The Stylist’s Toolbox.com

Recently, I sent out a short survey asking about your life in the salon. (Thank you so much to everyone who responded!) I was blown away by what you told me and after a little soul searching, I think I owe you an apology, because clearly I have been getting it wrong.

A little background on me…

I spent nearly 20 years working in the salon industry as a stylist, booth renter and as a distributor’s sales consultant, calling on salons and selling shampoo and hair color. I worked for a great distributor that sold Redken, Matrix, Aquage, Pureology, American Crew and Kenra products. My clients were chains and independent salons, and I took care of more than 300 stylists, owners, nail techs and estheticians.  I dutifully talked the party line and sold my clients the new products, color lines and show tickets for more than a decade.

The distributor I worked for always said that the last thing you guys need is another bottle of shampoo and encouraged us to work with you to put systems in place to help you grow your business.

But near the end of my time at the distributorship, I began to suspect that the things we were telling you about how to run a profitable salon business had not kept up with the times. We’ve been telling you the same things for 20 years and most of the conventional advice in the salon industry is based around things that (used to) work in commission salons. But now that the vast majority of salons are either booth rental or chains, the rules of engagement are completely different.