WOW! What a weekend!

Life has been non-stop - haven't even had time to blog! So I'll try to catch up with the events of the last 2 weekends. Two week ago I had the priviledge of participating with the Bennett Career Institute's 2nd Annual Beauty Business Conference. It was awesome! All kinds of great info. was shared - I took lots of notes. If you're anywhere near the Washington, DC area, don't miss next year's event! There was information from the Small Business Administration, Insurance experts on how to protect yourself and your business, even a session on 'Stress Relief' by Reflexologist Njedeka Olatunde - we definitely need that, don't we! She suggested if you have trouble sleeping to put on some instrumental music and just pick out 1 instrument to listen to! What a great tip!

Of course, the founder of that awesome 'Institute', Mr. Bennett, shared many wonderful tips from his arsenal of experience in this business - as school owner, hair designer and beauty business entreprenuer. My pen was flying across the page as he spoke! Then I had the opportunity to present my classes '$ecrets of the Millionaire Stylist' which is designed to expand the mind of beauty professionals, give them usable info that can put money in their pockets and give them a support system to keep the momentum going! Below is a comment from a student who read my books and took action and WOW - had the phone ringing off the hook! For the Salon Owners and Managers, I also presented "Finding and Keeping Great Stylists", which seems to be "the" topic of the moment and I introduced the "Where are all the good Stylists? Kit - for BUSY Salon Owners", which includes 8 hours of intense training on defining who you're looking for and what to hire on, my 5-step 'Hiring Process' to eliminate the Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hide syndrome, how to train them and how to KEEP them once you've put all that work in. For more info or how to order at the special preview price of $149 (reg $297), email me at miki@BeautySuperStars.com

Kudos to Mr. Chet Bennett, Rasheeda Franklin and team for putting on a spectacular event!

On that Tuesday, I spoke to the daytime and nighttime students at American Beauty Academy in Wheaton, MD about becoming 6-figure stylists and barbers! It was a jam packed weekend, but very rewarding. I got back to Richmond, just in time to prepare for the Black Beauty Expo!

I'll tell you about that next time - "WOW! What a Weekend - Part 2!"

Til then,
Miki Wright, Your Salon Business Coach for Life
http://www.beautysuperstars.com/

It's a win-win!

A few days ago, in the "Surviving the Economy" series Part 3 - 'Get out in the World', I suggested...

"Host an event for a client – art show, book signing, financial planner, make-up artist! I work with Carolyn at Carolyn's Creative Touch in Richmond, VA and next weekend she's hosting a Clothing Show and Sale at the salon for one of her clients – it's generated quite a buzz with clients that want to attend and of course, some will bring friends as well! It's win-win-win!"

We just had our event at the salon this weekend and it was great - a real win-win for everybody. We transformed the salon into a "clothing showroom" and the client got exposure for her business - CAbi Clothing Line (http://www.lavettagoldsborough.cabionline.com/ ), and received orders. The salon had an activity, which means we got to talk about it with clients before the event and after the event, with the people who came and with the people who didn't come - 'they missed a great event!' And the clients love, I mean absolutely love, having something to talk about - to their friends, coworkers and family (which is great for business)! Check out the photo from the event.

Next time we'll finish our "Surviving the Economy" series, with 'Get Lean and Mean'

Til then,

Miki Wright, Your Salon Business Coach for Life
http://www.beautysuperstars.com/

Surviving the Economy (Part 4) - Using the Internet

As we continue our series on “Surviving the Economy” we want to use every tool in our toolbox to get new clients and keep our current ones coming back. Many more stylists are using a computer to keep their business records, to create marketing materials and event to surf the web, while at the same time many clients are on a computer all day long and have come to rely on finding the products and services that they want to use and buy on the internet. Can they find you and your services there? If you’re reading this blog, you’re already on the internet (and are a step ahead of many of your colleagues), but are you using it to the max?

Website – Having a website can give you instant credibility. Use your website to showcase your work, provide your phone number and address, answer frequently asked questions (FAQ’s) and to promote specials. It’s also great if you happen to change locations, as long as your clients have your website address, they can easily find you.

Online Advertising - on referral sites and advertising sites where people can find you (many are free), such as www.craigslist.org for placing ads, www.BlackStylists.com and www.AfroHair.com to name a few. Many of these sites spend their time and money to land at the top of the search engines, which means you can be found easily by lots of people with very little effort on your part. And of course, there is paid advertising online. Just like offline ads, be sure you know what you’re getting for what cost and be sure to track your results!

Email your clients with upcoming events, special offers and to quickly fill a cancellation. The power of email is awesome. With the stroke of one quick click, you’re in contact with all (or a select group) of your clients at one time. Be sure to update your client contact info and get their email addresses.

E- Newsletter – keep them in the loop with tips and news about what you’re doing, classes you’re taking, upcoming events and promotions. Just another way to let them know you care, keep them thinking and talking about you and they can easily forward it to their friends and family! (www.BeautySuperStars.com will have a great tool for this coming soon)

The possibilities on the internet are unlimited! If you haven’t been taking full advantage of this resource, I invite you to dip your toe in the water. After all, most of it is FREE, so what have you got to lose? And better yet, what happens if you get just one (1) new client??? Can you spell ka-ching?

Stay tuned for tip # 5, “Get Lean and Mean”

Til next time,

Miki Wright, Your Salon Business Coach for Life
www.BeautySuperStars.com

For more info on the “how to” of using the Internet ‘to put clients in your chair’, email me at miki@BeautySuperStars.com for a ‘Special Offer’ on an audio CD with one of our BeautySuperStars Team Members, Beauty Photographer (and Internet Marketing guru), Keston Duke (www.KestonDuke.com)

Surviving the Economy (Part 3 con't.) - Get Out in the World

Last time in Part 3 of our 'Surviving the Economy' series, we talked about several ways that you can 'Get out in the World' and meet people outside of your little world and let them know what you do - here are a few more suggestions! Choose one or two and just see what happens!

Host an event for a client – art show, book signing, financial planner, make-up artist! I work with Carolyn at Carolyn’s Creative Touch in Richmond, VA and next weekend she’s hosting a Clothing Show and Sale at the salon for one of her clients – it’s generated quite a buzz with clients that want to attend and of course, some will bring friends as well! It’s win-win-win!

Offer to do hair – as we mentioned for local fashion shows, sometimes clubs or sororities have formal events, what if you offered to ‘touch-up’ their styles for them or to put their hair up? What about plays, concerts and other events that come to town? Some of the performers will need something done to their hair while they’re in town…

Offer to present hair trends, fashion, make-up for groups – check the local newspapers and ask your clients for groups that may enjoy the learning the latest trends from an ‘expert’.

Volunteer – it’s a great way to serve and to meet new people! This month is National Breast Cancer Month and it might be a great time to get involved with a "Look Good, Feel Better" Program at you local hospital!

Promote your events to the press – Make it a habit to contact the press about all of the things that you do. It will increase your visibility and really confirm that you are indeed an expert!

Of course, use your imagination to come up with other ways to meet more people (and assuming you take great care of them), you will be the busiest stylist/salon in your area!

Look for tip # 4, “Using the Internet”

Til next time,

Miki Wright, Your Salon Business Coach for Life
http://www.beautysuperstars.com/

For more info on the “Get More Clients…” book, go to http://www.beautysuperstars.com/, and click "Books and More"