Diversify and Grow: Additional Services and Revenue Streams
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: do you ever
look at your service menu and
think it's a little bit one
dimensional, like maybe you're
not offering enough of a variety
of services to your guest? Do
you even know what services your
guests want? I mean, you can't
really provide them with new and
exciting services. If you don't
even know what it is they're
looking for. I think it's so
important to have a really
diversified portfolio,
especially in the beginning, you
just cannot be a one trick pony
in this industry, or your
clients will be forced to look
elsewhere for services that they
want. Your clients may want a
place where they can get more of
their services done. So be that
place. If your guest is coming
in for a color service, then
maybe they also want their
eyebrows tinted or their
eyebrows waxed, are you offering
your clients the little extras
that they may want to receive?
The only way that you can find
out is by asking them, you know,
take the time to have that
conversation with your guests
like what other services would
you be interested in, I'm
looking to grow my portfolio,
and I'm just kind of surveying
some of my guests and finding
out what it is exactly that they
want. Because you may have
something that you're really
interested in learning how to
do. But if you don't have the
demand for it, then it's not
going to be very lucrative, and
then you're gonna get
discouraged. In the beginning,
you need to have a very
diversified portfolio, you're
building your clientele. And
that means you really need to be
ready for whatever walks in the
door, you're not in a place in
your career yet where you can
afford to really be picky. So it
is important to know how to do
the basics and maybe even a few
extra things. As you continue to
grow and succeed, you will be
able to find your niche and
really lean into that. And I
think that is so great. I mean,
I've really enjoyed figuring out
what services I love to perform,
because it makes my work more
enjoyable. But you can't negate
the services that your guests
want and depend on. And I'm just
going to use haircutting as an
example. I hear so many
stylists, and even some stylists
in my own salon that grow weary
of doing haircuts. Well, the
thing about a haircut is, for
one thing, it's going to usually
be the first thing that a guest
tries when they call your salon,
if you'll notice, a lot of your
guests are not willing to dive
all the way deep in the services
that they want to receive. They
want to kind of test the waters,
and they want to make sure that
you're a good stylist. And
that's going to start with a
really great haircut. And the
other thing about haircuts is it
makes all your other work look
really good and really polished.
It doesn't matter if you're
doing color or extension
services, a great haircut is
always going to follow that and
it's going to make your
extensions blend better. And
it's going to make your colour
pop more. So don't forget how
important some of those basic
services are. And don't forget
that no matter what you're going
to be cutting hair for the rest
of your career unless you just
decide to specialize in
something and some people do
that. But for me, that would
just be a little bit one
dimensional. And I like to offer
a lot of things. I like my
guests to be able to sit in my
chair and know that I've got
them from the beginning to the
end. So how do you identify the
new services that you should
offer? You know, you can really
love a service and really be
interested in it and feel like
you could be good at it. But
will it serve your particular
client base. An example of that,
for me would be vivid hair
color. Like I look at vivid hair
color and it just excites my
eyes. It's like a feast for my
eyes. It's so beautiful and bold
and vibrant. And I think it's
absolutely gorgeous. And I love
the way that society is kind of
embracing this trend. Now, you
know, I can remember when I
first got into this industry,
like the only people that wore
vivid hair color were
hairstylist and you know
musicians and just really
eccentric people but it's become
more of the norm and that really
excites me because I believe
that it's more commonplace now
in the workspace and in schools
and things like that to allow
people to express their self
with hair color. So I'm really
glad to see this catching on.
But at the end of the day that
is not the service that is going
to best suit my guests needs. My
guests are blonds their
extension wares. They are
professionals. And that's just
not their particular style. I'm
sure they appreciate the art
behind it. But if I were to
bring that in and offer that to
them, I don't think I would get
very many takers. Some services
become really popular. They
emerge onto the scene and they
really catch on and a few of
those that have really paid off
For me are texturizing services
like Brazilian blowouts? Before
there was no way to eliminate
frizz completely forget. So you
could offer them an at home
regimen that would help, you
could make sure that their hair
was healthy and nourished, but
it wouldn't really reduce their
frizz. Well, this is a huge
problem for a very large percent
of people. It's at the top of
the list for things that clients
struggle with. I was at a hair
show in Birmingham several years
ago, and I had heard of
Brazilian blowout before, but
honestly, I really didn't know
what it was, I thought it was
some version of a blowout of a
traditional blowout. Well, of
course, I sat in, you know, they
have the presentations on stage
at the shows. And so I sat in on
one of the presentations, and my
mind was blown. I honestly
thought it was probably too good
to be true. But they were having
a really good intro deal like
they typically do with these
shows. So I signed up and
brought it into the salon, made
sure everyone got certified. And
it literally took off, there was
no one in my community offering
this particular service. And it
really, really caught on. And
now it is absolutely one of our
biggest sellers, and a really,
really great new stream of
revenue for me and my stylists.
Another one is hair extensions.
So I'm going to take you back to
the beginning of my hair
extension journey, we were doing
what are now called AI tips
where you place the strand by
strand of hair in individual
beads. And you know, there was
really no way to blend that to
me, it looks like really, almost
noodley if you can close your
eyes and picture what I'm
talking about, you'll know
exactly what I'm trying to say
there was just no real way to
make that look good. But if
people wanted length, that was
what we were doing. It took an
immense amount of time to
perform this service, I think a
typical full application would
take me about eight hours, I
knew I was interested in the
service, but I just really could
not get behind this technique.
So for a while there, I didn't
do any hair extensions at all.
And as our industry continues to
evolve, like it always does,
taping extensions came out. So I
thought, Okay, this is a brand
new way for me to offer this
service. So now I'm offering
taping extensions, they're very
thin West, they blend really
well with the hair. And I'm
excited about the hair extension
industry again. And now we have
hand tied webs and machine webs
and lots of other ways of
performing this service. And now
it is absolutely what I'm known
for. It's my favorite service to
provide. And I have created a
platform with my clientele where
most of my clients are wearing
hair extensions. Now, I want to
emphasize the importance of
proper training and education
when you're offering new
services. As for me, I'm a paper
chaser. And what I mean by that
is I love certifications, we
have something at my salon
called the wall of fame. And
it's where all of our stylists
have their name on the wall and
all of their certifications
underneath it. Well I take a lot
of pride in that I have a lot of
them. And it is definitely a
talking point for the clients in
the salon. There's a big
difference in free education
versus certification. Free
education is great. And I think
it's really great for fine
tuning your skill set. It's
great for learning new
techniques and things like that.
But when it comes to learning
how to do a brand new service
from start to finish, I really
prefer a certification because I
really like all of the support
that I get. I like how they
break it down in great detail. A
lot of times you get to go
somewhere fun to get your
certification and get out of the
salon for a while and you know,
rub elbows with other industry
people. And it's just a lot of
fun. And so for me, I feel like
if you're just looking to clean
up your skill set, free
education is great, and there's
an abundance of it. But if
you're gonna bring in something
brand new, I recommend getting
certified in it. And then that
way you can brag to your clients
about your big weekend and your
certification. And they can feel
really comfortable that you've
been properly trained. So when
it comes to new services and
certifications, where can you
look, you know, where can you go
to find these new services,
what's new, what's up and
coming? What's Trending in the
industry. For me, again, it's
going to conferences and hair
shows it's going to classes and
other salons and seeing what
they're doing. It's just really
staying aware of what's going on
around you. There are a lot of
big brands out there that take a
lot of pride in creating
something new and being the
first one to design a new
service or a new product. And
don't forget about the brand
partnerships that you already
have in place. You mean these
companies spend a lot of time on
research. I mean, they literally
have people that actually have
the job of shopping trends of
like monitoring what's going on
in the industry. And it's really
important that you just get out
of your own neighborhood like go
somewhere new. Open your eyes to
a new horizon. You know, you
can't really rely on your
hometown to tell you what's
going on in New York or LA. You
got to get out of your own
neighborhood, get out there, see
something new and be totally
inspired by it. So how do you
effectively market and promote
this new service that you've
learned? Well, I would start
with your current clientele, I
would be mentioning it to
anybody and everybody that sat
in my chair, I mean, you need to
be excited, shout it from the
rooftop, literally post it on
the walls, put a flyer on your
station, talk about it over and
over again so that people don't
leave that appointment without
knowing about the exciting new
thing that you're doing.
Literally talk to every client
that sits in your chair and make
sure that you are networking
with other professionals in the
salon, make sure that the
estheticians and the nail techs
and even the other hairstylist
that don't offer this service
are talking about what you're
doing. Inter salon networking is
a huge promotional tool that
people sleep on all the time,
make sure you ask your co
workers to help you out. Let
them know how excited you are
and have them spread the word
for you start out with offering
a promotion, maybe you come up
with an entry price, you know a
little discount that inspires
people to try it out. Definitely
be posting on social media, make
sure that there are a lot of
eyes on this exciting new thing
that you're doing. And make sure
you get good content, you know,
I would try to recruit a model
like a girl or a guy with really
great hair and have them come
in, you know, offer to do it at
a big discount or maybe even
free so that you can get some
really great pictures for your
social media. And lastly, I
would do a giveaway, I love
giveaways because the benefit of
those is that a lot of people
are sharing that content for you
on their page. And a lot of
people will see it that would
not otherwise even know what
you're doing Who You Are any of
that. So it's a really great way
to build your audience. So I
want to explain the importance
of tracking the success of your
new service, you're going to
need to keep records you can
keep handwritten records, if you
don't have a really great
software that keeps up with it.
But you need to know how many
people are getting this new
service. How many of your new
clients have enlisted in your
offer and have taken advantage
of this new opportunity with
you? What percentage of your
clients are actually trying new
things with you? And what is
falling flat? What is it that
you're offering that they aren't
interested in and maybe never
word that's important
information to know, at the end
of the day, we're learning to do
a new service so that we can
increase our income so that we
can make more money behind the
chair? Yes, it's very important
to have that little spark of
excitement when you learn
something new. And I think it's
really important to honor
whatever like your spirit is
saying about what direction you
should be going in with your
career, that voice inside of you
that says, hey, this is really
going to work. That's all
really, really powerful. But at
the end of the day, you do need
to be monitoring the numbers,
you need to make sure that what
you're doing is actually growing
your business and actually
creating a new revenue stream
for you. So how do you stay
informed about the latest trends
and products? How do you know
what your clients preferences
are? And how do you know that
you are going to be able to
offer them the services that
remain relevant and profitable.
Again, I'm going to talk about
hair shows and conferences. It
is by far one of the most
important things you can do to
stay relevant in this industry.
Hair shows come out at a very
strategic time of the year when
the trends are about to shift.
So just know that that is not by
accident that that is a
carefully orchestrated process.
And whenever I see a new hair
show, I'm always looking at my
book, I'm always looking at my
education budget, and I'm seeing
if it's possible, because quite
honestly, I would go to all of
them if I could, that's how much
I love them. That's how much I
enjoy being inspired by other
professionals, and how I stay
passionate and how my fire stays
ignited in this industry. I
really like to read fashion
magazines. I know that might
sound a little bit old school,
but I am a little old school.
And I really still love the way
a Vogue magazine feels in my
hands and the way it smells,
especially with all those yummy
perfume samples that they still
put in there. But I think that's
a really easy and relevant way
to kind of see what's going on
because honestly like
celebrities are definitely
determining and making the
biggest contribution into what's
about to trend. So you're gonna
find all that information inside
these magazines. And lastly,
make sure that your scrolling is
relevant, like don't just get on
there so that you can be
entertained for a few minutes.
Make sure that you're being very
intentional about your time on
social media, because you should
be following people that inspire
you and keep you up to date on
what's going on in this
industry. So make sure that you
are following enough of those
type of people and that enough
of that content is showing up in
your feed.
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 post
production by Mike Franklin.Want
to find out more about Tracey
and the Aspiring Barber and
Beauty Academy go to
aspirebarberandbeauty.com
