Bringing Joy with THE HAIR & BODY LAB 2.0

By Louise May

“I hated high school, and my parents got a little tired of me skipping when the school councillor suggested I take up a vocational training course in one of their many options on offer. At 15 my eyes lit up when I saw hairdressing was on offer and that very next week, I was attending a salon one day a week while still working towards my grades at school. I loved it! People were so glamorous, they left feeling so confident and so good about themselves all because of a simple hair appointment and I knew I wanted to be that person to bring that kind of love and joy to someone’s life.”

Carlie applied for an apprenticeship and got offered a position with the first salon she applied at. “My parents finally agreed to let me leave school to pursue a trade and 21 years later the joy I can bring others is the thing I Iove most about being in this industry and one of the biggest things I have built the foundation of my business upon.

WE CAUGHT UP WITH CARLIE BRIDLE, OWNER OF HAIR AND BODY LAB IN ADELAIDE.

Was business ownership always a priority to you?

No, it never was. I first ventured into business with family many years ago.

Long story short, it didn’t work out. Whilst grateful for the opportunity I was too young and too inexperienced. I only knew how to do pretty hair. We look back and laugh now, but in hindsight it was a disaster waiting to happen.

Owing a business became a priority to me after I had my daughter 8 years ago. Working to someone else’s expectations full time and juggling a family is hard work. I wanted to make my own rules.

Can you tell us about your journey to date?

My business owner journey started 7 years ago. Up until then I was very fortunate to work in some amazing salons and alongside some incredible talent. The opportunities I had working for these salons really has shaped who I am as a hairdresser and boss today.

8 years ago, my daughter was sick from childcare again! It was so hard to constantly let an employer and your team down but also… it’s your baby… family comes first. While I sat and had coffee with one of my best friends. Danielle, she listened to me whinge and said why don’t you just work for yourself. I was petrified to make that step. What if I failed? What if I didn’t make enough money to support my family? What if clients didn’t like me?

However, in October 2016 I took the risk. My partner and I decided to turn the back room of our house which is a separate dwelling with its own access into The Hair and Body Lab. I had 2 stations, a basin, and a colour storage shelf with a bench… it was very basic.

I advertised on social media, used the community notice groups and available appointment groups to get my name out. My first month I had 6 clients, my second month I had 40 clients and come the end of my third month I had 87 clients.

I employed my first staff member in January 2017, 4 months after I opened. It just so happened to be Danielle; we still joke now that she had ulterior motives when she encouraged me to start a business.

We experienced 2 years of constant growth, expanded to 5 stations and a better looking, better functioning space. In 2019 I hired my next team member Michelle. This led to my neighbours making complaints about parking. March 2020, we had a visit from local council and an instruction from them that I either needed to move my business to a commercial premises by the end of the month or let go of 1 of my staff members and continue working from home but with only one hairdresser working at a time.

Whilst we had approval to operate a salon from our home premises having that many staff and working hours put me into the next category type of business that was allowed to operate from home within our local council and to get approval for that category would have cost a lot more than I was willing in to invest in a decision that was ultimately up to the same neighbours making complaints. It was time to spread our wings.

Seriously, who the hell did I think I was… at the start of a very uncertain pandemic telling my team that we are going big or going home… my gracious in-laws kindly lent us the money we needed to get it done as quickly as possible. One thing I am so grateful for is the fact that I have been surrounded by so much support on this journey and so many people believe in what I was building.

Don’t get me wrong, none of this up to this point has been easy, I’ve put my entire soul into being good at what I do, evolving, learning, and invested into an amazing business mentor whom after 5 years I still work closely with, trust and run to for advice frequently. But it was because of the tools that I have learnt through this I had the confidence to step into this next stage of my journey.

We found a commercial space not far from my home and were extremely lucky that between the 3 of us girls that all our husbands were handy trades and all 3 off them were on reduced hours due to Covid. So much blood (literally), sweat and tears from these men but they pulled off my vision in 17 days. While my girls continued working at home to ensure we had as smooth as possible transition for our clients.

Mother’s Day 2020 The Hair and Body Lab 2.0 was ready to go. We settled right in and were very fortunate to experience growth in a time that so many others were struggling, though through Covid it wasn’t easy I was definitely very lucky to be living in South Australia and didn’t have to experience lengthy lockdowns.

With our first year at the new shop, we hired our next 2 employees Aimee and Jamie ,and I quickly realised that managing this many people was a whole new ball game. I’ve always strived to be the best boss I can be I like to think my girls would tell you that I’m flexible and fair, that I’m generous.

Understanding and try and come from a place of love in every interaction. I had learnt a lot in my career how to treat people and how to not treat people and I vowed very early on that my staff will never experience some of situations that I faced as an employee.

My team is the most important aspect of my business to me, without them we don’t have what we’ve created. I’ve learnt a lot about people, personalities, how to have respectful hard conversations and how women in this industry can support one another instead of tear one another apart.

Growing a team has been a whole journey in its own right.

What has been your biggest challenge you have faced in business so far?

In 2021 we had grown our team to 10 and an opportunity presented to open a second location. Exciting times! The challenge presented when we finally opened the new location and split our team, what was meant to be an exciting venture created cracks in our systems and created a divide that I’ve never seen in my salon culture before. Within 3 months it took a serious toll on me and my team and I’m certain our clients would have felt it to.

The vibe we have worked so hard to create was gone. It took some very honest and not so easy conversations and a bucket load of accountability, but I knew the best thing to do was to sell it and bring my focus back to one salon and invest my energy into repairing my team culture.

It wasn’t an easy thing to decide. I could have felt like a failure and felt embarrassed for selling after such a short time and for a moment I did have those feelings. But instead, I chose to ignore my inner critic and the things being spread by other industry peers about “my business failing” and instead be proud of myself for recognising what’s not working for me, my business, my team, or my clients.

I’ve handled it with integrity and honesty which are two of our core values in the salon, two values which have gone a long way in building relationships with our clients.

What would you say are the core values or philosophies which define your business brand?

Our team came together very early on and established our core values together… we did it this way because I want my team to come to the salon and work for what’s important to them not what I’m telling them in only important to me.

Passion, Kindness, Compassion, Integrity, Honesty, Teamwork, Respect, Accountability, Consistency and Shared Vision are our values.

I’m proud to say my team and I incorporate these values into every interaction with our clients. Throughout our circle of service our clients experience our stylists being authentic and striving to be the best they can be due to our values that they work towards daily. Our salon offers a safe space for women to come as they are, no judgment, just a place where they can come and feel loved and heard and leave feeling more confident and beautiful.

We have a very heavy emphasis on building relationships with our clients, after all it’s not just a hair appointment to most of them, it’s an energy exchange, a place they can let go of their daily stresses for a while, time spent with someone they trust to make them feel a bit better than they did before they came in. We are very fortunate to be able to bring joy to someone’s life this way.

As for my philosophy… Kindness goes a long way.

No matter how good you are at your job you cannot please everybody 100% of the time. I’ve always held such a welcoming and safe space for our clients to express how they feel. If they are not 100% happy with their service they are always met with kindness, understanding and compassion. I’ve been able to retain many clients who may not have always been 100% satisfied on their first visit purely from the way we choose to interact with them.

My team is well trained to let go of any ego and to really tune in and listen to their client’s needs.

Share with us your philosophies around staff selection and development.

You can teach skill, but you can’t teach a personality. I’ve always selected my team members based on how well I think they will gel with the team and how naturally they will build relationships with their co-workers and our clientele. For the most part that has served me pretty well.

Finding staff in our current climate I’m sure any salon owner would agree Is difficult right now. I do believe the best way at the moment is to grow your own…hire the babies and teach them your way. Treat them so well they don’t ever want to leave and appreciate them for what they bring to your business.

My team are offered a flexible roster, weekends off, above award wages, incentive programs, and access to extensive education. They are often showered with praise and whatever else I can offer them to show my appreciation and love for them.

We invest a lot of time into the growth of our team. We offer brand education, regular in salon education, guest artists in salon and a consistent apprentice training program. We have levels of growth, junior stylist, emerging styling and senior stylist and each level has certain benchmarks they must hit in order to move onto the next level.

We have a detailed induction program to ensure expectations are clear and form the start and allows for open communication from day one.

How do you develop your team to help them be the best they can be?

With regular one on one development meetings, weekly team meetings and daily morning huddles.

We keep open communication with each member of our team, my manager Aimee and I are always available to answer any questions and provide guidance on a daily basis.

Our one-on-one development meetings are usually a 30/40 minute catch up where we start with a check in, both professionally and personally, we talk mental health, issues that need addressing and we celebrate wins no matter how big or small... We set goals and establish plans on how we can achieve them by breaking team into small achievable steps. And we hold them accountable for these goals with regular check ins.

Our weekly team meetings are a 30 minute catch up on a Monday morning where we communicate all things happening in the salon that week. Any changes they need to be aware of, we assess and reflect on our financial goals and celebrate any wins our team or individuals have had. Some weeks when we don’t have a lot to get through, we use this as a little team bonding time.

What’s your advice to others who aspire to build an impactful brand?

Establish your values and live authentically by them. Trust your vision, get very clear on who your ideal client is and market to them as they will become your bread and butter. Invest in high quality branding and make sure everything looks professional and cohesive. Invest in a business mentor or coach or even group coaching. Learn from others, our industry peers are a wealth of knowledge and it’s not always the big guys. Support local small businesses whose values align with yours and build a network of support. And lastly make sure your marketing shows who you are. Clients want to connect with people not just pretty pictures of hair. Bring your sparkle and let your audience know who you are.

What has been your greatest lesson or piece of advice along your business journey?

Two things I’ve learned that I think everyone should know is…

Make sure you slow down to appreciate your success.

Running a business is a 24/7 job no matter how big or small your salon is. Sometimes it’s easy to consume yourself in all the things that need to be done that you forget to nurture yourself. You have incredible strength and drive to be handle this gig… make your take time to celebrate yourself for that. Make time each week for reflection.

And secondly, Know your numbers. You should know what it costs to run your salon per week, per day, per hour, per minute. It makes it very easy to establish your financial goals, ability to spend on stock, when to implement a price increase, what areas to invest into your business etc.

If you don’t know this information already, I encourage you to make this a priority asap. “A goal without a plan is just a dream”.

What’s on the agenda for the future.

Integrating energy healing practices in our services and salon space. Working on healing my own energy has made me stronger and more confident and capable of loving myself for exactly who I am. I would love to be able to share this with my clients, my peers, and my team by offering techniques that I am capable of doing myself as well as collaborating with other like-minded practitioners.

Education for salon owners and apprentices. I believe every employee and apprentice has the right to come to work and be appreciated and praised for their efforts, these days paying their wages is not enough.

So many salons are doing amazing things in this area, but it makes me sad to hear how sometimes this is not the case and how poorly some people are treated and working in such negative environments. I would love to shine light on this by offering insight to how we have built a strong culture in our salon that my team and I are really proud of. One that clients comment on, and one that we are recognised in our industry for.