All About Team-Based Salons (W-2, Commission etc.)

Let me guess. You are a hustling, bustling hairstylist behind the chair, working so hard to build a beautiful career for yourself, one that gives you time, freedom, and energy to spend with yourself, your family, and your friends. But you feel like you're always working in your business even when you're not behind the chair. My name's Hunter Donia, and I help you automate your systems and implement really beautiful strategies so you can grow your business without the overwhelm, and this is the Modern Hairstylist podcast.

Hello, friend. Welcome back to the Modern Hairstylist podcast. Thank you so much for tuning in today. Um, we have a kinda cool, cool topic to talk about today, um, and I have my good friend, Miss Kaylyn Granger.

What's the tea, Kaylyn? How are you? I'm good. How are you doing, friend?

So freaking good. Thank you so much for being here and doing these shows with me. I really appreciate it. Um, what are we gonna be talking about today?

Tell the people, Kaylyn. Okay, people. Um, so- ... we are going to be talking a little bit about, uh, what team-based salon life looked f- like for you before you got into being an independent stylist.

We've kind of gotten to know a little bit about, like, your starting-out journey, and today, we're just gonna kinda talk a little bit about, uh, what it looked like for you pre-independent stylist. Okay, I love that. Let's do it. I'm down.

Let me just talk about this for a second. Okay, so I don't know if you, friend, have listened to the other episode that we have out about my start in the industry and how I got to actually get into a salon and got into cosmetology school and et cetera, et cetera, but if you did, I'm sorry if this is redundant. But here's the tea. So in Pennsylvania, which is where I live now and where I grew up, booth rental is illegal.

So really, when I was coming into the industry, like, the only thing, the only option that we've had and, like, the thing that you did was you worked in a commission salon or you opened up your own salon. Like, that was it. Like, that was the path. Like, there was no...

Honestly, I didn't even realize that, what independence was actua- what really truly it actually was. I just knew from my State Board Cosmetology test that booth rental was illegal, and I actually thought that booth rental was illegal across the country. I didn't even realize that it was only, like, a Pennsylvania thing, and it's actually, I think it's, like, six states in the United States, just those six states, booth rental is illegal. Interesting.

I have a theory that it's because of under-reporting for taxes. I, I believe that, you know, our industry is just infamous for this, right, unfortunately, and I believe that possibly being sure that, that there is one person in charge of multiple people's W-2s and their reporting and stuff, I think that it maybe increase or lessens the chance of under-reporting. That's just my, my theory. You know, I mean, the wh- the, the reasons why laws happen, the reasons why governments make things happen is because of money at the end of the day.

Like, that's s- a lot of the time why it happens, right? So that's my theory, and I think I'm kind of right on it. Um, but, uh, but, uh, but yeah, so that was, like, the way to go, and so, I mean, I joined my first salon at the age of 16. It was the salon that I got my hair done at, and I was there for about five years, and then I moved in with my, uh, with my partner at the time.

And I joined another team-based salon for, um, a couple, I mean, probably, like, nine months, and then the pandemic hit, and then that was that, and then I, and then I opened up, uh, independently after that. But yeah, so I have, um, experience in both those team-based salons, and when I say team-based, you know, like, commission or hourly, right? It's like W-2 employees of the salon no matter what the payment structure, and I also just have some experience w- you know, understanding team-based salons and different structures and, and all of those things because of being a brand educator and traveling and talking to so many salon owners, like, for the past couple years, you know? Um, so I like, I like talking about team-based salons.

I don't think that team-based salons are bad. I, I, I, I think that there are some excellent team-based salons out there. I think there are so mu- there is so much potential for them. Um, I think that I would be nowhere near where I am today without my ex- my very long experience in my team-based salons, and, uh, I'm excited to talk about it a little bit today.

Killer. Yeah. Well, yeah, let's jump right into it then. So I guess where I would like to start is, like, what you just kinda briefly mentioned, was like, what do you feel like the main benefits were or, like, some of the key benefits were of working in a team-based environment or, like, a, like, a salon environment prior to being an independent?

Yeah. I feel like it's, like, the safety and security is number one, right? Like, I mean, you, you are the employee of a salon, right? It's an, possibly an established business, um, where if you don't have business coming in the door, right, like, you still are secured some sort of payment legally, right, as a W-2 employee.

And, you know, you, you can apply for unemployment with, as a W-2 employee, right? So, like, if you're independent and you're not S corp'd and you don't pay into a W-2 situation, like, you can't apply for unemployment if a pandemic hits for an ex- for example, right? So, you know, you have that. You have the benefits of that and the protections of that, um, as an employee, you know?

And so just the safety and security by itself. I mean, I, I was, I was able to, fortunately, very fortunately, have unemployment during the pandemic because I was an employee, right? Mm-hmm. And so, um, so that, I was super grateful for that because I know that not everybody had the same privilege.

And so, you know, the safety and security is definitely something to consider, and, um, that's number one off the bat. Number two, the lack of responsibility, so you don't have to do a lot that you would have to do as an independent, let alone a salon suite owner, right? The salon owner and maybe possibly administrative team takes care of everything for you. They are checking in your clients.

They are doing all the scheduling. They are doing the taxes. They are doing the inventory. They are making sure the place stays clean in one way or another, right?

It's really truly you show up, you do your shit-And you go home if you want it to be that way, right? And along with that, I think that times have changed a lot, and I think that even as a team-based salon employee, it's still your responsibility to grow your own clientele if you wanna create an abundant career for yourself. But if you wanna create a stable career for yourself, right, and you just want to take the clients that come into the salon, you already have an established business that already has traffic coming into it just in general that gets fed into your chair, into your business as an employee, right? And so you don't have to do a lot of crazy extra work if you don't want to.

It honestly sounds really freaking nice. But it comes with the downsides, right? It comes with the, you know, you are really, truly carrying out somebody else's vision. Although you can very much align with that vision, align with that culture, and people can ride that out for the rest of their lives super happily and, and with great fulfillment, which I think is fantastic.

But for me personally, I had my own vision that I wanted to carry out for myself. I wanted to be in control of my client experience and what was coming in the door and how that person coming into the door was treated, etc., etc. Where, you know, in an em- in a employee-based salon, you, you don't really have that, that option a lot of the time as an employee, right?

Um, you don't have control over the, how the money is delegated, right? Um, and that's not t- even just talking about commission r- uh, splits. That's talking about what's budgeted for, like what the inventory actually looks like, what color line and what products you're using and, and, um, whether the salon gets redone or remodeled, etc., etc.

, what employees are being hired and all of those things, right? Like, you don't really have control over tho- th- those things. You c- you can have a fantastic leader, right, who really takes the team and what they think into consideration, which is excellent, but, you know, as we know, the majority of the time as we see it, that's not always the case. And at the end of the day, legally, you don't have control over that as an employee of a, of a W2 salon, right?

So, you know, there's upsides. There's a lot of amazing upsides that I don't think should be unnoticed. I, I truly, really, truly, truly, truly believe that commission salons or just employee-based salons are fantastic options, and it's really been sad to see a really large downfall of them throughout the past two years in the pandemic that we're in right now, you know? It's been really shitty to see it, and it's also really shitty to have the awareness that I have now about how hard it is to be a salon owner, to be an employee-based salon owner, and to create a successful space for people that people love, to be profitable, to, um, stay open for a long time.

It is no joke. It is no joke. And I know as an employee myself, especially being younger too, right? Um, but even then some, you know?

I mean, no matter what age you are, I, I just felt like as an employee, I see and I hear and I was in it, and I was. I had a lot of negative concepts and a lot of negative misconceptions around my salon owner and what it meant to be a salon owner and what that actually looked like, right? Like, I had a lot of misconceptions that, like, you know, "Oh, my salon owner is taking all my money," and, like, "They're taking it for themselves and they're, like, you know, uh, screwing us over and we're working so hard for what?" Et cetera, et cetera.

When it's like, in reality, if you really look at the... like, look behind the scenes and you see the numbers and you see what's m- what... the money that's coming in and then all the money that's going out, right? You're not getting screwed over a lot of the time And a lot of the time, you're getting paid w- what you need to get paid to j- for the salon owner and the salon to just survive.

Not even be profitable, to survive. And that is the me- majority of the time, the majority of the time. These salons, the majority of the time, are barely profitable, if not running in the negative. And that is a type of space where it's really...

it's a sensitive thing to be a part of. When we talk about safety and security, is that really safe and secure if somebody... if you're expecting to be paid 60% commission rate or something like that, and then the salon can't even afford to be open because of all of the resources and things that they have to pay for, all the expenses just because you are an operator doing business within that space, right? So I think that there's a lot of misconceptions that a lot of people have.

I know there was a lot of bitching in my break rooms that I had to experience, and I think that we need to give salon owners and employee-based salons a break, hardcore. However, I don't ever promote or I don't condone toxicity, shitty culture, really absent, ignorant leadership. I mean, that is shitty. You know, the n- or abusiveness.

Um, that is not okay at all. But a lot of the time, salon owners don't go into salon ownership to be a shitty leader. Um, salon owners, a lot of the time, start their, start their journey and their dream not ever thinking that they would ever be that, not ever wanting to be that, not ever wanting the thing that they've created to be what it maybe is if it is a shitty environment It's just so hard to be a business owner, especially when we don't have the education to freaking do it. We don't have the proper leadership training, the proper training that we need to even understand how to grow a team and how to sustain a business, how to look at the financials and have a real p- plan for yourself, understanding marketing and sales and all of these things, right?

Like, we don't get this education, like, from the bat. And we're in a industry that people without this education very commonly open up entire full-blown businesses where there are people who are relying on the success of that business for their incomeRight? And so what ends up happening is, is that o- that salon owner goes in, has great intentions for the space, wants to create the space that they never had, wants to just create this beautiful, creative, passionate place within the community. But without the knowledge, education, and leadership training, and emotional intelligence, what eventually happens is the staff becomes resentful or the salon owner becomes resentful, overwhelmed, et cetera, et cetera, which then creates negative environments, right?

And so I think that we just need to take a step back and really look at the bigger picture when it comes to how we perceive what these employee-based salons, um, actually w- how they operate and what they are within the industry, because it really is a case by case thing. And I think that people have really negative connotations around them, when in reality, they can be really excellent spaces. It's just really fucking hard. It's, it's ju- it's just difficult.

I would never, ever, ever, ever, ever... I'm a firm believer, I say this all the time that, you know, no matter what I feel like right now, things can always change in the future, but I never see myself wanting to ever have an employee-based salon. No. Oh God, no.

No. I would not wish that upon myself. Like, I absolutely would... Uh, do you agree with me?

100%. I, I feel like that does come though too from, like, having your own solo business is like, you see how hard it is to run a business for you, yourself, and yourself. Mm-hmm. And then it's like, oh, and you wanna have additional people that you have to do that for?

Like, that is just... It's so much work. So. It is ridiculous.

And, you know, so I was actually lucky that I got into brand education, right? So, like, I started to educate for a brand. And the brand that I educated for, and I still actually educate for, is super business education oriented. Like, they really want salons to be successful, employee-based sp- salons specifically.

Like, that's definitely their target audience, right? And so I was really lucky to be an employee-based stylist and to really kind of see the back end of things from early on, because I was able to no longer be so resentful towards my salon owner adm- and administrate- administration. I was really finally able to understand, like, why certain things happened. And like, I was just understand- uh, able to understand the why, right?

And it made it so I actually really wanted to show up and create success for myself and the salon that I was in, because I knew that if the salon was successful, then I was successful. If the salon was thriving, then I was thriving. And, but peop- but people don't see it like that. And I was lucky to have the early on, you know, introduction to all of that stuff where I could see all of that.

And just that then and there made me realize, like, "I never wanna do this." And then I went independent and truly feeling and experiencing all of the responsibilities and the hats that I had to juggle. And then I was like, "Yep, absolutely not will I ever own a team salon. Ever.

Ever, ever, ever, ever." And like, I, you know, I feel like a lot of clients, they'll ask me all the time, they're like, "Okay, well, w- will you ever open up your own space with, like, your own team and, like, stylists under you?" 'Cause they think that's kind of, like, the path. Like, they think that's, like, the one way street to success within this industry.

And I'm like, "Hell no, I'm doing just fine where I am." And people can make a beautiful living being independent by themselves in a suite or in a booth re- booth rental salon, whatever it may be, but they can also make a really beautiful living being a W2 employee-based stylist as well. It's just truly about, you know, being under good leadership, really understanding the why behind what's going on, having great culture, and having really good business understanding and, um, education to understand how to grow as even an employee and as your own business person in that type of space, right? So that's my tea.

So much tea. All the tea. And let me just really quick, because we don't have too much time, but I, I do wanna share too, like, I feel like if anybody were to... I get this question a lot, like, people would ask me, like, if somebody was just coming into the industry and they graduated beauty school, should they go to a commission salon?

Should they open up their own suite? Should they go into booth rental? They should assist for a year in an employee-based salon. It doesn't have to be after, uh, graduating beauty school.

It can be totally before. It can be, it can be whenever you want it to be. But I assisted in a employee-based salon for literally, like, three years, and I swear that is, like, the reason why I ha- I have the success and the knowledge that I have today, because all I did was sit back and watch the business. I wasn't doing the hair.

Yes, I was shampooing and blow drying, right? Yes, I was helping the stylists, but I really started to understand customer service, and I was able to get so much experience, so much education without the distraction or stress of being the actual stylist. And it just... I really feel like it set me up for success, and it's why I teach business now, because...

And it's why I, I really understand customer service so well is because I had to cut my teeth in that way for so long. You know what I mean? So I feel like the time in the team-based salon is not to be taken for granted, and I think that we should try and change our perspectives about team-based salons and understand that, you know, uh, being a, being an employee is, can be a really badass experience, but it's not for everybody. And salon owners are, like, grasping on to, "How can I keep my team?

How can I make sure that people don't go independent?" And quite honestly, there's just gonna be people like me and maybe you, Caitlin, that I, I mean, I just have my own vision for myself and, like, there's nothing that you could do to stop me. Like, my salon owner was excellent. Like, the salon owner that I went from team-based to my own suite, she was amazing and there was nothing she could have done better that would have made me stay, right?

So there's just gonna be some people who just, you know, want to go off on their own and create their own vision, like me, but there's also gonna be people where, which there's no shame and there's such beauty in this actually, who want to, um, live the rest of their freaking beautiful career and grow it really beautifully under the space of an employee-based salon. And that's... There's nothing wrong with that, and there's a, a lot of great opportunity within that as well too Agree. So yeah.

So friends, thank you so much for tuning in to this episode. I hope that it was insightful for you or that you just, like, was as relatable for you or whatever it may be. If you did appreciate this episode, I would really appreciate if you left a five star review wherever you're listening to this. And if you're listening to this on Apple, then you can leave a tiny little testimonial blurb about your experience listening to the Modern Hair Stylist podcast, and that'll help us reach more beauty professionals just like you looking to elevate the industry together.

So Caitlin, thank you so much for hosting with me, my friend. Pleasure as always. Dude, you're freaking amazing. I really appreciate you coming on here and I appreciate you, listener, my friend.

Till next time, peace out, girl scout. Bye bye.

End of transcript. © 2022 Hunter Donia LLC.