Guess who’s back? Our top contributor and industry expert, Shana Dee! Shana has already shared countless industry tips with our followers ranging from consultation advice to Instagram tricks, and she is back again to discuss four ways to overcome hairstylist anxiety. Even better, this is a topic that one of our followers requested, and we’re excited to offer our help!

What is Hairstylist Anxiety?

To start, Shana Dee wants to make sure we are all on the same page about what hairstylist anxiety actually is, so we can work together to overcome it. Let’s start with a stressful situation that we can all relate to: the moment you realize that your client doesn’t like her hair, and you’re thinking “Oh man…this isn’t good.” Sometimes, your client doesn’t even have to say anything, but you can feel it, and you start to feel deflated. Can you relate to that? How about the situation when you have a new client who is booked for a fifteen minute color retouch, but needs a full color correction? You’re magically supposed to fit an hour service into fifteen minutes while winning this client over. There’s no way that this can turn out well, so here comes the anxiety (and maybe even some tears)!

Shana Dee wants to reassure our readers that she experiences these problems too—we promise that you are not alone! Even as a seventeen-year industry veteran, Shana has days when she drives home and thinks about starting a second career as a neurosurgeon! So, maybe you haven’t considered becoming a neurosurgeon, but hairstylist anxiety is a real problem that we all experience. Many hairstylists live in fear about receiving a bad review, having their reputation ruined, and losing their paycheck. This is not healthy, so Shana wants to open the conversation up and share four ways to overcome the unique stressors that hairstylists experience!

Strategy #1: Eliminate The Problem Before It Starts

Here’s another situation that Shana is sure you can relate to: you check your schedule for the day, you see a name that you don’t recognize, your heart skips a beat, and anxiety rears its ugly head! You run to the receptionist, ask a million questions about this new client, but you end up feeling unprepared and anxious about the unknown. Of course, this new client expects you to solve all her past hairstylist transgressions in one appointment. No wonder we feel so much pressure!

Well, Shana was so tired of feeling this stress that she decided to eliminate this problem before it could even become a problem! To do this, Shana received approval from her boss to implement a new requirement that all new clients had to have an email consultation with Shana before they could be added to her books. Basically, any new client had to talk with Shana before they could have an appointment with her. By taking charge of how new clients were being scheduled, Shana no longer felt anxiety when looking at her schedule. Now, she knows exactly what type of client she is seeing, what they are expecting of her, and knows that they are scheduled for the proper service time. What’s even better is that Shana’s clients are often so appreciative that she has taken this extra step that they feel even more comfortable with her! That’s a win-win!

Shana Dee understands that this system might not work at every salon, but there is a tool that can work at (almost) every salon! This tool is Meet Your Stylist! Meet Your Stylist is a unique survey that matches clients with the hairstylist at your salon who is the best fit for them based on their service, personality, and lifestyle. Again, this eliminates the fear of the unknown for both the client and the stylist. If you can use Meet Your Stylist and implement email consultations, you can say bye-bye to this type of anxiety for good!

Strategy #2: Let It Go!

When clients complain, it sucks. There is no way to sugar coat it. Shana Dee admits that there is nothing that can deflate your confidence as quickly as a complaining customer. Just one complaint can haunt you for days while you replay that appointment over and over in your head. In that moment, you are expected to fix the problem while totally shutting out your own emotions and trying not to get flustered. Who can’t handle that, right? Wrong! This is totally overwhelming, and we often find ourselves alone and crying in our car—Shana is not afraid to be honest and say that this has happened to her! We give our energy, love, and talent to each guest, so when it doesn’t turn out right, it really hurts us emotionally.

While Shana wishes that she had a magic wand and could make all the hardworking stylists feel better after a complaint, she just can’t do it. But, she does have a few suggestions to build your confidence back up! First, Shana Dee recommends going home and eating a really nice dinner! Whether you pick up your favorite takeout or make a bowl of mac and cheese, take some time for yourself and eat dinner. You’re probably jacked up on caffeine from working all day and haven’t eaten lunch, so a relaxing dinner is a must! Then, go to bed. Just close your eyes and leave the day behind—just let it go! When you wake up in the morning, scroll through your Instagram and remember all the clients who have left your chair with huge smiles and loving their hair!

Shana reassures you that it might take a few days to heal, and that is okay! But, one of the worst things that you can do is start telling everyone about the incident. Just don’t do it! It’s understandable to tell a few trusted friends, but Shana Dee has heard colleagues talk about bad experiences over and over again and suddenly this one incident has been dragged on for two weeks. If you are still talking about it, it has power over you; once you stop talking about it, you can move on. At the end of the day, you just have to take out the emotional trash, and let it go!

Strategy #3: Fake Being Ok

We’ve all heard the saying “Fake It ‘Til You Make It.” Well, Shana Dee is here to tell us that there is some truth to that! Have you ever heard of the concept of cognitive dissonance? Shana explains that cognitive dissonance is the scientific explanation of fake it ‘til you make it. Essentially, if you act like you’re confident and happy, even if you genuinely aren’t, you can start to actually feel these positive emotions. Shana recommends that when you’re feeling hairstylist anxiety, just take a few minutes and pretend that you’re okay. That’s right, just pretend that you’re feeling terrific. This one simple activity can help alleviate so much of your anxiety!

On days when the struggle is extra real, Shana suggests repeating to yourself “I’m the best hairstylist in my city. I am smart and this will not break me.” If you keep repeating this in your head, you will start to believe it, and you’ll get a huge confidence boost! While this might sound silly, Shana Dee assures us that these are techniques that she has used and have worked!

Strategy #4: Education is Key!

One of the biggest culprits of hairstylist anxiety is feeling like we can’t get the results we want, or wondering why a service turned out so badly. Shana is here to remind us that hair color and cutting is a science. Once you understand the laws of hair color, you will know how to do all color corrections, and it is no longer a guessing game! You will know with certainty how to perform every single service, and you will feel so confident!

With the fabulous invention of YouTube, Shana explains that you have no excuses for not learning something new every day. You don’t even have to leave your house or spend any money to learn something new! Start doing this today, and not only will you learn so much, but you will be so inspired by others. Shana Dee also encourages you to not limit yourself to learning about cutting and coloring, but start reading books about marketing, business, communications, and so much more! Educating yourself is all about gaining confidence which will definitely reduce your anxiety!

To recap, Shana Dee recommends four ways to reduce your hairstylist anxiety: #1: Eliminate The Problem Before It Starts, #2: Let It Go!, #3 Fake Being Ok, and #4: Education Is Key. Shana would love to hear about other situations that produce anxiety, so we can work together to overcome them! Please remember that you are not alone in experiencing these feelings, and we are all here to support each other. If you have other instances to share, or tips to overcome anxiety, please share them on our sister company's private Facebook group! We can’t wait to meet you!

Have you thought about hosting events at your salon, but weren’t exactly sure what to do or why bother? Hosting events offers tremendous benefits for your salon, and Beyond the Technique is excited to share Tena Pettis’ innovative ideas for the events that every salon should host!

Why Host Events?

Tena is the owner of Capture Salon in Stillwater, MN where she feels that her salon is literally a hidden gem. When Tena purchased Capture Salon from the previous owner, she found herself explaining their location by describing the two stores on either side of her building. Everyone knew those other two stores, but had no clue there was a salon between them—total bummer, right? Reflecting on this unpleasant reality, Tena quickly realized that they were simply missing out on people seeing their gorgeous space. (It is seriously gorgeous!) So, in Tena’s words: “events were a big no-brainer.” Just by getting people into the salon, you start to build a relationship. Long story short: events build exposure.

Celebration Events

Celebration events are probably the most obvious and widespread events for salons. One of the most common celebration events is hosting a party for your salon’s anniversary. For Capture Salon’s anniversary, Tena explains that they “go a little bit more out” by hiring a caterer, serving wine and beer, and hosting a musician!

Another creative celebration event is hosting a party for a new stylist on your team to welcome her on board! Tena explains that this event will be a little bit more private, and they plan to invite the new Stylist’s family, friends, and close clients. By hosting an event, past clients can easily find her and follow her to Capture Salon! Also, this is a great opportunity to fill her books (win-win!).

Because you can never run out of reasons to celebrate, Tena and her team thought of one more fun event: Top 100 Clients! Tena is going to pull a report of their Top 100 clients from the previous year and invite them to the salon for an exclusive event. Their plan for the night: “just LOVE on those Top 100 clients!” What client wouldn’t love to be appreciated and spoiled for a night?

Education Events

As industry professionals, we often think about educating Stylists and salon owners, but we also need to think about continuously educating our clientele. A recurring education event that Tena and Capture Salon host are Essential Oils classes. Right now, Essential Oils are really trendy and everyone is talking about them. To meet this demand, Tena hosts one or two classes a month where oiler newbies and pros can come to learn more and sell their product. Tena explains that those who attend are always walking away with tips and tricks as well as exposure to their salon.

While Essential Oils classes are a perfect fit for Capture Salon, Tena stresses that you can educate clients about anything! For example, Capture Salon is also hosting a Smokey Eye Class. This event will be a great way to promote the makeup lines sold at Capture Salon and get Tena’s Stylists really fired up about an event they can lead! Educational events assist in branding your salon as experts who clients can come to, follow, and learn from.

Collaboration Events

Just like education events, the opportunities for collaboration events are truly endless, and you can get as creative as you want! The aesthetician at Capture Salon is working with a local nutritionist to host events about health and wellness. Even as a collaboration event, this class will also educate their clients about a holistic approach to beauty and wellness.

Beyond the Technique founder, Kati Whitledge, is also the owner of Be Inspired Salon in Madison, WI where they host an annual collaboration event. Kati explains that every year, Be Inspired Salon hosts a charity Cut-A-Thon. 100% of the proceeds from that event are donated to a local charity which is voted on by their clients. Kati explains that this is a great way for her Stylists to give back and create a great community feeling.

Planning Your Event

Budgeting. Tena explains that every month, she sits down with their bookkeeper to create a budget for food, wine, and beer for events. Typically, their monthly event budget is $250. While they don’t always use the full $250, putting this money aside creates a buffer for the months when they want to host a larger event. Also, Tena suggests that when hosting collaboration events, you try to solicit a small contribution from your partner since you are providing the space. Salon events can be as low-key or glamorous as your creativity and budget allow!

The Logistics. Planning ahead is crucial for a salon event to be successful! A tip that Tena recommends is printing a paper calendar for the year to map out your events. Being able to plan for the full year allows you to visualize the times of the year when it makes the most sense to host certain events. For example, you may choose to host your Top 100 event in February because the month is associated with love and host your charity Cut-A-Thon in October when things are a little slower. When you start seeing your events on paper and actually planning it out, the whole process seems a lot easier!  

Marketing. Did we mention Tena is also the founder of a social media and graphic design firm? (Yes, she is a rockstar!) For this reason, we couldn’t wait to ask Tena how she markets her events. Tena’s answer: “We are pretty aggressive with our Facebook events.” Tena offers some insider advice about Facebook events. For example, she notes that it is important to post in the event everyday to give people little updates, entice them to the event, and make sure that they don’t forget! Also, Tena explains that you can message everyone in a Facebook event, but the message appears to be personalized. In other words, no one knows that it was a mass message. Tena suggests sending a message similar to: “Will I see your beautiful face on Saturday?” or “So excited to see you at our event on Friday!” It is a little bit intricate and Tena explains that you can only do this on a mobile phone; if you want to try it out, here are some directions.

Stylist Buy-In. A really important piece for Tena is making sure that her Stylists have bought into the idea of hosting salon events. Maybe you can relate to Stylists who are great behind the chair, but look at events and think: “Ugh, this is just another thing that I have to do.” To address this challenge, Tena makes time for a team debrief following an event. At this meeting, she will ask her team how the event went, what happened, and who they met. Tena finds that her Stylists often explain appointments they booked or new connections they made. Being able to reflect on the positive benefits of the event allows her team to understand the opportunities to get new clients in the chair!

We hope that Tena’s insights spark your own creativity and leads to a productive, profitable, and eventful year! To get more industry advice, make sure to follow Beyond the Technique and listen to our weekly podcast!  

Craving more innovative ideas from Tena? Check out her website to get connected with her community and listen to her podcasts!

Listen to the full interview with Tena Pettis on Episode 65 of Beyond the Technique’s podcast.

Are you a salon owner or manager looking to improve your business? From my experience as an owner and salon business coach, I’ve come to realize that truly successful salons have five things in common. And today I’m going to share those with you!

#1: Opportunities for Growth

Successful salons offer their employees ample opportunities for professional growth. For example, a level system, or a way for a Stylist fresh out of school to get from where they are now to a master level. Having programs in place provides your team with benchmarks they need to hit to continually move up the ladder at your establishment.

#2: Offers Education

Education is key. The most successful salons have training and education built into their culture. And it should be offered to your Stylists at every level. When a new Stylist starts at your salon, do you have a program in place to help them become more developed? What about your seasoned pros? Do you have programs in place to help drive their continued success? It’s important to provide educational opportunities that will empower and inspire your Stylists to become better!

#3: Provides Structure

Deep down, most humans desire structure. While you may have some employees that will always want to do their own thing, this shouldn’t stop you from providing structure at your salon. Structure encompasses a lot of different things including boundaries, expectations and accountability.

An easy way to implement more structure into your work environment is to provide your employees with a handbook or “playbook.” This would include the rules your Stylists needs to play by to be a part of your team. This could also include important information around boundaries. For example, what are your vacation and compensation programs? Are there rules around whether your Stylists can purchase equipment? Or do you provide equipment? Topics like these can be outlined, and boundaries can be set with clear communication and a tool such as a playbook.

You can also use that playbook as a good starting point for setting expectations and accountability. This ties in well with providing opportunities for growth. A successful salon will outline what is expected from a Stylist fresh out of school versus someone who’s been at the salon for a few years. This can include things such as the skill level you expect them to be at, to the attitude and behavior you expect them to bring into your salon. And when you have your structure documented, it helps everyone stay accountable.

#4: Strong Collaborative Marketing

This is a great tactic and one that is a win-win. Successful salons take a collaborative approach to promote not only their amazing salon, but their talented Stylists. It’s a strong effort to help build your Stylists’ clientele while building your business.

Meet Your Stylist is a great customer retention tool to help you do just that, but with little effort and big return. This tool helps you match new clients with the Stylist at your salon that is the best fit for them! And the best part is, you are empowering your Stylists by providing them the opportunity to work with clients that fit in their wheel house of expertise.

If you aren’t using a tool or you don’t have a strong collaborative marketing program in place – you need to make sure you are getting the word out about your Stylists’ talent and help build their clientele! Your business will benefit from the collaboration.

#5: Creates a Team Environment

A strong team environment means there is a strong team effort. There is a parallel between working in a salon and being on a basketball team. When you have a team mentality, your goal is to make sure the team wins – it doesn’t mean you’re the point guard who scores all the points. A great team has a common goal in mind they are all working towards. It’s not about “me and my clients,” it’s about “US and OUR clientele” as a salon. Successful salons don’t compete internally, they work together to compete against other local salons! Successful salons have a team effort that’s constantly trying to build each other up to get to that next level and achieve the bigger vision.

With that being said, do you have a bigger vision for your salon? Have you shared this goal with your team? Before you can create a team environment, you need to make sure everyone at your salon is on board!

So, how do you start implementing these five things? The first step is putting it out there to your team. Call a team meeting and go over your vision, your new playbook, or your new education program - whatever it may be. Make sure to listen to your team’s feedback, they might have an awesome idea for collaborative marketing or a conference they think would be useful to attend. There might also be some resistance, but that’s okay. Don’t let that fear stop you from implementing new things, because in the end, having these five tactics in place will help you become a more successful salon!

If you are looking for more business tips and beauty industry advice, make sure to follow Beyond The Technique, listen to our weekly podcast, and join our private Facebook group.

If you are a salon owner, manager, aspiring business person or entrepreneur, then you need to consider joining a mastermind group. What exactly is a mastermind group? Great question! A mastermind group is a group of professionals who come together to help each other improve their business skills by sharing ideas and challenges and then brainstorming solutions.

There are many benefits that come from being involved in a mastermind group, but only if you are a part of a group set up to succeed. So today, I’m going to walk you through the benefits of being a part of a mastermind group and how to find one that will be worth your time.

Benefits of Joining a Mastermind Group

People who join mastermind groups are serious about their careers. It’s a great way to connect with other success-driven professionals to share ideas and challenges. I’ve personally been a part of mastermind groups for years. I find them to be invaluable. Other members have gone through challenges I haven’t and can help shed light on new ideas I have, or problems I’m facing with my business. It’s a wonderful resource when you have a new idea - you can bring it to the table and other successful people can add to it, give feedback, and basically help you learn to work smarter, not harder. So with that, here are my top five benefits from joining a mastermind group.

• You will have a group of people to share new ideas, strategies and challenges with. These people will help you think through your business problems and brainstorm viable solutions.
• You will become part of a community of supportive colleagues who will keep you accountable to your professional goals.
• You don’t just get, you give. You will get to help other people through their business (or personal) journey. It’s a great way to help others out – you have insight and wisdom to share!
• You will learn so many new things! You don’t know what you don’t know. Being a part of a mastermind group has saved me money. I’ve had great ideas (or I thought they were) and I’ve brought them to the group only to discover many have tried these great ideas with not so great results. But I wasn’t made to feel discouraged, I was able to learn from others’ mistakes and take away new ideas that have proven results.
• You will grow your professional network. Now, mastermind groups aren’t meant to be your typical “networking” event, in fact, most groups don’t allow self-promotional talk. However, you will meet new people, most likely in your industry, and you will establish strong relationships, which will be useful in the future outside of the group.

What Makes a Good Mastermind Group?

As with many things in life, you are only going to get back what you put in. Mastermind groups only work if people are serious and committed. You need the members of the group to participate, because it’s the open, raw dialogue that will provide the great insight. If you’re new to a group, you don’t need to share your life story at the first meeting, you can definitely ease in. But if you have no intention of truly participating, then a mastermind group might not be for you. Other than group participation, I’ve outlined the three things you should look for in a mastermind group.

Size. Size does matter when it comes to mastermind groups. Make sure it’s a relatively small group, 8-12 people is usually a good size. Too many people can lead to less productive meetings. You want enough people to share advice, but not too many where people don’t get the chance to participate at a deep level.

Structure. Find a group that’s organized. Everyone is busy and no one wants to have their time wasted. Join a group with a set agenda for each meeting. This will help keep the group focused and on schedule. In addition to an agenda, you want a group that requires action items at the end of each session. This will keep the group accountable.

Commitment. To really get the most out of a mastermind group, you want members that are committed. Committed to showing up (and showing up prepared) and committed to participating.

Are you interested in joining a mastermind group for salon owners and professionals? Good news! Beyond The Technique has a mastermind group! Our groups meet monthly for a 90-minute video conference with open dialogue focused on growth and development for your salon business. To learn more, visit our Group Mastermind Sessions page.

If you aren’t ready to commit to a mastermind group yet, but you still want to connect with other professionals to share ideas and tips, send a request to join our sister company’s private Facebook group. You can also follow our weekly podcast for more professional and beauty industry advice!