The Unexpected Truths: Being The Best Boss & Creating a Positive Culture

 Why Investing in Your Staff Pays Off for Salon Owners 

This episode is a juicy one where Adri and Jodie dive into the impact of being the best boss in your salon or studio. We realized that while it's obvious there are perks for employees when you're a great leader, what exactly is in it for you as a business owner? I'll give you the inside scoop. Turns out, when you put your team first and focus on creating an amazing culture, your team naturally puts your clients and overall business first in return. It's a win-win situation where your entire operation starts running like a well-oiled machine for the benefit of everyone, not just you or your staff. Jodie and I share real talk about common pitfalls salon owners face, like investing in training staff only to have them leave shortly after. But we encourage rethinking that scenario - why did that employee want to go elsewhere? Understanding their motivation can unlock ways you can improve your leadership and retention. Other key takeaways: - How shifting from an owner-centric to team-centric focus sets your business up for long-term success - Why sharing financials and other insider biz details builds trust and loyalty - How to structure your pricing and operations for profitability so you can pay staff AND yourself well And so much more! Tune in to unlock your leadership potential and learn exactly what you stand to gain as the best boss in town. I'd love to hear your biggest takeaway in the comments below! 

The key moments in this episode are: 
00:00:01 - Introduction to Being the Best Boss 
00:02:07 - Importance of Focusing on Team Members 
00:05:27 - Challenges of Training and Retaining Staff 
00:09:31 - Rise of Solo Stylists and Booth Renters 
00:15:09 - Financial Considerations for Independent Workers 
00:17:45 - The Leadership Triangle 
00:18:59 - Team Training and Client Care 
00:20:01 - Importance of Business Structure 
00:22:33 - Pricing and Breakeven 
00:26:00 - Embracing Change 

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Transcript

00:00:01
            

Welcome to beyond the mirror with your hosts, Adrienne Varga and Jodie Field. In this podcast, Andree and Jodie take you on an intriguing journey beyond the surface, deep diving into the world of business in the hair, skin, beauty and wellness industries. From business success tips and marketing hacks to industry insights and trends, it's all here. They leave no stone unturned. So get ready to unlock your full potential, evaluate your business, leave behind the limitations and embrace the endless possibilities that lie beyond the mirror.        

00:00:50
            

It hello and welcome back everyone. It's great to be here for episode 17. I'm Jody Fieldon and I'm joined by my work wife, Bestie, and business partner, Adrienne Varga. During these podcasts, we share how you can leverage your passion into profit. Whether you're looking to launch into the next phase, take time away from the floor, or you're looking to sell your business and cash out your investment, you're in the right place because we've just about done it all.        

00:01:16
            

And we're here to share with you that you can too, because it's time to believe your business can be everything you ever wanted. Absolutely. Hello, everyone, and welcome back. And today's episode is. Or carry on from our last episode, which was all about the best boss in town.        

00:01:37
            

Yeah. Today, let's talk about the impact of being the best boss and what's in it for us as the boss. Like what's in it for me for me to be the best boss? Because I think it sounds like there's a lot of positives for the employees, for the staff, but what do I get out of it as the boss? Well, the fact is, if you put your team first, then your team will put your clients and business first.        

00:02:07
            

And that's the fact. So this is, what is it for you in it to be the best boss? Because your business is miraculously going to start to work for the benefit for everyone, not only for you and not only for your team, it's actually going to work for everyone. Yeah, I remember back when I worked for someone is that you've become more invested. Like, if you've got a really good boss that pays you well, treats you well, creates a really good culture, and does training and motivates you and gives you a career path, then you'll do anything for that business.        

00:02:52
            

We would stay back and do stock take with them and volunteer to do it because we want to help. You end up having people say, well, what can I do to help? Is there something you want me to do for you? Yes, absolutely. I totally agree.        

00:03:14
            

And it comes back also the culture, what you're going to create and to create a good team culture or a salon or a studio culture, it needs to be a leadership in there and someone needs to initiate to create that culture. But as a business owner or a boss, you cannot create a culture on your own because your team members, your staff is part of that culture. So the involvement of your team members and focusing on your team members going to become extremely important. And many times we are so busy working on the floor, working in our business that we don't have time for our team. And this is when it comes back to our leadership triangle.        

00:04:06
            

Because when we are running our business, we believe that our focus needs to be on our clients and only on the clients. Those clients needs to be happy and we need to do everything in order to keep them happy. So as business owners, we start to focus on clients, servicing them, servicing more of them. And in my opinion, the most essential part of our business, which are our team members, are not being looked after or not being in any focus at all, because they don't have time for it.        

00:04:45
            

No, it ends up getting business owners seem to think of their team down the end of the line. It's the last thing that comes to mind. And they look at training as I'm investing all my money and time into them, shouldn't I be investing my time into my clients? They cost a lot of money to train and then they just go and leave me anyway. I think that's one of the biggest things is that the business owners, I know quite a few of them recently have said I spend too much time and money training them, and then they just go and leave to work for someone else.        

00:05:27
            

And my question when they say that is, okay, so why did they want to work for someone else? Why weren't they happy working for you? Exactly. And that's a very crucial question, because obviously, if you train a person from the beginning and if you involve that person in the culture, or even if someone just starts to work for you and you put your focus in them and you're going to pay them well, lead them so they won't be confused, you're going to show them a career path. And I know many of the salon owners, they don't believe there is a career path possible in our industry, but actually it is we're working with salon owners when we have courier path for the team members.        

00:06:19
            

So they know exactly if I do this, I can step up. I can step up and I can step up. And many times when we don't have this career path, people, they hit the maximum in dog business and then they don't see where s or what else and then go somewhere else where they offer for them more. And this is when it comes back. Our responsibility is to grow with the person or create an environment where people can grow and they can evolve.        

00:06:54
            

But in order to do that, we do need to focus on our staff or our team. Because if we don't do that, how are we going to do. That's it. Especially even in the Pilates industry, as well as the hair and beauty, is that they just go from business to business to business trying to find that change because they think the grass is greener on the other side. The majority of places they go to, they find out it's fun while I'm there for the first six months and now I'm in the same hole I was in when I left the other place.        

00:07:32
            

I'm bored. There's nothing here for me. I don't feel anything special about here. So I'll start looking for somewhere else, or I'll go and open my own. I can do it for myself at home and I'll make more money.        

00:07:45
            

So I think it's really important for us to be able to create a place. So even with the Pilates studios, making sure that they do have that ongoing training and they can become a teacher trainer within your studio, or the hairdressers, or the beauticians and skin clinicians, you can look at things like training the younger ones coming up or helping to create different events within the business. We used to have the inter salon hair shows that we would have between. We had quite a few girls, so we would do that. But like attending hair shows, attending different events, so that it actually keeps a lot of salon owners forget that you need to.        

00:08:36
            

Any business owner is that you need to keep your staff engaged. And it's not always just like the career path. It'll be outside events and spending that time together. And that's why big organizations do so much team building and they do all those activities. And people think that that's only if you work for a big organization, that they have that.        

00:08:59
            

But the reason they have that and they keep the people working for them is because they're engaging and wanting their employees to enjoy the culture of the business. And you can do that on a small scale. And I think that's been lost a lot over the years, especially over Covid and things like that, is that we've gotten out of the habit of team building just that engagement. Yeah. And I totally agree with everything what you said.        

00:09:31
            

And also in the same time, there is a movement at the moment here in Australia. We are sort of following the american boot renter model. Everyone encouraging people to become individual if they are not happy with the place where they are working. Like yesterday, last night I was scrolling through Facebook groups to see what people are talking about and someone was asking about wages, how much money others are making and all those things. And it's a very big chunk of the advice, what they advised to her, just leave the salon, open your own.        

00:10:17
            

You're going to be fine, babe. You're going to make so much more money. And the reality is that we have coaching clients in America. They are boot renters. And this actually doesn't really work as well for long term and long.        

00:10:34
            

And it doesn't work. It ends up falling over because people then realize that they get sick or something happens with one of their kids or the clients that they're attracting to their little home salon want everything. Then they all start complaining about they want me to do everything for nothing and all the rest of it. And we're watching that the booth renting and the solo stylist trend is coming here to Australia. But if you look over in America where it's been happening for, it's happened here for a long time, too, but it's more boothy kind of over there, they're complaining, saying it doesn't work.        

00:11:16
            

So the big sellers, and we're looking at that article, remember we found that article when I was doing some research for one of our master classes. And the smart salons are there waiting for the salon owners, like the booth renters that have decided it's too hard to pick them, to scoop them up and bring them in. So it's this, we're going down one path as they're coming out of another path. So it's going to be interesting to watch how that plays out over here because people just end up getting burnt out. And the salons that are making the most money are generally the ones that have got a few team members that treat them well, pay them well, and they don't want to go.        

00:12:02
            

And most people aren't natural born leaders, are they? Natural born business owners. Sorry.        

00:12:13
            

And the industry, like the hair, beauty and wellness industry, is going through a transformation right now. And it will take time. So it's not going to be finished in six months time or in a year time. I predict like three to five years, at least until people are experiencing and then they start to learn just because your income is going to be, say, two and a half, $1,000, but what you eventually going to keep is much, much less. And all your financial stress, paying bills and looking after your own training, not being able to have a part of culture or an environment.        

00:12:56
            

Because most of the time, people, they want that for themselves. They want to belong and they want to be in an environment. So in my opinion, what we need to do, we need to get ready. Salon owners, we need to get ready when those people, they're going to be ready to come back. Because we want to make sure they have somewhere to come back.        

00:13:19
            

Because they will realize there is another way to actually work in a salon. When I'm going to earn really good money, my training is going to be looked after. I can afford to go on a holiday because I'm going to be paid, my super is going to be paid. And all the other bits and pieces which properly set solenoid studio is providing for their team and team members. So it's very important for us to understand, yes, we are going through this transition, but from firsthand we've got into this trouble because all the salons, not all, that's a generalization.        

00:14:08
            

Many salons, they weren't set up from the beginning to actually have a business model which is supporting to looking after the team and the salon owner. So what does the problem, can I just add something before we move off? When you're saying there about the problem, the people that are going out and they might be earning for themselves the $2,000 if they've got their prices right, doing the home stuff, what the majority and the industry, so it's both in hair, beauty and wellness, is that these people, majority of them are not paying themselves super. They do not have their income protection. They do not have their TPD, like all your different protections that are inside your super fund, they don't have those set up correctly.        

00:15:09
            

And there's going to be a big demographic coming through because especially here in Australia, the pension system is, we've got an aging population. We don't have enough young people coming through in the industries to. Hence why there's so much of this AI at the moment, because there's not enough people to do things. But there's going to be a big demographic that when we retire, we don't have enough money and the pension is barely enough to cover it further. Retirees now, and especially like our parents, that are semi apart from super and part of a pension.        

00:15:51
            

The whole reason they brought in superannuation is because they want to get everyone off the pension and that we're supposed to be self funded retirees. And the guys younger than us, the generations younger than us, aren't actively conscious of their super and what that's going to do for them. There's going to be a real big, I don't know what it's going to look like, but it's not good. I don't think anyone can predict it. But yeah, it's actually going quite a pair shift already.        

00:16:28
            

I totally agree with you. When you go out on your own, you don't realize how many things you have to pay. And also you need to have your own public liability, your own business insurance, which is not cheap whatsoever. And you need to have insurance for yourself, because when you work for yourself, if you fall sick or anything, you need to have an insurance for that one also. So income protection insurance is extremely expensive most of the time from your two and a half.        

00:17:00
            

And it doesn't cover everything. They say up to 80%, but it doesn't actually, they bring it much lower. So I've seen a lot of people get stuck with that where it's like they think they have enough protection and they don't. But also I think tying that what you were just saying about the numbers and everything before is if business owners shared more information about the business with this team, then they would have more awareness and they don't think the grass is so much greener on the other side. I think it's this whole thing that I make $4,000 for them and they only pay me $1,200.        

00:17:45
            

They don't understand where that money is going for. Yes. And it's again, like when we are talking about the leadership triangle, it is basically how it looks like you are on the top as a business owner and then right under you is your team and underneath your team is the clients. So this is the order. It actually should flow.        

00:18:10
            

So you as a business owner should look after your team, train them, create systems for them so they know what to do and how to do, mentor them. And that includes team trainings, team meetings, one on one meetings, and anything else, like even just meetings in order to create virtual team bonding, creating cultures or salon cultures, studio cultures. And then underneath your team is your clients and clients, because who is looking after your clients? Well, as a business owner, you are not looking after all of the clients. When you have team members, your team members are looking after those clients.        

00:18:59
            

And if you don't have a concept around how we looking after clients and also the systems around it, client journey and everything else, then what will happen? Your team sits right beneath you, but your focus is on your clients. So the middle part, which is the most important part, looking after most of your clients is actually going to do what they think is the right thing to do because no one tells them, no one trains them, and we just expect them. They should know by now because they have ten years, 15 years experience. And why do I have to tell?        

00:19:40
            

It is because it's your responsibility, it's your business. And you know what you want out from your business. You know how you want to treat your clients, or you should know how you want to treat your clients. And you need to tell them because they are not mind readers. I wish we would be able to do that because it would be so much more easier.        

00:20:01
            

But the fact is that we need to focus on the team and the team members when it comes to versus clients. And this is where a misconception is in our industry that we're just focusing so much on the clients and the client experience and we are working so much. When you are working full time in your business and sometimes more than full time, 40, 50, 60 hours on the floor or in your studio, then what happens? You don't have energy left to actually do any team training, team meeting or anything else. And this is when your business structure going to fall apart because you don't have time for the part of the business which is making a business to work.        

00:20:56
            

And yes, I just wanted to connect back how we ended up in this situation in the industry. It is because so many people opening a business out of good heart and passion, but they don't know how to make it to work. And when you are not profitable and you don't even understand that you are not profitable. And what you can see only that I work and we are busy, always busy. But why you ending up not having any savings or you only take out $600, why your team is $900 and everyone is complaining that they want more money.        

00:21:36
            

It is because your business model is not set up for a profitable way of running a business. Because if your pricing is not right, then you won't be able to pay a good wage for your staff and also you won't be able to pay a good wage for yourself. And we teach this because it's extremely important for you to create a breakeven and understand your breakeven and also what you need to include in your breakeven because there are a lot of teachings about breakeven but in my opinion, certain elements are missing from the breakeven which needs to be included. And we explain and we teach what is exactly. And many times people are creating their breakeven and they do the right thing.        

00:22:33
            

They base their pricing and they say, all right, so I'm going to base my pricing on early numbers, early rate, but then the breakeven is not properly done. And again, they end up exactly the same place. All right, so we're charging $120 an hour and we create our price list based on that. But why is it not working? So we address all these things when we are, say we have our pricing retreat, which is addressing all those things.        

00:23:06
            

But I think it's very important for us to understand that our team should be our focus and in order to be able to focus on them, then all the other elements of the business needs to be done.        

00:23:22
            

Yeah, it all comes down to, I guess, the foundations and the different layers that we're slowly talking about through these podcasts. And that brings us to the quote. What was the quote that you said before? If you put your team first, they'll put your clients in your business first. And I think if we can remember that, it's going to go a long way to working in our favor.        

00:23:56
            

Yeah, I was just having a look at what we've got for our next podcast that's coming up. I think when we were speaking, we were talking about the fear of the change when you want to take your business in a different direction and what holds most people back and how to overcome that. So I think that's our next podcast. Let me see now. We've got our upcoming retreat Adrienne was just talking about.        

00:24:34
            

Then. Let me grab the link for that. So that's retreats with an s and I'll let you do the handles. Because whenever I say the email address, the website address, I end up getting the handle wrong. Absolutely.        

00:24:55
            

So you can follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and even on YouTube. And the handle is artfocus GDT. And I think in our YouTube is behind the mirror, which is our podcast is. I'll have it. I'll have a quick look.        

00:25:16
            

I think it is beyond the mirror. Beyond the mirror. Oh, my God. Beyond the mirror.        

00:25:26
            

It's one of those days. No one is perfect.        

00:25:33
            

If you think someone, you got to be perfect. It's not going to happen. No, it's not going to happen. So we are looking forward seeing you at our next week. It's going to be a really interesting one because it's always a big question, like, all right, now I know what's wrong, and I need to change pretty much everything.        

00:26:00
            

So what will happen? I decide to change things. So we're going to talk about that. That'll be a good one. All right, I will say goodbye.        

00:26:10
            

I'll see you later.        

00:26:14
            

Well, that was beyond the mirror. Thank you for being a part of this exhilarating adventure. Join Adria and Jody next week as they continue to help you unlock the true potential of your business so you can leave your limitations behind and embrace the endless possibilities that lie beyond the mirror. And if you have a burning question that you'd like to feature as a guest on this podcast, just leave us a message at the podcast page@focusgdt.com. So until next time, keep pushing boundaries, keep thriving, and always remember that your suc