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: What if I told
you today that next week, you

are going to raise your prices
20% across the board, no

questions asked, How would you
feel? Would that scare you? If

so what scares you the most. Now
I can't speak for every stylist.

But I think for a lot of us,
it's the belief that we're worth

getting paid 20% More, believing
in ourselves doesn't just

happen. It takes work, for some
of us a lot of work. But if we

don't believe in ourselves, then
getting our clients to believe

in us is going to be a hell of a
lot harder. Fake it till you

make it. I hate that saying but
honestly, we've all been there,

right? Like we've all just been
getting by, you know, just

enough self esteem to make it
through the day. Social media

requires a lot of us like, we've
got to get on there. And we've

got to entertain people. And
we've got to post really good

content. And you know, we've got
to put on this persona that

we're good and we know it. And
not everyone has that. We have

to really work for it. Something
that my therapist said to me one

time just stuck with me. She
said, Tracy, you need to learn

to do it messy. You're so
worried about getting it right,

that you procrastinate. And you
put things off and you save

things for another day that you
could be doing right now. Things

that you could be doing right
now that would make you happier,

healthier, and more whole. And I
was like, Oh my gosh, I love

that. So you know what, I
started doing things even if it

wasn't right, even if it wasn't
the way I knew it would be in

the end, I just got started. So
that's my advice to all of you

today that are feeling like
you're not good enough to be

posting your work on social
media, or you're not good enough

to ask clients to come in and
see you just get started and do

it messy. You're only an
impostor if you pretend to be

something you're not. So be the
stylist that you are be the

stylist that still figuring it
out who's learning and growing

and passionate about what they
do every single day. Practice,

pick the mannequin head and
practice and be proud of your

progress, you are not going to
get anywhere from being hard on

yourself every day and picking
apart all of the things that you

could have done differently.

Give yourself credit where
credit's due. And sometimes the

credit just lies in the effort,
not the outcome. Just keep doing

it until it feels real.

Eventually, you're going to do
something and you're going to

look at it and you're going to
be really, really proud of it.

But until then you need to keep
building yourself up. confidence

grows with your skill set.

Remember that I'm gonna say it
again, confidence grows with

your skill set. So the better
that you get at something, the

more confident about it you're
going to feel every win behind

the chair builds you into the
stylist that believes in

herself, built you into the
stylists that can charge what

she's worth, build you into the
stylist that is proud to post

her work on social media. Before
you know it, you don't even feel

like an imposter anymore. You're
good at what you do. And you

know it. If you don't believe in
yourself, who will you know,

there is not a busload of
clients out there looking for a

stylist that doesn't think she
can do it. So watch the

narrative in your head that
tells you you're not good

enough. It's simply not true.

You know how I know because
you're here, because you're

listening to this podcast,
hungry for knowledge, eager to

learn, passionate about what you
do. This is drive. And that is

not a skill that can be taught
it has to live inside of you.

Find something good and every
single day you'll have to be

kind to yourself, you'll have to
make sure that anything that

comes into your head that tells
you that you can't do it that

you're not good enough that you
shouldn't be here. It's a lie,

find something good and stay
positive. So how do you

recognize imposter syndrome?

What does impostor syndrome look
like? It looks a lot like fear.

It looks a lot like being afraid
to raise your prices. It looks

like being afraid to work in the
type of salon that actually

inspires you. And it looks like
not feeling good enough to work

on high end clients. It also
looks like someone who's

actually winning but does sent
believe they deserve it. There

have been a lot of times in my
career when I was doing a lot

better than I was willing to
give myself credit for. There

have been times where I have
just thought I don't have what

it takes to be as good as all of
the stylists that I admire. It

was a really hard thing for me
to overcome. You know, I'm just

a small town girl, and I've got
big dreams. Sometimes I can't

even believe all that I've been
able to accomplish. Like, it

still blows my mind. But the
shift was actually believing

that I could be this person. And
that's not easy. And it takes a

lot of work. But you can do it
and you have to do it. There are

people out there that are
relying on you to become the

leader, the stylist, the
educator that you are destined

to be. So don't let them down.

You haven't even met him yet.

You don't even know who they are
a bit later in life, you're

going to look back, and you're
going to remember why it was

important for you to stick with
it and not quit. Here you are

booked out for weeks straight.

But you will not raise your
prices like you just cannot

bring yourself to do it. You
know, you're never going to be

able to reach for something new
while you're still holding on to

everything that's old. You know,
if it's your desire to grow your

clientele, and see new people,
but you're so worried about

raising your prices, because
you're worried about your old

clients leaving you how can you
make room for new clients in

your schedule, if you stay so
tight with your pricing that no

one's ever going to leave you
like I know it's scary, but

trust me, you want those clients
to leave you that is the goal is

to get so expensive that not
everyone can afford you. That's

how you have to look at it. You
stay working in a mediocre salon

because you don't feel worthy of
a chair at a high end salon. But

you know, it's your dream. What
are you holding on to like you

already know what mediocre looks
like. And it ain't it. You

cannot reach for your goals. If
your arms are just full of your

old beliefs. So let it go. You
don't have enough room in your

life for everything. So if you
want to make room for the good,

good, then you've got to let go
of the average. Sometimes we're

scared of stepping into our own
greatness. I always knew I was

meant for more like even growing
up. And there was no evidence in

my childhood that I would become
someone that could find success.

But in my heart it lived. And I
couldn't explain it. I just knew

I was destined for more. But I
have found myself afraid of

taking that next step of knowing
exactly what it was I needed to

do to get where I wanted to be.

But I could not force myself to
take that first step. You know,

the comfort zone is a pretty
cozy spot. Like I think we can

all agree it's like nice there,
right? There's like a fire in a

blanket. And it's super warm. It
doesn't require a lot from you.

So therefore it's really, really
hard to leave. But the problem

is nothing magical happens
there. You are sleeping on

opportunities and stop reaching
for more because it's

comfortable. Becoming your
highest self takes a lot of

work. And that scares some of
us. I know it scares the crap

out of me. If you hear yourself
saying things like this isn't

good enough to post or I can't
charge that much, then just know

you've got some work to do.

You've got to counter those
thoughts with positivity in with

the good and out with the
bullshit, find your wins and

celebrate them. At the end of
the day just be you the real

you. There's nothing fake or
impostor about that. It's really

important to seek support and
mentorship from peers and

industry experts. You know, one
of the best things about this

industry is the support. There
are mentors out there that are

cheering for you. They've never
even met you in person and

they're cheering for you.

They're liking your posts,
they're sharing your content.

They're leaving you really
encouraging comments. They're

rooting for you. And it's such a
beautiful thing to see. And I

know this because I'm one of
them. I'm one of the people

cheering for you. There are so
many industry experts willing to

pour into you. A lot of them do
it for free. Like all you have

to do is find them. There's
social media books and podcasts,

and they're always available and
they're always dirt cheap. Some

people are just born with
confidence. You know the type.

They're fearless, they're bold,
they never doubt themselves, but

others have to build it and that
can only be done by doing

something over and over again
until you're really really good

at it. Until that evidence
presents it Self and you can

actually believe it. So just
embrace the challenges rise

above them and don't give up. I
want to share a time with you

when I really felt like giving
up. It was when I first started

learning how to install hand
tied extensions. I love hand

tied extensions, I'm going to
tell you right now, weft

extensions are probably my
favorite service to perform. But

that has not always been true.

When I was first learning how to
do this service, the fact that I

have never sewn a thing in my
life was showing up strong in my

skill set. It just wasn't there.

My thread was getting all
tangled up, I was having to

start over. I was getting things
to tide and the clients were

complaining about filling the
tension. They were coming in and

their West's were slipping,
there were so many things that

weren't going right. So let me
just say I was at a point in my

career where I was really
successful, like I was not used

to being in a space where I
didn't know what the heck I was

doing. So this was really
foreign to me, everything that I

had been offering up until that
point was something that was

really easy for me to adapt to
really easy for me to learn and

implement. But hand tied
extensions kicked my ass. And

I'm just here to tell you, I've
only been doing them for about

four years now. And now I'm
comfortable with my skill set, I

could still use some
improvement. I think they're

constantly coming up with new
ways to do this service. And I

like to stay on the cutting edge
of things. So I'm always willing

to transition and grow. But just
saying that allowing myself to

say that statement that I am
good at hand tight extensions

has taken so much work on my
part. Because every single day,

the evidence wasn't there, like
I was screwing up. But I didn't

give up and I got better. And
now it's one of my favorite

services to offer and a huge
part of my income. So competence

is pretty sexy, right? Well, it
also leads to better job

performance, deeper
relationships with clients and a

much bigger income. And you
know, once you strengthen that

muscle and start believing
yourself, there's really no

going back like you're never
going to not believe in

yourself. And once you finally
figure out how to do it, it

continues to build and you
strengthen that muscle and you

start feeling unstoppable. And
it's incredible. Know your worth

and charge tax. Okay, once
you're able to let that impostor

syndrome roll off your back,
you're going to notice a shift,

you're gonna start feeling
really, really ready to step

into your greatness. Your
competence is building you're

experiencing a whole lot more
joy in your life where you're

gonna learn more, earn more, and
live your best life.

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