Competing? Me?

     So I got talked into competing in the gel polish competition at the last minute. The last time I competed was in 1996 at the Best Little Nail Show in Arkansas more than a few years back. The last one before that was in 1980 in New York. I love the thought of competing, but don’t really have the nerves for it. There is a whole subculture to these nail competitions, one that practices for hours on end and devotes tremendous time and money to their efforts. Needless to say this is not me... not yet anyway. Jim McConnel, owner/head chemist for Light Elegance was kind enough to give me a few items to use for the competition. I grabbed the bare minimums, literally,  a few  soft landing towels, the new P2 gel polish, Pink extreme gel and white smile line gel a few brushes , a UV lamp and a few alcohol swabs from the booth. I didn’t even think to grab a model so I used myself.

     John Hauk went over the briefing and we began. Half an hour to do a color nail and pink and white. How hard could this be? I do it all day long in the salon right? I laid down a quick coat of the pink on both nails and cured. I painted the red color nail first and flash cured. Then the fun began with a smile line. I was using a brush, LE angle brush,  I had not used in a long time. Got the white pretty clear and full cured. When I went back to give the white more depth the fun began. I put a second coat of the red, cured and started playing with the smile line.... for just about the rest of the time. I swiped and dabbed and swiped some more. 5 minutes left and I had to get to the gel top coat applied. This is the time that seperates the champs from the chumps. Even with my blood pressure rising I tried to remain calm. I had to undercure the last coat for time restraints and had a fear of everything smudging together at the final cleanse.  I was literally wiping off the dispersion layer when he called time. How could that take 30 minutes?

Sorry so blurry...did not have my good camera

     Well it was all over but the judging. I felt ok, not confident, I just didn’t want to place last, my pride could not take that. I waited in the judging line to go under the curtain for the final inspection. The first judge scrutinized for what seemed forever and tapped my hand to move on. The second judge scrutinized some more, nerve wracking to say the least. Another tap and I was free to go. Whew, it's out of my hands and up to the judges now. After the competition I found Jim at his booth, thanked him for the products and apologized if I embarrassed him too badly. He looked at my nails and said they were not as bad as I thought, he said he could tell that all I do is gel...all day long lol. So as nerve wracking as it was, and for thinking I’m just gonna throw this together, my competitive streak kicked in and I really wanted to place. And the results? Second place. Wow was I surprised! I had to put down my phone that I was recording and reporting from and go get my trophy. Too funny. I really have to hand it to the people that compete on a regular basis. It is really challenging. I’m so glad I did it! I challenged myself and I am now an award winning nail stylist. Oh and by the way, my gel prices just went up :)

Find the Love

      In 2004 James Morrison, artistic director for Sassoon salons at the time, released a movie called One life. From the back cover, it is quote "An inspiring, heartfelt tale of a young hairdresser. Bringing together top hairdressers, business owners and motivators of the beauty business to tell the story of this young man and the family that lost him. The One Life Project delves beneath the exterior of this normally aesthetic business to uncover its soul...ultimately revealing the beauty of the beauty business. Erik Knudson is interviewed about many things, but his interview about clients has stuck with me all these years. He says..

"Learn to love your clients, it's that simple. The return is amazing. The greatest lesson of all I ever learned, I learned from my wife. And that lesson was and it's a little story about what happened. When we had our children Carol and I had been married for about 15 years and she said Eric, I can't do two children and work also so I think what I want to do is step back, take care of the children, raise them. And I said fine, that's fine. we were established at that time so that was fine. And so we spread her clients around, we give them to different people and they all find happy homes, except for this one client. And I noticed that you know she goes to different hairdressers every time she gets a haircut. And so I'm thinking she's not happy, something is not right here. So I went up to her and I said Mickey You know I've noticed that you know you keep coming back but you always keep changing , you're searching for something. I know it's not about your haircut, it's not about because your hair looks beautiful. I said so would you allow me to cut your hair the next time you come in? And she said yea I would love that so I said great and I brought her in 6 weeks later, I'm up early on my way to work and I've got this plan for her you know I mean I'm just ready, set to go. And I get in, I cut her hair, I had this very special haircut I mean I had just been to Paris and you know I came home with this new haircut it was really cool and hip and happening and I put a little extra twist to it, I was so proud of it. And she looked great I mean she truly looked great. And so I'm brushing off and you know do a little make up touch up and the things that we do in our salon And I said you know everything ok? And she said yea, everything's just great. and I said you know Mickey I can read cuz I'm a sensitive person, I can read there is something missing. And I sat down in the styling chair next to her and I looked her into her eyes and I said Mickey, tell me, what is it? She said you're gonna think I'm silly, I said no just lay it on me. And she said the difference is Carol Loved me. Well I, all I could do is say well I will learn to love you too."

      Do what you love, with who you love, on who you love. I know this is a daily challenge, for me as well. I like to try and find the positives, even slim, that I can truly relate with people and find the love. I have one client that has been an EGR client, that's extra grace required. She is always late, scatterbrained and the list goes on. Instead of letting her aggravate me I have tried to connect. I have come to find out she has a lesion on her brain. She lives on anti-seizure medications and God knows what else for her condition. The worst part is the surgery to correct her condition may not even work. So this is her daily struggle, a much different one than mine. I have learned to love her.

Six Month Check Up

     So we are half way through the year. I thought I would hold my feet to the flames as well and share my mid-year check up with all of the listeners. Checking my midway point from last year to this year, I am actually down $365.02. Ok so instead of excuses like I have been traveling more, I have my speaking and training company I am trying to focus on, and the list goes on. I decided to take a hard look why I am down and not up.

      In looking through last years numbers I had three clients pass. The reality of that is they were weekly and biweekly clients that took away $400 per month, at least, that's $4800 per year. Another client lost that was biweekly bought her own do it yourself gel kit, $910 per year. Two clients moved that's about $75 per month, $900 per year. One every 6 week pedi had to cut me from her budget. $381 per year. A gel client, had to cut me from her budget, $962 per year. Another one stopped coming to a hairdresser at the salon, so she said she would still come to me but in the end felt too awkward coming back to the salon. $962. So all told, I should be down $3976.98.

     The good news is I have many new clients to replace the old ones. So in reality I am not down as low as it appears on paper, but still down. Could I do more marketing? As the marketing guru I can tell you a resounding YES! I have the same struggles you do. I work sometimes in my business more than on my business. I don't always ask for referrals, I don't always up-sell, I don't always retail. But I do know when I am doing all those extra things, my business never dips. I probably do more of these things consistently than not, I certainly do more than most. I guess in retrospect looking at why I am down has made an impact. We need to recruit new clients continuously. It was not that long ago that I did not take any new clients, or even referrals. As I was typing this up this afternoon I got a referral phone call and I got two new referrals last week. Why? Because I handed out my clients referral cards. Simple as that!
      What do I see as a plan for moving forward? I have set specific goals for my consulting business. I now have 4 products to sell and got a major speaking gig next week and in the fall. I am bipolar in this regard. I truly love my salon business and know it definitely pays the bills, but I am drawn to my writing, speaking and training business. If I could focus on one, I know it would make a huge difference. I could make strides instead of steps. But the reality is I need one to fuel the cost of the other, much like any start-up. So I diligently try and balance the two.

     I am looking into schedulicity so I will have more time to work instead of look for appointments, which I did twice already while writing this. I can get back on track with a regular email specials and appointment reminders. I know what works, I just need to take the extra time to do it. I love doing the marketing segment for this show, because it forces me to blog weekly, and I research business topics including what's the latest in marketing. So for now I guess I will be a split personality, until one or the other wins out.  I would be curious to hear how everyone else's numbers are this year as opposed to last year. Drop me an email and let me know. mhaynam@yahoo.com

Premiere Roundup



Photo Courtesy London Wright

     The networking event was at a new venue this year and got mixed reviews. This was the first year they included vendors demoing  and many felt it was not as intimate. I'd be interested to see what the feedback is on this years event. It was still an awesome time and so great to get so many nail dorks in the same room!  Sunday morning I ran into our NTR friend Holly Schippers  "the fingernail fixer" getting her 1st press pass as a blogger so we send out our congratulations to Holly! 

     She tipped me off to the CND main stage event not to be missed with the Blonds. She was so right. I almost missed this since I went to their event at ABS in Chicago and I am so glad I did not. It was groundbreaking. A fashion runway show Main stage (first time for a nail company by the way). CND delivered amazing over the top designs from top educators inspired by the Blonds. Once again top trainers Roxanne Valinotti and Kristina Estabrooks were on camera and on point with their simple yet over the top creative,  edgy designs. A real showstopper for sure. It definitely brought a little bit of NYFW to the Orlando stage. 

      I popped in on Maisie Dunbars class who is always a wealth of great information.  She also shared her story at the Beauty Changes Lives event. She is an amazing blessing to this industry and so willing to share her time and talent with others to help raise the entire level of the industry.

I also sat in on Doug Schoons class Shedding light on proper curing of UV gel coatings and all I can say is we need to have him on the show again with this information. This science lesson was information all nail tech must have in order to service our clients safely.

      I caught up with Katie Corzola whose Nail File series has been picked up for a second season. She also has some fun nail products coming out so make sure to stay tuned for all the details. I can say one will be a re-usable 3d nail jewel,  full coverage product in several different designs. One is very Katy Perry inspired 80's rainbow and hearts themed, one had a reverse French, one has dripping chandeliers and one is 3d polka dot and shimmer. We have the scoop on those.  She also showed me some amazing holographic colors that almost looked like mood rings. very cool. The nail files second season premieres August 19th and is on Sundays at 9/8 central.

Great Minds...

 

Premiere Orlando Beauty Show 2012

      I sat in Larry Oskins class How to beat the recession with customer service driven Marketing Strategies this afternoon and want to share a few ideas he presented in his class. He believes in playing to win by offering these strategies. First, learn to play the game. All games take strategy but with a good one you can win at any game. Think in the box, go back to square one. Remember the golden rule then break some rules and think outside the box. Believe in yourself. Envision success, what it looks like to you, every one's success is uniquely their own. Invest in yourself to grow personally and professionally.
      Too many people don't know what they don't know. Use the knowledge available to you. Hire professionals, utilize salon sales consultants and coaches and mentors. Believe in others. Find and believe in a mentor and hire experts to do what you cannot or don't have time to do. This is funny because I was talking to Jim Nordstrom after the class and he shared with me that at CND he would ask his managers what it is they loved to do, couldn't wait to do and then told them to delegate that down, in order to make room to learn something new and stretch themselves professionally. Wherever you are, be there. Show up and be on time, stay focused on your top priorities'.

      Have a positive attitude to be ahead of most of your competition. Use your salon space as your platform to sell yourself and your business, get rid of the kid photos. You are entrepreneurs You are successful because you dare to be better than others. Build new dreams but don't have your head in the clouds. Set challenging yet realistic objectives like I want to double new clients or double retail sales. Set clear and specific quantifiable goals. Like one product per client per day. To find that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow you need a marketing strategy. Don't be afraid to work hard, rarely will you be an overnight success. Earn your clients trust.
      You must understand the importance of image. Dress for respect, dress for the clients you want, always ace and look professional. If you don't have the rights image, it doesn't matter your skill level. Clients are very sensitive to your salon vibe. Make sure it is a good one.
Always offer client consultations.Ask what their likes and dislikes are. Repeat their identified challenges. Make sure they agree with these challenges, ask for confirmation, nod and offer optional service solutions, product solutions and systematize solutions. Offer a long range plan,, share complete product systems, not just one product and always ask why they left their old salon to avoid those same mistakes.
      Value your best clients, understand 80% of your business comes from 20% of your clients and make it your business to find out who they are. reward these best clients. When creating offers he prefers a dollar amount to a percentage off, dollars they can relate to, percentages they cannot. Offer prebooking incentives.

      Make your offers value added with maybe a free upgrade or sample product instead of a discount like a Free paraffin dip or toe polish change. Figure out what makes you distinctively different. Offer loyalty cards and rewards programs. Offer gifts and freebies like packages. maybe buy 6 pedi's get the 7th free or get a foot file and foot cream. Never discount your basic services only your upgrades. Change up your menu. Whatever you are trying to promote, put that first in your menu. Cross market with other area businesses. Network with chambers of commerce to have open house or special events. These are just a few of the tips from this great class. You can get more information about Larry here Marketing Solutions