Why Confidence Changes Everything in the Beauty Industry w/ Amber Hopson

Eric (00: 00:00:10 00)

00:00:10 Hey Amber, how's it going?

Amber Hopson (00: 00:00:10 01)

00:00:10 I cannot complain, Eric. It's another beautiful day at Southern California. I'm just trying to beat the heat.

Eric (00: 00:00:10 07)

00:00:10 my gosh, well you're in the Antelope Valley. So Amber and I just talked for the listeners. We just talked and then we started recording. She's in the Antelope Valley. I'm in Thousand Oaks, California. Both Southern California. I think you're a little hotter than Thousand Oaks though.

Amber Hopson (00: 00:00:10 24)

00:00:10 Yes, indeed. But sometimes it's hotter in Tarzanna. You know what? I I'm it I'm in a nice air condition home. But I think I may take a dip in the pool later on today, to tell you the truth.

Eric (00: 00:00:10 26)

00:00:10 So you're what today, 90?

00:00:10 There you go.

00:00:10 I like that idea. So, Antelope Valley is where Amber is. She has a salon in Tarzana, which is, you know, the San Fernando Valley, which we at Salon Republic know well. so I'm really excited to talk to you because we don't talk to a lot of people who've written books.

00:00:10 about things about the salon industry and I'm going to intro you right now and I'm just reading off of your I think your Amazon book.

Amber Hopson (00: 00:00:10 57)

00:00:10 ⁓

00:00:10 Yeah.

Eric (01: 00:00:10 09)

00:00:10 author Paige. here we go. Amber Hobson was raised in Compton, California. She always had a knack for writing short stories, poems and raps. Her writing skills led her to a flourishing career as a rap artist in the mid 90s, which by the I mean, I'm 50 now. So the mid 90s, that was my, you know, that was my neighborhood as well. So

Amber Hopson (01: 00:00:10 32)

00:00:10 Yes.

Eric (01: 00:00:10 34)

00:00:10 You were assigned to Warren G's production company called G-Funk with an all-female rap group called Defy Footahs, which means that you're all about the same height.

Amber Hopson (01: 00:00:10 42)

00:00:10 Yeah.

00:00:10 We we're on the five from f probably from five two to like five seven. We only have one that's a little bit taller than us.

Eric (01: 00:00:10 51)

00:00:10 Okay. All

00:00:10 right. ⁓ Amber Cobra Red in quotes, Hobson went from welfare to CEO after leaving the music industry by building her beauty empire. Now she's a proud owner of a successful beauty company called hair escapades, which has a beauty salon and hair products under its umbrella. Amber has written

00:00:10 a non-fiction book called Boss Moves, What They Didn't Teach You in Beauty School, which assists cosmetology students and beauty professionals on how to maneuver and become a boss in the industry. She's also written a fictional book called Bittersweet, a hood novel, and most recently, What's Wrong with My Hair?

00:00:10 I like that name. mean, if you if you want to know what you're going to get when you open the book, you already know what's wrong with my hair. The real reasons behind hair struggles, including how different elements, whether water quality, diet, health issues and medications affect your strands. OK, so there's a lot happening. You've done a lot. I think.

Amber Hopson (03: 00:00:10 02)

00:00:10 Yes.

Eric (03: 00:00:10 03)

00:00:10 when I was thinking about this interview, the main thing that I was trying to figure out is where to ask you to begin because

00:00:10 ⁓ It's super interesting. I don't know if we've ever, we've had some people in the music industry, but it's like not really in, you know, not like professional, like trying to be professional. Sounds like you were a professional. You had a band for a while. So why don't we just start there? Tell us how you got signed to Warren G's label and how long you were with that band and what kind of experience that was.

Amber Hopson (03: 00:00:10 24)

00:00:10 Yeah.

00:00:10 Wow.

00:00:10 Well, let me see. Well, I started ⁓ rapping. Like I said, I've always had a knack for writing. So just growing up in Compton, and I was just really enthralled with just hip hop, you know, just even from the 80s on. And at first I was a hip hop dancer, you know, and then that went from writing raps. And I actually met one of my best friends, her name is Neb Love.

00:00:10 So she was a rapper also. She had the opportunity first by meeting Josh, which is another member. I'm trying to I'm trying to make this short because good is so much. But ⁓ anyway, ⁓ they met and Josh, she she originally had the record deal with Warren G.

Eric (04: 00:00:10 14)

00:00:10 That's okay. Don't worry about that.

Amber Hopson (04: 00:00:10 26)

00:00:10 And she wanted to have a partner. So her and her and Neb joined forces. And then I kind of, you know, I'm already, I was already there. And then it was like two more members. It it just kind of organically happened. Nehigh, another member, she was friends with Neb. So we collectively kind of formed what was called the Five Footers.

00:00:10 And we were all little, just little badass kids, okay? ⁓

Eric (04: 00:00:10 55)

00:00:10 So about

00:00:10 how old were you at that time?

Amber Hopson (04: 00:00:10 58)

00:00:10 ⁓ wow.

00:00:10 So the first, okay, I didn't even have my son yet. So I'm thinking it will I know I I just know 95 is when our single that was on the set it off soundtrack. So you know the movie Set It Off with Jada Pinkett, Queen Latifa. If you ever see that movie, it's about a all female ⁓ of of women who robbed, you know, was robbing banks. And ⁓ we were asked to do that song. So that was I wasn't even signed yet. Neb and Josh Gills were

Eric (05: 00:00:10 21)

00:00:10 Okay.

Amber Hopson (05: 00:00:10 28)

00:00:10 I was just part of the crew. But that was my first paycheck, you know, and the royalties was something else. It went platinum and I was able to buy my first car, which was a BMW at twenty one off of that.

Eric (05: 00:00:10 42)

00:00:10 Wow.

Amber Hopson (05: 00:00:10 43)

00:00:10 You know what I mean? Off of that. So

Eric (05: 00:00:10 44)

00:00:10 Amazing. Yeah.

Amber Hopson (05: 00:00:10 45)

00:00:10 that was my the I guess you could say that was the beginning. And then of course time went on. We eventually as a group we all became signed with Warren G. So I want to say 95, I think, is when set it when when the the single came out. So we were able to tour, we were doing shows. ⁓ it it was it was fascinating, but it was also h hardcore because we were females and it was a male dominated industry.

Eric (06: 00:00:10 04)

00:00:10 Wow.

Amber Hopson (06: 00:00:10 13)

00:00:10 And, you know, we were called B I T C H a lot because we just didn't stand for anything. We spoke up for ourselves and we wrote our own lyrics, you know. so we had grit in the game, but it was hard, you know, and then as time went on, '98 I had my son and by this time we were in a whole new deal.

Eric (06: 00:00:10 17)

00:00:10 No.

Amber Hopson (06: 00:00:10 35)

00:00:10 And you know, we finished the album, we were getting paid, and then next thing you know, the money stopped. They didn't put out our album, and guess what? I had to try to figure out a way to make some money. And that's that's how I transitioned into doing hair. But I thought, this is just gonna be, you know, this is just this is just a little side hustle, right? My album coming out, my album coming out is what I told everybody. Album didn't come out. Album never came out, okay? But luckily, you know, I

Eric (06: 00:00:10 50)

00:00:10 Got it.

00:00:10 Yeah.

Amber Hopson (07: 00:00:10 05)

00:00:10 I always

00:00:10 knew how to braid and I started braiding hair at a hair salon and this before I even went to beauty school and all of that.

00:00:10 And I was it was a little side hustle, but then as time went on, that hair salon, which was called Platinum Cuts, they had a lot of celebrities come through. So I felt like I was still in the industry. It was like a good, it was a good foundation because I learned from some of the top hairstylists in the valley that worked at that shop. Now you heard of Tupac, right?

Eric (07: 00:00:10 32)

00:00:10 Yeah.

00:00:10 Yeah,

00:00:10 yeah. Of course. Yeah. Yeah.

Amber Hopson (07: 00:00:10 41)

00:00:10 Or the Tupac, the rapper. Of course, you know Tupac. So

00:00:10 he had a crew called the Outlaws. So one of the members from the Outlaws, he owned that salon. So they were on like BET. The salon was very, it was very popular. So that was my gateway into the hair industry.

Eric (07: 00:00:10 51)

00:00:10 no kidding.

00:00:10 Interesting.

00:00:10 Very

00:00:10 interesting. All right, and then you, at a certain point you're like, hmm, I gotta make my side hustle the main thing. And so you went to cosmetology school.

Amber Hopson (08: 00:00:10 12)

00:00:10 Yep,

00:00:10 I went to Santa Monica. ⁓ it I went to Santa Monica College, the cosmetology department, and that was an amazing school because I learned from all different ethnicities.

00:00:10 So I learned from ⁓ and I even learned how to cut Japanese hair, you know, they have a different texture from watching the Japanese students. I remember them having these books from Japan, like these hair magazines. And I would just look I didn't, you know, know the language of course, but it had pictures and I would watch them, you know, cut cut each other hair and I was like, wow. So, you know, I I just learned from ⁓ man, that school was amazing. We have some really good teachers.

Eric (08: 00:00:10 33)

00:00:10 Wow. Yep.

00:00:10 A lot of people went to that school.

00:00:10 A lot of good hairdressers went there.

Amber Hopson (08: 00:00:10 56)

00:00:10 Yeah.

00:00:10 Okay.

Eric (09: 00:00:10 01)

00:00:10 Yeah, no, I don't know. What is it? Maybe it's location maybe I mean, maybe it was the diversity that you're describing not really sure but it But a lot of a lot of good people went there I think it was relatively inexpensive to right because it was a community college So it's not as expensive as like a Paul Mitchell school

Amber Hopson (09: 00:00:10 10)

00:00:10 Yeah, definitely.

00:00:10 Yes, absolutely.

00:00:10 And but one one little part that I left out about the welfare. So I was still signed to a record label and I had to go get on welfare. So that was and and and that's how I was even able to go to school and finish school. Cause I did end up I had I was on section eight. ⁓

Eric (09: 00:00:10 33)

00:00:10 Wow.

Amber Hopson (09: 00:00:10 43)

00:00:10 And you know, being low income, I was able to get all the different resources. Even they even I was able to get scholarship money there. They had so many donors, like people who donated to that college. So I was taking advantage of all that. I was like, where the money at? I was hey, I was

Eric (09: 00:00:10 59)

00:00:10 Interesting. Yeah. Of

00:00:10 course. That's great. You know, mean, this is, I think most people, I'm assuming, the entertainment business is hard, right? Like to make a career full time, like throughout your adulthood in the entertainment industry consistently is really, really hard.

Amber Hopson (10: 00:00:10 06)

00:00:10 Yeah.

00:00:10 Especially in the nineties, you know. And sharing with four other girls. That was, you know, sharing the pot with four other girls, that was a lot.

Eric (10: 00:00:10 28)

00:00:10 Yeah.

00:00:10 Right.

00:00:10 Yeah, yeah, that's interesting. Okay, well, a really great experience, I imagine. And it probably helped you in later life in some ways. So as we kind of go through your life, you you can sprinkle in little things that you learned from, you know, those early days in the music business. But you went full-time here.

Amber Hopson (10: 00:00:10 46)

00:00:10 Yeah.

Eric (10: 00:00:10 57)

00:00:10 And ⁓ was that kind of annoying because you really wanted to be a music artist, but you're behind the chair?

Amber Hopson (11: 00:00:10 06)

00:00:10 You know what, it was humbling because keep in mind I was used to having hair and makeup done to myself. So it was very humbling switching roles. Now I'm the s the provider, the service provider.

00:00:10 I wouldn't say it was it was challenging in the beginning, but because of the environment, because of the salon I worked for and just learning, just being in the in a different market, just learning new things. ⁓ I I I I I began to love it. It became, it was my second passion. And once I realized how much money you can make.

00:00:10 And when I really dived in, because straight out of cosmetology school, I went into doing hair extension workshops with my mentor, Lolita Goods. She was the queen of sewing weaves. So with that being said, I mean, I was straight out of school and we started our own business doing that.

Eric (12: 00:00:10 05)

00:00:10 wow.

Amber Hopson (12: 00:00:10 05)

00:00:10 So

00:00:10 I I I really, I'm really I was really blessed to meet the type of people to to help me along the way, you know, getting game. Rather it was skill-wise, business-wise. And I learned all the wrong ways of how to run a salon too. And I just did the opposite of what they did, and that's how I became successful running a salon. Worked for eight different salons, and none of them are in business.

Eric (12: 00:00:10 31)

00:00:10 God. All right, so as you

00:00:10 saw everybody running their businesses the wrong way, did you know at the time that those were the wrong things to do? Or did you just kind of watch it play out?

Amber Hopson (12: 00:00:10 42)

00:00:10 Of course.

00:00:10 Both. Because for one, ⁓ th but these are some of the things that I did learn. I remember working at well my it was platinum cuts and then after that, he opened up another salon that was on venture so I started working there. And I was always around my peer. I was always around ⁓

00:00:10 you know, black hairstylists and barbers. And it was it was real comforting because th they were they were very helpful. they wanted me to win, you know. And then I said, you know what, I need to learn more about color and more skill. So then I went to go work for a salon where it was predominantly, you know, Caucasian. And

00:00:10 It during that time, it would the way that company was set up, it was kind of set up like I guess you could say it was very corporate because they were paying me a little bit of nothing. You know, they was taking out everything. you know, when I got the check, I was like, let me go back to the let me go back to the hood. Let me go back to my

00:00:10 I had to call Lolita. I was like, man, I gotta come back. I I I can't do this. They're not paying me enough. Where the money at? Corporate, like a JC Penny or a Walmart type of thing.

Eric (13: 00:00:10 52)

00:00:10 your salon.

00:00:10 Okay.

00:00:10 Yeah.

00:00:10 you

00:00:10 Yeah, you're an employee.

Amber Hopson (14: 00:00:10 09)

00:00:10 Yeah, and it was just different. It just, you know, they they was nickel. I mean, they were taking everything out. If I use this much shampoo, that was taken out. I was like, you know what? This this is not for me. This is this is not gonna work. And then I worked for this one lady. This was sh it was called the Melrose Bar. Of course it's d not here. She was a c she was a cokehead.

00:00:10 And she

00:00:10 she didn't trust us having the key. So we had to wait for her to open the door. She was always late. And that like I'm so when it comes to time, I'm very anal when it comes to time. Like I'm a stickler about time. And it just used is it was a lot of different things she was doing wrong. And plus she was a cokehead. So I end up at the end of that, I end up cursing her out and leaving.

Eric (14: 00:00:10 52)

00:00:10 doesn't help.

Amber Hopson (14: 00:00:10 55)

00:00:10 It that was a whole thing. And once again I went back to my people. Again.

Eric (15: 00:00:10 00)

00:00:10 Yeah.

00:00:10 So I'm just curious, how long did you last with the Cokehead?

Amber Hopson (15: 00:00:10 03)

00:00:10 ⁓

Eric (15: 00:00:10 05)

00:00:10 Are we talking weeks or months?

Amber Hopson (15: 00:00:10 06)

00:00:10 And it was a really

00:00:10 nice salon. It was like the mirror. You know what's so dope about that salon? I love the the the mirrors. They had TVs inside the mirror. It was very high tech. It was beautiful. But she just was crazy. And I think the last straw for me there, just to tell you my experience, the last straw for me was

Eric (15: 00:00:10 18)

00:00:10 Huh.

00:00:10 Yeah. Right.

Amber Hopson (15: 00:00:10 29)

00:00:10 She was barked, she used to borrow. I used to do nails as well. So she ⁓ some of my my nail polishes were missing. And I actually said, Have you seen my nail polish? I left it at home. I took it home. So that that pissed me off. Okay. So that that was a lot. And then in the beginning, she provided color, right? She provided color.

Eric (15: 00:00:10 40)

00:00:10 What?

00:00:10 How about you not touch my nail polish?

Amber Hopson (15: 00:00:10 52)

00:00:10 And so, okay, so you know, it was cool. And then after a while, she was like, you know what? You guys are gonna have to buy your own color. No problem. So I went and bought at that time I was using G. I bought the whole kit, right? So everything good. So when it came around, she gives me a bill talking about, ⁓ this is back pay from the color that you use, you're gonna have to pay. That's when I was gone. I was like, you know what, you shady.

00:00:10 Like you don't change the game in the ninth and like no, that's not right. So I had to bow out.

Eric (16: 00:00:10 18)

00:00:10 Yeah.

00:00:10 All right.

00:00:10 ⁓ so, so we're learning about all the things that didn't work. And so you're kind of making a list in your head. All right. So don't don't do coke. You know, don't be shady. Be on time. You got to make sure people make enough money to put gas in their car. Yeah.

Amber Hopson (16: 00:00:10 30)

00:00:10 Yeah.

00:00:10 Be on time.

00:00:10 Yeah.

00:00:10 Don't do coke. Right. That part. And and you know, and that but that really is important because there are a lot of hairstylists, and I just saw a interview with someone when they're at the top of their game, and when you mix drugs into that, I mean you talking about spiraling down and crashing. You really gotta keep your head in the game, man. I'm telling you, because you could be up here and in a matter of seconds.

Eric (16: 00:00:10 50)

00:00:10 ⁓ Don't do coke. Yeah.

00:00:10 Yeah.

Amber Hopson (17: 00:00:10 18)

00:00:10 You have to be consistent. So I did learn, you have to have, you know, several different ways of people to pay. I learned that ⁓ customer service is everything. Just pay attention to the little things, even greeting the client. Like I make sure everyone in the salon, when the when the client comes in, every hi, good morning, you know, like be pleasant.

00:00:10 That's really important. Having refreshments. just it could just be the keeping it clean. Cleanliness is next to godliness. I cannot stand hair all over the floor. You know, keep it clean because clients they pay attention to those things. It's very important.

Eric (17: 00:00:10 55)

00:00:10 Yep,

00:00:10 they do. Yeah, no doubt about it. Okay, so you went through eight salons that you didn't like, and then you were like, I'm just gonna open my own.

Amber Hopson (18: 00:00:10 05)

00:00:10 Right. So the last alon it's so many stories within that, but I'm gonna keep it brief. So the last the last a line,

00:00:10 The guy they they had took over the the the previous salon was working so they took over and then I became manager. I was the manager and I was behind the chair. He didn't know nothing about the hair game. And they what they were doing, they were buying up all the salons in the valley, like barber shops and stuff. So they had it was some some stuff going on, you know, underneath the the surface. It was some illegal things going on. I don't know. Think they was hiding their money and I don't know. It was something going on. Right.

Eric (18: 00:00:10 40)

00:00:10 Money laundering, probably.

Amber Hopson (18: 00:00:10 43)

00:00:10 And so

Eric (18: 00:00:10 44)

00:00:10 Yep.

Amber Hopson (18: 00:00:10 44)

00:00:10 make a long story longer, ⁓ he just didn't know anything, you know, it and it just after a while I built up my salon to us, I mean I built up my ⁓ my reputation, I built up a clientele to where I was ready and YouTube, I see I was in YouTube 2006. I was doing YouTube then, so I I knew how to market and everything.

Eric (19: 00:00:10 09)

00:00:10 Wow, early.

Amber Hopson (19: 00:00:10 13)

00:00:10 And yeah, I just I got to a point where I was like, you know what, I can do this. let me get into a salon suite. So then I went from a salon suite, worked there for four years, and then outgrew the salon suite and opened my you know, brick and mortar and I've been there for twelve years now.

Eric (19: 00:00:10 30)

00:00:10 Wow, that's awesome. Wow. Okay, so when did you write boss moves?

Amber Hopson (19: 00:00:10 30)

00:00:10 What a journey.

00:00:10 That is a really good question.

Eric (19: 00:00:10 36)

00:00:10 10 years or 5 years ago?

Amber Hopson (19: 00:00:10 37)

00:00:10 Lo digo.

00:00:10 I really don't know which which year. Everything sometimes is such a blur. Yeah. But it it was a it was a when did I write it? That's a good question. You have to look at the date on there. I I really don't remember, to tell you the truth.

Eric (19: 00:00:10 42)

00:00:10 Doesn't matter.

00:00:10 I

00:00:10 I hope that one day I've written so many books and done so many things that I don't remember when I wrote one of the books. That's a goal right there.

Amber Hopson (19: 00:00:10 59)

00:00:10 Yeah, because it it's

00:00:10 you know, when you're constantly going, going, going and then so much time pass, you just kinda certain things become a blur. And not to say it's not important, I think it's really important. But

Eric (20: 00:00:10 04)

00:00:10 Yeah.

00:00:10 sure.

00:00:10 So the

00:00:10 subtitle is what they didn't teach you in beauty school. what is, what's the main, what are like the biggest maybe two or three things in that book for hairstylists?

Amber Hopson (20: 00:00:10 28)

00:00:10 How to save your money was a big one. how to manage your money because we get cash at hand that during that time now it's of course, you know, cash app, but it's still the same thing. you get in that everyday cash and learn how so I I just have I have something in there where I talk about at least take even from your tips.

00:00:10 Five, just put five dollars to the put five dollars away. If you're doing a color service, something that's more ten dollars away, and you'll start to see even how much that adds up. And then once you see the progression of your account, you're like, Man, I could put a hundred dollars in there a week, two hundred dollars a week, have an amnesia account, and that amnesia account is what helped me buy this. That amnesia account, that's what helped me buy the house.

Eric (21: 00:00:10 07)

00:00:10 What's an amnesiac?

00:00:10 You forget it like

00:00:10 you, the money that you put away and forget about.

Amber Hopson (21: 00:00:10 17)

00:00:10 Yeah, you have an emergency account. That's if your blow dryer goes spa you know,

00:00:10 The emergency account is especially if you're a salon owner, the plumbing could go but it may you may need something fixed right away. ⁓ you may need to get a whole new flat iron real quick. So that's what you want. You want an emergency account, an amnesia account. also an amnesia account is just for something big. Even if you want to ⁓ like I said, buy a house or or

00:00:10 you know, an investment now, you know, with the day and age of stocks, now I have brokerage accounts as well because I invest into the stock market. So you don't have to just you want your money to work for you. They're like little soldiers. You want your money to work for you. And I learned that along the way because what Lolita Goods taught me in all her years, she said, Amber, I wish I would have saved my money.

Eric (21: 00:00:10 53)

00:00:10 savings.

00:00:10 Yeah.

00:00:10 That's 100 % right.

Amber Hopson (22: 00:00:10 17)

00:00:10 'Cause she was making I mean, my God. She was making a lot of money. Even when I was working for her. And it just sh where where does it go? It doesn't matter how much money you have, you can always spend it all.

Eric (22: 00:00:10 31)

00:00:10 100%. That is 100 % correct. It is the same for, you know, unquote, rich people as it is for us.

00:00:10 You know, there's things, there's always something out there that's trying to take your money. know, whether it's like night out with the girls, you know, and $18 cocktails or, you know, $180,000 car, you know, or, you know, at the top level, you know, it's a monster house or whatever. And I've seen it. I've seen people go from very, very wealthy people to not.

Amber Hopson (22: 00:00:10 51)

00:00:10 Yeah.

00:00:10 Yeah, fantastic.

00:00:10 Even hairstylists

00:00:10 and salon owners, I've seen it. I've seen some of the biggest of the big and they lost everything, but rather it was due to drugs or just not not managing their money. Then you got the ones that want to keep up with the Joneses. They working with these celebrity clients and so they thinking that because they celebrity hairstylists, that they can afford all of these things and they they don't even have anything ⁓ a nest egg. You know what I'm saying? So they don't have an emergency account. They don't have so

Eric (23: 00:00:10 12)

00:00:10 Yep.

Amber Hopson (23: 00:00:10 40)

00:00:10 You just like a what is it? ⁓ a a rat running in Hamster. Thank you on the wheel. Hamps thank you. Thank you. That's it. Thank you so much, Eric.

Eric (23: 00:00:10 43)

00:00:10 Hamster a hamster on the on the hamster wheel you want to get off the hamster wheel Yes, yes,

00:00:10 you don't need the fancy shoes with the red soles you don't need the fancy

Amber Hopson (23: 00:00:10 57)

00:00:10 You can

00:00:10 within reason, but you wanna make sure you have ⁓ a nest egg. Make sure that you have ⁓ you're investing the S P five hundred. Your money is you're you're constantly putting money in and it's just gonna make you more and more, it has a high interest. You know what I'm saying? Make sure you have you can have a mutual fund, you know, just these are the type of things that we don't talk about as hairstylists. We don't talk about, you know, and then what about even even with medical?

Eric (24: 00:00:10 22)

00:00:10 Right, now you're 100 % correct.

Amber Hopson (24: 00:00:10 27)

00:00:10 Life

00:00:10 insurance. We need to have all of that. You want to have extra you want to have something set up because even with me, I'm on my own payroll. So I can have those benefits for when I retire. You know what I mean? A pension plan or that sort of thing. You wanna have social security, you wanna put it into your social security. You know, when the when the pandemic happened, I was able to take advantage of unemployment too, because I was on the payroll.

Eric (24: 00:00:10 42)

00:00:10 Yeah.

00:00:10 Yeah, I know.

00:00:10 Yeah, your own payroll. No, I love the fact that you bring this up first because it's not sexy to talk about and it doesn't look as good on your Instagram feed. It doesn't look good at all. What are you gonna do? Put the screenshot of your bank account on there? Of course not. But you're not in a fancy… It's just such a fundamental thing and I think ⁓ people work too hard to try to impress other people.

Amber Hopson (25: 00:00:10 08)

00:00:10 Mm-hmm.

Eric (25: 00:00:10 25)

00:00:10 and it costs them dearly in their lives.

Amber Hopson (25: 00:00:10 26)

00:00:10 I had a light, I had I call her I call her my black Jewish mom because she was a client of mine which was a millionaire. She was a millionaire, her and her husband. And she taught me a lot. She didn't want to help me invest even when I first started investing in Apple Stock. That's a whole nother story. ⁓ but she would drop these jewels, and at the time, it was a time when I was homeless and in my career, you know, doing too much. And I

00:00:10 I was homeless and she said one time she she patted me. She you know, I'm standing, she's sitting down and I'm standing beside her and she was just like patting my thigh and she said, Amber, you have so much going for yourself, but you have nothing to show for it. She was like, You pretty, you ambitious, your work ethic is impeccable, but you you and she's the one that taught me about putting money money to the side. She said, every every client you get, put this, put put this amount.

00:00:10 And watch it grow. And then that she the she's the one that put me on game and had me on that that type of scheduling of paying myself. Pay yourself first.

Eric (26: 00:00:10 36)

00:00:10 Yeah, absolutely. I love it.

00:00:10 OK, so that's number one. What else do you have in there that's super valuable?

Amber Hopson (26: 00:00:10 44)

00:00:10 I have a chapter in there. It was a bit controversial. They you you gotta read the comments too. People left reviews on the book on Amazon. So one person was really upset because one of the chapters said, If you're if your business is not online, go kill yourself. Yeah.

Eric (26: 00:00:10 53)

00:00:10 Yeah?

00:00:10 boy.

Amber Hopson (27: 00:00:10 03)

00:00:10 And what I meant by that, it is super critical, especially in this day and age of social media and exposure, that you have to be online. You don't even have to have a million and one followers on Instagram and Facebook. But you want to have a Yelp account. You want to be on Google, Google Business. Because ⁓ honest to God,

00:00:10 I didn't even have a huge following, but how people found out about me, they were they would just Google black hair salon near me, curly hair salon near me, silk press near me, and my business would come up.

Eric (27: 00:00:10 40)

00:00:10 hundred percent. So you have great reviews on this book by the way four and a half stars out of five and let's see

Amber Hopson (27: 00:00:10 48)

00:00:10 Yeah, I know

00:00:10 it was one they talked about that. They talked about that they were upset about about that title. See if you could find it. Yeah, they were I was just, you know, I was just it was just an important I was just trying to stress the importance of being online.

Eric (27: 00:00:10 54)

00:00:10 Just the way Yeah.

00:00:10 Yeah, I think most people understood that. ⁓ all right. What's something else?

Amber Hopson (28: 00:00:10 09)

00:00:10 and then I tell my story and after I tell my story, ⁓ I also talk about building confidence. because that's that's another thing. You have to be confident in what you're doing. And people can see that, they can read that. And I feel like that's what makes a good hairstylist as well,

Eric (28: 00:00:10 27)

00:00:10 This is so apropos to so many parts of life that you have to show some confidence. You have to feel some confidence and you have to be confident even when we don't feel very confident, right? I think human nature has us doubting ourselves, most of us. You know, we all know somebody who just seems like they're just naturally confident, whether they should be or not.

Amber Hopson (28: 00:00:10 53)

00:00:10 Yeah.

00:00:10 Yeah.

Eric (28: 00:00:10 55)

00:00:10 But

00:00:10 I think most people are pretty insecure. And so how do you get past that?

Amber Hopson (29: 00:00:10 02)

00:00:10 Well, the first thing is, and I talk about this when I go to the cosmetology schools and talk to the students, dress apart. It starts by you just dressing up.

00:00:10 You don't have to go in wearing heels and you know, you don't want to be outrageous with it. But look clean. Make sure your hair is is is tight. You know, make sure you're tidy and your hair looks good. Make sure you smell good. I feel like that helps a lot. Just that. It's so simple. People make things so complicated. It's so simple. But don't you know the difference from when your hair is a total mess? You just don't feel you don't you don't feel it.

Eric (29: 00:00:10 39)

00:00:10 yeah, yeah. And also, it's just, you're putting in just the basic amount of effort. You know, some people just, they don't even put in the effort, you know, and, personally grooming yourself to a certain standard, if you're gonna be in the beauty industry, I think it's just, table stakes level of effort.

Amber Hopson (29: 00:00:10 50)

00:00:10 Mm-hmm.

00:00:10 Absolutely. Dressed apart.

Eric (30: 00:00:10 00)

00:00:10 Yeah.

00:00:10 You know, and then things like showing up on time, which we already talked about, you know how that previous salon owner didn't show up on time. And it's just like, they're not even putting in the basic levels of effort. And the older I get and the more I look around and the more I see people who are unsuccessful and those who are successful, it just seems like the, the latter

Amber Hopson (30: 00:00:10 08)

00:00:10 ⁓

Eric (30: 00:00:10 26)

00:00:10 Peru is just doing the basics.

Amber Hopson (30: 00:00:10 28)

00:00:10 Absolutely. And then like I and these are the little things. But like I said, if you could tackle the little things, it's gonna add up to the bigger things. You'll be able to tackle the big things. And that's even just with saving money. Like even just I was talking about even investing and saving money. Start off small, don't overwhelm yourself.

Eric (30: 00:00:10 41)

00:00:10 Absolutely.

00:00:10 Of you got to start somewhere. A

00:00:10 lot of the people that I've talked to about this topic, they're like, well, I need to wait until I have enough money to invest. I'm like, you're thinking about that wrong. If you have a hundred bucks, you can invest. So get yourself an account and buy something. You got to start, right? And get into the habit. Sometimes these things are habitual.

Amber Hopson (31: 00:00:10 00)

00:00:10 Mm mm.

00:00:10 Yeah.

00:00:10 Mm-hmm.

00:00:10 And

00:00:10 it's it is easier than ever now because now you can invest right from your phone. So when I was first invested, I used to have to call, you know, call Vanguard or you'll call and then you have to, you know, I want to put this much towards that, you know, but now there's so many different options. So there's really no excuse now. You know, people always think they don't have enough. Mm-hmm.

Eric (31: 00:00:10 28)

00:00:10 Yeah, ugh, what a pain.

00:00:10 Yeah.

00:00:10 Excuse me. Well, it used to cost money. Right?

00:00:10 To buy a stock, used to have to pay a transaction fee. Remember that? It's all free now. Like it doesn't even cost money to buy 10 shares of something. It's crazy.

Amber Hopson (31: 00:00:10 46)

00:00:10 Yeah.

00:00:10 Yeah.

00:00:10 This is

00:00:10 what I'm saying. So, you know, I feel like as hairstylists, stop using the excuse that, ⁓ I don't have enough money. If you were it was this book that I read, first of all, one of my best one of my favorite books is called Secrets of a Millionaire Mind. Love that book. I I kind of read that book like once a year. But it was another one. I think it was called The Latte Factor, where he talks about

00:00:10 You know, stop going to Starbucks. You know, if you just if you add up how much you spend at Starbucks every morning, like get a curic machine. I mean, you can make your own coffee. You know, but it's just certain things, you know, that you can you can save money on and you could take that money and and invest.

Eric (32: 00:00:10 32)

00:00:10 I Yeah.

00:00:10 100%. 100%. Okay, let's talk about your most recent book, What's Wrong with My Hair? Why did you write this? Were you tired of answering questions?

Amber Hopson (32: 00:00:10 45)

00:00:10 Yes. Well that

00:00:10 Yeah, I'm still working on it actually, but that's the book that's getting ready to come out. and I actually changed the title. That maybe you can help me with this, Eric. I was thinking of calling it Stranded. What's wrong with my hair?

Eric (32: 00:00:10 59)

00:00:10 Please.

00:00:10 Stranded, right? Like a

Amber Hopson (33: 00:00:10 04)

00:00:10 Stranded. What do you think? Do you think

00:00:10 Yeah, stranded. Or should I just keep what's wrong with my hair? Or should I just keep what's wrong with my hair? You seem like you like that one better.

Eric (33: 00:00:10 08)

00:00:10 Let's ask.

00:00:10 I kind of liked it just because it was so right to the point. But since we're talking about this, let's ask Claude. All right. We're going to do this with the audience here.

Amber Hopson (33: 00:00:10 18)

00:00:10 Not right to the point.

00:00:10 Okay. Yeah.

00:00:10 I was gonna say that. Wow, the wonders of chat GPT and and AI. I am loving it. Do you know I could have been I could have been balling back in my if I had this back in the early 2000s? ⁓ I even use it even when I'm with a client and doing a consultation. If they ask me something I don't know it, give me one second. Let me look that let me let me figure out.

Eric (33: 00:00:10 46)

00:00:10 I know.

Amber Hopson (33: 00:00:10 56)

00:00:10 why if this medication, ⁓ certain even certain medications they take, I may look it up and I'll find out, ⁓ this is why your hair is shedding. You know what I mean?

Eric (34: 00:00:10 06)

00:00:10 Yep.

00:00:10 No, it's unbelievable. And I try to convince my kids of just how spectacular it is to have zero cost or friction to just about all the information in the world. Like, can you imagine? Well, of course you can imagine because you've straddled that time as I have, but…

Amber Hopson (34: 00:00:10 21)

00:00:10 Yes.

00:00:10 And

Eric (34: 00:00:10 30)

00:00:10 They just, it's all just normal, it's native to them. And the way they use it is fascinating. And I've had to kind of reframe the way that I do my thought processes to include AI options, right?

Amber Hopson (34: 00:00:10 45)

00:00:10 Mm-hmm.

00:00:10 Mm-hmm.

00:00:10 So the reason why I started writing this book, What's Wrong with My Hair, was because the conversations we would have in the salon, this is for not just the consumers or the clients, but even for hairstylists. Because they could be it's you know, e I even break about, the the textures and how they're using this number system now of hair, but

00:00:10 I just really go into, you know, why is your hair turning gray? Why you know, it's just d all kinda questions that you'll just ask. even ailments, even if someone is going through chemotherapy, you know, so it's a lot. But I I came up with this for the client in mind.

Eric (35: 00:00:10 18)

00:00:10 Hmm?

00:00:10 Yep.

00:00:10 I love it. right, so Claude AI is giving us some options here. Let's see. And of course, as AI does it, they break it up into different kind of categories, question based, which is very similar to what you're thinking about calling it, which is what's wrong with my hair. It suggests, why is my hair doing that? No, that's stupid. What's really wrong with your hair? Why won't my hair behave?

Amber Hopson (35: 00:00:10 54)

00:00:10 Mm-hmm.

00:00:10 Mm-hmm.

00:00:10 See

Eric (36: 00:00:10 00)

00:00:10 And then the other

00:00:10 category, diagnostic or clinical framing. The hair detective solving your strand struggles. Hair diagnosis. Hair diagnosis, uncovering the real causes behind hair problems. That's not horrible. It is, it's too long. Yeah.

Amber Hopson (36: 00:00:10 07)

00:00:10 Yeah, ⁓

00:00:10 That's too much. It's too many words. Because I wanna I do want it to be simple so people can just

00:00:10 fit it out. Yeah, you you know you got that new book. What's wrong with my hair? It's just to the point.

Eric (36: 00:00:10 26)

00:00:10 Yeah, no,

00:00:10 I know. And that's kind of what I liked about it. ⁓ Decoding your hair, a root cause, get it root pun intended guide to healthier strands. ⁓ And then let's see beyond the bottle. The real reasons now is not your shampoo. The hidden causes of hair trouble. The hair health, the hair health connection, what your body is telling you through your strands. That might be too defined.

Amber Hopson (36: 00:00:10 33)

00:00:10 Yeah. Yeah.

00:00:10 Yeah.

00:00:10 See

00:00:10 Yeah, see and that's the thing, I had even tracked GPT it and everything as well. And I just I I you know. Okay. Yeah, just to the point. Okay. So that's a

Eric (36: 00:00:10 54)

00:00:10 hair struggle song.

00:00:10 Yeah.

00:00:10 No, I like what you got. What's wrong with my hair? I think it's perfect. Yeah. All right, well,

00:00:10 so how much have you written of it?

Amber Hopson (37: 00:00:10 11)

00:00:10 I'm I'm really at the end. Now I'm just getting to the editing part and along the way just putting bits and pieces, adding and taking away. I'm on that part.

Eric (37: 00:00:10 20)

00:00:10 So for those listeners listening right now, they're like, I've always wanted to write a book. How long does it take to write a book?

Amber Hopson (37: 00:00:10 26)

00:00:10 These days it's very simple.

Eric (37: 00:00:10 28)

00:00:10 I mean, 45 seconds,

00:00:10 you just type it into AI, right?

Amber Hopson (37: 00:00:10 34)

00:00:10 Basically now back then

00:00:10 when I was writing books, ⁓ it took a little bit longer. ⁓ back then they had what was called I think it was called Create Space. I'm trying to think of the name 'cause they don't even have it anymore.

00:00:10 But now to to be a self publisher, you can go it's called KDP select through Amazon. That's real simple. ⁓ and then you have to, you know, if you want to do an ebook, you can do an ebook and paperback, and then now even audio. So when people are riding in their car, they can I haven't still did the audio yet. My ADD kicks in. It's just such a long process to do it. But I will, I will eventually.

Eric (38: 00:00:10 05)

00:00:10 Okay.

00:00:10 That's what I've heard.

00:00:10 You

Amber Hopson (38: 00:00:10 17)

00:00:10 But

00:00:10 now it's easier than ever if you could check out K V P Select and now you could just chat GPT and say, Hey, how can I write an ebook? What type of format does it have to be in? 'Cause I had to do all that type of research. It was a different format for your ebook as opposed to so you had to have two different formats. A format for the ebook and then a format for your paperback, you know? So

00:00:10 Back then it was it was time consuming. And then you heard of Fiverr, right? Where you okay, so I would get people on Fiverr. Yeah, exactly. They have independent contractors who you can pay and they can do your book cover. But now you can do your book cover on either Google Gemini, chat and whatever else. so I would pay someone to do it

Eric (38: 00:00:10 49)

00:00:10 Yeah.

00:00:10 Pay somebody to do something.

00:00:10 Right.

Amber Hopson (39: 00:00:10 08)

00:00:10 And to also edit, you know, I think this one girl, she only charged me like forty dollars and she edited my this because I have some nonfiction books as well. I mean some fiction books as well. So I just paid her forty dollars and she edited the whole book and had it to me within four or five days. So yeah.

Eric (39: 00:00:10 17)

00:00:10 Okay. Yeah, yep.

00:00:10 Amazing. The world has changed.

00:00:10 Alright, do you have any horror stories?

Amber Hopson (39: 00:00:10 31)

00:00:10 Either that or horror client horror stories. Ooh. Okay. Yeah. okay. It was this lady who we call Chief Crazy Horse. The reason why we

Eric (39: 00:00:10 35)

00:00:10 Well, those count too. Give me some client horror stories.

00:00:10 That's

00:00:10 amazing.

00:00:10 Chief crazy horse.

Amber Hopson (39: 00:00:10 52)

00:00:10 reason why

00:00:10 because her she had so much plastic surgery, she looked like a horse. Okay. So we named her Chief Crazy Horse. Now, the thing with her is that I've come to find out she was a stalker to the guys. So her whole thing, she would come to the shop every week.

Eric (39: 00:00:10 57)

00:00:10 ⁓ my god.

00:00:10 You

Amber Hopson (40: 00:00:10 14)

00:00:10 She was a a Caucasian lady and I she I I would do a weave on her and maybe we'll do her hair on Tuesday. She had to come on Saturday because she had this date. So she and I had to do all these little she took up so much of my time and energy, it drove me insane. Chief Crazy Horse. So one time she was telling me this story. I'm telling you this for a reason because I'm about to get to the climax.

Eric (40: 00:00:10 31)

00:00:10 so funny.

00:00:10 The horror.

00:00:10 Yeah.

Amber Hopson (40: 00:00:10 38)

00:00:10 Yeah. So she was like, Yeah, she was telling me it would it it sounded I said, you a stalker when she was telling me the story how these guys they would stop baiting her and she would stalk them. So keep that in mind, right? So one particular

Eric (40: 00:00:10 44)

00:00:10 I

00:00:10 Yeah. And how did

00:00:10 she respond to that? You call her a stalker.

Amber Hopson (40: 00:00:10 54)

00:00:10 I'm I'm very she ⁓ no, it's not like that. She just laughed it off because she's crazy. Chief crazy horse. So this one particular day, she called me. ⁓ frantic, Amber, can I just come in just first? I just need you to fix this one little piece. I have to go on this date. I said, I forgot her real name. I said, look, I I can't do it today. I'm completely booked. But if something comes up where I can fit you in, I will.

00:00:10 And at this time I was working at a salon. I was the only one there. No one else was there at the time. And my mom happened to be there. My son was there. I think my mom was helping him with his homework. So now she she kept calling she kept calling the shop phone, right? And I'm answering. She keeps calling, keep calling. And finally I just stopped answering the phone, right?

00:00:10 Next thing you know, now it's night time. Next thing you know, she it no, I had the door locked, but it's glass. So you see her at the at the window like this. She was like this. And so it scared me in the daylights out of my son. What is that? It was it was crazy. So I went to the door and I said, such and such.

Eric (41: 00:00:10 48)

00:00:10 god, she's coming in.

00:00:10 Okay.

00:00:10 No. No. my God.

Amber Hopson (42: 00:00:10 08)

00:00:10 I said, you didn't believe me. I told you I was booked. But I just thought to maybe I thought maybe you had a little bit of time. I said, I'm gonna call you later. So that's when I had to give her the ⁓ the end of the road, the end of the road speech. So when I got the time, I called her and I I do this whole explanation. And this is the end of the road for us. That's what I said at the end, right?

Eric (42: 00:00:10 23)

00:00:10 Yeah.

Amber Hopson (42: 00:00:10 34)

00:00:10 It was silent for two seconds. It was silent. She says, Well, this Saturday, Amber, can you just fix this? I said, No, my no, no. And no, he did not. He said, Amber, if I could just come in one last time. I said, No, honey, no, not ever.

Eric (42: 00:00:10 43)

00:00:10 God.

00:00:10 You're like, did you hear everything I just said? I just described it to you.

Amber Hopson (42: 00:00:10 58)

00:00:10 And I even have her name in my phone. It says Chief Crazy Horse. Do you know just recently, a year ago, her the name came up? That was crazy. And you know how many years ago? That had to been probably about 15, 16 years ago. Like literally. It was so many years. She probably, I don't even, yeah, it was crazy. I didn't even answer the phone.

Eric (43: 00:00:10 07)

00:00:10 she was reaching out.

00:00:10 and she reached out about a year and half ago.

00:00:10 Wow.

00:00:10 Did she leave her voicemail?

Amber Hopson (43: 00:00:10 25)

00:00:10 Mm.

Eric (43: 00:00:10 25)

00:00:10 Well, that's good.

Amber Hopson (43: 00:00:10 26)

00:00:10 When I saw Chief Crazy

00:00:10 horse come up on my phone, I said, I ain't answering that one.

Eric (43: 00:00:10 31)

00:00:10 That's

00:00:10 really funny. My wife has a bunch of ex-boyfriends branded, in different ways. You know, like, with whatever funny name that she ended up calling the guy, you know, when they broke up, she would have them in her phone. So if they called, then it would come up and remind her immediately that she shouldn't answer the phone and why. Very funny.

Amber Hopson (43: 00:00:10 53)

00:00:10 trying to tell you. So

00:00:10 I have my fair share of crazies. I will say that, like literally. And you have to get stern. You have to get stern and say, no, I can no longer do this. The money, it doesn't even matter anymore. It costs more money to deal with them than, you know, it costs more money. Because they're taking up everybody else's time.

Eric (44: 00:00:10 00)

00:00:10 That's a pretty good one.

00:00:10 ⁓ 100%.

00:00:10 Yeah, that's right. All right, any last words for the community?

Amber Hopson (44: 00:00:10 21)

00:00:10 Stay consistent.

00:00:10 for the community for all the community i'll say we need you i always tell the cosmetology students this that we really need you guys we need some fresh blood i feel ⁓ some innovative we need some innovation

00:00:10 And I'll just say just keep on. Whenever you feel like you're about to give up or you feel like you're burnt out, you just have to just just change it up a little bit, especially as hairstylists. You know, we take on a lot. So I feel like change it up. You don't necessarily have to be behind the chair. You can actually be an educator.

00:00:10 You can, if you love to do social media, you could work for a a hair company and do their social media. there's just so many different, which is why I love our industry. There are so many different ways to be creative and make money in our industry. and to all my old heads, you know what time it is.

00:00:10 Think of your exit strategy. Those wrists, the carpal tunnel and back pain and you know, it's other ways around it though, is what I'm saying. And you have to work smarter, not harder.

00:00:10 And that goes for having premium pricing. Gotta go up on those prices, baby. It's time. Go up on your prices. And that'll get rid of the some a lot of your problems too. Cause there's always those cheap ones that wanna give you H-E-L-L.

Eric (45: 00:00:10 32)

00:00:10 Absolutely.

00:00:10 Yep.

Amber Hopson (45: 00:00:10 50)

00:00:10 Am I right, Eric?

Eric (45: 00:00:10 51)

00:00:10 Well, you're right. Yeah, you've pretty much said it. All right. Your books by Amber on Instagram. Amber Hopson. Your books are on Amazon. So not hard to find. They're digital. I saw they're digital too, Like Kindle. Yeah, I love it. Well, this was great, Amber. It's great to talk, great to meet. And ⁓ I hope people check you out.

Amber Hopson (46: 00:00:10 02)

00:00:10 Mm-hmm.

00:00:10 Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

00:00:10 I can air.

00:00:10 Thank you so much, Eric. I love this. The Hair Game podcast. Stay tuned for more.

Eric (46: 00:00:10 22)

00:00:10 That's it. That's it. And that's a