The Great Divide. Suite As… In a Salon Environment By Kerrie Di Mattia

For those of you who were in Sydney for Hair Festival……. How freaking good was it!!!! For those who didn’t make it this year put it in your calendar NOW, you will not be disappointed!

A huge THANK YOU to all those involved in bringing us all back together, my cup truly did runneth over & I’m not just talking about the Mango Sour being served out of the Excellent Edges van!!

Festival (formally known as HAIR EXPO) for me is my truly my TEDDY BEARS PICNIC! (And only my vintage buddies will get this reference)

It’s that one time every year when ALL the likeminded people I love & admire in the industry come to gather in the one place & I can I tell you it is the event I look forward to more than anything else each year, & aside from the cool crew I work alongside each day, it is one of the biggest & most influential motivators in my life.

I attended everything at Festival that I could fit in!

Industry day, Top Salon Summit, Schmoozefest, Real Talk, Wonderland & numerous other workshops on a glorious array of subjects…

And the common thread I heard in most, if not all of them was FLEXIBILITY & CHANGE & why we need to rethink the way look at salon life & teams. And I’ve got to admit, I feel like I’m repeating myself!! Banging on about the same old chestnut I have in my last 2 or three articles!! Believe me it’s not intentional (ok maybe just a little) but it’s just that we are surrounded by the same message everywhere we turn.

Now I had planned prior to heading to Sydney to base my entire piece this edition around what is often the bone of contention in the room when a bunch of industry professionals get together - The rapid growth of the independent stylist or as I heard the term coined recently “Solopreneur”

And I must admit, I was heading in the “Us (Salon owner) VS Them (Solopreneur) direction once again. I’m not sure why a lot of my articles start this way… Oh, wait yes, I do! It’s that Gap in the Industry I’m hell bent on trying to bridge!!!

So, with the perfect environment to learn in, I thought, let's survey the crowd!

And I did, I had as many conversations as I could in seminars, workshops and even on the trade floor, I asked salon owners, I asked stylists that still worked in salons and had done for a very long time, I asked friends who had made the decision to go on the Solopreneur journey working in Suites or renting a chair, I even asked educators their thoughts on WHY our industry was dividing & WHAT could we do to get it back on track!

And what came out of all my poking & prying was this in a very blunt nutshell:

WHY IS OUR INDUSTRY DIVIDING?

Stylists go out on their own for many reasons but mainly because they want more than they are currently have! Fully qualified hairdressers that I spoke to that went out on their own just didn't feel like they had the freedom they were looking for in the salon space, they didn't feel like they had the opportunity to grow, they didn't feel like they had autonomy and they didn't feel like they had enough flexibility within the workplace to actually have the life and lifestyle that they were after. They want to run their own race, make all their own decisions, and have the freedom to be flexible with when they work, the old school ways of doing things like set hours, weekend work, 4 weeks annual leave per year & a team structure in place just isn’t on their radar, it’s not what they want out of life. Now If I were reading this through the cynical eye of the Salon Veteran, I can just imagine the comments I might be tempted to make like …… So that’s its then I guess, for the salon owners out there that are crying out for qualified staff, give up, it’s all over…. They ain’t never coming back!

But not only am I an optimist, I’m an optimist with a plan!!

Call me crazy & so many will, but this is what I believe…Let them go & wish them all the success, but also let them know your door is always open!

How many times have we as Salon owners spread our wings? We did it when we first opened our salons, when we first left our employers, & we did it. to bring about change, to do it our way, to beat to our own drum! No maybe it wasn’t to go solo & yes, we were still looking to grow a team but none the less we went out on our own because we wanted more than what we currently had! I went out on my own in 1988 in my first salon in Sydney, I had a team of 4 & no idea what I was doing! That lasted 7 years before I sold it, made no profit & moved to a country town where I still live today.

Did I want another salon? HELL NO Did I want employees? - HELL NO Did I want freedom & flexibility? - HELL YES

And I loved the freelance life (no suites back in the day) for about 8 years… Until one day I didn’t! I woke up one day & realised I missed being part of a team, missed having people to bounce off as I worked, missed the support & camaraderie & believe it or not most of all I missed the structure!

Now I know things aren’t like they were in 1988 or 1995 & yes, we as Salon owners do have to rethink & restructure the way we do things, but hey let me ask you this… What it? What if just some of the fantastic stylists out there that have carved their own path & gone solo, found themselves one day wanting to come back into the welcoming arms of a salon team, if some of what they loved about being a Solopreneur could be interwoven with some of what they missed about working for a salon. What if, we as salon owners learn to grow & flow with the times & provide the perfect environment for stylists of today who have very different needs to those of 10, even 5 years ago, an environment which when structured well benefits the salon owner just as much as the stylist!

And to drive my point home, I have 2 beautiful daughters both of whom have followed my path, I ask you to look at this through the eyes of someone in your family, someone you love and adore, would you not want them to have what’s important to them?

If the answer to that is yes and you need to find a way to provide what it is stylists are looking for today, provide a brilliant open minded flexible salon culture with everything they need, because if they've got everything they need as an individual plus the support of the salon team plus the support of a fantastic employer plus the support of not having to do every goddamn thing themselves right from making their own bookings answering their own phone getting back to their own clients buying their own stock then you'll find that you may just have the winning combination that may one day turn this divide around & see us evening the balance between them & us!