Salon Success Secrets

From Invisible To Influence - How To Rise To The Top Quickly

• Lindsay Lowe & Jen Booth

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We walk salon owners and beauty pros through the Invisible-to-Abundance staircase from our book, sharing the exact actions to move from unseen to stable to truly successful. We show how to coach teams one step at a time and why abundance is for multiplying, not drifting.

• the six stages: Invisible, Crisis, Urgency, Stability, Abundance, Success
• how to move from invisible: connect, be present, discover needs, deliver service
• crisis as proof of progress and how to reorganize
• urgency with discipline: produce, promote, adjust, manage time and money
• stability as platform not plateau; keep what works, improve small
• abundance strategy: economize, reinvest, ladder book, multiply
• success as leadership: document, mentor, sustain systems
• coaching framework: identify each person’s step and move one step up

Send us a text to 469-283-5590 with the word think. That’s T-H-I-N-K. So just send us the word think to 469-283-5590, and we’ll send you over a link to where you can purchase a copy of this book. If you got some great nuggets out of today’s episode, send it to a friend, leave us a review or send us a text.


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SPEAKER_01:

Hey salon owner, let me ask you something. Have you ever looked at a new stylist on your team and thought, wow, she has the talent, but why isn't she growing? Or him, he or she, you know, or maybe you remember what it felt like when you were first starting out. You know, you were sitting in the back room staring at an empty book. If you were anything like me, maybe you painted your nails or, you know, added up some math about something, you know, but you were waiting for somebody to notice you is truly what was happening, you know. And here's the truth: success in our industry doesn't happen all at once. It's not a magic wand, you know, it's not even luck. You know, success is truly like climbing a staircase. And the staircase has gradients, you know, so each step is a little higher, a little harder, but it's also a little closer to the top. And, you know, you don't go from invisible to six figures in one jump. You know, you literally take it step by step, gradient by gradient.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so good. And so today we're gonna walk you through um this exact model from our book, Think and Get Rich as a Beauty Pro. It's what we call the invisible to abundance staircase. And you guys, uh, Lindsay, actually, we just had our salon retreat. Lindsay taught this to um my team again as well. And it's been so fun to see them take this framework because I know it works, I see it with my own team, to take this framework and let them truly be able to incorporate it into their life because it truly gives them solutions to where they are at in life. And so, again, it's called the invisible to abundant staircase. And, you know, as we go through it today and we explain it, I really want you to be thinking about hey, where am I on this staircase? Um, maybe where's my team on this staircase? Because, like, truly, once you see it, you'll know exactly how to coach and grow every single beauty pro or service provider in your company.

SPEAKER_01:

So good. Uh, Jen, you have an amazing team. I love, you know, seeing them put things into action. And if you're listening to this podcast right now, we know that you are an action taker too. So we are excited to dive in. Let's kick it off with step one, which is invisible. You know, this is every career starts in the dark. You're invisible. You know, nobody knows your name, nobody knows your skills, nobody even trusts you yet, honestly. You know, and you know what? That's okay. Because this isn't failure, it's just the natural starting line. Everybody starts at invisible, whether it's in the workplace, in a relationship, like before you met, you know, maybe your spouse or your best friends, like they didn't know you existed, you were invisible to them. And so, same thing when you're starting off in your career, everybody starts at invisible. But here's the danger. You know, some people stay invisible. Why? Because they hide, you know, they sit in the break room or they wait for somebody, you know, to hand them opportunity instead of creating it. So you might be thinking, okay, how how do I climb? You know, it's really simple. Uh, the first thing that you want to do is connect. You want to introduce yourself to clients, to the team, to the front desk. You know, then step two is you want to be present. So don't vanish. Let your presence be felt. And then step three is discovering needs, you know. So this is where you listen to what clients want. See, you know, how you can serve inside of the salon, what's missing? How can you help somebody at the front desk? How can you help somebody on the team? And step four is then you want to deliver service. This is where you want to do little things with excellence, you know, and and when we think about putting those four things into action, I think a lot of people think, you know, maybe you've experienced this at one point in time. Uh, somebody has maybe either bought the company that you work for, or there's been a new person that's come in and changed a whole bunch of stuff. You guys, that is the exact formula for failure, is to do something like that. The first thing that you want to do is serve at this level, you know, because when you do that, when you do it consistently, the gradient starts to shift. You know, you move one step up the staircase. And now, bam, you're visible, you know. But visibility can come with a cra with, you know, like a little bit of a challenge, right, Jen?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it can. So because above that next step of invisible actually comes crisis, and you're like, Jen and Lindsay, what the heck? I just went from no one seeing me to being in crisis. And yes, you did. But there's good news because crisis actually is where most people quit. But when you have these tools, you know how to keep moving forward and making that progress. And why most people quit here is because the second they get noticed, they get tested. You know what I'm talking about. That client calls back and they're like, I do not love my hair at all. Like maybe somebody messed up a formula, or maybe they uh got double booked and started to panic. And and this is where the heat shows up. This is what we mean by being in crisis. But listen carefully though, you guys, because crisis isn't punishment. Crisis is actually proof that you're climbing. I'll never forget one time I had someone say, you know, we had a new person on our team, like, oh my gosh, she got two callbacks. I was like, that's great, that's awesome. Because we've gotten her from invisible to crisis, and now we can give her new tools. Like, it's gonna happen. And so when you think about when you're in that crisis step, here's the formula that can take you to the next step. And so the first thing you want to do is step away from old habits that no longer serve you. You know, you also want to handle situations head on, no blaming and no excuses. You know, if you have that callback, use it as a learning opportunity to say, hey, what would I do different next time? And the other thing you want to do, make sure is that you're brutally honest with yourself. You know, think about your weaknesses, about what needs to change, what are your opportunities? And then the last thing you can do is actually reorganize. And this is where you can bring order where there's chaos. So maybe in your consultation, maybe there's crisis in your consultation and you learn from this callback, like, oh yeah, I'm forgetting that part of the sales process in the consultation. And so now if I make sure that I streamline that and do that with every single guest, I bet it's going to eliminate some of the callbacks that I have. And what we see is that most service providers in this stage feel like they're failing, you know, um, but actually in this stage, they're transforming. And transformation always looks messy in the middle. If you've been in transformation mode before, you know what I'm talking about. And when you think about that too, like the butterfly, you know, the butterfly starts as a caterpillar, goes to a cocoon, and then as a butterfly. But in that cocoon area, it's not pretty, it's not as pretty as it is when it's a butterfly, right? And so we know that growth can be um awkward, but it is necessary. And so here's the secret: if you survive crisis, you unlock the stage or the step that actually changes everything.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, yes, you know, and and so you're thinking, wow, I'm ready to unlock and change everything. And you step into step three, and you guys, this is where you actually unlock urgency. And urgency is where the winners start separating themselves. You know, this is now the beauty pro or service provider who wakes up hungry. You know, they might post their work, they're asking for referrals, they're showing up early, you know, they're studying how they can do a better consultation. You know, they find ways to keep people coming back. But, and this is key urgency without discipline is just burnout. You know, so here's the gradient formula for urgency. So here's how we would step up into that next level. Step one is you want to produce and promote. So it's no longer just about doing hair. You've kind of worked out some of those things in crisis, you know, like Jen mentioned, you're gonna get callbacks. That's great. Like she mentioned, you know, somebody said, hey, this person got two callbacks. Great. Or we've learned the lessons there. And so here we're gonna let the world know that we do it, you know? And so uh we're gonna really work on, you know, producing more beautiful work, producing more amazing experiencing experiences for people, and then just promoting, like, hey, I can do this for your friends too, or whoever else, you know, and step two for this is you want to adjust what isn't working, you know. So uh if you start noticing maybe you're getting some more consultation or sorry, uh if you start to notice that you are getting some more cancellations, like you definitely want to address that. You always want to make sure, you know, that you keep that under that five to 10% range. Um, but also it's a great time to look at your consultations. Like, are they, you know, because sometimes we don't even realize like we get in some sort of like a flow that might not be serving us to the highest good. So fix that. You know, this is a really big stage where you really need to focus in on time management because if it's off at this stage, you have to change it. You know, this is usually where people start to ladder book, where they don't just, you know, see one guest and then complete that guest and see another guest. Like they see a guest, then they see another guest, then they finish a guest, finish another guest, you know, and then it uh really starts to unlock amazing possibilities. Um, this is also step three is you want to manage your resources, you know, because you're starting to make a little bit more money at this level. Uh, so you want to make sure that you're investing it in education and tools, um, but don't waste your money, you know, like if uh that's the key is using some discernment to say, hey, is this a great investment? Um, because you know, getting free education from somebody online who doesn't have the same values is way different than investing a little, pouring money into your mind so that your mind can pour money into your wallet. You know, you also want to stay disciplined here. So that's step four, stay disciplined, you know, because this stage is about consistency. You know, it's not about like a viral moment on social media. It's truly about being consistent in your work, you know, because urgency is truly the rocket fuel stage. It can be exhausting, you know, because it kind of feels like this a little bit, but it builds the foundation for stability. And that, my friends, is an incredible place to be.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh, Lindsay, I think you just had a mic drop moment. I don't even know if you realized it, but you said something. I was like, that is a writer downer. And I want to make sure that I heard you say it, right? You said pour money into your mind so your mind can pour money into your wallet. Is that right?

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, pour money into your mind so your mind can pour money into your wallet. And you guys really, that's all about your beingness, because like if you don't think, you know, that's the whole, really, that's the whole purpose of the book, think and get rich as a beauty pro. Like, if you think it's not possible, it's absolutely not. But if you think it is and you start pouring money into your mind, your mind will pour money into your wallet. We've seen it time and time again with the countless. I mean, Jin, we have more people on our teams, you know, that are six-figure income earning people. Like we could, you know, show multiple W-2s of people over the years who've earned six figures. Um, and and truly it was like we as leaders saw the importance of pouring money into their mind, or you know, we poured money into their mind, they poured money into their mind, and truly it poured money into pockets.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. I mean, even like even if they're not as six figures, I mean, being here for three years and making over$80,000,$80,000,$85,000 a year does still, and that includes them going through some kind of training program. So that is so, so true. I love that. All right, so we let's move up to the next step, which is actually we just left urgency. We're gonna step up one more, making that progress. And the next step is actually stability. Now, you guys, stability feels kind of good, you know. This is what a service provider's books is finally uh committed for, or foil, or foil. This is my Southern coming out right there, or foil. You know, they're not scrambling anymore, they've got regulars, they've got consistency. Like, I feel like maybe your levels three, four, sometimes five can live right around this stability stage. But here's the thing: let me warn you that stability is a double-edged sword because it whispers you made it, but sometimes that can be dangerous because stability is either a platform for your next climb or it can't actually be a plateau that leads to decline. And so when you think about moving to that next step of stability, here's the formula on how you get there. You guys don't change what's working. I want to say that again. Don't change what's working. If you ever have anybody in your team that wants to rewrite systems, just remind them you're stable. Don't change what's working. You know, I'll never forget someone said, Oh man, we've been getting all these new clients every month for so long. It's working so great, but I think it's time for a change. And I was like, okay, so you you got a system that's getting you uh thousands of or hundreds of new clients a month, but you want to change it. I think we should, I think we should pump the brakes. I think we should pump the brakes just a little bit. And so uh, you know, don't change what's working. Another one here when you're in the stability step is you want to avoid drastic moves. You know, don't just say throw your hands up, like, oh man, let's just do this, let's do that, let's do this. Um, another thing you want to do here is to identify your success drivers, you know, what's actually filling your books? Um, you know, are you giving guests complete looks from head to toe? Are there treatments involved? Are there color analysis involved? Is there a face shape analysis, brow shape, eye shape analysis? I mean, there's so many things that you can do here. And this is when you want to keep making those small, gradual improvements. And this is where you where you really want to come in too and think about when you're planning the day or teaching your team to plan for the day, to not always plan from the past, but to think about it from a future perspective of like, hey, how future actually actually means um um, I don't even know what future means. I don't know what I was gonna say, but it was gonna be really good. But when you think about planning for the future, like it helps the guest to see the bigger vision, to see what's truly possible. And so, like always giving that small gradual improvements at every visit is what's gonna keep you at that stability and keep you moving forward. And you know, and truly that is the power of gradients, you know, small steps actually compound and a 1% improvement day after day creates you know, exceptional, expansional growth, but you have to resist the temptation to relax here because the next step, you guys, is really where the magic happens.

SPEAKER_01:

I love that. Jen, probably what you're gonna say is like the um the root word of future is actually behew, which means to be, exist, and grow. And so that's truly when you plan from that place of the future, it's you're gonna, you're already being, you're existing, but you're gonna grow. And so I think that that ties in perfectly with that formula, you know, and then when you get to that next step, it truly is abundance. You guys, abundance is so fun, but it is also so dangerous, you know, because this is when, you know, you have more than enough, you know, more clients than you can handle, usually, uh, more money than you've ever had, more energy to reinvest. But abundance has destroyed more careers than failure ever did. Why? Because this is where people blow it. You know, they buy the car, they slack on the discipline, they lose focus, or they think, oh, I need to offer this new service that nobody is in town. Well, you know, maybe there's not a need for it, you know? And so truly the formula here is step one is to economize. Um, that doesn't mean expand everything and, you know, spend all your money. It means, you know, don't get reckless. It means like really see what matters the most, you know, make sure you're paying every bill, make sure you're staying clean financially, and then get to that next step, which is to reinvest, reinvest in yourself, reinvest in your tools, reinvest in your education, reinvest in your, you know, guest experience, whatever it is, you know. And step three here is to really lock in on that latter booking. You know, you really want to make sure that you're maximizing your time so that you can serve more people at a higher level. Because when you get to the stage of abundance, all of the guests that you're serving are there too. And their time is way more valuable than their money. So they're willing to spend whatever they would love to spend as little time as possible. It's like I always joke around and say, hey, I if I could drop my nails off at the nail salon and get them done and then pick them back up later, that would be my idea of the perfect nail appointment. These are the clients you're serving when you're in that abundance stage. Their time is more valuable than their money. So maximize your time so you can serve more people at a higher level, you know, and here's truly the mindset shift that needs to happen. Because abundance isn't for spending, you know, abundance is for multiplying. So if you use abundance to build assets, you know, think education, systems, anything that can, you know, help build your reputation, it will truly lock you in to the next step.

SPEAKER_00:

And you guys, this one is a secret step. We didn't even tell you in the beginning because we said invisible to abundance. Yeah, we wanted to leave the secret step for last because it's the best. And this step, step six, is actually called success. And once you get to this uh step, excuse me, success isn't like just having a full book. Success is ease, it's confidence, it's leadership. It's when a service provider doesn't just do hair or skin, they actually mentor others. And you know, they document what works, they they follow the sustainable systems, uh, they they're trusted, they're respected. And, you know, the one thing that people, when they reach success that you have to be aware of is that success isn't a finish line, it's actually a stage. And if you stop climbing, you start slipping. Let me say that again because it's so good. So if you stop climbing, you actually start slipping. And the best beauty pros service providers, you know, they stay connected, they keep learning, they keep improving. So success is a staircase that keeps rising. The gradient never stops, but neither does the reward.

SPEAKER_01:

So good. You know, so here's our challenge to you, salon owner. It's to look at your team. You know, every single person in your salon is on one step of this staircase. You know, maybe they're at invisible, maybe it's crisis, urgency, stability, abundance, success. You know, just really look at where are they and where are you? Because the fastest way to scale your salon is to know which steps someone is on and to help them take just one more step, one step up the gradient. You can't skip steps either, you guys, it doesn't work that way, you know. So, you know, if you do that, you'll truly create a team of unstoppable six-figure beauty pros. And if you're thinking, wow, Jen and Lindsay, you know, this was just revolutionary for me. I would love my team to know this information as well. Send us a text to 469-283-5590 with the word think. That's T-H-I-N-K. So just send us the word think to 469-283-5590, and we'll send you over a link to where you can purchase a copy of this book. You guys, it is revolutionizing the way that team-based beauty pros or service providers think so that they can pour money into their mind and their mind can pour money into their wallet. Um, if you got some great nuggets out of today's episode, send it to a friend, uh, leave us a review or send us a text. We'd love to hear from you. Um, thanks for listening. We look forward to seeing you again soon.