Scissors, Systems, and Success: How Trichology Salon Scaled with Strategy | Travis Briggs

Ever wondered how some entrepreneurs turn an unexpected career shift into a thriving business? Travis Briggs, co-owner of Trichology Salon in Oklahoma City, went from tending bar to leading a successful 20-station salon—all by embracing continuous learning, business systems, and strategic hiring.

In this episode of Small Business Pivots, Travis shares how he helped build a sustainable and scalable salon business by implementing clear core values, structured processes, and a long-term growth strategy. He also reveals the pivotal decision during COVID that reshaped his business and set the foundation for lasting success.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
✔️ The unconventional path Travis took into the beauty industry
✔️ The game-changing decision that helped him scale his salon
✔️ How he solved his biggest hiring challenges with a creative approach
✔️ The key systems and processes every salon owner needs to grow
✔️ Why long-term business planning is critical for success

💡 Travis’ Insight: “When something isn’t happening in a business, it comes down to a person not knowing they’re supposed to do it—or they don’t know how.”

Whether you're a salon owner, small business entrepreneur, or looking for strategies to grow your company, this episode is packed with valuable insights you can apply right now.

🎧 Listen now and discover how to scale your business with the right mindset, strategy, and systems!

Travis Briggs:  Co-owner of Trichology Salon 

Website: https://www.trichologysalon.net/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/travisbriggs2/?hl=en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/trichology

 #SmallBusiness #Entrepreneurship #BusinessGrowth #BusinessCoaching #SalonBusiness #SalonOwner #SuccessStories #EntrepreneurMindset #ScalableBusiness #BusinessStrategy #HiringTips #LeadershipDevelopment #SystemsAndProcesses #MarketingForSalons #EntrepreneurJourney #ScalingABusiness #BusinessOwnerLife #MindsetForSuccess #StrategicGrowth #CoachingForEntrepreneurs #BusinessOperations #WorkOnYourBusiness #Public Speaking #TeamBuilding #BusinessLeadership #GrowthMindset #BusinessSuccess #TravisBriggs #TammyBriggs #Trichology #TrichologySalon #OklahomaCity #OklahomaCityBusiness #BOSS #MichaelDMorrison 

Chapters

• 0:00 Meeting Travis Briggs of Trichology Salon
• 3:11 Overcoming Public Speaking Fears
• 3:56 Journey from Bartender to Hairstylist
• 10:41 Becoming a Salon Owner
• 17:45 Core Values and Post-COVID Changes
• 23:57 Business Coaching and Growth Strategy
• 32:11 Building a 20-Chair Salon Business
• 38:42 Systems, Processes and Taking Vacations

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

All right, Welcome to another special Small Business Pivots Today. We have a very good, dear friend here in our neck of the woods in Oklahoma City and I know, as I always say week to week, no one can introduce their name and their business like the business owner. So I always let you introduce yourself. So tell us a little bit about you, your business and what we're going to help people with today.

Speaker 2: 0:26

All right. Well, first, again, thank you for having me here. It's great to be here representing the hair salon industry. My name is Travis Briggs and I'm co-owner of Trichology Salon. Trichology Salon is a hair salon. We have 20 stations here, so we're a pretty large hair salon. We offer all things hair-related, from hair cutting, hair coloring, we do some extensions we kind of do it all when it comes to hair in here, and one of our main core focuses, aside from giving great hair, is we're really excited about hospitality and getting that wonderful guest experience. So we really prioritize that from the time the guest comes in to the time the guest leaves.

Speaker 2: 1:10

We opened in November of 2008. So we're at 16 years. Yeah, thank you. We're really proud of that. And over the time, over the years, we have had a wonderful team of stylists that have worked here. We have a wonderful team of stylists that work here currently and our guests. We've always have been and felt so supported by the people of Oklahoma City, the people of Edmond and beyond, and our local hair industry as well. We've received a lot of support over the years, so we're really thankful to be here and be a part of it.

Speaker 1: 1:50

Well, we appreciate you and everything that you do for our community, for our listeners. We've kind of reeled it back in a little bit. We've had a lot of guests from all over the world and this year we're going to kind of focus on our local community because we have a lot of fantastic, special people like yourself. But before we get into your story, your journey and your pivots, we're going to introduce the show and we'll be right back. Welcome to Small Business Pivots, a podcast produced for small business owners. I'm your host, michael Morrison, founder and CEO of BOSS, where we make business ownership simplified for success. Our business is helping yours grow. Boss offers business loans with business coaching support, apply in minutes and get approved and funded in as little as 24 to 48 hours at businessownershipsimplifiedcom. All right, welcome back to Small Business Pivots. I know for a lot of small business owners we kind of grow up differently. Some of us have trials and tribulations, anything that kind of stalled you a little bit maybe growing up, that you had to overcome before you got into this adulting world.

Speaker 2: 3:11

Oh geez, yeah, trials, I mean I think that's just all through life. There's those things and I always see them and view them as opportunities to grow and learn. I think one of the things that I've had to overcome over the years is public speaking getting over that. In the beginning that was really, really challenging for me. Just running a meeting in the salon was hard. I'd find myself at sweaty palms and what am I going to say. But over time practice gets better, so that's something that I've had to overcome.

Speaker 1: 3:41

When you got into the adulting world. When you got into the adulting world, kind of what's the journey that led up to being an entrepreneur, so in other words, kind of what did you do before and then kind of what sparked you to get into the entrepreneur world itself.

Speaker 2: 3:56

Sure. So, yeah, that's quite a story. I think it begins. We have to go well. Prior to doing hair, I was waiting tables, I was bartending early twenties and honestly not real sure where I wanted to go in life as far as my career was concerned. And I was in a relationship with somebody for two years and she was a hairstylist. We dated for a couple of years and all of our friends or most of our friends were hairstylists too. So while we were dating, that really exposed me to the hair industry and I just I really loved what I saw. It's a creative industry, passion filled, continuous growth, continuous education, fun, and it got me thinking. It embodied a lot of things that I felt would work out really well for me. So I decided to get myself in hair school and let's give this a go. And I remember when I started school I told myself I'm really going to apply myself this time, you know.

Speaker 2: 5:00

I felt like I hadn't truly applied myself in life leading up into that moment. But I'm going to really give it a go and it's a good thing I did, because when I got in hair school I was terrible. I had never really done much with hair. I was always interested in my own hair but I'd always, for the most part, had short hair. So when it came to blow drying and all these things even for those that don't have a hair license kind of know those basic skills I didn't know that. So I can remember really struggling in the beginning, but I stuck to. I'm going to really give this a go and I'm going to show up every day and try to become a little bit better every day. By the time I graduated hair school I was still terrible, but I was better than when I had started and that's what I recognized and I thought okay, so if I keep working at this I can continue to grow, and I did.

Speaker 2: 5:50

Within a couple of months of being out of hair school I was in another city, another state, taking a continuous education class and it was a five-day course, a Tony and Guy course. It was great. I took that and maybe I was a little bit better after that, started working in a hair salon and practicing. I kept up with it with the continuing education classes and, fast forward to a couple of years. I was in a salon and it was a good shop, but I was ready to move on. I'd felt like I had grown all that I could with where I was and I'd heard there was a hair salon opening up called Trichology. I thought, okay, well, where I was and I'd heard there was a hair salon opening up called Tricology, I thought, okay, well, this sounds interesting. And the two people opening up the shop, which is Tammy Briggs, my now wife and partner, and her business partner at the time, greg Welchel they were the ones opening up Tricology, so they're the founders of Tricology. I went in and applied I actually had. I knew Tammy a little bit I'd never met Greg at that time and we sat down. They told us all about, told me all about trichology and what it was going to be, and I was really excited. So I started working there at that time when trichology opened in 2008.

Speaker 2: 7:00

And the continuing education that I was doing really paid off for me in those times. It gave me the opportunities to get into doing some teaching in the shop. It also put me the opportunity to become a manager. So, looking back on those things, I feel like I had earned those things, but at the same time I wasn't experienced in them and I wasn't truly ready for them. I didn't have any management experience. I had never taught before. I'd taken classes that teach you how to teach right, and I'd taken a lot of classes. I knew how to cut hair, but I'd never truly taught before.

Speaker 2: 7:38

And so emerging yourself, immersing yourself into these realms that you've never done before, naturally it's not going to come to you right away, and I had a lot of challenges in that way, in every way that you can imagine. But I'm also really thankful. As we were talking earlier, you know you grow from those challenges. So anytime you know I have something, that I have to learn, a new skill, I have to do something new, and it's hard. I always remember that and those are the times that have really paid off for me looking back. So went through those things, those challenges, those opportunities, all of it, and that was also around the time that me and Tammy's relationship began to grow from a friendship to something more. So that was really exciting and let's fast forward because this could take all hour.

Speaker 2: 8:38

Well, fast forward to around 2014. Around 2014,. That was a time when Tammy, greg, along with a couple of others, were opening up a hair school together. So let me take a small step back. We'd always talked about me becoming a partner with Trichology Salon. When Tammy and I got married, it kind of resolved that thing. It's like well, now you don't necessarily need to become a partner, you don't need to buy into the company, you don't need to do anything like that because you're married into it now. So so I had to open up a hair school together hair arts institute, which is still around wonderful hair school to this day. Um, get that going. That launches in 2015, a couple years into that it.

Speaker 2: 9:21

We got to a point, tam and I did, where we felt like this is something that we're no longer going to be able to be a part of. So then the question was well, how do we remove ourselves from this company with these business partners? And a really wonderful solution came from those conversations and what we decided to do. Where we landed with everybody was Greg Welchel, founder, one of the founders of Trichology was wanting to move into the direction of more of the hair school ownership and less of the salon. So what happened was we acquired his ownership of Trichology Salon, so Tammy had already had 50. We would gain Greg's 50% and in exchange, he would gain the ownership of the hair school hair arts Institute. So he'd become a bigger owner, bigger percentage owner of hair arts Institute, along with some some money that went along with that. So it was one of those really wonderful deals where everybody got what they wanted, walked away with that.

Speaker 2: 10:18

So it was in that time that it became solely Tammy and I's salon, and that was in 2018, so seven years ago. So it's been some time. There was a whole new challenge for me, because now you go from a hairstylist yes, I've been here from the beginning, but I wasn't an owner at that time and now I am. So how do you transition now, with your colleagues, into this new role? You know that's not easy to do. You know you don't want to come off too strong in that way, but at the same time, you want to be able to lead and do the things that you do as a salon owner, and so you know that was a process in of itself. Covid happened shortly thereafter. That was 2020.

Speaker 2: 11:10

So going through COVID like everybody was was just a time we also recognized when we were at home preparing for coming back to work with COVID procedures, was we also recognized it was a time for us to make some changes within trichology too. That was the time we started working with the business coach. That was our first time to work with the business coach and we really lucked out with hiring an amazing business coach who understood where we were as a company, where we were wanting to go, the challenges that we were dealing with, and so when we returned, we didn't only return from COVID with COVID policies, if you will, but also it was our first time to implement core values at Trichology. Trichology had values, but they weren't necessarily outlined on paper, they weren't talked about in weekly meetings. You know it's one thing to just create values. It's another thing to write them out and talk about them in meetings so that everybody is clear on what those values are, the accountability that comes with them. So you know there was. I think you could have gone around and asked people about trichology values and you may have gotten a couple of things.

Speaker 2: 12:31

Continuing education was something that we always did really well, but beyond a couple of things, it gets lost. So we outlined those values. It was one of the best and most important things for us to do and, you know, started talking about those things and we'd had, for the most part at that time, a group of stylists that had been with us for a long time and they're wonderful people, wonderful stylists. It also felt like this might be a time for a little bit of change, a little bit of turnover, which is not a bad word. Turnover, that's a healthy thing in businesses from time to time. I mean, it can be good, it can be bad, it really depends on the circumstances.

Speaker 2: 13:15

We just felt like to get to where we wanted and to get the culture where we wanted. We were curious to see who was going to be along with us for that ride and who who was going to be, you know, maybe ready to take some new steps into their own journey, and so that's what happened in 2021, 2022. We you know some, some stylists of ours had been with us again, wonderful people um, moved on, and that was what we had anticipated the whole time Um, we left, we left it open so that it was. It was their decision to make Um. We just got really clear on our on our values, our core values and where we were going to be as a shop. So that happens.

Speaker 2: 14:06

What I didn't account for was because we'd been around for a while and we'd always, for the most part, I feel like had gotten a lot of applications in as a company. I think, just with the times just right after COVID and other factors in 2022, 2023, as this turnover is happening we weren't getting the applications in that I was anticipating. You know, these applications were a key part to this whole process because these are going to be new hires. We got some, but we didn't get as many as I thought that we were going to get, and I think you know some of that is, while it's true we've been around for a long time, we have a great reputation, we're also not the new kids on the block, so to speak. We've been around for a while.

Speaker 2: 14:57

You know those new businesses. One thing they really have going for them, when it's a brand new hair salon or restaurant or whatever the industry is, oftentimes is everybody's excited about them. Who's this new shop? Who's this new restaurant? We've got to go eat there. Let's try it out. Everything is, of course, is brand new in the shop. Trichology wasn't those things. It was a lot of other things, but it wasn't those things. And so for somebody who is young, coming out of hair school 18, 19, 20 years old, something like that we may not be on the radar as much as a shop that opened up a year ago and maybe they know the owner. They have a couple of friends who work there, so that's where they want to go work.

Speaker 2: 15:36

So that was a real challenge was okay. We're not getting the applications that we need, even though I feel like we have the right tools for somebody coming out of school. We have a wonderful assistant stylist program that helps them transition. How are we going to let them know, remind them of who we are and what it is that we do? So that was a realization that was made. That was caught, you know, somewhere in that process and, like you know, while we've been focusing on what we're doing here in the shop, we've got to also do some focusing on some other things as well.

Speaker 2: 16:15

That also became the opportunity to recognize as a whole, locally being, that our industry doesn't come together enough. You know, we're all I feel like we're all very supportive of each other. There's no, there's nothing, no issue there, but we're busy. I think it's what it comes down to. We're busy, the other salons are busy, so it's hard to get beyond the walls of our own shop and come together, you know, for connection, for support, friendship, all those things.

Speaker 2: 16:49

So we started diving into some more communities-based events and bringing other salon owners, other stylists from the community in to do some teaching and opening our doors to all stylists in Oklahoma City, edmond and beyond, for that matter, to come in and be a part, and also, in doing that, reaching out to hair schools too and bringing them in too, and that, I think, has paid off in all spectrums. For one, we've made a lot of friends along the way. We've helped others. In times We've even empowered some of the stylists who came in and taught a class and gave them that opportunity. It also was an opportunity for other stylists and hair school students to see who we are. At the same time and I know that you know 2024 and even already in a couple months, into 2025, you know, those applications do come in now, and now we can, really we can go through them and decide who's going to be the best fit for trichology moving forward.

Speaker 2: 18:05

So, wow, yeah, and that's still a long story short. You know a lot more to it than that, but it's been a wonderful. It's been a wonderful ride and, like I said, there's been a lot of challenges in there, but they've all have been. You know, I've learned a lot from them all and we've grown, so I'm thankful. I'm thankful for all of them and those surprises too.

Speaker 1: 18:32

Yeah, yeah, well, you mentioned earlier that you had a problem with public speaking. You're listening to Small Business Pivots. This podcast is produced by my company, boss. Our business is helping yours grow. Boss offers business loans with business coaching support. Apply in minutes and get approved and funded in as little as 24 to 48 hours at businessownershipsimplifiedcom. If you're enjoying this podcast, don't forget to hit the subscribe button and share it as well. Now let's get back to our special guest. Yeah, yeah, well, you mentioned earlier that you had a problem with public speaking, and I don't think you have that challenge anymore. So your story was very well said, and so I want to ask, because a lot of business owners are introverts, so most introverts do have a challenge of speaking in front of others, and you said that you worked on it. Was there anything specific that you could share so other business owners can maybe have some hope there as well?

Speaker 2: 19:34

Yeah, there, there is hope. I can tell you um it. First of all, thank you for your compliment and, um, you know public speaking, um, because I still get nervous, you know, before getting up and speaking in front of others. And I can remember the first time in event we had a couple of years ago and I had to open up the event, it was at our shop. I put it on, so, um, that's even the introduction, and you know when it was about time it was, you know, I think the event was starting at 12 o'clock and so 1159, I, I, I go to the bathroom to just get alone because I'm like, oh, my gosh, like my hands, my palms are sweaty and I'm just trying to do like some breath work for a moment to help calm my nerves. I'm not I'm not sure how much that worked in that moment. So I completely understand. And then I relate. I can even recall those times in simple meetings a few years ago, having with the team and so getting nervous in front of people that I knew really well. So I understand some things that have helped me.

Speaker 2: 20:41

The first thing is you have to do it. The more and more you do something, the better you're going to get. So look for those opportunities and if you have the opportunity to lead a meeting, do it. Or perhaps you're not the person that does. Go to the person that does and come up with a way to get involved more with the meeting and that's an opportunity to speak, whether it's in front of two people, 12 people, whatever the size of the team is. It'll also be good for the meeting, I think, because now they're hearing somebody else's voice rather than just the same person over and over. It's going to give you some great practice. So you're looking for practice, other things you know. Get involved with if you have an opportunity to do Toastmasters. That's not something I've done. I've heard wonderful things about it.

Speaker 1: 21:28

It is.

Speaker 2: 21:30

Yeah, read books if you have the opportunity. I think doing is the number one thing, but I think there are some books out there that can help you pick up some tips. Masterclass I'm a huge fan of Masterclass. I've subscribed to that. They've got some great videos on public speaking as well. So look for ways to practice and take some tips where you can.

Speaker 1: 21:56

Yeah, and to kind of piggyback on that, I believe it's over 70% of business owners are introverts, which means they're, you know, a little intimidated. And then I think it's like 15% of those that don't call themselves introverts are introverts. They just play, they live a facade. So you know, we all have that challenge and I will agree with you, I did the Toastmasters a long time ago and it is a muscle memory that you continually have to practice. I'll even say that during COVID, I kind of reverted back to my introvert because there weren't speaking engagements. And so I make it a point, like you said, to get involved and make sure that at least once a week I get to a networking group where I have to stand up and speak, at least break. You know, the icebreakers where you have to introduce yourself, your company, and then also have a speaking event once a month, you know, just to keep. So that's, that's great information.

Speaker 1: 22:57

Well, you also said that you've got serious this time. You're going to make this thing happen, and we always preach as business coaches, the simplicity of personal development is get serious, make a plan and take action. What were some of those things that actually got you to get serious? Because I know a lot of people they want, they want to do something. They just can't seem to get motivated to do it. Was there anything that kind of sparked that for you?

Speaker 2: 23:24

I was. I was ready. I was just ready. I felt it inside. I I knew that I was ready to take the next step in my life and apply myself. I felt like at that time I hadn't done that, but I knew inside that I had that in me and in all of the challenges that I've faced along the way that I went through some of those just now, I knew that I'm going to figure this out. I'm going to keep going.

Speaker 2: 23:54

So I think my advice I don't know if this kind of answers your question, but you're going to get knocked down in life, you're going to get knocked down in business Just be ready to do that and then get back up. And as long as you're just ready to get back up, it's like I'm just going to try, I'm going to just put myself out there. So put yourself out there, just get started. You know what's that first step and do that right. Maybe write down those first three steps, 10 steps, and do that first step. Just get started. That's the key is to get moving. Once you get that momentum going, you get on that track. It's hard to stop that.

Speaker 1: 24:33

Absolutely Great advice. Well, speaking of getting on track, you mentioned a business coach, and so we do business coaching. So, coming from us, it doesn't sound very valuable when we say everyone should have a business coach. So you said it was very valuable to you, so I have a few questions. What was the process like? Because a lot of small business owners haven't had a business coach? I know you focused on core values. We do that too, but there's a lot more after that. Like you said, the company already had core values, but they weren't really implemented, they weren't practiced. It wasn't part of the DNA. So how do you get that into the DNA of the company? And then, what were some other things you found valuable?

Speaker 2: 25:18

with a business coach. Well, you get that into the company by reiterating the values. So at Tricology, we have a bi-weekly meeting. Some businesses do weekly, monthly. Whatever it is In those meetings you've got to serve I always circle around one of those Like going into the meeting. I know of at least one value, core value that I'm going to bring up, and so the team is always hearing about those.

Speaker 2: 25:43

It's not enough to only write down the values and then be done. In fact, trichology recently. So we wrote our initial core values in 2020. And just a couple of months ago, we have, for the most part, an entirely new team. We have a couple of stylists from a few years before which we're really thankful for and proud of, but we have a lot of the new team. So we decided it's time for us to revisit our core values as a team, and that also got a lot of buy-in from the team too. There was already the buy-in, but I thought it would be great for us to sit down and let's take a look at our values and what makes sense for us today, which ones need to stay and which ones can we let go of and maybe replace with some that make more sense. So include your team on them if that's possible. Let them contribute to them. If you feel like this isn't the right time for that, then create those values and just talk about them as much as you can in meetings, et cetera.

Speaker 2: 26:47

For us, what else you know, aside from the values? What did we talk about? Challenges those times? There was there was more challenges and having somebody to talk to about what was what was going on and what was happening and and getting their feedback and, at times, even direction. Having another voice was really helpful.

Speaker 2: 27:14

Moving on from those times and then into a new coach, it's digging in a little deeper. So let's go into systems and processes. What do those look like for your company? Do you have those in place? And just buttoning everything up, and so it becomes almost more fun. I think in the beginning, when you work with a coach, you're kind of nervous and maybe you're worried. Are they going to judge you based on where you are, what you have, what you don't have? Like you don't even have core values in your company, like you know. So you worry about those things. But you know as you go along and you get these things in place. Now it's just about becoming better. We know that we're doing good, but we want to continue to grow. We want to continue to get better. We want to be able to empower our team better. How can we help our stylists more? What can we do better? And so it becomes more of those type of conversations.

Speaker 1: 28:14

On a scale of one to 10, 10 having a business coach and one not having a business coach where do you think your business would be not investing in some type of consulting or coaching?

Speaker 2: 28:28

Yeah, we would be far from where we are right now. That is absolutely, 100% true. We can't envision not having a business coach at Tricology and we've worked with two different business coaches and both, thankfully, have been fantastic, and there will be a third coach. It's worth the investment. Yeah, I can't imagine us not ever having one.

Speaker 1: 29:01

Well, I appreciate you saying that as a business coach, because we find values and as a business coach, I even have business coaches myself, not just on our team, but for me personally. So they are valuable and it is more about for those. I will back up for those looking for a business coach and I want you to put your input here. I encourage them to cause. I hear people say, well, I had a business coach, it didn't work. And I'm like which part didn't work? And they're like well, it just didn't work. And I'm like so my, my tip for those considering a business coach is know what you're trying to do, like what do you want to change? What challenges do you have? And then, because there are so many different types of coaches and a lot of business owners, they just want to increase sales and I'm like that's not always the best thing, cause if you have a company that's disorganized and chaotic, all you're doing is multiplying that chaos.

Speaker 2: 29:53

Absolutely yeah, I want to make more money. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 29:57

Don't we all? But you know you can make more money if you're more efficient, right your profits will be bigger and you don't have as many headaches. So there's lots of different ways you can look at that revenue growth.

Speaker 2: 30:10

That's right. Yeah, you, you got to dig a little deeper than that, you know. So, yeah, somebody who's who's saying that it's hard to know specifically what the challenge was there. But perhaps it was the coach, maybe they weren't the right coach. You know, I don't think all coaches are created equal.

Speaker 2: 30:29

You got to find the right coach and we've been really fortunate. We've had two coaches and both were fantastic. One was from the hair industry and one was not. Our first coach did not have a background in doing hair and that was part of why we went with her, is we? We liked that she didn't have that background and she could see things with those fresh eyes moving forward. Then we had one that was, and it was nice because they understood certain things right. So there's value in both. But I think doing your due diligence and asking around, talking to some people, if you're thinking, if you're serious about hiring a coach, is what you want to do in that case. The other thing is you know you have to be ready to make those changes so they could be the best coach in the world. But if you're not ready to get serious and put that work into your business, then it might not work out either.

Speaker 1: 31:23

Absolutely. And the only other thing I would add unless you're specifically looking for something in your business, just verify they've owned businesses before or at least have some kind of background there, background there. That's one thing that I hear a lot of people is they follow a framework. They got a license to follow a framework and sometimes that doesn't always work. Sometimes it does. You mentioned the 20 stations, right. So in your industry and I know for a lot of salons I've gone into you might see three or five. So let's talk about the growth and scaling and kind of how you got to that level.

Speaker 2: 32:03

Yeah, absolutely Well, it is. It's a big number for a shop. You know, there's salons that have two, four or five chairs. There's some that are 10. Virtual Ecology has 20. And then there's some that are even, you know, 50 and 75. I don't know how many in Oklahoma City that are of that size, but they're definitely out there and they're very possible. I can't say that I want to own a salon that size, but I wouldn't say we will never either.

Speaker 2: 32:36

You know, when you have the culture and the right team in place, who knows what happens? But it starts with that. It starts with having your values, it starts with having a wonderful culture. So currently we have 14 stylists at Tricology. So we have six chairs that are available, right, and we're going to fill those chairs. We're going to fill them with the right people and in the right time and not getting ahead of ourselves. So we have three. We call them assistant stylists. That's somebody who's coming from hair school into the salon and we help, you know, we transition them from school to salon. So we're getting their skills up where they need to be, to take work behind the chair. We help them to build a clientele, how to conduct a consultation.

Speaker 2: 33:26

A lot of work goes into this time. So we have three people right now that are building. So right now isn't the best time for us to take on a fourth person coming from hair school, to take on a fourth person coming from hair school. So we're going to appreciate and respect that in this moment and not get fixated on just trying to fill up our shop and getting to 20 and making more mistakes along the way by having too many people at one time or hiring the wrong person.

Speaker 2: 33:59

There's been a couple, I won't lie, there's been a couple people that have applied in the last month that I thought would make for really good hires. It wasn't the right time and so I had that open, honest conversation with them and I said really excited about you and what you're doing. Unfortunately for us right now it's not the right time. We can't move forward and let's circle back down the road a little bit. If you feel like trichology is the right place for you, let's have a conversation down the road when the time is right, you know. So I think that's really important, you know, appreciating where you are and what you can take on in any given time.

Speaker 1: 34:41

Well, it sounds like you're doing something right and with that you obviously have some type of strategy. So I know a lot of business owners that are listening. They're probably just focused on today. If I can get past today, then we'll worry about tomorrow. It sounds like you have a strategy, so how far out do you look with your coaches or your strategy?

Speaker 2: 35:04

Yeah, I'm always looking out a few months a year, three years down the road, and I've got strategies, action, steps for everything in the business. So I have what you'd call like a 90 day sprint, all right. And then I have a one year goal and then I have a three year goal. So you look at, like that three year goal and for anybody listening, if you're looking, if you, if you write a three year goal down, you might look at it like, okay, here's my goal for three years or five years, whatever it is. I don't even know where to begin. It might feel like too much.

Speaker 2: 35:40

That's where I say, okay, you know, just put one step in front of the other, one foot in front of the other. So create your 90 day sprint. What can you do for the next 90 days? That's going to get you moving into that direction of that three-year goal. What can you do, right? And so you do that 90 day sprint and then you do that again, you do that four times and that takes you to a year and that's your one-year goal. So where do I want to be in a year? Oftentimes I find myself ahead of the curve. Sometimes You'd be surprised where you can get within 90 days, so you've got to break it down and make it simple in that way.

Speaker 1: 36:16

Yeah, no, that's great advice. Is there anywhere that people can follow you and the company?

Speaker 2: 36:22

Yeah, absolutely, you can follow us. Instagram is a wonderful place to follow us. We post our work on there, we post our team outings on there. It's a good way to kind of just keep up with us and what we're doing. And we're on Facebook as well, so we have a wonderful website. You can check out the team there. You can make appointments in that way.

Speaker 1: 36:45

If someone were to want to reach out to you to learn more about what you've talked about and maybe how some of this information could be applicable to them, could they do that?

Speaker 2: 36:56

Oh, absolutely. I always tell yeah, anytime I have a conversation with somebody a hairstylist who's in hair school or not and so this also applies to somebody who's not in the industry and just wants to talk more about business, reach out to me, I will sit down and talk with you, or we can have a phone conversation. Whatever it is, and I am, I will be of service to you and, as much as I can be, help you and uh with with my experiences and give you my best advice.

Speaker 1: 37:27

Of your experiences, is there a pivot that you made that you wish you wouldn't have, or it absolutely turned the business in the right direction?

Speaker 2: 37:38

I mean I've made a lot of mistakes. I don't want to say no, I can't think of, like you know, a big turn that we made. That was a big mistake. A big pivot was getting a business coach. Just circling back to that and how much that helped us. That was a big pivot. Recognizing that in that time we didn't have the tools we needed as business leaders to do what we needed to do, and being honest with ourselves in that way and pivoting by getting somebody that could help us and give us the confidence to do those things.

Speaker 1: 38:17

So wise, very wise, Very wise. Well, I kind of wrap up our conversations usually with a question, and that is if you're in a room full of business owners, different industries, different years of experience what's something that's applicable to all of them? It could be a quote, a book you read, just some insights.

Speaker 2: 38:42

Oh, there's a lot, let's see here. I'll give you two.

Speaker 1: 38:46

Excellent.

Speaker 2: 38:47

You get a bonus. Yeah, we'll give you one and a bonus. Systems and processes you have to have those in place. I can't stress that enough. Oftentimes, when something isn't happening in a business, it comes down to a person not knowing that they're supposed to do it or they don't know how to do it. It's one or the other. If it's not those two, then that kind of tells you. You know, then, what it is, what the issue is. So having that, making things very clear for everybody, so that when something happens, we know who's supposed to do it, we know how it's supposed to be done.

Speaker 2: 39:23

We like to open up our doors when the weather's nice. At Trichology we have two front doors. Let in the fresh air. It's windy sometimes. Sometimes you got a bunch of leaves blowing in, right. So what are we going to do about that? Whose job is it to sweep up those leaves and get it, get the front area cleaned up? Or do we just all pretend like they're not there and just let guests come in and walk in on the leaves, right? So systems and processes are really key and the bonus is take a vacation, get out of town and travel somewhere and unplug as much as you can and you know, just rejuvenate, refresh.

Speaker 2: 40:08

I know that when I come back from vacation, I'm ready to go, I feel refreshed, I'm ready to get things done. Yes, some things may have stacked up a little bit for me by being gone, but I've got the time, I've got the energy, I've got the mental clarity to get all that done. So get out of town, get a vacation, go have some fun and start fresh when you get back.

Speaker 1: 40:35

Well, we appreciate in the community everything you and your wife are doing, and trichology is a staple in the community. You're helping a lot of people. You've been a wealth of information and a blessing to many. I certainly sincerely appreciate your time today.

Speaker 2: 40:49

Well, thank you, Michael. Again, thank you for having me here. It's been a lot of fun and we'd love to come back sometime.

Speaker 1: 40:55

Fantastic, my pleasure. Thank you for listening to Small Business Pivots. This podcast is created and produced by my company, boss. Our business is growing yours. Boss, offers flexible business loans with business coaching support. Apply in minutes and get approved and funded in as little as 24 to 48 hours at businessownershipsimplifiedcom. If you're enjoying this podcast, don't forget to hit the subscribe button and share it as well. If you need help growing your business, email me at michael at michaeldmorrisoncom. We'll see you next time on Small Business Pivots.