UNAPOLOGETICALLY WAK

By Louise May

WAK The Salon started as a home-based salon business in 2013 and partners Wade Ambler and Karl Fjeseth, have since built the WAK Brand to a 240sqm commercial salon with 14 stations and a team of 8. This powerhouse duo have a diverse background encompassing all things hair and combined represent a story made for success.

Wade has worked all over the world from Newcastle to New York. Trained by the best, he started his hair and makeup career in 2004 and has competed nationally and internationally, receiving accolades such as IHS Australian Hairdresser of the Year and two times oceanic grand master. With over 120 trophies and accolades Wade is one of the most awarded hairdressers in Australia expanding his portfolio and experience by working for some of Australia’s biggest brands and working backstage with celebrities such as Lady Gaga, David Guetta and Kelly Rowland.

WADE AMBLER

Karl originally from Adelaide, moved to NSW in 2010 to study makeup artistry and soon after completing his course he moved to Sydney to build his book, working with big Australian brands. Karl’s passion is colour and is an expert in colour correction; a maestro in high end beauty photography, where his work has been published in magazines such as Cosmo, Grazia & Vogue Italia. In 2011 Karl started hairdressing at one of Sydney’s high end day spa’s and progressed to opening up shop in Newcastle’s CBD.

KARL FJESETH

Wade never wanted to open a salon as he was always pretty scared about the business side of things. He had a creative mind and an eye for marketing but doubted he had all it took to run a successful business. Karl , however, is very business minded and a problem solver; the one who crunches the numbers and keeps the salon going on the back end, so collectively they make an awesome partnership.

Wade says…”We have always believed that the consistency of our branding and social media is a huge reason as to why the business has been so successful, and posting quality content is what has led our brand to grow our Instagram following to over 20k followers. Social media is so important to any business, but especially in our industry, as you don’t want to be left behind. It’s hard to keep up with the trends and where fashion is heading, but we found that most of our inspiration comes from our own backyard, working with a young team will always keep you on your toes, but we think it is very important to listen to the team and what our clients are loving, which is why we decided to constantly expand our retail offerings in salon. 2020 was hard for our industry, and it made us realise that social media and moving and expanding the business online was what we needed to be able to survive. We were posting on Instagram to sell retail, to be able to pay our rent and keep our space and realised a ‘niche’ of what our clients were asking for, which was “on trend” Hair Accessories, which we were selling hundreds of a month in salon.”

Launching www.gimmemorehairstore.com during the most recent lockdown, after years or sourcing hundreds of types of hair accessories to meet their clients wants and needs, the concept of this additional business venture was to simplify the process of salons and other businesses, to sell on trend Hair Accessories for an affordable price with high profit margins.

“As branding is very important to us,” says Wade, “we have professional images available of all our accessories to download by link, so it makes it easy for our stockist to advertise on their social platforms. This concept has taken off, and to date we have over 30 salon stockists all over Australia. Selling online gives our team and stockists job stability and helps us in times like recently when online sales driven by social media and branding is what solely helped our business survive through the last 2 years.

With their brand definitely going from strength to strength, Hair Biz Editor Louise May spent some time with Wade and Karl to learn more about their story.

Share with us some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the journey and how you overcame these, what’s the most challenging aspect?

We have dealt with a multitude of things from staff walk outs to our house burning down, and what we have learnt after facing these things that have happened, is you need to focus through the fatigue and disappointment and really knuckle down and think about what you really want and how you are going to achieve it.

Who were your industry heroes in your early years and who inspires you today?

When I was younger (says Wade) my number one inspiration was the king of hair Vidal Sassoon. His ability to think outside the box and push the envelope always has and always will inspire me. Nowadays, I’m so inspired by my peers and the way they approach things, especially in the social media world. I admire Natalie Anne, Mia De Vries from Secret Fox Education and Nicole Healy AKA Melbourne hair blogger. Their passion for the industry and ability to adapt to change is what I strive for, and although Karl and I are both men in business, there is something super inspiring about seeing women like this, conquering, and climbing in our ever-changing industry.

What do you enjoy most about your business, team, or clients?

Our favourite thing about our salon Is how different our clients and staff are, everyone has their own personality and vibe and I really think our salon encourages that.

Why do you feel your partnership works so well?

Our partnership works so well, because we are so different, which is definitely a benefit in our partnership. We play to our strengths, and work hard on what we’re good at, and those things we are not good at, we outsource. It definitely has its hard moments, but we are so proud of what we have built in such a short time.

What would you say are the core values which define your business and leadership style?

We always love to acknowledge hard work, buy them gifts, as well as little treats sporadically to show them how much we appreciate them

Approachability is super important, we think everyone finds it a bit difficult with the hierarchy between boss and staff, but we like to think that our team feel comfortable talking to us about anything, and we are always happy to help in any way we can. Everyone is on a different journey and mental health is something that people don’t talk about. Both Karl and I struggle with mental health, and to expect our staff not to have the same struggles is unrealistic. Our team have gone through a multitude of difficult things, whether it be breakups, losing family members or friends, as well as many other things, and it’s about being compassionate and understanding that sometimes people just need an ear to listen and someone to help them out, because even though we are their boss, in the end we are all humans, and all have struggles.

How do you find, keep, and grow high performing staff?

We believe that above all else, that personality is paramount. You can teach anyone skills, but you can’t change their personality. Our team is so important to us, and we always pay attention when hiring new staff, if the team culture and dynamic changes in a negative way we make sure that we address it immediately. Our team are like our family, and it’s hard to have those boundaries between being close, but also being a boss... Compassion is so important.

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

Education is key! we have one on one trainers, as well as a multitude of external education available to our staff, which is all covered by us, because you’re only as good as your team. We pay attention and know that certain staff are more interested in different areas, and we like to nurture that.

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

Try to avoid finance or credit, and don’t live outside your means. We have never had an account with any company, or for anything business related. Our first salon fit out was under 10k of our own money, and even our fit out and expansion which was over 200k we also saved for this, and pay for everything when it happens, even down to our stock. We pay as we go, we have always tried to keep a retainer, just in case.

www.gimmemorehairstore.com

What advice would you give others who dream of building an impactful brand?

SOCIAL MEDIA, SOCIAL MEDIA, SOCIAL MEDIA! We have tried radio advertising, print advertising, you name it… but investing time and education into learning the ins and outs of social media, is what has taken our brand from two guys wanting to open a little salon, to be able to not have to answer to anybody, to now being one of the most soughtafter salons in our area, with the highest Instagram following in our city!

What’s on the agenda for the future?

We are all about growth. But growth to us is not about opening more salons or having a bigger team, it’s about utilising what you have in front of you and figuring out how to expand on it in more ways than one. We work to live, that’s why building multiple streams of income through our brand is the approach that we are taking.