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Episode 6 Summary:
On this episode of Hair Biz Radio Mikey and Zakiyrah speak with Jewels Jones, a natural hair expert with over eight years of experience in the hair industry. Jewels talk about all the information you need to know as a new stylist. Jewels is also a freelance writer for Private Label Extensions.
Show Notes:
- Be sure to go back to episode 5 to get details about the Hair Biz Radio giveaway.
- Jewels’ background:
- She got her start senior year of college doing other students hair.
- Graduated and immediately enrolled in beauty school.
- Started working in the salon environment in 2010.
- Fell in love with natural hair and now works with curl definition.
- Her specialty is curl training.
- Her brand is Embrace Me Naturally.
- Vegan products catered to natural hair.
- The difference between natural hair extension types
- People think about 4C as a tight unmanageable hair type.
- People tend to do more weaves on this type of hair.
- When it comes to textures and extensions, they need to find the kind that’s the most like their hair in its natural curly state.
- 4C clip-ins are a good choice to add volume.
- Why clip-ins instead of a sew-in?
- Because people with natural hair need to wash it more often and can take clip-ins out.
- Clip-ins are a great way to take care of your hair and not forget about it.
- What is hair porosity?
- The ability that your hair has to bring in water and then retain it.
- If your hair doesn’t bring in water easily, you have low porosity. If your hair brings in water easily, you have high porosity hair.
- One way to check your porosity is to spray hair with a water bottle. If the water sits on your hair, then you have low porosity.
- How to maintain healthy hair if you wear hair extensions?
- The main thing is cleaning your hair, shampooing every two weeks.
- Make sure your braids and scalp are dry after shampooing.
- If you allow your braids to air dry over 8 hours or longer, bacteria can be introduced.
- Booth rent is not ideal when you’re starting off because you don’t know where your next money is coming from.
- Jewels have always been a commission based stylest when working for someone else.
- She began at an all Caucasian salon.
- She learned a lot about cuts, coloring and customer service.
- Customer service downfalls in salons:
- Double or triple booking is not a good idea.
- Not providing education – a better way is to consult for the first 10-15 minutes.
- Not having the right intentions – don’t just do it for the money.
- If you don’t do it for the right reason, you’ll always have a revolving door of clients.
- Jewels wanted to take the leap into getting into her own space because she realized she was overworked and she couldn’t be a salon manager and stylist.
- Speaking and teaching about curl training and natural hair theory is her passion.
- Tying attention to detail and her self-doubt together caused her to spend countless hours on her business plan.
- It took her more than a month to create a business plan.
- She pays weekly rent to be in salon suites.
- You get the space and some equipment already inside.
- What do you need to bring into salon suite?
- Products you want to use
- Decorations – personalize your space according to your brand.
- A scheduling system, checkout system, etc.
- Cleaning supplies and other stock.
- Jewels had one stylist who she trusts and brought her in after she was at the salon for a year.
- Point of Sale (POS) system she recommends:
- She uses Chase Bank to do transactions.
- She likes all of her money to be in one place.
- When you do transactions with your scheduling company, they take a large percentage of money.
- How did Jewels brand herself, her salon and her product?
- She just said she wanted her clients to be natural and embrace it.
- She went to someone to get her logo done.
- Things kind of fell in her lap, that’s how she knows this is her calling.
- The struggle of starting a product line is:
- Trust and money.
- She started with one company and wanted to change some ingredients.
- She didn’t trust the customer service and went with another company that gave her the full run-down.
- Search product private labels, but disclose that you’re using a private label.
- The vegan products Jewels uses are vegan and from a private label.
- Why vegan products?
- She loves vegetable proteins.
- She’s trying to define what’s already there.
- She wants to stick with a light, lasting product.
- Why did Jewels have to move to bigger spaces?
- She couldn’t take new clients anymore, so she knew she needed to have a bigger space so she could continue to take new clients and bring in help.
- All of Jewels’ booking is done online.
- She chooses to book online because a lot gets lost over the phone.
- She needs people to read her policy, pricing, and duration of the service.
- Jewels believe in referrals; she doesn’t just want anybody as her client.
- She likes to know who her clients are and for them to know who she is.
- Jewels use Vegaro for salon and spa booking.
- Vegaro Costs $25 per month and another $10 per each additional stylist.
- When people copy your branding, they have to wait for you to make a move. So you’re always going to be ahead.
- Jewels use Wix for her website.
- Mikey says to use WordPress for anything e-commerce.
- Jewels’ Marketing Plan
- Email marketing is a big focus.
- Jewels uses YouTube and wants to start doing regular videos.
- People want to see your vlog.
- Next years priority will shift more to keeping up with social media and being the face of her brand.
- Look at a low-cost CRM system to take care of customer service. Use a ticketing and support system.
- Tips for new stylists:
- Education.
- The industry is evolving daily, keep taking classes.
- Be intentional with and treat your clients well.
- Brand your business.
- Even if you’re an employee at a business, treat your job like you’re the owner.
- You will bring value to the business.
- It will open up a lot of doors.
Tweetable Quotes:
“When you walk into a salon, the experience is very important.”
“When people copy your branding, they have to wait for you to make a move. So you’re always going to be ahead.”
Resources Mentioned:
Hairbizradio.com – Podcast website
Dropship Bundles– Private Label Extensions sister site
Private Label Extensions – Wholesale Hair Extension supplier
Embrace Me Naturally – Jewels’ product line
Chase Bank – Bank you can choose to do your POS through
Vagaro – The booking service Jewels uses
Wordpress – Great platform to build your website on
Mailchimp – Email automation provider
GrooveHQ.com– Customer Relationship Management System
Find Jewels on Instagram: @embracemenaturally
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