(Part 1) Stories From Stylists Who Made Big, Scary Shifts

What's the tea, friend? My name's Hunter Donia, industry business educator for hairstylists, but my friends just call me Hunty. Whether it'll 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.

Hello, my friend. Welcome back to the Modern Hairstylist podcast. You are in for a treat today because we are going to be bringing in a couple amazing influential people from within our student communities who have made big scary shifts, boundaries, systems, automations, all of the things, within their own businesses. And the reason why I wanted to bring these people on is because amongst so many others within our community, they have implemented these changes in a way that is so professional and keeps the client experience in mind, and they're big, scary shifts, right?

And, and these people themselves, and they'll tell you, were nervous to make these shifts. However, were able to do it in a way in which their business thrived even more after implementing these shifts. And not only their business, but also their lives. 'Cause this is the thing.

These people had the courage to not allow their clients or their fear to dictate how they ran their businesses, and they strategically implemented these shifts and changes that they knew that they wanted to make for themselves and their lives and their family and their friends in a way that made sure that you got the best of both worlds, where you still served your client and when you also served yourself at the same time. I've been saying it from the very beginning. If you want to implement systems automation and boundaries into your business, then you have to take into consideration the client's experience as well, and there is absolutely ways that I teach in my programs that these people will talk to you about today where you can change your pricing model. You can stop pre-booking as much as you are or how you are right now.

You can have all of your new clients go through an automated digital form process, and your existing clients can go and book online by themselves. Like, it is completely possible to do all of these things and implement them without your business falling from underneath of you as long as you're implementing them in a strategic way that is still taking the client's experience into consideration. And so, these amazing stylists are gonna be coming on the podcast and, uh, sharing with you their stories about some of the changes that they've made, giving you some advice, and sharing with you what you should take in consideration and what the changes looked like for them. So, this is probably gonna be cut into two parts.

We have d- uh, today's episode that you're gonna be listening to, and then we'll probably be releasing another episode later this week, but I very much hope that you enjoy. We first up have Sydney Applegate. Sydney is a balayage specialist and suite owner in Dayton, Ohio, and she helps her clients achieve low-maintenance dimensional hair color that enhances their natural beauty. She's an inspiring educator, one that I very much recommend and look up to because she is so passionate about helping hairstylists gain confidence in their hand-painted balayage skills so they can become the specialists in their area for low-maintenance, natural-looking color.

So, if you want to, uh, really advance your business and your skills and your confidence in your hand-painted balayage skills, I highly recommend that you check out Sydney after you, um, uh, listen to this episode. She has an amazing free resource for you, actually, about all of her favorite go-to balayage placements that we'll also leave in the description below this episode. So, make sure to check her out after you listen to her story and after you listen to Shereen's story a little bit later, and, um, enjoy the episode. Let's get it popping.

I'm Sydney Applegate. I've been a hairstylist since 2017. That's when I began, uh, booth renting, and then about a year and a half later, I started doing suite ownership, which I really had no clue what I was really getting myself into, so thank God that I found Hunter, um, and lots of other people in the community as well. I'm a balayage specialist.

I specialize and I'm really passionate about giving people low-maintenance dimensional color that enhances their natural beauty, and also an aspiring, um, educator for hairstylists because I want to empower them in their balayage skills so that they can also become maybe the specialists in their area for a low-maintenance, natural-looking color. Tell us a little bit about your journey going through putting some big shifts into your business and making some big changes, right? So, before we got into this episode, you shared with me that we changed our, uh, our booking range, right? So, we didn't just allow anybody to just book with us at any times and book out months and months and months in advance anymore, right?

We did a big price increase. We've done multiple price increases since then, and we have even simplified your service menu and changed the way that you structure your prices, and we've even automated your booking flow and how you onboard new clients and how we, um, sift through whether or not they're the right fit for us or not, right? Why did you want to make these shifts? Like, what was the telltale signs for you in your business and your life, right, that were like, "Damn, I probably should put these things into place"?

Totally. The biggest thing was I was very blessed, but extremely overwhelmed with the, the demand on my schedule, you know? Um, the first year was pretty rough, and then all of a sudden I kind of figured out social media and used that to my advantage and word of mouth, and all of a sudden it's like, "Holy shit. I'm booked out for, like, six months straight and I can't even take new clients."

When I couldn't take on new clients, I think that was probably the point where I'm like, "Okay, we've gotta make a change." It was really, really hard on my personal life being that booked, you know? On one hand, it was, like, impressive to be that booked, and on the other hand, I realized, like, it's really not because you get these people attracted to your website, your, your Instagram because you're posting and all of that, and then they get there and they message you just for you to be like, "Oh, sorry. I'm not taking new clients."

Those people could be more like, um, your ideal client or would want the services you really want to do or would pay you more for the services, value you more.Yeah, I mean, I found myself missing out on a lot of things. Birthdays, you know, just hanging out with family and friends. So, I think that was the biggest thing as well, is just, I felt like my life revolved around the salon and I wasn't able to put forth the time that I needed with friends and family.

Yeah. And even for the people who don't have demand on your time, like who aren't getting a bunch of new client requests, that's not only just the thing, the only thing that you have to worry about. It's also the continuing maintenance of your existing clients and your scheduling with them, right? And how your personal life feeds into that as well too, right?

Would you say that that was, uh, also a part of it? Oh my God, you're so right. Because then your clients are, "Ugh, I totally forgot." They would be so frustrated.

Like, "Syd, I can't get in with you, like, every six to eight weeks. Like, what am I supposed to do?" You know? And again, it's the same thing.

That client could be a really good person to stick around in your business if you take care of them. I think you've talked about that with your nail tech, like that whole thing. So yep. Yeah, absolutely.

So for the nail tech story, so like, I had a really great nail tech and really good friend, and she's, I would still consider her a friend to this day. Her name is Jalisa, who was in the suite next to me, um, when I first opened up my suite. And the thing about Jalisa was, she also went from zero to 100, like along with me. And she got super solidly booked out.

And as an ideal client, somebody who would like, pay a, a shit ton of money to be able to get my nails done whenever I want, I was so pissed that she wouldn't raise her freaking prices, right? Because I'm here and I'm willing to pay more money to get an, a convenient appointment with her, yet there's all these other people in her book that I know are taking up this space, that they would not pay the same amount of money as me. So how does that m- how does that make me, the ideal client, feel, right? So, you saw that this was happening in your own clientele, and we were like, "Okay, we need to make a couple shifts."

So first off, we needed to do a price increase, right? We definitely wanted to do a price increase. And not only do a price increase, but also make it so that way your prices were a little bit more simple for people, right? What did that look like for you?

So number one, what were your feelings about doing a nice, big enough price increase? And then number two, why did you believe that simplifying your service menu was like, also a part of this journey and this shift that you were creating to, uh, match how your business was moving and going? So, first of all, the price increase had to happen just because of the demand. I mean, I was just wildly underpriced, like big time.

But also, it just didn't make sense the way that I had my service menu laid out. It's confusing, there's too much going on. There's the partial highlight, the mini highlight, the re-touch up, the full balayage. And your clients, it's confusing to them.

That's hair language, that's not client language. And I think with Hunter's course, yeah, he was like, suggesting if you're going to do these changes, sometimes it is easier to roll that all out at one time. Rip the Band-Aid off. Like, let's not make a huge change in your business every five months, and your clients are like, "Oh my gosh, this rollercoaster."

Like, just figure it all out, make it make sense, and roll it out at once. And so, th- when you simplified your menu, right, were you nervous that your clients would be like, "Oh, well, you used to do it this way, but now it's this way, and now like, everything is, like, in these packages. Like, what the hell is this?" Like, were you nervous that clients were gonna be upset with you or that they weren't gonna understand like, what was going on?

Yes and no. Um, because at first, that's that initial fear is like, they're not gonna get it, they're not gonna understand. But going through your course made me realize like, A, the kind of clients that I'm trying to attract, that I want to sit in my chair, that I feel like I can best serve are gonna love it. They're gonna get it, you know?

But also, the way that you teach us to roll it out, you just like, hold our hand, first of all, so there's no figuring it out. Like, you're like, "Do A, B, C, and D." You have it all planned out, you know, ready to go. Um, the way you have us roll it out makes it very simple for the clients to understand, I think.

You give them lots of resources for them to get, um, all the information they might need about that. And at the end of the day, these changes are making it easier on them. It's, it's, it's all good vibes. It's not like this big, "Oh guys, I'm sorry to tell you, like, I'm having this price increase."

It's like, no, "Hey guys, I see that this pricing structure is confusing, or this booking, or service menu's confusing. You go online, you don't know what to book, so I made it really easy for you guys. We have these three packages now instead of 20 different a la carte options, and you might notice there's a price difference," you know, or whatever. When I rolled this out, there was still nerves, don't get me wrong.

Like, I was v- very confident in what I had created to, to present to them so that they would understand what was happening, but it was still like, "Okay, what are they gonna say? What am I, what are they gonna do?" Um, they loved it. They were impressed.

They were like, "Holy shit, Sydnee. Like, look at you. Like, I love it." And they tell other people, who become my new client, and then they're really impressed by that.

So, um, if anyone is considering joining Hunter's course and is nervous that it's just not gonna work or your clients just aren't gonna get it-... please take my word for it, it changed, it changed my business, but that changed my life. Like, he, I'm a mom, like, I have a family, and all of these things were a domino effect into my personal life. So I 10 out of, 20 out of 10 recommend it.

Well, thank you for the kind words, Sydney, and I'm really glad to hear that, that, that you were able to put in that work, right, and that you were able to make, create that for yourself. And, and I think another thing that people should consider too is, you know, like, there's so many different ways that you can adapt this to make sense for your own circumstance. And ever si- I mean, you were the, one of our founding members. Like, you did, you did the very first, like, PVP that was just, like, off the bat, and ever since then, we've made the program so much more flexible and customizable to all people and all facets of, like, where they are now, right?

And so if somebody isn't a balayage specialist or if somebody has, like, a little bit of a different clientele than you do, we have different ways that they can implement these strategies to make it make sense for them too. But I think what it all goes back to, no matter what, is, you know, thinking like, "I'm the business owner. I'm gonna do what the hell I wanna do to make sense for me, but I'm gonna take in consideration my clients' experience and make it so that way it is as optimized and as good for them as possible." Now, another thing that I know that you implemented from, from PVP as far as the system went was making sure that all of your clients are going through a consultation process.

Am I correct? Before I did the new guest form, the texting, the DMing, ugh, I, like, could throw up thinking about how horrible that was. Like, I almost, th- my brain just, like, blacked it out. Like, "Let's not remember that."

So I realized that that wasn't working, but it, the new guest form attracted more people is what I was trying to say. Like, once I went away from the texting to the new guest form, it became even more overwhelming because now I have to respond to all of these, and I was doing it through email. I'm just, like, replying over email, like, "Hey this is, I see this is what you want, this is what you wanna book, this is what I think you need." Every situation was different, so it's like one solution created kind of another problem, and I, I have cli- or, um, sorry, fellow stylists at my salon that, like, "Oh, yeah, I have a new guest form.

Like, yeah, I use JotForm." And I'm like, "Yeah, but how are you, are you, like, completely utilizing it? Because if you're not, it's really not as beneficial as it could be." I could go on and on about this, Hunter, so I'm gonna let you just, like...

Dude, no, I'm so fucking glad that you brought it up because it's so goddamn true. Like, if you don't, if you don't do it right, you will cause yourself more of an issue. And the tea is, is that if you have, number one, like, people will have, like, their digital consultation form kind of just, like, as, like, an extra thing as far as their new client process goes. Instead of, like, instead of, like, this is, like, the sole purpose, like, the sole number one way that somebody books an appointment with you, and then you're getting s- you're still getting texts, you're still getting DMs, you're getting some people who fill out the form, you're getting some people who don't, you're getting some people who fill o- who go on online booking and then you're having to catch up.

It's, like, all over the freaking place, number one. Number two, if you don't set up that form in an optimized way, asking the right questions, also using the right, uh, question elements as well too, people are gonna be turned off by it and you're not gonna get the right answers that you actually need for it to be conducive to streamlining your process, right? And there's and there's so many other ways, there's, there's so many other things, and then like you said, not fully optimizing what the software can actually do for you as far as streamlining that communication. What was the difference between the old form and the new form that you have after PVP?

Well, definitely, like, the questions I asked. I think, um, I added more, but the biggest, just, like, mind-blowing game changer, and I remember being just like, "What?" is the ability to approve and deny your new clients with just clicking a button. I was like, "You're freaking kidding me.

Like, there's no way it's that easy." And it's in Jo- it's in there, it's in the system. Like, I had no clue it was there. So, and I think, you know, when I was doing the emailing, that's the other part, I was hesitant to not accept these people because it was so personal, because it's, like, a direct email for me, it's so obvious that it's, like...

And so, and if I, and if I was going to say, "Mm, I think you'd be better served with another stylist," that email took way longer than the email of saying, "Hey, sure, you can book this." Because I felt this need to explain to them, like, why they weren't a good, you know, why we weren't a good fit for one another or why, you know, m- I didn't have the skills they needed or whatever. So I was accepting way more of these clients that weren't really my target market, you know? So now I'm able to just very simply push that button, they get all the information they need, and I mean approved or denied.

If they're denied, it's not like a, "See ya, get outta here. You're not welcome here." It's like, "Hey, listen. I think somebody else would take care of you better than I can.

Let me give you a list of recommendations in the area. If they are approved, here's what to book, where to book it, here's all the awesome guest experience resources that you get as a new client." I love that. I love this so much, and I think a lot of the time people are nervous to start rejecting people or things because we get so emotional in our business and we allow our emotions to, like, take over.

And like you said, like, that type of interaction, whether it be over email, phone, text, even in person, is really difficult to overcome, right? When you, like, know in your brain, like, "This person is not the right fit for me and I'm not the right fit for them," right, it's difficult to say, like, "No." But when you have this very simple, easy, professional way of getting that done, right, it removes the confrontation and it makes that process so much easier. So I'm glad that you had that experience, Sydney.

Oh, I spent so much time emailing, dude. Like, I re- I'm like...... 2:00 AM, like, emailing these people back with the form which I thought would help me. So yeah, it's very time-consuming and the way that you have it set up makes it just, like, the amount of time I've saved is just endless, like, unbelievable.

I'm so glad to hear that, Sydney. And so what I'm gonna ask you is, is, not- not even with PVP, but just, if somebody is looking to, like- like, make shifts in their business that are just going against the grain of what we've always done as hairstylists for years and years and years, right? Whether it be changing the way that you're structuring your prices, whether it be, um, implementing technology into your business, having a digital consultation form booking flow, um, not pre-booking yourself to smithereens for months and months and months in advance, right? Whatever it may be.

What would you say to somebody who was nervous about making those changes? I would say to someone nervous about making those changes that, first of all, not to get mushy here, but nothing's gonna change if you don't make a change. You're the only one that's gonna be able to change the way that your business is running and the way that that is affecting your personal life. Because I think I've- I've heard that a lot before where people, you know, they want to know how I've done what I've done, and how what I do works, and where I learned it, and often when I tell them, they're like, "Yeah, that sounds like a lot of work."

You're going to have to put the work in, and Hunter told me this, and he continues to tell me this as I go on other ventures into my life, and I'm okay. I'm cool with that because I want to have these shifts so that I can live my best life. Oh my gosh. I hope that you guys enjoyed, uh, listening to Sydney and her story as much as I did.

Super inspiring and I'm just so proud of Sydney. She's such a badass. Next up, we have Sherrine Zakarian. Sherrine is a badass influencer, educator, salon owner, and stylist within our community.

You're gonna hear a little bit about how she had some amazing experience co-founding a startup company with her husband back in 2017. And she started out in the industry and then she moved into that situation when she had her baby, and she ended up making the big scary shift of actually shutting down that successful business and moving back into the industry because she missed being around people and fulfilling that purpose and passion that she had. And it was just super inspiring to hear how, you know, she knew what she needed to do even though, you know, she had worked hard towards this one thing, and she made the shift anyway. She built up the courage to make that shift anyway, and then was able to take all of those lessons learned from starting up that company and then apply it to the business that she has now today.

And what she also will talk about, and I'm super excited to- for you to hear about it is creating a really excellent and extensive client experience, a personalized, quote-unquote, "extra" client experience, because I think a lot of people, if you're listening to this right now and you ever get imposter syndrome about, like, creating a super extra and full client experience for your clients, pre-visit, in the chair, post-visit, and you feel like that's just too much, "Who am I to be doing those things?" You're gonna hear how Sherrine has really taken such a powerful mindset with, you know, not giving a shit about what those people who think that m- that might be extra, um, not caring what those people think, because she knows that there are other people out there. For the one person, there's 10 other people out there, right, who, uh, will align with that and appreciate it so much, especially within her specialty. So, I'm super excited for you to hear from Sherrine.

Let's get into it. My name is Sherrine Zakarian. I am a stylist of over 16 years. I started out as an assistant as a, at a commission salon.

Then went to booth rent, I did that for several years, and then I went to... I was one of the first tenants for a sola that came into my city probably almost 10 years ago, something like that. And then I decided to leave hair, after I had my first son, and took a break. And during that time, I actually did on- online retail sales, and when I was doing online retail sales, my husband, who works in the software industry, kind of noticed I wasn't working efficiently, so, he kind of helped me problem-solve some things, and in that time we developed the software that, um, integrated with Facebook and then I realized, "I really don't wanna do this stay-at-home thing.

Like, I miss the people side of doing hair." And I came back to doing hair, and I had a lot of free time on my hands. One thing that I learned during that time was that your clients are not your friends, and this business is not your identity. Because when I came back, that was a huge slap in my face.

It hit my ego hard that people didn't come back. But, I decided, like, something that I always do, I- I was like, "Okay, well, how can I innovate this? How can I change this and turn this around?" So, I said, "I'm just gonna take every class that comes to town."

Having learned what I did with my startup company, which by the way, was very successful. We closed it down last year to focus on the salons, but we had, like, close to 40,000 users and... So, it was me and my husband. He was like...

Uh, we were both working customer service and all that good stuff, but, um, I close it down to focus on the business and I applied what I learned during that time to my salon business, which was social media marketing, because I was doing online retail sales, so that was really important. Building relationships with your clients, I learned that, and then I learned automation and working efficiently. So, came back with these new skills, new open eyes, and it was really exciting, and- and then I started to build a pretty good reputation with curly hair in my city and now it's been close to seven years. I am 2023's Recurl, uh, Magazine's panelist, so I'm a contributing editor, so to speak, for this year.

Dude. Freaking congratulations on all of your success. You're an absolute inspiration and I think it's so badass that... I think that it's fascinating to hear people who......

made big, scary changes and shifts because, like, they knew that it's what had to happen for, w- for their ... for whatever was next- Mm-hmm. and for the conduciveness of their happiness moving forward. So then you said, like, you've taken, like, the skills and the experience that you learned from doing that with doing ...

having that start-up with your husband, right? And you were able to bring it to this industry which al- , all too often, traditionally does not have that experience, right? All too often does not have that education that they need to run profitably, to run efficiently, productivity, productively. That was the word I was looking for.

And so, um, as far as, like, automations and systems and, like, things that you have in your business, right, like, what has been, what has been the journey for you with being able to implement things such as those, right, things that we know that Fortune 500 companies is so normal for them to implement, right? It's like, "This is what we should be doing." Um, things that they prioritize, that we, as an industry, absolutely do not traditionally and are normally really nervous about and scared of, right? What has that transition in implementing those things into your salon businesses that you have now, what has that looked like for you?

One of the issues that comes to mind immediately is when you do curly hair, sometimes you need more information regarding your guests before you even, they even hit the door. I found early on that I didn't know my timing very well, so I, I realized, "Okay, I need some kind of form to have my clients submit their imagery, their, their likeness, their inspo photos, their take on their density, their take on their length," you know, uh, which is really sometimes hard for clients to identify. But just making sure that I knew what I was getting into before they hit the door and not feeling like, "Oh my gosh, now I've spent four hours on this client and I'm gonna be two hours behind on everyone today." So, I guess it goes back to data.

Know your data. So, it's just collecting as much data before the client visits, I think, is huge. Setting the stage for the client before they come in, knowing, you know, where they're going, literally, the space, w- what signage to look for, you know, payment methods. I mean, there's just so much.

But just creating that really customized environment too, asking their pronouns, asking what kind of dietary needs they have, what kind of nourishment they want while they're ... during their time with us. All of those things really set you apart. And, don't get me wrong, I've had people tell me, "This is extra, and I don't wanna do this, and this is stupid," and all this stuff.

And I'm like, "You're just not my target market." Because for every person that has told me, "This is stupid, this is extra," I had 10 more people tell me, "This is amazing. I've never had anyone pay this much attention to me, um, and my needs before a salon appointment, and I really appreciate it." A personalized and e- quote-unquote "extra" experience, right, which I love, and I genuinely believe in today's day and age ...

I, I mean, I'm ... is ... I don't just believe, statistics show that personalized experiences is what the customer, the consumer is looking for in today's day and age, right? And I think that we, as beauty professionals, service providers, one-to-one service providers, have just an absolutely massive opportunity and so much more leverage than maybe, like, a mass retailer would to be able to provide that personalized experience.

Now, you shared, right, that, like, you know, we might be a little bit nervous that people will perceive this as too extra or too much, or I know that ... I don't know about you, because I feel like you are just a freaking go-getter badass, right? Um, but I know that I hear a lot of stylists whenever they hear these concepts, like, these extra, quote-unquote "concepts," right? They're ...

I, I feel like sometimes imposter syndrome comes in as well too, where it's like, "Who am I to, like, go out of my way to do something extra or new? Even though I know it'll be good for my clients and my business, I'm nervous about what my peers are gonna think of me, like, what the other stylists in the salon are gonna think of me." And maybe you can even share from your perspective as a salon owner, like, "What is my team gonna think," right? Like, "How am I gonna get them on board?"

So, what are your thoughts about that? Making sure that your verbiage around that is tailored to the benefit of your, the person you're working with, right? So, making sure that your client understands you don't just call it a client form or something like that. You say, "Let's create your dream salon experience."

That sets the stage. Again, you're, you're creating the expectation before they even enter your, your salon, that you are trying to give them the best experience. So, I think just choosing your verbiage really carefully, which you are a great source of information for that. That's one of your superpowers, is verbiage, so making sure you use that.

Same thing with my team. These systems are in place so that you can put your best foot forward. You have as much information as you need, so they know when they read the forms before a client comes in if they need to add extra time to the appointment, if the client hasn't booked the right appointment, if it's out of their scope of practice, if they need to hand off the client to someone different in the salon. I mean, they just understand that it's really created not as a extra step for them or something like that, but really just to help them work efficiently, to maximize their schedule, to maximize their income.

And when everybody understands that, they're on board. The people that don't understand it are just, nine times out of 10, not my target market. I can tell you, they're just, they're just not. And I always refer them to salons that are more in alignment with, "Hey, I just wanna call and talk to a person and schedule the appointment.

I don't wanna do all this stuff." And I'm like, "These are the salons that you can go to for that." Thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode, my friend. Thank you to Shereen and Sydney for sharing their time with us and sharing their stories with us.

I had to cut out a lot of really amazing, juicy things out of their interviews today, so what we're going to try our best to do is upload their full interviews, if you wanna check them out, to maybe, like, YouTube or another platform, and you can check out the show notes below for that, um, to find those interviews, the full ones. So that way, you can really get all the tea, 'cause both of these women are absolutely so inspirational, have so many beautiful things to share, more than just what we added into this episode for time purposes. I'll leave all their Instagram, all their links, all the places that you can find them, so that way, you can go check them out and continuously be inspired by them. Our next episode, we're gonna be releasing our part 2 to this, in which we'll have other amazing, beautiful, badass hairstylists who will be sharing with you their experience of making big, scary shifts and implementing systems into their business.

So, so much love to you, my friend. Thank you for tuning in to The Modern Hairstylist podcast. Have a blessed rest of your day. Peace out, girl scout.

Bye-bye.

End of transcript. © 2023 Hunter Donia LLC.