Do you feel like you were meant to have a kick-ass career as a hairstylist? 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 weren’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 Siva, social media and marketing strategist just for hairstylists, and this is the Thriving Stylist Podcast.
What is up and welcome back to the Thriving Stylist Podcast. I’m your host, Britt Seva. And I thought we would take a moment to just kind of vibe and talk about some thoughts that have been on my mind recently. I happen to have spent a good portion of the start of 2026 on the road. I recorded a really cool series if you haven’t watched it yet. It’s called After the Last Client, and you can learn more at www.afterthelastclient.com. It’s a video series, so it’s not a podcast. It’s almost like binging a Netflix series. I think it ends up being, like, 10 or 12 hours of really exceptional interviews from really successful, like, really successful stylists and salon owners, and not successful in the celebrity stylist kind of way. Successful in the, you may never have heard of some of these people before, but damn, if they’re not living a balanced, wealthy, revenue-packed family comes first life.
Like, it’s just, like, really inspiring to hear. Now, we do have some incredible success, incredibly successful big name educators that are coming on the series as well. But a lot of these people you’ve never heard of before, and that’s what makes it kind of cool. Like, these are stories of success you would not hear had we not dug them up. And had they not given us the grace to talk so transparently about things like profit and loss, and budgeting, and firing employees, and scaling a studio suite, and hiring an assistant, and the legalities of that. I mean, just literally things that you don’t get to hear anywhere else. I’m su – I will forever be thankful to the guests who have come on the show and shared those things. And I’ve also done some speaking engagements with some very incredibly successful stylists, salon owners, business owners.
And one of the things is I’m noticing these patterns in what the most successful stylists are doing differently. And I’ll tell you, it’s not things like double book or, like, raise your prices. Like, none of that is what’s gonna come up on this. It’s the things that. I think it’s, like, the little details where if you know, you know. And it’s not that it’s secrets, it’s the things that, like, I think a lot of stylists and salon owners, like, look the other way on. They’re not paying attention. They’re focused on price increases and Instagram posts. And it’s like, hold on. If you zoom out and we, we look at what is actually making this salon and stylist unique, it’s different. And I wanna talk about those pieces for a minute, and I’m gonna talk about it from the sense of these are the common things that I noticed every single one of these people did.
It was, like, this common thread. I don’t even know if they could call it out amongst themselves, but I was like, “Wait a minute, you all do these things and look at the result. There’s something to it.” And so I wanna talk about those things so that you can consider them if you’re looking to grow your business, you feel like something’s off, and you just cannot put your finger on what it is. So, looking at it from, like, a basic mathematical, simple logic standpoint, as a service provider, there’s only two ways to make more money. Increase your demand or increase your service ticket. There isn’t anything else. Increase demand or increase service ticket. Factually, sure. But how do we do those things? I have a entire podcast that you’re listening to right now dedicated to tons of marketing strategies and all that kind of stuff, but that can’t be everything, and it’s not everything.
So, one of the first things I noticed, and I’m gonna share it right at the top, because I actually think it’s one of the biggest, now that I’ve experienced it, is that every single one of these deeply successful stylists and salon owners takes deep pride in their personal presentation and appearance. And that is one for me that I know is tough, because I’ve worked in the industry, I’ve been a stylist, I’ve been an assistant making $8 an hour, buying all my clothes at Forever 21 and Target, like, trying to put a cute outfit together. And so, when somebody comes on podcasts like this and they’re like, “Focus on personal appearance.” And in a lot of ways, I wish that wasn’t so critical, but I see that as such a key piece. You know how, like, old school advice is dress for the part you want, not for the part you have?
I am watching that play out in real time. When I look at these people who are super successful, it’s not even that everything they wear is expensive, because that’s not it. It’s that there is a polishedness, a put togetherness, a clear dedication to professional appearance. There’s no, sorry, rough morning this morning, where they show up in a topnot and, like, an oversized hoodie. Like, they’re just not doing it. There is just this, like, pride in, I’m showing up in full. I was speaking at the Line one extension event in LA in the summer, and Drea Henty, the CEO of the company, said something that I’ll never forget. She said, “You have to remember that you are your client’s muse.” And when you look at somebody who has built a multi-seven-figure booth rental salon, which she has, with a team of renters who fully buy into that ideology with her, and the success that they’ve all found out with that mindset of, “What if we remember that we are our client’s muse?
We’re not just the person who does their hair. They look to us, and are they inspired by us, or do they pity us? Do they look to us and say,” Yeah, that’s somebody that I can trust with my hair, my look, my confidence, or does that girl need some help? “Like, if they can’t look to us and be like,” Damn, that person is pulled together, we should not be surprised when they don’t wanna pay us top dollar, or they don’t respect our time, or they no-show on us. It looks like you’re not taking it seriously. Versus if you show up as the person taking it seriously, it does seem to be a common theme. One of the other people I talked to on the series, McKenna Young, she’s incredible. Like, I will forever be inspired by her. She’s, I think she’s at 27, so she’s a relatively young person doing, you know, six figures in revenue.
She has a wait list of 400 clients trying to get in to see her. She is traveling around the country, educating right now. I mean, she’s just amazing. One of the things we talked about is her style and her personal appearance. She has a very specific look. I’m gonna use the word costume, and I don’t mean it in, like, a costumey way. It’s like a look. It’s like a style. It’s like I’m dressing like McKenna Young does. Like, she has this look vibe that you expect from her every time you see her, and her style is impeccable. I hate that I even use the word costume, because that’s not what it’s like. It’s like an aesthetic. Ah, that’s the word I should have used. She has this specific aesthetic. You look at somebody like Caitlin Carredo, who was also interviewed on the series. She’s got this specific aesthetic, and it’s fun, and it’s funky, and she always looks like a 10.
I’ve never seen her with her nails not looking on point, hair not looking on point, outfit, on point. She was like, “I spent weeks trying to decide what to wear for this interview.” Like, everything she does is with such int- intention. Kimber Chapman. All the time, I’m like, “Damn, your outfit, girl.” Like, there’s just something about these, the way these people see their personal appearance. It’s different. They don’t, they never show up to the salon looking half-assed. Like, everything is all a full ass or nothing. Like, they’re all in. And I do, I do think that is a piece of the success. Love it or hate it. I really do think that’s a huge part of it. Next, each of these people shows their personality on social media. And it’s not in a, this is me, take it or leave it, kind of way. It is a, “I want you to get to know my heart,” kind of way, and always with a professional vantage point.
So they’re not confused. It’s not like, watch us looking silly in the breakthrough room. Like, look at this joke that we did today. It’s never like that. It’s always from a place of professionalism, authority in the market. We are the salon for you. Like, I can tell that’s always the vantage point. But you really get to know them. You would picture what it would be like to have a conversation with them long before you met them. And they’re really good at not just using social media as a place to show, like, backs of heads. It’s like they’re showing the heartbeat. Whether it is, you know, McKenna, who’s an independent stylist, you get to know her, her lifestyle, the way that she talks. Like I said, her entire persona, aesthetic, like, you get to know all of that long before you see her. And then when you look at somebody who has a full team, it’s the same thing.
Like, you’re really getting a sense of what the team is like, that they love their team, that they celebrate their team. Like, it’s just, it hits so different. The next thing that all of these people have is a full website and not just like, yeah, the website said. They have these, like, stellar, beautiful, professional photos, well-designed functionality was super well-thought through. Every single one of them has this incredible online presence that, again, sells them, like, authority in their marketplace. It’s not just like, click here to book online. Like, everything is just so curated in a way that, of course, it’s gonna feel more trustworthy. Of course, it’s gonna feel like the smart investment, because this is a person who’s not just, like, doing hair on the side. Like, this is somebody who’s really taking it very seriously. And when you’re showing up seriously to the business, people are going to show up seriously to your chair.
They’re not gonna cancel at the last minute. They’re not gonna flake a no-show on you, like, any of that kinda stuff. Next, they do professional photo shoots at least once a year. And when I look at some of these people, it’s more like quarterly. I, I know one of the guests I talk to brings in somebody to do professional content every single month. Those are places that you scale to, right? So, I would suggest if, if you are at a place already where you’re like, “Honestly, we could do the content four times a year. I just haven’t prioritized it.” Like, prioritize it now. I do think it’s important. If you’re like, “Britt, we could not afford that. Like, I’m a single stylist. I’m not in a place where I can do it.” That’s fine. What I would suggest instead is focus on photo composition. Like, just taking the photo when you have time, if the client’s down to do it.
Like, that’s gonna be a tough way to really get successful. I look at. She’s just gonna hate that I use this as an example, but I look at my daughter. So, this is her first year booth renting. She is going to make so much revenue and not, not because, like, I’ve held her hand thehole way through. Like you can look at her business. There’s definitely stuff where I’m like, “Girl, you could do that different.” But what she’s done is when you look at her social content, she is showing faces all the time. And because of that, her clients expect to come in and have their picture taken and show their face. When, when I look at your social media and it’s all backs of heads, it’s gonna be real hard to convince someone to show their face because nobody else is doing it, so why.
They’re not gonna be the first one. So, you have to set a standard and an expectation. And sometimes when you start with professional photo shoots, it almost, like, breaks the barrier to entry, and it makes it feel a little bit more comfortable. The other thing that makes you feel more comfortable is when you’re confident being the person taking the photo. If you’re nervous, if you’re bumbly, the other person’s gonna be too. So, practice with a friend. Practice with anything to, to get confident using your phone, using the settings. Great composition. Find the places in your salon that work. A photo super close to a wall with the wall as a background is always gonna look a little cheesy. You wanna have a little bit more dimension to the photo, a little more depth to the photo, like, really focusing on how do I make this look like an elevated experience, an elevated result, so that people are looking at me as an elevated stylist that makes such a huge difference.
Next, they are deeply educated and take a lot of classes. That was the big one. And in. I know that these people are educated, like, at a basic level. The amount of education that they seek out really blew my mind. And it is skills-based, business-based skills that they don’t even intend to practice. Like, Alex, the stylist who I’ve seen for a couple years now for my extensions, she is departmentalized. So, she just does cut styling and extensions. She doesn’t color hair. She goes to color classes all the time. And I’m like, “What are you doing?” And she’s like, “Well, I have to understand.” She’s like, “I have to understand how color theory works. I, I wanna see how that colorist styles the hair. There’s still things I can learn from that person. If I’m working with somebody to color some of these extensions, I had to know the science behind it to be able to explain it.” It just was like, wow.
Like, the way that these people take education so seriously is next level. Rachel Snyder, who is a studio suite owner, she’s part of the series. She’s scaled to multiple six figures, working 25 hours a week. She has an assistant who she has also scaled in the studio suite. Like, the, the way this woman has built her business is just, like, unreal. She had said she had spent about $50,000 on extension education. I was like, damn. So, just the way in which they’re pouring in is different. And they see it as, like, an investment. Like, if I pour in, I’ll get out. It’s just what they pour into education is huge. There is. I don’t wanna give it away if you haven’t listened to the series yet, but there is a big name educator. I’m not even sure if their episode will have dropped when this episode does, but shortly, around the same time, who is a huge name educator, hundreds of thousands of followers.
And she’s like, “I’ll register for a class, and I’ll just sit in the back in a small classroom, and some people will recognize me, and some people won’t.” But she’s like, “I’m here to learn from the small educators. I’m here to learn things that I don’t know.” And this is a person who people clamor to get into the education room with. She’s like, “I’m educating myself all the time, and I don’t go to a class where I don’t learn something as a takeaway.” She’s like, “But as soon as I stop educating myself, now I’m dull. Now I’m out of the loop. Now I don’t know what’s trending.” Every single one of these people does not think they have it all figured out. They are, like, thirsty for knowledge in, in a way that even blew my mind. Like, I’m a big educator person, and this was, like, shocking to me.
Last, this one was very interesting. They value time and efficiency. Time and efficiency. Time and efficiency. They never rush. And I thought it was interesting. Now, one of the people on the series, and one of the people that I look to as super successful, does double and triple book and column, but she also runs on time and efficiency so much that if a client is five minutes late, they’ve lost their appointment. And she’s got her clientele really trained on the fact that she never runs late, she never runs wrong. If you have slotted in a hair appointment with her on your lunch break, you’re all good. She will never have you coming back late. Like, she has monetized time inefficiency. So, she double books, but in a way that is, like, a well-oiled machine. She does not even have a licensed cosmetologist assistant working with her.
It is unbelievable the way this woman works. And she’s like, “I just have it down to a science. There is no room for error. There’s no margin for error, but my clients understand that I’ve marketed myself on efficiency. They’re in and out sometimes in under an hour for a color service. And it’s because it’s a tight ship.” And she’s like, “That’s what my clients love me for. They’re working professionals who cannot run late, cannot run long. I cannot shift it up on them. I’m dependable, so they’re dependable.” The way they look at systematizing business is just different. The key there is not rushing. So, every one of them is like, “I could not do this if my clients, if my staff did not feel like when they had me, they had all of me. I’m not scattered. I’m not texting. I’m not taking a phone call.
I’m not running a million directions. I’m not being pulled somewhere else. Like, if I’m, I’m with you, I’m with you. You feel like my priority.” And that was, like, salon owners were saying that about their staff. Stylists were saying that about their clients. Like, just the way they prioritized having the client feel important, having the employee feel important, having the booth renter feel important, having everybody feel like the number one priority was so consistent with all of these people. It was such a different approach to business. There was no, like, scattered energy, or I’m doing my best, or, like, feeling overwhelmed. These people work their asses off. Like, they work so hard, but they are so efficient, so driven, so productive in, like, a next level way. And I don’t think many of them were born like that. I think it was a choice. And when you do educate yourself, and you do take pride in your appearance, and you do choose to focus, like, online marketing and how to make yourself look good, the natural result is you’re gonna be deeply successful because you will look better than 90, 95% of, you know, the industry out there.
And it was just interesting to see how the 1% moved. So, very different episode. I hope you got some key takeaways. If there’s any little refinements you can make to yourself or your business that feel aligned, do it. And if you’re like, “Girl, I don’t wanna do any of those things,” that’s okay, too. I just wanted to sum up, you know, a few of the key pieces that were big takeaways for me. If you are looking to scale big in 2026 into 2027, if there’s some areas where you’re like, “Damn, I’ve been making an excuse about that, but I really wanna scale,” just some opportunities to look in and dig deeper. All right, so much love. Happy business building. I’ll see you on the next one.
