5 Tech Tools to Streamline Your Business

Hello, my friend. Welcome back to the Modern Hairstylist podcast. Today, we're gonna be talking about something that I absolutely am obsessed with, 'cause I'm a freaking nerd, and we're gonna be talking about five tech tools to streamline and automate your beauty business. Now, if you guys have listened to me before, if you're familiar with me at all, you know I am an absolute nerd when it comes to this stuff, and it is precisely why I teach to systems and implementing technology into your business.

So, I was just reading some statistics and getting together some facts and studies for a recent master class that I did, and I got these statistics from Zippia, I think it is. And we got three statistics here to read from. So number one is, companies with digital-first strategies are 64% more likely to achieve their business goals than their competitors. 56% of CEOs said that their digital improvements have already improved their profits quickly after implementing them.

And digitally mature companies are 23% more profitable than their less mature peers. And the reason why I read those off to you is because I want you to understand that if we want to raise the bar, raise the standard, treat our businesses as businesses, then we should be taking note from what all of these other Fortune 500 companies are doing in their own business. And I will guarantee you that becoming more digitally mature is absolutely the biggest priority for them right now, especially as we move into an economy where there's a lot of layoffs going on, right? People are going to be looking into ways to streamline their operations and to make it so they can increase productivity and efficiency, and increase their customer experience, uh, satisfaction, all at the same time, without having to hire labor.

And you, my friend listening to this, you are most likely an independent stylist, or you're just one freaking person who has a lot of things on your plate. And if you aren't doing everything that you possibly can to streamline your operations, to automate, and to delegate as much as you possibly can as one person, then you're going to have to either hire somebody else to do it all for you and pay a whole lot more money than a small subscription fee for some technology to get to where you want to go and to increase that profitability and efficiency, et cetera, et cetera. So, what I'm going to encourage you to do today, my friend, is be open-minded and excited to learn about co- a couple of these tech tools, and understand that this is no longer an optional, option anymore. Like, this is not an option.

We're moving into a space where it's like, if you aren't using technology in your business, and utilizing more than just online booking or your booking system, then you are going to possibly fall behind just because of the way that the world is moving, and you're not gonna be optimizing the potential for what you could do for your business, but most importantly for your life, when it comes to boundaries and time freedom and all of that stuff. So, if you're ready to get into it with me, I'm ready to spill all the tea about five amazing tech tools that you can use to automate and streamline your beauty business. So let's go. What's the tea, friend?

My name's Hunter Donia, industry business educator for hairstylists, but my friends just call me Hunty. And I'm Caitlin, the CMO for Team Hunty, here to offer additional perspectives and kickass marketing advice. Whether it be growing your clientele, making more money, or automating and streamlining your systems, in the next 20 minutes or so, you'll be hearing realistic, actionable strategies to create a beautiful career for yourself behind the chair. So if you're ready to get into it, welcome to the Modern Hairstylist podcast.

So, number one, my f- first favorite tech tool is going to be, what do you think? Jotform. Jotform is my girl, like, that's my baby, like... Jotform is genuinely, like, a massive pinnacle in my own business, in my behind-the-chair business, and in the plethora of students that I have as businesses at this point.

And digital forms can absolutely transform the way that you are doing business, and can streamline so many things, can help you serve your clients better, and help you really set some strong boundaries in so many different ways. And the reason why I love Jotform specifically is because it allows for so much automation, and it has so many advanced tools and settings that you can implement to make shit happen. I love something that is simple and user-friendly, don't get me wrong, but I also love something that offers a plethora of different options, so that way you can accomplish advanced things that you otherwise would not be able to with a more simple software. And so, that's why I always say, like, don't use your booking f- your booking software as form builders, because they're really simple, and they don't allow you to do customized, advanced things for what you're actually looking to accomplish to achieve your goals, right?

And to do things in the way that you want to do them. So what Jotform really does is it allows you to be in full control of how you're rolling out these systems and how you're going about your operations in your business, and how you are streamlining the communication between you and your clients. And the great thing about Jotform is, the majority of their tools are free. Actually, it is a completely free plan, and their plan is very generous.

But normally, what ends up happening is, is you want to have more than five forms in your business, and you wanna be able to have a lot of different submissions coming in when you have a bunch of forms. So, the majority of the time, if you really lean into, like, how powerful this tool is, and you absolutely maximize it, you'll end up wanting to pay for the subscription, which I find to be completely worth it, and so do my hundreds of students as well too. So, Jotform is absolutely an excellent company and software to work with. Jotform not only does forms, but they also do Jotform apps.

Um, you can put PDFs in there. You can make a PDF, like, digitally, electronically be able to be signed and filled out, which is really cool. There's a lot of little cool things that Jotform allows you to do, and I highly recommend that you lean into it. And we teach all about Jotform in our courses.

We have a Jotform 101 crash course, and it really teaches you the ins and outs, and we teach you how to, when we get, like, more advanced into the course, like, we teach you how to use it to automate and set up approval flows, and to, uh, automate, like, the emails that you have going on in there as well too. Um, and create conditional logic. Like, there's so many fun and really exciting cool ways that you can go about it with Jotform. And then we have ConvertKit.

So ConvertKit is an email marketing software, and the reason why I love an email marketing software, in general, to allow you to streamline your business and automate your business is because normally if you want to create an excellent pre-visit or post-visit experience, there will be emailing or some sort of client communication that has to do with that. So what you can do with ConvertKit is you can make it so all of those processes are completely automated, and off of your plate, and as streamlined as possible versus having to manually write these emails or schedule them or send them, whatever it may be. With ConvertKit, you set it up once and then it's good to go and then it just automatically can do whatever you want it to do when somebody has added into the software. So when you have it set up the way that I teach my students, like, where you make it so all of these systems are talking to each other and you set up your client onboarding flow, um, in a way where they go through your ConvertKit, right?

You can send them really freaking cool things that are teaching them how to get ready for their appointment. You can teach... You can show them exactly who you are, give them fun facts about yourself, right, and elicit responses from them that will create a really comfortable and excellent client relationship from the very beginning before they even walk into your door. And then for your post-visit experience, you can automatically give them a bunch of customized information without you having to write a new email from scratch every single time, and you can do automatic follow-up.

So, like, instead of having to remember or schedule yourself to email somebody seven days later, right, you can have your automated system in ConvertKit do that for you. And then you can schedule emails, right? Like, I mean, like, even, like, these booking software's email add-ons, like, they don't even allow you to schedule an email a lot of the time. Like, you just have to send it out that day.

Like, you just have to write it and send it out. There's no way that you can... So with ConvertKit, you can schedule out as many emails as you want to go out whenever you want. So let's say that you want to, uh, work on your nurturing in between appointments with your clients.

You can batch out 12 emails in a week and make it sen- make it so that way one of them is sent to your clients at least once a month and then never have to do it or touch it ever again and it will be taking care of it for you. So that's why I love ConvertKit specifically, and ConvertKit support is stupid good, like, stupid go-... By far the best customer support I've ever seen in a software. Truly, genuinely amazing.

And there's also a lot of different cool ways that you can work with it to make cool things happen and to customize it and to make it your own and make it branded. So ConvertKit is definitely one of my favorites for sure. Then we have Dialed. So Dialed is a business phone number app, and the reason why I love Dialed specifically is because they're a great company.

Um, we work with them pretty closely at this point, and I really enjoy them as people. I think that they are just really passionate about serving the small business owner, and I think that this software has been by far the most, most user-friendly and also glitch friendly as well too. Like, I- I've not yet actually had even one person tell me that they've had a glitch or an error using Dialed And so as a business phone number app, right, when you're communicating with your clients, when you're texting people back and forth, whatever it may be, you wanna make sure that there's no glitches. You wanna make sure that the message goes through, that it sends the entire message, right?

And you also wanna set boundaries in your own business and in your life. So instead of having to buy a whole new phone or instead of having to use your own personal number to communicate with your clients, having this app on your phone where you can open it up and it's completely separate and you can turn on Do Not Disturb hours, you can set up auto replies, um, you can do so many cool things with this, allows you to still uphold your professional reputation, serve your clients when you're not on the clock and be able to set those boundaries and not feel guilty about it at the end of the day. And I think Dialed is a really fantastic choice as far as a business phone number app goes. And you can even choose, like, your own number as well too, which I think is awesome.

And you can even port, um, let's say you already have a business phone number right now, right? You can... Or a Google Voice number or something like that, and you wanna upgrade. Um, you can even port y- those old numbers into your Dialed business phone number app.

And so I just think the capabilities of Dialed is fantastic. I think the company is amazing, and I think that the customer support is fantastic as well from what I've heard from peop- from my students who have implemented it, and transitioning into it is a breeze, especially if you lean into their customer support So Dialed is the goat. Then we have GSuite in general. So dude, all of the, the plethora, the massive plethora of free tools and software that Google allows you to use is insane.

Like, and it's completely under-utilized. Did you know... Did you know there is a website builder under GSuite? Like, you can literally...

It's extremely user-friendly. You can literally create, like, your own little cute landing page very quickly for free with GSuite. They have their own web... Like, there's so many different tools that you can lean into.

Now, the majority of the time we'll be leaning into Google Drive or Google Docs or Google Sheets, right? Which all of the above I highly recommend for hairstylists and I highly recommend for getting organized in your own business and being able to plot things out, map things out, um, be able to track your own numbers and how you're doing in your business and track your data and analytics and all that stuff, and for content planning, content batching and photo storage, video storage, keeping things really nice and organized. In our alumni-only membership, we have an entire master class of how you can use GSuite to get digitally organized because I think it is such a powerful suite of tools to be using, and it's free and it's extremely integratable with other things. Not to mention, why am I not talking about Google Calendar Like, Google Calendar is so simple, yet it is so powerful and I am obsessed with it, and the integratability of that calendar into other softwares is next level.

Could not live without it. And Gmail. Gmail is just... I mean, I know it's basic.

I know that we kind of, like, overlook it, but there is so many cool things that you can do in Gmail and, like, a lot of ways that you can customize it. And again, it's integratable. So GSuite in general, if you're not leaning into all of those tools and if you're not exploring how to use them to optimize and streamline your business, then I highly recommend that you check them out and you dive into themThen we have my beloved Zapier. Now, Zapier is a tech ...

Somebody who is fearful of tech, it is their nightmare. For me, it's like a playground and I, and I'm obsessed with it. So, what Zapier does is it, it allows one app or software to speak to another app or software that would otherwise not be able to talk to each other. So, what Zapier does is it's like, "Okay, hello, softwares.

You can come and sign up to be on our platform, so that way, you can integrate with other things without having to have a native integration." So, some softwares will have native integrations. F- a very simple example is your booking system might have built-in integration with QuickBooks or with Google Calendar, so that's something where you wouldn't need s- a, a medium such as Zapier to make them speak to each other, right? But sometimes, we want softwares to speak to each other that don't natively speak to each other, and Zapier allows you to have them both speak to each other, which then allows you to automate the hell out of your processes.

So, when you set up a zap, there's a trigger, right? So, a trigger example could be if somebody submits a form, right? If somebody submits a form, right, then we tell ConvertKit, we tell our email marketing software that somebody submitted the form, and then to add them into an email workflow where they'll get a bunch of automated emails, right? Zapier allows us to do that completely automatically, hands off, so that way, number one, we don't have to spend any time doing it, and number two, we don't forget to do it, right, and we stay consistent.

I know that for me, um, I think the big... One of the biggest reasons why I'm doing what I'm doing today and teaching what I'm teaching is because I was always looking for solutions for, how can I make sure that I don't, uh, nothing slips through the cracks, right? Like, how do I make it so, like, I'm implementing all these cool strategies into my business, but I'm not forgetting about them, you know? Um, and, and I'm doing it consistently, because a consistent customer experience is so important.

And your time and your wealth and your, m- uh, wellbeing and your stress levels are very important to take in consideration, and that's why I love technology, because it really allows you to run your business efficiently without having to overwork yourself or forget about things. So, Zapier is really cool, and there's so many possibilities with Zapier, um, especially when you get crazy advanced and you get creative with it, um, and I teach a little bit about that in my programs as well, too. And then I'm gonna give some bonus, uh, honorable mentions in here that are outside of these five tech tools to streamline and automate. Number one is Miro or Canva.

Actually, I'll just, like, push them into the same category, because Miro is, like, a whiteboard... it's, like, a digital whiteboard software, so, like, you're able to, like, post... Like, think about, like, a whiteboard in your office or, like, in your house, right? Like, you can put Post-it Notes on there, you can write on there, you can erase, you can do whatever you want to.

So, just plan out things or to be able to visually map out what you're trying to create. So, I love a digital whiteboard for something like that. It's how I create all of my masterclasses, all of my presentations, even, like, how I map out, like, websites and things like that. I tell people before they go ahead and create a form or an email to map it out on something first, so going back to G Suite, like, map it out on Google Docs or map it out on a whiteboard software such as Miro.

But Miro is starting to get some competition, because Canva just came out with their own whiteboard at the time of recording this, and I can't lie, because I love it when, you know, I can just use one software to accomplish multiple things and it's actually good, right? Canva's whiteboard is pretty badass, especially being so familiar with the software. So, uh, Canva ha- now has its own whiteboards. It has its own, um, docs now.

And what Canva is, Canva is, if you're not familiar with Canva, Canva is a software that allows you to create graphics, long story short, right? You can create visuals, images, even videos now. Um, you can create videos. You can do so many things.

It's basically for you as a creator or somebody who needs, um, visuals as a brand to be able to create them in a very user-friendly way, versus having to use, like, Adobe or, like, some advanced software, or, like, have to have gone to art school or something like that, right? Canva is a resource for you that you should be absolutely leaning into, especially if you struggle with creating, like, a cohesive brand for yourself, or you struggle with, like, making things look pretty. I know that Canva, like, changed the game for me. And I'm just somebody who's not naturally super visually inclined.

Like, I'm not a visually artistic or efficient person. I can get away with things, and the reason why I can get away with it is because Canva makes it so easy. So, not only does Canva allow you to create all these visuals and all of these different things, but now they're adding these extra add-ons and features that make it an even more powerful resource, and the integratability of all of those visuals that you're creating in Canva that you can very easily move into a whiteboard or onto a doc are really powerful as well, too. Not to mention, and this is, like, a whole other podcast episode talking about artificial intelligence, but in Canva docs now, they have a, something called Magic Write, and you can put in whatever prompt that you want to in Canva, and then it'll spit out an automated whatever you want it to do.

So, you could say, "G- give me a three-paragraph Instagram caption about curly hair," and it'll do it for you on Canva docs. So, it's just a really accessible, user-friendly way about going about things, especially for you as a small business owner. So, what do you think, Caylin? Um, I was just gonna add to that.

They also have a, uh, AI that they're using right now for creating images, so you can type out what kind of image you want, and it's definitely not perfect yet, by any means, but, I mean, it's, it's super cool. That is badass. Is it, like, out? Like, you can use it now?

Yeah. I've used it a couple of times and it was... What I was asking for was a little bit too niche, I think- Right. um, so it kinda gave me, like, a bunch of shapes.

Um-But I think that the idea is really cool, and it should definitely be, like, something that we try out. I love that. And it's, like, that's why I... That's the...

So, that's the other reason why I'm naming all of these softwares, not really G Suite. I mean, G Suite makes updates, but, like, it's very slow and it's very small, and it's, like, over time. All of these softwares are always looking to up the game. They're always consistently refining or releasing new features or making things more user-friendly.

They're consistently staying updated. And that is why I love them. I love them because they are staying competitive, they're staying ahead of the game, and they're listening to us as users, and they're making changes. I know that I used to coach to multiple softwares that I don't coach to anymore.

Like, if you listen to older podcast episodes even, I talked about these other softwares that I no longer recommend because they don't keep up with what we need as the world is moving, um, and as we, as business owners, have to continue to adapt to how the world is moving, right? And carry out these new crazy things that we never had to freaking do before. Like, send a welcome email packet to somebody or fucking do a post-visit email, you know? I wanna make that as automated and streamlined as possible.

My entire goal in creating this education is to help you grow your business by implementing next-level strategies in a sustainable way where it's realistic, where it's something that you can actually implement competently without burning yourself out. Because we can listen to business gurus telling you to do this strategy and this strategy and this strategy all, all we want, but you are only one human being. And what this, what these tech tools allow you to do, they allow you to create scalability sustainably without having to spend a shit ton of money on a virtual assistant or somebody to, somebody to do labor for you or spend too much of your own time. So, my friend, I hope that you enjoyed this Five Tech Tools to Streamline and Automate Your Beauty Business episode.

I teach about all these softwares in my programs. And so if you are tech-challenged, or even if you're not tech-challenged and you just want somebody to show you what the hell to do with these things, then I will be happy to assist you. Go to hunterdonia.com to check out all the things that we have to offer right now, especially right now at the time of recording this, Pre-Visit Pathway.

Uh, Pre-Visit Pathway, if you're not on the wait list yet or if you haven't heard of it yet, definitely check it out. We talk about almost all these softwares and how to actually set them up and to create a next-level pre-visit experience that's completely hands-off. So, so much love to you, my friend. I hope that you have a blessed rest of your day.

Peace out, girl scout.

End of transcript. © 2023 Hunter Donia LLC.