I like to think there are many ways to interpret something. And in the era of social media, inspirational memes have run rampant, a lot of them are about “being true to yourself.” And that is all well and good advice for some people.

But…I assume that I am not special or unique in any way so I will assume many people were like me to a large degree;
I am not particularly cool, charismatic, handsome, intelligent, or talented.
And even more importantly,
I didn’t truly know who I was until I was into my 30’s.

At each phase of life, we grow and evolve (hopefully we do. some don’t) through our experiences. If I was not open to influence and the idea of emulating someone else’s behaviour and personality, I would still be the same obnoxious, pot-smoking, know-it-all music snob I was when I was 16. Though in writing that it occurs to me that I’m pretty much that person still. But I don’t smoke weed anymore. It’s red wine now. So there is that.

Our opinions and views change just like the fashion and vocabulary we are into at that period of our lives. Age, experience, successes, and most of all failures all play a role in the person we are constantly becoming. I would say I evolve less often now that I’m in my mid-forties, but if you go through life being open to new ideas or challenges, you allow yourself to grow and learn from what you experience. What I’m trying to say is that life is a constant evolution. In fact, the worst people I ever encounter are the ones who are steadfast in their belief of who they are and how they think. Like many Republicans and all religious fanatics.

“Fake it Till You Make It.” A lot of people hate this phrase. It’s not ideal because it’s overly simplified, but I see it differently. What it means to me is you are willing to put yourself out there. To jump in with both feet and an open mind. It means you are willing to let go of your fears and personal limitations and go for it, even though it’s not necessarily who you think you are. It’s like Yoga. It’s a huge stretch and it hurts at first but eventually it becomes comfortable and feels great. And then you are not faking it anymore.

I have had some success as a hairdresser and salon owner. And that success has not come solely because of my skills as a stylist or my business acumen. I feel like at my core, I’m likely an asshole. I’m not talented enough to be a success based on my skills alone so I’ve had to learn to be a bit charming and to develop strong service aptitude. I’ve had to learn to smile when I didn’t want to and to be nice when it was the last thing I felt like being.

Time and time again, I have seen that the people with the highest successes in my company are the ones who worked the hardest for it. And a lot of that work was put into changing who the person was and how they presented themselves to other people. The smart ones quickly realize successful behaviour in life and in business is learned, and that if they wanted similar levels of success they would need to change too.

“I have to be me,” or “I can’t be fake,” are things I hear sometimes from my younger staff. And the one thing I have noticed is that they are always the ones who have the word “but” in their vocabulary. They use “I have to be true to myself” as a limitation on what they are willing to do. And unless they are incredibly talented, nice and charismatic, they are generally the lowest earners in the salon. I have anecdotal evidence that “I gotta be me” is akin to “I gotta be broke.”

Who you are today will likely and hopefully not be who you are in a decade. So why not turn it on when you leave the house and put your best version and adaptation of you out there for each scenario you are in. There is nothing wrong with being yourself if great things are happening for you and life is going well. But if not, the only things you should cling to and not be willing to compromise are your manners, your morals (if they are good) and your empathy. Don’t become an asshole. But go for it. You might just really like who you become.

And if you don’t have Neil Young’s Freedom, Beastie Boys Paul’s Boutique and The Clash London Calling, your music library is lacking.

Every Saturday I post a little action plan for my team. I decided to start sharing these quick little hits with you.
These are easy, small things that can make a big difference.

Today I want you all to do this:

Look at your column when you arrive and think a little about each client.

Then when they come in and you give your smile, hug, whatever, before consultation, say,

“I saw you were coming in today and I’ve been thinking about your hair/what I wanted to do with your hair. ”

Do this with at least 1 person today and watch them light up and watch how you start to perform more creatively and inspired.

This simple thing can help ignite a transformation in how you behave and how clients feel about you.

I’ve been asked a few times in interviews to talk about what or who inspires me. And I have had the odd employee complain that they are not inspired. I always have the same answer;

One of the reasons that I have been so successful as a stylist and have had a degree of success as a salon owner and educator is because I don’t need external sources of inspiration in order to stay inspired. It’s nice to come upon something that inspires you and lights a new fire, but I have plenty of fires burning.

I find inspiration in every client I work with. I am fascinated by what millimetres and minor variations of angles can do to a shape. I am inspired by my need to give my clients a great result as well as a memorable experience. I am inspired to perform at my best because I love what I do and because there are people who go out of their way to sit in my chair. They wait a long time and pay a lot of money, and I see it as a privilege to have the opportunity to exceed their expectations.

I am inspired by turning on light bulbs for my students and showing them how they can have a great life through hairdressing. And by the successes of the people around me, from the junior stylist who starts to finally “happen” to the senior who messages me with an awesome picture of work they did or a personal best daily total.

And most importantly, I tell my clients and my students that I am inspired by them. The act of saying it makes it real and gets me even more inspired, just like smiling makes you happy.

I absolutely am inspired my many things and many people. I have had many mentors in my life and have studied others who have no idea who I am. I love art, photography, nature, film, architecture and find beauty and inspiration in so many things, but I don’t need to have someone to lead me to inspired thoughts or work.

I believe that if you require external forces to inspire you in your career as a hairdresser regularly, you are missing all the little things around you everyday. And it’s possible that you yourself are likely not very inspiring to be around, unless you happen to be inspired at that moment. Sort of like if you are always bored, you are probably pretty boring.

Today, tell each and every client you have that you are excited to do their hair. Verbalizing that phrase will often be the first domino to you delivering an inspired performance as a stylist. Like everything else, it all starts by looking in the mirror. Find it. It’s in there. You might have to dig for it but it’s in all of us.

Hey internet hairdressing friends, I’m going to be at IBS New York this weekend doing a presentation of “How To Survive and Thrive as a Hairdresser and Salon Owner.”

It’s been an interesting process, trying to come up with the program and presentation. Devon Plamondon, the education director of our company once talked about “death by Powerpoint” when we were launching Product For Hair for some salons last year and the phrase has clearly struck a nerve. I just had a nightmare that I bombed because I spent my session reading the screen rather than what I normally do, which is just free styling based on a few loose themes.

So it’s 4:30am, and I’m blogging to get the motivation to completely strip down and redo the Powerpoint presentation I’ve been working on for the last month. I hope I am able to create some balance between staying on point while being totally unfiltered. It’s more fun for me to go off the rails, but I tend to forget what I was talking about.

If you happen to be in New York this weekend, I hope to meet you on Sunday in room 1E16 On Sunday from 2-3:30 and on Monday from 12-1:30

I promise to share some of my perspective with you and, at bare minimum you will leave with a couple of ideas that you can immediately and comfortably put to use in your salons and with your clients that will help you to have a happier and more prosperous life through hairdressing.

Normally I write for hairstylists and salon owners. Actually normally I write simply to vent and as a cheap form of therapy for myself. Hairdressers and salon owners are just the ones who read me.

But an article came out the other day and it’s gotten a lot of attention because, well, frankly, it’s complete and utter bullshit, so this one is aimed a bit more at the consumer.

Here is the link:
http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Shelley+Fralic+Hairdresser+hour+Nurse+hour/10842955/story.html

In a nutshell, the author says that society values hairstylists more than nurses because her haircut and colour price was $150 AFTER TAXES AND TIP, yet nurses get paid about $30 an hour.

Quick math for the non-hairdresser, this equates to about $130 for the minimum 2 hour service pretax and assuming a somewhat meager $10 tip. I will also assume the stylist is an employee rather than a chair renter.

So the salon billed $130. From that, the cost of the products used in that service was likely about $15-$20, inclusive of the shampoo, conditioner, colour, toner, foils and styling products. In fact, it could have been substantially higher, especially if the colour needed to be re-toned. But we will look at it as $15 to be conservative.

The average salon will pay out 45%-50% commission to the stylist on this service, making the stylist’s end about $65 for the 2 hours and the salon’s take $50. From this $50, the salon pays the employee’s CPP and EI, WCB, the salon rent, hydro, property taxes and many other things. The salon in this scenario likely broke even on the service if rent is cheap,  and quite possibly lost money. In fact, I almost guarantee the salon lost money because Vancouver rent is on par with Manhattan. I know this because I pay rent in 3 locations in Vancouver and 2 in South Surrey. $10,000 a month gets you about 1700 sf in civilized Vancouver.

And the hairdresser in this situation? I guarantee this person is earning below poverty level wages. Because unless this person is 100% booked, which you wouldn’t be if you were this inexpensive, she is likely generating about $4-$5000 per month, making her end between $2K and $2500 per month and definitely doesn’t get employee benefits in this scenario. Not much to live on in perhaps the most expensive city in North America.

But enough about this particular article.

I am a firm believer in hairstylists earning a great living behind the chair. You see, this industry is one of the rare models where an employee has complete and total control of their earnings. It is up to the stylist to sink or swim. And most sink and live like the stylist in the above situation.

But for those brave enough to take this career seriously, to truly embrace the life of a hairdresser and develop mastery of their work as well as customer service, the sky is the limit. The stylist that builds strong client relationships and a reputation for great work can easily earn between $60K and $100K. And it can be much more for some. And they can enjoy benefits, vacation pay and assistants dedicated to helping them preserve their backs by doing shampoos and some of the styling work.

I believe in training stylists to promote themselves, do great work and get busy. And to gradually raise their prices each year, a little for existing clients and a lot for new ones. This keeps a stylist busy, doesn’t punish the client who supported them from the beginning, and allows the fully booked stylist to see a raise every year, or to consider working a little less and earning the same amount. Through this system, I have helped stylists go from $30 a haircut to $100 for a cut within 5 or 6 years.

You see, if your salon or stylist isn’t raising their prices by at least 10% each year, they are in fact losing money due to inflation and other rising costs. Most stylists don’t have the courage to raise prices because they haven’t performed to their potential. They don’t have a strong enough following to risk losing a few people, and frankly, they don’t deserve to raise their prices if they weren’t booked in the first place. But every day, even every client, a hairdresser can make the choice to elevate what they do and to perform to their potential. Every day a stylist can decide that this will be the day they become a professional hairstylist. Most won’t, but a few do. This is what I love about the industry; the complete control a stylist has over how they are perceived and how much they earn.

So don’t begrudge those of us who refuse to see ourselves as not worthy of a decent income like the author of the linked article does. Every single hairdresser deserves exactly how much money they are making, from the $12 haircutter in the strip mall to the man in New York getting $1200.

Hair industry friends,

I am speaking at New York IBS and I am finalizing my presentation and I need some help.

I have two questions:

What are some of the things salon owners think about stylists?

What are some things stylists think about owners?

If you comment here it won’t be made public so nobody will see what you have written except me. And I promise to delete the entire post once I have enough responses. You are totally safe to write what you want without repercussions.

Thanks so much!

To promote what at the time was our new salon. And it’s starting to pop up in various places again.

We had planned to do this all over the city but as I am with most things, something else came up and we forgot.

If you’ve not see this, it was a fun, weird experience. We did sweep up, and other than our crew, nobody new what was happening.

Some of you may not know that we own 2 hairdressing academies as well as 3 salons.

Our hairdressing school is called the Vancouver Hairdressing Academy, and we feel it is the best hairdressing school in British Columbia. One of the reasons is we have created our entire curriculum based on what we experience in our salons. Because we are one of the few schools owned by a salon company, we are better qualified to teach what students need to know in order to succeed in the hair industry than our competition.

And our program is the shortest in North America, at 580 hours. In 6 months we cover a lot of ground. The graduated bob in this video is taught on day 8 of our course. It sounds ridiculous when I write it, but it’s true. We don’t waste a second.

Vancouver Hairdressing Academy Graduated Bob- Behind The Scenes

I have been given an interesting opportunity, and that is to compile and write a book called “1000 Hairstyles.

A huge part of my job is going to be selecting the 1000 images to be included in the book. And I want to use as little stock imagery as possible. The stock stuff is generally not what I want, so I wanted to reach out to as many of my incredibly talented stylist friends around the world and ask them to submit their work.

The book is designed to be a resource for salons. There are going to be  chapters divided by lengths, textures, fringes, colours, braids, upstyling and wedding hair and avant garde.  And there will be several featured styles showing the cut from all angles. If this works the way the publisher and I hope it will, the book will be an encyclopedia of hairstyles and hopefully will make it’s way into thousands of salons world-wide.

What we are looking for is well shot consumer-friendly work. The type of work that you would want a client to reference when looking for a new style. I want to avoid overly “hairdressery” hair.

For your work to qualify, it must be:
– High res imagery.
– Models must be attractive, but age is not that much of an issue as I would like to include women of all ages if possible.
– You must own the work and you must be able to provide the publisher a release.

What’s in it for you? Unfortunately we don’t have a budget to compensate stylists financially. But to have your work in hard copy in a book like this is pretty cool, and of course you will be credited. And if I use your images in a more prominent way, half or full page, you will be mentioned in the description of the work as well.

If you have work already shot that you would like to be considered for inclusion, please post it to
https://www.facebook.com/pages/1000-Hairstyles/835624499812732

If you think you would like to shoot something new, the deadline is April 30th 2015.

And if you wish you could shoot something but are overwhelmed at the thought of putting together a shoot, use this as a catalyst to start creating your own editorial. Get your co-workers together and call up your hottest clients with the best hair, call a makeup artist friend (we all have them) hire a photographer to come to the salon and shoot your work. It will be a great team-building session and you will definitely want to do it again.

I hope this covers everything. If you have questions, I will try to answer them.

Thanks so much! I hope to be able to use all the fabulous work submitted.