What is a Salon Coach and Why do I need one?
The Author: Lisa Houser
In the days where you can learn anything and everything online and you tube, why in the world do you need to pay someone to tell you how to do your job in the salon and spa industry? Not to mention you already went to school, got a license and are now a PROFESSIONAL.
First things first. What is a Coach?
Well, it is a person who is hopefully educated in the industry and in business. They are hired and paid to set the record straight and keep you accountable to do the work that is necessary to achieve the goals you want to achieve. Don’t know what those goals are? It’s ok most people don’t and they will help ask the questions to help you discover what it is that you want. It is much like the coach you had in high school and in sports (hopefully with less yelling). They tell you what the next move should be and help you train for success.
Why do you need one?
Everyone needs a partner in achieving goals, someone to talk to, someone not in your family who gets it, someone who has been there and done that and that and that too. They are impartial on many levels. They will talk to you with the cold hard facts and call you out on your BS.
I sat down with one of the Top Salon, Stylist and Manager coaches in the industry. Amy Carter, founder of Empowering You Consulting has proven results including herself as Top 200 salon owner, producing over $1 million per year and not behind the chair. I caught up with her at Fashion Focus Hair show in Bellevue Washington after one of her packed classes.
Here is what Amy Carter had to say:
What is the biggest road block for a stylist in achieving a great living?
Most people feel their self-worth and confidence is related to their net worth. You have to examine your business behind the chair and see what is missing, there is road blocks in everything, from not having the passion for your career, to not knowing how to make money at this. They don’t typically teach you HOW to make money in cosmetology school, so you must find the right education to show you how to make the paycheck you want. Lack of Knowledge is the biggest road block.
How do you know you need a coach? Why do you need a coach?
When you realize you got yourself where you are with what you knew, and you want to take yourself to the next level, but you don’t know how to get there. You don’t know what you don’t know but you do know there are successful salons and stylists out there and you want that too.
What can you expect from coaching?
To be challenged and pushed out of your comfort zone. They help you find your missing ingredients and create the solutions to them.
How much value can a coach bring personally and financially?
It is endless. We want to push you further then you think it is possible. What ever you dream of, we will help push you times ten.
What would you have wanted to learn from a coach or mentor that you feel would have accelerated your success?
I was fortunate to find a consultant to help guide me, but if I found the information sooner maybe I wouldn’t have bought a failing business, I would have known what to look for, examine the books better. I would have had different eyes with experience look at the business, because our industry is so different than any other industry.
Is coaching only for owners of the salon?
No. Everyone needs a coach. From the front desk learning how to be a profit center where they can bring in money and not just cost the salon. Service providers to learn how to make money effectively behind the chair. Managers because they are the front line between guests, service providers and owners. If you are within the walls of a salon you need a coach, but only if you are up for a big game. It is not for you if you want to sit on the sidelines waiting for something to happen and like complaining in the back room or staring at your phone.
What is one of the obstacles you come across in coaching?
The people who don’t want to do the work. The fear of failing. You must be willing to be uncomfortable and be pushed outside of the fear. People do not want to do anything different and have excuses. Coaching is about pushing you outside of what you think is possible. Always be in the learning mode and a student for life, push yourself. What is the next version of you that you want to create. You should upgrade you as much as you upgrade your cell phone.
As a stylist for 33 years and owner for 14 yrs. I can honestly say I was not serious about my business or considered myself a business person until I found a coach. I spent 8 years doing it wrong and 6 years trying to make it right. I can tell you it changed my life and business on so many levels, but it is not easy. I cried many nights, alone, with my husband, and even in front of a room full of owners at a 2 day class with Amy (I mean ugly cry, hyper ventilating and snot faced). I promise you every time I did it got that obstacle out of my way to see the light. It is not easy but nothing worth while is.
There are quite a few coaches, consultants, systems and classes out there. Do your homework, ask for references, make sure they have done it themselves. It’s important to find a personality that is a good fit because you will spend a lot of time and get really real and honest with them. They will read between your excuses and your financials.
When I got serious and decided there was more to this industry and I wanted to be that 1% that grosses over $1 million, change the industry, show people that this is not a fall back starving artist job, that I can change the lives of my team, so they can live their dream. I looked for someone who has achieved what I wanted, I got a coach, I got held accountable, I got Amy. Now. I am on my way to the million, named top 200 in the nation for 3 years, best in my county, I have kick ass team that is living the dream, buying houses and cars working less then 35 hours per week all with no drama.
WHEN YOU ARE READY TO GET SERIOUS GET A COACH!