Revisiting Episode 1: Who We Were & Who We Are Now

Transcript

Coming together and being co-hosts on a channel like this was all about being able to give back so other people feel heard.

Because it can feel very lonely in business as a salon owner. You don't feel like you're doing the right thing we just wanna normalize how you're feeling

 it's really nice to think that you have had that impact on someone else, you know?

Mm. In, in the way that you've made them feel like they're not alone.

 that's a difference with Salon Rising is our podcast and our mentoring is Jen and I are salon owners.

I've been a salon owner for 16 years. Jen has been a salon owner for a year. Everything that we implement in Salon Rising is because of what we have learned and done over time.

 When you're up to your arse and alligators, it's hard to remember that you're there to clean the swamp.

And I think that's the whole purpose of having the podcast where you're just showing everybody that there's alligators, right? Yep. Everybody is up to their arse and alligators

 so for us there's the purpose behind it, it's got nothing to do with financial gain and everything to do with purpose of how these little conversations might make you feel seen or might make you have that aha moment or might propel your business forward

 it's a pathway because I know fundamentally the impact that you can have on someone and their lives and their business but not everyone can afford your help.

And so I just feel like this is a pathway for people to gain some of that insight.  

Before we dive in, just a quick little love note from us. If this podcast has ever made you laugh, cry, think, or feel seen, please hit that subscribe button. It's the easiest way to keep the magic going and it helps us land more incredible guests for you.

Go on back, your girls, subscribe now and let's keep rising together.

 Welcome back to the Inner Sanctum Salon, rising the podcast and today.

We are going to venture into the past and revisit our first episode. Yeah, I think there's like probably people that listen that I'm like, don't go back to the first episode. It wasn't a bad episode. It actually wasn't as bad as I had envisioned in my mind it was me too me too, there's probably a whole bunch of people in our world now that didn't go back Yeah. To the early days. And that's okay. And please don't, and you don't need to. Yeah. I did say after real listening to our first episode, that if there was a drinking game around the number of times that I said, absolutely you would be wasted by the end of that episode because it was absolutely a lot.

Um, but all in all, I think it's really interesting when I looked back at it.

and

I suppose we can do a little bit of a reintroduction, but fundamentally, the philosophies behind the things we do hasn't really changed. Mm-hmm.

drivers

The drivers and what those particular things are have changed. Mm-hmm. But there's still that same fundamental purpose, why reason that sits behind everything.

Did you feel that? Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah.

Yeah.

With some tweaks. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely. With some, sorry. Why does it keep

happening,

Jen? Yeah, sorry. Yeah, with some tweaks it was, there is a lot that's changed and transformed and it'd be really nice to, introduce to whoever's listening.

Yeah. Um, who we are now, to, you know, who we were really, who we were. Two years ago feels very different, personally, feels very different, hugely. But where things have, uh, changed and transformed to as well, which I think is really important because it's that whole idea of where you're gonna be in two years time as well, and being okay with the fact that change is gonna happen and things are gonna be happening that's outta your control.

So on that note, Jen, introduce who you are now. Who I am now? Yeah. So if I was like Jen. I'm meeting you for the first time, like tell me a bit about yourself. Oh, that's really interesting. Yeah. Go. So, hi, my name is Jen. I do, you know what's funny, and we've talked about this before, I would literally still just say, I'm a hairdresser.

I do too. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like I really, yeah. When I, that is who I am. I, I definitely have other hats and other, you know. Okay. So let's go into more the like, I don't want you just your entire, like, if you had to sum up who you are in two minutes. Yep. Go. Is this my elevator pitch? This is who?

Yeah. This is like your chat, GPT. Like, okay, this is who you are. This is what your life looks like. This is what you do, this is how you spend your days. Like a go. Okay. I spend my days working a lot. At the moment. I am a mom, so I have teenage children. I have a salon, I have teenage staff, and um. Other like aspects to my business and other staff.

I do education for a nano plasty brand. And then I also am a podcast host for Salon Rising and Work, not, not as much content wise, but more in the background sort of driver things for Salon Rising as well. Ah, I'm doing a MBA

at university,

but I've just paused that for a little bit because of all the other stuff.

Okay, so I wanna know who Jen is. I am a great friend who likes hanging out with my people, who likes doing fun and adventurous stuff. Um, always adventurous. I am the adventurous person. I like to throw myself off things or into things or that kind of stuff.

kind of stuff.

Um. I have a perpetual need to be educated. Like I always have to be learning something else all the time.

And yeah, I have a very fast, neurologically diverse brain that I'm trying to harness. It's my superpower. Yes. Who are you, Sam? Very different to who I was two years ago. Um. But very much the same principle was I am a mom of five. I birthed three of them, and then I got two beautiful bonus boys as well. So I have a blended family, which again, two years ago when we started this podcast, I did not.

Um, so it's been really interesting. You know, diving through this podcast as I was going through a lot personally, I am a salon owner. I've been a salon owner for 16 years, and I'm the principal mentor in our business, salon Rising, as well as a podcast host. And I, love what I do, and as you said, fundamentally a hairdresser at heart.

I love being a hairdresser. I love my clientele. I love our industry so much, hair and beauty and everything that involves salon wise. I love being with other salon owners. I love with being with other hairdressers. Just being in this industry really lights me up. My life has definitely changed dramatically and most of the time for the better.

Um, I would say probably all of it for the better, because I have definitely learnt with my. Neurodiverse brain that those definitely, those a DH habits. I'm learning how to really kind of slow things down and how to be a little bit more present, and how to be okay with not necessarily being liked all the time.

It's very hard for me. And, trying to be in that present moment because we don't get time back and to. Start living out of fight or flight? I've lived in fight or flight yeah. For probably a good 10 years. And I'm really trying to train my body and my nervous system to be able to slow down.

I love my family. I have a big family. I've, I'm one of five siblings that I'm very, very close to, and now have that in my family. I have an incredible partner who has changed my life in so many ways. But I've definitely come back to a lot more of simplifying since we, we started Salon Rising and really knowing where we wanna go personally rather than living in where we should go and more so where we want to go.

Yeah, it's probably me wrapped up in a two minute. That's who I am. And that's the podcast. No. Yeah. And you've got to know us.

See you later.

Yeah. Me. And then on top of that, who we are together are we've, Jen and I have been best friends for 20 years. Yeah. And we have, you know. Built businesses and babies and gone through, you know, relationships and relationship breakdowns and friendship breakdowns and staff.

And we've worked, we worked together for together inside a company to begin with. But then Jen worked for me and now Jen's building her business. And yeah, it's just for us.

Coming together and being co-hosts on a channel like this was all about being able to give back so other people feel heard.

Yeah. Because it can feel very lonely in business as a salon owner, it can feel really lonely that you. Don't feel like you're doing the right thing or you know, we just wanna normalize how you're feeling and everything you're doing. Oh, there's a lot of questioning yourself, I think. Yeah I think fundamentally when I came into it, I just wanted to guide the wonderful things that you.

You have so many insightful things to share with people. It was really just to provide a way to get that out to the world. That's, that was my driver. Jen's like, I've gotta harness you. I did. It was like, I'm just gonna steer it this way and keep it

it

on a channel. But it works. It works, works. 'cause that, that was um, that was my driving force.

To start doing this Mm, was like, I know the valuable pearls of wisdom that you have, and if I can just harness it and just throw them out into the right direction, like for pe for them to land for people, then, then I know that so many people are gonna benefit. So it was again, always about helping other people, but from a different place to what they're helping.

People came, you know, for you. There's much, there's much noise in my head, so yes, it definitely needs some harnessing. It's just like, I'm just gonna pick that one out. We'll just throw that one. You know? So it's been over two years since we've done the pod and we wanted to make it really easy. Like easy to listen to. Yeah. Super relatable. Chuck us on in the car, have a listen, have a giggle. Like, listen to the dumb shit that comes out of my head that Jen harnesses. But it has definitely been like this, uh, beautiful labor of love because I still get joy out of doing it.

Yeah. Jen and I never see each other, so it's like the one time that we sit down and like have a quick conversation. But when we get those little, messages of, you know, yes, I have just been listening to the podcast and thank you so much. I needed this or thank it's makes all of this worthwhile of why we actually decided to start the podcast.

Yeah, and I don't think I really appreciated the impact. I, I mean, I, I knew and we were obviously always getting feedback, but I feel like in this last year. It just feels like those little pearls of feedback are coming in all the time, and it's like, wow, that's really nice. Mm.

It's really nice to think that you have had that sort of impact on someone else, you know?

Mm. In, in the way that like you've made them feel like they're not alone. Mm. And that's the biggest thing, right? It's the biggest thing is just yes. Someone listening to this and being like, I felt all of that this week, and I don't feel like such a failure in what I'm doing right now because everyone's feeling that way.

Yeah. And Jen and I, um, I we're also quite conscious on making sure that what we speak about, we've integrated first. Yeah. You know, i'm very much behind the scenes trying to be as integral as I can possibly be. And if finances didn't feel right, I wouldn't talk about them. If Yeah, culture didn't feel right, I didn't talk about it if, you know, things felt sticky.

So we did a whole podcast. We were laughing about this before. Oh my gosh, yes. We did a whole podcast on relationship. , I was like, oh, I finally got to this point where, you know, things feel good and we're kind of moving, and the next day my entire world flipped on its ass. Yeah. And everything came crashing down and I was like, um, don't release that podcast.

Don't release that podcast. Like, do not release that podcast. Everything is, is broken. And you know, without you guys knowing and you would've heard things over the time, there was a lot you and I were. Moving through as we are talking on the podcast. Yeah. That we wanted to make sure, felt super, um, integrated and before we just got on and went, my life is a shit show.

We're really cautious about, I think when you're getting that feedback, understanding that you're having an impact on someone mm. You, you become really cautious of the impact that you're gonna have. Right? Mm. Not cautious in the, but you become really conscious.

Yeah. You are conscious of the impact that the words that you say are gonna have on another person. Yeah. And I think if you're talking in the pain, yeah.

What do you always say? Speak from your scars, not your wounds. Yes. Yeah. And I think. In those moments, you and I would've both probably been speaking through wounds that we were currently trying to like move through and work through.

And then at that point, the wisdom that you're giving could be quite dangerous. It's, so we have both recently done like a, um, speaking program and I.

I was really conscious when I listened back to our first episode. So with our coach that we've been working with, we talk about where we are sitting like so we are a house and which room we are sitting in when we go into, um.

Any, any form of like conversational interaction, be it online or just in a conversation that you're having with someone. And I can very, very distinctly hear what room we were in in those early, episodes as opposed to the room that we sit in now. And I can tell you wholeheartedly, we sit in one of those lower level rooms.

There's far less of a for want of a better word, performative. Mm. Um, and it was, we changed our outfits. Oh my God. We changed our outfits. We changed our outfits. 'cause we were like, we don't want people to know it's the same day. Like, yeah. Um, we need to maximize the time that we do have. Yeah. Today you're getting tracksuit pants.

Like, I think it became, yeah, it was way more productive. How it looked. Yeah. How it, um, how we presented ourselves, you know. It has become a lot more raw, which I think is Yeah. You know, is important raw, but with still, as you said, talking through scars, not talking through wounds. And also it's very much become a journey of storytelling.

Mm-hmm. And telling other people's stories. And that's what I think is really nice about it too. But we've had to be become really conscious of, because we have a great listenership. There are things that people will want us to speak about. Mm. And we have dabbled in that a little bit, and it's felt really like it performative, it doesn't feel real for us.

Mm. And so we've, especially in this last year, become so conscious of it's gotta be, we love having guests on love, but it's about sharing your story and sharing your journey. Yeah. And not necessarily trying to. Sell something to someone. Yes. You know what I mean? Absolutely. Yeah. Ab, 'cause we know when we've done an episode that we are just like that.

Just, you can see it even in our faces if anyone's watching that, we're just like, and then what? Yeah. And like we're learning from it at the same time. And it's really important too, because I think to myself, as I coach, I'm generally coaching myself. Yes. So often I will have conversations on here or I'll have conversations with clients that I'm like.

Ooh, that just hit for me at that point. Yeah. Like I needed to hear that. Um, and sharing those things feels really important when it feels very integrated. So, you know,

speaking 12 months ago, 18 months ago, about my separation would've felt. Horrific. I was sticky. Yeah. And if you were in my salon, you would've heard it because I was angry.

And I was sticky. And the whole situation felt sticky. And I think until it doesn't feel like that anymore, you don't speak on it and you don't, you know, you're not doing it from a wound because you're gonna give advice that necessarily isn't great. Yeah. And you know, until you can get to this point of like.

acceptance

and you are okay, and you're actually able to be like,

this is what helped me.

And it was a big point for me. You know, I met someone last night actually, that I was having this conversation with, and none of it was in this like damaging way where I was like, it was almost like I was telling somebody else's story.

Yeah. Sometimes it's absolutely insane the story that I'm telling and it's not right. On a public forum like this, because I have baby, I have young babies that, yeah, I don't need them to listen to that story one day. But six months ago I would've told you, I would told tell the whole story. Yeah. You know, because it was like I needed to feel heard and I needed people to understand and I needed to be like, yeah, that's, that is exactly what happened.

And people need to know that so that people think I'm a good person. Yeah. But now it's very much. Um, you, you kind of move through those certain areas and you're like, n that wouldn't feel I would share it with anyone that needed some advice, and I do that and it's almost become a big point for me with my clients because clients are going through different things and I've gone through something that was so big and being able to move through it, where I finally got to the point where I'm so peaceful.

Yeah. That it feels really powerful to be able to. Uh, to coach people through difficult situations in the way that they just love and protect themselves. Not, not revenge, not, you know, like all of those things. Nothing to prove. Nothing to prove. Yeah. And it's been a big journey to get to this point where you finally feel like, I don't actually need to heal anything.

I just need to move. Myself forward and in a way that feels really good for me. And everybody's journey looks different like that. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Um, it's really interesting too. So when you're talking, when you're referencing clients, you're referencing someone rising clients, right? Bit of both. Yeah, absolutely.

Both. Absolutely. And Ella and Absolutely. And salon rising. Yeah. Because all become friends of mine and you know, I'll have clients that will. A hundred percent. Not so much Salon Rising, but LaSorella clients that have been through and they have, they've, they watched 12 months of me being really dark. Yeah. And I'm really grateful that I was able to actually retain those clients because it was a dark time and I was angry a lot.

Yeah. Because

there was a lot happening that never should have happened to me a hundred percent. Like there was a lot that happened that I never should have walked through. But I wouldn't be the person I am now. Exactly. And I wouldn't have the life I have now, I wouldn't have the love that I had now.

And I read something once, oh no, it was on the chosen, it was a TV show called The Chosen, and it's based on the life of Jesus. And there was one point where he was like, but look at what this person's done to me. A guy, one of the disciples was talking to Jesus and he was like, look at what he's done to me.

And he was like, yeah, but look at the circumstances of what happened after. And you go, oh, if I didn't experience that with, yeah, what I had gone through personally for the last. You know, two years. And even in the business, like my business is completely flipped as well. Yeah. So if I hadn't have gone through all of those things that felt so hard and so sticky and so awful in times, I also wouldn't have the circumstances I had now.

So like how do I hate my ex-husband when I'm. With the love of my life. Exactly. You know, and that becomes a lot easier. So when you're in it, if anyone is going through this, like that is not a way to, that's not toxic positivity to get you through it, but when it gets to the point where your life is, you know, the fact that I get to have my kids full-time.

Yeah. The fact that I, I don't have to put them through that with, you know, I see so many double families that it's toxic and I'm so lucky that I have a really good relationship also with the boy's mom. And I feel so honored and blessed to be able to help raise her kids as well. But I can look back now and understand the whole situation, whereas when you're in it, it's really hard to be like, am I ever gonna look back on this and this, is this ever going to feel? Not horrific. My dad's favorite saying is, when you're up to your ass and alligators, it's hard to remember that you were there to clean the swamp. You know? And it's very true. And he says it all the time, but it's so true. How? How have I never heard that one? That one's great. Oh, I hear it a lot. It's like, well,

when you're up to your arse and alligators, it's hard to remember that you're there to clean the swamp.

And I think that's the whole purpose of having something like. The podcast where you're just showing everybody that there's alligators, right? Mm-hmm. Everybody's got alligators,

don't,

don't believe what you see. Yep. Everybody is up to their arse and alligators, and that's what's been so beautiful about being able to have guests on.

Yeah. That range from people just starting out to people being in this industry for 20 years to people watching this industry, it's been so valuable for us to have these like beautiful guests that are coming on that we can share stories with. And as Jen said, there's been moments where maybe we didn't do that.

So aligned and we know when we've done that. Yeah. And really being able to. Not with guests, but like in general, there's been situations where we're like, that didn't feel right for us and we both ignored it. But now we are, we, you know, we're moving towards this show is a, is a love job. Oh yeah. We don't get paid to do this.

Yeah. You know, we don't. So putting this on, this production of being able to get it all edited and everything done. So for us

the purpose behind it, it's, it's got nothing to do with financial gain and everything to do with purpose.

Yeah. Of how these little conversations might make you feel, seen or might make you have that aha moment or might propel your business forward. Or on the other hand, might make you go. Alright. I can make that decision because other people have, and I feel safe enough to do that as well. Exactly. Yep. Yeah.

And which is why it's important also to have people in different industries Yeah. Have conversations as well and hear the ups and downs that people have gone through their life. There is always gonna be struggles. We know that. Yep. But it's about, you know, sharing those and being able to have conversations.

Because for me, I know there's many moments that we've had these conversations that have been like, Ooh, that was an aha moment. I needed that right then. Or you mean like the conversations that we've had with people on here? Yeah. Yeah. I agree. I feel like it's a privilege thing, right? We have had so many incredible people mm-hmm.

That have really, I think, propelled our growth as well. Mm-hmm. Like as, as people, you know, like I just think that yeah. Being exposed to the.

stories

and you know, the things that other people have grown through can only have that ripple effect mm-hmm. For everybody around them. Mm-hmm. And we are really lucky that we get to be on the forefront of that all the time.

Absolutely. And

we never started this podcast thinking that our lives would be where they are now. Oh my gosh. No way. If you had asked me when we started this podcast. I don't actually know what I would've said. I would've said my salon was probably getting managed full time and I would be in Salon rising full time and I would be traveling around Australia in my van.

Yeah. I probably would've said that. What would've you said. I don't know. Yeah, because the, I, I would have said, I don't know. Mm. Because I think that when I look back at that person, and there was a definitive shift, and it was with one of the guests that we have, that I can identify when things really changed for me, I, that person didn't know what she wanted at all.

Mm. She had no idea who she was, where she was going, what she wanted. I don't even think she really knew who she was at all. Mm.

Like

That. Yeah, that really changed in Pro about a year in, I reckon, to our salon on Rising Adventure. So I never would've predicted that I would be doing any of the things I am now.

Mm. Because I didn't have the capacity to imagine that anything was possible.

Mm.

Um,

See I just. Like hear that and I'm like, you and I have transformed so much because of our podcast. Yeah. It's wild. Like the people that are on it, the people that have spoke, the little moments that we've, those little aha moments, like how can we not expect people to have growth when we've had so much growth from it?

Yeah. And being able to speak out and share those stories and, you know, be able to have the love back that helps people and stuff like that. It's been so transformative for us. Yeah. As humans, how are other people not having the same, and then how could we not do it? And I think too, because we had this recently when we,

we had like a girl's weekend away with some of our best friends and.

One of them said to us, 'cause it's like, you know, it is a labor of love. They were like, well, why do you do it? And it's like, it's a pathway because I know fundamentally the impact that you can have on someone and their lives and their business and what they're having. But not everyone can afford your, your help.

And so I just feel like this is a pathway for people to gain some of that insight. Mm-hmm. To. To feel like they're supported when perhaps any other sort of avenue isn't an option for them. Mm-hmm. And how, again, how can you not get up and do that for other people? Mm-hmm. When you know that that's the, the change that you can have in your life, and it's those little moments.

Like I remember messaging you when I was away at hair festival and having someone that we had, had in one of our classes and like, I literally burst into tears when she talked to me about the changes that she'd had. So, you know, you're having all, you know, when you go to something and someone's like, or they send you a DM and they're like, that really helped me.

Mm, thank you. Mm. It's like, you know, you're helping people. Mm-hmm. That's the whole point. And I think as an industry, that's why. We do what we do. Mm-hmm. You seldom do you get into it. Well, I mean, you know, it's artistic and stuff, but you do it because you like making people feel good. Yes. You know, as an industry.

Yes. Yeah. So, and I just think there was not enough, uh, more might come up. There was not enough of these raw conversation and we just, I just felt very lucky even listening back to that first episode.

because

Jen and I are best friends. It's generally just a conversation. So yeah, nothing is scripted on Salon Rising.

Like people come on and they're like, what are we gonna, what questions are we we covering? Yeah. Like people are like, what questions are we covering? And we are like, a lot of the time Jen have some stuff that she's like, yeah, you know, if she's like. We will bounce off each other and Jen's like, you're good.

I'm like, yep. I can, like, we can flow completely on this or other times we'll have some questions. Yeah. Because it, it helps to bring things in and it depends also on who we are interacting with. Yes. 'cause some people need that foundation to feel comfortable. Yes. And even though we know.

That as soon as they start, like there's always that it's gonna be okay. We are just gonna have a conversation if could do reel. I wonder if could do that. I know there's so much footage of everyone at the end going, that was so easy. Yeah. Or that one so fast, or, I felt so comfortable because it's like just having a conversation with Yeah.

You know, just having a conversation with some mates, having, you know, just sharing those stories and like bringing things up and you know, prompting each other to have like those conversations where you're like. You know, would you bring this up? Would you talk about this? Yeah. Yeah. I think that's the main thing I always say to any of our guests coming on is, please let me know if there's anything in particular you don't want to talk about.

And I'll just make sure we skirt around it. But other than that, it's like we can see where it takes us. We can get people back on to talk about things. And we've done that before, you know? Like we didn't even get through it all. Yeah, we've gotta do another one. But it's that. Just making sure that people feel comfortable, that you're not gonna bring up something that they're not ready to talk about.

And I think whatever, if we go to someone, you need to come back. Like, we need to keep having this conversation. Yeah. Then if we're saying that we know that our listeners are loving it as well. Yeah. 'cause our listeners are us. And

I think that's a difference with Salon Rising Guys is and the difference to.

Our podcast and to our mentoring and to who we are fundamentally is Jen and I are salon owners. Yeah. You know, I've been a salon owner for 16 years. Jen has been a salon owner for a year. Everything that. We implement in Salon Rising is because of what we learn, like what I have learned and what I've done over time.

And Jen's implementing into her first year of like owning a salon and building it and building it with a team. And then the same thing on the other side when we have conversations, we're salon owners that are still taking so much from those conversations. Like we are the salon owners that are taking from that.

Oh, for sure. So. It just feels different because it's not like we're coaches and mentors that are sitting back and going, okay, well tell us about your experience. And sometimes we're conscious with people too because we know that they don't wanna talk into that because there is things that, you know, I wouldn't talk about because it's not appropriate for, for, yeah.

Me as a salon owner. To have those conversations behind my team's back. Yes. So you've gotta be integral and the same thing to other people, like their teams are listening to it, or their past teams are listening to it. Yeah. So you've gotta be really integral with how you show up for people because kindness and support.

And love and all of those beautiful values Yeah. Are what's first and foremost to us. And I would never want anyone to feel bad listening to our podcast. And that's the same, you know, we've even had like recommendations like, oh my gosh, there's so much like canceling in the industry at the moment and you guys should do a podcast.

It's like, it's never gonna be like that. No, we are never. Yeah, we're not. Like, and it's, that's a thing we know that Salon Rising could probably be more successful if we're gonna be super controversial. I'm just not interested. Yeah. I'm just not interested. I'm quite happy to talk about subjects. Sometimes we stumble into controversy without realizing it, and that's going to happen.

Yeah. But we certainly don't seek, seek out. Yeah. Seek to be controversial. Yeah. Yeah. Because it's just not. You know, uh, we were talking about that before. I couldn't be controversial because if someone said they hated me, I would probably cry live in a dungeon for the rest of my life. But yeah, I think we're so raw, but so conscious because I don't ever want anyone to feel shitty. I think that's something we've definitely honed.

Yes. I don't know that we nailed it. To start off with, you are like, oh my God, I've hurt someone's feelings. Calm down, take a breath. Yeah, no, really, I just, if anyone was watching that, Jen watched my entire face change. Yeah. She's like, she's Come back up. Yeah. Crawl back outta that spiral. Um, I think we've gotten better and better at that.

Yeah. As time's gone on is what I was trying to say. Yeah. Everything's okay. Absolutely. Because in the beginning you're like, how do I talk about this in a diplomatic way, but still make this podcast interesting. Yeah. And.

You know,

Just kind of reintroducing ourselves to where we are now. Again, if you say to me, where am I gonna be in two years time, I'm gonna tell you I have no idea.

Yeah. Because for the first time in a really long time, I just wanna live in the present. I don't want to spend my life, what's next? Where will I build to? How many people can I have? What does this look like? And for the first time in a really long time, I'm definitely talking more on how do we remove the ego because

you know. Each one of us at any time can flip things completely on its head based on what you need as a family. And I think I esca, I used my work a lot to escape and I don't wanna escape my life anymore. That's so nice. So I think it's really important to be talking into that for people because you know, we should use our work as, you know, a place that we love and that we go to and feels great.

And creative outlet. And creative outlet. Yeah. But.

You

know, as we've heard many times, you are not your business. Yeah. Your business does not come first. It should not be your priority. And I was having this conversation with someone the other day and she was like, you know, my relationship's a bit tough.

And I was like,

if you lost your marriage, how would you feel? And she was like, it would absolutely kill me. I'm like, if you lost your business, she was like, eh, I would build another one. I was like, so then where's your priority? Yeah, exactly right. And it can't be first and foremost business at times.

Absolutely. But we are not here to build businesses. We're here to build lives. Lives. Yeah. And I think that has to be a pivotal point in what anybody's doing. I always remember something that was said to me once, it's like,

we're human beings, not human doings. Yeah. And like your business is what you do.

Yes. But your life is how you be. Right. Yeah. And that's really, really important

to,

yeah. To think about. Yeah.

Yeah.

What was I gonna say? I, my little brain went on a tangent then. 'cause I forgot that we were recording a podcast and I was just about to tell you what I did yesterday. I was like, that's right.

We're working. I love that. Yeah. That makes it even cooler. I know, because I went and cut, homeless people's hair yesterday. Oh. The afternoon. And it was so, it was really powerful because it's just like, have you ever like stuck up in like the, the stuff that's not important? Yeah. You know, and as we talked about, like at the most precious thing we have is time.

Yeah. So for me, the most precious thing that I can give someone is time. Time. And to take two hours out to go and. Give someone my time. Yeah. Was something that I could do. But yeah, it just aligns like some of the stuff that I feel like sometimes we're all worried about. It really isn't that important.

Yeah. Because you know, we can like eat and stuff. Yeah. You know? Yeah. And I, yeah, I think we get so caught up.

in

so many of the small things and it's just life. It does that sometimes, right? Yeah. You're just like, this is such a big deal. When you're like on the grand scheme of things, it's not a big deal and you are absolutely fine and you know, I, it's something silly, but every New Year's I like reflect on the year and I just feel really grateful that that was a year that I still have everyone in my life.

Yeah. You know that I haven't gone through a loss that year and I'm like, no matter what went through my life. I'm here. My family are healthy, you know, and I think so many people are going through, we just did a podcast with Brody who, you know, maxi has leukemia and yeah. You know, we,

people are going through so many things while running businesses that it's really important for us to continue to remind ourselves, but also each other that it is a business, you know, that.

the

walls are not gonna fall because someone leaves and takes their clientele. Yep. The walls are not gonna fall because a client left a one star review. The walls are not gonna fall if you overorder stock or if you have a quiet week. It's all about, really trying to lead some purposeful businesses and make an impact in a way that feels right for you.

And you are doing that with exactly what you did yesterday. Yeah. You're doing that with having these young humans at the moment through your business. It's like, how can we be impactful with how we run our business? Otherwise, what is the point? Because as I said, in our mini moments, we have one precious life and one day we're gonna be gone and our business is gone and it's not gonna matter anyway.

Like, we just we're like, oh, but we've got this big business. Yeah. One day it's gonna be gone. Like, yes, it's, it's not Apple. You know, we just get so caught up in it. It's not Apple. It doesn't, it doesn't matter. Yeah. It's more so the impact we made on other people, you know? And when I have messages, even yesterday,

I had a message from one of my team members that worked for me for a really long time.

She was like, oh, we're down having lunch at by stand. And she's like, it always makes me think of you. I love you. And I was just like, it's those moments where you go. Those are the moments that matter. It's the fact that yes, you know, we did little things and it made an impact on you, and it's the fact that you guys found friendship and community with us, and it's the fact that, you know, it's all of those things that over time I've realized after being in business for as long as I have.

it's those things.

It's not the

Yes. Big things. It's getting your staff members through breakups and through, you know, losing family members and through sickness. And sickness. And also your staff members. Your clients. Your clients. Yeah. You know, like the people in your world. Yeah. And yeah. Yeah. That's really the whole idea behind doing something like this is to, our industry is so impactful.

Yeah. You know, what you do is so impactful. Every day with clients. Yeah. That, you know, I guess, yeah. What we're hoping to give through Salon Rising is that support on the other side so that you feel impacted by a little bit of support and a little bit of love and yeah, a little bit of care, and just understanding that we feel the way you feel.

And that's, I think too, because we've always struggled with, it's like we are looking to create connection and community for people, but sometimes that's really hard. Mm-hmm. To do in person. So this was. The way that we felt we could create that community and connection. Mm mm Jen and I don't have an time to like see each other.

No. Let alone create. And we wanted, commu community wanted to be big for us. And we don't have time to like catch up once, like we went away on a girls' weekend. So specifically it was booked in for like six months. Yeah. And the most amount of time you and I have spent together, it was, we had to book it.

It was a weekend that we booked for our friend's birthday in March. Mm-hmm. And the first time we could do it was in August. Mm-hmm. August. Or was it July? July was August. End of July. Yeah. Like it was ridiculous. So, you know, and we understand that everybody else is going through that right now. Yeah. Like I would love to be like, let's drop everything and let's have huge events and hang out with people and spend time.

But like I can't find the time to go to an industry event and let alone find time to. Pull that together and bring everybody else here. 'cause they're the same way. Yeah. So for us, absolutely. This is a way of creating community that even though we may not see and hear from you, we know you're listening.

And it was really nice. I had someone reach out the other day and say like, Ooh, this message felt really aligned with something I wrote. And I was like, come on the pod. I would love you to come on the pod. Yeah. And you don't even realize who is listening and. How much they love it. And when we hear that and we go, okay, it's making a difference, it's a purpose.

Some people might listen to this and hate it, but there's a whole bunch of people that listen to it and they needed, they got out exactly what they needed at that point. Yeah, exactly. Right. And if you have someone that you think needs to hear perhaps one of the messages from the pod, like share it with them.

Yes. Agreed. Maybe it's something that you can see that somebody is struggling with, but you don't want to be the person that kind of is presenting the information. Like it's a really nice little, yeah. Podcast. Well, listen to a real great podcast, podcast. Podcast. Don't listen to a podcast. Maybe you should listen to it.

Yeah. You know, like it's, and we have people that'll listen to the podcast religiously and aren't in our world, and then 18 months later they're like, okay, I've listened to the podcast the whole time and I absolutely like. I need to have a conversation with you now because I've done this, this, and this and this, and this is where I need to move from here.

Yeah. Um, so we hope that all those little nuggets of information, but on the same page, if you have someone that you're like, oh, their story would be so good on this podcast. Yeah. Like what they've gone through, what they've moved through as a salon owner or a business owner, like please reach out and just send us their.

their.

Like their little handle, you know, we can reach out to them because sometimes it's just listening to someone else's story and be like, yeah, then what happened? And then what happened? And it's so interesting to listen to how people move through things and how they've, you know, decided to live their lives.

That, you know, if you do know of someone that you're like, this story was awesome, and share it with us because everyone can learn little things from everybody's experience. Yes, definitely. Yeah.

So we just thought it was really important to, reintroduce who we are now, because I feel Yeah. And in a couple years time it's gonna be exactly the same, like. Our lives are gonna be different in a couple of years time of where it's taken us. And it's just that important message of why we do this and who we do this for.

Yeah. What we do this for, and who we are and how we're trying to share a message that kind of really support you guys. Yeah, I think it was a nice reminder for us as well. Mm. You know? Mm. We're always saying that you need to revisit these things, so that was really nice that we got to revisit as well.

Very nice. Yeah. So yeah, thanks to everyone who's been on the journey, who's joined us on the Journey, who is just joining us now. We are really grateful to have you here. Absolutely. And yeah, we'll see you all again very soon. Bye bye.