Dear Messy, Help! I'm Opening a Salon and No One's Applying.

In this “Dear Messy” episode, Abby and Kelsey team up to answer a message from a nail tech who’s opening a full salon — but struggling to find the right team.

Together, they unpack practical, creative, and realistic ways to approach hiring in 2025, including:

• How to brand your salon to attract stylists who fit
• Why building relationships is more effective than cold job posts
• The power of reaching out in your local community (yes, old-school works!)
• Creative ideas beyond Indeed: school visits, open house, and meet & greets
• Strategies for the short game and long-term growth

If you’re building a team or dreaming of opening your own salon one day, this episode will give you the clarity and confidence to start strong.

Got a “Dear Messy” question you want answered on the pod? Text us with the link above — we might feature you next!

Follow Abby on Instagram and TikTok at @theabbywarther
Follow Kelsey on Instagram at @kelseymorrishair

Transcript

Dear Messy Series Introduction

Speaker 1 0:00

Dear Messy . I'm about to open up a full salon and spa . I've been a nail tech for 19 years in my own space for just over five years . I'm looking for lots of positions to fill , such as stylists , nail techs , massage therapists and estheticians . I thankfully have one stylist that will open with me . I need help attracting employees . I'm on target to open around the second to third week of May . I enjoy your podcasts and insights .

Speaker 2 0:30

I've used social media word of mouth and , indeed , I literally love that . You know , I love when people send us any type of message , but that is so exciting because it's from a nail tech , so it's a little different than from a hairstylist , right ? And it kind of forces you and I to think a little bit more outside of the box . Welcome to the Messy Hairstylist Podcast . I'm Kelsey Morris .

Speaker 1 0:48

And I'm Abbey Warther . Whether you are a mess , literally or figuratively , we are here to help you take imperfect action to find your success as a hairstylist .

Speaker 2 0:59

Okay , if you listened to our last episode , the audio was awful and I got this little lapel mic which I was very excited about . But I was trying to use my phone and it didn't work . But we got it to work on my computer , so this is much better . Our ears are thanking you . I'm so glad , I'm so glad , and the funny thing is we don't even know if the last episode is going to make it to episode .

Speaker 1 1:25

is going to make it to ? I know you just said , if you listen last episode .

Speaker 2 1:27

We might be scrapping it . We don't know it might not even make it , because it might not have you said the audio was so distracting that she couldn't even like focus . So , yeah , so we're you know what , but we practice what we preach . We're coming , we're coming to you in uh , in messy form , and I am excited today . So well , the thing is , if we're going to scrap the last episode , we can't even say what we said in the last episode . So we'll recap .

Speaker 1 1:50

We'll recap . Okay , yes , so what we're doing is we are getting so many of you that are writing in you can , as you know , you can text in to us at the top of our episode descriptions . So we're getting a lot of you that are that are texting in questions or topic ideas to us and we love , love , love it . So we're going to use this to kind of kickstart a running series that we're going to have , not every episode from here on out , but just randomly put these in and it's going to be called the Dear Messy series , so kind of like that . Like Dear Abby , there's another one and there was another , and like you know , but but but do people know , because we're of age where we used to look at the newspaper and see the Dear Abby articles- I'm gonna be 100% honest with you , you don't even know .

Speaker 2 2:39

No , that's why I was like could you please describe what you're talking about ? What is Dear Messy ? And you were like you know , and I'm like so you just want them to title it like Dear Messy ?

Speaker 1 2:49

I was confused . Okay , so for anyone that's younger than 40 , there used to be ongoing for decades in newspapers , the Dear Abby column , and the Dear Abby column was like a advice column . That's what it was an advice column . You know what an advice column is ? Right , yeah , and so her name was Abby , so it was always Dear Abby , and then she would give her advice and you see that in magazines , you see it in advice columns . That's what we're doing , but it's going to be called Dear Messy .

Speaker 1 3:23

I just think you liked it because it said Dear Abby , I did love it as a kid that it was Dear Abby , but sometimes she was a little rough . Yeah , she was a little rough , okay , but this is Dear Messy . So we want to keep these questions coming in because I think that they're great and we love to connect with you guys . So if you ever have a question that you want us to address on the podcast , just start it with Dear Messy .

Speaker 2 3:44

Right , because apparently , if you don't start it with Dear Messy , we're not going to read it on . I don't know if that's the way it works .

Speaker 1 3:51

We'll still read it , but it just makes me happy because then we can be like this . So here is how we're going to start this off , with a question coming in from Brandy . Brandy says she didn't really say this , but I'm going to pretend like she did . Dear Messy , I'm about to open up a full salon and spa . I've been a nail tech for 19 years

Brandy's Salon Opening Challenge

Speaker 1 4:10

in my own space for just over five years . I'm looking for lots of positions to fill , such as stylists , nail techs , massage therapists and estheticians . I thankfully have one stylist that will open with me . I need help attracting employees . I'm on target to open around the second to third week of May . I enjoy your podcasts and insights . I've used social media , word of mouth and Indeed .

Speaker 2 4:33

I literally love that , you know . I love when people send us any type of message , but that is so exciting because it's from a nail tech , so it's a little different than from a hairstylist , right ? And it kind of forces you and I to think a little bit more outside of the box than we're used to .

Speaker 1 4:49

So , she's going big . She's going big with a full service salon . So exciting so exciting yeah , so congrats .

Speaker 2 4:57

Brandy .

Speaker 1 4:58

We're so excited for you . But yeah , I get the stress .

Speaker 2 5:01

That's really cool , but you have to think it's probably for her , like she's a nail tech , so she doesn't have the same connections that we would as hairdressers looking for hairdressers .

Speaker 2 5:10

Right so he's got to think totally , totally different . Um , so this is , this is exciting . So I was trying to mull this over when we first brought it up , actually when she first sent us the message , and trying to think , like what , what would be my recommendations that are something different than what we've already talked about , and I'm like do you have anything that just like pops right in your brain ? That's the first thing that you would think of . Besides , ask Chat GBT .

Speaker 1 5:40

It's funny because it's true . Okay , so the first thing I think of when I like so what I usually do when someone asks a question , I try to put myself in their shoes . I'm like , okay , what would I do ? What am I thinking ? Where would my head be ? And the first thing I think of is like , okay , what's my short term game ? What's my long term game ?

Speaker 1 6:06

Because the reality is is , when you're opening a new space , you need people in there . You need at least she probably knows , like we all know , that when you open your own salon , you're like , if I can just get X amount of people to work with me , I can make this work in the beginning , with the idea to grow beyond that . So that's what I think of is like , okay , what would my short game strategies be ? To get people in , like ASAP . And then , what are gonna be my long-term strategies ? To truly like , build the brand of my salon . So

Short-term vs Long-term Hiring Strategy

Speaker 1 6:32

if people who , like I mean you , have just recently went through this with opening up your new space , you had to get people in right away . And now you're just like it's nuts the amount of people that are coming in . What a year , what ? No , what did you know , six months ago , dang Okay , so it's still short term , but feels like long term you really needed those people in the beginning flashback of PTSD from this .

Speaker 2 7:07

Oh my gosh , I know how she's feeling and you know it's hard when you are doing this and you know you have to have so many people to pay your bills . It's hard not to just like take people , to take them , and you it's . You know , to not use strategy and to not like really try to build like a good team , cause at that point you're like almost desperate . You're like well , so that it is a really hard feeling and it's scary to like try to separate the need to have money and make money and also like look for the right people . I mean , and it's almost like I don't even know , and I know in the beginning for me I really didn't have the ability to just wait around for the right people . I was like I'm going to take the people and then those that don't work out will weed themselves out and that's just what's going to happen Exactly , and I think that that's okay .

Speaker 2 7:54

That's okay , that's your short .

Speaker 1 7:56

that's your short term strategy Exactly To get it going . I agree , you know , yes . And then I mean the first thing that I think of , I'm like okay , of course she already said she's doing what social media word of mouth and putting stuff out on Indeed , okay , great , she's covering those bases there . So it sounds like she knows what it's like to like brand it and and put her brand out there and all those things . But it's like , well , what else could I do on top of that to really you really need to like kind of make some noise about hey , we're here , we're opening , pay attention to to us over here . What if ? Like if I don't know what her setup is , but what if you had she had like a open house style thing , like even in construction , like I don't care if there's dust and things aren't finished and it you feel like it looks like a mess , but you host an open house .

Speaker 2 8:52

Totally agree . I totally agree . I think that that's a such a great way to for people to come like see the space or like even what it's going to be . I mean , I did something similar to that with

Community Events and Open Houses

Speaker 2 9:02

mine Not really an open house , but I just like brought in a few people that I just to see it in its bones . But I think an open house is such a cool idea if you can pull that off .

Speaker 2 9:12

And another thing that makes me snowball off , that is like community events . So she's in a really cool position as a nail tech where some of stuff that she can be , that she can do , is mobile , Right . So maybe if , like you , um , meet up with a local winery or a brewery and do , like um , cocktails and mayonnaise or something like that , and , like you know , do a little five minute mini manicures or something simple , like you know that , but it's bringing in people , and then you can start talking about your new salon and what's going to happen and and they're going to be like , oh , my friend is hair or my friends and you know , and start getting involved in community things . You just like it might not seem like that kind of stuff will pay off , but it does . Do you remember when ?

Speaker 1 9:59

I did .

Speaker 2 10:00

When we opened my salon and I did that big mother-daughter event and I brought in hairstylists and we had nails and massage and we had all this cool stuff , facials and everything . I ran a Facebook ad for it and because of that ad , which I was advertising towards people to come to get these services done , hairdressers were seeing my salon and they were seeing oh , this is like a new salon , that's in Delaware , this is , you know , really cool . They're doing events and that's how I got two of my girls so it's like you know like you .

Speaker 2 10:30

You just got to put yourself out in the community and and and try to . You might not think you're targeting stylists or targeting nail techs , but you're targeting people who are interested in what we do , which they'll know .

Speaker 1 10:44

People , or you know might be that person . Totally See , I love that and I think that that is the short term and the long term way to attract people to your business , to work at your business is show the inside , the heart of your business , through everything . So , so , by putting just the post hiring , hiring , hiring , hiring . You have to do it , you have to do it occasionally , you have to sprinkle it in so people know that you are accepting new people to work at your place . But start showing like , yes , you're doing social media stuff . Show yourself behind the scenes , building it out , what types of people talk about , the type of people you're excited to come work with you , the benefits of working with you , all of those things .

Speaker 1 11:28

The other thing that I would do is I would go to every single local school cosmetology , esthetician , nail tech school and don't forget the vocational schools inside the high schools . Yeah , don't forget those , because now are we getting people straight out of school ? No , but they have contact still with the people who have graduated from there and they want to have high placement rates . They want to have their people who have graduated be able to have a job after school a year or so after school , because that helps them look better . So get in contact with all of them and say , hey , spread the word . This is what I'm looking for . These are the types of people oh .

Speaker 2 12:09

I do a lot of work for you . I absolutely agree . Look at this cat behind me , just die .

Speaker 1 12:16

We never told . Our last episode didn't air , so we even tell people your , your life story . Let's not get into that right now , because we are focused .

Speaker 2 12:25

We are focused here . Yeah , um , yes , yes , I think that the schools are often missed out , and I think that sometimes we go into the schools with the wrong idea of what , what our goal is . It's not , like you said , it's not necessarily to hire someone from the school , but it's also to create contact with the administration there . You probably have done this and I've done this , have gone to demo at schools , and so there's a few things I want to say about demoing at schools .

Speaker 2 12:56

I love to demo at schools . One , because I like to give back to the next generation and I think it's just a really cool learning experience for them . But it's funny how many people if even if they didn't come to work at my salon right after have kept in contact with me , or who follow me on social media , who went to go work at that commission salon and then , a year or two down the line , they're like ah , it's not working . You know , do you happen to have any space ? I've had to turn down a few people because I didn't have the space at the time , but now , as I'm building more I it's funny because I'm hearing from these girls again , you know , and so I think that's a cool way to keep connections with people .

Speaker 1 13:36

Yeah , and that's that long , long-term plan , long-term strategy . Yes , I love that . Okay . So what else ? So another , okay , I had somebody recommend this to me and it did work . It did work .

Connecting with Beauty Schools

Speaker 1 13:53

It sounds different , but often so , say someone does come on , say you get this hairstylist to come onto your team and you say , hey , I'm looking to bring on more people like you . Is there an incentive that you can give that person for bringing ? And the person that gave me , I , for a little bit , I worked with I don't know if you remember I was working with Cash Lawless of the millionaire hairstylist , and so he was helping me when I was like newer in a rental world , from from commission into rental on to fill up my chairs and to start to become known for that . And that was one of the things that he suggested to me is to give people a referral bonus , and so I did . I gave . If somebody brought in a friend or referred somebody , I gave him a $500 referral bonus , like that's huge .

Speaker 2 14:43

We had that at the suites I worked at . He gave you a thousand dollars . Yeah , I'm like , oh my gosh , so I actually that's a great idea and , to be honest with you , like , the girls that have come into my salon are all sort of connected with each other .

Speaker 1 14:59

Yeah , they want their friends to come work with them .

Speaker 2 15:01

Yeah , and not necessarily like two came together from the same salon , but then four of them have all kind of like known each other , I mean . So it's like everybody's interconnected in one way or the next . So I think a referral bonus is a great idea .

Speaker 1 15:13

Yeah . So the other thing that I think of so and she says she's posting on social media is she's on social media . Don't just post on it . Make sure that you are engaging with the local industry , people , your local industry . So follow , follow every single person that you can follow . That's a hairstylist , nail tech , esthetician . Follow all of them .

Speaker 2 15:39

And comment comment comment comment , just be genuine .

Speaker 1 15:42

You're not like poaching somebody from another salon . You're not saying like , hi , I see you come work with me , you can do that . There's some people that say to do that . I've never done that , it doesn't feel good to me . But to genuinely be like commenting on someone's stuff , like then they might follow you and then if you're showing you building out your salon and what you have to offer in the space you have available , then you're going to get more interest from that . So you have to be social on social media and not just post about the openings . You have to actually go out and chat with other people online .

Speaker 2 16:19

Yeah , so I can actually attest to this one because I just did this as well . I you know you start talk about the short term play and starting to get desperate . I was feeling extremely desperate so I started to stalk , physically follow and stalk as many local hairdressers as I could . I'm talking psychotic status . But you got to be . I had to be strategic . Okay , because if you go in , if I came in hot and like was DMing or not DMing , commenting on their like every post they did , like I love you come work for me . Yes , creeper vibes , right . Like you got to be strategic .

Speaker 1 16:56

You gotta play cool girl yeah creeper vibes right , like you got .

Speaker 2 16:59

I gotta do be strategic . I play cool girl . Yeah , I had to play cool girl Now . There were some times so I did . There were a few girls who I actually was very like . I was like , okay , this is going to be a great fit . I would send them a DM and would just be like hey , you know , I I've been watching you and I love your work . I like your vibe like we're expanding our salon . Would you be interested in coming and take a tour ? I will say that none of those panned out , none of those ended up panning out .

Speaker 2 17:25

Yet Now I did have a couple where they're like oh , I just signed a lease , you know blah , blah , blah , but most of them , like , responded really nicely and I probably did that to like seven or eight different girls and but the ones that did pan out are the ones that I was engaging with , just just like , you know , with normal things like oh , love this fire , you know like fire emoji , great hair , love great . And not every second . If you , I feel like you got to be strategic If you go on there and every single time they post something you like , say something you really look like a stalker .

Speaker 2 18:00

So , engaging in social media is a great way to do it , but with authenticity .

Speaker 1 18:06

Yeah , you have to be genuine . You can't be like , okay , I need to make sure I like every single post of theirs . If you really

Social Media Engagement Tactics

Speaker 1 18:12

liked it , then yeah , so that's how I just filled my last chair . So my salon is officially full as of now . And this last renter , her and I had been in talks for her to come with me since August or September and she signed in February .

Speaker 2 18:32

Yeah , it took that long Sometimes it takes time .

Speaker 1 18:34

Sometimes it takes time , but she and her and I knew each other just because years ago she took one of my classes yeah , years ago , and then . So she's just always followed me and always kept an eye on my salon . And so then , when it was time the conversation started , actually , she came in and sat in my chair and I did her hair .

Speaker 2 18:54

And that's cool .

Speaker 1 18:55

And she said , oh , I would love to be in a salon like this she was in a suite at the time I'd love to be in a salon like this . I miss working with other stylists . And she was like , but you're full right now and I actually had like a secret pocket little chair that I didn't , didn't market because I wanted to find the right person . And I said , well , actually . And so that's how that came to be , because she , we had a connection , not that you have to be teaching classes , but we had a connection somewhere at some point in the past . And then we continue to connect over social media and so I was still on her radar . So , yeah , it all comes down to building relationships .

Speaker 2 19:32

Literally , it really does . It really does Because you know . The first thing that came to mind was like , you know how people always say it's a , it's about who you know , and I agree with that to an extent . Right , like , but who you know is also based on the connections you've built . It's not like , oh , I just happened to be in this well off family and now I know rich people like . That's not me , but I have made it a goal of mine to connect with people in our community and other hairdressers and on social media and to really invest in relationships with people . So , like , you have to be a good , I think , business owner in general , salon owner especially . You have to be able to do that kind of stuff and be authentic with it and genuine and try to build relationships , because I think what we're saying through all of this is essentially that most of these people that we have found to fill our salon have come from genuine connections .

Speaker 1 20:30

True , yes , and it doesn't mean you have to be initially connecting with the hairstylist , nail tech , esthetician , massage therapist . That's where you can connect with the people in the schools , correct . You can connect with those other local businesses where you may be hosting an event at Correct , and the more people connect with , the more people you know . Then there's more people that they know and it just can snowball and work can get out more , and so you know , and it helps to just be that friendly person , just you know leave a room and have people be like oh my gosh , love her .

Speaker 2 21:03

And one last takeaway I think that we should mention we did an episode recently on Facebook ads and if you haven't listened to that episode , go back and listen to it , because that is a really good . Also another good way to you know , I have a baby sitting next to me . Look at her , she's just here . She comes , she's really doing it . I I think in this situation , facebook ads would be really cool from the beginning start to finish the build out phase coming soon , to drum up some excitement and to and and I don't think necessarily that , um , you know you have to put a ton of money into it or do it constantly , but start getting it floating around , get people interested . And I think at this juncture , that would probably go farther than her posting consistently on her Instagram or posting consistently like now , hiring or salon opening . It's like I feel like she would almost need to put out an ad to get it to more people in the community who are

Building Genuine Industry Relationships

Speaker 2 22:05

in the industry .

Speaker 1 22:06

Yeah , and just like what that episode said , it was like just don't make that graphic now hiring graphic . Show that behind the scenes video coming soon show the build out . So , yes , yes , I love that . That's a great . I like cause . That's like a tangible thing she can do while she's building relationships .

Speaker 2 22:24

Exactly . Exactly so it gives you a little bit of both , like right , there's something we can do physically , like tangibly , and then also building relationships along the way . And you know , just keep doing what you're doing , girl . It sounds like you've got a good plan .

Speaker 1 22:38

And you know , just keep doing what you're doing , girl . It sounds like you've got a good plan . I love it . Yeah , and once you start , don't stop the entire time . For salon ownership , we got baby on board , but the whole time I'll wrap it up from here , because we've got our little cutie baby on board .

Speaker 1 22:58

So what this means is that once we start this , whatever it is that you decide to dive into to really get

Final Tips and Encouragement

Speaker 1 23:05

your salon full before you open up in May , is building these relationships . And once you start this it doesn't stop . You own a salon . You are constantly building relationships . So don't think once you get full , you're done , because it's cyclical . You're going to always need to be bringing new people in , always marketing not just your business but your business for other hairstylists . So I absolutely love this question of our Dear Messy . Now that everyone knows what Dear Messy and Dear Abby is episode , I'm excited to do so many more coming up . So remember , if you want to have us answer a question and write into our little advice column , then text us at the top of the episode and just title it Dear Messy and you'll make me happy at least . All right guys , we'll talk to you next week . All right guys .

Speaker 2 23:58

We'll talk to you next week .

Speaker 1 24:00

Okay , got it , we made it through . That was that rough there . At the end we did . It wasn't that bad . I had a cat .

Speaker 2 24:07

I had a kid . I got a computer . That's dying , that's dwindling . We're at 3% . I'm over here sweating bullets , trying to figure out if we're going to make it .

Speaker 1 24:15

It got almost like what is happening All in an RV . I love it All in an RV .