Intro: Do you feel like you were meant to have a kick-ass career as a hair stylist? Like you got into this industry to make big things happen?
Maybe you’re struggling to build a solid base and want some stability. Maybe you know social media is important, but it feels like a waste of time because you aren’t seeing any results. Maybe you’ve already had some amazing success but are craving more. Maybe you’re ready to truly enjoy the freedom and flexibility this industry has to offer.
Cutting and coloring skills will only get you so far, but to build a lifelong career as a wealthy stylist, it takes business skills and a serious marketing strategy. When you’re ready to quit just working in your business and start working on it, join us here where we share real success stories from real stylists.
I’m Britt Seva, social media and marketing strategist just for hair stylists, and this is the Thriving Stylist Podcast.
Britt Seva: What is up and welcome back to the Thriving Stylist Podcast. I’m your host Britt Seva and I want to speak to the studio suite owners in the house for a moment.
Now, usually I try to keep my advice a little bit more broad and say this is applicable if you’re a salon owner, this is applicable if you’re a commission stylist, this is applicable if you’re a working from home. Sometimes I like to dabble into the niches and I got a really interesting message from a stylist named Becca and I want to tackle her issue.
Now, I also want to say something at the top of this episode. There’s a few people who have commented on my posts and said, “Britt, you’re so pro the suites and you know suites are hard for salons,” and I totally understand.
I want to clarify something. I’m not pro-suite, I’m not anti-suite. I am pro beauty professional. I think that one of the most beautiful things about our industry is it’s one of those where to each their own. There are so many different ways to work and be successful today.
Now I will say (and I’ve said this openly and I mean it) if and when I open a salon again, it will be an employee-based salon. I don’t have any concerns thinking it’ll be hard for me to staff because everyone works in a suite. I don’t think so. I think that some people are cut out to work in suites. I don’t think suites are for everybody. I think they’re an amazing opportunity for those who don’t want to be a salon owner and haven’t been able to find a salon team that really fits their needs. I think it’s a really great option.
I can remember when I was in the salon—we were a hybrid salon, so we were commissioned when I started, only commissioned stylists and then we transitioned to being hybrid. So we had commissioned stylists and booth renters, which I loved. I really liked that model ’cause I think it gave a lot of options for everybody to grow in the way that worked well for them.
I’ll say a lot of our high performers stayed commission ’cause they liked the perks and benefits of it. But we did have some people go rental and that was fine too. We did have some people who chose to leave us and go to studio suites. So I’ve seen it all happen before. When I look at the people who left us to go to studio suites, I think they were just done. I think that almost like that ship had sailed and they were in a place where they were ready to move on to their next chapter.
I think that sometimes we get caught up in the fantasy of 1957 where the goal was to go to school, learn a skill, get hired somewhere, stay at that job for 40 years, and then one day retire. I don’t think most people work like that anymore. I think if you have somebody who works for you for a decade, I mean you’ve really done something right. That’s a really long time for a team member to stay in one place anymore.
Now, I don’t think we’re at the place in space where this is the end of salon teams. What I think happened was the bar was raised and what it looked like to be a salon owner in 2002 is not what it looks like to be a successful salon owner in 2023. Salon owners are being pushed to create real leadership skills and come up on what it looks like to be a true salon leader. When salon owners aren’t willing or able to push their skillsets, to push their offerings, to level up what it looks like to create a salon where stylists work, this is the option and the opportunity that some stylists are taking, and I think it’s a really great opportunity.
Let’s speak to Becca’s question and give some insights to those who are in studio suites.
Becca says, “How do I get my natural and organic niche out there in the area that I live in when I created my new salon suite? I don’t have a clientele and I’m still working in Boston trying to make this dream of mine come true, as well as working at my salon three days a week, so I only have four days a week for my salon suite.”
This stylist is working with a salon team three days a week and on their own in a studio four days a week. Seven days a week right now.
“I have a Google and I’ve gotten people to leave reviews and great feedback, but now I’m stuck. I’ve owned a salon before, but it was a larger salon with lots of overhead and I had renters, so it didn’t cost me anything except for electric and maintenance.”
This is a really common challenge is a lot of people get excited about the idea of a studio suite without realizing how expensive it is. I actually had a really interesting conversation with my friends Tony and Corey over at Hairdustry. If you’ve not discovered their podcast, give it a listen. Love those guys. They’ve had me on their show a couple times, and I’m pretty sure—I think it was the last time I was on it was Tony, Corey, myself, and Michael Cole. We got to talking about studio suites and one of the things that we felt was interesting is—I posed the question, I said, “How many of you know stylists who went into studio suites and it was way more expensive and overwhelming than they thought it would be?” Everyone was like, “Oh my gosh, yes, of course. That’s such a common story.” And then one of the people on the call, you have to listen to the episode to find out who, one of the people on the call said, “Actually for me, I came out ahead financially.” And we were like, “Wait, what?” And they were like, “Well, yeah, because I primarily do just haircuts. So I don’t have the overhead of stocking a chemical bar. My clients don’t buy retail. Literally all I’m paying for is the rent on my unit and then I’m just going in and doing hair.” Like their profit margin is huge.
But if you are doing color services, extensions, texture services, anything with a chemical or an additional piece beyond haircutting, you’ve got an overhead that you’re taking on. I think a lot of people underestimate the cost.
When we look at a studio suite and we look at what does it take to get a studio suite off the ground, in some ways, it’s the same as getting any business off the ground. When you look at it from that perspective, in any business, you need the five facets of smart business growth.
Every smart, profitable, successful business today has the talent, which is the person who does the work. You being the stylist and most studio suite owners have the talent. That’s the piece that’s always there. It’s the four other pieces that are lacking.
The four other pieces are the CEO, who’s the person who has the vision. A lot of you are like, “Well, I own the suite, I’m the CEO.” No, no, you’re the business owner. The CEO has a very different job.
Currently in my business, I’m the owner and the CEO. Hopefully, one day I’ll appoint somebody else to be the CEO and I’ll just be the owner and I’ll do totally different things. I think that clarification’s really critical. You can be the owner and never be a CEO. The CEO has vision and the CEO is pushing for change and the CEO is always educating themselves. And the CEO is curious and the CEO is saying, “Where am I failing as a leader? What are other leaders doing that I’m not doing? What are other salons and studio suites doing that I’m not doing?” CEOs are very curious and innovate forward, and a lot of studio suite owners don’t have that right now. And that’s okay, but it’s the truth.
Then we have the chief marketing officer. What are you doing to market the studio suite? You said, “I have a lot of reviews.” Okay, well that’s one of the four levels that you need for marketing. Are you doing the other three levels or are we just skipping those? Right? The reviews is one fourth. So what about the other 75%?
Is your chief marketing officer—and when I say is your chief marketing officer, I mean you. I mean are you putting on your marketing hat and doing the work to make that happen?
Then we have the chief financial officer. The chief financial officer doesn’t just call the CPA every quarter or once a year and say, “Let’s do my taxes.” The CFO is looking at budgeting, revenue, profit margins, pricing, revenue streams all the time, right? That has to be checked in.
Then the COO, the chief operations officer, who’s going to get a lot of love on this episode, we’re going to talk a lot about that person, and is that chief operations officer saying, “What can I do to maximize this experience?”
I think the number one reason studio suite owners are not growing as fast as they want to is—drumroll please—they’re not maximizing the one competitive advantage that they have. It’s almost so obvious that it’s a blind spot.
What is it about a studio suite that you liked? You have your own space, right? You’re fully in control, it’s all yours. You get to do whatever you want with it.
Then a lot of studio suite owners get in there and they don’t do much. They’re so excited for the opportunity to have their own thing and then they put up some cute decor and they’re like, “Okay, nailed it.” No, no. I think maximizing your environment is the number one competitive advantage you have as a studio suite owner.
When you look around at salons, there’s a lot of salons that are modern, there’s a lot of salons that are clean, there’s a lot of salons that are trendy, there’s a lot of salons that are fun. What else you got?
And P.S., not all clients are super down for the idea of being in a studio suite. Some are, right? Introverts of the world unite. Some are like “I like the quiet, I like just being there by myself.” Some do.
If you talk to enough clients, you’ll talk to some that’ll say, “That wasn’t for me. I miss the buzz of the salon.” There’s a lot of stylists who don’t want to work in the suite because they’re like, “I miss the buzz of the salon.” But those who are drawn to suites and who maximize suites—when I see studio suite owners who are killing it, they’ve created what I call an immersive experience. Immersive experience.
I believe tons of studio suite owners are going super soft on their branding and their environment and that’s what’s causing them to grow really, really slowly. Some of the things that we can do with our environment is the decor for sure. I think what I’ve noticed is a lot of studio suite owners are like, “Well, I’m going to go natural,”—I’m using this for example but you could use anything. They’ll get some wicker furniture and put a couple plants in there and have cohesive colors and they’ll be like, “There, I did it.” Well, kind of, except for that there’s four other studio suites in the building that are pretty similar or they’ll paint one wall hot pink or something and then hang up a neon sign and be like, “But look, I’m different.” It’s like, what? The idea is half baked.
Have you ever been to—this is going to be the most obscure reference. This is how my brain works, everybody. Have you ever been to the restaurant The Rainforest Cafe? There used to be one in San Francisco. Oh, is it still there? I can’t remember now. San Francisco. There used to be one in downtown Disney. I’m California girl if you can’t tell, and I’ll be honest, the food there is not great. The food is just okay. It’s like mediocre American kid food, for the most part. But they’ve got these very tropical cocktails and when you go in there, these animatronic animals and there’s a river that runs through the entire restaurant.
The reason why a restaurant concept like Rainforest Cafe works is not the great service and it’s not the good food. It’s the environment.
When you’re in a studio suite, environment is your number one competitive advantage. I think that it’s a piece that a lot of studio suite owners are taking for granted. You get into the suite and you barely afford it to get in there and you’re like, “Well, I can’t really make it over the way I want to, but I’m going to do good hair and then hope that clients talk about me.”
One of my favorite quotes is “Let’s give them something to talk about.” Is that Reba McEntire from the early nineties? I’m dating myself with that, but what is it that you do that makes it worth talking about you in a world where hundreds of thousands of stylists do good hair? In a world where hundreds of thousands of salons are clean and trendy? In a world where most salons offer snacks and beverages and neck massages and all of these things that, at one point were phenomenal, but thanks to the internet, everybody picked up on the fact that it’s normal. What else can you offer that’s very different?
Now the other piece I think that’s missing is online presentation. This part’s not new. I could be talking about studio suites. I could be talking about somebody doing hair out of their home. I could be talking about a commission stylist. It doesn’t matter. Online presentation will make you or break you today. It has never been more important.
I think a lot of people think online presentation, TikTok. No, online presentation runs much, much deeper than that. The internet is telling a story about you.
One of my favorite things to do whenever I’m coaching somebody one-to-one or I’m working with somebody for the first time or they’re listening to the Thriving Stylist Podcast is I like to say, “I’d love for you to take some time and Google yourself today. Google your name, Google the name of your salon, name of your salon plus city and state.”
Google best balon in San Mateo, California. That’s where I happen to be sitting right now. Best salon in Milwaukee. See what comes up. See what story the internet is saying about you and your competitors.
Studio suite owners especially I think go a little bit soft on the digital and online presentation. You are carrying a huge weight when you open a studio suite. I just rattled off all those different roles you have to have: operations, executive, vision, finances, marketing. It’s a huge heavy load, but you don’t get to cut corners and nobody says like, “Well, Nancy’s in a studio suite. I’m going to give her a pass.”
Clients today aren’t giving passes, especially right now. I’m recording this in the middle of 2023. Consumer behavior is changing radically and we are entering a season of being in a consumer’s market. For a while there, we were in a stylist’s market. We spent a couple years, we got real comfortable where the demand for our services was an all time high. It has been historically easier than it’s ever been before to build a clientele. These last three years, it’s easier than it was ever before. That is starting to wane, so if you don’t hop on the “I’m going to aggressively build my clientele” bandwagon now, the ship is going to sail because we’re entering into a season of a clients’ market where they get to be very picky who they go to.
Today’s clients are getting much, much more discerning and thinking about how you’re going to set yourself apart and how you’re going to build an online reputation around your brand and your business that tells that unique story long before clients ever come in to see you.
While having Google reviews is good and having a website is awesome and creating a brand is great, I think for studio suites especially, you almost have a little bit of an additional challenge because you’ve got to make coming in to see you so extra special. It’s this additional layer.
If somebody was a booth renter in a salon on Main Street, you’re getting foot traffic, hopefully that salon is marketing themselves, then you’re marketing yourself as well. It’s like you’ve got this additional team of resources to support you.
Today’s best, best, best salon owners and the leaders who are sustaining their staff and not losing people to studio suites are marketing themselves so well that stylists aren’t leaving. They don’t want to have to take on all that work. The salon leader is marketing the salon enough to fill the chairs of everybody in the building, so why would anybody leave to go anywhere else?
When you’re in a studio suite, that’s on you. You are the one that’s got to build such a strong online reputation and really build up that marketing funnel in a way that nobody would ever choose anybody else but you.
You’ve got to have some kind of hook, something specific that you offer, a unique value proposition in order for people to choose you. If you’re having trouble getting your salon suite off the ground, I challenge you and I have to ask, are you playing big or are you playing small? The reason you chose to go into a studio suite, more than likely, is you wanted the independence and you like the idea of control of your environment. Do not play small in that space. Go all freaking in on maximizing that space and making it as unique as you are and making it a place in space that your clients absolutely love being in beyond just good hair.
I hope this has been inspiring, not just for the current studio suite owners or the aspiring studio suite owners, but literally anybody who listens to the episode as far as the potential that may be lying just beyond plain sight that you could tap into to grow your clientele as quickly as possible.
Y’all so much love, happy business building, and I’ll see you on the next one.
