Steal our Morning Pump Up format

Want a calmer start, clearer goals, and a team that actually owns the day? We break down our ten‑minute morning pump‑up that’s taken us from scattered huddles to a self‑led, high‑performing salon. It’s simple, fast, and designed to be implemented tomorrow without adding chaos to your diary.

We start with what changed everything: making the meeting paid, scheduled, and non‑negotiable. From there, we walk through each section of our board and why it works. Wins come first, with reasons that build confidence and recognition. Then a single shared focus aligns the team around today’s priority: rebooking before holidays, retail momentum, promo pushes, or content capture, so every touchpoint supports the target. Awareness flags the likely bottlenecks before they bite: stacked evenings, towel flow, stock, even a stylist’s sore back, so support can be planned rather than begged for at 5pm.

The heart of our system sits in the three daily tasks per person. These aren’t routine duties; they’re outcome‑based actions like home‑care goals, treatment upgrades, or content deliverables. We follow up the next morning with honest accountability and loud celebration, which turns individual effort into shared energy. Gratitude prompts deepen trust without getting fluffy, while a concise weekly task list keeps momentum steady between clients. And the love notes? They stay up all week and they change the room—public praise that makes people feel seen, safe, and ready to stretch.

You’ll hear real examples, the cadence we use, and the small details that drive results, including the 94% rebooking spike during Christmas week. 

If you want the full framework, we also share how to access our Conscious Meetings course for team meetings, one‑on‑ones, front of house, and leadership rhythms. 

Try the ten‑minute pump‑up tomorrow, then tell us what shifts first—energy, results, or both. If this helped, follow the show, share it with a salon owner who needs it, and leave a quick review so more teams can level up.

To follow our journey:
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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:06

Welcome back to the Conscious Salon podcast. Guys, we're not here to fuck around today.

SPEAKER_00 0:11

We won't even do an intro.

SPEAKER_02 0:12

Well, no, well, we don't have time.

SPEAKER_00 0:14

Aiden doesn't even sat down the whole thing before. Aiden doesn't sat down. The whole session now.

SPEAKER_02 0:19

But I'm excited because we are about to give away one of our signature blueprints. Amazing. Because we are on a mission. Well, we're on a mission to improve and transform the hair and beauty industry as an entirety. And there's a lot of fucking salons to get to. So we need to get shit done and we need to get this blueprint into as many salons as possible.

SPEAKER_00 0:40

All right. Well, if you're waiting for a nice and easy, relaxed episode, guys, this is not it. I'm so sorry, guys.

Why The Ten-Minute Pump-Up Works

SPEAKER_02 0:45

Hope you're all having a beautiful morning and a great start to your day. But here we go. Okay. So, Tess, let's talk about the 10-minute meeting that has completely changed our team culture and our productivity in the salon.

Make It Paid, Scheduled, Non‑Negotiable

SPEAKER_00 0:58

Yes, the morning pump up. That's an old favourite. It's been well, it was something we've done for a few years. And I think we've really said six years sort of, but we've really worked at kind of refining and really getting it. We really want it to be really motivating. What we're finding when we had it, we had more of like a huddle, which I know a lot of salons do, of like, you know, coming in and having a bit of a pow wow before. We used to call it the morning huddle. Um yeah, and I think it was, I think it was even daily huddle at one point or morning huddle. Oh, I can't even remember. But it was kind of a bit of a pow wow, quick, like, you know, all right, you know, spray, quick, you know, come on, let's go. And it was just kind of really like some mornings it'd be really good energy. The other mornings it would be like, oh, um, I forgot what I did. Like it just didn't have any, didn't have really good intention behind it. And so we've really gotten really clear on what we're wanting to do. For us, a morning pump up, we do 10 minutes every single day. It's built into our team's time um time time calendar calendar.

SPEAKER_02 2:01

So like they start, I think this is really important to note. They are paid from 8 a.m. and the morning pump up is at 8 a.m. The first client is not scheduled until 8, 10 a.m. Yep. So super important to note because so many people try and squeeze in a morning pump up or a morning huddle before their team start. Just no. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:19

And I think this is one of the big parts of it. When we start blocking things out and like treating our meetings, our um daily routines, our um like even lunch breaks, what anything you feel like oh, I always constantly remove that or I shift that until another day, another day, another day. When you start planning your years out where you are intentional every single day with these things and they become a non-negotiable, the way that you treat an appointment being booked by a client, that is when real growth and elevation starts happening. So we have this booked out for the entire year. There is from eight till eight, ten, as Nikki said, every single team member.

SPEAKER_02 3:00

So it's it's January right now at the time of recording. Yeah. And already from January till December 2026, every single morning pump up, team meeting, one-on-one, every single thing is scheduled in our calendar. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:15

Because if they're not, they won't get done. And this truly is like it's and this is where we create consistency. We have a really clear team experience. We have a really clear vision and goal and like high performing, self-led. If you're wanting these things, this is where you're gonna get it. So the morning pump up is a sensational way to start the day. I think we'll break down each section that we do.

Section One: Celebrate Wins

SPEAKER_02 3:37

Get a pen and paper, guys, because you're gonna want to write this down and then you're gonna want to implement it into your salon. And I'd also recommend you guys getting your team members to listen to this episode so they can understand the intention of the morning pump-up and what they're actually gonna benefit from it. Absolutely. Section one.

SPEAKER_00 3:53

Section one.

SPEAKER_02 3:53

So I should say as well, we have this beautiful custom-made morning pump-up board.

SPEAKER_00 3:58

We'll be available by the time.

SPEAKER_02 4:01

This episode is recording. Maybe pre-sale will be available. We're making them, guys, and it has been like this will drive me to drugs. This project. It has been exhausting and very difficult. Hopefully, by the time we're recording this, we've got pre-sale because we want to make them perfect.

SPEAKER_00 4:16

But they are we do have a bit of production issue, but they're they're on their way, either way. We're just gonna go with that. They're on the way. But for now, pen and paper, first section is let's celebrate a win. So this is something that we do from celebrating from the day before, or the last time that the team member was in salon. So this is something that is really giving them a moment to celebrate themselves and sharing that with the team as a collective can be a really incredible experience.

SPEAKER_02 4:47

So there's a space on the board for each team member to write, and we really go around in a fire way. So can we just do like a little example? Great. Tess, what was your win from yesterday?

SPEAKER_00 4:56

Uh, my win was the blow dry I did on Sarah. That was um really great. She was a great client. I really enjoyed uh doing the bouncy blow dry and she loved the result, and she's rebooked for her next event as well. Beautiful.

SPEAKER_02 5:11

So obviously, Tess answered that really, really well. When you're first starting out, you may have a team member that says, you'll say what's a win from the day before, and the team member may just say Sarah's blow dry. If your team members present with a shorter answer, you want to ask them why was that a win for you? Say more. I want to know why it was a win for you, so that they can elaborate and share. So this just allows our team to have a moment to be recognized. Recognition's really, really huge in our industry and such an important quality for people who are usually people pleasers. They love to have recognition and to hear praise in front of other people. So it's a really beautiful opportunity for you to celebrate each other. And it also, I feel like this has changed our team dynamic in the sense that the way that the girls celebrate each other is huge.

SPEAKER_00 6:00

Yeah, it also really helps them as women, you know, start taking up the space. Really allowing that moment of acknowledgement and not playing small, not being like, oh, you know, yeah, it was good, it was okay, it was fine. It's really being like, no, I loved it because of this, and this is why it was such a win for me. Yeah. Really encouraging them to take that space. It's so important for us to do.

SPEAKER_02 6:20

Absolutely. Section two, what's that, Tess?

Section Two: Set The Daily Focus

SPEAKER_00 6:23

Section two is uh focus. Focus. Yeah, you like playing up the thing. Yeah, I was like, okay, which part do I go to next? This is the focus for the day. So this is something you guys really want to focus on. So this is great if you are wanting to, if you've got a goal where you're wanting to improve salamary booking or retention rate, if you're wanting to um hit a certain retail target, if you're wanting to really level up, if you've got a promotion, something you're wanting to do and really focus on. This is what we talk about that.

SPEAKER_02 6:52

So, what are some examples of what we focus on? Like what were I'm trying to think of what ours have been recently, like in the Christmas period.

SPEAKER_00 6:59

We had rebooking as a really high focus. We often find, uh, especially towards the end of the year, that rebooking can start dropping off. That's something that can be, you know, like, oh yep, you know, you you want me to book in January, or like are you just gonna book online? We can start with or I'm on holidays, I'll book when I get back. Our girls really had that as a huge focus. Sorry, I just looked straight at you. Our girls had that as a really huge focus, and the results are in that because in our Christmas week, so our final week of trade, our final day of trade, actually. I did the reports on this last night. That was so much of a focus. We had 94% rebooking rate. We had, I think it was 25 client clients in the salon, 24 rebooked.

SPEAKER_01 7:41

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 7:41

So that's really showing where it can be like that. Was a really high focus for our team. That's something that where we can start really having like good focuses on with that. If you've got promotional packages, things like that where you're wanting to really um target or an event coming up, this is where we put our focuses. It's like the things that you really want to make sure that we're all covering these spaces in the salon at every touch point with our clients.

SPEAKER_01 8:05

Amazing. What's our next section?

Section Three: Be Aware Of Bottlenecks

SPEAKER_00 8:07

Let's be aware of. So this is more for where potential like problems may come up. So, say for example, if um the salon's really busy from uh 4 till 8 p.m., this is where we'd be aware of, okay, guys, we've got a really busy night tonight. So let's make sure that we're getting on to the cleaning early today. So let's make sure that we're starting the cleaning at 2, so then we can really stay on top of that. This could be something if there's um, you know, uh we need to stay on top of towels, for example, noticing that that's where um you've fallen out of rhythm. It hasn't been as smooth as what it has been prior. Uh, this could be any potential bottlenecks, pretty much, that might be coming up. We want to get ahead of these and this where we can kind of acknowledge them and see, like, okay, cool, this is what we've got to be conscious of. Let's make sure that we're um supporting each other with that. This can also be if someone's, you know, got a bit of her sore back or something like that. You can pop that in there, not from a sense of like a get out of jail free card, more in the sense of, okay, Nikki's back's a bit sore today. So um, Tay, I might get you to support her with some blow dries where you can. It's just gonna create that awareness of.

SPEAKER_02 9:12

We use that when our girls have been injured and things like that.

SPEAKER_00 9:15

It's just any potential bottlenecks, we're getting ahead of it. We've got an awareness around it, so that that thing can be just a little bip if it's anything and not a huge disaster.

SPEAKER_01 9:24

What's our next section?

SPEAKER_00 9:26

The next section is tasks. Do you want to talk about that? So that's when we start doing um our three tasks of the day for every team member. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 9:33

So important to note, each team member will set three tasks. Our girls come in prepared to their morning pump-ups. So they all have a little planner, like a diary, and they all have pre-written three tasks in. So they've looked at their day and they've prepped their tasks, whether it be the day before or the morning of, and they come in with those three tasks. The task section is not a space to fuck around and have a little head scratch and paper shuffle and have a bit of a wander and a wander. Wonder? How do you say it? Wonder. A wonder. A bit of a think, you know. It's a space to have a bit of thinking time. It's three fire things that are going to really, if when you achieve those things, you feel incredible afterwards. Important also to note that these are not part of your normal routine as in your normal job description. So let's say for me, if I was an emerging stylist, I would not be putting one of my tasks of the day, sweep up the hair on the floor. Yes. So it has to be something that is a goal for you to reach to outside of what you do day to day, the normal tasks that you have. So it could be shooting content on a client that's coming in, Jackie, who's coming in. It could be we always set a home care goal, so a retail goal, and we always set a treatment upgrade goal as well. So it's just to keep our team really, really focused and to celebrate them when they do hit those goals. So our girls will say, you know, I have a goal to hit$150 in retail sales today, or I have a goal to hit a 95% rebooking rate, or I have a goal to hit four treatment upgrades for my clients. So they'll always do one of those as one of the tasks, and then they'll choose two other tasks to put into the list that aren't in their typical day-to-day. The following day, we check in with the tasks. So let's say today was Wednesday, and our team have just had Tuesday in the salons. We've gone through the win from the day before, we've gone through the focus, the awareness. We get to daily tasks. Before we rub off the daily tasks, we check in. Tess, yesterday you said that you wanted to do$150 worth of retail home care sales and two treatment upgrades, and you also wanted to take content on Jackie. How did you go with those three things? And Tess will say yes, yes, no.

SPEAKER_00 11:49

Or it will be, um, I did$138 in retail and one treatment upgrade. I did content on Jackie, I've got to upload it onto the phone or onto the iCloud or whatever it is.

SPEAKER_02 12:01

And this is the footage that a lot of you guys would have seen online, us posting on social media, when our team cheer each other on. So whenever someone's like, Oh, I set a$150 retail goal and I actually hit 250, and the whole team will clap and cheer and be so excited for each other. And I feel like this is a huge one in terms of our culture and how much this has improved our culture and our team really seeing each other and celebrating each other. So that's been massive. Uh, so we go through and tick those off in the previous day and then rub them off and write three new goals up for the day. So these are also a really good anchor for the team to come back to when they're seeing gaps in their appointment book and thinking, you know, what what do I need to do? They've got those things there to really anchor into.

SPEAKER_00 12:48

What stops the kind of mindless walking around, or like I'm not really sure what I should be doing, or like I'll just, you know, go and click on tomorrow and I'll have a look on, you know, Wednesday and I'll have a look on you know Thursday in six months' time and see what's happening then.

SPEAKER_01 13:00

Yeah.

Section Five: Gratitude Prompts

SPEAKER_00 13:01

It's going to be really clear about how they're going to be spending their time. So it is a great one to be able to have a really high performing, um, self-led and a team with really great peripheral visions. This is where you can really get that to that next level. Big thing with the task area or the goals area, make sure that you do follow them up and like hold that accountability there. So when we're doing it, we give it for a moment of celebration, but it's also really great to keep accountable with that. Not wanting to have the team members like set up their goals and then we don't ever touch it again. We want to go back and really check in, make sure, and if they haven't achieved them, is this something you can do today, or is this an or we choosing a new goal? Really, really great. I love the goal area.

SPEAKER_02 13:44

Love. Our next section is our gratitude section. So every day we choose a different prompt. We've got like a is that 160 prompts or something, 150 prompts. So many um different prompts that we use, which are they're actually originally they were actually our journaling prompts that Tess and I would use day to day. And then we use them in our morning pump-up. So different journal prompts will be um, you know, what is a sell-on value, one of the one of the ahead values that we're gonna live by today, and how are we gonna bring that into our day? It could be um, what are you feeling grateful for about your position or your like what what gratitude do you have for someone within the team? It could be um what's uh one word to describe what your growth has been in the past six months. So we choose a prompt for all of our team to answer, and this is like the warm fuzzies part of the of the board where we get to really celebrate what we've done well and recognize each team independently. And I feel like this is where the team are constantly sitting in gratitude.

Section Six: Weekly Tasks And Priorities

Love Notes: Recognition That Sticks

From Practice To Culture Shift

SPEAKER_00 14:49

I agree. The next section is the task for the week. So this is where if you have anything that you want to focus on as a salon. So if you have like a fortnightly cleaning list, that could be something that goes up there or a weekly cleaning list. Um, if you have certain promotions that you're really wanting to focus on, that's where you could put that as well. Uh, if you're wanting to really do like a content overhaul, really making sure that you know we need to have 10 pieces of content. So I really want everyone focusing on that. If we have online education that we want the whole team to watch, trainings, yeah, exactly. This is where we would pop that in. Just as uh if you get your task done or you're looking for something to do, we can come back and we can really make sure that we're ticking these off as well. The very final last section of the board is probably the most beautiful part of the board. The love notes part. So this is the part where you have the opportunity to go in and really celebrate another team member, you have the opportunity to um shout someone out, you just get to share and show some love to whoever it is that you're wanting to. And this is like truly my favorite part of the board because sometimes we'll come in and there'll be just the most beautiful messages to each other of, you know, Jess, thank you so much for training. You know, I loved it. I feel so much more confident, you know. Love Amelia. Or, you know, Tay, that colour you did on Sarah the other day was incredible. I'm, you know, love watching you work. Or, you know, Jazzy, your energy is really helping me get through each day. Whatever it is, like there's just always something that is so special about seeing these little shout-outs for people, and it also gives the team a moment to see that appreciation for each other and really feel safe to do that as well. I think it's truly one of the main parts of how you can have a team that's really connected and creating that like sacred space that really does create like a home within the salon for our team to come into because they really do feel seen, celebrated, safe, empowered. All of those things come from the love notes section. It's just a really great opportunity to be able to acknowledge someone and let them have a little moment as well. And we don't wipe off the love notes until the end of the week. We don't wipe that off daily, we keep that up there for the entire week, which is really special as well.

SPEAKER_02 17:05

It's really beautiful. It's really interesting when Tay was saying when we were refilming the meetings course the other day. Which you should definitely go and do if you haven't done. Oh, it's amazing. Um with Tay the other day, she was talking about the love notes, and she said like it really changes the way that my day is when I see my name up there, and I just thought that that's just so powerful. It's such a beautiful thing.

SPEAKER_00 17:24

We have that too. Like when we go in there and we say we often take a photo and like yeah, it's a real moment of like it's a real it's a real I've got a folder of love notes on my phone. Which is so special, and I think you know, this is where you can really start creating you know the culture of your dreams and the the team of your dreams. It's these sort of intentional practices that come every single day that they have the opportunity to really step into and have that moment of power and celebration and um direction. Yeah, it's just such a game changer. So truly take that. And if you're looking for more, jump into the meetings.

The Conscious Meetings Course Offer

SPEAKER_02 18:01

And really, guys, like the take this blueprint, we want it in every single salon. We want you don't have to be mentored to us to put this in by us to put this into your salon today. Start this today. Start this, see the impact, and then from there, if you want to grow more and you want to have the blueprint for all of our meetings, all five of our meetings that we do in the salon, the conscious meetings course is it's actually such an incredible course. Like I wish I had had that as a salon owner five years ago when we just didn't know what was going to work and what wasn't gonna work. But the conscious meeting course basically covers all of our meeting blueprints. You see examples of us doing the meetings, you get the full format, you get downloadable resources, you get blueprints for your team to fill out so that they're prepped to come into the meeting. We go through team meetings, our morning pump up, one on one meetings, front of house meetings, and also uh team leader meetings as well. So leadership meetings. So incredible course, it's on our portal. Go wild, self paced, full access straight away, lifetime access. Yay! How good. Thank you guys so much for listening to another episode of the Conscious Helen podcast. Love you guys, stay conscious.