From Stylist to Director: Crafting Careers & Education | Jason Snyder | Director of Sales & Education, Neill Fulfillment (VoMor Hair Extensions) | 17 Yrs, Aveda

Robert Hughes: 00:00:00

Jason Snyder is a 17 year industry veteran and the director of sales and education for Vemour, an extension brand manufactured and distributed exclusively for Aveda in North America.

Robert Hughes: 00:00:11

Today we're going to hear his story, how he got there, and the lessons and relationships he's gained along the way.

Robert Hughes: 00:00:16

Welcome back to the hairdresser strong show.

Robert Hughes: 00:00:18

My name is Robert Hughes and I am your host.

Robert Hughes: 00:00:19

And today I'm with Jason Snyder.

Robert Hughes: 00:00:21

How are you doing today, Jason?

Jason Snyder: 00:00:22

Hey, thank you so much.

Jason Snyder: 00:00:23

I'm doing great.

Jason Snyder: 00:00:24

I'm really excited to be here and to start our chat today.

Robert Hughes: 00:00:28

Awesome.

Robert Hughes: 00:00:29

Me too.

Robert Hughes: 00:00:30

So for the audience, we, we got connected through, so I went to serious business, which is an amazing event.

Robert Hughes: 00:00:41

So I recommend anybody listening or watching.

Robert Hughes: 00:00:44

If you're interested in the business side of things, then you should definitely go check out serious business.

Robert Hughes: 00:00:50

And I was networking there and that's how I got connected with Jason.

Robert Hughes: 00:00:56

And so I'm excited for this.

Robert Hughes: 00:00:59

We had a pre conversation and it's a very interesting story that I'm excited to share and I'm excited to have you on, Jason.

Robert Hughes: 00:01:07

So thank you so much for taking the time.

Jason Snyder: 00:01:10

Yeah, thank you.

Jason Snyder: 00:01:10

You know, serious business is a really cool event.

Jason Snyder: 00:01:14

It happens every year in January here in New Orleans, where I live, and we have the amazing opportunity to be a part of it.

Jason Snyder: 00:01:20

Each year we get to have this big, fabulous booth and mingle with our existing partner, salon partners, and meet new people like yourself.

Jason Snyder: 00:01:30

And it's definitely worth the trip, especially if you've never gotten to experience the city of New Orleans as well.

Robert Hughes: 00:01:36

Nice.

Jason Snyder: 00:01:36

Yeah.

Robert Hughes: 00:01:37

And I love New Orleans, so it's always nice to, it's tough to balance the going out to, you know, for things and also make sure that I can be present and pay attention the whole time.

Robert Hughes: 00:01:48

So I recommend booking some time to experience New Orleans before or after the event.

Jason Snyder: 00:01:54

Advice?

Robert Hughes: 00:01:56

Yeah.

Jason Snyder: 00:01:56

Yeah.

Robert Hughes: 00:01:56

So, okay, so let's get started.

Robert Hughes: 00:01:58

So tell us.

Robert Hughes: 00:02:00

Let's get started with how'd you get into the industry?

Robert Hughes: 00:02:03

Did you go to school?

Robert Hughes: 00:02:04

Did you, did you do an apprenticeship?

Robert Hughes: 00:02:07

Let's start there.

Jason Snyder: 00:02:08

Sure.

Jason Snyder: 00:02:10

17 years ago, after finishing college, I attended the Nevada Institute in the Tampa, Florida area where I grew up.

Jason Snyder: 00:02:20

And so I went through hair school, as one does.

Jason Snyder: 00:02:23

And hair came pretty easy easily to me, like the actual technique part.

Jason Snyder: 00:02:30

And so I had a great time in hair school, met a bunch of wonderful people.

Jason Snyder: 00:02:35

Upon leaving school, you mentioned, like an apprenticeship.

Jason Snyder: 00:02:38

I wish I had had one.

Jason Snyder: 00:02:41

I actually moved to an area in Florida where there were no aveda salons.

Jason Snyder: 00:02:46

And so I did get a gig, like, at a salon right out of school, and a stylists had moved away, and so they just, like, slid me into their position with an almost full clientele, with a product, a brand, a product, and a color line that I knew nothing about without any onboarding.

Jason Snyder: 00:03:06

And so, needless to say, I had a really interesting first year behind the chair where basically I ran late for a whole year and messed up hair every single day.

Robert Hughes: 00:03:17

Well, that's interesting.

Robert Hughes: 00:03:19

So you going into a salon straight after school with a book and having that ability to kind of learn through trial by fire, you know, I feel like that's what a lot of people would probably actually like, at least.

Jason Snyder: 00:03:38

Yeah.

Jason Snyder: 00:03:39

You know?

Jason Snyder: 00:03:39

And had I experienced a little bit different level of support from that, from said salon or co workers, perhaps it could have been a nice experience.

Jason Snyder: 00:03:51

But I really felt kind of thrown to the wolves.

Jason Snyder: 00:03:53

Like, you know, I really liked, I really lacked that onboarding or introduction to specific.

Jason Snyder: 00:03:59

I mean, especially, like, not knowing any other color line and just being like, here's a day full of color guests, and good luck in the bar back there, you know, so.

Jason Snyder: 00:04:08

But, yeah, I think you're right.

Jason Snyder: 00:04:10

I think people would enjoy that experience.

Robert Hughes: 00:04:11

Now, however, you just brought up a really interesting point that I do think.

Robert Hughes: 00:04:16

I do think maybe I'll retract my statement or at least amenda it, because I do think that, like, if you're thrown into a full book, yes, people might be excited until they feel like they're drowning.

Robert Hughes: 00:04:27

And then when they don't have that support that you're talking about, then I do think they will leave that full book.

Robert Hughes: 00:04:34

I really do.

Robert Hughes: 00:04:34

I do think that, like everybody, I think, you know, kind of finding yourself up a creek without a paddle, you're still up a creek without a paddle.

Robert Hughes: 00:04:42

And I do think people might jump ship and swim to shore.

Jason Snyder: 00:04:45

Yeah.

Jason Snyder: 00:04:46

And it lasts.

Jason Snyder: 00:04:47

I lasted almost a year.

Robert Hughes: 00:04:50

Okay.

Robert Hughes: 00:04:50

Yeah, exactly.

Robert Hughes: 00:04:52

There you go.

Robert Hughes: 00:04:52

Okay, so you work there.

Robert Hughes: 00:04:54

What happens after that salon?

Jason Snyder: 00:04:56

So after that, I was sort of questioning my choices.

Jason Snyder: 00:05:01

Like, is this really for me?

Jason Snyder: 00:05:03

Should I.

Jason Snyder: 00:05:04

Should I continue in this industry?

Jason Snyder: 00:05:05

And so I sought out to better myself a little bit further education.

Jason Snyder: 00:05:11

And so I contacted the people who I had met when I was in hair school and asked, you know, inquired what types of opportunities there were to.

Jason Snyder: 00:05:20

To maybe learn more or do an advanced program or something like that.

Jason Snyder: 00:05:26

And what ended up hacked by what I ended up sort of, like, falling into was a program that used to exist where you could go back to school to be a foundational educator at their schools.

Jason Snyder: 00:05:38

And so training to basically teach the very, very, very beginning or intro classes at Theravade institutes in Florida.

Robert Hughes: 00:05:46

Florida.

Robert Hughes: 00:05:47

Nice.

Robert Hughes: 00:05:48

Nice.

Robert Hughes: 00:05:48

Okay, so let's just kind of add a little bit context here.

Robert Hughes: 00:05:52

So you told me in our pre conversation that you went to school and studied something else before you studied cosmetology.

Robert Hughes: 00:06:01

Can you tell us about that?

Jason Snyder: 00:06:04

Yeah, of course.

Jason Snyder: 00:06:06

I had the incredible experience of going to a private, international business school in Honolulu, Hawaii, which is where I graduated with my bachelor's degree.

Jason Snyder: 00:06:18

And so I had a path that was leading me somewhere in the world of business.

Jason Snyder: 00:06:24

And as many do when you graduate college, I sort of.

Jason Snyder: 00:06:29

And especially because I had been so far away for so long, having grown up in Florida.

Jason Snyder: 00:06:33

So I came home after graduation, and I was sort of like, what do I do with my hands?

Jason Snyder: 00:06:39

Like, what do I do now?

Jason Snyder: 00:06:40

And I had been doing things like cutting my buddy's hair on the balcony of my apartment with clippers, you know, while I was in college.

Jason Snyder: 00:06:48

And somebody said, you know, there's this new place around town that you should check out.

Jason Snyder: 00:06:53

I think you'd really enjoy it.

Jason Snyder: 00:06:54

And so that's how I went and toured the Aveda institute, and I started, I think, class, like, a week or two after my tour.

Jason Snyder: 00:07:01

Like, just, like, dove right in, and I was like, okay, here's the next thing I'm gonna do.

Robert Hughes: 00:07:05

Nice.

Robert Hughes: 00:07:06

Okay, cool.

Robert Hughes: 00:07:07

So, all right, now we have that piece of information.

Robert Hughes: 00:07:09

Cause I feel like that's gonna come.

Robert Hughes: 00:07:10

That might come up later.

Robert Hughes: 00:07:12

Okay, so you're thrown into a salon, you got a full book, but you're not getting any support.

Robert Hughes: 00:07:18

Is that why you left?

Robert Hughes: 00:07:19

Because you weren't.

Robert Hughes: 00:07:20

You didn't have the support or there anything other reason?

Jason Snyder: 00:07:24

No, that was totally why.

Jason Snyder: 00:07:26

I mean, it was really.

Jason Snyder: 00:07:27

I was miserable.

Jason Snyder: 00:07:28

I was just, like, I had unhappy guests whose hair was not turning out the way that they had hoped because I didn't know what I was doing with that color line.

Jason Snyder: 00:07:36

And.

Jason Snyder: 00:07:37

And, I mean, I think everybody can.

Jason Snyder: 00:07:40

Can agree that running behind during your day is not fun, and if you did it for, like, one year straight, every single day you're in the salon.

Jason Snyder: 00:07:51

I was just kind of, like, scared of doing hair after that.

Jason Snyder: 00:07:56

And so that's.

Jason Snyder: 00:07:57

That is absolutely why I left.

Robert Hughes: 00:07:58

Yeah, that makes sense.

Robert Hughes: 00:07:59

Like, kind of feeling a sense of defeat or failure on a regular basis without anywhere to go to feel validated that you're doing a good job or maybe guide you in a way to give you some information.

Robert Hughes: 00:08:11

I totally, totally get that.

Robert Hughes: 00:08:13

Okay, so then you become.

Robert Hughes: 00:08:14

You go you start working at an.

Robert Hughes: 00:08:16

At Aveda Institute.

Robert Hughes: 00:08:17

And where is that at?

Jason Snyder: 00:08:20

This was in Orlando, Florida.

Robert Hughes: 00:08:21

In Orlando.

Robert Hughes: 00:08:23

And then you get the opportunity to kind of like to start training the younger folks.

Robert Hughes: 00:08:29

Were you teaching cutting and coloring right away from the beginning?

Robert Hughes: 00:08:35

Did they train you?

Robert Hughes: 00:08:36

Did you get the support there to grow yourself so that you could provide to your new customer, the student?

Jason Snyder: 00:08:43

Totally.

Jason Snyder: 00:08:44

I think a similar story to you that you mentioned to me when we had our pre conversation.

Jason Snyder: 00:08:49

I did star in what was called intro at the time, which was very much textbook classroom style learning.

Jason Snyder: 00:08:55

And then I remember learning properly, and then teaching how to part a mannequin head.

Jason Snyder: 00:09:02

This was how to hold a comb and things like that.

Jason Snyder: 00:09:08

So, yes, I started off at the very, very much basics.

Jason Snyder: 00:09:12

That support within that system was incredible.

Jason Snyder: 00:09:17

I had a handful of mentors at my fingertips, and I quickly, somewhat maybe because of skillset, but maybe mostly because of just need of warm bodies, I quickly moved into teaching what was called the master's part of the program.

Jason Snyder: 00:09:35

And so then it was sort of like the students who were about to graduate, and they were doing maybe 85%, spending 85% of their time actually doing live guests as if it were a salon floor.

Jason Snyder: 00:09:45

And so overseeing that, I remember specifically, I will this.

Jason Snyder: 00:09:50

I will attest this to why I am a decent haircutter.

Jason Snyder: 00:09:55

This was, if you'll remember, when the posh spice haircut became a thing, you know, a graduated a line bob was, like, never heard of before until posh spice wore it.

Jason Snyder: 00:10:06

And it, of course, wasn't a part of our curriculum, our cutting curriculum yet at the school level.

Jason Snyder: 00:10:11

And so every single woman was coming and asking for this, and we didn't have time at that level of schooling to, like, actually teach the students this.

Jason Snyder: 00:10:19

And so they would all cut, like, convex or a bob, basically, and we would have to go in and do all the graduation and everything dry after they would cut, like, the bob and blow it out.

Jason Snyder: 00:10:31

And so that really made me a decent haircutter, just having to, like, bust those out one after another for a couple of months.

Robert Hughes: 00:10:39

Totally.

Robert Hughes: 00:10:40

Yeah.

Robert Hughes: 00:10:40

And I'd like to do a little, like, plug here and see what you are.

Robert Hughes: 00:10:45

Not plug, but make a statement here and see what you think of it.

Robert Hughes: 00:10:49

But my opinion is that the cutters.

Jason Snyder: 00:10:51

The.

Robert Hughes: 00:10:54

Learning how to cut is, to me, all about sectioning, organization, and then the techniques of graduation.

Robert Hughes: 00:11:01

And I feel like when you get those, it's like everything else.

Robert Hughes: 00:11:04

And haircutting is kind of comes a little bit not, I want to say easy, but I.

Robert Hughes: 00:11:11

If you can do those things, then I feel like you're going to be, like you're going to be good.

Jason Snyder: 00:11:17

Yeah.

Jason Snyder: 00:11:17

I mean, I could even simplify another, like, to another level and say, once you understand how to move and push hair or how hair pushes other hair, you know, those very, I mean, I shouldn't say simple, maybe that's incorrect.

Jason Snyder: 00:11:32

But those rudimentary ideas, once those are captured, then all the other stuff is just playdead at that point.

Robert Hughes: 00:11:40

Totally.

Robert Hughes: 00:11:41

Okay, cool.

Robert Hughes: 00:11:42

So you grow yourself as an educator.

Robert Hughes: 00:11:46

You're getting support, you're training, and you're learning, you're growing, et cetera.

Robert Hughes: 00:11:50

So how long are you at, in this space and are this season of your career?

Jason Snyder: 00:11:56

Yeah, just a few years, as you know, and I'm sure anybody else would agree who's been in those types of roles.

Jason Snyder: 00:12:04

They are, they wear on you like, it's a tough job.

Jason Snyder: 00:12:11

And you don't always necessarily, it's not always, like, incredible pay, you know, like, it's long days.

Jason Snyder: 00:12:17

And, you know, you've got 30 students in that class and you're hanging on by a thread because you've got one student who really is passionate about hair, and you're like, yay, I get to help this person with their, you know, something that they love.

Jason Snyder: 00:12:28

So anyway, so it lasted just a few years.

Jason Snyder: 00:12:32

And like I said, that those experiences of, you know, it's one thing to know how to do something, but once you can teach somebody how to do something, then you really become the expert of it, I think.

Jason Snyder: 00:12:44

And so I was.

Jason Snyder: 00:12:46

I had really improved my skill set, and after a few years, I was ready to sort of, like, relook at the salon, part of our industry again.

Jason Snyder: 00:12:58

And at that point, sort of, like, serendipitously, I had a family member who was like, I would like to open a Nevada salon.

Jason Snyder: 00:13:08

Jason, would you like to run sun salon or manage it?

Jason Snyder: 00:13:11

And I said, of course, I don't know anything about managing a salon.

Jason Snyder: 00:13:14

And they said, that's okay.

Jason Snyder: 00:13:15

You'll learn.

Jason Snyder: 00:13:16

And so I got thrown into yet another situation where I kind of had to tread water, keep my head above water.

Jason Snyder: 00:13:23

And so then for a minute, I managed a brand new build out of a salon, which I had never done, and hired a team.

Jason Snyder: 00:13:33

And this was a small salon, and I did that for just a few years, but it was a really cool experience.

Jason Snyder: 00:13:37

And I can now, thanks to that, speak to salon leadership in a way that I.

Jason Snyder: 00:13:41

That I wouldn't have been able to otherwise.

Robert Hughes: 00:13:44

So you said a family member, it.

Jason Snyder: 00:13:47

Was an uncle of mine, yeah.

Robert Hughes: 00:13:49

And how did he decide to, like, how did he arrive at this thought or decision?

Jason Snyder: 00:13:55

He, um.

Jason Snyder: 00:13:57

He really liked the products and had a lot of money and wanted to have his own store and had no.

Jason Snyder: 00:14:06

And had no interest in being a part of the business or hair in general.

Jason Snyder: 00:14:11

And so it was an interesting situation.

Robert Hughes: 00:14:14

Do you think that if you weren't a hairdresser, that he would have done that, or do you think it was because he's like, I got this family member, you know?

Jason Snyder: 00:14:22

Yeah, I think it was the latter, for sure.

Robert Hughes: 00:14:25

That's amazing opportunity for you.

Jason Snyder: 00:14:27

It was.

Jason Snyder: 00:14:29

I can't say I had an a plus said opportunity, but it was nice.

Robert Hughes: 00:14:35

Nice.

Robert Hughes: 00:14:36

Okay.

Jason Snyder: 00:14:36

Wow.

Robert Hughes: 00:14:37

This is a.

Robert Hughes: 00:14:38

This is a very dynamic and rich story of your.

Robert Hughes: 00:14:43

Of your career so far.

Robert Hughes: 00:14:45

Okay.

Robert Hughes: 00:14:45

So after a few years of, you know, starting up and running a business, and what was your move from there?

Jason Snyder: 00:14:52

Yeah, I really wanted to.

Jason Snyder: 00:14:54

I had learned in working at the institute level that I really loved teaching our craft, and so I started to look for something that was more grounded in that.

Jason Snyder: 00:15:05

And so I landed a gig, which I owe most of my, I don't know, industry knowledge to, which was the title was creative director.

Jason Snyder: 00:15:19

And I sort of played salon owner for a group of salons in the Tampa, Florida area, also Aveda salons.

Jason Snyder: 00:15:26

And so.

Jason Snyder: 00:15:26

And this salon owner, I will forever be grateful to them and give them lots of credit.

Jason Snyder: 00:15:32

They understood that to have somebody who was solely responsible for helping the stylist grow their business behind the chair, that wasn't also behind the chair.

Jason Snyder: 00:15:43

You know, I remember during a very beginning interview, he said to me once, just so we're aware, you don't make me any money.

Jason Snyder: 00:15:50

You cost me money because you're not behind the chair producing.

Jason Snyder: 00:15:53

And so as long as you help those who are behind the chair producing grow their business, then you can keep your job, kind of thing.

Jason Snyder: 00:16:01

And so.

Robert Hughes: 00:16:02

Oh, my gosh.

Robert Hughes: 00:16:03

No pressure.

Jason Snyder: 00:16:04

No, not at all.

Jason Snyder: 00:16:06

And so, yeah, we had three locations at the most at one time, and something around 60 ish stylists across, you know, across the board or what have you.

Jason Snyder: 00:16:14

And my sole responsibility was to recruit, hire new talent, put them through our mentor or training program, and then also, you know, one on ones with the.

Jason Snyder: 00:16:26

With all stylists, you know, on a monthly basis, help them grow there, their business, help them, you know, under help them or understand what they're like, sort of next steps are in their career and help them get there.

Jason Snyder: 00:16:39

And then every once in a while, I got to fix the hair of an angry guest.

Jason Snyder: 00:16:45

They were like, well, let's have our creative director do this for you.

Jason Snyder: 00:16:48

And so, which I actually really enjoyed because, you know, it's fun to win someone over who's like, you know, very, like, unhappy.

Jason Snyder: 00:16:56

So I still got to have my hands and hair in that fashion at that point.

Jason Snyder: 00:16:59

And I did that for about six years with that group, that salon group.

Robert Hughes: 00:17:02

Nice.

Robert Hughes: 00:17:03

Okay, so how did you meet?

Robert Hughes: 00:17:06

How did you discover or come upon this opportunity?

Jason Snyder: 00:17:11

So the.

Jason Snyder: 00:17:12

At the time, the salon owner was working for the distributor, so they were like the Aveda, we call them salon development partners, but they were like the Aveda rep for my uncle salon.

Jason Snyder: 00:17:25

So I was meeting with them on a monthly basis to talk about the success of at the salon, and I just let them know, like, hey, if you hear anything, I'm looking.

Jason Snyder: 00:17:33

This is.

Jason Snyder: 00:17:34

And I described the type of work I was looking for, and he was like, actually, I'm looking for the exact same thing.

Jason Snyder: 00:17:39

So it just kind of worked out nicely.

Robert Hughes: 00:17:42

Interesting.

Robert Hughes: 00:17:43

So how did your uncle take it when you said you were leaving?

Jason Snyder: 00:17:48

He was fine.

Jason Snyder: 00:17:49

Okay.

Jason Snyder: 00:17:50

I didn't mention that he was far.

Jason Snyder: 00:17:52

He lived far away from where the salon was in a different state, and this little passion project kind of.

Jason Snyder: 00:18:00

What's the word?

Jason Snyder: 00:18:01

It kind of fiddled out, you know, like, it fizzled out.

Jason Snyder: 00:18:04

I guess maybe with the energy is the word I was looking for.

Jason Snyder: 00:18:07

And so soon after that, you know, the salon was sold, and it was no big deal.

Jason Snyder: 00:18:11

No big deal.

Robert Hughes: 00:18:12

Gotcha.

Robert Hughes: 00:18:13

Okay, cool.

Robert Hughes: 00:18:15

All right, so one, I'm curious to know, what kind of challenges did you experience?

Robert Hughes: 00:18:22

You know, one or two is totally cool.

Robert Hughes: 00:18:24

I'm sure there's probably more than one if you're starting a business from a build out and a few years of that.

Robert Hughes: 00:18:31

So let's.

Robert Hughes: 00:18:32

I would like to start there.

Jason Snyder: 00:18:34

Yeah.

Robert Hughes: 00:18:35

Because I'm sure some people are wondering.

Robert Hughes: 00:18:36

It's like, well, like, what was that?

Robert Hughes: 00:18:38

What was that story?

Robert Hughes: 00:18:39

You know, more depth, but maybe you can give us a little bit of something like that.

Jason Snyder: 00:18:45

Sure.

Jason Snyder: 00:18:46

I was young, in age, and in experience of the industry, or specifically in managing contractors and construction work.

Jason Snyder: 00:18:57

You know, I mean, like, I was not.

Jason Snyder: 00:18:59

This was not something I had done before.

Jason Snyder: 00:19:01

And for about six, six to nine months, my.

Jason Snyder: 00:19:04

My job was to show up on the job site and just, like, make sure what was supposed to be happening was happening.

Jason Snyder: 00:19:11

And so things.

Jason Snyder: 00:19:12

If you've ever dealt with any kind of building homes or commercials or what have you, but, you know, the.

Jason Snyder: 00:19:17

Lots of, you know, the inspectors not showing up when they're supposed to or failing an inspection because of something so small.

Jason Snyder: 00:19:24

I mean, we had, of course, an engineer or an architect, like, draw the plans for the salon, including plumbing, and.

Jason Snyder: 00:19:31

But then when the contractor actually, like.

Jason Snyder: 00:19:34

Or the plumber, whomever does that actually, like, installed the plumbing, they installed them something like six inches off from what they were supposed to.

Jason Snyder: 00:19:41

And so then.

Jason Snyder: 00:19:43

And it went unnoticed by everyone.

Jason Snyder: 00:19:44

And then the shampoo bowls arrived, and they could not be installed correctly, and we had to, like, reopen up the foundation of floors that had just been done.

Jason Snyder: 00:19:54

And so.

Jason Snyder: 00:19:56

So, you know, I think if I were to.

Jason Snyder: 00:19:58

And I have advised a few people, like, I'm still no expert on this, but I think.

Jason Snyder: 00:20:02

And, you know, it's almost as simple as, like, quadruple checking everyone and not being the only person to have eyes on the project because, you know, things become kind of muddied after you stare at them for too long.

Jason Snyder: 00:20:15

So, you know, having a business partner or somebody who, like, double checks your work and their work and the contractors work, I think, is.

Jason Snyder: 00:20:21

Is pretty invaluable because that was a nightmare, and it probably set us back a few months from opening.

Robert Hughes: 00:20:27

Jeez, did you all have to pay for that, or was that their fault?

Robert Hughes: 00:20:30

And they paid for it?

Jason Snyder: 00:20:31

You know, I wasn't super privy to that type of information at the time, so it wasn't my.

Jason Snyder: 00:20:37

It wasn't my checkbook, so I'm not sure.

Robert Hughes: 00:20:39

Gotcha.

Robert Hughes: 00:20:40

Okay.

Robert Hughes: 00:20:41

All right, cool.

Robert Hughes: 00:20:42

Well, that's good.

Robert Hughes: 00:20:42

That's some good information.

Robert Hughes: 00:20:44

You know, I like that triple check, but also.

Robert Hughes: 00:20:47

Or quadruple check, but also have an under set of eyes.

Robert Hughes: 00:20:50

That's.

Robert Hughes: 00:20:50

That's a new piece of advice that I've heard.

Robert Hughes: 00:20:53

Okay, what about while running that business, considering it was, like, your first go at it?

Robert Hughes: 00:20:58

Any.

Robert Hughes: 00:20:58

Anything.

Robert Hughes: 00:20:59

Any lessons learned or anything like that?

Jason Snyder: 00:21:04

You know, it was.

Jason Snyder: 00:21:05

It was the first time that I started to understand what the.

Jason Snyder: 00:21:10

Like, truly, at the simplest form, like, culture of a salon space and team, because we started from scratch.

Jason Snyder: 00:21:20

It was we, you know, we kind of.

Jason Snyder: 00:21:22

At the beginning, we had no.

Jason Snyder: 00:21:26

No laurels to rest on, so we just had.

Jason Snyder: 00:21:28

We hired, like, all of these people who came from all different walks of life and were in different times of their experience in their.

Jason Snyder: 00:21:34

In our industry.

Jason Snyder: 00:21:35

And it was a lot to manage because we had no preconceived or pre developed, like, systems in place or actual culture in place to decide if said person would fit the culture or not or disrupt the culture or not.

Jason Snyder: 00:21:53

And so I would say for the first year, it was quite chaotic, and so I think having a clear, even if it starts with a mission statement or having a clear understanding of, like, why you're there every day, what your goal is, what is it, you know, is it to give a guest an incredible, you know, what?

Jason Snyder: 00:22:13

Like, what's the deal?

Jason Snyder: 00:22:14

Like, what are you doing?

Jason Snyder: 00:22:15

Why are you there?

Jason Snyder: 00:22:16

And then making sure you're super transparent with the people who you invite to join you in that vision.

Jason Snyder: 00:22:22

I think it sounds simple, but it's not, and maybe the most important thing.

Robert Hughes: 00:22:27

And so if so, the advice for somebody that's about to get embark on this journey who's hearing you, and they're like, oh, yeah, that makes so much sense because people come with baggage and habits and behavior that might clash with other people that you're hiring that have different habits and behavior.

Robert Hughes: 00:22:47

So your advice, one piece of advice, I heard Washington, you know, make sure you understand your mission statement.

Robert Hughes: 00:22:54

And any, what, any other advice that you think or, like, if you could do things differently, you'd start with a mission statement, like, would you, what could you have done to maybe mitigate some of that for sure?

Jason Snyder: 00:23:07

Great question.

Jason Snyder: 00:23:08

I think I would have as simple as spent more time with the people that we brought on board prior to bringing them on board.

Jason Snyder: 00:23:16

When we were looking at a salon of eight, eight stations that were all empty, and we had opened, you know, six months behind a plan.

Jason Snyder: 00:23:25

And so we had this project that was bleeding money.

Jason Snyder: 00:23:27

I think we were just, we were like, do you have a clientele?

Jason Snyder: 00:23:30

Okay, cool.

Jason Snyder: 00:23:31

Come work.

Jason Snyder: 00:23:31

You know, like, that was like, that was the interview process, basically.

Jason Snyder: 00:23:35

And so I think, you know, once you've got a small team in place, having someone shadow, which is what I think is super cool about your, your new app that your website and app that you've developed, is, you know, just being able to, like, put someone into the space and see how they react, see how the customers react to them, see how the rest of the team, whether small or large, react to them and just really listen to those, those cues and not, you know, you almost have to put aside, are they this incredible?

Jason Snyder: 00:24:09

Maybe they're incredible.

Jason Snyder: 00:24:09

Technically sound hairdresser.

Jason Snyder: 00:24:11

Maybe they're coming with a full clientele, but the day to day, day in, day out, sort of like, I don't know about emotions, but interactions with the people who they're going to be with are almost more important sometimes.

Robert Hughes: 00:24:21

Nice.

Robert Hughes: 00:24:22

Love that.

Robert Hughes: 00:24:23

Oh, my gosh.

Robert Hughes: 00:24:24

Love that.

Robert Hughes: 00:24:24

Okay, awesome.

Robert Hughes: 00:24:25

All right, so that's for everybody who is thinking about opening up their own salon, and they have never done it, and they're about to, you know, start with, you know, if you don't already have a team and you have to do a build out, that was for you.

Robert Hughes: 00:24:38

Okay, so the next, next one.

Robert Hughes: 00:24:41

So you join this company and you become the creative director, you know, and you operate like you have lot of the duties that the, an owner would and you're there for.

Robert Hughes: 00:24:52

You said six years, right.

Robert Hughes: 00:24:54

Okay.

Robert Hughes: 00:24:55

You would you share some of the similar stuff about that experience.

Robert Hughes: 00:24:58

Like, what kind of things did you like?

Robert Hughes: 00:25:02

If anybody's thinking of scaling their business and maybe, you know, going bigger than, you know, you had the experience of one location, then you jumped right into multiple.

Robert Hughes: 00:25:10

You must have seen a difference there and maybe have some thoughts or advice or something.

Jason Snyder: 00:25:18

Absolutely.

Jason Snyder: 00:25:20

So firstly, not having to do with the multi locations, but having to do with having to deal with such a large number or my opinion at the time, a large number of stylists was the first time I started to really understand, in order to help them grow towards a goal, I really needed to understand what motivated them.

Jason Snyder: 00:25:40

And I think that this is more important now than ever where, because we could at one point assume that all, all employees were motivated by making more money, and that's just not necessarily the case anymore.

Jason Snyder: 00:25:55

You know, some people now are motivated by, you know, working less and having more life, and some people are motivated by experiences that don't necessarily cost money, but cost time.

Jason Snyder: 00:26:06

So we would have, you know, our month, our monthly and quarterly one on one.

Jason Snyder: 00:26:10

We called them hopes and dreams meetings.

Jason Snyder: 00:26:12

And it was things like where we would be, like, in the next year, like, what's your, like, what do you want to do outside of this?

Jason Snyder: 00:26:19

Outside of work, you know, and it might be like, we help so many people, like, purchase their first home, you know, and we would, you know, it would be like, oh, I really want to own a home and I can't afford it right now.

Jason Snyder: 00:26:29

And so we would, like, look at that and then sort of work backwards and be like, well, here's what you need to do for the next year at work, which breaks down to this, a month, which breaks down to this, a day behind the chair.

Jason Snyder: 00:26:39

And let's meet at the end of every week and see if you, if you got to that goal.

Jason Snyder: 00:26:43

And if not, you know, like, how do we get you there?

Jason Snyder: 00:26:46

So just understanding from a, from managing people that are motivated by different things and that not everybody cares about a contest where they win $100 gift card or a price increase or.

Jason Snyder: 00:26:59

So that's the one thing I think that I can say.

Jason Snyder: 00:27:02

And then the other thing for multi locations and just growing is you can't be everywhere at once, but you almost need to try to be.

Jason Snyder: 00:27:10

And then in lieu of yourself, you have to have incredible leadership and management in each space, and you have to let go of some of your personal cultural dreams for your business, because three salons will undoubtedly have three different cultures, and you can't try to make them all fit into the same sort of cookie cutter image that you have from a lot of people open up with their first baby salon, and they think they're, it's like having, getting dogs or having children.

Jason Snyder: 00:27:43

You know, like, the first one was so great, so I decided to get another one, and the second one's a nightmare.

Jason Snyder: 00:27:49

So I think, you know, just understanding that you gotta let go of some things and, and really find good, good, good support for your, for your people who have the same vision as you do.

Robert Hughes: 00:28:00

Okay, so you're at your position for six years, and so what's the next?

Robert Hughes: 00:28:05

What happens after that?

Jason Snyder: 00:28:07

Yeah, so at the time, I was.

Jason Snyder: 00:28:10

So the owner of the salons was still working really closely with the Aveda distributor of the state, and they had decided, you know, if you're familiar listeners, if you're familiar with the Aveda network, the people usually who own salons, who are partnered with Aveda, or, or stylists who started there and have stayed with that brand, or guests who are super loyal to the brand, it's like a love situation.

Jason Snyder: 00:28:36

I mean, like, they take it pretty seriously.

Jason Snyder: 00:28:38

And so the salons, the salon owners often don't love to have to go outside of that relationship to find types of services.

Jason Snyder: 00:28:46

And so for a great example is a Veda corporate does not offer, like, a smoothing treatment or a keratin treatment or something.

Jason Snyder: 00:28:53

So they're, you know, owners are forced to go find one somewhere else.

Jason Snyder: 00:28:56

And anyway, so this also was true of the hair extension domain, and this is now, you know, ten ish years ago, and wherein hair extensions were really, like, kind of feeling new to the, to the industry.

Jason Snyder: 00:29:09

And so the Aveda distributor decided that they were going to bring into fruition a brand of hair extensions that made sense for the Aveda.

Jason Snyder: 00:29:17

And that is, I can say very simply, that a natural aesthetic, you know, maybe a little bit more mature of a guest who isn't trying hard to look glamorous, but wants to look nice.

Jason Snyder: 00:29:32

And the brand has come a long way since then, but that was then.

Jason Snyder: 00:29:35

And so they approached me and said, hey, we have this idea.

Jason Snyder: 00:29:38

And they knew that I had had a history of teaching and that was something I really loved and, you know, did well at.

Jason Snyder: 00:29:44

And so they asked me to write the curriculum, the education curriculum, for said new brand of hair extensions.

Jason Snyder: 00:29:49

And so I did that.

Jason Snyder: 00:29:52

And also, it was a first.

Jason Snyder: 00:29:54

And now, having written lots of curriculum, I've learned a lot.

Jason Snyder: 00:29:58

But it's a tough thing to do, to consider all learning types.

Jason Snyder: 00:30:02

And how do you keep someone interested and engaged and teach them something that brand new without getting frustrated?

Jason Snyder: 00:30:09

Anyway, it's really fun, but it's also daunting.

Jason Snyder: 00:30:12

And so I wrote that curriculum, and I would go on the road and on the weekends and teach salon, these hair extension classes, and then I would go back into the salon during the week and run the salons.

Jason Snyder: 00:30:25

And I did that for a number of years.

Jason Snyder: 00:30:28

And as this brand of hair extensions, which is called, the more it stands for volume and more as that brand grew, I grew with it.

Jason Snyder: 00:30:37

And I went through many roles, like, I was an educator, and then I was a lead educator, and then I was a sales manager, and then, and now director of sales and education.

Jason Snyder: 00:30:46

And so just about four or five years ago, I moved from Florida to New Orleans, where I am now, and started working exclusively with that brand and left the salon.

Jason Snyder: 00:30:57

So I haven't worked in a salon in a while, and now I run a group of salespeople and a group of educators and am responsible for the success of this brand of hair extensions that's exclusively used in the Aveda network in North America.

Robert Hughes: 00:31:14

Nice.

Robert Hughes: 00:31:15

Okay, so when you say you left the salons, that's the six year stand as creative director.

Robert Hughes: 00:31:21

Those salons.

Robert Hughes: 00:31:22

Okay, so.

Robert Hughes: 00:31:23

And you left, you said five years ago?

Jason Snyder: 00:31:25

Yep.

Robert Hughes: 00:31:26

Okay.

Robert Hughes: 00:31:26

So.

Robert Hughes: 00:31:27

All right.

Robert Hughes: 00:31:27

All right.

Robert Hughes: 00:31:28

And how long did you do both working for Vermont and working for the salons?

Jason Snyder: 00:31:34

About four.

Jason Snyder: 00:31:35

About four of those six years, yeah.

Jason Snyder: 00:31:37

Wow.

Robert Hughes: 00:31:38

Wow.

Robert Hughes: 00:31:38

What was.

Robert Hughes: 00:31:39

I mean, that sounds.

Robert Hughes: 00:31:40

Well, writing a curriculum sounds like a lot of work.

Robert Hughes: 00:31:45

I worked with the woman who wrote the curriculum at the school that I taught, and it was intense, and it's like, so much work.

Robert Hughes: 00:31:54

So you wrote the curriculum, and then, and then you went out and taught it, and then you grew with that company all while you were running.

Robert Hughes: 00:32:01

Like, how?

Robert Hughes: 00:32:03

Tell us a little bit about what, what the.

Robert Hughes: 00:32:06

What the day in the life is like for the Jason Snyder of that time where you were doing both?

Jason Snyder: 00:32:16

Yeah.

Jason Snyder: 00:32:17

Well, he was six years younger than he is now, and that helped a lot.

Jason Snyder: 00:32:23

He wasn't 40 in his forties yet, and so I would truly be in the salon during the most busy times.

Jason Snyder: 00:32:31

So, as you would imagine, Tuesday through Saturday ish, work at the salon on a Saturday until maybe three or four, leave directly to the airport, fly to wherever I was going, get there very late, midnight, one in the morning, what have you.

Jason Snyder: 00:32:46

You wake up the next morning early, teach all day, usually teach Sunday, and teach Monday, and then rush to the airport, fly home, get home super late, and then back in the salon the next morning.

Jason Snyder: 00:32:58

And now, you know, I have the privilege of mentoring people who do this.

Jason Snyder: 00:33:04

They're behind the chair and then travel on the weekends.

Jason Snyder: 00:33:08

And luckily, I learned from a personal vantage point that it's important to protect their.

Jason Snyder: 00:33:15

Their energy and their sanity.

Jason Snyder: 00:33:19

And so we do things like make them, you know, like, we don't let them teach a certain amount of weekends in a row.

Jason Snyder: 00:33:24

We make them block out personal time, things of that nature, because you can only do it for so long, and you have to love it.

Jason Snyder: 00:33:32

And even if you love it, you still will get burnt out super easily.

Jason Snyder: 00:33:36

And so.

Jason Snyder: 00:33:37

And if I.

Jason Snyder: 00:33:37

If I were being really, really honest with myself, I think at the time I was using it, maybe towards the end, I was sort of.

Jason Snyder: 00:33:47

I was sort of done with that project in that group of salons, like, mentally.

Jason Snyder: 00:33:51

And so I was going away and doing other things as much as I could to try to, like, figure out what was next.

Robert Hughes: 00:33:57

Gotcha.

Robert Hughes: 00:33:58

Okay, that.

Robert Hughes: 00:33:59

So I like that.

Robert Hughes: 00:34:01

That, Pete, that.

Robert Hughes: 00:34:02

I think that's a really good piece of information.

Robert Hughes: 00:34:05

So, I'm sorry.

Robert Hughes: 00:34:06

How many weekends a year or a month were you teaching when you were doing it?

Jason Snyder: 00:34:12

I was doing it probably two to three weekends per month.

Jason Snyder: 00:34:16

Okay.

Robert Hughes: 00:34:16

And so you had maybe one or two weekends a month to do to yourself.

Robert Hughes: 00:34:22

And what about during the week?

Robert Hughes: 00:34:23

Like, did you have any days off during the week, or were you at the salon most of the time, like, between traveling and, like, stuff?

Jason Snyder: 00:34:30

Yeah, I was.

Jason Snyder: 00:34:31

You know, I had, again, to the person who owned the salon, to who I owe a lot of grace to, was.

Jason Snyder: 00:34:37

Was lenient, and.

Jason Snyder: 00:34:38

And I was able to kind of flex my schedule a little bit and use certain days for admin days and end and.

Jason Snyder: 00:34:47

But, you know, at the end of the day, one took from the other.

Jason Snyder: 00:34:51

So I wouldn't recommend someone, you know, like.

Jason Snyder: 00:34:54

Like, right now, what we ask of our education team is that they work one weekend a month, you know, and it goes in, ebbs and flows, and if then they're all behind the chair, otherwise full time in their own aveda salons over.

Jason Snyder: 00:35:06

All over the US.

Jason Snyder: 00:35:08

And so, you know, it ebbs and flows.

Jason Snyder: 00:35:09

So if there's a period of time where they're like, hey, for the next couple of months, go ahead and just like for the next two months, like book me as much as you like, we'll do that for them.

Jason Snyder: 00:35:18

And then, you know, we pump the brakes sometimes for them and say, hey, it looks like, you know, now you've worked five, five weekends in the past two months.

Jason Snyder: 00:35:26

Let's take a little break.

Robert Hughes: 00:35:28

Wow.

Robert Hughes: 00:35:29

Whose job is that?

Jason Snyder: 00:35:32

It's a little bit of mine.

Jason Snyder: 00:35:33

It's a little bit, I have a really incredible partner and their, their official title is Salon Liaison.

Jason Snyder: 00:35:41

Her name is Jennifer and she is the czar of our education calendar.

Jason Snyder: 00:35:46

And so she will really keep an eye and she'll call me up and say, hey, so and so is working three weekends in a row.

Jason Snyder: 00:35:53

Is it okay with you if I like block that?

Jason Snyder: 00:35:56

Like tell them they can't work the following fourth weekend?

Jason Snyder: 00:35:59

Absolutely.

Jason Snyder: 00:36:00

Do it.

Jason Snyder: 00:36:00

So, wow.

Jason Snyder: 00:36:02

Protect their peace a little bit, you know?

Robert Hughes: 00:36:04

Yeah, I mean, I would think that that would take a human touch.

Robert Hughes: 00:36:07

I was like, I wonder what kind of automated system could be built to manage that.

Robert Hughes: 00:36:12

Yeah, it had to be probably pretty intelligent and pretty expensive if even possible.

Jason Snyder: 00:36:19

Right?

Robert Hughes: 00:36:20

Okay, so, all right, wow, this has been, this has really been exciting.

Robert Hughes: 00:36:23

And so now you're full time with the more sales and education.

Robert Hughes: 00:36:29

Tell us what that role entails in terms of like, you know, day in the life or high level overview or something like that.

Robert Hughes: 00:36:37

I mean, I know you talked about a, but like specifically, like how many people do you manage and the sales side, like what does that look like?

Jason Snyder: 00:36:45

Yeah, absolutely.

Jason Snyder: 00:36:46

So we, I consider us, I mean the brand is now eleven years old and I still consider us pretty small.

Jason Snyder: 00:36:55

th, you know, just under like: 1000

Jason Snyder: 00:37:06

So, you know, truly I have, I have a director of operations who's incredible at systems and efficacy and dealing with our vendors and things like that.

Jason Snyder: 00:37:17

I have an executive director who is my boss who is great at holding me accountable for my tasks.

Jason Snyder: 00:37:25

And then I have a team of people under me that flexes but is 25 ish or so total.

Jason Snyder: 00:37:32

And altogether we run this brand for North America.

Jason Snyder: 00:37:35

And for me, day to day is, it's important for me to be on the road still in salons, talking to stylists, also either teaching or shadowing my educators, teaching so that I can continue to understand how our curriculum is working and what needs to be improved upon.

Jason Snyder: 00:37:56

So I usually travel, I would say, you know, seven to ten days out of the month.

Jason Snyder: 00:38:02

And then the rest of it is, I'm here in my home office in New Orleans, and then the days at home are very, I always tell hairdressers, I'm like, it's not fun job, it's not cool job.

Jason Snyder: 00:38:11

It's like, you zoom calls with, with our finance department and trying to defend our budget, and did we make our monthly sales goal?

Jason Snyder: 00:38:19

And so I like that because I have that part of me, I have that part of my brain that enjoys that.

Jason Snyder: 00:38:29

But nothing, nothing.

Jason Snyder: 00:38:31

There's nothing better than getting it back into the salon, feet on the ground, and hearing from hairdressers like this.

Jason Snyder: 00:38:39

What's going on?

Jason Snyder: 00:38:39

Like, what's new, what's cool, what are, what hairdressers need, what is our industry?

Jason Snyder: 00:38:43

You know, because I know a lot of our competitor brands, when it comes to the hair extension industry, are not owned or ran by hairdressers.

Jason Snyder: 00:38:53

They are often purchased by holding companies.

Jason Snyder: 00:38:56

And, you know, and so I think it's important for us to keep that communication and to understand that, you know, the success of our brand is really to communicate and work from what we would say, what we would call from the art artist up, you know, as opposed to focusing on the salon owner down or what have you.

Robert Hughes: 00:39:15

Nice, nice.

Robert Hughes: 00:39:16

Okay, cool.

Robert Hughes: 00:39:18

Well, this story, I mean, this all sounds really exciting and not complex, but intricate.

Robert Hughes: 00:39:27

And, you know, a lot, a lot of moving parts, a lot of people, it sounds like there's a lot of people in your world that help you maintain everything that you do.

Robert Hughes: 00:39:38

So we got relationships.

Robert Hughes: 00:39:39

We got challenges.

Robert Hughes: 00:39:40

We talked about overcome what I overcome them, the importance of those.

Robert Hughes: 00:39:44

So I guess, to wrap this up, how would you like to sign off?

Robert Hughes: 00:39:51

I was thinking, like, if somebody is interested in having such a dynamic career, which I feel like, you know, we talked a lot.

Robert Hughes: 00:39:58

We go and talked a lot to the students at schools, and they really, they.

Robert Hughes: 00:40:01

The whole multiple revenue stream thing and, and, uh, and being way too bored with the thought of doing the same thing every day forever.

Robert Hughes: 00:40:10

Uh, maybe I'm thinking, like, that person, I would like you to say, give, like, a piece of advice or words of wisdom or, or, or concluding thoughts and then anything else that you would like to add to sign off with.

Jason Snyder: 00:40:22

Yeah, awesome.

Jason Snyder: 00:40:23

Thank you.

Jason Snyder: 00:40:24

I think, man, this is, this is so easy.

Jason Snyder: 00:40:30

Easily said and hard to do, but not burning bridges.

Jason Snyder: 00:40:35

I mean, like, we are in our industry is a small world, and every instance that you get the chance to connect with somebody, I know you're doing these brunch events that have been growing.

Jason Snyder: 00:40:52

And somebody may think, a young hairdresser may think that's not a space for them that they should be interested in, or why should I have to network with other hairdressers?

Jason Snyder: 00:41:03

I'll just be on my social media and build my clientele and have my salon suite, you know, but if you want to do different things in life and, you know, I talked to, this is, again going back to, like, when I managed hairdressers in the salon space and now helping to manage, or, I don't know, mentor our educators.

Jason Snyder: 00:41:21

You know, some of them have been behind the chair for 15 years, and their bodies are not holding up like they used to.

Jason Snyder: 00:41:30

And so sometimes out of necessity and then sometimes out, of course, boredom, like you said, it's time to seek other things out.

Jason Snyder: 00:41:37

And being open to, what does that look like?

Jason Snyder: 00:41:41

You know, like, I know so many hairdressers in the world think that they're not in sales, but they are.

Jason Snyder: 00:41:46

And so keeping in mind, you know, that education is sales and sales is education, and those lines blur really easily.

Jason Snyder: 00:41:53

And you can be incredible at both if you know what you're doing and why you're doing it.

Jason Snyder: 00:41:57

But keeping those relationships strong, don't.

Jason Snyder: 00:42:01

Don't let your mentors get away from you and, you know, take every opportunity you can.

Jason Snyder: 00:42:06

Go to the hairdresser, strong brunch, go to serious business, even though you might think it's not what you need right now.

Jason Snyder: 00:42:14

You'll find some.

Jason Snyder: 00:42:15

You'll walk away with something.

Jason Snyder: 00:42:16

Go to the trade shows, if that's.

Jason Snyder: 00:42:20

That will ignite your creativity for the next year.

Jason Snyder: 00:42:25

Go see what's new.

Jason Snyder: 00:42:27

Go be around creative types.

Jason Snyder: 00:42:28

I think just an overall open view of the opportunities that our industry can bring to you is super important.

Jason Snyder: 00:42:35

Important.

Jason Snyder: 00:42:35

And so often we get real, like, strong tunnel vision.

Jason Snyder: 00:42:39

So that would be my advice to that.

Jason Snyder: 00:42:41

To that person.

Robert Hughes: 00:42:42

Nice.

Robert Hughes: 00:42:42

Awesome.

Robert Hughes: 00:42:43

I love this.

Robert Hughes: 00:42:44

Well, it's been a pleasure talking with you, and I thank you so much for taking the time, and I'm sure somebody will have gotten a lot of value out of hearing your story.

Robert Hughes: 00:42:54

So thank you.

Jason Snyder: 00:42:55

Yeah, thank you.

Robert Hughes: 00:42:57

All right, well, until next time, we'll talk later.

Robert Hughes: 00:43:01

I look forward to it.

Jason Snyder: 00:43:03

Thanks.