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 have
just made the biggest decision

of your life, you have decided
to become a hairstylist, there's

just one problem. You don't have
the support of your parents.

Your parents may be a little old
school and for them success

comes with a college degree. But
college isn't for you. College

is great. A lot of people go to
college and they have very

lucrative careers. But college
is not for everyone. And it is

time for us to normalize trade
school. There are a lot of

different careers that do not
require a college degree. Some

people are more creative, you
know, creative over academics.

For some people, like for me, I
knew early on, I was not going

to be the type of person that
went to college. It just wasn't

something that I dreamed about
doing. You know, I knew I wanted

to do something I knew I was
very creative and artistic and

that there was something out
there for me. And I didn't know

what it was, but I knew it did
not include a college degree. I

want to give you an example of a
client that I had many years

ago. I remember one time I was
doing her hair and she was

talking about how her daughter
wanted to go to Beauty School.

She was a sophomore in high
school, and she was

participating in the high school
cosmetology program. And she was

absolutely loving it. She came
to her parents and told him Hey,

look, this is for me. I
absolutely love this. This is

what I want to do with my life.

And I don't think my client was
trying to offend me. But she had

made the statement and had said
absolutely not, you're going to

college. So true story. The
daughter went to college, got a

four year degree, turned around,
got a job, hated it, and ended

up going to cosmetology school
anyway. So that's a very

expensive lesson to learn. I
feel like when your children

tell you who they are and who
they aspire to be, then you

should believe them. She knew
that she wanted to do hair and

she was forced to get a degree
and she ended up going to hair

school anyway. She actually
works at a really upscale salon

and national now and has a very
lucrative career doing hair. And

of course now her parents are on
board. College does not

necessarily guarantee success
and neither does beauty school

to be perfectly honest. It is
whatever you make it but I feel

like there is this stigmatism
behind a college degree and that

that's exactly what you need to
have a really prosperous life

and I just don't find that to be
true. I feel like when you find

something that you're passionate
about and you give it your all

you can be wildly successful no
matter what that path is. Jen

Atkins is a celebrity stylist.

She's a stylist to all three of
the Kardashian sisters and

Jennifer Lopez, she is the
creator of the product line way.

She's also the founder of a
digital magazine that I

absolutely love called main
addicts. And I recently just

finished her book called blowing
my way to the top. She's wildly

successful and has a net worth
of $15 million. So this is not

small potatoes. This is not
something that is kept, you

know, at even six figures a
year. I mean, you can be super

successful in this industry. And
I know not everybody is going to

be stylist to the stars and not
everyone will want to be a

stylist to the stars. But I just
use her as an example to show

you what's possible. When you
never stop dreaming. You never

stop growing. You never stop
learning. Being a successful

hairstylist is a very fulfilling
career and gives you tons of

opportunities to work in a
creative field and a chance to

help others feel really
beautiful and really confident

and I can't say enough about how
rewarding that whole process is.

The benefits are endless. It's
fun, it's lucrative. It comes

with tons of artistic expression
you get to connect with people

help build people up helped make
them feel amazing. Not to

mention it's an ever changing
industry. So it's always

exciting. So if you're someone
like me that gets bored really

easily hang on tight.

Everything's about to change you
know it's gonna be different in

even a week. You know, I just
love how the ever changing

aspect of this industry keeps it
interesting not to mention the

limitless earning potential you
know, if you go to work and the

right salon and it's a
commission based salon then the

earning potential is limitless.

It's whatever you make it It's
whatever you want to put Get

into it, your parents are going
to have a lot of misconception

about what this industry
entails. If you have never

treated yourself to a high end
salon experience, if you've only

ever been to a chain salon to
get a $15 haircut, then you have

no idea what's possible for your
experience receiving hair

services or for your child's
experience in this industry, if

they choose it as a career path.

If $15 haircuts or an hourly
wage is all they think is

possible, then it's going to be
up to you to change what they

believe about this industry.

This is not a plan B, this is
not just for the people who

don't want to go to college,
this is not the easy way out,

you're going to be working
really, really hard to get

through school to get good
grades to learn all the

intricacies of the chemistry and
the biology, there's a lot

involved in the curriculum that
is underrated. Interest in the

beauty industry is skyrocketing.

It's said to be up 19% between
2020 and 2030 people are taking

better care of themselves than
they ever have. And this self

care movement isn't going
anywhere. You know, it's kind of

funny to think about, but AI at
some point is going to replace

all of us. But it will not be
able to replace someone cutting

your hair, you're always going
to need a human being holding a

pair of shears to execute that
job for you. We were talking a

little bit earlier about the
self care movement. And you

know, it's crazy how influential
the beauty industry is, like

more people care about the
beauty industry then, and I'm

not just talking about hair, I'm
talking about makeup, I'm

talking about nails, I'm talking
about everything that is

encompassed in the beauty world.

I mean, people out there are
getting paid to try products to

try beauty products and tell you
what they think about it.

There's not a lot of industries
that really want to pay

influencers to do stuff like
that. But the beauty industry

does. I'm not saying hey, go out
there and become an influencer.

But I'm not saying don't like
maybe that's going to be a

really profitable position for
you later in life. I'm just

saying that this industry has so
many different facets to it, you

can literally do anything you
want to do. And you can morph

into something else later. Like
maybe now you start out with

hair. But later on you create
the world's most famous haircare

line, the sky's the limit. As a
salon owner, I have interviewed

a lot of stylist who have been
in this very position, who have

just graduated Beauty School,
kind of against their parents

will you know, and they're eager
to get a job, they're eager to

get started, they want to start
proving their self, I'm here to

tell you, you are not alone.

We're talking about this today
because it affects a lot of

people. So I want you to know
you can go on and you can be

successful, even without your
parents support. And I urge you

to do that support is great. But
by all means proceed without it

if necessary. Do whatever it
takes to pave your own way.

Whatever you do, do not give up
on your dream just because the

scenario isn't perfect. Work
your way through school. I mean,

if you have to pay for school
yourself, do it. If this is what

you really want to do with your
life, do not let the lack of

support whether it be emotional
or financial stop you from

chasing your dreams, you can get
a private loan, you can get a

Sallie Mae loan, there are lots
of scholarships, a lot of

schools have payment plans,
there are a lot of options. So I

don't want you to make excuses
for not doing this. I want you

to muster up the strength and
the energy to do whatever it

takes to get this done. In a
perfect world, you're going to

sit down with your parents and
you're going to have an honest

conversation about what you want
to do with the rest of your

life. And they're going to look
at you and they're gonna give

you a big smile and a big hug
and they're going to

congratulate you. And it's all
going to be really, really

beautiful. But that's not going
to happen for everyone. I

encourage you don't give up no
matter what I have seen so many

stylists and students achieve
their success, even without the

support of their parents. And
you know, you may not get the

support you want from your
family, but you can find it

other places. You're going to
make a lot of friends in beauty

school, you're going to make
some of the most amazing

connections with your fellow
students that's going to last

well past the 1500 hours that
you're going to spend in that

building. Lean on them. Lean
into other networks of support

that you can find online on
Facebook. There are tons of

Facebook groups for students and
for stylist at any phase of

their career. There is a lot of
support out there that you can

lean into even if the support at
home isn't there be a walking

example of your success make
proving everyone wrong, your

number one job. If you do that
you're going to put so much

backbone into your career,
you're going to amaze people and

they're not even going to
remember a time when they didn't

support you in this endeavor.

Put in the work and give it all
you've got. I promise you won't

regret it.

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