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 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 life long 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:
What is up?
And welcome back to the Thriving Stylist Podcast.
I’m your host, Britt Seva.
And today, we’re talking specifically about The Great Divide with a podcast titled Shit Is Getting Real for Stylists and Salon Owners.
So this is another moment for me.
There’s a lot of podcast episodes that live in my brain, meaning if someone were to ask me, Britt, have you done a podcast on The Great Divide?
I’d be like, oh my gosh, I talk about it all the time, obviously.
However, in the last few weeks, I am now getting daily DMs, comments, questions asking about what is this Great Divide thing I talk about and what the heck is going on in the industry right now.
And what lives in my mind is, oh my gosh, I’ve been talking about The Great Divide since 2022, literally almost three years I’ve been talking about this.
Summer of 2022 was the first time, but it didn’t hit me until last week.
I’ve never actually recorded a full podcast on it.
I’ve only spoken about it in reference.
And I think the time is right now.
I think that sometimes when I talk about industry trends or the ways I see things shifting, it is so, it sounds like I’m being very speculative, which I am, but I think that my secret sauce is I am good at seeing patterns.
And so I could see the cards falling in the summer of 2022, 2023, it was massively affirmed, 2024 people started to really feel it, and 2025 now we’re in it.
So I think had I recorded this podcast two years ago, it would have fallen on deaf ears for the most part of people feeling like, oh, she’s just talking about her opinion about whatever.
Now that we’re in it, I think it’s very tangible, and now is the perfect time for a great divide deep dive.
So where have I talked about this?
Thrivers Live 2022 is where I first announced it.
Thrivers Always Hear The Good Stuff First.
Then episode 263 of the podcast was December of that same year.
So December 22nd, 2022.
Oh, alignment much?
Look at all those twos.
My 2023 predictions for the industry podcast dropped.
It was the first time I mentioned on the podcast, The Great Divide, and explained what it was.
Then December 25th, Christmas Day 2023, we released a podcast.
It was episode 315 called 2024 Industry Predictions.
I talked about it then too.
And then episode 354 which released on September 23rd of 2024.
It was the 2025 predictions podcast and I talked about it again.
So I’ve talked about it on the predictions podcast for three years running.
Now we are deeply in it.
So I want to explain in as much detail as possible.
How do we get here?
How do we get out?
And if you don’t know what I’m talking about when I say Great Divide, you will by the end of this.
So there was a post made on my Instagram at the time of this recording.
It was probably a couple of weeks back by the time you listen to this.
And it was making reference to the Great Divide.
Actually, let me just get it and read it for you.
Ha, isn’t that funny?
So this post was made on February 1st, 2025, which would have been my best friend’s 41st birthday.
So I shared on my Woo Woo podcast episode about losing my best friend and how it deeply impacted me.
And wouldn’t you know that the next episode I sit down to record, there she is.
So this was released on February 1st, 2025, and it says, the stylist who will thrive during the Great Divide are those who see themselves as more than just service providers.
Love that.
So somebody commented and said, what is the Great Divide?
I just don’t like a post that promotes division.
Fair enough.
And it’s like, I think sometimes when I talk about things like this, specifically the Great Divide, some people bring up like fear mongering, like, oh my gosh, you’re just trying to make things worse than they are.
No, I’m trying to talk about the reality.
And I think that not just in our industry, but in business in general, there are not enough conversations about the truth.
And everybody likes to save face and pretend like everything’s fine, or assume this is just a blip or January is always slow.
Know everybody, let’s get a grip on the fact that things have massively changed.
Because the sooner we can understand that, the sooner we can course correct and build our business forward.
But you’re going to understand by the end of this episode why I’m calling it the great divide.
A lot of people won’t.
And it’s going to be a huge problem for the industry.
So when I talk about the great divide, it’s the reality that a portion of our industry is about to see massive success.
Like success beyond the wildest dreams.
They’re going to say, oh my gosh, it’s finally coming together.
I can’t believe this is my life.
Pinch me.
This is everything I hoped was possible in the industry, and it took this long to get together.
And now that it’s here, it’s surreal that this is my life.
Okay, that’ll be a portion.
A portion and a larger portion is also going to feel the ground underneath them shake and be left wondering what the heck is happening.
And for those of you who hear that and say, well, this industry has always been one of haves and have nots.
This is different than that.
This is going to be massively different than that in the sense that some people who were haves are going to start to slip backwards and say, wait a minute, what is happening to me?
Some of the people that were maybe up and comers are going to have explosive businesses.
And for those of you who are still saying, it’s always been like this.
I promise this is going to be something different than we’ve seen in the industry, at least in my working lifetime.
So I’ve never seen anything like what we’re about to experience.
And I’ve been in the industry since 2007.
So if this has happened before, it’s pre 2007.
Things are going to get very challenging.
And some people, a new level of challenge.
I want to emphasize this.
I’m not oblivious to this industry having high turnover and high churn.
I understand it always has.
Imagine it getting worse.
That’s what we’re walking into.
But the silver lining and the bright side of that is for some people, they’re going to have everything they ever wanted, and they won’t believe how aligned it feels that it’s all coming together.
So it’s not all bad, but you are in the matrix right now, and it’s do you want the red pill or the blue pill?
Like you’re making a choice.
It is a true crossroads, and I’m calling it the great divide.
So here’s an example.
This is a post that was made.
I know January and February are slow months, but it has never in all caps been this bad before.
Even when I first started, and this is an experienced stylist with a large social media following who posted this.
I’m personally worried for the future and how to prepare for the I can’t afford to get my hair done now statement from clients.
I understand, but I’m scared for my business.
And to the stylist who posted this, I can’t tell you how much I admire you, how proud I am of you, because we need to be having more conversations like this.
And sharing like what is happening and all coming together and realizing we can elevate and help each other in turning this around, but it’s going to take the collective.
Okay, so here’s a salon owner who also posted saying, I had to do budget cutbacks due to our profitability or lack thereof.
Service providers are not profitable right now and not enough full-time booth renters are willing to work for me.
I released my front desk receptionist and my SEO company for now.
So this owner is at the crossroads of letting go of the front desk, letting go of essentially the marketing spend, can’t hire enough booth renters, and her service providers are not profitable.
Anybody else feel that way?
I think a lot of salon owners in the room are nodding along and saying, oh my gosh, thankfully, I’m not alone in that.
Very common.
Combine that with the fact that stylists are like, we need to be paid better.
So there’s this pressure point of stylists need to be making more.
Trust me, I understand.
Owners are barely treading water and clients are pushing back.
It’s like the perfect storm.
We are in the middle of an administration change.
Completely understand that.
And yes, that could have an impact on our businesses.
There are moving parts and pieces that are happening in the world right now, and in our country specifically, I’m here in the US., that could impact everybody’s business.
And in fact, I have an episode on that.
Let me give you the number right now.
So that’s going to be episode 364, How to Prepare for an American Government Administration Change.
And we talk about tariffs and all that kind of stuff.
So if you haven’t listened to that one, 364, go back and listen.
But the Great Divide is not because of the administration change.
The Great Divide is actually the result of the tsunami that was COVID-19.
And that’s why I was able to predict it in 2022 without having any idea how the election was going to shake out in 2024, or what the agenda was going to be for the new administration.
I didn’t need to know because it didn’t have anything to do with this.
It had everything to do with the massive global economic and consumer behavior impact that COVID-19 had on us as a people, as a collective.
So whenever I talk about what happened in 2020, I like to describe it as a tsunami.
I think it’s such a great visual example.
And I happen to live in a tsunami flood zones.
I know a lot about tsunamis.
If you don’t know, my very crude explanation is that a tsunami occurs when there is an earthquake.
And sometimes that earthquake is under the ocean floor.
Sometimes it’s close to a coastline.
And one of the things that can happen when there’s an earthquake like that is a tsunami can be created.
It’s a massive rush of the ocean onto the shore.
It happens suddenly and it’s devastating.
Okay.
This is what happened in 2020.
So listen to how a tsunami works.
If you don’t know, the earthquake takes place.
So think of that as the pandemic.
And then what happens is the ocean actually, before the tsunami floods the shore, the ocean recedes.
So this is how you know, and you only have minutes, if anything, to prepare.
Like once you see it happen, it’s already too late.
The ocean almost sucks itself up.
And you see all of this exposed area on the beach that was once completely underwater and had been completely underwater for years.
It’s not like, oh, low tide.
No, this is different.
It’s like very extreme.
So the ocean sucks itself back up.
You see yards and yards and yards and yards of, you know, sandy underwater, what’s usually under the water, but is now exposed.
And within seconds, the rush comes and the ocean comes back in, covers the seafloor again, comes up onto the land, sometimes travels for a mile more and floods the area.
More water than the land can take on.
And then over time, the ocean recedes and goes back to normal, and life is standard.
Okay.
So thinking of COVID-19 as being the earthquake, the ocean receding as being when salons were shut down.
Okay.
That was when everything had dried up and everything’s exposed, and we know it’s not going to be good, and we’re just kind of in it, and we’re waiting to see what the reality is.
So then the waves floods the shore.
The flood of the shore was the industry from 2021 to 2023.
So normally, in a real life tsunami, that’s the part of devastation.
That’s where communities are wiped out and people lose everything.
For us, it was a season of overwhelm.
So in 2020, about 10% of our industry left.
Salons closed, silos walked away forever.
It wasn’t going great.
They decided the rebuilding would be too hard.
Maybe for health reasons.
For a number of reasons, we lost about 10% of our industry during that time.
Knowing that 10% of our industry was no longer taking clients, those clients needed to find a place to go.
So from 2021 to 2023, they were coming to you.
They were landing in our chairs.
I have been saying since 2021 that 2021 to 2023 would be the easiest time to build a clientele that the beauty industry has ever seen.
So if you built a clientele in 2021 to 2023, it was child’s play.
And congratulations.
It was still all good.
But I hope you made all the money and served all the guests at your highest and developed a great skill set and build a great brand for yourself.
I truly wish you all the best.
But it was like business made easy.
In our industry specifically, because we had lost such a huge portion of service providers, yet all of those clients realized that going into the salon feels good and they need somewhere to get their hair done.
And by the way, stimulus.
There was so much money being pumped into the economy that people had cash to burn and we saw extensions boom, right?
So there was a lot of money being spent on beauty.
So going back to the tsunami thing, in a real life tsunami, eventually, what is now a flood recedes back into the ocean and life goes back to normal.
But it’s a new normal, right?
Because the city is forever changed and everything is now completely different.
So normal becomes like relative, like, yeah, we’re not in the middle of a flood anymore.
It’s not like a national disaster, but it’s not what it was before the tsunami hit.
That is what life looks like today.
So what I think happened for some people is that there was almost this thought of like, I can’t wait till this is over and we go back to normal, or that what was happening in 2021 and 2023 was normal.
And neither of those things is true.
We can never go back to what the industry looked like pre-March of 2020.
We can’t.
That reality is gone.
Consumer behavior is gone.
The industry is now left with this new normal, which for a lot of people is unfamiliar and requires a massively different way of running business in order to operate.
Some have been willing to adapt and are reaping the rewards massively right now.
And some have not been or didn’t realize how critical it was to change strategy.
And now we are at this great divide and all the signs are here.
And it’s very difficult to argue against it because we are so in it.
If your business is suffering, it’s not in full because of an administration change or because of a recession, which by the way, a recession was never declared just for the record.
I believe that we have experienced a recession.
There was definitely an economic downturn and inflation and all these kind of things.
Unemployment, can we finally admit that that’s up?
But it’s actually not necessarily those things specifically that have caused the industry to change.
It’s because the industry has massively elevated in the last five years.
And I don’t think everybody was watching and picking up on it.
And those who chose to elevate are tilling it right now.
And clients started to take notice of, we don’t have to put up with mediocre.
Combine this with the fact that consumers today are really big on the question of, is it worth it?
Which is ironic that that’s what they’re asking themselves because the big movement in our industry over the last few years was, charge your worth.
Well, now clients are coming in questioning, is that your worth?
Like, does this make sense?
Because what we know now is that worth is defined by perceived value.
It’s not like, I can think I’m worth $20 billion, but if the perception is not that much, it doesn’t matter what I think.
I can’t just charge $20 billion and add tax.
Like, it’s nice for me to know my worth.
It’s great for me to know my confidence and to feel good about myself and to want to earn what is rightfully mine.
Like, all of that is great.
You should have that for sure.
But this idea of charge your worth, if that’s not what clients are deeming you to be worthy at, no one’s going to pay it.
And it’s not personal.
It’s just that why would somebody pay for something when they can’t see the value?
They won’t.
We’re living in a value-based economy and they just simply won’t do it.
So when I say the industry is massively elevated and some people are making a killing, here is a post that was made in Thrivers two days ago.
This person said, January, 2025, I had the highest sales I’ve ever had in my career.
Granted, I’m in South Florida.
We do have a lot of snowbirds this time of year.
I had 20 new requests, three Google reviews and one Yelp review.
I don’t even do that great in Google, but four of them found me there, five to six referrals and the rest were from Facebook, which we will talk about Facebook on an upcoming episode.
That is having a moment.
But when I say some people are making more money than they’ve ever made before, I’m not making it up.
Like I could share 10 stories with you like that and I could share another 10 of people who are struggling.
And that is the great divide.
So there was a McKinsey report that said, since 2020, consumer behavior has changed at an unprecedented rate.
This is a quote right here.
It says, COVID-19 jolted consumer demand in a way that sets it apart from past downturns because of the declines, speed and scale, as well as rapidly changing market behavior.
Despite growth in overall consumer spending, different sectors are performing on different levels.
A spectrum of winners and losers has completely emerged.
Hello.
Even this huge mainstream marketing company who studies marketing for a living is saying, we are now in an economy of winners and losers.
You don’t have to like it.
You can be super frustrated with it.
You have to understand this is what it looks like.
This is simply where we’re at.
Then this article goes on to say, the loyalty shakeup continues.
During the pandemic, consumers have switched brands at an unprecedented rate, and these shifts are expected to continue.
Younger consumers, Gen Z and millennials, in particular, have high expectations, therefore continue to seek new brands that emphasize values and quality.
So knowing that there is this huge demand to see brands that are emphasizing values and quality and showing a level of service that has never been experienced before and a level of marketing that feels very new and very relatable and very tangible, the majority of our industry is not there.
So for those of you who are like, well, I don’t really want to attract young people.
Okay, let’s see what Gen Z and millennials, let me look at that age range right now.
Okay, so it’s anybody between the ages of 11 and 43.
So if you’re trying to attract a clientele of ages 44 plus, then there’s a chance you can do the keep on keeping on.
I have to be honest, I have some friends who are more in their later 40s, early 50s, they’re demanding a lot right now.
But there’s always the chance that you’re getting a GenX clientele who doesn’t care that much.
They’re not the people I’m having conversations with, but they could still be out there and exist, absolutely.
Americans are still spending money, and that’s why I believe a recession hasn’t been declared.
The economy has softened, all data supports that.
But if your income is stalling, it’s because clients are choosing to go somewhere else.
Clients are more particular now than they ever have been before.
So one of the resources I was leaning into when creating this specific episode was the Vigaro survey, Vigaro, the online booking system.
They released a survey end of 2024 into 2025.
And one of the questions that they had asked the beauty professionals that they polled was what made 2024 economically challenging for you if you had challenges?
17% said rising cost of goods, 17% said increased competition, 21% said staffing issues, 82% said decreased demand, 82% decreased demand.
And I know all those numbers I just rattled off.
Don’t add up to 100.
It’s because people could choose more than one thing.
So somebody might have said, you know, decreased demand and increased competition.
If that’s not the great divide, I don’t know what is.
That’s exactly what it looks like.
Competition is getting stiffer and demand is decreasing.
We’re seeing that coast to coast.
So two things are happening.
One, some clients are choosing to just do their hair at home.
And that’s totally a thing.
And I can, I’m not saying it’s not, because it is.
But more clients are seeking more value for their investment.
Their idea of worth it is pretty detailed.
And they’re really looking to make sure if they’re coming in to see you for a salon experience, it’s got to be worth it.
And not worth it for you, worth it for them.
Okay?
So we’re now in a three-way divide.
Like even listening to this episode, some of you are getting heated.
And I get it.
We have stylist vs.
clients, and then we also have stylist vs.
stylists.
So it’s this vicious cycle of stylist hating on clients, stylist hating on each other, and nobody is ending up happy in the end.
Everybody’s feeling really frustrated.
You know what always amazes me in times like this?
And I’ve actually exchanged this DM with a few people.
And I actually commented on somebody’s feed when somebody was nasty on somebody else’s Instagram account.
Nobody likes to tear down women more than other women.
It is the strangest phenomenon.
We are an industry that is over 90% women.
It is so discouraging to see women come for each other.
Nobody should be coming for anybody.
But man, if we don’t have to fight our way to everything.
And you’ll see it like on all sides, again, within this battle, Stylist coming for each other, clients coming for Stylist.
I mean, just the intense clients trying to say that Stylist shouldn’t be making any money.
And then we get defensive and then we try to bash our clients because we’re battling back at them.
And then one Stylist shares that something went so great.
And then you come in and say, well, that’s nice for you, but nothing’s going great for me.
It is so nasty out there.
It’s like we have lost the ability to just accept things for what it is and choose to learn and be ears wide open.
But there is this energy of everybody wanting everybody to lose.
And that’s why the people who are winning are doing it in secret for fear that if they go out there and say, listen, it doesn’t have to be that bad.
There is a better way that someone’s going to come for them.
So they’re being victorious in private, not in silence.
You’ll see the stories around.
But because I’ve seen it, you’ve probably seen it.
A Stylist mentions that they’re doing well.
And people turn their backs.
And it comes from jealousy and misunderstanding and frustration and misinformation and all kinds of things.
We have got to lay down our swords if we’re going to make it through this.
And let me explain, because some of you are wielding swords and don’t even realize it.
So let’s talk about kind of where we’re at in a tactical sense.
There’s a few things that frustrated clients.
And hold on, I’m going to get to the things that frustrated Stylists too.
So I’ll get there.
Here’s the things that frustrated clients.
Remember when it was trendy a few years back to do these Instagram posts showing, it costs a lot to get your hair done, like this end result $400, this end result $800, this end result $1,200?
First of all, that was true.
That was true.
And there are some Stylists who are really working at an elevated price point, and I can deeply respect it.
The problem is the loudest voice in the room makes the biggest boom.
And it’s going to be these bigger Stylists with bigger followings who are going to make these posts, which are then going to be shared, and it feeds into the narrative of what?
Man, getting your hair done is expensive, huh?
So that was kind of like part of the initial foundation of clients being like, whoa, this industry is starting to get a little pricey.
However, that was also happening at the time of our elevation.
So we’ll get into that.
Unjustified price increases, what was one of the nails in the coffin.
That became extremely popular starting in 2021.
And I’ve said on this podcast 50 times what a mistake it was, but it happened.
Raising prices because of cost of goods increases, you were likely running with too tight of margins before.
The cost of goods went up and then you raised when things got dire.
The challenge is, it’s like expecting clients to pay for our business downfalls.
I understand in all industries when costs go up, the business can’t just eat it.
Trust me, I completely understand.
But when we explained it as like, okay, I’m raising my prices because cost of goods has gotten too high, it was the most unrelatable statement because everybody’s like, yes, everything has gotten more expensive and now you’re more expensive too.
You don’t think everybody around here is paying more for everything.
It just it made us feel out of touch.
And again, total misfire.
And it was a misfire if you explained it that way to your clients, but it was also just a misfire to do it.
And we say things like, well, I can’t I can’t afford to do this business any other way.
But here’s the thing is when you do a justified price increase, there are six other factors in your business that are buffering that increase so that A, you don’t ever have to explain yourself and B, nobody’s questioning your price point.
It’s super warranted.
And that was the part that was missing.
Number three, I do think hourly pricing took a toll.
It really shocked the market and the market wasn’t ready for it.
I understand the industry likes it.
The simplicity is really nice.
But if clients and consumers weren’t ready at scale, I understand there’s outlying stories where it worked great.
When consumers weren’t ready at scale, I’ve talked to so many stylists where it just created challenges for them.
Because some clients pushed back feeling like, so you’re charging me for an hour and a half.
I’m going to sit here for 90 minutes because it felt like they want to get their money’s worth.
And did you see the post about, I’m being charged by the hour, but my stylist gets to walk away while I’m processing, but I still have to pay for that time.
It really changed the narrative of what it was like to get your hair done.
It just feeds into all of these other pieces.
Next, overly complex application processes to join our clientele.
By the way, words like new client application or pre-visit assessment, even in pre-visit consultation, it made clients think like, am I worthy to be a part of your business?
And by the way, for some of you, that is what you were screening for.
And no shade.
I get it.
If that’s what you were looking for, fine.
But it did feed into the narrative of these stylists have lost it.
These stylists are too good for us, so we need to find another option.
Strict cancellation policies and appointment deposits, lackadaisical social media websites and marketing overall, mediocre guest experience from burnt out stylists.
So imagine this.
Imagine being a client and we’re like, I’m not going to do the social media thing anymore.
I’m too tired of it.
I’m going to put this cancellation policy.
There’s a penalty.
There’s a new guest deposit.
You have to apply to be a part of my business.
I’ve raised my prices.
It’s just like a tough sell.
But that was how our industry was being perceived.
Then we had frustrations with stylists, frustrations with COVID, completely understand.
Like the pandemic was brutal.
Burnout from the client surge of 2021 to 2023.
We’re tired.
We’re so tired.
Social media burnout.
As the familiar platforms became less effective, like you were running the marathon and it felt like nothing we did was enough.
So then you’re like, well, I’m not going to do anything.
But clients saw that and it didn’t land well for them.
They didn’t know our struggle.
They don’t need to know our struggle.
We’re the business owner.
But for us, we were like, I feel like I’m doing so much and the effort I’m putting in is no longer producing the same result that I hope that it would.
Education misfires and major, massive coaching investments that didn’t produce a result.
We saw a lot of that in recent years.
Rising cost of business.
No doubt that was harmful.
That hurt.
And it’s hurt the economy overall, right?
Inflations at a massive high.
Clients posting thousands of TikToks and Instagram videos pushing back against a Stylist and clients no showing and canceling last minute.
I talked about that in the 2024 Predictions Podcast episode.
I said, we’re going to start to see a massive amount of cancellations, reschedules, clients extending their time between visits as this great divide solidifies and we are in it right now.
So if you’re seeing that, yep, it’s textbook, it’s what we’ve been talking about.
And it’s not just you, it’s simply an industry trend.
When I talk about things like increasing value, I’m not talking about champagne or custom playlists or like these overly complex things.
It’s not what the average client is even seeking.
So when we look at consumer trends, under consumption is super popular.
If you don’t know what under consumption is, go on Instagram or TikTok and type that into the search bar.
You’ll learn real quick.
We as an industry started saying we’re a luxury.
If you don’t like how much we’re charging, don’t come here.
So people decided not to come.
People took our word for it.
Oh, you’re a luxury?
Okay.
Well, then you’re not an essential part of my life and I’m going to go somewhere else.
A movement was created that made stylists look bad.
March 19th, 2024, Washington Post made an article that says, Your hair looks great, but at what cost?
Then on September 7th, 2024, the Wall Street Journal followed it up with another piece called The New Normal, spending $400 at the hair salon.
As a workaround, consumers are getting fewer pricey treatments and no blow dries.
So if you want to hear more about those articles, listen to podcast episode 333.
Mainstream media is coming down on salon pricing structures.
We talked about that massively.
So looking at all this data, let’s talk about the three-way divide.
So clients are frustrated by price increases that weren’t justified.
Clients feel like stylists became entitled.
We think that they don’t want us to be successful, right?
At face value, we’re like, they just think we should be broke.
That’s actually not it.
They’re happy for us to be successful.
By the way, your clients, if you have a good clientele, they care about you.
And for most of you, you have a good clientele, that’s not it.
They want us to remember that we’re service providers at the end of the day.
That really got lost in translation somewhere down the line.
Here’s an example.
I want you to think about if you have a fur baby, maybe this will make sense.
So imagine there’s a veterinary clinic that you love.
You’ve been loyal to them for a long time.
You pull in and you notice the vet is getting out of their brand new Range Rover.
Good for them.
So they’re doing well.
Now some of you would say good for them.
And some of you were like, oh, no wonder my last vet bill was $700.
But either way, no matter where you land with it, you see the Range Rover.
Let’s say you’re the person who’s like good for them.
Good for them.
Getting a nice, expensive car.
I hope they enjoy it.
Fine.
What if that same vet ran 10 minutes behind for your appointment?
So you show up.
They’re running behind.
Was chatting with other patients during your visit.
Seemed distracted.
Was talking online and showing up on social media about how they’re burnt out.
Or maybe they just stopped marketing their business all together and then raised their prices without adding any value to your experience.
And then talked about how the cost of being a vet has gone up so much.
How would you feel about that vet?
You’d be like, this feels chaotic.
This is what our industry did.
This is exactly it.
And so when clients are like, I feel like this industry is getting weird.
Yeah, we got weird for a minute there.
So then there’s Stylist vs.
Stylist.
And this is the great divide piece.
We have some stylists who are making more money right now than they’ve ever made in their life.
This stylist does over $400,000 in services solo, not working with an assistant, not like her team does it.
Like it’s just her working three to four days a week, not a big social media following, not a big social media person, and is absolutely crushing it.
Okay?
With that, there are hundreds of thousands more stylists who are watching their revenue flatline or decline, and it’s feeling super scary.
So here’s how I think things will divide over time.
I think 20% of the industry will build a tremendous business in the gap.
Some of the best businesses were built in the recession of 2007, eight, nine.
You can look at that data, I mean, phenomenal.
And building in the gap is one of the biggest secrets to success, so if you can figure this gap out, you can be a part of this 20%.
And 20% of the industry is 200,000 people.
So I’m not talking about a small portion of the industry, this is a lot of people who can take advantage right now.
I think another 10% of the industry will probably walk.
I think we’ll lose another 10, which does create opportunity for those left behind, but it’s devastating for those who have poured their life into this, and now we’re at this crossroads and they’re either too tired to adapt or they don’t know what to do.
There’s a real chance we’ll lose about 10.
70% will lose market share and struggle more deeply than they’ve struggled before due to refusal to adapt forward and will instead lean into means of survival strategies, like allowing clients to leave without blowouts, which is only going to backfire, by the way.
That’s going to come back and backfire big time.
Offering discounts and promotional pricing.
We’re already seeing that.
I’ve seen so many posts like, great news, I’ve reduced my prices, or I’m doing a temporary discount.
That’s not sustainable.
Undercutting, so if you don’t know this, there are Stylist DMing, cold DMing people right now.
Hey, I think you’re a client of so-and-so’s.
If you want to come in and see me, my highlights are about $50 less.
It is happening.
Happening.
Success shaming will be in abundance.
So those who are in the 20% who are being successful are kind of quiet right now, because it’s going to be hard to look at somebody who’s doing super well and feel good for them if others are not doing well.
Fictitious reviews and slander about other stylist and businesses will be in abundance.
Desperate posts about frustrations will continue to surge and soar, which is a shame.
If we could cut that out, it would be huge.
Reduced profit margins in the name of survival.
We’ll start to see a significant exodus of experienced stylist and salon owners who are replaced by hungry social media savvy new grads.
By the way, it doesn’t have to be that way.
It does not, but it will require a pivot to stay in this game.
Luxury salons and economy salons will thrive.
Premium and premium economy salons could struggle.
We will see a huge rush back to working as an employee-based stylist just because of the uncertainty.
So I know this is a big topic.
I know a lot of it is scary.
I just felt like it was time to be fully transparent about what’s going on.
And like I said, not everybody wants to hear it.
Change is really hard and especially, we’ve been running a marathon for five years.
And so for me to show up and be like, okay, now it’s time to pivot your strategy, it feels like a gut punch.
And I get it.
Welcome to small business ownership.
Like this is what it looks like.
Gary Vaynerchuk has a great quote about how small business owners are gluttons for punishment.
Like you have to choose to be in the arena being punched in the face over and over and over again to choose to be an entrepreneur.
And whether you are a commission stylist, a booth renter, studio suite owner, a salon owner, you work from home, you are an entrepreneur.
You live and die by your business decisions.
And it’s not for the faint of heart.
And over the past few years, I’m sorry to say it was very easy.
We’re kind of back to the reset, the factory reset.
Like this is what’s growing a business looks like.
Game freaking on.
Like let’s jump in the arena together and do it.
On this podcast alone, there’s almost 400 episodes dedicated to building and growing your business.
If you’re feeling frustrated, if your income didn’t increase last year, if you’re noticing you’re having slippage in your market, if guests are pushing their appointments out, you’re not able to get in the same frequency.
You’re noticing a decline in your revenue.
Let’s pivot strategy now, because I would love to see the statistics change.
I’d love to see more Stylists be successful and less lose their way.
But it is going to require change and adaptation.
And I’m here for the journey and can’t wait to guide you through.
If you have more questions about this, you can leave a rating or review on this podcast episode.
Let’s keep the conversation going.
As far as specific strategies on how to navigate Thrivers, you’re always going to get updates first in your program.
And then, by the way, we’re on the verge of a fairly significant, not a fairly significant, a very significant methodology changeover and update.
I will always share as much as I can on the podcast too.
So stay tuned.
I’m not the only educator who’s out there sharing really good positive information right now.
Find the good ones, listen up, stay inspired, stay engaged, say curious.
Don’t be passive.
If you choose to seize the day on this, your business can be better than it’s ever been before.
I want you to be a part of that story.
As I always say, so much love, happy business building, and I’ll see you on the next one.
