June - Stylist and Salon Newspapers

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Design Your Dream Career and Be in Charge of Your Own Destiny “What I’d like to share with beauty professionals is that you really can design your own dream career.” “Taking the most important step is often the hardest -- simply believing that you can do it,” declared Lauren Gartland. “Sometimes our biggest obstacle to overcoming challenges and reaching our goals is simply our belief in ourselves and our abilities.” Founder of Inspiring Champions, a business training and coaching company specializing in the professional beauty industry, Gartland works with thousands of salon and spa professionals each year to help them dramatically increase their income while achieving a work-life balance. “To begin taking charge of your destiny,” Gartland explained. “create a vision statement for your life. Write down in very precise language your ideal day and the type of business you desire.” “Include details; exactly how much money do you want to earn? Often, salon and spa professionals don’t yet see the true potential of how much they are capable of earning or they may have the subconscious belief that they aren’t worth it.” She urges beauty professionals to aim high -- with the goal of doubling their income, or specifically to earn $100,000 or more. By using professional salon systems, creating a business plan and executing it, monetary goals become very real and attainable. In your vision statement, consider what type of clients you want to attract to your salon chair. Make a list of their qualities. Once you do this, you will soon start recognizing your ideal clients all over town, much like when you buy a new car and you start seeing that car everywhere. When you identify your ideal client, you will start to discover them. Gartland stressed that you need to take action to find those new clients, not just sit and wait for them to find you. “The first step is to realize that you can actually choose your own clients. The type of client you choose will determine the money you make and whether you work harder or you work smarter.” Gartland goes on to explain how you don’t have to settle for whoever comes along and sits in your chair, but can take action by actively prospecting for new clients on a regular basis. This requires getting out into your community, introducing yourself to new people and inviting them to do business with you, as well as taking a fresh look at people you already know. Think of your business like a farmer. A farmer knows that if they never plant any seeds, they will never get a harvest. They also know that if they just plant a few seeds, they will only receive a small harvest. To attain a large harvest, they need to plant lots of seeds. Ask yourself, what is one action step you can take in the next 24 hours to support you in attracting more new clients? What action step can you take in the next week to support your goal? What steps can you take in the next month? Perhaps in the next day you can start looking into a professional networking group you can join to meet new people. In the next week, you could get new business cards made up that really have a wow factor that grabs people’s attention. In the next month, start attending some functions and pass out those cards. Always have your business cards on hand and regularly give them out. Based on a ten percent return rate, giving out two cards per day, five days a week over a 50 week period would get you 50 new clients. If you want more clients, then simply give out more cards. Giving out three cards per day will get you 75 new clients a year; four cards per day will get you 100 new clients. The next step in designing your dream career is to create your business model. Consider a few basic questions first. Base your answers not on what your business currently is, but on what you want it to become. Most people get stuck at this crucial first step. They don’t even let themselves dream, as they don’t think it’s really possible. Our biggest danger is not dreaming too big, but thinking too small. To begin creating your business plan, think about the number of days you want to work per week, your hours and the number of clients you would like to have. Then, consider what your ideal daily and weekly service tickets would be, as well as your average service ticket per client. Remember to dream big. Perhaps you would like to work four days a week, with seven clients a day for a total of 28 clients per week. A typical earnings estimate might be to have a weekly service total of $3,000 with a $750 daily service ticket, for an average service ticket of $107 per client. Next, create your ideal daily target to hit. Decide how many of your clients each day will receive what services. For example, if your daily goal is seven clients per day, then you could have two haircutting clients, two clients receiving haircutting plus one chemical service and three clients receiving haircutting plus two chemical services. Figure out the cost of those services. Perhaps haircuts are $40 each and chemical services are $80 each. With a daily service goal of $750; do the math and figure out how many services those seven clients a day would have to receive to keep you on track to hit your daily target. Completing the business model allows you to have more control in your life. You will gain clarity about how you want to design your business. Write down these new service goals and post them where you can see them every day. The model gives you a visual target of what you’re doing daily. You’ll know if you’re on track, above or behind your goals. Action is the fuel to success. The moment you decide what you want and write it down, you immediately get the process started. You can design the career of your dreams and be wildly successful in the beauty industry. You will earn more money -- yet money is simply a reward for achieving the real goal of having your dream career and life. Lauren Gartland is founder of Inspiring Champions, a business and coaching company offering live training camps, coaching and mentoring services, webinars, audio tapes and educational resources. For more information call 800-496-9305 or visit www.InspiringChampions.com. Admissions: 419.873.9999 www.tspaPerrysburg.com ENDORSED BY REDKEN FOR EXCELLENCE IN EDUCATION | JUNE 2010 | OHIO STYLIST & SALON
Discovering the Leader Within Better Business Neil Ducoff What it takes to be a great leader is an all-consuming topic best compared to the search for the Holy Grail or the origin of the universe. It has been the beneficiary of countless, artfully crafted definitions, dissected into styles ranging from wimp to dictator, and systematized into precise procedures. We praise the likes of Lee Iacocca, Jack Welch, Michael Dell, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. But in the end, there remains something elusive in the design of what makes a great leader. We are all unique. True, we can be tested and slotted into behavior and thinking styles, but when it comes to how one will perform as a leader, there is a quality inside each of us that defies definition. Consider some characteristics that a great leader possesses: integrity, vision, effective communication, compassion, the ability to make decisions, tenacity, discipline, financial literacy, and skill at creating and maintaining the culture of a business. Yes, these indeed are all worthy characteristics, but is it realistic to think every leader will possess them all? If so, I’d be the first to place my order for one of these super leaders to run my company. Leadership is a process of continuous improvement. I have my own style of leadership that I’m comfortable with, but at 56 years of age, I still am working to become a better leader. My style of leadership may not work for others, just as Jack Welch’s style wouldn’t work for me or fit my character. Mark Gonzales found his leader within and built a dynamic, team-driven, fast-growing and highly profitable company. As owner of Mark Pardo Salons and Spas in Albuquerque, he has six locations, one school and 135 employees and generated more than $10 million in revenues in 2009. His plan calls for $25 million in revenue in five years. He is one of the most unpretentious, yet effective leaders I have ever met. He is goaloriented and totally empowers his leadership team to achieve those goals. He is fiscally accountable and adheres strictly to the company’s financial plan and critical numbers. He tenaciously supports his team. He is a perpetual student of business and leadership, and creates opportunities for his staff to do the same. All this is packaged in a mellow, gentle man. Mark Gonzales is a great leader because he has mastered what I call the “Big Eight Drivers” of leadership. He does not attempt to be something or someone he is not. That would lead him to personal frustration and ineffectual leadership. It’s like trying to wear a suit that doesn’t fit. It might be perfect for someone else, but it’s not right for you. Leaders come in all shapes and sizes, from unpretentious, like Mark Gonzales, to intense or gregarious. In the end, leaders need to achieve results through others -- and this requires mastery of the Big Eight Drivers. The BIG Eight Drivers: The Big Eight are simply a collection of rules that, when combined, create a natural, powerful focus on achieving results. It doesn’t matter who you are as an individual or what your leadership style is, as long as you are disciplined to adhere to the Big Eight Drivers. Leadership is all about accountability and execution. There is no tolerance for procrastination or excuses for not executing. Discover your leader within and how to use the Big Eight Drivers for maximum effect. 1. Create the right business culture. Great leaders create business cultures that define and support the desired thinking and behavior needed for success. 2. Maintain a sense of urgency. Urgency drives performance and growth. And it can fizzle in a heartbeat if you don’t pay attention. 3. Drive your critical numbers. Critical numbers, if moved in the right direction, can have a profound impact on company performance. Define yours. 4. Keep information flowing freely. Top down, bottom up -- everyone needs to know the score and what’s going on. 5. Promote true teamwork. You can’t be an effective leader if you don’t create and appreciate teamwork. Walk the talk every day. Celebrate examples of teamwork. 6. Inspire innovation. Get out of the box and stay out. Do what you do better, faster, cheaper than any other competitor. It’s leaders who either inspire or stifle innovation among their staffs. 7. Systematize everything. Systems create predictability. Procedures and structure produce results. If you don’t like the results, change or tweak the system. 8. Enforce non-negotiable accountability. Always deliver what was promised when it was promised. Neil Ducoff is the founder and CEO of Strategies, a business training and coaching salon specializing in the salon and spa industry. Ducoff is the author of Fast Forward, and his new book, No-Compromise Leadership, is available at www.amazon.com. For a signed copy, go to www.strategies. com You can email Neil at neil@strategies.com. READ IT! SAVE IT! PRINT IT! NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE! View this article and more at www.stylistnewspapers.com OHIO STYLIST & SALON | JUNE 2010 |
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June - Stylist and Salon Newspapers

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