Intro:
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 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 hairstylists, and this is the Thriving Stylist podcast.
Britt:
What is up and welcome back to the Thriving Stylist Podcast.
I’m your host Britt Seva, and this week we’re talking about Unexpected Studio Suite Challenges.
And this episode was inspired by one particular DM that I got, and then a slew of feedback that I got on Instagram over the last week.
I threw a question box up there.
It was an anonymous question box, and I said, listen, if you’re a Studio Suite owner, what are some of the things that are more challenging than you expected them to be working in a Studio Suite?
And I think it’s so important that we hold space for these critical conversations.
I think it’s important that we normalize the reality that not everything is perfect, and that we can be happy and love the choices we made and still have tough spots.
And to talk about those things altogether, the reason I did an anonymous question box is I think that sometimes when I put up a question box and everybody has to say who they are, it’s scary because you’re worried that, by the way, all the feedback anybody ever gives me is always anonymous.
But there’s a fear of like, oh my gosh, is she going to think sideways about me?
And I don’t.
I’ve done this enough to like have seen it all.
Like nothing surprises me anymore.
So I don’t think sideways, but I get it.
And so I did the anonymous question box because I really wanted to get some real feedback and I got some good stuff.
Now, one of the things somebody said, and I think it’s important to talk about right at the top of the episode, somebody completed the comment box and said, Being in a studio suite has limitless possibilities.
It’s the best option for some personality types.
I’m glad I went for it, even though I felt discouraged by you, meaning discouraged by me personally.
I thought you should be aware of the vibes you put out about studio suites.
I think that’s really fair feedback, totally fair feedback.
One of the reasons why I’ll never do a podcast episode called The Five Reasons You Should Go Into a Studio Suite is I don’t need to.
It’s like I talk about youth sports a lot because both of my kids played youth sports.
I know some of you have caught me on the sidelines of my son’s baseball games in recent weeks and haven’t come up and said, Hello, I’ve heard about all y’all.
So if you live in the Bay Area and you see me at a baseball game, please come say hi.
But I use youth sports analogies a lot because I think that youth sports sets up kids for real life.
And it’s like convincing a youth baseball player that they’d like to win a championship game.
The five reasons you want to win a championship game.
I don’t need to do that.
Everybody who is playing the sport would like to win.
They innately know that winning feels nice.
And so the reason why I don’t need to do a podcast called The Five Reasons Everybody Would Love a Studio Suite is you probably all know the five reasons you’d love a studio suite.
You do have uncapped income potential.
It is amazing to be able to create your own environment, be your own boss, set your own hours.
There’s so many perks and benefits.
If you’re an introvert such as myself, my gosh, do I love working by myself at home.
I love it.
I don’t need to sell you on the idea of suites are awesome.
Everybody innately knows that.
It’s my job to bring awareness to the things that people don’t know.
And I think often, like I really appreciate this feedback because I’ve done a lot of reflecting on it.
And I think often in my coaching to my podcasts, I’m like, here’s the things you need to worry about.
These are the dangers.
And it can feel very negative.
If I don’t talk about it, who’s going to?
Are we just going to continue pretending like everything is great?
Because I don’t think that serves the industry well either.
I believe in the studio suite method.
One of my favorite things about it is I think it put pressure on the rest of the industry, because guess what?
Every single stylist can choose to work in a studio suite.
It is totally their choice to do so.
And if salon owners don’t want to lose their stylist to studio suites, they have to step up their game.
And if they don’t, people will continue to choose studio suites and build great businesses for themselves.
That is where we’re at.
I don’t think studio suites are going anywhere.
I think they’re a wonderful addition to the industry.
I just don’t have to sell anybody on the idea of winning the championship game.
They got it.
So I’ve done a couple of podcasts about studio suites that I think are worth a listen.
One is episode number 294.
It’s called How to Get Your Studio Suite Off the Ground.
If you’re a new studio suite owner, listen to episode 294.
I think it’s a good one.
Also, episode 345, it’s called Knowing When You Can Afford to Rent a Suite or a Booth to Rent.
So if you’re like, I want to get into a suite or a booth rental environment, and I’m not sure if I can afford it, that’s going to be 345.
And then 294 is Getting Your Suite Started.
So those are two good episodes to jump in with if you’re like, I think I want to do it, I want to make sure I’m ready, start there.
And to the person who reached out saying, I feel discouraged by you about joining my suite, thank you for saying that.
Like I can, I appreciate that feedback very, very much.
It means a lot to me that we’re able to continue having this conversation here since it was anonymous feedback.
So thank you for it.
I really, really appreciate it.
So let’s go into the DM I got that sparked this episode, and then we’ll respond to the other comments and concerns that suite owners left for me.
So this stylist says, Hi Britt, I’m a big fan of yours and a podcast listener for the past three years.
I love your insight on my situation.
I went independent to a suite from commission in 2023.
And after almost two years, I’m at a loss with what to do going forward.
Don’t get me wrong, I nearly doubled my income, take home in my first year.
But if I continue down this path, I can’t afford to go part time because my rent and overhead and supplies are so high.
I want to be part time to save more time for my family, save myself from back pain and have a life outside of work, but I simply can’t afford to work less.
How can I break the cycle?
What am I not seeing that needs to change?
I love this question because again, like I talked about at the top of this episode, this is one of the things I don’t think people always think all the way through when they go into a studio suite.
When you go into a studio suite, your drive to succeed, is it optimal?
Peak, premium, you’ve never been more driven in your whole life.
So pumped, inevitably, you’ll reach a season of life, whether it’s two years from now or 20 years from now, when you want to work less or when your body says, hey, you, you got to work less.
Like that day is coming.
How do you do it?
And this is something I’ve watched a few different studio suite owners navigate.
And you do have some options.
And so let’s talk them through.
One is going to be to increase your demand, because when we can increase your demand, whether you see more clients or not, we can shift your way of working.
I call it shifting the structure.
When you have increased demand, we can shift your structure.
And in shifting your structure, we can make your days more profitable without you having to see more clients.
That is impossible unless you have great demand.
The reason why it’s impossible is I’ve watched a lot of people try and change their structure, but the demand wasn’t there and they’ve drowned themselves.
Their demand starts to wane and they end up losing money.
So the demand has to be there first.
And then we can change your structure to be more profitable.
And then every hour you’re in the salon becomes more lucrative for you.
So we can increase your demand.
I mean, if you focus on marketing and systems and guest experience and all of that, there is the possibility that you can make more and work less.
I coach thrivers to do it all the time.
We celebrate thrivers who have done it every single month.
So there is the possibility to work less and earn more.
I don’t want you to take that off the table because it absolutely exists, and it is still happening today.
The other thing you can do, and I’ve seen a lot of studio suite owners do this, is sublease.
And there is a stylist who I love dearly.
She’ll listen to this hopefully and know exactly who she is, who told me that she started subleasing, I think she said earlier this year, and it’s been wonderful for her.
So she chose her schedule first and looked for a sublease lesser, subleaser, however you say that, who had similar values, was willing to work at the alternate schedule.
She was like, well, this is what I’m working.
So these are the days you have available and pay the rent that she felt was fair.
And in doing so, she is able to work part time, still pay her lease.
Now she’s like, what works for me is this person is clean to my cleanliness standards, super respectful.
We move really well around each other, meaning they navigate the space in a way that works.
They’re flexible with each other.
Like I said, their branding is similar.
Their clientele is similar.
So she was patient and kind of found the needle in the haystack.
I do think that can work.
I’ve also heard of subleases go bad.
So I think it is around finding the right person.
I will be honest, probably not going to be your friend.
So she’s not leasing to somebody who’s her friend.
She’s leasing to another stylist who I think she respects very deeply.
They’re not friends.
They don’t go out to lunch together.
This is a business relationship.
I think that’s incredibly important, because as soon as you start subleasing to a friend, the waters get muddy really fast.
It’s like a partnership, and partnerships are really dangerous and risky.
So finding a good subleaser is a possibility for you.
The other thing, sometimes, suite owners do a shift to a smaller suite.
Like maybe you’re…
And I don’t know where you are right now, but if you’re in the best corner unit with the big windows and you love it and you’ve become spoiled in it, I totally get it.
I would want to stay there too.
But if you could go into a smaller interior space and save $800 a month in rent, would that make sense for you?
Like if you have built up a great clientele and you can still…
I’ve seen some really incredible interior spaces that are so cozy and the vibes are so amazing and you can still take your clients up to the front where there’s a great window to take pictures.
Like it all still works.
It’s just a change in the working style.
Like could you do that?
Those are some of the things that I would think about.
There’s lots of possibilities.
It basically is what direction are you going?
But I think this is an important conversation because renting a studio suite is the most expensive way to work in the industry today, period.
I know the thought is like if you’re a commission and you’re being ripped off by your owner, it’s the most expensive way.
First of all, like I’ve said before, I think very few owners are actually ripping their stylist off.
And those who are probably shouldn’t be owners because they don’t know what they’re doing.
But most owners are not ripping their stylist off.
And like this studio suite owner with her high drive went out on her own and doubled her income, like she says, she was super motivated to do it.
However, she’s saying, my overhead is so high, I cannot work part time.
That’s the reality.
So I just think it’s important to have that conversation and understand.
I’m very thankful to the stylist who reached out to me.
So to that stylist, here’s something else that somebody wrote in saying, I share my space with a co-professional who is now avoidant after a disagreement.
What should I do?
And this is what happens when sharing a studio suite, which is a very intimate space with the wrong person goes south.
And I don’t know if the stylist works in conjunction with their, what do they call them, a co-professional?
I don’t know if they’re in the suite at the same time, working side by side.
I don’t know if they swap days or hours.
I don’t know exactly what the arrangement is.
But one of the things I’m big fan of is hard conversations.
So my team will probably tell you, you don’t get to be avoidant with me.
The less you talk, the more I come knocking.
It is not an opportunity to be like, well, I’m just not going to talk to you about it.
I have fired somebody for refusing to talk to me.
That’s not an option.
And especially when you are leasing a space to somebody, the energy in your studio suite has to be incredible.
Your clients will feel that stuff.
And so it is having a hard conversation, and it’s going to be uncomfortable for you both.
But by the way, you’re already uncomfortable.
So you could either drag this out and continue to be uncomfortable or have the hard conversation.
So for me, I would say, listen, things have gotten off between us.
I think we both feel it.
I’d love to have a conversation with you.
I’m available Tuesday at 9 a.m.
before I start my work day, or I can meet with you at 1.30 on Thursday before your first client, or I could meet with you Tuesdays.
I know we’re both off in the evening.
I can meet with you then.
Like you give options and you say, but meeting to talk this through is not an option.
I think we need to have the conversation.
And if the person says, I don’t want to have the conversation, to me, I would say, then, I don’t know how we’re going to work together.
So let’s make the time to talk this through.
I’m willing to hear you out.
But I don’t think either of us are comfortable working like this.
It’s having those hard adult conversations, but it has to take place.
So with all that being said, if you choose to bring in somebody who’s gonna share space with you, either opposite schedules or same schedule, you have to be willing to have those conversations.
You have to, and it’s gonna be hard.
But also it’s the only way to push forward.
Now, this is really interesting.
I got a lot of people saying that this was a challenge.
And if you are the owner of a Studio Suites building, I know I have a lot of owners of Studio Suites building who listen to the show, listen to this.
Cleanliness, air quality, and air flow.
Ducts haven’t been cleaned and filters are not enough.
I have to dust my walls under the room input and I cover my ceiling vent.
I don’t know 100% what covering the ceiling vent means.
To me, that is a safety concern.
Like if I owned the building, I’d be a little bit worried about what’s going on with that.
Like, how are they covering the vent?
What exactly is happening here?
And I didn’t hear that from one person.
I got multiple complaints, I’m gonna say, about air quality and cleanliness.
Lots and lots and lots.
Some people were saying things like, the other people in the suites around my suite are not clean, or the hallways, like the community spaces, are not clean.
And that was coming up as an issue.
One of the things that I would invest in if I had a studio suite, whether you have a airflow issue or not, is a Molecule Pro Air Purifier.
Molecule is spelt M-O-L-E-K-U-L-E.
I don’t get a kickback if you buy from them.
I’ve used them before, and I know that they work really well.
I’m sure there’s other brands also.
And you may need to self-purify your space a little bit.
If it’s something that you’re worried about, that’s a band-aid solution, but also that might be your only solution.
So if it’s something that you’re worried about, I would bring something into your space.
I do know it can make a huge difference.
I wouldn’t do the things that could potentially be a safety or a fire hazard.
So just word to the wise on that one.
Here’s another one.
How do I expand in a studio suite if I want to be commission style and have one chair?
I love that.
There’s a lot of really awesome salons that have started off as micro salons.
I’ve heard of a lot of salons owners or co-stylists where they’re able to break down walls within the studio suite building and make a four-chair salon within the studio suite building.
I think that’s really cool.
I know that there’s other setups in studio suites where you can just have two chairs, and you can have an assistant who works there with you or a commission stylist working there with you.
I think that’s great.
When it’s, how do I do it?
I think it’s really thinking through what would somebody get from you as their employer.
You’re saying commission style, what would you do for them?
Are you offering education?
What is the structure of that look like?
Are you hiring somebody who’s an assistant or a mentee?
What does that look like?
What is the commission structure that you can afford?
You’d have to pay that person hourly, even if they’re not producing.
That’s one of the legal requirements of having an employee.
Can you pull that off?
So really doing deep research into what it would look like to hire your first employee.
And if you want to lead and mentor and coach and guide and have those hard conversations and all the things we talked about, if you look at Thriving Stylist Podcast and type in words like leadership, assistant, employee, commission, you will see a ton of resources on how to do that.
It can be wonderful.
The thing about hiring commission stylists is there will be turnover.
And so it can be one of the most beautiful things and one of the most heartbreaking things too, is if you talk to any salon owner, they’ve lost some good people.
And we are so happy for them.
It’s kind of like when you’re, if you’re like a super involved parent and your kid goes off to college, like you’re so proud, but it’s really hard.
It feels like a loss.
It can be the same thing for a lot of salon owners where they’re like, oh my gosh, like I loved this person.
Like I watched them go from a stylist who was just so green and didn’t know what they were doing to so successful that they’re opening their own space.
That is a part of it.
And it’s hard.
And then you have to start over with somebody new and maybe they’re not, they’re definitely not the same.
So you have to be up for the journey of it.
But once you get to a place where you really enjoy the journey, man, is it rewarding and fun.
So it can be wonderful.
Do your research, make sure you can really afford it.
Here’s another one.
I’m burnt out of having to do all the things.
Marketing, stocking, cleaning, remembering to take photos of my clients.
I used to love it.
And now I’m struggling with having the capacity and energy to do it.
Here’s another comment that kind of mimicked that.
I’m so overwhelmed.
I feel like I’m moving backwards instead of growing.
I know I need better systems in place to make things better, but I can’t seem to stick to anything long term.
I think that’s very fair.
And often, I know for me especially, I didn’t realize how much easier life was as an employee.
There’s a lot of things you sacrifice being an employee, right?
I always say I couldn’t go backwards.
I would be a terrible employee today.
I’m unhireable.
I’d be in some employer’s nightmare.
There would be no way anybody would want me.
But there’s perks of it too.
It’s wonderful to walk out the door at the end of the night, and you’re done.
Your free time is your free time.
You could do whatever.
You don’t have to go to the beauty supply store.
Clients aren’t texting you.
When you’re an employee, there’s a lot of benefits to it.
There’s sacrifice, too, and I totally get it.
This happens a lot when you’re now not just like when you’re a booth renter.
Yes, you’re independent.
However, the salon owner needs to take care of a lot of things for you, because if the salon owner is not taking care of a lot of things, you might as well go into a studio suite, because then you’re really doing it all yourself.
So it almost goes like commission salon.
The stylist is the most supported booth rental salon.
The sales is still pretty well supported in the most profitable booths, rental salons I know of.
Then studio suite, you’re really on your own.
There is nobody who’s going to be your backup, or if you’re running late, get you out of a bind or clean your space for you, or run to the beauty supplier, do your marketing.
And by the way, to do all the marketing, there’s not really foot traffic.
So it is a heavier load.
And what I thought was an interesting take, and I hadn’t heard this before, is by moving backwards.
And somebody had said also, oh no, this person said, I used to love all of this stuff, and now I’m struggling with having capacity and energy to do it all right, because your workload’s increased.
So whether that person was a booth render before or a commissioned stylist before, they weren’t doing quite as much stuff.
So now that they’re doing more stuff, they don’t enjoy the marketing.
They don’t enjoy taking pictures of the clients or whatever.
There’s certain things that they’re not enjoying the same.
You kind of have to have a new relationship with your business and renegotiate the terms of that.
Being a business owner will always be more challenging than being an employee.
It simply will.
And it can be much more rewarding as well, but there’s a price to pay for that.
And so I have some tips to share at the very end of this episode.
But what I would say is truly renegotiate the terms is the best way I can describe it.
Really think about how you can make capacity for those things.
When you say you don’t enjoy it anymore, what about a don’t you enjoy?
And what would need to happen so that you could enjoy it?
Is it that you feel like there’s not enough time between the clients to take the photos?
Do you not enjoy posting them because you’re not inspired to post them?
Like, what are the things you’re really struggling with?
And let’s find ways to fall in love with those things again under new terms and circumstances.
Because it’s not optional.
You can’t just not stock your suite.
You can’t just not market yourself.
You can’t just not clean, right?
We had to do those things.
But the environment has changed and the relationship has changed.
And the expectation has changed.
And so giving yourself a little bit of grace and sitting down and renegotiating those terms with yourself, I think is a good first step.
And I have some tips for that at the very end.
Here’s another one.
My struggle is learning how to make time to work on my business since I’m always in it.
My suite rent is $4.45 a week, so I have to be making money behind the chair to be profitable.
But I also need time to market.
I’m also not getting any walk-ins, of course, and having trouble marketing myself.
How do I have enough capacity?
Right?
Kind of an add on to what we were just talking about.
So if you’re paying $4.45 a week for rent, which we know this is an expensive model, the Studio Suite model.
I did a little rough math.
$13.35 a week in order to be at a decent place.
So we don’t want our rent to be more than 30% of our business expenses.
That’s the general rule.
And then you’d have another 20% that you could spend on things like color and back bar and amenities and things like that.
So that would allow this person to have $267 a week to spend on color, amenities, guest experience, insurances, whatever else they need to kind of fund and run their business.
And then they would be able to take home a 50% profit, which would be great.
I think that’s what most studio suite owners shoot for.
So that’s tight.
It could be dumb, but it would be tight.
So if this person needs to do $13.37 a week, let’s say they work four days a week, they need to be doing $334 a day.
That’s I don’t know what area you’re in.
If you’re going to go into a studio suite, definitely go back and listen to that podcast episode I shared.
It’s called 345, Can You Afford to Booth Rent or Suite Rent?
I think a lot of people get into a studio suite when they’re like almost ready.
Like they can afford it, but it’s going to be a pinch.
And when we do that, we do get into this bind where it’s like, whoa, like everything really has to go to plan or it can feel a little bit pinchy.
So the challenging thing is the only way to get out of that pinch is to what?
Make more money.
And so one of the things I talk about quite a bit is short-term sacrifice for long-term gain.
It’s something I have to do a lot in my business, and I’ve gotten better at it in recent years.
There are times when this drowned me, but I’ve gotten much better at it in recent years.
And it’s called running in sprints.
It’s what I talk about in wealthiest year yet, too.
I always run my business in sprints.
So I will do a period of a few weeks where I am working really hard.
Sometimes I’m up to one or two in the morning working.
I am turning down social engagements.
I am working really hard a lot, lots of hours, not cooking dinner, not present with my family for a very short period when I need to get something done.
And then I go a long stretch of a few months where I’m not working like that at all.
Sometimes my workload is very, very manageable.
I’m not doing speaking engagements.
Like I’m just home.
I’m with my family.
I’m doing like a nine to four kind of thing.
And it’s awesome.
But there are these periods of grind where I do what the business needs.
And what I have found for me is doing it in sprints is the best for myself, my family, and my business.
Because I’ve learned that I can work very hard, but only for a short period.
And then I need relief.
And I think a lot of us are wired like that.
And so what has worked really well, like I said, for me and for my family, is to be able to say, I’m going to work very hard for the next three weeks.
It’s going to be very challenging.
I’m going to be tired.
I’m going to be short tempered.
I’m not going to be available, but it’s only going to be for three weeks.
And then we’re going to go back to a really good place.
And in doing that, it’s allowed me to get a lot done in a short period, short term sacrifice for long term gain.
Everybody’s very well aware of what it’s going to look like.
Nobody’s resentful.
We all know there’s a finish line.
And then I have to respect the finish line.
So if you’re saying you don’t have time for marketing, could you put yourself on even a one week sprint where we’re like, OK, for the next week, I’m going to work my booty cheeks off and I’m going to go back through and I’m going to reorganize all the photos I’ve taken of my clients on social media.
I’m going to commit for the next four days.
I’m in the salon to take pictures and videos of everybody I see.
I’m not even going to post them yet.
I’m just going to get the content, get organized, maybe take a class, get re-inspired, get pumped up just for a week.
One week.
You don’t even have to post anything.
You just have to be excited again about marketing for one freaking week.
And then go back, do what you’re doing.
You might not make more money yet, but in three more weeks, do it again and spend another week scheduling your posts, writing captions, putting in the long hours and hard work.
If you do two sprints like that, you’ll have gained so much momentum.
And with that marketing momentum, you will start to get more demand.
And when you start to get more demand, you’ll get more money.
And when you start to get more money, it fuels your fire to keep doing it.
But at some point, you’re going to have to jumpstart, and it’s going to be difficult.
And if this idea of sprinting doesn’t work for you, then don’t do that.
Instead, make a short-term goal and re-commit and say, you know what, I have to get over it.
And marketing is hard, and I don’t have a lot of time, but I also know it’s the only way I’m going to make more money in this business, and I need to make more money.
So I’m going to set myself a goal to take photos of every client I see, do 20 social media posts this week, ask for 10 Google reviews in the next 60 days.
Like, create little short-term benchmarks for yourself, and get it done.
And when you do get it done, celebrate, treat yourself.
But inaction is not an option.
So something has to happen to break the habit, break the cycle, and hopefully see good results.
This was a good one.
I’ve been in a studio suite for 10 years.
I’m pretty successful.
However, I got myself into trouble with taxes and not putting enough aside.
Any advice on how to save?
Yes, first of all, you have to, have to, have to pay quarterly taxes if you’re a studio suite owner.
You have to.
So make sure that you are.
If you can afford it, bringing in a CPA to help you with that really makes a difference.
Most people I’ve talked to, when they bring in their CPA, it pays for themself.
They actually save more money than they’re paying to have that person on board with them.
It also gives you the financial piece of mind.
By the way, this person who’s in back taxes is paying annual interest on those back taxes.
So they’re losing money.
If they invest in a CPA, it’s a break even at worst.
So I would look at bringing in somebody who can help you.
A general guideline is for you to set aside 25 to 30 percent of your gross revenue as tax savings.
There is a great book called Profit First.
Mike McCallewitz has been a speaker within Thrivers Society.
He came to the first Thrivers Live in 2020 and has done online classes for us in the past.
He’s amazing.
His book, Profit First, is wonderful.
I recommend the original version written by Mike McCallewitz.
I think it’s amazing.
This is how we prepare for taxes and it’s worked out really, really well for us.
We never come up short.
So if anything, we have extra, which is great.
So I would do it this way, but make sure it hurts.
You’re like 25% off the top.
It hurts, but you’ll never end up in a tax bind.
So I highly, highly recommend doing it that direction.
Last but not least, making business choices without collaborating anybody else is so difficult.
And again, I didn’t know how hard it would be to stay motivated or keep chugging along when I’m doing everything and on my own.
Having to make every decision by myself is so much harder than I thought it would be.
Building a clientele without the help of a salon or co-workers to bounce ideas off of is something I didn’t expect to miss.
Interesting.
And it’s so funny, like even me as an introvert, I love, love, love, love being by myself.
But then I put myself in rooms like mastermind rooms or have my peers I network with all the time.
I don’t know what I would do without them.
And so I do think there’s power in the collaboration.
So let’s look at some of the things that we could put into place if you’re a studio suite owner to overcome a lot of these issues.
So number one, make sure you have a really great business management structure.
I would choose a day a month to work on your accounting, a day a month to work on marketing, a day a month for deep, deep cleaning of your space, and a day a week for shopping and inventory.
So I don’t know about you.
I used to have to do the salon shopping, and when I had to go to the beauty supply store like multiple times during the week, it was a real grind versus if I was organized and on it and could just go once a week, it made such a difference for me.
So it will take time, but get yourself into a process where you can potentially just go for supplies once a week or once every other week if you can.
Just getting a little bit more organized with the way you run your business will shift the overwhelm.
The other thing is taking your business online.
I didn’t realize how many studio suite owners still don’t offer online booking, still have paper books, still are booking by text and by DM.
You are wearing yourself unnecessarily thin.
You are making it so much harder than it has to be.
And those are hours you can work on anything else.
You could work on your marketing or heck, you could just be present with your family.
And so I think that systematizing in ways that you don’t have to be so obsessively running the operations of your business all the time is going to do you a lot of favors as well.
Number two, make sure that you network and connect in a meaningful way.
I think that can mean a lot of different things to a lot of people.
Some people love the studio suite owners who work in their building.
Connect you guys one day a month for an hour.
Have the option to meet in the break room and talk shop, talk business, talk about the things that inspired you.
It can be super easy.
There’s a lot of great online communities, both paid and free, that you can be a part of.
Connecting with somebody who’s another studio suite owner, even if they live out of state, that you can just reach out to when things get hard, really, really powerful.
Number three, find a way to stay inspired.
I talked about this on a recent episode too.
I think that when you look back to 2015 to 2019, the inspirational and motivational speaker industry was huge.
People were obsessed with just listening to inspirational speakers.
People who just gave the, you got this energy, you’re made for more, you can do anything.
That was, somebody could just literally say that, and we would just soak up all the words that came out of their mouth.
And then I think a lot of people felt kind of misguided by some of that.
And it’s like, okay, well, I am dreaming big and I believe in myself and still nothing amazing is happening.
What else you got?
And it was disenchanting when we realized like, well, yeah, motivation and inspiration and self-confidence, but also you have to work.
And a lot of these people weren’t saying that part.
And so because we kind of got disenchanted by a lot of the inspirational figures of years past, we just stopped inspiring ourselves.
We got so burnt out by it because nobody was talking about the actual work that we decided to cut off all inspiration altogether.
If you are not inspired, it will be very difficult to progress forward.
You have to love yourself and love your business and see the potential and connect with people who are not burnt out, because a lot of people aren’t, by the way, and see paths forward and spark new ideas and fall in love with your business again.
Like all of that is so important.
So make sure that you are seeking outside inspiration.
And number four, what are your big goals?
Like what are your intentions with the studio suite?
I always think about that, like the whole like, what are your intentions with my daughter when some guy asked to marry your kid?
What are your intentions with the studio suite?
Why did you do this?
What was the point?
What were you hoping you would achieve?
Circle back to that and see what comes up for you.
How close are you?
How far away are you?
And what do you need to change to make that happen?
So much love.
Happy business building.
I’ll see you on the next one.
