Latest / Salon Success Secrets — The podcast for salon owners who are done hustling harder and ready to break their revenue ceiling. / Why Clients Are Leaving Independent Stylists (And What Salon Owners Must Learn)

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Why Clients Are Leaving Independent Stylists (And What Salon Owners Must Learn) · Salon Success Secrets — The podcast for salon owners who are done hustling harder and ready to break their revenue ceiling.

• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: Something is happening in the beauty industry right now, and I think every salon owner needs to pay attention.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: Women are going on social media saying they're done with independent hairstylists.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: They're leaving and booking appointments at places like Ulta and JCPenney.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: And here's what's fascinating: they're not necessarily leaving because they want a cheaper haircut or whatever it is.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: They're leaving because they're tired of the experience.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: You know, they're tired of confusing prices.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: They're tired of trying to book an appointment through direct messages.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: They're tired of being charged extra for things they thought were included.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: They're tired of cancellation policies that feel more like legal contracts.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: And they're tired of feeling like the privilege of sitting in someone's chair is somehow greater than the privilege of having them as a guest.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: Think about that.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: We are in the beauty industry.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: We are supposed to make people feel beautiful, cared for, and confident.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yet somewhere along the way, parts of our industry became more focused on protecting the stylist than serving the guest.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I believe booth rental has played a significant role in creating that mindset.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so true, Lindsay.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: You know, for because for years, our industry has been selling Beauty Pros this dream.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: Like be your own boss, right?
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: Set your own schedule, keep 100% of your money.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Now I'm still looking for that business.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: I've never met a business that keeps 100% of your money.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: But you never know.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: So keep 100% of your money, make your own rules.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: And it sounds incredible, right?
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: But here's the question that nobody seems to be asking at what cost?
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: Because when you build an entire business model around the independence of one person who is responsible for creating an extraordinary experience for the guest, like who's responsible for the hospitality, the education, the consistency, the standards, the follow-through?
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: And what happens when the person responsible for all of it is also the person doing the hair?
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the promise was freedom.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: But for a lot of beauty pros, what they actually got was more responsibility, more expenses, more work.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: And now consumers are starting to push back against some of the experience that this fragmented industry has created.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not because independent stylists are bad people.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: You know, they truly are incredible.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: Some of them are incredibly talented, hardworking, independent stylists.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: But talent alone does not create an exceptional business.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: And independence alone certainly doesn't create freedom.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and that's why we're having this conversation today, because Jen and I believe something that might be unpopular in parts of our industry.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: We believe the future of the beauty industry belongs to teams.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: Not because commission is inherently better than booth rental, not because every team-based salon is doing it right, but because when you bring talented people together around a shared vision, shared standards, and a shared commitment to the guest, really, you can create something that is incredibly difficult to replicate alone.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: I might say nearly impossible.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_01: And somewhere along the way, we forgot that.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: We started celebrating independence as the ultimate achievement instead of celebrating the experience we're creating for the people who pay us.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: So today we're challenging the biggest lies booth rental has sold the industry, exposing what the numbers really mean and talking about why the power of a team is the greatest competitive advantage a salon owner has.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_01: So let's get into it.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: So first and foremost, the guest is exposing the problem with booth rental.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, if you think about it, the industry has become so focused on what the stylist wants that it has forgotten who makes the entire business possible.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: And it starts with a G, ends with a T.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's guest, right?
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: You know, Lindsay was just mentioning to me, um, uh I think you saw it on TikTok.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: Was it TikTok or Instagram?
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like how tell us about what the videos that you've been seeing that you sent me.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and maybe you're listening and you've seen these too.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: There's just tons of women that are coming forward that are just upset with the policies that their independent stylists have put into place.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: And they're leaving in masses to go to Ulta and JC Penney is is what some of them have named.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't believe that it's that Ulta and JC Penney necessarily are doing everything right.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I think what they're experiencing here is that somehow it's become inconvenient to be a guest in our industry.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: You know, they've got to sign all these papers to about the cancellation policy.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: They can't ever forget anything.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: Keep in mind though, I'm sure those independent stylists are occasionally calling out sick, you know.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but that doesn't matter, you know.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, there's all these rigid policies, there's confusion about pricing.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: They might show up and be like, the person is like, well, you didn't tell me you wanted a wash and style.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: And they're like, sorry, I thought that thought was included in a haircut.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_01: It's always been included in a haircut, you know, and just so many things where there's just confusion.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: And instead of like trying to accommodate the guests, they're just making them feel like a big inconvenience.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: And I think, you know, what we're taking away from this is people want predictable pricing.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: They want convenient booking, they want professional service.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: And most of all, they probably want consistency, you know, and somewhere the guest went from being the most important person in the business to someone who has to accommodate all of the stylist rules.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_01: And they it sounds like they change often, honestly.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I yeah, I love everything that you just said.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because truly, like when you think about it, Lindsay, you said it brilliant brilliantly.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like, the guest is not an interruption to interruption to your business.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: The guest is the reason your business exists.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like you have to be guest obsessed.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: Like the guest is the reason our businesses exist.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that is one of the most powerful things.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: If you take anything away from today, which we know you will, like that'll be one of the most powerful things to think about.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so another thing to look at is the three lies that booth rent uh sells beauty pros.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: Three lies that booth rental sells beauty pros.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: Beauty pros.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so, lie number one, of course, we talked about that is that you'll make more money.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I mean, last week on the podcast, we talked about someone that came in to our salon to shadows, new to the area, been in the industry for 13 years, and the most amount of service dollars that she had done was$3,000.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: That wasn't even take home, right?
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember her telling me in that moment too that you know she was sold the idea that she'd keep 100% of that.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: And she may still think that, I don't know.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, it's truly that that's not even possible in any business.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: So that's the one of the lie that we talk about.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: Because you know, in booth rent, there's products, there's insurance, there's education, there's marketing, there's we could go on and on about all the costs that um occur because all of that has a cost.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, or like when someone's booth renting and they have to, they're sick or their child is sick.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, what do they do with those guests?
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, and then you know, when you think about looking at it through the lens of a beauty pro that works on a team-based salon and then a hairstylist, hairstylist that's by themselves, like every single time you can see that a team-based salon, beauty pro or beauty pro that works in a team-based actually wins.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, Jen, I think lie number two then is that you'll have more freedom.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: And like when you talked about that, like I think that people just don't even recognize how much responsibility they truly are gonna have in their business.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: And like, who's gonna handle the guests when you're not available?
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: And can like what happens?
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you can't just leave and take a couple of weeks off work, you know.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so I think that freedom is such an interesting concept.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: That was something I got to visit our local cosmetology school this morning, and something that we talked about was freedom and you know, how freedom can be defined by people in so many different ways.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: But for me, freedom is like knowing where I'm needed and also being able to relax in that time when I'm not needed there.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I think so many people don't realize like when they think that they're gonna have freedom to come and go as they want, it actually ends up creating so much more chaos, not only in their own life, because they're you're kind of always on, you know, but like also in the lives of their guests, because then their guests are confused too.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like, do you work then or do you not?
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: Like, can I come then?
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_01: Can I not?
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_01: You know?
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so I don't think having control over your schedule necessarily means that you have more freedom.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you're so true.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: And then line number three is you'll be more successful on your own.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: You know, if you really think about that, um uh, you know, independence can limit access to education, mentorship, collaboration, or shared resources.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I think about just like what team-based salons can offer, like it's almost impossible for one person on their own to be able to go and you know, have those opportunities and create that because it takes time and money and they don't always have those resources.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: You know, a you know, a great team can truly create opportunities to um help someone grow.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: And when someone, you know, it comes into a team-based salon, they get that support that they need so that they can, you know, if that's their dream to take home six figures and work 28 hours a week, it's possible because there's a roadmap to get there.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: And there's also the ceiling, the ceiling of a solo business.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: You know, there's only so much that one person can do.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: We were just working with our educators today and we were talking about contribution.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: And when you're able to step into that power and make contribution and have that stewardship and, you know, give the gift of what was given to you to someone else.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's truly where you get to um expand your life and live your best life.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I agree.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: I love that so much, Jen.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, we don't want to take away there there could be some independent stylists who do have some excellent systems and deliver extraordinary guest experiences.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: So the lie isn't that independence could never work.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: It's just, you know, independence doesn't necessarily mean it doesn't automatically guarantee that you're gonna have more money, freedom, or success.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: And booth rent sells you the dream of being your own boss, but it doesn't also tell you how many jobs come with that title.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: And really what stands out here for us, and just like you mentioned when you were just having your um educator meeting and talking about contribution, I think really what's at play here is the law of synergy, you know, and synergy is what that means is the whole can produce more than the sum of its parts.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: And so when you look at synergy, it actually means one plus one equals three.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, it's really hard to be able to, you I mean, it's just impossible.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's the law of synergy.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: Like we didn't make it up, it's science, you know.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, when two minds come in, uh, they're stronger than one.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: And when three get there, they call that a mastermind, you know, and so when there's two beauty pros creating strong hospitality, um, checking out inventory, making sure you have everything, more than one person thinking about the education of the team, um, leadership to look for opportunities to help people grow, like that's when synergy happens.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, I think independence may give you control, but interdependence, so depending upon another person, gives you leverage, you know, because we know that shared resources allow professionals to spend more time on revenue generating activities.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: Because if you think about it, when someone goes booth rent, they then have to spend all of this time on non-revenue generating activities.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: Like as a salon owner, you're doing so much that's non-revenue generating activities that actually helps generate revenue in the long term for everybody on the team, but you're doing it behind the scenes for them.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_01: Now they're gonna go do that for themselves, but they aren't creating money and there's nobody out there that they're creating it for.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: So, um, you know, I think that we just like are realizing how beautiful and important synergy is, and that collaboration improves problem solving, it creates opportunities for growth, and you know, really just unlocks some powerful things inside of people's lives.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, great movie.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to uh look at synergy is The Miracle and Ice, the old 1980s movie.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: And one thing the coach says on there is um it's about a hockey team, and he says, he tells his team, you know, the name on the front of the jersey, which would be the team name, matters more than the name on the back of the jersey.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: And when you understand and come from that place, man, what you can create.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's so incredible.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: Because we know that, you know, team, the team-based model has a structural advantage.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: There's no doubt about that.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: You know, but the thing of it is is owners have to be able to turn that advantage into an exceptional experience.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: You know, having employees doesn't automatically make you a team.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: You know, if you truly understand what a team is, it's a group of people with a shared reality.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: So the same standards, the same guest experience, the same communication.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: You're like going to Chick-fil-A and they don't say my pleasure.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: You'd probably think you're at McDonald's or I don't know where else KFC.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, you know, you just want to make sure that you understand that having employees doesn't automatically make you a team.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: And then also, do you have that career map?
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: Are your beauty pros supported?
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: Are they developed and they are they compensated through uh through a career map that helps them like live their best life?
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: You know, does your hospitality team genuinely want to improve the guest experience?
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: There's a difference between service and hospitality.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: Service is what we do, hospitality is how we make people feel seen and heard and cared for.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: So do they naturally get that?
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: Are you having those conversations?
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: You know, are your pricing and your policies clear, but they're not posted on the front page of your website?
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: You know, do your guests receive the benefit of everyone's knowledge and expertise?
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, ask yourself, are you building a culture of that shared responsibility?
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: Are you just simply collecting commission from individual stylists?
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: You know, a question to ask yourself is that if your salon disappeared tomorrow, would your guests miss the experience your entire team created, or would they simply follow their individual stylists somewhere else?
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: And that question is worth discovering and thinking about.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, I think you don't win because you're team-based.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: You win because you've built a team that makes the experience better for everyone.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, I think we often talk about policies and stuff like that.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: And sure, you'll need policies.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: I actually just had a conversation earlier with a guest who had no-showed a couple of times and just said, like, hey, like it's somebody who's been here for years, like, we love you.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_01: This does not, this does not change the fact that we're still gonna be excited to see you.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_01: Nothing is gonna change.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: We understand things come up, you know, but like just to make it a win-win for everybody, like we're just gonna have you prepay for your appointments.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_01: Just she's been down this road before, so she's like, I know I need to take responsibility.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, it's all good.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like, we're good.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, we'll get back to good, a good square one again.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, and you know, I just think that there's such a loving and kind way to do things.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_01: And when you come from that place and you create those win-win-win, like you mentioned, Jen, um, as a team-based salon owner, you don't just say you're one.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: You gotta really have that identity shift and truly become one.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you'll start to see all the areas of our industry that make it hard to just enjoy being a guest in our industry.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: And we truly do want to bring the beauty back to the beauty industry and make it be one where people are excited to come into salons and happy that they choose to be a part of a team-based one.
• 17:41
  unknown: Yeah.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: So we just want to leave you with this.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: The beauty industry has spent years convincing beauty pros that the ultimate goal is to become independent.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: But what if we have been chasing the wrong goal?
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: What if the greatest achievement isn't building something you can do entirely by yourself?
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: What if it's building something so extraordinary that you can never have created, created it alone?
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the power of a team.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: And for you, salon owners listening, I want you to recognize what's happening right now.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: The consumer is reminding our entire industry who matters most, the guest, not the policies, not the owner's commission structure, not whether someone rents a booth or receives a paycheck.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's the guest.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: And we put the guest back at the center of everything we do, every decision.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: Something remarkable truly happens.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: The guest wins, the beauty pro wins, and the business wins.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what a truly successful team-based salon is capable of creating.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: So here's your challenge for this week.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: Take a look at your business and ask yourself one question.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, are we creating something that's genuinely better together than we could ever create alone?
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: Because if the answer is yes, congratulations.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: You have something worth protecting and growing and sharing with the next generation of beauty pros.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: And the answer is no, that's okay.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: You just have some work to do.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're ready to build a salon where the numbers work, the people thrive, and the guest experience comes first, that's exactly why we wrote Think and Get Rich as a Salon Owner.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: And if you know a salon owner who needs to be reminded why building a team matters, share this episode with them.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: You guys, the future of our industry doesn't have to be a thousand talented people trying to do everything themselves.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: It can be thousands of talented people building extraordinary things together.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: Because freedom isn't about doing everything yourself.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: Real freedom is about building something that works because you don't have to.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: And that is your salon success secret for the week.