Ready to conquer the holiday rush with grace and efficiency? Join us as we navigate the wild world of salon management during the busiest season of the year. Reflecting on our hectic week, we dive into the nitty-gritty of salon chaos and share the hurdles we've faced, from schedule blunders to new client jitters. We assure you, it's not all hair-pulling and tinsel tangle, as we share our stress management strategies and dish out advice for fellow salon professionals.
Ever had a last-minute cancellation throw a wrench in your neatly planned schedule? We've been there too. But fear not, we come bearing solutions. We'll let you in on our secret strategy of implementing non-refundable deposits during peak seasons and how it can save you a world of stress. But remember, it's all about the approach. We shed light on the art of communication, using a fun dating analogy to demonstrate how our words can influence client perception.
But wait, there's more! Just as Santa needs his milk and cookies, salon professionals need their self-care. We've learnt the hard way and want to spare you the trouble. We highlight common mistakes and share practical self-care tips to help you stay on top of your game. And because teamwork makes the dream work, we discuss the importance of fostering a strong team dynamic. Hear about our team experiences, the power of clear communication, and how it can make a world of difference during the hustle and bustle. So put on your holiday hats and tune in for a merry blend of salon tales and practical tips!
To follow our journey:
Instagram @aheadhair_
@the_conscious_salon
This podcast has been produced and edited by Snappystreet Creative
Ready to conquer the holiday rush with grace and efficiency? Join us as we navigate the wild world of salon management during the busiest season of the year. Reflecting on our hectic week, we dive into the nitty-gritty of salon chaos and share the hurdles we've faced, from schedule blunders to new client jitters. We assure you, it's not all hair-pulling and tinsel tangle, as we share our stress management strategies and dish out advice for fellow salon professionals.
Ever had a last-minute cancellation throw a wrench in your neatly planned schedule? We've been there too. But fear not, we come bearing solutions. We'll let you in on our secret strategy of implementing non-refundable deposits during peak seasons and how it can save you a world of stress. But remember, it's all about the approach. We shed light on the art of communication, using a fun dating analogy to demonstrate how our words can influence client perception.
But wait, there's more! Just as Santa needs his milk and cookies, salon professionals need their self-care. We've learnt the hard way and want to spare you the trouble. We highlight common mistakes and share practical self-care tips to help you stay on top of your game. And because teamwork makes the dream work, we discuss the importance of fostering a strong team dynamic. Hear about our team experiences, the power of clear communication, and how it can make a world of difference during the hustle and bustle. So put on your holiday hats and tune in for a merry blend of salon tales and practical tips!
To follow our journey:
Instagram @aheadhair_
@the_conscious_salon
This podcast has been produced and edited by Snappystreet Creative
Here at the Conscious Salon, we acknowledge the traditional owners of the land in which we stand today, the Boon Rung people of the Kulin Nation. We pay our respects to the elders, past and present, and extend their respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Conscious Salon. We've both got our mouths full Mouth. Full Mouth, fulls. Yep, how goes the cheese?
Speaker 1:Literally the most elitist chips.
Speaker 2:An iconic snack.
Speaker 1:I actually I get hyper fixated on food as a general. Yeah, Doritos used to be my jam.
Speaker 2:I'm not that big on Doritos.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, neither am I as much as I was, but I was God, I was Kness. Good morning afternoon everyone. How are we all? Good morning, good afternoon, hello, hello, hello. Welcome to the Conscious Salon. We are talking about all the great problems in the world. The Conscious Cheesle podcast. Yeah, the Conscious Cheesle, definitely. I would happily rebrand. I love cheesles, but I have always hyper fixated on chips, yep. So I'm just to realise. Anyway, doritos used to be the jam cheese supreme.
Speaker 2:You do love Doritos. I just thought that into Doritos. Yeah, you were more, you were like salt and vinegar Salt and vinegar is my thing, and I just like a plain chip as well. Nothing on the plain chip.
Speaker 1:Sea salt is nothing wrong with that. That is a damn good chip. Then I got really fixated on the cheese popcorn.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely I'm not into that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, you're not, are you no? And then we've transformed up to the cheesles. The cheesles Cheesles have had a really good run for a while with me Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Next week we'll be tasting Dunkaroos Anyway.
Speaker 1:No, we did that Remember. I have one on the episode.
Speaker 2:A Dunkaroo, I'm sure it was a Dunkaroo.
Speaker 1:Never had a Dunkaroo. No a roll up it was a roll up.
Speaker 2:No, no, no, oh, it was a little snack, yeah, anyway, we don't need to dig into the archives. We've tasted a lot of food on this podcast, but yes, we are back. We are talking the contrary to the way that this podcast got so far Christmas week.
Speaker 1:We're sitting here chatting about cheesles.
Speaker 2:We're talking all things, cheesles and all things salon, spa, skin, hair, our industry, our beautiful industry, that is yeah, and it's going to be. Look, it's Christmas week. For most of you when you're listening to this, it's the start of Christmas week. It comes out on Monday of the busiest week in our industry, yeah, of the year.
Speaker 1:How are we feeling, guys? We having good time, having a stress time. Are you eating enough? Are you drinking enough? Are you having breaks?
Speaker 2:Are you having breaks?
Speaker 2:That is a very good question, but we're going to talk today a little bit about how to manage stress levels around this time of the year, the things that we can delegate, how to ask for help, because when we were talking about what we wanted to bring you guys this episode, we want to bring you as much support as possible for this week ahead and really make sure that we're in there, we're in the trenches with you, we're doing those things and we're actually able to give you some really beautiful pracky tees to support yourself this week. Yep, tees the week that was. How's the week been?
Speaker 1:Yeah, really good what's been happening. We had a huge week last week, my goodness May. We had a absolutely enormous week. We had four team down, four team down, which was huge but super fun. So Nicky and I were back on the tools a bit more than what I usually am, after a couple of new clients hopefully nailed their experience Jess hasn't taken a new client on in a very long time but you did take a Well.
Speaker 1:I actually learned what our consultation form looks like. I've never seen it. It's like, oh wow, this is really good. So, yeah, that was really fun. And yeah, so I worked on a couple of new beats, which was fun, but it is when you've been working only with the ones that you've been doing for once the dinosaurs or once around. It really was different working with one. That's a dig at myself, by the way, so I'm just going to clear that up, your client is mine.
Speaker 2:I was just like.
Speaker 1:I know.
Speaker 1:I got one of my clients Listen, love you guys, you're all hot as fuck. It's a dig at myself. I think, though, that was, yeah, I was like, oh my God, I'm going to have to go into, like you, dive into routines and what we're using, what we're currently, you know, not loving, and quite fun actually. I realized that I still got it, although I did run behind. Sorry, jess and Hannah, I did, I did. I lost my timing on one day, which I felt terrible about because I'm so used to working in one way, and then because I was working on this new client and I was like suddenly looked at the time and you know, 80-80's. I didn't like read the time properly. I was like, oh my God, I'm 15 minutes past when we're meant to have left and I'm still styling. So, yeah, it was a nice humbling moment. Thanks guys for not, you know, ripping me apart for that. They were beautiful, they loved it, I didn't. They didn't love it.
Speaker 2:They didn't love it. They were so gracious.
Speaker 1:I really was apologetic. I was like I thought it was an hour head, Sorry, so it was super fun. We've had really fun time. We had a couple of friends come and help us in the salon as well Stereo cool. Rachel Mann and Allegra Mann came and helped us from Bendigo.
Speaker 2:They popped in for well, they were coming up for the weekend. They were coming up for the weekend. We said, well, you may as well come up a little bit earlier, and come and help us in the salon and, fun fact, rachel actually used to be a hairdresser, like I don't know, 15 years ago or something.
Speaker 1:Well, she started her apprenticeship, she, and then she stopped it because I think it was a bit well, she didn't get a choice. We were like, right, you've fringed out voils once, 15 years ago, you could have another shot at that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I said to her at one point I had two clients at the base and I was like how old do you remember? Sorry, who's?
Speaker 1:sorry, Leah, can you stay here? No, please take it out Leah, take it out please Leave this into how I want them to really get a raw addition.
Speaker 2:We're going to see who Leah picks Leah, feel free to pick whoever you feel is.
Speaker 1:Please leave this in. The people would love it, okay.
Speaker 2:Leah, you pick whatever you want to do. You want to leave me perfect. Anyway, we said to Rachel how old do you remember the, the basin ritual and how to shampoo? She said not much at all. I said great, you're going to be shampooing.
Speaker 1:She's loving it. She actually did a good job. She did such a good job, so I did. I love her as much as I'm taking her piece and saying they did. They were, you know, relaxing.
Speaker 2:Rachel did more work than she's done in the last five years.
Speaker 1:I reckon I should have videoed her and showed her team.
Speaker 2:They would love it, but she did do. She had about an hour and 45 minutes. She was great for an hour and 45 minutes and then, just before the two hour mark, I could see her just glazed her and then she just switched off and went out the back of the set.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, her mom and Allegra, so all three of the team that we had into helping. Yeah, I was like, oh good, where are my helpers? Oh yeah, we're all out the back just having a chat and having a gossip on the couch.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but that hour and 45 was very productive, it's great.
Speaker 1:No, I was super grateful for them, and they also just realized I paid none of them. So thank you guys so much for your volunteer work and supporting us. We had amazing Megan back on the tools Also great.
Speaker 2:Magzie was back on the tools on.
Speaker 1:Saturday which was amazing.
Speaker 2:And then she was front of house for a couple of days in there as well. We were like let's just really push the friendship here and just really call in every favor.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. I mean, look, and we did have her in payroll, we did, we did, we did take care of her. But I think, in terms of, well, now, right, just going to expect to be paid as well, rachel, not a chance. You three yourself into there, exactly, but it was super fun. I think that our community is like thinking that Megan's back, I'm working on it, don't worry about it, guys, she's not, she's not, she's not. But you know, I don't know, I'm always like, oh well, she's not.
Speaker 2:But the point that we want to make is like, look, it was a really chaotic week. It could have been a chaotic week depending on how we looked at it. So for a bit of context, we had one team member has finished up to go onto a new, into a new industry, and she also got sick and was not able to work her last week. So strips right. Another team member had COVID and was off. Another team member was off with health issues as well, and then we also had our after school helper finish up and started job at Mackers.
Speaker 1:So she wanted to be fair, she wanted to be with kids around age and like yeah, totally yeah, she's the dinosaur, the dinosaurs.
Speaker 2:But so we had four team down all unexpectedly. So all it was completely unexpected. All of a sudden a team of eight goes down to a team of four extremely quickly, and you notice it. Put it that way oh, you do.
Speaker 2:But I want to I think this will lean into our episode really nicely today because there are literally two choices that you can make when you're under that sort of extreme pressure and obviously, being the week before Christmas week, it was pretty hectic. We're fully booked. We've been fully booked for a long time, we run a pretty tight ship and all of a sudden we were really could potentially be under the bus, and you and I made a really conscious effort to approach this week really calmly. So, rather than dwelling in the oh shit, things are totally overwhelming. We looked at okay, cool, first things first. Where can we ask for support? So we called Megan in. We took Rach up on her offer of helping us out. We took Mum up on her offer of helping us out.
Speaker 1:I don't know if we mum offered. I think she just rocked up the Salem with the rumbles and we were like all right, he's a broom.
Speaker 2:Thank you, mum, he's your leadership opportunity, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Thanks very much for volunteering, but she, the point is, though, we sat and we actually delegated, asked for help, asked for support, and also did that at home. And this is one of the things that we want to talk about today, because it's a really practical thing that you guys can do this week is to have conversations with your team, have conversations with your partners, have conversations with your kids, if they're old enough, to actually talk about what the what you can ask from them for this week to support you to be your best version of yourself.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Tess, before we roll into that we've got we've run a little segment around here. I'm not sure if you've heard of it, but it's called guys turn the volume up.
Speaker 1:I know you guys love how loud this plays Hot Girl Hotline. Every time we do the dance. Hot Girl Hotline question is I'm going to jump straight in so we can keep this nice. People don't have time this week. Gotta keep it nice, short, sweet, to the point, but you'll talk about cheezles for 10 minutes. Listen, some things are crucial and the cheezle conversation is essential. Honestly, watch the cheezles go up this way. I'm gonna really start going on that tangent, but I guarantee you the cheezle sales this week will be higher purely to this episode. And yes, I'm open to talking about a deal. All right, hot Girl Hotline is heading into Christmas week and currently dealing with a lot of last minute cancellations. Any ideas on how to fill these gaps?
Speaker 2:Yes, next year implement deposits, non-refundable deposits, so that this doesn't happen. That's step one, because we learned that from last year as well.
Speaker 1:Do you wanna share with the people actually what happened last year and why we created that change with our deposit system Cause I think that would be really helpful.
Speaker 2:So we've always taken a new client deposit. So we take a $100 deposit for a color any appointment involved in color and we take a $50 appointment for blow-dries or haircuts like standalone blow-dries or haircuts. So that's mandatory for a new client. If they aren't comfortable paying a deposit, we will not make the appointment. We can't make the appointment, and people are really good about that. It's easy breezy, whatever.
Speaker 2:This year we implemented a different strategy for our Christmas, like our whole of December, because last year was obviously the last years have been really tricky for our industry, and last year 2022 was the first Christmas that we had that was uninterrupted by lockdowns and things like that. So last year, though, we had so many last minute cancellations and last minute rescheduling that we overstaffed, completely overstaffed the appointment book, so we had an extra two or three team on to help with the overflow, and we ended up having like half days where the entire team had had cancellations of movement. So, when this happened, tess and I always solutions base. We always come from a place of solution. So I got out my diary and I put an alert to remind myself, to tell the future Nikki, take motherfucking deposits, absolutely mandatory. So, as of October, anyone who booked in for December, the entire month of December, had to have a $50 deposit, non-refundable deposit, put on their appointment.
Speaker 2:Some people were not comfortable paying that. It's really fine. I reckon 99.9% of people were like, totally fine, that's all good. 0.1% of people were like no, I don't wanna pay that. I'm like cool, we'll move you out to January. So and we made it absolutely mandatory and it was a game changer because it means that we have had barely any movement. So in the whole month of December I think we've truly had maybe five people who have moved their appointment and had to forfeit that $50. So the good thing about this was clients were secured and we just said to people like we I did have a client who kicked up about it. She was very vocal about saying like I've been a client for years and blah, blah, blah and I'm insulted that you would ask me to do this while, but.
Speaker 2:I said that's totally fine, while you guys have been busy working out and just really been in and out of lockdowns in the past few years. I was like why are you sassy than that? Actually I didn't know you were working.
Speaker 1:Did you not also get that song? What would you do if your son was at a home job? Baba, there's no way to let it. Ah, I ain't got in and out of lockdown. No, that's not what it is Right anyway, great tune, but no. What is it in and out of lockdown? I don't think you're able to jump now.
Speaker 2:I don't have to get copyright links or something, but my point is that everyone was fine, with a couple of clients kicked up a little bit about it, but we just explained to them look, we need to be able to lock in those appointment times so that we are able to staff our salon accordingly. So, yeah, great thing that we brought in Highly recommended amazing thing, we will be doing this every year in the future and it's a really great tool to use. So that is definitely something that we would bring in, but that's not gonna be helpful to this person now In terms of like, we just had this conversation with a one-on-one client. Actually in terms of filling last minute appointments quote unquote we really focus on one thing. What's that, Tess?
Speaker 1:Our language, no intention. Our intention Two things.
Speaker 2:Our intention. It's always our intention behind it.
Speaker 1:Yes, but also the language, because there's a lot of like triggering language around it. We focus on two things yeah, Our intention and our language, Because you know what I mean? Well, it is.
Speaker 2:It's always that thing of like last minute cancellation and due to sickness whatever it is Last minute cancellation due to sickness, things that we don't need to know.
Speaker 1:I know, yeah, exactly, it's just things like that where I think people think that creates urgency. But what Nicky and I believe that this creates is also the just seems a bit like kind of it does seem a bit last minute, doesn't it Like? Getting that like last minute of like I think it's just two things.
Speaker 2:It's desperate.
Speaker 1:It's like desperate or like they've forgotten that they've had that availability.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So it just seems a little bit, yeah. It just seems a bit desperate a bit, yeah, just not.
Speaker 2:Well, also, I think, from a client's point of view, what you're telling your community on social media is there's a space that needs to be filled. Yeah, and like you can imagine if you were on a dating app and someone was like there's a space that needs to be filled. I want to go for it now. I mean, we've all had our fair share of like filling spaces with the wrong people but Look, the roster's got a schedule.
Speaker 1:I get it.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Julia Lamb is laughing about it, for sure, but realistically, the way that that looks. If you were trying to find your soulmate in the dating world and someone had in their bio looking to fill a space, or looking to fill a space on the roster or whatever that looks like, immediately you would feel so undervalued and it would be such an exchange as opposed to feeling really good, energetically and feeling like a good match. So we literally treat every single potential new client as a new relationship to nurture.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:So even when we you think he puts out, I definitely don't. I don't do all the new relationships that young's nodding along. But here's the thing if the way that we speak and I use this as an example with this one-on-one client today like we literally brought this out as an example We've got a client, one-on-one private client who's finishing up with us. She's going off to have a baby and she really needs that time to go on be with her baby. So she's graduating with us, which is really exciting. And there are two different ways that we could put this out there that we have a space available. We could say we've got a space available, we've got someone finishing up with us and we've got a space available for anyone who wants one-on-one mentoring. Or we can do it with intention, which looks like we have one of our one-on-one clients who is graduating with us and now we have the opportunity to welcome someone new into our community. So if you've been watching us from the sidelines and seeing some of our content that we put out there and you feel aligned to us, please feel free to reach out and let's have a conversation and see if this is going to work for you. So they both have really different energy attached to them. One comes from a place of I want to fill a space. One comes from a place of I want to welcome someone new into my community and nurture them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, agreed, it goes the exact same with the salon.
Speaker 2:When we're putting something out on social media and we have had a last-minute cancellation, the way that we're going to show up on social media really matters. So if you sit down in a quiet space and really think about what your intention is behind it Because, as we always go back to, everything is always done with intention for us, whether it's team, whether it's clients Drawing new clients in a lot of people run around in circles trying to find the secret source of how do I get more clients, how do I get more bums on seats, how do I get more clients in my doors? Yeah, literally comes down to intention. Yes, and who you're calling in and what way you're calling them in.
Speaker 2:So Try this. See how it works out for you if you're wanting to draw more people into your business or you're wanting to have busier books, sitting down doing a piece to camera on stories and say these things We've opened up our books to Be able to cater to more people. So we've opened up a few extra appointments for the busy period. Or you can say something along the lines of We've had a really exciting opportunity to be able to welcome someone new into our community or Bring an existing clients appointment forward. Whatever resonates with you in this, but showing up with that initial intention of I'm not here desperately trying to fill an appointment, I'm here because and you've got actually truly believe that absolutely that you truly have this beautiful offering for someone
Speaker 2:agreed. So coming into it like that is going to really change the way that things are talking to your ideal person. We've had this really exciting opportunity that's come up. This would be perfect for someone. If you've been watching our social media for a little while and you like the vibe of our salon or our clinic, this would be the perfect opportunity for you. If you're new, we would love to welcome you into our community and have you in the clinic before Christmas. So even that, it's a really beautiful invitation for people. As opposed to, here are the last minute appointments slapped up on the screen and then we'll just stick a take him over the top of it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I find that stuff I have to say, and if this is something you're doing in your salon, in your salon or clinic, please stop, because it does not. It screams desperate, urgent, it seems like Very transactional, it's just it's not calling in your ideal clients. Yeah, it's, it's truly the thing that I hate seeing the most In our industry, because I feel like it really brings the standard down.
Speaker 2:I agree it just, and don't you think? It just seems so disposable so clients feel so disposed like we'll just, especially when here we'll slot you in and then saying like the availability is, and then then just scratched out with taken Like a cross.
Speaker 1:I hate that. It feels like a. Yeah, it doesn't sit well.
Speaker 1:Yes, but I think this is a really great point with what Nikki's saying and and we are really big on believing in intention and language and how we show up and what this looks like, as Nikki says, is Speaking with intention, getting really clear on the type of person that you wanting to draw in. Go somewhere that is either really calm or Showing your space off in a really Attractive way, I guess. So really Something that is gonna really have if you've got people and people do sit on the fences for really long periods Like we have people that come into our salon and have been watching us for two, three years yeah, that's true, people watch for a really long time before they make the commitment.
Speaker 1:So and it can be a really big thing because we're not going just out for dinner and we can test the food and see if we like it or not People are going to go into a salon to change something on their face, body or head. Yeah, so it's a really personal thing.
Speaker 1:We really want them to have that comfortability before even happening. So a lot of the time will either say that the standard, you know, we all know the picture last minute, you know, take and take and take and whatever or it'll be people that'll do it really desperately and really quickly. So there'll be some of that super, super noisy or In their home, panicking. Yeah, this is the other one that we see a lot of, where people will just be kind of walking around their house I'm out of kids screaming in the background, you know. Hey, guys, just want to let you know we've had a last minute cancellation due to sickness. Available tomorrow for a full head of oils toner and a lot of people are going to be like Oil toner and hair cut at 2 pm. Yeah, with Jessica DMS if you want it.
Speaker 1:And again, exactly as Nikki's saying, there's no intention behind that. It's speaking to everyone. It's not really speaking to anyone specifically and Also, we've learnt this from walking the walk with it. We have done these, tried and tested these methods and the ones with this, the picture up, and no one takes advantage of that. That's common. That's like true to it, doesn't? That doesn't work. Yeah, speaking with intention and drawing in the right person that can really get clear on who we're actually going to be drawing In and that becomes a lifelong client or a really great client.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's the difference between getting those like blow-in clients and then the clients who are right, or dies for you. Yeah, this goes for team as well. Great question, it goes for team as well. When you're drawing in team, when you're rather than we are hiring, you know, we have the really exciting opportunity to be able to grow our team. There's two really different ways, but that was a great question. Thank you very much for submitting that. Okay, so the people don't have time to mess around. Today we're gonna smash out some really beautiful practical teas practical teas, practical tips, pricky teas because we want you guys to go into this week as clear-minded and Relaxed as possible. So, Tess, I'm gonna flick to you and I want you to give the top three Tips that someone can do this week to support themselves great.
Speaker 1:First thing, if you are not someone that has a water bottle at work, have a water bottle at work and make sure it's a big fella, because water is gonna be your best friend this week, especially if you are Really back-to-back. Have that drink bottle accessible for you and make sure that it is filled now. This does not go with coca-cola coffee, anything like that. Enjoy those things in your break. Go nuts, I don't mind what you do when you're on the floor. Make sure that you've got stay hydrated. Number one before everything else. Number two bring your lunch. Do not rely on, I'm gonna keep them super basic and simple.
Speaker 1:It's like self-care number two bring your lunch plan ahead and if you are doing Uber Eats or something like that for your fear lunch, make sure you order it and schedule it for when your lunch break is. That's good to I.
Speaker 2:Just want to say as well, if you don't have time to like this week for me, I had to remove the Mental fatigue of like trying to work out what I was gonna have for lunch. So I just went and bought is it you foods? What have I bought? Yeah, one of them, muscle chef, my pretty done for ever those pre-packaged High protein, low carb meals, because I just couldn't.
Speaker 2:The thought of trying to prepare my meals each day when I was gonna be working so much was too hard. So doing that as well as an option.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a really important one. If you don't have a scheduled in break because I know I'm speaking to some people now that are like, oh, I don't have breaks during Christmas Make sure you have food on hand that you can eat. Nikki yesterday went and sourced a whole heap of platters for our team, which she had a we've got you know a couple of vegans and non-vegans in our cell on, so we had a vegan platter and a Non-vegan platter and that was a really great throughout the day. The girls were in yesterday, including us. Well, they're from what was it called a past eight or something in the morning. Until what time were they last night?
Speaker 2:nine. You and I left at like nine.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So that was really great because in between clients or if someone's going to the bathroom or anything like that, you could just grab a carrot stupid carrot stick and some dip or Bit of cheese or fruit, whatever it was. They were beautiful. That great job on the platters as well. Don't think I acknowledged that yesterday? Sensational. Thank you so much, really. And now we've got stuff for the rest of the week as well. So little snacks, super help handy. So stay hydrated, make sure you've got food on hand and snacks and actually eating them, and take take a minute to go and put something in your gob. You'll feel better for it.
Speaker 1:My final one is one that I actually just did myself as my partner. On the weekend, I have my partner and my kid at home, my step-daughter, who is 10 years old, and this week their weeks were really busy as well, but I wasn't home half as much as what I usually am, and what that looked like was the house. When I came home on I can't remember Saturday afternoon, I got up. I think we had something on Saturday night and on Sunday morning I got up. They were playing, you know, together and whatever, and I spent two hours in the house cleaning and I actually stopped and said to them guys, my work load at the moment is really busy, so what I need from both of you is to really step up taking care of everything in here. I am not able to do that, so what I really need from both of you how you really be able to help me is that we are cleaning up after ourselves a bit more.
Speaker 1:I naturally am like a clean freak and that's part of my like OCD and you know spicy brain stuff. So I naturally have a really I'm not an easy person to live with and I have family. My family members are the complete opposite. They're quite messy and, you know, quite comfortable living in disarray and up until for the five, six months that we've been living together, it's all been going really smoothly. But because I haven't had the time to clean up after them as much, the house was not in that way on Sunday. I'm making it sound like it was a shambles. It wasn't, but it was too much.
Speaker 1:Realistically, there was a dishcloth left over, but I communicated that because I realised when I was doing the cleaning I was just getting really pissed off and really frustrated and rather than just sitting in my own fury and being like fucking out like you know, I've worked a week, now I've come home and now I'm doing all of this I communicated with them hey, for this week to run bits and make that really need you guys to. You know, pick up after yourselves a bit more Clean as we go. Help out with. That. Just created the focus.
Speaker 1:And as soon as I said it, they were like oh, absolutely, because they don't have the peripheral vision that I do for the household. I can hear how this sounds. It sounds like they're living with, you know, some sort of a drill sergeant, and perhaps they are. But that really helped light and load for me. So I was outsourcing the things I was not able to do, which I normally do, which is keeping the house, you know, at a really great level. I outsourced that and said you know, just for this period, while we're a bit, I need to have my focus at work. I really need this sort of support from you guys.
Speaker 1:So that when I'm home, we can have a really great quality time together. That would be my practical tips Stay hydrated, make sure you've got plenty of food. Communicate with your family what you need from them to be able to spend really great time with them, so you're not coming home and just being pissed off and frustrated.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's great great tips, my friend.
Speaker 1:What about?
Speaker 2:you. I'm gonna do three tips that you can do as a business leader to support your team.
Speaker 2:So whether you're a manager or you are a business owner. I'm gonna do three tips that you can do to support your team. So the first tip is to be in there with them wherever possible. So if you're not on the floor, wherever possible, get in there, get your hands dirty. This is the week to do it. So for a lot of you guys, you may be on the floor with clients, but if you have days where you know you're not scheduled to be on, I think being in there and really supporting your team is key, because Christmas week is really about working together as a team and everyone coming together and supporting each other. So that would be my first thing. I've actually loved being back in on the floor in the trenches.
Speaker 1:You have yeah.
Speaker 2:So I've been in front of house for the last what week, yeah, which has been really beautiful, and I'm actually taking that job on moving forward indefinitely and I'm really excited about that. But being in there and being supporting the team, I've got a whole new level of respect, in gratitude for them, because it's been a long time since I've been on the floor like three and a half years. You sort of forget it after a little while and get a little bit out of touch, so I think I was definitely a bit, a little bit out of touch.
Speaker 2:It's been really nice being in there and being able to support and work as a team, because even just the way that we have cemented as a team in the last, what five shifts that we've done, or like three shifts or four shifts, whatever it's been has been incredible. Like I'm talking, I haven't seen that level of teamwork in with in amongst our crew in probably a year. Great, and it's been amazing.
Speaker 1:The vibe's been amazing too. The time's just been amazing.
Speaker 2:Like, and everyone was just obviously, we had so much thrown at us last week and no one panicked. Everyone was just like yeah, cool, all right, what can we do? Everyone was just solutions based. No one was panicking. Yeah, everyone worked beautifully together. There was just, there was. So it was such an amazing day every single day that we were in there last week. It was so good so.
Speaker 1:I actually feel like as well. This is the first year that we've had we haven't had a countdown for the end of the year.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I nearly wrote one of the vibe on, doesn't?
Speaker 1:mean they shouldn't be looking forward to their break, but I just think it's nice. It's not a snail crawler like oh it's only six days left, like keep going, keep going. Yeah it's nice.
Speaker 2:I was I mean I was the vibe was amazing the last like what couple of weeks. So I really think being in there with your team is really important at the moment. Whatever you need to do to get in there, I mean realistically it's, it's this week. Whatever business stuff you're working on can probably wait. The second one would be Feed your Team.
Speaker 1:The.
Speaker 2:Platters Feed your Team where are possible. So the Platters.
Speaker 1:How much did that cost you?
Speaker 2:just out of your interest, look she might she did do a bit of buy and I buy nice stuff.
Speaker 1:So look, you could do it for 50 bucks for a big team. What did you spend?
Speaker 2:I'm curious now 120, but you know 120.
Speaker 1:Couple of days, though, worth it 120.
Speaker 2:But I mean, I like nice food, so I this again, it doesn't have to be expensive. You could buy donuts for your team. You could spend 12 dollars and buy donuts for your team if you wanted to. I'm just saying, like, what I spend is reflective. Like, for me, food is a really high value of mine, naturally, but it's something that I probably I'll buy, like I like to buy good quality organic produce and like I buy the best of the best, I'm not cost Nikki 65 dollars to get a couple of punts of strawberries.
Speaker 2:True, but yeah. So it's like Feed your Team wherever you can.
Speaker 1:Okay, so we've got be in there with them, feed them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, feed the team and what that looks like could be a coffee run. It could be something simple. Doing a coffee run in the morning, you know, getting everyone a juice.
Speaker 1:Even we've done before like get a pizza at the end of the night.
Speaker 2:Get a pizza at the end of the night. Yeah, that's a great one actually. Hot chips.
Speaker 1:Remember when you did that, but you you've done it off an Uber thing and you didn't check the size.
Speaker 2:So it came in. It was like an MCG size of chips. It was ridiculous, the hot chips.
Speaker 1:So they taken it home because we were like guys, you hardly touched the chips, so like we literally took it home, ate so much like. But it was hardly sketched, so it was yeah.
Speaker 2:So if you're not going to be there, send something in, like Uber eats some food as a little surprise for the team. But feeding your team is really important at the moment. Coffee run, you know, pizza at the end of the night.
Speaker 2:Yeah we have chosen to like. We've chosen to do the platters this week, which was really good because it was really nice, like high protein, low carb, healthy options, nice dips, whatever, whatever you can feed your team, support them, make them a coffee, even if you, even if you make them a coffee when they're about to go on their break, so it's ready for them. Little things like that really help because they're going to be working really, really hard and we want to make sure that they're well fed. The third and final one this might be a silly one for some people, but it's really important to us and it's a really high value of ours.
Speaker 1:What is it Saying? Thank you. Saying thank you, I knew it was going to be there.
Speaker 2:I don't even know if our team know that we do this, but they'll probably. If any of them are listening right now, they'll probably notice that we do this every single shift. So at the end of every single shift, it doesn't matter what our day has been like. Tess and I thank our team every single shift. So when they're leaving, we say bye, guys, have a great night, thank you so much for today. So Tess and I will both say that they might notice it now that we do it, but we've done this from the beginning and we always make a point of, and we usually thank each other as well, but we always make a point of thanking our team when they're leaving. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2:It was a beautiful day today, even if it was an awful day. We'll always say thank you so much for the day and we'll always point something out that was good. So that's a really important one. Practicing gratitude, knowing, actually practicing appreciation towards your team, because they may be exhausted at the end of the day and even just saying thank you so much, you did an incredible job today, thank you for being here can make the biggest difference. Absolutely agree, tess. We end every episode of gratitude. We sure do. What are you grateful?
Speaker 1:for I'm grateful for the opportunity to record something like this. I think it's a real privilege to be able to help. I would love to listen to something like this in the years when I've, you know, treated like dread around Christmas, like really panicking and really feeling like I get overwhelmed, and I would have loved something like this. So I'm really grateful to be able to give you know three practical tips of how to support yourself and three tips to how to support your team and really show appreciation for your team. What a privilege we have to be able to create something like this. I'm really grateful for it. Beautiful.
Speaker 2:I'm really grateful as well to be able to. We we actually rewrote Christmas for like when we started ahead and we decided we weren't going to do like hustle culture in December and overbork and squeeze people in and all that bullshit and we chose to approach Christmas in a calm way. Yes, it's busy, but it's fun and it's calm and we're supportive as a team to each other and we work as a team with each other. And that's just been.
Speaker 2:I just feel grateful for where our lives are right now Totally when our teams are where our business is at, because it's pretty damn good right now.
Speaker 1:It's beautiful and I think it's well. Even we were talking the other day. It's just been getting back in a salon and being with the girls and and how much fun that's been. So first time in a really long time at Nicky and I have truly been like jumping out of bed, super excited to go. It's time to get to work.
Speaker 2:I forgot how well we're such a good team. I forgot how well, we all work together. It's beautiful, it's been amazing. Guys, we've got a really special couple of episodes coming up for you next week and the following week. We are doing a really beautiful reflection episode next week and then the following week, which is launching on New Year's Day, is going to be an intention setting ceremony that we're all doing together. So that's really special. We cannot wait to share that with you guys. Until then, Stay conscious.
Speaker 1:everyone Love you guys. Stay all those pricky teeth. Write them down. Make sure you have them very visible where you are. Have a great week everyone.
Speaker 2:Thanks so much for listening to this episode and hanging out with us today To hear more about our journey. Follow us on Instagram at the underscore conscious underscore salon if you're a shit speller, check the spelling of conscious or at a head hair underscore. Thank you so much for joining us today and we'll see you in the next episode.