There's a particular kind of calm that only comes after years in the trenches.

In this episode, Sam and Jen sit down with the brilliant Sara Briscoe from Roca Verde, an 18 year salon owner, country girl turned Sunshine Coast icon, and one of the most refreshingly real voices in the industry right now.

Sara has built, sold, renovated and rebuilt her way through nearly two decades of business, and she brings all of it to this conversation without filters, without fluff, and with a lot of heart.

They talk about what it actually looks like to build a salon from the ground up, from a tiny 50 square metre space called Blondies to the stunning Roca Verde, and now into the next chapter with a brand new build in the works. But this episode goes well beyond bricks and mortar. It gets into the stuff that lives underneath the beautiful feed and the full appointment book. The real cost of running a big team, why wages to sales ratios matter more than most people realise, and why so many salon owners are still undercharging and burning out because of it.

This is also a deeply human conversation about leadership, letting go, and learning to love the season you are in. Whether that is a season of growth, a season of stillness, or a season of just holding it all together while a new dream takes shape behind the scenes.

What we cover

1. Sara's journey from country Queensland to building one of the Sunshine Coast's most recognised salons
2. What it really takes to buy, build and renovate salon spaces over 18 years
3. Selling a building you love and starting again from scratch
4. Wages, pricing and why knowing your numbers changes everything
5. The tiered pricing model that brought wages to sales back into a healthy range
6. Hiring for the person, not just the skill set
7. Why a bad culture fit can rock an entire business
8. The apprentice conversation the industry needs to be having
9. Learning to let your people go with grace and pride
10. Why it is not that deep, and how that mindset shift changes everything

There is one thing that has stayed consistent across 18 years of building, selling, hiring, losing, laughing and starting again. And that is Sara.

This episode is a reminder that you are the constant. Everything else is just the season you are in.

Timestamps

00:00 Episode Summary

02:02 Podcast Welcome and Guest

04:54 Warts and All Growth

09:55 From Country to Salon Owner

12:42 Building Roca Verde Empire

17:29 Designing The All Space

20:43 Selling Up and Staff Trust

23:52 New Site and Pop Up Plan

30:08 Family Priorities and Burnout

33:49 Apprentices vs Freelancers

39:20 TikTok vs Instagram Comments

39:52 Wages Salon Misconceptions

41:03 Apprentice Pipeline Crisis

44:57 Pricing Value Perception

48:15 Raising Prices Without Guilt

54:02 Tiered Pricing Know Numbers

01:00:43 Hiring Culture Retention

01:06:05 Letting Staff Leave Well

01:09:34 Its Not That Deep Wrap

Mentioned in this episode:

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