Navigating the Salon Business with Valerie Delforge talking Leadership and Growth
As we wrap up Season 4 of Inspiring Salon Professionals, the 100th episode serves as a reminder of the evolution of leadership in the salon industry. Joined by Valerie Delforge, we explore the dynamics between personal well-being and professional success. Valerie discusses her extensive experience with global beauty brands and how it shaped her understanding of effective leadership. We touch on the vital soft skills that differentiate a successful leader from one who merely manages. The conversation highlights the importance of self-reflection and reassessment, particularly in a post-pandemic world where many salon owners find themselves overwhelmed by the demands of their businesses. Valerie's insights encourage listeners to prioritise their mental health, establish boundaries, and build an environment where their teams can flourish. We delve into practical strategies for overcoming common pitfalls such as micromanagement and anxiety, inviting salon owners to embrace a more sustainable approach to their businesses, and ultimately, to their lives.
Takeaways:
- Valerie Delforge emphasises that true leadership is about empowering others while stepping back from micromanagement, allowing teams to flourish.
- In today's salon environment, leaders must adapt to ongoing changes, focusing on flexibility and resilience to navigate challenges effectively.
- An essential part of leadership is recognising when to delegate tasks and trust your team, which can alleviate the burden of constant oversight.
- Valerie discusses the importance of self-reflection and time management, urging salon owners to regularly assess their business structures and personal well-being for sustainable success.
- The conversation highlights how anxiety in business often stems from projecting negative future scenarios rather than focusing on the present moment and achievable goals.
- Successful leadership, according to Valerie, involves creating a supportive atmosphere that encourages team members to thrive and contribute to the salon's vision.
Links referenced in this episode:
- salonpreneurmagazine.co.uk
- sue-davies.com
- Valerie is providing all ISP listeners with a free 30 minute call when you visit her website www.thedelforgegroup.co.uk
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Salonpreneur Magazine
- Clarins
- Urban Retreat
- l'Occitane
- Bliss Bar
- Steiner UK Europe
- The Salon Inspector
Transcript
Welcome to Inspiring Salon Professionals, the podcast that allows every therapist, now tech and stylist, to level up, build their career and reach for their dreams.
Speaker A:Each episode we'll be looking at a different area of the industry and along the way I'll be chatting with salon owners, industry leaders and experts who will be sharing their stories on how they achieved their goals, made their successes, all to inspire you in your business and career.
Speaker A:I'm Sue Davies, your host, award winning salon owner and industry professional.
Speaker A:Welcome to Inspiring Salon Professionals.
Speaker B:Salonpreneur magazine is launching this July a brand new edition designed for the modern salon professional.
Speaker B:Whether you're a salon owner, solo pro, mobile therapist, academy leader or brand supplier, Salonpreneur is created with you in mind.
Speaker B:Inside you'll find expert guidance on business skills development, mindset, well being and the tools you need to grow sustainably.
Speaker B:Salonpreneur helps you take control of your success with real world strategies, inspiring features and practical support for your journey.
Speaker B:Created by an industry leader with decades of experience, Salonpreneur is packed with insight, community, connection and proven business.
Speaker B:Know how.
Speaker B:Subscriptions open soon and advertising opportunities are now available.
Speaker B:Visit salonpreneurmagazine.co.uk or email helloalonpreneurmagazine.co.uk don't miss the launch of SalonPreneur, your new go to magazine for business, mindset and well being in the salon world.
Speaker A:Hello there and welcome to the 100th episode of Inspiring Salon Professionals, the podcast where we dive deep into the stories and strategies and mindsets that shape success in the salon sector, whether that's with guests or whether that's with me chatting off on my own.
Speaker A:Anyway, it's episode 100, a huge milestone for any podcast and also the end of this season.
Speaker A:So I was going to do a review I think I might have mentioned on last week's episode.
Speaker A:I was probably going to do a bit of a review of what's happened this episode, this season even, but into my inbox over the last week came a message from someone who I've kind of wanted to have on the podcast and I've just never got to the point of being able to communicate with them to say that that's what I wanted to happen.
Speaker A:But the, the serendipitous universe has delivered her straight to me and she came to me, we were sort of having a chat and it's like, you know what, let's just do the podcast.
Speaker A:Let's have that, make that happen.
Speaker A:So anyway, today I am really delighted as my last guest of the season and episode 100 guest to welcome Valerie Delforge.
Speaker A:If you don't know Valerie, you probably should.
Speaker A:If you, if you're in a sound industry and particularly if you're in a salon with teams, that's kind of where, where Valerie kind of sits really brilliantly in what she does.
Speaker A:She is a business strategist, a consultant, a speaker, an author.
Speaker A:Most recently, I did cover her book in, in the magazine, I think in last May.
Speaker A:So she's had her magazine out for quite a while.
Speaker A:She has got over 30 years experience across global beauty brands like Clarins and Urban Retreat and lots of Tane and more.
Speaker A:Valerie now dedicates her work to empowering salon leaders to step out of micromanagement and into confident purpose leadership.
Speaker A:And it is that, that her book was all about about just make sure that you are passing and delegating information and jobs that you don't need to do.
Speaker A:She is passionate about helping selling professionals and owners move from burnout and over responsibility to a place of clarity, calm and sustainable success.
Speaker A:In this episode, we will be unpacking what it really means to lead.
Speaker A:It's something that Valerie is really, really passionate about discussing and about empowering people to lead with confidence, confidence and especially in times of pressure and how letting go might actually be your most powerful business move yet.
Speaker A:So let's go talk to her and I will see you on the other side.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:So welcome Valerie Delforge.
Speaker A:I was just sending the intro.
Speaker A:You've been on my kind of like hit list for like a long time and finally it's all kind of come together just at the last minute.
Speaker C:I know, isn't it like how the universe works?
Speaker C:Isn't it?
Speaker C:I saw you doing a great podcast.
Speaker C:Well, I, I listened to your podcast anyway, but the last one with Adam and I was like, want to be on there as well.
Speaker A:Yeah, I know, and it's so good to have you because I think sort of our pathways have crossed in so many groups and so many places.
Speaker A:And I know we had a catch up a while ago now, isn't it?
Speaker A:We actually, actually had a face to face and we're like, yeah, let's have a conversation.
Speaker A:But it's really nice to have you on the podcast and yeah.
Speaker A:So for anyone that doesn't know who Valerie is, Valerie, would you mind just giving us a little intro and a little bit of background about who you are?
Speaker C:I mean, I've basically been in England for over 30 years, you know, coming from France in my 20s.
Speaker C:And so I'm Just going to be here for months and obviously 30 years later I'm here, I've got my family, everyone's, you know, everyone here.
Speaker C:So started in the industry with like, you know, the works of clinic and then 10 year love after affair with Clarence.
Speaker C:Every single role kind of brought me something new.
Speaker C:But a lot of it was very much around leadership and management of large teams.
Speaker C:Basically.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:Worked for the likes of Urban Retreat, so started working with hairdressers and, and make artists, nail technicians etc, then went on with l' Occitane.
Speaker C:They wanted to open spas and they just, you know, realized two years later, be expensive, we're going to keep it at retail.
Speaker C:So I could have told you that two years ago, that was that.
Speaker C:But I loved it because it was very, you know, retail is my background as well.
Speaker C:I just love anything to do with retail, stock management, all of that.
Speaker C:And then ended up really kind of working for Bliss Bar in Sloan Avenue at the time, so kind of Chelsea, London Ways was 50 staff members.
Speaker C:I guess it's where all my leadership skills went into one place rather than being a regional manager going all over the country.
Speaker C:I think I've seen more of the country than most of my friends to be, probably.
Speaker A:I do think it's that thing though, isn't it?
Speaker A:It's like, I know, and I've got a friend who's a BDM and every time I see her, she's getting on.
Speaker A:She works for a face mask company now.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And I see her, she's getting on different cruise ships.
Speaker A:She's in Scotland, she's in Cornwall, she's in Wales, she's in me.
Speaker A:And it's like, stop and have a cup of tea.
Speaker A:And she's like, no, I've got to go off somewhere else.
Speaker A:Occasionally she goes home.
Speaker C:Yeah, that's it.
Speaker C:And, and.
Speaker C:But I loved it, you know.
Speaker C:Absolutely loved it.
Speaker C:Bliss allowed me to be a bit more settled, I guess, in, in terms of my daughters growing up etc, and with Bliss, I guess it was a challenging spa in a sense that it was going backwards rather than forwards in many ways.
Speaker C:So we had a lot of challenge and in a year I ended up doing over the.
Speaker C:The targets that were set.
Speaker C:So my boss said, well done, thank you very much, here's a spouse to look after.
Speaker C:So I became head of spa operation for Steiner UK Europe rather.
Speaker C:So I had three spas in Doha, St Petersburg and Barcelona.
Speaker C:And then obviously all the spas in the uk, the five stars in the uk.
Speaker C:So it was amazing in a sense that it was very much strategic thought, planning, management of the team.
Speaker C:You know, the pressure when you're on a high level kind of job like this.
Speaker C:Actually, throughout my careers my boss were very much, you know, you only as good as your last month's numbers.
Speaker C:It's like, oh, thank you very much.
Speaker C:Pressure at all.
Speaker A:No, none.
Speaker C:It was true, you know, it was true that you're constantly looking at growth and constantly looking at, I call it ironing problems out before they becomes problems, you know, so you, you do you deal with a lot of, I want to say a lot of crap and none of the glory sometimes.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:You know, you deal with a lot of elements of the, the jobs that no one wants to do but it becomes very, very strategic.
Speaker C:And then when I was in that role I had a few clients saying, oh, I wouldn't mind you helping me.
Speaker C:And I was starting doing that on a Saturday thinking, well, quite like this and then set up my consulting 12 years ago.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:So I've been consulting ever since.
Speaker C:My, my kind of, I guess USP is that I like one to one coaching.
Speaker C:Yeah, I just like to delve down into the client's mindse business where we at, you know, what's happening financially, team structure, reception, what's going on there, what's going on in, in terms of the retail and the stock management and anything to do with the customer journey.
Speaker C:So really operational.
Speaker C:But it starts with the leader, so it starts with the owner and it starts with how do we, how do we kind of grow further and grow means different things to different people.
Speaker A:It's an everyone's outcomes of what they want from their business and especially if you're working with someone owners obviously it's going to be their business.
Speaker A:If you're working in spa, then obviously it's owned generally in a much different way.
Speaker A:But when you're working with salon owners it is, you know, they have so much pressure on them to maintain the business and maintain the team and maintain their client base and maintain all of that stuff.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Kind of get a little bit lost it all, don't they?
Speaker A:And I think for you to get in under their skin kind of thing and find out what, what their real outcomes are.
Speaker A:Because I mean some people do it because they really just love doing treatments and they just want to do that and they want everyone else around them to do it.
Speaker A:Other people, you know, want to go and buy a house in Spain and have like a, you know, a lifestyle where they've got a salon that just runs without them and stuff and everyone's motivations are so different, aren't they?
Speaker C:For sure, it's very different.
Speaker C:And also time changes, isn't it?
Speaker C:The times changes.
Speaker C:It's before pandemic, after pandemic.
Speaker C:There is, you know, I think what we, what we tend to do is we tend to forget what we dealt with before.
Speaker C:Recruitment is not a new issue.
Speaker C:It's definitely worse, but it's not a new issue.
Speaker C:It's been there for a long time.
Speaker C:You know the, the whole budget.
Speaker C:Yes, it's just been there for a long time and we have to watch budgets and yes, we tend to go into the.
Speaker C:It was better before mode when we are in a bit of a headspace of can't handle this.
Speaker C:So yeah, I find recently for sure there's a lot more definitely the last couple of years.
Speaker C:So 24, 20, weirdly enough, the pandemic allowed everyone to have a bit of a reset button, isn't it?
Speaker C:And I feel like the difficulties for sure 24, 25 is the budget is the, is, is the increase of everything.
Speaker C:It's the fears.
Speaker C:There's a lot more fears.
Speaker C: gotten how fearful we were in: Speaker C:So we do tend to forget what we've gone through.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:Because a lot of times, sue, as you know, we deal with the day to day operation and we deal with everyone that's, you know, can be difficult not, not turning up recruiting and.
Speaker A:But we know like you say those problems were there way before the pandemic and.
Speaker A:But I think the pandemic gives us, I think because it's such a landmark period of time that covered what probably really about 20 months of business.
Speaker A:I'm sure it was, it must be about.
Speaker A:Or was it longer?
Speaker A:It must be about 20 months.
Speaker A:Was it, I think until we could actually take the masks off, something like that.
Speaker A:And I think it, that it will sit everybody that went through that and it was something that we went through and we went through as a, as an industry went through as personal things in our lives with our families and our friends and, and it had such an impact on us in so many ways and I think I, I sometimes think.
Speaker A:I can't believe it was five years ago.
Speaker A:I know, it's just, it is mad.
Speaker A:But it has become this reference point of nothing.
Speaker A:Before COVID it was Covid and pandemic and then we've now got a new life.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:And you See that ripples of that everywhere, don't you, you, you do but yeah, you do.
Speaker C:And I always look at, you know, because I do so much one to one coaching, I look at January, gives me a bit of an idea of what the year is going to be looking like in terms of mindset and in terms what type of owners or, or am I going to coach.
Speaker C:And I felt last year was very fearful, you know, very fearful in terms of the cost rising and the ni and all of that and all the, the, the, the hidden costs that we hadn't perhaps accounted for.
Speaker C:And this year it, it was very much please get me out of my lease enough.
Speaker C:I don't want to recreate, recruit, present.
Speaker C:I just want to be on my own and you know, a lot of that happening.
Speaker C:Well, it's just equally so we can't, I can't generalize the whole industry to my clients.
Speaker C:It's probably also who I attract.
Speaker C:That is, yeah, what I'm, I'm seeing but I am definitely seeing a lot more kind of amphet up how can I change the way I'm working or whatever.
Speaker C:I think what we tend to also forget as an owner most probably is that the grass is always greener on the other side.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:So I'm dealing with, I'm dealing with extreme either extremely busy salon that don't even know where the growth is coming for or kind of really tough.
Speaker C:And when you've got those extreme, we think it's greener on the other side.
Speaker C:Oh, look at this person.
Speaker C:She's on her own, she's making 10 grand a month.
Speaker C:Surely that's a lot easier.
Speaker C:Yeah, I mean, yeah, it sounds great.
Speaker C:She doesn't have the headache of recruitment, doesn't have the headache of you know, managing the team.
Speaker C:But equally there's what happens if she's on holiday or he, or they, they're on holiday.
Speaker C:You know what happens when God forbid something happens to them, you know, if they, if they're ill or whatever.
Speaker C:So they also have their own issues, everyone issue to deal with.
Speaker A:Our industry is that you know, we are, we are women, a female led industry.
Speaker A:And so you know, and when you are a solo in that way and you, you know, you've, you've got your 10,000 pound months or whatever, 5,000amonth, whatever it is that you're earning that supporting your lifest style and you want to have a family or you find yourself expecting a baby when you weren't necessarily planning it, stuff like that.
Speaker A:So that can pull your whole world apart when you don't have a team.
Speaker A:And, and I do.
Speaker A:It is, isn't it?
Speaker A:We all, we all sit with that kind of.
Speaker A:Oh, I, I wish I was that.
Speaker A:Yeah, I wish I had it easier.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:And I think, you know, I did a talk not long ago and, and I kind of, I said to everyone, you know, look, I'm older than Google.
Speaker C:Yeah, when you're older than Google and you've seen life before Google and after Google, you.
Speaker C:I do believe in social media.
Speaker C:I do believe with the, the pressure we get nowadays is, is a lot tougher in some respect because it's coming to your phone every day.
Speaker C:You can be on Instagram, you can be on social, you can be, oh, but that's better.
Speaker C:Or surely I should have done that.
Speaker C:I didn't do that.
Speaker C:I should have done that.
Speaker C:And look at her and look at him and look at what's happening there.
Speaker C:And it just puts so much pressure on things that we feel we should have done.
Speaker C:And I'm seeing it more and more, this kind of internal pressure that, that I find, you know, quite in a way, I don't want to say disturbing, but, but I feel like we have to, to manage it.
Speaker C:We have to manage this anxiety and we have to manage who we are as a leader.
Speaker C:And I think that that becomes quite difficult when you are pulled in the world of the operation left, right and center.
Speaker C:You know, I was talking to someone not long ago, she said, yeah, buttery, I felt really good.
Speaker C:And the following day I Wake up, 7:30, boom.
Speaker C:I've got someone phoning up sick.
Speaker C:So, you know, what I planned then is not going to be happening because I need to now deal with that.
Speaker C:Yeah, I get it.
Speaker C:I get it's difficult and I understand the challenges, but they are solutions and coaching works very much.
Speaker C:When you're ready to, you know, you all in and you're ready to change the way you're perhaps processing things or focusing on or, or even I guess have a direction that perhaps you.
Speaker C:I don't feel a lot of owners are talked to have that direction.
Speaker A:And I think as well, you've got to be ready to change, haven't you?
Speaker A:When you, if you're gonna, if you're gonna work with someone who's gonna coach you or mentor you or consult or any of those things where you've got someone coming into your business to cast an eye over what you're doing, you have to be prepared for hearing things you may not want to hear, for hearing things that you probably knew were true.
Speaker A:But hiding From.
Speaker A:And I think.
Speaker A:And you.
Speaker A:But you've got to most of all embrace change, haven't you?
Speaker A:And I think that, yeah, maybe that, maybe that's one of the difficulties following the pandemic is that the pandemic, we had so much change management really rapidly and it was always change that was out of our control and sorry, my dog's just.
Speaker A:Sorry.
Speaker A:Sometimes my dogs appear on the podcast and this is one of those times because he's just saying, please, Mummy.
Speaker A:Yes, we just have.
Speaker A:Let me join us.
Speaker A:So that's enough, that's enough.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So I think that we were, we had so much enforced change and I think maybe that kind of.
Speaker A:Does that make us less able to ex.
Speaker A:To be open to change now is that we had to make all those changes then.
Speaker C:Yeah, I think, I think in a way when I deal with owners who have an anxiety.
Speaker C:So a lot of, A lot of, as I said, it's not representative necessarily of every owners out there for sure.
Speaker C:But.
Speaker C:And it's who I work with and who, who I tend to coach is this sense of, you know, I wake up in the morning, 5:30, I'm on the, I'm on the, I'm on the, you know, I'm on my phone, my emails, I need to do that.
Speaker C:I need to like the brain does not switch off.
Speaker C:And, and the minute you're not allowing yourself to put yourself in the middle of what you're going through, of who you are in your life, personal and professional, because personal and professional life is never separated.
Speaker C:It's always intertwined in some way or another.
Speaker C:So it's never, you know, you might go for something really intense at home that is going to affect you somehow at work you might.
Speaker C:So when you are kind of in that, in that, in that will that you cannot change those habits of putting yourself first, then you are constantly going to feel overwhelmed, tired and limit burnout.
Speaker C:And if not burnout at one point because your body will be like, you know what, that's it, I'm done.
Speaker C:I don't wake up anymore.
Speaker C:Whilst you're stressing yourself out, I'm just going to stay in bed now.
Speaker A:I find, and I mean I do myself, I'm a, I'm a, I'm a great one for waking up in the morning.
Speaker A:Phones by the bed.
Speaker A:Because I use it as an alarm nowadays, I have done for years.
Speaker A:And so I turn the alarm off if I haven't woken up two hours before the alarm because that's quite common nowadays.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker A:And if one of the first Things I do is check my socials.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:And I don't know what.
Speaker A:And I keep catching myself doing it and I'm like, why am I even doing that?
Speaker A:Because nowadays there isn't really anything of great interest on Facebook, let's be honest.
Speaker A:But it's become habitual and I think we forget that actually those things we hold in our hands are not really a phone.
Speaker A:They haven't, they have the option of using it as a phone, but they are actually a computer and that's what they are.
Speaker A:We are.
Speaker A:And so when we, when we have our phone in our hands, we're actually, oh, let me just turn my computer on as I wake up.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:And we kind of, I think sometimes we just need to change our view of what it is that we're holding in our hand.
Speaker A:Because my husband's always like, you're always on your phone.
Speaker A:And I'm like, no, I'm working because I've got a computer in my hand and I'm actually doing my canva, doing, you know, I'm doing my marketing or whatever I'm doing.
Speaker A:He forgets because he's still, because he's quite old school, he still sees it as a phone.
Speaker A:He doesn't really use it for anything else and, and so he doesn't understand the complexity of what it is I'm doing on my phone.
Speaker A:And I think as business owners we literally cannot stop being on them.
Speaker A:Is addictive.
Speaker A:You're looking for, have your clients liked your post?
Speaker A:Have they responded?
Speaker A:You messaged somebody back, did they respond to you?
Speaker A:And it's all of those.
Speaker A:I mean so much of it is very, very chemical based and psycho psychological based because it's about dopamine and reward and all of that kind of stuff.
Speaker A:Yeah, for sure we can break that cycle.
Speaker C:I strongly believe that work can become an addiction.
Speaker C:I really strongly believe that we, we are, we function the way we function because we believe there's going to, that's, that's, that's going to change something.
Speaker C:So for example, I did a video not long ago where, you know, I'm talking to quite a lot of clients who have got cash flow is cash flow issues and every single one of them will ask if I say to them, do you look at your banking morning and night?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker C:Why?
Speaker C:Well, I don't know, you know, it's not going to change from one more from the morning at 9 o' clock to 7 o' clock.
Speaker C:The chances are you know what's coming out when you kind of know in Your head.
Speaker C:But you, you, you kind of chances are you ask, but you want that reassurance.
Speaker C:And like you said, the Instagram, whatever, it's just going to give you the, the reassurance.
Speaker C:But what it does in a mindset point of view is that it becomes habit.
Speaker C:That feeds that anxiety and that feeds the anxiety of who you are as an owner.
Speaker C:And you're not putting yourself first because, you know, if you want to look at I believe and, and I see it more and more, if I believe that Trump is amazing, I'm going to find my whole social media saying Trump is amazing.
Speaker C:If I'm saying Trump is a awful man, I'm going to see all sorts of things about Trump being an informat because if I'm going to see what I want to see on social, I'm gonna, I'm gonna be bombarded with stuff that is, you know, is, is sometimes a lot of time out of your control because it's all algorithm and everything else.
Speaker C:I'm not going to go into that.
Speaker C:But.
Speaker A:No, no, no, no.
Speaker A:We've done a lot this season.
Speaker C:Yeah, but it's all very much like he's fed to you.
Speaker C:So unless you as a leader are able to put yourself very calmly in a self controlled manner in how you generate your habits, your focus, you can find the excitement back into your life, into your role, into what you do and you can have intention of feeling that the, the business is running for you rather than you running for the business.
Speaker C:You're, you shouldn't be the business.
Speaker C:So I guess that's what I do.
Speaker C:I help owners.
Speaker C:No, I guess it's what I do.
Speaker C:I help owners to really delve down into who they are because we do budgets and we understand figures and we do structure, structure, structure.
Speaker C:I'm obsessed with structure.
Speaker C:I'm obsessed with operation.
Speaker C:Because I believe that leadership is not going to flourish on if it's a complete chaos around you and the structure is not right.
Speaker C:So your leadership needs to be able to flourish.
Speaker C:But I think that, that it's, it's a matter of you as an owner.
Speaker C:Because I can, I can give you the tools and you've got all sorts of tools.
Speaker C:Someone introduced me to a new to do list.
Speaker C:Stuff like, oh my God, it's amazing.
Speaker C:Yeah, looks amazing.
Speaker C:I don't really necessarily care about the tools that you're using.
Speaker C:I care more about how.
Speaker C:How do you take that time to manage your to do list?
Speaker C:How do you take that time to put yourself in the middle?
Speaker C:Because the irony of it or Suit really of our beautiful industry is that we deal with wellness.
Speaker C:So we literally deal with wellness.
Speaker C:So it's a little, we have a say that, you know, says.
Speaker C:There's a say that says the shoemaker always have the worst shoes.
Speaker C:Yes, exactly the same when it comes to, when it comes to us in the wellness industry, you know, and I just done a video today of like, if you were a client, you're the client, you've got you in front of you.
Speaker C:What advice would you give you?
Speaker C:I know what you would say to them.
Speaker C:You'd say, take a massage every month.
Speaker C:You need to come and see me.
Speaker C:You need to take time out, you need to go for walks.
Speaker C:And do we do that?
Speaker C:Do we do that in the sense that we're actually switching off or are we on the phone quickly just to make sure we're okay?
Speaker A:Yeah, I know, I know it's something that I, I advocate a lot and I was, I was kind of had this, this indoctrinated into me when I did my holistic therapy qualification years ago by my tutor Karen.
Speaker A:And, and she always said to us, like, the advice, whenever you advise anybody, listen to the advice that you give because will always be advice that your soul is trying to get to you.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:And it's so, so true.
Speaker A:And I, I've, I've considered it so many times over the year and I'm going, oh, what if you do.
Speaker A:Especially with what we do for a living.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:And you are sitting there, you know, I'm forever saying to my clients, you need to have a massage if you can.
Speaker A:At least ever, at least once a month.
Speaker A:And I am, I am quite good.
Speaker A:I have, I had a period of time where I did stop for a little while, but I am getting back in the habit now of trying to go back to my monthly massages.
Speaker A:I did it for years and I was always, I was, I always tried to be kind to myself and lead by ex example when it came to my clients.
Speaker A:Like, look, I go and do this.
Speaker A:So if I go and do this.
Speaker C:Yeah, you should.
Speaker A:I'm speaking from experience, please go do it.
Speaker A:And I think we, we're all so quick to make excuses.
Speaker A:And you saying about going for walks.
Speaker A:I do, I try and walk my dogs every day and I walk in the forest where there's no, generally there's no signals, but I still find myself wandering around dropping notes to people because I can still do that.
Speaker C:Yeah, because you've got the time.
Speaker A:My brain's going to.
Speaker A:And I'm thinking, I just need to tell that person this and.
Speaker A:Yeah, and sometimes I really wish I didn't take my phone with me.
Speaker A:But because I walk solo in a forest, I can't really not take my phone with me just in case anything happens.
Speaker C:I'm big, I'm, I'm not pushing sounds the wrong word.
Speaker C:But I'm really advising my clients to do is to have a personal and a professional phone.
Speaker C:So in your personal phone you end up having what's essential.
Speaker C:No social, you know, you just have a phone.
Speaker C:Like you said, you can't just walk on your own without a phone.
Speaker C:But you then just have.
Speaker C:Maybe I have audible on mine where I just listen to some nice, you know, books or, or podcasts or whatever.
Speaker C:But it becomes your little haven and it becomes your little time for yourself that you give yourself because otherwise it's just very easy.
Speaker C:Oh, I'm here, I'm walking, I may as well.
Speaker C:And we don't the less structured we are, weirdly enough.
Speaker C:I mean time management is one of the number one thing that I do with my clients regardless of who they are.
Speaker C:Because usually when there is an overwhelmed situation, it's a time management that's just overwhelmed in itself.
Speaker C:So it's number one.
Speaker C:But yeah, usually it's giving yourself that headspace.
Speaker C:So you know, I keep saying to everyone that wants to hear it, the key to time management, it's not the latest app, it's not how the system you're using.
Speaker C:I don't really mind what you're using.
Speaker C:I'm old fashioned in the way I'm using my time management, my tool rather.
Speaker C:But I take two hours aside every week is booked in my diary and I take two hours for me put headphones on, I've got my work, my personal phone, put some nice music that empowers me and I just revisit my to do list.
Speaker C:What happened last week, what's happening this week?
Speaker C:Week, you know, what do I need to focus on?
Speaker C:How do I function?
Speaker C:What have what was, what made me feel a bit down on Thursday and what was what was.
Speaker C:And I just really take that time.
Speaker C:What actually was exciting on Monday, what happened there.
Speaker C:It, it just becomes quite strong and positive because you, you putting yourself in the middle and it's, it's just really enough to, It's a very difficult habit to have because a lot of.
Speaker C:Yes, yes, you do.
Speaker C:But it's just finding those two hours.
Speaker A:It is.
Speaker A:I tend to find I, I like if when I do have those moments where I wake up super early before my alarm clock And I do try to sort of take those opportunities because it's, that to me is like a sort of a gifted time.
Speaker A:A bit like when you're in the salon, everyone complains about when someone cancels last minute, but to me, when I had my business, it was always like, actually, I can breathe now.
Speaker A:And it's like.
Speaker A:And the thing is they're going to rebook anyway because they're like a regular client.
Speaker C:So.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah, not really losing.
Speaker A:I've just, I've just gained an hour that I then.
Speaker A:But it's like a moment myself.
Speaker C:Like.
Speaker C:I spoke to someone literally last yesterday.
Speaker C:Who she was just, she just said something.
Speaker C:I said, what do you mean shopping?
Speaker C:Said, yeah, when I go and do the shopping for the salon.
Speaker C:I said, what do you mean you do the shopping for the salon?
Speaker C:She said, well, yeah, because, you know, I, I, we've got a shop next to our salon, but it's a bit more pricey, so I like to go to the supermarket.
Speaker C:I said, how long does it take you?
Speaker C:She said, about, they say an hour.
Speaker C:It's okay.
Speaker C:How often do you go?
Speaker C:Every week.
Speaker C:That's four hours.
Speaker C:In a month you're gonna.
Speaker C:Have you heard of online online shopping?
Speaker C:Just go online shopping.
Speaker C:Oh, yeah, it's £10.
Speaker C:It'd be the best 40 quid you've ever spent because you've just given you for four hours in the month that you can actually do your reflection time.
Speaker C:Actually do do some work if you want to, but it's just cutting the habits that actually don't serve us.
Speaker C:And we tend to be very emotional as, as an industry in some ways.
Speaker C:We also have to be fair.
Speaker C:Personal stuff that can be happening that is also in fi, you know, affecting our work and the way we need to do things.
Speaker C:So it can be difficult.
Speaker C:It definitely can be difficult.
Speaker C:It's not, it's not because I feel like I'm the queen of time management.
Speaker C:I'm going to get it right every week, you know, but if you don't reflect, if you don't give it yourself that, that headspace, you will feel that you are the hamster in that world.
Speaker C:And that's, to me, the best gift you can give yourself is to put yourself in the middle of your life, I guess, and the decision making becomes a hell of a lot easier.
Speaker A:Is, I think that whole time management thing is so important, isn't it?
Speaker A:And just allotting time.
Speaker A:I used to, in the days when I did have my salon, I would have, you know, like I used to not take clients on a Tuesday because that was my time when I'd sit, I'd go look, do any of my stock ordering, anything I needed to do that needed attention.
Speaker A:I do my admin, I do a bit of my accounts but I used to take time out so I had time to focus on something other than being client facing or something other than like, you know, doing something with the team or whatever.
Speaker A:And I think we do kind of forget that we do need those opportunities to look at the business, look at ourselves and work everything out.
Speaker A:And it is a reflection is just such a valuable thing as a business owner, isn't it?
Speaker C:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker C:It really is.
Speaker C:And I think that, that a lot of time it's definitely the gift that you can give you yourself.
Speaker C:And also I think that with coaching, for example, I see the benefits in a sense that it gives them someone else who isn't in the business to give them a perspective that they might not have thought about.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So when you're close to it, it's very difficult sometimes, isn't it, to see this.
Speaker A:It's just to see what's actually under your nose, isn't it?
Speaker A:And whether or not things are good.
Speaker A:Like you say, you sit in a place where you're constantly obsessing over how this is looking in the bank, how this is looking on the, how things going, how your team performing and when you have, when you're so close to it, sometimes you really can't see the positives because it does start to feel that you're thinking because you're over, you are overwhelmed.
Speaker A:And so when you work with people then.
Speaker A:So basically one of the first things you do is just start getting them to like look at the time they're spending on different areas of the business and.1 million.
Speaker C:Yeah, it's structure and time management.
Speaker C:They're the first two things I look at.
Speaker C:And also, you know, I was talking to a new client yesterday and, and then she started talking to me about another business that is a franchise.
Speaker C:So she's got two and this other one of her friends in the franchise got four.
Speaker C:I said, but she's amazing and she's doing that and she doesn't need to do this.
Speaker C:And she's going to live in, you know, in Spain and she's.
Speaker C:Yeah, but, yeah, but you don't know the circumstances behind.
Speaker C:She might have had a husband that was, you know, feeding some budgets for her.
Speaker C:She might have, you know, a team that's been there for a long time.
Speaker C:You can't, you.
Speaker C:So the Comparison is very much what I'm dealing with as well.
Speaker C:At the beginning, where we need to.
Speaker C:We need to really stop wishing for better things.
Speaker C:We just need to be more.
Speaker C:You know, I work with quite a few Americans where, oh, my God, it's, like, amazing, you know, I just.
Speaker C:I want a vision multiplied by, like, 10.
Speaker C:I can't do an American accent, but I want to do like a.
Speaker C:You know, I want to have a vision multiplied by 10.
Speaker C:Like, I don't want a house, I want, like, a wrench, you know, and it's like, yeah, it's great to have those big visions.
Speaker C:It's great to wish for something bigger and better, and that's what we want in our business.
Speaker C:But equally, it's also very important to, you know, if you're feeling overwhelmed, if you're feeling in a place where it's not aligned with who you are and who you want to be, you need to start slowly but surely.
Speaker C:And slowly but surely means you need to reassess where you're at.
Speaker C:You need to revisit your time management.
Speaker C:You need to look at the structure.
Speaker C:Is that structure helping you?
Speaker C:And you could be on your own.
Speaker C:I work with solo.
Speaker C:I work with all sorts of sizes and shapes of businesses.
Speaker C:I work with solo entrepreneurs who are on their own.
Speaker C:You know, if you're doing your VAT on a Sunday, ask your accountant, how much does it take for him to do it?
Speaker C:And if it's an extra hundred quid, build the best hundred quid you've ever spent.
Speaker C:So you've got to reassess and assess all the time.
Speaker C:So I take those two hours to reflect every month.
Speaker C:I take a day, day to reflect on the months, and every quarter, it takes two days to reflect on the quarter.
Speaker C:And every year, I take a whole week to do my strategy for the next year.
Speaker A:I was just gonna say there's a guy I follow, Mo Galda, and he actually takes.
Speaker A:I can't think how long it is now.
Speaker A:I think it is actually quite a long time.
Speaker A:I think once a year, he.
Speaker A:I'm sure it's something like 40 days.
Speaker C:I mean, I'd love to do that.
Speaker C:I want to get to that for sure.
Speaker A:I've heard him talk about it.
Speaker A:Or not.
Speaker A:I heard him talk about it.
Speaker A:I think he said.
Speaker A:Spoke about it on his interview with Stephen Bartlett on Diary of.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And I know I heard him talk about it.
Speaker A:Expert empires.
Speaker A:And I'm sure it's a really long time.
Speaker A:And it's something that's sort of like nearly biblical in the time, like the.
Speaker A:When Jesus goes off into the.
Speaker C:I mean, that's amazing.
Speaker A:But he goes off and he does this silent retreat and he literally takes himself away.
Speaker A:There's no.
Speaker A:Nothing.
Speaker A:He's off grid.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:And all he does is think.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:I mean that.
Speaker C:Isn't that heaven?
Speaker C:The, the main thing sometimes who I feel with.
Speaker C:You know, I've read so many books on time management.
Speaker C:I read the latest one I read was.
Speaker C:Well, it was a few years back now, but it was.
Speaker C:It's called the One Thing, which is a brilliant book, you know, on, on kind of Focus and Time Management.
Speaker C:What I find sometimes in the, in the books or the podcasts that you're listening that are inspiring and I love it.
Speaker C:I love Stephen Bartlett.
Speaker C:I love a lot of stuff that, that, that comes out.
Speaker C:But sometimes it feels that it's very far away from where I'm at.
Speaker C:And also the pressure of the life that we might go through is not reflective of, you know, of, of.
Speaker C:Of who I am as a.
Speaker C:As.
Speaker C:So it feels far away.
Speaker C:So it does generate a lot of frustration, a lot of, you know, desires that we don't have.
Speaker C:So we feel like we're not good enough.
Speaker C:We don't, we don't, we're not, we're never going to get there, etc.
Speaker C:And I think that's, I guess when I, when you say, what do I start with?
Speaker C:It is time management.
Speaker C:It is structure and it's also stopping wishing for something that at this stage right now, you're not able to, to give yourself this, this gift.
Speaker C:And it might happen and it would happen maybe in a year or two, but if we can restore a sense of calmness and a sense of, of passion back into your life, which a lot of owners deal with, is that some of them have too much passion and is shooting everywhere and is going a little bit too everywhere.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:And we need to woo.
Speaker C:Let's just calm it down because again, if you've got that calm element to it, I believe things will attract to you where you, you know, in a better headspace.
Speaker C:Please.
Speaker C:You know, I think with the clients that are doing extremely well, where the growth is extremely powerful, where they're not seeing where it comes from, they've also got fears, the fears that it's going to stop from one day to the next.
Speaker C:They fear that suddenly they're not going to be able to pay anyone again like this.
Speaker C:They've also got fears.
Speaker C:They've got fears that if they let go of something then, you know, it's all Going to crumble.
Speaker C:They feel fearful of, you know, of competition.
Speaker C:So, as I said earlier, it doesn't matter the size of shapes, of who you are, where you are.
Speaker C:Even when you're on your own, you've got your own fears.
Speaker C:I think that is managing those fears.
Speaker C:Managing.
Speaker C:And that's why I call it the leadership.
Speaker C:You'll really become the leader of your life and your business.
Speaker C:Whether you've got a team, no team doesn't matter whether you're successful and this.
Speaker C:The growth is there, or whether you're struggling.
Speaker C:It's you.
Speaker C:It goes back and forth on you.
Speaker A:And I think one of the key things that I'm kind of going through my head as you're saying all of that, and one of the things that we need to consider on a daily basis is be.
Speaker A:Is.
Speaker A:Is the act of being grateful for when, you know.
Speaker A:And looking back at what we've already achieved, to be in the place we are now.
Speaker A:And I was talking to someone this morning, actually, and I was having a conversation and we were both saying.
Speaker A:We both had a really, really busy week and it's.
Speaker A:And I had a very difficult situation yesterday at home that I had to deal with, and it's put me way behind everything.
Speaker A:But I was saying to her this morning, I've got a board up in my kitchen like a blackboard, and on there at the moment is written one step at a time.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Because my life at the moment, I've got about 3,000 steps, is what it feels like.
Speaker A:Every five minutes, there's another 10 I need to be doing.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And I can't.
Speaker A:There's only me.
Speaker A:I can't go any faster.
Speaker A:I can't do more than I can do in that one moment.
Speaker A:And so I've got that.
Speaker A:So it's by my kitchen sink.
Speaker A:So every time I look up, I see it and remind myself that it's just me.
Speaker A:I'm doing my best and.
Speaker A:Yeah, and be grateful for where you are.
Speaker C:Exactly.
Speaker C:And, you know, when we talk about leadership, and I do talk a lot about the soft skills that are important, so time management being one of them, communication is.
Speaker C:I mean, that's a whole webinar in itself.
Speaker C:You know, delegation is, again, huge.
Speaker C:But the ones that I like to focus on is flexibility.
Speaker C:If your flexibility in your.
Speaker C:If you're flexible in the way you're thinking and processing and you're not looking at a challenge in front of you, like you said, like, I feel like I've got loads of steps, you know, if we're looking at Those steps that this is great opportunity.
Speaker C:Let's start looking at the priorities of those steps to get you where you want to get to get that direction.
Speaker C:But perhaps something, boom happened like you said yesterday, boom, something's happening and it's taken you a bit back because you was meant to do that.
Speaker C:Well, that's okay because that was a priority at that time and, and therefore you've done the priority that you needed to deal with.
Speaker C:You know, it's important to, to know that we don't.
Speaker C:I think that it's important to, to, to look at, at change being a, a fundamentally I believe therefore reason and it's, therefore isn't.
Speaker C:It's something.
Speaker C:Whatever you believe in universe and, and you know, and, and perhaps your intuition, which is very important, something guiding you to something that, that potentially is better for you potentially will need to, you know.
Speaker C:But, but it, but it is your protection of that mindset that is extremely important.
Speaker C:And appreciating, I guess the day to day, you know, appreciating the present moment.
Speaker C:And I think that's to me a huge step towards leadership when you are flexible in the way you're thinking.
Speaker C:Flexible in like, okay, I wanted to do that, but that's okay.
Speaker C:That's priority.
Speaker C:Let me do that now.
Speaker C:Yeah, that come up.
Speaker C:Yeah, I'm gonna.
Speaker C:And you feeling you're putting less pressure on yourself ultimately.
Speaker A:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker A:So when you're working.
Speaker A:So one of the things that you do talk about quite a lot with your, with, with your clients.
Speaker A:I know is part of what your book was about is that don't do it yourself stuff.
Speaker A:Because we, we're all so prone to just going.
Speaker A:And I know I, my husband said to me the other day, why are you doing that?
Speaker A:And I'm like, because if I ask you to do it, I think I'll explain to you how to do it.
Speaker A:And we all know that we do that.
Speaker A:And I think especially as business owners, it's kind of our baby and we want to do it because we know we're going to do it.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:See, other people are able to do things well as well.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:And also I think when we micromanage, you know, as I said to you earlier, you know, I didn't, I wanted to write about leadership, but I wasn't, I wasn't necessarily going to take the micromanagement route.
Speaker C:And it was, you know, it was before pandemic and pandemic hit and I just, obviously it just goes so frantic.
Speaker C:We, it was just frantic.
Speaker C:So I could put that aside for a minute and then really analyze what was going on in the owner's mindset at the time.
Speaker C:And I thought it's micromanagement, like, you know, pure micromanagement.
Speaker C:Because we are feeling that it's better if I do it myself, it's quicker.
Speaker C:I don't need to hire someone, it's not going to cost me time, effort and money.
Speaker C:And you know, and, and I do believe that we need to be micromanagers for some aspect of our business.
Speaker C:Absolutely.
Speaker C:I'm not saying micromanagement is not, is, is completely out of the question.
Speaker C:I do believe there's some elements that we do need to micromanage because you want them to be done correctly, but it is your follow up if you're delegating something, it is your structure.
Speaker C:Who does what, when, how.
Speaker C:It's so important to have that right.
Speaker C:Even if you work on your own.
Speaker C:Who does what, when, how?
Speaker C:You know, if you have a social media, I'm going to get someone to do my social and it can be, but you still need to feed them information.
Speaker C:So there is, there is still some micromanagement is a better micromanagement because you're actually physically doing everything under the sun and that's so important.
Speaker C:So in my book I kind of go through a lot of the soft skills that I believe are important as a leader, but also which is as I said, your time management, communication, delegation, flexibility and resilience is also something I'm strongly passionate about.
Speaker C:And actually I say in the book that when I first really looked into resilience as a soft skill, it came up as a, a, a revolution or something.
Speaker C:It's.
Speaker C:Oh, that's interesting.
Speaker C:You're, ah, okay, yes, maybe I do, I do need to look into that bit more.
Speaker C:I think ultimately when you're resilient into your business, into, into who you are, it doesn't mean you need to be a micromanager.
Speaker C:It means that you're, you're strong, you're growing, you're learning from your mistakes.
Speaker C:If you hired someone to do something, they haven't done it, why didn't they do it?
Speaker C:What happened?
Speaker C:What can you do better?
Speaker C:But I say it again and again, a system is not a system if it relies on one person.
Speaker C:It's not a system because you will end up with your work phone and in on the beach somewhere because you want to check what's going on.
Speaker C:And the worst is you have the videos of the, the video surveillance of what's going on in the salon.
Speaker C:You can, you can't even.
Speaker A:I know.
Speaker A:I'm so glad I didn't.
Speaker A:I only put that in.
Speaker A:Into my business.
Speaker A:I think I can't.
Speaker A:What happened?
Speaker A:Something.
Speaker A:Oh, we had a burglary and.
Speaker A:And so I put them in then.
Speaker A: Probably about: Speaker A:We had a burglary.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:So I put them in then.
Speaker A:But I.
Speaker A:Yeah, I did have an app on my phone.
Speaker A:I have to say, I resisted the temptation to look at it because it is a dangerous road to go down.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's a dangerous room because it.
Speaker A:And also it's another thing that becomes addictive because you want to just check.
Speaker C:Because you're not trusting the process.
Speaker C:And that's pure micromanagement in the first place.
Speaker C:You know, I think that's the, the.
Speaker C:I believe that it, it goes through the customer journey and the staff journey.
Speaker C:They're the heart of the business.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:Any businesses, a coach or the businesses and then salon owners, you know, and it doesn't matter is the customer journey and the staff journey.
Speaker C:If you, if you service industry, it's going to be like that.
Speaker C:So, so if you've got those rights and you've got your structure, right, your business is not dependent on you and that's the best leadership you can get to, but you've got to get there.
Speaker C:And sometimes that's what feels very, very far away.
Speaker A:And I think as well, one of the things that I think salon owners find quite difficult and in that, that delegation role, which I know you really strongly advocate for, is like, you know, how what I suppose some of it comes from recruitment is having a team that you know you can trust or having a manager that you can trust, having a, like, you know, senior therapist that you can trust to step up and do whatever.
Speaker A:And, and I think it's like I said, what kind of tips would you give people to.
Speaker A:To be able to relinquish the control?
Speaker A:Because that's what so much of this is, is about controlling everything.
Speaker A:And when you, when you need to let that control go, know you have to trust the process.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:I guess, I guess for me is again, when we talk about flexibility, what worked five years ago might not work now, you know, so maybe you don't have the budget, the budget for full manager and you've had a manager before and this just didn't work and blah, blah, blah.
Speaker C:Or maybe she left you and you was really disappointed.
Speaker C:It's not been what may be the structure.
Speaker A:Sorry, next dog's just arrived.
Speaker A:Sorry, Valerie.
Speaker C:That's all right.
Speaker C:So maybe you have got, you know, you have got a manager and she left you or whatever, and.
Speaker C:And you've got a bad taste in your mouth about what happened with, with that manager.
Speaker C:And maybe you're big, you.
Speaker C:You're shy into getting into a new manager.
Speaker C:Well, the flexibility is that what is it that I need to look after as an owner and what is it that needs to be delegated?
Speaker C:Were there some managers, whether it's personal assistant, whether it's a va now there's AI that's kind of really taking over a lot of our jobs, which is, in terms of.
Speaker C:In a good way, you know, you don't necessarily need to hire all sorts of things, but maybe you've got a PA that helps you.
Speaker C:Maybe it doesn't take the shape of an actual manager, maybe it takes the shape of a receptionist that's super hot in terms of what she's doing to help you, but you're giving her that time to do it.
Speaker C:So that flexibility allows you to revisit.
Speaker C:Is the structure still serving me?
Speaker C:And my advice is that every single January, no matter what happens, and I've done that till since I've been a manager, January, for me was an assessment of what happened last year, an assessment of my structure and my procedures.
Speaker C:Is my structure still serving me and are my procedures still on point?
Speaker C:And if I need to tweak it.
Speaker C:Actually, you know what?
Speaker C:That role didn't work.
Speaker C:Actually.
Speaker C:That role can be blended into that role can be given to that.
Speaker C:It becomes an assessment to serve you, not to pile more work on you.
Speaker C:That's not what it's for.
Speaker A:Yeah, because I think it's inside.
Speaker A:Because I think the, you know, everything you're talking about, you can just see.
Speaker A:And I suppose because I've been a salon owner, I can kind of see where it all slots in.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:That, you know, if you've got your.
Speaker A:If you've got your.
Speaker A:If your procedures are correct, then your staff are going to know you're going to have your standard operating procedures manual or whatever.
Speaker A:You may start with that.
Speaker A:Yours, your.
Speaker A:Your team come in and they learn how your business runs.
Speaker A:Because every salon's different.
Speaker A:Doesn't matter whether you are a high street salon or whether you're a local parade of shops, every salon, or even if you've got four salons in a high street, they're all going to be different because they've got a different leader and they've all got different products and different services on their menu.
Speaker A:They're all going to be different.
Speaker A:So every therapist or employee has to understand all of the different procedures.
Speaker A:And once the, and, and they have, at the lowest level they'll have one set of procedures.
Speaker A:The next level up they'll have those procedures plus a few more.
Speaker A:And so it goes on, isn't it?
Speaker A:And that's the beauty of having that pyramid of, of delegation where you're.
Speaker A:And you just letting it flow down.
Speaker C:But procedures are only as good as if they, I call them brought to life.
Speaker C:You know, so we implement them correctly, we talk about them, we, we, you know, make them sign when it's necessary.
Speaker C:We go back to them.
Speaker C:I think what was happening lately is we so scared of, of recruitment that we are allowing things to happen and the leadership becomes very kind of subdued because we scared that they're going to just run away and we're finding it hard to find someone else.
Speaker C:And that's been going on, on for sometimes, to be fair, this kind of, this kind of.
Speaker C:But it's becoming a little bit more difficult because recruitment is more difficult.
Speaker C:So, so I think I always go to, you know, the.
Speaker C:What is the worst case scenario that's going to happen?
Speaker C:You know, what, what is your worst case scenario?
Speaker C:Because chances are you're very far away from that.
Speaker C:Yeah, generally, you know, generally very far away.
Speaker C:Your mind just goes through dramatic, you know, I'm going to leave under the bridge kind of attitude to actually, it's not that bad.
Speaker C:I can actually do it with just me and one, that one, one staff member.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:So that's your worst case scenario.
Speaker C:So once we know the worst case scenario, once we can reassure that brain in terms of it's okay.
Speaker C:And again it goes back to the anxiety where your habits will change.
Speaker C:The anxiety that you might feel at the moment.
Speaker C:If you don't control that anxiety, it will take over.
Speaker C:And going onto your funnel of that is going to take over.
Speaker C:You know, the anxiety is going to be there before you even kind of say hello to anyone.
Speaker C:So, so we've got to look at it into a.
Speaker C:Even if you function very well and you've got a strong cash flow and you're feeling good, you still got a pressure and, and a lot of time is that you, you've got the pressure to do even stronger and better figures and better numbers because the rise of, of the costs and everything else, so bigger is not always better.
Speaker C:So it has to go back to you, it really has to go back to you, how you function, how you, how you, how you process things.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And I think there's something you say there that has kind of come up and it's probably me that brings up because it's something that kind of comes into my mind with so many people I've spoken to over this season.
Speaker A:And there's been a lot of conversations around anxiety.
Speaker A:And I had an anxiety specialist on, someone I've done some training with with actually Cooper.
Speaker A:And he has got this philosophy and it's a really true philosophy that our mind is literally making up an anxiety comes from that projection into the future where you are imagining an outcome that isn't real.
Speaker A:It's not real until.
Speaker A:Until it's here and it's in front of you, it's not real.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And we spend our lives obsessing over these things that some part of our subconscious puts in front of our projector screen to say this could happen.
Speaker A:But in actual fact there's another thousand scenarios that could happen.
Speaker A:Worse, could be better, could be the most amazing thing you've ever experienced.
Speaker A:But for some reason your subconscious like connects with those negative images to create anxiety.
Speaker A:And when you realize that those thoughts in your head are just your imagination and the reality is what's in front of you right here, right now, that's what you have to act with and that's what.
Speaker A:That's the only thing that you can respond to.
Speaker C:And that's why the feeding of the anxiety.
Speaker C:And I love this because I think that that kind of goes back to your feeding your anxiety by creating habits that are not supporting you and by not having the right supports around you, by not not letting go.
Speaker C:I was talking to a client of mine who it's an old fashioned, you know, nothing to do with industry delicatism.
Speaker C:And I'm busy, I'm so busy, I'm so busy.
Speaker C:And then when you just really look into it, well, you're still doing a till where every Sunday you have to go through as I'm sure there's something that we can find that is going to be press of a button is 20, 25.
Speaker C:But turns out when you really dig down further that extra day that I was giving her on a Sunday to have that freedom, she doesn't really know what to do with it.
Speaker C:I don't actually know what to do with it.
Speaker C:I'd rather I just sit there and I may as well do something.
Speaker C:And I think so we.
Speaker C:We end up.
Speaker C:That's why I believe work can be an addiction because we end up creating habits that we know are not necessarily good for us, but we may as well.
Speaker C:And.
Speaker C:And it feeds into that wheel again.
Speaker C:So I guess by installing more Calm habits, more calmness into your leadership role.
Speaker C:No matter what it is.
Speaker C:You will feel so much more into, in, in control in a way, but in a good control of what you're doing.
Speaker C:You'll feel so much more present when you see your, your team, your clients.
Speaker C:You'll feel so much more present because your mind won't be into I need to do thousand emails before and yeah, and it is possible but as we said, you've just got to be all in, which is.
Speaker A:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker A:And I think you gave me a quote that you, that you use about leadership isn't about doing it all.
Speaker A:It's about creating a space to others for others to rise.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Everything we've talked about today really is in that quote, isn't it?
Speaker C:It's just, it's exactly that.
Speaker C:And if we, we shouldn't be afraid, afraid of other, of the people's success around us, I think we should see it as a, as a, as perhaps inspiration.
Speaker C:But I think if it feels.
Speaker C:Do you know, a lot of time actually what I'm talking a lot this year with my clients is alignment.
Speaker C:Let's get aligned with your business because a lot of time we just a little bit, just don't know.
Speaker C:I'm not sure the passion is not there.
Speaker C:The, the fire in the belly is not there.
Speaker C:And maybe that's because.
Speaker C:Right, let's get the operation right and then we'll focus on what is going to ignit, ignite that passion again.
Speaker C:And realignment into your business to me is going to make you feel quite, quite strong and quite, I want to say, you know, secure I guess, for the future.
Speaker C:Because even if you want to sell your business, let's say we talk a lot to owners was like, please get me out of here.
Speaker C:I've just got two years of my list.
Speaker C:What can I do?
Speaker C:You know, even if you, if you have that headspace, it doesn't matter if you want to get rid of the business now or you want to get rid of the business in five years time, your mindset has to be so strong because if not you will, you will take this experience as failure and you will bring that failure into the next project or whatever else that you will do.
Speaker C:So your mindset will come back and haunt you in six months time, a year time, etc.
Speaker C:So if you don't work on who you are now as a leader, now as, as you, I think that whether you sell the business, whether, whether you don't, chances are is that you, you will not.
Speaker C:I don't want to say not succeed, but you will have a much harder time to succeed on the next venture.
Speaker C:And, you know, I'd like to.
Speaker C:To kind of finish on the sense that there is no right and wrong.
Speaker C:There's decisions to make, and once you've made that decision, it's the right one.
Speaker C:And a lot of times when I work with owners or of any companies, to be honest, is once they start feeling better, they don't really want to get rid of their business.
Speaker C:They don't really want to.
Speaker C:They just want it to feel better and to.
Speaker C:And to.
Speaker C:And to actually allow them to work as what they want to do.
Speaker A:But basically, I think, isn't it.
Speaker A:And I think that, you know, you want to feel confident in.
Speaker A:And you want to feel confident in yourself, but also in your business, that it can deliver what you want it to deliver.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:I think sometimes that, like you say that realignment just kind of helps bring that clarity back and just bring you that recognition of actually know.
Speaker A:Do you know all this amazing stuff I've done?
Speaker A:I quite often get people to write, like a record of achievement.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:And whether that's learning to walk or whether it's your first badge at Girl Guides or whatever it may be, or this award you won for your salon, or you've got all these qualifications, but just sometimes just to sit and.
Speaker A:And write a reflective list of some of the stuff that you've achieved.
Speaker A:That's great because from that comes, you know, a confidence in how you can be there visibly for your staff, pushing the business that you love and that you've built and that giving them the inspiration, the passion to help you do it.
Speaker C:I love that.
Speaker C:I love that.
Speaker C:Actually, someone told me yesterday, which I thought was so cool, she said that she started doing.
Speaker C:After someone started with them, a new staff member does matter in what level capacity, they ask a month later, could you do a wow.
Speaker C:A wow list?
Speaker C:And it's a wow list of wow.
Speaker C:I didn't have that in my last job.
Speaker C:Or wow, I'm amazed with that.
Speaker C:Or wow, I didn't know this was happening.
Speaker C:Or wow.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:Surprise.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:So she gets all sorts of wows going on, but she said it makes them feel engaged and it makes them feel that, you know, they're part of.
Speaker C:Of the team in a way, and sometimes they come up with stuff that's quite interesting, I thought.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Because.
Speaker A:And also it's very easy.
Speaker A:You know what?
Speaker A:And it's so funny you say that, because I've just been having a conversation with someone this morning about how Wells can be taken in different ways.
Speaker A:And how without next.
Speaker C:We are so reminded every time we talk there's something like.
Speaker A:Yeah, but without context.
Speaker A:A wow can be amazing or it can be dreadful.
Speaker C:Totally.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:So she, she wants to hear the good and the bad and the ugly.
Speaker C:And I think that's quite, as a leader, I find that quite, quite strong.
Speaker C:I feel that because sometimes you, you.
Speaker A:Do need to hear where other people see something that could be improved upon.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Because again, your head, your head is so in the sand.
Speaker C:And I can see when I work with my members, especially for a while, I can see when their head is in the sand.
Speaker C:It's very nice and warm.
Speaker C:I'm just not gonna look at the numbers right now.
Speaker C:Valerie.
Speaker C:I've just, just had a bit once last month.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Don't make me go through all those letters.
Speaker A:I can remember a long time ago, like in my personal world, not in my business world, but in my personal world, we were going through like a lot, a lot of financial challenges many years ago when the kids were small and my sister came out and she made me open this huge pile of envelopes that I just been sat in and, and it, and it was ripping the plaster off, every single one.
Speaker A:But, but when you get to the end of the ripping the plasters off, then things can heal, can't they?
Speaker A:And it's just, it totally is.
Speaker C:And that's where, you know, that's where I think coaching is amazing because you allows you to, to feel supported and have that friend kind of thing.
Speaker C:And you know, I think it's, it just, it just allows you to be able to see a different perspective.
Speaker C:And, and it's.
Speaker C:To me, if you can get to your business in a sense where you're able to offload with someone, that's nothing to do with it.
Speaker C:It's.
Speaker C:For me, it's the best move 12 years ago that I did basically, and I love every minute of it.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:It's been so wonderful having you on, Valerie.
Speaker A:And I just want to say, because I know you've got you very kindly offered if anyone wants to reach out and have a free 30 minute consult with you myself, I go through so much change at the moment.
Speaker C:Thing is, with you and me, it'll probably be like a whole hour.
Speaker A:I know probably I'm terrible.
Speaker A:So bad.
Speaker C:The conversations.
Speaker A:I love doing the podcast and I keep thinking, oh, do I want to carry on doing it?
Speaker A:Oh, it's been like four years of doing it, but I need a rest at the moment.
Speaker A:It's been Just been a long season and I've now obviously got the magazine coming, I've got my big event coming and three things happening.
Speaker A:So I do I need to take a break.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:See, you're learning that you can do that.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:This is it.
Speaker A:And I, I know that what I've got in my diary for the next six months is going to keep me very busy.
Speaker C:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker C:So.
Speaker C:So then you're preempting what's about to come and you able to make that choice.
Speaker C:And that's the leadership in itself.
Speaker A:I'm trying.
Speaker A:I don't get it.
Speaker A:I'm not.
Speaker A:I'm so far from perfect on that, really.
Speaker A:But you know what?
Speaker C:We don't.
Speaker C:You know, I think as a leader, for me it's the same.
Speaker C:Sometimes I make a decision six months later, why did I make that decision again?
Speaker C:And that's okay.
Speaker C:I think as a leader, you've got to reflect.
Speaker C:I think the powerful leader reflects and admits, you know what, that was a bit of a mess up.
Speaker C:Why did I do that?
Speaker C:And that's okay.
Speaker A:And even why didn't you make the decision?
Speaker A:Yeah, because sometimes I think, sometimes we procrastinate over it and we put it off and you think you're making a better choice and it's not going to upset people or whatever.
Speaker A:And sometimes you have to make the hard choices, don't you?
Speaker C:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker C:But thank you so much for having me.
Speaker A:That's okay.
Speaker A:But do connect with Valerie.
Speaker A:All the details will be in the show notes.
Speaker A:And thank you so much for coming on Valerie.
Speaker A:And stay there for one sec and that will be it.
Speaker A:Thank you.
Speaker C:Thank you.
Speaker A:So, Valerie Delforge, we finally got, we, we actually, we've said for years we must have a conversation.
Speaker A:We finally had a conversation.
Speaker A:I think it was about 18 months ago ago.
Speaker A:It was before I was back on doing this, the.
Speaker A:The podcast.
Speaker A:And I said, oh, you must come on the podcast.
Speaker A:Must come on the podcast.
Speaker A:And we were like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:And then, and then time passes, doesn't it?
Speaker A:And you forget and you get a new list together and, and whatever happens.
Speaker A:But I hope you enjoyed that.
Speaker A:Valerie's just, she's such a lovely, lovely person.
Speaker A:And we're both quite into like that whole sort of like universal energy and when you come, when you, you'll come together when the time's right.
Speaker A:And I know some of the stuff that she's been saying today, I know, I.
Speaker A:It resonated with me as a leader of what I'm going through at the moment.
Speaker A:So I really hope it's resonated with you and your business whether you're a solo, whether you're a salon owner, whether you've got five salons, whether you're even just thinking about it and you're still working in a salon and you're considering what your options are or maybe even why you're salon owner behaves in the way they do.
Speaker A:Hopefully it's given you a little bit of insight into the mindset and what goes on behind the salon owner or the business owners reasons for being and the reasons that they say, the things they do and the way that they behave.
Speaker A:So thank you so much.
Speaker A:This is the end of season four and, and I'd.
Speaker A:I was just saying with Valerie, I at the moment I just feel like that that's enough now.
Speaker A:But I quite often feel like that at the end of the season and but this season I know I'm stopping.
Speaker A:Well, I'm stopping because I've been going on for, I think this is about 26 episodes or something now, maybe more.
Speaker A:And it's been a, it has been a long season, which is fine.
Speaker A:And I hope that everyone that's listened has enjoyed the guests that have been on this year and have enjoyed my ramblings and their ramblings and that there's been value in it.
Speaker A:I probably will be back because I always think I'm never going to come back.
Speaker A:Obviously this is going to be it, but I know I am going to be taking a probably quite a big break from the podcast for a little while because I've got the magazine to launch and I've also got this big event up in Coventry in October.
Speaker A:And so I know there will be nothing, probably nothing happening until the beginning of 20, 26 weeks and then we'll just see what happens.
Speaker A:I'm making no promises and it might even change.
Speaker A:It may change up a little bit, we'll see.
Speaker A:But it will be back in some form or another, I'm sure.
Speaker A:And have a great summer.
Speaker A:As I'm finishing recording this, we are just starting June and, and I hope that you have a great summer.
Speaker A:If you do have a business, I hope it is full of all those people going on holiday, all those people getting married, all of those people having beautiful trips away that need our services to make their world work better and to make them feel better about themselves.
Speaker A:In the meantime, just as like one final call to action.
Speaker A:Please do check Valerie's stuff out.
Speaker A:Her book is wonderful and she's just, she is a really, I Hope has come across.
Speaker A:She's a really mindful coach.
Speaker A:She wants to work with people to help them feel better about themselves and their businesses and to free them up into being better leaders.
Speaker A:But also a call to action to Please go subscribe to salonpreneur magazine because it is going to be a wonderful collaboration of industry experts, business experts coming together to help you, the business owner of today and the future, and also do please let us see you at Salon Business Connect.
Speaker A:Nina Atfield and myself will be hoping to see you on the 5th and 6th of October at Coombe Abbey Hotel.
Speaker A:And yeah, let's make it all happen.
Speaker A:Make changes to this industry because this industry deserves to have us enjoy being part of it.
Speaker A:And I think for a lot of the time we have come to a place where we don't always enjoy being part of this industry, which is a really sad place to be.
Speaker A:So let's start reinvigorating through collaboration, through sharing of knowledge, sharing of information and sharing our love of this wonderful industry.
Speaker A:So I will see you when I'm in my role as Editorial Director and Preneur and I will see you at Salon Business Connect or a trade show near you somewhere soon.
Speaker A:Bye for now.
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Speaker A:Links and further information can can be found on the Show Notes or on my website, www.sue-davies.com.
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Speaker A:The links for that you can find in the Show Notes.
Speaker A:Thanks for listening.
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