How to Keep Your Salon Staff: What Our Stylists Said When We Asked Why They Stay [EP:204]

What makes someone want to stay at your salon? This episode answers that question—straight from the people who matter most.

Todd and Jen read real, unfiltered responses from their team about why they choose to stay at Hello Hair Co. 

These messages are full of honesty, emotion, and insights that speak to what stylists value in a work environment. 

From mentorship and leadership to laughter and lizards (yes, really), this is an episode that gets to the heart of retention.

They also react to real posts from salon owner forums—some hilarious, some concerning—and offer sharp, honest takes on pricing, commission structures, culture breakdowns, and the dangers of social media advice.

If you’re trying to build a salon that people never want to leave, this episode is your blueprint.

Key Topics Covered:

[00:00] Real Talk: Reactions, Feedback, and Social Media Rants
[00:03] Jen’s Opening Take: From “Talks Too Much” to Career Asset
[00:05] Todd’s Opening Take: Specialists Work for Generalists
[00:08] Why We Asked Our Staff “Why Do You Stay Here?”
[00:09–00:24] Reading the Team’s Responses (and Getting a Little Emotional)
[00:25] A Client Turned Blowdry Addict Turned Teammate
[00:27] Why People Come In Even on Their Days Off
[00:31] The Power of Individualized Goals and Coaching
[00:33] What Real Culture Looks Like (Hint: It’s Not Buzzwords)
[00:35] Reactions to Wild Salon Owner Forum Posts:
• Vaping in "luxury" salons?
• Grandfathered pricing drama
• 70% commissions?!
• Suite renters getting “called out”
• When staff stop showing up
[00:42] Final Take: Culture, Leadership, and Creating a Place People Want to Be

Key Takeaways:

• People don’t leave bad jobs—they leave bad leadership.
• Staff want structure and freedom. The best cultures create space for both.
• Push your people—but lead with care. Mistakes are opportunities.
• Your clients and staff notice more than you think. Especially when things are inconsistent.
• Leadership starts with self-awareness. If you’re losing people, the mirror is step one.
• Stop asking Facebook for answers to legal and business questions. Get real help.

Mentioned in the Episode:

• Messages from Hello Hair Co. staff
• How we handled individual raises and goal setting
• Apprenticeship reflections
• Our “kickoff” 2025 meetings
• Salon owners giving away services (and not realizing it)
• Commission myths and real profit margins
• The Bear on Hulu (again!) – “Remember why you started”

Connect With Us:

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💌 Join the newsletter: 321 Pro Push 
🌐 Visit: HelloHairPro.com

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Transcript

Episode Transcript – Why Salon Culture and Leadership Matter More Than Perks

Opening Take [00:00]

204

Todd: [00:00:00] All right. What's up everyone? Welcome back. Happy Monday. What's up, Jenny? Pop.

Jen: Nada.

Todd: this morning?

Jen: Tired, but I'm here.

Todd: Tired.

Jen: Yeah.

Todd: What the heck?

Jen: Yeah.

Todd: All right. Tired is tired is acceptable. What are we talking about today? We're talking about, well, we've got a couple different things going on. First we're gonna. Sort of react to some things I've, I've seen on social media over the past, maybe a week or two. I just kind of screenshotted stuff and I was like, what?

This'll be fun. Let's just kind of react and see what happens. And a few episodes back, I think it was a few episodes back, I had mentioned that I, we were talking about staff retention and I had mentioned, I'm gonna just ask our staff and then just bring their replies. So I asked. Staff and I have no idea what they said.

I, I think you read some of it.

Jen: Yeah, I read them all. I almost

Todd: Oh, you read, you read [00:01:00] them all. What? All right. So you read them all? I didn't read any of them, and I thought we could just read them today for people and get sort of a, a pulse on our staff, because I think people listening, they're like, yeah, that salon sounds awesome, or That salon sounds stupid.

Whatever your opinion is. But I don't want you to just take my opinion. It's easy for us to just tell you whatever we want.

Jen: Right.

Todd: So this way, this is our staff. These are their thoughts and these are their words.

Jen: I think it was a genius idea to ask them. I think we ask 'em stuff all the time. We need their feedback, but I think the takeaway from it might sup, I don't know if it'll surprise people, but, it's gonna showcase that it starts from the top. How you lead your team, that's gonna be the, it's all on you. It's all what you do and what you bring to the table and how you, how you bring it to the table. So it was, it was really cool. It was cool to read it and I think there's some great insight in to hearing their feedback.

Todd: Excellent.

Jen: Some of them are [00:02:00] long though, so make sure you're saving some time 'cause there's some books in there.

Todd: Okay. Should we do them first?

Jen: It's up to you. I don't,

Todd: No. What do you think? I don't know how long they are.

Jen: I don't know. They're, they're like longer than I would've expected. I usually, I just think the feedback's gonna be, you guys are cool, we love you, like you're awesome. but some people took it even further and explained exactly the why. So.

Todd: Well, let's start, let's, let's flip it up. Let's start with those

Jen: I think there's a lot of great insight just 'cause it gives for each individual different why points.

Todd: different Y points,

Jen: Yeah. It's not all just like you're awesome 'cause that,

Todd: like x.

Jen: what you, it could have been just like, you're just awesome. Everyone says you're awesome. But each individual has a different thing of why, why they are there. It's not all the same, although learn.

Todd: All right, let's flip it up. Let's start with those, but before that, we're gonna kick off with our opening takes.

Jen: Nice.

Todd: All [00:03:00] right. Are you going first?

Jen: Sure. I will go first. So I, I have a little story 'cause I think it's important and then my, I have something just really quick. So. When I was in school mostly, I think it was elementary and it went into middle school. I think it switched in high school. But anyway, literally, I think weekly. My mom got a letter sent home saying, Jennifer talks too much.

We have to move her seat all the time. I'm sure if any of me, you're not surprised today that that. Was my life in school. And I said to my mom one day, I was like, mom, I, it doesn't matter who they sit me next to, it can be the quietest kid ever. I'm gonna get them to talk to me because I like talking to people and I'm, I'm bored. I'll even just be like, Hey, I like your shoes or your shoe laces are cool. And then before it, the quietest kid's like, oh cool, thanks. And then I get in trouble again 'cause I'm talking too much. Whatever. I say this because at that period I'm getting in trouble all the time for talking too much when it's an asset in my career today. So I think. I feel like this word comes [00:04:00] up really a lot with Todd and I talking it's perspective. If my mom knew then that my talking too much and my communicating skills and whatever I was working on was gonna help my career, we might have looked at it very differently. Instead, I just kept getting talked to and felt like I was in trouble all the time. But like I said, it actually. Something that was great. That is what I use today for my career. So maybe looking perspective and some of the things that maybe you don't realize are assets that are gonna help you in what you're doing and look at them as a positive. For me, it's talking too much. And then Todd and I have been watching this show called The Bear and it's quite fantastic and very inspiring and. We were watching it the other night and they said something in it and I wrote it down so I didn't forget. And it's as simple as remember why you started I think so often we. Are so caught up in what's happening right now and, and maybe what went wrong, and it's so easy to focus on the negative.

Maybe a client complained or whatever, and you're like, I suck at this. Why am I even doing it? And I [00:05:00] think that that basic statement, go back to the beginning. Remember why you started and start from there. I just, I loved it. I thought it was great. So remember why you started.

Todd: Good stuff, Jen. My opening take is pretty simple. It's it's just an observation in the industry of hair. What I see a lot is people that rush to specialize.

Jen: Mm-hmm.

Todd: They wanna specialize and niche down, and they want to do that almost immediately because with social media, you look at things and you're like, I should be doing that.

Even though it might not be what's right for you, it's hard to get past. So people are like specialized, specialized, specialize on the opposite side of the coin. You have, and it's important that I said opposite side of the coin coin, that'll make sense in a second. You have everyone that's saying you should be your own boss.

You need to be your own [00:06:00] boss. You need to be your own boss. You need to work for yourself. It's the only way to do it. You're a boss, babe. All this bs, right? None of these people have ever taken any sort of a business class tell you that because specialists work for generalists. If you are gonna specialize, you're gonna have a difficult time.

When other things come up, when anything comes up, and that's the whole point of being an entrepreneur, running a business. You are the one that solves the problems when they come up. That's what you have to like, it's not about being in charge. It's not about writing owner on your Instagram bio. It's not about making all the monies.

It's not about those things. It's about being passionate about solving problems and putting people in positions to succeed and. You need to be a generalist for that, not a specialist. So for all the people out there that are getting tricked by social media saying you have to specialize and niche down and, and then work for [00:07:00] yourself, I would say decide what you want to do just, and then work on that skillset.

Don't just listen to what people are telling you here on this podcast or on social media or anywhere blindly. A lot of what I see is contradictory and it doesn't make very much sense at all. That's my opening take. Thanks. All right, so we should read these they're on Slack. Hold on. I had my other notes pulled up.

Okay.

I think I'm to the beginning.

Jen: There's some long boys in there.

Todd: Some long boys. All right, so are we using names here? Calling our staff out.

What Your Staff Really Wants [05:00]

Jen: I mean, I don't think they would care, and I, well, you kind of might need to because I think. Like if you read Ava's, like she was my apprentice, so

Todd: Okay.

Jen: matter who it is, but it does help [00:08:00] probably, I don't know. dunno.

Todd: Okay. Okay.

All right, so Lauren, she was the first to reply. She wrote, so what I did was I asked them when you get a second, please let us know in the comments why you stay at Hello. I think it could really help some people if we shared some of your thoughts. Thank you and appreciate you. Before that, I had just sort of preface that we were gonna gonna record a podcast to try to help people and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

So that they understood. So Lauren says many, many, many reasons, but long story short, because you own the best slash coolest salon in New England. I may be a little biased though. Our salon's pretty cool. Tori, I agree with Lauren, but also the salon environment, the people that I'm always around make, makes me want to stay here forever.

We're all like family. We're the Olive Garden. I always pick on people that say their business is like [00:09:00] family. I think that's funny. Madison, so Madison is your current apprentice.

Jen: Almost halfway through too.

Todd: start almost halfway through. Yeah. Shout out. She's kicking ass too.

Jen: is.

Todd: Starting my apprenticeship, I came into the salon and everyone was welcoming and friendly and extremely helpful.

They were all willing to work with me and help me get started. They welcomed me with open arms and made me feel like part of a family right away. And I have, I have been there forever or like I have been there forever. Sorry. Everyone is willing to help each other and any time, and I think that's a very very big thing that's different from other salons.

It's like a family. It makes you want to come to work every day and learn and grow from one another. Always. That was good. Kayla Kayla's not one to mince words, so she wrote Short and simple. You both treat us like humans and not money robots. Yeah.

Jen: [00:10:00] I think that's super important.

Todd: Treating people like human beings. Who would've thought that would've?

That would've had a positive net benefit. Chloe says, I also enjoy that you encourage us to do things that we don't wanna do. I see you guys as second parents to us compared to our bosses most of the time. Oh, Chloe.

Yeah. Well, you have to push people.

Jen: Yes.

Todd: I, I wrote that in one of the Facebook groups yesterday because. We started off our 2025 like kickoff meetings. I just sort of named them that with our staff and we really set some goals for them that made them uncomfortable, and that was by design because you really need to get uncomfortable to reach your goals.

And fast forward, we're halfway through the year and we just passed out seven raises and we're evaluating an eighth raise. And so. When you have people that are finding success through some sort of a [00:11:00] struggle, they're gonna feel like they're part of something that's bigger than themselves now.

Jen: Also,

Todd: it's, it's not just across the board.

I You can go, go ahead.

Jen: I was like, why someone would stay if they were on their own. They couldn't push themselves that way. So it's showing them value there. Like, wow, if I wanna be pushed, if I want to celebrate a raise rather than feel scared of it,, because I'm part of something bigger than just me. This is showing them all of that.

They couldn't do that on their own. Most people will stay complacent for years and years, and finally they're like, oh, I need to do something here. We're making sure that. Every year they're doing something. I also would like to say here is that, 'cause I went over some stuff that, in that kickoff meeting, 'cause we were trying to figure out who was getting the raises and whatever.

I had to go back in my notes. Every single thing, every single thing we laid out to do this year, we have done, I went through all of it. I, I had notes of the classes we were doing, things that we were doing, every promise we made to them, every single one. The last one's getting booked right now, but we, we did all of it.

So it's [00:12:00] also that accountability.

Todd: The last one though is for the fall. That's why.

Jen: so it's the last thing on the list. And it, I'm proud of that because it's easy to say you're gonna do a bunch of stuff and then here you are almost into August and maybe you've done none of it. We did every single one.

Todd: Yeah, and you can look at it one or two ways. You could look at it as, I still have,, six months to do this stuff. Where we look at it as, we have six months now. What else can we do?

Jen: Yep.

Todd: So, always try to be ahead. What I was gonna say with the goals is they're not all, they're not all similar. Some of them are very different.

Some of them are. Technical skill things where, hey, you really need to step up this because we wanna see you here. Here's how you can do that. Here's why that'll work. That's important to lay out a plan for people. But some of it was like presentation stuff, like, Hey, we want to step up the way you show up for work.

It might be your,, attentiveness during consultation, or it's not just all about appear, excuse me, appearance or anything [00:13:00] like that. There could be appearance stuff. I don't know. I don't remember exactly and I don't have those notes in front of me. But laying out individual goals, it's not just like, all right, if everyone hits their retail, we're gonna do this.

Like that stuff sort of takes care of itself. If everyone gets booked this percent, we're gonna do this. Well, that stuff sort of takes care, takes care of itself when you take care of the people.

Jen: right.

Todd: And that's I think, what we're trying to drive home here. So next we have Gianna. This is a long one. Gianna says, I think it's about the work environment.

Someone provides someone that somewhere that's fun, colorful, clean, has values they abide by somewhere that feels safe. Having a sense of freedom. For example, we don't have a list of rules, quote unquote, but I think so we do. We have a handbook, Gianna just pointing that out. But I think that comes with responsibility on the staff.

Send. We know what's expected of us. Rebooking, keeping things clean, maintaining clients, doing good work, learning, proving we wanna excel in a career. We care about respecting people, helping people feel good about themselves, et cetera. [00:14:00] I think if someone really loves what they do, they'll do everything they can to succeed.

I think sometimes people in business hold their staff on a tight leash, which doesn't make it fun or exciting. It makes it stressful and nerve wracking. I think with Hello, we know the standard we set and everyone follows that, but also has their freedom to take a day off if they want or pick up shifts.

We're always there to help one another. It kind of goes without saying That part is true. I think it's also important to like the people you work with and for us, our space is, or with or for, sorry. Our space is very open and you can talk, we can talk to you guys about anything. Anything we need is provided to us.

If we need to talk, you're all ears. If we have a problem, there's always a solution. We all work well together. There's simply no other salon like this. There's really no drama or bad vibes here. And if it ever was, it's simply not tolerated. Yeah, that whole last [00:15:00] part there. Yeah, it just, if there's bad vibes that come in from somewhere, someone's being negative.

It's just not tolerated. They're either spoken to and we handle it and it. It doesn't mean automatic dismissal. I see these people all the time on these pages, Jen, that are like, fire them. It's like a, it's like a cancer, it's gonna kill your business and it, that might not necessarily be the answer.

Sometimes people have an off day. Sometimes people are, how many times have you been a jerk to somebody for They didn't deserve it. It was like for no reason.

Jen: deserve is a conversation and then you decide outta that conversation what needs to be done.

Todd: Yeah. My.

Jen: wanna communicate. It's too hard for them, so fire 'em. Cool. Then you have no idea what's happening.

Todd: Right, and your, your job is to help people grow and help people get ahead and not just in their career, but as a successful leader, you have to help them grow in every aspect of their life. I'm not saying overstep and get into people's personal lives, but care,

Leadership: Push and Support [12:00]

Jen: Mm-hmm.

Todd: ask about their personal lives. How, how's work, how, how, how's that going?

Great. How, how about things outside of here? [00:16:00] How many times do I sit down with the staff and I'm like, Hey, tell me about your pets, or tell me, what I mean? Like, just talk to me about something. I was talking to Jamie the other day. I think I might have said this in the last podcast, but she started telling me she was stressed out about her lizard.

She has a pet what is it called? I forget the name of it. The little lizard. It looks fat when it sits down 'cause it like flattens out.

Jen: I don't know.

Todd: I forget the name of it, but her, her little pet lizard got sick and I was like, oh no. And we just talked. We talked about it and then sparked a conversation and whatever.

So yeah, lead people. Ava, she wrote mic drop. So that's Ava.

Jen: Ava comes back around and so does Gianna. I think Gianna even has a

Todd: Okay,

Jen: so just so

Todd: ., Gianna's up next again.

Jen: Yeah. I.

Todd: Here. Here she, do you wanna read some of these?

Jen: You're doing great.

Todd: Alright. Gianna again said after the mic dropped, she must have picked it back up. [00:17:00] I said also, the second I walked in this space, I knew I was gonna work for you guys and declined the only job offer I ever got before you even hired me before you even hired me.

So the salon really speaks for itself. Oh, thank you, Brooke. Here's Brooke. This one looks long too.

Jen: There's

Todd: I stand.

Jen: now.

Todd: Oh, there are. Okay, so we're getting into the long ones. I thought Gianna's was gonna be long one. Alright.

Jen: more long ones.

Todd: Okay. I stay at Hello because for starters, you and Jen look at us as a whole, but also look at us as individuals and understand we all grow at our own pace.

True. You take the time to go through how fast or slow we wanna grow personally and professionally, but also make sure we grow no matter what. Example, I never thought I'd be doing makeup for brides or proms, but Jen saw something in me, threw me out there, and gave me the confidence to try. Now it's one of my absolute favorite parts of what I do.

That's, that's like another great example, Jen, of how you push somebody and they grow.

Jen: I remember that day I was like, you do [00:18:00] makeup now? And she's like, what? I had her help on this like kind of thing we were doing to help someone with some photography stuff. And I was like, just play around. Who cares? And then

Todd: Yeah.

Jen: do it. And then honestly, even in that case, Nicole, who works for us, she stepped in to help Brooke get even better at it and she just flourished.

Todd: Excellent. Brooke continues with even on days off. I find myself coming into the salon because of the energy, the laughs and friends is some, and friends is sometimes just what I need. We're all one big group of friends with some fun energy that just makes all the worries go away once I get into the salon.

The big thing that stands out to me is that Hello is the only salon that I've ever felt okay with asking for help. That's a big part of just making people comfortable, right? That's when you, when you hear people talking about you want your business to feel safe for people, that's what they're talking about right there.

You wanna feel some sort of support. One big thing that stands out to me is nope, we just read that. When making a [00:19:00] mistake, we don't get talked down to or feel ashamed because of it, but rather we get supported and educated for the future. Yeah.

Jen: It's huge.

Todd: Yeah. I want you to learn so you can be better. Even clients understand that we collaborate and I have no problem asking someone nearby to help me or walk me through an idea that's

Jen: Smaller.

Todd: something that we intentionally designed.

Right. Hello Hair Collaborative . Everyone has helped me grow professionally and personally, and I have relationships that I'm forever grateful for. Even made some of my best friends, even made some of my best friends because of hello. I could never see myself leaving. Hello.

It's just where I feel I belong. You're fired. No, I'm just kidding. No, that's awesome. Hopefully you don't leave, but if you do, good for you. Jamie. I hope your lizard's feeling better. I originally didn't know Hello was going to my home to be my home probably. Brooke told me to [00:20:00] call you guys for advice, and I immediately knew when I hung up that I wanted to be there.

We had never even seen each other or talked before this, and you genuinely, genuinely cared about my situation. I remember that phone call. I now stay at Hello, because it's the only place I've ever worked at that I feel safe in. I can ask questions and not only do you answer, but you're glad to. You never make me feel lesser then because I don't know something.

But instead encouraged me to ask and learn. One day I made a mistake and instead of getting mad, you told me it's okay and told me not to think not to think of what I did wrong, but learn from this and how I can grow to be a better stylist. You care about us more than just staff. You treat us as if we were your own.

Well, you are our own Jamie. You push me to be better than I thought I could ever be. I've never been so excited to come to work because even on the days I don't feel like getting up or I'm having a bad day, I know once I step into the salon, my mood will shift for the better. If anyone is having a bad day, there's at least three people asking you what's wrong and trying to cheer you up.[00:21:00]

Everyone at Hello genuinely cares about each other and feels like it's hard to find. In today's world, there's no place I'd rather call my salon home. Oh, thanks Jamie.

Ava's back.

Jen: smiling like I think these are great. I think if you're listening and you are running any business, you. Like I said, there's some common themes here, but like you can see that we treat each person as an individual. And I, I think what a few of them have said is that you're always gonna have mistakes.

You're gonna have people screw up, but then it's how you handle that. And a lot of times it's how you handle it on the fly. So if you are one that lashes out and like is, is mean or rude you can apologize for that after, but you already. Did the bad things, right? So when these things come, just like what Jamie said, it's always a learning experience.

I understand that it, it's, there's going to be mistakes and it's how do we learn from it and get better, right? And, and that's really where we come from all the time. We had a redo like last week or whatever, and it was basically, Hey, client came in, we [00:22:00] fixed it. No big deal, but we're gonna get a model and we're gonna see what's going on here.

And it's just to help them grow like they almost now. than fear the mistakes, they embrace them and they realize that they're gonna get better because of them.

Todd: Making mistakes. You're not trying hard enough.

Jen: Agreed. And that's how you learn. And it's, it's it. No matter what business you're in, that's gonna happen at any level.

Todd: All right. Ava's back. Ava says I stay at Hello because there's truly just no place I'd else. I'd rather be. The salon has been more than a workplace for me. It's been a second home. I've been working for Jen and Todd for what feels like 40 years. She wrote, ha ha. And every moment has shaped me into the stylist and person I am today.

Accountability in Action [20:00]

Ava is what? 20, 22, 40 years? Is that a good thing, Ava? Geez. I still remember giving Jen absolutely no choice but to apprentice me at her new salon because I saw the way she worked previously at her old salon. Thank [00:23:00] goodness she said yes, because without her, I'd be fucked. LOL. That opportunity turned out to be one of the best experiences of my life.

Jen didn't just teach me how to do hair. She taught me how to do it with passion, care, and integrity. She poured so much of her knowledge, patience, time, and heart into guiding me, and I'll be forever grateful for her giving me that. I think I've learned and grown so much, not just professionally, but personally, thanks to the people around me.

I built friendships here that are so special to me. The people I work with are truly some of the best, genuine, kind, supportive, incredibly talented. I stay at Hello because it's home, because it's filled with people I respect, admire, and love working with. Love you guys lots. Thanks Ava.

Here's Tori. Tori already went, didn't she?

Jen: Yeah. Now she comes back and she's like, basically, I have a tear in my eye,

Todd: Tory is back and she says, I felt like I was gonna cry reading all these responses. Lauren's back and [00:24:00] says, I'm bawling. Can we have a group hug? Brooke is back and says, I love you all so much. And then there's a bunch of emojis. I think that's a, is that a video camera? I don't know what's happening, Emily.

So. Emily's interesting. We should probably point out Emily is a business owner. She owns, what's the name of it?

Jen: Love your

Todd: Love Your Look. Love your look in North Andover, and she specializes in lashes, right?

Jen: Yes.

Todd: And so she's her own business owner and she does that, and she just wanted to work for us once a week just to work at Hello.

Jen: So the story is too, she moved to a town nearby and when she was on maternity leave. She started coming in for weekly blow dries. She just was, that's just where it started. And so this is cool because she spent time in our space as a [00:25:00] client and she just loved being around our staff. It like, she works in a suite by herself.

So being in there, she was like, I just wanna be here. I, I just love being around the staff. It's, I love being in here. I'm, inspired by everything. And that's when she was returning to work and she's like, would you guys have me one day a week? Is that even worth it for you? And we were like, yeah, that's amazing.

Like we, you're amazing. This is great. So because of the culture and the vibe in the salon, she's just like, I just need to be around you guys. So it was pretty cool.

Todd: Yeah, that is cool. I forgot that she had moved a town over in the. That's why she was in more often.

Jen: mind you, she is an employee at our salon, so she is a

Todd: Yeah, she doesn't, we're, we're a hundred percent commissioned, so we don't rent anything. So even to estheticians and

Jen: Yep.

Todd: that. And Emily writes, I'm late to this party, but I'm down for a group hug. All right. All I will say is Jen and Todd are the only people who could get me to work for someone else after [00:26:00] working for myself for six years.

They respect what every individual brings to the table. I didn't need a job. That's true. I truly wanted to be part of what they have at Hello Hair Co. Even if it's just one day a week. Love you both. Thanks. Lauren Beck. I love m so much. I started working Fridays just to see her. Best way to end my work week, Emily.

Then Jen, these are all amazing. You guys are the best. I'm so proud of the team. I'm so proud to be some part of something that includes you. Sorry, you make my job easy and fun. Oh,

Jen: That

Todd: those were great. Those are really good. So I, I hope that helps people

Jen: I think there's so much anybody can

Todd: of evaluate Yeah. Sort of evaluate what, what you're doing

Jen: Mm-hmm.

Todd: with your business and if you have trouble with re retention, I think.

There are some things you can do, but they're, they're not like simple fixes. They're gonna take work on your part. As a [00:27:00] leader, you're gonna have to step up and be a stronger leader. You're gonna have to build the culture that not necessarily you want. I don't know if everyone wants the big hat stuffy, luxury toting salon.

They want somewhere that feels. Exciting and safe and collaborative and all the things that people listed. Think about what other people want, not necessarily you, not necessarily what you want, I would say right.

Jen: Yeah. And then I think it's the creating opportunities, the, the pushing when you, and, and pushing, when when to push too, right. And then holding back when sometimes you need to. Those things are really important as you, I mean, they, they said it better than I can. I.

Todd: All right. Let's talk about some of these,

some of these things that I've screenshotted.

Jen: Okay. And these are from just different groups, right?

Todd: Yeah, just stuff I've seen online scrolling through here. There was one I wanted to start [00:28:00] with that I don't see, but I do have in my notes somewhere. Here it is. This was an actual question. This was an actual freaking question. In a group for business owners,

Jen: I'm scared.

Todd: someone asks for those that own luxury high-end salons.

Here we go. Do you allow employees and clients to vape on the floor?

Jen: No

Todd: That was a question. Now I don't know what the F we're going on about here. High end luxury and then vaping on the floor. What nothing about this

Jen: says

Todd: is high end or luxury. What is wrong with this industry? That that is a question. What do you think, Jen? Should you allow vaping

Jen: I,

Todd: floor?

Jen: I say you do you. If luxury means vaping, go for it. I [00:29:00] don't even think this deserves an answer. This is insane to me. I

Todd: Okay.

Jen: that's real.

Todd: It's real. It's real.

Jen: Somebody, if you can, like, if there was a way you could comment, I want to hear what everyone else thinks.

Why Culture Beats Perks [28:00]

Todd: There is a way they could reach out to us. They can email us.

Jen: can someone reach out and, and tell me what you think of this scenario?

Todd: High end luxury.

Jen: Highend luxury. Enjoy your vaping.

Todd: It's taken pulls from my grape vape, my watermelon vape. 'cause nothing screams high end like it's a smoke filled.

This one is a little more serious. Do you have client what?

Jen: I dunno if I believe you.

Todd: Okay. Do you have clients grandfathered into pricing? I need to get away from all the discounts. I just ran through numbers and one of my employees grandfathered a good handful of people into some low numbers, and now I could cry. This is, so, [00:30:00] first of all, I don't know if this, this, this is gotta be a commission scenario, right?

She's looking at the press. Yeah. So just guessing that that's a commission scenario. I don't know. The first conversation I would be having is why do you think you can adjust the prices? Can you actually imagine in your head what would happen at any other job? Say you worked at the toll for the state and you were like, oh, it's only 50 cents.

Whatever. It's not a dollar. You'd probably go to jail. That's theft. Say you work at Walmart. Or a restaurant, do you just make up prices? Why would somebody an employee think that that would be okay? First of all? Second of all, do never do, never not, never, ever, ever. Not grandfather people into pricing doesn't make sense.

Can you imagine that your client and you find out you are paying double and everyone [00:31:00] else is paying less just because they got in line before you, just because they were there first. How would you feel, Jen, if you went somewhere and you found out you were paying double or more or less? I dunno. Yeah.

Jen: wouldn't make sense. Also, it gets dicey because then if you get referrals from some of those clients and then now they're, when they're talking at lunch, they're like, wait, we get the same service? Why are we paying different prices? Like now, back up a minute, at my last salon. I did this, I had people, I guess, grandfathered in.

I would do price increases and I'd be afraid to tell some of them, or my poor little old ladies. I'm like, well, they're not gonna pay it, and what am I gonna do? So I had absolutely this, I had the, a handful or more of people that were probably from prices 10 years ago, and then I had everyone else at different prices.

And I always had to look at the history to be like, what am I charging this one? What am I? It was, it was a mess. It was

Todd: Jen, you had people that didn't even pay.

Jen: Yeah. That there's that too. But

Todd: get [00:32:00] next.

Jen: at it, and I think when we opened here, not, I think, I know it was that scenario of like, it needs to be fair and it needs to be the same.

And I, to just do it. And now it's wonderful. But think in this post, I wouldn't, first of all, I wouldn't turn to Facebook. I don't think it need to be crying. I think the first thing you should do is talk to that stylist, ask what's going on here, and then quickly just tell her they're all, this is the prices, this is it.

And that's just it. You have to handle

Todd: Yeah. Yeah. And it's, it's, it's not the, it's not the client's fault, but unfortunately you put them in a situation where I don't think you can be like, oh, well, on the next one or the next one, or whatever. It's, this needs to happen now. It's your business. You need to take control of it.

Jen: Yes, be happy. You, I guess, discovered it and have a hard conversation with that person and figure out, map it out, how you're gonna get everybody to whatever that price point is, and you need to do that right now.

Todd: If you are somebody that's asking about grandfathering pricing in, and if you should or not, then you're not firm on, [00:33:00] on your system. You're, you're not solid behind it, and so you shouldn't really be confused that your staff is not solid behind it. They're. They're coming from where you're leading them.

Jen: Right? Yeah. You're gonna have to, at, at that point, you should be looking, I guess, at everybody that's under your roof because there's gonna be a lot of other things that are probably happening that you're not aware of. If, if there's one thing, there's, it's never just that, right? So either a lot of your staff's doing that and then you, I'm sorry, you can't point the finger even at the staff.

You gotta point it at yourself. the blame. You gotta fix that. There's something that's either misunderstood or wasn't clear. You have to have, like I said, you just gotta handle it.

Todd: Yeah, someone that worked for us in the past told me that one time they didn't know what to charge for something. And I was like, what do you mean? And she was like, well. It didn't take me as long as it normally does. So what I did was I, I gave them 40% off and then minus $10 or something like that. And I was like, what?

How, how did they don't work for us anymore? Shocker. And I'm like, how did you come up with that formula? What are you talking about? And don't ever [00:34:00] discount anything here ever again without checking with us. Can't just give stuff away. All right, so this next one is interesting, and I've seen this a few times.

It's long. So I'm just gonna pick out a couple sentences and then there's a comment. So this person's new to Salon ownership. And says that this group has them more scared than anything. I see so many people talking about failing and closing businesses rather than businesses thriving. Yeah. Yeah. 'cause most people don't know what they're doing.

This person's taking over an existing salon and one of the employees is gonna be the current owner. I don't understand this trend where the owner stays. If I buy a business, peace, get out. Bye.

Jen: Too messy,

Todd: Yeah. The previous owner said her commission to 54% and said she'd like to stay at that. It's your business now, though, so you decide.

First of all, what I really wanted to touch on is in the comments someone wrote 54. Is it 54? 53? 54% [00:35:00] is low commission. I pay 60. My daughter pays 70. What.

Jen: You are losing.

Todd: Yeah, I've had staff that's like, can can I get a commission increase? This has not been anything recent because we've explained this, and I'll point out all the things that have to happen in order for that to take place. And they're like, nevermind if you can't explain that to people, why you need the money to allocate to certain things.

Then people are gonna struggle to understand it

Jen: I

Todd: because

Jen: even

Todd: people's minds don't work in percent. So this whole industry is effed from the jump because no one understands percent. They just see higher percent and they think that's getting pocketed. They see 40%. The owner's taking 60% from me. No, first of all, the owner's giving you 40%.

They're not taking anything. Second, I [00:36:00] promise you that owner is not pocketing 60%. There's no way, no how It's not gonna happen.

Jen: I agree and I think what, what we do really well, or you explain extremely well when we have these conversations, and even with the last, like the seven raises we're giving we went over, I had said to Todd,, can we message everybody? This is where their numbers are at, but what is the percent of the increase?

So they understand that. And I know some of our staff doesn't care about numbers, but I'm like, you, you may not care about it, but I want you to at least read it and, and, and see where it's at. So you understand the raise you're getting. But more importantly, when we sit down with them and let's say it's a 40 60 split, Todd will go through with them.

'cause I do think people look at that like, well, you're getting 60%. Well that's not fair, right? Because you're getting more than me. And that's what they look at, like the owner part of that. But once Todd breaks down where that, let's say I'm just using these numbers, let's, 60% goes and, and what percent go?

And at the end. percent we're getting, which is, if we're lucky, three, two, 1%, whatever it is, they're like, oh. So Todd will say to them, so you get the most, we get the least if we're [00:37:00] lucky and we absorb all the risk, but you just get this. And they're like, I never looked at it that way. Which, why would you, you don't own a business.

But we explain it because a lot of times when people understand that, they look at it extremely differently. But without that, if you can't break that down, then you need to at least start learning how to 'cause each one of your staff should hear that conversation.

Todd: Yeah, it just explained how our dollar works. Here's a dollar. It comes in to hello hair co. It goes into the desk. What happens from there? And I break that down. Part of the dollar goes here, part of the dollar goes here, part of the dollar goes here, and then what's left goes to you, which happens to be the biggest chunk when I break it down.

Jen: And that's an aha moment for everybody. Like they just, they wouldn't know that if you weren't able to break that down for them.

Todd: Correct. So we got two more and then we'll wrap up.

Final Thoughts [35:00]

Jen: Okay.

Todd: This one says. One of my booth renters was disrespectful to a client. I called her out on it and she asked me to not mess with her business. What would you do in this situation? It's a booth renter. I wouldn't do anything. I [00:38:00] wouldn't even had called her out.

Jen: I think I, I like what she said. Don't mess with my business. She's right. I.

Todd: Yeah, it's.

Jen: I, the, the calling someone out, it's so rude to me. Again, this goes back to how you talk to people and how you treat them. Do I think we talked about this one last night, like, do you even understand what was happening in that scenario? And if you're curious, then that's a conversation to be had behind closed doors. Hey, what was going on there? Like even maybe could I have helped you like come from that standpoint, not just like I called her out on it. You're proud of that. Like, it is her business, so it buzz off. When you have that scenario, like that's just, they're just take your check that's they're renting from you.

I can't imagine, we talked about this fire landlord came in and was like, I don't like how you treated that last client that was in here. Sorry. It's none of your business.

Todd: I go pound sand.

Jen: I.

Todd: All right, last one. This person I runs a commission salon or their, their hourly slash commission based salon owner had a issue with an hourly staff [00:39:00] member who was repeatedly requesting time off and calling out. I addressed it and asked her to reflect on whether our salon is the best place for her.

She then said she lives too far away and her car is breaking down, yada, yada. When you write yada, yada, I'm like, you're just rude.

Jen: Yeah.

Todd: First of all, this girl's struggling to get to your place. That's why she's calling out. Her car's breaking down and you say, yada, yada. Okay, so we agreed she could finish her clients this week and we cut ties.

Today her bestie, another hourly staff member, tells me she wants to cut her hours from three eight hour shifts to two eight hour shifts because she needs more time to herself. She's 20 with no kids, lives at home and complains about money. I'm fed up and honestly wanna tell her, keep her hours. She was hired for gimme two weeks notice.

What would you do? Well, I'd reevaluate by starting. I I would definitely start by looking in the mirror.

Jen: Something's not

Todd: you are

Jen: well.

Todd: you are deciding where people should be spending their [00:40:00] time, and that's not for you to decide. When people come to work for you, you don't own them.

Jen: no.

Todd: You don't get to tell them what to do.

You can, you can provide rules for within your business. Sure. But you don't get to tell them what to do outside or what they should care about or what's important to them.

Jen: or this, or responsibilities, you should be what? Wanting to work more That has, that's not yours to decide.

Todd: No, I think every single person wants to work less. If, if everybody was secure and you didn't have to worry about money, would you work as much as you do? Maybe some. Maybe some would. Some people love working. They love just whatever entrepreneurial people probably would work because you would find, so if we didn't have to do anything at the salon, what would Jen and I do?

Probably start something else. Probably tinker with something I don't know. If I don't have to worry about it, I'd start, I don't know, pizza truck randomly just throwing that out there. A bakery, 'cause Jen says that all the time, except I don't wanna get up at 3:00 AM to start

Jen: I [00:41:00] like

Todd: making breads.

Jen: I think too, you have all these people either condensing hours or leaving or having excuses why they can't be there. You really gotta reflect what's going on in your business because what you heard in the beginning of our podcast is we have people coming in on their days off just to hang out.

So clearly there's a vibe in there that's not getting them excited to come in.

Todd: We have that scenario. We have that scenario I just talked about. We have someone that doesn't need a job,

Jen: Yeah. True.

Todd: works for us one day a week,

Jen: Yep,

Todd: does not need a job.

Jen: yep. So true.

Todd: It doesn't need anything from us.

Jen: think to here, and this is something I've over the last maybe year or so, really started to switch. She's asking staff like, do you even wanna be here? Which to me leads to, she's not in control, so. Their actions are showing you, they don't want to be there. So it's your job to have a conversation about that and lead them to change that, or they're not.

They don't wanna be there, so you need to let them go. That's the leadership part, right? It's clear [00:42:00] that what they're doing, people's words, actions very different. Their actions are showing you they don't wanna be there, they're reducing it. They're not coming in, they don't wanna be there. So you either need to ask them why and what can you change to get them excited to be there, or you need to let them go like that's on you.

Todd: All right. I do want to point out that those things that I read from people are all published as anonymous. So even if you went on those pages, you wouldn't be able to find who the people are. 'cause I don't wanna call anybody out. But when you post anonymous, it's just you're up for it.

Jen: Yep.

Todd: Yeah, so I don't know if there was some sort of moral to this, moral to the story here.

I think it's just maybe treat people good.

Jen: Yeah.

Todd: don't really think it's that complicated. I've been emailing a little bit with somebody recently, like last week or the week before that was having trouble with retention. So I was like, let's focus on this for the next couple episodes and hopefully it helped.

If you're listening, if it didn't reach out and we'll, we'll try harder.

Jen: Yeah, for [00:43:00] sure.

Todd: All right guys sign up for our newsletter. It's fun

Jen: I.

Todd: and if you need anything, reach out and it's warm out. So I think we're gonna take the kids to the pool.