The Salon Rising Podcast Journey Begins

 Yeah.

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 Welcome to the flagship episode of Salon Rising's podcast. Uh, I am joined here by my best friend and podcast collaborator, the amazing Samara who is the principal mentor from the Salon Rising group and also the owner of La Sorella Salon on the Gold Coast. Oh, hi, Jen.

Hi. So we thought it would be best to introduce each other because introducing ourselves feels fucking awkward.

Guys, this is Jen. Me, Jen. Jen is my best friend of 18 years. And she is now involved in our Salon Rising family. So she creates all of that amazing content you see. And she pretty much is my hype girl. She is the Andy to my Hamish. And you know that movie Beaches. I'm Bette Midler. She's the other character that nobody remembers her name.

She is pivotal, Jen. She is pivotal. Nobody

remembers

her name. And Jen worked with me in La Sirela for nine years. Yes. And she's only just finished up a month ago. So and now has stepped into Salon Rising. So that's a fun journey that we can speak on as well. But I guess it's really important for us to speak about why this podcast.

Absolutely. The why

is really important.

Yeah. There's so many on this, so many podcasts out there. And it was a question actually that Jen asked me. Only two days ago, she said, why, why the podcast?

Yeah. And I think your answer is exactly what everybody is looking for. I mean, we identified the fact that, you know, mothers have mothers groups and you know, everybody's got their support people, but who do sell on owners have?

Who to sell on owners in the hair and beauty industry have to just be their people their background.

Yeah So that's why we thought like raw and uncut is so important when we're speaking because we're speaking to sell on owners Yeah, the good the fucking bad the burn it down Oh my god, so many burn it down moments the struggles and the highs and the lows and just so yeah Like if you're a new mom with a new baby You You need your people.

You need your group to kind of hold you all together. What do they

say? Like The Walking Dead, you know? It's just like, you've just

gotta find a tribe. Try and stay alive. This is salon owner life. So the cool thing about us is Jen has been along the ride with me as an owner. I've been an owner now for 14 years and she's seen it all.

She has seen everything. There's nothing that she hasn't seen. There's nothing that I haven't shared. So the cool thing for us is her being able to actually be such a witness to this journey and also be able to share. the backside of it. She also has the craziest memory in the world. So if there's anything you want to know about my life, it's not going to

come from me.

It'll come from Jen. Yes, absolutely. I vividly remember your journey to become a Ceylon owner. I remember what you said that you wanted your Ceylon to be vividly. I remember nothing. What you really wanted. And it was a time. Um, Oh gosh. Fourteen years ago, when we were coming out of working in an environment that felt really rushed and busy and big and it, you would, you just said, I just want somewhere that feels like a community for people that my friends who are hairdressers can come and work out if they want to and this whole list of things that is exactly what you created, exactly what you created.

I told you I remember none of this and Jen remembers all of this. I do. But yet that's what we created. Yeah. And it's a super special space. And we're known, I guess, in this industry for our culture, and our culture is, I think, one thing that people always are intrigued about and we want to be able to share that on this podcast and kind of take you through the steps of what's happened with the different guests so you can really get a look and insight

into who we are.

Absolutely and I think it's not just about the culture within the salon as well, like I think that you created a real culture within the industry that was thriving on community rather than competition and I think that's a huge part of What Ceylon Rising has become and how it's evolved and the journey that you're taking people on with the podcast and with your mentoring is that you want people to feel like they have the community.

100 percent because without connection and community, what is there? Like without having your best friends, without having your best friends to support you or like that. tribe around you that makes you feel seen and understood. I just think we don't want to do this on it. It's lonely. I don't want to do this life on my own.

I don't want it to be lonely. So this podcast very much for us is to get to the wider community and be able to really support and bring you along for the ride and so that you're sitting there nodding your head being like yes this is like

oh man i feel that i had that too

yes yeah because if you're feeling it you better bet that everybody else is feeling as well no matter how big or little the salon is No matter how long you've been doing it for, no matter how sparkly it looks from the outside, I promise you everybody else is feeling the shit down in the middle as well.

And that's the thing because it's so often it just looks sparkly. People can feel like I'm the only one who's feeling this way. Look at everybody else's businesses. They're doing great. Why aren't I? And that's not really necessarily. It's not always the case either. Yeah.

Like there's many a times where I probably looked great and I was probably drowning.

Many a times. Jen laughs because she can think about all of them. You know, but we have to, it's a little bit different than normal social media. We can't be as raw and honest as we want on our salon pages because our clients don't want to hear that we're fucking pissed that they won't pay the prices that we deserve, you know.

Or cancel

at the last minute.

Oh, good Lord. Or, you know, the fact that it's a struggle sometimes to Show up every day. We're expected to show up and glow every day for every appointment. And that's why we wanted to make this podcast so that, you know, everyone feels deeply seen and deeply heard. Absolutely.

So today's podcast, being our first one, was more so on the background of Jen and I. and our journey. Um, we've obviously told you why we want to do this. We also, like, obviously we have our salon rising, which is our, like a mentoring space, which I stepped into properly full time about six months ago, seven months ago.

I was just trying to think it was August. I think it's like July, August. I don't remember. I have a 10 month old. I also jumped into this when he was about five minutes old.

Yeah. Cause he was only five minutes old. So I feel like it might've been before August. It

probably, I don't know. But it's a blur.

It's a blur. It's a blur. A 10 month old, a business, a new business. But I had to step into this space because I'm obsessed with being with other hairdressers. I think that's me too. Like I fell into education because of that reason as well. I just love Hairdressers, salon owners, anyone in this salon space.

I started educating hairdressers so I could be around more people in the salon industry. But now being able to work along brow artists, obsessed, you know, beauty therapists, like we all just feel each other so deeply and we're all so alike and so aligned that this community piece of instead of competition is just where it is at.

Because it's

all that service based, like. environment. Yes. You know, it's all about what you're creating for people.

Exactly right. And such a feminine space. Yeah. Mate, I'm about women. I am obsessed with women. I am about women. For anyone that is needing any information, I have nine best friends. I'm always on the lookout for more.

Um, Jen's saying no. All night if they roll their eyes and say no more. Like we're done. We get it. Um, I'm obsessed with, yeah, being in cliques of women. And men too, but like women is just,

it's the energy, it's the energy. Yeah.

It's this powerhouse energy that I, yeah, I just want to be aligned with at all times.

Which you have always been like. So if we take it back then to the beginning, the

beginning,

the beginning of your time. No of us,

the beginning of us, Jen, I feel like people need to know. Well,

the beginning of us is your beginning of the time in the industry. It is. Again, vividly remember your first day walking through PAC Fair after your interview, you were walking down, I think Kukai was no sports girl was directly opposite and you're walking down the alleyway next to it back towards the salon.

The funny thing is hairdressing is something that you, you almost fell into.

I did not want to be a hairdresser.

And It's innately in you. Oh my goodness. Which is crazy. Like, it's like you were led to it.

I was a hundred percent led to it. I didn't want to be a hairdresser. I never had thought about it being a hairdresser.

My best friend once told me I should be a hairdresser and I told her, is that all you think I could be?

Oh, that's a whole nother podcast.

So horrific that I even thought that because now it's like my whole life and my like one of the biggest joys and loves and I hated where I worked so much and I didn't like the boss I worked with and I had the most amazing hairdresser.

Her name is Nadine.

Aw, shout out to

Deanie. Deanie. We love Deanie. Who was a very, became a very important person in my life and she was one of Jen and I's closest friends in the end. And she was managing a store, do we say the name? It was a big chain salon, everyone can guess, I think that's all we need to say.

It was a big chain salon and um, she said, well why don't you come and be an apprentice? And I was like, nah, nah, I don't see myself doing that. And then I had a horrific day. And again she said, no, be an apprentice. And I said, okay. And I think I started a week later. Yeah, you did. So, or two weeks later, I gave handed my notice and off I became a hairdresser.

And at that point, Jen was a senior there?

Yes. If Nadine was still there, then I was a senior there. Because I was the manager once she left. Um, yeah, so that's when we met in those early days. But I mean, originally from the beginning, you were different to other apprentices. that we had.

Let's make it honest.

I was different because I also was needing to be the best. So if anyone needed anything, it was like a point system. I had to be the best. I had to do the best. I had to like work the hardest, but I've never, I'd never been like that before. I'd never found something that I was so passionate about, but working, I only have funny enough, have only ever worked with women.

I've never worked with a male hairdresser in my life. Have you not? No,

haven't. And not that I don't want

to. It's just the fact that it's just never happened. So for me, like, I just wanted to serve women at that point. And I wanted to be the best. I wanted them to love me the most. I was obnoxious, but it got me to places I wanted to be because I just wanted to please.

Some might say obnoxious, others might say driven.

We'll go with driven, hey?

Yeah.

Um, so yeah, I just powered through my apprenticeship and I don't necessarily agree with the way I was trained. It's very throw you in the deep end. I think I was cutting by eight months in. I think,

yeah, eight or nine months for sure.

Yeah. Not

well.

I remember I cut someone's hair. I thought it was thinning scissors and I like twirled it and cut it and it wasn't thinning scissors. That trauma runs deep. I still think about it constantly. I know where I was sitting like and I just combed it down and hoped for the best but

it

was a chunk.

This is, this is not a good time for anyone. There's a reason you double check your scissors every time you pick them up. 100%. So I don't think I was trained well. I was trained. enough. I was basic. I didn't think I was basic, but I was definitely basic. And yeah, then we, Jen went on to manage. She was my manager and we became best friends from there.

So we've been best friends for 18 years. And we've gone through so much personal stuff together as well as professional, but Jen became my manager and then I became a manager. Um, When I finished my apprenticeship. So I finished my apprenticeship a year early. And I think that also taught me so much of what I wanted and what I didn't want.

Absolutely. Yeah. So when did you leave that company?

Well, before you became a manager. Yeah. You just got moved. That was in the time that I went back to New Zealand for a year. That's right. Yeah. So

I managed and you stepped out of hairdressing altogether. When I

was in New Zealand, I did just because of the

circumstances.

If you ask Jen, she's done every single profession ever possible. Anytime I think Oh, that's new. She goes, Oh no, I've done that. Not necessarily as a profession. Every profession. You've done all the things and all the professions.

No, I've mostly just been a hairdresser for like a hundred years and

everything else,

but I just did other stuff too.

And so then managing. You know, dealing with staff. I stopped hairdressing because I thought I, I wanted to become a manager because I actually hated hairdressing at that stage. It was like, because of the, but that was the circumstances. That was the circumstances, mate. It was just like, here's your ex men's head cut.

Here's your ex men's cut. Like, there was no service to that, and I just wanted to like, really take care. of humans. And there was just, there was none of that. It was just like such a line. And I remember they built a new salon and I even tried to bring in like new music and, you know, really tried to sit in this space where people were really taken care of.

And it was just, there was none of that. And I was never going to get it. And all I was doing was managing staff. And I think I just ended up going, okay, I'm out. I've got to make this jump.

Well, that's when you jumped to home initially, wasn't it?

No, I went, I was working from home while I worked there as well.

That's And then I moved to, into a renter chair.

The leap was when you went into the existing nail space as your own chair.

Yes. So then I was there for 18 months and again learnt so much. So much. So much about. I don't know how to drink around this microphone. So much about myself. Oof. How to run and I took on, uh, my first employee there and just outgrew that space massively.

So, it's interesting how the universe brings you what you need because I almost signed, I needed to move out of there and I almost signed a massive lease which would have taken me under within the first year. And I'd signed it and everything and, you know. I just went, I can't do this. Nope, this is wrong.

And it just felt like everything was such a push. I would have had to build this massive salon, which I didn't have the funds for. And I was like, no, no, this is wrong. This is wrong. So I pulled out of that last minute and then found our little space, our first little space, um, which was the salon that was actually for sale.

So I didn't buy it for the clientele. I had a clientele, but more so for our little space that we had and loved and nurtured for 10 years.

Yeah. And that space was so many things. In the time, like, from that conception, it was it really evolved so much. Oh my goodness,

in the beginning there was like you, the clothes, I liked the clothes.

Clothes, jewellery, the mankiest spray tan tent you've ever seen in your life. Oh the spray tan! Waxing, anything I could possibly do to make money. That salon was. Yeah. And it was all done. It was, you know, for any, I've still got clients that I've had from that salon and from the very beginning and they still love it.

They were still about that time. Yeah. But yeah, what we've evolved to now is slightly different. It's exciting. It's very exciting and it's grown. It hasn't been without its faults. I was 40k in debt at one point. I was severely behind in tax and I think that's why I've moved so heavily into Salon Rising because of the fact that I feel like I have lived it all.

And you don't want other people to feel like that. You don't want other people to go through those experiences. And I don't either. I remember looking at you and just being so worried about you because you were physically sick from feeling so overwhelmed at the time. And you worked really hard with the support of your family.

You know, others in our community, shout out Trace, to build so much that I think you come from a really genuine place when you support people. Yeah, I definitely

was, I was pregnant at this point. The staff member that worked for me told me she was leaving to move overseas and then it was meant to be two weeks later that I gave birth.

And I was just like, I don't, I just have to walk away. Like I, I have to walk away. I'm just, I just want to be a mom. I remember saying that. I just want to be a mom. For like five minutes. For five minutes. And my husband was You bought a sewing machine. See, I told you, I was about to say that I bought, and that sewing machine hasn't been out in the last nine years.

I bought a short sewing machine. I started making headbands. Yeah. Like it was a thing. I was going to sell them. I've decided that were the worst headbands you've ever seen in your life. And I feel like as this podcast gets bigger, I will share a photo of said headband. It wasn't a good time. And that, that sewing machine still sits in my house.

So yeah, it was, I wanted to be a mom. My husband was a FIFO at this stage and I was like, I'm going to sell it. I'm going to sell it. I'm going to move on. And I don't know what fairyland I was living in, but that shit was worth nothing. Like if I, someone, I would have had to pay someone to take it. Because it had the clientele, but it didn't have anything that was sitting behind it.

So what I valued it at, it was not valued anywhere near that. So it was just like a crazy idea at that point. So it was like either walk away from this business, at which point, what do I do then? or get in there and work hard. And after Alabama was born, my first daughter, I just got this fire in my belly to be like, no, no, I will work hard and I will prove to myself that I can make this business work.

But I think that's also where the confidence started to kick in because that's when you actually started to believe in yourself as a stylist and be like, Oh, actually, no, I'm, I'm good at this. Oh, I know. I

reckon that was the time that I was like, I am fucking terrible at this.

No. Okay. Perhaps then in saying that, that's when you decided what you wanted to be.

She loves seeing herself through my

eyes and then seeing yourself, my eyes to me and then Jen's eyes. Jen's like, yes, you just grew. And I was like, because I realized I was terrible. No, because you

wanted to though, you wanted to grow. And so you put that work in to grow.

Yeah. I think up until that point I had this like, I am.

Why would I train? Why would I do anything else? Like I know everything. I know everything. I can do everything. I'm a great hairdresser. If you look back on that work, I was not. And I was just like, I don't need to do any work. Like I was so. egotistical in my own head of how I was like, I'm a salon owner.

Look at me and I'm making all this money and I was broke, but I thought I was making money. And you know, it just, it's so interesting how in that beginning you can sit in such an ego tisticle. mindset. And I think it's almost what keeps you alive in those beginning years. I don't, I don't begrudge myself for it.

But afterwards I was like, this is when this needs to change. Like this is when it needs to change. So the first course I did actually went down to, um, the Fox and the Hare with Mia and did a balayage course, like a freehand balayage course. And I feel like that changed my life. I

agree.

Also for the fact that I realized I could be so much more and I felt inspired for the first time in a long time and I realized I didn't know anything and that had so much power in it.

Oh, cause I'm a great believer that if you reach a point where you think you know it all, you need to stop whatever you're doing. Agreed. You don't have anything else to offer if you believe that you know everything there is to know.

Completely agree. Completely agree. That growth is constant. Yeah. So yeah, it was interesting and then.

From the, I was telling this story today, I've currently got a rising finance program going at the moment and I was explaining to the girls financially where I was at and what transpired over those years and how I came because as much as it's, um, strategically where I've got and Jen mentioned Trace before and she is my best friend.

She is Just sees things in a different way than I think things. I'm so creative She's a project manager So she saw that I was struggling and she knew how to get me out of it So and it was simple steps that made sense to me and I think that's the thing I think I've been in this industry for 14 years and I feel like I figured tax out five minutes ago I know I actually know what it means now I didn't until five minutes ago.

So,

but I genuinely think that that is the education system being letting everyone that like who needs to know algebra. Cause when algebra time of year rolls around, like nobody knows that shit. Nobody ever uses that again.

No, no one.

They should be teaching people tax. Everyone should understand that. And if not Pay as you

go.

Your bus, your All the different percentages on what you pay on and what you need to put away because otherwise the tax comes and gets you like a motherfucker. And I've had that and I felt like all my income was taken on tax. And for me, I'm like, I don't want this to happen to anybody else. Like I wish I had someone like me that could have taught me how to do this business, but we leave whatever apprenticeships that I are, or we leave whatever we're doing and.

like, you know, whether it's in a salon environment, whether it's just learning like brows, whether it's doing nails, whether it's doing a beauty diploma, whatever that is. And then we decide to create businesses. Yeah. And we're very good at doing what we do, but that's where it ends. And then that's where our downfall happens because nobody teaches us, okay, to run a successful business, you can't have just done an apprenticeship.

You need to know to put the things away. You need to pay the

bills. I did not pay the bills for a long time. I like to spend the money. And in turn it nearly took me under. So then we got to, where did we go from there? So then I started growing, um, at that point a lot. I really started playing with color. I became a strong colorist because I was excited and passionate again.

I think I'd lost my passion at this point because I was just exhausted. So, but funny enough, I had a, I went back to work when my eldest was three weeks old and I had a FIFO husband and I ran a business and I just made it happen. Like there was just, there was no, I don't actually, I look back now and I'm like, how did I survive that?

But I'm just one of those crazy ass people that like 17 balls in the air. And that's when I work my best. So it's not for everyone, but

you also had a pretty cool community around you at that time as well.

I did. I have an amazing family, an amazing group of friends that supported me through this. So I'm beyond blessed, but that's what I want to create more of for other people.

Yeah. You know, not everybody has the community that I have. So It's like, how do we make that community for people that don't? And so that they feel so supported at all times, so that, you know, even starting with this podcast, you know, for other people to be like, hells yeah, I felt that, hells yeah, I've been there.

Further the reach, bring it to the people.

Yeah. Yeah. So then the business grew, I got my first apprentice and then I got my first senior who I will, or Jen was my first senior, no second senior.

No, first. No, Leah was first. Oh, no, Leah was first.

So, Jen was my second senior, but she was casual, and I remember going to her one night, like, I really need someone to work for me, like, and I remember, like, planting that seed as in, like, that's going to be you, Jen, but you need to click onto this yourself.

We were at Max Brenner's. We were at Max Brenner's, yeah? And we were like, I was like, I really need someone to help me, like, do you know of anyone? And at that point, you were doing weddings.

Yes. Yes. Yes. That because that's when Isla was a baby. So that's when my second was a baby. And At that time, weddings were, weddings were actually great when my kids were really little because I just went to work for one day and made what I could make in a week.

So it was cool. But then weddings also came with this locked in feeling that I really don't like, especially with the kids. Like there were two compounding incidents that happened, both relating to, um, my youngest where She got really sick and had to go into hospital and I had to go and do someone's wedding because it was booked and had to leave my baby in hospital.

to go and do someone's wedding. And I never, ever, ever wanted to do that again. And then I also had a situation where I was doing a trial for a bride. I rang you after this. So while I was doing the bride's trial, my then toddler, was trying to make toast in the kitchen without me knowing and it was almost a knife in the toaster situation.

I was like, that's it, I'm done. You go to kindy, I go to work. This is how it's happening. And to work she came. Yes.

For me, the universe put us together yet again. Yes. And then from there, so then we got our First apprentice, and then our next senior who worked full time, who, Kira is still with us to this day.

Yeah. So we've been through,

The OG.

Four babies, four babies together, her and I, um, and she still works at La Sorella to this day. Bless her fucking heart. I love that woman. So that's the kind of cool thing about La Sorella is everyone's been around for a long ass time. Like, they stay. Jen has just left after nine years.

For

life.

Jen has also left and come and gone how many times? Was it just once? Twice? It was only twice. You've done it twice.

No, I didn't leave the first time. That's when you decided you really needed a full time senior. Okay. And that's when you had that person come.

Oh, I know who she's talking about. I forgot about that person.

And

then, that didn't go how We'll talk about that one day. That didn't go how you thought. And then you rang and you were like, okay, well, that person's gone and I really need someone to work. And I said, I can't come. I'm waiting for a plumber tomorrow. And you said, that's fine. My husband's a plumber. I'll send him.

And then I came back to work. It's like, but I can still only work part time. You're like, that's fine. I'll make anything happen.

Yeah. See, she remembers that. I don't remember that. Oh, and then the second time you left, you left to pursue teaching, teacher aiding.

Oh, I wouldn't say I left to pursue it. My shoulder was like on the brink of freezing.

Jen gets broken. And then I also had. two kids going into school which meant I had two lots of like vacation care to pay for and the grandparents were still working full time and there wasn't really any backup so it was just to kind of be able to.

How long did you leave for us for that time?

Oh that was about nine months.

And every Thursday night she'd end up in the salon.

With treats?

Oh I know, but she just couldn't stay away. Every Thursday night she'd end up in the salon.

Yeah.

And then I think the first time Jen and I ever had an argument.

No, we don't speak about those

things. I think you came to the salon and you said, Oh, I did

come to the salon. Oh, yes.

I'm going to work. I'm going to do some hairdressing again. And I'm going to work at our friend's salon who now we love dearly.

Now, prior to me having this conversation, we'd been through a lot of talks.

On that same night, about, you know, scaling down, and the costs of stuff, and, you know, the challenges Ignore everything she's saying. The challenges you were facing with having stuff. and how maybe that needed to come down a number at that time. So I said, well, that's cool. I'm going to do some hair and I'm going to go and do it with one of our friends.

And Samara lost it. Yes, she did.

I don't actually remember, but I remember being cranky. You were very cranky. I was very cranky. Yeah. And she worked with one of our friends, but at that point, Jen belonged to me. She's my best friend. She comes to work for me even if I don't have the work available.

Yes.

Luckily in my favor, Jen came home. So. Like full time

home.

Yes. How long did you work full time then? Yep. There you go, she came back full time. So it just, You know, I think once you, once Jen was so used to the way that we worked and so used to the, the clientele we looked after, we pivoted a lot in those few years of, it, you know, went from clothes and makeup and jewelry and spray tanning and to, you know, it niched down to just hair.

And then really niched down. And then niched right down. And

then I feel like And refined. The whole situation refined. Massively. Yeah.

We started moving into like really loving color, really loving blondes and balayage and then COVID hit and by this point I think we were a team of like seven.

Gosh. We just grew,

we just grew over time and we got more apprentices and more seniors as Because that whole time is a blur.

I know, it just wraps into one.

Everything from about: 2019

it was a lot. It was a lot. So we grew substantially at this point. I think Kira started working for me about eight years ago. Eight years ago to now, we grew substantially with quite a lot of staff members.

We had a really good family. We've always had a very good culture. We niched right down. We were just kind of doing blondes and that's what we got kind of known for. And then COVID hit. And at this point too, we had moved to the four day work week. So I started that after Alabama was born, my eldest. I was like, I'm not coming back five days a week.

So when I Um, had my first senior, Kira, I said, we're only doing four days a week. We did Wednesday to Saturday, 38 hours in four days done and dusted. And she loved that. So it just kind of evolved like that. We love, we went to the four day work week and I have never thought about working five days again.

And who even does that? I don't know. I can't. It is a game changer. I don't actually think I could. It's a game changer. Nothing changed. It was a game changer. Nothing changed financially. It just meant we had more time at home. And also for me, when the salon's closed, it's a breath, you know, it's peace because you're not, even when I'm not in the salon worried about what's happening today, I'm not there.

So I don't have to think about it. Yeah. But tomorrow, even if I'm, I'm not there, I'm in salon rising, it'll be in my mind. Actually, I am there tomorrow, but generally when I'm not there, it's on my mind because I'm thinking what needs to be done. I check my phone all the time to make sure they're okay and I don't care who you are, but everybody does that.

Like, I'm not just going to be like, Oh, I'm living free. Who cares what's going on? It's my business. It's my baby. Yeah. I'm going to check in. I'm going to make sure my people are okay. So then from there, where are we at? Oh, then we COVID hit. Oh yes. And I decided no more men's. We cut men's out. We realized we couldn't work Saturday

anymore.

The, the issue was that because it was all when the people per square meter thing came in, so we couldn't even all work together at the same time anymore. So we opened our

days up. We did more days, less people on the days.

So some people started early and finished so that the next lot of people could come in and work until late and moving everybody around to try and accommodate this weird you know, ever changing rules that one day we were allowed to,

we, you know, do the people.

On the Gold Coast, we were pretty lucky with what we got hit with. We were really lucky. Very lucky, but I never forget that night where they decided to bring in the 30 minute haircut rule. Oh, yes. The fuck was that about? And I was like, I'm not doing it. So we worked the day before we found out about 30 minutes.

We worked, I started work at five and I worked, I think until almost 1am.

We finished just before midnight because you had to be done. That's

right before midnight.

Yeah, and I that's when the new rule started five.

We worked till midnight. I still I'll always remember that day Yeah, it was actually fun.

Like it was just like it felt like a challenge

We had like a really good Spotify playlist that had all Apocalypse songs on it

Clients coming in at like: 1030

It was horrific being a salon owner, not knowing how to take care of staff. What happened with JobKeeper, like what everyone was expecting. And I just felt like the weight of the world was on my shoulders at all times. And it was. Like, you come out the other side of that and you think, dear God, like it was pretty heavy.

And, you know, we were trying for our third child during that time. We lost two babies during that time. And I just think that was

a horrific time,

amount of pressure that I just felt trying to move through that was pretty hardcore. And I think these are the instances where people need to understand and come together and be like, I felt the same way.

And I still feel like I have PTSD from that time.

Oh, and so many people do. So, I mean, look at some of our friends who've got salons, like, in places like Victoria and stuff, where that, How can you not have PTSD after that?

And just watching your friends go through that. I've got very close friends all over Australia.

And watching my friends go through that, you know, it was horrific. You know, I've got a very close friend, um, Chantelle from Taliesin, Melbourne, and she's just had a baby. Congratulations. Um, and watching her go through that when she'd built such a powerhouse of a business and really worked hard to make the money that she had sitting there, a very successful business owner, get absolutely torn down with having to lose that.

It was heartbreaking. Absolutely. Heartbreaking. And the same for my girlfriends in Sydney, like it was just, watching that was just Horrific. And I think everyone was just holding on for the ride. And I think the business owners that have come through that, even though it was so hard to go through, I just feel like we're a different breed now.

Like, Oh, the resilience, the resilience. Yeah. Yeah,

for sure.

Yeah. So then we changed, we actually stopped working Saturdays. Yeah. So we started working Saturdays. We always work Saturdays and we started alternating because we couldn't all be in on a Saturday. Yeah. And then suddenly I just went, I don't fucking want to work Saturdays anymore.

And I said to the girls, we're going to try this. And if it doesn't work, then we pull back. But we went from seven stylists to 12 within one year of stopping Saturdays. Yeah. So it can totally work based on what you want.

And that's, that's a real example of that whole situation where, you know, people always talk about, Oh, but you can't do that because you're in this.

It's like, well, no. You make the rules, right? You make the rules. You decide what's going to work, and the people who want to see you will make that work. And people said, didn't people leave? I'm like, probably.

Yeah. But I was more focused on what I can do, and creating the life I wanted, and giving the same thing to my staff.

I've always been about that, and I can hand on my heart say that, and Jen can say I'm like that. Oh, absolutely. But I generally don't give to myself what I don't give to my people. Because I don't have double standards like that. It's something that I feel quite strongly about. Yeah. So if I don't work Saturdays, they don't work Saturdays.

No one

else works Saturdays. Yeah. And that's huge.

It just, it, now it was a game changer.

Oh yeah.

So, and then we stopped looking after guys. Not that I don't love guys, but again, our space became more feminine and more feminine and more feminine and the space that we could fit in guys, it was just starting to lose those spaces that we could get.

women in. Yeah. And it just, we just weren't training in it. It wasn't something I wanted to be specialized anymore. So for me, it just, I was like, I can't give to my guys what I should.

Well, it was more the fact that we wanted to be really specialized in what we were doing. And that's not what we wanted to specialize in.

Like we wanted to be focused on what we were really passionate about.

And don't get me wrong. La Sirela has our three main guys. Oh yeah. We have three main guys at Sears at La Sirela. I can tell you all their names and their stories and they love being La Sirela clients. Like that's pretty cool. They're obsessed with being.

So I think that that was, it's like, I love those humans, but they also chose to spend the money that we wanted. Because that's the

thing. Also, nobody said you can't come, but it just became, well, this is the price for the time.

Yes.

Which is really important as well. Like, this is the price for the time. Yes.

And, and I think that's more fair. Yes. It's more fair, like We were

charging like 30 for a men's haircut and then charging like 80 for a women's and it just became the same amount of time and I just couldn't get on board with that anymore.

No, absolutely not.

So, I think that that, yeah, made a lot of sense once we moved towards that.

And

there were those men, like our, our core guys who were just like, yeah, I can do that. I love you guys. I love being here. I'll pay that. That's fine. Agreed. And anyone else that was like, that's totally fine. Then came the new salon. Yeah. After

COVID, then came our newest baby. The new salon. She's a dream.

She beautiful. She beautiful. And the coolest thing about that was we were looking for a space for about three years. And the day I found the space, I remember my husband was in the shower. I was sitting on the side of the bath and I said, Oh, I found it. And it had been on the market for 10 months. And I'd never seen it.

But if I had have tried to get it 10 months earlier, I never would have been able to afford it.

Like, well, the timing wasn't right at all. No.

And it was the beginning of COVID. I would have drowned. So it was interesting that that's when I saw it. And I got all the girls to write. I remember we all sat one day and wrote our wishlist of what we wanted.

What we

wanted, like those little things that each person really wanted to be able to see and feel. And have in a new space. We had this what it would

look like and it was light and openness and windows and trees and you know lots of bright and a big back room because at that point we lived in a shoe box.

And a separate basin room that was definitely on the back on the wish list.

Yeah so and then we found this space and I could see it come to life before my eyes it just made so much sense. So we spent We got that. I remember surprising the girls and it was one of the coolest things ever, is just taking them to this space and saying, this is your new salon.

Welcome home. And then we spent four months, my husband spent four months building it. Oh,

he

worked hard. Oh my God. And I remember the night that I took you there after work and I hadn't showed you anything and I just let you in and like, you were like, Oh my goodness. Yeah. Because she was designed, like at that point I just knew what I wanted.

Yeah. And I was so strong on what I wanted and I had the most incredible designer and she just built this, she just came through. I knew what I wanted but she just knew how to bring it to life and it just came to life and she's just, two years on is still such a magical space. And has just worn really well.

I

can't believe it's been two years. Two years in

March. That's wild. And yeah, so, and the craziest thing is one of the babies that I lost was due the night we had our launch of the salon. And I just was, it was nice for me to be able to sit back and think there was no way I could have brought that baby into the world and also brought the salon into the world.

Like it was just so much that I thought, well, I'm not, you know, this, today I was meant to have a baby and instead I'm birthing this like beautiful salon that I've created for my clients and for my humans and for myself. So. It was pretty powerful to look and go, okay, I understand now why it happened.

Absolutely.

And now we're here where we are. And

now we're here. But I think it's really important to talk about the evolution of you becoming a mentor as well, because that really happened organically. And I think it comes from your You are a person who cares about other people. You always want what is best for other people.

And that began in like an education space as in hair education. But you could really see with the people that you were, you know, when you had people shadowing you and mentoring, there's so much more that you'd be like, yes, this person's doing this, but then they're in this bit. And I want to make sure they know how to do this bit and that bit.

And then the people began to approach and. That's when it began to grow so much because it got to the point where it's like,

there's too many. I don't know how to do this anymore. I know it was so organic. Just, I guess life leads you where you're meant to go. Yeah. And it really, yeah, I started mentoring just off like, Oh, I can, you want some help?

Okay. I'll just, you know.

Yeah,

let's chat. And it just kind of grew from there. And I started working with Shay from Barefaced, which we are in her amazing studio. So beautiful. And that felt so nourishing for my soul. And then it just started happening organically and more organically. And then I got pregnant and I was tired and sick for a long time.

And it takes it really takes pregnancy really takes it out of me. And then the minute. He was born. It was like I'm ready. I think this is a whole new. I think this is it I think this is what I have to do and our first program. We launched sold out in like 48 hours So it just

I have always said you do really really big things Straight after you have a baby.

Oh like you that's a a time of exponential growth for you. Not for many other people. Most people just trying to get out of bed. But that is a time when you just seem to blow up.

I think it's because I can't for nine months. I think I'm so depleted for nine months. Yeah. And once that baby's out, I'm like, I can do the baby and everything else.

You are

so depleted. So

depleted. Oh,

the crack mattress. Well, mate, that's for the motherhood chat. That will be for the mother. Yeah, for sure. But And then it just feeds my soul in a different way, you know, and I just, one of the cool things when you were saying that one of the first person, people that ever shadowed with me was, is now in my program.

Oh, really? And I just

felt like that day, the day that she shadowed with me, Ashlyn, the day that she shadowed with me, three people were off sick. And So she didn't even see our salon working in action. And I felt like such an imposter. Like, I was like, I'm such a phony. She's just seen all these incredible artists.

And then she's finished with me. I

remember.

So she's now in my program. Oh, that's so

cool.

That is the coolest. I just love her as a human, but I just love, and she's always said, like, just the way you've run your business is what I felt inspired by. But I remember that day feeling like such a phony educator.

And the fact that. She got so much out of it, bless her soul. And now I get to lead her through business is very cool. So I always felt like I needed to be with hairdressers and I thought that was education. You know, you knew I really wanted to be in the education space quite hard and I wanted to teach hair and blah, blah, blah,

which you have done, which

I have done and I'm still doing.

Yeah. But now I realize it's, it's about being with business owners. It's about being able to see their potential. It's about championing them to do what they want to do. Yeah.

Being the cheerleader. Oh

my God. I love being a cheerleader. I love seeing the shit that happens. And I guess like all my friends and family see it.

I think that first thing I said to Jen today was that one of my clients just boomed last week. And I was just so excited. Just seeing them light up and taking them through the shit I've been through is, All mighty and powerful. So.

Absolutely.

Well, you kind of got to know Jen and I. Jen, what are you doing now?

So you've left La Sirela.

I have. I gave, I gave two years notice to leave La Sirela. Just so

everyone knows, two years. And then I ignored it for a really

long time. Three and a half years after that. And then I gave notice again and then I still stayed for another five months after that. And then I was like, no, I'm really, really going.

So she finished up, Christmas was

our last week together, working together. We knew that this was it. I don't feel like

you really knew it was it until I unpacked my

trolley. And then she ripped her name off like a bitch. So, but that's the difference, right? It took Jen that long to leave and she, if people say no one will ever look after your business like you do, no one's met Jen.

Like, and I hate that because I know that my salon gets looked after by my people and it's not just Jen. But Jen sincerely like put herself first. So Jen and I are a little codependent on one another, we discovered. Self

confessed.

Self confessed codependent. Yeah. But we realized this one day and Jen didn't want to leave because she didn't want me to not be okay.

And I didn't want Jen to leave because I needed her to be financially okay. And it was just a never ending fucking cycle of needing to make sure each other are okay. But we've had to be big girls and stand on our own two feet. Absolutely. Without each other. But look, now we have a podcast. Codependency in its finest.

How can we stay together, Jen? Let's create a podcast where people have to listen to us. Absolutely. That's what we're doing. Sorry. This podcast is going to be a ride. There is going to be guest speakers. There's going to be, we're going to talk into business and motherhood. Um, we're going to talk about the hard conversations that we've had and how we have gotten through them.

How to have hard conversations. We're going into that.

We have spoken, we're going to speak on like where we've gone spiritually. We're going to speak on friendships. We're going to speak on, it's not just going to be salon. It will be predominantly salon, but we're going to still be raw with what life looks like as salon owners and how we can really sink into that in all areas.

So I would also love. For anyone that has any ideas of what you would love to see on this podcast. Oh

yeah, send them in for sure. To

jump on our Salon Rising page. So the connection with our Instagram pages is Salon Rising will now be our podcast page. And it'll also be where I share the programs for our And then you can find me at, um, Samara Palazzi and co.

So the reason for that was I found that it was a fucking monster to run more than one page. And I also run the La Sorella page. So we decided the best thing to do moving forward was to have everything come together in that one page and you can see my life and how we spend it. And then we promote all our programs on there through everything intertwines through Samara and Palazzi and co.

But now we will have our podcast page as well. So if you want to, if you have any ideas and you think, God, I would love them to speak on this.

Yeah.

Please DM us on Salon Rising. Send them

through.

Yeah.

It's like,

is anybody else struggling with these things?

Probably. Yes.

Yes. We've struggled with them before.

Yes. Yes. So send them through if you want them spoken about and we will create some content around it. But we're excited for the juiciness it is to come. Absolutely. It's going to be so juicy. Do you have any questions, Jen, before we go? You needed some, do you need some quickfire questions?

I don't think we need the quickfire questions.

I just had one thing which I think would be really nice. It's just a single question. There's two sides to it though that we could offer for each other. Might be a nice little finish off type scenario. So we're going to do, um, alleviate. and replicate. Oh, okay. I

don't know what this means yet guys. I asked Jen, I didn't want to know shit today, about today.

So I don't know what this means.

Okay. So for each other, we're each going to speak about one thing that we would like to alleviate from that person's life and one quality about that person that we love that we would like to replicate.

For each other. Yes. Okay. You can go first cause I am still confused.

Sorry.

For example, what I would love to alleviate from your life is that, hang on, I had a couple, so I need to think on this just momentarily. Um, I know what I would like to replicate that you have. I would love to replicate your ability to just be like, Yeah, I'm doing that. I'm in. I'm just what? Yeah, sure.

I'll just jump up. Yep. I want to jump off that bridge. I'm going to do it and you will do it like I would love to be that committed to and just to be so confident in myself. I would like

in the contrast is I would like to alleviate how hard it is for you to make a decision. It's so hard. I'm like, make this decision, do this.

And then two weeks later, you're still like, I was thinking Analysis

paralysis. Oh,

mate, I would like to alleviate that. It's

a problem. So I would like you to alleviate for that for me. And then So that was replicate. Now to alleviate from you, I think I would like to alleviate from you the sense of responsibility that you feel towards everybody over yourself.

Everybody, every person in every way, that is something that I would like to take away from you.

I'm trying. I'm getting better with the self care. I'm getting better at thinking about what I need. It's hard when you've been doing it for such a long time. Yeah, it is. In every aspect, but I am getting better.

Alright, I would like to replicate your insane mind. You are the most clever person. This is where I would like to also alleviate the fact that I wish Jen could see herself through my eyes, because I'm obsessed with everything she can do. And anything that she puts her mind to, she will do it. It's just making the decision to put her mind to that thing first.

But I would like to replicate Jen's insane mind for anything she does put her mind to. So anything that you read is not written by me. My Instagram posts are, that's how you can tell it's me. But anything on the website and anything is the brainchild of Jen and she is so ridiculously clever.

Oh, thanks dude.

So we want to end this podcast with a

journal prompt

journal promise. We're all about journaling at the moment. It's coming to our lives quite big. So the journal prompt we want to do is

if you knew that you couldn't fail, what does your life look like in five years time?

I think that it is so wild where I have come, you know, where I never, ever, ever saw myself where I am now, that I think that it's really cool to think about what the future you looks like.

Yes.

And if you couldn't fail.

Who would that be?

Who are you? Yeah. And what are you doing? And what money are you making? And what lights you up? And who are you surrounded with? And are you sitting on the couch with me and Jen? Because you could. Thank you so much everybody for listening to our very first podcast.

for coming and joining us. I. Thank you for bearing with us. This is, this is day one. I'm sure when we're in season four, it's going to sound very more organic, but day one, it was something we always wanted to do. We can't wait to take you for the ride of this next chapter of Salon Rising, the podcast.

Thanks for joining us.