In this throwback episode, we chat with April Cox, a distinguished American Board Certified Hair Colorist and Eufora International Educator. With a career that began in 2005 as an Academy Instructor in Core Shapes for precision cutting and expanding to a Color Educator role in 2016, April's expertise has recently grown to include the Curl team in 2020. Her accolades include earning the title of Educator of the Year in 2019. April travels to salons to share her extensive knowledge, aiming to inspire and educate fellow stylists. Join us as we explore the unique experiences and challenges of working as an assistant, in a commission salon, a booth rental salon, and a salon suite.
Thinking of transitioning to solo suite ownership? April shares her first-hand experiences on managing supply, understanding tax obligations, and the importance of a strong business mindset. Learn about the independence and responsibilities that come with owning a suite, and the essential practices for building a successful salon business. From assisting seasoned professionals to continuously educating oneself, this episode is brimming with practical advice and strategies for anyone aiming to thrive in the hairstyling industry. Don’t miss this chance to gain a wealth of knowledge from a true industry expert.
Make sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel as well!
Subscribe to our Podcast & get mentioned in an upcoming episode!
Website: www.danisekeilitz.com
YouTube: All About Hair
Shop my favorite Eufora Products.
In this throwback episode, we chat with April Cox, a distinguished American Board Certified Hair Colorist and Eufora International Educator. With a career that began in 2005 as an Academy Instructor in Core Shapes for precision cutting and expanding to a Color Educator role in 2016, April's expertise has recently grown to include the Curl team in 2020. Her accolades include earning the title of Educator of the Year in 2019. April travels to salons to share her extensive knowledge, aiming to inspire and educate fellow stylists. Join us as we explore the unique experiences and challenges of working as an assistant, in a commission salon, a booth rental salon, and a salon suite.
Thinking of transitioning to solo suite ownership? April shares her first-hand experiences on managing supply, understanding tax obligations, and the importance of a strong business mindset. Learn about the independence and responsibilities that come with owning a suite, and the essential practices for building a successful salon business. From assisting seasoned professionals to continuously educating oneself, this episode is brimming with practical advice and strategies for anyone aiming to thrive in the hairstyling industry. Don’t miss this chance to gain a wealth of knowledge from a true industry expert.
Make sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel as well!
Subscribe to our Podcast & get mentioned in an upcoming episode!
Website: www.danisekeilitz.com
YouTube: All About Hair
Shop my favorite Eufora Products.
Welcome to All About Hair, the go-to podcast for stylists, salon owners and anyone passionate about hairstyling. Whether you're a seasoned stylist refining your skills or a curious listener looking to enhance your hair knowledge, we've got you covered. I'm your host, denise Kylitz, a former stylist and salon owner with four award-winning salons under my belt, with over 30 years of experience, I've dedicated myself to helping stylists excel in foundational haircutting, color theory, client communication and more, enabling them to build six-figure careers they can be proud of. My mission is to uplift our industry by sharing valuable insights gathered along my journey. Get ready for enlightening discussions, captivating interviews and practical advice on marketing, sales and technical skills. This is the podcast all about hair. Welcome back to the podcast. Today we have a special guest, april Cox. She is a stylist in where are we? San Marcos, san Marcos, california. She's a suite owner and she's an educator for Euphora, so we're going to have a great conversation. Welcome, april.
Speaker 2:Hi, thanks for being our guest.
Speaker 1:Thanks for coming. We are actually sitting in her suite, so maybe we'll do a little tour of that in a little bit. It's very, very cute. It's got great lighting too.
Speaker 2:So she's very lucky. Oh yeah, real estate yes.
Speaker 1:So so, april, tell us a little bit about how you became a hairstylist. Why hair? You know what's your passion. Just a little bit of history. We like to start that way.
Speaker 2:You know, like most of us that are in the hair industry, I always loved hair. I was the one who would cut all my friends bangs off and talk them into anything. My poor Barbies looked like their hair was shredded and colored and sharpie markers. So I'd always had that passion and love. But somewhere in my own mindset I got the idea that it wasn't a professional career, even though it was flexible, and so I chose to go to education, to be an educator, because I was a young mom. I actually have five boys.
Speaker 1:She doesn't look like she would have five kids, so thank you. You, you hold it together very well, jesus so.
Speaker 2:I thought for a long time raising kids going to school being an educator that was the path that was definitely going to work, mostly because of the flexibility, and I love sharing information.
Speaker 1:So were you going to be like a teacher, like primary, middle school, high school? What?
Speaker 2:This is where it fits well into this industry performing arts. Oh, oh what kind?
Speaker 1:Because that was my passion Like on stage, like theater.
Speaker 2:On stage performing arts. So I taught. Actually, when I did teach, it was third, fourth and fifth grade and it was dance performing arts, and so they did learn music appreciation, but it was more about how do I rewrite music, how do I do these dance steps and how do I write a script, and so it was a lot of fun.
Speaker 1:That's cool. That's a whole. Other conversation we need to have was a lot of fun, that's cool.
Speaker 2:That's a whole other conversation we need to have. I love that. I didn't know that about you. So yeah, because it helps them with public speaking. Absolutely. It's a fun things. Well, that last year that I was teaching I just moved back from a foreign country. My first husband was marine, lived there for six years and I was kind of new into what was going on and a year into it I was being paid by the PTA because really honored that they wanted me to do that. And I got pink slipped, which?
Speaker 2:is very common as a new instructor.
Speaker 1:Sure.
Speaker 2:And so I thought well, I'm getting divorced, I'm a mom of four kids, I've always loved hair and I have all these other changes in my life, why not one more? Why not? And went to beauty school.
Speaker 2:Uh, and I I quickly was searching for something that was matching my internal of how do I not just do hair, but be professional at it and show the face I wanted to, and I was really lucky enough to have found that fairly early on, actually, with meeting Don Buley and seeing that professional side to our industry, and I dove in, not just feet first, head first, whole body like cannonball right into it, because I knew that this industry is magical and I just needed to be guided in how to create it. So I chose hair, partly because of the flexibility, partly because of the creativity, but also because I wanted to show that you can be a dynamic professional behind the chair.
Speaker 1:You, you unpacked so much in that, just in that. First of all, I think most of us kind of got into the industry, or um, because we wanted to kind of prove that it is a profession, right, I mean, there's a little bit of that in all of us, I think, because I don't not very many people raise their kids to go out into the world, be hairstylist, you know. So, um, it takes courage to say that's what, what, that's what we want to do. But I think I know you think that too, that it is the most incredible industry to be in and, uh, just rising above the stigma of what a hairstylist really is. I mean, it takes all of us to do that, prove it every day. Yeah, so, don Buley, where did you meet him? Don Bewley is the founder of Euphora.
Speaker 2:Just in case people didn't know that, how did you meet Don? It was really quite cool. I was a student at school still, and they had an opportunity for us to be the top 10% to work in a mock salon. Oh, that's cool and that was kind of neat, Cause you got to learn what that was like. Yeah Well, Don Buley had come into the school to help create that, because that's who he was.
Speaker 1:He's super dynamic, incredibly magical and uh so was, was you for it in the school, Like oh, okay.
Speaker 2:It's a brand new program, so he offered to help sponsor it for the master stylist.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's smart. He's a smart dude.
Speaker 2:And did a class. Oh, okay. Which was really kind of neat yeah. And so my first dive to that was actually working with the product in the master stylist program and taught by Don Bewley to say this is how we want you to use the product. He did our initial intake product class. Oh my gosh. This was back in the days when we had eight SKUs.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, little beige bottles, yeah, yeah, oh gosh, I wish I had kept those, but a hundred percent, so, and he's, he was incredibly dynamic. Oh, oh, to say the least Right.
Speaker 2:And thought I want to be like that yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:He was a dynamic human being. I think that's why most of us are in euphoria, because we met him and he was such a character and such a guiding light and fresh. So you went to beauty school here in Southern California yes, at Palomar Palomar, that used to be Oceanside no, there was two campuses, oceanside and Palomar. Okay, Because I went to Oceanside. Yeah, and it is no longer. It's a coffee shop now.
Speaker 1:Correct but I heard that one of the instructors that was there when I was there 30 years ago Miss Anita, Is that her name. She's at Palomar. Yeah, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, was Miss Kathy there too? Oh my gosh, I need to go into that school and say, hey, you don't know me, but I probably wouldn't know them either. Some of this we can cut, um, okay, so Euphora was not in the schools, but yet.
Speaker 2:Correct. It came in when I was a student for that opportunity to work in the program. Wow, so it was a Euphora beauty school, just in the master stylist. So it really was the elite of the elite. Huh, to learn these other programs, you got to play with this elite product.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because we were redken school at the time oh okay, because I was like wow, now they don't do, still do that, though, uh you actually still have the master stylist at palomar.
Speaker 2:That's all Euphora.
Speaker 1:Oh, I didn't know that, so it's been there for 18 years. Wow, that's interesting. Okay, and so, right out of beauty school, what did you do? Did you go work in a salon? I did.
Speaker 2:Okay. So this is why I've always encouraged salon owners to go to the school and kind of pick out who would match their team.
Speaker 1:Sure.
Speaker 2:Because Gail Fulbright, the owner of Headlines the Salon, would come in, you know, about every couple of months and do a small business class.
Speaker 1:She's a smart cookie, of course she does.
Speaker 2:She's amazing and I was attracted to that.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:And I guess she was also euphora, so that fit two pegs of what I really wanted. Um, and so I applied at her space to be part of her assistant program, to learn under her, to learn under Connie Keskus and now salon owner too.
Speaker 1:Wow yeah.
Speaker 2:And I was lucky enough to be mentored by them.
Speaker 1:Wow, wow, you need to do my hair. No, no, that's amazing. Not very many people can say that that's how they started, and if you don't know who Gail and Connie are, we'll make sure we include their links so that people can find them, because they are exceptional leaders in our industry Exceptional. So you started as an assistant, correct? How long did that last?
Speaker 2:So I assisted, for I moved up quickly.
Speaker 1:I'm sure you did.
Speaker 2:And in the last three months of that I was already doing models and hair. Okay.
Speaker 1:Okay, so what did the assistant program look like? Were you um washing hair? Were you going to weekly education classes? How, what did that look?
Speaker 2:like. So I was um, shampooing at first and blow drying, so they would teach me how to blow dry and then, uh, shortly after that I would. I was able to start applying touch-ups with my master stylist and then I was applying them by myself for that master stylist. Okay, or in between foils, a base color.
Speaker 2:Sure, and then toning right, they say, okay, now we can have you start toning, and so it was a good graduation into things, right To learn the technical skills. Eventually, down the road, they learned how to teach more business skills. I just kind of learned it through osmosis because it was at the beginning, but Gail Fulbright, being the person that she is, wanted it to grow and still continues to oh yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, that's good. Then you became a stylist at Headlines. Yeah, I'm assuming you built your whole clientele there. Yeah, and I worked there for 12 years Wow girl Okay, all right, and it's a commissioned salon, correct. Okay, so you've been an assistant. Yep, you've been a commissioned stylist, correct? And then what did you do?
Speaker 2:I took six months off my career behind the chair and I taught at the beauty school where I started, because I knew that having that influence for myself at the beginning of my career was huge and I wanted to implement that with systems and programs at the beauty school. And for about six months months it was a hundred percent euphora, oh wow, which was really kind of amazing and that's pretty cool.
Speaker 2:So they used the color and everything at that at that time in the school, the whole school yeah, and I got to train the educators that were there the beauty educators and then rewrite some of their curriculum to match that, which was really, really fun, and I learned an incredible amount, because the amount of color that you have to have for a school, the amount of product, the inventories, I can't even imagine so, but it's no longer a for a school. Just in the master stylist room which is the mock salon that's in there.
Speaker 1:Interesting Okay.
Speaker 2:It's sort of like you have to be present with that excitement in order for it to maintain, just like a salon owner needs to be present in order for their culture to maintain. Once that goes away, then it's not quite the same. I thought that six months would have been enough to maintain it, and I learned then it's not quite the same. Yeah, I thought that six months would have been enough to maintain it, and I learned that it's not. If you want your culture to stay, you have to be there yeah so um, I had left because I loved hair, so much yes
Speaker 1:and I couldn't not do it right, and so I went back behind the chair yeah, I don't know if you know I was an instructor for a hot minute I say that at our local beauty school in Virginia. And same thing, same thing. You know, you find out pretty. You know like man, let me get them after. They're just learning how to hold their shears and hold a round brush, how to section, and you know everything in. You wants to jump in there and do it for them because you see them struggling. Yeah, being an instructor at a beauty school takes someone very special.
Speaker 2:It comes down to all the instructors.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh yeah. It's probably the hardest job in our industry. I think so, and to stay passionate about it. You know, um. So yeah, kudos, though that you know that Avenue then, and then you left there. Yeah, so you're building up all these skills and all these lessons and all these gathering, yeah, and then what did you do?
Speaker 2:So for a short time I worked at Salon Paradigm, which was only wedding, and I quickly discovered that I wanted more, and maybe it was because of my experience at the school with running so much I wanted more, and so I started with booth renting, and that was at Hair Haven and Escondido.
Speaker 2:And so I started with booth renting and that was at Hair, Haven and Escondido, and learning that environment and again, maybe I like collecting knowledge was eye-opening in several ways Because it ran like a team as best it could be, but each person is their own individual boss, so to speak, or their chair, and so that coexistence of team environment wasn't the same and I always knew going into it, this is my stepping stone into owning a salon.
Speaker 1:Sure you just collecting information on how does this work?
Speaker 2:How does this kind of salon work? How does this? And I'm still amazing friends with the owner.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. Yeah, I don't like burning bridges and I'm still amazing friends with the owner. That's awesome. Yeah, I don't like burning bridges. That's good, um, so when you went into salon Haven is that um, hair Haven? Um, how many stylists were in there? Three, oh, okay. So it was a smaller, four, okay, and everybody was booth rent and so did everybody use their own product lines. Everybody use their own color lines. So that worked.
Speaker 2:We each had our own color. Two of us, of course, were 100 euphora okay and that I loved how it was set up to where back bar and style product was provided by the salon um and to encourage uh retail and to keep the consistency of all euphora on the face I see yeah the color was not by everyone that was in there, because you purchased your own color.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, Right, Right, and so that was a different thing for you. So how did that did you find? I guess let's compare commission stylists with booth renting. So what are some of the, the things that maybe you didn't really think about when you went into booth rent? I mean, were there surprises? Did you kind of know what to expect?
Speaker 2:I. I am one of the lucky ones that I was given a lot of education at each of my spaces was had the chance to have leadership positions and ordering color.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's good Doing inventory.
Speaker 2:Not every hairdresser has that advantage, and so, um, it wasn't shocking to me to have to purchase my own color, um, but I could see how it would be to a lot of hairdressers and even the couple others that we had in there. There was one that would only buy color for the day, ah, and I don't know if it was because of cost but that wasn't the way, I always bought the whole line. So I'd never be without what I needed.
Speaker 1:Right, I guess I have heard of people doing that. They run to the beauty supply before their day gets started. Based on who they're doing, correct.
Speaker 2:Through consultation, but we run into stuff all the time behind the chair, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Oops, that didn't work, so fix. Wow, that would cause me a lot of anxiety if I was doing it that way. So you had to do ordering your supplies and, of course, all your supplies to do hair foils, gloves, all that stuff cleaning supplies In a commission salon.
Speaker 2:right, you would have your own hair dryer tools, scissors, combs, brushes, things like that. Yeah, everything else was provided by the salon.
Speaker 1:Yeah, towels.
Speaker 2:Everything.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:Assistance to help.
Speaker 1:Right Towels to use.
Speaker 2:Education on a regular basis.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's true, right Right.
Speaker 2:Even when it comes down to medical benefits, if you need it, which is huge.
Speaker 1:Okay, so did you guys have a retirement like 401k or anything like that? Pay time off? I mean it was starting to go.
Speaker 2:Benefits like that, all kinds of benefits when you go into our cab booth renting. The owner of the booth renter salon does not have to provide any of that for you. And so, essentially, you make about the same Okay when it comes down to apples and apples, okay, right. And if you don't have a strong business mindset, you might fall through some hoops that don't work out.
Speaker 1:Right Like what about taxes? What about taxes?
Speaker 2:So, uh, for taxes, uh, you then become a sole proprietor. Instead of a employee right, getting a w-2 right, do you pay quarterly do you yes? Is that what you're? Supposed to do well. A lot of people don't know that making over a thousand dollars yeah, which.
Speaker 1:So what happens if you don't pay quarterly? I?
Speaker 2:mean, I actually fined.
Speaker 1:Okay, Cause I know what happens to corporations. It's just the okay. So how do you know that? Do you have to have an accountant to tell you that? I do have an accountant that does my taxes.
Speaker 2:So if they're doing their own taxes, they may not be aware until the first year, and then, all of a sudden, they owe more money than they thought they did, and then they get fined because they weren't paying in and so it's a lot of, a lot of things.
Speaker 1:And sales tax too. So all the products. If you carry a retail line, which most people should, um, you have to pay sales tax on that too. I mean, there's a lot of things right. Yeah, and so you learned all of that when you were booth rental. Now you did mention education. You were on your own for education.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you paid for it. Sometimes the salon would bring in education, but not always. I didn't have to have a retail license, but I also had to have. But I did have to have a business license.
Speaker 1:Oh, oh yeah, so the salon did the retail for you. Did you get commission?
Speaker 2:on that, yes, okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, how did she pay you commission on that? Did she take it out of your rent?
Speaker 2:No, it's separate from rent, and you know, and in California there's some iffy laws on how that works, yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, everywhere. Yeah, because you can't pay somebody commission if the yeah it's a whole thing thing.
Speaker 2:I know some do it where they just credit towards education and some actually pay you right like a bonus.
Speaker 1:Yeah, a bonus, because I hear that word floating around a lot in california you get a bonus.
Speaker 2:Good well, good job, well done.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we'll just leave it there, okay, so you were um booth renting and then now you're at a suite. So I'm, I'm, I'm assuming that that was the next step of your journey, right? So how has that been? So you're in a solo suite, a solo salons, and you're in a pretty big what is it? A space and a half.
Speaker 2:you said, yeah, um and I initially wanted to do that before booth rent, but I'm glad I didn't. Okay. Um, and I initially wanted to do that before Boothrent, but I'm glad I didn't. Okay, uh, because it was like that next baby step into oh wait, you have to have a business license. Oh wait, I have to buy my own color. Oh. So then, when I went into finally getting a suite, because lot became available in 2020 yeah, yeah. Um, I had some things, but I didn't have everything.
Speaker 1:I then realized oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:I have to buy so many towels. Oh yeah, oh my gosh, I have to get a retail license so I can sell retail. Yeah or I don't even have it in my space, right. And then I also had to get you know the licensing for my name, everything through the state, and I didn't realize all of those things that all the amazing salon owners already know that you have to do.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:It just kept tumbling on.
Speaker 1:Right, cause you are a business owner. I mean you are an official business owner of your space. Um, once you get your business license and once you get you know, go to the state and get your name Correct, you researched and make sure nobody else is named bad and all that. I mean it's done.
Speaker 2:I mean you do that once, right Right.
Speaker 1:Yes, you, but you jump through that hoop and it's done. I mean, it's not like you have to do that every month, but, um, but it's those people who don't do that because they don't know to do that they get in trouble, right, correct? Hmm, yeah, um. So what are some of the other like lessons learned? I mean, do you enjoy being a suite owner? Love it? Okay? Now I've heard people say that it can. You know you don't have the, you know the team energy around you. Is that? Do you find that kind of hard to get used to?
Speaker 2:So that could be taken. However, the individual only wants it to be right. They can stay in their suite, come and go and leave and never meet any of their cohorts that are in the suite building. Not my personality. I still know 90% of the suite owners in here and like having a relationship with them because it's nice, Like I've run out of stuff or they've run out of stuff and we know that. Oh my God, I ran out of cotton.
Speaker 1:I can go down the hall and get it, so that's nice.
Speaker 2:One of my coworkers in the building. Right Things like that, okay, and just having that camaraderie if you needed it.
Speaker 1:Right, no, that's good, that's good to know, I have to admit. I mean I told you that when I walked in here this is actually the very first time I've even been in a Sola salon Not that I'm biased or anything, because I own a commission salon with a full on team, but I don't know, I've never had the opportunity or the need to walk into one. So it's been a learning experience and it's quite, quite nice actually. Thank you, um, I really love your space. I, um, I love that. It's kind of quiet, but it's yeah, you know. Um, yeah, I like it too. So, um, what other? What other lessons? I mean you have a full-on retail. I mean this girl can sell. I'm looking at her retail going this might be more than what. No, it's not more than what we carry, but it's quite a bit for one person.
Speaker 2:I keep a full stock of retail. Again that mentality I never want to feel like I don't have something to provide to my guest needs. Isn't that the worst idea? Oh, I don't have something to provide to my guest needs. Isn't that the worst idea? Oh, I know it was funny about that. I bought the initial intro which wasn't too big, right, it was, you know, a couple of each thing. And then I thought, well, I need more retail for that mentality that I have. And every time I brought in more, I would sell more Of course.
Speaker 1:I mean, the stuff works. You know, and here's your prescription, and you need to take this home and you walk the walk. You don't just talk the talk, you walk the walk and you guide them through the experience. So, no, I love that.
Speaker 2:Well, all the fears were gone. Then I was like I can recommend it. Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and you don't have to stop by the beauty supply to pick it up. But you couldn't pick this up at a beauty supply, so you have to order it. Um, cause she's a full on euphora. I mean, you guys can't see that, but you might see it in the background with the color.
Speaker 1:Um. So what else? I mean our, our audience, most of our audience, are brand new hairstylists coming straight out of beauty school. You've done everything. You've been an assistant, Um. You've been a commission stylist. You've been a booth runner everything you've been an assistant. You've been a commission stylist, you've been a booth runner, you've been an instructor at a school, and now you're in a solo suite. So what's next for you?
Speaker 2:for first thing, I'm actually looking for a space to grow into. When the right one comes to me, I know it'll'll be there, but I was taught a long time ago put it into the universe see what comes to you, because you're not going to be open to it or see it unless you already are actively thinking. This is what I want, this is how I want it, and I would love to find a four or five chair salon that I could be an owner in.
Speaker 1:Oh, and you would kick ass too, I know it.
Speaker 2:I mean because you've already you already know and you would kick ass too.
Speaker 1:I know it. I mean because you already know, you know what it takes. You've already, you know, done all the hard stuff.
Speaker 2:And experience is huge. Yeah, including to somebody new, because I sought that out.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:When I was looking for a space. I cannot express more the importance of assisting a talent first. I think so too, and just even if it's like you've said to me before, learning through osmosis, whatever it is, take that time to learn, to grow, to build, to figure out what you want, what you don't want.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Use what I call the shopping cart method. Take it what you want, leave on the shelf what you don't.
Speaker 1:Everybody does things differently and it might not suit your method or your ideas, but you can still take something from that, you can still learn from that. So your advice would be assist.
Speaker 2:First, Correct and stay in a place longer than five years. The grass is not greener on the other side. Right, you know you're going to have things that you need to work through working with people.
Speaker 1:Oh, everywhere and learn from it Right.
Speaker 2:It's great.
Speaker 1:And don't you think most salon owners they're, first of all, they're people too, yeah, and they make mistakes, just like regular people. I've made a few, and but they're open to communication. Yeah, you know, yeah, and, but they're open to communication. You know, I, as a salon owner, that's, you know, that's. That's a message that needs to be said is that communicate.
Speaker 1:Every relationship, communication is key, you know, whether it's your spouse, your kids, your, you know, boss, whatever. If you don't know how to communicate or if you don't feel comfortable communicating, there's a problem there. That's unhealthy. So so, assisting first. And now what if somebody, um, maybe somebody's listening, and they're in a commission salon and they're, they just feel a little stagnant for whatever reason. Maybe they're not getting the education, or maybe they got into a salon and they were promised big things and they're sweeping hair or whatever, because there's all kinds of things out there, um, and maybe they're looking at these solo suites because they're everywhere. Yeah, you know, that's where I want to go first. Yeah, yeah, what would you? What kind of advice would that? Would you give somebody for that?
Speaker 2:You're successful in a suite not just because of some business skills, but because you have the clientele to build off of. And if I wasn't 80% full, I no way would have made it in a suite. And the main reason is because guerrilla marketing still works Go out there, put your card out, talk to your guests. But if you have no base to build off and you're starting, where do you start with that?
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Instagram only brings me so much, Facebook only brings me so much. And I actually have met a new stylist to the area in the suites and she was trying to do, you know, um fairs. She was putting ads out and trying to get clientele, but still it was slow. It's like one or two a week trying to build and there's nobody to help you?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I never thought of that. If you knew, to the area that you're trying to build.
Speaker 2:I mean, it's not necessarily right, you might have the experience. Right, you might have.
Speaker 1:And you might have done this in a different town, but you've moved to a new city and you don't have a clientele. You do have to start over Right from scratch, and it's not like people walk in here. The door is locked right, correct, main door? Yeah, of course.
Speaker 2:So it is by appointment only, and I know a lot of salons still run their businesses that way, even by appointment.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:So how do they get that appointment? Yeah, and I mean Solo's great in that it has a online system that will send out your referrals from your own profile. That's great, which is fabulous, but again if you're not getting more than four new guests a week. It takes a while to build it. So if they want to go that route and they have the experience, have some invested money, at least three months worth Wow yeah. To pay for everything you need before the clientele will be coming in to pay you to do hair.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's great advice. I mean because you don't think of that. I don't think of that.
Speaker 2:And it's not wrong, it's just it'll be a while before you make the money.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And then you have to again like boot running, seek out your own education, keep up to date on everything, make sure all, all of your licenses are up to date, everything.
Speaker 1:Yeah, of course you know um. Something I haven't thought of is, um, do you have, uh, you have your beauty supply reps? Come in here, I mean, how does that work?
Speaker 2:Yes, so they can set up appointments. Okay, even my scissor rep came in last week and I set up a time for him to come in and check my scissors, so yes, they can come in and amazingly, you know, both Ross and Ben have both been in here. That's awesome. To help me with my displays and how to do that.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's great.
Speaker 2:Wow, okay, we just set up times, just like they would for the salons.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I'm just trying to. I'm trying to like compare and contrast what happens in my salon versus maybe what would happen in here, and I'm just trying to think of the little things, the only hurdle really is building your chair.
Speaker 2:Yeah, to think of the little things really is building your chair. Yeah, and you got to be really great at that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, have some clientele and then, and always ask for referrals, always, always, always, always, right please send me friends that have hair just like you, or are just like you, because people are gonna move, die go someplace else, get bored, bored, whatever. You're going to lose clients. I joke and say nobody left me.
Speaker 2:They just all died.
Speaker 1:I believe it. Um no, um right. Right Things happen Right. And if you're not, building.
Speaker 2:I was told once it's like a funnel, and I know you've heard this too. If you're not constantly feeling the top of the funnel. Eventually the bottom is going to drop out.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, too. If you're not constantly feeling the top of the funnel, eventually the bottom's going to drop out. Absolutely. I hate it when I hear um and you see it on social media. I don't know anybody personally that my books are closed. Who does that? Who does that?
Speaker 2:Closed. I love new guests, I know actually new, new guests energize me.
Speaker 1:You know it's almost like challenge on. You know it's just like tell me how'd you hear about me and all that, Right, and then let me solve your problems, Cause they don't know what you know, and I love new guests. Some people I've heard that new guests just are exhausting, and they are, I guess, if you want to call that energy exhausting, to me that's excitement.
Speaker 2:It is excitement.
Speaker 1:Same energy, different, different title to it. I love new clients. I would do new clients all day long, you know, and then just shift them over to another chair.
Speaker 1:I guess that is true. That's how I used to do it, um, and then just say, oh, by the way, next time you might need you'll have to see somebody else, and then they'd be like what, yeah, but I fell in love with you, you'll fall in love with them too. So, um, well, I love this. I've I've learned so much just from um coming in here and seeing and experiencing. Like I said, I've never experienced this before. Um, um, and we will film a little bit and put it in um, just kind of looking at your space, um, so a couple other questions about sola suites. So, um, what's all included they do? Is it the sink?
Speaker 2:and the chair and the. Usually it's just now it's just the. You have the plumbing right and the chair. Uh, it used to be when suites first came out. The idea was to have everything prefabricated your cabinetry, your chair, your. You know everything you need to kind of get started as far as what a salon needs to build in. Now it's like an empty box right, and so you have to also, then, owning a suite, provide the construction, the paint, the furniture. Oh, really but it's your own design.
Speaker 1:So you have to buy all your own cabinetry. And Now, yes, oh, and chairs, and Really.
Speaker 2:So it truly is Okay, like the spaces you go into for salon.
Speaker 1:It's a baby little salon, it's just a smaller version.
Speaker 2:Some are one chair, some are two chair.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you can design it however you want, however you want Color. All that Because you did give me a little tour of the suites around here. Some of them were closed up, but I saw somebody that had, you know, wallpaper up, correct, and that was cool yeah.
Speaker 2:It's your own design, however you want it, which is neat, because then you have your signature.
Speaker 1:Look for your sure. Yeah, no, and that's exciting and I could see how that could. People would like that, of course, because I remember when we designed our salon space. It's a big empty box and you're just like, ah, that's the fun part, exactly, that is really the fun part.
Speaker 2:That's all the uh, you know and I had a lot of fun doing that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, yes, yeah, that's fun. And then all of a sudden reality hits. It's like, ah, it's not fun anymore. I'm writing a check for this, right? So you said yours. This was already set up when you came in, right? The?
Speaker 2:cabinetry was already set up, so I bought a extra cabinet and shelves to hold my retail and display it nicely.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, that's interesting, though, because you showed me just an empty one.
Speaker 2:Yes, I just didn't think there was enough retail space.
Speaker 1:Right, right, no, this is a great space with this big window here that I wonder how much it costs initially to get set up then.
Speaker 2:Well, for me, which was actually good because of the size of the salon, it was about 10 grand total, which and that's including product, that's including color- that's including all the tools I would need, my licenses, everything. Okay. So considering how much it costs to open a salon, that's relatively inexpensive.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is.
Speaker 2:The plumbing's there, the electric's there. We don't pay water or electric, that's all.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay.
Speaker 2:That's good to know. So that's a nice you know, as you're getting started into paying rent. Because I will tell you, at first I was like, oh, that seems, or a lot of money, Right. But then once you get into it, you're like oh, okay, it evens out yeah, all right, so it's not.
Speaker 1:You're not just renting a chair, it's not booth rent, it is a salon and all the bills are in that surround that. So, okay, well, this has been enlightening. I've learned so much from this, so hopefully, um, our listeners um have learned a little bit too, especially if they're pondering, you know what direction they're going to go out of school or maybe they're at a salon that they're not really a hundred percent happy with.
Speaker 1:Um, kind of give them choices. You've done everything. So, uh, you know, uh, if people have questions, where can they get in contact with you, or if I'm assuming that's okay my favorite actually is instagram messenger.
Speaker 2:Okay, um, I'm the fastest at that one yeah, yeah, which is in our face. Five, that's my education page, and then I have my salon page which is splitting hairs, sd we'll make sure we include all those links.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, if you have any questions that maybe April can assist with, I'm sure she would be glad to help, and if there's anything that I can answer, I'm here too. So, um, thank you, april. Thanks for being part of this. You're welcome.
Speaker 2:I always admire you. You're pretty brilliant.
Speaker 1:Oh no, you are All right. Thanks so much. You're welcome. Thanks so much for tuning in to this episode of All About Hair. Here's what I'd love for you to do next Take a screenshot of this episode and share it on your Instagram stories. Be sure to tag me at Denise Kylitz so I can see that you're listening. Sharing on your stories helps more people discover this podcast, allowing them to learn how to build their salon business more easily and faster. If you're really enjoying this show, please head over to Apple Podcasts and leave All About Hair a review. Your support helps boost the podcast and it makes it easier for others to find. All right, let's wrap this up. I'm Denise Kylitz and until next week. Remember when you know better, you do better.