Discover the transformative power of team dynamics as we share heartfelt tales from our Conscious Salon family, where values like education, growth, community, and mindfulness aren't just words, but the pillars of our everyday life. Embracing the spirit of International Women's Day, we delve into rich discussions that go beyond the superficial, into the depths of personal development. Listen as we journey with our team at aHead: Amelia, Jazzy, Tash and Hannah through the revelations of our Life aHead Day.
Feel the unity as we recount the laughter and triumphs from our team-building escape room escapade, proving that pressure can indeed forge diamonds – or at the very least, stronger bonds and shared leadership. Through each locked door and solved riddle, we're reminded that the true essence of teamwork lies in authenticity and shared experiences. Our salon's culture thrives on these very moments, where vulnerability becomes our strength, and a supportive environment is not just a goal but a reality we live and breathe.
Whether you're a salon or clinic owner looking to foster a nurturing space or simply someone seeking inspiration for creating powerful, authentic connections, this discussion is a gentle reminder of the profound effect our shared humanity has on both professional teams and the communities they serve. Join us for this deep dive into what makes our salon not just a workplace, but a home.
To follow our journey:
Instagram @aheadhair_
@the_conscious_salon
This podcast has been produced and edited by Snappystreet Creative
Discover the transformative power of team dynamics as we share heartfelt tales from our Conscious Salon family, where values like education, growth, community, and mindfulness aren't just words, but the pillars of our everyday life. Embracing the spirit of International Women's Day, we delve into rich discussions that go beyond the superficial, into the depths of personal development. Listen as we journey with our team at aHead: Amelia, Jazzy, Tash and Hannah through the revelations of our Life aHead Day.
Feel the unity as we recount the laughter and triumphs from our team-building escape room escapade, proving that pressure can indeed forge diamonds – or at the very least, stronger bonds and shared leadership. Through each locked door and solved riddle, we're reminded that the true essence of teamwork lies in authenticity and shared experiences. Our salon's culture thrives on these very moments, where vulnerability becomes our strength, and a supportive environment is not just a goal but a reality we live and breathe.
Whether you're a salon or clinic owner looking to foster a nurturing space or simply someone seeking inspiration for creating powerful, authentic connections, this discussion is a gentle reminder of the profound effect our shared humanity has on both professional teams and the communities they serve. Join us for this deep dive into what makes our salon not just a workplace, but a home.
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 Kula 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. Welcome back to the Conscious Salon podcast. Tess, we've got the Motley crew. Here we do. We've got our head team, the A team, the entire team, so there's six of us sitting around the table at the moment, which is a bit squishy, and we're sharing three mics, so this will be a lot of fun. Yep, leah's going to love this. Who'd use the loudest? We're going to introduce ourselves. So we've got Tashia, who's been with us for a year and a splash.
Speaker 1:It's good of Tash to introduce herself, literally introduce her Tashia, come on, introduce yourself Hello. Tell the listeners a little tidbit about you. Who is Natasha?
Speaker 3:Oh no, this is too much pressure. She's an onion.
Speaker 1:She's a new girl.
Speaker 3:She's an onion.
Speaker 2:And our little onion. She's the serial offender of the Conscious Salon podcast. This is your second episode with us. Yes, yes. And we've just clocked a life ahead day. We're going to hear a little bit about your experience with a life ahead day. We've got Amelia sitting next to Tash. Amelia is our newest victim, We'll say our newest member of the A team Mills. How long have you been here for?
Speaker 4:So I started the fourth of Jan, so you're very fresh.
Speaker 2:So two months yeah, two months. And we thought what a better opportunity than to stick a microphone in front of her face and hear all about life ahead. So you've just done your first life ahead day. Yes, I did. What did you think?
Speaker 4:It was a lot, but in a good way. I think I had lots of fun today, yeah.
Speaker 2:So happy that you're here.
Speaker 1:Do you know what we need to do? I've just penciled out it with Amelia we need to get everyone. You guys all know your anniversary dates, don't you? No, natata is no, I don't know mine. Oh, yes, I do. Opening day 2013. The 20th of July I was like, hang on, I've got to think. Does everyone else?
Speaker 2:know their anniversary. They're actually all in the Trello board. I just have written insert anniversary date and I just haven't done that yet, but we will pop it on the list. Next along we have our unofficial co-host, Hannah. Hannah, you've been a very regular guest appearance on the Contra Salon podcast. You happy to be back, oh pleasure, pleasure to be back.
Speaker 5:Sorry to listeners, sorry.
Speaker 1:I feel the demand. They're going to love it.
Speaker 5:How'd you find today Always amazing? I think that's yeah, it's always a good day. I mean, you know, the tissue box did come out, so that's nothing new.
Speaker 1:Well, it's been lighter than the tissues.
Speaker 6:It's a bit lighter today, but it was a fantastic day.
Speaker 2:Sponsored by Kleenex. Yeah, thank you, hannah. And next up we have our beautiful Jazzy, who's been with us for three years.
Speaker 6:Hello, who is three years? No, just under three years. My anniversary is June 22nd.
Speaker 1:June 22nd. I'm going to write down everyone's anniversary so we can start celebrating everyone's anniversaries.
Speaker 2:Yes, jazzy, you've done a million of mine. Is your jumper on or off? I'm just watching this.
Speaker 1:It is half on, half off.
Speaker 6:I'm just saying now, I did not want to take my clothe clip out and I yeah.
Speaker 1:That's just terrible. So it's kind of just like a little. It's like a show all the way dinner, but it's a reverse shawl, because it's just on my arm. Well, it's just literally just coming part of your arm. It's covering the elbow to like lower shawarma To my shawarma. It's literally like a bandana it is. It's confusing me, it's like on or off? Are you waiting to put it on?
Speaker 6:It's really throwing me.
Speaker 1:Sorry to distract your tears. No, no, it's just what we need. We know that she's a distracted girl, so I'll try not to hyper fixate on the shoulder.
Speaker 6:Well, I'm so sorry for that.
Speaker 2:Avert your eyes and it is also International Women's Day, which is no exception that we're doing a life ahead day on International Women's Day. We were originally booked in to do, I think, next Friday, and then we brought it forward a week because we thought how fitting to be doing our teamwork personal development day on International Women's Day, everyone excited and ready to go. We're here, so we've just wrapped our first life ahead day. For anyone who's new around here, we run a personal development program at our salon ahead, so we actually have a brick and mortar salon and we've run this personal development program for like what? Eight years something. Yep, eight years.
Speaker 2:So we started when Tess and I got our first mentor and we first got into self development and we were learning all these incredible life changing things. We really wanted to pass that on to our team as well, and if we were having these massive shifts and these huge life changing moments, we also wanted to be able to provide that for them. So we thought, why not bring them along for the ride? Yep, some days. So the days are always themed and today was based around teamwork and we do different activities, sometimes resilience training, sometimes team bonding exercises, and the idea is that we walk away a smidge and better than the person that we showed up as, and I think we might have achieved that today. So, guys, I'd love to pass the mic around and hear a little bit about Tash. You can start first. Tell us a little bit about what the overview was of today, what we got up to. Let's start with activity number one. What did we do this morning? We did our personality tests.
Speaker 3:Yes, we did I just needed a quick job of the memory there. It was like four hours ago.
Speaker 1:It's been 84 years.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So we came in in the morning and we once again had no idea what we were doing, because the girls love a surprise.
Speaker 2:The girls hate a surprise as well.
Speaker 3:Well, no, you two love a surprise.
Speaker 1:I actually don't. I'm not a surprise girl either.
Speaker 3:So why do you keep on doing it to us?
Speaker 1:Well, it's Nicky's Well you know, why so? We don't know it. No, there is a method to it. Is it ethical?
Speaker 2:I don't know, but we won't ask any questions, but you know why because we don't want you guys to come in with any preconceived ideas. So if we said to you, okay, we're doing ice baths, you guys would all Google how to survive in an ice bath or best strategies for an ice bath. And then we keep the Christmas party a surprise, because we want a surprise and delight. But you guys still found out where we were staying.
Speaker 3:To be fair, we just get all the information off, hannah.
Speaker 1:I was going to tell you there's one answer, that's Google-ing. Super Sleuth over there Like oh.
Speaker 3:I can see one green tree in the background.
Speaker 4:Let me Google that branch. I've seen that before.
Speaker 3:I've seen that before and hear himself.
Speaker 2:So, tashi, talk us through the personality test, what we did and what the intention was.
Speaker 3:So we did one six months ago. Yeah, we did it six months ago. So we just went through a whole lot of questions about us, how we work best, how we learn best, how we can support best and how we can be supported best. So with every answer, we went through with the team so we were able to find out how others work and how we can best support other people and know how their minds work as well. So it's very revealing. It's very good, good information to have about your team.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what was the biggest takeaway that you had from that exercise, tashi, like, what will you do differently, moving forward to show it better for the team?
Speaker 3:I think the one thing that I took away from that is how there's certain things that all of us, or a lot of us, have reactions to that are very similar, that but sometimes we might need the same support or sometimes we might need different support. So, you know, if we're overwhelmed, like, a lot of us will kind of shut down and get a little bit quiet. Some of us need that time to be quiet, some of us need a hug, some of us need to be pulled out of it, some of us need to be questioned. So it was really interesting to see that, even though we might have similar reactions to things, we need different things from others. So, yeah, that was really good.
Speaker 2:It's really beautiful to get a deeper level of like. I think sometimes we take for granted like we all walk on the same concrete for 38 hours a week and we sort of take for granted, we think, that how we react to things is how other people around us are going to react to things and what they need in that moment is different to what we would need in that moment. So I think just deepening that understanding and this resource that Tess and I like depend on so much for both businesses to understand how to best give feedback, how to best support that person when they're having a hard time, some of their quirks yeah, really strengthens the team bond for sure. And it was interesting because for you, a lot of things that were true for you six months ago had changed.
Speaker 3:So much I know I read through the questions. Like so many of the answers to the questions I'm like no, that's not.
Speaker 4:That's completely different now.
Speaker 3:So, again, because I had been just new to the team, so a lot of those things were still me finding my way in the team and finding my place in the salon, whereas now, 12 months in, I'm like part of the furniture, so I'm like well, I'm just like whatever.
Speaker 1:But it's good, though, to have this as well, because I think it's one thing where we all like, say it and learn a bit, and you're like, oh yeah, cool, that's cool to know, blah, blah, blah. And then you know especially for some of us in the room we leave and we forget it instantly.
Speaker 1:So, to have it as a resource where we can fall back on it. And we have it where it is written and we can all grab it at different points if we need to and that understanding is it talked through as a group but then we have those little pockets of being able to go back in and check back on it as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I really do use this like many times a day for both our one on one clients. We use it for our one on one teams, sorry, our one on one clients teams. So when we're, you know, supporting them through anything they're going through with their teams and mentoring their teams, we'll whip out the resource. We use it for our own team, like we use it all the time.
Speaker 2:And it's something I definitely want to share, like. I would love to have it as, like, a downloadable resource for our community online so that more people can get it, because I think the impact is huge. Thank you for sharing, natasha, oh my pleasure. Amelia. I want to hear a little bit about how you found the journaling and what our journaling exercise was today.
Speaker 4:I found it very eye-opening because I never really used to do those kind of journaling practices beforehand. So it's good to actually kind of dig deep and even find with it myself those like things up in there and then being able to share everyone's responses and hear how we all differ or are very similar in certain things, because I think that'd be really helpful for all of us to learn and grow as a team together. I think that'd be really helpful for all of us to utilize that so that we can continue to support and help each other and just keep growing together.
Speaker 4:So I think that was a really, really helpful exercise to do.
Speaker 1:It creates that understanding between everyone. Yes, beautiful.
Speaker 2:So TESS creates different journal prompts for every life ahead day and we always start the first practice that we do for the day is our journaling exercise, so we'll all have different journal prompts right at how we feel and then we'll go around and share. And it's really interesting because, obviously, mills, for you it's your first life ahead day, so we're still getting to know you and there's still so much about you that we don't know. But for every team member they can be super in a super high vibration one month and then a couple of months later when we do our next life ahead day, things could have dropped off or they could have new challenges within their lives and it's just a really beautiful space for us to all share and understand and get a better knowledge on how to support each other and what we might be going through. What was one thing that you learned today in the journaling practice about someone?
Speaker 4:Oh, my goodness, bit on the spot there. I learned a lot. Did you want like?
Speaker 2:specific person or just in general?
Speaker 4:I think definitely like I really learnt, like how I can do my best to support each person individually, because obviously we're all so different and the way that I might want to help someone may not be the way that they need it. So to know how someone would want support from me makes it a lot easier for me to be able to give that to them. Beautiful.
Speaker 2:Thank you for sharing Mills Hany. We rewrote all of our head values today. Talk us through why that was an important exercise and what changed for us in between doing them.
Speaker 5:Well, it's been a really long time since we've written our values. So I think because we have them up in our back room so it's always visible. But I feel like with the changes that we've gone through, as like a company and as our team has also changed, not all those values I saw resonate with us or had the great impact that they once might have had.
Speaker 5:So going through the exercise and really like fine tuning what we really encompass as the team that we are, but also for our community, was like a really beautiful thing. Because I think it again, it's another beautiful activity that like brings us all together and working as a team to really like and no put the five words or values that really like encompass them like we do in every day and like why we're here.
Speaker 1:It's interesting that even I think niching it down now to just five, because before that I think there were like I don't know, 20 over there, which they're all nice, but when we pulled it out and it goes to show like I pretty much forgot about that.
Speaker 1:Consciously leaving here. Last year I definitely did. This year we plugged back in, so that's good, but now having just those streamlined five, so I think really like those words. It's like we've got nice words up there, but whether or not we actually were doing some of those, I certainly wasn't looking at it like I'm like God. I reckon I was doing about three, so now finding ones and we were really open around with that discussion too. Things weren't feeling good, like we were all making sure that we're all feeling 100% solid on them.
Speaker 2:And Hany, I want you to share with our community what our five ahead values are. So, for anyone new around here, the way that we do values at the Conscious Salon with all of our one clients, in the way that we teach, is we do value statements, so we have a really, really clear statement for each value and we don't over complicate it. So we want to have five. Everyone in the team should be able to rattle them off at any point, and the idea is that we're super connected to these values. What are they, hany?
Speaker 5:First up, we have education we commit to educating ourselves and our community. We have growth we are dedicated to growth and education. We nurture and support our team and community. Then we have community, so we believe in creating an inclusive, safe space. And then we have mindfulness, so we integrate mindful practices into all that we do.
Speaker 1:Beautiful, so those values.
Speaker 5:You believe them oh yeah, yeah, and I feel like it like also embodies, like externally, to like the four walls that we're also in and I feel, like I think I could say like majority of us literally here would be like yep, those values also run within, like our outside lives outside of the four walls yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:How did you find the values exercise? What's one thing that you took away from it?
Speaker 5:I think, even from like this time to when we've done it previously, like we're sharp and sweet, but I feel like, because we like worked really well together, like those words, just like float, and I was like, yes, like we believed 100% in those so it was like a lot easier because again, as a collective, we're like oh no, that's definitely what it is.
Speaker 1:So I found it like really easy, but also like really like strong towards it as well, I think because we've all gotten so aligned and so like clear on what we're doing, where we're going, and that also falls back onto the unconscious and unaligned place that we're in. Last year I'll put my I'm not saying all of you guys, me, but I think that's a really great like it was. It was really quick, it was really easy. I actually remember when we lasted the values, like getting your headache and I was like what? I'm like not super clear on what was sounded lovely, but there were just so many different things I was finding it hard to sort of grapple what we were actually doing.
Speaker 2:I think it's so easy to over complicate it, like I've seen it done over, I've over complicated it and I've also seen, like satin sessions where it's been over complicated and we're really committed to today just keeping it really simple so that it actually landed with everyone and it's like it's clear what we're here to do.
Speaker 1:There's no questions just like it's clear and I think that's also really important for anyone that is a Salon or clinic owner, or any business owner actually, or anyone actually that wants to take something from this.
Speaker 1:I'm going to give you a little slice of advice Do this with your community. So this is something that's really important, because I feel like so often, if Nikki and I just wrote this down, it would look totally different to how it is for you guys, and I think that if you're looking for like your team becoming super aligned and clear and like aware of where we're going, what we're working towards, working towards and what we want to embody, do this with your team and get their input, because it's one thing. If it's just you know the owners writing it out, it's really hard to like get everyone to align with that or to feel good about it, and I think that was one of the biggest changes in strategy for us is actually doing this as our group, rather than a collaborative process, just us deciding being like, cool, this is what we're all embodying from here on out, like take it on and off we go.
Speaker 1:It doesn't really work like that and it's really easy. Great, it's a great tool to have for people that come into the business and you can refer back. Okay, cool, does this align with you? These are our values. Does this align with you if you're working with, like finding you know, reps or different companies and things? Do you align with these? These are really important to us, as these things are important to you as well.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, because, at the end of the day, everything and you know you can do this as like life values as well but everything, every decision that you make within your business, within your life, comes back to your values. So it makes it really easy to make really clear, headed, unemotional decisions about who will and won't come into your business, who will and won't come into your life, and what your standards are, what's important to you. All those things really really help to make clear decisions. Jazzy, I want you to take the mic and I want you to tell us a little bit about what our activity was today.
Speaker 6:We did an escape room today, which was super exciting.
Speaker 2:Beautiful. Have you done an escape room?
Speaker 6:with us before. I have done an escape room with you guys before, so four of us have done them in the past and we had two newbies to welcome into it.
Speaker 2:So what came up for you in the escape room?
Speaker 6:I found it was quite a calm collective atmosphere.
Speaker 2:It was really beautiful to see because something that came up. We did a bit of a debrief afterwards. Do you remember any of the things that came up, jazzy? From what the girls were saying, what their perspective was?
Speaker 6:I think some of us had different perspectives as well, where some may have felt like they were like going to different activities and trying to solve, like move ahead, where some of us kind of stayed back. But I think we all let each other have a go and like play to our different strengths and stuff. And this time we actually asked for help with our little walkie-talkie, which I was very pleased to because I find I'm one that asks for help quite easily. But we all asked for each other this permission before we reached for the walkie-talkie, which was really nice.
Speaker 1:We all had a good crack at it, I think, before we got into it whereas. I think last time we probably went way too long without any help, like, no, we could do it, and it was way too long.
Speaker 2:Last time we were, almost like, fiercely committed to not asking for any help, like throw the microphone away.
Speaker 1:We don't need it I feel like last time.
Speaker 2:yeah, we spent like 40 minutes on one puzzle and I just kind of gave up and just sat there because I was like, well, but I think that really speaks to where our teamwork was at the time and our teamwork is so different now like it was a really it's the first escape room that I've ever done that didn't feel hectic and panicked. It was just like yep, cool, we're good. No one was like triple checking the time, like it wasn't like everyone's, like we're running out of time. It wasn't like that. Everyone had their moment to step into a leadership position and anytime someone suggested something like I suggested some absolute donkey things a few times in there, like just some totally off things, I was like maybe it's under the light switch and no one was like no, no, no, it's not there. Like people really heard it checked and then, okay, no, that's not it, but let's jump into something else.
Speaker 1:like it was really respectful, it was really beautiful it was a really, really nice experience and we did get out, we escaped and then, when we were in the lobby, the timer went off, so we had four minutes left. Yeah, it wasn't the toilet. When I heard the timer going off I was like oh yep.
Speaker 6:So we escaped with time to spare.
Speaker 2:Jazzy passed the bike down to Han. I want to get Han's perspective on the escape room. What came up for you?
Speaker 5:I'm going to go on with like the help thing that Jaz like touched on, because, like personally, I'm someone who doesn't really like ask for help and I'm learning to ask for help. So I think, like when we were in that situation, we asked permission, like, oh, maybe we should just like ask for a little little bit of help. I think it really put into perspective that to ask for help doesn't mean that we're going to fail. It's just going to get us to our destination a lot smoother than trying to be like all up in your head and being like hectic. So that was like one massive thing that I took away from the escape room.
Speaker 2:That's huge Beautiful, also in the girls. Earlier, our first mentor that we had used to put us in at our conference used to put us in really high-pressure situations. They'd play this game and she put us in like super high-pressure situations and see how we reacted, and then at the end of it she would always say the way that you play games is the way that you play life, which triggered the shit out of me because I had just spent like an hour and a half yelling at everyone else and telling them that they were wrong, and that was exactly how my life was playing out at the time. And it's a really beautiful reminder that when we're put under pressure, our true colours come out. And today, even though we were under pressure, we all worked really cohesively and one of the beautiful things was that our team did ask for help and everyone was okay with asking for help, but it didn't feel like we had to rely on the help either, or it wasn't a reliance thing. It was really, really beautiful.
Speaker 2:Thank you for sharing Mills. What about you? What came up for you in the escape room?
Speaker 4:I think that like doing something like an escape room where it's like meant to be high-pressure and all that stuff, it's really good to see like how, as a team, all of us together can handle those kind of situations, because they play up in real life all the time, and I think I was really impressed and almost surprised at how well we managed what you'd call us like a high-pressure situation.
Speaker 4:I think like we all did really well in like as just like stepping into certain roles and playing into our strengths, like we all got a chance to like be in that leadership role and everyone else was okay with like just going along with it and being respectful and like, even if something was wrong or not right, it's like we just moved on. We're happy to just keep trying new things. No one got to aggro about it and we're just happy to like keep working together and just like being a team, and no one like stepped on any toes or anything. So I think it was cool to see how we we all handled together, being able to stay calm and not get heightened in our emotions and.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it was just a really Opening and beautiful experience was beautiful.
Speaker 1:I only got nervous at the end when I fucked up the keypad because I was on the door and Mark actually get a shout out to Mark at um, the skate rooms, what it? What is this? What is his business anyway, somewhere in Oakley. I just Google a skate rooms Oakley and that's Mark. Yeah, that'd be Mark, but he commented multiple times on our teamwork so I thought and also he was waiting out the front clapping which is it's a king.
Speaker 1:Much appreciate you to come in from his lunch break. I mean, you thought we were never gonna get out Round up the stairs and got to us Tash would love you to take the bike.
Speaker 2:what came up for you in the escape room?
Speaker 3:I was just happy to be there. I think I didn't feel any pressure at all. I didn't. I forgot that there was a time limit. I just was there, it was fun, I just didn't yet. But I didn't feel a lot of pressure. And I didn't feel a lot of pressure In those times when you guys were flying around, because I've never done one before, so I wasn't sure what to expect. So people are, like you know, checking the back of pictures and under the bed and I'm like whoa, like that's intense.
Speaker 4:Don't touch anything.
Speaker 3:So I think I probably stepped back for quite a while, kind of just Gaging what everyone was doing, because I've never been in that situation before. But yeah, you exactly right, everyone said everyone had a moment where they had a, a leadership role or you know, unintentional.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Words, yeah the code, although I actually, while you, I Honestly think I'm gonna have to shoot email an email to me gonna find out, because I still don't know how that did not work out.
Speaker 2:How did that not work out?
Speaker 3:the code no we had a casual is loose, or a carb I call it was a certain set of a casu. Corn Corbou is loose and we were like what?
Speaker 2:that and what was it actually? Corner cable is the corner cable is loose, yeah.
Speaker 1:The clues, like I'm like. How does someone's brain think like that as well?
Speaker 3:The. The casual is loose is gonna he's gonna kill me.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna remember that. Just we should not. You're gonna go shoot off an email to mark, mark.
Speaker 3:Why is the casual? Is why your clue is wrong. Yeah, it was wrong.
Speaker 6:Look, I think it was.
Speaker 1:We double-checked it a couple of times.
Speaker 3:I don't understand.
Speaker 1:Need not worry, we got out.
Speaker 3:Oh, that's right, we were there for a reason.
Speaker 4:No, I had a great time.
Speaker 3:It was really good and I didn't feel any pressure because I Kind of we all took our time if we needed it. I didn't there was any pressure at all.
Speaker 2:So one of the things that I feel like we really see a lot of salon and clinic owners that really overthink is running team days. A lot of people Can see team days online and, I think, also seeing team days online. You're getting a really a tiny little snippet and it's gonna look incredible, but you don't need a lot of resources to be able to run one of these in your team. It literally can look as simple as taking your team to go and do an escape room. That could change the team culture. It could help your team work Way, way better with each other and support each other in different ways, and also just to put them in an environment. That's can be fun and different.
Speaker 2:But I feel like a lot of people really, really overthink Doing these days and they get so focused on the fact that they think that someone external needs to facilitate. You guys can run these days now in your team and it'll make a huge, huge difference. Ladies, it's International Women's Day and we end every episode in gratitude, and something that I would really love you guys to share is what the A team means to you.
Speaker 1:Hmm.
Speaker 3:It's me. I think we spoke, we had done a couple of questions and our journal questions about this today and I kind of yeah, I guess there's a lot of things like we could go into essays about that, but I think it is just and for me personally, having not had this before in almost 20 years of hairdressing, is Just having the support of your team and knowing that your team has your back and and also just being able To have conversations like this with your team and so just being a lone wolf, fucking beautiful.
Speaker 1:Wasn't that beautiful.
Speaker 2:Thank you, tash Amelia. What does the A team mean to you?
Speaker 4:I'm going off of what Tash said as well. I think there is such a massive amount of support and Similarly Coming from places where that's not normal. It's almost jarring. But yeah, you come to learn like odd, this is what it should be. But yeah, that a team here is just the best thing. There's so much love, support and kindness and being privy to that feels like such a privilege and I'm just yeah, I'm really, really grateful that I get to have that.
Speaker 1:I'm grateful to have you, thank you. Thank you, it's beautiful.
Speaker 2:Hany, what does the A?
Speaker 5:team mean to you, I think, just being in an environment where you can have, like Tash said, like courageous conversations and it doesn't just have to be about like what we're doing every day on the floor as well, like we can have really in-depth, beautiful conversations and, yeah, it's just like you're not alone, like the support is always there and everyone's there to just like listen and, you know, be a shoulder to cry on if you need to have a cry. But, yeah, I don't feel like there's too many places like this, so it's a very sacred thing to be actually be able to be a part of it as well.
Speaker 5:Beautiful, beautiful honey, thank you.
Speaker 2:Thank you, Jazzy? What does the A team mean to you?
Speaker 6:The A team means to me. It is an incredible bunch of women that I get to come to work and work alongside and see every day. I think there's incredible support in the cell on both like positively and like if we need a bit of cheering up as well if we're dealing with stuff, and I think that us working together we've made lifelong friends as well.
Speaker 1:I actually want to stay on Jazzy for a second because I would love to hear, jazzy, how you found the journaling this morning Good.
Speaker 6:I'm no stranger to journaling with Tessa Nick now, and I think even referring back to my first life ahead day, when we were just like writing the props down and I was like, oh yeah, I'll write this and no one's going to read this, and then the girls were like all right.
Speaker 6:Now we're going to read them out loud and I was like, oh fuck, but I really like the journaling prompts because it allows you to sit and like resonate on how you're feeling currently. And then they snuck a little one in there about like the 10 seconds of courage, and it's stuff that you get to say to your team that you wouldn't necessarily come into work and just randomly say, and then go work on clients, like we have a whole day to chat and work on our teamwork or a different theme, and just really be there and support each other.
Speaker 1:That was one of the things that was a real stand out for me with you was that you were really vulnerable today and shared and Jazzy is sort of known by everyone that meets Jazzy is that, she's like a little way of sunshine, very happy, very bubbly, very joyful person. But this morning you had you were vulnerable.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I think that's actually some things happening for me, and I think everyone was probably not aware of it.
Speaker 6:Yeah, with the fair assumption. I think so definitely. I think I tend to like separate my personal and my professional life and it's quite nice to come in and just like let them all know and I know it's not going to be like it'll be in the back of their minds. They might know something's going on, but at least then it makes more sense to say if I turn up and I'm like a bit low on a certain day as well, it's just it just takes that pressure off, it does and it creates that safety.
Speaker 1:I really, yeah, I was really proud of you for stepping into that. Thank, you.
Speaker 2:It's beautiful, my co-pilot Tess. What does the A-Team mean to you?
Speaker 1:A-Team. For me, it's like how do I put it into word? I like all the things that the girls have said. For me, it's connection, it is inspiring, it is heart, it is love, it is support, all the things that I think all of us are wanting, and we have it with each other, which is fucking magical, truly, I think it's such a special thing. I'm so grateful for it, and it's not just from a business point of view, it's from a purpose point of view. My job is fun and joyful and all the things that I want it to be, because I get to come to work and be inspired by all of you in different ways. And, yeah, it's everything. To me, it's so fucking important.
Speaker 1:I am so deeply grateful for the A-Team and also a lot of the former A-Team Actually, you know what I'm going to go out and say all of the past and present A-Team members. I'm grateful for all of them for different reasons and things, but exceptionally grateful for all of you. For me, it is safety, like holding space just beautiful. I love it. What about you?
Speaker 2:I think for me you know it's no coincidence that it's International Women's Day and obviously when women create a safe space, I think it's a beautiful thing. But for me I feel a lot that it's easy. I think a lot of the time you and I get praised a lot for creating a certain space or creating the company or whatever. It's easy to look at that and be like, oh, that's what the reason is. But I actually think that the reason that we have something that's so special is because the people that we have within our four walls come into it and trust, and I feel like that would be really hard to do.
Speaker 2:Like my previous jobs were not healthy or safe work environments and, aside from that, I actually never showed up to a single job that I had, and some of these jobs I was in for five years and I never showed up to them authentically as myself.
Speaker 2:I showed up as this weird masked version of myself. So as much as I think, yes, it's a beautiful space that we've created in here, I think it's far more exceptional that everyone comes in authentically as themselves, and it doesn't always happen straight away and sometimes it takes a while to trust and to feel comfortable to do that, but I think that's the thing that really is amazing for me. I don't have to feel like I have to come into work and be anyone else, and I hope and I feel that everyone in here whether they have been here for three years or three months, I feel that everyone shows up authentically and I think there's something really beautiful about that, because I never had the opportunity to do that in another. I never trusted actually to do that in another business. I always felt like I had to be someone else.
Speaker 2:So, that's what I think is really beautiful about what we do here.
Speaker 1:God, that's lovely, isn't it?
Speaker 2:Guys, thank you. That's really beautiful. I really appreciate you guys sharing and being vulnerable and I think for a lot of salon and clinic owners who are listening to this and there's a lot of team that listen to this podcast as well but I think, just having a perspective of what it actually feels like from a team member's point of view it's so important that we are constantly checking in and listening with our teams and hearing what their experience is, and we have the philosophy that we work harder to improve our team's experience than our client's experience, because, as much as we want our clients to feel incredible when they're sitting in our chairs, our philosophy is, if we nurture the person standing behind the chair, everything flows. They'll pass that on to the person who's sitting in their chair. So if you're not doing team days, start doing team days. We love a pracky tea, so obviously we're going to start doing that.
Speaker 2:Thank you everyone so much for listening. Beautiful episode, tess. Thank you guys. Stay conch. 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 ahead hair underscore. Thank you so much for joining us today and we'll see you in the next episode.