Christian Gaytan [EP:169]

Navigating the World of Haircutting Education with Christian Gaytan

In this episode, join hosts Jen and Todd as they catch up with special guest Christian Gaytan, a seasoned hair professional and educator.

Christian shares his journey from discovering his passion for haircutting to becoming an independent educator.

Listeners will gain insights into the importance of simplifying education, the challenges of going independent, and how to maintain tunnel vision for success.

With stories from behind the chair and tips for aspiring educators, this conversation is filled with practical advice and inspiration for anyone in the hair industry.

Find Christian here:
IG: @christianawesome
TikTok: christian.awesome
Website: Christian Awesome Hair
Online education: Patreon 

00:00 Welcome and Introduction
01:27 Jen's Opening Take: Taking Time Off
03:57 Christian's Background and Upbringing
06:39 Journey into Hairdressing
10:45 Transition to Education and Platform Work
17:50 Becoming an Independent Educator
28:34 Teaching Haircuts: A Personal Journey
28:59 The Unique Approach to Hair Education
31:23 The Importance of Hands-On Learning
32:29 Navigating the World of Online Education
35:01 The Value of Small Group Education
42:41 Launching an Online Education Platform
49:21 Advice for Aspiring Educators
51:43 Future Plans and Final Thoughts

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Transcript

Christian Gaytan 169
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[00:00:00] 

Todd: Alright, what's up everyone, happy Monday, welcome back. We are joined, hi Jen,

Jen: Hi.

Todd: you out, are joined this week by our friend and special guest Christian Gaytan, and we, so, quick backstory, when, how far back was it when we recorded

Jen: I think it was a year ago.

Todd: so like a year ago we recorded with Christian, the audio was so bad, and I was like. I'm not an audio engineer, but I was like, you know what? I can clean this up. I can figure this out. False. That

Jen: Not even close.

Todd: happening. So I had to email Christian like a day later and I was like, look, man, I screwed up and he was totally cool about it,

Jen: It was such a bummer.

Todd: I felt, yeah, it was a bummer. It was a fun episode and we talked a lot about education and we can get into all that stuff.

But anyways, we're here. We're making it happen. So welcome back, Christian.

Christian: Yeah, man. Thank you. Thanks so much for having me. I'm stoked. I'm stoked for to get a second chance.

Jen: Yeah. One of the coolest people in the whole wide world.[00:01:00] 

Todd: So.

Christian: Thank you.

Todd: We've been, I don't know if you've been listening at all. We've been starting the podcast with an opening take, just something. See how Jen's head goes back like that. Cause

Jen: I still forget.

Todd: she forgets every week. So this can be anything I can go first. I can go last, whatever.

Jen: I got it. I got it.

Todd: can be business related.

This can be hair related or just life or whatever, anything. So Jen, you want to start

Jen: Yep. I just came. I'm good.

Todd: Go

Christian: All right.

Jen: So my opening take is going to be a little personal story to like, what maybe can inspire someone to do what I'm doing this year. So in 25 years behind the chair, I have never taken off the Monday before Thanksgiving, which is today. And I have never taken off a whole week before.

Of Christmas through New Year's to spend with my family. I've always worked, worked, worked, and it came to the holiday. And I was so tired that most often I could barely stay awake to actually enjoy the holiday. And then there was so much stress leading up and I was inspired by someone who I met a Christian, you know, her, her name is Shannon. [00:02:00] And last year she had posted how she took off the week to Christmas and it was the best thing she ever did. So I had put that kind of in my notes and I, committed. And here's what I did wrong. I kept still booking people and then unbooking them. Cause I like felt like I need to do this. I need to do this.

Like my bad habits kept creeping up. But I have committed today. I am off from the salon and it's going to be great. And the whole week from like the 21st through January 2nd, I have taken off and just to spend time with my family first ever super proud. And just thought I'd share that. Cause maybe it inspires someone else to do that either this year or next year.

Christian: That's awesome.

Jen: Mm hmm.

Todd: That is

Christian: Congratulations.

Jen: Thanks. Super proud.

Todd: Christian, you wanna go? You have an opening take?

Christian: I don't know that I have an opening take. I mean, that was such a good one. I feel completely unprepared.

Todd: That's

Jen: usually do too, so it's totally fine.

Todd: So I'll go, and it's gonna sound like a total ripoff. Mine was just gonna be some advice. And I was just gonna say, like, work can wait. Like, really try to be there for Thanksgiving, however you [00:03:00] celebrate, friends or family. It doesn't matter, but take some time for yourself. I always tell the story, like, a funny story of how they tell you to put your mask on first on an airplane if there's ever an emergency. you don't take care of yourself, you can't help anybody else. we're in an industry where there's a lot of helping. You have people that came before you that you rely on their expertise to get you where you want to be. And then you hopefully help the next generation unless you're a jerk and you don't, but you know what I'm saying? But yeah, you've got, you've got to recharge and you definitely, you deserve it just like Jen. Like we work hard throughout the year and take some time, just take a breath, take a walk, anything, whatever. So if you're listening out there, go do that now and then come back and hit play.

Christian: Go take a walk.

Jen: Take a walk.

Todd: go take a walk.

Jen: I think last,

Christian: You got to get your steps in.

Jen: eat a salad. That was my opening take. Eat a salad. Make you feel good.

Todd: Tell that, you tell our staff that all the

Jen: I do. Drink water, eat a salad.

Todd: So

Christian: choice.

Todd: we were talking last night, Jen, [00:04:00] and we want to get into, if it's okay with you, Christian, a little bit of like your background, but even back towards like childhood, what did that look like? Where did you grow up? What was life like? And it might, I said this last night, it might seem silly, like I feel like my, if I explain my childhood. from this area would be like, yeah, that's like all of us. But someone from a city might be like, Whoa, that was way different. So you never know, like, and we think it's important because it's, that's the foundation to, that was laid to get you where you are today,

Christian: Yeah, yeah, totally.

Todd: like it for people, because we live in the world of social media and everything is instant.

And we only see like, you know, Christian awesome, you know, this awesome guy that helps people cut hair better.

Christian: Yeah. 

Todd: So what did childhood look like?

Christian: childhood. Look for me. Well, I'm from an hour south of Chicago. And I would say that it's, it's not really a suburb, you know, it's pretty far out there. We're a little bit more rural and very [00:05:00] middle class area. I grew up in a huge family. My immediate family is not super big, but lots of aunts and uncles, tons of cousins.

I'm talking like 30 cousins during the holidays. And I don't know, man. It was a good time. It was a ton of fun. But I think that growing up, I got a sense that like work and hard work was important. Because my parents have always worked hard, like everyone around me. Always worked really hard when I started working, I saw that as kind of like the path to get where I wanted to go and to, you know, get to the point that I feel like would open up another door, another opportunity.

So that was kind of my childhood. I was super into creative stuff. I wasn't really big into sports. I was always really big into music and art, and I spent a lot of my time pursuing creative endeavors. You know, back then when you've got endless amounts of time I spent a lot of that time drawing and playing music and just imagining and being creative and trying to create, I feel like the world that I, that I wanted, you know what I'm saying?

So it was a lot of creativity [00:06:00] and it was a lot of just kind of dreaming. And then when I was old enough to a lot of working and it's been that way since.

Todd: That's cool. And so did you stay in the same area to around at all, or

Christian: No, I I stayed in the same area until I was maybe about four years, four or five years into doing hair. And then I moved to the city, which is something that I always wanted to do. I kind of saw that as like my pathway to, at that time, get to where I wanted to go, which was to do stage work and education.

Todd: very cool. And

Christian: Yeah,

Todd: did you, how did you enter the hair world? Was that right out of high school or was there other

Christian: I, well, I, so when I graduated from school, I did a year at the American Academy of Art. And I didn't really know what I wanted to do with an art degree. So rather than spending the money, cause it was super expensive to go there, I decided I would take some time off to try to figure out what direction I wanted to go.

And at that same time I was playing in a band and the band that I was playing in, we [00:07:00] were starting to tour a little bit. We were playing a lot more shows. We recorded this like really short like seven song EP. And my, my shift, my, my focus shifted and I was like, well, maybe I won't go back to school.

Maybe I'll just do this music thing. Cause it's a ton of fun. And we seem to be pretty good at it. But in the meantime, you know, I needed to figure out a way to supplement my income. So I was trying to figure out trade schools that I could go to my dad and a lot of my relatives, you know, work in construction, doing everything from like, Roofing to masonry to pouring concrete and construction and that sort of thing.

And so I had a quick thought. I was like, I don't know that I want to work that hard. You know what I mean? Cause that's like backbreaking labor and I would see, you know, how hard they worked and they would come home and they'd be super tired and all beat up and work accidents and stuff like that. So. You know, now my list of trade schools is like really narrowing.

But then I kind of thought, you know, music at that time, like music and hair and fashion, like this was the scene in like 2003, 2004. So I was like, let me go to hair school, you know, how hard could that be? [00:08:00] And so I enrolled in music school without, yeah, yeah. Without knowing anything about hair other than just, you know, you chop it up with a pair of kitchen scissors in someone's bathroom.

And then I got to learn a little bit more about it. And that was kind of like my, my first introduction into doing hair was just kind of like, I took a chance on something that I thought would help pay for my band.

Jen: That's awesome.

Christian: Yeah.

Todd: really cool. so, did you have a family at that point?

Christian: Oh, no, no. I mean, aside from, you know, my, my parents and my brother, my sister. No,

Todd: right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But no marriage, no. So,

Christian: no, no,

Todd: at the time, or

Christian: no, not, no. Not, not while I was in beauty school. No. I mean, at that time, I mean, I've always been a really focused and passionate individual when it comes to the things that I'm, I'm like really into, right at that time, that thing was music.

You know, like I was the amount of time that I would spend playing music. I mean, my brother was in [00:09:00] the band and one of my really good friends, who was our other guitarist was temporarily homeless. And so we took him in and he lived in our basement. And so I would, you know, go to work and I worked at like an Arby's or something like that.

And then I would, we would come home at night and we would spend hours until like three or four in the morning, like writing music. So I've always been like, whatever the thing that I'm doing, like I'm doing it 110%.

Jen: All

Christian: and so that was like, my only focus was music and writing music and trying to figure out how we could get our band signed and how we could tour more and how we could record a full album and that sort of thing.

Jen: Wow. where do you

Christian: Yeah,

Jen: school?

Christian: I went to hair school at this really small like mom and pop beauty school called Trendsetters College of Cosmetology it was like I don't even know dude. It was like I think it was like an old like car Sales, you know what I'm saying? Like I think it was like a like that type of thing I I know that it was something before it was a beauty school and it didn't look like a beauty school It was just like a bunch of like small [00:10:00] random rooms, you know You I think there was an apartment upstairs.

Like it was, it was really, really, really humble. But it was awesome. I had a really good time.

Jen: I assume they don't exist still.

Christian: Yeah. Yeah. No, no, actually they became later on a Palm Mitchell school and like move locations and, but, but yeah,

Todd: there was an apartment above our barber school that I went to, Jen.

Jen: there was an apartment above the hair school I went to. That is kind of weird.

Todd: interesting.

Christian: that is cool. Yeah,

Todd: they had

Jen: So how you go to hair school, and I know you did, like, I feel like you were educating right from the beginning, if I'm correct on this, and sort of got into platform work, I think fairly early on, am I correct?

Christian: it did. I, I, so like maybe a month before graduating one of my classmates who was graduating roughly around the same time with a nail tech at a salon. And she was like you know, my salon has an opening, they've got a chair open. You should, you should So I [00:11:00] did that, but during that same week, the school that I was going to they were like, Hey, have you ever thought about like getting into teaching?

And they were trying to recruit me to become an educator at that school. So I was like, I've got these really two awesome job opportunities lined up and I actually ended up taking them both. I would work part time in the salon, you know, trying to build a clientele because at that time, the area that I'm from, there wasn't really a strong assistant culture.

Like you graduated and you got a job and that was it. Like you're working now. But then I also was like, man, I want to get into this education thing because you know, the area that I'm in is very small. And there's a lot of legacy hairstylists who've been doing hair for years and they don't really take a lot of education.

I was like, this is going to be my way to be competitive is by being in education and constantly learning the new things. So I was like, I want to do that too. So I did them both. And that was how I got into education was I became an educator at school that I graduated from only, you know, a month before.

Jen: That's awesome.

Christian: Yeah,

Todd: where or when was there a [00:12:00] transition from your focus on music? Had that been something you actively thought about? Was it something that just slipped to the back burner? Because you said you were focused on trying to get a band signed and now all

Christian: yeah, yeah,

Todd: teaching in a school.

Christian: that's funny about halfway through beauty school. Yeah, about halfway through cosmetology school. I was like man This is really awesome. And I'm like, I'm pretty good at it and we would have these guest artists that would come in, you know at the beginning of every month and They would like share their stories and that sort of thing.

And that was when I really started meeting people who I was like, wow, like these are entrepreneurs and they're, they travel the world. And you know, they're these, these super important pillars in their community. I was like, I didn't know that hair was like that. You know what I'm saying? So so it was about halfway through where I was like, I don't know that I want to do music anymore.

I think that I want to shift like my obsessive, you know, passion focus. From music to hair. And then that's what I did.

Jen: That's awesome.

Todd: do you still, do you still play? Do you dabble at all?

Christian: Not, not really. It's, it's really hard to find the time now, you know, like at the point in life that, you know, we're all [00:13:00] in where you've got kids and family and, and, and work and, and all these other, you know, little things that kind of take up the, the gaps of time in between, it's just, it's really difficult, I feel like to do that.

And also I'm just not as sharp as I used to be. You know, if you don't use it, you lose it. And I definitely don't have the finger dexterity anymore or the creativity anymore. So. Not as much as I would like to.

Jen: Can we

Christian: Yeah.

Jen: albums somewhere?

Todd: I was

Christian: I actually, yeah, I actually do have the old EP. It's a couple of MP3s in like a Dropbox type of situation that my brother sent me.

Jen: I might need to listen to this.

Christian: Yeah,

Todd: So how, what happened next? How long were you at the school teaching and at the salon working?

Christian: so I was at the school and salon for about four years and then I got wind that another school was opening up in Chicago, a different set of owners, but still in the, the Paul Mitchell world. And I was like, this is my [00:14:00] ticket, right? This, I've always wanted to live in the city. I've always wanted to move there.

So I was like, let me go interview there and I ended up getting the job. And so, you know, packed up and moved to the city. And then that kind of started. Kind of like the path into educating for brands because before then it was really just in the school. So once I started working in Chicago, the owners of that school had like really, really really awesome connections.

And so I was able to get into Paul Mitchell, Advanced Academy and educating through them. And so then I was traveling around the country educating the educators at other schools. And so that was kind of like my foot in the door because once you get in that little, that little world, you know, you start to meet educators you know, around the country, educators for different brands, like educators for, you know, independent educators, like you're kind of this part of this like really small community of people who just kind of share ideas and you know, You know what I'm saying?

Like it's, it's like a really cool sort of like soup of, of just inspiration and motivation [00:15:00] and connections and that sort of thing. So it was pretty rad.

Jen: And did you travel, oops, sorry. Did you travel just through the U S or were they putting you kind of, I don't know exactly how far Paul Mitchell, like those schools expand. So is it all over the

Christian: Yeah,

Jen: of like United States?

Christian: no, at that time it was just, it was just the United States and I was kind of newer to that team of educators. So I would get sent to kind of like these kind of smaller areas. But it was, I mean, it was a ton of fun, you know, like it was, it was practicing. That was where I really, I think, cut my teeth on becoming a cutting educator.

You know, I was like honing the skills there. Because in order to get on that team, you know, you, you really have to develop your cutting ability. But in order to, once you're on that team, then you have to really hone your skills as like, you know, I can cut hair, but can I teach people how to cut hair or can I teach people?

Yeah. Yeah. Can I teach people how to teach people how to cut hair? Cause I'm working with other educators, you know? And so that was where I really, I feel like it started to, to grow that skillset. [00:16:00] You know?

Jen: And that must've been fun for you because otherwise you wouldn't have kept

Christian: Oh, it was, it was a blast, dude. Like I, I love cutting hair and I love teaching and I can't pick which one I like more. So I just put the two together. You know what I mean?

Jen: And at that point too, are you no longer in a salon? So if you're cutting hair, it's just teaching people how to cut hair on mannequins or models or that kind of thing.

Christian: No, no, it's actually funny. I've always worked like two or three jobs. So while all this is happening, I'm still working in a salon. Yeah.

Jen: I think that's even more relatable. I like, I know even when I

Christian: Yeah.

Jen: out there and if you're still behind the chair, there's so much more you can offer than just do a haircut like this, because you've been in so many real life scenarios, right, where you can

Christian: Yeah.

Jen: through that.

Christian: Yeah. Totally. And I think that was aside from the fact that I just I like being busy. You know what I mean? Like I like feeling productive and specifically productive in in hair and in teaching and then that sort of thing. I was always really [00:17:00] important for me to To work behind the chair because I felt like that gave me much more credibility.

Do you know what I mean? It gave me a lot more experience that I could draw from and people taking my classes with people learning from me could see that like, I'm not just presenting the prepared material, presenting material that is, that's being used, you know what I mean? That has has something to support it and back it up.

So it was always really important for me to do that.

Jen: I think in today's world that probably

Todd: Okay,

Jen: and they can't seem to connect that because they're not doing it in real time.

Christian: dude. You know what? It, it took me so long to figure that out. I'm an independent educator now. I'm not with anybody. And that's kind of the, that's kind of like the, the lane that I stay in right now is like, how can I, how can I teach something in a simple [00:18:00] way as possible? Because one thing that, that it didn't occur to me until maybe a few years back, you know, is that the more you know something, the more abstract your language around that thing becomes.

And so you're speaking at a level that's like way up here. And like, you know what you're doing, like, totally, no doubt about that. But if only a small percentage of the classroom can follow you, like it's, it's not, you know what I'm saying? Like, it's not doing anybody any good. So, so, you know, I really, where I'm at now and how I teach now is I melt away all of the, the complex language, all the you know, the lingo.

I want to melt it down as simple as possible because I, because I, I work behind the chair full time and the average person who's taking my class will spend a chair full time. They're not. An educator. They're not trying to get into educating. They're not trying to understand anything on any deeper a level.

Then can I build a clientele? Does that make sense? And so that that's kind of where I'm at. I love that. You said that because I a hundred percent agree.

Jen: I think it's. go ahead, [00:19:00] Todd.

Todd: you can keep going

Jen: I was just saying, I think it's a huge disconnect when people take a class now because they are like, well, that wasn't worth my time. And I think if you're in a situation like the three of us here, you have a family, you have kids, you have all these things. So if I'm going to give up my time, it best be worth it.

And I think most people in our world sort of, you know, Want that information, just like you said, as quick as possible, as simple as possible so that they can actually use it. I've taken tons of classes where I'm like, that's not very applicable for me. I can usually pull things out, but I've watched other people in it and they're just lost and they're not taking anything of it.

And usually those people, yes, they know what they're talking about. They can cut hair fantastically, but they're not actually helping the people that are there get better at cutting hair. And I think a lot of people hide behind. Just doing color and they do decent haircuts. And I think a lot of people in the world are used to crappy haircuts, but they can't get much better than that. And it's sometimes I think, stressful for people to go to haircutting glasses because they really don't know how to cut hair and it exposes that. So I [00:20:00] think if you can make it fun, playful, and like you said, talk to them at the level they're at, and maybe then they take that next step, but. Generally just give them basics and foundation.

And they're like, wow, I didn't realize why I was doing that. I didn't realize if I did that, it would make difference. And I think that's I don't think you have game on, on that one.

Christian: Yeah, dude. Yeah, I agree hard.

Todd: I had 2 quick things to say. The 1st was, I've talked to a lot of people that for their education, like, they might be at a salon and they're like, we do a lot of education and I'll say. What does that look like? And most people that I talk to are like, well. They might have some classes or whatever come in once in a while, but it's mostly like, oh, we just watch, like. the busiest and I think to myself like watching so if I watch Jen while

Christian: Yeah,

Todd: in the salon at speed Like her her normal like workflow. There's not a lot that I'm taking out of that She's

Christian: yeah.

Todd: 27 years of experience on me like a good start so I I think that sets people up [00:21:00] for the whole like just I think there's value in, in observation, but if that's your whole, like, game plan, I think you should probably

Jen: Re evaluate.

Todd: it. Yeah,

Christian: Oh, I agree.

Todd: It's

Christian: For sure.

Todd: Like, watching anybody, watch I don't know, any profession. Watch them work at speed, and you're, you're gonna be lost in two seconds.

Christian: Yeah, and that might work for a really small percentage of people. But for the majority of people, yeah, I agree with you. They're not going to be able to keep up.

Todd: The other point I wanted to make was, you are an independent educator. I wanted to say congratulations, cause

Christian: Thank you.

Jen: Yeah.

Todd: And, if you wouldn't mind How, like, how did that come about? if there's anything negative, you can leave that part out. But like

Christian: Yeah,

Todd: decide to not be part of a brand or were you, I'll let you take it away.

Christian: I think, I think I was just ready, you know, like I, I spent so much of my time educating for brands and, and I, and I loved it and I'm glad that I did that because, you know, I made a lot of [00:22:00] friends, I made a lot of connections, obviously opened up a lot of doors that helped with my exposure, with the exposure that I would, I would later need in order to go independent.

But, you know, I, I'm, I'm kind of at this point where, going back to the very beginning, during the open, you know, I, like, I've always been a worker. Like, I've always been somebody who I, I like being busy. I like. Being productive. I just kind of at a point now where I'm like, you know what? I work hard.

I'm a hard worker. If I'm gonna work hard, I should, I should work hard for me, you know, and I don't mean that in any way. You know, I've loved everyone that I've, I've been in business with and that I've worked for and. You know, obviously they've helped shape and mold me or at least add on to, you know, who, who I am now.

But I think I was just ready, you know, to, to kind of go at it and, and maybe even potentially build up some people, you know, that, that that could help me and then later on go out on their own too, you know what I mean? So I think I'm just ready.

Jen: So let's talk a little bit about that journey. We talked about this before we started recording because I think listening is like, I [00:23:00] want to be an independent educator, I want to do what Christian

Christian: Yeah.

Jen: but obviously that didn't happen in one second. There must have been a ton of legwork and thought process and whatever else you did To switch from being with brands and then now being on your own. So I think for someone listening that wants to do that, if you could give them even a little bit of a glimpse of what that looked like for your journey to get to be an independent educator.

Christian: Yeah. I think that, I don't know that my advice is going to be anything different. I think it's going to be a lot of the same because I believe it, but it's like, it's really helpful if you can find people who are doing what you want to do. You know what I mean? Like, there was a point in time where we would have just called a mentor, you know, find yourself a mentor.

I still, I still think that that's really valuable advice. Find someone who's kind of been where you want to be. And if, if they're close, you know what I mean? Spend time with them. If they're not, then try to develop some kind of a connection or relationship with them where you can learn from them and you know, throw advice, advice back and forth.

And that sort of thing, [00:24:00] because it's, it's really helpful. I think it cuts out a lot of the, the, the mistakes that you could make if you didn't have guidance like that. You know what I mean? So I would say that try to find a mentor, or try to find somebody who's. Who's that where you want to be? Mm-Hmm.

Jen: Cause I think too, then you get in real time, what, what, what type of work needs to go into it? And I do think a lot of people see social media platforms or see people succeed and they're like, Oh, I could do that. That's gotta be so easy and don't realize all the back, all the work that goes in to make it look easy.

If you don't do the work. It's not there. And I think having a mentor would, like you said, it sets you up for a faster pace because you won't make the same

Christian: Mm-Hmm.

Jen: They'll keep you on track. They'll help you stay focused and really help you get where you want to be at the quickest way possible.

Christian: Absolutely. That's like the fastest way in my opinion.

Jen: Agreed.

Todd: do it correctly,

Jen: Yes.

Christian: Yeah. Yeah. Because

Todd: like the fastest way is not necessarily like the cheat code.

Jen: Yeah.

Todd: just grind and do the work and

Jen: Yeah.

Todd: you there the quickest.

Christian: absolutely. [00:25:00] Mm-Hmm?

Todd: What was there a process? So I've taken your class. I've taken a class. from you and we had you out to hello and there are educators that, you know, I mean this in the nicest possible way, but just, I would never see again. Just it happens,

Jen: More often

Christian: Yeah. Yeah.

Todd: that I probably take in their class and it's like maybe I picked something up.

Maybe I didn't. Maybe it was a cool hang. I don't know. Whatever. And then there are some that kind of stand out and you're like, that was a different vibe. How was there an active, like, did you take an active role in finding? Your tone finding your Sort of teaching style or something that just developed on its own or what did

Christian: I think a little, I think a little bit of both. You know, I think that it's a little bit of developing on your own. Because you are really just a product of all those that you ever come in contact with in positive and negative ways. So it's a little bit of it developed on its own, but then there's also a little bit [00:26:00] of kind of looking macro.

Do you know what I mean? At, let's just say in this example, haircutting education as a whole. And what I know about haircutting education as a whole is that sometimes it's like operating at a level that's way up here. You know what I'm saying? Because the people that started it, the people that designed it.

Wanted there to be a standard, you know what I'm saying? But if that standard is so unattainable by somebody just starting out or even somebody who doesn't really have the support system or the foundation to understand something like at that standard, you're just going to have people that don't ever try, you know what I'm saying?

And so it was like, let me try to, again, going back to what we were saying earlier, let me try to like really melt this down. Let me boil all this down. Let me get rid of all the technical jargon. And just talk to you as if you're not a hairstylist. I, I've, you know, a fun experiment that I've always wanted to try and I've never really tried it because I don't have the time is like, I want to get, I want one [00:27:00] month with someone who's not a hairstylist who doesn't want to do hair.

And I want to try to see if I could teach them how to do hair in that one month period. Do you know what I'm saying? I think you can do it. I think it totally can be done, but you have to make the instruction super simple. You have to really boil it down before we were talking about Degrees of elevation and over directions and internal and external graduation.

Like that shit is just not enough fly. Like people are not going to, they're not going to grasp that. You have to get to a certain point before that stuff, those concepts make sense to you. But if you just hit them out the gate with that, like they're not going to get it. It's not going to stick, you know?

So my thing has always been like, how can we melt this down the easiest and most simplest way? And then deliver that to people. I think that you'll raise a lot more people up.

Jen: Agreed.

Todd: for sure? You know, what's funny about that? Jen, I had I don't even know if I filled you in on this but a while back I had an idea for like a youtube series and I was like stylist wife teaches barber husband how to color in 30 days. And I was like, we should just [00:28:00] record this and you

Christian: You should do that.

Todd: you know, about color, like distill it down in 30 days and, and teach me.

Now I went to barber school, we did do color and stuff like that. But when I left, it's not something that I practice. So,

Christian: Right.

Todd: but that could be, that could be something

Jen: Sure. That could be very interesting. I mean, I'm in

Christian: Maybe, maybe, maybe with one of my kids, if one of my kids gets a little older and decides they have an interest in hair, that'll be where I get to do that.

Jen: I it's funny you say that. So our daughter, she's nine and I've been teaching her a little bit. I just let her with the mannequin cut a little, like sort of where we're at. I'm like, let's see if we can do this. Cause also I'm like, then you could do my hair and I'd be super pumped. Cause if I can teach you how I want my hair done, gonna be great.

Christian: Yeah, dude. I think you should.

Jen: I think so too.

Todd: You definitely should. She loves playing with those mannequins.

Jen: Yeah, no.

Todd: Christian what I'm trying to figure out how to word this. What separates you, like for people listening, what, what do you think separates [00:29:00] your education from, I'll say the bulk of other stuff that's out there? I know, again, I know there are great educators out there, so,

Christian: Yeah.

Todd: what do you sort of stand on, if anything?

Christian: Well, you know what? I think that when I opened up my classes, a lot of the time I'll say something to the effect of that I, I teach because I love teaching, but it's not my full time thing. Like, I work full time behind the chair, you know, like I'm there five days a week. You know all I do is haircuts, you know, I'd maybe have a couple of color clients, but I'm, I'm a haircutter, you know, and everything that I teach, everything that I talk about is stuff that I actively use behind the chair.

Like, I don't work for a brand. I'm not trying to advance a curriculum. I'm just a guy who cuts hair behind the chair full time, who wants to help other people understand haircutting better. And so, you know, I'm not I don't know that nobody, nobody controls what I say or the message that I share, like, I'm not censored in any kind of a way, like, I'm not I don't owe anything to any, any brand or curriculum or anything [00:30:00] like that.

So, for me, I think maybe what separates me is that I'm trying to make this as simple as possible because I want for people who work full time behind the chair to feel more confident about cutting hair. And and I'm and I'm speaking from experience. I'm speaking from stuff that I use every single day working with real people with real problems and changes intensity, density and texture and co formation and etcetera.

So I would say maybe that.

Todd: That's awesome. I love that, because I, I always say, like, one of the biggest skills that That I think are most important skills for an educator is to have the ability to make it about the people that they're educating.

Christian: Yeah,

Todd: many times, Jen can attest to this too. We've walked into classes and there's like 15 or 20 minutes of like a story, like a background story about this person's life.

Christian: yeah,

Todd: I'm like, am I here? What am I here for?

Jen: I'm here for some therapy.

Todd: the background. Yeah, we

Christian: yeah,

Todd: that should almost be a podcast [00:31:00] episode.

Christian: yeah,

Todd: obviously getting people's background because it's how they got to where they are, but some of them are like drawn out and it's like. It almost is like a waste of time and it feels

Christian: totally

Todd: using their platform for them, not necessarily for the student. I think that's a shame because the best classes that I've, I've been to, you can take something and immediately apply it, which is, it sounds like that's your goal

Christian: 100

Todd: taking your classes.

Christian: percent it went because you're right now. You're talking about interest and stuff. My shows are like less than two minutes. I just like to get right to work, you know, because you know, How often, how many times have you been in a class and it's just like the intro just drags on and then everybody's got to share fact about themselves.

And so what's your favorite, tell us your favorite this. And it's like, dude, people paid a lot of money to be here. Like, we don't want to be sitting here for 15, 20, 30 minutes getting to know each other, like we could do that after when I had you on Instagram, you know what I'm saying? Like, teach me something, [00:32:00] dude.

Jen: So

Christian: Yeah,

Jen: I think,

Todd: we've been in classes

Jen: Oh,

Todd: of a sudden there's like a DJ

Jen: can't.

Todd: why is

Jen: Yeah.

Todd: And I'm like, what is happening?

Jen: I,

Todd: lights and

Christian: yeah,

Todd: not to knock that stuff. I guess there, there's value, I guess there, but

Jen: no, there's not.

Todd: I guess.

Jen: I

Christian: yeah. It's a vibe.

Jen: I've taken one of your classes and I, you know, I think very highly of you as an educator and just as a human in general, but

Christian: Thank you.

Jen: what you bring to the table is I feel during COVID, there was a lot of people that, you know, We're really great at online education. And I think they thrived in zoom type education, which I think there's a time and a place for. I think what's

Christian: Hmm.

Jen: is this in person education is ramping up and people are realizing kind of what you said, Todd, and what you, Christian agreed with was can't just watch demos all day at some point, you got to get hands on and you need a mentor. You need someone to be like, Hey, do you realize you're holding your hand here, your scissors here or whatever. I think those people that did really well with all those zoom trainings and really stopped working on getting in person [00:33:00] and and working with people one on one are going to struggle in this next transition and I think what you've managed to do and probably like you said, you'd like to be busy.

You'd like to be hard working is. You can figure out how to, you've come up with your platform for online learning, but you've also, at that point, haven't stopped doing your platform for in person learning, and then you're

Christian: Yeah. Hmm.

Jen: day, like the rest of us. So it's like this perfect circle of you're able to reach. Everybody on every single level. And I don't believe there's a lot of people out there doing that. I think one thing is like, there's they're teaching too far up because they think

Christian: Hmm.

Jen: because I think that makes them look smarter, which all it does is just take the class and make the class feel dumber.

Like, so you've missed all of that. And then in the same sense, they're not behind the chair, so they can't add the element of real life to anything they're doing. Like they're showing something and everybody in this class. And I've seen one that we were at recently. We took our staff to And they couldn't figure out how to take all the different haircuts they learn in this class. [00:34:00] Afterwards, we talked through it, but they were like, how am I going to do this on my clients? Like I, they're not going to

Christian: Yeah.

Jen: the hair hair. They don't want me to have this, but there was never a conversation about, okay, in real life, you can do it this way. And on your client that wants it like this, you can pull the hair here. And that is a huge miss. Cause what we can do on a mannequin all day. Cool. Mannequin can't complain, but I want to take it and I want to translate it. And I know for a fact that you do that skill very well. You allow people to not feel to ask questions, to move the class and, and move the scale in the way they want to learn and like, Hey, Christian, if I were to do this on my client, I don't think they'd want this.

Oh, well, let me show you. And everyone has the same

Christian: Yeah.

Jen: nobody wants to answer it or ask it because they're too afraid. again, that educator comes in and they're speaking here, which is not at their level. So they leave and they might've taken one thing and they took it with a cool guy that everybody loves, but they didn't actually get what they needed out of the class. I was long winded, but I think you, what you do very well is I guess, [00:35:00] bring it into real time behind the chair where they can take it home. So when people are looking at your class, like, you know, how much money do I want to invest in my education? Here's the thing. If you invest it with the right person, the return is, is

Christian: Yeah.

Jen: it's fantastic.

You'll make money off that. You'll profit off that class as a, as a person

Christian: Absolutely.

Jen: That's my

Christian: Yeah. Yeah, dude.

Todd: I like it. So It's all right. I like when you have a spiel. Plus, it's a fun word to

Jen: Yeah, it is. I like how you just said the tunnel vision, because I think.

Todd: Do you have any predictions or any feelings, Christian, about where education is going? Because like Jen just talked about, we had, we had Zoom. Because of the pandemic. So we were sort of forced into that. And I think like what you were saying, Jen, it's just convenient for people that maybe aren't as seasoned in front of a crowd or know how to work in crowd or, or that sort of thing. Like I've been, [00:36:00] obviously a lot of your classes, Jen, you're really good at getting people. The information that they need, like you'll just ask them, like, what are you looking to take out of this today? And that's important. But one of the things that I'm waiting for is when people can get over, I don't know if it's ego, it might be, but. It seems like a lot of education is deemed successful if you have like X amount of people show up

Christian: Yeah.

Todd: People will brag about like we had 200 attendees like was that successful?

How many of them reached out after and said I actually applied this? Thank you so much like or you changed the way

Christian: Yeah. Yeah.

Todd: or something like that. And the other piece is That pairs with that is I've been shouting for like micro education

Christian: Yeah.

Todd: because if you if you take a class in college And there's a hundred other students.

Are you getting as much as if you worked one on one with a professor? I'd argue no.

Christian: Yeah. Right. Right. [00:37:00] Yeah. Yeah. I agree with you.

Todd: do you have any thoughts on where education is going or where where? You want it

Christian: I, I don't know. I really, I don't think that I have any predictions on where it's going. Only because I think that since I've gone independent this year I've really kind of just developed tunnel vision. You know, I haven't really been paying a ton of attention to what other educators are doing right now because I'm so focused on like, This is what I want to try to make.

I want to make this little thing here and try to get this thing out. So I've kind of created like a tunnel vision for myself where I would like for it to go. I don't know, dude, I have no idea. I know that, you know, when you've been doing hair for as long as we have, what you, what you know is an absolute is that there's a pendulum, do you know what I'm saying?

And you swing this far in this direction and then it's always going to move to this direction. Like I think the pendulum has swung a handful of times since I've been doing hair. I think that I could probably predict that it will do more of that, you know maybe, maybe we're kind of in a phase where it's [00:38:00] ramping back up to like these large rooms and these large classes and lots of people, but eventually it'll swing back to a smaller, more intimate environment.

And I think that those who kind of stay in those smaller, more intimate classes will always still. Do really well because there's always a need for that, you know, there's always a need for like you go to a big class because you want to taste. You want to be able to see that educator. That's, you know, super popular.

It just it'd be fun to kind of see who see them and meet them and that sort of thing. But you're really going to get the majority of what, you know, in these small and more intimate environments too. So I don't know. I feel like maybe there's room for both. But I don't, I don't have any predictions.

Todd: Oh, that's cool.

Christian: Yeah,

Todd: think

Jen: Especially right now with all the social media platforms, I think people

Christian: yeah,

Jen: what everyone else is doing and trying to copy rather than

Christian: yeah,

Jen: your vision and stick with it. Right. Cause that will, that'll

Christian: yeah,

Jen: or you see people that look successful or doing certain things you don't know, like you have no idea.

So I love the, the tunnel vision of like, [00:39:00] this is where I'm going. This is what education I want from Christian awesome. And I'm just

Christian: yeah,

Jen: that home. And not get distracted by all the noise that can be. If I look to the right or the left. I think

Christian: yeah.

Jen: that's a great point of view for anything.

Anybody does is that tunnel vision of like, do you and do it really well and keep going.

Christian: Can, can we, can we retroactively do a, what did you say? An opening take

Jen: Yeah.

Christian: tunnel vision,

Jen: Develop

Christian: tunnel vision.

Jen: it.

Christian: No, seriously, seriously. Cause

Jen: Yeah.

Christian: should, you should develop, you should develop tunnel vision because you know, like there's, there's just so much happening in the industry and there's so much happening just like in our everyday lives.

And I feel like. Sometimes it just distracts you, distracts you and it bums you out. You know, like if you're an educator and you, you know, you're just starting out and you see these other educators and you compare yourself and it bums you out and then you don't do your thing or your hairstylist and you're trying to build a book and you see if there's other hairstyles, you're doing really great work and it bums you out and so then you don't do your thing.

You know, you're a small business owner and you see all these other business owners who are killing it [00:40:00] and then you get, you know, you get bummed out and then you don't do your thing. If you just develop tunnel vision, you don't pay attention to what anyone else is doing. And you only focus on your progress and your growth and your, you know, yes, your failures and your mistakes, but also what you learn from it and your successes then then does any of that other stuff really matter?

Jen: Right.

Christian: You know what I mean? Not really. Yeah,

Todd: That needs to be a t shirt.

Jen: There you go, Christian. Start putting up some apparel. I

Todd: someone says, I like your shirt, I will be like, You should be paying attention to yourself, sir.

Christian: right.

Todd: You need tunnel vision. didn't get it.

Christian: There's, there's a mirror. There's a mirror on the backside of the shirt. Yes.

Todd: awesome.

Jen: I might have to make that. Mm hmm. Mm

Todd: I I love looking at the business side of stuff.

And I going back sort of taking a step back to education. I've talked about this a lot with Jen. When we had our gym, it's so much easier to find, like, a few [00:41:00] clients and work with those that are willing to pay. Like a higher price point to work one on one or in small groups, say you're working two or three stylists to, or hair pros to one educator. There's so much value there. And I think that that would be an opportunity for the educator too, to sort of make the money that they deserve and make, like if somebody wanted to be just a full time educator, they should be compensated for that. That's, it's an amazing skill, especially if they're good at it and they're able to provide something that you can take immediately and put into practice.

Christian: Yeah.

Todd: so that's just something that I think about because it's, you know, you could to get 10 from a hundred people or you can try to sell a couple of 1, 000 tickets. Like which one would you rather do? I'd much rather work with the smaller group, you know?

Christian: Oh, yeah, totally.

Todd: and when we had our gym, it was always, it's just, those are the type of clients too that like that when you either don't want to invest or you want to sort of invest like a little bit, [00:42:00] are the most often they're not doing the thing and they're complaining the most. And then you have somebody that's like, you know, a premium at a premium sort of level service, one on one, whatever you want to call it. And they're like, well, I'm really investing into this. So I'm going to try my hardest, you know?

Christian: Yeah,

Jen: And generally the easiest to work with because they, they're bought in, right? That's part of that.

Christian: totally. Yeah.

Todd: exactly.

Jen: So I like to talk, I think you have still, and I should have checked this, but first of all, I'm not going to even try to. Say what you would use for your online education, but you do have and you can speak to this I think classes people can take online right that you or like videos that they can subscribe to am I right with this?

Christian: Yeah.

Jen: Can you

Christian: Yes.

Jen: Because I think there is something to be said who maybe can't travel to you or can't afford to have you travel to them But this

Christian: Yeah.

Jen: some a different way that they can get your education at a lower cost A price that I think that's affordable.

Christian: Yeah. So I did that for that exact reason, you know I knew that [00:43:00] going independent in the very beginning because I wouldn't have the resources of a brand would mean that I would start more local again, you know and so I was like, I feel like there should, there should be an option. And I know that I'm not the only person to do this with tons of people, but there should be an option for somebody who, you know, is say in, I don't know, Washington state wants to take a class to be able to take a class.

And so, what I do is I film a haircut once a month, and I wear a little GoPro so you can get kind of a POV, and I film the whole haircut from the consultation to, you know, the haircut to the finish and then I just do a voiceover, like old school hair cutting video style, where I just, I talk about why I'm, you know, pulling the hair in this direction, what type of effect it's going to have, and, you know, why I decided to cut the bangs this way, and There's a lot of kind of like, you know, when you compare the consultation to the haircut, you're like, Oh, okay, I get it.

Right. Because in the consultation, she said she wanted this. And so that's why Christian is doing that. And so I just do a little voiceover and then I toss it all up. And then as, as the demand grows, you know, I'll add a [00:44:00] lot more concepts to it. A lot more like Like subjects, you know what I mean?

Cause I have so many ideas for how I want this to grow. You know, I want to be able to do some social media stuff on here and some photography stuff and some, you know, marketing stuff and haircutting and styling and that sort of thing. So there's a lot of ways that I want it to grow, but it's still pretty new.

I've only had it for a year in October. But that's, it's a ton of fun, dude. I love doing that stuff. I've always. Liked the video and the editing part of it. And so it's, it's really cool that I can kind of like add a third thing to this focus of mine, which is, you know, haircutting and education and then videography.

Jen: when you launched this program, how much content had you already built into it?

Christian: I just started it with one, one, one video. Yeah. One haircut. Yeah. I didn't, I didn't have any back. I had a couple of videos like in backup in case I missed a month and I needed a video to pull from, but. I started it with just the one because I was like, you know what, I, I kind of a like a thing that it's always kind of been a setback for me is [00:45:00] that I, I've always been, Oh, you know, I'll do it later.

You know, like when, when it's ready, when it's ready. And then this year, I don't know what happened, like a light switched off and I was just like, Dude, if I just keep waiting for when I'm ready, it's never going to happen. I was like, let me just start the thing. You know what I mean? I can figure it out as I go.

And that's what I did. So yeah, I started with just one video. Yeah.

Jen: And I think a

Christian: Yeah.

Jen: do exactly that, like they're, I'm going to do it, or they're so

Christian: Oh yeah.

Jen: they're going to get when they put it out

Christian: Yes.

Jen: they never actually do it. And they're just literally thinking about it. Yeah. And it never goes anywhere.

But if you don't put yourself out there to be subject to it, either being successful or not, you will never know. Yeah. It's awesome.

Christian: you won't a hundred percent. And that's, that's, that was, you know, why I did it. Cause I was like, okay, if I keep telling myself, let me wait, let me wait, let me wait till I have the right amount. I'm never going to be ready. I'm going to keep doing the same thing I've done my entire life, which is like, Oh, I just keep pushing it off and pushing it off until I get too fed up one day.

And then I do it. You know what I mean? Like it's developed tunnel vision.

Jen: Yeah. Television.

Todd: That's the answer to all of your [00:46:00] problems. I, I've talked to a lot of people too that are like, well, I'll, I'll put this stuff out when I have like three months of content, or I'll put

Christian: Right.

Todd: when I finish my fourth book or whatever. And it's like, what are you doing? Put it out there

Christian: Yeah.

Todd: I

Christian: Just do it now.

Todd: Yeah, I

Christian: Just do it now. Cause if it sucks, you can always like fix it and grow it as you go. You know? But if you constantly waiting it's kind of like you know, people who are like perfectionists, you know what I mean? I don't remember where I heard this from. It was like, I know it was someone I was teaching with.

But I remember they said one time, they pulled me aside because we were coaching another educator. It was when I worked for Public Disability. They pulled me aside and they were like, you know, people always say that, you know, like, Oh, I'm such a perfectionist, I'm such a perfectionist. And they were like, they were like, well, you're not a perfectionist because if you were a perfectionist, then it would have been perfect.

And I was like, oh, man, dude, that's right, you know, and it wasn't perfect, you know, which is like, I mean, that sounds really harsh, but it's true, like, it's okay if it sucks, like, you can fix it as you go, but if you keep trying to make it perfect, like, how do you know what perfect [00:47:00] is?

Jen: You don't.

Todd: quote from maybe it's a writer who said don't worry about being a perfectionist. You'll never attain that anyways.

Christian: Yeah, yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm

Todd: relevant.

Christian: of that, I'm of that mindset. I don't, I don't believe in perfection, only progress.

Jen: also, totally. And you learn the most from your mistakes or your missteps, like that's

Christian: Yeah,

Jen: the magic of learning is. And it, it, it's where you grow. Like it's just how it is. Uncomfortable or not.

Christian: dude, a hundred percent.

Todd: Christian, we were talking about things that suck and whatever, and it prompted a question, maybe. Hopefully it's fun.

Christian: Huh.

Todd: what's been, since you've started on your own, what's been something that sucked or was there a surprise or what has been something that's frustrated you and you were like, maybe I didn't see that coming.

Christian: I don't know that there's been anything that is sucked. I would say frustrating is like, you know, when you work for [00:48:00] brands, you have the, all the resources and the support of the brand, you know, like they, they book the classes and you just show up and you teach them and you leave. I think Maybe frustrating is even the wrong word, but I think just an eye opening experience is like, okay, now I'm doing all the marketing for this class.

I'm doing all the, you know, the travel arrangements and I'm, you know, ordering the doll heads and all the supplies. And like, I'm just doing all that thing. So it just adds more to my workload now. That I'm having to do all of that stuff, but it's been fine. Like, I feel like I figured it out pretty quickly.

In the beginning, it was a bit of a learning curve because it was like, okay, I made the flyer and I put it out, you know, but it's like, oh, wait, now I got to work doll heads and I got to make sure that there's enough, you know, gift stuff for everybody and ordering chairs and catering and. So it's just been kind of a learning thing.

It's like, okay, now I'm, I'm, in addition to being a independent educator, I'm also an event planner too, you know? So it's just like learning, learning that stuff too.

Todd: That's really cool. So

Christian: Yeah.

Todd: if somebody wanted to follow in your footsteps, say they're just, say you have somebody [00:49:00] that's just finished hair school and they're like, I gravitated towards educating. I love it. It's where my heart is. What, what would your advice be or like a roadmap or however you want to put it?

Christian: I would say like start teaching, start, just start teaching. Even if it's not for a brand just yet, like start teaching, even if it's like a coworker or a stylist with less experience than you or you know, try through a distributors who work for a brand, like just start teaching right away because you'll, you'll start to develop like your style a little bit better, even if in the beginning it sucks, like my very first class, like suck.

I still remember it to this day. Absolutely bombed it. But it made it so that the second time it didn't suck as much. And the third time it didn't suck as much, you know what I'm saying? So I would say just, just start teaching so that you can get into the habit of framing what you want to say in a way that makes sense for other people.

And I think it also challenges you to think a little bit more about why you do the things that you do, you know? So I would say just start, just start [00:50:00] teaching.

Jen: Love that.

Todd: That's really good advice because I think there's a sort of preconception. Is that the word

Christian: Yeah.

Todd: to maybe work in a salon for X amount of years before you can be a quote unquote educator. And I don't think that's true. I think some people are just really good at that. And why would we hold them back?

We want, we need more people to share their knowledge so it lifts everybody. You know?

Christian: Yeah, totally. Yeah, totally. I don't think there needs to be like a right time or a right moment. I think just, just start and maybe some people won't like what you got to say and want to correct you and want to fight you. And you should welcome that too because the challenge is you to think about why you do what you do.

Do you know what I'm saying? Like, like, you know, I love it when I post a video and I get a comment that the challenge is the way that I do something. I think initially I get a little like, What are you talking about, dude? But then, after I've cooled off for a bit, I think about it and I'm like, Okay, yeah, that's a really good point, so let me try to see if I can rephrase this.

Or, maybe let me change kind of the way that I do [00:51:00] it. You know what I'm saying? Like, I love that. That kind of pushback and that challenge sometimes.

Todd: Yeah, that's really cool. I know. You've dealt with that,

Christian: Yeah,

Jen: Oh yeah. hmm.

Todd: or

Christian: yeah,

Todd: people challenging you in classes. Well, why that, or why that? And

Jen: Yeah.

Christian: yeah,

Todd: you build up over time, you know,

Jen: True story.

Todd: what did you have any other questions, Jen

Jen: No, I don't. That was great.

Christian: yeah,

Todd: Christian? What what's next for you? Where can people find you? Let's talk about some of that stuff. People are interested, hopefully in checking you out. So

Christian: yeah.

Todd: them?

Christian: I would say that I'm mainly on instagram. My handle is Christian awesome. I'm on tiktok and I've actually started to put a lot more of my focus there because dude, I've been finding that more of new clients find me on tiktok now than on instagram. So I've kind of been switching my focus.

Yeah, to tiktok. Yeah, dude, it's, it's been a ton of [00:52:00] fun like that. I've been having a really good time there. And my handle there is I think Christian. awesome because I couldn't get Christian awesome. And then you can find me on Patreon also under Christian awesome.

Jen: Cool.

Christian: And that's where my online education is.

Jen: too. Right.

Christian: Yeah.

Todd: We'll link all that stuff for

Christian: Awesome. Yeah. But as, but as far as like, what's next, I don't know. I think so I set a goal for myself for this year to teach 10 classes independently. I think next year I want to, I want to increase that goal and see if I can do a little bit more, maybe work in a travel date or two, just slowly, you know?

Cause I don't want to, I don't want it to overwhelm my work behind the chair or the work that I do for my patron or the time that I spend with my family. So. I don't know. Maybe just a little bit more independent education. I think. Yeah.

Jen: Looking

Christian: Yeah.

Todd: cool. Yeah, definitely. Well, Christian, thank you so much for your time. I it's, it was really great to catch up with you and to

Christian: Yeah. Yeah.

Todd: that you have going on. Tell a little bit of about your story. And again, sorry for last time wasting.[00:53:00] 

Christian: no. This was, this one was even better.

Jen: Yeah.

Todd: that I totally screwed everything up.

Christian: This one was even better. I think. I don't even remember what we talked about last time.

Jen: either.

Todd: either. And like we had talked about, like, you just get better at talking to people on

Christian: Yeah.

Todd: computer screen too, because. Yeah, I'm sure the first time we, I don't even remember the first time we had someone on, it might have been someone from our staff, actually, Jen,

Christian: Yeah.

Jen: think great.

Todd: and then we had a barber come up from Boston, we had him on, Steve, and I remember just like fumbling around, and I'm like, does this have to look a certain way?

And then it's like, you

Christian: Right.

Jen: Again, just do it.

Todd: like, let's just have a conversation, man. Catch up, you

Christian: Yeah. Totally.

Todd: Yeah, we'll link everything and thank you very much for your time and

Christian: Dude. Thank you.

Jen: Yeah.

Todd: it. Have an amazing holiday.

Christian: Thank you. You too.

Jen: Yeah. It's good to see you.

Todd: sure, I'm sure we'll have you on again at some point.

Christian: I would love that. Thank you guys for having me.

Jen: Yeah. Thanks for being here.

Todd: right.

Christian: Awesome.

Todd: Bye.

Christian: Bye.

​[00:54:00]