7 minute read
Thinking Outside THE BOX! Suzi O’Brien
BY REX A.C. SILVER
2023 AMBA BTS Team Winner and serial AMBA Finalist nominee Suzi O’Brien is an astute businesswoman who thinks outside the box and is always a ‘big picture’ visionary regarding her ideas.
Where you focus your energy and decide to allocate your time to best balance your interests, including yourself, is critical to having the best outcome in all areas of life, Suzi believes.
She weighs in on these principles with how she operates her successful business, Studio X, not only in terms of her team’s rostering but also how she manages the space for the entire 24 hours a day, seven days a week she pays rent for.
Suzi’s principles and beliefs pay dividends to her staff and students, and she is now experiencing other business owners knocking on her door for guidance and advice.
Suzi expands on this for us…
Yes, I decided to move to a four-day week firstly to benefit the health of my team. I believe we work to live, not live to work, so having a four-day workweek allows us to have a longer break to live our lives and come back to work energised.
I think this is fundamental in keeping team members long-term and helps avoid burnout, which, in my experience, I have seen happen a lot, and people end up leaving our industry.
Our productivity has improved, and the overall morale of my team has also improved. I often hear that they couldn’t imagine going back to a 5-day week now. We truly value working smarter, not harder.
We speak a lot about delayed gratification and what we are willing to sacrifice in the short term to reap the benefits in the future. This gives my team more time to think, learn and plan for their future also.
Another benefit was I could then make use of the other days that we didn’t open, by leasing the studio out for events and education. One Zero One Education, Eoin and Leigh have announced The Studio X is now their home (it always has been!) and are only running their infamous 3-day course from my studio this year.
Gareth Philpott and I have also joined ventures where we are now the Sydney location for his RTO, The Barber Academy, and have a full-time barbering academy running each week where I am the head educator.
Positive energy like Suzi’s is infectious, and those who wish to improve themselves, their lives and their businesses are naturally drawn to this beacon of light in people who show passion and knowledge in their chosen fields.
Suzi has been approached by other business owners on this level and found herself being helpful to their individual concerns, a process Suzi found happened organically.
Right now, all that I’m offering is a different perspective. I believe I’ve always had the ability to see the bigger picture and think outside the box in business and if I can share some of my experience with other business owners or anyone for that matter, I would gladly help.
I feel like I have a unique positioning within the industry as I’ve been cutting for so long. I have respect from the old school, as that’s where I’ve come from.
But I’m also young enough to still be in the same conversations of the new generation of barbers, or, as Tim Ferris calls them, the “new rich”, and be willing to learn and adapt to new ideas and be open to new ways of marketing and thinking.
It puts me in a great place to observe and appreciate all sides of the hair industry. Thus, allowing me to communicate and appeal to a broader audience of barbers.
As for my time management, I’ve realised that my time is not best spent cutting more hair in my business. It’s most valuably spent focusing on business development and growth.
This allows me to set up systems and procedures to allow it to work independently and ensure I have long-term success. My role is just evolving; the more I learn about business, the more I’ve realised this, and now that I have such a big team, it’s a crucial part of ensuring longevity.
This is something I wish more business owners had understood earlier in their careers and something I’d love to help people understand.
You are obviously drawn to help guide the young minds entering our craft, is there the same drive for fellow business owners?
I wish to help business owners because now that I know better, I feel a responsibility to do better and to share what I’ve learned. Business is hard. I’ve experienced all the highs and all of the lows and everything in between I think many people seriously underestimate how much work goes into being successful.
But if people were just willing to do “the work”, take a look in the mirror and realise that their business and team are a direct reflection of themselves and their leadership. It all starts with you.
As Steven Bartlett explains in his book “The Diary of a CEO” (definitely recommend btw) It’s the ostrich effect. I see many people bury their head in the sand and hope for the best. Not knowing their numbers, running from the truth working themselves to the bone. But there is a way, you can find more flexibility and freedom and business can become so much easier, if you just ask for help.
What might that look like?
I think first we would need to have a conversation to see where you believe you’d like some help. But I believe I can help a lot of people just by giving them different perspectives and changing how you view things or situations.
Looking for different opportunities within your business that you could capitalise on or maybe just doing some work on your own mindset and limiting beliefs.
Your immediate plans...
Currently, I am in the process of shaping my future direction and I haven’t fully decided which way I want to go since I announced I won’t be cutting hair anymore at The Studio. I’m going to take this time to work on maximising my own business to its full potential but I’m open to the idea of formulating an offering that may lead to helping other business owners soon.
Over time I’ve felt more and more people are seeking my advice on business, leadership and creating a strong culture which is naturally leading me to assume a coaching role if you will.
Still, I’m not entirely sure what that will look like or if it’s something I want to commit to fully however, I’m happy with how things are naturally and organically unfolding.
Great news here…
I have worked with business owners, where we have discussed their roadblocks and I curated a program where collaboratively, we navigate through the program, and I share my insights via Zoom.
The positive feedback I have received from this experience has been truly gratifying as it has allowed me to help business owners have greater autonomy in their lives and have more control of their businesses. I feel this type of work is more aligned to where I’m at right now and if more people were seeking this then it would be something I would consider.
Every leader has a mentor or two…
I take great inspiration from Eoin McCarthy and Leigh Winsor, who I consider brothers of mine at this point. They are true thought leaders and are so far beyond their years in thinking it’s frightening. Everything they say comes from a place of love and wanting to help people and I resonate with that.
They have helped me tremendously throughout my career from cutting to life and business and I hope to pay that forward by sharing my journey and making bold moves in the hope that, that inspires other business owners and makes them realise what is possible.
