Lessons Learnt By Jenni Tarrant

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LESSONS LEARNT

BY JENNI TARRANT

Hi everyone! My name is Jenni Tarrant and I am the owner of Bond Hair Religion in Canberra. As a hairdresser of 37 years and a salon owner for 17 years, I understand the incredible joy we get from being part of this amazing industry, and I understand the difficulties that we also face day-to-day.

As a business owner, it has been a massive learning curve and has resulted in some significant insight into what it is like as an employee and a boss. When I was considering a topic you would be interested in reading, I thought I would share lessons from my own greatest hurdles.

I would say that staying motivated in our salons, especially when we face difficult times both personally and professionally, is one of the biggest challenges. The stress from constantly keeping everyone motivated, churning through admin, focussing on keeping clients happy, constantly educating ourselves, and trying to have consistency when everything can change in a day, results in becoming unmotivated, tired, and disconnected. One of the lessons I have learned over the past 17 years is that if I feel this way, so will my team. The saying, ‘The fish rots from the head down” is 100% true.

The key to staying motivated as an employee or business owner is to reconnect with WHY you chose the career you have, or the two careers if you are on the floor and running a business. To stay connected and motivated, I consider my top three reminders:

DIRECTION: Am I going in my chosen direction?

When we started in hairdressing/owning a business we had a story in our heads, our dream. It may have changed over time but the core of what we really wanted to feel, see and be, is still there. If you close your eyes and take yourself back to the day you started, what was the feeling? What did your future look like? If you still have the same feelings and are living your dream, then you are following your direction. If the present and your dream are out of alignment, then the opposite is true. When I am objectively looking at my direction and it is lacking, I look my choices to change that direction. It is 100% up to you. If you are unhappy then make the choice to be the person you aspired to all those years ago. Decide to make a plan to realign yourself in that moment. Remember, every one of us stuffs up, makes mistakes, gets angry, frustrated, and does the wrong thing. That is how we learn and gain ‘experience’. It’s choosing to accept it, take responsibility for the part you played in it, and connect with your vision from that first day.

JOY: What brings me joy?

Am I feeling joyful right now? For me, owning a business from that first day was about having a safe space for my team, a community, more than just a business. Always growing and moving forward, never being a follower, always being a leader. Am I doing that 17 years later? Hell, yes I am! Have I f@#ked up over and over? You betcha, and has that led to me losing all sense of my joy? 100%. When this happens I go back to my foundational choices and consider how I can change what I have done to lose my joy. I reset, make the decision, and the very next moment I get back on track.

NOW: Am I living in today?

It is so easy to live in past mistakes and waste time worrying about tomorrow when we can be motivated and feel joy NOW. Wake up and decide to live your initial vision we saw on our first day. Choosing to be focused on your foundational values makes decisions so much easier and avoids overwhelm. Be in today, that’s all - just today. See how you feel. This will keep you motivated, and you will find your passion and inspiration again.

I hope this brings some insight into how to find your personal motivation and/or those in your team. Remember, no one can make you feel anything you don’t choose to feel, it’s up to you.

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RULE NUMBER 1, BE A NUMBER 1.

BY GARY LATHAM

So, you’re just about to start your own business or manage one and you want to be a top boss. The first thing you need to remember, forever, is what you know now. It’s priceless. What it’s like to be an employee. Ironically, you’ve probably spent your last few years as an employee thinking about what it’s like to be a boss, what you would do different, better etc. Now you are in the big chair it’s time to think about what it’s like being an employee. Amongst all the new pressures and responsibilities, it’s easy to forget after a year or two what it’s like to be an employee. Remember what your needs are now, rewards, attention, freedom, support, guidance, trust.

When Jayne and I opened our shop towards the end of last century (I love saying that it makes it sound so long ago) we had two simple guidelines, to have a salon we would like to visit as a client and one we would like to work in. Quite basic and obvious really, but it has served us well. Our staff retention, touch wood, is pretty damn good. In our line of work good staff are hard to find so it’s a key to success. The best way to keep clients is to keep staff. As an employee I was very lucky to have a few great bosses who taught me a lot. The last one set up an environment that I knew I would only ever leave to changed careers or work for myself. I’ve always wanted my staff to feel the same.

Pride.

More important than what they actually do to most people, is what they tell people they do and what reaction they get. If your staff are at a party on the weekend and they get asked “what do you do?” and their answer falls flat, don’t expect to turn up to work on Monday morning with bells on.

Belonging.

To be part of something. Everybody wants to be special. Only once or twice have we ever employed someone with clients. The bulk of our staff have either come straight from school or from interstate or overseas. I think this has been an integral part in creating the family feel at Wild Life.

Enjoyment.

Many do, but why would you do a job you don’t like? We spend over 2000 hours a year at or travelling to work so make it a place you want to be.

Valued.

Financially staff aren’t going to stick around if they feel they are just working to feather your nest. Don’t be greedy. Having said that for both staff and clients I’ve always thought money doesn’t become an issue until they are not happy.

Respect and trust. Growth.

You’ve managed to grow your career to a level of a salon owner, don’t forget your staff want to progress as well. Have a plan for each one and know where they want to go. Help them and it will help you.

Distractions.

You can’t expect full time focus. If workers just thought about work all day they would go mad. Goals, holidays, special events and rewards keep them focussed but not suffocated.

Flexibility.

I come from a hospitality background, so I am used to dealing with casual staff. I say staff can have what they want if I get what I want. The flexible workforce was already here but Covid has certainly locked it in.

My list may look attractive to staff but impossible to managers/owners. Of course, you won’t be able to give every employee such a wish list, but the good ones deserve it and it will only make them better. If you think they don’t deserve it, then maybe they don’t deserve you.

So boss, be good to your employees, after all the most important person you will ever employ is yourself.

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YOU CAN’T FAKE IT TILL YOU MAKE IT

BY PAUL FRASCA

It’s fair to say that we’re in an industry where it’s easy to get caught up in the magic - the hair and beauty biz sells the hope of transformation, self-improvement and inclusivity, and on the most part, it really delivers. But given all that’s happened in the last 12 months and the growing number of conscious consumers, I’ve started thinking about how we ‘sell sustainability’ in our businesses… and do we deliver?

Let’s agree that the ‘green-washing’ movement has (finally!) moved out. When eco was introduced to the mainstream, it was kind of a trend; a label spruiking ‘natural’, which was enough to propel your business into the ethical category and satisfy the new eco-consumer. But there was rarely an actual eco-impact in that bottle; it was full of empty promises.

We’ve come a long way since then, though. Young Aussies are living the consequences from past actions and now they actually care about what’s behind the label - they’re passionate, informed and armed with the power of a dollar they won’t give up easily.

I’m normally a big fan of ‘fake it till you make it’ (words to live by when you’re trying to get a startup taken seriously), but when it comes to adding sustainability practices or statements into your business, this MO needs to go in the bin.

And with the help of the recent Junkee Media 2020 Youth Research report, I’m going to show you why.

FACT: 70% of young people really give a sh*t about Sustainability and the Environment

Second only to mental health and coming in above gender equality. It’s one of the big, profound issues of our time, and we can no longer pretend it’s just the hippies who care.

FACT: 89% are taking environmental action in their own lives

They’re reducing the amount of fast fashion they buy, actively avoiding single-use products, increasing their reusables collection and even reducing their meat consumption - the youth market is not just aware they now have environmental choices, they’re making them. You know what else? 51% said their environmental actions had not changed because of COVID-19. I think Junkee summed it up best: “It’s a passion so deep that not even a global pandemic could stop them.”

FACT: 79% are willing to sacrifice chemicalbased beauty treatments to help the environment

You can only work with what you have available to you, I completely understand. But are you researching your suppliers’ sustainability practices like a young Aussie is researching yours? It’s true that the hair and beauty industry has a long way to go to provide more sustainable product options (it’s a single-use wasteland!), but there are incredible companies out there innovating and offering solutions - even if they’re small ones for now. Think biodegradable, compostable, recycled, recyclable, machine washable, FSC certified (for paper products), and certified organic.

environmentally-friendly” (see above facts 1, 2 and 3).

FACT: 56% say the most important quality in a brand is acting ethically/with integrity (and 33% say it’s giving back to the community)

Now that I’ve put the hard word on about your product choices, I’m sorry to say, but stocking ecofriendly haircare is just not enough anymore. This is where faking it won’t just hurt your client’s feelings, it could eventually really hurt your bottom line. Offering a trend-based ‘green’ statement, whacking up a social media post claiming your virtual support for a cause, or introducing a practice you can’t explain end-toend is eventually going to catch you out.

Believing what you’re implementing and understanding it start to finish, creating a staff culture that accepts and advocates this, and visibly acting upon these practices in full view of your clients is the only way to satisfy (and grow!) this important segment in your business. At Sustainable Salons, we’re passionate about helping our salon members successfully introduce sustainable practices through an awesome induction, ongoing education and transparency, fun and meaningful engagement opportunities, and a super simple recycling and community benefits system that your clients can actually touch and feel, and see you do.

And nothing is more real than that.