Phorest FM Episode 102: January Monthly Round-Up

Killian Vigna: Welcome to the Phorest FM podcast, episode 102. I’m Killian Vigna.

Zoe Belisle-Springer: And I’m Zoe Belisle-Springer. This week marks the first monthly roundup episode of the year. You can expect discussions around a few certain blogs, interview clips from episodes 100 and 101, product announcements, and what’s to come in February.

Killian Vigna: So grab yourself a cup 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! The first monthly roundup of the year and I feel like January has flown by.

Killian Vigna: I was just about to say, we’re finally back in the studio again.

Zoe Belisle-Springer: I know!

Killian Vigna: With the high life of being out and recording live and now it’s back to reality.

Zoe Belisle-Springer: Oh, yeah, but sure, I always kind of enjoy those. And to be honest, I’d be looking forward to doing a bit more of them throughout the year, like even if it was like once a quarter or something like that. You know?

Killian Vigna: Absolutely. It was weird, last year I felt so… I don’t know about you, but I felt so nervous about going in and doing it. But this year it was actually just excitement. It was pure excitement to do it, and it was a lot of good feedback. And we actually had a good turnout of people on the day, too. So this thing seems to be gaining traction, so yeah, let’s try and get a few more live episodes going. And if you start doing panel talks, that’d be great.

Zoe Belisle-Springer: Yeah, for sure, that’d be awesome, yeah. So what do we have today on the monthly roundup? We’ve got quite a few things, like obviously the blogs, the podcast, that’s kind of the usual. But then we’ve got loads of announcements later on in the show as well, and one big announcement regarding the podcast.

Killian Vigna: Exactly. But you’re gonna have to wait until the end.

Zoe Belisle-Springer: Oh, yeah, we’re gonna keep that one secret until then.

Review of some the latest Phorest Blog articles [01:50]

Zoe Belisle-Springer: Yes, that’s exactly it. Avril Kealy, you might know her from reception in Phorest. She attended that workshop, and Heather was talking about how Navy Seals trainings could be applied to building a great salon team, which was really, really interesting. And she was talking about goal-setting, visualisation, self-talk, and breath control, and more specifics. Those were the four main things that she touched upon.

Killian Vigna: I always love those Navy seal talks, and anything around to do it. ‘Cause you can just learn so much. Like, guys, I listen to at the moment is Jocko Willink from Extreme Ownership. Then there’s another book I’m listening to at the moment, is David Goggins, I think, what’s it called, it’s “You Can’t Hurt Me.” There’s just, you learn so much from those guys, and they really are worth following. So that’s a really interesting workshop there, and if you can, check that blog out.

Zoe Belisle-Springer: Yeah, and then the second workshop on the day of the Summit was Melanie Icke’s, so Phorest’s Head of Education, workshop, “Getting To Know You,” using the DiSC method. So it’s something that we did in Phorest, and we’re; actually, there are still a few workshops on DiSC going on at the moment in the office with all of our newer staff. So the DISC method is used to help understand where you and your employees sit in a personality spectrum. And it was really, really interesting, it’s a fun game… well, game. I suppose you could kind of turn it into a game. It becomes very…

Killian Vigna: It’s very interactive!

Zoe Belisle-Springer: Yeah, very interactive, thank you, yeah. Exactly. And…

Killian Vigna: I believe they actually kicked the workshop off with the song “Getting to know you…”

Zoe Belisle-Springer: Are you for real?

Killian Vigna: Yeah, yeah, they did, I was talking to Melanie after, and she said she had that song playing, so it really got everyone engaged with that.

Zoe Belisle-Springer: Yeah, so what I’ve heard as well is that as soon as the workshop started, the attendees were asked to get out of their seats and stand at opposite ends of the room, based on whether they saw themselves as more action-led or more thoughtful. And it was just literally making like a real-life DiSC mapping. It was, yeah, brilliant, apparently.

Killian Vigna: Yeah, it’s interesting to see kind of where people, I suppose, lean towards more dominant, influencing, conscientious, and I suppose supportive or steady. But it’s always a fun one.

Zoe Belisle-Springer: So just to kind of recap very quickly, because if you want to get a better insight into what it is and how it works, you can actually listen to episode 86 of Phorest FM. Mel was on the show with us discussing her upcoming workshop at the Summit, but very, very crudely, if you chose action-led and questioning, you were more of a dominant personality. Action-led and accepting, then you’re more of an influencing personality. Thoughtful and questioning, more conscientious, and then thoughtful and accepting, more of a steady personality. And it was also kind of important to understand that you can’t necessarily change the personality type of others, but by understanding where you sit and where their personalities fall, you can kind of flex your behaviour and the way you communicate with them to make your messages resonate more, I suppose.

Killian Vigna: Yeah, it’s a very powerful one for working with a team, working with your colleagues, being able to understand kind of what is their default setting, especially in a work environment. So again, just a really fun one. Listen to Mel’s episode, actually read the blog, set up your own little DiSC map, and just give it a go.

Zoe Belisle-Springer: And then leading the third and last workshop of the Salon Owners Summit was Steve Gomez, and he was talking about Interdependent Leadership to improve team culture and profits. So that’s exactly how you’ll find it on the blog, that’s the title, and he was saying that essentially your most valuable commodity, as a salon owner, is your time. And it really is, right?

Killian Vigna: I’m just laughing, because if you didn’t know that already…

Zoe Belisle-Springer: Yeah, exactly.

Killian Vigna: One of the most popular phrases in any job is “I need more time.”

Zoe Belisle-Springer: Yeah. And I mean, it is, their time is spread thinly across finance, marketing, sales, operations, service, and you kind of tend to deal with issues reactively instead of proactively because of that. So he was recommending a few things, such as blocks of times in your day, and we’ve chatted about that on time management episodes.

Killian Vigna: Yep.

Zoe Belisle-Springer: But then he was also saying that you should be creating a cultural capital with interdependent leadership. And I didn’t actually know what that meant.

Killian Vigna: What is cultural capital?

Zoe Belisle-Springer: Yeah, so it’s essentially, after your own time, your cultural capital, which is your second most important commodity, is your staff. Engaged staff are better-performing staff. And if they feel like they’re part of the bigger picture and not just a cog in your machine, they’ll be more involved and willing to push with you to meet your business’s goals. So it was all about team engagement. It’s leadership through asking questions and getting them to come up with the ideas, or to come up with their actions, and not just saying “You know what, I’m the leader and I’m asking you to do this.” It’s just like, how can we work this as a team, and how can the team, can be more engaged in the whole business goals and everything? Yeah.

Killian Vigna: So it’s like coaching your staff to be their own team lead, essentially? To be their own leader.

Zoe Belisle-Springer: Yeah, their own leader, yeah. And working together, then, as a whole to get the salon where the salon owner wants to be, and all of that. So there were a few top ideas for team engagement. So goal-setting, planning and reviews, huddles and meetings, education, training calendars, marketing, so getting staff involved in brainstorming sessions. And then finally, promoting from within. So giving your staff the belief that they can have a career with you and not just a job. Supporting them in their growth into new roles, even though they’re not necessarily ready just yet, to actually make them see that you see their potential, you know. Really support them.

Killian Vigna: Yeah, I mean, like get to know your staff on a more personal level. They’re not just a staff member, it’s someone who you spend a lot of time with. So what I kind of, while understanding that line of like friend and boss, but get to know them, what are their hobbies, what do they enjoy? Because you never know, they could be your next marketer. They could be your next social media manager. Simple little things like that, it’s amazing how a conversation will bring this up.

Zoe Belisle-Springer: Yeah, definitely. So that kind of wraps up the, I suppose, most… I won’t say most popular blogs, because it’s just actually because we only had Summit-related blogs up. And we interviewed so many of the speakers at the Summit, we didn’t really focus much on the workshops while we were at the Summit for the live episode. So episode 100 was essentially interviews with speakers and vox pops and all of that. So we decided that the monthly roundup would focus more on the workshop blogs. So then for the podcast roundup, we had two episodes gone out, so it was our big 100 this year. The first episode of the year, live from the Summit, and then episode 101, live from Inside Phorest at the HQ office in Dublin.

Throwback to some of the latest Phorest FM episodes [09:15]

Killian Vigna: Yep, so episode 100, live from the summit, we got to talk to the three, or to three of the keynote speakers, sorry. We talked to Jo Fairley from Green and Black’s, who also has her own wellness salon. So we got some insights there, and the big takeaway from her was, don’t be afraid to give your product away for free to get your product out there. And get on to journalists, release PR statements, even if it means posting a letter or an article onto their desk. Then we got to talk to Ryan Holiday. Ryan Holiday, a bit of a fan, me, so I was really excited to do that one. But we got to talk-

Zoe Belisle-Springer: Just a little.

Killian Vigna: Just a little bit. We got to talk about stoicism, which was a big factor in his talk as well. So what exactly is stoicism, why is it something that we should try to live and value a bit more? And finally, we had Christina Kreitel, who you actually interviewed. And that was more on the social media side of things and talking about her minions.

Zoe Belisle-Springer: Yeah. So without giving away too much, we’ll play a few clips from that episode here.

Jo Fairley: “I think that the thing that I did wrong Green and Black’s was that I chased every single rainbow. And I think that when you are a startup, you get lots of different opportunities, collaborations, etc. All kinds of directions that you could move on, but actually, you need to prioritise. You need to kind of pick two or three things that you’re gonna do really, really well, rather than chase every single rainbow. Because you’ll just run out of steam. “

Ryan Holiday: “It would be hard to do a better definition of stoicism than that the stoic believes they don’t control the world, but they control how they respond. What I love about stoicism and why I think it works for entrepreneurs, why it works for creatives, is that it is designed for the real world. It’s sort of like, what do you do when you fail? What do you do when someone pisses you off? People who see the opportunity inside some sort of adversity or difficulty.”

Christina Kreitel: “Don’t ever post hateful, don’t ever post spiteful, don’t ever post vindictive things. Because people can tell if you’re being hateful. But when you have trolls, when you have haters, your followers will always defend you. And so any time I see someone give me a good comment, I will try to make a conversation with them, because the more comments, the more views. The more views, the more followers. The more followers, the more potential to make money or have new opportunities.”

Killian Vigna: And then in the next episode, which was the live from Inside Phorest, what is Inside Phorest? Inside Phorest is like, the day after the Salon Owners Summit, where it allows our clients to actually come into Phorest and talk to Paddy, our Head of Product, and see what new developments they can expect to see over the next 12 months. So they kind of recap new features and product launches, and then they get to vote as well on upcoming ones. So that session takes place in the morning and the afternoon, and we got to have a live Phorest FM slot in the middle, where we got to interview David Linde of Headlines The Salon, and Kristian Tognini from Tognini’s in Australia. And we also had our very own Head of Marketing, Connor Keppel. So that was like a panel talk, or a couch session, where we just kind of chatted and talked to them to find out what lessons they learned over 20 years of salon marketing. So again, without talking too much about it, here are some clips from the episode.

David Linde: “I think for me, I believe in layers and layers of marketing. You know, I don’t think one thing gets people in the door. I think that if you utilise all the technology and utilise all the things you can, you can still bring in lots of clients. But you’ve got to diversify. “

Kristian Tognini: “Our number one way of getting clients and still is today, is word of mouth. It’s getting through the reputation of your salon.”

Connor Keppel: “I think it’s like David says, it’s like it’s layers upon layers upon layers, it’s different touchpoints. Especially in the last few years, but I think people tend to get too obsessed with marketing channels. The channels will change, but the techniques and what’s behind them doesn’t necessarily change, and that kind of remains constant.”

Kristian Tognini: “Channels can change. Like you were saying, Connor, as well, so if the channels change, you just have to realise where your ideal customer is looking at the channel and where you would need to go is, that’s where it is.”

Killian Vigna: So the final stage, then, what do we have, Zoe? We have…

Zoe Belisle-Springer: We have quite a few things, the product announcements, and then that like big announcement about the podcast that we were mentioning earlier on.

Killian Vigna: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Zoe Belisle-Springer: And I’m still gonna keep that one for last.

Product updates & announcements [13:48]

Zoe Belisle-Springer: Product announcements. The Salon Mentorship Hub; it’s only just been released, it’s been live for about a week and a half or something like that. What is it, right? So Salon Mentorship Hub, it’s a place to connect. We’ve teamed up with some of the greatest thinkers in our industry, experts that have been doing coaching and mentoring for years now, and have been in the industry in different ways. You know some have owned a salon, some have been hairdressers themselves or therapists. So they kind of all have their different backgrounds, and they’ve all agreed to help people from the industry get unstuck, learn and get unstuck. So you can go onto the website, and we’ll have the link in the blurb of this episode. You go onto the website, you can flick through topics if you’re not quite sure who these mentors are. Some you might have heard from before, some might be very new to you. ‘Cause like I said, we’ve teamed up with a lot of people from all around the globe.

So you flick through either topics, or you can choose to have a look at all of the mentors’ profiles individually. And then all you have to do, essentially, is fill in a form, you’ll get an email after filling out that form giving you access to that mentor’s calendar, and you’ll get a 15 to 30-minute free consultation with them on a specific topic. So obviously choose your topic wisely when you’re on the website, and see what that mentor can help you out with. The Hub, the Mentorship Hub is really a place for you to connect with these mentors. We want to facilitate that connection because we know that it can be quite hard sometimes to reach out for help, and sometimes you just don’t know who to turn to, who can help you out with a specific topic that you feel like you’re the only one having that issue, you know?

So that’s essentially what the Salon Mentorship Hub is all about, and we’re really, really excited to see more and more people getting mentoring. It’s something that we feel very strongly about, even within Phorest, and we all kind of have our mentors within the company as well, and external mentors as well. So definitely something to have a look at, and this is all gonna be in the episode’s notes.

Killian Vigna: Yeah, I have to say: that website looks really good, Zoe. It’s a great portal to go to. You’ve got like nine categories there, from customer service to social media, retail, and then you have eight consultants already on the site. So you’d be wasting an opportunity if you didn’t use this.

Zoe Belisle-Springer: Oh, yeah, absolutely. And that’s the goal, it’s to get you to learn more. And speaking of which, we’ve got another thing coming up soon. Hasn’t been fully announced yet, and we’ll get the… actually, he’s also a coach on the Mentorship Hub, so Phil Jackson, he’s been writing a few blogs for us every now and then. He has this course called Salon Spark. So Phorest is sponsoring one of his Salon Spark courses that will start towards the end of February, running for seven weeks, and we’ll get Phil on the show because we had initially planned an episode to talk about Facebook Messenger and how this is like a really good opportunity for salons in 2019. And we haven’t yet done that, so we’ll get him on the show, talk about Facebook Messenger, and we’ll also be talking about the Salon Spark, what it entails, and how you can enrol in the program.

So the two last announcements are regarding channels and things that we’ve kind of released this year, in January. The YouTube channel is the first one, so it’s always been there, it’s always been alive, but we’re posting way more videos on it. So for anyone who’s subscribed, you’ve probably noticed this already. Chris Brennan is now very focused on video, gathering tips, tricks, topics explained with emojis, testimonials, salons switching over. There are so many things going on at that channel. So if you haven’t subscribed yet, go and do that. Get that little bell, click that bell, because you don’t want to miss an episode out of that. You’d probably know Chris from the #30Days2Grow and #SalonRetailWeek videos already, or the Phorest Blog back in the days. He’s also been on the show. So yeah, definitely something to look out for.

And then another thing that’s happening, we’re releasing a lot of episodes already on it, is the Phorest Blog podcast. So we trialled that about two years ago when we first launched Phorest FM. And the idea was to create an audio version of the Phorest Blog. And unfortunately, at the time we decided to fully focus on Phorest FM, and now we’re coming back to, now that Phorest FM is like up and rolling, we’re coming back to that idea of the audio version of the blog. So it’s now launched, there are already 13 episodes up on that podcast. So you can subscribe to the Phorest Blog podcast, that’s how it’s called, on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, what’s the other one I’m missing? Podbean! We’re there, we’re everywhere, right? So you can check that out, there’s, like I said, 13 episodes already out on that. And all of the episodes are always linked back to their article. So if you’re reading the article and halfway through you need to go and get moving, you can start listening to the podcast there. All the episodes are released on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays – every week.

Killian Vigna: Yeah, I mean, everyone’s moving towards podcasts and audiobooks, so moving our Phorest Blog over to audio, it’s a great move. It’s already skyrocketing with the amount of people listening to it. It just makes sense. Like the thing with audio, it only requires one sense. You can go about your day, you can go for a run, you can go on the bus, you could even drive and listen. As for those videos that Chris is doing, they’re brilliant. They’re they’re quite entertaining as well. The last one with the emojis, just check those out. I’m not gonna do it any selling here, I’m not gonna do it any justice. Just check them out, they’re really good.

Inside Phorest: reflections, upcoming events & final words [19:25]

Zoe Belisle-Springer: And so for the second half of the show, while we don’t have any webinars scheduled, I promised an announcement around the podcast, and here it is. If you remember from last year, the Digital Media Awards 2018, Phorest FM was shortlisted as a finalist and ended up getting silver at the DMAs for Best Podcast. And so this year we’re shortlisted again for the second year in a row, and the ceremony is taking place on Feb 15. So we’re fingers crossed, we can get that first place this year. We’ll see about that!

Killian Vigna: Really excited, I just remember being announced as second place last year, and me and you looking at each other, our jaws just dropped. They kind of ran over, just gave us a big hug. So hopefully this year it’s a trophy that we bring home!

Zoe Belisle-Springer: Well, we won’t be disappointed if there’s anything else, but you know…!

Killian Vigna: That’s not winner’s talk, Zoe!

Zoe Belisle-Springer: Oh, come on!

Killian Vigna: But I mean like again, we couldn’t have even gotten this far had it not been for our listeners out there.

Zoe Belisle-Springer: It’s you guys, you drive the whole show. We ask for feedback all the time, because that’s how we can tailor the show to you, and that’s how we can make it more valuable to you. And that’s what all of these things are always based on. So looking forward to seeing the results from that, and then Phorest is also nominated as a finalist in two other categories, so Best Creative, and that was the Email Marketing Editor Redesign, and also the #SalonRetailWeek campaign, which was in the category of Best Native Content. So we’ll see. We’ll keep you updated, and hopefully, we can make you guys proud!

Killian Vigna: So do you know what’s actually really funny about talking about the DMA awards right now? Me and you are sitting here recording, and I’ve just got a Slack message off of Johannes in marketing to say that the DMAs just dropped by for a selfie and congrats on the nomination, and brought by a load of doughnuts. So while you’re in Canada and I’m in the basement recording, the marketing team got their selfie and doughnuts for the podcast award nomination!

Zoe Belisle-Springer: Sure, listen, it’s the kind of stuff that happens, right? Hard at work, that’s what happens.

Killian Vigna: So I’m gonna go upstairs and all the doughnuts, they’re gonna be gone, and we’re not even gonna be in the selfie.

Zoe Belisle-Springer: There you go. So listen, guys, that’s it for us today. As always, we genuinely love feedback, so if you have any suggestions or want to share your thoughts, leave us a review on iTunes or on Stitcher, we’re constantly 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

Heather Yurko: Building A Great Salon Team Of Elite Performers

Melanie Icke: ‘Getting To Know You’ Workshop, Using The DiSC Method

Steve Gomez: Interdependent Leadership To Improve Team Culture & Profits

The Salon Mentorship Hub

Digital Media Awards: Best Podcast Finalist

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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