yeah, it’s really been nice to be able to offer that also.
Britt: I love that. Years and years ago, I said, basically nothing personal on social media, everything had to be ultra professional, and I’ve really had to change my tone on that in the last year, especially. I’m coming around because that vulnerability is really hard.
Have you ever gone to post something and you’re like, “Ooh, I don’t know if this is going to hit, but I’m going to go for it anyway”?
Jorie: Absolutely.
Britt: How do you find the confidence and how do you know what that fine line is? Where it’s like, “This is probably something I don’t need to share and this is how I’m sharing my heart.” How do you make that distinction?
Jorie: I think for me because I’m so intentional about it. I want people to know who I am before they make the decision to come sit in my chair. I don’t want there to be any surprises. I want them to know what they’re working with and then they can make the decision from there. I don’t want anybody to ever be caught off guard or uncomfortable by something.
Like I said, they can be on a chair from three to five hours and I don’t want there to be a surprise for them, so I try to keep it personal and professional where the professional with the personal twist or professional with a personal twist, either way, one of those.
Britt: I know what you’re saying. Personal with a professional twist. You got it.
Jorie: Yeah, I don’t know if I do really have any boundaries, but I haven’t gotten too much pushback yet, so what I’ve posted is okay.
Britt: I love that.
It’s always such a fine line of like, “Oh, she does hair. Oh, this is her personal blog now.” How do you find that balance?
Jorie: Yeah, I think a lot of posts that I really start to share my heart in are holidays or birthdays or big events, things like that, where I can do that. Or just if I’m going through something that has to do with my work also, like I need to share my heart about feeling—I think I did a post about the connection, like just having it be more than hair. I don’t want that to just be my job, it’s my life and it’s your life. And in my chair, we’re both human, you know? That’s a big factor in it.
Britt: I love that. One of the things you mentioned to me right before we started recording—which I tell everybody all the time, the pre-show is the best part. Everybody misses the best part, but it’s just for me and it’s good— is that you really doubled down on connection through the pandemic.
Being in California, we both know that this state had experienced the longest closures here in the U.S. To what you were saying before, you always wanted to prioritize connection with your guests, but what did you learn through the pandemic? Is there anything that you have forever changed or is there anything that became like a real aha moment for you?
Jorie: It solidified it for me. Before it was like, “Yeah, I want to have a relationship with my clients and I don’t want it to be just hair,” but after having that taken away from me, I was like, “Gosh, I do miss that.” I went through an identity crisis in our first shut down, when it was just super scary. We had no idea what was going on. That one I think was about 10 weeks and I’m sitting here and I’m just like, “Who am I without this? Who am I without being able to go and take care of people all day, every day and really connect with people?”
Sitting in my house, I was like, “Oh my gosh.” That was my aha moment of how much I really truly appreciate that.
So coming back to the salon, that’s a huge focus now in my guest experience. I want to know how they’re doing and if they’re okay and if they’re not, what can I do to help? Like I said, it’s just not just hair anymore. We’re so much more than that.
I’ve had clients express that to me, like how awesome it is. Just giving a shampoo and a scalp massage these days is literally earth-shattering for people because there’s some people that haven’t even had physical touch or that connection. If they’re single, if they’re—it’s so important, like I said, even more important coming out of that, just having that human connection.
Britt: So incredibly true and I think that the one blessing that I kind of love from the pandemic and the closure is that I think our industry got a little bit more respect. It turns out that people do need their stylist and we are an important part of their life, which is great. That’s definitely a blessing, but I love that you always prioritize it and you’re now just going to continue to do so.
One of my favorite things—I was just scrolling your Instagram as we were chatting—is when I look at your brand, it feels almost more like a lifestyle brand versus just being Jorie does hair. It is very much inclusive of this is the woman I am, this is how I do, this is what you can expect.
How did you figure out, “You know what, this is how I want to represent myself. This is what I want people to see”? How did you double down on that brand and how that lifestyle brand would come together? I think a lot of stylists get stuck on, “Well, I do pretty hair and I’m super fun and I’m trendy,” and then they can’t get past it. How did you fill in all the blanks?
Jorie: Yeah. I think a lot of that too was there was a time right when I first started Thrivers. So I started Thrivers in spring of 2019 and that’s when I was really starting to try and figure out who I wanted to be as a brand. I went through tons of different, current Thrivers’ profiles and Instagram feeds and all that, and I was like, “Gosh, I’m not that put together enough to be that perfectly curated, perfectly branded, Instagram feed.” It looked really hard, like not who I am as a person and it was the last thing I wanted to do was not be genuine on there.
I really started to think, “Okay, can I just share who I really am and benefit from that within the realm of professionality as well?” I really wanted to focus on, like I said before, just sharing enough of me to where people know what to expect and that was no surprises, but also wanting them to connect with the type of hair I did.
I do more lived in hair. I’m not a vivids person. I’m not a platinum card person. I will gladly tell you where to go for that, but that is not me, and that comes across in who I am as a person. And my personality also, I’m more laid back, more natural that way.
I think that being able to put that out there, and like I said, I’m in total oversharer, so it wasn’t like I was afraid to put my personal stuff on there. I just wanted to really have a brand that felt more personal and to have that connection rather than it just be hair and this and that. It needed to be everything to me.
Britt: I love that. I want to just share an observation. When you talked about when you saw the perfectly curated Instagram feeds and you’re like “man, it just looks too hard.” And really, we say “hard” cause it is hard. But when we say “hard”, we also say it sucks all the fun out of it. To what you said, it’s not real anyway. So what’s the point in doing that? I want to explain something to everybody.
So whether you look at Jorie’s Instagram or not, I’m going to explain. I’m looking at Jorie and she’s gorgeous and she has long hair and modern color. A lot of people would say, well, Jorie checks all the boxes, so she could totally pull off a curated feed. It’s so funny because the excuse I hear from a lot of people is “Well if I looked a certain way, then I’d be able to do it.”
It’s actually not true. It’s just a different way of going about using the platform. It has nothing to do with how you look, how old you are, the hair you do, who you are as a person. It is choosing authenticity.
I think when you said, “I’m going to be myself, and if you don’t like me then you’re probably not a fit here anyway.” It’s just served you. That’s fine, right? Better for all of us that way.
One of the things you mentioned we could talk about, and I think it’s so important and so poignant, is—I’ve actually heard maybe half a dozen times in the last few years—people choose to confess to me in the DMs “I’m a member of the LGBTQ community and I would never tell my clients, or I’m afraid to talk about it.” Or, maybe it’s one of those things that just shouldn’t be a part of the visit. How much do you share and how much do you not?
Or even some men and women have been told by their salon owners, “Well, your personal life doesn’t really have a place in this salon anyway. So best to just leave that at home.”
What is your take on that? I don’t want to say trend. I guess, that belief system in the industry? Or what would you say to those who feel scared still to be fully who they are for fear of judgment?
Jorie: I’m very fortunate to have a salon that is so supportive. My mom is totally fine with all that. I mean, she’s so proud? So that environment is already kind of nurtured for me.
But I do live in a very small conservative town and it breaks my heart when people feel like they can’t share that side of them in their professional world, especially in an industry like ours that is so personal.
I think that being able to be fully yourself is so important in your health, honestly. I would say if they could find an environment that they could thrive in, outside of… I don’t ever want anybody to feel like they can’t be themselves. So that must be sought out. You can’t live under that.
Also that goes back to that connection piece. If you can’t be your full, authentic self people will pick up on that. That’s off-putting, you know? Bringing that back to my social media, same thing. That’s the main reason why I always want to put who I am fully on my social media. I don’t want there to be a surprise. I want that to be okay when somebody chooses to call me to make an appointment. Because most of my new guests come from social media anyways.
So I think that’s so important to lay that out there and be like, this is who I am. This is who I will be in when you’re my chair. This doesn’t affect the type of hair I do, but if it does for you, fine. That’s a choice that somebody else can make. But I don’t ever want that to compromise a stylist day-to-day and their own view of themselves, because that’s so toxic for themselves.
Britt: I really like that you used the word “toxic.” I do think that there are some stylists carrying that burden. There was somebody who reached out to me—this was probably about six months ago now, it was mid pandemic—and she had gone through a divorce. I think it was some time ago. I can’t totally be sure.
But she had gone through a divorce, had a couple of young kids, and her partner was a woman and she was terrified to tell anybody and so she said, “I think I’m just going to play it like I’m single. Or do I wait until maybe we get married one day? How does one go about this?” I felt totally unqualified to answer her question.
What would you say to somebody who’s in that position? Who’s like I feel like I’ve established myself as this person and now my life is evolving. How do you make that transition and how do you navigate the But what if my clients don’t follow this new direction that I’m heading, this evolved version of myself? What if everyone doesn’t believe in me? Or what if everyone doesn’t agree with the choices I’m making?
Jorie: That is terrifying. I can’t imagine being in that spot to where you are fearful of that. What I would say honestly is stay true to yourself the most that you can and navigate through that with your whole heart. If you genuinely come at it from a place of, this is who I am to the core, people can’t argue with that. It’s you. Then they make their choice and you have to be okay with that because you’re getting the benefit of living into your full, authentic self.
You have to be okay with people making their own choices and you will lose some and you will gain some because of that. It’s going to be a win, lose situation. You’re going to lose the right people that are the wrong people. You’re going to lose the people that need to be lost.
I think that it is one of the most terrifying things that someone will probably do, but you will get out on the other side and you will be happier and it is just more truth in your life.
Britt: Okay. I love that. I have a few more questions about authenticity.
So for me, I don’t know if anybody noticed, but I certainly did. My husband was never on my Instagram until I think last year, which is wild because we’ve been together for 19 years and he’s been here the whole time. But he was like a secret, or a ghost or something, and he was terrified to be a part of my brand and my business. I really struggled with vulnerability when I had a partner who that to him felt so unsafe. It felt like I could put them out there, but he’s not making that choice.
Do you have any advice for those of us who were in my position where your partner’s like, “I don’t know that I want to be a part of this world”, but you really want to share that piece of you. Did you and your wife navigate that at all? Or was that just okay for you guys?
Jorie: I don’t know if I actually gave her a choice!
Britt: That’s one way to do it: don’t give the person a choice! Just go for it.
Jorie: She kind of knew going in that I’m a total oversharer anyways. But there are things that I feel like I need to ask about, like the fertility stuff. Is that something that we want to… a road that we want to go down?
But she has never voiced a problem with anything that I have put on there. Like I said, we both very much want to be a resource for people. So I think that kind of just goes along with it. I think that she is very willing to be on my Instagram because she’s proud to be a part of my life and a part of my brand. She’s my partner so she’s okay with being a part of me.
Britt: What I think is interesting is that a lot of people are seeking their “What’s next?”, or they’re looking for deeper connections or greater evolution. It’s so often true that if you just show up a little bit more open, or a little more vulnerable, or a little more yourself, all those opportunities will actually come to you.
I always say when you’re seeking, it usually doesn’t come. You have to allow it to just kind of come in.
I think it’s really interesting and worth noting that when you chose to open up about your fertility journey or maybe even talk about the pandemic or whatever it is… when you open up and you just have those hearts in our conversations, the what’s next and the opportunity and human connection really comes to you without you having to try so hard.
I think it’s really exciting to hear you talk about, “Listen when I started talking about starting our family, it really opened the door for more connection.” Because it’s so rare that people are just willing to put it all out there and be like this is what we’re going through. Who’s with me? That vulnerability is so attractive and it really does bring in the right people to your life, into your business, into your brand.
So I just want to honor you for sharing so openly with us today that trusting yourself and being vulnerable—owning your truth and showing up as who you are—is the best thing you can probably do for your business and for your life.
Jorie: Yeah. If you think about it, if you put something that’s opposite on social media, they’re going to see it anyways. If they’re going to be in your chair, it’s going to come out. So would you rather them make the choice before or after that?
I think that vulnerability is really such a key component in our industry anyways because people can come to us saying I want whatever haircut or color or something that is just totally not them and we don’t know that yet because we don’t know anything about them.
There’s really something to be said about establishing those connections and those genuine relationships, because it’s such a big part of our industry.
Going back to what you said about sharing the fertility, I’ve always been really insecure because my target market is pretty much moms and I was not one. I am just not there yet. So I always had this really glaring insecurity about missing that connection point, because so many of them identify with being a mom so wholeheartedly, which is amazing. That’s something I could never speak to.
Just going through the fertility stuff; we went through a loss and then the pregnancy. I’ve had so many people reach out to me, even just with the loss saying “Oh my gosh, girl, I went through that and now I have three amazing kids” or something like that. Or just giving advice on, “Oh, you have to get this car seat” or you have to get this. There’s so many new connection points like you said with my current clientele, but it’s awesome because I always felt like I was missing that little component.
Like I said before with the LGBTQ community, if you’re not showing who you are and what you stand for, you’re missing connection points. You may lose some, but at the same time you’re missing some really valuable connection points if you’re not showing up wholeheartedly as who you are, then you’re missing out.
Britt: I have chills as you say that because it’s such a reminder that your fear about somebody choosing to walk away from you is I guess more powerful.
Somebody who would choose to not be vulnerable is saying it is more powerful that my guests might walk away from me than I might attract someone who’s been looking for me this whole time. Because nobody’s willing to show up as who they are, they can’t find me or anybody else. They’re living in this sea of everybody looks the same, everybody talks the same, everybody walks the same and I’m weird because I don’t look, talk, walk, act like that.
If we can all just be more authentically who we are, the connection’s just going to be so much deeper. Oh, I love that.
Okay. Beyond being vulnerable, real, and keeping it 100, do you have any other social media marketing strategies that you think have been stellar for you as you built your salon or your clientele?
Jorie: For me, showing consistently what I want to do. Showing consistently on social media or any sort of marketing material the kind of hair that I want to do.
I learned that very early on in my Instagram days, I was really proud after I’d get done with this six hour color correction. I’d show the before and afters and I’d post it and I’m so proud of myself. Then I’d get a call for a vivid color correction and I’d get a call for a box color and then I was like, “What’s happening? Why am I getting all these terrible projects?”
Then I was like, “Oh my God, I’m posting that I can do that.” I’m literally just saying “Come to me, bring me your problems.” It was the biggest aha moment almost in my career thinking “Oh my gosh, I need to advertise what I want to do, what I want to spend my days doing.” I need to put that out there because that’s what people are going to see and connect to and say oh, she does that. I’m going to go to her.
Like I said, I was so proud of these projects that I had accomplished that I wanted to post about it. But in the long run it was doing me so wrong.
Britt: This is so true. It’s laughable now, but you’re right. It feels like you climbed Mount Everest and you’re like, “I have to show this off.” There’s so many stylists who’re like, “But I do all the things, I’m going to show all the things” and then they’re resentful when they’re constantly getting all the things. You’re advertising that you’re down to spend eight hours fixing one person’s bad box dye. It’s so true.
I have another question for you. I happened to notice that you specialize in a specific extension brand, which I think is amazing.
A lot of people ask me, they’re like, “I am having the hardest time.” They may be new to a specific extension method and they’re like how do I break into this market? How do I advertise this thing?
What do you think was most effective or most game-changer for you when you were just getting started in extensions and trying to get this off the floor?
Jorie: So two things. I went to a two or three day extension training course down in Southern California and I hyped it up beyond belief. I was so stoked about it because I had been wanting to get in extensions for, gosh, I’d say two or three years and I couldn’t find anything that I could get behind that I could truly offer and feel okay with.
Britt: Okay, talk about that for a second. What were you looking for? What were your hesitations?
Jorie: I wanted to find something that was visibly believable, livable, and good for your scalp. Those were the three things. Because other things I’d seen were, there are some types of methods where you can’t even really wear your hair up. Or other types of methods that a piece of hair can fall out during dinner and you’re like, oh my God, I have three of those in my purse.
Britt: I remember our hair rep came to the salon one day and had lunch with us. She got up and there were two attached to the back of the chair. I was like, “Oh my gosh, this is mortifying.” But what you’re saying is it’s normal, it happens all the time. So true.
Jorie: Yeah, so those were kind of my three deciding factors there. Then I found some beaded row extensions, so I do all the beaded wefts.
I went to a two or three day course, and I spent a chunk of money on that so I was like, this is gonna work. So I hyped it up, I marketed them, and then I got them. As soon as I got them, I could show people. I would literally let people dig in my hair like “Look, this is a weft.” If I can show people—because me telling them about it is whatever. That’s fine. But I could show them what attaches to my scalp, I could show them how I wear it, and I can show them that it’s livable. I think that’s the biggest thing is people are like, “Oh my gosh, I want that look, but I don’t want to have to live with the extensions.”
I think that those were the biggest things: hyping it up and wearing them. If you’re going to get into extension world, make sure you wear them and wear them for a while, really test them out so that you can speak to it truthfully.
The biggest part too is if you are going to start marketing that, get two or three models and make sure you take a million pictures of them. Bring different shirts—I don’t care what you have to do to get content to be able to market that. Then offer those models a maintenance program where I say, “I need you to come back once a week so that I can check your scalp.”
It’s a commitment level on both sides. Yeah, they’re going to get a free set of extensions, but it’s a commitment level for them to really help you learn and grow and make sure that this is what you want to be doing and that you’re okay with and that you’re good at it, because you don’t want to start charging hundreds of thousands of dollars for these extensions and jump into this pool that you cannot swim in.
Britt: Okay, I really love that. I almost feel like you put yourself through a self-imposed internship. That ‘return to me every week for a certain period of time’—that is brilliant. I’ve never heard of somebody speak to that before. I think that’s genius.
You’re right. What if one starts coming down? That’s likely your fault because you either didn’t explain how to care for it correctly or your installation wasn’t great. I’ve talked to people before who were like, “I’m going away to this extension thing and I want to start selling them immediately when I get back,” and I’m always like, no you don’t, because you’re going to be the rookie of the year when you come back from that training. You have so far to go.
I love that you chose a few models. Did you guys hear when she said, “take as many pictures as you can and have them bring a million shirts?” Yes. If I had a dime for everybody that said, “But I’ve only done three.” I’m like, why don’t you have 300 photos? You should have more than enough content at this point. Such. Good. Advice.
How long did it take you before you were like, “I’m pretty badass at this?” When did you find your confidence where you’re like, “I’ve got this, this is my method. I’m really good at it,” and you felt fully confident with it?
Jorie: The good thing about the extension method that I chose is we had six or eight weeks of pre-training before we even went to the event. They made sure you actually knew how to do it before you got there. So I didn’t go into it completely blindly.
There were people that actually started the training program and pulled out. They were like, actually I’m not good at this or I don’t like this or this isn’t gonna work for me. The way they marketed that or the way they structured that was genius because when we got there, we hit the ground running. We already knew how to do it. They were teaching us the marketing, everything, so I think that helped.
But after I had my two models coming back and checking their scalps and making sure things were okay, I then felt confident actually selling it and doing it. Then, I would say about six months in I was like, “Okay, this is great. This is working.” Because I was seeing so many heads coming back to me that had been wearing it and have been living in it.
You’re right about the care instructions. That is 80% of it. If they don’t know how to take care of it once they leave the salon, it doesn’t matter what you do.
Britt: It’s so true. I’ll never forget we got an SOS phone call from a client. She was on her honeymoon. I want to say she was in The Bahamas. She was like, “I am about to shave my head. I went swimming with my extensions,” and she was letting her hair flow like a mermaid. You can imagine.
So she ended up wearing a baseball cap and a really awful low knot for the rest of her honeymoon. She came in and the stylist picked through as best—but it was basically a lost cause. We can blame her all day long but it was our fault as a business because she wasn’t well-educated. The fact that she thought she could swim like a mermaid was completely on us.
Jorie: Yep. I make sure—I have an email that I send out after somebody gets a new install. I have an email that just lays that all out.
Also I’ll post on my Instagram every once in a while like, “Hey, just a reminder there’s a page on my website that’s care for your extension. Go check it out just as a refresher.” Because we get lazy, we get lax, we kind of forget things, whatever. So if they can go and check that out and reference that every once in a while, I want that information to be readily available. Because like you said, one vacation and you just lost $2,000 worth of extensions. It’s terrifying.
Britt: It’s actually terrifying. It’s so true. It’s so true.
But your over-communication, your total openness and your servant’s heart is really… I think it really sets you apart. I think you’re just an absolute inspiration.
Thank you so much for coming on today and sharing with us how to be more vulnerable, how to be more open, and how to market ourselves so beautifully on social.
If everybody loves you just as much as I do, where’s the best place for them to find out more about you?
Jorie: Probably my Instagram. It’s @joriedimeco.styling. I also have my newer page for my salon. It’s @volitionhairco.
Britt: Spell that for me.
Jorie: V-O-L-I-T-I-O-N
Britt: Jorie, you’re amazing. Thank you so much for taking the time today and I know we’ll speak soon.
Jorie: Well, thank you!
Britt: Jorie, thank you again so much from the bottom of my heart. I so enjoyed connecting with you. If you guys want to follow Jorie, she’s @joriedimeco.styling on Instagram.
I follow her so if you follow me, check out who I follow and you’re certain to follow her.
You guys, so much love, happy business building, and I’ll see you on the next one.
