The GlossGenius Community Roundtable Series invites our GlossGenius Educators and Ambassadors to join in conversation with other like-minded professionals in the beauty and wellness industry. This month's Community Night Roundtable features a special panel of GlossGenius Ambassadors and Beauty Professionals who take us through their journey to success and shared wisdom around organizing salon finances to feel more confident as a business owner.

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Dani Berkowitz  

So, Aleah, Rachel, and Britt, thank you so much for saying yes and leaning into joining our community night round table tonight, which is all about conquering your fears around finance and becoming a confident business owner. Now, each of you have been selected to be highlighted tonight because you have exhibited incredible success, not only financially but with your business overall. And before we get started with the questions that I've gathered for you, I'd love for each of you to introduce yourselves. Let us know where you are, and a little bit of your background so that we know and can maybe see ourselves in you. Let's start with Britt, since I see her face first.

Britt Reno  

[CTA_MODULE]

Hey, everyone, I'm Britt Reno. I have been a hairdresser for almost 11 years in November. I started out in Maryland, and most people that know me know that I am education-obsessed. So that obsession kind of took me around the country, I assisted in Los Angeles, and ended up deciding to go back to Tennessee where my mom's side is from to be closer to family. And moving to Tennessee is what started my journey as a booth renter and me getting obsessed with the business side of things. Moving to Tennessee was probably the best thing for me because it brought me here for this evening. That's pretty much me and everybody knows that I'm into punk and I'm very goofy, so if I seem a little goofy tonight, that's just how I am. I'm the hyper one in the salon so everybody's like 'Go chill with her if you're feeling down.'

Dani Berkowitz  

And that's one of my favorite reasons why you're a part of our community, Britt, because I feel like a lot of us can relate to that but maybe it's not always seen. To this day, one of my favorite things you've ever contributed to our community is your question around 'Do you think that it would make sense if I shared with people that I have more time to play Nintendo because of GlossGenius?' And that just...

Britt Reno  

I think I remember that. Yeah, I was like 'Umm, I have more free time now thanks to Gloss, so people need to hear this.'

Dani Berkowitz  

Yes. The inner nerd in all of us can relate. Thank you, Britt. It's so nice that you're here and I want to talk about your podcast later on, because I know that was the way that we were introduced to you initially. So let's go ahead to Rachel.

Rachel Moen  

Hi, I'm Rachel Moen. I have my own facial business, Facials with Rachel in Maplewood, Minnesota, and I started using GlossGenius when I opened that in August 2020, so right in the middle of the pandemic. And I just am so thankful someone shared GlossGenius with me that that's what their hairstylist used and I just hit the ground running with it. Here I am a year and a half later and now I actually just bought a full salon barber shop where I have lash extension, barber, hair stations, and then my own little facial area, so I'm super excited about that. And yeah, I don't know if I could be here without my app, it's just so helpful and I just love it and I talk about it every single day and my clients love it and I just can't get enough and it's so cute.

Dani Berkowitz  

Love that Rachel, and you actually are not the only esthetician on the call tonight. Next we have Aleah. Welcome! Thank you so much for joining us.

Aleah Thomas  

Hi, I am Aleah. I am an advanced esthetician here in Ohio. I have been licensed for almost three years – it'll be three years here in July. I actually started off doing this because I just really enjoyed skincare and I was making skincare at home in my kitchen, so I actually never wanted to be an esthetician, I really just wanted to have some type of license for something, so that I could make my skincare. Now I actually specialize in body sugaring, which is a little bit different than waxing but the same result, and then I also specialize in acne and hyperpigmentation. My business is two years old this month, and I actually started my business – I never worked for anyone, I went right into this doing booth rent with no clientele. And maybe like two weeks after I opened my business, the state of Ohio shut down, and then maybe like a week after that my dad died, so I kind of really thought that was it. Like I thought I had like a three-week career and I was going to be done as an esthetician. So it's really exciting to be here tonight, because I never expected myself, you know, here two years later to be this far and to be on this call with you guys, and to be chosen to do this for this reason. So I'm really excited about that, yeah.

Dani Berkowitz  

Well, thank you so much for sharing that, and congrats to both you and Rachel for opening your salons – that's no small feat. And I know that in the last two years on top of everything, I'm very sorry for your loss, and I really appreciate you sharing that with us tonight. This is definitely our safe space and it means a lot that you shared that with us. And I hope that you feel the support from the entire community and all the hearts that are being thrown at you right now.

Aleah Thomas  

I do, thank you.

Dani Berkowitz  

So, Rachel, I do want to get back into the amazing growth that you've had with your salon, but we'll hop in there in just a second. I just want to reiterate, for those who've just joined that, tonight, we're going to be talking about conquering your finance fears and becoming a confident business owner. And our goal is for you to be inspired by what Britt, Rachel, and Aleah have experienced, and maybe you'll have an opportunity to see yourself in them and maybe be inspired on some concrete ways that you could get started. You know, there's no time like the present, and really, what we know is that time is now and there's nobody pushing you out the door, you've got to drive yourself, so I'm really excited to help get that conversation going. So let's talk about where you've kind of been in terms of financial organizing and how you've kept your salon in check. We learned about sort of your early days a second ago, and feel free throughout all these questions to popcorn in or you know, round robin, whatever is comfortable for you. Question one: What have been the milestones throughout your journey to getting organized with your salon finances, and how did prioritizing this help you feel more confident as a business owner?

Rachel Moen  

Well, tax season – that's been a milestone. Having no time but the present to make sure that you have everything in order when you finally have to, but knowing that it's been there all along the way. And earlier, when just us girls were talking about this, sharing just how easy it is to print out a report straight from my phone to my printer here at home. And doing that whether that works best for you daily or weekly or monthly, just having those times throughout the year. Maybe it's the end of the year, maybe it's every six months, but at least knowing that you can go back and look at reports, I think that's really helped me get organized. And getting organized like that creates the goals to have future growth and numbers, and I think seeing it and then believing in it. You know, that you get to see 'Wow.' I know, Aleah, you said you sometimes go back, right? So that's been fun.

Aleah Thomas  

I think for me, the biggest thing was quitting my job. I worked at the bank for three years while I was doing this and I just left the bank last August. And the biggest thing for me was going from having a set pay – that was what I lived off of pretty much and then what I was making at the salon was really good, but it was extra. So once I left the bank, I actually realized how unorganized I was when it came to my finances – when I didn't have someone paying me, and I didn't have someone already taking out my taxes and setting certain priorities and things for me like that. I think that was the biggest thing for me and that's what helped me with getting organized and actually looking into – you know, I always looked at the analytics and everything – but that's what helped me to actually look into everything and kind of comb through this app and to see like how this stuff can help me to get things in order because I don't have someone else doing it for me. And it's like, I don't have anything else to fall back on right now, so if I'm not doing it... I got to a point where I was seeing a decline in my business and it was because I wasn't as organized as I needed to be or as I thought I was. So it got to a point where I was just really stressed for a little bit there, like, you know, I have a son, I don't have anything to fall back on, so I kind of have no choice but to do this or to kind of just fail really. And in that moment I kind of got really organized and just combed through the app and saw how everything could really help me more than I actually knew and that was the biggest thing for me.

Britt Reno  

I think for me, it's the same as Aleah, I don't really have a whole lot to fall back on – this is what I've always loved doing, and moving here to Tennessee, booth rent is king. So getting thrown into booth renting, I had no idea what I was doing. I took terrible advice of 'Oh, you just need to make rent on day one, day two, make your caller money,' like very bad advice. Basically, if my husband hadn't helped me with a month of booth rent, I would have lost everything. So I was like 'Enough is enough, I need to get it together, I don't want people handing me things, I need to do this.' So I found GlossGenius and when I started tracking my numbers going 'Oh, this is what I need to be doing. This is what I need to be analyzing.' And even taking a small business class really helped because I was like 'I'm not charging the correct prices I need to be charging.' And within the last two years, I've skyrocketed in the money that I'm making, my clientele has skyrocketed, and I can confidently say that GlossGenius has helped so much with that. And that's why I advocate so much for people to use programs like this, because Square doesn't do those things for us. Writing things on paper doesn't do these things for us. Like, Gloss helps us reach our goals – Gloss really helped my booth renting journey.

Dani Berkowitz  

Wow, thank you so much each of you for sharing your journey with us. I think Barbette has just said it right now, it's 'Amen.' I think that that's saying it best. Honestly, you must have skinned your knees at some point on another experience and may have realized 'Oh, I really gotta get my stuff together' – I really love how you said that, Britt. And I think having those learnings are so important and so crucial to finding success later, and it seems like you each have done the groundwork to 'Okay, I know where I need to go and I know what it's going to take to get there.' And I think, Aleah, you said it best, like, believing in it and like seeing it and believing it based on the results is a whole different ball game in terms of keeping goals and actually fulfilling them. I think it's about, you know, really projecting that growth and being able to see it in real time is pretty impactful.

Aleah Thomas  

Yeah, it is, it really is. As I was telling the girls, like I always kind of just look at my numbers. Some months I look at them and I'm like 'Let me recalculate this.' And I'm recalculating like three, four times, and I'm like 'Did I calculate something wrong?' Or like 'Did I really do this?' So like, actually seeing it – it's like, I know I did well, but then when I see it, I'm like 'Oh, I did really well!'

Rachel Moen  

My favorite email is 'See how your past week stacked up' – I think everybody else can agree. I'll check it in the middle of the night, or get up to go check that.

Aleah Thomas  

Yes, I love that email, because a lot of times I also think I did... I think we're really hard on ourselves sometimes when we're in this and it's nice to actually see something tell you like 'No, you did do well.' A lot of times I'll go 'I didn't do good this last week' or 'I didn't do good this last month or this quarter.' And then when I go back and look at it, I'm like 'I don't even remember doing that well.' So it's kind of helpful when you're hard on yourself for things like that.

Britt Reno  

Yes!

Dani Berkowitz  

Well, how can you remember all of that? Your brain can't possibly remember every total, you know, every client note, every number on the box that you're filling out, so having something to help you remember that makes it a lot easier.

Aleah Thomas  

And I think it's actually a good thing for me because I think I'm seeing a switch as far as I started off being mostly body waxing, but obviously facials and homecare kind of bring home more money. So now I'm seeing a switch in that I just feel like I'm not doing as well because I'm not slaving as hard over clients and I'm not there from morning to night – I'm seeing the same results with working less.

Rachel Moen  

Yes!

Britt Reno  

Yeah!

Aleah Thomas  

And that is like a really good thing, so...

Dani Berkowitz  

Work smarter not harder. Love it!

Britt Reno  

Yes. And it is weird getting to that because I'm like 'Oh, I'm working less but we're okay... I'm not struggling.' Sometimes you are hard on yourself and like 'I need to work hard every day,' and then it's like 'Wait, no, you don't!' And even with my coworker today, she's one of the hardest working estheticians I know – you guys would love her – but we've all been yelling at her like 'Please take a day off!' And she's finally like 'Oh, okay, I can take a day off.' And we're like 'Yes, honey.' Where do you think that sense of being really hard on yourself comes from? Definitely my family. The majority of us are Slavic people, so it's ‘You work from sunup to sundown.’ My dad was a mechanic – if he didn't work, there wasn't going to be food on the table. My grandmother worked at the auto shop with him, so it was, you know 'You better work or you're going to starve.'

Aleah Thomas  

I would definitely say the same with me. My family is Jamaican, and up until August, I had three jobs and a child. And I mean, I will just go and go and go, and that's just what I always see, that's what I've always seen, and that's what I've always been told. And I was raised by someone who was, you know, in the war, and so his work ethic was just like 'You got to work, you got to work, you got to work, you got to work.' So I feel like when I'm not working day in and day out, and when I'm taking a day off, it's like, 'Okay, you haven't worked.' So now I finally graduated myself from working seven days a week to 'I get one guaranteed day off.' And even sometimes I'm like 'I should work that day.' And I'm like 'No, you should not work that day.' So kind of just like unlearning just what you've seen growing up is, I think, a big thing.

Rachel Moen  

I can relate to both of your statements 100 percent, definitely – you know, my parents, my grandparents. And I think the ultimate, you know, facing your fear of being stuck and working for someone else, and just believing that our career path can create our own income, and hopefully that can turn into generational... And for me, I know taking over a salon scene that this person who was passing it down to me had children my age, and those children don't want to take over the salon – I don't know that my future kids want the salon – but you know, being able to realize that a salon can be a generational-producing, not just wealth for me, for like money, but for me, it's my freedom and my time to be able to have with my parents who are still working, who are so much older, you know, and that they've been doing that for so long. So I think that's the best part about being your own boss is creating that.

Dani Berkowitz  

Love that! I think key word being 'freedom.' And as entrepreneurs, I'm sure that that is maybe the last thing on your mind when you're just starting out, you're just trying to get off the ground. But it's really nice when you make that transition of working for yourself and being able to carve out those goals – that's amazing, thank you. We're kind of going to hit on that as well because this question is: When it comes to having an easy-to-understand numbers experience, what were you looking for and how does GlossGenius differ from your previous method? We kind of touched on that a second ago, but if anybody would love to add on that, I'd love to hear from you.

Britt Reno  

Definitely the analytics really helped because I can see my service percentages – I'm looking at it right now, actually – my retail percentage, gratuity, how much I've earned in the year, what my average ticket is. And for me, average ticket is a little bit different because – I'm kind of like a tattooer – I do by the session. I do packaging now, it's just easier. I hate doing the 'You gotta pay for this, this and this' – it drives my clients nuts. But it still shows me what I'm averaging for the day and the week, and I'm really – I'm a Paul Mitchell child, so I'm really big on client retention, my top 10 clients – and that's all in the reports. And most other programs don't do that.

Aleah Thomas  

For me, GlossGenius was actually the first booking site that I had ever used. The only experience that I've had other than GlossGenius is StyleSeat. Maybe almost a year ago now, I kind of wanted to just see what the difference was, so while I was using GlossGenius, I signed up for StyleSeat and I hated it. I really did. I didn't like anything about it. All the numbers were really confusing. It took me way too long to figure out what I was looking at. I don't think that I actually ever figured out what I was looking at. And then I actually got kicked off of the app for not using it, so... But with GlossGenius, when I look at too much, when it comes to numbers, if I look at too much, I get a headache. I'm that person, if the menu is too big at a restaurant, I can't even order. When I look at the numbers on GlossGenius, just the simple chart and the simple breakdown is really what kind of helps me to even be able to see what I'm doing, because I'll get frustrated and close everything. So I think that, for me, is my experience.

Rachel Moen  

For myself, I think I mentioned I was working somewhere where she had paper books and that's how she'd been running the business for so long. And so then when it comes down to me getting commission, there was no printouts, no graph, she never showed me her computer or how she kept track, so I just never knew – unless I was combing through that, you know – how to stay on track. And then before that, I worked at an Ulta, and something that I've held onto was their Path to Abundance guide, but it wasn't always exactly personal. There were just, you know, like 'If you save this much a month' kind of graphs, or 'If your average service ticket was $20 more,' what that could look like if you were doing 20 more services or 100 more services, you know? So I've always liked graphs and charts and things like that, but having it right in the app to look at, and I think just taking time to not only look at it every day but to print that out and organize it so that you can see it and like touch physical papers to look back and see if that top 10 guests changed, you know? And to just like a personal little route like 'Oh yes, she's still number one,' you know, that's also awesome. But I recall the booking app, maybe Orchid, that the salon I worked at used – only the receptionist could use the features. So even though I was an employee and all, I would have to ask to see my charts and numbers, and that was just really weird to me. But like working for Ulta, they printed out everything every month, and so I love that GlossGenius reminds me of how much better it is, in those ways and then also how someone else was kind of helping me do that before but now I get to be in control myself. So having those kind of ground rules with yourself and making yourself stay on top of it, even though it's already right there, there's still more you can do with yourself to kind of stay on track.

Dani Berkowitz  

Wow. The three of you could rule the world, I just gotta say. You ever heard of the three wise women? I want to respond to that, but first, I have some better responses that are coming straight from the chat, I just want to read them out. One's from Courtney: 'I've been trained to double book all day, but I feel like everyone is transitioning from one-to-one with the client, and then I feel like I'm not working as hard and losing money by doing that.' If you have a response to that, I would love to hear. If not, I'd love to read Barbette's. Does anyone want to respond to Courtney?

Britt Reno  

So with double booking, I have always straight up refused to double book. My ADHD-self cannot handle it, and now that I'm getting older, my body is breaking. So I'm like the mini Henry Rollins in the salon – I powerlift, I take care of myself. And I tell my clients we're doing one-on-one and they absolutely love it because I can be more bougie with them, I can have more of a conversation with them. Right now, where I upped my prices last year, I now do eyepatch treatments, I do a longer scalp massage, I do a hot towel with them, like, they get the whole luxurious treatment. And I'm in a small town and I'm charging more than most people in my area, and my prices are going up again in October, and in the last two price raises, I haven't lost a single client. So don't be scared to not double book because you actually will make more money, you'll save your body. And there are some clients that if you go through your numbers, you know, unfortunately, it is a business and you'll be like 'I don't make enough money off of this client so I need to cut these services' and you'll really see a change because I've watched people who double book and they don't make as much as I do... So please raise your prices and stop breaking your bodies.

Aleah Thomas  

Personally, I mean I don't think that I offer anything that I can double book – I do a lot of Brazilians. But I don't like my clients to even see each other. I put time in between all of my appointments now, so that when I'm finished with one, there's not someone else here. I really feel like it is overwhelming, especially when you have those busier days, you definitely need a second in between, whether you're going to clean or just sit down or do whatever with it. I definitely believe that, I don't know, double booking is becoming a thing of the past and I think it's becoming that way for a reason. I mean, even when I get my hair done, my stylist double books, and I don't mind it to an extent, but I feel like sometimes it's like, I don't know when I'm going to get out of there, I don't know how the day is gonna go. And that kind of affects me as a client, too, if I go get my hair done and I want to be done by a certain time but I really already know I'm not sure I'm going to be done by that time, because I know she's going to have several other people in there. It affects me as a client, which affects the rest of my life as well – it affects my work, it affects my home life.

Dani Berkowitz  

I mean, preach. I think that the overall sentiment that I'm hearing and seeing in the chat, and what I'm hearing from each of you is that you shouldn't be breaking your body and you shouldn't be overextending yourself, because that's going to lessen the quality of your performance as a professional, as well as lessen the quality of your work experience – and I thought the whole point of this was to work for yourself and be happy and be free. So I think that's a really, really strong piece of advice and it sounds like it's inspiring a couple people below. First, thank you for answering that, that was really helpful. Barbette says 'I love that you ladies are changing the mindset of working smarter not harder. As a seasoned/older stylist, my prayer for stylists, especially with children, is to create that work-life balance and your work numbers around the days you choose to work.' So it sounds like the three of you really have your stuff together and have created those boundaries, would you say?

Britt Reno  

Yeah, I'm really big on boundaries.

Aleah Thomas  

[CTA_MODULE]

I would say I've done a lot better with that this year. That's one thing that I really don't do well with is boundaries. But like I said, I like to work. And it's always been, when it comes to work, I'm gonna go. Regardless of what I'm doing, when it comes to work, I'm gonna go. So my child, he's 11 now, but I'd say maybe like the first nine years of his life, I was working. And he's always been super understanding of that but now I feel really bad that I did work so much. So now I see like, it's really important to have my work-life balance. I see that – you know, he's always been understanding when I go to work –but now that I'm working less, when I do have to go to work, sometimes he'll express 'Well, I don't want you to go to work.' And I'm understanding those are things that he's always felt and just never said, and so now I see that it is important for him, too, for me to not always be at work – even if right now we're just in the house and we may not speak to each other for like three hours but he just likes having me here. And so I feel like that's the big thing that I have been working on within maybe the past six months is my boundaries, my keeping my day off, keeping my time off, saying no to coming in. I mean, last weekend, I decided not to go to work and do something with family and that's always been a really big thing of mine. And I mentioned my dad died and actually the day he died, I saw him that day. And I got off of work maybe like five hours early and it was really random for me to have gotten off that early. But they let me off and then I tried to go work somewhere else and I really just could not get any work that day. So I went to see my dad and he seemed fine and he ended up dying that day. But I don't think I had seen my dad for like two months before that because I was working. So for me, it's now something that's really important to have the boundary between work and home and keep it.

Rachel Moen  

I agree, too. For me, this last year, being able to go to my cabin – I probably went like six times. And in the past like 10 years, being an esthetician asking for different weekends off or Saturdays off, I was barely able to go up there for like one night in a row sometimes and I'd hardly made it there like twice in a year. And it's such a special place and such a special part of my free time in my life and my family that I'm just so thankful I'm not having to ask someone's permission now. And I guess as your own boss, you're not getting a paid vacation day, but if you use your app and use your numbers and work a little harder and smarter a couple of weeks ahead of time, maybe you did pay for that whole day off, or three or five or six days off ahead of time because you sold some goals and numbers, so I think that's the best part – you can!

Dani Berkowitz  

Excellent advice, Rachel. I want to circle back to Aleah – thank you for sharing that, again, and I'm astounded by this story. And I'm a person that kind of believes everything happens for a reason and why you kind of went there that day, but I think maybe the reason could be that you learned that really important lesson. So it's incredible that you've not only been able to recognize that, but make those changes live. And I'm actually really happy and grateful that you said, you know, 'I'm kind of working on it. I haven't quite mastered it yet.' And I think that that is more important than the outcome sometimes. It's that journey. I can personally relate. I know a bunch of people on this call can, too. So thank you for being vulnerable and sharing that, especially that you're in the in between, we all are. And I'm excited to check back in with you in a few months and see how that's been going for you. Rachel, thank you for sharing that. I think, first, thanks for always bringing it back to GlossGenius – you do a great job as an ambassador – but I would love to learn a little bit deeper into how those features work out actually, like not just in theory, but how they personally work for your businesses. Let me scooch on over to the next question and then I'll hop back in the chat in a few minutes. How did the decision to use GlossGenius payment processing – so whether you're using the Chief Money Machine, which I believe all three of you are – help you break down that mental barrier and keep track of your business and analytics?

Britt Reno  

I think for me, I was getting so irritated with Square where it was like 'Oh, you want to deposit your money tonight? Give us more money. Oh, you want to do this? Give us more money.' And I was just like 'Oh my god...' So picking Gloss has made that so much easier, because even right down to seeing the processing fees, I'm understanding where is my money going. And even like – I know it's gonna sound really silly, but – busting out my little Chief Money Machine, people are like 'Oh, this is cute,' so it's all those little details for me. It helps me be mindful of 'I need to pay attention to my money, I need to pay attention to what I'm doing.' And when I was using Square or even doing paper, I wasn't being mindful at all, and GlossGenius kind of forces me to be mindful.

Rachel Moen  

For me, I wasn't using any other app, so I just feel thankful and so fortunate that this was my first rendezvous, you know? So I'm thankful for diving into it, but actually, you know what my favorite thing is, I love the Chief Money Machine, but what I love more is not even necessarily needing it because I already have their last four numbers stored in my phone. So I think just this week, like three people forgot their card, and so well, what would you do? What do you do? 'What, uh, what... let me hold your shoe while you go get... what?' And so I was like 'Oh, well is this your, does this look like the right card you use?' – this is what she used last time – and then I just bust out my little S Pen on my phone and then let them sign right there. It's just so crazy that you literally don't even need anything to check them out. It just takes so much less time. But because it's so simple and easy, I do try to make sure to get my product sales and talk about products before it gets to that point or all of a sudden you're checking them out and then I have to go back and add them in as a consultation to check them out under... so you know, really quick, but that's fine. But I guess that's helped me mentally just know that I'm keeping track of everything, otherwise I feel like I just wouldn't do good. If I had to write stuff down and try to do paperwork bookkeeping, I just... My grandma used to do that back in the 40s and I'm sure she was amazing at it for the Girl Scouts, but I just didn't get those genes. So I'm so thankful for a modern-day app.

Aleah Thomas  

For me, I would say that it really just gave me peace of mind. I think we are in an era where paying without cash is such a big thing – there's Venmo, there's CashApp, there's ApplePay. And I think just being able to have it all in one place, and just being able to be like 'Okay, you have a card on file' or 'We can put a card on file.' If you want to use CashApp, you can actually use your CashApp card, but I don't accept CashApp, or if you want to use Venmo, you can use your Venmo card, but I don't have to take all the different payment processing – I don't have to worry about looking here for this and looking there for that – it's all right here. And for me, that makes everything so much less stressful. I don't have to keep track of how you paid last time, if you paid last time, if this is going to go through. Especially with CashApp being really big on scams and things like that, I think it just kind of helped me keep everything all together and just not have to worry about all the third party. Especially now, I guess there's a thing going on where now this year, if you get or give more than a certain amount on on ApplePay and things like that, it's like, okay, now it's going to be added to your taxes and things, I don't even have to worry about that. I saw that and it doesn't even stress me out. And you know, my social media has been in a big uproar about that, and I'm like 'I don't even worry about that kind of stuff because it's already right here, it's on my app, I can look at my reports' – I can look here or there or whatever and not even have to worry about it.

Dani Berkowitz  

Great mention. I feel like the key words that I'm hearing, which you may not like actually be catching, but everyone's talking about this sense of no stress, a sense of confidence. And I think tonight's chat is really about how do you gain confidence in knowing your worth and knowing that you can raise your prices, or you know, ask for the last four digits of their credit card so that they can have an easy experience. I also wanted to mention, Rachel, you were talking earlier about what that sort of potentially awkward conversation could be like. Do you mind diving a little bit deeper into how that dialogue goes? I don't mean to put you on the spot.

Rachel Moen  

For like the product part or for like the card part were you thinking?

Dani Berkowitz  

Either one, like when someone's forgotten their card and/or you don't have like a dowry to trade, or something?

Rachel Moen  

Yeah, that's what I guess I was most worried about just diving into having an app. There is the feature – I've had it so long now I don't remember – you can have it so you don't have to put a credit card on file, right? Right. So I mean I absolutely do do that, and for anybody that doesn't, if you're nervous about it, I guess that's why I'm here – just don't be – no one has complained. There have been like three who didn't show up and then their card didn't go through, but guess what? Then you can ban them and don't feel bad because you know... And there's no hard feelings – policies are not personal for ourselves and clients for our business. Someone has no-showed me three times this year and I'm just nice, and now they are playing with my time. They often come in and I know that they pay in cash typically, and you know that's fine, but you showed up 20 minutes late for a 30-minute appointment, like that's just disrespectful... but then no-showed the other day. Well, they do have a card on file even though they pay in cash, and so I didn't hesitate this day, I just went and pressed it – they haven't said anything to me but they didn't respond to their text and so... I haven't banned them yet because I think maybe I can help them change their personality, maybe not, but I'm not going to have them wasting my time anymore so I feel so confident knowing that. I changed it to 50 percent for a no-show fee. I know a lot of you guys have balls out there and probably have 100 percent. Britt, I feel like that's you, I feel like you have 100 percent – 'Don't show up, don't play with me' – but I'm getting there. So yeah, again, I'm in the process you know of learning...

Britt Reno  

It's okay, start at 35 percent and then move your way up.

Rachel Moen  

I went 25 percent to 50 percent easily. So I was like $12, no, well I don't get no...

Aleah Thomas  

I think that was a big thing with me making me go – I was at 50 percent and I went to 100 percent because when I would get no-call no-shows, I'd be like 'This 50% does not make me happy.' Like, my time was wasted, I'm still upset, this 50 percent was not enough. And even to add on to what Rachel was saying as far as like the card on file, I started off where they don't have to have a card on file and I trusted people, and it just wasn't the right thing to do. And I moved it to where you have to have a card on file when you book just the first time and that still wasn't it, so now I have it as you have to put a card on file every time you book. And I've noticed that I don't get no-call no-shows anymore because the people who don't take me seriously don't want a card on file, and as soon as they see that card on file, they kind of just stop there. I'll have some people inbox me and I'll send them right back to the app: 'This is where I can help with all your questions. You can go back and you book here. I'll send you the link but you have to book here.' So then I've also noticed that I have some clients who do a lot of rescheduling, or do a lot of canceling, reschedule, then cancel, reschedule, or just last minute things. So then I find with those clients, when you have to put your card on file every time, I may have a client whose card was good last month, but then this month, it might not be good. You have clients who lose debit cards like that. When you make them put their card on file every time, they're going to have to always update what they have, because what they had last month may not work. Unfortunately, I started off trusting my clients and it's just you can't – there's no nice way to say it, but you just can't do it and it sucks, because you want to have that relationship with them, but sometimes they don't want to have that relationship with you.

Dani Berkowitz  

You live and you learn.

Aleah Thomas  

Yeah.

Britt Reno  

Yep.

Dani Berkowitz  

I think that's a great opportunity for me to read some of the amazing questions and comments in the chat. Going back up, Courtney also wanted to mention that she feels like her body is killing her now and that she needs to raise their prices. That's I think the next question, we'll talk about that in a second, because I want everyone on this call to walk away knowing that they're worthy and that they can and should do this and that we can help you. Yanni says 'You'll have a better chance to retain the client with one-on-one appointments.' We totally agree with that. Gina also asked a question about raising prices. We'll get there in a second. Courtney says that she 'works with a personal assistant who blow dries, so we never run behind, but I'm not ready to double book.' And then Jessica mentioned that 'Boundaries with kiddos at home and the clients appreciate it when you take the time to explain why it's important that work hours are work hours, home hours are home hours, and they'll respect you more.' I think that that's totally echoing what you said. And for those on the call, we actually just added a couple links in the chat. One is the How to Raise Your Salon Prices guide, which is totally comprehensive, and helps you start from step one on. And we also have a quiz that can help you figure out what those variables should be and where you should make those changes. So if you haven't tried that out yet, definitely check it out. But the next question is: What is your advice for those who are struggling to stay confident when raising their prices and not being afraid to break that taboo? Because what I'm hearing is that there's a sense of awkwardness, vulnerability, worry, fear, when it comes to raising your prices. How do we break that mold? Because I think you all have done that... at some point, needed to do that. How did you do it?

Britt Reno  

I'm definitely going to highly recommend taking those quizzes, but what has helped me is a business coach, and there are affordable ones out there. I'm a huge fan of Nina Kovner. She's $45 a month. Her background is Paul Mitchell, she's a goddess, her and I go way back. She helps you confidently raise prices and figure out how to properly do them so that you're not just going based off of who's charging what up the street. And for all my small-town people here, Casey Taylor, the small town stylist, she's got you and she has this wonderful Excel spreadsheet that you just pump all your numbers into and it tells you exactly what you need to charge and her and I are both pro living wage even in a small town. Trust me, you can do it. None of my clients have left me with all my price raises.

Aleah Thomas  

I would say the first thing to remember is that you are not going to be the service provider for everyone and everyone is not going to be the client for you. And I think once you kind of get that in your head and you're okay with that, then it makes it a lot easier to be able to advocate for yourself. Because I personally haven't lost any clients that I'm aware of from my price raising, but I got to a point when I raised them – not going to say that I didn't care because I do care about my clients – but I got to a point where it was more important for me to do what was best for me than for me to look out for my clients. So I mean, I raised them and it was reasonable but my clients kind of understood – you know, I give them the service, it was worth it for them. And I think the biggest thing was, once I got in my head that anybody who is going to leave me due to a price range, I probably just am not the service provider for them, and it's okay to not be the service provider for everyone. And I'd say maybe since the last six months, I've really been weeding out the kind of clients that I don't necessarily feel bring me peace anyways, and a lot of those things come with my price raises and my policy changes. And once I came to the fact that it's okay, it brings in clients who are willing to respect your prices and things like that.

Rachel Moen  

I'm learning just from you guys to just be more confident. I've been saying that April was the month I was going to go through my... everyone loves how my app looks, they tell me when they come in, and they say that they think I have all the services I need on there. But when I've been talking with my Dermalogica rep, you know, that's one thing I've been talking to her about kind of as a coach or mentor was making sure that my prices, you know, and knowing what I'm spending on things, but they have their own programs, I'm sure Paul Mitchell or put your own other brand in, to know what it costs per service for what you're doing. And when you sit down and take the time to look at those numbers, that's going to help you be more confident and not struggle to be sure that your prices are what they need to be. Because I'm not going to be paying to do your facials, I know that much, or I especially noticed when I go to do makeup, I'm almost always buying something. Like for facials, I'll have what I need for the month and hair, maybe you change because someone wants to do teal and purple today and you don't have that. But for makeup, I feel like I'm just grabbing something every morning or less, or the night before, I'm always getting one more thing. And sometimes I feel like 'Am I charging enough for that?' And I know I need to change my prices there because they've been the same for years, but then I've changed the prices somewhere, but in the right spots I think it's okay to do. But definitely that's one thing I'm excited to take away from tonight is being a little bit more confident in doing that, but it all comes back to knowing your numbers and being confident and just just trying and you won't fail.

Aleah Thomas  

So one thing I always say when it comes to the confidence of my business is pretty much just fake it until you make it. Nobody else knows how you feel about something unless you voice it. So once you decide to make a decision for your business, when you make that decision, stand on it and stand on it confidently, even if you're not confident. I mean, I just made a decision for my business – I started in January and said that I wasn't doing any more sales. And I did a small birthday sale last weekend because 30 was a big birthday for me, but if it wasn't for that, I don't think I would have. So my first actual holiday came up and I was really nervous but I just acted like I was okay, I acted like I knew everything was going to be fine, and I really had no idea how people were going to react. Valentine's Day came up, and like I said, probably like 85 percent of my business – and it's kind of moving more into facials – but I specialize in Brazilians and no one else around me sugars. So Valentine's Day came up and I did not offer a sale and everyone around me, all the other waxers around me were doing $40 Brazilians, $35 Brazilians, and I did not budge. I did not offer any sales. And I was really nervous about how that was going to go for me. And I mean, it just went as normal for me. If anything, I probably made more that week with referrals and everything like that than I expected to. But like I said, I really just fake that – people were telling me like 'I'm surprised you don't have any sales.' And I'm just like 'Oh, no I don't.' And at first, I was really nervous, and I'm still nervous about how the year is going to go with me not doing any sales, but...

Rachel Moen  

It's going to go better!

Aleah Thomas  

It's been going better, I feel like I've weaned out the people who actually want to come and the people who are going to be regulars and the people who I'm going to want to bust my behind for, you know, and be away from my son for. And it's weaned out all those people, and like I said, I've just faked it till I make it. I'm faking it right now on this call.

Britt Reno  

Same I have been like panic-attacking the entire time.

Dani Berkowitz  

Listen, let me squash all that, first of all. What I was going to say 30 seconds ago was that I feel like I'm in therapy. And like, this is a free therapy session for all of us here. And that, I love, because what we're doing is we're debunking, and we're letting go of shame, and we're also diving deeper into that vulnerability. Yes, I am listening to Brené Brown on the weekends. And I think that what you have each touched on is something really, really important, which is understanding that there's that goal right in front of you and you need to take that leap forward for your goals to be accomplished and to achieve that. And if you don't take that step, it's not going to happen. So what are some ways... actually, let me go hop in the chat because I just want to make sure I'm not missing anything. I think that there's a couple of conversations happening, which I love, so I don't need to actually pull that in. As far as the questions around deposits and any other features, we have a lot of stuff on the horizon, a lot of key features that are going to be rolled out. I can't say too much in terms of details, only because I don't want to overpromise, but look out for that happening. Our ambassadors will know that first, just want to reassure you on that. I love what Yanni said 'I raised my prices but I had more clients telling me I was too cheap for my services and knowledge. I saw a meme that said, you tell me my prices are too high, but I have clients willing to pay more.' That's, I think, totally true. And by the way, happy belated birthday, Aleah. Okay, cool. So let's hop on to number five. I know that we're just getting up to about an hour on the call and I'm really grateful, but I think that we're right in like the pinnacle of our conversation so I just want to finish this out. When it comes to tracking goals and organizing your finances – and believe me, I know, I've heard you talk about the different features all throughout this evening, but specifically, if someone hasn't switched over to using GlossGenius for their payments – what are some of the in-app features that easily help you feel more confident to grow your business?

Britt Reno  

So I know this one might sound silly but hear me out – the most valuable clients – that is my number two, and that is because you need to look at the pool of clients that you already have. Treat them well. Usually I do little VIP bags throughout the year. I do blow dry specials that are only offered to clientele and that's where you really grow your money from, and every Christmas, my top 10 get a bigger gift from me. Like I'll give them a full size Colton King product and like locally made things, and then everybody else gets little stocking stuffers. And then my other huge one that everybody probably sees me constantly blowing up about on social media is expenses. Because I need to see where I'm hemorrhaging money, where can I buy in bulk, and where do I need to do like monthly orders. And that keeps me from blowing so much money, and it also – when I hand it to my tax person – she's like 'Oh, let's write all this off.' And then it's like 'He-yay!'

Aleah Thomas  

Yeah, I would say expenses is probably my favorite one because I am a list type of person, and if I keep it in my head, I've got a million things going on at one time. So once I'm able to – you can put pictures in the expenses, you can write it down – once I can get something in the expenses and get it out of my head, and I know it's going to be there when I need to come back for it, that is probably my favorite. And I think another one is the analytics. I know we've been talking about it all night but when you actually get into it and look at it and you can see this year, you can see last year, I think it's really helpful when you can look at what you did this time last year, what times of year are good for you, what times of year are not good for you, that way you can go into those times of year prepared with a plan. I can see if last year, I needed to do more with retail, so this year, I kind of was able to focus on 'Okay, last year, I didn't do so hot in retail, what do I need to do this year?' And then on the app, it shows you how many clients you have and I feel like that's really important to see how many clients you have because sometimes you don't actually know. And I really strongly suggest something that I do: After two months, I let my clients know 'Two months. If I don't see you in two months, I delete you.' Not to say that you can't get back on but I need to see, when I'm looking at my reports, how many clients I have actively. I have some clients who may not come back for a wax in five months. So I've started doing that, deleting people off, and people don't want to be deleted off. So when I tell people 'Okay, you're going to be deleted off,' they get their butts back in there. But it kind of helps me to see my numbers when I can see how many actual clients I have, what I need to do, you know, things like that.

Rachel Moen  

I was telling the girls earlier that today, I was actually at the store making a business purchase and then I was waiting for some food. I was getting a Jucy Lucy, if you haven't ever had one in Minnesota, it's a burger stuffed with all the cheese and pickles and everything inside the meat. And anyways, I haven't had one for a while but I went and got that today, went in and made a purchase, and as I was coming back out from getting food, my receipt just blew away out of my purse, and I actually was able to go grab it. And I was like 'Oh my gosh,' because I'm trying to train myself to take pictures in my app immediately because sometimes your receipt doesn't even make it home. And I mean, I did use my business checking card so at the end of the day it's there, but to keep track of it. Like I'm trying to or you know the right way, trying to train yourself to immediately, you know when you get in the car, I'm about to start having the app ready while they're getting my total and Add Expense, new picture, as long as I take that picture from the app right away, then you can put your categories in. And like you have mentioned, Britt, too, I feel a lot more organized handing my tax lady 'Here you go.' This is this and this was what I spent on lash products or brow products. And then now I can see that 'Hey, those tubes really lasted me six months – I ordered in February and I ordered in August and so we're doing good' or 'Why do I still have that product? Why haven't I used that up yet? How come I didn't use them chemical peels up? I should have… they should be gone!' you know? And I'm on my own butt about it. So that helps, you know, seeing where your money's going and making you confident to spend more on your expenses for your business.

Dani Berkowitz  

I was just gonna say that was super motivating. Thank you so much, Rachel.

Britt Reno  

I'm not kidding you all, and please hear me out, have all your stuff printed and organized because my tax lady was like 'Ooh, I can get this done in 15 minutes. I'm going to give you a discount.' And I was like 'Bless you, ma'am.' So have your stuff together, guys.

Rachel Moen  

It is easy and simple when it's all there.

Aleah Thomas  

Yeah.

Britt Reno  

I want a cheeseburger now. Thanks, Rachel.

Rachel Moen  

Dani, you've been to Matt's Bar.

Dani Berkowitz  

Yeah! And now I will literally be recreating this in my kitchen after this call.

Rachel Moen  

I went to a different one and have been there in Minneapolis. If you're in town, hit me up, we can go.

Dani Berkowitz  

I definitely will. Wow, we touched on so much in that question. Thank you so much for sharing those features. It's amazing to know that GlossGenius is being used in such creative ways, not always the obvious ones. So I think I want to also highlight Yanni who has just been blowing up this chat tonight, dropping knowledge and wisdom. This last recommendation from her I think is worth reading out loud. It's around highlighting your top clients and using GlossGenius to identify them. So she said 'I give my top three clients a big post, a branded shirt, complimentary services, I even print the top 10 so that they can fight it out. Last December they were booking random services to add just to lead as number one. So I love engaging with your clients, knowing who they are, and diving deeper into how you can be a better service provider but also how they can treat you better as your clients.' That's really powerful, and I think, again, gives you that sense of freedom and leadership, and yeah, I keep coming back to this idea of financial freedom and knowing exactly where you are. And like Britt said, maybe knowing where you're hemorrhaging, where you're excelling so that, like Rachel mentioned, you can find out 'Why isn't this product running? Why do I still have this on the shelf?' I think that that's great. Those were all of my questions for each of you from my book but if anybody else in the chat has anything – let me just check on over here in the question section. Barbette asks 'Is there a way to add retail when you forget to add it? I, too, end up putting it as a consultation but that takes too long. The background color in the app is so light for my eyes, are they considering changing that, it's very difficult to read?' Does anybody here want to answer if they have an experience that they'd like to share for Barbette?

Aleah Thomas  

So I think I'm understanding the question correctly. I have something in my services, and I have it to where I can see it, but it's called a skincare pickup, and if I ever forget to add something on, I just go add a skincare pickup on to that person and check that out. And I just have it as like $0, so I add on the products that I need, and then when I go look back at their page, it's a skincare pickup, and I know what they did versus miscellaneous. Love that, thank you.

Rachel Moen  

I would just you know, if you already had them in your system, because I just checked them out and then they say 'Oh, can I get this eye cream?' or something, then I just quickly tap their name, and quickly put them in for whatever time comes up, you know, it doesn't really mess with my schedule. Just 15 minutes for a consultation and maybe it'll say that time like right now, and even if I have someone else coming in, it doesn't disrupt my scheduling for right now. So I just quick check them out that way and then I just make sure to tap on no gratuity because they just left me a tip, and it's just the product or service, so I just say 'Oh, just do that,' and then it's right there. So that doesn't bother me. It's not too bad. I think maybe what we're, as users of GlossGenius, saying, like 'I wish there was maybe a portal,' but I don't know what's coming and I always kind of just have this confidence that GlossGenius is – it's been around – but they're still growing. They're growing because of us, so I just feel, I don't know, I'm psychic, but you know, some little portal or something where we could just check... but it's so simple and it's so quick and easy that I just really can't even fathom complaining much more. I don't know, Barbette, what color, maybe that's something on your own phone. I feel like the background is very dark. And I love that because I change my phone and Facebook and all of that to the dark theme. Yeah, I'm on dark mode because I can't see. There is an option, too – I'm not sure if you've seen this – but if you actually go to checkout, and in the top, there's like a little – I don't know if you guys can see this – but there's like a little plus sign up there. You can just literally click on the plus sign and choose the client and add a service as well without having to create an appointment. Oh, see, I'm learning so much, thank you, Aleah.

Aleah Thomas  

The only thing with that – I like doing skincare pickup – a lot of times when my clients get skincare, they're not present. So the only thing, when you do that, the card on file will not show up. If you do it that way, you'll have to have their card or their payment method present. So like if they're right there in front of you, you can reput it in, but if they're not in front of you, that's not going to be an option, it won't let you see what card they have saved.

Rachel Moen  

So go to Checkout, press the plus sign, and that's going to add right there. There's so much, you just have to play around! And I did like seeing in the chats that you know some people didn't know that you can just quickly send – so if you don't have a WiFi printer, get that as a business expense immediately, they're around like $140 at Best Buy, I can't believe I didn't have one for a long time – but sending yourself those reports, I'm so glad to see that people are learning stuff because we're all learning stuff and growing at the same time, so thanks, Aleah, for pointing that out.

Britt Reno  

Yeah, and guys if you're receiving products... like I am mostly affiliate links now, so just physical take home product, mostly affiliate links now so I don't have to deal with that. But when I have my stuff in, just go into your top bar where there's products and please add in your inventory because that's another huge thing to track because some of us do have to pay a state sales tax and you do not want the state coming after you going 'So you were selling all these products, where's our money.' So that is another very important number to be looking at – you don't want to mess with state sales tax, because I had another client who's a business owner, they messed up a little, it was a very small mistake, and they got hit with a $200 fine. So be very careful with that kind of stuff.

Aleah Thomas  

You're welcome! I messed up myself because when I first started, I was kind of under the impression of you do state sales tax a different way, or whatever. So I didn't do it monthly and I got a letter in the mail and they said I owed $25,000. And I didn't actually owe $25,000, but when I called, they said because they don't know what you've sold, they kind of base it off of something. But I couldn't get them on the phone for like a week. So I'm crying and I'm like 'I'm just not even going to do this anymore. I'm going to quit. I'm going to go back and work somewhere else.' But it's a scary experience that you don't even want to have to deal with. And then I also got hit with a fine because I still paid it late. So, what she said, you want to do that.

Britt Reno  

I'm terrified of the IRS and Tennessee state tax is so hard to deal with. And I'm like 'Here you go. I'm sorry. Please.'

Aleah Thomas  

Yeah. So I mean, it's hard to undo. And then also, like, as she was saying with that, too, I do my inventory from home. I like to spend all my time at home now. So if you don't have your inventory in your app, it's kind of like sometimes I've gotten to the point where I've bought extra stuff that I didn't need and spent extra money because my inventory wasn't correct in my app. So now I make sure that what I have is really correct so when I order, I'm not spending extra money. Because I mean, it's a lot, products are a lot.

Dani Berkowitz  

I feel like we could talk about this for hours and I wish that we would have started off with this question, because I feel like everyone has their own like 'Oh, wait, but have you thought about this.' And this is why we have a GlossGenius community so that we can riff off of each other and share what we know because you may be independent but you're not alone. You're definitely not the first person to go through this and there's tons of opportunities for us to learn more and more from each other. So I want to say thank you to everyone that has been a part of tonight. I want to be respectful of time. Can the panelists give me like a thumbs up, do you have another few minutes so that in case people have more questions? Okay, great.

Britt Reno  

It's my night off!

Dani Berkowitz  

Okay, great. I just want to be respectful. I only asked for an hour.

Aleah Thomas  

My son's on spring break, so he's going to be up till 3am anyway.

Dani Berkowitz  

Okay, great. Let's do this. And if you're not on the call, you'll see the recording. Thank you. Like, I just want to close this out and say, This has been such a special conversation and just it's amazing to break through that barrier. And it's amazing to hear each of you even through tonight, like grow a little. Like Rachel saying like 'Oh, I know I'm now going to like raise my prices' or Aleah knowing that now you are going to set some boundaries. And Britt, I feel like, it seems to me like you know everything. No, I'm not... I'm totally kidding. I just think that what you shared tonight was actually really, really valuable wisdom. Thank you so much for sharing your learnings. It sounds to me like you've done a lot of the hard work, so thank you for sharing those details.

Rachel Moen  

Thank you so much for having us, Dani.

Britt Reno  

Yeah. This was an absolute blast.

Aleah Thomas  

Yeah, thanks, you guys.

Dani Berkowitz  

Good. I'm so happy to hear that. Have a lovely evening and we'll catch you next time.

Britt Reno  

Thank you, that was so fun.

Rachel Moen  

Have a good night, everyone.

Aleah Thomas  

You, too.

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