There’s a strong sense of responsibility that comes with being a leader but you also have to be open to learning new things and facing new challenges. Sometimes that means admitting that you aren’t always the most knowledgeable person in the room. 

Salon Owner and Industry Expert, Kellie Johnson, is no stranger to the struggle that comes with finding your place as a leader. Today, she’s here to share her advice on becoming the kind of leader you want to be.

We introduced you to Kellie in our Beyond The Technique Podcast, but if you missed her previous interviews we’ll give you a quick recap: Kellie is the owner of the renown Elan Studio and a council member of The EmpowHERment Project. Aside from her career in the beauty industry, Kellie is also a certified Hypnotherapist and Professional Coach. With expert industry insight, she offers her best advice for becoming a strong leader within your salon. 

Salon Owners, You’ve Got to Stay True to Yourself

Kellie has always been passionate about learning new things and building on her experiences in order to grow. She believes that being a good leader is about becoming the best version of yourself--somebody that you would look up to--and that takes time. 

For Kellie, her first three years in business were her most challenging. She struggled to find structure, she wanted to please everybody, and at the end of the day, she simply wasn’t putting her own needs first.

Now, Kellie looks back on those times and she’ll tell you that learned a lot along the way, but the most important lesson she took away from those early years is that you absolutely have to lead with love and you can never compromise on your own values. 

A True Leader Invests in Their Team

Kellie is a strong believer in the idea that salon ownership isn’t about making money, it’s about growing people. She makes it her mission to create as many opportunities for her team as she can with the hopes of building their confidence one step at a time.

At Elan, they do focus on technical skill training, but Kellie also brings in speakers and industry experts who can educate her team on personal development and build on the intrapersonal skills that are truly a testament to a stylist’s strength behind the chair.

Kellie believes that education and opportunities for growth are crucial in creating a positive salon culture. Kellie works hard to empower her team to take their career into their own hands, by building their confidence both in and outside of the salon.

You Can’t Go Getting Your Feelings Hurt

Kellie reflects on one of the hardest lessons she had to learn as a new salon owner, which was that you can’t take anything personally. Letting your emotions get in the way of your leadership is disruptive for the entire team.

Of course, in a creative industry like ours, we’re constantly surrounded by incredibly sensitive, emotionally intelligent individuals who sometimes let their feelings get the best of them, salon owners and leaders included. 

Kellie believes that as a salon owner, you have to remember that it isn’t about you. You have to be able to see past your own emotions and reactions in order to help your team grow, both personally and professionally. 

How to Stay on Top of It All

Being a leader comes with quite a bit of responsibility and responsibility requires discipline. Kellie manages her stress by practicing meditation. As a salon owner, it can be quite easy to get overwhelmed with all of the little things you need to get done during the week, the month, even the year. 

Kellie recommends starting your day with a solid 20 minutes of meditation to simply check in with yourself. Prep for your day and what you hope to accomplish in those 24 hours. Don’t get ahead of yourself, don’t start thinking about the next day or the week ahead, just focus on what you want to get done that day. 

Then, check in with yourself again in the evening. Reward yourself for your hard work and give yourself a pat on the back for everything you were able to check off of your list! 

Meditation is one of the healthiest forms of stress management out there and anybody can do it. For Kellie, it has completely changed the way she looks at her to-do list.

If you’d like to learn more about Kellie and her incredible journey in the beauty industry, listen to the podcast that inspired this blog, episode 186. Be sure to also check out our other Beyond The Technique blog featuring Kellie’s incredible industry insight, “Five Ways to “Wow” Your Clients and Improve Your Salon Experience.”

No salon owner should have to go it alone—which is exactly why it’s so important to develop and nurture a leadership team within your salon to help you take over the beauty industry one task at a time.

Heather Yurko is the brain behind Lay the Foundation, a digital course that helps salon owners grow their team of leaders right from within the salon. We’ve introduced you to Heather on the Beyond The Technique podcast, but if you missed her previous interviews, we’ll give you a quick recap: Heather is the owner of the renown NeatBeat Salon in Louisville, Kentucky. She is also the founder of PIP University, which stands for Positively Impacting People, the salon owners platform for authentic and inspiring development.

Heather is constantly seeking out educational opportunities. She’s so passionate about sharing what she has learned in her trade with the other beauty industry professionals out there that she put together her own leadership course, Lay the Foundation, which is a three-week digital course dedicated to growing your leadership team.

So, Why a Leadership Team?

There isn’t a salon owner out there that can successfully run their business all by themselves, and truthfully, they shouldn’t have to. This is where growing a leadership team within your salon comes into play.

As an owner, you have so many things on your plate, from managing your stylists to marketing your services, and if you try to do it all yourself, you’ll inevitably burn out. Not to mention, having your hands in so many aspects of the business could be the very thing keeping you and your salon from moving up to that next level.

There are so many reasons to put time toward nurturing your leadership team from sharing the workload to building a stronger salon culture, but perhaps the most important is simply that your team is a direct reflection of your own leadership style. You owe it to yourself and to your team to invest in your leaders, allowing them to become the developers of their own future and in turn granting you the freedom and the mobility to be the best leader you can be.

Your Leaders Will Show Themselves to You

The first step in developing your leadership team is deciding who those leaders are going to be. Of course, you can’t give everyone on your team a leadership role, twenty people in power is just as dysfunctional as leaving it all in the hands of one.

Heather believes that the sweet spot is somewhere in between two and five strong leaders depending on the size of your team. The good news—these leaders will show themselves to you.

I mean, how many of you already have a couple of specific team members that come to mind? Your leaders naturally rise to the top. They’re the ones that always go the extra mile, the ones that step up to the plate when needed. Your leaders are the ones you can trust to help you manage the team and run the business, and they’re more than happy to take on that role.

Your Leaders Are Hungry—Feed Them

Building a structured leadership team is also about allowing your leaders to take that next step in their own career. Your natural born leaders are ready for the added responsibility. They deserve your trust and they have worked hard to prove it.

For your front-runners, having a structured system of leadership will be the next step in their professional development and they’ll be able to take on somewhat of a managerial role within the salon. Not only does this relieve some of the salon owner’s stress, but perhaps more importantly, it truly empowers those stylists on the team that are hungry for some additional responsibility.

We’re Stronger Together

Heather also emphasizes the importance of building a community and encouraging your team to make use of their resources, which is why PIP University has a private Facebook page created to connect leadership teams from salons all across the country.  

Heather believes that creating a network like this is a crucial step in laying the foundation for a bright future. On this platform stylists, managers and salon owners are all able to collaborate with one another on issues both big and small. That’s the beautiful thing about the beauty industry—we’re all in this together.

As Heather says, there’s nothing holding you back other than yourself. There are resources out there that will help you achieve your definition of work life balance, but at the end of the day, it really comes down to having a support system and having other leaders around you who will help you run the village.

 If you’d like to learn more about PIP University and Heather’s Lay the Foundation philosophy, listen to the podcast that inspired this blog, episode 174. And don’t forget to join the Facebook community to expand your network with the best in the business!

Here at Beyond The Technique we love to highlight the incredible success stories of some of the most influential people within our industry. Of course, our strongest guests, those true industry giants, are the ones that aren’t afraid to get vulnerable with us.

While there’s nothing quite like a powerful success story to get the blood pumping, we understand the value of looking at the entire picture. Every story has to start somewhere—right? 

So today, in honor of the Beyond The Technique podcast reaching 100,000 downloads this week, our beloved host, Kati Whitledge, is sharing the top five characteristics that our guests—the industry’s strongest leaders—all have in common. 

In addition to hosting the Beyond The Technique podcast, Kati is the owner of the award-winning Be Inspired Salon located in Madison, Wisconsin, and the creative brain behind Meet Your Stylist, an innovative salon software system that matches potential clients with salon professionals based on services, lifestyle preferences, and personality metrics.

Powered by Passion

One of the most incredible things about the beauty industry is the amount of passion circulating throughout. Their passion is what drives ideas, it opens people up to a new way of thinking, of viewing the world and bettering our industry. 

Every influential figure within the beauty industry is driven by their passion for the future of beauty and there’s simply nothing more inspiring to watch unfold. 

Lead with Courage

In order to be a leader, you must lead with courage. Every reward you seek is met with some level of risk, but if you’re able to see beyond the unknown, you’ve already won that battle. 

Kati believes that courage is the willingness to take risks, and so many of these brave beauty business owners have taken risks when only they could see the potential—that’s as courageous as it gets.

Demonstrate Perseverance

Then there’s perseverance. Kati would argue that perseverance is the ultimate key to success. You have to have the endurance to push through those tough times and always keep one eye on the big picture.

Your passion and your courage will get you going, but it’s your perseverance that will see you through to the end of whatever goal you’re working towards. Each of our guests have been able to find the strength to keep going and even pivot when necessary—because they know that there’s always another way.

All About the People

Perhaps the best part about being in the beauty industry is the people. We have such a strong network of people that we can rely on, and that’s invaluable when it comes to doing business.

It’s so important to remember that in the beauty industry we’re a part of something so much bigger than any one of us individually. And while that thought can seem daunting at times, it’s comforting to know that you’re never alone, that there’s always someone that you can turn to for support. 

Kati is no stranger to the value of tapping into the minds of the many thought leaders within our industry—in fact, it was her passion for sharing knowledge that prompted her to start her own podcast in the first place. Kati is so grateful for the information and insights she has gained from the others in our industry, especially her guests on Beyond The Technique, and she is so proud to share that knowledge with all of you.

Keep It Positive

Finally, the people paving the way in our industry today always maintain a positive attitude. Kati describes our guests as true opportunists, not only are they able to keep things positive but each of these innovators demonstrates an elevated way of thinking.

Of course, all of our guests are incredibly humble, but they each have such a unique and innate desire to learn, understand and empathize with others in order to better themselves and our industry—there’s nothing quite like it.  

Our Beyond The Technique podcast guests represent the individuals that are truly committed to excellence both in their careers and in their lives. We couldn’t be more honored to work with and learn from each and every one of them.

To listen to the podcast that inspired this loving tribute, check out episode 172, and if you’d like to learn a little bit more about our host, Kati, check out her website and don’t forget to subscribe to the Beyond The Technique podcast for more incredible industry insight.