Intro: Do you feel like you were meant to have a kick-ass career as a hair stylist? Like you got into this industry to make big things happen?
Maybe you’re struggling to build a solid base and want some stability. Maybe you know social media is important, but it feels like a waste of time because you aren’t seeing any results. Maybe you’ve already had some amazing success but are craving more. Maybe you’re ready to truly enjoy the freedom and flexibility this industry has to offer.
Cutting and coloring skills will only get you so far, but to build a lifelong career as a wealthy stylist, it takes business skills and a serious marketing strategy. When you’re ready to quit just working in your business and start working on it, join us here where we share real success stories from real stylists.
I’m Britt Seva, social media and marketing strategist just for hair stylists, and this is the Thriving Stylist Podcast.
Britt Seva: What is up and welcome back to the Thriving Stylist Podcast. I’m your host Britt Seva, and today, we’re talking about how to attract like-minded stylists to work on your salon team.
I’m going to be very honest at the top of this episode, I’m a little bit nervous. I’m a little nervous. Usually when I do podcasts, it’s on a topic that I’m able to deeply research and come to you with stats and figures. This one’s going to be a little bit different.
This is a question from an amazing salon owner I’ve had the privilege of coaching for some time now and she wrote in asking a question about her salon that she’s opening. And in doing the research I was like, “Dang, this salon owner is really onto something and has hit it out of the park.” What I love about this salon owner’s question is she’s already 80% the way there and she needs me to help her get that final 20.
I’m actually going to be sharing her website so that you can check it out and take a look. I think you’re going to immediately fall in love. I think you’re going to be completely inspired and I hope it encourages you to ask questions like hers about yourself because I tend to think what’s going to happen is those who look at the salon owner’s website and fall in love with her brand are going to say, “What? This person doesn’t need help. They’re perfect.”
Those who achieve massive success look extremely talented and know that there’s opportunity for refinement and more. The salon owner really wants to live their wealthiest life.
Remember when I say wealth, everybody thinks money. We all go into business wanting to make money, so we don’t need to have shame about that. But money is just 25%. There’s health, love, and time.
When you hear about the core values of the salon owner, what you’re going to find is the health, the time, the love. That’s actually the most important part of her brand. So when I say her wealthiest life, it’s actually that 75% she wants the most of. I don’t doubt that she’ll make the money, but this other piece is really what she’s looking for and I want to dig into it with you.
Here’s the question. It says, “I’m opening a holistic salon in a rural town in Ohio and would love each of my stylists to niche down further. It would be my dream team to have everyone offering a holistic approach, but specializing in blondes, reds, men’s cuts, barbering, curly hair, or extensions. I’m asking in hopes that you have advice on how to attract some of these stylists my way.”
Let’s take a step back for a second and talk about target market and branding, which is something I’ve been coaching to since 2012. A very long time at this point—and whenever I talk about target market and branding, I think that there could be some misunderstanding. I used to talk about it, my naive, less educated self talked about it in very simplistic terms. I generally spoke about branding in demographic terms, I guess you’d say. It was like, “Are you looking to attract clients who get color done? Are you looking to attract working moms? Are you looking to attract—do you like doing short cuts? Are you looking to attract men to the business? Do you only want to do brides?”
Those are very demographic surface level. “How much does your ideal client make,” right? All of those things would be considered demographic factors when in target market and branding. It’s not that that’s a bad way to do it, it’s a basic way to do it.
But I’ve evolved into and what got incorporated in Thrivers Society in 2019 is something called psychographic factors, which is a really different way of branding. The most simple way to explain it is to have values-based branding.
That’s what this salon owner is looking to do is to say, “I want people who specialize in just blondes, just reds, extensions, curls, barbering, maybe nails.” I think she has somebody who maybe does massage therapy or is considering it. Amazing.
All different services, same values, that is called a brand that is built on psychographic factors. All are welcome so long as the values are aligned.
What kept coming up for me is this term “holistic salon.” I looked up the definition and to this salon owner who I’m going to reveal in a moment, I want you to ask yourself, have you looked up the definition of holistic?
There’s two different definitions. There’s holistic with an H and wholistic with a W. This person typed in holistic with an H. Let’s talk about what that means. Holistic with an H by definition is characterized by the belief that the parts of something are interconnected and can be explained only by reference to the whole, W-H-O-L-E, whole. It’s like everybody’s a piece of the puzzle. When you say “holistic salon,” to me, it’s like we are a completely values-aligned team. We all see the world the same way. We believe in many similar belief systems. Maybe not a hundred percent, all but like 85%. The way we are very aligned at our thoughts, our beliefs, our core values, very, very aligned.
Let’s look at the definition with the W because it’s very different and it makes such a huge impact.
Wholistic with a w is often used in the medical world of we’re going to use a holistic treatment where we incorporate mind, body, soul in the healing practice. Now, not everybody believes in that. Some people prefer fully Westernized medicine where it’s like you just treat the problem and that’s it.
When you look at more like a combination of Western/Eastern or if you see a DO instead of an MD and all these different types of medical options we have today, when you look at somebody who treats holistically with the W, it’s body, mind, soul.
When she first reached out and said, “We’re doing holistic,” in my mind I thought, “I wonder what she means.” If she means organic and all natural or if it’s really the community based.
I looked at the salon owner’s website and this is where I think that you might fall in love. This salon owner’s name is Deva and if you go to Helia or heliasalon.com—so it’s H E L I A salon.com—you can just go ahead and get ready for your jaw to hit the floor because this is an extremely well-built branded salon and website. It’s built using the Thrivers framework and I’m really, really proud to see how she pulled this together.
The brand itself is dreamy, like the pictures used are incredible, the fonts, the coloring, great messaging. There are some gaps in it that I uncovered and what we call these are blind spots. What blind spots do is they prevent us from seeing the maximum result that we’re seeking. While you may be looking up that website right now, I hope that you are and you’re falling in love. It comes back to the question of “Would be my dream to have everyone offering a holistic approach but specializing in whatever it was they want to specialize in?”
What she’s asking is how do I attract the best stylists who are of this belief system?
I looked at the website in full and here’s where the messaging gets a little funny for me. Deva, I want to be super clear. I think what you’ve built is phenomenal and gorgeous, but you reached out to me because you felt like there were blind spots and there are. So this is the last 20%. You’ve baked an incredible cake, like an award-winning cake. I’m giving you the icing, my best icing formula. So here we go.
You say at the top, “We are at the crossroads between the beauty industry and holistic wellness.” What is holistic wellness to you then? Because when you told me I’m looking to create a holistic salon, oh, okay, so I thought that was community, like we’re all values aligned, but then you’re saying holistic wellness was just a little bit different. So is the team holistic or are your values holistic? Mind, body, soul? It’s a little bit different.
You might hear me say it and you say, “Well, you’re just splitting hairs on that.” When I look at a website like this, I’m looking as a client would and a client’s going to say, “What does that mean?” and so we need to clarify it.
Then you say, “We’re here to help you feel healthier, more confident, and connected.” Okay, I love that.
Then the next thing I’m prompted to do is to learn about the salon. It says “About Helia, a salon focused on healing and beauty, an uplifting environment, a safe space for you and your kids.” I will say there’s pictures all over this website of moms and their kids, so this is clearly a space where kids are welcome, clean products, community and nurturing.
Then it says “Holistic salon. We believe that each system of your body is connected to the other and then that impacts the work that we do. You might be our client if you’re tired of feeling burnt out, you love some community, leggings are your preferred leg apparel, and you love shopping local.”
The mission to “inspire confidence in our stylists and customers with a holistic atmosphere,” there was that word again. “Nurturing services and community events so that they’ll have a healthier, connected and more fulfilled life.”
You know what’s missing for me, it’s very clear. You’re talking about the holistic salon from the thousand foot view. You’re using this word “holistic” and then you say things like “healing beauty,” “uplifting,” “safe for you and your kids,” “clean products,” “community,” and “nurturing.” Those are incredible words that I personally as a working mom can relate to. The question that came up from me is how are you doing that? How are you doing that in a way that nobody else is because I’m going to keep it 100 with you. I’m wearing leggings to whatever salon I’m going to. That’s just me. I know a lot of people go to a salon, they look 10, 10 out of 10. I look 2.5 at best. That’s just me.
So when you’re saying “Come in, come in, you’re wearing leggings, you’re burnt out, you love shopping local”—I like all those things, but I’m a fit at a lot of salons liking all those things. What do you provide for me as a woman? ‘Cause it looks like you are predominantly targeting those who identify as women. What do you do for me so that my needs are met in the arenas of I’m burnt out? What is your solution to that? Yes, you’re speaking to my problem. What is your solution?
When I’m looking on your page, you do have a new guest page, which I love. This is something I started coaching to in Thrivers in I think 2015. It’s been amazing to see it take over the industry massively now.
You see this normally everywhere, but it says “New guests. Each of our service providers focuses on the service they are best at. This means that none of our stylists stay mediocre. They work on specializing or focusing on just a few services so they can be best at those services. Take a few minutes to skim through and find the stylist or technician for you.”
Okay, so now you’re selling me on the idea of everyone who works for you as specialists, which is great, but that doesn’t help with my burnout, it doesn’t help with my community.
What happened for me is I think that you’re missing a page that says “Understand the Helia holistic experience,” or “What it means to be part of the Helia family,” or something like that. You are not describing, you’re not selling me on the holistic experience. I can see you want to pull it off. That’s very obvious for me. The how is deeply missing.
I know your question to me was “How do I attract stylists in today’s market?” 2023 and likely for the next five years, we are in a stylists’ market. Meaning stylists get to be picky where they want to work. The more clients you’re attracting, the easier it’s going to be to attract great stylists to work for you. Period. You need clients to buy into this concept in order for stylists to also buy into the concept.
Now I will say there’s already a team established here. Let me tell you a little bit about the team and who’s already working here. First of all, like I said, the website’s gorge, so Deva, this is interesting to me too. Deva is listed as holistic stylist. You’re the only one who’s a holistic stylist. What does that mean? Define it for me. And why are you the only one If the entire salon is holistic. You’re the only person on the team who has a holistic stylist, right? Kenzie’s a hair stylist. No other descriptive on that. Emily is a blonde and extension specialist. Sadie’s a massage therapist, Danielle is a nail technician, and Krista is a K Link Co permanent jewelry specialist.
I’m going to assume—okay, I love your model. I’m obsessed with it. The fact that you have two stylists, one blonde and extension specialist, one massage therapist, a nail tech, and somebody who does permanent jewelry, like I’m dead. I love that so much.
Sell me on the experience. I’m still not getting experience and I’m also not understanding how the fact that it’s all about holistic but you’re the only one that is holistic or what does it mean to be holistic? If we’re going to use that word, let’s go all in. I’m assuming everybody in the building is holistic ’cause that was your whole selling point.
First question is, is holistic like mind, body, soul, which I feel like it is, which is fine, but then you wouldn’t be the only one who believes in that, right? Everybody would, which goes to the secondary definition of holistic in that it’s a sum of all parts. So if I come to the salon, your promise to me was we all believe in this approach and it’s the sum of all parts, right? We’re all of the same belief system and that’s why this place works. Sell me on how you do it. It’s really missing for me.
The pages are about, new guests, meet the team, careers, book now, and then under more we have give back, products, and FAQs. I want a page that says the experience or fall in love with our experience.
You have to sell me on it because right now it looks like a really great idea, but it’s hard to conceptualize as a client how exactly you’re pulling it off. Just make that more clear and more simple.
Then we get to careers. So “Thrive with Helia Salon + Wellness, a booth rental salon with room to grow.” Then shares the mission, the core values, which are fantastic, your schedule. Just so you know, one of the promises is you’ll have the freedom to create your own schedule. Take as much vacation time as you want to throughout the year.
Your guests—now, see, this is where it gets interesting for me. It says “Your guests. We will help you level up your guest experience with amenities that truly set us apart. A coffee bar with local honey and maple syrup, organic/clean snacks, The Brick Wall Lounge.” Sell me on that. “Non-toxic, organic hair and skincare products, community events often held at the salon.” Do you realize you’re not selling your clients on all that yummy stuff anywhere? Are you assuming that clients are going to look at the careers page to find out all those amazing perks and benefits? You’re selling those things to the stylists to work for you, but you’re not even selling ’em to your clients.
And then you say things like, “Well, I’m going to show it on social media.” Or “Well, once they get in, they’ll find it.” No, no, no, no, no. Your website is your number one salesperson.
These are the kind of things that would go on the client experience portion of things ’cause all of this is cool where it says “Your guests,” but imagine if this section instead said, “Our guests experience, a holistic experience that’s second to none.” Part of the Helia Salon holistic experience includes a greeting complete with X, Y, and Z. Our signature consultation that looks like blah, blah, blah. The follow up that looks like yada, yada, yada. Community events that are like yada yada yada. Really sell. This is a sales page. This is not an information page, this is a sales page, and so I’d really dig in there a little bit more.
Then there’s the opportunity to request an interview, which I think is fantastic. Book now, that looks great, that goes to an online booking page, which is fine.
Under more, we have give back, let’s see what we have here. Okay, so this is really special. There’s two different organizations that the salon supports, the Leah Staton Memorial Scholarship Fund and Simply Radical: Missions in Haiti. There’s two incredible organizations that are sponsored in some way by the salon. It looks like there’s the opportunity to donate. I would love for you to share at the top how Helia Salon supports these individuals and organizations beyond a client choosing to donate. Do you give back a portion of all the sales generated on Saturdays? Does 1% of rents collected go to these organizations?
Here’s how fundraising works. The organization first has to make their commitment before others make their own as individuals. That’s generally how it works best. How do you support these two incredible causes? Then your clients will buy into supporting them as well.
Just make sure you kind of tie those pieces together. But I do love that that’s there.
Now, it looks like you don’t have social set up yet. This salon is emerging and just starting to come out. I’m looking at your personal Instagram, so anybody who wants to look it up, look on Instagram @devasjourney. An incredible Instagram account. Again, you’ve done such an amazing, amazing job with your feed. When you look at what is being shown, I think that in a lot of ways you’re very aligned with where you should be going with the salon branding.
There’s a picture I’m looking at, it almost looks like a brand board and then there’s—it’s like a graphic and then there’s many different women. A woman who’s maybe a young woman and then a woman who’s pregnant and then a woman who’s holding a young baby. And then there’s another woman who’s holding flowers and another one who might be in prayer or is just looking up to the sky. And the caption says, “Do you struggle with confidence? Let me help. Step one, community. Step two, assess your needs and ask for help. Burnout is happening so radically all around us. We’re not meant to do life alone. Step three, be willing to help your girlfriend as she reads this post and then ask you to help her.” Then she goes on to talk about how her salon is working to host a 9:00 AM walk every Friday on the bike trail to bring the community together.
These are all beautiful things. Why is this not on your website? If I hadn’t chosen—literally remember I said I was nervous at the top of this podcast episode. I randomly chose an Instagram post right now. If I hadn’t chosen this, how would I have known about the walk at all? “Well, I send emails.” Yeah, but I’m not subscribed to your emails. “Well, I did the Instagram post.” Yeah, but I didn’t see it. It needs to be—often we think of things like, “Well, I said it one time,” or “I said it two times.”
How busy are you? I don’t know how busy you are. I’m so busy that people tell me all the time, “I don’t know how you sleep.” Which for the record, I sleep great. But people say things like that because I am constantly moving. I don’t think that makes me special. I think that makes me normal. So the idea that you can say things one time, two times, three times, and people catch it is naive.
Things need to slap people in the face. There should have been a pop-up on your website that said, “Hey, sign up for our 9:00 AM walks,” boom. Then my tune of this whole podcast would’ve been completely different because you would’ve been showing me exactly what it means to be a part of the Helia community, right?
I would activate the social media for the salon, I would work on the messaging around your promise of being a part of the salon community because I feel like that is the X factor. That is the magic of being a part of your salon. Is that like, damn, I look at these pictures of the people who work for you and I want to think that their values aligned, but you have not sold me on it yet and I want you to.
I want you to dig in with how it benefits me to be your client. Sell me on the idea of being your client. I think your brand, your values, your mission, your concept is phenomenal. I cannot applaud you enough. I think what you’ve put together is beautiful. I think it’s sensational. I think this is going to be a smash. I think all you need to do is refine your messaging, clarify the promise to both guests and to stylists who work for you. I think you’re going to be unstoppable.
I look forward to having you join me on a stage at Thrivers Live ’cause Thriver, you are killing it. And I am so damn proud of the business that you’ve built.
Thank you for asking these poignant questions and allowing me to bring it on the show. I want to bring it home because I know I spoke specifically to Deva’s salon and you know what it would take for her to really refine her brand. But what if you’re not 80%, 85% the way they are like she is? What if you aren’t clear on who you are? What if you aren’t clear on what you’re building? I speak to how to do all of these things in my programs, right? So I have Thriving Stylist Method, but what Deva’s put together is a lot of Thriving Leadership.
In Thriving Leadership, there’s several modules. We have understand the system, business foundations which are established, so vision and mission, core values, operational structure, all of that is in place for her. Then we get into purpose and culture, creating company culture, infusing it, coaching through culture, toxic culture bombers. We have module four rules and responsibilities.
I want you to look here, Deva, and see if there’s more work to be done.
Needs assessment, the job description framework, introducing job descriptions to your team, and creating a growth plan. Yes, you need those things, even for booth renters. P.S., brand standards. I think this is where things might be falling flat.
Defining the guest experience, grooming standards, key verbiage, stylist schedules, time off and holidays. You said unlimited time off and holidays, but are there days the salon is closed? Are there promise days? Are there celebrations? Dig in a little bit more.
Code of conduct, benefits. I’m creating your employee handbook. Then we get into the training evaluation and praise.
Those are the layers that I think there could be more work on.
If you’re a salon owner and you’re like, “Whoa, I don’t have any of that stuff. I don’t have the promise, I don’t even know our point of view. All we do is great hair,” which if you do great hair, that’s an incredible thing, “and we have a good time and I’m a nice owner.” I think that’s great. If you want to get by, that might be enough. If you want to be exceptional, having a point of view and having a promise that can’t be duplicated by another stylist or salon is the game today.
It wasn’t the game 2, 3, 5, 6, 10, 15 years ago. The game has changed in the last 18 months. My goal, as I coach to perceive value in things like this, is to help you understand how the game has changed, how I can support you through it, how to define things like your methodology, your practice, your point of view, your culture, those kind of specifics and infusing them in a way that makes it tangible for clients and for stylists considering working for you is how to win as a stylist or salon owner.
Today, I actually have several podcasts coming out talking more about how to be the it salon people want to work at, how to hire a dream stylist. If you’re like, “Whoa, I’m super interested, this has me fired up, but I don’t know where to to go from here,” lots more goodies coming.
If you’re an individual stylist, you should have still gotten tons of takeaways from this because looking at the website, talking about promise, talking about selling a client experience is valuable for anybody, whether you’re a studio suite owner, a stylist, whatever.
I hope this has been a thought-provoking one for you. Thanks for letting me kind of free range it, y’all.
So much love, happy business building, and I’ll see you on the next one.
