Her salon is not just known for the high quality services, but also for its warm and welcoming atmosphere. In addition to styling and makeup, she also offers Broto packages for those special moments in life. She understands the importance of looking and feeling your best and she works closely with each client to make sure you achieve that. It's all about communication. If you don't like your hair, your makeup Don't be pissed off, communicate. And I know depending on your personality, it might be hard but you can do hard things we're going to talk about that today she makes sure that each client has a personalized looks so they look and feel beautiful. The feeling part is the more important she understands the importance of why it's important to take time out of working in your business and work on your business. She attends trainings and workshops and conferences to stay on top of all of the trends and techniques and most importantly all the new stuff coming out product wise that could be causing cancer you're gonna want to tune in her commitment and dedication to her clients has earned her a very loyal following. I'm one of them and glowing reviews. Let's head to the salon and get a blowout together. Welcome back to business unveiled. I'm so excited for today because I get to interview one of my favorite people in the whole world. She's one of my very good friends and a bitter client for like many years, like seven or eight. Yeah, you have expanded so much since I've met you and I'm like so proud of her. You wanted a certain thing, like you had a direction that you wanted to go. Just with your personality and me knowing you, I knew that you would be a great business. It's not easy, but you also can prepare yourself by working for another small business just to know so many learning opportunities. I'm going to tell a quick story.
Oh my God, I know which one you're going to
do. I tell this story all the time, right when I am speaking y'all know I love my little psychology methodology people that I see all the time. I know what they are. I send one of my clients to have her hair and makeup done. We had a brand photo shoot for her new website and I was doing some video directing. She's just making small talk. We are Karissa over here. She says Do you know
what color your fiancee husband whatever it was at the time is and she was just beautiful Indian girl. And I was like, Well, I don't want to be offensive. I was like, I don't know anything. She
was not from America. Oh,
he was gorgeous. Like literally gorgeous, gorgeous. I was like, Well, I don't want to be offensive because I was like, I really don't know. And I was like, well, we don't know he's adopted. Do you even go that deep? Sometimes I was like, I'm gonna answer this wrong and like offend someone. What do I do?
Like oh, No, that's not what I meant. She's like Angeles color test thing. Well, I hadn't done it with her yet. Because I mean, there was just really no,
I've heard you talk about I've never like gone through the process or like been diagnosed with you yet.
Diagnose going back to like communication and filling in the gaps when you don't know. And you don't ask the question, you might be assuming something and you make things up in your head because you don't know what you don't know. But give us a 32nd backstory, like why did you want to be in the beauty industry.
So I moved here in 2011, I was going to Belmont for marketing degree, love the school, they had a hair program, think about it, Belmont, I would have stuck around. But I remember setting one day I took this amazing entrepreneurship class, I cannot remember the professor, I'd love to do him justice. But I was sitting in the class and hearing him speak and he had, you know, ran and sold a few companies. And I was like, This is so great. And I'd taken actually a wonderful marketing class as well. But there were so many other classes that just didn't really contribute to my major. And then when I started looking into the career, which definitely a need for it, love the career, I just was like, this is not going to be a good fit for me. And I called my parents and I when I came to Nashville, I was 18. But a junior because I had done community college, my last few years High School as well.
She's very mature. So
knock out school, I didn't love school. So I was like, let's just not gonna allow me either. So I was like, Listen, guys, I think to her parents, yeah, this, I want to go to hair school. And of course, they're like, Excuse me, ma'am. Like we we've sent you to Belmont. Like you've got AC T scores good. Like, you're almost there. Your degree you have like a year and a half left are saying like the end of tuition. And I'm like, Oh, no. And so luckily, because I come from a family that has owned a business and ran it and they're a little more open minded nation. Yes. Um, that they were like, we'll make you a deal. You can either go to hair school, and if you don't like it, you go back and you finish your degree, no questions asked. And I was like, I can't turn that down. So I went to hair school. And that was that.
And so when you came out of hair school, you didn't immediately open up your own brick and mortar you didn't you didn't do you know, I actually
went to work for a great Redken salon here, it was an all full service salon, I was an assistant. And then I you know, kind of started taking my own clients. But I learned a lot while I was there a lot about makeup, and that time as well. So that was a great jumping off point, I met our friend Lesley and got into that and learned a lot about styling, and then ended up you know, learning a lot about managing and owning, I feel like I got a very well rounded experience from the two
Do you remember when you're like, I'm gonna do it today, like today's the day where I'm gonna go get my business license, and I'm opening a business and I'm gonna pay rent to a brick and mortar. And I'm gonna get a website and I'm gonna get
an office this, like little thought that would creep up here and there and I would put it away, I would always justify it off as Oh, no, you can't afford to do that. Oh, no, you don't have the time for that. And limiting beliefs, then it started festering and growing. And I would think about it more frequently. And then I actually was like, okay, if I'm gonna, if this is going to be on my mind this much, I need to do my homework and see if I can actually do this or not. And so I started reaching out. That's when I contacted sola, I met Amy. She walked me through everything. And just the way she explained it made it seem so much less complicated than I think what I had turned it out to be in my head. And then that was the day I signed my contract here. And yeah, I wouldn't get a business license. And I was like, here we go.
And within the first year, you've added a team member. You've gotten a bigger space. Yep. Because the first phase which is too small, yeah. It worked. It worked for one person spaced and one can start and I do love the solar concept. I'm familiar with just the business model of it. We both come from like the beauty pageant and the wedding world and I was in hair shows in college. That's how I got my baby girl. Very brave girl. You know what looks good. You're gonna do what looks good. You love making other people feel beautiful. I do. That was the reason I got into this. What is like the top just shocker, where you were like, Oh, I didn't know what I didn't know, you just said it. It was a limiting belief. I thought I couldn't afford it. I couldn't do this. I couldn't do that. And now that you're here, what's going through your head, my
prior position with blowout company allowed me to learn how to set those boundaries and how to put processes and procedures in place and carry them through and be diligent in that. So that was huge when I came over here that I already had that starting foundation and then I could just expand on it. I think I knew running your own business was going to be hard to some degree. There's so many things you have to juggle but I'm like you I love my lists and my check my points off. So I have had so many people sit in my chair. I mean for years, but especially since I've opened my own their biggest complaint is that no one listened to them. And it's like, Yes, it's my job to educate you on what your hair can and cannot do. And sometimes client expectations are unrealistic you actually stop and listen to what they want. You can usually get them to a place they want to be at and do it in a way that they still feel beautiful and You've done your job and things that
girls would say to me and about their hair, about their skin, about their wedding prep and about all the stress they put on themselves. Your skin reacts your hair, Rhea, everything starts reacting the opposite way. And then you know all the products, it's like you're not trying to push things,
I will never tell you to buy something just to buy it if your hair doesn't have a need for it. And I'm very conscious about what I'm gonna give you,
you see holes, and you see gaps, and when there's something really good, but it's not the best. And you know, it's not you will ask me questions, and you're like, Well, I'm thinking about this, or what about this. And that's again, where we are very similar, where it's like, when I see a hole or a gap, I want to fix it, she comes back from New York, I wish I could have gone with y'all. And I was at a different conference. And you were telling me that the technical classes were great. And it was so much fun. Financial side was good, which is not the fun side for creatives. But what were the gaps, the
gaps were in communicating, how to run your business behind the scenes and how to use social media. At this point in the game, social media is everything. I mean, it's how you engage new clients. It's how you reach out for weddings, it's how you educate other stylists. And I remember distinctly sitting in one class and they were talking about getting things in print. And I was like, I don't know, the last time I saw a newspaper, much less read one. And I was like, I don't think I'm gonna get a lot of people that way. I mean, it felt like such a need because, you know, obviously I've asked you all these things, you've coached me through some of the social media side, and I've seen the growth of it, just from consistency alone, like Lord knows I'm not the best editor, even if it was a homemade looking video, just being consistent in my posting and posting was so huge, and nobody was bringing it up. And I would look at
oh my god, oh my god, I'm so clumsy. Just drink it.
Cheers. There was like no social media pretty much talked about. To be fair, I didn't specifically seek out a social media class. But even in the classes that talked about growing your businesses, increasing your prices, being more disciplined in your business, like all of those things do still like what my price released this year, like we upped our prices a little bit this year, was a release on social media, like you use it for pretty much everything. So it felt like a huge hole. Even in talking about like how to handle clients how to handle awkward situations, there just wasn't enough information given and I was like, seems like an Angela problem. And I love the problem, literally texture. What do you want, and I was like, we have work to do. Yes,
I love to work with people that I love that I know that I trust that I know they're in it for the same reasons I'm in it, which is passion, we get to wake up and we get to do what we do every day. And I want to do it with the people that I love. I want to help people and be part of things and do things with the right people that want to make a difference and make people feel good. It's all about happiness. This morning, one of your team members was here. She said, I get to love my job every day. She recently made a transition and not that she didn't love where she came from. But her responsibilities were completely different. And so she's like, now I don't have all these people. Some people are cut out for managers. Golds are great managers. And blues are not naturally great at wanting to direct people and tell people what they need to be doing. It's just personalities. It doesn't make you good or bad. I mean, all personalities are important. But when you don't know how to communicate, that's an issue. And that creates stress and it creates problems, not only for you and your business, but it creates a problem out in the community. If people leave your brick and mortar and they're not happy or they don't like it or something's wrong, like if you don't address it, they're gonna go somewhere else. So you just need to learn to communicate, but you've got to learn how to say it the way the person needs to hear it. Yep. Which is everything everything
that comes from experience and also I think when you manage for a while even as a high gold, even if it's in your wheelhouse of things to do at least for me it was always how can I make this easier? How can I make this better for everyone around me because the thing I hate the most is micromanagement that one of my big things when I came here it was like as I build out a business plan because you know we've added one team member we've got a freelance team for weddings now. I don't want to set everybody needs to work life balance. And so one of our big takeaways even if you're you know a W two employee working for me, I don't set hours for you you have goals, you have monthly financial goals of what you need to hit and service dollars and that way if you want to do it in three days and five days and seven days you have the freedom to do that however you wish that's great and you can kind of control your destiny a little bit more and I don't have to stand over you and be like you were five minutes late to be here at nine. I don't enjoy that people don't enjoy that.
Talk about your wedding business hair. Full team that goes out we've gotten to work together before which is always know that I don't have to worry about the timeline or Amanda doesn't have to worry about time like no one has to worry about the beauty timeline. Usually we are the ones doing it.
It was 2013 I branded borrowed and blue and so I was doing for Elance while I was working for another salon, and we would do that on the weekends or spare time, that's why I'd carried that through for a while. But my last few years, my focus has been on cutting color. So when I opened this and we started to expand, I was like, why not just bring everything in under one umbrella. And let's build out a freelance team. It's no extra on me to do that. And so I brought on a couple of my dear friends that I've worked with for 10 years that are also amazing hair and makeup artists. And so we can handle large and small parties. Luckily, like you said, that network that we all love having in matters comes in handy. We always bring professional products, it's anything you would see if you're visiting our salon. Everybody we have does hair and makeup services. So you're never gonna have to worry about not having somebody that's dual in
both. And that's important. Time matters. I've
literally had nightmares before where I'm the reason that a bride runs late and I like wake up in my sleep and I'm like, oh, no, I'm gonna I'm like, Okay, wait, that's never happened. Thank God. So I'm telling you, it's I'm glad to always build a little bit of extra time because I'm like, That can never happen. It tells you she cares. Yeah, maybe a little too much.
So if y'all are from the south, we all love Dolly Parton. Oh, yeah. And when I asked her so what are you gonna call it the West inspiration behind this little hair house?
I mean, Dolly Parton is just a national treasure. I mean, I have yet to meet a person that's like no, I don't really like her. Like she is everything. She's glamorous. She gives back she's, you know, real home. Yeah, sound or you'll never get a fake answer out of her. And the movie that this is coined after best little whorehouse in Texas, if you haven't seen it, it's hilarious. She kind of takes these girls obviously doing a much different skill than what we do here. Don't get too excited, but under their wing, and she coaches them, and they have like a family unit. And they make the community happy in a very different way, also from what we want to do. But there were some good principles to be taken away. And I mean, who better to advertise glam than Dolly Parton? Yeah, literally. Yeah. And I also wanted it to feel like because so many of my clients come in, and they sit in my chair, and this is their one escape from their job. This is their one escape from their kids, this is their one escape from their spouse, or the roommate. And I don't want it to be just the thing you have to knock out as another chore on your week, I want you to come in and feel like it's a girls night out because I've never left a girls night out dinner or gathering with my friends that it's like my soul wasn't a little bit recharged. And so I want people to leave here feeling like that we do a signature cocktail once a month, like when you come in Alexa will let you pick your playlist. You can do whatever you want to do, you get to unwind if you need to work while you're here, we just want to make it a comfortable, fun environment where you get up and you leave feeling like your best, most beautiful self. And
what I would encourage you just to have more of an open mind. Because most of the time, the stuff they know better the style, it's like going dress shopping, like let someone look you up and down and take some things off the rack for you. And you're gonna be like, Oh, no. But then once they do it, and then they say they explain the why, like the facial structure, the eyebrow or whatever, like you do a great job of like telling people and educating them on why I'm never going
to come in and just be like, Well, I've done it for 10 years, this is my job. I know what I'm doing. Like, there is a reason behind what we do. And if it's something that you've done that way for a million years, like I'm not gonna totally change your world in a day, like, No, we can baby scratch there. It doesn't have to be shocking,
you have a heart for education, just like I do love it back back to the conference. And I'm like, I gotta go to these things. Like I gotta put into speak at these things. Like, we've got to teach some of this stuff. Because every time I'm in here, I mean, there's so many people in this in the beauty community,
this building houses 49 suites, some of those are doubles, and triples. So I mean, you're looking at at least probably 60 people in this building. That's a small community right there. Nevermind that there aren't many other concepts like this, there are brick and mortars, there are mom and pop shops, like everybody needs this information.
This solar business model really is awesome for the beauty industry. Because running a business without all this other shit that you have to do or put up with, like they do handle some of that for you.
They condense so much and make it so streamlined. They even give you a sheet like when you start just to walk you through the process of the things that they don't streamline for you. And there's many resources within to reach out to I wish more business concepts had something like this to guide them because for our industry, it's cold.
It really is. And so we're talking about it. And I'm like, well then we should just do a workshop and like do some tutorials. I feel like she's been through every workshop and even the most recent one that we did in Nashville where it was a half day workshop and I literally teach people how to capture content on their cell phone. And you actually have a family member who is like a legit great videographer with all kinds of amazing equipment and lenses and not everybody has access to that you haven't set it to Morgan today what you think like you need all these fancy things but you don't you already said it consistency is the most important thing really is so again, their brick and mortar is there to get you on your feet like for your business. They're not social media experts. It's not their job to teach anybody how to do social media wouldn't People try to give a little bit of information to help. Sometimes it comes across as well. This is not good information, because this is not helpful to me. What I consistently see left out at conferences is the how, how the hell do you do this shit? It's great to talk about Amazon store, it's great to talk about drop shipping, it's great to talk about fulfillment centers, it's great to talk about all these things. But how do you do it? What were the biggest takeaways, again, misconceptions and limiting beliefs? And assuming it's gonna be too hard? What's been the biggest like, Oh, I'm glad that I know that now. There's
so many things that you're right, it is more just a you need to post more, you need to advertise more, but they don't yeah, how do I do that. And so in your class, you talked about the importance of reels versus posts and the insights that they get. And then obviously, the 90 day calendar layout that was amazing templates. My gosh, they're so great. I love it. It's like I use it every day now. But just the consistency and posting. Thank you gave us a tip about adding location and stories that was huge. I've seen a lot more response to my stories. And don't give us the same things over and over. That was huge. Oh, we've gotten so many client referrals. I've even had, usually I will say we do get a ton of referrals because our clients are amazing. And they send us so many people which we're so grateful. But we have been more consistent on social media. And I have noticed since we've been doing that, that there's been a few new clients. And I'm like, How'd you find us? And they're like, Oh, I saw you on Instagram. Never has that happened until we took those pointers and put them to action. Does
it really take that much time? No,
I work on average, I have about 100 clients myself, work on average, four days a week, four days a week, and a couple of those days are 10 or 12 hour days, even if I just remember to film something with one of those clients in the chair. Or the other day, I had a 15 minute gap and I filmed a little video like it doesn't take much time. It's just instead of looking at those gaps like oh, that haircut cancelled now I'm out the money. Now I look at it as this is time to film something and put that out on social media and bring maybe two new people in. It really has been like a mindset reframe.
100%. And yes, you could go and scroll on your phone, for sure. And you could just look at TIC TOCs. And look at reels. It's
not like I'm not tired. I'm working on my feet all day, right? But it's so worth it if you don't and you take the time to film those things and create that content
and do it for yourself even outside of business. Like I'm big on just like capturing memories. I was so proud of you. She's like, okay, my mom's gonna come in and like straighten things. I'm gonna do a before and an after. When you're moving locations. I'm like, Okay, I want to see a blank. I'm like, Uh huh. And it's and I know, sometimes I am annoying. You're like, oh my god, you're so annoying that I blink my eyes. And it's been 23 years. And I look back and I'm like,
it'd be so grateful to have all these videos and pictures of you know, when we first started well
the big things that you want to do like you have big plans, being an educator and having your own product line your new website, you know that you can't do it all at once. Yeah, when we started talking about website stuff, this has been being worked on for four or five months. Yeah, like months good things take time and you have a child. So you have to manage your time and you have to have his boundaries from an educator perspective, but I'm over here I'm like what's doing me a kid do you think you would ever seen on stage like teaching I'm over here like
me song, but
I'm the dancer she's the singer
subbands on Broadway for a while up until I was about 16 weeks pregnant and then I was like, Okay, I'm officially exhausted also go guest appear occasionally
your voice is amazing. When you're able to be on stage and have a great stage presence and have a connection with your audience. And I know she has the connection just from singing you have some products coming out we'll put all the links in the show notes. But from a product perspective, which if you guys watch the the hair blowing tip with the hairdryer and a few of the products that we talked about, you will know why you want to consider really reading the back of the labels and the back of the cans. Is there any is there a story that you can think of with any of your clients who they were using that product a product with this type? What what I don't want to say what it is, is a chemical
it's a chemical Yeah, that's linked to cancer and that is more in your like take home things one of the big things I hear from my clients and they come in they've gone to places that maybe you know went with a cheaper option which in this economy totally understand or maybe just didn't do product research and they got color or they got lighten or they got something and it didn't turn out the way that they had hoped or it you know damage their hair. And so in building this one of the big things for me was okay, if I'm gonna do cotton color, I want to make sure that we're offering the best products we can to do the best job we can and so that's why the large amount of color that we carry is Davines because their mass color line their permanent color line which you can also you know turn into toners and Demi's it has Keane law extract in it which Protein shine, the lighteners, which this is my favorite thing in the world, I get the most even smooth lift out of them, but they have bonder in them. So some of the same properties that you see and a lot of these bond building shampoos is already built in that lightener. So even though it's lifting and taking, it's still depositing back into your hair to keep that integrity in there.
I mean, the science like oh, the science is insane.
It's crazy. If you want to connect with you best little hair house nashville.com
Your clients are more like established here that there's so much tourism, but if you aren't coming to Nashville and need your hair makeup done, I mean, you probably have to book it two months in advance, but
I will say we do have some diehards. Like we have a couple of travel nurses, we have one that comes in Philadelphia, she flies in, we have one that drives from Louisville, one that drives from Atlanta. So I fly and we love all of our traveling clients, key
takeaways you can do hard things do you think owning a business is hard,
it comes with its challenges, probably not an ideal time to start a business for most people. Not at all. Just don't think because you're at a space in your life where you feel like you can't do this or you can't see a future. Sometimes you just have to close your eyes and jump because it's just time
you jump during a crazy time. I mean, right after co host COVID COVID changed a lot of the industry it did for the beauty industry. I even know because you guys weren't even doing cutting color. When I first met you it was just full blowout. And then challenges happen and things come and other things come so it's like you, you can't just stay where you are
to get comfortable in the uncomfortable something in the back of my head. I had always been a girly girl who loved to do you know friends hair makeup for prom, I was so blessed because the year before I went to cosmetology school, the summer between like college and starting the hairdresser that had done my hair the whole time I was growing up, let me apprentice at her shop. And I'm so grateful, because I learned so much. But it was just that whole vibe of being in there and like the women would come in and they would chat and they would catch up and they left and they felt beautiful. And I was like this is a whole career that gets slept on a lot. And it's wonderful.
And I will say to like I don't people look down on it. Just like you know, your parents are like hair school. Yeah. And they think that you can't make a living out of it. I mean, it's kind of like being a wedding fighter. We were like, Oh, that's cute,
right? You're gonna do that? Yeah, there's so many like is that out there?
Abby are exactly gonna get a real job.
Yeah, a real job. And if you're passionate, the money will come. But there's one thing that you have to do in order to be a strong business owner, and understand the numbers which you're excellent at. But you have to be organized, very organized. You don't have to be let me let me reframe that you need to be organized. And if you're not outsource it, or hire somebody to come in, or get a consultant to come in and help you get your shit together, not not just in your business, but also will say in your personal life. And I'm speaking just myself and experience if you don't pay attention to yourself, and if you don't make sure that you have boundaries, you will crash. We all go through different things in life.
And one of the biggest reactions and this is kind of a hot button issue in our industry right now. But so many clients, they come in for hair extensions. And I think the biggest misconception with those is that it's going to be so expensive, I can't afford it. We actually don't the brands that we carry in hair, we don't mark up so the same price that we would pay for the hair we give to you sure I'm gonna charge you for the installation. I'll make my money there because yeah, performing a service. But I'm like, I want hair extensions to be a somewhat affordable option for everyone. Because there are cases where when you're having hair loss, you need them. And everybody should have access to those things to grow their hair out and feel beautiful and get the hair they always want it. There's so
many the tapings, the beads, the clips
and the certifications that you get the method that they use the products that they use to do them all of those things matter so much and like that's one thing when clients come in for a consultation, we walk you through all of that I send you home with what I jokingly call the hair Bible because I want you to be able to take care of them they're an investment I want them to last a long time for you and I'm like if you follow these instructions, your hair will hang around a long time
if you're not gold and you're orange like me you need to read the directions or watch a tutorial video.
Sometimes she has to get a reminder on the little hair Bible but she does pretty good job
I appreciate the reminder like I don't take it as being bad at all It literally has to be on my calendar What is your number one way to like stay organized like I already know you're productive because you have boundaries you know you work a four day week they are a long day sometimes but you love those three days so it's like what is the the thing that keeps you organized
lists notes in my iPhone gets absolutely worn out don't go looking for there are some great productivity apps but I just start listing my cell phone simple Yeah. And I'm like I literally I put the little checkbox so that I can check things but I keep like a household budget. I keep a business budget. I keep a to do list I keep a work to do list. I keep a Hudson wrangling list her child Yeah, but If you just have to keep those things in check, and I keep them separate, and I check them, and then it keeps me in tow because if I don't do the work on the front end to be organized and consistent, I'm chaotic on the back end, and I have ADHD. So I just know that I have to check my lists, and my house has to be clean, and my salon has to be cleaned, because I can't work in clutter. So if those things are set in place, I'm good to go.
When you load in and out of 1000s of events, like I used to have everything I'm like, every all even the back of the house needs to be perfect and everything all the boxes need to be lined up. And I'm so OCD. But with ADHD, it's like you get off to so many different things. And there are times where I'm like, You know what, Thank you, Amanda, it just doesn't matter. Yeah, and no one is going to know except you because you are so type A and A no when it comes to very specific things. And I really have to remember that because sometimes there are nights where I need to go to bed, make sure that whatever you're doing, just stick with that one thing, just that one thing. And if it is opening a note, rather than using a post it note, that's all
you know, a big rule that's helped me too. And I haven't really used it here. But I probably will start since I'm going to have a little more cleaning to do in a larger space. But I have a one hour rule in my house, I won't claim that I found I found this on tick tock so sorry, to the Creator, I cannot remember the video, but it was a game changer. You set an alarm on your phone or on Alexa or whatever you want to do for one hour. And I run around my house and I pick up as much as I can. And I clean as much as I can in that one hour. And it's kind of like a hard reset. And then if you have smaller projects you get into great if you're just going to unwind for the rest of the night. Great. But it's like kind of a way to declutter in a constructive amount of time. Because with ADHD, it's you know, I'll start one project and then I'll notice this and then I'm like, oh, I need to do this. Yeah. And then I've got 10 things. Yeah, but that one hour, I'm like, Oh, I don't have time to start that. And so it keeps me in tow
there is something to be said about the beginning and the end. I mean, I do big blocks on our calendar when I have to do the work like build a presentation or something Abacha two full days. Yeah, no client meetings, no calls, no zooms, no nothing. Because I can't GSD to like get into it and like think through it. So you've got to give yourself that time, if you're going to run a business. Also,
I've noticed too, because, you know, in solo concepts, like I've had lots of neighbors in here, and some are still here, and some have unfortunately not, you know, made it
out of them come to you for advice. And they
start, they they get too big too quick. I, my first studio I ran lean, I got cheaper furniture, I got a cheaper mirror, I really streamlined the products I would need because it was just me, I was very conservative on my ordering. Because when you get too far ahead financially that you can't catch up. It's kind of no saving grace, don't get in trouble with the IRS don't get in trouble with the state, those fines are massive, just follow the rules and run lean. And then when I moved to this stupid studio, because I did that on the first one, I could afford to invest in some better mirrors and some better things and expand our product line. But just start and keep it simple. And then you'll grow get out
of your own way. And the other thing too, like I wish I you know 20 years ago would tell myself it's like cute does not sell like clit, you have to be clear. What are you offering? What are you doing? What are you an expert at, if you want to own your own business one day and you haven't worked or your family is not an entrepreneur, go intern or go go, go get some tight. And then at the
end of the day help make sure what you're leaving your client with is good. If they're walking out of here. And even if you did beautiful hair and they leave not feeling great. If it wasn't a great experience, they're probably not going to come back. So make sure that you're connecting and you're offering a great experience and whatever product you're offering is the best that you know how to do it.
Yeah. And there's always new stuff. And it's not always better. But I will say over the years, things seem to be more cleaner. Like there's more research in products, things that cause cancer, one in three women get breast cancer. I mean, I have to only believe that it has to do with products that we're putting in our hair or we're putting on our face or we're putting on our skin because Why are so many women getting breast I
mean, I'm thinking about the top of my vanity right now and all the things that said, I mean, most women have at least that if not more, all those things and we're pumping them into our bodies and yes it does. It takes its toll if you're not very careful about what you're using, and
it will it will kill you like it can kill you. And it's different for everybody depends on your blood type your genetics, like there are things that matter. But just make sure that you're doing the homework slow down and like read the labels and like know what the hell you're putting in your body if you take anything away from this podcast is like that is one thing and I will say like turning my hair to grow back and stuff like paying attention to like the proteins and things. I mean 99% of it you tell me and then I might see a video on
that that's a big thing too. Like I talked to so many clients and it's not that they don't want to support us but you know that They may have found it cheaper or professional products aren't in their budget. So that was one of our big pushes, which when it's not released yet, but it's about to be is our E commerce because you can go on our website, you can shop out and it's going to ship straight from our supplier. So the same person that brings it to my salon will ship to your door like an Amazon or an Ulta. We're gonna price match from legitimate sellers. But that way you're not worried about getting a product that's been, you know, diluted or swapped with alcohol or a label slapped on a bottle. There's huge lawsuits in our industry over those things, because you might think that you're buying a professional brand. And really, they've just put something in a bottle and done a very good job of putting a label on it. And it's like, you have to make sure that you're getting it from a legitimate source.
And it happens. It happens like this. It's it's real life.
Oh, it's so bad. I mean, there's been so many lawsuits with so many big stores over it. We traveled for weddings and events within a you know, certain radius. I mean, if you want to get me a room in Mexico, I'll happily go. But we
specifically, we're very picky.
We know we like it's not a bad thing, right? Thank you so much. I'm so proud of you. Awesome. You've been
such a godsend through the whole process so well back.
Let us know what you learned today and be watching social media because we're going to be doing some education together. Yes, we have all these like beauty tips and things that your clients might be asking you about. If you're in this industry, a lot of us work in the beauty industry, which is an extension of the wedding and events industry. And if you have clients that have questions like reach out to Karissa, like DM her, ask her like she will answer or you'll make a video. Yes.
We love that. We love the questions and the ideas. I only know what I know about the hair industry. But when you've known it forever, you forget that it's not common knowledge. Yeah, so when people bring things to me, I'm like, Oh, that'd be great video, I forget that. That's not I love to share that. So we love the DMS of like ideas of things you guys want to see things you want to now bring them our way
and no questions too stupid now because I didn't even know like even curling iron barrels like they're different inches and like I missed that part of math. Like I'm not good at cinnamon all the in the brush with and there's just so many little things that if I would have known these things before, I would have a better experience of feeling confident and doing things myself. Yeah. And now it's just like, I'll just throw my hair back in a bun and put lotion on my face and go the priority is not putting hair makeup on every single day. Yeah, and especially as a business owner, like it's just not real life. We have other things to be watching both of our social medias because we've got some good stuff coming out for you. And thank you so much for tuning in today. And be sure to tune in next week via that's it for this week's episode of business unveiled. Now that you have all the tools that you need to conquer the world and GSD get shit done. Would you share this with your friends and fellow business leaders? One thing that would really really help us and help new listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a comment and Apple podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you tune in and listen to business unveiled. You can check out the show notes at Angela proffitt.com/podcast and link up with us on social media so you can share your biggest insights and I want to know your aha moments. Until next week, remember the profitable shifts and structures you're creating in your business help you be more present in your life. So get out there and GSD