Yesterday I was on the train coming back from London. During the trip, I got a message on WhatsApp from a mentor extreme student. The message contained a photo. The photo was a large detached four bedroomed house he had recently moved into from his terraced house. He thanked me for helping him to reach that goal.
It took me back and made me think about my own life and my previous mentor clients.
Where I grew up it was very acceptable to buy the first house and that house was terraced. If you are reading outside England a terraced house is a great house strange but small and cramped in most cases. I wanted more but I was a hairdresser! I am not sure when but as a hairdresser I realised quickly I could have everything yet to get everything I had to become a different kind of hairdresser. This also meant that I would have to give SERIOUS thought to how I approached the way I did my own work.
I wanted a house. I wanted a BIG house and I wanted the best of everything. That meant I would have to offer the best of what was around despite my own limitations as a hair stylist.
So I read, I trained, I tried stuff, I practiced stuff and eventually some years later in a town where everyone was charging around £20-25 I was the most expensive stylist for miles and as that hair stylist, I could demand £75 for a restyle.
I delivered and always felt I delivered big time. My clients wanted me and wanted more. I was so busy it was painful but at the time I had this house thing going on in my head. I knew for a fact I wanted a BIG DETACHED CONVERTED BARN on a farm with its own land.
That is exactly what I ended up with.
That’s a photo of my house in this email.
Here is what is really interesting. All the hairdressers I knew at the time lived in small terraced houses. I had proved to myself that anything was absolutely possible as a hairdresser.
I supposed I mentored myself but did it really without too much thought.
And of course, there are my clients. Now as I sit here and think about them It’s interesting to go over it when thinking about houses.
Beach house bought in East Bourne
Large detached house bought in Scotland
House bought in Cyprus
House bought in Australia
And there are more.
But the thing I wanted to share was I think they felt before we worked together that wasn’t a possibility yet here they were with new houses. I had practiced this myself and built a wonderful five bedroomed barn and converted that barn into a home so I knew it was possible.
And here is how so you need to listen closely if you want more for your life and your salon.
First I realised everything Is possible for me as a hairdresser – the same goes for you.
Then I found out what I needed to do so I could move forward towards my dream home.
I found the help and advice I needed to do this as fast and as safely as it could be done without adding risk to my already risky business
I put into place things like massive price increases – in some cases doubling my prices – which had the effect of dramatically increasing my business and added a ton of moves into my services that made a subtle difference but differences all the same.
Yes, this all took years but frankly, I had no idea what I was doing. I had to try stuff that didn’t work and try other stuff that did work.
I also had the self-conviction that this could be done. Despite being the new salon in a town of 35 salons I wanted my salon to be No.1 and No.1 only. This meant I would have to overtake Kevin, the two brothers and Charles. They had all been there for 30+ years and I wanted their top slot.
Also apart from the huge amount of new things to be learned I also knew this was going to be hard work. But I also knew that getting that kind of house and life wasn’t going to be handed to me so if it was going to take hard work I would work my nuts off until I reached the goal I was aiming for.
I opened my first salon in 1989 while I was living in a tiny two-up, two, down house.
In 1997 I moved into a massive converted barn that had an acre sized garden and even it’s own orchard.
I want you to know everything is possible.
The life, the salon, the cars and even the house of your dreams – they are all possible.
I know because I did it. I know because I have seen it in many cases with my own clients. I know because I know. So when you flip the way you think and look at things you will also know that everything you want in your salon is now possible.
You know the one thing I used to love?
People would say …
“How can a hairdresser afford a house like that? He must have inherited the cash”
I LOVED IT… BASTARDS … lol!
Enjoy your day.
Peace
Salon Mentor Extreme
Alan Forrest Smith
