The Things You Need To Stop Doing If You Want To Keep Growing

Hello, my friend. Welcome back to the Modern Hairstylist Podcast. Uh, y'all know that I am really big on looking at time as one of our most valuable resources, and I think that when time becomes very important to take more seriously in your business is particularly when you actually have gotten to, like, let's say, 75K, 100K-plus in your business. Uh, because now you are not as worried.

I mean, of course we're always gonna be worried about money, and we always want more money. Um, but you are now most likely making that money by putting in a shit ton of time, right? Like, the way that you make money or you make time is you put in money or time, and so likely what has gotten you to where you are today is that you are putting in a shit ton of time, right? And that is what's getting you your return in money.

But now the question becomes, "Okay, great, you're making all this money, but you're sacrificing your entire life to make it happen," you know? And I know definitely for me, when I was three months book solid, five new client requests a week, and I was just slamming clients in and squeezing in new ones and just completely overwhelmed, the thing that got me there was being a smart and motivated business owner. Like, doing the extra things, going the extra mile, sending the follow-up thank you texts, and, uh, doing the, the marketing really, really well, posting on the stories and giving my clients maybe some concierge service, right? But at a certain point, like, when does all that actually scale, you know?

How can it actually scale if you have zero time left, or what is it all even worth it for at the end of the day if you have zero time left to spend time in your life, right, to actually enjoy your personal life outside of your business? And so it's kind of like a twofold thing when it comes to, to, to the power or the value of your time, where you, you need time in order to actually grow the business even more, but you have none of that. So you're going to hit a glass ceiling inevitably, and s- so you need th- that time to be able to actually grow beyond that glass ceiling. And then simultaneously, you're working your ass off to make this money so that you can enjoy your personal life, but y- if you have no time to enjoy your personal life, then what the fuck is the point at the end of the day, right?

So today, we're just going to be just talking about time and maybe trying to identify where you may be wasting it right now and thinking small about your time and hopefully making it so you take it a little bit more seriously. I'm here today with Miss Jodi Brown, as per usual, and I appreciate Jodi Brown so much. Before we got on this episode, I was spending and wasting a whole lot of time trying to fucking figure out what the fuck we are gonna talk about in these next couple podcast episodes. And it's so great.

Maybe first lesson for you guys, like genuinely, of this episode is, like, surround yourself with people who can help you make decisions faster. Like, I swear, like, one of the biggest time wasters is just being sat in perfectionism and not making fast decisions. I actually just had two, two instances. I- I- I'll just, I'll just, I'll just use the one example.

I just had one instance of one of our mastermind members who had a situation in which she has a space in which she could have a booth renter, basically. She had one for a while. They left, and she had not really taken any action to replace the rental spot, because she was kind of sitting on the decision, "What kind of person do I want there? How much do I charge?

Do- am I even worth, uh, having somebody in this space?" Whatever it may be. They're, they were just going all over the place with, like, "Should I have a booth renter here? Should I go and hire one?"

Whatever it may be. And I was like, "Dude, if you don't take any action, you're not gonna have any perspective to be able to even know what you want or what is worth it to you." And so I just gave her the simple task of post on your Instagram story and be like, "Yo, I'm thinking about renting out the space. Is anybody interested?"

And just see what the response looks like. Just see if you get nobody or if you get a pu- ton of people all of a sudden with a very easy post, because that will show you how much effort you're gonna have to put in to be able to find qualified renters. You'll be able to see the type of people that are in the market. You'll be able to have conversations and start to actually visualize what another person in that space would feel like, right?

Like ... Or ideate that, because you have some sort of momentum. There's actual evidence now popping up that gives your brain more information to be able to make a faster decision. And so action, I think, is 100%.

Messy, imperfect action is 100% a massive solution to wasting a shit ton of time being sat in indecision, and indecision is a massive time waster. So I totally agree, and I think it's kind of ironic, because at the beginning, when you are starting a business, and like you said, kind of with your example, you have all this time, right? So you've got time to do these extra things, and then I think once you get to a point where your business is already successful, and you've kind of gotten to that first level of success, not only do you have way more decisions to make, which is causing you decision fatigue, which is a massive time waster- Yes ... but also, you almost can't see the forest through the trees.

And so I think that's why this episode's gonna be so helpful, because when you are in a space where you don't have a lot of time, often you don't have a lot of mental capacity, and you don't necessarily have that clarity in, "Okay, this is wasting my time, and this is an essential task," because it all feels essential when you are that busy and when you don't have a lot of time left to be able to make those decisions. So I think if we can kind of walk people through where those main time-wasting spots are, it's gonna be helpful and almost give them a little bit of, like- Zoomed out perspective on where that time actually goes. Yeah. And I wanna close out, now that I'm thinking about decisions a little bit more, I wanna talk about it more, so apologies to everybody, including you, Jody.

You bring up a, a good point, where it's like, at the beginning, like, you have more time to be able to make decisions, and you also don't have as much to lose. I think, like, when you have actually built up a lot of momentum and you've created a lot of- Mm-hmm ... foundation, there's a lot more, it feels like there's a lot more risk with decision, right? Like- Yeah ...

there's so mi- there's so many moving parts now that it's like, okay, if I do this one thing, how does this affect this, this, and this, and this, and this? Mm-hmm. But at the beginning of your career you didn't have this, this, and thi- this, and this. So you could just throw shit at the wall without having to worry about it as much.

There wasn't as many things to think about. I actually, though, believe possibly that it may be the opposite situation. I think that maybe because you have built so much foundation, because you have so much experience, because you are so smart, I think there's actually a lot less risk in whatever decision that you're making, or taking a risk- Mm-hmm ... because you have so much foundation to back you, you know?

And you've learned so much that can easily dig you out of whatever decision you're making. Like, and I feel like, you know, obviously a lot of decisions feel so permanent. Like, they feel like you're, you're, you feel like you're digging yourself into this hole, that you're so scared of what may happen. But, like, again, and I, we've talked about this on the podcast before, and it's definitely been a life lesson for me, it's like when the fears come true, it is so much less terrible than you catastrophized it to be prior.

So if the fear comes true, you can al- you, there's always something next. It's like, it's not like you're screwed forever and everything is done, you know? In most case scenarios, with the most decisions we make as a business owner, you know? So I don't know.

That definitely is a bi- decision making is a big time waster. I think it's an interest- interesting topic, and it's obviously something that I very much struggle with. But again, surrounding yourself with people who can pull you out of that and get you to the point quicker I think is really, really powerful. So, like, my mentorship, I very much am like, we need, we need to be better decision makers, and it's great that I get to be there with you to pull you out of your fucking head- Yeah ...

to, like, get you to the decision faster. And it's great that I get to be with Jody and, uh, Joe and my team, who can, like, fucking pull me out of my bullshit every now and then too. It's almost like that Dunning-Kruger effect that we talked about- Yeah ... like, in a few episodes, right?

It's like once you have that expertise and once you have that knowledge, it's so easy to, like, overthink the shit out of everything, because you just want it to be really good 'cause you have that knowledge. But I think you're absolutely right that it's like you have so much more now to, like, to support you when you're at this phase in business. Yeah. And a lot of it is just, like, the mental gymnastics.

Very much so. Okay, so obviously decision-making takes up a shit ton of your time. It holds you back from faster growth, very much so. Especially 'cause there just feels like there's so much more to lose, and you just are feeling so frozen and stuck.

So we gotta be better decision makers, first and foremost. And then let's say outside of your brain, right? Tangibly, um, we also just have tasks that we definitely should probably start to give up at a certain point. Um, for example, like, bookkeeping and your taxes and all that good stuff, right?

I always say that, like, I would rather work an extra three hours a month, make the amount of money that I would make, that I would spend to pay someone to do that stuff for me, versus spend those same three hours doing that task, because I am very good at doing the hair, right? I'm very good at it. It's simple, easy, already have the foundation for it. It's not gonna take me as long, and it's gonna get done right, right?

Whereas the other thing that I'm not the expert in is not going to get done as well, as fast. And so I'd rather make the money to pay for somebody else to do that well doing something that I do well, right? Um, and so I think that, like, there are definitely parts of the business that, uh, particularly when there is a skill gap, that it is very much worth the investment, even from an early stage, not just- Yeah ... when you are at, at a successful moment- momentous space.

Um, but especially when you're at a momentous space, like we were saying, at this point you don't even have the time to spend. Mm-hmm. So something's gonna have to give. And I know that, like, finding and then trusting a person to be able to fill that skill gap for you is probably going to cost you a fair bit of money, especially if they are actually good at the thing.

But I promise you, like, it can be the best investment ever, and one that you will oftentimes not regret. Yeah, 100%, I agree. Yeah, I think just, like, zoning in on what you're good at. Even yesterday I had this come up, um, just, like, this weird accounting thing, and if I didn't have a bookkeeper, it would have probably took me a week, whereas it took me one conversation.

It was fixed in, like, an hour and a half. Uh- Yeah ... because that's not my zone of genius. So I think that's such a good point.

And even going back to that, dude, um, numbers, uh, help you make decisions- Yeah ... so much faster. Yeah. And so, like, those types of things, like, they fee- this all feeds into each other, right?

Like, the one thing over here that saves you time can buy you more time in another place as well. I find that a lot of the time my, my new mastermind members- ... who are first coming to the table, like we dive really deep into the numbers, and a lot of them like don't really do that very often or are used to that or know what to do with the numbers. But the amount of them that don't have a bookkeeper and that are like four months behind on their numbers, it's like, well, you're stuck in decis- you're stuck in indecision.

If you knew your numbers, it would be a lot better. You'd be a lot faster and be able to make the decision because you have data to do so. But you have four months of bookkeeping that you have to do that you don't feel like doing, that is going to take you a long time. So it's like being able to just pull data quickly is very powerful.

Actually, um, when I've learned of things about, uh, what investors look for in sellable businesses, being a push data company where being able to pull numbers fast, like very quickly, is one of the biggest most important things to an investor. Because they don't wanna see a big web of Google Sheets and bullshit. They just wanna see the fucking P&L, and they wanna be able to pull it very quickly. And I really think that when a- you're at this level, again, data becomes so massively important in showing you where your missed opportunities are and where your biggest leaks are.

And I think that hiring somebody to be able to take that off of your plate so it's already done for you is going to save you time in many different ways, right? Many, many, many different ways. 100%. Then, of course, we have other administrative tasks.

We know, for me, if you've listened to me at all, we know that client communication is one of those things. So like Dan Martell, um, in Buy Back Your Time, in his book, like he kind of breaks down each of the s- the, the departments of the business and talks about like where the owner's time is most valuable and least valuable. The bottom department, the one where your time is least valuable, is going to be admin, because admin is oftentimes an extremely delegatable task. I can't tell you the amount of people, unfortunately, that still feel like ...

And I can understand the theory and the argument, but still feel like their personal touch and concierge service is important in the client communication and client relationship. And I agree that the personalization of that is very important, but that does not mean that you have to be the one who is actually doing it or that it has to be completely manually done from scratch. Like we've found that we have the tools and we even have the opportunity to hire other people to be able to offer that really personalized experience without having to give up all of your time. And honestly, I think that the majority of consumers, yes, they appreciate that relationship, yes, that's what will retain them, but at the end of the day, especially in between the appointment, they just need to fucking get their shit taken care of and move on.

I know when I have to do the chore of booking a fucking appointment, it's like an annoying little mosquito in my ear. I don't need to go back and forth with somebody all day or play phone tag. I just wanna fucking get this shit done, and I don't wanna have to wait around for anybody to do it. Well, and let me ask you this, 'cause this is something I've noticed about myself.

Will you go somewhere new if you can't easily book and reschedule appointments? 100% yes. Yeah. Even with like things that are very expensive.

And, and again, it's like if it's something where, which I think that hairstylists are, if it's not a rare commodity ... I don't think that hairstylists are a rare commodity. I think that there's many, uh, a hairstylists to choose from, good ones, okay? Mm-hmm.

So especially if it's not that situation, I'll fucking go anywhere you know? Like I'll go to any of the qualified situations. So again- Yeah ... it's like, okay, you wanna be somebody who's paying, who, who's charging a lot of money, right?

Yeah. You, so like you wanna be somebody who has a high ticket price. I would hope you do, because that's what's gonna actually make you money. Right.

You wanna be that, and you wanna make sure that people come to you over somebody else, then you need to make sure that your response time is fast and that you are cutting to the chase and that not the entire success of the business and your clients being able to just get shit done with you is completely reliant on you. Because again, you don't have enough time- Yeah ... to offer that concierge service. Like in the pursuit of you doing shit manually- Yeah ...

you are actually giving a poorer customer experience. Absolutely. I, I think I've said this before. There's a spa that I always get a gift certificate to on like Mother's Day, and I love it so much, and I never go there any other time because they don't have online booking.

There you go. And I have to call and wait and wait till they're open and like all of this stuff, and it's probably the nicest one in the city. And I just am like, "Well, like it's not convenient," so. Yeah.

And too, like, like again, like what has probably gotten you to a point in which you are making good money is that you're doing extra shit, right? Mm-hmm. So I would even say like the extra shit ... So okay, so bottom of the pyramid is an administrative stuff, right?

The next level is we call, what we call fulfillment. We could also call this client experience. So the next level is client experience. Of course, client experience is so massively important, and what has gotten you up to this point is that you probably do a lot of the extra stuff.

So you're probably, like for example, I have somebody in the program who, in ma- in Mastermind who just joined who is manually Whenever they have a new client, they're putting together a Pinterest board, and then they're sending them an email with the Pinterest board to then, like, collaborate with the person and, like, make the Pinterest board. And it's a very fun and exciting, like, client experience thing. Like, people love it. Like, her clients love it.

And we joke because she's, like, a platinum blonde specialist, and I'm like, "Isn't everybody just a fucking platinum blonde?" Like... And she's like, "Yes, it's not really helpful for me. I don't really care.

It's because it makes the client feel special, and it's, like, an exciting part of the experience." And I was like, "That's really fucking cool." I was like, "I love that perspective." But is there a way that we can streamline this?

Is there a way that we can automate it? And we were coming up with the ways that we can make it more systematized, make it more automated, but still personalized. And I think that that's, like, a pre- a great example of, like, that little thing will make it so your higher prices are very justified, that your retention is very high, that you are the successful stylist. But a lot of that stuff that you're doing that is, uh, that is above and beyond, again, is soaking up so much of your time and can be delegated to technology or can actually be delegated to a whole other human.

And I'm even gonna go, I'm gonna go to the next level, which is gonna be marketing, and then the next level above that is sales. So marketing is the act of, for us, an ex- as an example, posting on social media, getting your name out there, finding, uh, potential new clients, right? That is something that is obviously very important. It's something that you most likely are, are, are ha- are...

It's important that you have your hands in it or that you've created a strong foundation yourself of it before you delegate it. Sometimes there's enough of a skill gap to where it's like, okay, maybe you should just give this to somebody else who really knows what the fuck they're doing. But in that, e- either way, right, either way, being able to delegate the marketing as well too, at a certain level, it can be so freeing as long as either you have already built a proven marketing system, you understand what messaging works, and you've done that work, and it's already working, so you can just hand it off to somebody who may not be as experienced or take as much initiative. Or you're gonna pay a little bit more for somebody who's very experienced, who's then going to be held accountable to actually growing and making your marketing better, right?

100%. Um, and even getting that off your plate, I know it's like the number one thing that I feel like feels the most freeing to most stylists. And I honestly believe that, like, it should be everyone's goal to, uh, get assisted in marketing, at least in one way or another- Mm-hmm ... at some point in your career because it is obviously the most energy-draining, but yet one of the most important things in the business.

And especially at a, like a, let's say a 100K level, we don't only wanna think about... 'Cause I just had this, a, a, a conversation with another mastermind member about this particularly, where she was looking to hire a social media person, but she felt really guilty about it. She's like, "Well, I do this. It's easy for me.

It works for me. I, it's just a routine for me," whatever. And I was like, "That's awesome." So then if you hire somebody, it's only, it's only going to allow you more capacity to do more of it even better.

And so it's not just about getting rid of the task. It may be about being able to compound your power in being able to do the task well or do it more or in a different way. And especially when you hit a higher level, it requires you doing different things and maybe expanding beyond the channels that you've, that has gotten you up to this point. If you're feeling stuck and, like, you're not growing, then it's most likely because we need to start doing something different.

But it takes extra time for you to be able to do that, right? So it's, w- again, like, going back to the very beginning of the episode where you look at your time as a resource, it's to, number one, of course, get you time back in your life. But it is also to reinvest back into the business in a different way. And you need to also be very clear on, like, when you do get that time back, like, what is going to be the way that you do that?

Because I think that if you just get the time back and you just waste it, then it's, you're losing a lot of opportunity, you know? Agreed. I'm on a roll, so I'm gonna keep going. Is that okay, Jody?

Yes, please. Keep it coming. The last level at the top... Well, it's not the last level.

But it's, like, the last, I would say delegatable-ish level is sales. So sales you guys can think of as, let's just talk, let's just talk from... Well, sales is, is, is, a lot of the time for us, it's going to be actually converting a, a potential client into a booked client, okay? And so we have Brandy in Mastermind as an example.

Brandy's gonna be on the podcast soon, and we're gonna talk about this deeper. But like, so for Brandy, what she has is a funnel in which she has a DM funnel. So like, when she gets a follower, we, they s- she had sent her followers DMs, and then that's how she would convert them to get into the chair. And you look at that and, like, it's been super successful for her, right?

And, like, it, it's been, like, really, really, really good for her, okay, in many a different ways, especially when we're selling a little bit more high-ticket stuff or more alternative stuff like Brandy. 'Cause I've talked to her on the podca- about her on the podcast so much, you guys probably know who Brandy is at this point. Um, uh, but she does these hard water detoxes. And so it's not this, like, normal easy sell.

It's kind of like we need to kind of tell people why this is important and relevant to them. And so doing the DMs, uh, accomplishes that very well in getting to somebody to convert, right? So she built this system that's already working really well for her. The good news is at that level for the sales department, it's actually extremely easy to delegate that.

And, uh, you could pay somebody a very small amount of money to be able to do it for you. And you ha- you could put tools and systems in place to make it extremely reliable as well, too. And when Brandy comes on the podcast, we'll be talking about how she's done that for herself. But being able to delegate sales is, like- Fucking powerful.

That's literally, like, money is being made for you automatically. Like, it's just, like, being printed for you, and your ROI on something like that particularly I think is really, really powerful. Going into even, it doesn't have to be a person, let's talk about sales from, like, the add-on perspective or the average ticket perspective. Like, we have technology and systems in the client experience set up that are completely hands-off that will raise your average ticket, that will have people opting into retail sales and extra add-ons without you having to say or do, say or do anything besides actually fulfill on the service.

And especially when it's retail, it's no time taken, and the add-ons are, like, an extra two to five minutes, and you're making a shit ton of money in exchange for the time that you're putting in. So there's so many different ways that we can look at your time and take it back so that way you can reinvest it back into the business, make more money in the business, grow the business faster. But then of course, so you can actually spend your life doing enjoyable things in the personal... 'Cause what the fuck is all this for at the end of the day?

Literally. What is this for at the end of the day? I have to, like, remind people that all the time. Like, like, yes, like, the business is important, growing the business is important, and, you know, uh, you're sad to lose Susie if you raise your prices.

You are fucking working, and your work can be fulfilling. Like, two things can be true. Like that, that work can be very fulfilling. But at the end of your life, are you going to be happy that you spent a shit ton of time on and in your business so you could make this money?

Or are you gonna be happy that you w- set up the systems and got back the time so that way you could make that money and actually enjoy your motherfucking life? Yeah, exactly. So that's why time is so valuable, and those are a couple ways that you can think about getting it back, my friend. I hope that you enjoyed this episode of the Modern Hairstylist podcast.

If you need some help figuring out where the fuck to get back that time and how to put in the systems to make it happen, then I help people do that every single motherfucking day in my programs. You can learn more at hunterdonia.com. Peace out, Girl Scout.

Bye bye.

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