Only 5% of Salons Are Profitable—Here’s How to Change That

What if the only thing standing between you and true financial freedom wasn’t your talent—but your understanding of the numbers behind your business?

In this episode of Stylist Soul Tribe Conversations, Lisa sits down with Jolene and Kristi from The Summa Collective—two powerhouse financial experts with over 30 years of combined experience helping beauty professionals grow smarter, stronger, and more sustainably.

Together, they break down why only 5% of salons are profitable, what’s keeping stylists stuck in financial overwhelm, and the exact mindset and systems shifts that can help you finally take control of your money.

💡 In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

• The shocking statistic about salon profitability—and how to change it
• How to actually read your Profit & Loss statement (without feeling intimidated)
• The biggest financial mistakes beauty pros make (and how to fix them fast)
• What it really means to pay yourself like a CEO
• Why mindset and money confidence are the secret to long-term success
• How The Summa Collective helps stylists and salon owners make accounting approachable and empowering

🔗 Connect with Summa Collective

Follow on Instagram → @thesummacollective

Learn more + book a consultation → https://www.thesummacollective.com/contact

🎧 Want to Go Deeper?

This conversation is the prequel to the live Financial Masterclass inside the Stylist Soul Tribe Mastermind on November 18th—where we’ll dive into your own profit and loss numbers, learn how to find your break-even point, and map your path to sustainable profit.

💬 Let’s Connect

If something from this episode clicked for you, send Lisa a DM on Instagram → @stylistsoultribe

We love hearing your “aha” moments and stories of transformation!

Connect with Lisa Huff

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Transcript

Audio Only - All Participants: 0:00

Hello friends. Welcome back to Stylist Soul Tribe Conversations. I am joined today by Jolene and Christie from the Summa Collective. With over 30 years of combined experience in the finance industry, these ladies have partnered to deliver modern financial services designed to help beauty brands grow through bookkeeping. Payroll and tax solutions. Their mission is to make accounting approachable, empowering, and a catalyst for sustainable success. Hello ladies. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast today. Like I said, we have two people here. we have Christie and we have Jolene. we're doing a masterclass inside of sts Soul Tribe Mastermind on November 18th, next month. I would love for this episode to be almost like the prequel, the intro so that when we do masterclass next month, we can really dive in and dig in. So I would love for both of you to briefly introduce yourselves and then we can kind of see how your individual stories came to create the Summa Collective and we'll kind of dive into all of that. So Jolene, if you wanna kick us off, I would love a little intro. Yeah. Great. Thank you so again, so much for having us. So excited to like. Give back to your community and like educate, like I'm a huge proponent of education and so I just love spreading the good word. I am Jolene Fleming. I am one of the managing partners here at Summa Collective. I have been in the accounting industry for over 20 years. I don't like to say that because then I feel like it truly shows my age. But, I just love all things, numbers and finance. I started out. In-house in accounting, for small businesses. And it's just grown from there. And I went out, and worked actually as an employee of another accounting firm. Oh my gosh. It's been about 10 years ago. And I really liked that model because I could help many small business owners versus just being in the office and helping one small business. Yeah, working in an accounting firm really allowed me to guide and help more business owners, so I actually acquired the firm that I was working for in 2021, and then in 2022, split off. I had about 20 hair and beauty industry clients, and I split those off, into the Summa Collective and brought Christie on with me as, my partner and, one that was the best decision that I ever made for my business. Awesome. And, you know, our businesses in general is bringing, bringing her on as a partner. and so since then, we've really focused on Summa and growing it to really hone in and support, Beauty industry, business owners. when you look at the two of us, I am more the generalized numbers nerd accountant. I like to dig into a good spreadsheet and analyze the financials and analyze the data. interpreting what the IRS says, and then Chrissy, she kind of is like, okay, that's really great, but what does that look like in real life operationally? we really make a good team when we're also supporting our clients from that business aspect because we kind of bring both sides of the coin, when we're advising and, mentoring our clients. That's so beautiful. I am always, when I hear partnerships, I'm always a little intrigued. I've heard a lot of not successful partnership stories, but I think what you just said there is when you guys balance each other really well, when one has one strength and you guys Compensate for each other's weaknesses and strengths. So that's amazing. Christie would love a little intro from you, a little bit of back of your background, and then maybe how you and Jolene met as well. That would be amazing. Yeah, absolutely. So yes, thanks for having us today. We love being able to just, Nerd out and share all of our, our world with everybody. But heck yeah. a little bit about myself is like Jolene. I've been in the industry for about 20 years now. I didn't, I started off in hospitality actually in the wedding and event space. And so I was in-house accountant as well for catering company in the Seattle area. then I moved up in that company and I became the general manager. And so I learned everything from the accounting side and the finance side, but then I worked really closely with the ownership and learned a lot to what there is to owning a business and managing, you know, a hundred plus team members and a lot of facets to that and then COVID hit and they were bought out actually by a larger corporate company, and I thought that would be a wonderful growth path for myself. But then I quickly learned corporate life is not, for me, I love small business, so I've heard, I've never been in that world, but so I've heard. Yes. So I thought it'd be fun, you know, I pictured myself in like a pants suit and, you know, real official, but no, not my world, at all. because I really understood what it was like to be a small bus business owner. That perspective of. How stressful finances are and how stressful, like stressing about your finances. But like operationally is how are we trying to put bus as a business? How do we get more business, things like, you know, employee management, things like that. And I loved that part. So I went out on my own after realizing corporate wasn't great for myself and so I went on my own just like, okay, I'm gonna just figure do this until I figure out what's next. and so I just did. Accounting for small business on the side. And then I got connected with a online CEO like mastermind group. And, thought, okay, I think I'll dive into this. Maybe this isn't like a side hustle, maybe I'll build my own business. I had owned before the catering company as well, my own. Chain of, coffee stands. So think maybe I'll go back to my own. Then I met Jolene actually in that mastermind group. In a mastermind. I love to hear a story like that as a mastermind leader myself. Yes. I love to hear that. Yeah, that's where it happened. And, but we found out that we were local to each other. So that was a nationwide, actually, not even nationwide, like there's people in Canada and other countries in there, so worldwide mastermind group, and we realized we're 20 minutes from each other, so we started serendipitous. That's amazing. Yeah, and just, you know, sharing business stories and things like that once a month for lunch. And then, I don't know, it was about a year into that that we're like, you know, sharing stories of running business and understanding each other's businesses that were like, you know, maybe we should go into business together and branch off the beauty, clients from her firm. So that's what we did. So collectively we have three firms between us that niche in different industries, but Summa is like her and i's like favorite. Don't tell the others, but like hopefully nobody catches this. It's just, I love working with this industry. It reminds me a lot of the wedding and event because it's so creative and mostly extroverts and they just wanna serve and have a good, serve people and have a good time and make people feel good. And I love that about catering. It was always hustle and bustle and not your typical accounting job. And so I, like Jolene said, I really enjoy the numbers. I'm good at them, but what I really enjoy is using that information on how do we run a business and what does that look like? So I haven't run a hair salon, so I don't know that from personal experience, but I do know what it's like to have a brick and mortar in person business. You have clients coming in, you have. Big team to manage. but the backend is still happening and you don't let people know what's happening on the backend. You still have to give really good client experience. So, that's where her and I are, that being to the yang really is, I love to say, okay, like, how do we make this happen? Our, what do we, what are finances telling us to make this happen? So that's where her and I really. Match up. Well, that is so amazing. I know we're here to talk to Beauty Pros, but now out of curiosity, I have to know what the other industries are as well. Oh, thanks. Yeah. my other firm, specializes in construction and service trade. So like very polar opposite love. That's me and my husband. It works. Right. And that's, that's how I originally got like so many beauty business owners, I believe it. A cosmetologist loves a blue collar worker. I just wanna know. Yeah, right. So it was like, I had all these construction business owners and they're like, oh, my wife needs help. Like, she runs the salon. Yeah. my experience in-house was with large construction firms, so multimillion dollar construction firms. I love that side of it too, because especially for me as a, like, accountant brain, like it's so black. Like the clients that I work with are so black and white. It's where my experience is, so it's so easy. But, like Chrissy said, summas kind of like our golden child one'cause we get to do it together. I mean, we've obviously since then, bled into each other's businesses so much just because we do work so well together. really supporting, a majority of women business owners in the beauty industry. We do obviously have male, own salons and behind the chair, but. The majority are women. And as women, business owners ourselves, we just love empowering them to really understand their numbers and be money smart, right? and just make a name for themselves, make money for themselves and it's just so empowering. So, yeah, I mean, I'm also biased with the industry. I feel like. Spoiled every day. I've never been part of other industries, so it's hard for me to say, but it is just so. Fun. the beauty industry is just such a good one to be in, and I agree with that. It doesn't feel like work. Everyone feels so connected, especially like these little corners in these pockets of the industry. It's just, it's like, I would do this for free. I get to make money doing this. This is so cool. And it's funny that you said that, Christie, about the wedding industry because I just got off of, week in Denver and we had, well, Denver then to Winter Park, Colorado. I had my, annual stylist Soul Tribe retreat and my event planner, who I've worked with for four years now, she's typically a wedding, event planner, but she has become my ride or die for these retreats. And we've just become like friends through the planning process. And then Giselle, our videographer, has become one of us. So it's really interesting for them to. Here, the breakthroughs happening with stylists and then almost like filter it through. It's all the same like business service based business And then if you wanna talk about numbers, I mean, it's no difference if you're doing someone's hair or you are taking their picture or you are, you know, reconciling their books. It's all just serving people. and I very much agree with that. Just women-owned businesses I'm very drawn to as well. So I would love to know. And it sounds like it was mostly Jolene, so if you wanna be the one to answer this question or jump in Christie if you want, when did you decide to go beauty based? Like when did you decide to like go industry specific and why? And if there's anything you wanna unpack there. I'm just curious. Yeah, so, like I, like, I like Christine, I both mentioned like, I already had like a really. Like substantial book of business, of beauty, of, of hairstylists. And that just happened by chance. It just, it just happened naturally. Right. Okay. Like my hairstylist moved, out from, from W2 to behind the chair. Right. And she was like, there's no way that I'm even gonna think about doing this unless you'll help me. Right? And so then it kind of snowballed from there, right? The beauty industry and hairstylist is like, they're very connected. And we talk. So it kind of just snowballed from there. she owns a salon now, so she moved. She went from W2 to behind the chair, to salon owner. What a great case study for you too, though, to watch that growth. Yeah. so true. I didn't even think about that. Um, absolutely. And, you know, she said on multiple occasions, like, I would not be able to have done this and lived this dream that I had without your support. and our team, honestly. Right.'cause we totally, we do have a team, but, just that, that finance support because what we see right. Is, and I'm sure you, you know, this is. Creative brain and logical math brain are completely opposite sides of, of the brain. And so a lot of beauty business owners, and not all, because we've worked with some very, very involved Ty Bay Business owners and, but a lot of them, this is, it is a, it's a, an area of fear, right? Like they don't, I don't understand it. I'll never understand it, so I'm just gonna put my head in the sand and ignore it. And that is the worst thing you can do. Mm-hmm. yeah, so like, like, you know, you said in our intro, it's like we like to make finances approachable because if you are running a business, whether that's just you behind the chair or you're running a salon, you need to know your numbers and you need to be looking at your numbers. otherwise, you know. Your business is gonna take control of you and nobody wants that. Absolutely. And we didn't learn that side in beauty school. So unless you choose to go to school, and learn business savvy and business skills elsewhere, that's just not something that we're equipped with. And then we come into this industry and see success. And I know exactly what you're saying about the digging the head in the sand. Before we hit record, Christie mentioned, something that you guys heard at a hair show last weekend. Why don't you unpack that like mind blowing statistic and then maybe share a little bit when. When beauty pros do start to work with you, what are some like common, maybe pitfalls or if somebody's listening to this and they're like, yeah, I don't get numbers. I don't like numbers, I avoid it, or I try to, but it makes me feel stupid and I don't like the way that feels, or I, I don't even wanna go, you know, get help with this because I feel so ashamed by how much I don't understand this. I would love to hear your thoughts, Christie. Yeah, so we were just, in Spokane, Washington at the Hair Symposium and one of the speakers was sharing, statistics for the industry. And so of course that's like Jolene and I are like, perking up, like mm-hmm. What are these stats?'cause we just love, you know, KPIs to me, right? Statistics. But what the one that really, I guess it was two actually that stood out. So it was 5% of salons are actually profitable. Only 5%. the second one was of the five that are Profitable. Mm-hmm. That their profit is 5%. 5% profit. and so immediately I was like, rolodexing in my mind, like,'cause we have a KPI dashboard that we do every. with all financials. And so I was like picturing each one of those spreadsheets of our KPIs, like, like that's the top 0.1%. Yeah. Like literally like our, our, I swear I just had a call with someone and it was like 22% and we look at averages and so we know what your average is. We know what this last month was or this last quarter was, and so I, we immediately pulled up spreadsheets of our actual clients and we looked and. thank God I don't, is, and so now we're gonna dig into this is the why, but our clients aren't struggling that with. Way a vast majority of our clients are profitable. Mm-hmm. And the ones that are, it's beyond 5%. And I don't wanna say that that's be strictly because they work with us, but I do think that the clients that are working with us, they are actively participating in their finances. Mm-hmm. And when I say that, it's not like they're, they're not doing a lot. But they're showing up. They're looking at their profit and loss that we're sending them. They're, take any call that they can take advantage to have with Jolene and I or one of us. Mm-hmm. They're hopping on that call and they're also delegating it to someone that knows what they're doing, which is huge. It feels like they're not doing much, but they are doing such a huge thing by choosing to do that. So it doesn't surprise me that you end up very true. Up at the top 0.001%. Yeah. Yeah. And I think the common. Thought process, and I just talked with someone about this at the show that we were at this weekend is, well, we can't afford it. And the reality is, it's depending upon where you're at in revenue. Maybe that's true, but there's other, there's ways to still get this done. if you're not at that point of. Proper plan of revenue and we would tell a client we would not sign anyone up for services, that it didn't make financial sense for them, we would find appropriate solution. But salons that are making enough money that we know that it's, in my opinion, it's an essential service. Because what you. Gain from making that initial upfront investment. And sometimes it takes re pivoting where our spending is going, and I think that's one of the biggest to answer your question is, is like one of the biggest things that we see when clients first come on is. A lot of either their personal and business finances aren't separate, so that's what we call co-mingling. that's happening. And so it's really hard to tell what you are or aren't making from the business. and then even if you keep it separate, that there's still personal spending happening. Out of the business account or on the business credit card, and that is probably the most predominant thing that sticks out when we first bring a client on is that's what you're paying yourself, is all those small transactions add up to what you. Could be paying yourself in a lump sum transfer, and our biggest win is redirect the payment method to your personal payment method and then pay those off your personal, That gets you even like the, the shame that comes from, I can't afford to pay myself. I can't afford to pay myself, so I let alone can't afford to pay, an accountant to handle my bookkeeping and everything. But the reality is, is most of them already are. It's just a spending habit. And so the huge confidence boost and win that happens when you transfer money from the business and a lump sum mm-hmm. To your personal account is like, I am paying myself. Mm-hmm. And you choose a starting number and then working with us that's able to grow, but. That's a win. Like I actually am paying myself and just absolutely getting a little, I guess just re pivoting and reorganizing what's already happening and, and getting more clarity in what those finances are. Being able to really see what the business is making and what the business is actually spending on business things. And then, being able to like, analyze that. That's where Jolene and I love to be like, okay, what's happening here? Like, let us in. And one final thing too is like the shame thing. Like. we all have our zone of genius and there's things that we can brush our skills up on. And I think as a business owner is to stop telling yourself that you just don't get it. And push through that feeling of, I feel stupid or I don't understand it, and push through and ignore that first line of thinking and those feelings and do it anyways. When you do it anyways, what happens on the other side of pushing through that is like big success and clarity. Absolutely clarity and solid sleep at night, and big wins. And so. We like to see clients be able to just push that through that and make that commitment to themselves. And that's what we're here to do. Like, that's okay. It's not, it's not shameful that you don't know how to braid your hair. Yeah. So like, we all aren't good at something and we, we looked cute. We still showed up and like we did it right. And we're like, oh my gosh, they're all gonna look so cute. But like. We did it anyways and we own it. We're the accountants that stand out in the crowd and we, you know, but granted we still love hair, makeup and all the things, but just not to a professional degree. know that about us what comes natural to you isn't coming natural to us. And like, I'm happy to go pay and have someone tell me what to do with my hair and make it, you know. Great. So. Just do it anyways, you know? Love, love. Well both of your hair looks great, so I can tell that you guys do invest back into that with all the things I was trying so hard not to interrupt you. The way that you put that was so eloquently put together. And what was coming up to me when you were saying it is I think there's so much just identity, like concrete, solid identity. I don't get that. I don't do that. I don't know that. And I am so into just like, mindset work. Woo. Law of attraction. And it like kills me when I hear people just make concrete blanket statements like that. because they're just choosing to that, that, that. And so it will be, and so it will be, and if you continue to do that, you blink and 10 years go by and 20 years go by and the investments you could have had by then and the way your life could be so different. So I do think, I hope that people heard that, Just acknowledging that identity today and saying, it's okay that I don't know this, but I am gonna be someone who seeks that out. And like you said, that initial discomfort on the other side of that comes so much empowerment. Like it, nothing feels better than finally getting something that made you feel so small and so confused previously. So we were also talking about maybe diving into like profit and loss statements, looking at your finances. Maybe Jolene, if you wanna jump in from here.'cause I know the masterclass that we're gonna do is gonna even expand further upon this. But let's start with just like the basic of basic statements, to give the stylist listening, just like a little value takeaway immediately knowing that we'll unpack that even deeper next month. So when we're looking at a profit and loss, right? And one thing that I encourage you is if, or your listeners, right? Mm-hmm. If any of you guys are working already with a financial professional, an accountant, or a bookkeeper, and you're not getting reports on a regular basis, ask, right? Like everybody, what do you consider regular? Not a year. Right. So we hear a lot. Like, I don't know what my numbers are until the end of the year when I file all my taxes. Mm-hmm. Absolutely. Like not, we're not doing that because now you're just stuck in a reactive state. You, you're not looking at your numbers throughout the year. You can't make changes. and we know like cost of things is, getting to live is getting more expensive, right? So gloves and foil and color, everything's getting more expensive. And if you're not looking at your numbers on a routine basis. Those costs are gonna continue to rise. And if your revenue does not rise to meet that, and you don't look at your numbers till the end of the year, you've been, you've been working all year and for what, right? Yeah. I would say at the least quarterly. Right. So we do have a quarterly package for some of our stylists who are just starting out because that's better than nothing. Right. Quarterly is better than nothing. we always recommend at least monthly. Right? Okay. So monthly is ideal. that you're looking at those. So like with our, top two tier packages, they do get those financials on a monthly basis so that they can review them. What we hear a lot is like, either my accountant doesn't send me reports or they send me reports and I just don't look at them because I don't know how to read them. Yeah. So, and a lot of accountants don't offer that level of support, We're not just like hairstylists. Right. our services are not all the same. How we run our firm and the deliverables that we provide our clients is not gonna be the same if you're working with another accounting firm. So you might wanna ask them if they provide these services or these deliverables. They might say yes. They might say no. there's also like, I always like to explain it as two buckets, right? Like we're dealing with, like when you think about like real bookkeeping, we're dealing with data that's already happened. We're categorizing transactions, we're reconciling bank accounts, we're looking at your point of sale, whether that's square, vagaro, Boulevard, forest, whatever that is. but that's all already happened, right? So it's still important. To look at those numbers because they are telling you a story of what's happened in your business. But there's also accounting firms that do some of that more forward thinking too. And that's where Christie and I really dive in with our clients, is that more forward thinking. Right. And so we're. We're saying, okay, based on what the numbers are telling us, what does that mean moving forward? Or we're pivoting in our business, we're expanding a second location, or we're moving from booth renters to W2. So more of that forward thinking stuff. it's almost like being on offense versus defense. Like choosing where we're going from here, not just reacting to what has already happened. Exactly. and some accountants and. CPAs and bookkeepers, right? Whatever title you want to put on the industry, they don't provide that because they don't either want to, they don't enjoy it, they don't have the experience to do it, or they just don't. It's just not their business model. So, totally, we're not all built the same. So I always encourage, you know, everybody, if you already have an accountant and you're not getting what you need from them to ask them if they can support you with what you're wanting and if not. That's okay too, right? So what helped you in the past to get where you're at might not be what serves you in the future. And that's no like harm to where you've been and who you've been working with. But as businesses grow, as us business owners grow like our needs and the support that we need changes as well. So it's never like the wrong time to like make a change. I digress. Right. no, that's so good. I completely agree. Yeah. Yeah. So looking at your financials and the, the, you know, we always send, you know, the standard financials, a profit and loss and a ballot sheet. and so the profit and loss is going to take. You know, your revenue that you're making minus all your expenses, and to give you your profit at the end of the day where your balance sheet is more giving a snapshot in time of like the health of your business. So it's, it's not as important as far as, Analyzing your financials from like a cashflow perspective or a growth perspective, but still an important financial to have, especially if you're an entity and wanna do, you know, bank financing and all that stuff. So, still needed, but just not as important as, and when we really dive in with our clients. no matter what level of service you're in, you get the profit and loss. And then we actually do, specific metrics that we look at. Chrisy kind of touched base on this a little bit earlier, but specific metrics that we're looking at month over month, quarter over quarter, and looking at the trailing 12 so that we can see any seasonality changes, try to address issues before they spike and, catch'em when they're starting. So. When we're looking at revenue on your top line, and so we're looking at, you know, service revenue, retail revenue, education revenue. So one thing that we like to keep out of that revenue line is tips because I never wanna project into the future based on. Tips because, you know, they're not required if you project on tips and then, we see a lot when the economy suffers, tips is the first thing. So we always like to kind of keep those as bonus. Right. at the end of the day, just like if you were paying out a team member, though the tips that that team member. Git is gonna go right back to the team members, but they're truly treated as an added bonus. Yeah. Yeah. We're really not wanting to like include those tips in cash flow. Okay. the other thing that we see mistaken a lot in that top line number of revenue, because what we see is, Stylists, if they don't have a bookkeeper or they're not getting financial statements, they'll just jump into their, their software and look at, okay, how much money did I bring in, right? Mm-hmm. So just what's the biggest number I can find? Yeah. Right. But one thing that. we need to bring attention to, right? Is that number includes tips. And that number could potentially include sales tax, depending on if you're selling retail and where you're located. And neither of those are real revenue, right? The sales tax, you're just gonna have to turn around and pay right back to the state. so we keep that out of the top line. So it's just strictly money that you brought in from the services that you're performing or the retail that you're selling. so that's our top line revenue number. And then we get into direct costs. And what direct costs are are costs that are directly associated with you performing your service on your clients. Color foil, Gloves, Towels. so all that stuff that. You are using directly to perform a service if you're selling retail and you have to purchase that retail, that's a direct cost. So anything directly related to those two, revenue lines, right? and then that gives you your revenue minus your direct cost, gives you your gross profit. so that's one of the metrics that we look at with our clients on a routine basis. and then you get into your indirect costs. And indirect costs are all the other. Costs related to running your business, business, licensing, business, insurance, professional fees, lawyer fees, rent, utilities. if you have an employee, and your. Paying out payroll to those team members. that's gonna be up there as well in your direct costs. and so then in your indirect costs then comes into play, like I said, all the other overhead marketing. If you have a marketing team or if you're spending money on advertising. any of those things we call indirect costs. And so, okay. When you take your gross profit and take out, you know, subtract your indirect costs at the end of the day, that gives you your net profit and net profit. Like Christie mentioned earlier, one of the, the very surprising key metrics we heard at the hair symposium this weekend is that only 5% of salons have a positive. Net profit at the end of the day for sure. I was just, again shocked, and I guess the statistics probably do match how many, cosmetologists independent beauty businesses go out of business. I mean, I know that statistic is massive.'cause like when you hear that, you're like, there's no possible way. How would people still be in business? But we do have such a high turnover industry. High turnover. Yeah. Yeah. And so looking at that more routinely, right, than at the end of the year, then we can, we can identify. Or it too late? Do we need cut expenses? Do we need to raise prices? Kind of what does that look like? so that net income, you know, at the end of the day, essentially with, I always like to say essentially, right? That's what you're gonna be taxed on. Mm-hmm. pay off debt. Mm-hmm. So really when we're working with clients where we're doing budgets, right? I like to work, this is where I come in, I work from the bottom up. So we talk about personal goals. How much personally do you need to make to bring home? How much personally do you wanna save? How much do you wanna have an emergency savings for the business? And so We come up with that number first, and then we kind of go up to the top and get to revenue and like, okay, now here's your revenue goals. Because if you wanna meet those personal and business goals, this is what you have to make in revenue. And so, kind of flipping, flipping that upside down is, is one of my favorite. So good. So good. Anything you wanna expand on that, Christie? Or did she kind of cover that? I think you did a really good job, actually. Not actually. I know you would. but that, just like she said, that's like her area of expertise. I like asking like, what are all the things, what do you wanna do? What's happening in the business? So one of the metrics that we also track is if you have payroll or if you're not, like if you're an owner and you're not on payroll, but you take owner draws. So that's like if you're not an S corp, essentially is what are you taking home? So we that me, the metric is what's your percentage of payroll? How much goes out on payroll or how much are you paying yourself? those types of things. But I think the fun part is to see. There's so much, oh, that's what payroll costs. And then when you have a new hire come in and she wants a minimum of 50% commission, you're like, I, you know, we're not, you know, you can or can't do that. And so, and you feel confident and I think, making those decisions or you start seeing, wow, all those indirect costs are really high. It really sucks into it because If things are really tight, the first thing we'll say is like, well, what can we strip down? because your essentials truly are your direct costs. You have to, you know, have those, direct cost to be able to perform a service, whether it's foil, any back bar, product, those types of things. but can you negotiate with the vendor? Can you. You know how much usage you're doing, and then it's like, well, what else are we spending on? like we consider an accounting essential service, but what else? How much salon, how much is in salon decor? How many times have we redecorated and even online membership subscriptions. I know the people in my world. They do bring in, but I do think there's so many people, they're like, well, when I see that top do that very, very top line, oh, I'm doing great. But then they have no money in the bank ever. And so I think that that's where comes revenue is such a vanity number, right? Yes. It's so vanity like. Yeah. You could be making a, you could be a million dollar salon, which is. Sounds amazing, right? Yeah. But as we learned, your profit could be 5% of that, or ne or negative, right? But here's the exciting thing about that though, is revenue. Can't you, like salons bring in good money. If they don't, there's a lot of things that you can fix, right? Like priceless pricing or that's like where your coaching program comes into play is we do. All of this, we look at that PL and like Jolene said, we work backwards. Like, what are your goals? What's your net profit? What is currently happening? And then we kinda work backwards and say, okay, you really need to make this much in revenue and how many chairs you have, or, utiliz are days that you wanna be behind the chair. Is that realistic? And there's so much more work to be done to figure out like, okay, well how do we drive that up? but the reality is, is they're really, most of them are bringing in good money. And so what I find very comforting and exciting about it is looking at your finances, tells you where we can fix things. Absolutely. To actually have you feel and live like you are bringing in the money you're actually bringing in. Love. Love. That's so good. And then I know for the masterclass next month we're gonna kind of take this, like I said, this was kind of the prequel to that, to the, what we're gonna talk about. And then we're gonna break down either for an independent stylist and or somebody with a small team. What, how to figure out what that like break even. Baseline number is, and then how to grow from there. so I'm very much looking forward to continuing this conversation on to that. I always, so I do, I am like business development. So I do a lot of the sale, I do a lot of the sales and I do the like our, I don't like to call them sales calls. I like to call them like get, you guys are growing a business all the while though. So it takes entrepreneurship as well. You know, if you're scared and you don't know where you're at, or you're just starting to think about your numbers or work with a professional firm, it's never too late. everyone always is, like you mentioned earlier, ashamed, right? And I'm like, trust me. I've always seen worse. I've been in this industry a very long time. I've worked with hundreds and hundreds of small business owners. And it's never too late. Like, you might feel like you are in a hole that you cannot dig yourself outta. You just need someone to reach a handout. And so that's kind of where we come in and it's like, yeah, you got yourself into this hole because you don't know how to get out because this is not your zone of genius. This is not your lane. but it is, it's ours. And so, sometimes it's just reaching out that hand and, having the courage and. the aspiration to want better to reach for that hand and take it. And we've, worked, some of our clients we've worked with for almost 10 years, right? And so it's fun to see them on their journey and, Where they started and where they are at now, and using those numbers to make informed decisions about their business to say, can I hire this person? Can I expand, the space next to me just came available and I'm not ready to move into it yet, but I don't want someone else to grab it. Mm-hmm. So is, can I afford an, that additional cost without additional revenue right now? And, when, but when our clients are making those informed decisions, using their numbers and feeling empowered is, you know. Lets me sleep at night. It just super rewarding. Absolutely. Yeah. So what does working with you ladies look like? Like I said, we're gonna dig deeper into the masterclass, but somebody may be listening to this who is an in Seoul tribe, and this might be the last of what they hear from you through my channel. So what does working with you guys look like? What's the best way to reach out? Obviously, I'll put any in all links in the show notes, but how can people find and connect with you? Christie, if you wanna. Take that. Sure. you can find us on Instagram. Start with a DM there. I would say start on Instagram. Just start following us. listen and watch for our tips and tricks of things and see, and then if you like our vibe, like. Book a meet, what we call meet and greet consultation with us. it will be most likely with Jolene directly. and then we go from there. we get a feel for, what you have going on in your business. couple stages that we go through as far as bringing someone on as a client just to see what package would be the best for you and, you know, analyze those things and create a good game plan. but then once you're in with services with us, what that looks like is we serve. three levels of business. And it's basically like how your business is structured. if you're behind the chair, individual stylists, booth rent type of scenario. or if you are, you just moved into your own suite and now you brought on a second person and you're growing. That's our middle tier package where you have a team and maybe that's. Hybrid, maybe you have some booth rent going on and you have some employees, commission stylists. So then the top tier is you have a full robust salon, a large team. You've maybe been in business for quite a while, but you're looking at that expansion or you're looking at getting out of behind the chair, or going to one day, things like that. we handle everything from your bookkeeping, your payroll, and your tax filings. but what we also have is. one-off strategy call. So if you're not a recurring client with us, and you need a sounding board, someone to just chat through A scenario with we have, a 45 and a 90 minute strategy session. It's a deep dive on whatever topic is like. Or multiple topics, however many we can fit in, really. and so to book those, we have those available. So you don't have to be a recurring client. And some of our clients, we have strategy calls built into the different packages, but sometimes they also book'em because they have another Just a one off. So I will link to your guys' website in the show notes and everything can be found there. And as always, this is typically when I have guests an Instagram dm. We are real people. if you slide into our dms, we will be there. So if you have any thoughts, any questions, or even if you guys just wanna give feedback to Jolene and Christie of like, that was super helpful. This part really, Opened my eyes. There was a light bulb moment for me. We love to get messages like that and hear that. Thank you ladies. I'm very excited, for our masterclass in November. I'm very excited to continue to collaborate and work together in the future. I think this is gonna be a huge help to my community. And I just wanna say, I think you guys are making a huge impact in this industry that has been so underserved in this space for so long. so from the industry as a whole, I wanna say thank you for that and for, leaning into us. Specifically and noticing that blind spot there and coming in. So judgment free and so, caring. it really is, an incredible model you guys have created. Amazing. Like I said, everything will be in the show notes. Thank you again ladies. and I will talk to you all on the next podcast episode. Bye. Thank you.