The One Thing Salon Owners Must Do in 2026 to Get Found by AI – with Renee from Salon Society

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And she's like, "Well, actually, I just went to ChatGPT, and I typed in best curly hairdresser

south Perth," and she put the suburb.

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[00:00:22] renee: remember being on the couch that night. My son was in bed, and I was feeding Samara, and was literally hitting go on all my clients' social media posts, and they were all going live as I was sitting there.

And I just looked at my husband, and I'm like, "This to me is what success feels like."

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[00:00:47] renee: son literally like whacked my phone out of my hand, and it flew across the lounge room floor, and I just literally burst into tears. And it wasn't about the phone, it was about the fact that I recognized in that moment that I had built the success that I wanted, but then I hadn't pivoted to meet the needs of my children that had grown.

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[00:01:16] renee: if you do nothing else in 2026 as a salon or clinic owner, I want you to

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[00:01:55] renee: I literally

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[00:02:00] renee: No, it's well, it's 12:10. Yeah, we're officially,

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[00:02:04] renee: we're officially...

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[00:02:05] renee: Yes, good afternoon.

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[00:02:09] renee: Good, Jen. Thank you so much for having me

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[00:03:01] renee: Yes, abso- Yeah, absolutely. So obviously I was a mature age apprentice. I started hairdressing at 19, and I qualified at 21. So I was sort of-- I already knew that I wanted to be in the industry by 19. You know? Like, it was like, "Yeah, this is where I wanna be." Unfortunately, early on in my career, I had a really bad, car accident where I tore one of my lower parts of my spine, and I always knew in the back of my mind, Jen, that I wouldn't be able to have a long-term career on the floor. But I just loved the, the industry. You know, I love particularly the fashion side of the industry, and you know, I loved always being put beautifully together and being with humans. And it was just that full, you know, I guess, thing for me that I enjoyed. And so I moved to Canada in 2010, and when I moved over there, my boss was like, "You're gonna fit in so well here.

Like, we've got an Australian product brand called Kevin.Murphy. Have you heard of it?" And I'm like, "I've never heard of it." And he was like, "What? You're Australian. Like, how have you not heard of Kevin.Murphy?" But I honestly hadn't heard of him. And they do things differently over in North America than what they do it in Australia.

So like, in Australia, you, if you're a sales rep or a BDC, you educate on the products and how they work and all of that. But over there, their BDCs just go in and do the sales, and then they have hairdressers trained up as Gold Key educators, who are hairdressers who are more trained in, like, hands-on sort of education.

And so I was put forward for that, and that's where I kind of fell in love with education and being in the salons but not being on the salon floor. So yeah, so that was sort of where that seed sort of started to plant for me. So I stayed three years over there in, in Toronto, and then I moved back home. back and was like, "Oh, I really guess I should go back into a salon now," da, da, da. But then I was like, went back in the salon, and I just was, like, not enjoying it. I just knew it was-- I was done. So 10 years ago, I stepped off the salon floor full time. I still have those few clients that I can't get rid of.

I love them, but I just, I just can't get rid of them. God love them. And so it was at that time that I was like, there was a job opportunity to be a BDC for Kevin.Murphy in WA, my girlfriend's like, "You are m-made for that role. Like, you need to go for it." And yeah, honestly, it was probably the best four years of my career in the sense that, you know, I got to go in every day to a new salon.

I'd meet salon owners. I was training their teams. I, I wasn't your average sales rep. I was very education-led. I was very, "Can I come and show your stylists how to do some hands-on training styling?" And, um, yeah, so for me, I've threw myself into that role, and I'm really proud of how I built the Kevin.Murphy community in WA. You know, I think when I started, I had about 75 accounts, and by the time I left, I had about 120. So I- I'd really Yeah, it, it, and a- again, I was saying the other day, like, it was never for me about the, the sales, it was about being able to pass that education on to other stylists because, you know, as a hairdresser, I really struggled to retail all my career because I never found a product that I really loved.

I never found a product that I could clearly see that it solved a problem. And I think

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[00:06:24] renee: being in that role really flipped the script for me around sales. Like, you know, I really understood that it's never about selling to somebody,

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[00:06:34] renee: it's really about asking and being really inquisitive around a client's, what they're dealing with and, you know, 'cause we all have issues wh- when it comes to our hair, our skin.

And so being able to open that conversation really organically with that client, and coming from a place of care, and being able to then go, "Okay, I hear what you're saying. The reason this is happening," and then you step into that, like, expert role, "is because of this, this, and this."

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[00:07:27] renee: 100%, and that's what I was so passionate about, was really making sure, like when I'd go back for my meetings after I'd done a training with the team and I'd go, "Okay, let me know..." The first thing I'd start with in my trainings would be like, "Tell me the product you don't like in Kevin.Murphy." And I always took it as a challenge, 'cause I always knew that I would be able to convert them, because it was that they were using on the wrong client, they weren't using the right amount of it.

And so it really became this, like, passion of mine to be able to be like, "I know that you're gonna love this product. The reason you don't is 'cause you haven't been shown properly, 'cause you're lacking education, or you're not actually using it on the right client." And when I was able to see how much that helped them, it was just a really amazing and rewarding role to be in, because you'd have stylists going from not retailing at all to j- And the salon owners would be like, "Can you just come in again?

'Cause like the sales boosted when you left." And I'm like, "Yeah." So I really, I loved it, but I knew deep down in my heart that I wanted to become a mum. I didn't wanna put my babies into daycare when they were littlies, like bubbies. When they got older, I was happy to do it, but I really wanted that, that sort of prime three years to be able to be from home and to really be able to be with them.

My husband was FIFO, so he flies away for eight days, and then he's only home for six, so I was a week on, week off support, you know, with two littlies under two. So it was a lot. So I really, I really noticed a big, I guess, trend in that time when I was meeting with all the salons, and it was, "I'm really struggling when it comes to social media," like, "I don't even know where to begin."

And sort of because I was in salon with these clients, you know, up to six or seven owners a day, I would always ask them like, "What are you struggling with? How can I help you in your business?" And it was always social media,

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[00:09:14] renee: always. And I mean, like, we're talking like circa, you know, 2000 and, like, 14 here, where you could put up a...

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[00:09:25] renee: Yeah, and you could put up a static post and, you know, you'd get clients from it. You know? Like I miss those days.

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[00:09:33] renee: So of my role with Kevin Murphy, I started my own social media page. It. It allowed me to keep my finger on the pulse with all of my clients. Because I'd built the territory, I couldn't physically get to every single client in the month, and so my ability to be able to consistently be having my finger on the pulse with my clients was on their social media.

And so it, a really powerful place to be as a sales rep because I never, ever... I never felt like I dropped the ball 'cause I could always send them a, you know, a heart on their stories, or I could always just engage with their content. It's like they, they knew I was always there. And then from a prost- prospecting perspective, it was really easy because people were always seeing what I was doing in salons, and I was training, and they just got a bit of a insight into what it looked like to sort of work with me as a, as a BDC.

And I would just get the conversion from that connection on socials and just showing up. So I recognized then the power of social media

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[00:10:32] renee: and, and I was like, "Okay, I need to get onto this." Um, so yeah

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[00:10:44] renee: Or I have my babies

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[00:11:02] renee: Yeah

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[00:11:10] renee: Yeah. So I started my BDC role in 2014, the year that I got married, and then my son was born in 2018 in September. So I finished up at the start of 2018.

Went on mat leave, um, and I was on mat leave for 10 months, and then I came back two days a week there. So that was sort of like a four-year sort of, you know, timing that I had no children that I did my role. But on the side, while I was with Kev Murphy, I was starting to studle- study my social media. I was working with coaches. I was starting to invest in myself, and I started that while I was still working full time, 'cause, you know, I had no kids, so I could do that. It's a different story

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there are so many sidesteps that you can take from this industry and still be involved in some way And not even like a just stopping it's a you know you can head in that direction or you can go in this direction Like there's just So here you are just slowly incrementally moving your way into these different realms and being able to build something as you are still finishing up and then heading into that role of mom is pretty cool as well

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So what I'd started doing, Jen, was I'd started having my Kevin Murphy accounts say to me, "Well, can you just manage my account for me? Can you just do it for me?"

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[00:13:01] renee: this is where all this kind of started to create this social media agency side. I didn't have to-- By the time I finished up, uh, Kevin Murphy, I literally had seven accounts under my sleeve that I was gonna be able to go on maternity leave and be able to from home and have my babies.

And so that to me was really amazing. It was always something I was moving toward, and I was really blessed that I'd built such beautiful relationships and deep trust with my clients, that they already were just handing it to me. It just, it naturally was this evolution between Kevin Murphy, you know, serving them there and, and then being able to support them in the world of socials.

So-

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it's the trust It's the trust and the relationship that you built there and there's a lesson in that for everyone right

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[00:13:48] Jen: every opportunity and every interaction you have with someone is an opportunity to build trust and a relationship

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It's just never been me. It feels, it feels very rewarding to see people thrive, and I get so much back from that. Like, I love to see it. So I think when you focus on that, even from a sales perspective, I never saw my clients as money. I saw my clients as, as people, and I think that's,

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[00:14:29] renee: you

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[00:14:31] renee: And that, and that's where

I've always wanted to come from, is that deep place of, "How can I be of service?"

amazing. But I finished up in: 2020

And I was just, like, such an anxious mess around this, having him here, there, and then being pulled, that I just took the power back and said, "I have ticked all my boxes with my community midwife. I am a completely healthy 38-year-old woman. I will not be sold this narrative that I cannot do this on my own," in terms of, like, you know, at home. Um, and can I tell you,

it was the most empowering day of my life, bringing my daughter into this world and home birthing her, and being able to have my husband there, and then have my parents and my son come that night to meet her. And I remember being on the couch that night. My son was in bed, and I was feeding Samara, and remember on the couch, and was literally hitting go on all my clients' social media posts, and they were all going live as I was sitting there.

And I just looked at my husband, and I'm like, "This to me is what success feels like." Like, I don't have

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[00:15:52] renee: my baby. Like, she is with me, and I'm able to still generate an income from my couch. And so it really was the beginning of like, okay, like, this is my why is my babies, and, but also how do I then blend high achiever person that is a giver and, and wants to look after clients?

How do I merge those two worlds together? And so that's where Salon Society was really born, was out of that, and being able to, I guess, bring the two together while my babies were still little, where it didn't really matter if I was on my phone because, like, they were a baby. You know what I

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[00:16:28] renee: much time feeding and nursing and all of that.

And so I would do it at nighttime when they were asleep. I would do it in between nap times. I literally built that business in between nap times and evenings when they would be in bed. So yeah, that's a little bit about, I guess, how it was all born.

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you say the whole taking your power back right And I think the really important thing you just said there was had to think about what success looked like for me And we've all really gotta think about that What does success actually look like for you

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[00:17:07] Jen: you're heading in that trajectory

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[00:17:10] Jen: path You might not be on the same path as somebody else but it's just gotta be the path that you want to head on right

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I think this is just such an incredible, thing for all women to think about, you know, is really understanding what their why is. And I think, you know, that to me is what helped to keep me focused and grounded in the very early years. But I do wanna share somewhere along the way for me, I lost that, because what I didn't realize was that I'd built my business to support and be around for my babies. And so my agency took off. It got really, really busy. It was really labor-intensive. And so then my children have started to grow, and like Samara's gonna be six in July, Aston will be eight. And what I didn't recognize, because I was so in the thick of it, was that my business had grown so much, but also my children were growing, and I didn't pivot, I didn't pivot my business model at the right time. And so I really only have just shut down my agency this year, and my son is eight. And what happened, the reason I ended up shutting it down, was 'cause one day when my husband was away, it's that hectic time of night, it's a pressure cooker situation where haven't seen them all day. They want mom. I'm like, "Mate, I've gotta get these posts up for my clients, like this is how I, this is how I make money, like this is what I gotta do."

And son literally like whacked my phone out of my hand, and it flew across the, a- across the lounge room floor, and I just literally burst into tears. And it wasn't about the phone, it was about the fact that I recognized in that moment that I had built the success that I wanted, but then I hadn't pivoted to meet the needs of my children that had grown.

But because I was so busy in the business growing the business that I just kind of lost my way a little bit. And I think, that's really important to acknowledge, because

I think sometimes as women we think like we've done this path, and then it's like we don't recognize that, oh, hang on a minute, like maybe, maybe it's time to pivot again.

And, and, and being okay with that. Like that's not a bad thing. I

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[00:19:23] renee: it's like, no, that's actually really powerful, because I recognize now I was so out of alignment with what I was doing, and that's where I was really falling r- really short, you know, in, in my own business and being a mom, which wasn't what I signed up for.

I lost my way

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And that was the time to pivot And then again in my life now with my my children are much older cause people are like I cannot believe you just bought a salon It's like yeah but kids are pretty self-sufficient now Like if there was ever a time just be working like a crazy person now

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[00:21:21] Jen: food and stuff you know

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And I'm like, "No, no, no, you can't touch the coffee machine 'cause like you're gonna burn yourself." And you know, like it's all these like... But the intention was there. Like, they, they had the thought that they wanted to. "All right, we'll go and make you some breakfast." And I'm like, "Okay, well just pour me cereal."

Like, I don't even eat cereal. I was like, "Just pour..." I'm like, I'm just not, you know? But it was, yeah, so like I, I, I look at that and sometimes I'm like, "Oh, it would've been nice to have a coffee in bed." But I'm also like, "Oh, but it means they're getting bigger." Like, I'm just not okay with it. I'm terrible.

I'm so emotional when it comes to, to my babies and seeing them grow. But yeah, I think it's, um, it's just, it was just, I think for me what I recognize is that

being a business owner is the greatest personal development, lesson you'll ever go on. It is, it, it, it cracks you open. It forces you to look at things.

It, it forces you to really check in with what do you really want. And I think, you know, in the world of social media, like especially for me last year, it just felt very noisy. It felt like, you know, there was just so much going on that I don't know, it makes you think that you need to be getting more and chasing more and, and, but it's like, but what are you actually chasing?

and,

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[00:22:48] renee: and whatever you are chasing that is external from you, whatever you need to go after that is external, I think my thing is like I wanna make sure that whatever is happening for me, that I am really resolved internally, and that I am doing it for the right reasons. I'm not doing it to validate myself.

I'm, I'm doing it because I already recognize that I'm amazing as I am, and that what I'm doing is amazing. But anything else on top of that is like a cherry on top. But I think

tantly chasing more. And like: 2024

Like, the Kevin Murphy thing with Budapest was an absolute dream. Like, I- it was something I dreamed of, um, being on my 10-year bucket list. But then I'm honest, and I've not really shared this with anyone, like reaching that, I felt this immense pressure, like I wasn't gonna be valid if I didn't have another big opportunity come the following year.

And so it's this constant like we're never actually truly and I had to do a lot of inner work around like, well

hang on a second, like why do you need to be validated by, know, like yes, okay, you love the brand, but like why do you need to be, be validated by anything externally? Like you already... You know what I mean? And so it's this...

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[00:24:09] renee: Yeah, and I think it's just, it can be such a dangerous slope of constantly chasing more, more, more. But you know, the thing is, and that's why for me as well, like I really had to sit with- know, this traveling all the time, like I was traveling, you know, so much in the year and it was like when I was succeeding and killing it, as people would say to me, you know, in my business, for me, I was failing as a mom.

I was failing as a wife. You know? I, my husband and I were like two ships in the night where he was, you know, flying in and I was racing out the door and, you know, it, it made me really stop and go, "Hang on a second," like, "What am I doing here?" Like, I created this for my life and my family, and here I am racing all over the place.

Like, so

I think it's made me go, there's more intentionality about what I do now. It's saying yes to things that really are aligned and, and are like, okay, great, yeah, I can manage that where it doesn't take away from my kids and my, and my hubby as well, my family time. So yeah, it's been a really huge journey to get to this point.

In, in five years, actually, at the end of this month, so

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[00:25:22] renee: Massive

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[00:25:26] renee: Yes

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[00:25:28] renee: Definitely

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[00:25:34] renee: So I guess really, you think about it, I have pivoted to hasn't really changed in the sense that I'm still in marketing. But what, what has shifted is that before I've always taught my clients how to create content that gets you bookings, right? Like, that's always been, I've followed the business strategy of social media, right? I still do that. But what I've done is I've completely shut down my agency at the start of the year. And what I do now is I am deep into the world of AI marketing, and the reason I'm so big into this world is that I recognized about a year ago that traditional marketing has really changed because of AI. I recognized that the work that I was doing with my in-house client, uh, that I work with exclusively, seeing so many results. So for me, I guess, I don't just coach what to do. For me, I'm actually sharing what is already working because I'm in-house. I'm privy to seeing-- I am doing, like I am getting the bookings, the salon bookings.

I'm getting the bums on the seats, and so I know what's working because I'm privy to see how many clients are coming in the door. I'm privy to seeing how much revenue's coming in across the both locations that I work at. So can visually see what's going on. I have gone down a massive rabbit hole I think, again, in,

in the marketing world, we can get so fixated on we need more clients, more clients, more clients.

But I always like to say to my client, my salon owners, "Do you really need more clients, or is it that we need to really look at we're servicing the clients that are in the chair and seeing how we can increase that client spend? Are we looking at the clients that we already have and being able to kind of maximize them?

And also, what is our retention rate looking like here?" 'Cause I can, I can keep getting new clients, no problems.

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[00:27:37] renee: But if-

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[00:27:40] renee: and so then you have a, a, you know, you have a hole in the bucket, so to speak. So I think for me, I am very strategy-led about what I teach.

I'm very intentional around understanding at a deeper level, how are those clients finding you?

Like, I wanna know that. Like, I, I'm, as you know, 'cause you're in my world, I'm an absolute nutcase when it comes to that. And the reason for that is because when I'm in salon, and it, and it happened the other day, so I was in salon the other day, and there was a new lady that sat down. I was at my desk, and, you know, it's in the salon, and, "New client, how did you hear about us?"

And she's like, "Well, actually, I just went to ChatGPT, and I typed in best curly hairdresser

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[00:28:20] renee: South Perth," and she put the suburb. And I like, you know, like I peeked up out of my chair 'cause I was

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[00:28:26] renee: I was like, I was like, okay." So, and I, I jumped up, and the girls laugh at me 'cause I'm always like that.

And I just came over, and I was like, "Hi." I'm like, "I'm Renee. I do the marketing. Um, have you got a few minutes that I could just pick your brain around, you know, what you were typing into ChatGPT?" And I do this every time I'm in the salon. Like, we are getting so many new clients that I'm sitting, like, I'm going through with every new client.

And

is if you do nothing else in: 2026

"Okay, I found you on Google." "Amazing. What did you type into Google to find me?" What are they typing to be able to find you? And so that is where

my pivot has been. It's been into the, to the world of AI marketing. It is being able to optimize your, your social channels, your website, your Google business profile to make you discoverable to new clients because 43% of consumers are now using AI models to type and search for a business.

And that number, I guarantee you, in 12 months is probably gonna be sitting close to about 80% the way things are going with AI. Like it's, it's booming.

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[00:30:46] renee: And-

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[00:31:25] renee: Like not

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[00:31:38] renee: 1,000%. And the thing is, and I say this with so much love because

I care so much, your consumer is finding you, and the story I was telling you was my, my client that I work for, she had a new client that was referred by a friend. So the ultimate like, "Wow, my friend gave me word of mouth."

And this is what happens all the time, is I'll say, "Okay, so how did you hear about us?" "Oh, the, the, the lady that came in, she was word of mouth." And I'm, "Okay, but did you ask her if she booked from that point?" "No. Like, what do you mean? Like, it was word of mouth. Of course she booked." No, no, no, no. Don't make any assumptions. That guaranteed you they didn't book from that word of mouth. And it's really interesting because that client in particular was like, "No, I didn't book from there."

"Okay, cool. What did you do?" "I went to your Google, to check your reviews." "Okay, cool. Did you book then?" And this salon owner was like, "Surely she booked then." "No, I didn't. I went to your website." "Did you book then?" "No, I didn't." Now she's come from the highest recommendation, and she's already taken three steps, and the reason she didn't book was 'cause she didn't see what she wanted to see. She didn't get enough of a, "Yes, that salon is for me," because maybe their Google business profile doesn't actually show that they did the service she was looking at. Because if salon owners aren't updating their Google business profile, then they're not going to then feel that confidence. And then they go to the website, and you've got this highly aesthetic website which so many do in the industry.

They've got this beautiful looking website, but it's not set up to, to actually convert. It's not

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[00:33:03] renee: to, to draw in that dream client and show them why you are the expert to them, right? And so then the client left all those platforms. Lucky she was a referral because if not, I don't think she would've kept going.

So then she landed on socials, and she booked from social media because she's like, "Well, I saw all the content that I wanted to see, and I wanna book in for that service particularly." So it's a really--

AI is changing the way marketing is c- is going, and I love-- What I love about the way it's going, the direction it's going, is it means that we can be more intentional around the content we put out, that we create what we call an evergreen content strategy, where it doesn't mean we have to go chasing trends.

We're not dancing. We're not having to go viral. We're not having to chase followers. We are more being able to create from a lens of what are our client that wants a gray blend, what are the questions that a client wants from a gray blend service? What questions do they have? How much is it gonna cost?

What does the maintenance look like? How long am I gonna be in the salon for? Um, will it suit me? I'm a brunette. Can I gray blend? There are so many questions that these clients and consumers are asking. So you then create your content. Instead of taking a beautiful after result of a gray blend, for example- Instead of just taking that and putting the caption gray blend or transformation time or whatever, like you need to make sure that AI, the way that AI works is, it's scraping your content.

So

if you're doing a talking to camera reel, you wanna make sure, or a consultation, I would be starting that consultation with, "So you're in today for a gray blend. Talk to me about how you're feeling about your hair." You need to frame that kind of consult so that

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[00:34:50] renee: blend, because when AI scrapes for gray blend, it's going to then pull your video. The text on the screen, it needs to have gray blend, insert your location, because AI is really big on also location. That's why your Google-- That's why your Google Business Profile also needs to be highly optimized from that lens as well. So is just... When you get it all set up, uh, it's really a rinse and repeat, uh, with being evergreen versus having to constantly be churning out lots and lots of content.

So yeah, I'm so freaking excited for this, for this to roll out, if I'm honest

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[00:35:32] renee: Yes

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[00:36:03] renee: Yes, they are. that's literally what... And this is the thing I always say to my clients too, I'm like,

"AI is not gonna be like, 'You know what? Jen's really lovely. We're gonna send her those Gray Blend clients.'" Like, it do- it doesn't work that way. Like, AI is literally a robot that has no emotion, that has no feelings. All it does is pull from the facts. So it will pull from your social media presence, it will pull from your website, it'll pull from your reviews on your Google, it will pull also from your services listed on your Google, um, Business profile, and it is looking for, like, this consistency across your message.

A lot of the time when I speak consistency, people think, "Oh, I've gotta consistently post." No, no, no. What I mean is that, like, whatever is on your socials, you wanna be going, like, three to five topics deep. So for example, because you do every service, it doesn't mean you should be marketing every service.

Like, focus on your most profitable, focus on the stylists that you need to fill, what services are they doing, and making sure that on your socials you're answering all of those questions to that. On your Google Business profile, you're getting reviews that support what you're rolling out on socials. And then on your we- and then on your website, you wanna be making sure that if you wanna know- be known in Gray Blend or you wanna be known in Lived in Color, that you have an entire services page dedic- dedicated to that particular service. A lot of the time on a website, salon owners will go Services, and then they'll go Balayage, da, da, and they list them all. AI wants depth versus going,

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[00:37:38] renee: okay,

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[00:37:41] renee: FAQs, you know, who is it for, who is it not for? Really big with the AI models is, like, who's it for, who's it not for? Because when it's sort of collating everything, it can see, okay, cool, like, well, this is not for you, or this is not.

Because they're advising people, consumers who are typing their hair concerns in. That's where they're pulling- Yes. Yes. So that-

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[00:38:04] renee: Correct. Yes.

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[00:38:07] renee: It's real-

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[00:38:09] renee: Yes.

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[00:38:11] renee: Oh, yeah,

really important to clearly, um, share that in your messages, like who is it for, who is it not for, because it also shows, like, we're not trying to sell you on Gray Blend.

If you're not in this sort of pocket, you- it's not gonna suit you. You're not gonna like it. You're not gonna be happy, which then eliminates on the other end those negative Google reviews because you've clearly stated, "This is not for you if you want to, if you don't wanna see a regrowth." Like, "This is for you only if you're happy to see that gray coming through all the

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[00:38:41] renee: So,

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[00:38:42] renee: so yeah, so I'm really excited for this to come to our industry. I, I just can see, although in the beginning, and I'm very transparent around this, it is gonna require a lot of, you know, legwork to get things set up and optimized, but you can start really easily with your social presence, making sure that, like, your bio is optimized, you know, making sure that, you know, all of your, um, keywords are being used in your captions, texts on your reels. Every reel you put out should have a text on there. So it's kinda categorizing what you're talking about, so when AI jumps in, it's able to kind of pull your content as well. So yeah

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[00:39:33] renee: Absolutely not

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[00:40:04] renee: Correct. Yeah. 'Cause you,

you're solving a problem in the caption. I've never been one that has been like, "Captions don't matter." I've never understood why hairdressers, don't think it matters, 'cause at the end of the day, you've got your picture, but that's the visual. But like, what have you done in there?

Like, what have you done? Like, that client's journey. Like, you know, like how did that customer present to you? How did that... What did that customer not like about her hair when she sat in your chair? And then what was the service that you did? What was the solution that you gave to that client? So you know, she was coming in every four weeks, she hates her regrowth, so we did a great blend, and now she can come back in eight weeks time. So like you're showing how the service you've done, it kinda adds that layer

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[00:40:48] renee: it, it shows that layer of depth of like, actually this is what she came in with. She didn't like this, this, and this, and then the solution we gave to her was this service. Because

consumers don't know what service they need, they just know that they don't like their heavy regrowth that they've got, and it's up to you to then sell the solution through the service you offer. And so this has always been something that I've been really big on. Like, people are like, "Oh, it's a really long caption." I'm like, "Yes." But depending on who your consumer is, like I'm in the low tox space, those consumers are deep divers. They

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[00:41:22] renee: they wanna know everything. And so I always say to my, my clients, "It's not about how long is the caption, it's about how long do you need to explain what the problem was and the solution,

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[00:41:35] renee: and drive, them to book."

Like, that's all. That's, that's the, that's the... There's no magical, how long is the caption? It's like, tell the client's story, the problem, solution, and call to action. That's what you need to be doing. So yeah. Yeah. And you're gonna hear

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[00:41:51] renee: that more in my course, by the way. Like, when we get to content, we're gonna go into that world.

You're gonna see like, you're gonna be like, "Wow." And it's so easy to do when you listen to the client in the consult and then convert that into a caption. It is the easiest thing you can do.

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[00:42:08] renee: Yeah.

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[00:42:09] renee: Yeah. And they

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[00:42:11] renee: do the same thing-

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So we talked about like if you're only doing one thing in 2026 So if we're speaking to people who are only gonna do one thing year and it's gonna be the big change for them what do you reckon that one thing is Do you feel like it's the keywords Or like what

[: 00:42:32

And then I was like, "Okay, cool, and then what did you do?" "Well, then I went and watched all your other gray blend consultation videos." "Okay, great. What did you d- do next?" "Well, then I went and booked." So, we've been finding that from hair photos versus a video, like a consult video, our consult videos have been bridging the gap, like, instantly for new clients.

So, they're not even going to Google. Uh, they're like, "No, I didn't go to Google." Or if they're going to ChatGPT, they're usually just going from ChatGPT, going over to socials, checking us on socials, and then they're booking straight from there. So, it's, it's really interesting, that piece, and I think it's because of AI that's happening. Like, you can't fake a great consultation. You can't fake your n- you can't fake your, your, your, your knowledge, your skill set, your, the way you navigate that client through their concerns on camera. You can't fake that. You either know how to navigate them and address them or you don't, and you go really surface with the consult.

But my client, her superpower is going deep, and her clients... And she's very... Like, I've done a lot of coaching with her 'cause she was not an on-camera salon owner, but I just listened to her consult in salon. I'm like, "You are absolutely being mic'd up because you are incredible." And I was like, "I will hold your hand 'cause you need to get on camera.

Like, we need to do this." And honestly, like, she has grown so much just little bit by little bit, um, by just showing up. So yeah, that's,

if I would say one thing to be focusing on, is understand where these clients are coming from, specifically around the services you want more of, and see, target, and pinpoint what piece of content they came in from and make more of that content and use more of whatever the hook you put on the screen was, like around the service, making sure your keywords are in your caption. But yeah, really optimizing your social content to help you be discovered. Now, that's one step, but I think

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[00:45:08] renee: and start there.

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[00:45:10] renee: Yep

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[00:45:13] renee: then come and see me and I'll give you the next, there is, there is, it's gonna be easy to do. It's just you gotta... And I think too, like, salons, like I work with so many salon owners and I know how overwhelming it all is because we weren't, like, if I- I'm a millennial hairdresser.

If I can pivot I can learn to embrace technology and I can learn how to, you know, do marketing, I can teach you how to do it because I have learnt to do it. So it's like one of those things where it's like it needs to be broken down into small steps and you need to be guided because we weren't, like, we wanna just do great hair.

Like, and I know

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[00:45:51] renee: right? And I see that. So

I think it's just like small steps. Rome wasn't built in a day. You just need to chip away, focus in one area, and then you'll move through the rest. But yeah, that's the best thing I can say to do

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[00:46:10] renee: It wasn't

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[00:46:12] renee: Yeah, literally. And it's gonna take time. Like, it's honestly gonna be one of those things that you just need to be chipping away at. But

I think socials is a great place to start 'cause you can make those small adjustments with the, like I said, you know, whatever the service is, put a question to it, you know?

Um, and make it really easy for your clients to find your content, so. And then you can get off the hamster wheel.

[: 00:46:34

I'm really pro-AI and it's not because I want the robots to remember that when they come to take us over but that I was for them from the start But I think you know they can be such a positive addition to our lives also because it's everywhere you can't fake authenticity and authenticity comes from just being yourself

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[00:47:21] Jen: Yeah

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AI is never gonna replace hairdressing, but ha- AI can absolutely replace the parts of a business owner that they don't enjoy doing. Because there is gonna be systems and structures that I'm gonna be putting into place that you're gonna just be able to plug and play it so that you're not having to spend hours trying to figure out what you're doing with this caption or what you're supposed to do.

Because the end of the day, you wanna be back behind the chair with your clients. You don't really-- or you wanna be with your family, you know? So it's like, how can we sort of,

how can we take the parts of the running the business that we don't enjoy and h- get AI to help assist us with this, you know? I work with a lot of clients who struggle with ADHD.

They really struggle to focus. Like, we are typically known in our industry with that. And so I think it allows them to stop procrastinating around what they think they should do and overthinking, and just allows them to move. It allows them to just action, and that's what AI has helped me to do. It doesn't do everything in my life, but it helps me with the things where I'm like, "Oh, I've got this idea," and it's like I could spend so long trying to work it out, or I can just kind of like spit it out and

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[00:48:43] renee: " Yeah!"

And then it's like you kind of just are getting it out of your mind, and then it's going from this thought into actually action, and then you can implement it. So

ice? And I also think that in: 2026

Why do clients come to them? What is their why? Like, I mean like a deep dive into brand, because when you do that and you use that through AI, you will never sound like any other salon, and this is where everyone's sounding very samesies, because everybody's just using AI in a very generic manner.

Like, "Write me a caption." It's like it's got no context of who you are, what you're about, what are the words you use to your clients, what are the words you don't use. That's all part of your messaging. And so I think AI should never replace your voice. It should just amplify your voice. Um, yeah, yeah.

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[00:50:12] renee: Wow. Wow. Thank you. Goodbye. I'm off. Isn't it crazy? Yeah, it's, it's, it's definitely, it's definitely a very, like, whoa, like when you start using it, 'cause you just don't even recognize, you know, how much you can actually use it for. But I,

I love it for, like, the systems, like being able to help... even, like the other day I was at a meeting with the salon owner I work with, and I said to her, "Look, I'm just gonna put...

On my phone, I'm gonna put the voice memo app on, and I'm just gonna, hit record." And we were there for five hours, and I'm like, "I'm just gonna get it to record our conversation, our meeting." And then because it's done in the, um, iPhone app, that you can actually then just copy and paste the transcription out.

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[00:50:55] renee: So I took that transcription, dropped it into Claude, and I was like, "I need you to analyze this, uh, five-hour, script. I need you to then break it down into step-by-step action-orientated, steps for me, and I need you to assign the tasks that we spoke about to the people that were in the meeting, and create me like a full-blown, like, summary list of what we had to do."

It was done within three minutes, and I was able to take that over to Trello, and then all of us now have our things that we need to do. Like, that was like no more sitting there having to, like, write notes and then the notes stay in the folder. It's just... Do you know what I mean? Like, it's just this...

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Now, friend, I've paused you because that we're gonna take this deeper in a mini moment. Uh, and we're getting to the end of our time chatting today, 'cause I feel like we could chat for hours always.

Always, always. But I'm so grateful that you have taken the time out of your life, you know, finding that window that works with work, and the children, and your family, to give this insight. Because I know that the insight that you share is so beneficial for everybody within the industry. And, yeah, I just really love what you're about, and I'm super grateful that you've been here

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[00:52:15] Jen: love how I'm like, "We're just gonna have a quick dinner

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[00:52:18] Jen: early night."

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So no, thank you. I'm so honored to be asked. I, I really love it when, yeah, people are like, "I'd love to hear from you." So that's really beautiful. So thank you for having me

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[00:52:51] renee: See y'all