Episode 7 - Take CONTROL of your PRICING.mp3

[ 00:00:05

]Welcome to the Hair

Hustle Podcast. I' m Heather Podlesny, your salon coach dedicated to helping

stylists master the business side of beauty. Whether you' re starting your

journey behind the chair or you' re a seasoned pro looking to level up, this

podcast is for you. Each week we' ll dive into the tips and tricks you need to

run a successful salon business with topics that will change the way you work

and earn. From budgeting hacks to help you keep more of what you make to time

management tips that will keep your schedule stress- free and the strategies

for boosting your retail sales and nailing that next promotion. Get ready to

build your dream business without burning out. Together we' ll cut through the

noise and get to the root of what makes your salon thrive.

[ 00:00:47

] So grab your shears,

turn up the volume and let' s hustle. Hey, hey, welcome to episode seven of the

Hair Hustle Podcast. Thank you so much for joining me. Today we are going to

take control of our prices. This is a request from the request line. Just kidding.

This was actually dropped into my DMs though and I want to say thank you so

much for requesting a subject for me to talk about because this one

specifically is near and dear to my heart. I started independent stylist

coaching specifically when I found out how my stylists were charging and

honestly just the lack of confidence behind their pricing and the services that

they were offering, and I understand that it is an issue amongst several of our

salons and stylists.

[ 00:01:42

] This one is for our

independent stylists. Let' s give them a shout out and we are going to help

them take control of their money and their prices and I' m going to give them a

great formula on how to revamp their prices. So if you want to start a new salon,

revamping your prices, I highly recommend now right before the holiday season

kicks off. Do not wait until January. If you are here, sister, you are doing it

or brother, please. You are starting now and we are getting this done. The best

time to raise your prices is actually right now, not January 1st. Please do not

put a sign up. Prices going up in January.

[ 00:02:21

] We will have a whole

other episode on that because I like to keep these episodes short, and if I get

down that road, it' s not going to be great. For today, we all know that I have

five bullet points on how you can take control of your money and how to charge

appropriately in this episode today. So, we' re going to kick this episode off.

I am also going to say that we are located in the Midwest of the United States.

We have lots of small town USA stylists and salons. I am happy to represent them.

My biggest reason for leaving corporate was because I wanted to make sure to

represent the stylists and salons that were small and I just want you guys to

keep in mind that if you are from the west side of the United States, if you'

re from the east side, if you' re from an urban city, I' m going to start

talking about some prices and you may be like, ' That is ridiculous.'

[ 00:03:21

] If that' s how you

feel, that is okay. This episode may not be for you. However, if you are

sitting there thinking, ' Yeah, I don' I really know why I charge what I charge

or I have no idea about the value of myself behind the chair, all of these

things, this episode is for you and if you' re someone that thinks that this

pricing is too low, simply increase it, okay? But at the end of the day, when

we look up on average how much our stylists are making across the United

States, it' s about $23 to $27 an hour. At the end of the day, I think that we

are hitting so many more people by being able to talk about that and not having

to talk about these big numbers that make someone, especially from the Midwest,

feel like, oh, I' m not charging enough and I can' t relate to them.

[ 00:04:10

] So this is meant to be

a relatable episode for everyone and it' s meant to be an open platform. If you

are ready and you feel like you want to keep moving on, let' s jump into it.

The first thing that I' m going to have you do seems so simple and it is to

calculate. What are your household needs? If you' ve been an independent

stylist for a minute or even if you' re going to be a new independent stylist,

this can be a goal for you on what you need because sometimes I totally

understand if you' re just getting started, you may need to do something else.

When I first started as an independent stylist, I waited tables, I bartended, I

did all the things just until I got my income up there.

[ 00:04:48

] But at the end of the

day, you need to calculate what your household needs from you in order to

figure out exactly where you' re going to be. Also, I have to say, you guys,

this is one of the most beautiful things about this industry. You have the

control to do this. So if you feel like you' re not making enough money or if

you feel like you' re booked and busy, but you' re not making any money, this

is the time to sit down and to revamp this. And this is one of the most

beautiful things that you get to do for you and for your own business and for

your own family. You don' t have to worry about it. You don' t have to worry

about it.

[ 00:05:25

] You don' To have to sit

there and negotiate a price for your salary and go on Indeed and look for all

of these crazy jobs. So I want you to keep that in mind, this is a blessing

that you get to say, this is how much I need. And now we' re going to figure

out how to get you there. Our example today is going to be that your household

needs $5,000 a month. So that is the money that we actually take home. The

money that we take home is different than the money that we bring in. Okay. So

the money that you bring in, behind the chair, is going to be different than

the actual money that is going to hit your personal bank account. Okay.

[ 00:06:02

] We' re going to sit

down. You' re going to do all of your expenses and you' re going to calculate

your household needs. If you have a partner, great. Maybe sit down with them

and figure out exactly what your plan is. If you have to get some debt paid off,

if honestly, if the number is way too high or way too low, whatever that' s

going to look like, I want you to set a goal for yourself on how much you' re

going to make. So if you' re going to make $5,000 a month, you' re going to set

a goal for yourself on how much that you may need to make behind the chair.

Because after you do this exercise, we' ll be able to adjust it from there and

I can get it into another episode.

[ 00:06:33

] Okay. Step one, we' re

going to calculate what our household needs. For our example today, we need

$5,000. Step number two, for the sake of this exercise, and this is a 10,000

foot view. This is not me sitting down specifically with your numbers and going

over that. I do that as well. And you will see some fun things come out of

this. So if you' re going to make $5,000 a month, in the future for you, if you

need more one-on-one help, please let me know because I also do one-on-one

coaching. So this 10,000 foot view, because we' re speaking to several people,

is step two. We' re just going to double that number. Okay. We need $5,000 in

our personal household income.

[ 00:07:16

] So I am simply going to

double that number and it' s $10,000. So 5,000 times two, $10,000. That' s step

two. That tells us the actual number goal that we need to be bringing in when

we are working behind the chair. Our goal behind the chair is to be bringing in

$10,000 every single month. Step three, we need to look at what our billable

hours are. What are billable hours? Billable hours are the hours that we are

technically working behind the chair and getting paid. That may not be the

needle moving things like working on our social media, like writing down our

finances, like doing this exercise. Those are things that we have to do and

they definitely help move the needle to get us new guests, to help bring up our

service ticket, to come up with new fun things, to make more money.

[ 00:08:15

] However, they are not

necessarily billable hours. For the sake of this example, we are going to say

that you work 35 hours. Five hours are spent on your things like your social

media, your cleaning, your ordering, your finance, your paying yourself, all of

that kind of stuff, keeping our money organized as well. And 30 hours are spent

specifically behind the chair, working, charging, making the money. That means

that we have 30 billable hours. So now that we understand what our billable

hours are, so we understand that we need to bring in $10,000 every single

month, and we understand that that is going to happen by working 30 hours a

week. Because I don' t want you to go and be like, ' I need this much money,

but yet I need to work 80 hours now behind the chair.' That' s not what this is

about.

[ 00:09:09

] This is simply about

giving you a guide, okay? No one has a meltdown on me. And if you feel like

you' re in a turmoil, good gravy, please reach out to me on social media or

some kind of a platform. I will help talk you off the ledge, okay? We.' re

going to keep it going here. So now we know we' ve got 30 billable hours and we

need to make $10,000 per month. We' re going to divide $10,000 by four because

there' s four weeks in a month. That means that we need to be bringing in on

average around $2,500 every single week. When I work 30 hours a week and I need

to make $2,500 every single week, I' m going to take $2,500 and I' m going to

divide that by my billable hours, which is 30 hours.

[ 00:09:55

] So the hours I' m

working behind the chair and that number is $83. 33. $83 an hour is what I need

to be making behind the chair. Now we' re going to figure out what you need to

make per minute. And the reason that we figure out what you need to make per

minute is because on average for profitability, you need to be around $1 to $1.

50 a minute. For this example, we' re going to take that $83. 33. We' re going

to divide it by the amount of minutes in an hour, which is 60. And now you know

that you need to be making $1. 39 per minute. Why is this important?

[ 00:10:37

] The reason that you

want to come up with your per- minute price is not just because you want to

make sure that you' re making that dollar amount, but it' s also going to be a

gauge for you to look at your menu right now and make sure that you' re even charging

properly. So now you know that you need to be making $1. 39 per minute. $1. 39

a minute to be bringing in that $5,000 a month to your household. We' ve got

your billable hours and your billable minutes down. You guys figured out that

formula. Great job. And now we' re at $1. 39 a minute. We know that we have to

bring in. Now for step four, we are going to set and test our service prices.

[ 00:11:15

] We need to figure out

exactly how much we' re charging and if we' re even charging properly. Let' s

look at our rates right now. We need it to be charging $1. 39 a minute like we

used in our example. I now need to look at my 90- minute service. So let' Say

that is a basic color retouch and haircut that takes 90 minutes. So I know some

of you; it only takes 75. Some of you, it' s 90 minutes. I want to look at that

number. A 90- minute service times $1. 39 because we need $1. 39 a minute, and

we' ve got 90 minutes. That should be about $125. Now you' re going to go to

your menu and I want you to look at how much is a base color application plus a

haircut because that' s about 90 minutes.

[ 00:12:04

] If I look at that and

I' m charging, maybe I' m charging $75 for a color retouch and I' m just

throwing in the haircut, and your haircut price is typically $45. If you are

throwing in that haircut and bundling, you are literally shorting yourself on a

service that you' I' m not charging. So I' m going to go to my menu and I' m

going to open that Bug Classic and let' s go check at our bundle. I' m going to

go to my tool list. In my bundle, you can see as far as individual products,

everything else is here but you can see on here that you can only buy a color.

[ 00:12:38

] So if I go to a call

and I click one of the aspects is for the physical person and then I prefer to

go to this message menu which comes to When it' s Schrita. So you can see just

a little bit in here by cutting out the bundling and doing à

la carte pricing. So same thing, I want you to look at a two-hour service. If

you need $1. 39 a minute, a two-hour service needs to be at least about $167.

So somewhere between $165 to $170, that total should be. If it' s nowhere near

there, let' s get you on a plan to get you there. If you are there, but maybe

you are bundling a little bit too much and it' s like your cousin came in and

your sister-in-law came in and your mom and everybody wants a discount,

[ 00:13:35

] I want you to go

through all of your customers and all of your guests and I want you to see

where your money is going and what it is that you' re charging. Now that you

know what you need per minute, we' re going to talk a little bit more about à

la carte pricing versus hourly pricing. When I talk about à

la carte pricing, I just gave you an example on how you' re shorting yourself

where you need $1. 39 a minute, but you' re throwing in $45 haircuts. That' s

number one reason why I love à la carte pricing. It' s clear and

concise. It' s easy to say like these are the things that you had done and this

is how much it' s going to be and you can see based on my menu.

[ 00:14:18

] As a coach, for quite a

long time now and a business partner to salons, you would not believe how many

consumers, so people who frequent salons, your guests, things like that, talk

about the fact that they don' t even know how much they' re charged from salons

or stylists. They don' t understand why their hair costs what it does and it

creates this really big gap between the stylist and the guest that doesn' t

even need to be there, and it' s simply because we don' t have the confidence.

We don' t have the confidence as stylists behind the chair to share these are

all the services that you had done today and this is how much it' s going to be

and it should be simply laid out.

[ 00:14:58

] And the other thing too

about why I love a la carte versus hourly, I have helped coach many stylists do

both. I want to make that clear. The reason that I' m recommending à

la carte right now today for this example is because you are, and if you' ve

listened this long, you' re probably a stylist that' s not charging enough and

you' re probably a stylist that' s not charging enough. And you' re probably a

stylist that doesn' t really know what' s happening with their money. The

reason that I say to charge à la carte pricing is because you can

say to your guest, ' so you may not even need to raise your prices.' In my

coaching business, there are so many stylists who didn' t even need to raise

their prices.

[ 00:15:39

] They gave themselves a

raise by charging what a guest received. It is insane how much you can give

yourself a raise simply by saying, ' Okay, Susie, thank you so much for coming

to me.' I wanted to let you know that I' ve done a pricing upgrade and I have

started charging à la carte. So what that means is you

have the ability to customize every single appointment with me. Today, you had

a color touch-up and a haircut. So you can see here, these two numbers added

up. It' s going to be $120 today. See where that went? It was super simple,

super easy, and it' s going to be $120 today. It' s something that you can

share with your guests and you can use that verbiage.

[ 00:16:25

] If you don' t know what

to say, totally steal mine. Also, something that I would highly recommend if

you are going to start doing this, but you have been mumbling a lot of prices,

something that I' m going to recommend is that you print out the menus. I know

we' re all trying to save the environment and do all of these crazy things.

There' s actually a trick in sales and it' s that when you' re nervous, that

you hold something. Okay? And when you hold on to that, it takes your energy. I

know that all of you have someone in your mind right now that you' re like, ' I

can' t tell that person.' I want you to tell them, get yourself a menu that' s

printed and you simply sit there or stand there with them and you say, ' Here'

s all the things that we typically do on you today.' The price is going to be,

and say it, no question mark.

[ 00:17:15

] I don' t want you

feeling not confident. I want you to spit those words out with a period at the

end. Okay? You got this. I know you do. That helps to create a clear, no

questions asked pricing guide, not just for you, but for your guests to

understand what they' re being charged. And it also helps to build the trust

because the guest is now going to feel confident in the fact that, yep, today

is my work' s appointment. I' m going to be here for three hours and I get it

done twice a year and it' s $250. Done. See how that easy? That is, or there' s

also a second option. Guess what? Today is simply a gloss and a haircut, and I'

m so excited to see my hairstylist.

[ 00:17:58

] This is simply my

maintenance appointment, and I know that it' s going to cost me $99. I want you

to get rid of the stigma of talking about prices with your guests and I want

you to feel confident in what you' re charging. Those are the reasons why I prefer

à

la carte when you' re in this state over hourly. Okay? I have helped coach

people into an hourly and a bundle rate to add in different treatments, and

things like that. And I' m okay with that. I don' t hate it, but if you'

Link to close out 2024 Promo Guide https://heatherpod.ck/page/c33c065299

Episode 6 - TEN Steps to kick off 2025

 00:00:05 ]Welcome to the Hair Hustle Podcast. I' m Heather

Podlesney, your salon coach dedicated to helping stylists master the business

side of beauty. Whether you' re starting your journey behind the chair or you'

re a seasoned pro looking to level up, this podcast is for you. Each week we'

ll dive into the tips and tricks you need to run a successful salon business

with topics that will change the way you work and earn. From budgeting hacks to

help you keep more of what you make, to time management tips that will keep

your schedule stress-free, and the strategies for boosting your retail sales

and nailing that next promotion. Get ready to build your dream business without

burning out. Together we' ll cut through the noise and get to the root of what

makes your salon thrive.

[ 00:00:47

] So grab your shears,

turn up the volume, and let' s hustle. Hey, hey, welcome to episode six of the

Hair Hustle Podcast. Thank you so much for being here. I definitely have to

celebrate a little bit with you. So with just five episodes, I have had almost

150 downloads. And so if you are here, I really truly want to say thank you so

much. If you feel like these are helping you in your hair career, please feel

free to share with any salon owner, any stylist. I am so happy to help and I' m

so happy you' re here. Let' s dive right into it. Today we are going to go a

little bit longer because we are going to talk about the end of the year

follow-up and coming up with a tracking guide for yourself.

[ 00:01:38

] One of the biggest

things that I have learned in my sales career is when you get to the end of the

year, it' s simply looking at everything that you' ve done over the year and

reflecting. In the beginning of the next year, it' s simply about what worked

really well and what didn' t. And reflecting on those two things can really

help you to be a little bit better in your business for 2025. With that, we ve

got about 10 different things. I know that that' s a lot for me, but they' re

all very important and it' s all something that I want you guys to take away.

So take one of them. Take two of them. Take three of them. Take four of them.

Take five of them.

[ 00:02:26

] Take all 10, whatever

you have to do. I want you to make sure that you are at least 1% to 2% better

after this episode and that this is something that you can implement for 2025.

We are coming up into November, which is so crazy and I know how busy each and

every one of you get behind the chair. That is why I feel like it' s important

to talk about it right now. This way, you can take it and as soon as the hustle

and bustle and craziness of being behind the chair during the holiday season

starts to fizzle, this is something that I want you to be able to take. Okay?

And maybe you don' t have a super hustly and bustly holiday season in the books

and that' s okay too.

[ 00:03:15

] Maybe it' s something

that you wanted. Maybe it' s something that you didn' t. However, if it' s not

super busy and it' s something that you wanted to be super busy, these are all

things that you can take and you can reflect on for 20/25 or maybe you can even

take them and reflect on them in your last three months and start implementing

them today. So let' s dive right into it. We are going to go over your year-

end follow- up and your tracking. So the first thing that we' re going to do is

pretty obvious. We are going to review and analyze our sales data. Wah, wah. I

know no one likes to talk about that. Here' s three things that we' re going to

do.

[ 00:03:55

] We' re going to look at

our top selling products. So if you' re a salon owner or a commissioned salon

owner, you are literally going to look at what SKUs in retail sold the most. We

want to break it down by, did you sell the most hair care? Did you sell the

most skin care, hair care, shampoos and conditioners? If you don' t know, that'

s okay. That' s why we' re here. Styling products. So that' s like your hair

sprays. That is your styling aid, your smoothing products, things like that.

We' re going to break down what categories sold the most. Next up, we' re going

to go into our top 10 SKUs. The most important thing about your top 10 SKUs is

if you do not have at least five to six back, which means five to six in

inventory or on your shelf, that' s what needs to happen for ' 25.

[ 00:04:42

] If you don' t have the

retail budget for it, we' re going to try to figure out how to get the retail

budget for it. We typically say we need at least two to three SKUs of each

product on your shelf. Why? Because no one wants to take the last one. So if you'

re a salon owner, you' re So typically three is what' s recommended. This was

shared with me years ago, and it' s one to show, one to go, and one to grow. So

even if you can only afford one to show and one to go, that' s what we need. So

we do not want onesies. We want at least two to three products. And then of

your top selling SKUs, you need at least six to eight.

[ 00:05:19

] Does that mean that if

you only have three of your top sellers, that' s terrible? Terrible? No, but

that' s just a goal that you need to build up to for 2025 for your retail area.

Next part is to track what happened with each of your promotions. I have a

really great year-end promotional calendar that is a freebie. Please, you can

reach out to me. I will actually leave the link right here in the show notes.

Please go grab that, and that actually takes you right into January and

February. You can start a promotion today with that sheet. And the other thing

that we' re going to get started with that promotion, that promotional sheet,

is we are going to then, after all of our promotions are done, we' re going to

look at how did each promotion go.

[ 00:06:01

] So if you' ve been

doing your promotions since January, it' s now November or December, how did

your January and February promotion go? Did you have to pivot? Did you try pick

a kiss in February and it was a flop? Did you try scratch-offs in March and it

was like, yes, we are doing this again? Great. So we' re going to go through

and analyze all of that data and our promotions. Do you have to be completely

tech-savvy for all of this? Absolutely not. When it comes to tracking

promotions, I always suggest at the end of each promotion, simply run your

reports on how sales went from this year to year prior, especially if you' re

new to this, and you can take handwritten notes.

[ 00:06:46

] You can put them on

your laptop in one file, whatever it is that you need. It does not have to be.

It doesn' t have to be crazy, but those are all things that you' re going to

want to track. Also, on that promotional planner and you' re tracking that success,

it' s not just retail. You also need to be checking out your add-on services.

Did you do an add-on service in that time period and how did it go? Did you

maybe have too many things going on in that time frame that no one even focused

on the service promotion? Or was a specific service promotion a complete

success and then you look at the product line and realize, it was a super

success in March, but here we were in August and that line completely died down

in our sales.

[ 00:07:32

] Did we just stop

talking about it? Do we need to have two animations a year along with that

service? Do we need to have two animations a year with that service add-on? All

of those things, we need to sit down and we need to figure out so that we can

come up with a really great plan for 2025. The next step in your year-end

follow-up is going to be about your clients. We' re actually going to gather

our client and guest data and any insights that we need to know. There' s a

couple of things here. We do need to make sure that we' re running reports for

this one specifically. We' re going to look at all of our clients.

[ 00:08:07

] We want to look at our

top-selling guests because that' s also something we could do some type of a

campaign even now. If we looked at our top-selling guests and we did a

gratitude campaign for our top 10, top 20 guests, that' s always really fun.

They could get entered to win something. We want to make sure that they' re

getting a credit. It' s something that just makes people feel good. Is it going

to drive sales necessarily? It will drive a positive outlook around your

business and if you have the budget to do so it will drive sales in the future.

Is it going to have like that turnaround return? It' s not. So, if that

Something that you need, maybe that isn' t something that you do.

[ 00:08:45

] But that' s always a

really great one. So if you can find a dryer or a curling iron or something

that' s been sitting in that back room or a thing of products that' s been

sitting in that back room or a thing of products that' s been sitting in that

back room, you can put together in a basket and simply do a gratitude campaign

for your top 10 people they' re your VIPs. That' s always a great one, okay?

That' s how we' re gonna identify those repeat buyers and that' s how we' re

also going to come up with a promotion that you can start right now. Now that

you Ve gone through and gathered all of your guest data, client data, and you'

re checking things out a couple things, two things that are really important.

[ 00:09:17

] Number one is your

average service ticket; this is is key when it comes to wanting to help your

stylist or if you' re an independent stylist make more money and it also helps

you to understand your business more. What is the average service ticket? That

means is how much on average the guest is spending, simply look at your service

sales so we' re going to add up all of our service sales and we' Re going to

divide that by the number of guests that we have, you can simply set a goal to

raise your average service ticket and that will help to make your salon more

popular, profitable, so we can dive deeper into average service ticket but

that' s a number that we want to know, so then this way we know what we need to

do um how we know exactly how much our guest is spending and then what we would

need to do for 2025.

[ 00:10:05

] The other thing that I

want to keep you guys in the loop on is the average order value, which is

called AOV in the retail world, and what that simply means is how much on

average is your guest spending on retail; but something that people don' t

understand is that the average service ticket is the average order value of the

client um I think that' s what AOV is it. Actually, the average purchase value

and then if you' re thinking about the average order value that people don' t

typically track is actually your average order value, so your aov you want to

be able to look at what people are purchasing in your retail area and what the

average order value is for that.

[ 00:10:32

] It' s not just to know

how much people are spending but it' s also how you can plan your promotions

for the next year. So, for example, if you' re looking at your average order

value in retail and it' s $59, and maybe you did a promotion back in June that

was over $60, then you get something for free. Maybe that didn' t go well. If

you would have looked at your average order value at $59, you would see that

$75 may have been a better incentive because it was just a little bit closer

and it was like one product away or one item away from getting them to that

$75.

[ 00:11:15

] So you would have

increased your average order value throughout the year, but also the promotion

may have landed a little bit better and it would have sweetened the deal a

little bit more. Those are all things to look at. We' re going to look at our

clients. We are going to see who is buying, how much they are buying in

services, and we' re also going to see how much they are spending in our retail

area. Next one is we' re going to look at and evaluate our marketing channels.

This one is huge and you can go very deep into your marketing channels. We are

going to talk about two and it' s social media and email marketing. If you are

not doing any of these, it' s okay.

[ 00:11:59

] We are an open space

here. You can start wherever you are. However, if you' re not doing anything,

your goal in this category of your marketing channels is simply going to be to

start and maybe you do need to hire someone. So if you have it in your budget,

you' re going to be able to do that. If you' Re not doing anything, you could

look into hiring someone to simply have a social media presence. You don' t

necessarily have to hire an entire marketing company at $1,500 or $2,000 a

month, but possibly looking at something that is within your budget that starts

to get you a presence and just kicks you off from where you are could be what

you need.

[ 00:12:40

] And maybe that' s even

paying a team member that you have to start getting going on your social media.

Now, if you are posting on your social media, we' re going to go through all of

our insights and we are going to go through our profile and we' re going to

look up what posts and or and or reels had the most engagement. So we need to

look up to see what did have the best engagement. So what are people liking to

see? Did you, did you possibly do a campaign and people absolutely loved it?

Did your guests love it? Did you get new guests? Was there, and this is also

when we' re kind of going to start looking at, okay, so when we' re evaluating

how many, new guests we had, maybe we had a spike in June, but maybe we also

did a social media new guest campaign.

[ 00:13:25

] So we need to make sure

what worked and why. Those are all the things that we' re going to look at when

we search in our marketing channels. The other thing is email marketing. I know

some of you are like, Heather, I do not want to do email marketing. I am going

to urge you to simply even something as simple as a weekly or monthly

newsletter. It does not have to be anything crazy, but if you are at zero and

you do not have an email list, let' s start with a weekly or a monthly

newsletter. Something that is super simple, super easy. At the end of the day,

social media is rented land on your business, okay? It can, anything can

happen. They can take things down, all of that kind of stuff.

[ 00:14:08

] At the end of the day,

you are your own voice and it is owned land. When you have your own email list,

you own all of those emails. You have the permission to use them so we are

going to use them and we are going to speak directly to them. I know that you'

re like, does anyone even open emails? Guess what: you can sign up with an

email service provider for free and you can go check that click rate if that is

if that' s what you' Re- thinking because that' s literally one of the biggest

pushbacks I get, and I think to myself I did used to think that way then I had

an email list, and then I realized how many people are clicking, and how many

people I get to talk to specifically for that.

[ 00:14:47

] I am going to challenge

you for this year coming up if you do not have an email list to simply start

with a monthly or weekly newsletter that simply shares your promotion with your

guests; Number four: we are going to measure our guest' s retention and their

loyalty. We want to know how many times our guests have been coming in, on

average, so are they at four weeks, are they at six weeks, are they at seven

weeks? This is all a standard measure, so then this way we can compare it two

years past. So for example, if you had your guests coming in in 20' 23, they

were coming in on average every four and a half weeks, and then we look at '

24, we see that on average our guests are coming in every six weeks; those are

really key points in your service sales, and they could definitely take a hit.

[ 00:15:41

] So we need to make sure

We look at our demographics as well when it comes to measuring our client

retention, because why do we have younger guests now? Maybe younger stylists

that are servicing younger guests that are doing more lived- in looks. Because

then maybe we need to think about how we run our promotions as well or are our

regular guests extending out their appointment? That' s something else that we

have to look into, so those are two things that we have to look at when we' re

looking at repeat visits up until next time. We are looking at the list for

referrals okay let. S move into the regional vin category of guest retention

and loyalty, we need to actually look at our referral and our loyalty program;

how long has it been since you revamped that referral program?

[ 00:16:24

] Because I am going to

tell you all of the accounts that I' ve been in they' ve been running the same

referral program since lord knows when. And I think can I never find anyone who

did a referral when I' m holding my own way of doing referrals. So maybe it' s

more digital. Maybe we' re going to literally text our guests that are sitting

in our seats and say, ' Can you please send this to five friends? Because I

absolutely love having you as a guest.' Or are we going to give them cards?

What does all of that look like? And we need to figure all of those things out.

Also, your loyalty program: How much are you spending on your loyalty program?

Make sure you' re going over the budgets.

[...

[ 00:00:05

]Welcome to the Hair

Hustle Podcast. I' m Heather Podlesny, your salon coach dedicated to helping

stylists master the business side of beauty. Whether you' re starting your

journey behind the chair or you' re a seasoned pro looking to level up, this

podcast is for you. Each week we' ll dive into the tips and tricks you need to

run a successful salon business with topics that will change the way you work

and earn. From budgeting hacks to help you keep more of what you make, to time

management tips that will keep your schedule stress-free, and the strategies

for boosting your retail sales and nailing that next promotion. Get ready to

build your dream business without burning out. Together we' ll cut through the

noise and get to the root of what makes your salon thrive.

[ 00:00:47

] So grab your shears,

turn up the volume, and let' s hustle. Welcome to episode five of the Hair

Hustle Podcast. Thank you so much for being here with me today. I am your host,

Heather Podlesny, and we are going to talk about one of the most amazing and profitable

strategies that you can have this holiday season, and it is the gift card

strategy. I hope that you are ready. We are approaching November very quickly,

and so I always like to make sure my salons and stylists have their gift card

strategy locked into place by November 1st. Does that mean you have to be doing

your promotion November 1st? No, that does however mean that you have to have a

plan.

[ 00:01:29

] So whether that is a

Black Friday blitz and you are selling gift cards at 10% off one day, or

whether that is an entire week of savings on your gift card or an entire 30

days, whatever that looks like for you, we need to make sure that we have that

plan in place. So let' s get started. First thing that I always like to talk

about is why. So you may be saying, Heather, I' ve never done gift cards

before. I m not even understanding why I need to have a gift card strategy or

why that really even matters for the holidays. I sell gift cards all year long.

Why do I have to create another incentive for that? Okay, you guys, I started

to do a little research and I sort of knew some of this research.

[ 00:02:18

] However, I must say, I

think my mouth was open as I was reading it because I thought, oh my gosh, I

need to share this with people. So here' s a couple of things that I found.

Number one, the average unused gift card amounts. If you' re a salon owner and

you' re multitasking, please start listening right now. Now is the time. We' re

going to go over a couple of whys and we' re going to go over some statistics

on why you want to have an amazing gift card strategy. Are you guys ready for

this? Do you know the average amount of unused gift cards per person in the

United States is $187? That' s right. $187. Just wait. It gets better. So $187

per person in the U .

[ 00:03:04

] S. have, we just all

have $187 gift cards hanging out somewhere. Are you ready for the next one? 6%

of gift cards are literally never even used. 10 to 19% of gift cards remain

unredeemed. Next, I was actually researching and I found this episode on CBS Detroit

here in Michigan. I was in Michigan and they interviewed a retail professional

and the statistic is there are $27 billion with a B dollars in unused gift

cards hanging around. And here' s the other crazy part is that according to the

National Retail Federation, gift cards are the number two given gift. The

statistics are mind blowing and why should you be offering gift cards? Because

it helps your cash flow.

[ 00:03:57

] And also I hate to tell

you, and this is sort of on us as consumers as well, but we don' t always

redeem the gift card. So I' m not saying to like catch people in this or

anything like that. However, this are all really important things to keep in

mind when we start talking about offering a discount on the gift card is that

that doesn' t necessarily mean that every single dollar will be redeemed. So if

you' re offering 10% off gift cards, don' t be scared. Okay. Cause we' re going

to talk about some promotions and I don' t want you to be afraid. So we' re

setting the stage with that next up as we get going, we' re going to talk about

something called girl math.

[ 00:04:37

] We all know all the

girl math rules. And if you don' t know, don' t worry, we' ll get into it. Now

that you know the statistics on why we want to offer some of these extra

special deals for a week or a day. We' re going to talk about why the strategy

matters for the holiday. So first things first, we Re going to create a holiday

exclusive offer. So just like we talked about, you have to decide, is it going

to be an entire week? Maybe it' s Black Friday. Maybe your salon is closed on

Black Friday. Totally. Okay. So maybe you do an entire week as like a holiday

kickoff. Maybe it' s the first week of December and it' s 10% off gift cards.

[ 00:05:20

] That' s the only time

of year that they can get it. So we are going to make sure that you' re going

to make sure that you' re going to make sure they get holiday exclusive, that

they can get 10% off gift cards, or maybe they get salon cash back. So maybe

they buy $50 in gift cards and they get $10 in salon bucks back. What would be

awesome about that is that we could also target new guests to our loyal guests.

So our loyal guests, we can say, Hey, guess what? If you bought $50 for your

friend, you could use $10 in cash for you. That' s a great way to also get some

new guests in your seats for the new year.

[ 00:05:54

] Also, why the strategy

matters specifically for holiday is just like we talked about cash flow for

slower months. Now it is recommended to have a separate account for your gift

cards. What that means is... We won' t get into crazy detail about it today,

but simply whatever you Re- taking in, in gift cards, we want to make sure that

we have that in a separate gift card account. So then this way, when someone

does come in to redeem the gift cards and services, we have the money to

actually pay our team. However, as the gift card does not actually cover any

card accounts keep building cash, you will start to see that maybe you may have

some cash that you can use that has been sitting.

[ 00:06:32

] We always want to make

sure that we have a separate account for our gift card money. So please make

sure that that is set up, especially if we are getting into some mega sales

here, because even though we are generating cash flow for slower months, we also

don' t want to get ourselves into a pickle where we spent that money and people

are coming in to redeem the gift cards and we have to pay our team for that. So

all things to keep in mind, just some good business practices. That' s what we

want to do. Let' s go over why the gift card strategy matters for the holiday.

We' re going to do some holiday- exclusive offers. We just said we' re going to

do bounce back in salon cash.

[ 00:07:06

] We might do 10% off

gift cards. We might do something, even if you purchase a gift card, you get a

free mini. Maybe in your 12 deals of Christmas in December, maybe that is going

to have one specific day that we' re going to do that. Do a bounce back and

just do a $5 off something fun and exciting, but that is just for holidays and

we do it every year. Next is targeting new guests. We can talk to our loyal

guests about gifting the gift of great hair to their friends and they can take

advantage of whatever deal is left. Then we are going to make sure that we have

a separate account. We' re enhancing the cash flow to have a really smooth

kickoff to the new year.

[ 00:07:53

] Those are all the

reasons why gift cards matter and having a sound strategy matters for the

holidays. Next, we want to unlock the potential of prepaid packages. Now, this

is where girl math comes in. I know that some of you are going to run 10% off

of gift cards and you may have a guest that comes in and says, ' She is,

extremely loyal. She comes in every four weeks and she says, can you add up all

of my appointments for the year of 2025? Or I want my next 12 appointments or

my next 10 appointments for the next year. You may be saying, Heather, why did

I just give my guest 10% off because they want to purchase for the entire year?

I feel like I' m losing my butt in that.

[ 00:08:47

] Please do not worry.

Number one, we need to make sure that we re training our team that when someone

does have a gift card, they almost need to be like flagged in our system that

they purchased their entire year out because we want to make sure that we are

talking to them about retail. At the end of the day, they' re going to purchase

more because all of that is taken care of. Not only that, you actually locked

that person in for an entire year. What a blessing that is. Not only were you,

able to take the cash up front, but you' re also able to lock that guest into

their loyalty for an entire year with you and your salon company.

[ 00:09:30

] And they now may have

the budget or the funds for the rest of the year to purchase retail to take the

upsell. So yes, Susan, your color retouch is taken care of with your gift card.

But please don' Forget that we have this amazing new conditioning treatment

that takes off a year of service damage. Would you like to try that today for

45 dollars and treat yourself? She' s probably going to say yes, so it is our

job to make sure that we are training our team in all of this verbiage of the

services that we have to offer as well as the retail that we have to offer. We

need to make sure that our team is trained and ready to roll for these

potential prepaid packages or potential prepaid clients.

[ 00:10:20

] Next, is a term that we

all need to think about that' s called ' Girl Math'. If you don' t know what

Girl Math is, please feel free to go look it up I. m going to tell you

essentially it is a set of rules that women we made up to justify impulse

spending, and one of the number one rules of Girl Math is that any money on an

app or on a gift card is essentially free. So what that means is: if we

purchase - yes, we did spend our money; yes, we know that we bought our entire

year of appointments at the end of 2024, and our entire year is taken care of

in 2025.

[ 00:11:07

] However, with this

trend, please make sure that you are using this i' Hint hint, I am giving you a

social media idea right now to be able to sell an entire year during your

promotional time. But also to make sure that they are still buying in 2025

because in the rules of Girl Math, anything on a gift card is pretty much free.

So when they come in in April for their hair appointment, oh that' s free! What

products do I need to use because my appointment was taken care of today? Other

rules in Girl Math do the same. You have to write about suitability and

constantly making the math include any money from a return - anything less than

five dollars is free. And also, pretty much anything paid with cash is free

because it doesn't count.

[ 00:11:58

] To affect the bank

account, even though this may seem a little ridiculous to you, I want you to

keep in mind this is how the consumer thinks. So, you now have a great social

media strategy for your gift card promotion and you also have a really great strategy

even for going into 2025 to make sure you have some of those really fun reels

and exciting things to remind your customers to spend their gift card but also

to remind them that we have other things to buy. If you came in and your

appointment was, quote-unquote, ' free' today, feel Feel free to pick up this

brand new shampoo and conditioner because it' s on sale at 20% off. Or feel

free to pick up the latest and greatest conditioning treatment to make sure

that you care for your hair all year long.

[ 00:12:54

] Now, I' m sure hope

this gave you some inspiration and some motivation to plan out what days or

what day you are going to have an aggressive sale on gift cards. I also hope

that it gave you a couple ideas on what promotion to run on your gift cards.

And I also hope that it gave you some marketing tips and tricks for selling

your gift cards. So I hope that all three of those things came to you while you

were with me here today for this quick episode on gift card strategy. And I

hope you got to learn a little something fun today as well. Because these

statistics shocked me. And if you are new to Girl Math, here we go. I' m happy

to share with you because I love some Girl Math myself. Thank you so much for

joining me on the Hair Hustle podcast for our fun holiday gift card strategy.

If you have any questions or concerns, or if you have another topic that you

would like to hear about, please reach out to me. I cannot wait to hear from

you. Thank you so much for joining me today.

Episode 4 - 5 Steps to Success in Holiday.mp3

[ 00:00:05

]Welcome to the Hair

Hustle Podcast. I' m Heather Podlesny, your salon coach dedicated to helping

stylists master the business side of beauty. Whether you' re starting your

journey behind the chair or you' re a seasoned pro looking to level up, this

podcast is for you. Each week we' ll dive into the tips and tricks you need to

run a successful salon business with topics that will change the way you work

and earn. From budgeting hacks to help you keep more of what you make, to time

management tips that will keep your schedule stress-free, and the strategies

for boosting your retail sales and nailing that next promotion. Get ready to

build your dream business without burning out. Together we' ll cut through the

noise and get to the root of what makes your salon thrive.

[ 00:00:47

] So grab your shears,

turn up the volume and let' s hustle. Welcome to a very special episode of the

Hair Hustle Podcast. I' m Heather Podlesny, your salon coach dedicated to

helping stylists master the business side of beauty. Welcome to the Hair Hustle

Podcast hosted by me, Heather Podlesny. I am so excited that you are here

today. We are going to talk about the five steps to holiday success. If you

haven' t started your holiday already, whether that is your express menus, your

holiday menus, so on behalf of services or it' s on behalf of retail, you

haven' t even placed your order yet. It is not too late. Let' s get you started

today. Okay.

[ 00:01:25

] If you kind of want to

get yourself into a funk, we' re going to get ourselves right out of it and we'

re going to get going with these five easy steps. As you guys know from prior

episodes, I typically like to keep these episodes at 15 minutes or less. So we'

re going to try really hard, but I' m going to make sure that you have all the

nuggets that you need to get started. Let' s go with the first step in your

steps to holiday success. And that is: We re going to build a holiday retail

game plan. We' re going to start with holiday. Number one, we' re going to

start ordering and we are going to set our goals. Okay. Whether that is, I have

10 stylists and 10 weeks until Christmas.

[ 00:02:06

] I know that they can

literally sell one set per week. Whether that is you use a formula that was

given to you, whatever that looks like, we are going to order and we' re going

to set our goals. Part two is to get that display together. If you haven' t ordered,

we' re going to get some inspo going. If you have ordered, we' re going to make

sure that it' s displayed beautifully and it should be out now. If it' So not

out already, we' re going to also line up our team incentives with a planner

and a date. So what does that mean? That means that every single time that we

have an incentive lined up or changing. So for example, right now you might be

running like bingo cards.

[ 00:02:46

] Every time a stylist

gets a bingo, they get a, like a small gift card. Okay. Maybe you' re doing a

coverall that started a couple of weeks ago and that' s running. You' re going

to get a little bit of money out of it, but you' re going to be running until

December 16th because it' s a bigger prize. Whatever that looks like, we' re

going to get our team incentives locked down. If we have multiple greats, and

we' re also going to put those on the calendar and we' re going to know exactly

when we' re changing those. Fourth is going to be the same exact thing only

with guests. So we are going to make sure that we look at our calendar and

every single time that we have a date, we are going to make sure that we have

the signage.

[ 00:03:18

] So for example,

November 4th, maybe you are making a full on switch over to holiday and you do

hang tags. So you make every single set look like a gift. Okay. But we. We are

going to make sure that we have all those dates locked in and we have all of our

tasks in our calendar, because then this way we know when we need to print it,

when it needs to be done. Five, we are going to nail down any events. So if you

do not have this done right now, you, I want you to literally look at that

calendar and name that event and put the date on it. Okay. You' ve got to have

that locked in because you want to make sure that you' re shopping in the best

way, but also that you' re guests have enough time to attend or shop for the

event, whatever that' s going to look like.

[ 00:04:03

] Even if it' s gift

cards, that' s a great one as well. Make sure you have that down. So if that' s

like an event, maybe you' re doing a week long event. Maybe you' re doing a day

event on gift cards. Even if it' s something that' s not necessarily that the

salon is shut down, get those dates and events locked in and then have, and

know exactly what you' re going to be doing. The next thing, the last part of

step one is tracking. Okay. Make sure that you are tracking every single thing

that you need to know. So whether that is you' re incentivizing your team by

how many sets they sell per week, or you are incentivizing your guests to share

something on social media, whatever that looks like, we need to make sure that

we' re tracking and we' re holding everyone and everything in our company

account.

[ 00:04:48

] Step two is creating a

festive shopping experience. Nothing sells like nostalgia. Keep that in mind.

And when we literally create the experience, it puts people in the mood to buy.

So when we talk about creating a festive shopping experience, we want to touch

all the senses. So whether that is touch, whether that is what everything looks

like and what a guest can see, whether that is the smells. So if you have some

essential oils or candles, whatever those things look like, we want to create a

full on festive experience. For our guests to be in the mood to buy and to get

in the mood to Christmas shop. Okay. Whether that is they want to treat

themselves or they want to literally start buying for their list.

[ 00:05:39

] We are here and ready

with some great products. And we know that people love the gift of grey hair.

Make sure we have all of that experience that literally just warms the buyer up

to wanting to purchase. Step three is your purchase. Promotional plan. When we

talk about our promotional planning, this is a more in-depth version of what we

talked about in Part One, when we talked about our team and our guests'

incentives. We literally - when I say you guys', you need to go into your

calendar. You need to color- code them. And you need to put tasks and you need

to put events in your calendar. So, for example, on November 4th. I want you to

put on your calendar. We' re going to prepare for Black Friday.

[ 00:06:22

] What' s Black Friday

going to look like? Are you there? Do you have a skeleton crew? do you have a

full -on crew what does that look like what are going to be your goals for gift

cards that' s a great one do you have an event coming up what promotions are

you offering for that event do you need to go shopping do you maybe not have

the budget to go shopping so you need to reach out to a guest that possibly you

can barter with i am all about things like that and i understand if you' Re a

larger salon company, you probably are just fine to be able to offer certain

things and that could be in your budget, but if you are a smaller salon company

and you really don' t have the budget for things like this or you' re new,

that' s okay.

[ 00:07:01

] Start using all of your

resources so when we come up with a promotional plan, it is that number one on

October 28th, we are going to make sure that we have all of our holiday express

menus sent to print, we are going to make sure that we have our team incentive

sent to print. I promote a box set blitz board which is so much fun, so if you

don' t have a box set blitz board, you can re going to have to make sure that

you have a box set blitz board, which is so much fun. So, if you do want any

more information on that, please send me a message. We are going to count all

of our sets and we are going to then set our goal for our board for our team

incentive.

[ 00:07:33

] We' re going to print

all the tags for a free conditioning treatment that go on every single set

because we want to offer a gift with purchase on November 4th. Then, we' re

going to get that everything ready for Black Friday. We are going to make sure

that we have gift card signs all over are you forgetting anyone? Whatever that

looks like, we want those printed sent and ready to go. re also going to set

our goal for our gift card november 22nd what is that going to look like we' re

going to count all of our sets again i know you' re probably thinking why am i

counting my sets all the time

[ 00:08:06

] because you want to

make sure that you are tracking and what you track get managed which you do not

track manages you we are going to make sure that we are sold out by december

16th we' re going to do our last minute black friday deals on november 22nd december

2nd we are then going to schedule our 12 -day black friday schedule and we days

of deals on our social media. Are we going to do a social media campaign for

December? What does that, what is that going to look like? We' Re also going to

count our sets again, and we' re going to see, we' re going to check our boards

in the back for our team incentive, see how our team is doing.

[ 00:08:37

] We' re also going to

check to see who took advantage of the Holiday Express menu. How are our add-on

services going? That is everything that you need to make sure. So see, we

actually had three touch points. Then December 16th, we are going to celebrate

and schedule a pizza party because all of our sets are literally going to be

completely sold out because we had a solid promotional plan that we tracked the

entire eight to ten weeks of Christmas. Step four, client engagement and

upselling techniques. Here is what I' m going to say about client engagement.

We want to find every single way that we can get our clients to buy our

products. So we' re going to connect with our clients.

[ 00:09:19

] So whether that is on

social media, whether that is through an event, I want you to come up with a

campaign to keep your clients engaged. We' re scheduling like a like and share

contest on your Facebook, Instagram. Those could be options that keep all of

your clients engaged. And maybe that is something as simple as giving them a

conditioning treatment to enter to win. It does not have to be huge. It could

be a coffee card. It could be a treatment with a new brand. It could be a new

brand. It could be a new brand. It could be a new brand. It could be a new

stylist that is trying to build. It could be a pedicure if they' ve never had a

pedicure. It could be any new to you service.

[ 00:09:54

] So we' re going to keep

all of our clients engaged and we' re going to keep it fun and exciting and

enticing for them to want to shop, buy and have their services done with us.

When it comes to upselling, this is also something that you may need to train

your team on. Also, number one reason why it is so important to at least if you

do not do monthly meetings, I know it I' m recommended to do monthly meetings

and I know not all of us are doing them. And is that okay? Yep. So if you do a

quarterly meeting, if you do a twice a year meeting, and if you don' t do one

meeting, I am here to tell you, if you' re going to do the strategy, you need

to have one.

[ 00:10:34

] And it needs to be in

either September or October to talk about the entire plan that we just laid

out. Okay. And it needs to be to talk about upselling techniques because so

many stylists in this industry, they' re not going to be able to do that. They'

re not going to be able to I don' t want to be a salesperson. You' ve heard it.

I' ve heard it. All of that. And selling is simply telling during your meeting.

You' re also going to do tips and tricks on upselling. What are we going to do?

We' re going to tell them verbiage that they can use. We are also going to walk

them through an entire experience of a guest. Okay.

[ 00:11:10

] So when we talk about

upselling techniques, it' s, it could literally start something as simple as

this. Did you finish up all your Christmas shopping? Because you know, you' re

already asking that every single person that we see from November, probably

15th to December 23rd, actually probably the 24th. We' re literally saying to

them, did you get all your Christmas shopping done? An upsell technique can

literally start with something as simple as that. And if they say yes or no, we

still have an opening because if they say, ' yes', I' ve started my Christmas

shopping, you can say, ' Oh, did you?' Did you get all your odds and ends for

your babysitter, your nanny, your UPS driver? Because we all get all those

packages.

[ 00:11:53

] Did you get anything

for them? And they might say, ' no', no, I didn' t. And I have this person left

in this person left. You can say, ' great', because I can help you walk through

their hair type, or we have this really great color care package or a shampoo.

That' s just simply great for everyone. There you go. We sold them on net. So

that' s just one simple upselling technique. If you would like more upselling

techniques and more verbiage, please feel free to send me a message on any of

my platforms, because that is one of my favorite things. So that' s a super

simple one that literally anyone can do. And the question that everyone is

always asking, okay, we are now on to step number five, which is the post-

holiday follow- up.

[ 00:12:37

] So we made it, we made

it to December 16. Whether you sold them all, or you didn' t, it' s going to be

okay, because guess what? We have always got a plan. Okay. Our plan is to be to

count all of our sales on December 16. If we sold all of them, great. We are

calling our local pizza parlor and we are finding the day that we need to buy

our team pizza, we' re going to do something exciting, whatever that looks

like. If your team is all gluten- free, or whatever that looks like, that' s

fine. Maybe get them a salad bar, whatever anybody likes. That' s what we are

doing. And we are planning that for the week of the holiday season. We know

that our team is burnt out.

[ 00:13:19

] Also, when I was in

sales, I had a team that would set up like a grill outside and they would do

breakfast one day and then they would do you know, like hot dogs and things

like that for the afternoon. And it was simply to celebrate their team and the

team absolutely loved it. Those are all things that I want you guys to think

about, like simple, easy things that you can show appreciation for your team.

And if you are a big team, that' s okay. But if you are a big team, that' s

okay. You can have a big team that doesn' t necessarily cost a lot of time or

money. Even if you have a huge team and it' s not in the budget to do a huge

pizza party.

[ 00:13:55

] That' s okay. There' s

other ways that you can do it. Okay. So keep that in mind. Keep an open mind.

Now we' re going to move on to the teams that maybe didn' t sell all of their

sets. And is that okay? It is. However, we want to reevaluate how many sets you

actually have. Is this like, I' ve got six sets left, Heather, and I' m just

going to put them in out of, you know, 200 sets. You can do that. You can do

that. You can do that. You can do that. You can do that. You can do that. You

can do that. You can do that. You can do that. You can do that. You can do

that. You can literally break them apart and put them in inventory.

[ 00:14:20

] High five. You did it.

We' re not even going to sweat about that. Okay. However, if you have 25% or

more of your sets left over on December 16th, the first thing that we' re going

to do is we are going to do a blitz till holiday. So whether that' s you have

to work with, or whether that' s what you want to do a discount of an extra 20

to 25% off of the sets from December 16th until Christmas Eve. Whatever that

looks like, I want you to come up with a really solid plan and have an

aggressive sale for that week. Then we reach the week between Christmas and New

Year' s. I know that this is a time where people like to take off to spend with

their families, especially in this industry, because you guys have been busting

it out for months now.

[ 00:15:08

] And so I totally

understand. So if your salon company is running a skeleton crew, that's fine.

But I want an email going out to all of your customers. If you have SMS, we

want a text message going out to those customers. And we also want to still

have some type of a deal. So whether that is a dollar amount offsets, because

let' s say right before Christmas, you did 30% off or 25% off of those sets for

that week. Fine. Now, when we get to the week between Christmas and New Year'

s, we might actually have two different options. We might change that to a

dollar amount on those sets, because that percentage off may not have been

going great. So maybe we' re going to run the dollar amount.

[ 00:15:53

] That could be option

one. So instead of saying 25% off, we I' m going to say $10 off or $15 off of a

$50 set, and then run it like that. And then we would also create the signage

and even just do fun little star pops on each of the sets like $10 off $15 off

something like that. Because I do recognize that sometimes in certain accounts

and in certain areas and in certain salons, dollar amounts off do much better

than percentages off. So that' s also a hot tip for you to take home. And to

understand that like if you' ve been running percentages off and your

promotions have been flopping, change it to a

Link to 2024 Promo Plan: https://heatherpod.ck.page/c33c065299

00:00:05

Welcome to the Hair Hustle Podcast. I' m Heather Podlesney, your salon coach dedicated to helping stylists master the business side of beauty. Whether you' re starting your journey behind the chair or you' re a seasoned pro looking to level up, this podcast is for you. Each week we' ll dive into the tips and tricks you need to run a successful salon business with topics that will change the way you work and earn. From budgeting hacks to help you keep more of what you make to time management tips that will keep your schedule stress-free and the strategies for boosting your retail sales and nailing that next promotion. Get ready to build your dream business without burning out. Together we' ll cut through the noise and get to the root of what makes your salon thrive.

00:00:47

So grab your shears, turn up the volume, and let' s hustle. Welcome to the third episode of the Hair Hustle Podcast. Thank you. Thank you so much for joining me. I am your host, Heather Podlesney. So we are getting started today with maximizing retail sales in your salon. I' ve got five quick tips for you. As you know, we like to keep these episodes short and sweet. So if you love this, we are going to dive deeper into each of the tips in episodes in the future. So come on, let' s get ready to talk about one of my favorite subjects, which is retail sales in your salon. We' re going to start with the five tips. I' m going to begin with a pre -tip, we will call it.

00:01:33

And it' s simply that choosing a brand. It' s choosing a brand, choosing the full portfolio, having a belief line, and really going with whoever the brand is that matches all of your values in your salon company. This may take some interviewing. I worked for a distributor and in corporate America for 10 years. And so I totally understand the importance of matching a brand that is the right fit with your salon. So we' I' m going to start by saying, finding a brand that you would like. Okay. I don' t work with brands anymore, so I get to kind of go on whatever we say, but I just want to make sure that you have a brand that when we give you these tips, you don' t have like a cherry- picked line of five different brands and nothing of the same, because all of these tips, you really need.

00:02:25

A full portfolio of a brand and you need multiple of each in order to really make this. So it may be an investment for you, but that' s where you need to get started. Okay. So let' s get into tip number one, promotional calendar. So when I say promotional calendar, you might be like, oh my word, that just sounds like a lot. Honestly, what we' re going to do is we' re going to break a promotional calendar down into six promotions a year. So that' s every other month, we' re going to have a product promotion, a service promotion, and then we' re also going to have a team incentive. Okay. So that' s going to be for your staff. This can work for independent salons and commission salons.

00:03:04

You can actually grab a free, I will actually put the link here in the show notes. And I actually have a promotional calendar example already made up for you from now until the, get you to 2025. So, please feel free to go grab that because it literally has every single tip and trick that you would want to get started. Okay. So, that' s what you' d need if you' re not getting started. So all' s you need promotional calendar, six promotions a year. You can find out what your brands are offering. You can start offering your own. It' s great to sometimes go with the brand on what they' re offering. So, if they' re giving 20% off leaders, then you can actually come up with a really fun tagline for that and then move it on just as an example.

00:03:45

Another great one for right now is because we are approaching October is pick a pumpkin. You can go grab some either pumpkin Reeses' s or something along those lines, right? 10, 15, or 20% off. So 20% off on the back of them. Every single guest that comes in, picks a pumpkin and that' s what they get off their retail purchase today. So there' s a fun couple of different, really fun trick or treatment is also a really great one for a service promotion. We' re going to get that going and we' re going to kick that off every other month. That' s tip number one. Tip number two is product knowledge. And that just does not sound fun. What I like to say is selling is telling. So that' s it.

00:04:20

So we want to make sure that when we kind of like start this relationship with the brand that we re going to have in our salon, we want to make sure that they either have an online portal that they have, um, that they can send artists in to train our team. We want to make sure that they know degree of heat protection that the thermal protection goes to. We want to make sure that they know that it has 72 hours of frizz control. So all of those little tips and tricks are really important. And to be honest with you, one product knowledge class will not do. So yes. When we get a brand, we' re going to have one big product knowledge class, but you also want to make sure that you' Rehaving at least two per year or one per year at the very base, because we always know that we' re not going to learn everything all at once.

00:05:13

So great little touch points, inviting your brands in to be able to say, ' So then this way, when we' re talking to the person in our chair, when we' re talking to our guests, all we' re doing is telling them about it. And we' re teaching them how to do it. Let' s start with the best product knowledge class. How to solve their problems. That' s it. We don' t have to get crazy. We don' t have to be these little robots that know everything. We just need to know those little tips and we just have to share them. That's it. Tip number three on maximizing your retail sales. Oh, are you ready? Creating a retail experience.

00:05:41

I have so many of you over the last 10 years of coaching people with their retail who have said, oh, I hate Ulta. Oh, I hate Sephora. And we do not want to say that. I understand that they offer an experience. And my challenge to each of you who want to say that is to go in and understand why the consumer is buying. Because they' re offering an experience that people literally cannot help themselves. They want to buy something. And we can take tips from that in our small business and we can put those tips to work in our retail area. Another great tip is to actually create your silent salespeople. Are you ready for this? What' s a silent salesperson? That' s your displays. That' s your signage.

00:06:32

What are your mirror clings? There are literally a hundred ways, maybe not a hundred, but pretty close. There are so many ways to create an environment where consumers can know and understand what the deal is by a sign. So keep that in mind. Also, if you have the budget to purchase or a brand even has these available, then trial sizes are really a great way for a guest who' s already said no to actually offer them a sample. Key is, I said, they already said no to the full- size investment. We could gift them a sample to try, and then they could bring that back in for 20% off the full- size front. Okay. So create the retail experience that people know, love, and desire is tip number three.

00:07:19

Tip number four is in maximizing, salon retail is soft selling techniques. So what does this mean when we talk about soft selling? It' s also consultative selling. When we talk about consultative selling, we simply are saying that we' re taking things in the consultation that we heard needs, desires, and problems in the very beginning of the appointment. We listened and we know that possibly our guests, I' m giving an example, maybe our guests at the very beginning of the appointment, they' re not going to be able to sell their products. They' re going to be able to sell their products and they' re going to be able to sell their products and we' re going to help them take care of their own hair.

00:07:54

But in the beginning, during the consultation, I do not understand why my hair is so frizzy right now. When we start to approach this, we can simply say, Oh my word, we have a new product, or maybe you have an old product. It doesn' t matter what it is. We have a product that helps prevent frizz for up to 72 hours. I would be so happy to show that to you. Bam. Right there. You are solving their problem that they had a frizz. We are giving them the solution. Also in consultative selling, one of the biggest problems I have ever seen, and no one ever thinks that they' re guilty of this, but they are because I have seen it hundreds of times, probably even thousands of times, is the biggest opportunity to talk about product is at the shampoo bowl.

00:08:44

And I have witnessed so many times a stylist shampooing a guest' s hair, the guest literally saying, oh my word, that smelled so good. And the stylist literally said nothing. They simply would say, ' Oh yes,' and then would keep telling their story that they were telling. And I want to be like, ' That was your opening line.' So if you did nothing, you actually hindered them from wanting to purchase it. And now they' re going to leave the salon being like, ' That shampoo smelled really good.' I wonder what kind it was. And then they' re going to start shopping somewhere else. So sometimes it' s our fault that they didn' t buy is because we were too busy talking.

00:09:28

So always, always, always make sure at the end of the appointment, you wrap up, you go through all of the problems that they were having because we are hair problem solutionists. I don' t even know if that makes sense. As a thing, but that' s what we are. So we are solving all the hair problems of the world. And that' s why our guests come to us. They want great hair, but then also, they want great hair, not just when you do it. They want to be able to do their own hair and have it look great. Tip number five is track sales, set goals. This one is kind of tough sometimes, but that' s okay. I' m here to help you.

00:10:05

So one of the biggest things that we can talk about when it comes to tracking your sales and setting your goals is having team incentives. And sometimes I think we get really stuck on the number of sales or setting the sales number goal. Should it be 10% to retail to service? Should it be a certain dollar amount? Should it be a certain unit? So, number one thing that I' m going to say to this point right now, and we will dive deeper into this in weeks to come, is that if you are new to selling retail in a serious way, you need to be in test mode. And as an owner or a manager, you have to constantly be thinking that you' re in test mode.

00:10:46

So, what that means is that, if your team may not be motivated by the contest that you did, but you can' t give up. So it So, same thing when it comes to actually offering the promotion to your guest, your consumer or your guest might not be interested in a percentage off. They actually might like a dollar amount off instead. So, same thing with your team. Your team may not love the fact that you just offered them this $300 blow dryer as an incentive. They might like it if you offered them a night out to one of the like hot restaurants that are in your area. So you have to do all of this homework, and in the promotional planning portion, this is when you' re going into test phase and you' re going to see what actually motivates your people.

00:11:35

But if something was not successful, sometimes it' s just one little tweak and then it could be the best promotion that you've had. It could be a tweak on your team incentive. It could be a tweak on how they perceive the team incentive. It could be that they like a big board in the back room or it could be that they like a sheet and they like to track it themselves. There are so many different ways to tracking sales and setting different goals and team incentives for your team, and sometimes it' s literally about trying one. If it worked, we write it down, we track it for the next year or for the next cycle, and then we' re going to try something different the next time.

00:12:16

So if you re new to this, just know that some of these tips or promotions or incentives, they might not work and it' s not because they' re bad, it' s because you just didn' t hit the right button on your consumer or your team. So another great point in tracking is sometimes you don' t always have to track dollars. You can track units. I know several teams who love it when you track units. So instead of saying you have to sell five hundred dollars, maybe it' s that you sell ten units. And maybe they sell ten units and they get something small or maybe they get entered to win something larger. Whatever that looks like. And then also there' s a couple other fun ones like the no game.

00:12:57

So you actually just track how many no' People get and the person with the most no' s or you get something, some type of a prize. And then also there' s even the three product challenge. This is one of my favorites: it is that you take three products. At the end of every guest, you take three products up to the front desk and you simply say, here are three products that I used on you. Please don' t tell me that you did not use three products because if you use a shampoo or conditioner, you should have at least used one type of styling aid or something on them. Yes, I' ve heard every excuse in the book if you' re wondering so. And that is simply they brought up three products and they get entered to win something.

00:13:32

They didn' t even have to sell a product. We know that when a service provider brings up three products that a guest is over 90 percent likely to purchase one. We know that when a service produc tcomars brings up three products, that a guest is over 90% likely to purchase one. service provider brings up three products they' re over 90 likely to purchase one what i know that is a crazy statistic so i just want everyone to keep in mind that selling can be fun and exciting your team can get super excited about it and let' Get everybody ready to rock and roll, especially you guys, for this holiday season! So don' t forget, free promo planner if you can' t start anywhere or you' re not even sure where to start, start there because it has all kinds of fun tips and tricks, and just pick one, pick one to start with. Thank you so much for joining me for episode three, and I can' t wait to see you maximize on all of your retail sales we' re going to dive deeper into each one of these tips in the following weeks. Thank you so much, have a great day! Make it a great day, and let' s go create some great- looking hair!

Episode 2 - Mastering Time Management.mp3

[ 00:00:05]Welcome to the Hair

Hustle Podcast. I'm Heather Podlesney, your salon coach dedicated to helping

stylists master the business side of beauty. Whether you're starting your

journey behind the chair or you're a seasoned pro looking to level up, this

podcast is for you. Each week we'll dive into the tips and tricks you need to

run a successful salon business with topics that will change the way you work

and earn. From budgeting hacks to help you keep more of what you make, to time

management tips that will keep your schedule stress-free, and the strategies

for boosting your retail sales and nailing that next promotion. Get ready to

build your dream business without burning out. Together we'll cut through the

noise and get to the root of what makes your salon thrive.

[ 00:00:47] So grab your shears,

turn up the volume, and let's hustle. Welcome, welcome to episode two of the

Hair Hustle Podcast. I am your host, Heather Podlesney. I'm so excited that you decided to

join me for episode two. Today we are going to talk about one of the biggest

issues and problems that I see on my stylist minds, and that is time management

in the salon. So today I am going to give you four simple tips in 15 minutes or

less to really get you on the right track with your time. Tip number one in

time management is time blocking. So I know that you guys have heard it. I know

that you understand it.

[ 00:01:35

] We need to take this to

a new level, and we need to make this part of our habit. One of the biggest

things with time blocking in your salons is simply dedicating specific tasks to

a certain time. So whether that's appointments, whether that's social media,

bookkeeping, anything like that, time for it to get you around, whatever that

looks like, those all need to be blocked off. So let's start with how can you

create the perfect day for yourself, and that is literally to come in 15 or 30

minutes before your guest. So we are not walking in the door when our guest is

already sitting there, because that time blocked 15 minutes can be enough for

you to get set up and get ready for your day. Obviously we have time blocked

for appointments.

[ 00:02:22] I know you guys are all

already great with that. Possibly you have an office time. You know. I have a

lot of clients that are just busy, and I have time, I even have some clients

that we have started to block off like just a little 30 minutes for maybe for

them to eat and not just like shovel their food in their mouth as they're

trying to mix up color. So if that's one of your dreams, do that. And then also

bookkeeping, we talked about that in episode one. Like where are you going to

find that time? So if you have a set schedule that you want, if it's Monday

through Thursday from nine to six and that's all that you want to work, great.

[ 00:02:54] One of the beautiful

things about this industry, especially even about being an independent stylist,

is that we have control of our time, so we need to take advantage of that and

not let everything just come into this huge overwhelming situation. We want to

prioritize our tasks; we want to make sure that we have efficient productive

hours, whether that is we're working on someone behind the chair doing

highlights or we are figuring out what our business budget needs to be. Tip

number two for time management is to prioritize profit. So, we just talked

about in time blocking showing up 15 to 30 minutes before our guest. What does

that mean? What do we do there? Some people might be saying, and if you're

wondering what to do, you can actually be looking at your day, finding out

where you can put add-on services.

[ 00:03:42] Like I had just

mentioned, if you want to be someone that works only you know three to four

days a week or specific days or hours, there's only so much that can Be done in

that time and there's only so many ways that we can make money. One of the ways

to make more money without doing more or working more hours is to do add-on

services, so taking that 15 to 30 minutes to look at each person and what type

of treatment can we be adding on and looking for those little 5-10-15 nugget

minute nuggets of opportunity. Those could be really great options for you to

make more money and I have literally seen people make hundreds of extra dollars

a month simply by looking at what type of add-on services that they can be used

with the people who are already in their books, so analyzing that is a really

great.

[ 00:04:35] Step in that first 15

to 30 minutes before your first guest arrives, the third tip for mastering time

management in the salon. Oh, this is a tough one, but I know you guys can do

it. It's reducing overwhelm and looking into automating tasks. There is so much

to do in a day, we all know it, and some of you are working 10-12 hours behind

the chair, and quite honestly, even eight hours behind the chair is a lot. It's

a lot of mental energy, it's a lot of physical energy. So really finding out

ways to reduce overwhelm is a great way to like take some of those things off

of your plate. That's why I love automated tasks because they're able to just

help.

[ 00:05:19] You're saying whether

that's if we're looking to reduce your overwhelm, reduce your overwhelm, and

reduce the amount of work that you're doing so it's a really good thing to do

that! What are a few things that we can do? Number one is you can start looking

into online booking. I know you guys sometimes say like, 'Heather, I don't want

to get into online booking.' Honestly, it streamlines your booking so much. It

can prevent double bookings. And honestly, it can even help to reduce no-shows

because it will give you automated reminders, which is also another automated

test. If you're not doing online booking, make sure you have those automated

reminders. You can send a text and that's one less thing that you have to do.

Another thing is social media.

[ 00:05:56] I know how overwhelming

social media can be. And it's like, I'm not even sure what to do about social

media or what to put. And so something that you can look into is apps like Meta

Business Suite, Planoly, Later. There's so many different scheduling apps. So

maybe if it's just that you need to post two or three times a week to maintain

your followers and you don't necessarily want to grow a social media, but you

just want anything to do with it, then you can send a text. And that's one less

thing that you have to do. A presence and you want people to be able to go on

there and look and see your work. That could be a really great way to simply

automate and plan out.

[ 00:06:29] Using scheduling apps

can be a really great way to automate your social media for you. Another great

way to automate some of these tasks and get rid of some of this overwhelm is

having something like an automated form. So for example, JotForm for any new

guests. So I know several of my clients, they are very overwhelmed sometimes

when it's like a new guest is wanting to get into their book. Sometimes a

simple JotForm, if they're trying to ask you if they could go from one color to

the next or this or that, sometimes a simple JotForm of like before and afters,

what times can you come in? I can actually help you with a really great form. I

can help you with some amazing questions to put on a JotForm just to get all

the information that you need.

[ 00:07:14] But it's not a

four-hour text or four-hour messaging conversation through the JotForm. It's

really just a few DMs to get through. It's just automated. It's easy. And then

as soon as they're done with it, you simply open it up, you look at it and you

tell them what times that you have available. And the final tip is boundaries.

When we're looking at mastering our time management and wanting to be happier

and healthier stylists that provide amazing services, we really do need to

sometimes look at our own boundaries. Because sometimes when we get

overwhelmed, we are just not in the best self. I struggle with saying no. I

100% get it. You don't have to explain it to me. But I always want everyone to

feel good about saying no.

[ 00:08:01] And I was given this

tip a long time ago. I love it. And I still use it now because everyone always

says, 'Do you ever hear this?' No is a complete sentence. Oh my God. I know

that no is a complete sentence. Thank you so much for sharing that with me. However,

sometimes I really do have a hard time saying no and then not saying anything.

A couple tips that I have from a fellow people pleaser is you don't have to say

no. Sometimes you can simply say 'not right now' or 'not at this time'. Both ways

of saying no without actually having to say no. If maybe you have the guest

that calls, that we all know they have missed two appointments.

[ 00:08:41] Their grey's are down

to their ears and they need to get in and there's just no anything. They want

to come in. Maybe your day off is Thursday and they're like, 'nope', I want to

come in on Thursday. I want to come in on Thursday. I want to come in on Thursday.

I want to come in on Thursday, that's the only day that I have. So something

that you can simply say is 'Susie, I do not have that available right now.' Or

'Susie, I do not have that appointment available at this time.' I do have a

reservation available on next week on Tuesday at whatever time that is. So I

just want you guys to feel more comfortable simply setting clear boundaries.

[ 00:09:14] Just because we make

our own schedule doesn't mean that everybody and their brother has to fit in at

the exact time that they need. I just want you guys to feel more comfortable

simply setting clear boundaries. It's also about prioritizing you and prioritizing

your healthy boundaries. Some of you are really great at healthy boundaries,

and I'm like high five. However, there is a really big percentage of you that

we still have a really hard time having personal time for ourselves and just

being okay with that. So I'm here to help you. I'm here to help coach you

through that. And I sure hope that this mastering time management episode was

so helpful for you, or at least for you. At least gave you the confidence to

say not at this time. Thank you so much for listening to Episode Two of The

Hair Hustle podcast. Make today a great day.

[ 00:10:21] Thank you so much for

listening to The Hair Hustle podcast. Make today a great day.

Additional questions or suggestions: please email [email protected]

IG: @heatherpodlesney

FB: Heather Pod

Website: www.heatherpod.com

[ 00:00:05]Welcome to the Hair

Hustle Podcast. I'm Heather Podlesny, your salon coach dedicated to helping

stylists master the business side of beauty. Whether you're starting your

journey behind the chair or you're a seasoned pro looking to level up, this

podcast is for you. Each week we'll dive into the tips and tricks you need to

run a successful salon business with topics that will change the way you work

and earn. From budgeting hacks to help you keep more of what you make to time

management tips that will keep your schedule stress-free, and the strategies

for boosting your retail sales and nailing that next promotion. Get ready to

build your dream business without burning out. Together we'll cut through the

noise and get to the root of what makes your salon thrive.

[ 00:00:47] So grab your shears,

turn up the volume, and let's hustle. Hey, hey, welcome to the first episode of

the Hair Hustle Podcast. I am Heather Podlesny, your salon coach dedicated to

helping stylists master the business side of beauty. I'm so excited that you

are here today. So I want everyone to keep in mind and let's get episode one

kicked off so that you understand all of the podcasts, unless I've announced

differently, will be around 10 to 15 minutes because I know that our minds work

so quickly here in the beauty industry and we don't always have time to take in

an hour podcast, a two hour podcast, all of the things, and sometimes even a 30

minute. So my hope is to get in your ears for 10 to 15 minutes every week.

[ 00:01:31] So that could be your

commute in the car, taking your kids to school, anything like that. So let's

kick it off, get into episode one. I've got four hot tips on budgeting basics

for independent stylists today. And then I've even got one bonus. I feel like I

might have two bonuses, but we'll get into it. So bonus number one, not bonus

number one. Let's get into it. So let's get into it. So let's get into it.

Let's get into it. So let's get into it. So let's get into it. So let's get

into it. So let's get into it. So let's talk about the hot tip number one and

that's to track every dollar. Now I know so many of you try to track every

dollar and I know most of you know what's coming in and what's going out and

sort of like a, an ish version in your mind.

[ 00:02:14] So let's stop ishing

that. And sometimes tracking every single dollar is simply more about your time

and taking the time to do it. So my suggestion Simply pick a time. I understand

that if Friday's the last day of the week that you're working, do you really

want to do it on Friday night? Especially if you got one munchkin that is maybe

in some type of a sporting event, you got somebody that's in football, and

you're kind of like mom Uber driver as well as soon as Friday night kicks off.

I totally understand. So maybe that is Sunday night for 30 minutes. You're

going to be able to open up your Square, your Gloss Genius, whatever you're

using app. You're going to be able to see every dollar that you brought in, and

you're actually going to be able to write that down.

[ 00:03:01] So now we're going to

get also into a detailed version of what's going out, and that's also going to

be put into this 30 minutes, okay? We're going to do the same thing every

single week. So a couple of tools that can help you to figure out what's going

out are QuickBooks, and honestly, sometimes just a simple spreadsheet of

everything that went out that week, how much you spent at your distributors,

how much you spent on specific apps, anything like that, all to keep your

business going, we're going to track that, and we're going to be organized

about it. If you want a basic spreadsheet to fill out, I also have a super

simple one, and I'd be happy to share that with you as well. Tip number two, we

are creating a budget.

[ 00:03:46] So I am here to tell

you we're going to start this tip off by saying, I am in the Midwest, and I

have been coaching salons and stylists. For the last 10 years, I know and

understand because I've known several people across the country, how definitely

rent prices and costs vary amongst specific areas. Sometimes even here from

rural to urban areas, I am using numbers that are specific to a more Midwest

area, okay? So, and I also- And I also feel that the Midwest is

underrepresented when it comes to things like this and tools to help, and so

sometimes we're listening to things that it's like, oh my gosh, your rent is

$400, and they're not even in a studio suite.

[ 00:04:40] This is specifically

for our area, and I would be happy to help anyone outside of the area. However,

I just want to make sure everyone understands this for here. Number two,

creating a business budget. We are going to go over five different. We're going

to go over five different categories, just to keep it easy. There's going to be

rent, product costs, taxes and insurance, marketing miscellaneous, and then

time off and education, okay? So rent should be around 15%. So what does that

mean? We know that rent is a fixed cost. I, as an independent stylist, am going

to pay the same exact amount of rent, no matter if I bring in $1,000 or if I

bring in $3,000. Your rent should land somewhere around 15%. You do have wiggle

room here.

[ 00:05:25] If you needed a couple

extra percentage points, that's fine. If you needed a couple less, that's fine

as well. We would find a way where to put it. However, if you're bringing in

$1,500 every single week, then that would actually look like a rent of about

$225 a week. So that is what you can afford. Those are things to keep in mind.

Also, if you're an independent owner, and if you're trying to raise rent,

that's a great way to help coach your staff to make them feel better. Okay? And

then as an independent stylist, if your owner does need to raise the rent,

that's how you can also figure out what you can and what you can't afford.

Okay? Product costs. So what are you spending on your hair color?

[ 00:06:07] What are you spending

on your shampoo? All of that stuff. That should land somewhere around 10% to

15%. Industry is stating around 15%. I like to always get a little bit lower

all the time. So that's also something that you can work on. Also, if you're running

this and you're at 18%, try to be 1% better. Okay? So those are all ways to do

it. And also, look at all three, like, three months in a row and average that

out. Because you may have had to make an investment in something, and that's

okay, but you just want to make sure on average you're spending around 10 to

15% on product cost. Next is insurance and taxes. I am not your accountant.

However, we do all have to pay taxes.

[ 00:06:50] So that's around 15%.

Deal? Next, we have Marketing and Miscellaneous. So, I have several people who

are like Heather. What do I need? Marketing and Miscellaneous for? We've put

that down to about five percent. So, Marketing and Miscellaneous are really

great for if you want to do a contest. For example, if you're trying to gain

new clients, um or you want to do like express services. Maybe you're doing a

social media campaign. You can use that money to go towards Facebook ads. You

can use this money to print Express menus for guests. You can use it to print

20% off new guest cards, um there's so many different things that you can use

this. You can even use it to do a giveaway.

[ 00:07:33] So instead of maybe

trying to figure out what product line has a mini-to give to all of your guests

for free, maybe creating a huge basket and that would actually come out of your

marketing budget to do for the holiday. So every single guest that comes in

they get entered to win this big basket, retail value at you know four hundred

dollars and you could actually use that out of your marketing budget. So that's

a great way to use that last category, here's going to be education and time

off. I put these two together, it's about five percent. I put these two

together specifically because I know a lot of times when we actually

[ 00:08:08] go to education events,

we're not behind the chair necessarily making money so also but this can also

be used if you've got a sick kiddo if you wake up in the middle of the night

and they're you know having a they have the flu or they have 103 fever and you

can't come to work the next day then these are all reasons to have a little bit

extra in order to make yourself go. I do have one extra tip on this budget

situation. And this is an emergency, only so I do not recommend that you do

this all the time. However, if you're doing nothing right now and you're

literally flying by the seat of your pants, if I can just ask you to do one

thing and you're doing nothing right now and you're doing nothing, it's to just

take half – what that means is if you're bringing

in fifteen hundred dollars, only take half and put that into like your

personal, what you're paying yourself.

[ 00:09:00] It doesn't quite work

out however we're not I am not delusional, I know so many of you are walking

around just doing nothing and guessing, so if you can at least do half on those

weeks where you went on vacation and you're doing two times the amount of people

or maybe you did have a sick kid that is going to be one step better so i would

be proud of you just for that if you're doing nothing but we're not going to do

that all the time okay all right so i'm all about giving tips and tricks to just

be a little bit better and i love that and then you'll get in once you start to

do that you're going to be like oh that really did work and you might want to

do more all right so tip number three is cutting hidden costs this one's super

quick and super easy also can be done in your 30 minutes of time that

[ 00:09:49] doesn't cost you

anything like it only takes five to ten to one hour for all theyorsuners to buy

this type of thing so this cut-off production type Leonardo Di da Vinci is

great highly worth this one it's cheaper it's a little expensive but you are

see you should probably buy about two like three hours okay and a half to two

hours if you like out there how about we do it in just a couple versions and as

i showed you if you can see when you are closing all this out just remember

that when you're closing all 혹ia but let me be honest if you can get

a Maarie do a 200 and one loan crises if you sing a thousand about just going

already things and making sure that there's Nothing sneaking in on there.

[ 00:10:21] Or girl, you may have

been using QuickBooks since 2022 and you may have been paying the $30 or $35 a

month that that spent and you've never touched it. Let's get rid of that and

let's just get you rolling. Next, the final tip is allocating for growth. This

is a little bit more advanced. However, if you have big dreams, I just want you

to start budgeting so that you can allocate some money to make your dreams

happen. Okay, so whether that's you're an independent stylist and you want to

open a salon, whether that's you're a suite and owner and you want to open up

your own set of suites. These are all things that I want you to keep in mind

and have like for a dream investment and that's why we're getting into this

budgeting.

[00:11:09] There could be an extra

percentage of maybe 10% in that business budget that's like, this is for like

me when I want to open up my own or this is for me when I want to buy that

building. Whatever that looks like. All right, and are you ready for this bonus

tip? Oh, here it is and you guys are probably going to roll your eyes when you

hear it, but it's an emergency fund. I know. Even in your business, you should

have three to six months of expenses because it is 2024 and if you lived

through 2020, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know Know

so, stop it! We even need three to six months of expenses in our business

because as independent stylists we are still responsible for all of those

expenses.

[ 00:11:56] I hope that this was so

helpful for you. We are closing out episode one. I'm always happy to help you

can reach me on all my social platforms with any questions, I love to hear from

you. I would love to hear what was your favorite and also if you have any

additional questions. All social platforms at Heather P-O-D-L-E-S-N-E-Y, so

that's Heather Pod Lesney. Everything will be in the show notes. You can also

email me at [email protected] thank you so much and I cannot wait to see you

next time.

[00:00:05]

Welcome to the Hair Hustle Podcast.

I'm Heather Podlesney, your salon coach dedicated to helping

stylists master the business side of beauty. Whether you're starting your

journey behind the chair or you're a seasoned pro looking to level up, this

podcast is for you. Each week we'll dive into the tips and tricks you need to

run a successful salon business with topics that will change the way you work

and earn. From budgeting hacks to help you keep more of what you make to time

management tips that will keep your schedule stress-free; and the strategies

for boosting your retail sales and nailing that next promotion. Get ready to

build your dream business without burning out. Together we'll cut through the

noise and get to the root of what makes your salon thrive. So grab your shears,

turn up the volume, and let's hustle.