Salon Success Secrets

Why Your Team Stops Showing Up & How to Fix It

• Lindsay Lowe & Jen Booth

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Why do promising stylists sometimes lose their spark? It's not a mystery—it's entropy. The universal principle that everything naturally moves from order to disorder unless acted upon by an intelligent force applies directly to your salon team.

Through the contrasting stories of two stylists—one who disconnected from structure and saw her $132,000 annual income slip away despite her talents, and another who embraces every growth opportunity and thrives—we uncover the fundamental difference between force and power in salon leadership. Force exhausts you because you're pushing against resistance, constantly reminding team members to care about their own success. Power, however, attracts and multiplies by creating a magnetic environment where growth becomes inevitable.

The most transformative insight for salon owners? Stop operating in the "have-do-be" mindset that plagues our industry. Success doesn't come from having more clients first, then doing the work, and finally being successful. It works in reverse: you must first BE the successful person, which naturally leads you to DO the right actions consistently, which ultimately results in HAVING the outcomes you desire. This isn't motivational fluff—it's the operating system for every action your team takes.

We've moved beyond the old normal of salon leadership that resembled babysitting. Today's most effective salon owners stand firmly in their power, creating cultures so compelling that team members naturally rise to match their energy. When you shift your approach from forcing unwilling stylists up the mountain to embodying excellence yourself, your entire salon begins to self-organize toward higher standards.

Ready to stop forcing and start leading with power? Your team is waiting for someone to show them what's possible—and that someone is you. Share this episode with another salon owner who needs this message today.

Do you have a question for Blondes in Business: Luxury Beauty Business Podcast? Send a text or leave a voicemail at 855.650.3445 or send us an email to hello@thephdprogram.com. We would love to hear from you.
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Speaker 1:

Let me ask you a hard but necessary question. Have you ever hired someone that was full of potential only to watch them slowly unravel right in front of you? Or maybe you've been that person. You started with drive, you started with vision and then something shifted. You didn't mean to slow down, but somehow things just got messy. Today we're talking about why that happens and how you, as a leader, can shift it before entropy takes over.

Speaker 1:

You know, a while ago I had someone on my team let's call her Sarah who was absolutely on fire. I ran her numbers and she was on track to make $132,000 this year working behind the chair. That was her take-home income as a W-2 employee. So that wasn't potential, that was real momentum. But then I noticed, little by little it started to slip. You know she missed a huddle, she skipped, you know, a, a big salon celebration and you know she said she was tired.

Speaker 1:

And now I don't say this with judgment, I say this with love and honesty that was entropy, because here's what the law of entropy says everything moves from order to disorder unless acted upon by an intelligent force. That's good. Let me say that again Everything moves from order to disorder unless acted upon by an intelligent force, you guys. That includes your house, that includes your business and that absolutely includes the mindset of a service provider. So what happened to Sarah? You know she stopped being acted upon, she left the structure, she left the coaching, she left our community, you know, the whole salon.

Speaker 1:

And now, months later, she's earning less, she's doing less, she's working a ton more and she's probably feeling more stuck than ever. And listen, you know, she's still talented, she's still capable, but the energy is leaking out. You know, I think that if you contrast that with somebody else on my team let's just call her Mia you know Mia shows up to everything. She's knocking on the door, asking what else can I learn, what else can I do, how can I grow to the next level of who I'm becoming? And the result she's skyrocketing faster than I ever expected, you know, because she's not just avoiding entropy, she's expanding.

Speaker 2:

Such a a great story to share, Lindsay, because I bet other salon owners listening to this can relate. Maybe they didn't have the words to explain it, but they see the Sarah's on their team and they see the Maya's or Mia's. What did say Maya? Maya's on their team, mia, mia's on their team and, you know, gives you some assessment of how to handle people and understand who people are. So you know, I love that you said that, because this has helped me realize that the old normal in salons it was babysitting, it was pushing, it was forcing, like you had to light the fire, hold their hand, remind them daily to want more. I'll never forget a new leader on my team One time said we were in a leadership meeting.

Speaker 2:

She's like I feel like I'm babysitting, like we actually looked at the word babysitting. I said if you feel like you're babysitting, like you're losing respect as a leader, and so I love that, you know you have to light the fire. You know you have to hold their hand, remind them daily to want more. Because here's the explosion moment Force doesn't work. That would be like babysitting Force doesn't work.

Speaker 2:

You will always feel exhausted when you're forcing someone to do something they don't want for themselves. We like to say this is a right or downer. This will give you so much freedom as a salon owner. If you really take this to heart. You will always be exhausted when you're forcing someone to do something they don't want for themselves. And why is that? It's because force is power made operative against resistance. But power, on the other hand, you know power is that ability to hold your position. You know it's the capacity to act with effectiveness. You know power doesn't chase. You know it attracts, it grounds, it multiplies. So I'm going to invite you to see that the new normal I want you to step in as a salon owner is letting go of force and stepping into that power Because, as you stand as the one who doesn't beg your team to rise, but one who builds a culture so magnetic, so full of growth, that they can't help but expand in your presence.

Speaker 1:

That is incredible, jen, I love you know that you talked about that difference between force and power. Um, you know, I I think that there is so much freedom and knowing the difference between force and power, because if you've ever said to yourself, gosh, I'm so exhausted, you know, I would look at the definition of both of those words and see which one have you been spending a majority of your time in. You know, because, hey, I will be the first one to admit I have, you know, invested time in people before that weren't interested in actually getting that investment of time. Um, it wasn't they. They had no desire for more, and you know so, when you do something like that, you're forcing it upon someone.

Speaker 1:

But power, when you build that and you have that ability to hold and maintain a position, because you know you're creating something incredible, that's when things start to shift. You know, because mindset. Mindset isn't fluff, you guys, this isn't little pillows of whites, fluffy cotton everywhere. You know this is the operating system for every action your team takes, you guys, because most people live in a have do be world, you know, and so they think I need to have more clients, then I'll do the work and finally I'll be successful, but the truth is it's absolutely the other way around.

Speaker 1:

You have to be successful, do and then have. So you want to be the kind of person who takes full ownership. Be the person that you want to be, then do the work with consistency and energy of that person that you want to be, and then you'll have the success that follows. You know, and and what's so cool about this is that every part of this starts in the mind, and so when you work on your beingness and and, as as a salon owner, and when you help everyone around you work on their beingness as well, that's when they can have everything that they want in this life, because when you be that person, you naturally do the things that that person would do, and then, on the other side of that, comes having everything that that person would have.

Speaker 2:

So good. I love that you said that it's because you're you know, maybe right now you're listening to this and you're maybe asking yourself you're like you know, I feel like I've been dragging my team up the mountain, so you've got your hand out, you're pulling them really hard. It's like, oh my God, it's so draining, right. Or you're like I'm tired of repeating the same pep talk every Monday. I've been there. I know I can't keep forcing them to care more than they do. If that's, you honestly take a deep breath, because you can shift it and it starts with your energy. You weren't meant to operate in force. You're meant to live in power and, like Lindsay was saying, power is the ability to hold and maintain a position. Power is the ability to hold and maintain a position Because when you truly stand in your power, something really wild happens, like your team starts to match you, science notice it and your culture starts to self-organize towards excellence, because entropy doesn't win excellence, because entropy doesn't win at the end of the day, like you truly do.

Speaker 1:

I love that, jen. You know I actually just had the opportunity to do a final interview with a potential service provider yesterday and she talked about you know. She'd just graduated from school and she'd seen us come into the school multiple times and she said you know, one of the first times you came in you did a career challenge and I realized you know she was talking about. You know, when we go in and do the fun suite life or suite life, you know, which is where you talk about, hey, what does it look like to be a suite owner and what does it look like to have a suite life at our salon? You know, and just kind of what the difference? So we hand out money and you know they get to play this fun game and then start to realize, hey, what's super cool about, you know, working for a company that's inside of salon business school, you know all the companies that we work with is that you know I can make the most amount of money per hour. You know, and and it's so cool when you start to see, hey, I would rather spend my free time on a beach than I would doing X, y, z, learning, uh, learning you know how to market, how to, you know, be a tax accountant, how to just be a bookkeeper, all these just random different things. You know, um, and what we talked about was like, actually, one of the most powerful things in that is to just work on your own beingness so that you can really, you know, contrasting to the you know two types of service providers that we talked about at the beginning of the call so that you can be the person who's okay with earning $132,000 a year as a service provider, only working 28 hours a week. You know, because it all starts with us, Like we can't force anybody on our team to do anything, but we can create that space to allow people to be who, the who they want to be, and we can let people flow in and out that are supposed to be the right fit. Because, you know, she was so excited. She was like I can't even believe that this is an opportunity. Um, you know that I might have the possibility to be a part of. You know, it's just fun to even think about that and I think it was just amazing.

Speaker 1:

Um, you know when, when we stand in our power as salon owners and we share what it is that we are put on this earth to do. You know, and help people create amazing lives and livings. It all starts with our beingness resonated with you and you're ready to stop forcing and start leading in power? Join us inside of salon business school, because we don't just teach strategy, um, because strategy can get eaten for lunch. Every single day, we really focus on your identity and building leaders who know how to be first, so that the rest can take care of itself, because your team is waiting for someone to show them what's possible, and that someone it's you, listening to this podcast right now. So if this moved you in some way or you have another salon owner friend that you think would enjoy this episode, please share it with them. Another salon owner friend that you think would enjoy this episode, please share it with them. We're super grateful to get the opportunity to work with all of you listening and all of the incredible people inside of Salon Business School.

Speaker 2:

All right guys. So just remember a garden turns into weeds if it's not maintained. So just a beautiful reminder to go out there today and do some awesome things in our salon industry.