– Episode 010Geno Stampora

Episode 010: 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.

[00:00:31] Antony Whitaker: My guest today is Geno Stampora, a hairdresser, author, speaker, business guru, consultant, entertainer, general all round industry expert, and nice guy with it. Geno has a passion and a level of enthusiasm for learning and sharing information that’s infectious and rare to find. And I think it’s fair to say that he’s devoted most of his professional life to helping other hairdressers to grow.

[00:00:56] Antony Whitaker: Very few people love hairdressers and the hair and beauty business quite like Geno. So welcome to my guest today, Mr. Geno Stampora.

[00:01:08] Geno Stampora: Well, thank you, Antony. It’s wonderful to be here.

[00:01:10] Antony Whitaker: Do you know, I’m really excited about, about this because I’ve listened to you a lot on, uh, on different interviews and you’re, you’re great entertainment.

[00:01:17] Antony Whitaker: You bring a lot of fabulous wisdom and insight into the hairdressing industry. So, um, yeah, this is going to be fun. Um, I always like to start off by getting my guests to introduce himself to sort of explain a little bit about who they are, what their background is so, uh, the floor is yours, sir.

[00:01:33] Geno Stampora: Well, I’m happy to, uh, uh, work, have an opportunity to work with you.

[00:01:37] Geno Stampora: And I love the idea of having an audience. Uh, I’m a hairdresser. I’ve been a hairdresser for a little over 40 years now, and I have had the greatest time of my life. I’ve. fell into an industry haphazardly that has accepted me like most of your listeners, uh, all you have to do is do a good job and somehow fell into salon ownership, which probably wasn’t a good thing to do because I’m not a great businessman, but you know, you learn as you move along.

[00:02:07] Geno Stampora: And then as a result of having a couple of salons and not finding great help, I moved into the beauty school business and had a couple of great. Beauty schools and, uh, since about 1991, I’ve been educating for the most part, but all over the free world, uh, just teaching people how to stay passionate and have inspiration and get the most out of building a great clientele and making great money.

[00:02:31] Antony Whitaker: Right. So you, you, you no longer have salons or schools. That’s, that’s correct. Isn’t it?

[00:02:35] Geno Stampora: Yes, I do not. I, uh, I’m out since about, uh, 91 or 92. And I was, it was great. I was able to, uh, uh, get my schools off to my partners and I was able to sell my salons to my, to the best of my staff. So it worked out beautifully.

[00:02:51] Antony Whitaker: Fantastic. Um, You know, you’ve been in the industry that long, you know, 40 plus years, whatever it is. Well, talk, talk to us about the changes that you’ve seen in the industry.

[00:03:00] Geno Stampora: It is wild. Just what’s happened. It’s amazing what’s been going on. I’m, I’m almost kind of glad that I’m near walking down the other end of the mountain because of the industry, as I know, it really is that much different that it’s changed that much.

[00:03:15] Geno Stampora: However, uh, I don’t think it’s demise. I think we’re going to be okay. I think everything evolves. I think we have an industry that’s evolving and changing, but it doesn’t mean it’s not the detriment of who we are. It’s just, uh, the landscape from now on will look different in regard to who we are and it’ll all work.

[00:03:34] Antony Whitaker: Yeah, definitely. I mean, it’s constantly evolving. I think I don’t know if it’s just us because of the, you know, the generation we are, but it seems to be that it’s exponential change at the moment that it’s so rapid that the changes in technology, the changes in consumer expectation, um, and therefore the changes in the salon business model.

[00:03:56] Antony Whitaker: And so the impact is massive. And I think In the United States. In a lot of ways, um, you see some of those changes before you see them elsewhere. I think that, um, you know, the technology today with with smartphones, et cetera. Um, and, you know, this younger generation, you know, they are this generation. It’s not their fault, but they’re this generation that have been born into this time of, you know, instant gratification.

[00:04:25] Antony Whitaker: And, you know, they question the, um, you know, the lifestyle that maybe a lot of us baby boomers have, have, uh, have, have worked, um, in, but they’ve also got the, the technology now to enable them to work completely differently, you know, um, talk to us a little bit about that. What are your thoughts about the changes in the business model that are happening in the hairdressing industry?

[00:04:47] Geno Stampora: It’s just incredible, isn’t it? And, uh, in America, especially that, that what you had brought up, uh, I think the speed of life in America. Is is faster than most other places when you have that increased really fast speed of life, uh, people want things. It’s it’s not. It’s not the millennials. It’s just that everybody don’t doesn’t want to wait.

[00:05:10] Geno Stampora: They don’t want to be patient. They want things yesterday. They want to grow real fast. And I think that that changes everything. And when you talk about technology and and and where technology is going and and having a smartphone, which nearly everyone in the world anymore has. When all those things connect at the same time, I think that’s when you have a quantum leap in the change of landscape of an industry.

[00:05:36] Geno Stampora: And I think that’s what has occurred with us. I think they’re still great people. They’re still great products. They’re still great opportunity. And I still believe in my heart of hearts that there’s no place as great as beauty. I think it’s the greatest place to be.

[00:05:51] Antony Whitaker: You know, one of the things I just got from what you were talking about was how, you know, different generations have different expectations, they have different values and often I’ll hear, you know, people from my generation, the sort of baby boomer generation, they’ll talk about, you know, millennials, Generation Z, Generation Z, whatever you want to call them, depending on the country you’re from, and they will talk about, you know, the work ethic, um, that they have and how it’s, uh, not what it used to be, so to speak, and no, it isn’t what it used to be, and nor should it be.

[00:06:26] Antony Whitaker: It’s constantly changing, but I don’t think it is just any specific generation. I think it’s people today, um, you know, all of us, whether you’re 20 or whether you’re 50, 60, we live in this world of rapid change and, and, uh, and, and rapid growth. So, you know, to survive and grow, you’ve got to embrace it.

[00:06:45] Antony Whitaker: You’ve got to ride that wave, don’t you? So what, what I want to ask you is this, what, what sort of advice would you give to hairdressers today about accepting change about embracing change about, about going with it, dealing with change.

[00:07:00] Geno Stampora: And it’s, it’s not easy because there’s a portion of us that, uh, uh, just don’t like it at all.

[00:07:06] Geno Stampora: We’ll do everything we can to bucket to resist it. Uh, many of us, especially the baby boomer era, uh, we were taught to strive for comfort to you. You you’re successful when you made it to a point where you’re in your comfort zone. And I’ve always thought that when you’re in your comfort zone, you’re going to get bored.

[00:07:23] Geno Stampora: You’re going to get old you’re going to get tired. And the importance of the fact that all growth comes outside that comfort zone. Uh, however, um, I don’t know. I, I think that if we look at the fact that, that the speed of life, not only will not slow down, it will continue to go faster because of technology.

[00:07:43] Geno Stampora: We must not only embrace change, but to be successful, to get the most out of the day, even, um, you got to learn how to roll with it. You got to learn how to ride that wave. You got to learn how to just keep things moving and not get frustrated by it because then not only are you standing still, but odds are you’re falling behind.

[00:08:02] Geno Stampora: I think if we could ingest embrace not only some of what’s going on, even technologically, but also, I mean, you know, Antony, you’re a hairdresser. We have an interesting way of understanding people. You know that we really do. And you learn when you do 15 people a day, six days a week in a couple of years, you understand the way people think and the problems people have and how people do the things they do.

[00:08:26] Geno Stampora: I’ve always tried to explain to hairdressers from, from 18 to 80, everyone has a heart. And if you appeal to that heart, uh, regardless of where you are, you’re going to be busy, you know, people like people that understand feelings. So, uh, I think my best advice to them would be just to roll with the changes and, uh, and don’t try to swim upstream.

[00:08:48] Geno Stampora: One of the greatest things that a great artist could do is if find your flow, get in the river and flow with it, don’t try to change it. You know, um, the oddly enough, I think one of the greatest sayings I ever heard that fit well in what we’re talking about is that, uh, in order to be creative, which everybody wants to be, you have to burst first, be receptive.

[00:09:09] Geno Stampora: So, to really embrace creativity and have all the creativity you need, you have to be receptive to new thinking, a new landscape, a new environment and a lot of this is a result of the fact that our cultures have changed and growing up has changed and what’s on television has changed and the movies have changed, music has changed.

[00:09:28] Geno Stampora: So all of your environment and really influences are different than they used to be. Yeah. You know, I, I, some people say we’re creating a monster and you know, you and I both work with a lot of young people, and there are some monsters, but there’s some incredible talent down there, you know?

[00:09:44] Antony Whitaker: Yeah, exactly.

[00:09:45] Antony Whitaker: I mean, I, um, I’ll occasionally meet people that, you know, I haven’t seen for 20 or 30 years. I’m sure it’s the same for you and some of them you meet, you, you see them and you know, they are, they’re living in the now. They’re so positive. They’re so excited. They really are embracing life and doing really well.

[00:10:04] Antony Whitaker: And then you’ll meet other people that maybe you haven’t seen for 20 or 30 years and 20 or 30 years ago, maybe they were on the same page as you and then you see them now and they’re, they’re worn out. They’re bitter. You know, they’re very despondent. They’re negative. And I, I often look at them and I think, you know, You, you, you can’t wish that it was like what it used to be like, what it was like 20 years ago is what it was like 20 years ago.

[00:10:28] Antony Whitaker: Yeah. And, and just because you don’t necessarily like the changes, whether there changes in fashion or changes in business, or, you know, changes in consumer expectations. It doesn’t matter whether you like it or not, it’s, those changes are happening. So we’ve always gotta look for well, where’s the opportunity for me?

[00:10:43] Antony Whitaker: How can I, what can I learn from this? Well, how can I roll with the punches? Cause you’re going to get some, but what can I learn from this? So that I come up smelling the roses.

[00:10:50] Geno Stampora: I agree. And I think a lot of people, especially I, I know you’re, you’re a business guru and you really have a, you have an acute understanding of how business operates, which I never have.

[00:11:01] Geno Stampora: But one of the things I’ve always tried to explain to people is listening. It’s very simple, no matter what changes, if you understand value. If you understand taking great care of people, you understand how to provide a service experience where you become a story. If you understand that even with all those changes, some things never change the, the classics never go away.

[00:11:21] Geno Stampora: So if we really try to find a way to provide great value for the money to, to give them an opportunity where they have an experience like they haven’t had before, we’re still going to be successful. And I have a real thing when you talk about seeing people that you haven’t seen in a long time and they’re bitter.

[00:11:39] Geno Stampora: I’ve never been able to understand that. I think that those are people that lose sight of the, I think is fragility a word. There is not the fragility of life that life is so fragile, you know, how could you be bitter? I mean hell how many days do you think you have left? You know the two things I try really careful not to do is I judge no one Yeah, live your life the way you want to live your life.

[00:12:06] Geno Stampora: Just let me do my thing and I make sure I understand that today’s a great day. I was so excited about coming over and working with you and making the podcast and, and to tell you how great it is that you’re providing this information to people. Even if it’s just that one little thing, they get out of this podcast where they say, wow, I’m going to change the way I think, you know, we’ve been incredibly successful.

[00:12:30] Geno Stampora: I think that, that, that people really have to grasp the fact that this is your day. Don’t get bitter, squeeze today, dry, make today work, no matter what, even if it means you got to go hide under a rock, hide under a rock until you feel better, but don’t come out like that because it’s not going to help anything, right?

[00:12:48] Antony Whitaker: So someone gave me a great bit of advice. Once, um, they sat through a, uh, uh, uh, management seminar and, uh, at the end of it, it was a journalist and she came up to me and, you know, she’d sat through eight hours. And she said, if it was just one takeaway you give people, what would it be? And I thought, you know, you’ve been sat here for eight hours, but you know,

[00:13:10] Geno Stampora: you must have got something

[00:13:11] Antony Whitaker: to one thing, but it was an, it was interesting to be put on that spot because I, I remembered straight away some advice that someone had given me and I can’t remember who it was and it was this.

[00:13:24] Antony Whitaker: They said, look in life, you know, you’re going to get thrown some curveballs, you know, stuff happens and that what you have to do and this applies. This is a life period, not just in the salon industry, whatever, but what you have to do is you have to say, okay, what am I meant to learn from that? Because if you don’t learn from it, it’s going to happen again, right?

[00:13:45] Antony Whitaker: Yeah. So like, you know, stuff happens in the salon industry, a staff walkout. What, what, you know, as an example. So, you know, that’s going to happen. If you own a salon, you’re going to have people leave you. It’s just a matter of how many and how often and how you bounce back from it. But, but the key lesson was, okay, so this was my tip to this journalist.

[00:14:03] Antony Whitaker: That the best advice I’d give to a manager is that stuff happens. And that if you want to survive and grow and flourish and learn from it, you’ve got to say, all right, what am I meant to learn from that? So that it either doesn’t happen again, or that if it does, I can at least limit the damage, right? And so you’re turning every negative thing into potentially a positive that it’s, you know, I always say that everyone you meet.

[00:14:24] Antony Whitaker: You mean for a reason? Yes. And everything that happens, it happens for a reason. Yes. And, you know, so when bad stuff happens, well, what is the reason that’s happened to you for? Because if you don’t learn something from it, it’s going to keep on happening until you do.

[00:14:37] Geno Stampora: Yeah. I think the first thing I try to teach, especially our people, artists is, uh, we choose with every decision.

[00:14:45] Geno Stampora: Will we react to it or will we respond to it? Yeah. And yeah. Once they understand that reacting to a decision, a situation, a problem is purely emotional and responding is emotion mixed with logic. Think before you cut the person off in front of you. What are you going to get out of it? Think before you get upset at a client that doesn’t like their hair.

[00:15:07] Geno Stampora: Think before you let yourself get upset over the fact that it’s raining and it’s not a sunny day. Just put things in perspective and realize that we have control through the way we accept the advice and make a decision. And I think so many people, they get so caught up. It’s kind of right where you’re at that they don’t not only learn from their mistakes, but, you know, we used to do a great thing in my first and second salon.

[00:15:33] Geno Stampora: We would keep a log like a journal at the front desk and with that journal, we would, whenever a client asked us a question that we didn’t have an answer for them, we would write the question in the book. And that night we’d all talk about what’s the answer. And if you learn how to do that, kind of in your own mind, and you learn how to be

[00:15:57] Geno Stampora: a solution-oriented thinker, instead of a problem oriented thinker, it makes a world of difference.

[00:16:05] Antony Whitaker: I love that react versus respond. I’m going to use, I’m going to steal.

[00:16:09] Geno Stampora: I think you should, I’ll credit you. Absolutely. Thank you. I’ll do the same for you. I’m sure I’ll get something from you.

[00:16:15] Antony Whitaker: Um, one of the things I wanted to ask you about is that, you know, we’ve both been fortunate enough to meet

[00:16:23] Antony Whitaker: lots of, you know, icons in the hairdressing industry, uh, and outside the hairdressing industry. But, um, you know, with all this, these, these people that you’ve met over your, you know, illustrious career. Um, what do you notice that people have gotten common or what do you learn from them? What are, what are some of the lessons?

[00:16:43] Antony Whitaker: That you’ve taken from, you know, some of the biggest names in the hairdressing industry.

[00:16:48] Geno Stampora: Well, it’s difficult because, uh, I spent a lot of time fighting with my own ego and I spent a lot of time when I first got into hair, where I was so full of me. I thought I was the coolest guy in the world. Whenever I met anybody who was cooler than me, I thought that they wanted to learn from me.

[00:17:07] Geno Stampora: Not that I wanted to learn from them that they, they must’ve wanted something from you. And I’ll never forget the first time I met John McCormick and John McCormick said to me, you know what, you’re so full of yourself there’s no room for anybody else. And he said, you don’t know how to listen. Really? And I’m looking at him like, I don’t like you, but then I went home and thought about it and I was like, he’s right.

[00:17:28] Geno Stampora: If you can’t listen, you’ll never learn. So, so it isn’t even a matter of who you meet. It’s a matter of when you meet somebody, what is it that you’re looking for? And then I began to see that when I have a chance to meet a Vidal Sassoon or meet Paul Mitchell or, or meet John Paul Dejoria or meet Antony Mascolo or

[00:17:47] Geno Stampora: any of the greats and I certainly do. I hate to start naming people ‘cause I don’t want to miss anybody cause there’s so many not to mention that we, you and I, even over the years, Antony, we have an opportunity to be moment mentors, momentary mentors to each other. Here’s what I look for. I look for

[00:18:06] Geno Stampora: everything about them, the way they’re dressed, um, uh, how they speak, the words they choose to use, you know, what they’re wearing, how they sit, because everything tells a story, everything sends a message, and you begin to learn the first thing I learned was. Every icon I’ve ever met anywhere in the world, every actor, every famous person, they have no ego.

[00:18:31] Geno Stampora: They, they, they, most of them really want to help you. They want to help you grow. They understand the importance of let me get out what I know so that I can make room for, for more. And let me help the people, uh, that really have a heart for, uh, life for, for what we do. And, and I have found over the years that, that I’ve become very much the same way.

[00:18:52] Geno Stampora: And it’s funny now, when I hear people call me an icon, I look back at them like, wow, is that, is that me? Is, is that what’s happened now? How do I respond? You know, what is it that I was looking for? And, and. These, these people, there’s so much to learn, not just in the way they think, but the way they think, the way they act, the way they carry themselves, what they wear, what’s the message they’re trying to put out, how they are with others, how they are with themselves, what they’re reading, what they’re studying, you know, what they’re listening to, who moves them.

[00:19:26] Geno Stampora: You know, the first thing I try to do always with when I believe I’m with a master, I try to find out what they study. What are you studying right now? You know, what, what are you like you and I, what are you reading, man? What are you into? What’s new? You know, um, I think that makes all difference in the world.

[00:19:44] Geno Stampora: But I also believe that I’ve been, uh, fortunate, uh, perhaps because I’ve always been such a hungry individual. Uh, I create ways where I’ve been around magical people. I’ve met lots of rock stars. Uh, I’ve met lots of actors. I’ve met the best of the beauty industry. Even, uh, I met Vidal Sassoon when I was a student in beauty school, I met Christopher Brooker when I was a student, Paul Mitchell, when I was a student in beauty school, I met so many great people because I felt that, uh, if, if it’s important to you to be great and be special and, and, and see your industry from that level, uh, you have to be around to absorb the influence of the people at that level.

[00:20:29] Antony Whitaker: Right. Yeah. I remember once I had a, um. Um, a coach, uh, was pretty much my first, you know, salon coach was going to open up my own salon and, uh, she was, she was with me one day and one of my youngest staff members came in and said something to me. I can’t remember what it was. Um, and it’s not a relevant part of the story, but they came and said something to me and my, my response, which again, I can’t really remember what it was, but afterwards

[00:20:58] Antony Whitaker: my coach said to me, you know, you got to be so careful how you respond to these people. You know, I’m at this point in time. I’m an employer with maybe half a dozen staff. So, it was at the beginning of my business ownership. She said, you got to be so careful how you respond to them because you know that that 18-year-old, whatever they were that just came up to you.

[00:21:19] Antony Whitaker: You maybe don’t realize the esteem that they hold you in. That they, they look upon at you as being like, wow, and you can so easily be dismissive of them and, and absolutely, you know, crush them. And so it’s important, isn’t it? Like, you know what you’re saying? I mean, the names that the people that you’ve met and the lessons that you’ve got that happens at every level of the journey.

[00:21:44] Antony Whitaker: So there’s people listening to this, sort of got, you know, a small salon with three or four staff in the middle of nowhere, you know, all due respect to the middle of nowhere. But. It’s important the lesson that they take from it is. That how they act, how they behave, how they talk, how they acknowledge their team, uh, and how they treat people around them is incredibly important at building those people around them and, and, and building their, uh, their self-esteem.

[00:22:10] Geno Stampora: Yeah. Monumental. Monumental. Yeah. And I’ll never forget, uh, uh, the greatest lesson I ever learned in regard to that was I had a friend that said to me one time, you’re not careful enough with communication. And I was like, Oh no, no, no. I’m a good communicator, man. I, I take great pride in the vet and, and, and he was like, no, he said, you know what you do?

[00:22:30] Geno Stampora: You speak to people based on your level of thinking. And he said, that doesn’t work. You have to speak to people, all people based on their level of understanding. And he was actually talking to me about my employees, but I immediately thought of it as when you’re not in the beauty profession, you pay full price for everything that happens.

[00:22:51] Geno Stampora: You pay full price for your products, full price for your haircuts, full price for your color. The minute you enter beauty school. You think differently because all your products are at a discount and all your services are free. So, you can’t speak to a client based on your level of, of thinking. You have to speak to them based on their level of understanding.

[00:23:10] Geno Stampora: They don’t think like we do. And I think many times when you’re in a leadership role and to me, a leadership role is being a father or a husband, you know, or a mother or a wife or a boss or a sister, we can be leaders to, to each other. And if you’re a boss with two employees or, or 20 employees, you have to be really careful that sometimes what’s so important to them might not appear to be that important to us.

[00:23:36] Geno Stampora: I don’t know about you, but when I have an opportunity, I mean, I’ve been on stages all over the world and spoken to thousands of people and I’ll always say. One thing different about our industry is you’re going to get out on a stage and you’re going to speak to a 19-year-old and a 69-year-old, and they’re both out in the same audience.

[00:23:53] Geno Stampora: And I’ll always say that the hardest part of today is going to be that the 19-year-old thinks a year is a mile long and the 69-year-old knows that the year is an inch long. Yeah. And how do we come to grips with the fact that we see that so differently, you know? Yeah.

[00:24:11] Antony Whitaker: Yeah, that’s it. As soon as you started talking, it reminded me of something I’ve heard you say before, which was you were talking.

[00:24:18] Antony Whitaker: I think you were talking to Gordon Miller. Um, and you were telling this story about how someone had given you something to listen to or to read. I can’t remember what it was, and they wanted your opinion on it. And, uh, you got back to them the next day and you said something. You remember what I’m talking about?

[00:24:35] Antony Whitaker: You got back to the next day and you said, I listened to it four times. And I listened to it, first of all, from the perspective is your friend. Tell us that story because I thought that was a great lesson.

[00:24:44] Geno Stampora: That was, uh, one of my few employees in my life and one of my first employees that, uh, quit her job on me and asked if she could have an exit interview.

[00:24:57] Geno Stampora: And, uh, I never even knew what an exit interview  was. But I had an exit interview with her and I learned from it. And then she gave me an old album, a 33 and a third vinyl of, uh, from Doug Cox, the challenge of success. And I went nuts and I have a real thing about, I listened to it as her friend. Why did she want me to listen to it?

[00:25:20] Geno Stampora: I listened to it as her boss. Uh, what was it that she wanted me to learn from this? I listened to it as a hairdresser, you know, what are the things I can get out of it? And then I listened to it as an educator. What can I grab that’s so good that I’m going to begin to give back to my employees, my children, my audience, my followers? You know, and I think a lot of people don’t realize, so I don’t know if you were there yesterday, a few people came up and grabbed me.

[00:25:46] Geno Stampora: And said, what are you reading right now? And I said, well, I’m reading a lot, but it really doesn’t matter. What matters is not only what you’re reading, but I read what, what talks to me, what, what goes to my heart. And I think that a lot of people don’t realize that the best book you’re going to read is a book where you connect with the author, that the author is really talking to you, that, that it really hits home.

[00:26:08] Geno Stampora: So I think, see, I have no formal education, Antony. I mean, I quit school when I was a kid, I got my high school diploma because the army wanted me so bad when my drill sergeant found out that, that, that I wasn’t a high school graduate, he instantly produced this high school graduation paper, stamped it, and I was a high school graduate ready to go to Vietnam, you know, it’s one of those things, but I think sometimes not having a formal education really allows you to like, you know, like, Mushroom and grow from the people and, and things around you.

[00:26:39] Geno Stampora: And, uh, I guess I was about 32 when I became an avid reader and the, the person that really got me interested in reading said, find authors that speak directly to you, speak to your heart. And I always have surrounded myself with great people that I feel spoke right to my heart.

[00:26:57] Antony Whitaker: Yeah. Is there anyone particular that you, you  listened to or read outside of the industry that has inspired you?

[00:27:05] Geno Stampora: Oh, yeah. Yeah. Uh, probably first was Zig Ziglar. And, uh, I had some dear friends, uh, Steve and Terry Cowen. Steve Cowen is the, uh, the distributor of professional salon concepts. And he has a couple of Paul Mitchell schools out in, uh, Chicago land. And Steve was kind enough to actually invest in me as a consultant.

[00:27:26] Geno Stampora: I. Worked for him doing classes and shows, and sent me to Zig Ziglar for three days to a program called Born to Win that I fell in love with and all of a sudden understood the importance of, of having coaches, uh, of having inspiration around you, of having somebody who brings out the best in you, who makes you see that there’s more to you than you think there is.

[00:27:48] Geno Stampora: You know, it almost brought me right back to beauty school. Uh, when I was in beauty school, Antony, I had a an instructor, Mrs. Sedlak. And, uh, she said to me one day, I did a shampoo and said, I should probably back all this up before I forget. So, uh, I’m really not a good hairdresser and never was. Uh, I don’t know how to cut hair well, and I never have, and you might see me on stage a thousand sides, but you’re never going to see me with a pair of scissors because I did it once and never did it again.

[00:28:17] Geno Stampora: But I learned that, that, you know, people don’t know great hair. They know great people. Customers don’t. Yeah. I used to have customers come back to me and say, if you can just get both sides, even, you know, I’ll keep coming back. And I would always blame them and say, you know, you must’ve moved. You had your legs crossed.

[00:28:31] Geno Stampora: You know, you threw me off. So you know, I’m So, uh, maybe you were talking too much. Yeah, no doubt about it. No doubt. Don’t move your head around. So, so powering up, uh, I always look for things that would differentiate me with my clients as I wasn’t good with hair after I went through Ziggs program and understood the importance of, of inspiration and of having coaches and of having people teach you.

[00:28:53] Geno Stampora: And of having someone like my beauty school instructor that said, I know you don’t have faith in yourself borrow my faith in you until you get your own. Uh, I learned that you can really borrow energy from these great leaders. So I went from zig to falling in love with Mike Vance and, uh, went down to Disney university to a couple of Mike Vance’s programs, which then led me to looking for the root Jim Rowan.

[00:29:21] Geno Stampora: Yeah. And I just, uh. Jim Rowan and I, uh, I can’t tell you how many times I still listen to, uh, tapes, cassette tapes from Jim Rowan, uh, VCR stuff from, from a million years ago, because he really made simple sense, just spectacular. And, uh, I think I was telling you about the time he was coming into Washington, DC to do a program.

[00:29:47] Geno Stampora: And, uh, I got all of my top leadership in the, in my salons and said, listen, we’re all going to go see Jim Rohn. This guy’s going to blow your mind. You’re going to hear me. Cause I talk all about him and, uh, I think I bought about 12 tickets and, uh, I don’t remember exactly. And if you could talk to my wife, she’ll tell you, I’m not great with numbers that whenever I give you a number, you either have to divide it by two or a multiply it by two, depending on how I’m feeling that day.

[00:30:12] Geno Stampora: If I remember correctly, we did get a call and my receptionist got the call that, uh, they were looking into canceling the program because they didn’t sell enough tickets. And I was like, gosh, no, this, this can’t happen. Uh, I need to see Jim and I need my, I needed my top employees to see him. I thought it would really, I knew it would catapult us in great information.

[00:30:32] Geno Stampora: So I said, how many tickets do we need to sell? And I believe it was 250 or something. And I said to my receptionist, buy them all. We’ll sell them and she’s freaking out because we had no money, but we bought them all. And I began to sell them to clients. I sold them to friends, to neighbors, and I sold them to a lot of my staff and we got all 250 or so tickets sold.

[00:30:52] Geno Stampora: And we go to the program and I’m like in the third row, Jim Rohn comes on stage and says how excited he is to be there. And then he says, who’s Geno Stampora. And I looked up at him like, oh my goodness, it’s an angel calling me. This is such a great message and we were friends for the rest of his life. I mean, we, he would call me.

[00:31:10] Geno Stampora: We, I’d go to different places to see him speak and had all of this material. And he was just one of those people that after a while just sent me his new stuff. Just said here, you know, listen to this. Let me know what you think of this. Stay focused, keep something going every day. There are so many great people.

[00:31:28] Geno Stampora: Great leadership, great inspiration, great mentors out there. You just have to search for the ones that, that, that really talk to your heart. And, and I’ll tell you, Antony, and you know, me, I, uh, I am Mr. Positivity in the beauty industry. And it’s not that, you know, I see some people look at me and think, well, of course he’s lucky, you know, uh, look at how much money he makes and look at where he goes and look at what he does.

[00:31:52] Geno Stampora: And that’s got nothing to do with it. You know, I was like that when I was a poor kid in New Jersey. And, and a lot of times I’ll say to my audience, let me tell you about poor. I had five sisters and no brothers. And I used to wear my sister’s hand me downs all the time in school. I started thinking one day I’ll bet my fourth-grade teacher looked at me and said, the hairdresser, because I was always dressed in girls clothes, but

[00:32:15] Geno Stampora: something happens to you. You, you, you develop this hunger. And then when you look at people like Jim Rohn, Mike Vance, you know, Antony Robbins, all of them, uh, I try to explain to people inspiration is very short lived. Yeah. You’re going to listen to this podcast and I know me. Somewhere along the line, most of you are going to get inspired when you listen, and I’m going to tell you, you’re going to put the podcast down.

[00:32:39] Geno Stampora: You’re going to go, wow, I’m going to change the world, but then you’re going to look at a globe and say, Jesus, the world is so big, you know, I’m just going to change Manchester. Then you’re going to say, well, Manchester is so big. I’m just going to clean my car, go back to work and start over. What people have to understand is

[00:32:55] Geno Stampora: to have great inspiration, you have to have an inspirational mentor, inspirational books, tapes, podcasts, CDs, ideas, you know, people coming at you all the time to reinvigorate you, to re inspire you, to keep you, keep you on the top, you know.

[00:33:10] Antony Whitaker: Yeah. I love that story about Jim Rohn, um, and you buying all the tickets.

[00:33:14] Antony Whitaker: I mean, for anybody who doesn’t know Jim, Jim Rohn is, uh, he was, uh, well, Antony Robbins was, was the, the guy that Antony Robbins got a lot of his, you know, information from, you know, and, uh, and Robbins presents it, uh, you know, brilliantly, and he’s definitely the master of, of, you know, the human condition, so to speak, but I was lucky enough to, to see Jim Rohn, um, years ago, 25 years ago.

[00:33:38] Antony Whitaker: And, He was one of the earlier people that I’ve seen as a, as a, uh, as a, as a motivational speaker, as a success coach. And I still use one of his things today, um, when I do a seminar because he, he came on stage at the beginning of it. It was a three-day event. And he said, at the end of these three days, I’m going to tell you the secret of success.

[00:33:58] Antony Whitaker: And, uh, and, you know, me, I like a one liner, I’m looking forward to the secret of success. I’m going to get a tattooed on my forehead. And at the end of the three days comes and, you know, he gets a standing ovation and he walks off stage and someone calls out from the back of the room, hang on, what about the secret of success?

[00:34:16] Antony Whitaker: And he turns around and he walks back on the stage and said, I’m sorry, I’ve forgotten. He goes to the flip chart. And he gets a pen. And this is exactly what I do. And he writes on the flip chart. The secret of success is the things that are easy to do, just as easy not to do. And, and at the time I was so disillusioned because I was looking for one of those.

[00:34:37] Antony Whitaker: You know, quote, yeah, it was just like, yeah,

[00:34:39] Geno Stampora: wow. Yeah. Rock my world.

[00:34:41] Antony Whitaker: Yeah, exactly. And, and, you know, the secret is, and that was his secret of success. The things that are easy to do it easy not to do it. And I was a bit disappointed with it, but I now talk about that quote in the context of it’s easy to look a client in the eye.

[00:34:56] Antony Whitaker: It’s easy to ask them what they’ve got on their hair at the moment. It’s easy to show them what you’re using, to educate them why you’re using it, how to use it, when to use it. It’s easy to walk them to the front desk and offer them, you know, if they’d like me that to take home with them. It’s easy to do all that stuff.

[00:35:11] Antony Whitaker: But it’s just as easy not to do it. Do you know what I mean? And so it runs through everything. So it’s actually a really powerful quote.

[00:35:17] Geno Stampora: Not only do I know what you mean, but I don’t know if you know this, but it’s actually one of my favorite quotes too. Well, I live by it because I agree with you. And I think that a lot of people, and I don’t know about you, but having not

[00:35:30] Geno Stampora: gone to school much. I never thought that I was smart. Yeah. I never questioned it. I mean, I was doing well. I was making good money. I was a hairdresser. I fell into beauty school and accepted me to embrace me. I loved it. And, uh, and I love being in the salon and all of a sudden I would, I had clients I had that people say all the time.

[00:35:51] Geno Stampora: Oh my goodness. Well, what was your turning point? You know, I never had a turning point. I had little shit that happened and then I would be like, wait a minute You better pay attention to that. That meant something one day. I must have had 13 clients that said, you know, you’re really smart What do you read?

[00:36:05] Geno Stampora: And I would kept saying well, I don’t I don’t read. What do I read? I read the catcher in the rye When I was in high school, because you had to read it and I love J. D. Selinger now, but back then it was like this stupid book, but if you didn’t read it, you weren’t getting out, you know, so, but then I thought, hell, what if I started reading, which now I say to people all the time, listen, someplace close to your house, it’s a big brick building called the library and you’re allowed to go there and borrow books and, and read and study.

[00:36:33] Geno Stampora: So, yeah, I, and you know, yeah the fact of the matter is I’m sure every time you speak, Antony, you mentioned a book or, or, or your book, even, and it astounds me when I talk about my CDs, they’re the best selling CDs in the industry, how 300 people can’t run up to the stage to buy them. 150 of them are just going to walk out and they don’t think it’s going to make a difference.

[00:36:58] Geno Stampora: But you always got that 30 or 40, that, that, that, that 20 or 30 percent that want to come up and they want to buy everything and they want to devour your book and read it, reread it, listen over and over again. That’s what makes us different. You know, that’s the ones that understand whatever is easy to do is just as easy not to do.

[00:37:17] Geno Stampora: And that, that, that, like when you said it, the hardest thing I tried to teach my staff was in being a great hairdresser and understanding how to create an experience. Many people are never going to buy in. Many customers are never going to reschedule. Many customers are never going to buy your products.

[00:37:35] Geno Stampora: Many customers are never going to buy you or buy your ideas or get a treatment or get hair color or get a perm or, or get a weave or, but many people are, and I think the biggest thing about our industry is just ask, just ask more people more times and stay focused on do things right. Because it is easy not to do, and you’ll find you’ll sell more, you’ll be busier, you’ll have more clients reschedule, you’ll have a greater clientele.

[00:38:08] Geno Stampora: You know, everything is a numbers game and I hate numbers. But. You know, if, if, if you’ve been behind the chair for a year or two and you’re not full, something’s terribly wrong and odds are it’s terribly wrong with you. It’s not your boss, not the advertising, it’s not the precedent. It’s not the, the environment.

[00:38:25] Geno Stampora: It’s you. It’s, it’s either what you’re saying or not saying, and I hate to get so passionate, but it makes me crazy because how could anyone not be successful in beauty if they try, especially when I know that you know that I’ve been and the path I’ve taken and it’s just been now, don’t get me wrong. I do love us.

[00:38:45] Geno Stampora: I always have. I mean, I love us. I love our industry. I love everything about us. I think there’s nothing quite like beauty. You know, I really do. And, uh, we, we were on vacation a few months ago and my son was asking me if I wanted to go fishing or kayaking with him or something. And I said, honey, I don’t do that stuff.

[00:39:07] Geno Stampora: I’m a poor boy from New Jersey. I said, the closest I’d come to fishing is if you had your fishing pole tied to the top of your car and it wasn’t tied strong enough, I’d untie it and sell it down the road, you know? And I said to him, you go. He’s like, well, what are you going to do? I said, I’ll go to a salon.

[00:39:23] Geno Stampora: I’ll go see my people, smell the developer. You know, the smell of money just goes, I’ll bring. And he was like, what if they don’t know you? I said, just bring food. Any salon wants you. If you bring food, bring a pizza, bring some McDonald’s. Everybody there is hungry and you know it, whether it’s a three chair or 30 chair, you know?

[00:39:39] Geno Stampora: Yeah. You know.

[00:39:40] Antony Whitaker: You, you, you talked about a minute ago about, um, your childhood. You said it was a, a pretty tough, uh, upbringing. There’s a lot of people in our industry that have come from tough upbringings. Um, what talk about overcoming adversity. Things that you need to do because a lot of people they’re starting from way back behind the start line and you know, some people make it and some people don’t.

[00:40:02] Antony Whitaker: So how do you overcome adversity?

[00:40:05] Geno Stampora: It’s, uh, it’s a tough one, isn’t it? It’s a tough one. And, uh, I did, we did grow up poor, real poor. And, uh, my dad was an alcoholic. My mom was just kind of nuts. My sisters were great, but everybody was kind of all on their own doing their own thing. And for the longest time, I actually just pretended it didn’t exist.

[00:40:28] Geno Stampora: And then when I finally got old enough to, uh, to uncover it, uh, I began to realize the importance of, you know, it’s so hard to explain, but the fact of the matter is I had an opportunity years ago to meet Al Pacino and Al Pacino said to me, you know, there was a time when I hated me. And he said, uh, I just went home one night and said, I’m going to take the me I hate and get rid of him and I’m going to create a whole new me that I love and he created a whole new him that he loved and I thought, you know, that’s exactly what I did.

[00:41:00] Geno Stampora: However, I then began to surround myself with people that brought out the best in me, uh, that, that, that wanted me to, to be the best that had faith and courage and belief in me, I think that’s a part of overcoming adversity, but I also think you have to embrace, you know, one of our great, uh, leaders, Doug Cox all the time.

[00:41:22] Geno Stampora: When, when I met him and I said, well, you know, Doug, I was poor. Uh, when I grew up, we had nothing and Doug said, so what? And I said, you know, Doug, and you know, it was tough going through school. And I was abused. I was bullied. Doug said, so what? And I said, and then when I got out, I got drafted and I was in the army.

[00:41:39] Geno Stampora: I never got my high school diploma. And Doug said, so what? And I just got so mad at him. Look at me. Go, I just supposed to help me here. All you’re saying, damn it. It’s so what, so what, why? And he goes. So what? At some point, the true overcoming of diversity is you pick up your life, you take the best of what you have, you leave what’s not working, and you strive and grow with what is working and So what?

[00:42:05] Geno Stampora: We, we’ve all had crap. We’ve, we’ve all had things we have to encounter. You have to find as quickly as you can to leave what’s not working behind you. So that you’ve got the room, the energy, the time to grow what is working and, and We’re all going to make mistakes. It never goes away every now and then, even now, you know, I get in that hotel room and think, do you really have the message for these thousand people you’re going to talk to?

[00:42:34] Geno Stampora: I mean, and I know I’ll tell you, and I think, you know, I have a disclaimer that I use all the time when I’m talking to a thousand people, although we say, look, some of you. God can’t move. I’m going to give you all I got, but I’m not God. So there’s no doubt in my mind that I know that some of you are going to walk out of here just as bad as you walked in.

[00:42:51] Geno Stampora: But I know darn well, some of you, we’re going to get through to just like we are today.

[00:42:55] Antony Whitaker: Yeah, exactly. Yeah, exactly. Well, just, just, uh, we need to sort of be heading towards wrapping up. I want you to speak to the different types of people listening to this. So, for example, I know that maybe we’ve got people listening to this that are either in a beauty school, um, or doing an apprenticeship somewhere at the very beginning of their career.

[00:43:17] Antony Whitaker: So that young, you know, 18, 19-year-old, you know, what, what, what bit of advice? Would you give them at this end of your career? If you were talking to, if you were talking to the Geno of an 18-year-old, what would you say are the important things for them to know?

[00:43:33] Geno Stampora: I would say, number one, you’re smarter than you think you are.

[00:43:35] Geno Stampora: You’ve made a great decision. Uh, you’ve decided to embark upon a career in the greatest industry that has ever existed. If you’re half good, you’ll be okay in this industry. If you’re three quarters good, you’ll make a lot of money. If you can become a master of your career uh, the world is yours. You’ll see the world.

[00:43:52] Geno Stampora: You’ll have the greatest time ever. Uh, I think it’s important when you’re young to really focus on wherever you are. Be there. If you’re a student or you’re an apprentice, be the best student or the best apprentice you can be. Don’t start dreaming about having a million-dollar book or owning your own salon.

[00:44:10] Geno Stampora: Everything comes in time and we have to give ourselves. Like a flower, the time to bloom the time to blossom and just kind of know where we are. Don’t rush life. You know, we end up spending half our life rushing it and the other half our life wishing it would slow down, you know, which is what people do in their career.

[00:44:28] Geno Stampora: So, I think that would be the, the best thing I would give to them is, uh, if you’re apprenticing, be an irreplaceable apprentice. If you’re a student, be an irreplaceable. My beauty school loved me. I brought 14 kids into that beauty school and signed them up. My beauty school loved me. They talked about me.

[00:44:47] Antony Whitaker: What about the next level? So, you know, you’re a person listening to this as a stylist. They’re there. I don’t know. They’ve been in the industry for five, 10 years. They’ve got a full column, but they don’t own a salon or whatever. Uh, but they’re questioning [00:45:00] their life, their future. Uh, what advice would you give to that person?

[00:45:03] Antony Whitaker: That stylist who’s in the salon is, has been in the industry. Like I say, for five to 10 years.

[00:45:08] Geno Stampora: I would say, have faith in yourself. Learn everything you need to learn. How do you fill that gap right now? Uh, uh, I think the most important thing is to become fully scheduled because when you become fully scheduled.

[00:45:21] Geno Stampora: Uh, you’re, you’re a real professional. People are really listening to you. You’re, you’re, you’re hitting all the marks, right? And, um, I don’t know, I’ve always had a thing about if your stress level is a mile high and your income is only a half a mile high, that’s dangerous, unhealthy income. But if your stress level stays a mile high and your income gets two miles high, you have dangerous, unhealthy

[00:45:43] Geno Stampora: but you don’t care, you know, you’re going shopping or you’re going to go to a seminar. So I think it’s important to even at an early age as a stylist, maximize your income, you know, become, uh, become great at what you do as quickly as you can, but also pay attention to your [00:46:00] numbers. If you’re young and you’ve been a year behind the chair and you’re not beginning to fill, you’re missing something.

[00:46:06] Geno Stampora: You’ve got to fill that gap. You’re doing something wrong and you deserve to get busy quickly and you can’t wait for anyone. You know, you’ve got to go out and pretty much do it yourself. And this would kind of apply to the full stream, uh, Antony. But if you came to my house and you stayed in my guest room, you’d know that I was

[00:46:25] Geno Stampora: in love with the beauty industry and always have been Vidal Sassoon’s movies and the DVD player launchpad, uh, modern salon, American salon, salon today. Magazine is in the room. My favorite beauty books. I have a wall with a lot of my diplomas and things on it. People can see that sometimes people walk out and go, wow, you really are the man in the beauty industry.

[00:46:45] Geno Stampora: And I’m like, well, this is one of them, you know, somewhat, but I don’t want to brag. Yeah. I want you to see it. I want you to get it. So I think that would be the best advice to them is just to have faith. If you do your job here and you learn how to fill those gaps in your mind with the right information, the right leadership, the right books like yours, uh, make all the difference in the world.

[00:47:08] Geno Stampora: Okay. Yeah. Okay.

[00:47:09] Antony Whitaker: So what about the good advice? What about the next, the next level of person? So they’re not thinking of opening a salon. What would you say? The number one bit of advice or, you know, a couple of kernels of wisdom for that stylist who’s thinking the next step is that I open my own business.

[00:47:26] Geno Stampora: I think all salons matter. I think whether it’s a three chair or a 50-chair salon, you have to look at the type of clientele you’d like to attract. What kind of people are you most comfortable with? If you’re going to charge 8 for a haircut, they can sit on a bench. If you’re going to charge 80, they should have a nice leather chair.

[00:47:42] Geno Stampora: I think you have to pay attention to the aesthetics and things that are around you. And most importantly, if I was ever going to open another salon, I would interview 15 salon owners. That have salons just like I’d like to own and really learn from them. You know, people forget [00:48:00] sometimes we’re artists, everything about us, even you and I that have become great speakers.

[00:48:05] Geno Stampora: I’ve learned more from other great speakers in my industry than from anyone because we do learn, you know, from each other, we learn through osmosis. So I think most importantly for them, before you open your door, find 15 people that opened a door like you spend a day or two with them, shadow them, learn from them.

[00:48:22] Antony Whitaker: Yeah, good advice, good advice. Okay, so, uh, then we’re going to have those people listening to this that, uh, they’ve got a salon, they’re successful. They’ve got, you know, half a dozen staff, a dozen staff, whatever. They’re driving a nice car, living in a nice house. But, you know, they’re, they’re, they’re 40 or whatever.

[00:48:37] Antony Whitaker: Um, what sort of advice would you give them?

[00:48:40] Geno Stampora: Pay attention to your age. Be careful of the time. Be putting some money away. Take great care of your staff today. Have no one that’s, that’s in any way, shape, or form been out of shape because they can cause a lot of trouble real fast. Things are happening really fast.

[00:48:55] Geno Stampora: Make your people love you. Take good care of them. Bring pizza in, have parties, you know, grow people, but also pay attention to, uh, Are you in your comfort zone? Yeah. Um, you gotta make sure you step outside that car. Cause if you’re in your comfort zone, you’re not stepping out. Things get boring quick. It, it, it, it creeps up on you.

[00:49:15] Geno Stampora: Don’t even realize. And all of a sudden one day you wake up and you’re like, wait a minute. I thought I loved this. You know, it’s so hard to explain to people sometimes that, that, that all love. All loves, all forms of love need to be rekindled, right? You need to, you need to breathe new life into it. I mean, some of you that are listening to this podcast, you’re married, you’re happily married.

[00:49:35] Geno Stampora: I understand. So am I, but there’s still days I drive home, look inside and go, shoot, you know, they’re in there. Yeah. And in our job, they think we had a good time today. So, they’re waiting for us to come in, you know.

[00:49:47] Antony Whitaker: Yeah, exactly. Okay.

[00:49:53] Geno Stampora: And I know where you’re going with this. Now we’re heading toward the cynical.

[00:49:56] Antony Whitaker: I am. I’m now heading towards that. Well, I actually, I spoke to someone last night. I think of when you meet, you meet for reasons and, and, you know, there’s messages there all the time. And, uh, a young, I was going to say a young lady, which obviously she wasn’t a young lady. A woman came up to me last night and, uh, she told me her age and, and she was about to turn 70.

[00:50:18] Antony Whitaker: And she has a salon, uh, and her husband passed away last year. And, uh, she was telling me how much she loves our industry still. And she said that my husband looked after everything. He looked after the finances, everything. I said, I was the hairdresser. I did hair and now I’ve got this salon. It’s a, it’s a successful business.

[00:50:38] Antony Whitaker: Um, but she said, you know, my accountant’s telling me that I need. Um, an exit strategy and, um, you know, she said, so I’m, I’m here and I think I’m meant to meet you and you’re meant to talk to me. Um, what would you say to, to people at the end of their career? Because you know, that time arrives for all of us.

[00:50:57] Antony Whitaker: What are the, what are the key things that they should do so that they, um, benefit most from the investment that they’ve made? Not just financial investment, but the investment of their time. What’s the best way to, you know, um, maybe, maybe, you know, finish up this in this industry.

[00:51:15] Geno Stampora: You know, it’s interesting because, uh, as I’ve gotten older, uh, I became very concerned, actually had a good friend that said to me, no longer speak to the beauty school students because, uh, you won’t connect with them.

[00:51:29] Geno Stampora: You won’t be able to connect because they’re so much younger than you. They’re students. And I thought, uh, I’m going to turn that into a direct challenge and I’m going to find a way to achieve guru status in our industry and I think everybody can do that. I guess the best lesson is, uh, That third trimester looks a whole lot different than the first two you’re kind of climbing down the mountain Uh, you have to be thankful and appreciative for All the things that you did while, but now’s the time really to just enjoy life past the baton.

[00:52:04] Geno Stampora: So, to speak on to someone else I would look for, because I think it’s so beneficial personally, the younger people, maybe that have committed to me within my company and pass down to them my wisdom, my thoughts, my ideas. Certainly, it’s a little late to start thinking about saving some cash and stuff, but you better have some stuff put away and then really looking toward, um, the fact of squeezing the day dry.

[00:52:29] Geno Stampora: You know, you had mentioned one of your favorite sayings from Jim Rowan. Uh, I’ll never forget actually the night that I met Jim Rowan and we were having dinner that night and he said, uh, I looked at my watch and he got upset by that and said, uh, you know, uh, is time do you have to go? Is it, is it a time thing?

[00:52:48] Geno Stampora: He said, because if you look at your watch, you’re kind of not with me. He said, no, I’m getting to the most important part of the night. And I was like, oh boy, you know, what have I done? I’ve kind of upset him. And he said, Geno, you seem to be the kind of guy that gets through the day. He said, I’m going to teach you how to get from the day.

[00:53:06] Geno Stampora: And that one saying. I think fits so well with those that are walking off the mountain, just practice staying focused on get from the day you still matter. The day stills matters. There’s tremendous value within you find a way to give it back, but also find a way to get from the day you made your mark.

[00:53:27] Geno Stampora: Now it’s time to move into perhaps a new mark, but it’s okay, you know.

[00:53:32] Antony Whitaker: Great advice. Great advice. Gina, I can talk to you all day, but we do need to wrap up. Um,

[00:53:38] Geno Stampora: Just, well, I hope we can do this again. Well, I look forward to doing it. I can’t wait for part two.

[00:53:42] Antony Whitaker: Before we go,

[00:53:43] Geno Stampora: where can people find you? Uh, Genostampora.com

[00:53:46] Geno Stampora: uh, be the easiest way. That’s my, my, uh, website. Uh, also my email, Geno at. Geno stamp.com. That’s GENO at G-N-O-S-T-A-M-P-O-R-A dot com uh, and I’m easy. You know, I’m everywhere. And what about social media? Uh, oh, Geno Stampora, Facebook, LinkedIn, uh, Instagram. Uh, I try to Instagram two or three times a week. Put an inspirational quote on to just get people to stay focused on the fact that you’re alive.

[00:54:17] Geno Stampora: You’re not dead. Cause some people are dead and they haven’t fallen over yet and they need to breathe a good, a good, uh, oxygen to realize that, you know, and I’d love to hear from you, everyone out there, please.

[00:54:28] Antony Whitaker: Fantastic. Well, Gina, look, I, I’m sure our audience has got a lot out of this. I’ve certainly enjoyed, you know, once again, uh, having the opportunity to listen to you and your kernels of wisdom that you so, uh, Uh, generously pass on to everybody.

[00:54:41] Antony Whitaker: So thank you very much, Geno Stampora, for being part of the Grow My Salon Business Podcast.

[00:54:46] Geno Stampora: You’re so welcome. And ladies and gentlemen that are listening, if I could share with you, if you’d like to do Antony, the greatest favor in the world, get out there and tell everybody, you know, about this podcast and how much you learn from it.

[00:54:56] Geno Stampora: And this is what we do for each other. Building this podcast is just like building business behind the chair. So get in the habit of telling people what you’re into. Thank you so much. God bless you. Have a wonderful career.

[00:55:07] Antony Whitaker: Cheers. 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.

[00:55:16] Antony Whitaker: com or on Facebook and Instagram at grow my salon business. And if you enjoyed tuning into our podcast, make sure that you subscribe, like, and share it with your friends until next time. This is Antony Whitaker wishing you continued success.