Grow My Salon Business Podcast

No matter where in the world you live, the last 12 months have been a challenging time to be in business, and the bigger your business, the bigger the overhead and the bigger the responsibility that goes with it.    But, it’s also at times like this, when people and business are stretched to the max, that the years of good business management practices, good financial management and leadership wil...

We all have a story, a story about how we started and where hairdressing has taken us, and what we have learned along the way.  For some people, it's an amazing journey of discovery and exploration, and if they look back at where they started and where they have ended up, they could never have predicted that would have been their journey.  Today, my guest is Jessica Kramm, a young lady who has had...

There are very few job titles in the hairdressing world that carry with them the responsibility of not just keeping a legacy alive, but also having the courage to evolve and reinvent it to maintain its relevance in a fast-changing world.    Perhaps the most significant job that carries that responsibility is being the International creative director of Sassoon, a title that has only ever been held...

We work in a creative industry, and many hairdressers have a real love and appreciation not just for hair and fashion but also for art, design, and architecture.    Good salon design needs to serve multiple purposes. It needs to express a brand's beauty aesthetic, personality, and brand values. But at the same time, it must also be functional, comfortable, considerate of the environmental impact,...

I think we’d all agree that the world we live in is an exciting and sometimes challenging place to be!  But even before COVID decided to unleash all manner of challenges for everyone on the planet, the last 10 years had seen massive changes in the hair and beauty industry from the huge inroads that social media has made to how we market ourselves and our businesses, to the ever-changing business m...

Hello and welcome to this episode of the Grow My Salon Business Podcast I’m your host Antony Whitaker and today I want to talk about the road that lies ahead of us.    Now, I know that varies depending on where in the world you live and it’s a constantly changing scenario so I’ll leave it to you to decide what’s relevant and what maybe needs to be adapted to your particular circumstances…   I love...

I am an optimist, I believe it’s the only way to be. But, I also believe that it is really important to always be learning, and that means learning from what worked and also learning from what maybe didn’t turn out exactly the way you planned. Many people are terrified to deviate from 'their lane' and as a result, miss all sorts of potential opportunities in business. Whereas other people see or c...

Success Doesn’t Happen Overnight If You Want To Follow Your Entrepreneurial Dream Then You Need To Be Able To Adapt, Be Flexible And Passionate About Your Goal! The life of an Entrepreneur is a journey and it’s full of ups and downs and being flexible and able to adapt and pivot is an essential skill as you navigate your way through the world of business startups.  My guests on today's Podcast are...

We are not sponsored as a podcast, so everyone I interview I do so because of what I feel they can add to the knowledge pool for the benefit of hairdressers, salon owners, and the salon industry at large.  One of my favourite things is success stories. I love talking to someone who has an idea and then moved heaven and earth to make it happen despite all the naysayers and challenges that are inevi...

There are lots of things to love about hairdressers and the hairdressing industry, but let’s be honest, sometimes we have more than our fair share of emotion, gossip, drama and even misinformation. In times of great change, and that means 2020 for sure, we need to be plugged into people who have an informed, objective and well-balanced perspective and that's why I am excited to talk to my guest to...

There is a quote I believe is originally from Woody Allen, who said: “If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans”.  Well, if that's the case then whoever your god is then ‘he, she or they’ must have been bent over double with laughter during 2020. So here we are at the end of another year… and what a year it was! This is the final podcast for the year and first thing I want to say is a hug...

There are two very different aspects of the hairdressing industry. First, there’s the business element of running a salon and all that goes with it and secondly there is the creative and emotional side of hairdressing and that is what draws most of us to hairdressing in the first place.  I believe that there are only a few hairdressers that are truly creative and that genuinely push at the boundar...

As a hairdresser, I specialised in cutting and I never actually coloured hair. I always knew good colour work when I saw it, but for a long time I never really understood the many subtle distinctions that made a particular colour suitable. I could recommend the idea of colour to a client but then I would pass them over to a colour specialist. These days I often hear hairdressers talking about shar...

One of the many things I love about Instagram is the ability it gives us to connect and showcase our work and to be inspired by what other salon owners are doing all over the world.   But, let's face it... there's a lot of 'backs of heads' and 'beachy waves with balayage' out there…   But then occasionally, you come across interesting hair, beautiful haircuts, and a modern approach to all things b...

I love stories about people who come up with seemingly crazy ideas and despite all the odds being stacked against them, eventually, they still manage to come out the other end of it as a success.  And then people say that they “were lucky” or “right place right time”, but it’s not about ‘luck or right place right time’. It’s about courage, grit, determination and self-belief… and maybe with a spri...

Often I feature world-renowned hairdressers on the podcast, and at other times, I like to feature lesser-known people from the industry that have great success stories that are not only relatable but every bit as inspiring.   Some guests on the podcast have lavish salons and high-profile clients in high-profile locations that charge big money for their services. But the problem is that often I fin...

I get the privilege every week to talk with salon owners all over the world, and some of them are doing it really tough, and believe it or not, others are doing better than ever!  Now I know there are many reasons as to why some salons are doing well, and others have been decimated, and it’s not always in your control, and so I don’t want to belittle the very real struggles that some salons are fa...

Today I'm going to talk about a question I am often asked, should you buy an existing business or build a business from the beginning? There is no one size fits all answer, so let's talk about the pros and cons of both options.  I have done both. There are good and bad with both options, and they vary dramatically depending on the business you are buying and the situation you are in as a potential...

My guest today is Paul Dare, hair stylist, salon owner, an amazing educator and inventor of the ‘Chisel’ …more about that in a minute…     Paul is a friend of mine that I have known for a long time and not only is he a great haircutter, but he has an immense amount of experience in the industry so it’s great to have this opportunity to share his wisdom and insights and down to earth approach.    I...

Today I am talking about sustainability, carbon footprints, being green, recycling, looking after the planet, etc… And sometimes I think that because that’s the very unsexy side of hairdressing that people might tune out …But I Really, Really want you to listen to this because as the posters say “There is no planet B’ and we are all in this together.” And the more educated, informed and aware we a...

One thing about podcasts that I really love is that you get to ask people questions that in a social situation would maybe be a little too intense, whereas on a podcast they recognise that that's the intention. My guest today is Michaeline DeJoria, not only is Michaeline the daughter of John Paul DeJoria, the co-founder of John Paul Mitchell Systems but amongst other things, she is also Vice Chair...

You may not realise it, but I always record this introduction after I have recorded the interview and then edit them together.    I have just finished today's interview with an old friend and NYC salon and school owner Nick Arrojo, and I don’t mind saying it’s had a profound impact on me.    I’ve known Nick since the early 80s when we both worked at Sassoon in the UK and since then he has been one...

I always strive to bring a range of guests to the show that can help you grow as a professional, and we need that now more than ever!   When I opened my first salon, like many salon owners I was full of enthusiasm, a strong work ethic and a dream to make a difference.    I believe that most salon owners start off like that.    Perhaps when they start most of them don’t have much in the way of busi...

There are many ways to look at the salon industry and judge its viability or effectiveness, but sometimes a couple of simple numbers tell you a lot about it.   For a business to grow, you need two things to happen, first; you need to attract new clients, and second, you need to keep them. The more you keep, the more you will grow.    In last weeks podcast episode 56 with John Harms from Millennium...

I once heard it said that every business is now a technology business, and I believe that to be true today more than ever before.  As a generalisation, the hairdressing industry has not always been what would be called ‘early adopters’ when it comes to embracing new technology, and that is often to our detriment.  But, having relevant information constantly accessible is what is needed to run busi...