The Aspiring Stylist with Tracey Franklin

Morgan Franklin: Welcome to the
Aspiring Stylists Podcast with

Tracey Franklin. Where to begin,
grow and aspire to become the

best stylist you can be. Whether
you're thinking about becoming a

stylist opening a salon, or
developing your skills as an

experienced stylist the next
step of your beauty career

starts here. Each week we'll
discuss strategic ways to

design, plan and execute on
becoming a stylist that excels

behind the chair and above the
bottom line. Here's your host,

Tracey Franklin.

Tracey Franklin: Let's be honest
with each other for a minute,

you didn't get into the beauty
industry to work seven days a

week, never eat lunch,
constantly have a mild backache

and hardly ever have enough
money to make your car payment

and your booth rent. This week,
we're talking about how to live

in abundance as a stylist and
how to find financial stability

and growth. When I think about
the times, I've experienced

massive growth in my career, it
always revolves around learning

a new skill. Sometimes that
means a new technical skill. And

sometimes that means a good
business or marketing class. You

have to know how to deliver
great results to your clients.

But you also need to know how to
effectively communicate with

your current guests and how to
market yourself to new ones.

Knowing what metrics to look for
for growth was something I knew

nothing about. But knowing what
to look for what numbers mean,

and when it's time to raise your
prices are all incredibly

important skills to have. Until
I knew how to analyze the

numbers growth was a guessing
game and one I was losing it.

Let's discuss the importance of
mastering and diversifying your

technical skills. Let's go back
a few decades to create bond

highlights we pulled hair
through a cap. Now in case

you're unfamiliar, we used to
have a plastic cap that we would

pull super tight over the top of
someone's head. And then we

would take something that looked
like a crochet needle. And we

would poke holes in these caps,
books, some of the natural hair

and pull it through that hole,
then we would apply Lightner.

And that, my friends is how we
used to highlight hair in the

dinosaur age. Then I learned
something called foiling and it

opened up a whole new world of
coloring hair for me. So now I'm

able to offer custom results
adding multiple colors into the

hair in one sitting. And it
definitely made me feel more

like an artist, you know, unless
like oh, this is just something

very robotic that I'm doing. It
really allowed me to bring

actual creativity into the world
of hair coloring. Fast forward.

And now I'm offering Bali asure
another super pivotal moment in

my career as a colorist, you
know, not a lot of people were

doing these things when I
brought them to the salon. So I

learned and started creating
this lived in color, and became

really, really popular for it.

And as you can probably guess,
with each one of these new skill

sets, I'm able to charge more
and more and more for my time.

I'm charging for the technique,
the fancier tools I'm using and

for all the additional color I'm
using to add in the dimension.

So it's definitely more money in
my pocket. I say this on every

episode, education is non
negotiable, and it's everywhere.

get online, get on a plane, do
whatever, but never stop

learning. So as you can probably
guess it's super important to

grow a loyal client base and to
build one that actually trusts

you and wants to buy from you.

So how do you create a loyal
client, you create it through

trust, a client is loyal to a
stylist that shows up on time.

They're loyal to a client that
they enjoy spending time with,

and that can execute great
service using great products. A

client is also loyal to a
stylist that brings fresh ideas

to the chair and recommend
services and products that make

their life easier and improve
their self image. So let's talk

about what losing a retained
client costs you. Did you know

that it costs you five times as
much to acquire a new client

than it does to keep one that
you already have happy. That's

five reasons right there to show
up strong for the clients who

are loyal to you. Let's talk
about the concept of upselling.

Everyone has heard of the term
upselling or add ons. In my

salon We call those professional
recommendations. It's important

that we look at those as service
enhancements as opposed to

something we are trying to sell.

I feel an obligation to my
clients. I mean if I offer a

service that will make their
color more beautiful or their

hair shinier or healthier. I'm
going to make sure they know it.

Then they can decide whether or
not to get it I'm only

responsible for recommending it.

And when I look at it through
that lens, it feels different.

And trust me, it feels different
to your clients as well.

Sometimes we need to figure out
ways to diversify our income.

And sometimes that need turns
into something really fun and

different. There came a time in
my career that I decided to step

away from the salon on Saturdays
to do on site hair. I had

clients that for different
reasons needed me to travel. I

had a client with special needs
that I visited for many years.

And I also did styling events
and trade shows. And then I

started traveling to do weddings
on location, which honestly I

really enjoyed. The money was
incredible. I mean, people were

really willing to pay good money
for the convenience of having me

come to them. So I've discussed
several strategies that helped

me double my income. And at the
end of the day, you have to

figure out which ones are going
to work best for you. The only

thing you can't do is nothing.

So keep learning, keep evolving,
and keep growing.

Morgan Franklin: Thank you for
joining us on this episode of

The Aspiring Stylist Podcast
with Tracey Franklin. If you

enjoyed listening and you want
to hear more, make sure you

subscribe on Apple Podcast,
Spotify or wherever you find

your podcasts. The Aspiring
Stylist Podcast with Tracey

Franklin is a Morgan Franklin
Production. Today's episode was

written and produced by Morgan
Franklin editing and n by Mike

Franklin.Want to find out more
about Tracey and the Aspiring

Barber and Beauty Academy go to
aspirebarberandbeauty.com