Salon Rising: The Podcast

Transcript

 the last time we spoke, you tell me what was the last time we spoke, you were obviously in the salon.

I was, yeah, but we'd always played with this idea of, I think as we've worked together, we'd play with this idea of like, What will life look like if I didn't have the salon? You've obviously been traveling a lot for education and we'll go into Asht soon. You've been traveling a lot for education. You'd been starting to be like, I don't want, you know, you, we dabbled in staff and I was like, don't do it.

And you did it. And you were like, don't do it for yourself. It's so much easier. And then obviously like, so you did all the amazing changes that I was like, first do this before you remove yourself from the salon. But. Talk us through When, how, what, and you know, how you're feeling now. Yeah, because I saw you, you were just on the precipice of this.

Like it was like, it was about to happen. Yeah, it was. It was at our, um, dinner. Yeah. So I think the idea of selling the salon came in because you said, I sold my old salon. And I was like, what? Like, what do you mean? I remember saying that to you for the first time and you were Huh? Because I thought, you know, I always went into building the salon, putting money into the renovations, buying the furniture, thinking I'm going to do this.

I'm going to get nothing in return. It is what it is. That's the kind of point. Yeah. I think I remember saying, and you were like, you're like, Shay, sell what you've done. Like sell the space. Have someone take over your lease, but sell the space and sell the furniture. And I was like, Yeah. Holy fuck. I remember Shay calling me and being like, did you know you can do that?

I was like, no. And the coolest thing about that for anyone out there that's thinking, what? So you don't sell the space because you have a lease or the business, but you sell the fact that you've set up a salon. So I did this when we moved from, um, the, Ella to the Ella we're in now. Mm. Because like, no one was gonna be able to sit.

You can't set a space up for under turnkey walk in everything. Yeah. A hundred grand. Like so much money. Exactly. Where it is beautiful and everything's set and you just walk in and you go, well here's the money. I'll walk in and start. Mm-Hmm. . And you don't have to do anything. You can start the next day.

So for me, I almost did. So when I first started Shay, I couldn't find a space anywhere. And I ended up doing that. I paid someone like 20 or 25 grand and I demolished the salon and started again. It was more so I needed that space and it was good rent and it was the right choice, but I was like, I'm going to do that again.

About the only thing you kept was the basin. Everything else got moved around and changed. Oh, from the old space. Yeah. 100%. And yeah, everything else I was like, this would have been easier if she just demolished the whole thing. Like I, and, um, but there, when we left our old salon, there was nothing I was bringing.

The only things we were bringing are the stuff that the salon needs. Like I wasn't bringing cups or microwaves or anything. I was bringing nothing. This whole salon was set up from scratch. So it's like, what is the point of. having this whole salon set up. And I was like, I truly, truly believed that the right person would find it.

And you know, the woman that bought it is just this beautiful, like, she just reminded me so much of myself. So I was like, I want her to have it. And her partner was really lovely and they bought it. And I was like, Oh, that was, you know, I think I sold it for 30, 25 or 30, 000, maybe 30, 000, which is huge. Like it was just a huge relief, but she was never going to be happy to buy it.

Start a salon for that much money. Like it costs a lot to all the basins and stuff. So that's what I had said to you. Like you can sell it. Like it's set up so beautifully. Your space is so beautiful. I was leaving everything behind. Yes. That no money and time that went into it. Yes. So like, it's not like you are walking out of some crappy ass salon and you're like, I'm going to sell it.

You're walking out of this like glorious salon. Salon. So it makes the most amount of sense. Yeah. Yeah. So when you originally told me that idea and I was like, Oh wow. I sat with it for probably about five to six months, I think, because it was coming to terms that I wanted to downsize, but telling myself that downsizing is not a terrible thing, right?

It's the ego thing, right? It's the ego thing, right? You think I've done it, I've made it, I've done the big thing. It's beautiful. I'm so proud of it. And I was like, if I step away from this and go back to room renting, which at the time in my head, I was like, Oh, is that like going backwards? Yeah. Right. It's just like, Oh, you're going backwards.

You know? And I had to just, I had to sit with it. I had to come to my own terms and be like, it's fucking not. And now that I am room renting, Oh my goodness. The best thing I've done for myself this whole year. Yep. Yep. Because now I don't have the overheads. We literally had a phone call about it, literally this conversation, I was like, dude, I've done it.

You needed to have this out on because it's like, we go through this, like, You know, working here, then work for ourselves, then rent a space, then have a salon, and then you're like, how the fuck did I get here? I just got here because this was a progression. It's the same way with life. It's like meet the person, get engaged, get married, have the babies.

It's a progression of life. It's like the same with business. It's like, do I actually fucking want to be here? It's like when people say like, you know. People don't want to be employees anymore. It's like, yeah, they do because only a salon is fucking hard. So it's, you know, it's not like that at all. It's depends on where people are at their life.

And, you know, for us, especially in this industry, we need to stop making that when you're successful. You are successful when you have a salon and you have 10 people that work for you. You're successful when you pulled in your first client. That's not successful. Exactly right. That's success. Success, yes.

You're successful doing whatever you do. If you decided that you don't want to be a salon owner and you have a job that you love, success, you have a job and a job that you love and you love coming to work and you've got great humans that you work with and you love your life. Successful. Like who are we to say what success looks like, but it's an, it's ego.

It's sitting in that ego of being like, I had a salon now I'm selling it now. I'm going back to room rental. What does this look like? I think because it was on like, The mood board for so long. Right. I was like, I've got to take this off. And then I finally ticked it off. And I was like, I didn't feel how I thought it would.

Well, it did for a little bit. And then the bills come and then I bought a house and I was like, Oh, okay. My money isn't just, I can play with it now. I'm like, I've got a mortgage to pay. You know, I want to travel next year. I want to spend half my time next year overseas. And I was like having this giant salon, which I didn't need all the space as well.

I went really big in the beginning thinking bigger is better. I remember coming in and being like, this space is huge. And you were like, no, no, no, no. Like it's perfect as it is. And I was like, let's put some walls up, girl, rent this baby out. I remember Samara came in, she's like wall, wall, rent, rent, go. And I was like, Um, and then a week later I sat with it and I was like, fine, put that all up, so quickly.

You jump when you're like, you know what? That was a good decision. We come to terms. I'm like, we're doing it. I'll have it done in a week. Yeah. And when it came to like, I'm selling the place, I was like, let's sell this place. I was like, I now I've decided, do you know what your human design is? You've, you've, you've done it with have I?

I need to look at it again. Oh, I'm really interested. I don't think she's a projector. No, but I think there's an emotional authority over here, like, as in, like, making the decisions. Oh, see, I think she's spleenic, cause that's a quick, that's how I screenshotted it and sent it to me. Yeah, I think you did mine too.

I did. Mmm. Haha. Yeah. But no, like, once you decide, once I decide I want to do something, it's like, I want it done right this second. No, but she was like, sitting on it for ages. So sat with it for the idea and then, and then it's like, done. It switched. Yeah. It's, the, the light. And I was like, ah, okay. And now that I've gone into a smaller room, I like, I just have a room.

It's all I need. I pay a very, very small, small amount. I have so much more income coming in. I have so much more freedom. I do not have the stress of overheads in me. Like I have a giant fucking salon on my hands that I have to continually run because it's also room renters. Oh, and like the last few weeks, everyone's been like, Shay, you're so light.

You're so airy. And I'm like, It's because I don't have a giant salon. Yeah. Not because that was the only thing, but there was so many more responsibilities that came with having a giant lease. Yeah. And I was like, I don't want to be responsible for this. And being, it's like a tie down. Oh yeah. Yeah. And like thinking, okay, I want to go overseas.

Like my partner and I want to do this. We want to do so much work for travel. And I was like, I can't have a salon. I think too, if you've decided and you got to that point, you've decided you don't want staff. Why have you got a big salon? Yeah, exactly. Right. If I was a small again, I would have a, I would find a small, actually, no, I don't want to do a big lease again.

So I'm really happy with room renting. I actually really am. I think cause you, the reason why you get staff is so that you can start coming off the floor, but if you generally love being on the floor and you want to do it, Then why do you actually need a salon? Like the salons generally come with like, you want to fill the rooms and you want to put more staff in there and you want to build it that way.

But you'd made your decision that. I don't want to do that. I don't want this. I like being me. Yeah. I like working my small amount of hours each week, making good money and then doing what you actually like doing and not having to worry about the stuff that you don't like doing. Yeah. Work's just fun. It doesn't feel like it's ever like, Oh, work.

I think as well, like one thing that I know I always had to kind of ground myself with was obviously, you know, I had someone who, one of my best friends doing the same job as me, had this beautiful big. Yeah. And I was just a home based studio and I remember constantly, I, yeah, but I constantly like Jen, you would understand.

For anyone that's home, Jen says, I know what that feels like. But like, it's true cause I had to really like pull myself back in when I would compare myself to Shay and her success of building this big salon. When we, at the end of the day, we were doing the same amount of clients per day, we were pulling in like.

Similar wages. And I was like, okay, I have to remember my clients come and see me at my home studio that I have made beautiful to my standard and I'm happy. And that's what matters. But also there was the other side of me being like, fuck, I wish I did. Like I was so envious that. Like, look at you just ending your day and that's it, ain't it?

Yeah, it was like, I was just at home. If I could build a salon outside of my home, I absolutely would. I love that idea. And I, I was like, Oh, I wish I didn't have to worry about all of this as well. So you can see it from both sides. And that's the thing, like we would always, we'd have phone calls every day.

Talking about it and we would constantly just be going back and forth with each other, but we would have to also, like she just said, remind each other that we're both where we needed to be at that point in time. And then, you know, moving forward, we both now rent rooms in a commercial space and we're both so content and it is, we're creating this path for our future endeavours with business for ourselves,