Martha Lynn Kale
“I've been in the industry for 15 years and I've had Mirror Mirror for 13 years of that. I stepped away from doing hair and working behind the chair in 2019. And so now I focus on growing the business and mentoring our team.
I love the GROW books. And so to me, the Super Stylist course felt like an extension of the books and a way to digest the information in a different format.
Because I do so much coaching and mentoring with our team I find myself telling them the same things over and over again. And so to have 3rd party validation in the form of the Super Stylist course as a salon owner is really important. Because otherwise they're like, “What does she know? She hasn't even been doing hair since 2019”.
So, it's nice to hear similar feedback and similar ideas and ways of doing things that are slightly different from what I'm telling them, but along the same themes. And so it validates what we're already coaching internally and saying, “This is an industry-standard. This is how you can best succeed and grow your business”.
Having the course online is really important because it allows everyone to tap into the modules whenever they can. And the length of the videos were really helpful because you can do them in a processing time. And so for a lot of our stylists, I encourage them to just do it during processing times or do it on the ride in to work.
In working through the course we decided to do it as a larger group. So we had all of our existing apprentices plus another four that had just finished the apprentice program and gone on the floor, and then we also had our top leaders and our educators.
And it was really great because you have someone that's been doing hair for 20 years in the room with someone who isn't even on the floor yet. And so we were able to sort of book club style digest the information together as we worked through the course.
From the perspective of our team, I think the Super Stylist course helps them focus and understand more about the importance of their personal productivity and a little about the business side when they're working through the course.
The apprentices were really hungry and excited to hear all the content because they're not as busy building a clientele and focusing on that. They're just here to learn and their eyes are being opened to all of these things that maybe aren't being handled in the salon.
But because they've heard it once, then when they go on the floor, it's nice because we can refer back to things. “Hey, remember when we covered off on the importance of the take-home product?”
For the newer stylists everything is new. They're digesting so much. They're trying to build a clientele, and learn how to do hair, and so if we’re not careful they don't establish those business habits early in their training then it’s easy for them to form bad habits.
And so, although it is a lot for them when they are starting out because they are still really honing their craft and building a clientele and just trying to get their sea legs under them.
The feedback that I got from my senior stylists was that the Super Stylist course was a great reminder because I think that as senior stylists, we can get a little bit on autopilot and have the same clients and be doing the same thing.
Because they're often double booked and running around and so it's hard for them sometimes to slow down and think, “When's the last time I did a really thorough consultation with this client I've been seeing for 10 years? And, “When's the last time I recommended a take-home product?”
And because they are so busy they start to lose those habits and replace them with “How are your kids?” And, “How was the vacation?”
And so the feedback about the course was that it was a great reminder to make sure that you really were a well-rounded stylist, and especially so for our educators who work with our apprentices they need to be modelling what is expected here at Mirror Mirror.
And so that's part of it too. It's not just teaching technical skills and building a clientele. It's, how do you run your column? And I think that that was really helpful for us.
I believe it’s important that stylists take ownership of their column and their career, and so hearing from someone else a reminder that it’s ultimately up to them to grow their business is really helpful for me.
We will keep using the Super Stylist course as part of our apprentice program because it will give me more structure to work through some of the business side.
And so for me, as an owner, I would like to work with them through the program. It would be really easy to just say, every week, we're doing a module, you know 30 minutes of every Monday, and we're just going to chat through it, because then they've digested the information.
I think that all of the content was easy to adapt to the way that we do business. But I think that is also because we do business very similarly to how you teach and so it was a perfect compliment for us.
All of the content worked for us. And I think it would work for most salons, as long as the owner or manager is willing to ‘work with’, and ‘engage with’ their stylist when they're working through the course,
The investment in the course was definitely good value! And I like that you can add in additional stylists for not that much money and so it's just part of the hiring process that we can add them into the course.
I would recommend the course to anyone that is looking to grow their business.
I think for salon owners, it's easy to be busy and really get caught up in the weeds, especially if you’re still behind the chair.
So the Super Stylist course gives you an opportunity to gather your team and have these conversations as opposed to time just passing and as a result, you don't stop and really evaluate what's going on in your business.
I think Super Stylist is a great resource for that. So. It was great. We loved it!
As leaders and owners, it was really helpful to show we are still learning and we are still pushing ourselves, because that's showing our team that we're not just sitting over here resting on our laurels and counting our money.
The team wants to know that we're still pushing ourselves to be the best salon that we can be for them. And so it's a great resource for salon owners in particular because of that.
I think it’s important that stylists take ownership of how busy they are, and if you're not booked and you're wondering why, look inward and think about how am I spending my time when I should be building my business?“
