The Founder Mindset with Giovanni Vaccaro of Glamsquad & Peak Mode Coaching

In Episode 14 of Deal Flow Diaries, Alexandra and Elaine sit down with Giovanni Vaccaro, co-founder of Glamsquad and founder of Peak Mode Coaching, to explore the mindset behind building one of the beauty industry's most recognizable brands. Giovanni shares his journey from growing up in his family's Italian restaurant to becoming one of New York City's top hairstylists before leaving the security of a thriving career to help reinvent the beauty industry through on-demand services. 

What began as a leap into cosmetology with no experience evolved into nine years at Frédéric Fekkai, where relentless discipline, curiosity, and relationship-building laid the foundation for Glamsquad, bringing luxury beauty services directly into clients' homes. Today, Giovanni also coaches founders, executives, and high performers through Peak Mode Coaching, helping them develop the identity, confidence, and habits required to reach their next level. 

Join us as we talk about: 

• Why confidence isn't something you're born with. It's built by keeping promises to yourself. 
• How embracing discomfort, rather than avoiding it, creates the biggest opportunities for growth. 
• Building Glamsquad by deeply understanding both the customer and the professional behind the service. 
• Overcoming imposter syndrome while raising venture capital, and learning how to add value without pretending to know everything. 
• Why the strongest teams are built around complementary strengths, preparation, and clearly defined roles. 
• The identity-first coaching framework Giovanni uses to help founders, executives, and entrepreneurs unlock higher performance and avoid living with regret. 

Whether you're building a company, leading a team, navigating a career transition, or simply looking to become a better version of yourself, this conversation offers a thoughtful look at what it takes to turn uncertainty into momentum—and ambition into lasting impact. 

Follow Giovanni Vaccaro & Glamsquad: 

Instagram: @giovannivaccaro, @glamsquad 

Website: giovaccaro.com, glamsquad.com 

LinkedIn: Giovanni Vaccaro 

Questions and comments; reach out to us at inquiries@dealflowdiariespodcast.com

Find out more about the dealflowdiariespodcast.com 

To stay up to date with Deal Flow Diaries and get all the behind-the-scenes content, follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and on YouTube.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on Apple or Spotify or where ever you get your podcasts.

Recorded at The Newsstand Studios at Rockefeller Center.

Thank you for listening.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:04

DealFlow Diaries, where the Dealmakers Talk. A podcast that takes you inside the minds of the Titans shaping today's global economy. I'm Alexandra Fairweather.

SPEAKER_02 0:16

And I'm Elaine Chamberlain. Together, we sit down with visionary founders, fund managers, and deal makers across private equity, real estate, fashion, tech, and beyond.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

Each episode, we uncover the untold stories behind their biggest deals, hardest setbacks, and boldest bets. Lessons in strategy, risk, and ambition you won't find anywhere else.

SPEAKER_02 0:44

Smart, unscripted, unfiltered. This is DealFlow Diaries. This episode is on how Giovanni Viccaro left his family's restaurant at 18, walked into cosmetology school as its worst student, cold pitched a recruiter for a job he had no right to ask for, built one of New York City's most coveted client books, then walked away from it all to co-found Glam Squad. It makes you reconsider whether the moments that feel like leaps of faith are actually just the logical conclusion of who you've always been. Today, he is also the founder of Peak Mode Coaching, working with founders, executives, and business owners on the mindset and performance work that underpins everything he's built. He joins us today to talk about what it really takes to build in a space where everyone tells you it can't scale. Welcome. Thank you for being here today.

SPEAKER_00 1:42

Thank you for having me. I'm really excited. And it's always fun hearing your story played back to you. You're like, oh wow, that's I guess that's me.

SPEAKER_02 1:50

Well, Alexandra and I are totally fangirling today. We love Glam Squad. We love what you've built, and we're excited to hear your story.

SPEAKER_00 1:58

Thank you. I'd love that you love Glam Squad.

SPEAKER_01 2:01

And before we get into Glam Squad, we'd love to go to your family restaurant. What was it like working in your family restaurant?

SPEAKER_00 2:09

Well, my parents are from Italy and they came at a really young age, probably 12 and 10. There's like an entrepreneurial spirit in my family. My father started his own pizzeria at 16 years old in Westchester, New York, and he's still in the pizza business today with my brother, who's taken over the family business. I had a pretty unique childhood. And anybody who is first generation immigrants can probably relate to this. You have to be Italian to relate to this. But it was a lot of hard work. And I mean, I grew up where I would leave school at a very young age, and I was going to Catholic school. My mom would pick me up because I wasn't allowed to take the bus. And she would, instead of going to play with my friends, I'm going right to my dad's pizzeria. So it was a lot of hard work. It was a lot of discipline. And to be honest with you, I wanted to play with my friends, but I was going to work with my father. And it definitely had some sort of impact on our relationship because my father was my father at home, but he was my boss at the restaurant and pizzeria. And I wanted to be with my friends. But it taught me a lot. I mean, there's lessons in everything, right? And so for me, it was about hard work, dedication, sacrifice, discipline, all these things that I believe have allowed me to become the person that I am today and do the things that I do today. But at the time, it was very much about like, I just want to be young and play. And uh that was not the case.

SPEAKER_01 3:32

Aaron Powell Is that what ultimately let you leave the restaurant and decide to leave the family business?

SPEAKER_00 3:38

So I never wanted to take over the family business, and I knew that pretty much at an early age, probably like 14 or 15. Um my father, while strong and Sicilian, was very soft inside and was very okay with me following my own path. And I always wanted to take my own path. While my brother took over the restaurant, that's great. But I was like, I want to carve my own way. It's gonna make me feel really, really good about myself. And so my change of direction came when I was 17 years old and I'm at home watching TV, not working first time, and I'm watching uh e-news, and there's this whole segment on Rick Peppino, the hairstylist, who's married to Heidi Klum. And I'm watching this and I'm saying to myself, oh my gosh, this lifestyle looks incredible. He's doing her hair, they're traveling, he's behind the scenes, he's at fashion shows and photo shoots. It's like seems like such a glamorous and sexy lifestyle. And I'm like, I think I want to do that. And so I had built up enough money because I was working all the time. I had like real money when I was younger. It was so cool, but I wasn't spending it. And so I was like, you know what? I'm gonna start getting some great haircuts. And so I was went to like a high-end salon in the area. And my hairstylist name is Victor. And he's just like super cool, European, handsome guy. And I'm asking him all these questions about what it's like to be a hairdresser. And he's really convincing me, oh, it's so cool. My clients are amazing. I love being with people, building their confidence one-on-one. It's crafty and artistic. And then I'm looking around and I'm seeing just the energy, the vibe. And I'm getting crazy excited. Like I have a vivid memory of seeing these women come in and they're coming in a certain way, and then they get their hair cut off and they get their blowout, and I knew nothing about hair. They're engaging and the music's going, and I'm like, this is what I want to do for sure. And so that was the moment when I was 17 where I said, I'm gonna take this leap of faith and I'm gonna speak to my family about it took me probably six months to do it, but I'm gonna speak to my family about leaving the business and starting my own path. So that's when it happened.

SPEAKER_02 5:56

Tell us what it took to have that conversation. And your father obviously knew that you were going to go a different route, as you mentioned. Tell us what it took to take that leap of faith and to also have that conversation with your father.

SPEAKER_00 6:11

Has this ever happened to you where you're you're thinking about that hard conversation that you have to have, but you believe it's just gonna be such a terrible outcome? Like the whole time I'm saying to myself, this is gonna go so bad. This is gonna go so bad. My father is going to hate this. Like, so what I did was we were in Mexico as a family. We we didn't take many trips together, but we're in Mexico. We're there for five days, and I'm 17 years old, and my dad's having a drink, and I was like, you know what, let's let's have a not that I drank that much with him, but I was 17. But we're in Mexico, let's have a drink together. We have a drink together in Mexico, and I'm like, this is my moment to tell my father about what I want to do with my life. And I told him, and I'm like scared out of my mind, sweating, uncomfortable. He goes, that's great, and I'll support you as long as you're happy and this is what you want to do. And if you're sure you want to do this, like commit to it, commit to it. That was his whole thing was like you commit and you sacrifice. And from the second that he said those words, it was like such a relief because I painted this picture of a villain who was gonna totally shut this down. He's like, You've you can do this, but just dedicate yourself to it. And that's exactly what I did. At 18, I went to school for a little bit, studied psychology, and then at 19, I went to cosmetology school.

SPEAKER_02 7:32

And what did that look like going to cosmetology school and not knowing anything about the fields?

SPEAKER_00 7:37

I'm laughing because um I'm one of three boys. And I had never ever done anybody else's hair in my life. Only my own, not even my brother's. Never did barbering, never did blowout, nothing. And so I go to school and it's me and about 30 other girls. So I'm the only guy in this class. And Miss Lucy is my instructor. First week, she's like observing, she's showing us like what we're supposed to be doing. And I've never held a brush before, I've never held scissors before, I've never done an updo before. And I could just feel that people are just watching me, being like, what is this guy doing here? I know I was the worst that they'd ever seen. Like, there's no way that I you could have been worse than me. I because I'd never done anything. So Ms. Lucy called me out in the class, and not intentionally, but was just like, are you sure you wanna you wanna do this? And everything in that moment was like, yeah, I this is definitely what I want to do. I mean, I'm saying to myself, I know I'm bad. Like, I know I'm bad, but I'm bad because I've never done it before. And so, again, going back to what my father's business taught me was you just work ethic, just work harder than everyone else, and the skill will come. Exactly. So, what I did after school, most people probably just played and did whatever they did uh after school, after copsology school. I would go home and I would take scissors and brushes and I would roll them for hours. So a brush, I would just just to get the dexterity down in my hands. I would just roll it and roll it and just get that feeling in my hands. And then with scissors, I would do the same thing because scissors, you don't hold scissors the way that you would normally hold them. You hold them differently as a hairdresser. And so I would hold them, open them and close them, open them and close them for hours every day. And so one day I showed up at school and it was like, huh. He looks like he knows how to hold a brush. He looks like he knows how to hold a blow dryer. He's really working on this mannequin. Four months later, I kid you not, four months later, I became the most requested, because they would have like models come in and get their hair done, the most requested student out of that group in the entire school. And I knew two things. I knew that I was gonna, I could be the hardest worker. I knew that for sure. That was my background. But I also knew at an early age that I could feel people. Like there was something inside of me, uh, it's not something I celebrate because it's, I think it's a gift. It's not something that I worked on, but I could feel people's energy. And as a hairstylist, you have to be a great listener. You have to care about people, you have to want to help people build their self-esteem and their confidence. And so I knew I had that. And so if I could just get this skill down, I would be golden. And so that's what I did. And I graduated cosmetology school and then moved on.

SPEAKER_02 10:21

I was going to ask about the level of self-confidence that you've had from a very young age. Where does that come from? And how were you always so confident in your ability and in who you are?

SPEAKER_00 10:34

Yeah, it's hard to even hear because I'd never thought of myself in that moment as confident. I actually thought of myself when I was younger as somebody who was shy, somebody who actually lacked self-esteem. My brother is 13 months older than me. And at the time, I was a very late bloomer. And he was not. I mean, super handsome guy at 14 years old, 15, 16. I was, I look like I was nine. And I'm standing next to him, and he looks like he's 24, this beautiful Italian model. So I would say that I was shy, I was timid, I was scared. But there was sometimes there's just these moments where you're just like, I have to do this. And part of that was because I promised my dad. I promised my dad I was gonna follow this path and I was gonna do whatever it takes. And so maybe for your audience, it's the second you declare something to the outside world and you're not holding it inside, somebody else is holding you accountable. That's why I love coaching.

SPEAKER_02 11:33

But also yourself, right? I think there's something about holding yourself accountable and making that promise to yourself. And it seems like that's something that your father taught you. That's right. That follow-through.

SPEAKER_00 11:44

Follow through. Huge. So hold yourself accountable. And that is how you build the confidence is by doing the thing that you said you were going to do. You don't have the confidence going into it. You have the confidence coming out of it because you said, I'm gonna do this no matter what it takes. And I wasn't confident going to beauty school. I wasn't confident going to the salon that I went to, that was the top salon in the country at the time. I wasn't confident building glam squad for sure, because there's so much, there's so much unknown and so much I didn't know how to do. But I knew that through repetition and frequency and consistency, that the more that I do this, the more that I follow this path, the more that I keep the promises that I'm making to myself, then the confidence is gonna follow. And it's been a a statement of mine for many, many years.

SPEAKER_02 12:30

Do you teach that a lot in your coaching?

SPEAKER_00 12:32

I do because when people come to me, they come to me at different, they're usually at different stages in their career. And a lot of times it's like you're trying to level up your leadership, or you're trying to step into a new role, or you're trying to start that business that you said you wanted to start for three years, or you want to become a founder of a company, you have no idea where to start. Like there's so many different reasons why somebody will want to work with me. And at the core of it all is it's fear and it's confidence. And there are two opposite ends of the spectrum. And so what I do is I work first on anything else is identity. It's who do you want to be in this moment? Who do you need to become to be the founder? Who do you need to become to be the athlete? And how would you think if you were that person? Once you start doing those exercises and you start really excavating all of that, because there's some deep stuff that's in there. You start realizing, oh, I I I can actually do this. Like I can actually, I am that person. And if you operate from a place of I am this person, then you just work backwards into the goals and habits that naturally follow the result. But those goals and habits, they're just reaffirming who you believe you are. So that's when it becomes really, really powerful.

SPEAKER_02 13:44

So I want to get back to your glam squad journey. Yeah. But I also want to come back to your coaching because I think this is so important. And this is really what a lot of our listeners are looking for is how to become the person they want to become, whether it's in negotiations, whether it's in the building process or the scaling process or whatever that looks like. I think this is such a valuable lesson. So I'm excited to come back to that. But I want to hear your journey from cosmetology school to glam squad. And what was the impetus for glam squad?

SPEAKER_00 14:19

So I'm in cosmetology school, and there's somebody from the salon that is the only salon that I want to work at. I literally knew the name of no other salon in New York. I was like, this is the place, Frederick Ficai. This is back in like early 2000s. It Ficai's heyday, everyone knew it. It was the sexiest place in the world. And somebody who works there comes in and does like a demo blow dry for us. And so I'm saying to myself, this is the opportunity. I can't pass this up. So usually typically the more of a shy guy, I'm front and center. Her name is Gina. I'm front and center, and I'm asking her all of the questions, raising my hand. Gina, why are you holding the brush that way? Gina, why are you twisting the brush that way? Gina, why did you start from the front and not the back? Asking her all the questions. And you, you could, you could, she couldn't forget me. That was my goal, was just be unforgettable in this moment. So the way to do that is just like almost brute force, you know? And so she she's finishing her blow dry, and I said, I need to speak to her. So I make my way over to her when she's like packing up. And I said, I said, Fakai is the only place I want to work. Like, there's no other salon. Let's talk. And she goes, You're still in school. You need to graduate. When you graduate, which is in three months, you get your certification, you get your license, here's my number. Call me. Second it happened, I called her and she goes, All I can get you is an interview. That's it. That's all I need. Get me in the door. She gets me in the door. And I am this young kid from Westchester, small town, who is definitely insecure and questioning everything. I remember being in front of the Chanel building on Madison Avenue, Fakai's on the 10th through 15th floor, like 18,000 square foot space. And I am dripping sweat. Dripping. Face, shirt is so I'm I don't I don't have a change of clothes. Shirt is soaked. And I am like trying to act like I'm cool, you know? And I go upstairs and I have to do a demo blow dry. The first person that I see is Bon Jovi. Now I'm freaking out. He's my hero. I can't do this. I cannot, I can't even walk through this door. He leaves and uh I go up. I just do a blow dry and I'm just a nervous wreck and sweating and praying that no one sees, but they probably did. And I get the job. I get the job as the shampoo boy, so a shampoo assistant at the time, and I shampooed for an entire year. Shampooed for a year and then made my way into, I just worked my way up. Shampoo. Of course, I'm working hard, working late hours, working six days a week, every single week for a couple years, became a hairstylist, and from there I built up a clientele that I'm incredibly proud of. And I was there for nine years as one of their senior stylists, traveling for them, doing sales on products, product development. I mean, it was such an incredible experience. There's many moments where I look back on those days and I cherished them because they were so special. And they really created the person that I am today.

SPEAKER_02 17:24

For anyone that's deep in a situation that feels that discomfort of working countless hours, what is the advice that you would give to them based off of your experience at the salon as a shampoo assistant? And did it ever feel like it wasn't going to pay off?

SPEAKER_00 17:43

Never.

SPEAKER_02 17:43

Really?

SPEAKER_00 17:44

It never felt that way. I strongly believe, especially with all the work that I'm doing in coaching, is that if you have a vision for where you want to go, like I knew exactly where I wanted to go. I wanted to be one of the top stylists at Fakai. Not at a different salon, not in somewhere else, not just a stylist. I wanted to be one of the top stylists. And at 20 years old, that was my vision. And I said, I'll do whatever it takes to get there. If I have to shampoo for three years, four years, five years, I'm going to do whatever it takes to get there. Like some of the stylists would come over to me and be like, hey, you've been shampooing for a year. Shouldn't you ask for like that next level? And I was 20 years old. I said, I'm right where I need to be. I'm right where I need to be. More shampoos, I'm building relationships. I'm becoming the best shampoo guy they've ever had. And then I'm working my way up into blow drying. And then I'm becoming the best blow dryer that they've ever had. And I'm building these relationships. And some of the people that came to me for blow dries quickly became my clients when I was cutting hair. So I just knew that I wasn't in a rush. I wasn't rushing it. So for your listeners, I think it's important to know you're exactly where you need to be. You don't have to rush it. Whether you're 20 or 40 or 60, it comes as long as you know where you want to go. And that part's really, really important. It's 2013. Now, fast forwarding, and I am very busy. I've got an incredible clientele. I love them. They love me. We're having a great time, but I'm very comfortable. And I could clearly see that I'm starting to lose a little bit of my energy. And this is right around the time when Uber rent the runway, food, things were just becoming more accessible, whether it was clothing or your own personal driver, all this stuff was like the come-to-you industry, uh convenience. And I started to recognize that clients of mine would be saying to me while they're getting their blowouts done or their haircuts, they'd be saying to me, Oh my gosh, my hair looks amazing. Gosh, can you come to my house tomorrow and do this blowout for me? Because I've got work or I've got this meeting and I feel so beautiful, blah, blah, blah. And so at the time I also had a client of mine who was um in private equity. And he was the one who came to me with this like, hey, is there a world in which like you can bring salons to somebody? Like, you know, he was a he was a he was a creative guy. And I was like, it's so funny because I'm hearing my clients talk about getting me to their home. This isn't new. I mean, there's freelancers all over. This is this is around for years, but it was highly expensive. Celebrities did it, other people didn't really do it. And it was hard for freelancers to build their own book. So I started to think about beauty professionals. What do they care about? Well, sometimes they're not great marketers. Sometimes it's really hard to find your own clients. And so if you can build a company that provides them with these amazing opportunities, well, you have you have one side of the market right over there. And the other side, I just knew that there was, just from what my clients were saying, I knew that there was going to be demand on getting a top stylist into somebody's home at an affordable price point. Like there was no way that somebody was not going to be into it. It was just how to make that all happen. So that's where the idea came from. And I was, again, going back to not having the confidence, I was scared out of my mind about the idea of, you know, we started to build this team and it started to move pretty quickly. And I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm at the top of my game at Fakai. I'm going to leave and I had to make that decision. And so I sat on it for like six months. Like I was scared. I was nervous, but I knew that this path was going to be just exciting and it was unknown and I was going to learn so much. To be honest with you, I didn't know if I was totally up for it because things were really, really good. And I I had to sit in that discomfort for a bit, and I did. And then I made the decision.

SPEAKER_02 21:31

Do you think that success is on the other side of discomfort?

SPEAKER_00 21:34

I've said that before.

SPEAKER_02 21:35

I mean, that is have you? Because I that's like your whole journey.

SPEAKER_00 21:38

Yeah, it depends on how you measure success.

SPEAKER_02 21:41

Right.

SPEAKER_00 21:41

I really because you could look at if you looked at my life at 28 years old when I was behind the chair with 15 clients a day, busy and booked and making money and smiling and musical. I mean, that was my dream at 17 years old. I had already achieved my dream. So now Is that still my dream? Or am I evolving and now I need a new dream? And I believe that I needed a new dream. And so you would look at that and say, oh, he's a successful guy. I mean, in the stylist world, the average stylist in America makes $40,000 to $50,000 a year on average. I mean, it's a it's a pretty low number. I was making a lot more than that. So financially, I was covered and I was good. But that wasn't success to me. Success to me was exploring my limits. And that to me is still how I operate today. If I start feeling like I'm disconnecting from something, that I am, I've already either achieved something or it no longer makes me feel a certain way, that it gives me goosebumps when I do it, then I've either evolved or that thing is just not right for me anymore. And that's what I was starting to feel. Not that my clients weren't great, my clients were amazing, but I was starting to feel like I need something else.

SPEAKER_02 22:54

Absolutely. It's like once you reach that level of comfortability and you know that your goalpost is continuing to move, you have to make that decision.

SPEAKER_00 23:04

And again, the people I work with are high performers. So they can be in any industry, it can be in beauty, finance, or fitness, it can be in any industry. It's really about people who are actually sitting on these decisions for a while. Because that was me. I sat on this decision for a while. I sat on making some big life changes for a while. And I know the discomfort and I know the saboteur, that inner voice that's in our head that's telling us all the reasons why not to do something. Because security and safety are an illusion. And I've realized that in my life is that things can be taken away like that. So who am I to say that, oh, I'm at for kind things are comfortable and it's secure, so I'm safe? That's just an illusion. And the world evolves and things move very fast. So the way that I think about safety and security now is I think the people and brands that know how to adapt, that know how to innovate and move and change and pivot, that's security and safety. Because if you keep doing things the way you've been doing them, the world is moving too fast. You are going to get left behind. And so I think about that often. How am I continuing to innovate upon my life? How am I continuing to think about my life differently? And I like taking on different shapes and different forms. It makes me feel alive.

SPEAKER_01 24:21

Can you talk about building the lamb squad? What that was like?

SPEAKER_00 24:25

Hard. Very hard. I mean, uh there's a saying where it's like, uh, you know, you make that change and the growth is it's hard in the beginning, it's messy in the middle, and it can be beautiful at the end. And I would say that that's been my journey. It was very, I mean, it's still hard, but it's very hard in the beginning because everything is new and you're never ready. You're just never ever ready. I was not ready to sit in meetings, raising, never raised a dollar in my life. I built a great business inside of another business, but never built my own business. And so now it's me and my business partners, and we're sitting in these boardrooms in Midtown Manhattan, 50th floor, overlooking, you know, east side and west side. And we're trying to raise some money. And my business partners are Harvard, Columbia Business School. I'm Capri Cosmetology. I'm thinking in my head, like, what am I doing here? So all that inner critic, all that imposter syndrome is kicking in. But what I say and I tell my clients as often is imposter syndrome just means that you're playing a bigger game. If you don't have imposter syndrome, what it means is maybe you're playing too small of a game for yourself and you're capable of more. And when I think about it, I never had imposter syndrome 10 years in at Fakai. I wasn't, do I know how to cut hair? No, I knew it. But when I was sitting in those boardrooms and I was learning a brand new business language, I had no idea some of these business acronyms that they were using. And I was just, just get in the room. Just get in the room. You don't have to say anything. Learn, observe when it's your time to speak about the service, about the beauty professional, about your experiences. What makes me unique in that room is not the business side of it. What made me unique in the room is that I'm a pro myself. How do pros think? I know the consumer. I know the end user. So think about whatever room that you're in, you can add value. You can add value. What is that value that you can add? Don't try and be like everyone else. And I actually knew this. Sometimes I was trying to be like, I was trying to sound smart because I was insecure. So let me sound smart. It didn't land. So let me just be myself. And I know it's kind of cliche to say, but let me be useful for what I'm great at and where my value can be added.

SPEAKER_02 26:44

Is that how you combated that imposter syndrome? Is just understanding what you bring to the table?

SPEAKER_00 26:50

Really understanding what do I bring to the table that adds value to these conversations that I'm in that get me so nervous. I mean, I I can have these conversations now, but 10 years ago, 12 years ago, I should say, I was incredibly nervous to be in those rooms. And we were doing a tour, Silicon Valley, going to LA and trying to raise money from all these VCs. And, you know, I was the one in the room who, if you look at that room, you would say, well, he's obviously the oddball out. And they just thought about how can I add value? And it took many mistakes, it took many iterations of these meetings for me to say, I can add value when it comes to consumer, when it comes to pro, and when it comes to what do people care about in this business. And there's an emotional aspect to that. And when you want to raise money, you better believe that there needs to be an emotional aspect to your story. Brand, small business, it's there's got to be something that ties somebody in emotionally. And I felt like, oh, that could be my role in this.

SPEAKER_02 27:49

And that builds trust with investors, right? And you're not the only person that has been on this podcast that has stated that imposter syndrome kicks in specifically when you're raising. And I think that's really interesting.

SPEAKER_00 28:04

Yeah, because you're, I mean, you're asking somebody else to trust you with their money. And sometimes you have a business plan, sometimes you don't. Sometimes you think you have it all figured out, sometimes you don't. To me, it it it was, those are some of the hardest conversations and hardest moments because one, I'd never been in those rooms before. Two, I didn't speak the language. Three, I didn't know if we can actually I mean, I believed in it, but I didn't know like, okay, well, how are we actually gonna make this happen? We didn't have a plan for all of these things. And it was so early on. But people believed in us. And a lot of times in those moments early on, they're investing in the team and not necessarily in the, yes, in the business, but very much so in the people and the team. They're giving the people the money. And so we were able to raise some really, really good capital in the beginning, and that allowed us to grow significantly over the years.

SPEAKER_02 28:58

How important is it to have a team that fills in the gaps? And what I mean by that is to your point, there were so many unique individuals in that room that were on your team, correct? And you all had different skill sets. How did you all come together to understand that you made the best team? And how do you do that now?

SPEAKER_00 29:20

Well, if you go early on to those days, there was probably about six of us that were in those meetings, and everyone needs to know their role. You have your opportunity to talk, you need to know when you should be talking, you need to know when you need to sit back and listen. And like everything else, I'm a big believer in preparing. Big believer. I I don't think that there's moments, big moments in your life, whether it's raising capital, starting a business, coming on a podcast, whatever it is, you need to prepare. You need to sound sharp. You need to sound like you know what you're talking about. And especially when it's not just you and it's four or five other people, you need to make sure that every single person, you're a team, what are your roles? How do they differentiate? Why are you the CEO, but this person's talking about things that a CEO should be talking about? Why is this person talking when it's the person who's providing the services and they're talking over you? So just knowing your flow is highly, highly important because going back to trust, everything that you do in these meetings either adds to the trust or withdraws from the trust. So I always think about it from what's going to add to the trust, preparing, being unified, showing respect for one another, not stepping into somebody else's lane, highly, highly important. And that finds its way into your business itself. When you're building your own teams, it's the same thing. It doesn't be whether you're raising money or not. It can be when you're actually in the office and you're meeting with potential partners or trying to hire, like really, really understanding what role you play and what value you bring. I'm a big sports fan. So I mean, you can look at, I know Nick's just one, you can look at just teams in general, look at sports, look at basketball. Everyone has a defined role. And if you don't have that defined role and you don't know what it is, things start getting a little funky when you're in these really, really high stakes moments.

SPEAKER_01 31:05

So you've had this amazing success with Glam Squad. How did you decide you wanted to go into coaching?

SPEAKER_00 31:10

Coaching found me. When I look at my history, I've been coaching my whole life, just not professionally. I've been coaching my whole life. From behind the chair, coaching my clients to glam squad, coaching whether it's my leadership team or my beauty professionals. And so this has been a part of me for so many years. And what I would say is I'm a feeler. And when you're a feeler and you have the experience that I've had, when I've met people that have wanted to work with me, there's two things. One is I can see what other people can't see in themselves yet. Yeah, is the key word. And two is I will say what most people won't say. And that is really important when you think about coaching, because coaching is not just about like, oh yeah, you're doing a great job. Let's motivate you. Coaching is holding somebody accountable. And this is something that I believe in in business when you're building teams. People love being held accountable. They love it because it means you care. And I learned that from my father, and I learned that from when I was at Fricay and I was studying under Frederick. And every time the blowout wasn't good enough, you knew it. It was like, Giovanni, what is this? Why does the front fall that way? How come there's no volume in the hair? Right in front of the client. Maybe some would say you don't do it that way. To me, it was irrelevant. It was like, I want to get better. So tell me how I can get better. Like I was craving that. So when I coach, I apply the same methods, which is I'm here for you, you're gonna know that I care, but I'm going to challenge you and get you to the next level because one is you need it, you deserve it, and everyone is capable of a next level. Everybody is.

SPEAKER_02 32:52

Can you tell us a little bit more about growing peak mode coaching and where it all started?

SPEAKER_00 33:00

So I've always had a coach in my corner, personally. I've had a professional coach, I believe in it so much. I've had a mentor in my life who has helped me during some of the hardest moments or hardest decisions of my life. So I fell in love with the idea of coaching. I fell in love with the idea because I saw what it did for me. And I naturally would have friends or family members come to me for advice, which is kind of, I don't consider that coaching, but they're coming to me for advice on moments in their lives or problems or challenges or help me think about this differently. So in 2023, I started to research. I started to train myself, and I found that the idea of becoming a coach was something that I felt very, very attached to and I loved. So I started a couple of years ago, and I'm blessed with an incredible circle of people, truly, from founders, executives, people that have been in my corner for many years. And I started to just, this is something for your listeners, is when you don't know or you're questioning who's my audience or where do I go, look at your community. Look at who's close to you. Because I think it's Alex Ramosy who says that a lead is just somebody that you can contact. And so look at your phone, look at your Instagram, look at your circles. Who can you contact and let them know and be vulnerable? I had to, you have to, and put yourself out there and say, oh, I'm I'm starting this thing and I wanted to know one, would you give me 30 minutes? And two, are you interested? And I started to do that with just small circles. The way that we've always scaled that Glam Squad is the way I think about my coaching business, which is you start small. Don't think about scaling right off the bat. This is what companies and brands do all the time. They're like, oh, I want to become a unicorn and get to a billion, everyone wants to be a unicorn and get to a billion. But if you're doing that, you're already not listening to your customer. We were listening to every single customer at Glam Squad. And I do the same thing in my coaching business. Listen, learn, and think about what is this person not seeing that you see that you can help them with.

SPEAKER_02 35:10

Can you talk us through a little bit more about peak mode and is there a curriculum? How do people usually approach something like this? Because I think anyone that wants to grow as an individual or grow their brands or learn how they can best be a leader is investing in themselves.

SPEAKER_00 35:30

For sure.

SPEAKER_02 35:30

And so I'd love to hear more about how you make that approach.

SPEAKER_00 35:34

And I love that you use the word investing because that's exactly what it is. When people, when people work with me, they're gonna get a couple of things. One is they're gonna get somebody who is going to push you and push you because I care. So we have a whole curriculum and framework that we use that's based on identity, that's based on goals, based on habits. And at the end of the day, the only reason why somebody wants to work on themselves is because they want to evolve. They want to become a better, bigger, more expanded version of themselves. And so that's what we do is we start and we three months, six months, one year, I can do any program. But really, it's about taking you and doing a full excavation of what's your why, what's your purpose, what's your identity today, what do we want it to be? And then we uncover and go deep into there's a why underneath every single why. Oh, why I want to lose 20 pounds. Why? You just keep going there and there. You realize that it's not that you want to lose 20 pounds, it's that you're lacking confidence, or you want to feel more confident, or it's not that you want to have six-pack abs, it's that you want the confidence that you believe comes with six-pack abs. So let's talk about confidence and what do we need to get you to feel more confident. So these are conversations that a lot of people just haven't had. And it takes a lot of vulnerability and it takes a lot of, I would say, people need to put themselves in the spotlight and need to reflect on why they've been this way to look forward into that new version of themselves.

SPEAKER_02 37:07

There's a question that we ask everyone. And it is, why do you love what you do?

SPEAKER_00 37:14

Why do I love what I do? Well, I love building people's confidence, but I would say is that the world is a better place when people can step into their potential and live the life that they believe they deserve rather than settle. Because that doesn't that doesn't just impact you. That impacts all the people around you. When you were loving your life, when you're believing in yourself, when you're seeing your dreams come true, what happens? Your kids feel it, your family feels it, your team feels it, and you show up with a completely different energy. And what I always talk to my clients about is that I never want you to regret not doing the thing that scares you. I didn't want to be that person that regretted not taking action, not launching Glam Squad with my business partners. I knew it was going to be hard, but I never wanted to regret it. So an exercise I do with my clients is we literally will have a phone call and we'll set it up where it's like two years out and it's a regret phone call. And I'll say, hey, you know, Alexandra, how did how have you been? We haven't spoken in two years. Remember that, remember that business you wanted to start? And tell me about it. How's the business going? And then it's like, I didn't start the business. Well, why would tell me what happened? Well, I was scared and I just felt uncomfortable doing it. And I thought of all the reasons why not to do it. And so when you can make the regret real, people respond to it so differently. So I want people to not regret, not regret and follow what they believe is gonna provide them with the best life possible because the world can be a better place because of it.

SPEAKER_01 38:53

That's so inspiring. When can we start working with you? We're actually gonna come on this plan. For people that are interested in working with you, how should they find you? How should they reach you?

SPEAKER_00 39:03

Yeah, so you can find me on Instagram at GiovanniVacaro, or you can go to Gio, that's G-I-O, geovacaro.com, and that's where you can sign up for a call with me and complimentary, and we get to know each other, and I can see if I can be a great fit for you and we can work together. And then for those who want to find glam squad, it's uh glam squad.com or you can download the glam squad app and book a hair service. We're in 15 different cities now. We've got 2,000 professionals, so there's a lot of opportunity there to get glam and feel good.

SPEAKER_02 39:33

Thank you so much for being here today.

SPEAKER_00 39:35

Thank you for having me. That was fun.

SPEAKER_02 39:37

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