Salon Rising

Most of us treat our accountant like a stranger who happens to know our numbers. Someone we email at tax time, brace ourselves for, and quietly hope is not judging us. But what if that relationship could feel like the complete opposite? In this Mini Moment, Sam sits down with her own accountant, Paris from Group One Accounting, to talk about what it actually looks like to work with someone who get...

Everyone's starting a side business right now. A product, a brand, a little something on the side that might just take off. Acacia actually did it. She and her partner built PuraU , a natural skincare and gut brand, out of her own years of struggling with acne. And in this episode she tells the real story, not the highlight reel. It started with her own skin. Years of the pill, antibiotics, Accuta...

You already know AI can tidy up a caption. Most salon owners stop right there. Renee from Salon Society and Jen do not. In this Mini Moment the two of them fall down a happy little rabbit hole on all the other ways AI quietly takes the load off a busy owner. Not the marketing stuff. The day to day stuff that clogs up your head and steals your day off. Renee, who is in salon in Perth every week, sh...

You know the feeling. You post the last minute cancellation, the one that used to fill within the hour, and now it just sits there. The Monday DMs that used to be mental are quiet. The new client requests that used to roll in are a trickle. You are not imagining it, and you are not doing anything wrong. In this episode, Sam and Jen are joined by one of Sam's dearest friends and the final piece of...

Most salon owners think branding is the colours, the logo and the name above the door. Tegan from Moosh used to think that too. Then she realised her brand had quietly gone missing, not because she got the visuals wrong, but because she had stopped knowing who she was actually talking to. In this Mini Moment, Tegan joins Jen to pull branding apart in plain language. The thing that brought hers bac...

You have done everything right. The website is beautiful, the work is gorgeous, the reels go up. So why does it feel like you are shouting into a void while new faces still trickle in from who knows where? This episode answers the who knows where, and the answer has changed. Jen sits down with Renee from Salon Society , for a conversation that started over dinner and turned into a deep dive neithe...

The bravest thing you can do as a business owner is admit you do not have all the answers. In this Mini Moment, Jen sits down with Sherri from Timely to talk about why asking for help might just be the most underrated business move you make this year. Timely Answers is the new drop in session format that has been quietly booking out. A community of other business owners, and an open invitation to...

There is one question that quietly underpins every leadership decision a salon owner makes. Are you in service or are you in sacrifice? In this honest, reflective conversation, Sam and Jen sit down to unpack the difference, why it matters, and how the answer changes everything from your team energy to your retail numbers to the way you feel walking into your own business. This is not a leadership...

In this Mini Moment, Tegan from Moosh joins Jen to talk about something most salon owners are quietly stressing about...marketing. Specifically, what to actually spend money on, when to bring someone in to help, and what kind of return you can realistically expect. After years of consistent regulars, Tegan is in a rebuild season and marketing to brand new clients is now non-negotiable. She shares...

Sometimes the dream you were chasing is not the dream you needed. In this episode, Sam and Jen are joined by one of Sam's dearest friends and biggest cheerleaders, Tegan from Moosh . After 10 years in business, a team that grew to 11 and has since come back to two, Tegan opens up about what it has actually taken to come back to herself, her vision and the kind of salon she always wanted to build....

Most salon owners set up their booking software once and never go back. The descriptions are outdated, the services do not reflect the brand anymore, and there is revenue sitting quietly in the background that nobody is capturing. Sound familiar? In this Mini Moment, Jen sits down with Sherri from Timely to talk about why an annual audit of your salon software is one of the most underrated things...

Sometimes the most important conversations are the ones that happen between two friends who are deep in it themselves. In this episode, Sam and Jen pull back the curtain on where they are each at right now. In their businesses, in their teams and in their lives and give each other, and you, permission to just be in the season you are in. Sam is back on the floor full time and genuinely loving it....

Retention. It is one of those words that gets thrown around a lot in this industry, usually tied to numbers, rebooking rates and revenue. But Sara Briscoe from Roca Verde has a different way of looking at it, and once you hear it this way, you will not be able to unhear it. Because retention is not just good for your bottom line. It is good for your nervous system. A column full of familiar faces...

Some episodes stop you in your tracks. This is one of them. Sam & Jen are joined by one of Sam's closest friends and hair besties, Brooke Wolf from Paper Rokk . For a conversation that is as honest, warm and real as it gets. Brooke has built her salon business over 12 years through some of life's most defining moments. Loss, burnout, single motherhood, a new build and now navigating the early...

Most salon owners are sitting on a network they have barely touched. The clients in their chairs, the brands they love, the people they already know and trust. In this Mini Moment, Jen sits down with Sherri from Timely to talk about one of the most underutilised assets in your business, the community you have already built around you. It is a conversation that started with a question Timely kept h...

There's a particular kind of calm that only comes after years in the trenches. In this episode, Sam and Jen sit down with the brilliant Sara Briscoe from Roca Verde , an 18 year salon owner, country girl turned Sunshine Coast icon, and one of the most refreshingly real voices in the industry right now. Sara has built, sold, renovated and rebuilt her way through nearly two decades of business, and...

Staff retention is one of the biggest conversations happening across the hair and beauty industry right now. In this Mini Moment, the girls sit down with Abbe from Koko Cosmetica to unpack what actually keeps great team members in your business and why it’s rarely about perks or pay rises. Instead, it comes down to something much more human: creating a safe, supportive environment where your team...

If you want anywhere near a business, it’s hard. There is no secret club. No magic strategy. No shortcut that only a few people know about. In this episode, the straight talking and unapologetically honest Sam Mangan joins us for an unfiltered, no fluff conversation about what it actually takes to build something meaningful and why so many people are chasing the wrong things. We unpack the myth of...

What if the reason your business feels heavy… isn’t the workload, it’s misalignment? In this Mini Moment, we’re sharing a behind the scenes masterclass from inside Rising Finances Online and Solo Rise Online . This is the foundational work our members do early on, defining their why, their purpose, and their core values. Because here’s the truth: if you don’t consciously decide how you want your b...

What happens when the hardest season of your life becomes the foundation for your strongest one? In this deeply honest and reflective conversation, Abbe from Koko Cosmetica returns to the podcast two years after her first appearance, and she is not the same woman. Since we last spoke, she’s navigated postpartum depression, grown her salon to five years strong, welcomed a third baby, survived the F...

Loneliness is something we don’t talk about enough in our industry, yet it’s quietly impacting our health, our work, and our relationships. In this solo Mini Moment, Jen reflects on a recent conversation sparked by Ange Davis and a statistic that stopped her in her tracks: loneliness has a similar impact on the body as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. From there, she explores how modern life, business...

In this episode of Salon Rising: The Podcast , Sam and Jen sit down with the amazing Chantelle from Telleish for an honest, expansive conversation about what it truly takes to build and lead a large salon business, without losing yourself along the way. From humble beginnings and major personal sacrifice to creating one of Melbourne’s most iconic salons, Chantelle shares the reality behind the gro...

In this Mini Moment, Sam and Jen talk honestly about something salon owners rarely prioritise properly: a dedicated day to work on the business, not just survive inside it. As they head into 2026, this chat is about boundaries, nervous system care, and why diarising your wellbeing is just as important as diarising clients. From admin Mondays to non negotiable “me days,” this episode is a reminder...

Confidence as a salon owner is a funny thing. You can be incredible in the chair, calm with clients, talented as hell… and still feel completely rattled by team stuff, quiet weeks, money pressure, reviews, or the fear of being judged. In this episode, Sam and Jen unpack the invisible weight salon owners carry and why confidence doesn’t mean “nothing goes wrong”, it means you keep leading even when...

Growing your salon doesn’t always mean adding more days, more late nights or running yourself into the ground. In this Mini Moment, Sam and Jen break down what actually moves the needle when you want more profit without more exhaustion. This is a practical, honest chat about working smarter not harder. From optimising your appointment book, to charging correctly for the work you’re already doing,...