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 Seva, 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 this week we’re talking about the second job you might need if clientele is just building too slowly for you. This is an episode I’ve probably owed you for a long time. I know that there is a lot of concern right now about building as a stylist. Our industry is super cyclical and we’re coming out of what was the easiest to build period that this industry has ever seen. I don’t know if it will ever be as easy to build clientele as it was from 2021 to 2023. Those were like the epitome of the glory days. Second easiest was probably 2016 to 2019 like the heyday of social media. It was harder before. It was harder in between and now it’s harder again. And I naively didn’t realize what an outcry there was for Second jobs, I’ve always known that we’re an industry where it’s not uncommon to have a secondary source of income.
I remember being in the salon and we had stylists who worked in the salon and also waited tables. We had stylists who worked in the salon and also bartended. We had stylists who worked in the salon and did admin for their families. I’ve seen all that. I completely understand. I think we’re coming back around to a time where there’s an even bigger outcry for that. So I saw one of the things I do, I spend an inadequate amount of time or an inadequate, is that the right word? I wanna use probably a shocking amount of time in community Facebook groups like our industry, Facebook groups. I look through the comment section of a ton of industry posts. I’m on the industry side of TikTok. I just wanna know what the conversations are. I wanna understand where the industry is at. And in one of the groups I was in, I noticed this uptick in people asking about second sources of income and second jobs and really expressing their frustration in how hard it’s been to build a clientele.
Now those posts aren’t new. Those posts have always existed. The frequency in which they’re being posted is what has changed. And also the way that these posts have exploded and the conversation happening on these posts is also what has changed. So let me read to you a couple of the posts and I’m gonna dig deep into one of them. So one of them says, does anybody have a side hustle that supplements their income? It’s hard out here and the money from clients isn’t cutting it. Tons of comments under that post. There’s another one that says, I’m doing hair part-time at night until I can build up. How long does it take again, of that same vein? And what I will say is I did not realize until I really did the research for this episode, how many stylists work a nine to five or an eight to four during the day and then do hair in the evening.
I’ve always known, like I said, that stylists work two jobs. It’s been a thing of the industry. I also know that there’s a certain section of the industry where stylists go into work after their spouse comes home to watch with the kids or stylists who only work evenings and weekends ’cause that’s when there’s partners home to watch the family and and that kind of stuff. I know that exists, but what I’m saying is I did not realize how many people, it’s like hair is their supplemental income and they’re working a full 40 hours a week doing something else and then maybe 20 hours a week doing hair. That’s 60 hours a week of work. That’s such a heavy load and I could not believe how many people said they were doing that. But the post I wanna dig into with you is one that says, is everyone having to work a second job to get by and sad face emoji?
And I was like, is everyone having to work a second job to get by? And what’s surprising more than the post was the comments because the first comment is, yep. And the second comment is, unfortunately everyone has it slow right now with this economy. The next one is, yep, I have a full eight to five job. I do hair after work, I’m still hanging on by a thread. And then another one, I have a full-time job, eight to five. I’m just now doing hair when I get off and I’m usually in the salon until eight, I’m trying to buy a house. This feels impossible. Then another one says, any tips for those of us who are slow right now? So that’s where I’m entering the chat and that’s where I’m here for the conversation. Now I will say not everybody is commenting that. There’s also the other side of things.
So Brianna says, this is actually my first year without having a slow month. I’m a hairstylist of six years. But then she goes on to say, I do nails on the side at home. So it’s like she’s saying she doesn’t have to have two jobs, but she’s doing nails on the side at home. So it’s like she kind of does like she’s doing, she’s working a lot. Then Kelly says, I’m booked for the next six weeks working Monday through Thursday, which is kind of like a dream schedule. So Kelly’s living the dream. Then somebody else says they own a salon and I still don’t make enough money after bills. So I decided I’m going back to school to do nursing, which we see a lot too. Like this industry is not shaking out. I’m gonna go into another industry. There is a huge correlation between teachers, nurses, and cosmetologists.
It’s the servant’s heart, it’s the being of the community. And you’ll see there’s a lot of intermixing between those three industries. You see it all the time. Then there was one other comment that caught my eye, and it’s a stylist who says, yes, I have a second job, but mine is from my phone and it doesn’t feel like a second job. Plus it makes me more money than I make in an entire month doing hair. So I started it out just to get ahead in life and to be able to spend more time with my young kids and it’s done just that for me. So this stylist is saying they have a work from home job that they do from their phone. It doesn’t feel like a second job and it makes them more money. And of course there’s comments under that comment saying, I’d like to learn more.
And that’s what really caught my attention is I was like, see, this is what stylists want is they, they want a way to make more money. They want a second source of income, they’re willing to work more, they’re willing to take on a second job, but it needs to fit into their life. Like what can I do that’s not bartending? Because when you’re waiting tables or you’re working in an office job or whatever, it’s more time away from your family and your life and your home and all the things. And I think often stylists are saying like, I need more money, but I need it to fit into my life. And so I wanted to center this podcast around the role that exists that I don’t think enough stylists are looking into or taking advantage of. That would be a second job for sure, but it would make you more money.
I think it’s a perfect industry fit. Um, I think it’s a great opportunity and I think it’s something that all stylists need to explore. So one of the exercises that I do whenever I’m coaching stylists is I go through an analysis of their business versus their lifestyle. And if you’ve been coaching with me before, you’ve probably done this. We take a look at the money that you’re making versus the time that you’re investing in your business. And usually when people are frustrated, there’s an inadequacy somewhere. It’s either in money or in time. So first of all, I have my stylists who have no money and no time, and I call those stylists sinking. So my sinking stylists are making a less than desirable income, but they’re working more than 35 hours a week. That represents the majority of the industry. They’re working really hard, they’re putting in the time.
They don’t have a ton of other free time, but they’re not making as much money as they want to be. I call those sinkers and or sinking stylists. And that represents the majority of the the stylists in the industry today. Then we have those that I call struggling and struggling. Stylists have a less than desirable income and no clients like they need more guests on their books. They’re like, fill out my books. I’m here. I’m willing to work. I’m not lazy, I just don’t have enough demand. So they have this abundance of free time that they would like to fill with clients so that they can make more money. That’s the second most popular sect of the salon. So when somebody’s new to the industry, they fall into that category. They have the desire they want to work, they’ve got the time if they’re being totally honest, but there’s not enough demand to work with them.
There’s not enough clients on their books so they don’t have enough money, but they really do have a lot of time. They’re not yet working 35 hours a week. So that’s the person who can really afford to work more and they’d like to work more. Yet we have these sinking stylists, which represents the majority of the industry who are already working so, so hard and they’re like, I need to work more ’cause I need more money. Okay, so sinking and struggling are the most common types of stylists we see in our industry. Then we have our sacrifice. S sacrifice. Stylists are making tons of money, but they have literally no free time for themselves. And as I was scrolling this feed, I saw a lot of that too. So earning a really good income, but you’re working more than 40 hours a week. You’re burning the candle at both ends.
It’s like nights, it’s like weekends. It’s like 10, 12 hour days. It’s like sacrificing time away from the family, but at least I’m paying my bills and I have financial peace of mind. I saw a lot of that. And for a long time that’s what we were conditioned to believe that success looked like in the industry. It’s like, you know what? You’re gonna have to hustle. You’re gonna have to work hard. You’re not gonna leave a law of free time, but the money’s gonna come in and it’s gonna be worth it and your body’s gonna break. But you know what? That’s what we signed up for. Hard disagree. But I know that for a long time that’s how the industry was painted. Like that was what the picture looked like. Then we have these stylists who have plenty of money and plenty of free time and abundance of both and they’re what I like to call scaling.
So they’re making six figures, either generating six figures in gross revenue or taking home six figures in net. And they’re not working more than 35 hours a week. They’re often working less. They’re often not working nights or evenings, often not working weekends. And they really feel like they have found the balance. They’re kind of like living the dream. They’re making good money, they work with clients they love, they do hair that they love and the money is there. That’s where we want to get. And so what does make me nervous when somebody says I’d like to take on a second job is you’re probably already sinking, right? You’re already working 35 or more hours a week. Just the money’s not there and you’re like, I need to take on more, which I can show you how to take on more and I will in this episode, but it, it will push you to the place of sacrificing because now you’re saying you’re working more, but it’s worth it ’cause you’re making more.
And the reason I bring that up is you will burn out. The longer you sink in, the longer you sacrifice. Burnout is the natural repercussion. So we do at some point have to get you to scaling. And scaling is the ability to make more money without working as much. And so I just wanna be really realistic on that. But with all that being said, there is a really great work from home job that I think that all stylists should consider. I think it fits in with most stylists existing schedule and existing lifestyle. Whether you have a ton of hours to work or you don’t, it is fully remote, fully work from home, mostly work from your phone. I don’t know, you might need a computer for some of it actually. Probably you would need a computer for a piece of it, but most of it could be done through your phone.
Generally speaking, these opportunities are five to 10 hours a week. I think on average though, sometimes it’s more like two or three hours a week, especially for somebody more experienced. But I think five to 10 hours a week is average. I also think that’s the sweet spot of what most stylists are looking for when it comes to supplemental income. Like you wanna take on a second job, but like I said, you can’t sacrifice your whole life in the process. So there needs to be a balance there. The great thing is how profitable this particular work from home opportunity is. And I think that’s what makes it rare, depending on what your income is as a stylist right now, like for some of you, this would truly double your income working just five or 10 additional hours a week, which is pretty powerful stuff. What is tricky about this opportunity is compensation on this one is based on performance, not effort.
And that can be really challenging. So if you choose to wait tables or be a bartender, compensation is based on effort. Like you serve the tables as best as you can, you show up to your shift on time. Um, you polish the glasses, you get paid. This is not a job that’s like that. So performance has to happen. Like if you do not execute, if the result isn’t there, you don’t get the financial reward. And that’s the tricky thing. That being said, the financial reward is much larger than it would be if you were like some general virtual assistant for somebody or something like that. The only qualifier for anybody listening to this podcast to apply is you do have to have some basic knowledge of digital marketing, social media. I think most people, like if you found this podcast, you have enough knowledge to do it.
It’s not anything that’s like rocket science, but there could be a learning curve depending on how comfortable you are with digital marketing on any platforms. So if this sounds like you and you’re like, I could work five to 10 hours a week, I would like to be able to do it from home, fully virtual, fully remote. I don’t wanna have to be micromanaged or be checking in with somebody all the time. I like the idea of like working from my phone. You could work late at night or whenever it is that works for you. There is one role that I’m aware of that I think everybody listening to this episode should apply for. If this sounds like a good fit, the role is called digital marketing Manager. Literally every stylist in salon today needs one including you. And this is the only opportunity that everybody listening to this episode should consider to apply.
You look deep within yourself and you say, am I ready to take this career seriously? Because if your clientele is not growing as quickly as you’d like it to be, it’s time for you to do a better job of being your own digital marketing manager. Kind of tricky, huh? This industry is hard. I I understand that and I think a part of the hard is that I remember the feeling of when I joined the industry. When I went to cosmetology school, I truly thought I could just show up, do good hair, my reputation would serve me well, my chair would fill itself. I would tell my funny jokes, I would do the good blowouts and I would make a great living. I, I really thought that’s what the industry looked like. And then joke was on me because like my third day in the salon, I was like, oh my gosh, this is gonna be so much harder than I thought.
Because the doing the good hair part is like 20% of the job. The marketing is the 80% and that’s the part that they didn’t teach us in school. And that’s the piece I’m so passionate about. The key to any business, whether you’re selling hair services or farmer’s market eggs or tires or cupcakes or you’re selling dresses or handmade candles, any business that you choose to operate, marketing is the fuel to the fire. There is nothing else. If you cannot make the marketing happen, you could bartend for seven years and your career as a stylist will still not take off. It kills me a little bit inside that people are spending 10, 20, 30 hours a week bartending or working a nine to five when I know I have coached 17,000 stylists and salon owners. I know if you spend five or 10 hours a week marketing yourself and the reality is two to three is enough for most people.
I think five to 10 hours to get it started. Like do the learnings, understanding what you’re doing, get the foundation set. Two to three hours a week is about how much the average stylist or salon spends on marketing seriously. And instead of doing that, and instead of like learning what it would take to make that happen, we’re spending 20 or 30 hours a week bartending or working in an office. And I think there’s a few reasons why I think one marketing at first glance is cringe because marketing is putting yourself out there. Video marketing is kind of the thing right now. You do have to show your face, you have to show your work. A lot of you have never taken photos with your phone before. It’s awkward to ask clients to pose for a photo and rather than push through the learning curve, push through the awkward, we’re like, I’ll just make gin and tonics and like I’ll pay my bills that way.
Push through. The frequent awkward education right now is at your fingertips. It is never been easier to learn how to market yourself as a stylist than it is right now. I have over 400 podcast episodes dedicated to it. I have a full digital training program if you wanna take the shortcut. And I’m not the only one with education on it. There’s so much education out there. You can go to YouTube University and learn how to take great photos of your clients. Like there’s so much opportunity available right now to learn what it would take to build a market yourself. So I wanna give you the crash course right now. If you’re like, okay, Britt got your joke. Not very funny. The second job that I need to take is marketing my own business. I truly believe that’s that’s true. I think the longer you spend doing other things, working second jobs, being a nanny, waiting tables, instead of spending five to 10 hours a week marketing yourself as a stylist, the greater chance is you’re going to burn out of this industry altogether and then give up.
It’s interesting to me when I see posts from people who are like, I decided I’m gonna leave hair and I’m gonna go into another industry, I’ll see you back in three or four years. It always happens. People choose to lead the industry and then it’s woulda, coulda, shoulda have. And they decide that this really was their passion and they wanna come back. There is no other industry where you can have the freedom and the flexibility and the fun and to be your own boss, like it doesn’t exist anywhere else. The best things in life don’t come easy. If you can just learn the skillset, I promise you can do this. So when we’re looking at what it would take to really build a clientele at the speed that most stylists are comfortable with, your barometer is six to 10 new guest requests a month. If we can get you to a place of six to 10 new guest requests per month, financial freedom is only a matter of time.
And by a matter of time, I mean months, not years, it should not take seven years to build a clientele. That means there’s something off in your marketing. It can take 18 months for sure, but it shouldn’t take longer than that. If you are a new stylist with tons of time on your books, 15 new guest requests a month is my ideal for you. If you are booked and busy, six to 10 new guest requests, even if you are so booked that nobody new can get in with you, six to 10 new guest requests every single month is healthy demand. That’s what we would be looking for. So where do you start? If you’re looking to market yourself and you’re like, okay, I’m sold on this idea. I need to spend five to 10 hours a month working from home on my own hours to make more money for myself, where do I start?
You start with what I call the marketing funnel. The marketing funnel is the trademark methodology I have coached to since 2012. So a really long time. It works 100% of the time. If you’re not sure what the marketing funnel looks like, if you just do a Google search for Thriving Stylist Marketing Funnel, I have podcasts and blogs and all kind of resources on it, you can access those for free at any time. It always is gonna start with your branded target market. Who is it that you’re looking to reach and does your branding speak to them? So I was talking with a new stylist recently and they were like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know what my brand is. And they had made this like super cute trendy brand, no doubt. And then I walked them through the Thriving Stylist exercises on brand messaging and brand design and they were like, wait a minute.
I definitely made something cute and trendy, but it doesn’t speak to the client I’m trying to attract. And that’s one of the tricks about branding is like cute and trendy is great and that is a piece of it, but if your brand doesn’t speak to the clientele you’re trying to attract and the skills that you’re good at and your personality and all these things, it’s gonna misfire. Okay? So figuring out that brand and target market is the first step. Then we create pre-visit communication that builds trust before a guest even comes into see you. So that has to do with your website, which is the next step. You cannot just have an online booking page. You cannot, that won’t work. An online booking page doesn’t build trust. Imagine this. Imagine if you were like, Britt, I’m interested in working with you, and what I did is I sent you to a sales page and I was like, amazing.
Go ahead and book your appointment. There’s a $50 non-refundable deposit. I’ll see you then. And you’re like, wait a second, Bri, hold on. I, I’m trying to understand what you offer and who you are and who you serve, and I don’t have a website to show you any of that stuff. All I have is basically a sales page where you pay money for those of you who are operating a business and all you have is a booking page and no full, full, full website, not the free website that comes with your booking page, a fully built website. You’re expecting people to trust you and want to invest with you before they even know you. They’re, I don’t know if consumers today who are wired like that. That’s very, very, very, you have to have a full website. Social media is not enough to build trust on its own and a booking page is not enough to build trust on its own.
Okay? So we wanna have the systems in place to build trust with clients before we expect them to come in to see us. We do that through the website. We do that with our pricing. Our pricing builds trust. Whether we’re priced properly or not properly. The way our service menu is noted on our website, that’s a piece that builds trust. The communication that comes before the visit, it should not just be a series of confirmation, appointment confirmation emails or texts. That’s not enough. So we wanna make sure that we’re building trust with somebody before they come in. Then we work on the social media. And the social media has to be branded. It has to have a strong point of view. It has to show why you’re different. It can’t just show that you do good hair and that you’re a darling. It has to show that you are educated and experienced and a great communicator and trustworthy and that you can solve my problems.
And there’s a lot of things that the social media channels have to do. And then when we talk about social media, we’re talking about Instagram, Facebook could be TikTok, Google Reviews, Yelp reviews, nextdoor app, all of those places are considered social media channels. And the stronger presence and consistency you have on all of them, the faster you’re gonna grow. Once we have all of that, then we can drive awareness. Lots of different ways to create awareness around your business. I do think Nextdoor is one of those apps that’s both social media and awareness. We can look at referral programs, we can look at DM marketing strategy. There’s lots of things to do to create awareness as well. But if you were to spend five to 10 hours a week focusing on just this, you will make way more money than you would make serving plates at your local restaurant.
I promise you would go all in on the career that you started. The second job you need is marketing the first job that you committed to. And I know it feels like a second job because by the way it is, your first job is going in and serving the clients at at your absolute highest capacity. And your second job is marketing the shit out of it. And you have to do both parts. And I promise if you do that, you will make more money than you even dreamed possible in this career. If you have any questions on how to get started or don’t know where to turn, listen to all 400 plus episodes of the Thriving Stylist Podcast. I have so much amazing education out there on it. You can also check out Thriving Stylist Method if you want to get to the good stuff as quickly as possible. As I always say, so much love, happy business building, and I’ll see you on the next one.
