Author: Dev Rice

How long have you been in professional beauty and what brought you here?

I have been in industry for 21 years. I started out by working with a marketing company that helped service oriented businesses increase client volume. I loved the concept and opened my own company with a focus on salon and spa businesses. This was a natural fit for me as I grew up around the business and would always be found cleaning the shop on Sundays. I still have nightmares of all of the hair I swept. I travelled our country for almost a decade before being given an opportunity to become a business coach and trainer. I’ve spent the last 12 years supporting hundreds of salons as a coach and have trained thousands around the globe. I’m proud to help people in our industry run a better business. Let’s face it; each of us has strengths and challenges. When I ran my own company my challenge was money management and training my team. These two areas cost me just about everything. I lost staff and went through bankruptcy and had to rebuild from scratch. It was at that time that I met the company I would go on to represent. They helped me turn myself around and when they offered me a chance to join them it was a no brainer for me. Their impact resonated so powerfully for me that I saw my life path: supporting salon professionals to run effective and profitable businesses. I haven’t looked back.

When Milady acquired our company seven years ago, it made an even greater impact. I now work with a brilliant group of people that are committed to make a lasting impact on our industry. We have created and offer a lifelong learning path for salon and spa professionals to have resources, solutions and education right at their fingertips. I get to learn something new each day and be on the innovative front lines of helping our industry evolve.

What’s so great about professional beauty and why?

Wow! So much, but I will drill it down to this: A stylist may be the only person who actually lays a hand on that client in their life other than their doctor. That is highly impactful. We make a difference, a profound one. This industry also offers people so many different career paths and creative outlets. It’s fun to watch this industry evolve and work with such a great group of passionate and brilliant people.

What one trait do all successfully awesome stylists share?

An unwavering commitment to consistent education and practice! The best always talk about their curiosity to learn more and how much hard work they put into the basics.

What do you do anyway?

Many things. When needed, I provide coaching support to salons that need help with specific issues in their business. I keep my eye on the pulse of what is happening in the industry which helps me to develop content for our Milady Education Network (www.miladyednet.com) that is relevant to beauty professionals. I develop and record webinars, write articles, and blogs. I also serve as a subject matter expert and help insure that the products we develop for salon professionals help them achieve results. I also deliver trainings in the industry whether in person or via webinars.

What do you love about your job?

I love making a difference for people in our industry. That’s always been the driver for me. I also love that I continue to learn and grow while accomplishing personal and company goals. I love the team I get to work with each day and the fun we have. It’s important to surround yourself with people you can learn from, contribute to, and make a difference with. That energy is infectious and leads to creativity, innovation and great results!

What does Stephen’s typical day look like?

Research, writing, developing, building webinars, editing, meetings, more research, more writing and developing, learning and on it goes. J

You get to interview tons of awesome hairdressers… very #HairNerd of you… Who are some of the artists who have blown you away?

I’ve interviewed and had the pleasure to collaborate with Jake Thompson. I enjoyed Jake’s passion and humility. He is a super creative force of nature and is a big supporter of others and that made working with him the more fun. I also recently interviewed my good friend Geno Stampora. He’s always inspiring, upbeat and incredibly passionate!

NAHA 25 is upon us and we hear you are judging Salon MBA…

Yes, I am proud and honored to judge this important category. I have judged the Salon Masters of Business category since its inception in 2010. This is my fifth year participating and I see it as a huge responsibility. My fellow judges and I have an opportunity to shine an important light on salons that run a great business. Owning and operating a successful and profitable business is a creative art form in and of itself so having the ability to acknowledge those businesses that do it right is inspiring to me.

What are a few things everyone should know about Milady?

Milady is all about education, that’s who we are, and we’re proud to be front and center of over 150,000 future professionals each and every year as they begin their journey. By providing foundational education while in school, and then helping with State Board preparation, we’re then able to take it one step further and be that “constant educational support” as technicians and owners establish a long-term career that requires current and relevant training that’s geared specifically towards their new role as a business professional. When we created the Milady Education Network (miladyednet.com) we wanted to provide cost-effective online resources, as well as state-approved continuing education courses, to ensure every single member of the beauty and wellness community has access to education no matter the stage of their career they’re in or what their immediate needs are. From a technical training standpoint, we’re most excited about new partnerships we’ve established with some of the best talent in the industry, featuring them in training videos that can be viewed by anyone at any time. We ultimately believe that success comes with hard work, and hopefully we’re doing our part to make achieving that success a reality.

I knew I was a Hair Nerd when…

I began to teach beauty professionals the importance of learning how to track their sales numbers and follow a budget. Along the way I came up with an analogy that if you loved that last color you applied this week and how it made you and the client feel then you must love math because you wouldn’t be able to apply that color without the proper specs, which, of course are fractions and measurements….math! This process of using exacting measures and adding your own creative eye and passion makes for a great service experience for the client. If a beauty professional takes the same approach to learning how to study their profit and loss statements or look at the story their average service or retail tickets are telling them then pathways would open up to them, providing a more easeful learning experience, curiosity and, most importantly, making business decisions based on the facts in front of them rather than feelings and emotion. How very NERD of me, huh?

Stephen Gomez