Phorest FM Episode 104: Sinead Carroll & Jay Williams On The Salon Owners Summit Roadshow, Building Trust & Leaving Your Mark

Killian Vigna: Welcome to the Phorest FM podcast, episode 104. I’m Killian Vigna.

Zoe Belisle-Springer: And I’m Zoe Belisle-Springer. This week on the show we welcome back regular contributor to this podcast, Sinead Carroll from Phorest’s events and PR team to discuss the details around the Salon Owners Summit’s very first Roadshow with a stop in the US, this coming April.

Killian Vigna: So, grab yourself a couple of coffee, sit back, relax, and join us weekly for all your salon’s business and marketing needs. Good morning Zoe.

Zoe Belisle-Springer: Good morning, Killian. So, before we get into anything related to this episode, I’m going to cut you right off the bat. We’ve already got like 50% of the spaces on Salon Spark, Phil Jackson’s course, the one we were talking about last week. That’s already 50% booked out!

Killian Vigna: Which is funny because that went out a week ago. Yeah, last Monday. And he was actually concerned that it wouldn’t fill up because he was saying, usually, when he runs it himself, he gets about 15 to 20 people. And now that he’s doing it with Phorest, it’s open to 100 people, so I’d say he’s over the moon, the fact that’s filled out straightaway.

But also, just another good point on that, with the Salon Mentorship Hub, so we actually had a client contact us on Friday. They were so inspired by the Facebook Messenger chatbot that they wanted to talk to someone, like ASAP, about getting it set up. So, because Phil Jackson’s on that Mentorship Hub, we’ve managed to connect the two of them through that as well. So, just as a side note.

Zoe Belisle-Springer: It’s great. I mean, there’s loads of stuff happening in Phorest at the moment. And yeah, I’m really excited to see how Salon Spark actually plays out. But yeah, that’ll kick off in late Feb. So, it’s coming up soon anyway.

Killian Vigna: Yeah. So if anyone else out there still isn’t sure what Salon Spark is or needs a bit more information, you can check out Episode 103, so last week’s episode. And it’s just past the halfway mark I believe. So it’ll be just after 15 minutes.

Salon Owners Summit: Introducing the Roadshow [01:57]

Zoe Belisle-Springer: Yeah. But today! Today, we’re all about the Salon Owners Summit. Now I know the Salon Owners Summit, the flagship one, has just ended. But it’s going on a Roadshow for the very first time.

Killian Vigna: Yeah, yeah. When you hear Roadshow, what does it entail? So I suppose no better person to talk about what the Salon Owners Summit Roadshow is, other than Sinead Carroll. Welcome to the show, Sinead, again!

Sinead Carroll: Hello. Thank you for having me… again!

Killian Vigna: It feels like she’s part of the podcast at this stage. She just has so many events running throughout the year, it’s mental!

Zoe Belisle-Springer: Co-host number three without the official title.

Killian Vigna: Yeah. So you’re basically headed up the Salon Owners Summit 2019, and in the words of Modern Salon, it’s one of Europe’s most prestigious beauty business events. So now you’re moving to Chicago!

Sinead Carroll: No I’m actually moving to Philadelphia.

Zoe Belisle-Springer: This is true. The Summit’s moving to Chicago; Sinead is moving to Philly!

Killian Vigna: Yeah yeah. Miss America here.

Sinead Carroll: Miss United States. No, the Roadshow is going to Chicago in April. So, on the 15th of April. We’re leaving Dublin for the first time ever. We will be back next year, but it’s going on tour. And yeah it’s exciting; it’s the first time we’ve done this! So the Salon Owners Summit, as many of you know, has been running in Dublin for the past five years. So we entered our fifth year this year, just over a month ago. And it was a fantastic success, probably the best one we’ve had to date. And in a really exciting turn of events, we’ve decided to bring it to the US and go on the road.

Killian Vigna: So when did this come about, I suppose, the shift to move it from… Well, you’re not moving it from being the flagship in Dublin, it’ll always be the flagship there. But, when did this come up about, we need to start touring America, the US?

Sinead Carroll: Just to calm any fears, the Dublin flagship will always be in Dublin. That’s not going to change. And we’re actually announcing details of the 2020 event next week. So stay tuned for that. But the Roadshow was kind of born out of the fact we do have quite a lot of clients in the United States. And it’s just kind of a long way to travel I suppose to come for an event. So the demand was there. We had over 500 people at the Salon Owners Summit in Dublin this year and made quite a few US clients at that. But I suppose we wanted to bring it across the Atlantic to get more people to come along, to share the experience with more people. So I guess that’s where it’s all come out of.

Zoe Belisle-Springer: So I know there’s a lot of information that has gone out already around the Roadshow. Do you already have an agenda? I know the lineup’s filling up pretty well at the moment.

Sinead Carroll: Yeah. So we have our lineup of speakers. The agenda, like the timings we have, it’s on Monday the 15th of April. It’s going to run from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. for the conference proceedings. And then from 5:30 to 7:30 pm we’ll have some entertainment, some food, some drinks, that kind of thing. But in terms of the speaker by speaker agenda layout, we’ll have that confirmed later today. So the lineup’s already confirmed, we’re just fine-tuning the agenda for the day itself.

Killian Vigna: Will it be a similar format to the Salon Owners Summit?

Sinead Carroll: Yeah. So the idea is that it’s kind of like a more condensed version of the flagship event. So the flagship event obviously has grown huge over the last few years. We have over 500 attendees at it. These Roadshow events will be a little bit smaller, so it’ll be about 200, 250 attendees at them. We’re going to have the same jam-packed day still, as in there’s going to be a lot of speakers, so about five, six speakers.
So yeah, it’s going to follow the same format. And we wanted to maintain the essence of the Salon Owners Summit experience and share that. So it’s not going to be any different. It’s going to be pretty much the same, but just on a smaller scale.

Killian Vigna: Every time I hear the word ‘roadshow,’ I always picture a big, massive coach pulling up, like moving around everywhere. You see it on like America’s Got Talent and things like those. Is Phorest going to be moving around in a big bus? Big purple Phorest bus?

Sinead Carroll: So, we’re going to have the Acornmobile? Well, I’m going to say this, Killian if you want to drive the bus with all the acorns on it, be my guest.

Killian Vigna: Great, I’m travelling to America, let’s go! So no coach to look out for. So it’s going to be held in venues throughout the US. And do you know how the Roadshows are going to go on for?

Sinead Carroll: Chicago’s our first port of call. It’s the very first event, as I mentioned. So it’s the 15th of April. So, we do plan on running another one later in the year. We’ll give more information on that as we release it. But right now, just really, really looking forward to this first event, to get it off the ground and see how it goes. Like’s it’s been huge, huge talk about it already. And there’s lots going on and lots being said about it online. So, really, really excited.

But yeah, we’ll play it by ear. Once we get this one out of the way, then we’ll start planning for the next one!

Killian Vigna: Yeah, because you were saying just kind of off the cuff earlier how you actually such demand for people to want to speak at this, as opposed to you having to go look for speakers. A lot of people were actually approaching you.

Sinead Carroll: Yeah I mean, the Dublin event, because we’ve been running it for five years, has already gained such traction and such reputation that it’s fantastic for that. Like, we have people trying to get speaking for 2022, for the Dublin event. So when we decided to roll out the Roadshow, we actually had the speakers kind of already lined up and decided. But since we’ve released details to, like put it out there, the amount of emails I’ve got into my inbox, like “Hey is the Chicago Roadshow full?” I’m like, well yeah, we’ve already decided the lineup. So I mean, I could nearly roll out another event, like almost off the bat of this, because we have so many speakers who are actually interested in speaking, which is fantastic. But yeah, so we have the lineup completely decided for the Chicago event, and then as I said, we have no shortage of speakers for the events that will follow that.

The Chicago Roadshow announced speaker lineup [07:32]

Zoe Belisle-Springer: So, let’s talk about the Chicago event then. Like, who have you already announced as a speaker?

Sinead Carroll: Okay, so I’m going to run through them all here. So first up we have Scott Buchanan. Scott would be pretty well known in the industry in the US. He has Scott J. Aveda Salonspas in New York, so he’s got five salons in Manhattan and Brooklyn. He’s been in the industry for quite some time, and he’s gonna speak about the current state of the salon industry and how subscriptions can affect salons’ bottom line. So, Scott’s our first speaker.

Then next up, we’ve got Stefanie Jackson who both of you are familiar with, right?

Killian Vigna: Yep.

Zoe Belisle-Springer: Yes. We had her join us on the podcast in 2018. I can’t remember exactly which episode, but she was talking about employee benefits and Millennials.

Killian Vigna: Yeah, keeping your young staff engaged.

Sinead Carroll: Yeah. So that’s kind of like the theme of this as well. So, Stefanie for those of you who don’t know her, she’s the owner of Canvas Salon and Skin Bar in Ohio. She’s also the founder of the Salon Collaboration Group, which is a community for salon owners. Basically, her talk is going to be about the future of work, and she’s going to share what years of her research and experiences have revealed around how to recruit and retain the workforce of today. It’ll tie back in again to the Millennial kind of theme.

Next up we’ve got Neil Ducoff. Neil is the founder and owner of Strategies, which is a business training and coaching company specialising in the beauty industry. Neil is very, very well known within the industry. He’s an award-winning author, creator of the Team-Based Pay System, and in his presentation he’s going to take us through the Employee-Based Salon Business Manifesto, and what all salon owners should be doing to create a rock-solid, profitable, and sustainable business model.

Next up we’ve got Heather Yurko, which you guys will be familiar with from Dublin. Heather is the creator of Neatbeat in Kentucky and also PIP University. So I say you know her from Dublin; it’s actually because she spoke at our flagship event back on the 7th of January this year. So Killian, Zoe, you guys will know her, and many of the listeners will know Heather as well.

So she went down amazingly well in Dublin and did a workshop for us, so we’re going to give her a main stage session in Chicago. Really, really excited about that; it’s going to go really, really well. Her presentation will be slightly different from the Dublin one. So for any of you who have attended the Dublin one and are coming along to Chicago again, there will be lots of new learning points and that kind of stuff. So, really excited to have Heather back, bringing her to Chicago.

And then second from last we’ve got Marla Boyle. Marla Boyle is a health and nutrition coach as well as a leadership and development consultant. So she’s going to do a few short sessions throughout the day of the event. Just kind of about wellness and I suppose, healthy mind, healthy body, healthy salon, that kind of thing. So, that’ll be nice to break up the day. We’ll have her do one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Really, really excited to have Marlo on board as well.

Introducing Jay Williams [10:32]

Sinead Carroll: And then finally, we have someone who’s over 25 years within the industry. He’s an author, educator, and keynote speaker. And he’s actually just joined us on the show. Welcome, Jay!

Jay Williams: Thank you!

Zoe Belisle-Springer: Welcome to the show, yeah! Sinead is taking over the co-hosting; there you go! We were saying at the beginning of the episode.

Killian Vigna: We were just saying she’s like our third host, and here she is introducing guests!

Jay Williams: Here she is! Well, just in advance, I have been told I have a very strong accent. So if you guys need me to repeat anything, let me know.

Killian Vigna: We have such a mix here. We’ve got two of us from Ireland, both from kind of countrysides of Ireland. Zoe from Canada, and then you. So, good luck to anyone listening, being honest!

So listen, Jay, you’re announced as a 25-year vet in the salon industry, author, education, and keynote speaker; how did your journey begin from, I suppose, from California to Philly? How did you get involved in this whole industry?

Jay Williams: It’s a fun story in that, behind every great man – and that’s self-proclaimed, that I’m saying a great man, I’m not saying that other people say that – is a great woman. My wife is a headhunter, a recruiter. She finds people jobs. And 14 years ago Bumble and Bumble was going to be tripling in size. And so they retained her solely for three years to help build their organisation. And so I was not in the industry, and for those of you who can’t see me, I am hair-challenged, so I was not even really familiar with the salon.

And my wife said you know what, you would love this industry. And I said I don’t see the connection. She said their emotional intelligence is very high. They are wired for your content that you’re doing with these Fortune 100 and this Fortune 300 companies.

And so, not that I didn’t believe her, I just didn’t believe her. And so, as time went by, and about six months later, I got to meet a lot of the people in this industry. And for me, it was the closest thing to rock and roll. I mean, there’s this creativity, there’s this authenticity, there’s this transparency. And I was really drawn to the folks.

And Bumble at the time had this culture that went beyond the product. And so there was this natural alignment between what they were doing and the work I wanted to do. And so 14 years ago, that relationship – and if your question was, was I sleeping with the person who got me the job, full transparency, yes I was. And I still am 28 years later, so I would share that with you.

Killian Vigna: That job was definitely worth it!

Jay Williams: Yes, right, I hadn’t thought about that. But in hindsight, you’re absolutely right, yes. It was completely worth it. And so that started my journey there. And I fell in love with the people. I was already in love with the content. What I saw and what was validated in the industry is that salons weren’t going out of business because they had the wrong product. If there was a salon struggling to stay in business or to get to the next level, the disconnect was around communication, it was around people, it was around building trust. And so it allowed me to have this hyper-focus. And then when you look at business, there’s the product, the process, and the people. And my experience had been, regardless of the industry, people had locked down the product, meaning what we were going to sell and what we were going to do. And they had locked down the process. If there was a wildcard, it was the people.

"Leave Your Mark": The thinking, behavior, and skills of great salon leaders [14:22]

Zoe Belisle-Springer: You wrote a book, “Leave Your Mark: The Thinking, Behaviour, and Skills of Great Salon Leaders.” Do you talk about that quite a bit in your book then?

Jay Williams: Well, I talk about my book every chance I get. That’s the truth. And it was interesting when I wrote the book, there’s someone I’d just like to give a shout out to, his name’s Howard Payfuss. And I think everybody has someone that disproportionately has invested in them. And so I would like to acknowledge that. And when he and I were talking about the book, he said this is very much going to be part of you 24/7, because the book is a physical manifestation of what you think and what you feel and what you believe. And so, to answer your question, yes it will show up.

And the premise of the book was two things; is that one, I believe everybody wants something to show for their time spent. They want to leave some mark. And when I look at our industry, really second to none, having the ability to leave their mark with people. And you look at the work that they do, and there’s, I think it’s almost indisputable that a stylist could be the most influential person in a client’s life. Either intentionally or by default. But when you look statistically, one out of every four clients has been with their stylist for seven years or longer. And then you look at the dynamic that on average, a stylist will see their client between six and 50 times a year. Now, 50 would be an extreme scenario, but if you have somebody that comes in once a week, the potential’s there.
And then the third thing, from a physiological standpoint, is that we’re one of six professions that it’s legal to touch someone. And what happens with touch, when I was doing research, I reached out to a psychologist in Atlanta and asked her about the touch dynamic. She shared that there’s a chemical that’s released in your body called oxytocin. Not Oxycontin; they’re two different things. And I do want to make a distinction for listeners, yes. But oxytocin.

And what she said is, she said Jay make no mistake, this is the chemical that bonds us as human beings. And so, for us as stylists to have this unique opportunity, not only through frequency but the quality of relationships and then physiologically, to have this connection, is second to none in the world as far as how we connect with people.

And she went on to say, this chemical oxytocin’s the same chemical that’s released when a mother breastfeeds a child. And she went on to share with me, is that the higher the levels of oxytocin, the higher the levels of trust with the person who delivered it.

Trust is the new currency [17:21]

Jay Williams: Here’s the segue; are you ready? What I’m going to be talking about is this trust. And trust is the new currency. In the world in which we operate off of. So I’m going to throw a statement at you. I believe businesses needs to spend far more time building trust and far less time pushing products and services.

Killian Vigna: That’s actually kind of amazing because last week we were talking about how businesses need to connect to people more and become more personable. So you’ve just followed it up with, it’s all about trust to release not Oxycontin-

Jay Williams: Oxytocin! Please get clearing of that before you release it.

Killian Vigna: You’ve kind of planted that seed. But yeah, so this is what you’re going to be covering in your talk then, it’s all about trust and influence on, I suppose, building the skills to leave your mark through influence. Is that right?

Jay Williams: Yeah. You’ve hit on it. And it is the single most important thing that we can talk about. You guys may need to edit this piece out. When I speak at this conference, I’m not going to be talking to people as stylists or salon owners. Because I work outside the industry as well. And what ails stylists and salon owners is what ails humanity.

And so, I shared that with you because there’s a social psychologist, her name’s Amy Cuddy. She’s fascinating; she wrote a book called “Presence.” And so some of the listeners may recognise her because she talked about the Wonder Woman pose. And it’s where, if you can visualise Wonder Woman, is she’s putting her hands on her waist. And what happened is that there’s this increased amount of dopamine that’s released in the body. And studies have shown when women would stand that way for a minimum of 60 seconds, then it heightened their confidence.

Fascinating author. When I was reading the book, one of the things that she found in her research is that human beings instinctually look for two things in every single interaction. So whether you’re going to a bar or a pub for our people in Ireland, or you’re going to a church, or you’re going to a salon, or you’re going to a bank, instinctually we look to see, can we trust that entity, that person. And the second thing, is there respect in the relationship?

And so at the conference, I don’t know that there’s anything more important, and studies have validated, than building trust. And with that trust, you will be able to influence people.

Now, when I share, I share with two goals in mind. One is to create a compelling human case. And for those of you who don’t care about humanity, a compelling business case. [inaudible 00:20:24]. From a business standpoint, this will build your retention, your referral, your rebooking, your reviews, and your relationships. So when you go, know that there will be a compelling human case and a compelling business case for why trust.

And to your point, I will show you the thinking and the skills to build trust. And I love that you asked about that because trust is something that you can build. It’s something that you can lose. So I’ll show you how to give it, how to get it, how you can lose it, and how you can get it back.

Zoe Belisle-Springer: I’m really excited about that. It’s interesting because not too long ago I was reading this book and they were saying that as human beings, in any space that we go in, any interaction that we have, the first thing that goes on in our mind is that we’re evaluating is this a threat to me or is it not? And it just ties back into the whole trust. But trusting your environment, trusting the people around you. And of course, it’s going to impact how you do business and how your customers are going to interact with you in all of that. So, this has got me really excited. I’m kind of hoping now we can go to Chicago. Sinead, can you arrange that?

Sinead Carroll: Yes, Zoe! I will arrange your fare.

Killian Vigna: Yeah it’s kind of like, touching off that fight or flight, but also stripping back environmental biases. So can you trust someone who you wouldn’t usually have, or who kind of comes from a different background or something like that? So yeah, definitely really interesting to see how you can work around that one. And I’d actually love to know what tools you are going to use. But we’re not going to get you to mention everything now, because obviously, we need to keep some of it for the Roadshow. But, it definitely sounds like a really interesting talk.

Sinead Carroll: Yeah. Absolutely. Really excited!

Jay Williams: Or a future podcast!

Zoe Belisle-Springer: Of course!

Killian Vigna: I feel like we probably could have got it a full episode on this one alone, just on it. But we’ll wait for everyone to attend the Roadshow, and then for people who don’t get to make to Chicago, we can always do one down the line.

Sinead Carroll: Like you, you’re not going to Chicago!

Jay Williams: Well, I just did that for you guys, the future podcast, for those people listening. I can show them how you can rebook yourself because rebooking is important to salons. I just wanted to show them how you can naturally work that in. It doesn’t have to be scripted.

Killian Vigna: We just got done by sales!

Jay Williams: Yeah. We’re all selling something, aren’t we? A thinking, a skill. Yes, yes.

Zoe Belisle-Springer: All right, so Jay, what’s your final sales pitch, I suppose, for this? And what are you looking forward to the most, coming to Chicago?
Jay Williams: Do you want an honest answer, or do you want one that’s appropriate for this topic? Chicago I heard has the best wings in the country. So from a culinary standpoint, that’s the thing I’m looking forward to the most.

From a standpoint of looking to grow and to develop, is that I value these interactions because I learn each and every time. And so two things happen. It’s either going to validate what I believe to be true, which has a purpose for me, or I’m going to learn new and different information.
And the speakers that you reference are really second to none in the industry. And I think what’s different is that they’re bringing a unique thinking. And what’s important about that, and I will share with you guys now. So let me just, this will be my disclaimer, is that okay? For anyone listening, my gift will not be knowledge. You will be able to google anything I’m going to say. I’m going to ask that you not do it while I’m speaking, ’cause it hurts my feelings. But you will be able to do that. If I have a gift, I think it will mirror with the other speakers, which is new, different, and deeper thinking.

And so, I look forward to these events because I grow from the events too and I grow from the exchange. And that’s what I would share at these events, is that they’ll either validate your thinking, and give you that comfort level that you’re moving in the right direction, or it’ll give you new and different thinking to yield a new and different result.

How well did I answer that question?

Killian Vigna: Really well. Really well. I like the whole thing of like when people go to a conference, and they say, oh I didn’t learn anything new, and to kind of give out about it, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Like you just said, that just means you’re on track.

Jay Williams: Yeah. And we need that as well. I think one of the unique things, and I’m not going to say as a salon owner, because it’s true as an entrepreneur, is that you don’t have the benefit of having a fellow CEO, VP, HR manager, someone that you can go to, bounce ideas off of. Everything’s in your hand, and everything sounds like a good idea in your head. And so the benefit of going to something like that is exactly what you articulated, is either you’ll get new and different information, or you’ll get validation that you can bring back that will really be the rocket fuel that you need for your rocket ship. Everybody owns a rocket ship, I assume, so I thought that would be a good analogy.

Zoe Belisle-Springer: That’s a perfect way of putting it, yeah.

Jay Williams: I’m assuming you guys own one now, yes.

Killian Vigna: We’ve got it leased at the moment, yeah.

Jay Williams: Yes, yes.

Killian Vigna: So look, listen Jay, that was amazing. Really looking forward to hearing about your talk, because I’m not invited to Chicago. But I’m sure everyone attending will benefit greatly from it. And hopefully not just to be verified of what they already know. They’re definitely going to learn some stuff, isn’t that right?

Jay Williams: I believe that they will. I don’t want to be, I’m so arrogant to believe that they won’t. This is not my quote, it’s a quote I heard, is that you’re one thought away from changing your life. And so I don’t know what that thought is going to be. I believe if it’s not with me, it will be with the lineup that’s going to be there. That person will get that one thought.
And so I just want to end on this note, is that I want to personally invite you to Chicago. You said no one’s invited you. You can no longer make that statement. I have personally invited you. If you can get someone to personally pay for it, I think that would make it all.

Killian Vigna: I was just about to say, I’ll send you my passport information; you can take care of everything.

Jay Williams: Yeah. Well if I can help logistically, there are two other people on the call, maybe they can fill the gaps financially.

Sinead Carroll: Well, you are driving the bus, aren’t you?

Killian Vigna: Oh yeah I’m driving the bus.

Sinead Carroll: The Acorn Bus.

Killian Vigna: Yeah yeah, we have a big Acorn Roadshow bus. I’m doing that thing with my fingers as I say that at the moment.

Jay Williams: Does it float on water? ‘Cause that’ll be imperative if you’re driving to Chicago. It’ll be imperative if your bus floats on water.

Sinead Carroll: Across the Atlantic.

Killian Vigna: It actually converts into a rocket ship, one of those rocket ships you were talking about…

Jay Williams: Ahh.

Killian Vigna: So we’re going to fly over and then drive.

Jay Williams: You and Elon Musk. You guys have a lot in common.

Killian Vigna: Well listen, Jay, it was a pleasure speaking to you today, and cannot wait actually to chat to you for our next podcast. For anyone that does want to get a little headstart on that Roadshow, the talk, you can check out Jay’s book.

Recap: Salon Owners Summit Roadshow details [27:48]

Killian Vigna: And just to summarise the Roadshow, we’re going to get Sinead to give her final sales pitch.

Sinead Carroll: My final sales pitch?

Killian Vigna: Your final sales pitch. Well, I’m sure we’ll have you on the show a few more times.

Zoe Belisle-Springer: The details around the Summit Roadshow essentially. Like venue, time, date, all that.

Sinead Carroll: Okay, just a little recap of what’s going down. Okay, right. So, on Monday the 15th of April. It’s happening in The Dalcy at Aba, which is a trendy Fulton Market area of Chicago. So really, really excited to go there. It’s in a beautiful venue, the Dalcy. So if you go onto our website, there’s lots of accommodation recommendations around there as well. The timings for it is, the conference will be from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Then we’re going to have an evening reception, some drinks, a little bit of food, some entertainment, some networking, which are all important at events like these. So that’s kind of the timing. A full hour-by-hour agenda will be up on the website later today. So it’s www.salonownersummit.com/roadshow. And on there you can purchase tickets directly through the website. And yeah, really looking forward to it. Really excited about it. And I hope to see a lot of you there. And you too, Jay! And you too, Zoe!

Zoe Belisle-Springer: Both of you too. Yeah, very excited!

Jay Williams: Thank you guys!

Inside Phorest: reflections, upcoming events & final words [29:03]

Killian Vigna: So that was Jay Williams and Sinead Carroll talking about the Salon Owners Summit Roadshow that’s going to kick off in Chicago. And we had Sinead just discuss the event and what to look forward to I suppose. But then we also had Jay, who’s going to be one of the speakers on the day, to shed a little insight into his background and what he’s going to be talking about. And there’s also a book there as well that you should check out.

So, now moving on to the second half of the show, I think you’re going to kick it off with the Salon Mentorship Hub, is that right?

Zoe Belisle-Springer: I will, I’m glad you said that. So remember when we first discussed it on the episode? And I was saying that new mentors and consultants would be joining every now and then as time passed. Well, it’s happening! So I’m delighted to announce Stefania Rossi as the latest industry mentor to offer her help on the Hub.

So a bit of context; Stefania’s a multi-award-winning salon owner. She’s from Utopia Beauty and Advanced Skincare Clinic. She’s also a recruiter for the hair and beauty industry. She has 15 years of five-star hospitality recruitment expertise, and her recruitment agency, Hidden Talent, is an online resource centre to match talented hair and beauty professionals with suited employers.

So for anyone looking to get help with attracting, retaining staff, building and developing teams by creating career paths and recruiting and interviewing approaches, then you’ll want to head over to our website, the Salon Mentorship Hub, so salonmentors.phorest.com and book in some time with Stefania.

Killian Vigna: Yeah, and I just mentioned at the start of the show how we’ve been actively booking clients in ourselves, even those for both non-clients and clients. Because we had someone who was so inspired with the Facebook Messenger chatbot episode last week that they have booked in with Phil Jackson through the Salon Mentorship Hub as well this week now.
So just before the end of the show, do we have any more announcements or events coming up Zoe?

Zoe Belisle-Springer: We do, and I did mention it last week. So, Phorest Salon Software is a proud sponsor of this year’s Thrive Sessions. The Thrive Sessions, essentially, is a two-day intensive workshop for approximately 500 students. This year, it’s taking place in Seattle on March 24th and 25th at the Bell Harbor International Conference Center.
So on top of getting access to an incredible amount of workshops and classes, and I was there last year to attest to that. Like, they have an amazing lineup of workshops going on. We invite you to tag along for lunch because on both the 24th and the 25th I’ll actually be giving an hour-long class titled “Lights, Camera, Post: Photography Basics for a Standout Portfolio.” And in this session, I’ll help you improve your understanding of composition and light, give you tips on how you can apply those concepts to your salon photographs. And I’ll also discuss some of the tools that Phorest has developed to help salons and stylists build a portfolio, boost their presence, and improve their engagement rate on Instagram. And yes, before you ask, I remember you asking last week, all attendees will be receiving a light lunch and an exclusive copy of The Salon Owner’s Guide to Instagram ebook when attending my session. We wouldn’t let anyone leave without taking something home.

Killian Vigna: Well, I just feel like lunch is a very vital part of these conferences. You don’t want to be walking around hungry all day. So I just think people need to know that.

Zoe Belisle-Springer: Definitely! So for people who want to sign up or get more information on pricing, you can head over to thrive-sessions.com. And I suppose that’s all we’ve got for this week, guys. So as always, if you want to share your thoughts on this episode or have any suggestions, send us an email at phorestfm@phorest.com. Or leave us a review on iTunes; we genuinely love feedback and are always looking for ways to improve the show. Otherwise, have a wonderful week, and we’ll catch you next Monday.

Killian Vigna: All the best!

Related links

Salon Owners Summit: The Roadshow, Website

Jay Williams, Leave Your Mark

Thrive Sessions Seattle, March 24-25, 2019

This episode was edited and mixed by Audio Z: Great music makes great moments. Montreal’s cutting-edge post-production studio for creative minds looking to have their vision professionally produced and mixed. Tune in every Monday for a mix of interviews with industry thought-leaders, roundups of our most recent salon owners marketing tips & tricks, all the latest in and around Phorest and what upcoming webinars or events you can join.

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