Episode 274
Systems, Scaling & Salon Success: Lessons from a DMV Salon Owner | Jannay McIver, Owner of Asili Hair Care Center | www.asilihaircarecenter.com
From earning her cosmetology license at eighteen to opening three thriving salons, Jannay McIver shares how mastering business systems, finances, and leadership transformed her from a behind-the-chair stylist into a visionary salon owner shaping the future of beauty entrepreneurship.
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KEY TAKEAWAYS:
🔅Start with structure — every successful salon begins with clear systems that define how clients are served and how teams operate.
🔅You can’t scale chaos — written processes create consistency across locations, ensuring the same guest experience every time.
🔅Learn the numbers — understanding cash flow, pricing, and profitability is essential to sustain growth and protect your business.
🔅Delegate with trust — empowering your team and letting go of control is how you move from stylist to true owner.
🔅Keep learning, always — education—from industry training to business programs like Goldman Sachs—keeps your leadership sharp and your vision current.
🔅Lead with purpose — blending beauty, wellness, and financial literacy builds stronger professionals and stronger communities.
RELATED LINKS
👉Follow Jannay on Instagram
👉Follow Asili Hair Care Center on Instagram
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Transcript
Janae McIver is an over 10 year industry veteran, senior cosmetologist, multilocation salon owner in the dmv.
Speaker A:She's also a nutritionist and licensed insurance agent.
Speaker A:And she's part of The Goldman Sachs 1 Million Black Women Black and Business Program, Cohort 8.
Speaker A:Today we're going to hear her story, how she got to where she is.
Speaker A:And there's going to be so much more to talk about.
Speaker A:There's no way we're going to be able to talk about everything we want to talk about or everything I definitely want to talk about in this episode.
Speaker A:But we're going to hear her story and how she got there.
Speaker A:Welcome back to the Hairdresser Strong Show.
Speaker A:My name is Robert Hughes and I am your host and today I'm with Janae McIver.
Speaker A:How are you doing today, Janae?
Speaker B:I'm doing good.
Speaker B:Thank you so much for that amazing introduction.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker A:Thank you so much for coming on the show and being.
Speaker A:I'm just really excited to have this conversation with you today.
Speaker B:I'm excited too.
Speaker A:Awesome.
Speaker A:So some context for the audience.
Speaker A:I met Janae at the Hairpreneur Happy hour.
Speaker A:Was it August?
Speaker B:I think August had to be.
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker A:Yeah, in August.
Speaker A:And we were talking and I just like loved talking to you.
Speaker A:I love you.
Speaker A:Just like so business oriented and minded and, and like a lot of the chat things and the challenges in the industry and like there was just so much to talk about.
Speaker A:I was like, we gotta get you on and plus like your ambition in business to open up more locations.
Speaker A:And I was like, gosh, this is, I'm so happy to have met you.
Speaker A:So I am really looking forward to this conversation.
Speaker A:So let's jump right in.
Speaker A:Let's go.
Speaker A:Okay, so we're gonna work our way from licensing all the way to owning multiple locations.
Speaker A:And you shared with some me.
Speaker A:With some.
Speaker A:You shared something with me before we started that you are no longer doing.
Speaker A:You're no longer behind the chair.
Speaker A:You're working on your business full time.
Speaker A:And that's a new development.
Speaker A:So we're going to go from licensing to that point.
Speaker A:Okay, so first question, how did you get your license, your apprenticeship program?
Speaker A:Did you go to school?
Speaker A:Tell us a little bit about that.
Speaker A:And then from there how, like, where does your story go from there?
Speaker B:So I actually got my licensure.
Speaker B:I did the CTE program, the career technical programs in high school.
Speaker B:And so I was able to, of course, go to class during the day, graduate with my license.
Speaker B:And in hindsight, that was so valuable, like not Having any debt coming out of high school and having that license, like I was really able to hit the ground running.
Speaker B:And so I always am an advocate for those type of programs because I think that if you are somebody who is strong willed and determined and career focused that like why wouldn't you start, right?
Speaker B:I think most of us have the story.
Speaker B:I've met a few later in life hairstylists, but most hairstylists have been hairstylists for a long time.
Speaker B:Like you were 16, 17, 18 doing hair.
Speaker B:And so I always, always advocate because it really gave me like a early start, a launching pad.
Speaker B:People always like, you look so young, how can you have done so much?
Speaker B:And I'm like, I've started really young, really young.
Speaker B:So 18, already had my license, already knew I wanted on salons.
Speaker B:I said then in high school I'm going to own hair salons.
Speaker B:And so it's taken 10 years to get there, but I'm here now, so I'm great.
Speaker A:That's not bad.
Speaker A:Ten years.
Speaker A:So, so you get licensed.
Speaker A:So did you go because of your ambition?
Speaker A:Did you try to go out and do your own business right away?
Speaker A:Did you go work for somebody and like, like tell us what that experience was like?
Speaker B:Like that's a really good question.
Speaker B:I actually went to college right after that and I went to college initially for accounting because I knew I wanted to open a business but I didn't like it.
Speaker B:So I switched to nutrition.
Speaker B:But all the while I still was working in salons.
Speaker B:So I've worked pretty much every format, structure, level of salons.
Speaker B:I've even worked in schools where I was director of education.
Speaker B:Ms.
Speaker B:Telling you about that part.
Speaker B:But yes, I was the director of education for a cosmetology school for a while out in Gaithersburg.
Speaker B:So I've seen so many sides of it, right?
Speaker B:I've seen the behind the chair, straight out of school side.
Speaker B:I've seen the we're going to do it part time at night and work in our own suite.
Speaker B:And I have day job side.
Speaker B:I've done it full time on my own solopreneur side.
Speaker B:And so this having a salon, even choosing between booth rental and commission, like the way we structured our salon was a learning curve for me, right?
Speaker B:Like just learning the back end of things.
Speaker B:And how do we really want to move forward and have this be something sustainable and beneficial to other stylists?
Speaker A:So would you say, I know I'm on getting ahead of myself here, but would you say that getting to where you are, where you Own.
Speaker A:How many locations do you have?
Speaker B:We have two.
Speaker B:We're getting ready to open a third one.
Speaker A:Oh, that's exciting.
Speaker A:And so what.
Speaker A:So you, to get to that point, you went through in firsthand experience?
Speaker A:Yes, so much.
Speaker A:So, like, would you say, like, if someone out there wants to be a salon owner, would that.
Speaker A:Would that be, like, advice to, like, go get that type of experience?
Speaker A:Is any of it.
Speaker A:Do you feel like maybe not as necessary as another experience or.
Speaker A:Yeah, whatever comes to mind when you're thinking of, like, a person.
Speaker A:Say someone just stopped.
Speaker A:Say, hey, pause.
Speaker A:Give me some advice.
Speaker A:I want to do what you do, and I'm in school, or I'm not far, not far out of school.
Speaker B:That's a good question.
Speaker B:I would say you have to think about why you want to own a salon.
Speaker B:That's really the core of it.
Speaker B:And that's really what doing all those other jobs made me kind of have to process through.
Speaker B:Like, why do you want to just be the most booked person?
Speaker B:Do you want to actually help people?
Speaker B:Do you want to, you know, give other stylists exposure?
Speaker B:Do you want to give them a platform for something?
Speaker B:Why do you open a salon?
Speaker B:Is it to decorate?
Speaker B:Is it to basically be the boss and boss other people around?
Speaker B:Because that's the kind of salon you'll have, and you won't be able to maintain it.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:So I wouldn't say that you have to do all those other things, but all those other things literally help me pick out.
Speaker B:I like this, but I didn't like that if I had to do it my way next time, I would do this part differently.
Speaker B:I thought I wanted to do it like this, but when I was in that situation, I saw that that didn't really suit me.
Speaker B:So when it's my turn, I would do it like this.
Speaker B:So really figuring out those whys, I don't think that you need to take 10 years to figure out why.
Speaker B:If you can figure it out faster, great.
Speaker B:But.
Speaker A:Well, wait a minute.
Speaker A:So when did you open your first salon?
Speaker A:How long was that?
Speaker B:So I opened my first salon with multiple staff, literally two years ago.
Speaker B:Up until two years ago.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:So you're, like, just moving fast.
Speaker B:Oh, we're on fast track.
Speaker B:Up until two years ago, I was solo, you know, stylist, still under the same brand name, but it really was just me behind the chair.
Speaker B:So I had to learn everything from taxes, bookkeeping, payroll, pricing, numbers, how to give people KPIs.
Speaker B:What should the KPIs be?
Speaker B:Legal stuff.
Speaker B:Permits.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:It's one thing to open a suite and things are kind of done for you.
Speaker B:It's another thing to open your own salon space and have to carry insurance and have to carry the permits and speak to other people in the community and other businesses that are around you and develop those relationships.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker B:It hasn't been that long.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:So, okay, so.
Speaker A:So in that eight years time span, you.
Speaker A:You also did some other things, like you're a licensed insurance agent, you get nutrition.
Speaker A:So I.
Speaker A:Did you finish school or.
Speaker B:I finished school for nutrition.
Speaker B:And then I went on and did some work with nonprofits in the nutrition space.
Speaker B:And what I.
Speaker A:You're doing hair the whole time.
Speaker B:Doing hair the whole time.
Speaker A:Okay, all right.
Speaker B:Doing hair the whole time.
Speaker B:Whether I'm in a salon or I'm in a suite by myself, I'm still doing hair the whole entire time.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:The whole entire time.
Speaker B:And then the insurance licensing was during COVID During the shutdown.
Speaker B:I had two children, and I had seen multiple stylists that had trained me and that had, you know, just poured into me in my career.
Speaker B:Have health issues.
Speaker B:One of them passed away, unfortunately.
Speaker A:I'm sorry.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Unexpectedly.
Speaker B:She was like 40 something.
Speaker B:But when I tell you she.
Speaker B:She worked.
Speaker B:Oh, she.
Speaker B:She had.
Speaker B:She gave me like one of my first shampoo assistant jobs.
Speaker B:And we would be there, you know, 12 hours, just.
Speaker B:She cared for her clients.
Speaker B:I really need it.
Speaker B:And she would squeeze them in, and at the end of the day, it's like, what do we have to leave once we've poured all that we have right into our clients?
Speaker B:Being behind the chair?
Speaker B:You get home, you're exhausted.
Speaker B:I've had carpal tunnel on both my wrists.
Speaker B:I've had spinal issues.
Speaker B:I've had different things physically, where I'm like, what if I can't wake up and do hair tomorrow?
Speaker B:What if I can't?
Speaker B:What am I going to do?
Speaker B:What is my life going to look like?
Speaker B:And how am I going to make sure my family's okay?
Speaker B:So that's what really led.
Speaker B:That led to that decision.
Speaker A:Okay, so it sounds like what, so you knew you wanted to go open slums when you were like, 16.
Speaker A:17.
Speaker B:16.
Speaker B:17, yeah.
Speaker A:So at any point in time did that idea kind of part in the back and you were kind of like, you know, because you've done, you know, all these different things and like, yeah, the COVID kind of like, you know, maybe caught brought some things into question.
Speaker A:Can you tell us a little bit about what it's like doing multiple things and having these different streams of income.
Speaker A:And, like, can you just kind of talk about, like, what that headspace is like?
Speaker A:And, like, did you go through, like, maybe I'm not going to do the salon thing, and now I'm going to do the salon thing.
Speaker B:Oh, I definitely did.
Speaker A:Can you walk us through that?
Speaker B:I would say after college, after I got my degree, I was like, okay, I'm going to be doing what I got.
Speaker B:You know, my degree for hair is nice.
Speaker B:I'll do it on the side.
Speaker B:But I would definitely say it was not a main priority of mine anymore to open a salon.
Speaker B:Like, that wasn't forward of my mind.
Speaker B:Even when I went to teach, I was like, okay, I love teaching.
Speaker B:I've spoken at different festivals.
Speaker B:I've spoken at different trade shows.
Speaker B:I love doing that.
Speaker B:So maybe that's what I'll do.
Speaker B:Maybe I'll just be, you know, a teacher in the industry.
Speaker B:And that's how I kind of ride out my end years of how I want to see my career go.
Speaker B:But during COVID I actually shut everything down.
Speaker B:Every.
Speaker B:Everything.
Speaker B:I'm talking about the social media, all of that.
Speaker B:I thought I was done doing hair altogether all together, and it really was.
Speaker B:I'm not even exaggerating, an act of God that made me come back and within the first year.
Speaker B:So I'll tell you the story.
Speaker B:I was like, if you want me to do hair again, and I'm not exaggerating.
Speaker B:This is me talking to God.
Speaker B:If you want me to do hair again.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:I don't have the booking page.
Speaker B:I don't have the social media.
Speaker B:I didn't have a lot of my clients.
Speaker B:I had some clients, personal numbers, but not a lot.
Speaker B:I don't have their numbers.
Speaker B:I don't know where they're going to come from.
Speaker B:I signed a lease on a space.
Speaker B:I said, if you want me to do this again.
Speaker B:Still talking to God, if you want me to do this, you find the clients.
Speaker B:I sent an email.
Speaker B:I still had my email list.
Speaker B:I sent one email, and I was booked for the rest of the year.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:So hold on.
Speaker A:Let's go back one step before.
Speaker B:Go ahead.
Speaker B:One step.
Speaker A:You're talking to God.
Speaker A:So when.
Speaker A:Before you have that conversation, how did you even get to the point where you were putting money down on a lease?
Speaker A:If you went from maybe not doing.
Speaker B:Not doing anything to then you're doing.
Speaker A:Insurance and you cut everything off.
Speaker A:What is that?
Speaker A:What is that moment?
Speaker A:Like, how did you go from there to being like, I signing a lease in this place?
Speaker A:God, if this Is if this is going to work, then I'm going to leave it in your hands.
Speaker A:There's got to be.
Speaker A:So what?
Speaker A:There's something that happened.
Speaker B:I'm going to give it.
Speaker B:I'm going to give it to a stylist who saw me.
Speaker B:I was like, okay, I'll just do.
Speaker B:I need a space to do like, you know, like two or three people that had stayed in contact with me.
Speaker A:Oh, okay.
Speaker B:I just want, like, I don't want too much.
Speaker B:And they basically were like, you know that this is what you're supposed to do.
Speaker B:You're too good to downplay yourself pretty much.
Speaker B:This is another style speaking to me.
Speaker B:I'm just trying to like, co rent on the space, you know, keep it really low key.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:And I will never forget, even the day I looked at the space, they were like, I think I have something that can work for you.
Speaker B:And I was like, okay, well, I'm not trying to look for, you know, a whole room to rent.
Speaker B:I'm trying to literally space lit with somebody or something.
Speaker A:So you go out shopping to do some hair on the side and.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:Space to do some side hair.
Speaker A:And the person that you're talking to selling you on a whole salon.
Speaker B:A whole salon.
Speaker B:It was just two chairs.
Speaker B:It was just two chairs initially, but literally.
Speaker B:And I walk in, the colors were the same color.
Speaker B:And she had known nothing about what I'd done before COVID nothing about, like my experience, where I've spoken, where I've taught what the brand looked like, what the colors were.
Speaker B:None of that.
Speaker B:She didn't know me from a campaign.
Speaker B:I walk inside, it looks like.
Speaker B:It looks just like what I would have put together, what I would have done.
Speaker B:And so I was just like, well, that's interesting, you know, And I was.
Speaker B:And she was so just kind to understand, if it works, it works.
Speaker B:If it doesn't, it doesn't.
Speaker B:It wasn't the, you know, you gotta pay me every week.
Speaker B:Are you gonna.
Speaker B:She was like, hey, if it works for you, you can be here.
Speaker B:If it doesn't, I mean, then at least you tried, right?
Speaker A:So you didn't have like the.
Speaker A:The weight of the obligation of like a long lease and like a personal guarantee or anything like that.
Speaker A:Nope.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:That.
Speaker A:That itself was from God right there.
Speaker B:All of it was a blessing before.
Speaker A:You even asked God.
Speaker A:That's what, that's what actually happened.
Speaker B:That's what actually happened.
Speaker B:And so I just.
Speaker B:And I think of moments like that where other stylists have said something like that to me.
Speaker B:Or poured something like that into me from 16 years old, right?
Speaker B:Like being somebody shampoo girl, being in salons, working with other stylists, and they're like, yeah, no, Janae, you're gonna.
Speaker B:You're gonna do something else.
Speaker B:And I'm like, guys, I'm in college.
Speaker B:Or guys, I'm, you know, working my big girl job in corporate America.
Speaker B:Like, I'm just here in the evenings, and they're like, no, Jana, no come.
Speaker B:No.
Speaker B:And I'm just like, okay, whatever.
Speaker B:You know, just really playing around with it.
Speaker B:But I would say that moment after 20, 25, after I really had no base, no, Like, I was just like, okay, I guess this is what I'm supposed to do.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:So you.
Speaker A:So it sounds like you were kind of, like, bouncing around a little bit and figuring things out.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And then, like, the path was laid out for you and the prayers were answered.
Speaker A:And so that takes.
Speaker A:Gets us to, like.
Speaker A:That gets us to, like, year one.
Speaker A:Year one, right?
Speaker A:So then that was a couple years, like, one or two years ago.
Speaker B:That was two years ago.
Speaker B:Three years ago.
Speaker B:Three years ago now.
Speaker A:So you go three years ago.
Speaker A:So you go from, let me try this out, let me try it out.
Speaker A:I'm going to.
Speaker A:I'm going to give it to God.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And you have, like.
Speaker A:It sounds like it was kind of a low risk.
Speaker B:Low risk, you know, very.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:Reasonable rent.
Speaker B:Like, okay, this is not too much.
Speaker B:Like, it's fine.
Speaker A:Nice.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:And then so then you're like, okay, let's go for it.
Speaker A:And then you.
Speaker A:You have success.
Speaker A:So at what part, at what point in time in that year or after did you go from one salon to two?
Speaker A:Getting into the.
Speaker A:Into the Goldman Sachs, it's like a.
Speaker A:It's like a accelerator or incubator.
Speaker A:So tell us, how does that happen?
Speaker A:Because, like, that's a lot to scale up from being good and paying your bills with clients to multiple locations and working in the.
Speaker A:In that type.
Speaker A:With that type of cohort, there's.
Speaker A:We got to know the story, what happened, how that happened.
Speaker B:Faith without works is dead, right?
Speaker B:So I knew that if this is how I wanted to be, I just.
Speaker B:I took every opportunity as a learning opportunity.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:So that first year, I still had booth runners and I had some commission.
Speaker B:I was figuring out the commission structure.
Speaker B:I decided I didn't want boof renters at all anymore.
Speaker B:So I'm just not afraid to let the business evolve as I'm moving along, if that makes sense.
Speaker B:I think a lot of people are like, oh, you need to have it all laid out.
Speaker B:And I'm not saying make unwise decisions, right?
Speaker B:Like, I still look at the numbers, go, okay, we can't do this.
Speaker B:We can do that.
Speaker B:This is what's in budget.
Speaker B:Let's.
Speaker B:Let's have a budget.
Speaker B:But a lot of conversations even like you and I had, right, where I'm talking to other salon owners.
Speaker B:I've spoken to other stylists about what they've done at other salons.
Speaker B:I have my own experience of how things worked at other salons.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:So I was able to, I feel like, lay a framework faster.
Speaker B:I probably was able to establish my framework faster because of my previous experience.
Speaker B:So once I lay my framework, got it all out, got things in place, had an understanding of what to look at, what is a determining factor, if we're doing well or not.
Speaker B:I was able to shift my focus from, okay, let's run this to, let's scale this, if that makes sense.
Speaker B:So things like a handbook.
Speaker B:I told you I want to do this since I was 16.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:I think at one point, maybe after like two months of having the first location, I was like, oh, let me just see, you know, what my business plan said from high school.
Speaker B:I opened it up.
Speaker B:I opened it up and it pretty much said everything that I already was doing.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker B:You really are doing this.
Speaker B:So I really just had to take the time to rework some of those things that I had already written out in place.
Speaker B:Of course, I did seek advice.
Speaker B:I had a coach, I had a salon coach.
Speaker B:I went through a program.
Speaker B:It was eight months.
Speaker B:And so by the end of that program, I was opening the second location.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So you're working while you're working.
Speaker B:I can't put it any other way.
Speaker B:I'm behind the chair during the day, and then at night I'm typing away.
Speaker B:I'm going on Zoom meetings at 9 in the morning and then taking clients.
Speaker A:Apparently at 8 o' clock at night.
Speaker B:Yeah, that's a week.
Speaker A:So I gotta ask, because you're talking about it.
Speaker A:Not to interrupt, but what do you.
Speaker A:What about work life balance?
Speaker A:I mean, I'm.
Speaker A:And I'm.
Speaker A:I'm.
Speaker A:I'm only saying it because it's a narrative.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:And you know, it's a thing.
Speaker A:But like, yeah.
Speaker A:What do you think about work life balance and how do you navigate that?
Speaker B:I am just now getting to.
Speaker B:I think everything in life is stages of phases.
Speaker B:And I'm not gonna act like I had work life balance when we first opened that first one.
Speaker B:I was learning so much.
Speaker B:It was definitely self funded.
Speaker B:I did not have funding for that.
Speaker B:So it required me to work while I was doing the other thing.
Speaker B:So during that point, yeah, I did not see my kids that much.
Speaker B:I'm not gonna lie to you.
Speaker B:By the second one, I said, okay, I can't be two places at one time, so we're going to have to release some trust.
Speaker B:And I think that's one of the things that if you have a vision for something and you have a goal to reach once it starts to get bigger than you.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Like, there's other people that work there now.
Speaker B:There's more clients that they're not my clients.
Speaker B:I don't have, like, Janae's clients anymore because my stylist handle most of the clients.
Speaker B:So you have to give over a level of trust to them.
Speaker B:And that only encourages and I think strengthens your team when they know that they trust that you trust them.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So I have a little bit more balance now.
Speaker B:Just a little bit.
Speaker B:But it's because I learned to delegate, I learned to trust, I learned to give a little more patience.
Speaker B:I think I've heard a lot of hairstylists say at least that they might have a little tinge of ADHD or something.
Speaker B:We go very fast.
Speaker B:Our brains go so, so fast.
Speaker B:We can talk for 10 hours straight and not even think about it because you're just talking to clients all day.
Speaker B:So I had to be like, okay, brain, slow down.
Speaker B:Like, maybe she didn't mean to.
Speaker B:Like, maybe this is what really happened, you know, so.
Speaker B:And I just learned to give a lot of things grace.
Speaker B:But I will say it's improved with me being able to trust the rest of the people that I have around me.
Speaker A:Well, I also appreciate that you said, like, something about, like, seasons or something like that, right?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Everything is a season.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So, like, maybe this season is not.
Speaker A:Not work life.
Speaker A:Balance might be over the course of life.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:You found balance and you had to crank it up where you didn't have a lot of free time in those moments.
Speaker A:So tell us about Goldman Sachs cohort.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:So it's really beautiful.
Speaker B:The program spans all industries, so it's not just hairstylists or anything like that.
Speaker B:We.
Speaker B:Which really allows me to kind of see just how systems, how efficient systems can be.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Like, we all think our idea is this great, wonderful, unique idea that nobody can understand.
Speaker B:But at the end of the day, you need to make somebody else understand if you want it to go anywhere outside of you.
Speaker B:So just even being Able to hear other people's journeys, reasons that other people started their businesses as well.
Speaker B:And then of course, they give you that strategic mindset to think, what would a owner of a company do?
Speaker B:Not a hairstylist with a salon, Not a person who runs a jewelry business.
Speaker B:Not a, you know, not the person.
Speaker B:What would a company do?
Speaker B:What would, you know, somebody who wants to make an impact on their industry, how would they operate?
Speaker B:How would they show up?
Speaker B:And so it's been really great for me in that regard.
Speaker A:So are you saying that there's a formula and best practices to this thing called business?
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:That's.
Speaker B:That's for every business.
Speaker B:That's for every bit.
Speaker A:Oh, man, I. I love talking to you.
Speaker A:Okay, so we're coming up on our time, so we kind of got like, like a more high level version of your story, full of all kinds of information.
Speaker A:I feel like I talked.
Speaker B:It's a lot.
Speaker B:I'm so sorry.
Speaker A:I didn't know any of this.
Speaker A:So maybe a couple pieces I knew, but.
Speaker A:Okay, so one, how did you get into the Goldman Sachs cohort?
Speaker A:How did that happen?
Speaker B:So you do have to do an application.
Speaker B:I did the application process, like in the spring.
Speaker B:Two years ago.
Speaker B:A year ago.
Speaker B:And then I was notified.
Speaker B:No, I did it in the fall.
Speaker B:And I was notified earlier this year that I had gotten in for the cohort that started.
Speaker B:It just started in September, so I'll be done in December is from September to December.
Speaker B:And that's the reason I had to come from behind the chair because it's literally like going to school.
Speaker A:Nice.
Speaker A:Nice.
Speaker A:That sounds amazing.
Speaker A:It sounds like it is.
Speaker A:Do you like, pick a project and you like, you go say, hey, I want to open up 10 salons?
Speaker A:And that's what you're working on?
Speaker A:Are you just working on like one salon?
Speaker B:So I'm currently working on our system to expand more than once a lot.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:You know, like, what is a silly hair care center and how can we copy and paste that pretty much anywhere based off of anybody whose desire to kind of feed into that?
Speaker B:My bigger goal was to figure out the framework of something that allowed stylists that are in our business to become the owners of those salons.
Speaker A:I love it.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So that's what I'm focusing on.
Speaker B:We go from apprenticeship to take you all the way to licensure, you know, promotions within the company.
Speaker B:And then how do we actually get you to have your own Ascele hair care center?
Speaker B:What does that look like without you having to have the capital you Know, a lot of us are gifted, but might not have the time to go to school or be as knowledgeable on that business side.
Speaker B:So it would be helpful to have that framework and you can still focus on, you know, your passion.
Speaker A:Nice.
Speaker A:Awesome.
Speaker A:Awesome.
Speaker A:Okay, so just real quick as we wrap up, um, what has been the biggest challenge for you in your entrepreneurial journey?
Speaker A:And like, like, what is a trial that you've had to go through that you're willing to share with the audience?
Speaker A:Because the audience have all been through trials and.
Speaker A:And the only people who make it are the people who know how to kind of go.
Speaker A:Go through it and get, you know, build themselves up afterwards.
Speaker A:So I think it's important to ask this question.
Speaker A:You can say pass if you don't want to answer this question.
Speaker B:I'm just trying to think of one trial.
Speaker B:Which one you want?
Speaker A:Oh, I mean, just pick.
Speaker A:You could pick anything.
Speaker A:Anything that you feel like was big, that maybe other people might not, you know, the majority of people might say, you know what, I'm going to go a different direction.
Speaker B:I think once I understood what making a profitable business looked like, and that goes from, you know, like, digging yourself out of your own personal debt.
Speaker B:Do you want to go to a bank?
Speaker B:Like, how do you get those things in place?
Speaker B:Where was I going with that?
Speaker B:I think it's.
Speaker B:I think it goes back to the thing of, like, me choosing from being boof rent to just commission, because I feel like commission kind of got that bad rap.
Speaker B:And I remember being a stylist, too.
Speaker B:That was like, I'm not doing that, you know, so one of the trials is realizing once we pay the insurance, once we pay the taxes, once we pay, you know, everything that we want to do that we say we want to do that we want to do differently.
Speaker B:The retirement account, once you pay for all those things, having to go back and be like, guys, I actually can't pay you, you know, 60%.
Speaker B:I can't pay you 50%.
Speaker B:That was a hard pill, I would just say, for me to swallow, because I remember being the stylist that had an attitude about that.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And I still have had conversations where stylists have said, oh, you just.
Speaker B:You're taking advantage of us, or you're just money hungry.
Speaker B:And that really hurts me, personally.
Speaker B:I don't think everybody thinks that, you know, like, business owners care, but we do, we really care.
Speaker B:And so, because my intention is to make sure that we have, like, a sustainable career, something to fall back on, you're not looking up 30 years later.
Speaker B:And you're like, oh, I never paid into, you know, this or that, and all I did was do hair every day.
Speaker B:That.
Speaker B:That, like, personal attack and having to make that shift and come into that realization within myself, like, that's personal growth of, here's why you're doing it the way you're doing it.
Speaker B:You have to.
Speaker B:And so even when you get that pushback, you just kind of have to understand why your numbers are your numbers.
Speaker B:Why is your commission percentage what it is?
Speaker B:Why do you have to charge what you have to charge with your prices?
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Like, I don't have those squeamish feelings about pricing anymore because I know how much everything in the back costs, and I know how much it costs to pay everybody.
Speaker B:So it has to be what it is.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:So I think that's one of the things where people have to shift their mindset.
Speaker B:That's.
Speaker B:That's what I hear on majority of the calls.
Speaker B:It's the mindset thing, oh, I feel bad about this, or I don't want clients to think this, or I don't want stylists to think this.
Speaker B:That mindset shift.
Speaker B:It is hard work.
Speaker B:It takes a lot of sitting with yourself, understanding yourself, improving yourself, and then being able to be vocal about why things are that they are.
Speaker B:I don't think it has to be a me versus them or owner versus stylist kind of thing.
Speaker B:I really make everybody understand, guys, this is what we have to do to be successful as a group.
Speaker B:I want you to have a job.
Speaker B:I want to have a job.
Speaker B:This is what we have to do.
Speaker A:Nice.
Speaker A:Awesome.
Speaker A:I mean, you kind of feel like you also answered my next question, but I'm gonna ask it anyway.
Speaker A:Do you.
Speaker A:What is a piece of advice that you have for somebody who is wanting to become a salon owner?
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:And for the salon owner, and I actually can think of one or two right now who want to open up multiple locations.
Speaker A:What advice as we.
Speaker A:What advice sign off do you have for each one of those people new?
Speaker A:Like, I want to start up one salon.
Speaker A:I got one.
Speaker A:I want to go to more.
Speaker B:You want to start up one salon?
Speaker B:Do your research and take your time.
Speaker B:I'm only saying that because you think, like, the turnaround time with your permits and all of that is going to be quick.
Speaker B:You need to do your research so that you have the budget for those time for that time that it's going to take for it to not put you in the hole.
Speaker B:Does that make sense?
Speaker B:Like, you need to budget so that you got Six months worth of the expenses you need to budget so that you can put the sign out front because that's part of the agreement and a lot of leases that people don't know.
Speaker B:It's like, oh, I'll just do it as I go.
Speaker B:No, they want that money down.
Speaker B:You need to have that permit before you open.
Speaker B:You need to have that license before you open.
Speaker B:And all that stuff is not cheap.
Speaker B:So research your state, research what you need, how much it's going to cost you, and then add more, right.
Speaker B:To make sure that you're not scrambling and working yourself into the ground those first few years.
Speaker B:And then before you do scale, I would say make sure that you know for sure without a doubt that that business that you already have is profitable.
Speaker B:If the first one's not profitable, if it's not profiting, if you haven't figured out your hiring process, if you haven't figured out your budget for everything, for products, for marketing, for payroll, if you haven't figured out, you know, how much you made at that first one.
Speaker B:So you can have a good idea.
Speaker B:Like, you can't think you're going to make $500,000 in your first location.
Speaker B:You know, only made this amount in the first year.
Speaker B:So I would just say make sure that that first one is profitable.
Speaker B:Write down every little system.
Speaker B:I wrote, read a book, and they basically said that you have to write down every little thing about you that makes you you so that somebody else can replicate it.
Speaker B:And you think in this common sense.
Speaker B:I promise you it's not common sense.
Speaker B:If you want everybody to say hello when they walk in the door, you need to write that down.
Speaker B:If you want everybody to mop the floor every night, you have to write it down.
Speaker B:And we get so tied up in moving and the look of things that sometimes we forget to sit and write it down, make it plain so that the next person can read it and can do it.
Speaker B:And then you won't be stretching yourself then trying to replicate yourself in multiple places.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:It'll be up to whoever you hire, whoever you add to your team to implement what you have put down.
Speaker A:So that that advice is so good, because I feel like that's advice that almost every single person in this industry could use.
Speaker A:We.
Speaker A:I mean, I.
Speaker A:And it's not just this industry, it's small business owners in general.
Speaker A:I'm part of a cohort myself.
Speaker A:Small and no, no fancy name like Goldman sag, But, but they, It's.
Speaker A:But it's clear that there's a lot like a Lot of the challenges that we talk about with each other have to do with.
Speaker A:Things aren't.
Speaker A:There's no systems or things aren't written or.
Speaker A:Or there's.
Speaker A:There's unspoken expectations.
Speaker B:There you go.
Speaker A:You believe is common sense.
Speaker B:Oh, and it'll make you so frustrated.
Speaker B:You'll want to.
Speaker B:You'll want to throw in the towel and quit.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And, you know, that's really.
Speaker B:You want to know where that lesson came from?
Speaker B:That lesson came from marriage.
Speaker B:You want to be with somebody and you thinking they saw the trash and they gonna take it out, and they didn't take it out.
Speaker B:You have to say, write down every single expectation from what you want them to say on the phone.
Speaker B:Okay?
Speaker B:The amount of just.
Speaker B:This is what you say at this time.
Speaker B:This is what you say at that time.
Speaker B:This is what you say at this time.
Speaker B:I mean, every little thing.
Speaker B:Because you want people to have a certain experience at your business.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:You know that when you go certain places, you have a certain experience.
Speaker B:What do they do?
Speaker B:What do they teach their people to do to make sure that that experience is consistent?
Speaker B:So I spent all of that first year, while I was working, while I was getting coaching, while I was applying for programs, writing every single thing down.
Speaker B:So the second one, I really was just testing if what I wrote down could work.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:Like, and if it didn't, don't be afraid to rewrite it.
Speaker B:Don't be.
Speaker B:Don't be such a stickler of.
Speaker B:You have to do it this way.
Speaker B:And then you see that people aren't there yet.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:If you want to deal with.
Speaker B:I know for a fact we'll be dealing with stylists that are potentially coming out of school or seeking licensure.
Speaker B:You can be so gifted in doing hair right.
Speaker B:Even without a license.
Speaker B:But there's other things that I know, and I'm prepared to teach them because I want everybody to have a certain experience.
Speaker B:So if your market is veteran stylist, you know, you might have a different.
Speaker B:A different burden to bear.
Speaker B:But if you're going to deal with the people who are just entering and you don't want them to have that, everybody's like, oh, I had a bad experience when I first came out of school.
Speaker B:If you don't want to be that person, you have to make sure that you put some things in place so that they don't have those same type of experiences that we had.
Speaker A:And that is where we will stop, because that starts a whole other conversation.
Speaker A:That's what you and I were digging into.
Speaker A:So we're gonna have to come back and circle back on that one at another time.
Speaker A:Real quick, before I sign up, do you remember the name of that book that you read?
Speaker B:Book I read was called Scale or Fail.
Speaker A:Scale or Fail.
Speaker A:Awesome.
Speaker A:Well, thank you so much.
Speaker A:This has been incredible.
Speaker A:It's been an honor and privilege to hear your story, and I'm sure someone listening and watching got something from it.
Speaker A:I look forward to talking to you again.
Speaker A:And just thank you so much for coming and sharing your story and all the lessons you've learned and your advice.
Speaker B:I don't know how you got all of that out of me, but thank you for having me.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker A:All right, well, until next time.
Speaker A:I'll see you later.
Speaker A:Bye.
