– Episode 290Frank Brormann

Episode 290: Transcript

GMSB 290

[00:00:00] Antony Whitaker: Hello, and welcome to today’s episode of the Grow My Salon Business podcast. I’m your host, Antony Whitaker, and as always, great to have you here with us today. This is a weekly podcast for the ambitious stylists and salon owners. Every week I either bring a guest onto the show or I’ll dive into a new idea or revisit what I think are the foundations of what it takes to succeed in the salon industry today.

[00:00:25] Antony Whitaker: We’ll feature new startups and new ideas and initiatives from established people and brands as well. Now, some of them might at first sound a little bit too niche, but we’ll explore why they’re worth keeping an eye on how they’ll reshape client expectations and how they might very well become central to the future of the salon industry and perhaps even become the new normal.

[00:00:47] Antony Whitaker: Now with every episode, I will aim to bring you practical and actionable opportunities that you can run with today. Now today’s guest is Frank Brormann, a German hairdresser, salon owner, and of Calligraphy Cut, which is a new tool and a new way of working with here. So in today’s podcast, we’re gonna discuss what exactly is calligraphy cut, how it could potentially be a new cutting service to offer your clients and the experience of being on Shark Tank and so much more.

[00:01:20] Antony Whitaker: So without further ado, welcome to the show, Frank Brormann.

[00:01:23] Frank Brormann: Thank you very much for having me here.

[00:01:26] Antony Whitaker: well, Frank, let’s jump straight in the deep end here. You have got this, uh, very interesting tool, which I’ve been sort of hearing about over the last couple of years, uh, in, in different media, et cetera.

[00:01:37] Antony Whitaker: And I really wanted to get you on today to talk about calligraphy cut. So, uh, that’s the entire focus of the conversation, uh, is what is calligraphy cut? Is it, well, first of all, is it a tool or is it a specific, um, haircut, so to speak.

[00:01:55] Frank Brormann: No it’s a tool. It’s a tool, uh, which enables you to create a very special haircut. So both.

[00:02:02] Antony Whitaker: Okay, so tell us how, how did it come about? I mean, you’ve been hairdressing, I don’t know how long, but a long time. Maybe close to as long as what I have been. Uh, so. You know, were you sort of standing behind a chair, sort of doing clients with scissors, maybe a razor, whatever, and then one day you thought there has to be a different way of doing this.

[00:02:21] Antony Whitaker: What was the, the sort of, uh, the birth of the idea for, uh, calligraphy cut?

[00:02:27] Frank Brormann: Um, you see, as soon as I get bored in life, I try to do something new. Or if I master something, I try to be the junior in something else, in something completely new. This is the story of my life. I’m a hairdresser since more than 44 years. And I’ve travelled more than 60 different countries in the world doing hair, like doing makeup, hair, long hair, short hair, cutting, everything.

[00:02:54] Frank Brormann: And at one day, at one point I got bought, um, I think, okay, scissors, razors, dressing, long hair, dressing up hair. It says everything, which is all about hairdressing or can there be something else. And then there was this. Magic moment like, like the explosion of the idea of calligraphy cut. And that was, uh, I was buying a bunch of flowers for my girly and the florist in the shop.

[00:03:19] Frank Brormann: She told me, Frank, please remember, you have to cut the stems on a diagonal. And whenever you tell me to do something, I will always ask why. And if you have a good answer, I will follow. But even if you have a good answer, I will try something different. So that’s what I did. I came home with my bunch of flowers, tulips, actually

[00:03:40] Frank Brormann: And in my kitchen I try to cut them with like, with a kitchen scissor, like really kitchen scissor. But a scissor is squeezing a flower stem and now I want the whole of the audience to, to feel what I say and not only to listen to feel a scissor is squeezing a flower stem. So I straightaway realized, no, that’s, that’s not a good idea.

[00:04:00] Frank Brormann: So I tried with really sharp knife out of my kitchen. So, and it was, that was quite easy. It was nice cutting the flower stems. But on the one point it was difficult. You did, if you do it from away from your stomach, you kind of peel the, the stems if you do coming towards your stomach, it’s dangerous for your stomach or your body.

[00:04:20] Frank Brormann: So it’s not that easy to cut it in a perfect angle. But at one point I realized, okay, now I’ve got it. I watched the flower stem and I realized that they increased the surface by nearly three times. So that’s a secret for the freshness of flowers. So that was the first part of the birth of calligraphy cut.

[00:04:40] Frank Brormann: I asked myself, Frank, why we, I’m a hairdresser. I’ve done, I’ve worked with all the tools in the world. Why don’t we cut hair precise on an angle to increase. Each single surface on each hair. So a woman has got about a hundred thousand hair and a man as well. If we could increase the surface by nearly three times, there must be a difference.

[00:05:04] Frank Brormann: But then I lost my idea. I put the flowers into a vase, and like 10 days or five days later, I took the flowers out of the stem. And at that point I realized that every flower stem started to bend towards the direction I cut it before. So. And that was the birth of calligraphy cut. So the conclusion is if we cut flower stem or hair on a perfect angle without squeezing or damaging, we increase the surface and we get like flexibility and movement into each single hair.

[00:05:40] Frank Brormann: And this is without chemical treatment, without, it’s only by using a different technique. So that was a birth of calligraphy cut, and then I was looking for the perfect tool. Yeah,

[00:05:54] Antony Whitaker: Okay.

[00:05:54] Frank Brormann: so I think I purchased every kind of blade covered tool. I don’t want to call it razor on earth, the most expensive, the most cheap, the cheapest ones, and but nothing.

[00:06:08] Frank Brormann: There was no tool. To be able to able to cut it like the way I wanted it, plus safe for my fingers,

[00:06:17] Antony Whitaker: Okay, so that, that’s really fascinating about the flower stem, and I was totally with you as you were talking about that. The amount of times that, I’ve got a bunch of flowers and I’ve, I’ve cut them on the diagonal, ’cause I’ve always been told, cut them in the, on the diagonal because it increases the, amount of water that will, will be, taken up the stem, keep the, the flowers alive for longer, but.

[00:06:40] Antony Whitaker: Then the other part of my head is going, okay, but if you increase the area of the, the cut, you know, like, like if you’ve got a, a strand of hair and you cut it at right angles, you are decreasing the amount of area that’s exposed. If you, if you cut it on the diagonal, you are increasing the amount of the cut hair that is exposed. The hairdresser part of me is going, doesn’t that make it more likely to fray? Doesn’t that make the hair more likely to split? Because you have increased that amount of area,

[00:07:18] Frank Brormann: Now that’s razor, that’s we call razor cutting.

[00:07:21] Antony Whitaker: so,

[00:07:22] Frank Brormann: see if, if you, if you don’t control the angle, the blade is touching the hair, uh, you kind of increasing the surface so much that it gets it that you weaken the hair and damage the hair. So we have to work with a, a precise 21 degree angle.

[00:07:38] Frank Brormann: The blade has to cut each single. Here, you see this 21, 21 degree angle is used millions of time every hour around the globe. ’cause every, every professional, uh, razor for like homemade face shaving, shaving like Gillette or Wilkinson, they all work with a 21 degree angle. And the 21 angle is so important because if you, if you slide with your, with your shaver, I call it shaver now on your skin, on off your face.

[00:08:09] Frank Brormann: It’s, uh, the blade is kind of pulling on the hair. It’s cutting the hair, but always on the 21 degree angle so that when, as soon as the hair grows out of the skin, it keeps off being soft. It’s not harsh, it’s strong,

[00:08:22] Antony Whitaker: Okay.

[00:08:22] Frank Brormann: and it cuts precisely soft and precise. And the calligraphy pen is the only tool in the world which has got this precise 21 degree angle patent

[00:08:34] Antony Whitaker: got it. Okay. That’s really interesting. So the razor, so the calligraphy pen increases the open area of, of the cut area by, by three times.

[00:08:45] Frank Brormann: Exactly.

[00:08:46] Antony Whitaker: Okay. And a razor would do it even more so would it, and that’s why it, that’s why it’s more likely to split and fray. Okay. Great. What, what problem does it solve? Like you as a hairdresser, before, maybe you used the razor, maybe you used scissors, maybe you used, I mean, there’s all sorts of different tools that have been used to cut hair over the years. Um, what, what problem did it solve for you? I understand what problem that solves for a bunch of flowers.

[00:09:14] Antony Whitaker: It keeps the flowers alive longer because more water gets absorbed up the stem. But for a haircut, what problem does it solve?

[00:09:22] Frank Brormann: Um, you see, I’m a hairdresser for a long time and I, when I, when my dad teach me, he teach me to work with, with razors. Then I moved to London and I worked for Vidal Sassoon and Toni and Guy and I worked with scissors. So, um, with calligraphy cut, I basically used the knowledge of both,

[00:09:43] Frank Brormann: So the Precises tool on Earth is a blade always. If you cut flowers, vegetables, vegetables, meat, the blade is the sharpest tool on earth. The scissor, it’s different. It’s completely different. You can do precise haircuts with the scissor, but now with the click of your pen, you have the cleverness of both and you’re, it’s opening up a completely new world.

[00:10:06] Frank Brormann: You see, I’ve presented to Calligraphy Pen last year to Antony Mascolo from my, from my, my point of view. He’s a, he’s God in hairdressing. Whatever he achieve in his life, he’s. He used the tool and said, Frank, this is magic. It opens up a new texture for hair and it’s the most creative tool he he has ever had in his hand.

[00:10:28] Frank Brormann: So, which problem does it solve for me? It opens up a new world of creating haircuts with the calligraphy pen. So, and I can promise every hairdresser in the world who touches a pen and works with a pen, you keep everything you have learned before. And you will experience a completely new world.

[00:10:48] Antony Whitaker: Hmm. Okay. I, I haven’t seen the tool. Uh, I, I haven’t seen anybody use it. Oh, okay. So you are holding it up in front of me. Now I can see it. Right. Okay. So that’s the first time I’ve seen it. I haven’t used it or held it in my hand or whatever. Uh, I haven’t used it to cut hair. Uh, but I’m intrigued, uh, by that.

[00:11:08] Antony Whitaker: Um. My, my sort of instant feeling is, as a hairdresser is that it’s probably really, really effective on looser haircuts, more softer haircuts as opposed to a, a solid shape, like a bob or a graduated bob. It, it fills from what I know about it, that it’s more like sculpting here and, and, you know, it’s more free flowing.

[00:11:34] Antony Whitaker: Am I, am I not right about

[00:11:36] Frank Brormann: No, no, you’re not right. You can use it for everything. You can. I mean, I’ve got very short hair as, as the ones you can see on, on YouTube as so, so you can cut very short hair. I can cut your hair with it. I can cut stem straight lines. I can cut soft lines. When I started with the calligraphy pen, like more than 10 years ago, I created it because being from Germany for fine and sensitive hair, but now we can work on specialized curly hair, cos hair, every type of hair you can shape and cut and you, you get even this, you, you achieve even this new texture.

[00:12:11] Frank Brormann: It’s always soft. It’s. Always blended here. Uh,

[00:12:16] Frank Brormann: You cut the hair on an angle and this angle creates movement in each single hair. In each single hair. So suddenly you, you create likeness in hair and movement. The hair is easy to style. It doesn’t split that easy anymore.

[00:12:31] Antony Whitaker: do you use it on wet hair? Do you use it on dry hair? Is there a, you know, I can imagine again. You know, just my own preconceptions of, you know, having worked in Asian countries a lot, I’m thinking, oh, this would be a great tool to use on Asian hair

[00:12:46] Antony Whitaker: uh, are there any particular areas that you find that it really excels in?

[00:12:51] Frank Brormann: Uh, please always use the pen on wet hair because our vision is to create healthy hair and the blade can only cut healthier when you work on wet hair, not on dry hair. So I have been in Asia beginning of February in this year, 2025. First time to do classes in Japan in Tokyo. And, uh, it is going to be a revolution in Asia, I promise, because especially on really straight hair, you can get these movement into it and it feels softer without, yeah, without using any chemical treatments.

[00:13:31] Frank Brormann: Just by using the pen. And if you use a pen, it looks like that’s what we call it, calligraphy. You hold it like a calligraphy pen like you have.

[00:13:39] Antony Whitaker: Right.

[00:13:40] Frank Brormann: When you’re doing a haircut, it looks completely different. It looks more artistry, and they’re, and for the clients, from the point of view of the client, it feels, it always feels like a massage, a scissor haircut.

[00:13:53] Frank Brormann: You never feel anything. razor haircut, it kind of hurts a calligraphy pen, like a soft massage of your scalp. So it’s a new experience for the clients. It’s a new touch of the hair. The hair is completely different. And for the hairdresser, and this is something what really can change the industry. Uh, when I presented it first time in the United States of America, uh, I was invited by a very popular hairdresser and he invited some other hairdressers and everything he did was he invited me to the audience and said.

[00:14:26] Frank Brormann: You hold it up, one of the pens and said, this is going to be a game changer in our industry. This was before the pandemic. Within, within a short, short weeks, we had 250 salons in the United States working with the pen and everyone, everybody upcharge a haircut by 50 US dollars. I mean, I’m, I’m from Germany and in Germany we can’t do what the Americans can do.

[00:14:50] Frank Brormann: They can make money. They can see the potential of having something. Unique, something patented, made in Germany, produced in Germany, and a really good story about it. And you can sell a story and we have a proof of concept as well. So to upcharge your haircut suddenly by using a different tool and education.

[00:15:10] Frank Brormann: Yeah, because the tool always comes with education. You can upcharge in the United States easily 50 US dollars in England, 25 pounds, and in Germany, 25 Euro.

[00:15:20] Frank Brormann: have five, four and a half thousand, uh, hairdressers working with the pen in in Europe.

[00:15:26] Antony Whitaker: Good. Good. Now, I, I know that you know that we have a lot of our listeners will be watching this on YouTube. The majority of them will just be listening, uh, on a podcast. Uh, but you keep holding it up. And I, I’m curious, you know, for the people that are on YouTube watching this, where is the cutting surface?

[00:15:44] Frank Brormann: So cutting surface is at the top of the pen, and it’s very small. It’s very narrowed. It’s only up here tiny little bit.

[00:15:52] Antony Whitaker: Okay. Yeah. Yeah, I can see. I can see that.

[00:15:55] Frank Brormann: it’s really safe and I, I force every hairdresser to do precise cutting, so it’s, this is not a. If, if I give this pen to a, like Antony Mascolo, I gave him the pen and without one second of education, he created our last collection, three beautiful haircuts because he has got this gift, whatever he touches.

[00:16:21] Frank Brormann: Yeah, but like for a qualified hairdresser, he needs four hours of education. It’s not a plug and it’s not a plug and play. For every hairdresser, you need a minimum of four hours of education because there had certain rules to, to how to work with the pen ’cause of this narrowed, um, opening space for the blade.

[00:16:41] Antony Whitaker: Yeah.

[00:16:41] Frank Brormann: you think you need longer for each haircut, but no, it’s not. It’s only the first 10 haircuts you need a little bit longer, and after that, it’s even faster than every other tool in the world.

[00:16:51] Antony Whitaker: Right. Yeah, I was gonna ask you that. How, I mean, how long does a haircut typically take, uh, using that tool? And basically you’re saying it doesn’t take any longer once you’ve done a, once you’ve done a few of them, it’s like, you know, six, one after the other. Okay. Um, what, what is the resistance. That you get from it.

[00:17:08] Antony Whitaker: I mean, A lot of people get very set in their ways, and this is what I use and this is the only tool I’m gonna use. What, what do you find the resistances that you get from hairdressers, uh, about it.

[00:17:17] Frank Brormann: How much time do we have? I think I have heard everything. Uh, I heard everything. Most of the hairdressers say, okay, it’s a, where’s the difference to.

[00:17:25] Antony Whitaker: Hmm

[00:17:26] Frank Brormann: Then I, I’ll ask them, please play with it. I give them an mannequin head, wet down the hair and let the hairdresser play with the tool. Then if, if he feels a difference, he’s going to purchase our concept and he’s going to be a partner.

[00:17:40] Frank Brormann: If he doesn’t feel the difference, I be honest, I wish him to stay with his tools. He’s, he’s used to work with, I don’t want to have. All the hairdressers in the world to work with my tool, I want to find the right ones to work with the because I can, I can promise something with a, with a calligraphy pen.

[00:17:58] Frank Brormann: I can bring you joy in your life. Again, joy in your life with cutting hair. I can bring you healthier hair for your clients. At very important I can bring financial success for you and your business.

[00:18:11] Antony Whitaker: Okay. Well, that’s what it’s all about. I, I can’t get the thought outta my head. When I asked you before, is it best on wet hair or dry hair? I, I, I like cutting wet and dry. Um, and you said you were very clear about the fact that it needs to be used on wet, so therefore if I were using it, I would try it on dry because I’d have to know why.

[00:18:30] Antony Whitaker: So, so what is the reason why it’s not so good on dry hair?

[00:18:34] Frank Brormann: You see when the hair is, when the hair is wet and you use the pen, it kind of, it’s like cutting. Warm butter with a knife. It’s so soft you don’t feel any resistance. But as soon as soon as the hair is dry, the hair is much tighter and it’s much more, much more difficult for the blade to go into the hair and cut the hair.

[00:18:56] Frank Brormann: And because of that resistance, you’re not damaging the hair. But there’s a danger of damaging the hair. And my, my question is always, why working on dry hair, it’s much so if, if you see it’s better for your, for the hair of your client when you cut it wet, why? Why working on dry hair, but again, talking about Antony Mascolo.

[00:19:16] Frank Brormann: If he wants to work on dry hair, he works on dry hair. Uh, so if you have got like a soft hand, if you are a talented and gifted hairdresser, you can work on dry hair. But if, if, if I now being the founder of calligraphy cut, if I would now give the world the message, you can work on dry hair, that’s not good.

[00:19:37] Antony Whitaker: Okay. Alright. Okay. Uh, well, I will look forward to trying it one day to, to test it out myself. It sounds really, really effective and really interesting. Um, now what sort of, I know you said that salons can charge more and you’ve, you’ve seen salons charging more, whether it’s in the UK or Germany or, or the us.

[00:19:56] Antony Whitaker: Uh, what, what sort of financial impact. Have you seen that it’s had on salons in general and, and you know, repeat business clients having it and then coming back and all that sort of stuff. Have you got any examples of that?

[00:20:09] Frank Brormann: Yeah. Um, if you, if you introduce calligraphy, cut to your salon, uh, 100% of your clients would would try the calligraphy cut first time. Roughly about 92%. Is this the second time and the third time it’s about 74%. We, we had, we are in the market now for 10 years. We have this number. So if you start in your business with calligraphy cut after six months, you will have three quarters of your clients purchasing the calligraphy cut for an upcharge of.

[00:20:41] Frank Brormann: 25 pounds or $50 in the states. So that’s a huge, huge business impact for your business. Money impact for your business. Like in Germany, we say per stylist, you can make 10,000 euros more revenue per stylist a year. So like for a hairdressing salon that can double the profit within one year double.

[00:21:04] Frank Brormann: And Antony, I know this sounds, this sounds unreal, but we can prove it. Uh, everything we need is we need a hairdresser not to, okay, give me the tool and every play with it. No, please follow our guidelines. We have everything digital. We do online, off, off, offsite and online seminars. We give you all the education, we give you all the marketing, we give you everything you need.

[00:21:28] Frank Brormann: We even launched something we call the 21 Day Challenge. So if an Antony, if you would. Start with your education now. Maybe after four hours you’re ready and you will start in your salon. I would still ask you, force you, I can’t force you. Ask you please follow the 21 day challenge that that means. Every day you will get a pushup notification on your I on your phone.

[00:21:50] Frank Brormann: You open it and it’s 10 minutes of motivational video content, how to cut a curtain bang, how to cut a straight line, what to do with resistance. How do, what is the best way to do a consultation. And so on. So 21 days, and we know if you do this 21 days every day, 10 minutes, it’s a new habit and suddenly the tool is not something which you’re not, uh, confident with.

[00:22:14] Frank Brormann: No, it’s something you’re very confident with. And if you, if you follow our guidelines, you can really double your profit with your salon.

[00:22:23] Antony Whitaker: Okay. Interesting. So, uh, I know you have a, uh, interesting business model in terms of how you, how you sell the pen for want of a better word. Uh, can you talk to us, uh, about that and, you know, how cost effective is it like compared to a pair of scissors? In fact, that’s probably not a fair. Way to ask the question because I know you have a different business model for, uh, how people access it.

[00:22:50] Antony Whitaker: So do you wanna talk to us about that, about what the business model is as to how people can, uh, purchase, uh, the tool?

[00:22:56] Frank Brormann: Uh, it’s a different business concepts in Europe and in the States, or. Outside Europe. In Europe, it’s a subscription model, so everything you need to do is you pay 54 euros or 50 pounds per month per tool, and you get everything you need to be successful. All the marketing materials, all the online education, offsite education is extra.

[00:23:20] Frank Brormann: You have to pay for that, but it’s like it’s a no brainer. You pay 54 euros and you get everything to make. A minimum of 10 of 1000 euros, more revenue per month per stylist. So this sounds very easy, but hairdressers are different. They want to own the tool. But you see in Germany, in Germany. It works superb because I was on this biggest TV show in Germany, so it really pushes us.

[00:23:50] Frank Brormann: So in the States we are selling the tool. It’s 449 US dollars and in it includes all the digital education as well. So in the states it’s moment it’s you can buy in. In Europe it’s a subscription model, but in

[00:24:06] Antony Whitaker: So, so when you buy it, sorry, I didn’t catch it. How much? It was 500 and.

[00:24:10] Frank Brormann: now 12 49 1 2.

[00:24:12] Antony Whitaker: 12 49. Right. So, so comparable to a expensive pair of scissors, you know, a good quality pair of scissors, you, you know, you’d still be able, you know, to pay that much. But in Europe you never actually own the tool. That’s correct.

[00:24:26] Antony Whitaker: So is that the same in the uk you don’t own the tool, you are literally leasing the

[00:24:30] Frank Brormann: In in the UK it’s in uk the business concept is sold. You, you own it After you paid, I think 48 or 48 times 54. Pounds a month. So it’s the same you at the end. At the end you pay like 1200 pounds and they own it, but you pay like months by month. So it’s like a payment plan.

[00:24:52] Antony Whitaker: Right. Okay.

[00:24:53] Frank Brormann: You, you see Antony in in a few years.

[00:24:56] Frank Brormann: When we are reach the market in England and in the States, we still want to change it back to subscription model as well. It’s to, but to start in a country like the States or in England where I don’t have a TV show in my back, we had to choose a different business concept. That’s why you can kind of buy it in England and you can definitely buy it in the States, uh, which is very important.

[00:25:19] Frank Brormann: Um, um, yeah, in a few years’ time, I, I do want to change it to a subscription model. You see, the subscription model is magic. Uh, someone who is not successful with a pen. It’s going to return it. So with the subscription model, I can guarantee a high quality educated hairdressers because you’re only paying if you have a benefit out of it.

[00:25:44] Antony Whitaker: Yeah. Interesting. Okay. Alright. Um, now. As you’ve said, you’ve been a hairdresser for a long time. Uh, I gather you still have a salon and you work behind the chair in a salon.

[00:25:55] Frank Brormann: I’ve got the third biggest salon in Germany. It’s 600 square meters. It’s huge. We have 34 members of staff in my salon, but I’m only working, uh, four hours a week in my salon because I love to be a hairdresser. I don’t want to miss it, but calligraphy cut is, is my future. I want to bring the pen to the world of hairdressing.

[00:26:18] Antony Whitaker: Yeah. And is it being used a lot? Well, obviously it’s being used a lot in your salon. Do.

[00:26:24] Frank Brormann: Uh, 90, 95% of all the clients, they get a calligraphy cut. Yes. Yeah.

[00:26:32] Antony Whitaker: Wow. Okay. And do you have a premium price on it? In uh, in Germany You do,

[00:26:36] Frank Brormann: We have, we have, uh, three different levels of education. With a pen, you can, you, you always start with a black star. It’s a black pen. After you have received your Black Star certification, we recommend that you should do roughly about a hundred haircuts. Then you can upgrade to Silver Star. You will get educated seven new techniques with, with calligraphy, and then you will, after the certification, you reach your silver star.

[00:27:03] Frank Brormann: Level. That’s when we recommend to upcharge the price again. And finally, there’s only one seminar with me, Frank, per in person. It’s a gold star seminar. And then the pen is, is gold. It’s completely gold. Now we hold it up in the camera. It it’s gold. Gold.

[00:27:20] Antony Whitaker: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:27:21] Frank Brormann: almost the same pen. It’s always the same pen.

[00:27:24] Frank Brormann: It’s only different colour to show the level of your education, and this is always a chance to upgrade your cutting service as well.

[00:27:33] Antony Whitaker: Yeah. Do you get a lot of resistance to the business model of, of, you know, leasing the pen? Literally, I mean,

[00:27:40] Frank Brormann: In Germany? Yes. Yes. Massive, massive.

[00:27:43] Antony Whitaker: Massive.

[00:27:44] Frank Brormann: If I would’ve sold Japan in Germany, we probably would’ve sold, uh, I don’t know. Hundred thousand already. Yeah. But now we are only 4,500. But these 4,500 are really successful with the pen. That’s what I want to do. I’m not a tool seller. I wanna, uh, develop the hairdressing business.

[00:28:04] Frank Brormann: I want to make, I want to give hairdressers as a joy and financial success, and I can prove I can do that. You see, if a hairdressing seller commits to do a subscription model, calligraphy cut. They commit to calligraphy cut. They’re not just buying a new tool and putting it in the drawer. So it’s a completely different attitude.

[00:28:25] Frank Brormann: So if, if you, if you say yes to calligraphy, cut you, you’re going to say yes to a new concept in your salon, upgrade of your cutting service. So like when I, when I presented calligraphy card at Shark Tank in Germany, it’s the biggest TV show. Consumer show. Oh my gosh. I have, I, I, I’ve received an investment from 1 million Euros.

[00:28:50] Frank Brormann: So very successful. But after the show, Antony, you should have, you should have seen that I, I received thousands of messages, especially from older hairdressers. They were really upset. Frank, how can you question the scissor? How can you tell our clients calligraphy cut is the best way to cut hair? I said, Hey, come on.

[00:29:11] Frank Brormann: Are you still using an old phone? Are you still working with Nokia or Ericsson or are you using the newest Google or Apple or, so the world is changing. Don’t

[00:29:20] Antony Whitaker: Yeah. Yeah, that’s a, that’s a, that’s a fair analogy. Um, so, uh, you call it, uh, okay. It’s called different things in different countries. So here we call it Dragons Den, uh, America. They call it Shark Tank. Is it called Shark Tank in, uh, Germany?

[00:29:38] Frank Brormann: It’s called Die Höhle der

[00:29:40] Antony Whitaker: Right? I shouldn’t have asked, should I? But does that translate to Shark Tank?

[00:29:45] Frank Brormann: uh uh, lions Den.

[00:29:48] Antony Whitaker: Lions den. Okay. I knew there’d be another one in there. So we’ve got Dragons Den, shark Tank, uh, lion’s Den. But either way, it’s the same format. It’s a bunch of, uh, millionaires or billionaires who are being pitched. Uh, business concepts. Right. So I wanted to ask you about that because I know two or three other hairdressers that have also been on Shark Tank.

[00:30:10] Antony Whitaker: Um, how, how was that for you? I mean, obviously, you know, you’re a successful businessman, uh, you’ve got successful salons and stuff. Um, I don’t know whether you needed the finance or whether you just wanted the, you know, the marketing expertise. I mean, I always, when I watch, you know, shark Tank or, or Dragons Den, um.

[00:30:30] Antony Whitaker: I always watch like it’s good entertainment because some people dunno what they’re doing and they should never have gone on the show so unprepared and for the sake of good television, sometimes the dragons, um, you know, don’t make it easy for them. So I’m curious about your experience with it. Um, you know, being a guest on there, you know, trying to raise the finance.

[00:30:52] Antony Whitaker: How did that go for you?

[00:30:54] Frank Brormann: I, I prepared myself really good. I’ve, I’ve got a personal coach. She coached me. Like days before, how to react to which question? Uh, how to talk to there, there have been five potential investors in front of me, so how to talk to A, B, C, D, uh, how to answer for which question? So I was really coached. I had a really tough coaching to, to be in this show.

[00:31:21] Frank Brormann: I was, I was excited to go there. I’m a hairdresser. I’ve done shows around the globe and I love being on stage. Being in front of tele television, uh, TV cameras, it’s being on stage. And from the first second, it was a home run. I was there for two and a half hours.

[00:31:37] Antony Whitaker: Wow.

[00:31:38] Frank Brormann: and a half hours on TV Live Now TV was 26 minutes.

[00:31:42] Frank Brormann: We had nearly 4 million vis, uh, people watching the show. And before the show, I had, um, I had 70 new clients in a year. And after the show I had 700 new clients every day I.

[00:31:58] Antony Whitaker: Literally wanting calligraphy cut. Right. Okay.

[00:32:01] Frank Brormann: a bit exploded. The business exploded, but the hairdressers, the, the, my problem is a hairdresser. It’s not the client.

[00:32:09] Frank Brormann: I can say calligraphy cut to any client in the world, and every client in the world is willing to pay more money for a haircut, which guarantees healthier hair and have this easier to style. The problem is the hairdresser. The hairdresser always believes, now I, I used to work with scissors and blades and No, no, no.

[00:32:26] Frank Brormann: I’m not willing to learn something. This is, we have, the industry has to change, uh, or we have to go with the changes.

[00:32:35] Antony Whitaker: Yeah, definitely. I’m, I’m curious about the dragons den thing. Was there one particular dragon that you went in there wanting to get because they had an area of expertise, whether it was in, you know, technology or you know, what, whatever it was, was there one person that you thought, that’s the one I want?

[00:32:52] Frank Brormann: When I came up with this question to my coach, I said, okay, one lady, she’s, she’s famous for beauty and beauty business, and I told my coach, Hey, I’m going to go for this lady. I want to catch her. And my coach said, no, Frank, I. You just avoid her. Yeah, make her jealous. You go for all the other four, but not for her.

[00:33:12] Frank Brormann: And that’s what I did in the TV show. That was amazing. So there was one guy who was only dealing, dealing with loads of stuff and he’s like a wholesaler, and there was. In the TV show, I said, Hey, I don’t, I want to tell you his name though, but I said, Hey, I want to do business with you because you’re so different.

[00:33:27] Frank Brormann: Everyone will work with beauty, but beauty is easy. I want to work with you because you know how to make big numbers. And so in the, in the TV show, uh, they started to, uh. They started to fight for me. So there was the first one who said, okay, 500,000. And the next one came up with more money. Then they, at the end, they, they, I, I stopped.

[00:33:47] Frank Brormann: I stopped it with 1 million. I said, no, that’s enough. I don’t want any more. And the next one came up and wanted to give even more money. Uh, the TV channel said there was, uh, what, without, uh, the last 10 years, 600, um, startups, and I was number five, five.

[00:34:05] Antony Whitaker: Wow. Fantastic.

[00:34:07] Frank Brormann: But because I’m a hairdresser,

[00:34:10] Antony Whitaker: So did you get the, did you get the dragon that you wanted in the end?

[00:34:14] Frank Brormann: two of them, yeah, two of them. I got some. Yeah. But they, they didn’t stay in my company for a long time, only for about six months. And then other investors came and paid them out. And

[00:34:25] Antony Whitaker: Right. Okay. Okay.

[00:34:27] Frank Brormann: But the division in Germany, they say it’s the value, your marketing value is 10 million euros. So even

[00:34:34] Antony Whitaker: be on the show and get that exposure.

[00:34:36] Frank Brormann: now, seven years later, the people stop me in the streets and ask me, like, uh, it’s really, it’s a real push. It’s real push. Yeah.

[00:34:46] Antony Whitaker: Yeah. So getting those two dragons originally. Did, did they? I mean, you were on tv, so that created huge awareness and huge, you know, branding, et cetera. Did you, with the dragons that you got, did they bring some business acumen and some expertise that you didn’t have that were enabled you to take it the next level?

[00:35:09] Frank Brormann: Absolutely. Um, because one of these two dragons, uh, is a tech guy. He’s never doing anything with beauty, and he had a look. He looked at my business and said, Frank, we have to change everything. This is, this is a, we are not anymore a paper industry. This is a digital industry and you have to digitalize

[00:35:29] Frank Brormann: your business, and this is like six years ago, and until today, I think we invested more than 4 million euros, uh, in digitalizing everything. So I think now calligraphy cut is one of the most modern companies in the hairdressing industry. Uh, everything is so modern, so digitalized. Now we are at this point, at the moment, we are using AI to, to optimize every process.

[00:35:56] Frank Brormann: And the speed is 10 times every week. It’s incredible. So this is something else I would like to ask our industry for. You have to work with artificial intelligence.

[00:36:08] Antony Whitaker: Yeah, definitely. So the dragon that you ended up getting, the guy that you spoke about, the tech guy, was it his idea to do the subscription service? Yeah.

[00:36:19] Frank Brormann: yes as well.

[00:36:20] Antony Whitaker: Yeah. Okay. Well, that’s, that’s fascinating. Uh, that, that really is fascinating. I, I love those sort of stories.

[00:36:27] Antony Whitaker: Um, I did a. Uh, an interview years ago, um, with the founder of Tangle Teaser, um, in the uk, you know, the brush.

[00:36:36] Frank Brormann: the ones, yeah.

[00:36:37] Antony Whitaker: he, he did, uh, he also went on, um. Shark Tank in the uk. He didn’t get funding and he was glad he didn’t get funding and he ended up building a, uh, a multimillion dollar, uh, company. Very, very successful all over the world.

[00:36:52] Antony Whitaker: So yeah, it’s, it’s interesting. It’s very interesting and I love those sorts of stories of people, you know, going out on a limb and standing in front of, you know, four or five very intimidating people with, with, uh, a lot of business acumen and TV cameras pointing at you. It could so easily go wrong.

[00:37:09] Frank Brormann: Yes, that’s what I was afraid of, but you see, I didn’t want to get funded as well. Because to, to grow calligraphy cut everything I need is not money.

[00:37:18] Antony Whitaker: Yeah.

[00:37:19] Frank Brormann: marketing and publishing and the right people to get into my business. So I didn’t want to get the money, but at the end they offered me so much money.

[00:37:27] Frank Brormann: So,

[00:37:29] Antony Whitaker: Great. Yeah.

[00:37:30] Frank Brormann: uh, and still it’s not about the money. You need expertise and that’s what they, that they gave to me, especially the, the tech guy. He gave me his expertise, uh, to grow the business.

[00:37:41] Antony Whitaker: Yeah.

[00:37:41] Frank Brormann: and the lady, uh, she wasn’t there for a long time because she, she wanted me to sell, uh, my tool to uh, to all of your clients, but not to hairdressers.

[00:37:52] Antony Whitaker: Alright. Okay. Yeah, it’s good when they come up with ideas like that.

[00:37:55] Frank Brormann: Yeah. Yeah. But I said, no, no, no. This is, this is my baby. I’m not going to give it to non-hairdressers. This is a portfolio tool.

[00:38:03] Antony Whitaker: Yeah. Good, good. Okay. Well, listen, this has been fantastic. It’s, uh, it’s been a great education. It’s not every day a new tool comes along for, for doing here, whether we’re talking about cutting or colouring or, you know, in any other area of technology. So, uh, I was fascinated to, uh, learn all about it from both aspects, um, of, you know, the creative context and also.

[00:38:27] Antony Whitaker: The business opportunities for hairdressers and salon owners and you know how it works with clients. So, um, whereabouts can people find out more about calligraphy? Cut?

[00:38:38] Frank Brormann: Uh, Instagram, uh, calligraphy cut, or our website, calligraphy cut.com. Or us or we, our website works everywhere in the world. And then just get in touch with the company. Yeah.

[00:38:50] Antony Whitaker: Okay. I’ll put them in the show notes for today’s podcast, uh, and they’ll be in the links on our website. Grow my salon business.com.

[00:38:59] Antony Whitaker: If you are listening to this podcast episode with Frank Broadman and you’ve enjoyed it as much as I have, then do me a favor and share it with people that you know would enjoy it.

[00:39:08] Antony Whitaker: I’ve been hearing lots of really positive things about it, so it was good to finally have the opportunity to talk to the man himself. And don’t forget to subscribe and leave us a rating and review on the Apple Podcast app. So to wrap up, Frank, thank you for being on this week’s episode, uh, of the Grow My Salon Business podcast.

[00:39:27] Antony Whitaker: It’s been a a real pleasure having you on.

[00:39:29] Frank Brormann: It has been my pleasure and I wish to be better in my English to speak better English.

[00:39:33] Antony Whitaker: listen, your English is good and it’s a hundred times better than my German, so, uh, which is pretty negligible. So don’t apologize at all. It’s been great to have you here.

[00:39:44] Frank Brormann: And please to your audience, be like a little kid and play with new ideas.

[00:39:51] Antony Whitaker: Good, good, good parting words.