Why Automations & Systems Are A Non-Negotiable In 2024

Hello, my friend. Welcome back to The Modern Hair Stylist podcast. So both you and I know, okay, I'm sure that we can all agree, that the industry has changed so much in the past couple years. Particularly right now, the world is shifting.

The industry is changing. The, our clients' behaviors and what their expectations have shifted so rapidly, and it seems like every single day, there is something new that you have to do, something new that you have to catch up on. And it's a lot, right? I mean, we did not sign up to be hair stylists, to also be CEOs and CMOs and have to do all the other shit that we have to do and stay ahead and pivot and all the things, right?

It's a lot. And I, I wanna, today, illuminate the reason why this is actually happening in the first place, um, and why we feel like we can never keep up, and why there's a new thing for us to do every single day, and then share with you why, you know, I've been preaching the solution to this for a very long time, and also, you know, preaching the solution before it actually was needed the most. Because right now, it is needed the most, like hardcore. And nobody's talking about it because everybody's focus is on completely different things that are really just burning them out even more, and that is going to be automations and systems.

I know I talk about them all the time. I know you hear me preach them all the time, but today I'm gonna freaking prove it to you, okay? I'm gonna give you real data, real statistics. We're gonna be taking notes from other Fortune 500 companies and industries, and we are going to spill the tea to you, and I'm gonna share with you the fucking reason why, in order for you to truly keep up, to stay ahead of the curve, and to make it so you can continue within this industry without experiencing intense burnout, in order for you to do that, automations and systems are absolutely crucial right now.

And it's gonna be really difficult for anybody to stay ahead moving forward. It's just gonna get worse and worse and worse. The burnout is gonna get harder and harder if we don't get ahead of it with automations and systems. So if you're ready to get into it, if you wanna hear my case, let's get into it.

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. 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 Hair Stylist podcast. Okay, my friend, I know it's a pretty dreary intro to all that I'm about to share with you. But I promise you, there is an upside to this conversation and there is a, a light at the end of the tunnel, I promise you. But I first really wanna just bang it into people's heads as to why, like, if you are not getting on the train of systems and automation, that, like, you really are missing out on a ton of opportunity, and you may be actually falling a little bit behind if you are letting the train pass, okay?

So the tea is, is the reason why we all feel like the standard has been raised so much, the reason why we feel like it's 10 times harder to build a clientele right now, the reason why we feel like our responsibilities are out of control is because of the way that the general public is perceiving our industry and how they now are able to shop around for hairstylists. So, you know, 10, 15 years ago, normally, it would look something like a person who's looking for a hairstylist would go to the salon that is down the street from them because it was convenient and close, and they would try them out, and normally, they would just accept it and it was fine. They also were looking for much more simple services than we are often doing nowadays, right? Like the, like, 15 years ago, we weren't doing root shadows and cr- crazy multi-step toners and all of the crazy shit that we do now, right?

So it was a lot easier for somebody to find a hairstylist that they clicked with and there wasn't, there ha- didn't have to be as much trust built up from the beginning. Or that person would just rely on their friend or their family member telling them what hairdresser to go to because they had a good experience. Nowadays, the reason why you feel like the standard has shifted so much and the bar is so much higher for you is because now there is such a plethora of options and it is very easy for your client to shop around and take their time because they can just do a Google search and there's tons of Google My Business listings for them to go through. They can search on Instagram and there's tons of hairstylists who post really beautiful work, right?

Like, we all know how to post a pretty picture of the back of somebody's head nowadays, you know? And there's tons of hairstylists in your area who now know how to do that and they're on board with that. They're getting education. Us, as an industry, also, that's this, this is the other reason why the standard is so high, is because us, as an industry, we are more educated now more than ever because of the way that we interact on social media, because of more education being more accessible and more e- and educators, um, being able to have a voice and a platform to share their experience and their opinions and, and, and then teach those to other people.

So not only are, do clients have, like, tons of options now and they're much more discerning, we also have stylists, plenty of stylists, who are, are really, say, saturating the market and taking up these types of spaces. And it continuously becomes more difficult to set yourself apart and to really stand out in that crowd, right?The other thing that, especially right now, like, the time that I'm recording this right now, the other thing is that people are starting to really not trust hairstylists and starting to get really sick of some bullshit. And that could go for unprofessionalism, just, like, general unprofessionalism because a lot of ...

There's a ton of people entering the industry and there's a lot of newer stylists who are getting into this, and because they are probably a little bit better at marketing than the majority of us, especially if they're younger, they are building a clientele quickly, but they're not really delivering great results or they don't have the experience or the, the time put in to deliver an excellent experience, so they're putting a really bad taste in people's mouth. Then you have people like hairstylists abusing the modern day push for boundaries and self-respect for our industry. So you have people implementing strict cancellation policies and having people, you know, shampoo their hair before they come into the door instead of getting offered the shampoo. You have people raising their prices super irresponsibly, like, out of their price range and not giving people clear expectations upfront about the price that they're gonna pay, and not making it so their service menu in the public and their online booking in the public is clear enough to reflect what that person will actually get and what they'll be paying for when they come through the door.

And so, if you go on TikTok or if you go and you look at hairdressers' posts and you look at the comments and you see, like, the really rapidly changing shift in the trust of the general public when it comes to our industry as a whole and their ex- terrible experiences that they're having now, that is really making it d- that much more difficult for clients to trust us. So although clients do have more options and the market is more saturated, they are that much more discerning, right? Because they can pick and choose. But even when they are picking and choosing, they are that much more critical.

So, th- that is why the standard has shifted so intensely. And then, you know, we have these influencers, right? That are making it seem like it should be super easy and simple for people to get their black box dye changed into a platinum blonde in a day, you know? And teaching these people how to do their own hair at home, and we have these box color companies who are really capitalizing upon that as well and marketing to your clients and telling them, like, "Hey, like, just co- just get your hair done at home, like, with our expert consultation and custom-mixed formula that we'll send right to your door with all the extra- instructions that you need and the video consultation that you, you need to get it all done yourself."

Like, we are up against a lot, and it's because technology has advanced so much and the general consumer has ... And even us as hairstylists, oh, we are interacting with that technology in such ways. And so therefore, in order for us as an industry to surpass the average salary of $28,000, 'cause that is the industry salary, average salary is $28,000 in the United States, in order for us to be able to excel above that average salary, the standard has raised significantly. There's so much more that we have to do.

And if you're sitting here listening to this and you felt that shift, you know, uh, just nod your head to yourself and acknowledge that. Maybe send me a DM that you feel like you felt the same shift as well and you agree with me, 'cause I know we're all feeling it. I'm s- I work behind the chair one day a week still. I was feeling it when I was full time behind the chair in my salon suite.

It is intense. It's no fucking joke, and that's truly what has brought me to where I am today, where I'm teaching solutions to be able to stay ahead of the curve, to be able to do the most, to be able to meet that standard that is required for us to ch- fully tap into the potential that is available to us in the industry without burning ourselves out and still having that work/life balance. And sh- so it's automations and systems, my friends. I, I, I ...

When I was in my salon suite, I blew my shit up, like fast and quickly, and I was very grateful for that. However, I was working nonstop to make it happen, and not only was I working nonstop to make it happen for working behind the chair, so, like, actually, like, b- you know, book solid, like, a, a five days a week and then some, 'cause I was coming in early, staying late on my days off, squeezing in clients 'cause I had scarcity mindset and I was like, "I want as many people as possible or else I'll fail," and making the most excellent in-the-chair experience, having to do my inventory, keep up with all the things to keep that experience going, be the receptionist, consistently answer DMs 24/7, seven days a week, answer questions at 3:00 AM, handle the difficult things, still take education. I mean, to be able to make that happen for myself, it was insane, and I genuinely ... Like, even six months into my salon suite business, was questioning whether or not I still wanted to do this.

I, I ... It was really difficult for me to understand and, and envision the long-term, long haul of my career. I was like, "There has to be someway, somehow that this can be more sustainable." And so the majority of the industry at the time, and even now, hasn't adapted to think about, how do we scale what we have going on to be able to keep up with the standard without burning ourselves out?

We are only one human being, right? And w- th- the majority of you guys listening to this are independent hairstylists.So as an independent hairstylist, you don't have a team to help you. You don't have a receptionist to help you, right?

And in any business, right, like if you think about any startup, if you think about any traditional business model, right, the, the startup founder will start the business and they will hustle. They will sacrifice, work their absolute ass off to get it off the ground by themselves. And once they get it off the ground, they will then have some more money to play with and maybe they get investments or maybe they just get great capital just from the revenue that they're making from the beginning, and then they will invest in a team member or another team member to then help them scale and grow the business even more because they have more hands out there and they have more people to take off the little minuscule annoying tasks off of that owner's plate so the owner can focus on the big tasks that generate the most revenue. So that's the traditional path for most startups, right?

Like most startups will start out with one person working their ass off, getting the thing off the ground, and then they start to hire people to help them and to handle that standard, right? So that way this becomes a more sustainable thing. We don't have that luxury. And we have a full-time job of doing the hair behind the chair, right?

So not to mention all of the other shit that we have to do with the business to maintain it, to literally just maintain it, but then also grow it so that way we can continuously raise our income and continuously work less and make more, continuously do the services that we only love, right? It takes work to do that. And so right now, especially with the advancement of AI and how much more advanced technology has been, post-pandemic's sped us up like 10 years when it came to companies and corporations ad- adaptation of implementing technology into their workflows and processes. These companies right now, they are having to fight that same standard and that same rush and that same change in consumer behavior just as much as we are.

Like we are not alone. Our industry is not so unique that, like, only we have these problems. Like every single industry and company has these problems as well because consumer behavior is changing for them and the standard is changing for them and raised for them as well. More competition, more ways to shop and discern, less trust, et cetera, et cetera.

So what... But the differences between our industry and how we've handled it versus how they have handled it is those industries understand the importance of adapting and implementing that technology to stay ahead. Statistics show us most organizations, 97% to be exact, believe that business process automation is crucial for digital transformation and keeping up with the pace of change in customers' needs and wants. More than 80% of business leaders reported accelerating their work process automation in recent years because as per usual, Fortune 500 companies are lightyears ahead of us.

We as an industry are robbed of this business education, of even thinking about this innovative stuff, right? And I'm very privileged and lucky to come from a background of my father being a software engineer and me just being a nerdy little kid who was building websites on Wix when I was like in freaking elementary school just because I thought it was fun, right? So, you know, when I was in my place of burnout with my salon suite and I was like, "Damn, like I'm doing all the things and I'm working really hard to grow this business and make it great and like I'm making good money but like, damn, I don't want to keep going this direction or else like I'm going to be burnt the hell out. When I was in that space I was like, "How can we take notes from these Fortune 500 companies who are making these advancements, who are making the processes and workflows so much more streamlined so that way they don't have to rely on as much manpower to get it done?

How can we take notes and how can we implement that in our own business?" And that's what I was able to do for myself. And then I scaled the shit out of what I was doing and I was only working like three and a half days a week, making absolutely great money. I had great work-life balance.

My phone was finally off when I went home. I actually had energy to pour into my family, my loved ones, and my, my little baby precious fur babies, right? And it was absolutely transformational for me. And then I truly realized like the power of automations and systems and the technology that we have available to us today.

And no, I'm not talking about your booking system. Your booking system doesn't do shit. I promise you. You do shit.

And there's other softwares that I teach within my programs and that I implemented in my own business to make really beautiful shit happen that go in tandem with your booking system and your online booking to actually make things more sustainable for you And so as we are moving into the future, I mean, things are just going to get faster. The world is just going to change more rapidly and quickly. Your expectations of, of y- from your clients of getting things quickly and easily, being able to do business by themselves without you, 71% of your clients, 71% of women in the United States who visit hair salons would prefer to book appointments online. And I've read plenty of books about this that the general consumer, even the more mature ones who you would not expect to want to do business by themselves online, they are getting dopamine releases and hits from being able to do business by themselves, and they are...

Their expectation of being able to get things done as quickly as possible and do that things by them- those things by themselves without having to wait for you, that standard is just raising higher and higher and higher. That expectation is just raising higher and higher and higher. And leaning into truly innovative advanced strategies such as the ones that I teach in PreVisit Pathway r- as of right now, those are the things that are going to help you stay ahead. Those are going to be the things that allow you to truly achieve the work-life balance that this industry has the potential for you to achieve and to be able to stay ahead and raise above that standard of $28,000 a year as the average salary in the United StatesHere's the tea, my friend.

At the time of recording this, I'm about to open up registration for... I think registration should be open by the time this actually is released. Registration is opening for my free class, How to Automate and Systematize to Scale Your Beauty Business. I would absolutely love to see you there, because I'm gonna be talking about the specific automations and systems that we actually implement to make it so your processes are more streamlined, to make it so you are, uh, y- taking these innovations and taking notes from these Fortune 500 companies and you know actually how to s- s- uh, implement them in your own business.

And the class is live, so I'll be there to answer all your questions and I'll be breaking down everything for you. Now, if you're listening to this at a time where I'm not hosting this class and registration is closed, my friend, I am so sorry. Go to hunterdonia.com for all that I have to offer you for the rest of the year.

But this is a free, rare class that I only do twice a year as of right now, and it's been absolutely transformational. Um, we just started releasing, r- releasing it last year, and the testimonials that we've gotten for this class have been absolutely insane. People said that it's, like, the best free class that they've ever gotten. They took immediate action after and it's been life-changing for them.

And so, I love getting to deliver it. I love getting to be with you live. The podcast is fun and great. Like, I love being able to give you this information in this way, but to be able to be there with you, um, and you guys are in the comments, in the chat, communicating with each other and, and building community, and then me being able to live, i- i- interact with you in a live space like that is so exciting for me.

So, I really hope that you can attend virtually. Um, again, it's free. We have really cool bonuses and gifts that we're gonna be giving to the people who show up live. So, if you go to hunterdonia.

com/scale, I'm gonna leave that link in the show notes for you, then you can sign up today for free and choose from one of our four convenient dates and times. I really hope to see you there, my friend, and I really hope that you understand the importance of automations and systems after listening to this episode. You and I together, you and I, you listening to this, we have a responsibility to take into consideration what the next generation is going to experience when they come into th- in, into this industry. And the more that we resist adapting and innovating because it may feel uncomfortable or it may feel like a lot of work or whatever it may be, the more that we resist that, the more that we're setting ourselves up for failure and the next generation coming into it as well.

Let's fucking revolutionize this shit together, my friends. I'm so excited to be able to see you in that class. I'm so excited to be able to do this with you within my programs and continuously on the podcast. I really appreciate your support.

So much love to you. Hope that you enjoyed this episode of the Modern Hairstylist podcast, and I'll talk to you in the next one. So much love. Peace out, girl scout.

Bye-bye.

End of transcript. © 2024 Hunter Donia LLC.