– Episode 009Jen & Matt Martinelli

Episode 009: Transcript

[00:00:00] Antony Whitaker: Welcome to the Grow My Salon Business podcast, where we focus on the business side of hairdressing. I’m your host, Antony Whitaker, and I’ll be talking to thought leaders in the hairdressing industry, discussing insightful, provocative, and inspiring ideas that matter. So get ready to learn, get ready to be challenged, get ready to be inspired, and most importantly, get ready to grow your salon business.

[00:00:27] Antony Whitaker: One of the biggest challenges that the salon industry faces everywhere is recruitment. So why isn’t there an online recruitment platform that specializes in the hairdressing industry, a sort of LinkedIn for hairdressers? Well, now there is. On this podcast, we discussed. How salons today can market themselves to potential team members, how team members can market themselves to potential salons, what’s driving change in the employee employer model of the future and the fluid nature of employment today.

[00:01:00] Antony Whitaker: In today’s podcast, I have the pleasure of speaking with Jen and Matt Martinelli, who are the founders of a new startup website recruitment platform called canvas recruit dot com, and it specializes in the hair and beauty space. Okay. So my guest today, uh, Jen and Matt Martinelli from canvas recruit. com.

[00:01:21] Antony Whitaker: And as the name suggests, it’s a recruitment website specifically for the hair and beauty industry. So Jen and Matt, welcome to the show.

[00:01:29] Jen Martinelli: Hi, Antony. Great to be here.

[00:01:31] Matt Martinelli: Likewise. Thank you so much.

[00:01:32] Antony Whitaker: I’m really excited to have you both here with us today. Uh, let’s just jump straight in guys. This, this, uh, recruitment platform that you’ve developed for the hair and beauty industry.

[00:01:41] Antony Whitaker: Um, how did, how did it get started? I mean, it’s a, it’s a, it’s a, it’s in hindsight, I suppose it’s an obvious need, but no one’s done it before. So tell us a little bit about your background and, and, uh, canvas recruit. com and, uh, what it’s all about and how it can empower the industry.

[00:01:59] Jen Martinelli: Yeah. So I actually have worked in the beauty space for about 13 years.

[00:02:02] Jen Martinelli: Um, and I ran marketing and education for a technology company in the beauty space. And so over the course of the past 13 years, I’ve really kind of educated the audience on how to better run their businesses, how to be the best beauty professional, how to be the best salon or spa owner, business owner.

[00:02:20] Jen Martinelli: Um, and throughout that career, um, I had a lot of questions. So a lot of people would come to us and say, well, this is all great. I love this content. We’re doing awesome. But at the end of the day, how can I better recruit talent? You know, some of the answers we had were partner with a local cosmetology school.

[00:02:35] Jen Martinelli: And that’s great for some people who are next to a local cosmetology school. But what happens if the next cosmetology school is two hours away? Or what happens if you just are looking for that seasoned beauty professional to come into your space and make a difference? Um, and so that wasn’t really a great solution and, and so then we were like, okay, well, maybe you can host a local event and you’re in, you know, in your town and invite the local audience and have everybody learn from you and teach them something and maybe they like your space and you can network that way.

[00:03:03] Jen Martinelli: So all of these things were very heavy lift. You know, you walk by a salon today, these days, and there’s a help wanted sign and all of these things are just mind blowing. And today’s in 2019, you can walk by a salon and have a help wanted sign in the window. Um, and so one morning I shot out of bed. I mean, a lot of other things happened.

[00:03:20] Jen Martinelli: I shot out of bed and I looked at Matt, my husband, um, who also came from the beauty space, um, and fashion industry. And I said, we need to build a tool that’s going to empower the beauty space just like every other industry has. Um, and that’s when we started to, to really kind of make this movement.

[00:03:38] Matt Martinelli: Yeah we, uh, so we quit everything.

[00:03:41] Matt Martinelli: We left our jobs, we left our house and we moved to California with our two little kids to pursue a dream, to be able to give the beauty spaces, what we had essentially throughout our careers, which is basically LinkedIn for the beauty pro. So it’s networking, it’s education, and it’s a way to create a beautiful digital portfolio that truly represents

[00:04:02] Matt Martinelli: your work as an artist. You know, from a visual perspective, it showcases everything from KPIs to amazing imagery to a little bit of personality and bio, um, your work history. So we really try to incorporate everything that we know from our background in the beauty space is what is what’s going to make you most marketable.

[00:04:23] Antony Whitaker: Okay, so let me back up a little bit because, um, I’ve only just seen the platform and it’s, it’s fantastic. It blew me away. Uh, but I had the luxury of seeing it and, um, I’m very aware our audience can’t see it at the moment. So I know when you were explaining it to me, um, and you just mentioned it again then, but I want to go back to it.

[00:04:43] Antony Whitaker: You mentioned LinkedIn and it is very much like that, isn’t it? It’s, it’s, it’s interesting to me that this industry, I mean, I working, working as a, you know, an industry coach talking to people in many different countries, whether it’s in the U S or Canada, the UK or Australia or whatever, it’s a single biggest issue that probably they all have in common is recruitment.

[00:05:04] Antony Whitaker: As you just said, and, you know, they’re often asking me, where do I find good people? And I have this sort of hit list of things I’ll mention. Um, and you know, from, from social media, I don’t tend to mention LinkedIn because from the salon side of the industry, it’s, um, it’s, it’s had zero appeal. It’s, it’s very corporate looking.

[00:05:26] Antony Whitaker: And so, you know, what I have found is that a lot of people, you know, depending on the country, then they tend to have a lot of success on platforms like indeed. com. And it’s amazing that no one has done what you’ve done before, which is, is come up with basically the LinkedIn for the hairdressing industry, you know, a recruitment platform for both, uh, stylists and, and owners to connect on that was specifically focused around hair and beauty.

[00:05:54] Antony Whitaker: I, I, I think it’s absolutely amazing. Um, what can I ask you about it? What can I ask you about it? The, the, okay. So, so just tell me about it from the perspective of from a stylist. How, how would I use it? If I’m a hairdresser and I go on canvas recruit dot com, how is it going to help me find a job? And then obviously the flip side to that question is as a salon owner,

[00:06:18] Antony Whitaker: if I go on canvas recruit dot com, how can I use it to find people?

[00:06:23] Jen Martinelli: Yeah. So from a beauty professional standpoint, creating your canvas, which your canvas is your digital portfolio. It’s very similar to a LinkedIn process, but very different in that it’s very visual. It’s a beautiful representation of your work.

[00:06:36] Jen Martinelli: So as a beauty professional, I’m going to go to canvas recruit. com and I’m going to say, create my portfolio. What happens at that point is you’re going to answer some questions. Maybe where you know, and you can answer as many or as little as you want Um, so where did you go to school? What are your KPIs?

[00:06:51] Jen Martinelli: So for those of you that understand key performance indicators, so these are your metrics frequency of visit average ticket Um, we ask you those questions why because as a beauty professional they make you more marketable so they’ll appear on your portfolio. So somebody that’s looking for work or somebody that’s looking to freelance or do something huge with their career.

[00:07:11] Jen Martinelli: These metrics are really great representation of how you’re making a difference in this space. Um, how impactful you are as a beauty professional. Not only do we ask you this kind of stuff, right? But we also ask you to upload a main image photo. So a main image, beautiful photo of what, what, you know, your work represents.

[00:07:29] Jen Martinelli: Um, but we also sync it with your Instagram account. So if you have an Instagram beauty account, you’re already showcasing your work, so we’re minimizing the effort. So upload to your Instagram, it automatically sucks into your beauty portfolio, your canvas portfolio. Um, we’ll also ask you some other things.

[00:07:44] Jen Martinelli: What are your payment preferences? What is it that you’re looking to accomplish? You can build out your entire beautiful resume, click submit, and it’s this beautiful representation. And from the recruitment piece, right? It’s not just about full-time opportunities. It can be, but it can also be about those hundreds of opportunities that exist, like being a makeup artist backstage or working behind the scenes of a photo shoot or working with a mentor on a mentorship program because he’s touring and he’s going to hit seven cities and he needs help

[00:08:14] Jen Martinelli: behind the scenes. So it’s really just about leveling up in general in your career and enhancing yourself as a professional. And so that link, that canvas that you end up creating as a representation of your portfolio, you can take that link and leverage it for anything. I can send it to you, Antony, and say, look at my work, Antony.

[00:08:32] Jen Martinelli: It’s so beautiful. Here’s my link. You can click on it and say, wow, Jen, come work with me backstage at LA fashion week. Um, and so it’s really powerful and it just magnifies the opportunities that a beauty professional. Would have not normally had go, go ahead. Do you have some questions?

[00:08:47] Antony Whitaker: Yeah, I do. So, um, it canvas recruit.

[00:08:50] Antony Whitaker: com is a website that has. There’s different templates on it, one for essentially for stylists and one for owners. And the template is to allow the stylist or the owner, whoever’s on it, to easily populate it with relevant content. So it’s, it’s a drag and drop process, is it to put in photographs of, of yourself or photographs of any work you’ve done.

[00:09:14] Antony Whitaker: Um, and there’s questions that you can answer. With as much or as little detail as you want. Is that correct? Yeah?

[00:09:22] Jen Martinelli: Exactly. You can actually even upload videos of yourself. So from a cultural standpoint or from a standpoint of just, I really want this person to understand who I am. Um, you can upload a video from your phone and say, hi, this is me.

[00:09:34] Jen Martinelli: This is why I love the space, making yourself even more marketable. Um, you can also even upload technique videos. So maybe, you know, a lot of artists we’ve talked to a lot of owners. When they look for talent, they look for somebody that can showcase their technique. So show me what your blowout technique looks like.

[00:09:50] Jen Martinelli: And so they can visually do that and upload it to their portfolio. And that way, those opportunities that exist are looking to showcase technique or work. They can just see that. So. Easy quick, not a lot of time, money and effort. Um, you can see that right on their canvas portfolio. Um, and you as an artist can really kind of repper show up for all the showcase and show up your work.

[00:10:14] Antony Whitaker: Okay. And with your, um, I. T background. You’ve been able to sort of pull in all that, uh, the relevance of all those KPIs. So, you’ve got, I’m actually looking at the screen now. So, so you’ve got like, you know, boxes for stylists to put in there. This is what my retail averages, or this is what my average docket is, or this is what my color percentage is.

[00:10:37] Antony Whitaker: And so if you know that information, you can put it in. And if you don’t know that information, you don’t have to, but it doesn’t show as a blank field. Is that correct?

[00:10:46] Jen Martinelli: Exactly. So any of the information that you don’t enter in will still represent, your portfolio won’t look like something has been missing.

[00:10:54] Jen Martinelli: It’ll still look like a beautiful portfolio and you don’t have to worry about any blank, um holes in your in your canvas, right? Um, and so what we’re also doing is that we’re hoping to educate As well So if you’re on our platform and you’re seeing frequency of is it an average chicken all these things and you’re going yourself Oh my gosh, what does that mean?

[00:11:13] Jen Martinelli: So our job is to yes while we’re creating this community of artists That are going to elevate themselves from a career level. Um, our job is to now educate you on why that is important, how to better market yourself, why you should showcase those numbers, what those numbers mean. Um, and so hopefully, you know, with that said, we creating, you know, a stronger, better, uh, future for beauty pros.

[00:11:33] Jen Martinelli: Okay,

[00:11:35] Antony Whitaker: so if I’m a, uh, a salon owner, and, um, I’m in a, I don’t know, let’s say I’m in New Jersey or whatever, and I’m short of staff and I’m wanting a new stylist, uh, I go onto the platform. And is there a series of, of prompts to get me to put in, you know, what state I’m looking for? Or am I looking for, you know, uh, a newbie, someone straight out of beauty school?

[00:11:59] Antony Whitaker: Or am I looking for someone with a lot of experience? Am I looking for someone who’s got a really hot, you know, sort of retail game or someone who’s color focused? Is that, is that how it is that you, you address each of those issues and it will filter it down to give you the list of available prospects.

[00:12:15] Matt Martinelli: Yes, exactly. So, you know, we really sit out here. We had, we heard so many stories back in our days of working in the beauty space from a technology perspective about people not being able to find talent. It was so difficult. It was such a hard task to go through the recruitment process. How do you find people?

[00:12:30] Matt Martinelli: How do you narrow it down? What are you looking for? So our goal was really to make this recruitment effort as easily and as seamless as possible. So as a beauty owner or a salon owner, um, or a spa owner, you can go on there and you can search all different kinds of queries. So you can search by location.

[00:12:45] Matt Martinelli: You can search by years of experience. You can search by even what software you’re using, because we understand that it’s an issue. Sometimes it’s a heavy lift to train somebody on the software they’re using, right? You can search by preferred products. You can search by how many years they’ve been in the industry.

[00:12:58] Matt Martinelli: Um, what else is there?

[00:13:00] Jen Martinelli: You can also search by payment preference.

[00:13:03] Antony Whitaker: Yes. So what do you mean by that when you say payment preference?

[00:13:06] Jen Martinelli: Yes. So the other day I was actually browsing, uh, Facebook and, you know, in this mindset of there’s team based pay, there’s commission based, there’s hourly, all these different ways that a business owner can pay their profession, their beauty pros, right?

[00:13:20] Jen Martinelli: And so there’s all these different kinds of preferences. And so our goal was to mitigate the effort that a business, so let’s pretend we’re a team based business and we’re trying to recruit somebody that’s really a commission based mindset. Well, now I’ve just wasted all of that time investing in interviewing this.

[00:13:36] Jen Martinelli: Potential talent or this person that potentially can come work for me. And then at the end of the conversation, it’s like, okay, this is how we function, you know, we’re team-based pay now. It’s oh, that person’s no, I don’t want team-based pay. Um, I would rather commission-based pay. Well, now you’ve just wasted all that time, effort, and energy and having that conversation with somebody that doesn’t make sense for your culture.

[00:13:56] Jen Martinelli: It doesn’t make sense the recruit. So our goal is to really kind of mitigate that effort before you even pick up the phone. So beautiful canvas portfolios will display on there what your payment preference is. If you choose, right, you don’t have to answer the question, but should you answer the question, you have a strong preference.

[00:14:11] Jen Martinelli: Those that are team-based pay that are looking to recruit some, you know, some people for their space are probably not going to go after those commission-based artists. Or if they do, that’s going to be a conversation they have right up front and not kind of wait till the end of the process to have that conversation of how they are getting paid.

[00:14:28] Matt Martinelli: Yeah, our goal is to truly allow people to find their people, right? And we want to make this platform, um, a space where they can easily find great artists at all career levels. So I think by allowing them to answer all these questions, And seeing who they are from a cultural perspective, even before they walk through the doors for an interview is something that’s going to be truly powerful.

[00:14:50] Jen Martinelli: And I think it’s empowering for everybody, right? Even as the beauty artist that’s getting recruited, you want to make sure that everybody’s a fit. You want to find your people. And so part of finding our people is really kind of building this space where everybody can showcase. That’s why it’s called Canvas, right?

[00:15:04] Jen Martinelli: Canvas, C A N V A S. It’s your canvas. It’s your work canvas. And so that’s why, so being able to see them on their canvas is a great way to bridge that gap and really understand who this is I’m hiring because, you know, we know that there is high turnover. So how can we help mitigate that high turnover?

[00:15:22] Jen Martinelli: Well, a lot of times it’s because we’re hiring the wrong cultural fit. You know, we might get five people that walk through the door that respond to our little paper help wanted ad that’s in the window. Those five people walk in probably. You know, two out of the five may be okay. I’m going to hire the one, but at the end of the day, if I had this platform as an empowerment tool, I may have had more options.

[00:15:43] Jen Martinelli: I may have had, you know, more options in terms of a cultural fit. Um, and then once that starts to happen and people really start finding their people, that makes sense. Um, you know, we think that this is going to, going to help mitigate turnover.

[00:15:56] Matt Martinelli: You know, we actually, we were, we visited a Pope riot event a couple of months ago and one of their platform artists was educating and she’s incredibly talented and she has a huge following on social media and she told a story

[00:16:09] Matt Martinelli: we’re a few years back she was at a salon and she was truly disempowered. And she couldn’t create the kind of hair she wanted to create. And she was kind of stuck in this job and she was not happy. And they weren’t allowing her to be the person she wanted to be. And we’re hoping, or we know that this platform is going to change that kind of mindset and allow people to be.

[00:16:27] Jen Martinelli: So luckily, Pope Bryant came out, right? And she recognized, wow, those are my people. Right. And so she ended up leaving the salon she was working at and ended up going to a Pope Bryant salon.

[00:16:36] Matt Martinelli: And is massively successful.

[00:16:37] Jen Martinelli: And is. Tremendously, I mean she was so she was talking about how she just wanted to get out.

[00:16:42] Jen Martinelli: She was not happy And so now finding her people Made her so happy and and changed the whole trajectory of her entire life I mean, she’s a platform artist for pope bryant. Um, and so where we know that this Platform will empower in the same way, much quicker and faster. You know, she got lucky and she was able to kind of navigate those waters, but there are a lot of people that can’t and they don’t know what, what is their thing?

[00:17:06] Jen Martinelli: How, how do they find their people? And so this platform is going to be that place where it’s almost like the matchmaker of just like, give me my best options for the best career and the career of my dreams.

[00:17:19] Antony Whitaker: That’s fantastic. It’s, it’s amazing that no one has done it, uh, with such a recruitment focus in the us before until now, because it’s so obvious now that you’ve done it.

[00:17:29] Antony Whitaker: It’s so obvious that this is what needed to be done. Um,

[00:17:33] Matt Martinelli: and if I could jump in, I mean, there has been some people that have done it and some people are doing some cool things, but I think where we kind of standout number one is I think from being in the business side of beauty for a long time, we really understand what salon owners are looking for and how to market talent in the right way. So I think that’s an edge there too, um,

[00:17:51] Jen Martinelli: Where we’re bridging the gap is that there’s tons of job boards that exist. You can go on indeed all day long. And I think it’s great. It’s been successful for a lot of salon owners, but where the magic happens on canvas recruit is that we’re allowing the beauty professional to create this beautiful representation of their work.

[00:18:08] Jen Martinelli: So how does the beauty pro without that apply for jobs? They don’t have re, you know, the resumes that they have are very limited in terms of showcasing how talented they truly are. And so I would argue that a lot of times you may be passing somebody up because their, their word doc resume doesn’t truly represent their work and who they are and how talented and special they are, because it doesn’t, it’s not a, you know, word docs are not meant for a creative outlet and to showcase creative work.

[00:18:36] Jen Martinelli: So, yeah. Where magic happens on canvas recruit is that they’re creating this beautiful representation and so every opportunity they’re looking at, they can, you know, as a beauty professional, they can then go on LinkedIn and submit their link, their beautiful link. And guess what? They’re going to get hired over somebody else uploading a word doc.

[00:18:53] Jen Martinelli: And so it’s really powerful that we’ve been able to bridge the gap of yes, there are tons of job boards out there. We’re not a job board. We’re about empowering that beauty pro to really represent themselves in the way that they deserve in a creative, beautiful way. And so they can land any career. So even, even like I was saying, from the opportunities, you know, backstage or, you know, photo shoot opportunities, um, and things like that.

[00:19:16] Jen Martinelli: So really bridging that gap of here’s my portfolio. And this is the opportunity I want.

[00:19:21] Antony Whitaker: No, it’s, it’s fantastic. The only thing similar I’ve ever seen wasn’t as, as broad was in Australia for, uh, we featured them on an earlier podcast pillar route. Um, and it’s, it’s more educator focused than, um, uh, what canvas recruiters at this point in time, but it’s, it’s, it’s great to see that, uh, you know, across the world that there is.

[00:19:43] Antony Whitaker: People zeroing in on that and our industry, because our industry is often notoriously slow for embracing, uh, uh, technology. And, uh, I think that this will be huge in terms of, um, you know, helping, uh, well create a, a hub for one of the better word, you know, for, for recruitment, but also it’s not from what you told me before.

[00:20:06] Antony Whitaker: It’s not just for recruitment. It’s like you can house your stuff there all the time. It’s not like I’m looking for a job. I put my portfolio up until I found a job and then take it down. It’s like I can put my stuff up there. I can profile myself up there and be there all the time, even if I’m happily in employment somewhere.

[00:20:26] Antony Whitaker: That’s correct, isn’t it?

[00:20:27] Jen Martinelli: Yeah, exactly. I mean, we had the other day, we had a call from a Redken artist, crazy platform, Redken artist, super successful, crazy follower on Instagram, crazy influencer. And she called us and she said, I’m having a photo shoot for Redken and I cannot find a makeup artist. Well, I could probably think of 2500 makeup artists that would want that opportunity, right?

[00:20:48] Jen Martinelli: And that are happily employed at a full-time career. But these opportunities really kind of beef up your skill set. They make you feel, you know, It gives you a sense of fulfillment, right? Because wow, I worked backstage at this, you know, Redken thing. So we can think of a million people that would want that opportunity, but there was nobody to fulfill that opportunity.

[00:21:06] Jen Martinelli: Why? Because there’s no hub. There’s no voice. There’s no place where people can kind of get together and say, Hey, I’m doing this photo shoot, or I’m doing that, or even from a collaboration perspective, right? So from this in this new age of social media Everybody wants to be on social media. They want to get a following they want to create this content Well, how do you create content?

[00:21:27] Jen Martinelli: Well start collaborating with people in your local area to beef up your skill set to beef up your your uh, social media presence, um, and just on all scales collaboration is just a huge win. And so even from a collaboration perspective you can come on our platform and say i’m looking to collaborate with somebody three towns over Or in the same town, um and create this beautiful content and create these collaborations and you know I believe if we all kind of get, get together and we all want to grow together.

[00:21:55] Jen Martinelli: We all will grow together. Um, and so I think that that’s what the magic of the platform will start to morph into. It’s not just about that full time opportunity, although it can be.

[00:22:03] Matt Martinelli: You know, it’s also about the new age beauty pro that’s coming out. Um, at a, at a beauty school, you know, we, I think Jen, I talk about this a lot where we think everything happens for a reason.

[00:22:12] Matt Martinelli: And, you know, when we were living in New Jersey, the suite model chair rental didn’t exist. There wasn’t, it doesn’t, it’s not allowed. There’s tax reasons and there’s laws that prohibit it. So we moved out to California because of Jen, Jen’s mother lived there where we got lucky. We really started to understand and learn about the chair rental and the suite model.

[00:22:29] Matt Martinelli: And people are doing some really cool things out here, but what’s happening is they’re allowing the younger generation of beauty pro who wants to travel and not be in one spot. And they want to have clients in different cities. They want to be able to do cool things and still do what they love and make a shitload of money.

[00:22:44] Matt Martinelli: This platform is coming in at a really cool time because We have a member on there who works at a commission-based salon in Malibu, and then she now rents a chair at a salon in West Hollywood. And then once a month, she actually goes back to her hometown in Arizona and cuts hair there. And that’s the, that’s the myth, the mindset

[00:23:04] Matt Martinelli: of the new generation coming out of beauty school, they know because of technology, um,

[00:23:08] Jen Martinelli: they don’t have to just be in one place.

[00:23:10] Matt Martinelli: Yeah, they can have, they can have clients in different areas and they can travel and they can have this amazing life in the beauty industry and make the same amount of money as people within one spot.

[00:23:20] Jen Martinelli: Yeah. I mean, my hair, uh, my, my hairstylist actually works out of LA and New York and she’s able to do that well because of Instagram and I think that the people, you know, the new next generations are coming up and this is, this is kind of the lifestyle they want. Um, and so I would also argue that for as many people that want to be their own boss and want to have that independent mindset and want to travel the world, there are just as many.

[00:23:45] Jen Martinelli: Right, that don’t that want to work at a commission-based salon that want to you know we would just heard a story the other day from somebody in Texas that lost three people to chair rentals Well, well that you know while that hurts, right? There’s nothing that he at this point He’s kind of a sitting duck hoping with the help wanted sign and trying to tell his friends and and trying to recruit somebody That with the mindset that makes sense to work at a commission-based salon. So, you know, the fear-based mentality of like, this platform is going to take those people away.

[00:24:14] Jen Martinelli: No, those people are going to go away anyway this platform will now help you find the relevant people that have the mindset of, I want to be in a commission. There’s so many people that want, just want to be in a commission based salon.

[00:24:25] Matt Martinelli: It also helps you prepare for things like that. As a salon owner, you need to be networking at all times.

[00:24:30] Matt Martinelli: You need to be in that recruitment phase at all times because you never want to know when someone’s going to leave or if you let somebody go. So with this platform, you can bookmark people, you can look at their portfolios, you can actually get an understanding of who they are from a culture perspective, and you can have a list of candidates.

[00:24:44] Matt Martinelli: That you can reach out to when and if you need to hire somebody.

[00:24:47] Antony Whitaker: So again, the salon owner can have a full-time presence on canvas recruit. It’s not like they’re looking for staff. They go on there. They can have their own portfolio up there, which says, this is who we are. This [00:25:00] is what we’re about. These are the products we use.

[00:25:02] Antony Whitaker: This is our philosophy. This is how we pay people. And so, you know, they can just have a presence there and, and hairdressers can sort of go on and, and look and, and find, you know, salons and areas that they might wanna live or work, and then connect directly with them by sharing their link with Canvas, uh, can, sorry, with Canvas Recruit, uh, um, to sort of show them what their portfolio is on the platform.

[00:25:29] Matt Martinelli: Yeah. We actually just had somebody sign up. Um on Friday who’s a salon owner in California and in her buyer section she listed out like all the benefits that she gives out to her employees, which I thought was brilliant. So, they’re understanding when they go search her they can not only see her work and what she’s a little bit about but she also shows These are my benefits.

[00:25:46] Matt Martinelli: This is what I offer and she’s just kind of putting it out there, right? You should always be in that phase as an as an owner if you’re not And I know it’s tough especially for the owners behind the chair We understand how busy and how difficult it is to do things outside the salon, but if you’re not [00:26:00] always continuing to network and search for the next greatest stylist that could work for you, you’re not going to be relevant.

[00:26:08] Matt Martinelli: You know, you need to have that mindset. You need to constantly thinking about the next greatest employee.

[00:26:14] Antony Whitaker: Talk to me more about what you were saying before we got on the call. And we were talking about generational change in young people today and how they think you had some really good insights in that area.

[00:26:25] Matt Martinelli: Yeah, we kind of mentioned a little bit before, but, you know, we understand that we’re starting to see this trend, especially on the West Coast, where you can rent chairs and you could be at different places. The younger generation, people that are coming out of school, there’s a lot of people, and I think it goes both ways, and I think there’s some people that like to be led and like to be working at Commission Sun, but I think on the West Coast.

[00:26:44] Matt Martinelli: We’re seeing this new wave of artists where people want to travel. They want to have clients in different areas and they’re able to leverage technology to have a brand where they can have clients in different areas and not be stuck in one place. Right? So have a chair in Malibu, you can have a chair in Arizona.

[00:27:02] Matt Martinelli: And then even by coastal, we have some artists that are going to New York every other month. And cutting people’s hair because they have clients out there and I really think we’re coming at a good time because we’re allowing to have this hub in this space where those opportunities are going to exist.

[00:27:16] Antony Whitaker: Yeah. Yeah. To make those connections. Yeah. Yeah. So, so I, I, I’m working happily in a salon in, in, I don’t know, California, but I fancy spending 1 week and a month. Well, one week a month in New York, I can go on canvas recruit. I can look at salons there and see if there’s any opportunity for me to go and work there for a week that shares the same product line that uses the same point of sale system.

[00:27:41] Antony Whitaker: Um, you know, similar philosophy to me. I can send them a link for my portfolio and, and bang away. You go. Fantastic.

[00:27:50] Matt Martinelli: Yeah. And I think what’s cool about canvas recruit too, is because we’re allowing, we really want to empower everybody. Right? So a lot of the existing job boards out there, you’re only seeing jobs and opportunities from salon owners, spot owners, whereas canvas recruit, anybody can post a job opportunity.

[00:28:04] Matt Martinelli: So, if you are in LA and you want to work backstage in New York fashion week, you can, Hey, listen, are there any colorists out there that need a stylist? I’d love to come to New York for the week. Showcase what I could do and collaborate with you and work backstage in New York Fashion Week. Those are the kind of career enhancing opportunities that we want to share with people that are out there all the time.

[00:28:22] Matt Martinelli: People just aren’t privy to. That’s where, you know, Jen and I, we’ve done so many cool things outside of our, our current jobs with these opportunities. And I think now more than ever the beauty pro is yearning for that

[00:28:34] Jen Martinelli: kind of starving for that, like extra, you know, thing that they can be doing. That’s going to really elevate them.

[00:28:39] Matt Martinelli: And then they could do some really cool stuff in New York city and put it on their canvas portfolio and make it more marketable and

[00:28:44] Jen Martinelli: make money while they’re on vacation.

[00:28:46] Matt Martinelli: Yeah. I mean, we just, you know, there’s, there’s a, there’s a mindset that needs to change in the beauty space. And we really think that this is going to be.

[00:28:55] Matt Martinelli: The catalyst.

[00:28:56] Antony Whitaker: So how do you make money out of it? I mean, you guys [00:29:00] personally who own the platform, I mean, how does it like, do I pay to, you know, put my, um, my canvas up there?

[00:29:07] Jen Martinelli: Well, so today we are offering free canvases. Um, because this is a movement. We are so passionate about this movement. We really feel it’s going to be, we know it’s going to be so empowering for everybody that joins.

[00:29:20] Jen Martinelli: And so to create a canvas right now is free. So, you can go on, you can create a canvas. It’s free shine, be your best self-show up and get, get chosen for these opportunities. Um, and then if you want to post a job opportunity as a salon owner. It’s going to cost you. I mean, it’s peanuts. It’s like 20 for 30 days.

[00:29:39] Jen Martinelli: So, um, but right now we’re not in the moneymaking phase right now we’re in the movement phase of join this movement because it’s going to enhance and empower your career like nothing before. And so for us, it’s really about just being so passionate about empowering beauty professionals on another scale and creating this movement that everybody that goes on will have a free canvas portfolio.

[00:30:03] Matt Martinelli: Yeah. We don’t know how much longer we’re going to do that because if we continue to do that, I might have to work at the local ship club, but, um, but, um, at least for the, for the foreseeable future, we want to, we want people, we want to get as many people on here creating beautiful portfolios and they can leverage however they want, um, just really kind of showcase their work in a way that it’s meant to be showcased.

[00:30:23] Antony Whitaker: Yeah, I know. I said it in the, uh, in the introduction, um, that you’re only, uh, American based at the moment. So, um, I’m imagining if I wanted to get a job in America, I could go on there from outside of America. In fact, I know I can, because you were telling me about someone earlier on who’d done that, um, who applied for a job.

[00:30:41] Antony Whitaker: But I suppose what I’m asking you is in other countries, can other countries, you know, have a canvas recruit portfolio say if I’m in the UK, can I put something up on canvas recruit? Or is it only for Americans at the moment?

[00:30:56] Jen Martinelli: We are going after the world. So, yes, so you can come on this.

[00:31:00] Antony Whitaker: Of course you are

[00:31:03] Jen Martinelli: create your canvas portfolio, create job opportunities or career opportunities, career enhancing opportunities, whatever that means for you.

[00:31:11] Jen Martinelli: But get on there. It’s a free account right now. We like, like Matt said, we don’t know. We might cut it off at some point, you know, how many users means now the next, you know, early adopters will get in free. And then at some point we’ll start charging. Um, and so really, yes, get on there. We had somebody from South Africa create their canvas portfolio this morning, and she applied for a job and, uh, in New Jersey.

[00:31:34] Jen Martinelli: And so the world is just so abundant and so big and I think Yeah. We have never in the beauty profession thought on that scale, right? Like how could somebody in South Africa have an opportunity or want an opportunity in New Jersey while it’s happening and we’ve only been live for like six weeks. And so we’re seeing how much of a change in mindset, like this person from South Africa wants to come to New Jersey and learn and, and sit, you know, in a, in a New Jersey salon.

[00:31:58] Jen Martinelli: And so I think it’s going to become. So, so, so powerful. So definitely everybody from every country, get on there, create your campus portfolio.

[00:32:06] Antony Whitaker: But, um, but so just, just so I’m clear though, can it happen the other way around? Can someone in South Africa put a, say, I’m looking for a stylist in South Africa.

[00:32:16] Antony Whitaker: They can do that. Right. So you really are going after the world. Right. So it isn’t just, uh, American centric right from the kickoff. Nope. It can be any, it can be anyone, anywhere.

[00:32:28] Jen Martinelli: It could be anyone,

[00:32:29] Antony Whitaker: anywhere. Good. Okay. Well, that’s exciting. Uh, now there was one other thing that you did mention to me about it earlier on, that it’s not just a recruitment-based platform, that it is also, um, going to be an, an education hub.

[00:32:42] Antony Whitaker: Uh, talk to us about that. What does that look like?

[00:32:45] Jen Martinelli: Yeah. So in terms of education, we are right now focusing heavily, heavily, heavily on emotional intelligence. So we are focusing on a lot of things, right? Like we talked about earlier metrics that make you a powerful beauty professional, but the biggest thing that we’re really, really passionate about is emotional intelligence.

[00:33:00] Jen Martinelli: So I started this journey of launching this company through an emotional intelligence mindset. So I went to a seminar. And now it’s emotional intelligence meets like mindset, right? So I went to a seminar and at this seminar, they asked me to break down three. It was a seminar about becoming a better speaker, right?

[00:33:18] Jen Martinelli: So I thought I was in there to understand how to better speak really at the end of the day. It was about how to stand vulnerable in front of an audience so that you can better connect with them. And it was so powerful and life changing for me because it really made me get down to three life defining moments.

[00:33:31] Jen Martinelli: And those three lives defining moments transformed the next eight months of my life because I got started to understand, okay, I was a child of a 17-year-old mom, right? 17-year-old kids, mom and dad. Right? And so my dad was 17 and does what 17 year olds do. And he was like, oh my God, I have a kid. I’ll see you later.

[00:33:51] Jen Martinelli: Um, and then my mom who was 17 was struggling to go to school and do all these things. And so my grandmother, who was an immigrant, um, raised me. And so I was raised in a house where my aunts were my sisters. Um, but I was the youngest of all of them and so I always felt like I was annoying because I was the kid that would walk in the room and everybody would close up shop.

[00:34:07] Jen Martinelli: Let’s go. She’s here. And so I always grew up with this false belief that I was annoying, right? And then I had this also because of that, I had a lot of false beliefs that I was never good enough. And so I, it created this adult who was this like ridiculously crazy perfectionist. I mean, I would do everything 150 plus.

[00:34:26] Jen Martinelli: 20. I mean, I would literally just be this crazy perfectionist. And so I also, it also created an adult that felt very disempowered as a child. I felt like my voice didn’t matter because I was that youngest. And so in feeling disempowered when I, and throughout my career in the beauty space, I ran two teams.

[00:34:43] Jen Martinelli: I built a team of 15 and I vowed to never let anybody feel the way I felt as a child. And like they had no voice. And that was my, my drive every day. I would get there and I would. coach them on, you know, mindset and why everything’s great. And I would elevate them. And there was no ego and everybody was equal playing field.

[00:35:01] Jen Martinelli: And I felt like that was my true passion is to empower people and help them grow and watch them flourish. And so this platform right on a massive scale will empower people. Um, but also my mindset of being able to just. Not thinking, you know, there was, there was not a moment where we thought of anything negative.

[00:35:18] Jen Martinelli: And if we did, we would turn it off. And so how could we be grateful? How can we keep moving? Um, and so I think that that is so important, especially for business owners to get down to their core life defining moments and really understand what their true purpose is, because it really drives the ship in a direction that sometimes you don’t even know existed.

[00:35:35] Jen Martinelli: Um, and it opens up doors of opportunity. Um, it made me show up as a better wife, a better mother, a better employee, a better leader. I showed up in life like every day, like it was the best thing that ever happened. Um, and I literally was a completely changed person. And so if we can educate everybody in the beauty space, how to show up every day as their true self, every day as their happiest version of themselves, we would change the beauty industry.

[00:36:03] Jen Martinelli: Um, and That’s kind of that’s really what we’re passionate about is the emotional intelligence piece. Um, you know, in the mindset stuff, but also a lot of like business tips of how to better market yourself and how to show up as your best self.

[00:36:15] Antony Whitaker: Yeah, so it’s not going to be a education platform that has, you know, step by step haircuts or colors or things like that on it’s it’s more, uh, personal development based. Yeah?

[00:36:27] Jen Martinelli: Exactly. Exactly. Because I believe and I know based off of experience, right? That 1, you once you get into that mindset, everything just doors of opportunity. Everything just kind of. You’re, you’re driving in that right direction and everything just kind of makes sense and falls into place.

[00:36:44] Jen Martinelli: I truly believe that if you fix yourself, um, everything just is magical and everything else gets fixed.

[00:36:50] Antony Whitaker: Yeah. Okay. So, um, we need to start thinking about wrapping up. Where do you, where do you see it in the future? Where do you see recruitment? Where do you see the industry? Where do you see the, you know, your thoughts before Matt, where you were talking about, you know, Um, the, the, you know, the gig economy for one of a better word of, of young people today, you know, not, not wanting to be fixed and not needing to be fixed because we have the technology now, um, you know, for people to, to, to work anywhere and, you know, in lots of other industries, we see this, whether it’s, you know, Airbnb, whether it’s, you know, Uber.

[00:37:25] Antony Whitaker: Um, you know, lots of other industries. We see this gig economy impacting on how we live our lives. Where do you see the future going with this in terms of our industry?

[00:37:35] Matt Martinelli: It’s a good question. I mean, we talked a little bit about technology and I know you had done something, um, recently for a publication about technology and how we’re, where we see the next five to 10 years going.

[00:37:46] Matt Martinelli: I don’t know. I think it’s a good question. I think there’s, there’s technologies like voice and I think there’s a lot of things happening that are going to help kind of transform the way people are recruitment. I think this platform is just the beginning, right? There’s a lot of things coming up that we’re going to be showcasing and features that we’re going to be adding.

[00:38:02] Matt Martinelli: That’s going to make the process easier. It’s going to showcase even more personality. Um, but I, I, I do, I think, I think voice is going to be a big part.

[00:38:12] Jen Martinelli: And just in terms of technology, and I feel like the future and where recruitment’s going, I think it is very challenging to hire that beauty professional if you’re a commission-based salon, right?

[00:38:21] Jen Martinelli: So it’s, it’s very challenging. And I think this platform is going to bridge a lot of that gap. It’s also going to allow more people to maybe try to do these independent things and see these opportunities that they may have not seen before. Um, but I also think, um, that in terms of a salon owner. They’re really going to have to step it up and they’re really going to have to offer the experience that a beauty professional wants to work for and I think they have to get really true with like how to create that following how to become that leader that people want to follow in terms of in terms of you know recruitment because once once this You know, everybody, I mean, it’s already happening, but once everybody from a technological standpoint kind of gets in place in this one space, well, now you really have to be really, really good about how you’re how you’re treating your employees because technology is only going to magnify your voice.

[00:39:10] Jen Martinelli: So technology is magnifying your voice as a salon owner and bringing in your bringing in the staff that you’re looking for. Well, let’s get really clear and really good about what that voice says or what that voice means. Um, and so I think a lot of salon owners really kind of need to, to, to understand that their employees are their number one asset.

[00:39:27] Jen Martinelli: Um, and, and how to, how to offer those benefits that want to create this tribe like following that people want to genuinely and authentically work for them. Because once you know, we’re already kind of, we’re kind of getting there. But I think once we all play in this one space and we’re all kind of active and talking, I think salon owners really have to buckle down and get true and real on, you know, why is it that I’m better to work for than anyone else?

[00:39:50] Matt Martinelli: Um, yeah, I think too, like Jen was saying, if you’re gonna, if you’re a salon owner and you’re not showcasing who you are and what you stand for. On social platforms like chemistry. com, it’s going to be harder and harder to find staff. Um, you know, people coming out of school, they want to believe in the people they work for.

[00:40:09] Matt Martinelli: They want to believe in their brand. They want the brand to have a purpose that’s larger than them. Right? So if you’re not a salon owner, that’s, that’s doing these things and showcasing what you really stand for and what the purpose of the brand is, it’s going to be harder and harder to attract young talent.

[00:40:22] Matt Martinelli: Um, I think that one of the first things that we did was create this like mantra for chemistry crew and what it stood for and who we wanted and who we wanted the members to be. And I think we’ve gotten a really great response because it it’s inspiring and it’s allowing people to kind of say, you know what, I, I believe in that.

[00:40:38] Matt Martinelli: I want to stand behind something like that. So more and more with technology and these kinds of platforms, you have to be relevant and you have to be a salon owner that’s has a voice and it’s showcasing the brand and the purpose of what they’re doing.

[00:40:52] Antony Whitaker: I think that is probably the perfect way to begin wrapping this up.

[00:40:58] Antony Whitaker: Where can people find out more about it? Where can they connect with you guys? I mean, obviously it’s canvas recruit. com, uh, C A N V A S, recruit, just recruit, R E C R U I T. com. Okay. Um, any other social platforms I should connect on?

[00:41:18] Jen Martinelli: Yes. Our Instagram, which is at canvas recruit, same spelling. So at canvas recruit on Instagram.

[00:41:25] Jen Martinelli: Um, you can also follow Matt and I, um, if you want to follow us on our personal journey. So it’s Jen. Martinelli eight at Jennifer Martinelli eight and then what are

[00:41:35] Matt Martinelli: you? Mine’s at Matt Martinelli eight. Yeah, I think that

[00:41:39] Antony Whitaker: is how do you spell Martinelli? M A R T I N E L L I.

[00:41:46] Antony Whitaker: And did you say eight at the end?

[00:41:49] Antony Whitaker: Yeah.

[00:41:50] Matt Martinelli: Yeah. Number eight. It’s our lucky number. Oh, good. Okay.

[00:41:53] Antony Whitaker: I wondered why. I wondered why. Okay. Well, listen guys. Um, I have really enjoyed talking to you. Um, it’s, uh, I’m sat here looking at you. I mean, we’re talking on Skype. I’m in the UK, you’re in the U S. Uh, you’re, you’re definitely going to win the award for the best-looking couple in the hairdressing industry.

[00:42:09] Antony Whitaker: Uh, so, uh, it’s been a, it’s been a real pleasure, uh, connecting with you again on this. Good luck with canvas recruit. Um, I think you’re fulfilling a need. Um, I hope it goes, you know, really well for you. Thank you.

[00:42:24] Matt Martinelli: Yeah. We’re, we feel very honored to be on the podcast and we are been watching you for a long time.

[00:42:29] Matt Martinelli: And, um, this has been a really cool experience for us. So thank you so much. I appreciate you. Thank you.

[00:42:34] Antony Whitaker: My absolute pleasure.

[00:42:36] Matt Martinelli: Bye. Take care.

[00:42:39] Antony Whitaker: Thank you for listening to today’s podcast. If you’d like to connect with us, you’ll find us at grow my salon, business. com or on Facebook and Instagram at grow my salon business and if you podcast, make sure that you subscribe, like, and share it with your friends. Until next time, this is Antony Whitaker wishing you continued success.