Salon Success Secrets

Million Dollar Beauty Pro

• Lindsay Lowe & Jen Booth

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We explore how salon owners can transform their training approach from simply teaching technical skills to developing beauty professionals with million-dollar mindsets. Every new hire represents a $20,000 investment that requires a structured development path to ensure they become profitable team members instead of costly turnover statistics.

• The average cost to train a new beauty pro exceeds $20,000 per person
• Most salon owners get stuck in teaching technical skills without transforming mindsets
• The four phases of leadership development: telling, selling, celebrating, and delegating
• Mindset before skillset—confidence takes a system, not just technical training
• Successful beauty pros don't just get better at hair or skin, they get better at thinking
• A comprehensive training system works even for salon owners who don't personally perform beauty services

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Speaker 1:

Let me ask you something. Have you ever peeked across the salon and saw a new stylist sectioning for a pixie cut and thought, oh no, please, not like that. You're mid email, the front desk is trying to find you, payroll is due in two hours and even though every bone in your body wants to run over and grab the shears, you don't. You look the other way. Does this sound familiar? It's one of those moments where you realize you're the system and that system is overworked, overwhelmed and on the edge of burnout. And the truth is, training a new team member isn't just about how to cut a pixie. It's not about foils or formulas or blowouts. It's about mindset. And mindset can't be taught in a rush, rush in between guests or even through osmosis. You know, it takes structure, it takes strategy, it takes systems.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so good. So today we want to walk you through the four phases of building what we call a million dollar beauty pro program and how salon owners just like you are unknowingly spending over. Are you ready for this? $20,000 at least per new beauty pro without seeing a real return. So if you're excited about this, this is the perfect podcast for you, because we're going to break it down.

Speaker 2:

So let's kick it off with part one, the hidden cost of training. And so you might not think of it this way, but every time you bring in a new hire, you're not just giving them a job, you're making an investment. And that investment man it packs, it stacks up really quick and adds up really fast. And you know you're paying for the hours they shadow, you're covering for their mistakes, you're building their books, often before they're even ready I know I've been there before right. And most of all, you're sacrificing your own time to coach and course correct. And when you look at the real math, like I said earlier, the average cost to train a new beauty pro is over $20,000. That's per person. And if you don't have a clear development path in place, you risk losing that beauty pro before they, before they, ever become profitable for you as a salon company. So that's one person. If you have four people, let's see that'd be $80,000, $80,000 that it's taking you to train those people.

Speaker 1:

Oh, yes, and you know, we've seen it happen. You know, talented, creative, friendly, but they never made it past the first six months. Not because they didn't have skills, but because they didn't have a path. Dan Kennedy's four levels of leadership this is something we love so much, so let's really dive into how do we prevent that? So we're excited to introduce you to something Dan Kennedy taught us called the four phases of leadership and how it applies to growing a successful salon team. So are you ready for this?

Speaker 1:

Step one is teaching. So this is where most salon owners stop. You know, we teach how to tone, we teach how to lash map, we teach how to cut, we teach how to greet, we do demos, we share formulas. You know. But here's the truth Teaching alone doesn't create transformation. You know, when you have everyone on your team teaching, it's like playing a game of telephone. Maybe you remember that from grade school, playing telephone. You know it's like you. You tell them how to do a haircut or color and then they tell the next person. You know because you're training new trainers inside of your team all the time. But one day you show up to class and realize that the message became something totally different than the original message you were trying to share. You know, and what that taught us is that there's a difference between teaching and transforming, and that was a big missing component teaching and transforming growth.

Speaker 2:

There's a big difference I love what you said, lindsay between teaching and transforming. Cause man, when you really truly transform someone, just like a butterfly, they can never go back to their old ways. So you really install that pixie cut or that mindset that goes along with that pixie cut. They'll be able to duplicate, and duplicate, and duplicate. That I love that you said that.

Speaker 2:

So let's break it down for the step or stage one of the leadership phase, and this is the telling phase. So the telling phase is this is where expectations begin. Now you're telling them what the standards are. This is how we do consultations, but this is how you offer products. Like structure begins to form and they stop guessing.

Speaker 2:

You know, I've seen this before in the telling phase is if you have a co-stylist, um, working with an educator, and the co-stylist is new, right, and the educator it's their first day. They bring over the co-stylist to work with the client or the guest and they're like the educator asked the co-stylist so what do you think we should do? And in that moment the costalist is like I don't even speak English anymore. I don't even. I don't even know what to say.

Speaker 2:

It's because we haven't even told them what to say. So we truly, like this is so powerful. You guys want to make sure you're grasping this. Like we have to tell them what to say. We have to tell them hey, ask what's been the best part of the day, ask them what's the most important thing for you, like we have to set them up for success, or almost going to come from a place of abuse and so making sure that we're being really crystal clear about telling them what our standards are you know how we do things, the the why we do it this way, the how we say it this way because that's truly going to set them up for success.

Speaker 1:

So good. So you know, once you've really put in that teaching and then you've gone to that step two of telling, that's when you get into step three, which is all about selling. So this is where the magic happens, you guys. You know, this is where they begin to sell themselves on the system. You know, it's like they believe in the process, they see the value and they start owning their own growth. You know, and that's when things get fun, when they really dive into the why behind. You know why we're doing this. It's like they just become natural at it. You know it's. It's such a transformational part of that, of that four step process.

Speaker 2:

I love in the selling phase too, where you start to celebrate them like, okay, lindsay, great way to crush that. You know, wow, check in. Or that love, checkout. That's always a beautiful way to water those seeds that you've planted in there to truly help them grow and recognize that in themselves. And so, after you go through, you know, teaching and telling and selling, the last part of that is the delegating. And now this is where they get the opportunity to lead. You know, now they're teaching the new beauty pro or the new hire. They're modeling your culture without you hovering. Wouldn't that be so nice. They're modeling your culture without you hovering, and that's how you go from burnout to scalability. And let's be honest, if you're stuck in teaching and telling all day long, man, you will be exhausted. You will never have the space to grow your business. You'll always be the one to grab the shears, but also the one that's holding yourself back.

Speaker 1:

Yes, that's so good. You know, jen, let's actually go back to that pixie cut story that we talked about in the beginning, because you know, I know you've been there You're watching this sectioning and your stomach drops. You know, because the stylist is sweet, you know she's eager, but you know this isn't going to end well. Now you're thinking do I stop her and risk shattering her confidence? Do I jump in and fix it but embarrass her in front of the guest? Do I just pray? The client brought a hat. You know what do you do in this moment? Because in that moment what you're really saying is I wish I had a system. I wish I didn't have to be this system. You know, because what if there was a better way?

Speaker 2:

yeah, what if there was a better way, Like listen up? What if you didn't have to be the savior? You know what if your beauty pros, right after that questionable pixie section, had access to real training, not just a video to watch in the break room, but an actual interactive class led by a coach. You know a class where they follow along in real time, you know, where they practice the work as they go, where they get feedback, where they are held accountable and they truly start to see themselves as a million dollar beauty pro.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, you know, because that'll transform them. They won't just be someone who's doing hair or doing skin or lashes, you know, but they'll start to see themselves as somebody who's growing on purpose. You know, and that's the power of the million dollar beauty pro system. You know it's not a course, it's a culture shift. You know it turns your team into professionals who think way bigger than the average beauty pro. You know it's stylists or estheticians who really understand their client psychology. You know it's beauty pros who know their numbers and it's leaders who stay because they're finally seen and developed.

Speaker 1:

You know, because I know this has happened to you as a salon owner before you've walked into the back room and your team is all mindlessly scrolling on their phones, you know, maybe even accidentally stumbling upon a video of, let's say, a booth rental stylist complaining about whatever it was for that day or creating fear for them inside of their business or life because they don't have all the tools that your team has available to them. You know, or maybe they're even just reading a book that has nothing to do with furthering their career. You know, and the truth is you're so busy you don't have time to direct their downtime. You know that's where you insert million dollar beauty pro. You know now they're spending their downtime and a live training or watching a video on demand to further their career. You know something that actually makes a difference in their life and shifts their mindset, and it's built specifically for team based salons.

Speaker 2:

You know that brings me to a story when I think about one of our amazing salon owners who's in our program, who actually doesn't do hair by trade or have her license to do so, but she is the salon owner, salon owner and so normally you know that would create a lot of confusion on how you're supposed to teach your hairstylist uh, through any cutting or coloring questions that they have. So she would find someone who was the best, like the best out of the group to teach them, even if they only had like six months to a year experience, and then they would get this like big ego that they're now doing all the work and they would eventually leave. But by inserting million dollar beauty pro, now that fear and story is actually gone forever, because she has the training tools to be able to train her team, even because she doesn't know the ways to do hair. That's okay. The million dollar beauty pro is going to set her is setting her salon up for success.

Speaker 1:

Yes, I love that. She is um, you know, that's an incredible story and I just love that. And you know, maybe you can relate to that. Maybe you don't have your license or you know, maybe you have a salon director who doesn't you know whatever that looks like in your team. You know, because we know that it's mindset before skillset and we say this a lot inside of our coaching program. You can teach a haircut or a facial or you know lashes, whatever it might be in six weeks. But confidence takes a system, you know. So if you've ever had a stylist or an esthetician, any kind of beauty pros say, you know that they have anxiety. You know that comes from not having the confidence. So the, the stylist who sticks with you, the one who grows your brand, they help lead your team. They hit six figures while working less than 30 hours a week. They didn't just get better at hair or skin, they got better at thinking. They got the mindset of a million dollar beauty pro.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and it's tried and true. When you have these kinds of trainings at the end of the career, why do we call it million dollar beauty pro? Because these people that go through this training will make more than a million dollars if in their lifetime of due, of being a beauty pro. Like it is so true. And so when you think about it, from that $20,000 cost to that seven figure return, let's really wrap it up with this that every new hire is a $20,000 bet. Every new hire is a $20,000 bet. So think to yourself are you building a system that makes that bet pay off or are you hoping? You know your fingers crossed, are you hoping, praying and looking the other way when that pixie section goes? Pixie section goes south? And you know. Think about this. If you're truly ready to create a real growth plan for your team, if you want to stop babysitting and start delegating, and if you want a team that thinks, acts and performs like a million dollar beauty pro, then it's time we talk.

Speaker 1:

Yes, you guys, because we're so excited, because we are launching our next cohort soon and we're looking for salon owners who are done doing it all alone. So text us the word pro that's P? R? O to the number four, six, nine, two, eight, three, five, five, nine, zero, to learn more. Because when your team wins and your salon scales and that pixie cut, it becomes a story that you're proud of. That's when everybody wins.