Grow My Salon Business Podcast

Most salon owners can rattle off a client's colour formula from three visits ago without blinking, yet ask what their actual profit margin was last year and you'll get a shrug. In this episode, I break down what profit really is, why it gets confused with your own wage, and why accountants often have a dozen different names for the same numbers. You'll learn the real difference between profit and...

The most common stereotype about hairdressers is that they don't earn enough. And in most cases, it's true. But the reason behind it is rarely discussed; you can only earn relative to what you produce. In this episode, I get into why so many stylists stay stuck and what it actually takes to change that. If you're a salon owner who wants to pay your team more, or a stylist who wants to earn more, t...

When I opened my first salon I was passionate about hairdressing but like most salon owners I knew very little about business, and negotiating with product suppliers was where my naivety was fully exposed. This week I take you behind the scenes of what's really happening when you deal with a manufacturer or distributor. You'll come away understanding how the commercial side works: list price, reba...

AI in the salon is no longer something you can put off, and ignoring it won't make it disappear. This week I'm joined by Martha Lynn Kale, owner of Mirror Mirror in Austin, Texas, who has spent the past year building AI into how she leads, hires, trains and markets. We get practical about what she uses it for, where it earns its place, and the mistake that trips most owners up. If you're curious a...

Most salon owners who struggle with their team have never stopped to ask whether the problem starts with them. Salon management is one of the hardest parts of running a salon business, and most people learn it by trial and error, often at the expense of their team's morale and their own sanity. In this episode, I'm sharing five things that will make you a more effective manager and leader, startin...

The salon industry is constantly changing. It always has and it always will. Some of the changes you’ll like and others you won’t.  Either way, understanding what drives change allows you to anticipate the future and prepare for the opportunities that come with change.  In this episode, I walk through 10 drivers of change that are reshaping how salons operate, who clients are becoming, and how the...

AI has already and will continue to impact the salon industry. One area that is getting a lot of attention is the front desk and the role of AI in streamlining the client booking process, capturing missed calls and directly having a positive impact on salon revenue.   My guest today is Universe Walker, a hairdresser, salon owner, and the founder of Beauty Desk AI, whose AI receptionist Eve answers...

AI in the salon industry is moving fast, and most salon owners genuinely don't know where to start. My guest this week is Frank Westerbeke, co-owner of Gadabout and VerVe, a multi-generational salon group with six locations and nearly 300 staff in Tucson, Arizona. Frank's been using AI across his business for years, not just for Instagram captions, but for people management, financial analysis, te...

How you pay your salon team is one of the most confusing decisions you'll make as a salon owner. Salon owners often compare pay structures with other salons, copying what seems to be working elsewhere. But the real problem isn't which pay system you're using. It's that most salon owners have never stopped to ask what a good pay system actually needs to do. In this episode, I cut through the noise...

Most salon owners don't have a money problem, they have a ‘lack of understanding’ problem. You can be fully booked, your team can be flat out, and yet you can still be running at a loss without realising it.  That's what happens when you're managing your business without awareness of a few key numbers. On today's podcast, I'm walking you through the five numbers that, in my experience, determine w...

Hopefully your salon is busy, clients are coming through the door, and money is being taken at the till every day, so if that's the case, then why is salon financial management still such a struggle? This is the reality for a lot of salon owners: the numbers just don't add up, and the stress that comes with that is real.  In this episode, I walk you through a 10-part framework for following the mo...

Salon profitability is under more pressure than it has been in years, and the hard reality is that being busy isn't the same as being profitable. In this episode, I get into the financial fundamentals that too many salon owners avoid, because understanding your numbers is the only way to get in front of the problem before it becomes a crisis. By the end of this episode, you'll know exactly where t...

Running a successful salon for nearly 40 years in one of the most competitive cities on the planet takes more than talent. It takes the willingness to keep evolving your model, your mindset, and even the words you use with your team.  My guest today, Scott Buchanan of the Manhattan-based Scott J Salons, has done exactly that. With around 90 employees across two locations, Scott's story is one of g...

Training a salon manager is one of the things salon owners often get wrong, and most don't realise it until they've already hired the wrong person, put them on payroll, but still end up doing everything themselves.  In this episode, I share a five-step framework for getting it right, from figuring out whether your business can actually support a manager right now, to the mindset shift that changes...

The economics of running a salon have changed, and if your approach to training assistants hasn't changed with it, your margins are going to keep shrinking.  In this episode, I answer the questions salon owners are actually grappling with right now: Is it still worth taking on apprentices, how quickly should they be contributing, and what does it look like when a salon actually gets training right...

Most salon owners believe their biggest problem is not getting enough new clients, but what if that’s not true? In this episode, I break down why focusing on client attraction alone is keeping you stuck, and what’s really stopping your salon from growing consistently. I share the simple (but often overlooked) three-part marketing formula that every high-performing salon is built on. The reality is...

The difference between a good salon and a world-class one isn’t talent. It’s standards, and the leadership to hold them. In this episode, I take inspiration from the Netflix series Being Gordon Ramsay and unpack what it really takes to build a world-class business, whether that’s a restaurant or a salon. Because when you strip it back, the fundamentals are the same. It’s not about talent alone. It...

Instagram marketing for salons is constantly evolving, and if you're relying on strategies from even a year ago, there are changes you need to know about. In this episode, I’m joined once again by Instagram specialist Hayley Mears to unpack what’s working on Instagram right now and what salon owners need to be doing differently in 2026. We dive into the simple three-step structure that every succe...

Most salon owners think they have a marketing problem. In reality, what they usually have is a clarity problem, a positioning problem, and a consistency problem. And until those things are fixed, no amount of posting, boosting, or discounting is going to change the outcome. In this episode, I break down what marketing actually is, not the social media version, not the trend-driven version, but the...

AI is changing Google search faster than most salon owners realise, and whether you like it or not, it’s going to impact your business. In this episode, I'm joined by returning guest Phil Evans from Salon Guru, and we're diving into what AI is doing to Google search and what that means for your salon business. We break down how Google's AI is already showing up in your potential clients' search re...

There are many responsibilities that come with being a salon owner, and if we're honest, most of us give very little thought to them before we open our doors. One of the biggest blind spots is the ongoing training and development of our teams. Too many salon owners assume their people will arrive fully formed and ready to perform. But it just doesn't work like that. In this episode, I'm asking the...

In today’s episode, I’m joined by Gerard Scarpaci, co-founder of Hairbrained and host of the Hairbrained Conversations podcast.  We talk about the big shifts happening in hairdressing right now, how the next generation learns differently, and why the old business models have been turned on their head. Gerard shares what excites him most about the industry today, but he’s also refreshingly honest a...

Nearly four years ago, I recorded an episode about why hairdressers should be recommending professional retail. And yet, here we are, still having the same conversation. The fundamentals haven’t changed, but the world we’re operating in absolutely has. Inflation, online shopping, influencers, and changing client behaviour… all of it has added new layers to old objections. In this episode, I break...

In this final episode of our three-part series on the five pillars of salon success, I take a different approach by talking you through the journey of Sarah, a real salon owner who in many ways reflects the journey that salon owners everywhere go through.    Sarah’s a very good hairdresser, and she definitely doesn’t have a work ethic problem, but despite working harder than ever, doing everything...

In this episode, I’m diving deep into the Money Pillar of salon success, because after more than 20+ years of coaching salon owners all over the world, I know this to be true: you can have a full appointment book, a talented team, and great marketing, and still be broke. Being busy does not automatically mean you’re profitable, and for a lot of salon owners, that realisation is both confusing and...