From BTC to CEO: What You Need to Know w/ Jennifer Alvarez
Salon Business Coach & Speaker @jenniferjadealvarez shares her journey from BTC to becoming a successful business owner.
Salon Business Coach & Speaker @jenniferjadealvarez shares her journey from BTC to becoming a successful business owner. She discusses her early experiences in the beauty industry, the challenges she faced, and the mentors who guided her.
She highlights common mistakes made by beauty professionals and offers insights into financial planning, marketing, and business growth.
Get her free Freedom Calculator here and find out how to retire from BTC!
https://jenniferjadealvarez.myflodesk.com/freedom-calculator
The Hair Game (00: 00)
Hi, Jennifer. How are you?
Jennifer Alvarez (00: 02)
I’m so good, Eric. Thanks so much for having me.
The Hair Game (00: 04)
You’re welcome. So Jennifer is a salon coach, speaker, podcaster, teaching business to the beauty industry coming from Naperville, Illinois, right outside of Chicago. Yes, the accent, it’s a good accent. So why don’t we start with your beginning? Where are you from originally? I assume you’re from around there, given your Chicago accent.
Jennifer Alvarez (00: 19)
The accent will come out, yeah.
You
The Hair Game (00: 31)
and tell us how you got into the salon industry.
Jennifer Alvarez (00: 34)
Yeah, so thanks again for having me, Eric. It’s always a pleasure to get in front of the beauty industry. It’s been my entire life. I actually grew up in a small town of about a thousand people. So country mouse here originally. And I was really fortunate to have the opportunity to go to beauty school during high school, which was a blessing because I was not a good student. I tried really hard.
to get a B. And when I went to beauty school during high school, I actually found something I was really good at. And it was such a good blessing for me because I excelled. I was able to graduate high school and have my license to do hair. And I started at the young age of 18. fast forward to today, it’s been some time.
The Hair Game (01: 33)
Yeah, well not that much time.
Jennifer Alvarez (01: 33)
⁓ I’m 41. Yeah,
I’m 41 now. ⁓ So I have dabbled in a lot of things. I don’t know how far back you want me to go here, but ⁓ you know, I was in this small town. I got into a lot of trouble. I was a troublemaker growing up and some bad things happened and I had to get out of town and I thought that I was actually going to quit the industry.
The Hair Game (01: 38)
Okay.
Like, like
law? Like you got in trouble with the law or people? I’m kind of curious. I kind of want to know.
Jennifer Alvarez (02: 04)
There was some issues, for sure. There was a lot of issues. We can unpack that if you want to.
Well, it’s not the best proud moment, that’s for sure, but I think we all have our own journey in life and I got myself into a very physically abusive relationship. And yeah, and it was awful. ⁓ There’s nothing to sugarcoat there, nothing to really… I feel if anybody’s going through that, just know that they’re…
The Hair Game (02: 26)
I’m sorry.
Jennifer Alvarez (02: 41)
is hope that you can get out of that situation and free yourself from that terrible experience. And I’m living proof of it for sure. ⁓
The Hair Game (02: 52)
I imagine you
had to dig deep and find a lot of strength and do something very uncomfortable, which was leaving your town, which is a horrible thing to have to do. But I imagine there you learned a lot.
Jennifer Alvarez (03: 00)
Ugh, yeah.
I had to leave, I came back and I thought, you know, I still really want to do something in the industry. I’m good at it. That’s all I felt like I was good at and that I had control over is doing hair, doing updo’s, doing makeup. And so I found a salon up in Naperville because I could not stay back in the country in the small town. Too much trouble for me to get into. And…
So I found my way into Naperville and I thought, wow, these people are good. Everybody looks good. I grew up in the country, so everybody had an un-stylish mullet back in the day. And I just found a place in Naperville where education was important. Hope was something I felt that I could have. And I had some really great mentors along the way as well.
The Hair Game (03: 43)
Hahaha
Jennifer Alvarez (03: 59)
really built up my confidence and my education into hair design and to make up. had a lot of amazing mentors and experiences that paved my way into opening up my own business. And you know, there’s a lot more to uncover there as well. But here I am now, podcaster, speaker, business owner, and thank God I’ve survived all the trials and tribulations that continue to…
⁓ try to derail me going forward towards success.
The Hair Game (04: 33)
Yeah, yeah.
Right. Well, it’s never a straight path, you know, up and to the right. It’s rarely at least. ⁓ And along the way, when there’s bumps, we learn from the bumps and then bumps make us stronger, hopefully. So talk about the the mentors that you had. Where did you find those mentors? And then you said you talked about starting your own business. Talk about that.
Jennifer Alvarez (04: 58)
Yeah, you know, it always was in the back of my mind that I wanted to be a business owner. But I do believe now that I can reflect back that there was a lot of situations in my life that really, really stirred up lot of fear. so fear really kept me playing small because I was always told like, you’re not good enough. You’re never gonna mount to anything. So all of these like, these…
this dialogue I had digested, it really stuck with me and it kept me playing small. And I’m so grateful for the opportunities that the owner that I worked for for 11 years behind the chair, she introduced me to Luis Alvarez. And at that time, he was the creative director of a Quaj. This was for all the young ones. This was way before Alta took them on and we had a promise that
we would only be in professional salons. We would not sell to the big box stores, which they obviously did. And I got to train under Luis Alvarez, Anne Bure, Eric Fisher, and the crew back in 2005, 2006, I’m dating myself here. It was just such a great crew to be with.
we talked about how do you do platform work? Doing an updo while you’re entertaining a crowd of people with other people on stage with you is such a skill to have. And it was so awesome to just rub elbows with him. And my owner at the time too, bless her heart, she sent me to Vidal Sassoon in London to train, Redken Exchange in New York. I specialized in hair design. Updos was my passion.
but I was a, I say was because I don’t cut hair anymore, but I really, I was really good at it. I was like finally on this path of like, man, I found something that really lit me up.
The Hair Game (07: 07)
Yeah, amazing. So you worked in a team environment for about how long?
Jennifer Alvarez (07: 15)
for the salon or for a stage.
The Hair Game (07: 20)
Well, so how long were you in the salon before you started going on stage?
Jennifer Alvarez (07: 25)
Not very long actually. I was at this salon probably for a year before I got connected with Aquage and started doing platform work, which was really amazing. And I worked for that company for 11 years. And it was in 2013 that I said to myself, I wanted to start a bridal company. And it’s pretty crazy how that and that
all unfolded because there was a client that came into the salon and she was originally looking for hair extensions, which I did as well. And she said, do you do weddings? And I’m like, yeah, I mean, I really like updo’s. I can do updo’s.
The Hair Game (08: 08)
like thinking to yourself, I’ve never done one, but yes, I do.
Jennifer Alvarez (08: 12)
Well, I haven’t done a wedding before. So I was like, sure, I can do that. She’s like, great. Look, mind you, I’m in Chicago. She said, great. I’m going to fly you out to Catalina Island, California. We’ve got nine people, hair and makeup. I’ll have a limo come pick you up at the house. Pack your bags. Your boyfriend can go with you. I will send him with you. And that was the very first wedding I did.
The Hair Game (08: 14)
Yeah.
my god. Okay.
Nice.
Wow, that’s pretty good.
Jennifer Alvarez (08: 40)
And I said,
oh my gosh, I said, is this real life? I paid money, I had a vacation, and it was just fantastic. And I thought, I’m going to start a business. So I launched a bridal business in 2013.
The Hair Game (08: 56)
Okay, so that was your first business that you started on your own. Okay, and then talk about that. What was that like?
Jennifer Alvarez (09: 00)
Yes.
Let’s just say it was a learning experience. I still have the bridal company today and it looks so different from when I first started. But it really was, I don’t even want to call it building the airplane as I was flying because I was just skydiving at that point. And it was such a great experience though. It was a lot of work figuring out how to work with brides. And if anybody’s listening to this who has worked with a bride before,
They are a special creature and you have to deal with this customer differently. But what I did realize, I really loved the business aspect of it. It definitely was opening my eyes to a skill set that I didn’t even know existed in me. And I really started to go down that path of what more can I do with this? And it gave me the confidence then.
The Hair Game (09: 37)
Ha
Jennifer Alvarez (10: 02)
to launch my own salon business in 2016. So there was definitely a period of time still that fear was coming up. You’re not good enough, Jen, you’re gonna fail. Why you? It shouldn’t be you. And after three years, I’m done. I’m ready to go. So.
The Hair Game (10: 21)
Yeah.
And that’s totally normal, by the way, you know, the fear, the anxiety, the doubt, I think that’s part of human nature. And the difference between those who let it kind of overcome them and keep them where they are versus those who still go forward, they have the counterbalancing excitement and positivity. And I think it’s good. I, know, if, if we just had the positivity only
then sometimes we’re gonna do things that get us into trouble. I think you need a little, checks and balances in yourself. So you clearly, you had that checks, but the part of you that was excited about starting your own business and going forward and doing something new, that was clearly stronger than the fear.
Jennifer Alvarez (11: 11)
And you have to make that decision too of, you know, the day that I die, because that’s guaranteed in life, will I regret not doing it or regret that I tried it and maybe it didn’t work out? And, you know, at that point in my life, I was like, I have to do this. If it’s always showing up present in your heart, in your mind, if that dream, that idea just is nonstop lingering,
The Hair Game (11: 28)
Yeah.
Jennifer Alvarez (11: 41)
That’s like the Holy Spirit telling you it’s time to get up and move. Like you are being pulled into a direction, Jen. And that’s what I was feeling.
The Hair Game (11: 51)
All right. So connect the dots from then to what you’re doing now.
Jennifer Alvarez (11: 57)
So now fast forward, 2025. Now I have a salon and there is eight employees and I own the building that we have the salon out of. And in 2023, I retired behind the chair and I don’t do hair anymore. I don’t do weddings anymore, but my team does. And that has been such a interesting transition.
because if anybody has retired behind the chair or used to do here and not, I don’t know about all of you, but for myself, I had a little bit of identity crisis. My whole life I’ve been behind this chair is what it felt like. And it was interesting trying to figure out like who I am, who do I belong, where do I belong now? Like, what am I supposed to do with my time and my talents or my gifts and what are they?
And it was interesting trying to just navigate through pivoting, but I knew it was very clear I could not do hair behind the chair full time and try to build up a business. Everything was failing.
The Hair Game (13: 08)
Yeah. Two different things, right? Two very different things. Okay. So you’re a coach now. let’s talk about some of the things that you coach to. ⁓ what, what are, I find with most, most coaches, there’s like two or three primary things that they really focus on. Do you feel like you have that with, with like what you tend to be talking about now?
Jennifer Alvarez (13: 35)
You know, yes, I agree. And I base what I educate on based on my experiences. This is what I have gone through. I’m a living testimony that you can start a bridal business, that you can open up a salon, that you can retire behind the chair to become a leader. Those are the things that I help people with and navigate their way through because I’ve done it myself. So I can tell you from firsthand experiences what can work and what doesn’t work.
And, you know, that doesn’t mean that my business is perfect. I’m always working on myself. I’m always working on helping and growing my people and my team and refining things. But I definitely can help people with through the things that I’ve experienced in my life. And that’s what I gravitate to and helping people figure out, for instance, the freedom number, their freedom number of how do you retire behind the chair?
with a salon because typically a salon owner who does hair or a service provider who is owning a business, they’re producing most of the revenue. And Eric, I had a few people tell me, like business coaches, they’d say, Jen just ripped the bandaid off. And I’m like, okay, well, I can’t do that because I have bills to pay. And so everyone was loosely.
giving me this advice like nonchalantly, I’ll just retire, you can make it work. No, it needs to be a calculated risk. And that’s what I like to walk my clients through of figuring that out for themselves and mapping out a plan. I think in business, you have to have that risk taking grit about yourself and…
be able to go all in on it, but it still needs to be well thought out. You still need to be strategic about it, otherwise you’re going to put yourself in some predicaments that are not going to be good for you.
The Hair Game (15: 42)
Right. Well, there’s no doubt about that. So do you have benchmarks on things like, you know, what your savings needs to be relative to your expenses and things like that?
Jennifer Alvarez (15: 56)
Yeah, you really wanna dig through all of the numbers to figure out where you are exactly in your business and then having that dream plan mapped out of like, well, where do you wanna go? And just like how in hair color cutting, we have to know where we’re starting and we wanna know that end picture so we can create the formulation or what direction we’re taking this haircut to give you the results are as close enough.
Same thing with business as well. I think so often we’re telling ourselves the story of like, I don’t know how to start or I don’t know where to start. And it’s because we really haven’t gotten very clear of exactly, well, what are our expenses today? And if I hired somebody, how much is that gonna cost me? How long can I go with either breaking even or no profit for the cashflow to run out? And what are the things that I can control?
And that’s most important because oftentimes we start to run, and I’m guilty of this, we run these hypothetical situations, the what ifs, and that’s when the fear starts to surface. And that’s when we go into this analysis paralysis and it stops us from taking data-driven decisions forward. And it’s interesting coming first and foremost as a hairstylist creative, now stepping into, I speak spreadsheets.
This tells me what I need to know. And it’s definitely a different mindset shift of going from service provider into business owner. But knowing exactly where you are and just going through all of your numbers first and foremost is a great place to start.
The Hair Game (17: 39)
And so this is one of the things that you teach in your programs. Okay. So talk to the independent beauty professional. What are most doing wrong from a business standpoint?
Jennifer Alvarez (17: 41)
Yes, yes I do.
Well, what I could, and this feels so stereotypical of a response because some people do it very well and to each their own as far as what works for you. These are just business models, right? Booth rent, salon suite, freelancer, commission salon owner. They’re just different business models of how we gather cash or how we trade time. So what I do see,
⁓ either a salon suite or booth renter because I do find that they’re very in similar categories, is that there’s not a strategy around recording, measuring and tracking, around marketing and what you are actually doing in the service room, treatment room or behind the chair. We’re just going through the motions.
the common thing that I’m finding is that they’re struggling with building their business because they have taken their foot off the gas because they’re like, it’s easy. Well, they’re not budgeting for anything. They’re overspending. They haven’t market.
for themselves in the longest time so they’re not even relevant. They’re not ⁓ bringing in new referral business. They’re not thinking about adding on. They’re not selling themselves anymore. So I find that their business over time, it’s that compound effect. A good habit over time is going to progressively give you a great result versus the opposite. Every day,
that you see clients that you’re not recommending products or you’re not asking for a referral or a review, your business is dying. It’s gonna plateau. You’re gonna fizzle out, you’re gonna burn out. You’re just training time for money. And I think that business owners who have gone off on their own that have let off the gas, I’m not saying all do, they’re finding themselves wanting to gravitate back into a business model that can help support those areas that they just don’t know.
how to do it themselves.
The Hair Game (19: 50)
Okay, so what are the best ways to market yourself as an independent these days?
Jennifer Alvarez (19: 55)
Well,
independent and if you’re an employee, I 100 % believe that you should take personal responsibility in growing your book of business. As a salon owner, I will help you. I will support your education. I will help market you, but I’m not going to be able to, know, hand hold you through this. There’s a, it’s actually scripture, but it basically says like, the lazy person is the one who has the food in their hand, but they don’t put it in their mouth.
The Hair Game (20: 00)
true.
Jennifer Alvarez (20: 25)
And so, yeah, yeah, I read it the other day, it’s, yeah, yeah. Go figure. So to market yourself, it’s pretty easy. Social media is free to use, my friends, and attention is going to be the new currency, right? Gary Vanderschuk always talks about this, that you can post.
The Hair Game (20: 25)
That’s really funny. I’ve never heard that.
That’s in the Bible? ⁓ my God, I can’t believe I’ve never heard that. I love that.
Jennifer Alvarez (20: 54)
content all day long and that’s what is going to create visibility. I live in a community which is very beautiful, Neighborville, yes. We have over 200 salons. Clients have choices more than ever that they can choose anywhere they want to go. Why you? What are you doing differently that is creating a service experience that’s going to attract new clients and keep the ones that you have?
What type of social media content are you putting out? Are you really thinking about your dream client that you wanna attract? Are you really thinking about growing your business? Social media is the number way to do it. You just need to post consistently every single day, TikTok. In Facebook groups, there is, I don’t know if it’s every single area, but in our Naperville area, we have this mom’s network.
People would rather ask the moms than a doctor or Google or chat GPT. The moms know. Every, yeah, it’s been in some of the weirdest things that people will ask like.
The Hair Game (21: 50)
Referrals. Yeah.
That’s 100 % true. Yep. I mean, my wife, she lives in these mom network Facebook groups and they toss around, you they ask a question. I want this kind of hairstyle. Does anybody have a referral? And it’s all of that. It’s like word of mouth. It’s like digital word of mouth, right?
Jennifer Alvarez (22: 17)
Ugh, it’s, the Facebook groups every single day, I’m looking for someone that can do this beautiful pixie cut on me. I’m looking for a color transformation. Who does the best extensions? Every single day. I am in there like a hawk. My team, they get flagged as well. Jen just made a comment. So they’re on it as well. So every time a mom is posting, we are also posting. This is what I tell everyone when it comes to marketing, because…
Marketing is my jam. love it because it’s such a crucial pillar to growing your business at every single level. The squeaky wheel gets the oil. You think you’re being annoying. You think that you have showcased too much. You haven’t. You haven’t because there’s just so many viewers. My community is 150,000 people. We only need less than 1 % of the entire community to…
be doing business with us and we’re fine. Yeah, just the community in general. And then you have to think too, when you’re going on social media, it’s not necessarily like what you posted or if somebody posted something about a haircut, it’s all the people who are reading the comments, because people are there for the comments.
The Hair Game (23: 15)
Community meaning Naperville or the Facebook group? Yeah, okay.
Jennifer Alvarez (23: 40)
They’re scrolling through. So if they constantly are seeing this person and associating it with extensions or associating it with bridal or whatever your specialty is, you will be then known in your community when somebody says, I wish my hair was longer and thicker. have you been to Refine Beauty in Naperville? Like they are the number one hair extension salon in Chicagoland area. It’s because it’s by association. We are showing up constantly.
That to me is the way I would go with marketing first and foremost, because if you can’t do it for free and organically, don’t even pay for it. Because if you, most likely you don’t have things set up in your backend to even support a system to allow you to see, are you getting a return on your investment? What is your return on ads spent? What is your cost to acquire a customer? If you don’t even,
I wouldn’t even toy with that stuff if you haven’t even poured into organically marketing yourselves.
The Hair Game (24: 43)
Yeah. Okay. Let’s talk about just fundamental business tools. So there’s a lot of booking apps out there. Everybody knows that there’s a lot of booking apps out there, but not everybody uses a booking app. So what is your advice on the booking apps? Do you have a favorite one?
Jennifer Alvarez (25: 00)
Okay, so I think when you say booking app, we’re talking about salon software, is that right? Okay, okay, my friends.
The Hair Game (25: 06)
Yes.
I know
it’s more than just booking nowadays. It’s point of sale, it’s inventory management, it’s all that stuff. But for an independent beauty professional, some still don’t use technology.
Jennifer Alvarez (25: 16)
I do it. Yeah.
Again, you’ve got to do what works for you. However, if you’re serious about your business, growing your business, making sure that it’s healthy, you’re going to lean into technology to help you operate your business better, faster, more consistently, and providing a better experience. Starting out in the salon suite, and even with my bridal company too, I have gone through, true story, nine salon software platforms.
I’m like Goldilocks here.
The Hair Game (25: 55)
Amazing. Well, you’re the
person to ask then, right? Because, you know, people ask all the time, know, which one do I use? And there’s been some consolidation, but there’s like a top four or five at this point. And ⁓ so what do you say?
Jennifer Alvarez (26: 03)
Well.
There definitely is some platforms out there that dominate for sure. And that’s also their marketing strategy that’s working very well. They understand how to market their business in a way that gives them the visibility to get in front of the right people. Here’s what I always tell business owners, whether you’re ⁓ again, booth renters, salon suites, salon owner, write down first your non-negotiables. What do you want this product to do for you? Make a checklist, right? Make a checklist of all the things that are important to you.
I want to make sure I’ve got a loyalty point system. I need to make sure we’ve got a referral program. I want to make sure that I can double book. I want to have tiered pricing. What is those non-negotiables that you need specifically for your business? Are you really focused on memberships and packages? Make sure that the software then can do what you need it to do. And if you can get a software that checks off your non-negotiables,
and then also have a list of, this would be nice, nice to have, but it’s not a want. That’s the easiest way to find which software is gonna align with your business. Because a business that has multiple locations versus a small team, versus a salon suite, need different things. And so that’s exactly where I would start first, that I did not know, I wish I knew, that duh, why don’t I just start with a checklist?
I wanna have gone through the pain and suffering of nine softwares. And trust me, if you’re in the process of switching software, I’ll pray for you. It is like so stressful. I get it because I have switched over software companies so many times, but I finally have found one that I really like and I’m happy that I chose it.
The Hair Game (28: 06)
Which one is it?
Jennifer Alvarez (28: 07)
It’s called Zenody.
The Hair Game (28: 09)
Okay, so why did you switch so many? And first of all, are we talking about the software that you use in your salon that manages ⁓ the other beauty professionals in the salon? Are we talking about the software that you were using when you were a solopreneur?
Jennifer Alvarez (28: 32)
I mean, should I go through the list? as far as like I’m using Zenody now, I’ve used it now for two and a half years, but I first started out with Square and then I tried Booker, Rosie, Mevo II. I’m familiar with Millenium and ⁓ then Vigaro. ⁓
The Hair Game (28: 54)
Millennium.
Jennifer Alvarez (29: 02)
Was there something?
The Hair Game (29: 02)
And so what were the
main causes for you to switch? So something with the software gets so frustrating that you’re like, my God, I can’t handle it anymore. I’m gonna go through the pain and suffering of switching. What has that been?
Jennifer Alvarez (29: 07)
Yeah.
you
A few things, ⁓ the onboarding experience that the software tech company delivered made it feel very unpersonal. I didn’t feel like I was, you know, and this is probably just in my head too of all the past trauma that I had experienced where it was like, am I not good enough for you? They can’t take the time to explain this. Is it because I’m just a salon suite that I can’t get the support that I need?
If you’re salon suite owner listening to this right now, you know what I’m talking about. Like it’s a struggle trying to get an educator or a vendor, somebody to support you in your business and to help you feel valued as a customer. These software companies are not cheap. It’s a monthly reoccurring revenue. Most of them are doing very well. And you wanna make sure that you have a really great onyx.
onboarding experience. If somebody is just like kind of tossing you in to figure it out yourself, it’s really hard. And as you’re navigating around these salon softwares, there’s a lot of robust, which is basically meaning like there’s a lot of different things you can do with it. You want it to be almost like a second operator of your business, like your receptionist, the person who is handling all of the back-end work so you can focus on your secret sauce, you’re doing hair, doing makeup, doing lashes.
So you wanna make sure that that salon software program is able to grow with you, but also not overly complicated as well, because you don’t have a whole lot of time to figure it out as you’re already probably working 40 hours behind the chair, and then also doing inventory control and cleaning and contacting clients through email and phone call and texts and trying to do social media management. It’s a lot to do.
You don’t need something that’s too complex, but you need it to work for your business.
The Hair Game (31: 16)
Okay, so the onboarding process was, I know they try to automate them. And from the standpoint of the booking app, I imagine they’re thinking, well, we’re only charging 25 bucks a month. Like if we need to hold somebody’s hand and have a human pay a human to do it, that costs us a couple hundred dollars. And I’m thinking of the economics of it. They wanna make it all automated. And so I imagine that
automated nature ⁓ is difficult for the customer trying to move over, especially if you’re doing all the things that you just described. And maybe you’re not very tech savvy. So, or maybe it’s a tremendous amount of ⁓ work to make sure that all of your client information is properly going over and then you’re learning a new platform and stuff like that. I wonder if the booking apps…
Do they have an option where you can get a little more service for like a one-time fee, like a hundred bucks or something?
Jennifer Alvarez (32: 19)
I know for my current software, if there’s anything additional that I’m looking for, such as I wanted them to import a entire 50 skew product line into the software, along with the size of the product and the cost that I paid for versus the cost that I am selling it for, that was kind of a lot of work. So they’re like, well, we charge for that. But you you have to think about, well, what’s your hourly rate?
If you’re, let’s say you cut hair and your haircuts are 50 bucks. So your hourly rate is $50. If this company is gonna be charging you $25, then go do another haircut and let somebody else do something that is maybe not in your zone of genius. if there’s an option to have someone else do it for you, I’m all about that. all about, I would rather pay you than have me do it.
The Hair Game (33: 14)
Yeah, no, that makes a lot of sense. Okay, so what else about the booking apps when you switched caused you to switch something about the interface or, you know, something is clunky or difficult.
Jennifer Alvarez (33: 27)
Yes, all of the above. And sometimes it was about the over promise and under delivery. Or, you know, for example, memberships and packages. There is a lot of software companies that are not as intuitive when it comes to the packaging and membership. So if that’s a heavy hitter in your business, you really want to make sure that you understand the
the simplicity or the complexity of turning that on. Again, this is why having the non-negotiables are so important, because if you get in there and you realize, ⁓ I can only develop my memberships to be like this way. I can’t have any creative freedom with, I want to add 20 % off to retail products. I want to be able to add upgrades for a discounted price. Like you’re boxed in to their way or the highway. Like this is the only way that you get to do it.
And it’s interesting how it will be marketed a certain way. They’re gonna really spotlight key features that the majority of people will say it’s good enough. But if you’re anything like me who’s just over analyzing and just wants everything to be perfect, then you’re gonna find out quickly as you get into the system that you are gonna be boxed into whatever that software product is able to do. It will be interesting, Eric.
As AI is expanding and people are more conformed to using it, I mean, you can build a website, you can build an app so quickly within seconds just using AI. It will be interesting how our software expands, evolves and changes over time, even in the next, ⁓ even two years, the way that it is advanced so much of how it’s going to help us in business at a level that we never thought was possible.
The Hair Game (35: 15)
Yeah.
Right. And it’s worth putting the time and the effort into learning about the different options that are out there for us. I find that when I engage with an audience of hairdressers or beauty professionals generally, there’s an uncomfortable percentage who aren’t familiar with the most basic things. Like Google.
You know, like setting up a Google account so that you’re searchable or the just the process that a potential client goes through to find you. You know, there’s, there’s a certain amount of basic effort that I think everybody would benefit from. And I’m glad you mentioned it’s not just independent beauty professionals, but it’s
It’s a member of a team in a commission salon who also needs to bolster their incoming client, right? And these are the ways that that happens nowadays. And it’s frustrating to me when I have a conversation or again, in an audience and people ask questions about, I mean, very, very fundamental things that they haven’t done that yet. And so I…
I’d really try to encourage people to, know, whatever that means for you and your given schedule, if it’s carving out an hour on a Saturday where you go in and you figure out certain basic things as the salon management platforms or the booking apps, as I kind of call them, which I guess I shouldn’t call them that anymore because there’s so much more than that.
It’s like calling this a phone, know, you know, as a smartphone, an iPhone or whatever, it’s not even a phone, right? But we all call it a phone. That’s why I call them booking apps, because they started that way. ⁓ Spending the time to learn about all the functionality, because there’s an arms race with them. And when Gloss Genius comes up with one thing, then Vergara was right there after them.
and coming up with their own version of that one functionality and vice versa and square and you know, all Booksy and all the rest of them are offering all these new things. But the more I talk to the community, the less people seem to actually know about what there’s, what is on offer on the software programs. It reminds me of my car. Like I have a car, it’s three years old. You’re laughing. Maybe you know what I’m talking about, but you know, it’s, not super fancy. It’s just, it’s a
car. You know, I rent it, I lease it, I don’t rent it, but I lease it and I feel like I’m renting it because I’m going to give it back in like six months and you know, get the next one. And it does all this shit. And so I remember when I was sitting in it and the car guy at the place, he was the tech guy. He wasn’t even the salesperson. He was the tech guy. And I’m supposed to spend 20 minutes with him before I drive the car away. All I wanted to do is drive the car away.
Jennifer Alvarez (38: 17)
You
The Hair Game (38: 41)
I didn’t want to know about the eight million different functions that the car does, you know, with all of the computerization and everything. And as he’s going through it, I’m thinking, ⁓ my God, I’m never going to use that, never going to use that. ⁓ But now and then he would say something and I’m like, ⁓ that’s usable. That’s useful. You know, I want to do that. It’s it kind of reminds me of that. There’s so many functions and
I’m like the people that I’m complaining about in our industry. Maybe I’m too stubborn, I’m too lazy, ⁓ I’m too whatever, foolish to want to put the time into figuring out what the devices do around us that can help us.
Jennifer Alvarez (39: 12)
You
You know, it’s a good point, Eric, and it’s the Pareto principle, right? You are going to be using, you’re only gonna be using 20 % of the actual functionality of something 80 % of the time. And that’s okay, that’s why I always say like have that non-negotiable list. For Zenody, they either call me the PETA or they call me the super user, I’m not for sure. But either way, like, what’s that? Yeah, probably both.
The Hair Game (39: 48)
Both. Both.
Jennifer Alvarez (39: 53)
But I want to know, I want to know like, what’s this button do? Like, what is the functionality of this? And the more that I start to lean into my program, the more I understand, this is going to actually help me with retention. this is going to actually help us with attracting new clients. Or there’s no excuses now for someone to say, I don’t know how. You can just pull up ChatGPT and it can tell you and guide you or Google.
whatever your resource is, but there’s no more, ⁓ there should be no more allowance for excuses of not knowing. you’re right, you don’t have to use every function of your booking software, but you have to at least make sure that it’s aligned with what you need for your business. And you also said something too that I’d like to point out that no, and this was me.
No matter if you’re independent or if you’re working behind the chair or if you’re owning a salon, you have to choose your heart. There’s always going to be tough points in every single career choice if you are looking to grow and stretch yourself and go for success. There’s always gonna be some difficult challenge that you’re going to have to bust through to get on the other side.
The Hair Game (41: 12)
Yeah, 100%, 100%. And by the way, that’s where self-satisfaction comes. This sounds so cheesy and I sound like I could see my kid’s eyes rolling right now as I’m about to say this. you know, that’s where the real self-satisfaction comes in. When you do something hard, you do something that you didn’t want to do. You spend an hour and a half learning about the XYZ and then you get it up and going and then you get three new clients next week.
I mean, there’s not much more satisfying than that. And it’s not just because you have extra money in your bank, but it’s because it’s self-satisfaction, you know, for our psychology and our emotions and wellbeing and stuff. I mean, so cheesy, but true. All right. Any hair horror stories for you?
Jennifer Alvarez (41: 59)
You
Hair, hair stories?
The Hair Game (42: 05)
hair horror stories. you know, something that you really blew behind the chair or something that, you know, you witnessed in your salon happen and something that the listeners can learn from.
Jennifer Alvarez (42: 20)
guys.
Well, you know, out of someone who had a lot of fear, one of the things that I didn’t have fear about was making a mistake with someone’s hair because it was never my intentions to. And one of the things that I always focused on was the theory. If I could rely on color theory, if I could rely on cutting theory, then I’m always going to have a predictable, consistent result. And so have I messed up hair along the ways?
Absolutely. Absolutely. But I always reflected back on it to see, what went wrong? How can I make this better? How can I help the guest ⁓ feel better about the situation? And the realization is that we’re human, we will make mistakes. And our position is not to make someone happy. Happiness is a choice and it’s out of our control. We can’t.
The Hair Game (42: 53)
You
Jennifer Alvarez (43: 18)
We can’t control whether someone would be happy. mean, how many of you have done a look that you’re like, my gosh, it’s such a great transformation. And you’ve got a client who’s just so pissed off at you and leaves you a one-star review and you’ve ruined her life because you gave her what you thought that she asked for. This also always goes back to our consultations. I just think to myself, how can I just learn from this and grow better? And if I can share a quick story too, the day I realized at the salon that
I can’t work behind the chair and run a business and team, was the day that I messed up the most basic haircut. I cut it uneven. It was like a one length haircut. It was like an inch off on one side. I’m like, Jen, what was wrong with you? I was just so distracted by so many things going on around me. My phone was dinging. I just had clients needing me, vendors needing me, bills were due. The team members were like.
we need this, we’re out of toilet paper, we need paper towels, I’m out of 9-0. People were, it was just crazy. And that was the point where I was like, I can’t focus on this, I gotta have it to have a different plan. I need to stop working behind the chair. And that was when I pivoted my business. But there’s so many stories I could bring up of either mistakes I’ve made or clients who have
clients who behave badly. ⁓ But I think it’s important for people to understand like you will face some weird stuff in this industry and don’t ever let it stop you or build in this false narrative in your head that you’re not enough and that you can’t do it because you can, you just have to learn how to develop perseverance. And that’s definitely.
out of my career, perseverance is something that I had to really develop to keep going.
The Hair Game (45: 19)
Absolutely. Well, those were wonderful last words for the community. And normally I’m like, any last words for the community, but that was it. I mean, you can’t do better than that. So tenacity, perseverance, it’s beautiful. Well, thank you very much, Jennifer. This was great.
Jennifer Alvarez (45: 27)
You
Thank you so much, Eric, appreciate it. And if anyone is needing anything from me, I’m an open book on Instagram at Jennifer Jade Alvarez on Instagram. And then if you are looking to pivot from getting out from behind the chair, I do have a free freedom calculator that ⁓ I will send to you, Eric. So if anyone’s looking for that, I’ve got some resources that are free.
The Hair Game (46: 03)
Thank you.
Jennifer Alvarez (46: 04)
Thank you.
