Behind the scenes of a salon studio owner vlog // How I run my business & find work/life balance

Hello. Good morning. Welcome back to another vlog. I am so tired. I had a really hard time getting up this morning. I set my alarm for like an hour before I really had to get out of bed because I was hoping that I would just have extra time in the morning to kind of like, you know, take my time getting ready and uh I just continued to hit snooze for an hour instead, but it's fine. We're doing good on time. And even though I couldn't be bothered to put any makeup on, but at least my hair is clean and looks nice and I like my outfit, so you know, we'll take whatever wins we can. Yeah, I don't know. I think I've just like had so much going on that I'm so grateful for. I'm having one of the best summers of my life, I'd say. Um but just constantly having things going on every single week, it's definitely starting to catch up to me. >> [laughter] >> And it's just kind of like throwing me off. But today isn't going to be super busy, so I'm hoping the extra time that I'll have, I can like get some things done at home. Kind of, you know, hit reset a little bit temporarily because then I'm going out of town again this coming weekend. Again, all things I'm so excited for. Like I am by no means complaining at all. I'm so, so looking forward to it, but I just feel like my brain has been in a million places. And I'm going to be so honest, like that's the thing about having your own business. Sometimes, most of the time I would say, I feel really passionate about my business and what I do and I'm like that's that's my baby. That is my number one priority. It's where I'm pouring everything, all of my attention and time and energy. But then there's other times where it really is just feels like a job and it's like all right, I got to show up, go to work, get these clients done, make sure the salon's stocked and just, you know, I'm just kind of like in and out. And it's sort of like out of sight, out of mind a little bit. So, if I'm not actively there with clients, I'm not spending a lot of time doing things for it, worrying about it. And that's kind of where I've been like this summer. Um definitely focusing a lot more on personal life things, which isn't always a bad thing, you know? But I will say I do definitely feel guilty at times and it's totally self-inflicted. It's just like I put this pressure on myself of like I should be doing more, you know, hustling more, making more money, working more, just being more focused on my business. But I don't know, it is tricky to find that balance. So, that's kind of where my mind has been at, but I thought in this vlog it would be maybe interesting, I don't know, to share a little bit more behind the scenes of work and salon life because I feel like a lot of my vlogs lately have been more just like me at home. So, come to the salon with me. I just have one client this morning and then we're going to do a lot of like admin things. Um I have some new clients that have reached out, so I got to respond to them, check inventory cuz I'm pretty sure I'm running low on color, so I need to like make a list of things that I need to restock on. I mean, we'll either do like a beauty supply run after my client today or before my first Oh wait, actually no, I'm not going to have time tomorrow. So we're going to do that today. And yeah, I'll just share a little more of the business owner part of my life. So yeah, my first client is at 10:00. It is currently 9:11. It takes me about 20 minutes to get to work, so I And again, like lately I haven't really been on my A-game as much. I've been showing up like just a few minutes before my first appointment. And sometimes the clients that tend to like show up early get there at the same time as me or sometimes even like a little bit before me and they're like waiting in the lobby already when I get there, which I don't love, but you know, it is what it is. As long as we're starting on time, you know, that's the important thing. But I like to get there ideally at least 15 to 20 minutes before my first appointment. So that way it gives me time to just kind of like breathe for a second, make sure everything is clean cuz sometimes I'll leave a little bit of a mess the night before, one of the joys of working by yourself, and just, you know, make sure I'm set up, get the music on, all that good stuff. So that's what we got going on this morning. And that I sauteed that I just made. So good. This is the one that I made in my last vlog. So I put some brown sugar and cinnamon at the bottom. Did a double Nespresso pod. Added some plain half and half and then a little bit of vanilla cold foam on top. So freaking good. All right, I will see you at the salon. Okay, well, it's a good thing that I left early because I'm sitting in standstill traffic. I don't know exactly what's going on, but it's 24 minutes of traffic and I was supposed to get there like 20 minutes before 10:00 and now it's 10:08 is my arrival time. So much for having extra time to set up and all that, but you know, life happens. So, I texted my first client to let her know. Hopefully, she hadn't left the house yet. So, but either way, she knows now that she can like kill some time cuz I'm going to be a little late. Okay, well, wish me luck. >> [music] [music] >> All right, that ended up being such a good day. When I was on my way here, second traffic, it was an accident, by the way, which it was hard to tell while I was driving by what exactly happened. I didn't see like terrible damage that it looked like anyone got hurt badly, so hopefully everyone's okay, but uh one of my clients that was supposed to come tomorrow texted and asked if she could possibly come today instead, and that worked out so perfectly cuz now tomorrow I will get done earlier. Um and I was going to end up having like a little bit of a gap in my day before her appointment, so that was perfect. Right after my first client, she came in, did her hair. So, we just finished. I'm cleaning up now, and I was looking at my schedule and my color drawer, and I actually am going to be good cuz I only have one more client tomorrow, and that's it for the rest of this week, and I have what I need to do her hair, so I don't need to go to the beauty supply store. I'm going to wait and do that at the beginning of next week, and just cuz I'll need to stock up for people next week, so. Luckily, I wasn't doing anything crazy today, so I was able to like clean as I go. So, just got to put my tools to disinfect and head home. So, I'll see you there. Honey, got to go party. Unfortunately, because I thought I only had the one client and I wasn't expecting to be gone for so long, I didn't bring any food with me, and I had not had breakfast. So, it's almost 3:00. I'm preheating the oven to have my first meal of the day, but these vegetable flatbreads from Aldi, so freaking good. So, I'm glad I have that cuz that's a quick easy thing to make, but I got a package from Dossier. So excited. They have a new fragrance that they are launching. By the time you're watching this vlog, it'll be in a couple of days. Oh my god, this is so cute. Vanilla just got personality. Which one are you? So, this is their vanilla expressions collection. Let's take it out like this. Look how cool this is. We have to go to a different spot so I can show you this better. Okay, this is better lighting. Look how cool this looks. And Dossier is sponsoring this portion of the video, so thank you so much to them. I've been working with them for years, and it's always so exciting to me whenever they come out with something new. If you're unfamiliar with Dossier, they make fragrances that are inspired by brand name designer scents for a fraction of the cost. You're getting the exact same thing, the same scent, same notes, same lasting power, just in simpler packaging with a different name. And they also have their Dossier originals. So, this collection is part of their originals, and I love this because they're all vanilla scents, but they're different types of vanilla. So, they all have a different personality. So, we got to smell all of them, obviously. Let's see, vanilla dreamer. This says wrapped in soft vanilla. So, it's vanilla, sandalwood, and cardamom, which sounds right up my alley. Oh, yeah. This is just like literally soft vanilla is the best way to put it. That's a perfect like everyday all occasion kind of scent. Then we have vanilla flirt. Vanilla that flirts back. This is vanilla orange flower and pear. Ooh, that sounds nice, too. Oh, this one is so good. It's a little more fruity, but very summery. Ooh, yeah. I love that. Next, we have vanilla rebel. Hot vanilla energy. I love the sound of that. Ooh, okay. This one is vanilla, saffron, and brown sugar. Mhm. This one is definitely more sexy. It's like has a little bit of a spice. Almost I would say could be unisex, honestly. And then lastly, we have vanilla tease. Vanilla you won't forget. This is vanilla, myrrh, and tonka bean. Also sounds really good. Mhm. Ooh, I want to eat that. This smells really good. This one also I feel like could kind of be unisex. It's like very sexy and really warm. I couldn't even tell you which one is my favorite, honestly. They're all so good and I could see them all being worn for different occasions and just different vibes. Like vanilla flirt, definitely daytime. Dreamer I feel like is a good like just everyday, going to work, running around, running errands. And then the other two, rebel and tease, are like I think a little sexier. So, those for me would be like evening, date night. So, these fragrances are all launching July 16th. I'll have a link down below where you can get this collection. And thank you so much Dossier for working with me again. Oh my god, I'm so excited for new perfumes. It's about an hour later. I had my lunch. I changed back into my pajamas. Got comfy. But now I was about to do more salon business related work and I thought I would share. So, what has worked for me and I've been doing it this way now for even before I went off on my own and opened my suite, but definitely the entire time since I've been independent, I have a form that new clients have to fill out. This has just saved so much time in the long run and saved stress because throughout my career, I've done things every different way possible. I've worked at places that have receptionists where people call and book an appointment through the receptionist. I've had online booking where people can book themselves. I've had it so that people needed to reach out to me and either text or DM me directly in order for me to book the appointment for them. And what I found was half of the time they either would end up getting booked for the wrong thing, especially if they're booking their appointment themselves online. The service that they actually want and need could be completely different from the service that they're booking. And so, then you end up having the inappropriate amount of time blocked out for them. Maybe you don't have the proper product on hand that you need, especially being in a suite, you know, I'm limited. I can't keep like a whole big full stock the way a big salon does. Um or like even if you have a receptionist, if they don't do hair themselves or even like when I would book people myself over the phone. Like I don't know what they look like. So, I can ask certain questions to get an idea of what they might need, but unless I can actually see their hair and also see how much hair they have, it's kind of tricky. And then if I'm texting or DMing with a client, there's so many questions that I have, right? I need to know, especially if you want to get color done. I need to know what does your hair currently look like? What's your hair history? Like what have you done to it within the last year or two? Specifically, what is it that you want? Do you have any inspiration pictures? What is realistic for you budget-wise? Is the maintenance of what you're asking for going to be realistic for you? I mean, like it goes on and on. And then trying to actually like get the appointment booked. Like, "Okay, what's your availability like? What's going to work? Here's what I have available." And so often those conversations would just drag on forever because by the time I ask a question and then wait for a response and then I have a follow-up question and then I wait for a response and it could drag on for days. And then sometimes the client would just end up ghosting and like stop responding or never end up going through with booking the appointment. So, it would just end up being a lot of wasted time on my end and theirs as well. So, I find that doing a form is the easiest thing because it only takes like 2 minutes for the client to fill out and then I'm getting all the information that I need and it just streamlines everything. So, I just use Google Forms. So, it's free, super easy, you can customize it. So, I just ask for like the general information I need. Obviously, their contact info, first and last name, email, phone number. That way when I go to put the appointment in two, I already have that information to just copy and paste. It makes it so easy. And then whatever questions I need, like hair history, what they're looking for. There's you can have a place for them to submit photos or videos. So, I ask for a photo of their hair currently and then any inspiration pictures they have. I ask what their availability is like. I ask what their budget is. Like, I give ranges for that. And then I also have a thing that they have to check um saying they agree to all my salon policies. And that just makes everything better because now I have everything in writing, too. When it comes to policies, everything's on my website and I can pull it up and be like, "Look, you checked that you agreed to these policies." And also when they're coming in, like sometimes a client will book an appointment when we're booking it like a month in advance. And by the time their appointment comes, I might have forgotten what we talked about. So, rather than me having to like look through all my text messages and scroll and look, you know, I can just pull up their form and I have all the information right there. So, it just makes life so much easier for me. And yes, I have to then take the time to like look at the forms and reach out to those clients, but it's just the system that works best for me. And that way I can also kind of screen people cuz I have had a handful of times where someone either like reaches out to me and they don't want to fill the form out or like I don't know, they're just being weird about it. Or in the form, I can just tell based on what they say if maybe what they're asking for isn't super realistic or if it's just not like the right fit for me um and my business. And that has definitely helped me kind of filter out unideal clients that just like, you know, we're not the right fit for each other. We are going to text Amber. I actually I used to have it, I probably still do somewhere, in my notes app on my phone. I had like a little script that I could just copy and paste of what I want to say, but at this point I've like done it so many times that I already kind of know the drill. So, I just say Hi Amber. This is Sam from Sam V Studios. I received your consultation form and would love to get you on the schedule for a haircut. And then she already told me when her availability is. She's actually visiting from out of town. So, she said the 7th through the 12th. So, let's pull that up and see what I got available. Let me know if either of those times work for you. So, I always try to check my email. I do have on the form at the top it says like "Please allow up to 48 hours for a response or more on holidays or weekends." But, every like weekday after work, I always check my email to see if I have any new forms. That way I can just reply as soon as I see it and I'm not checking it at like night and then texting people at 11:00 or being like, "Oh, I'll do it in the morning." and then forgetting about it by the morning, you know? That's another thing. I don't have a separate business phone for the salon, but I do have a separate number. So, I have a Google number as my salon number. That way it's in a separate app. That way if a client tries to reach out to me outside of business hours, A, it's not disturbing me and B, I'm not tempted to respond. Like I really try to establish boundaries by only corresponding with clients during business hours. Unless obviously it's like one of my regulars and it's an emergency or something like that. But, um yeah, having it as a Google number definitely helps with that. That way too, like I don't have to be publicly posting my actual personal phone number cuz that makes me feel kind of uncomfortable. So, it's another thing that I suggest if you're going to go off on your own. But, I have two other new clients that I'm going to reach out to. You know, this has nothing to do with my salon or being a business owner, but I thought a lot of you guys would appreciate seeing this. He was just laying here and I was like, "You just look so handsome and majestic right now." What a handsome boy. You are so handsome. What a cute boy. He just brushed his teeth and cleaned his ears. Yeah. Nice and fresh. Teeth are always a little bit of a struggle, but we got through it. He doesn't mind getting his ears cleaned. That doesn't bother him. He will not let me cut his nails though. Like, he just will not sit still. Let me see your Let me see your hands. Can I get your nails? Nails? So, he has an appointment to go go get those cut in a couple days cuz they're getting long. Yeah. And you just got a bath like 2 days ago, right? Ish. So handsome. >> [snorts] >> Holy crap. It is hot and super humid. We actually have a heat advisory right now. Oh, by the way, how cute is my new phone case? I just got it a few days ago. I got it from Amazon. I'll link it down below. It came in different colors, too, but it just looks so cute, so cool with the green nails. Love it. But, I am on my way to Pilates. I'm sorry about this angle. Since my last client that I was supposed to have today ended up switching and I did her hair yesterday, basically it's like my two days kind of flip-flopped a little bit. I just have one client who's getting like a half head foil. And then [clears throat] that's going to be it. She's going to be my last client for the week this week since I took tomorrow off um for our trip. And she's also one of my regulars. I've been doing her hair for over a year at this point. So, uh hence why I am kind of bumming it physically. It's just too hot for me to be bothered to look cute. And my hair needs to be washed. I was waiting on washing it tonight so that way it'll last me through the weekend. Oh, I'm annoyed with myself that I forgot to get an after clip of her hair. Imagine all dark hair, like my color basically, and then just like little pieces in the front and then peekaboos coming out from underneath. It was cute. Honestly, I wasn't expecting that that's what we were going to do. But, I I feel like every time she comes in like we kind of end up changing it up a little bit. That's one thing about having a suite because I am limited on space and just like but like financially it doesn't make sense for me to have like every single color fully in stock at all times cuz I'm just one person and I'm not booked like that and you know, like it just doesn't make sense and also where would I put it in my little room. So, I will keep like general stock of colors that I tend to just use often, just like kind of standard things, just in case because sometimes there are situations where I'm either doing a color correction and I might need something that I wasn't anticipating or a client might switch it up at the last minute or you know, whatever. It's always good to just have like some extra backup stuff just as security, but I typically will just go like week by week and know what each client is getting ahead of time so that way I can make sure I have what they need for that appointment in stock. So, sometimes I will have a client that will sort of like want to switch it up at the last minute once they're already sitting in the chair and I I tell clients like you know, if you change your mind about what you want to do after we book the appointment, that's totally fine, but just text me ahead of time, like at least the day before so that way I can make sure that I have what I need to accommodate that and also that there's like the right amount of time still blocked out, but you know, sometimes they don't do that or they forget or whatever and it's fine because I am not afraid to say no if I need to cuz realistically, like if I just don't have in stock what they want, what they need, we can't do it. Like what am I supposed to do, you know? And I'll remind them of that, like, you know, I I have limited stock so I don't have what we need, so we either have to stick to the original plan or rebook the appointment for another time, in which case I've never had to do that before, but I technically I guess should charge a fee. Like that should count as like a last-minute cancellation because that's what it is. But, I lucked out this time around. I had literally the perfect like I was pretty much scraping the bowl at the end, the perfect amount of the color that I needed. Cuz I thought we were just like bringing her balayage up higher. I thought I was just going to be like lightning and toning her, maybe adding some lowlights cuz we've done that in the past, but I was not expecting her to want to do so much dark color. So, I'm glad that that worked out and it came out really good, and she's a great client. Like she is one of those clients that literally will just like be on her phone the entire time and doesn't even look up, which could maybe like to some people come off as rude, but to me, I find it like such a compliment cuz it's like you trust me so much that you literally don't care. Like we do our consultation, you explain to me what you want, and then you just trust me to take it from there, and you just let me do my thing. You're not sitting there like checking and questioning every little step. You trust the process, you trust me, and then you wait until the very end to see the final result. And that is an ideal client in my mind. So, I am done for the week now. What I like to do on my last day before like my weekend or a break is I check my color drawer, which this could definitely be reorganized. But, I'm planning next week I'm going to have time one of the days. Um I'm going to do a deep clean and just like reorganize my entire suite. So, um let me know if you guys want me to vlog that. I'll share that with you and I'm going to like clean out my color drawer, organize it, all of that. But, I will go through and look just to see and sometimes actually what I should do, I normally like to take a photo cuz especially for my toners, I can see from up above what they all are. That way, when I go to do my weekly restock at the beginning of next week, I can reference and know what I already have in stock. And then, I can just like pull up the schedule, see who's coming in, and I can figure out what I need to buy more of. And if there's like certain things like foils or shampoo, hairspray, things like that, sometimes I will make an actual shopping list in my notes app. But, I restocked on all of that type of stuff recently, so I'm good on that. Um it's just going to be color that I'll need to get for next week. But, that is not a concern of mine today because I am officially clocking out for the weekend. It's martini time, baby. I don't know why. I was just kind of craving a cocktail and I had opened a jar of lychees like in the juice, to make these exact martinis last week. And I just have a little bit left that I put in this um airtight sealed tumbler, but I feel like if I don't use it soon, it's I don't want it to like go bad and then waste. And I'm like, you know, it's officially the weekend now, it's 5:30, and I'm off tomorrow, so seems appropriate. I was about to start packing. I just got out of the shower, obviously. I'm really in the mood for a blowout, so I'm excited. Going to give myself a nice blowout and start packing my clothes for the weekend, and I thought like, let me just make a little drink to sip on while I do that. And I also put on a new show. Every time I watch Love Island, I keep getting trailers for new show Five Seasons Five Five Star Weekend, I think that's what it's called. Um on Peacock. So, I threw that on. Um I'm going to watch that as well. Um so, this martini is a little bit different than a regular lychee martini. I copied it from a really popular restaurant in the town that I live. It's so freaking good, and this is the secret ingredient. I don't know if it's pronounced Canton or Cantin, but it's a ginger French ginger liqueur. I'll put it here if you want to screenshot it. This is the key. So, I do one part vodka. Like Should I make it a double? Yeah, let's just let's just make it a double, why not? So, we're going to do two shots of vodka, one part liqueur. I am not a bartender. I've just been like experimenting and replicating my favorite drinks that I get out at bars and restaurants in my area and just, you know, like signature drinks that I enjoy. I've been having a lot of fun making them at home. Um and you save so much money that way. I love in the summer to just sit outside somewhere with a drink in hand. So, two shots vodka, one shot of the ginger liqueur. And then I'm just going to pour in Oh, there was like barely any left in there. But you want to do like Fiji juice. I do have more. The whole point of me making this, I thought there was more in here. The whole point of me making this drink specifically inside of something else was to use this up cuz I didn't want it to waste and go bad, but had I known there was such a little amount, I would have made a smaller drink, but I'll try it as is and then I can I can open another can of juice if I need to. Okay, let me take a sip. Good. How cute are these cups, too? I got them a few years ago at World Market. I found them on clearance, but they're like a fluted wine glass and they're plastic, which is amazing. Okay. Cheers. Now that we got our drink, let's go pack. I set aside one outfit already. I don't think I even said where we're going. I'm going to Raleigh, North Carolina, which is like about 2 hours away from where I live to [snorts] see Paul Simon. I feel like this is one of my last chances potentially to see him. I mean, the man's in his 80s, you know? The guy I've been dating, we were on this like kick of just watching all of these music documentaries, and we had watched a Paul Simon documentary, and then he surprised me with tickets to this concert as a birthday gift. Cuz my birthday was last month, so um I'm really excited. So, we are both going. Benny's coming with us, and he has family actually that lives over there, so we're going to also hang out with his family while we're over there for the weekend. I am super excited. It should be really fun, and Benny's going to have so much fun making new dog friends. So, yeah, we're leaving tomorrow, and then we're just staying till Sunday. So, I just need like a daytime outfit Saturday, and then my like evening outfit to wear to the concert, and then something to wear Sunday, which I don't really know exactly the plans. That's something that's been really nice cuz in the past, I've always had to be the one in relationships where I had to plan everything. Like if I wanted to go do something, I had to be the one to suggest the idea and then plan the whole thing, book everything. And it's so refreshing because like this trip was a surprise, and I know no details, and it's just kind of been like that. Like we've been doing a lot of fun stuff, and like I just get to like take a backseat and not do any of the planning or stressing. Like I can just be like, "All right, tell me what kind of stuff to pack, and what time to be ready for." It's great. >> [laughter] >> So, anyway, I know Saturday we are doing a pool day, I was told, so I'm going to bring this bathing suit. And then my concert outfit, I think I'm going to Well, this is Yeah, this is what I'm planning. I got this little top from Missguided. It's kind of hard for me to show it to you when it's not actually on my body. Oh, here we go. So, it's like a one-strap sheer, which I need to remember. Let me grab my nipple pasties cuz I cannot wear this without anything underneath cuz it's completely sheer. But, cute polka dots and then I have these I don't even know what the style of these are. And then I have this dress. I feel like this could be good to throw over my bathing suit when we're going to the pool on Saturday. And I'm thinking I'll bring this cream-colored skirt maybe. I have a little white baby tee that I think would be really cute with this that is dirty. And I'm going to I'm going to wash some clothes once my sheets are done. So, once that's washed, I'll throw that in here. Need pajamas. And then bra and underwear, obviously. And then for shoes, I'm just going to keep it simple and comfortable. I have this pair of black flip-flops. They're so comfy, but they're like leather and a square toe. So, I feel like it makes them look a little more elevated than just like regular pool flip-flops. And then I'm going to bring just my plain white flip-flops >> [snorts] >> from Old Navy. And then I just have to pack like toiletries and whatnot. And then I'm going to bring a separate pool bag with like my beach towel and sunscreen and that kind of stuff. And then obviously I have to pack Benny's bag with his stuff, too. >> [music] >> I haven't done flat iron curls in a while, but the only curling iron that I have at home at the moment is like an extra large barrel, so it makes the curls really, really, really loose. And I wanted something just a little bit tighter, so then that way cuz obviously it's going to like fall throughout the night, and then by tomorrow, so I don't know, there's probably no point in me even curling my hair tonight, but I just figured I would do it since I'm vlogging. I've just been letting my hair air dry since I have the keratin treatment, you know, it just air dries like so nicely, and so it's just so easy to wash and go. But every so often I do like to blow it out smooth, and wear it like this just for something a little different. And I started packing my toiletry bag. I'm just going to leave it out in the bathroom cuz obviously there's still stuff I'm going to use tonight and then in the morning, so I'll just pack like my deodorant, toothbrush, and that kind of stuff tomorrow. And I got my next load of laundry in the wash, so I'm just going to finish that so that I can pack like those last couple clothing items in my bag. And I'm going to go watch that show on Peacock. So, we'll see if it's any good. And then there is a new Love Island tonight, which by the time you're watching this vlog, it already is over. Last night would have been the finale, but I'm going to guess probably Trinity and Bryce. We'll see, but I can't wait to discuss in the next vlog what ended up happening and who won and um yeah, I'm really excited for this weekend trip I have coming up. So, I'm going to end this vlog here. Thank you guys so much for watching and spending the last couple days with me. I hope that you have an amazing week and I'll see you really soon in my next one. Bye. >> [music] [music]