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: So you've just
graduated Beauty School, and

it's time to find your salon
home, you're probably feeling a

little apprehensive, not even
really sure what you're looking

for exactly. Maybe you've taken
the time to shadow at a few

salons and you're having a hard
time deciding between a few

really great ones. Or maybe
you're having a hard time

finding a salon that you think
that you would fit into at all,

there are so many things that
you're going to be experiencing

as you take this very important
first step towards your success.

So when I graduated, I felt
really nervous, you know, I had

lined up a job. So I knew that I
had a job before I graduated.

But my concern was wasn't going
to be good enough. This was a

really nice salon and really
upscale salon. It was owned by a

very well known stylist in my
community. And I definitely had

a bit of the impostor syndrome,
like I was proud of myself for

landing the job. But there was a
little voice inside of me that

was telling me that I wasn't
going to be able to do it that I

wasn't good enough to be there.

And you know, it took a lot of
courage to shake that off and to

put on my best outfit and show
up for that first day work.

There's a lot of things that
you're going through a lot of

things that you're feeling, it's
just important to juice yourself

up. And make sure not to let
that fear hold you back. Don't

forget how important goals are
from the very start, you know,

your dreams, your aspirations,
all that really matters before

you even find your salon home.

Like if it's your goal to build
your clientele up to 50 or 60%

in that first year, then the
type of salon that you're going

to go to is really going to
matter. And if you don't know

what those goals look like, and
you can't envision what your

career and what your time behind
the chair is going to look like,

then you're going to have a
really hard time finding a salon

to match that. If you don't know
where you're going any road will

get you there. So make sure that
you're very intentional about

the type of salon that you want
to work in. You have to take

responsibility for yourself as a
stylist. If you know that you

want to be a luxury stylist,
then it doesn't make any sense

for you to go to a salon, where
they charge $10 for a haircut,

it will take you your whole
entire life to go from $10 A

haircut to six figures a year it
will take you forever to get

there. So you have to skip a few
steps. You know if you know

without a doubt that you want to
be in a luxury salon charging

luxury pricing, you need to be
very intentional about the salon

that you go to after school,
find a mentor you know, maybe

you're maybe you're having a
hard time knowing exactly what

your career looks like or what
salon you want to be in, find

someone that you can open up to.

And that can give you some
direction. I'm a mentor to a lot

of different stylists in my
community. And I wouldn't trade

it for anything I absolutely
love being able to give back

because I know how important and
how influential the people that

I looked up to as an early
stylists were. And I just want

to make sure that I can do that
for people as well. There are so

many things about this industry
that you don't even know that

you don't know. It's really easy
to get caught up and like Hey,

where are my friends going, I
want to work with my friends.

That'll be so much fun. I think
it's important that you take a

more mature look at this career,
you've just spent an entire year

of your life 1500 hours growing
your knowledge growing your

technical skills, you know, you
should be more serious about

your future than to just do what
everyone else is doing. If you

know you're meant for greatness,
then don't settle for the salon

down the street. That's not
going to get you where you want

to go. There are a lot of salons
out there that offer

apprenticeship programs and I
cannot sing enough praises about

the apprentice program. For me.

I don't know if I would be where
I am today. Without my

apprenticeship program. I don't
know that I would have had the

gumption to do and accomplish
what I've been able to do and

accomplish in my career. If I
hadn't have had that early

direction, that person to look
up to that was absolutely

killing it in this industry. You
do not need to remake the wheel.

It's already been made. It is
okay to find somebody to look up

to and just do what they do.

They've already figured it out.

And if you're working for them,
then they've already decided

they're willing to take you
along for the ride. So do not

sleep on those opportunities if
you get the opportunity to

shadow Oh to apprentice under a
really successful stylist, make

sure you take full advantage of
that and go in every single day

with eyes wide open. There's a
lot of value in the

apprenticeship program when it
comes to your transition from

student to stylist. So yes,
you're going to go to your salon

as an apprentice and you are
going to be doing some services

on clients. That's going to vary
from salon to salon, you know,

some salons are comfortable
letting you shampoo on day one,

some salons want you to go
through an extensive process of

learning how they want things
done, whatever the process is, I

can't say enough about the ease
and the comfort that comes with

being somewhere every day and
seeing how they like things done

and seeing how the salon
functions because then you know

exactly what that looks like for
you when you're ready. Instead

of showing up and not knowing
anything and trying to figure it

all out, you've been led and
you've been guided. And

hopefully you've been given a
lot of important information on

how that transition can actually
be. So when is the right time to

start looking for your salon
home. In my opinion, it's

somewhere around halfway through
your time at school, this could

be a long process or it could be
a short process. You know, some

people find their salon home the
first try for others, it takes a

lot of shadow days to really you
know, nail it down, there is no

perfect formula for finding the
right salon for you. So you want

to give yourself as much time as
possible. I encourage you to

look for the things that really
matter when it comes to finding

a salon home. Yes, the decor is
important and the vibe when you

walk in. Like if you just love
the color scheme. I think all

that's really wonderful. But it
has very little to do with

whether or not that salon will
be a good fit for you outside of

the aesthetic. So a great way to
start looking for a salon that

you'd like to spend some time in
that you'd like to shadow is to

just start looking at social
media find local hashtags for

your community. And if you're in
beauty school, you probably know

enough about some of the salons
in town that you feel like might

make your list. So that's a
really great way to nail it

down, there is a particular way
that you should contact the

salons and I'm going to go ahead
and include a copy paste in the

show notes for you to use so
that you can reach out to the

salons in your community that
you feel like you'd like to go

in and spend some time with,
make sure you ask your teacher

for approval. Most schools are
totally on board with shadowing,

but it's something that you're
definitely going to want to make

sure doesn't set you back in
your hours. Whether or not those

hours that you spend in the
salon are credited to your hours

of school for completion is
entirely up to the school

schools do it different. So I
can't really say whether or not

every school is going to allow
that. So you found a salon that

you feel like might be a good
fit for you. But you're

questioning yourself. You're
asking Is this the right salon?

For me? I say trust your gut.

What is your gut saying to you?

You've spent some time there?

What is going on in the break
room? And why does that matter?

What's the chatter about? Are
they you know, talking crap

about each other when the doors
closed? Are they celebrating one

another? Is it a nice relaxing
place for you to spend your time

between clients? All that's
going to matter? And what

happens in the break room is a
really revealing experience. So

pay close attention to that.

Make sure you're asking a lot of
questions and not just to the

fellow stylist if the salon has
esthetician or nail techs check

in with them to how cohesive is
the salon? Are you guys doing a

lot of inter salon promoting one
another? Is it very competitive?

Maybe that's not the right vibe
for you. If there's a lot of

competition in the salon, or
maybe you prefer a little

healthy competition, you really
just need to be paying close

attention to the salon culture.

And if you're not sure what
salon culture is, I like to look

at it like how is the salon
functioning every single day?

And how does that feel? Is it a
very friendly environment? Can

you tell that they really really
like each other? Is the vibe

really positive? Like when you
walk in the door? Do you feel

better on your drive? Are you
dreading it? Are you looking

forward to it, the salon culture
is going to impact and answer

all of those questions for you.

Another thing to look at is the
salons record of hiring and

firing. Because the salon
turning out a new stylist every

month, that would be a huge red
flag for me. Like why aren't

people staying? What is it about
this place that makes people

come and then go, or maybe it's
the opposite, like people stay

forever. That's a really good
sign. I have stylists in my

salon that have been with me
their entire career. I look at

that as a huge win for me and a
huge win for my salon culture.

So make sure you're paying
attention to the turnover rate

for the team. Maybe you've spent
a little time there and you're

still having a hard time
figuring it all out. I would

definitely go to the Google
reviews. You can take a look at

all of those and see what the
clients are saying about what it

looks like from their lens when
they're sitting there. So if you

were to ask me what I think the
perfect salon culture is, I

would say it's all about
empowering one another to

success. It's all about cheering
each other on and being there

when times aren't so great. You
know, we all walk through a lot

of personal experiences in life.

And you know, it's important
that we are able to lean on our

salon family through those times
we're going to spend more time

with these people than we do our
own family. So it's very

important that we can really
trust one another and count on

one another, and fun. Do not
leave out the fun if you think I

want to spend eight hours 10
hours, two hours in a salon

where they're not enjoying their
selves. You're dead wrong, fun

can be and should be an
important part of every salon

culture.

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