What Kind of Work is Hairdressing?

From a recent post you’ll see my claim that everyone seems to want to raise the bar, increase the respect, or make the hair care “industry” somehow more professional. This is a great goal but I wonder why it comes up, year after year? Why is it still a topic? Hasn’t it become more professional enough? There is some amazing work being done out there but my perspective is that no, the industry isn’t professional enough. The first reason I cited was the role salon owners play as business managers.

Here’s my perspective on the second reason: Not enough stylists understand how get all the value out of their roles.

If a stylist were working out of his home, or in a one-person studio, the only thing that is rightly required of him is between him and his clients. His work, in its most basic form, is manual in nature. It’s like a skill or a trade. Just because a pair of shears is small and lightweight, the work is still skilled manual labor and not so different from a carpenter or a dental technician. That is, the work results from manual dexterity. His measures of success are efficiency, productivity, and cost.

If another stylist aspires to something more than manual labor, she may choose to see herself as an artist. Artists also use their hands, or even their whole bodies, to accomplish their work. However, by looking at her work as art the stylist sees her role as creating more than just a product or just a service. Her measures of success are beauty, truth, and imagination. To the extent that this perspective increases beauty and creativity in the world, I think it is a valid shift in her thinking. On the other hand, if she uses the title of artist to elevate herself above the clients she presumably serves, it’s certainly not valid; at least not from a business perspective.

Let’s say skilled workers and artists want to make a business out of their work. In other words, they want to rise above the low pay, uncertain demand, and long hours that go with their current jobs. What can they do to improve their situations? Should the skilled worker stop developing his technique? No. He needs to constantly improve his skills to stay relevant. Should the artist abandon her “vision”? No. She needs to nurture her creativity and to think of hairdressing as more than utilitarian.

To achieve more, to get the most out of their roles, they need to completely reimagine their work. They must learn what they can accomplish with their brains—not just their hands. They must transcend work that is rooted in manual labor and become knowledge workers.

In our society, knowledge workers are the most respected and professional. They are the doctors and lawyers and computer scientists. For our industry to achieve the level of professionalism it craves, being more skilled with our hands and more creative with our vision will not be enough. For us to achieve that, every stylist needs to become a knowledge worker.

If you are interested in learning how to become a knowledge worker and make the industry more professional one stylist at a time; please contact me.

Jim

Lucavia
gojimlucas@lucavia.com
www.lucavia.com
(925) 980-7871

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What Kind of Work is Salon Ownership?

Whether you’re listening to a salon owner, a rep from a hair care brand, or a speaker at an industry trade show, it’s hard to miss one message that gets repeated. Everyone seems to want to raise the bar, increase the respect, or make the “industry” somehow more professional. This is a great idea. But why does it come up, year after year? Why is it still a topic?

Here’s my perspective.

Up through the late 1800’s there were few if any organizations. There were very few large organizations except for governments and the like—and even those were very small by today’s standards. Most people made a subsistence living and those who did better were still doing so mostly related to family farming. If a person practiced a trade requiring manual labor, or if they were a professional such as a doctor or a lawyer, they did their work alone or maybe with an assistant or apprentice. These were not organizations as we know them today. They were just an expert and a helper producing a product or a service.

In the 1900’s larger organizations began to appear and the need to “manage” the business, and more than an assistant or two, became a reality. To address this new need a practice called management emerged. Management, or business management, was developed in the early days by companies such as Sears & Roebuck and universities like Harvard began teaching the tasks, responsibilities, and practices of management. In today’s world the vast majority of people in developed nations now work in some kind of organization rather than alone. Management is well developed as a subject and you can earn a degree in management from any one of thousands and thousands of universities. So, management can be learned.

So, where does owning a salon fit in?

Most salon owners I know have vision, enthusiasm, and perseverance. They do whatever it takes to keep their salons going—including subsidizing them with their earnings from behind their own chairs if need be. They take risks and responsibility. They lead by example. But why are so few, and I mean very few, of them profitable? Why can’t they generate money for their children’s college educations and their own retirement? Why don’t their salons “Run themselves?”

I believe the answer is this. What most salon owners have learned about running their businesses, they taught themselves or learned at the School of Hard Knocks. If you’re working 70 hour weeks it’s tough to study management or go to night school. You have to pick up what you can through observation, practice, or at seminars and trade shows. And, some of the knowledge that’s offered is not what it should be.

Salon owners need advisors who can help them learn the best practices of management. Until they do—and until their stylists learn their proper roles—I assert the industry will continue to yearn to be more professional and more respected. Salon owners don’t need inspirational quotes for their walls. They don’t need the-flavor-of-the-month “5 Steps to a Better You.” And they certainly don’t need books and programs promising that having faith in the Universe will solve their problems.

If you are interested in learning how to better manage your business, actually reach the next level, and make the industry more professional one salon at a time; please contact me.

Jim

Lucavia

gojimlucas@lucavia.com
www.lucavia.com
(925) 980-7871

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Salon Manifesto

Hi,

Every small business needs to know what they stand for—and to inspire others to join them as they fulfill their purpose and pursue their vision. This is at the very heart of my work around Branding Framework and Transformative Client Experience. Purpose, Mission, Vision, Promise, The Ideal Client, Functional Needs, Emotional Needs, etc., is the stuff we use to get at, “What does your business stand for?” Then we work to communicate it in ways that resonate with your customers, unify your staff, and organize your operations.

As Walter Isaacson wrote in his biography of Steve Jobs, one of Jobs’ fundamental principles throughout his work life was his desire to operate at the intersection of Liberal Arts and Technology. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OesY-denV8k. This allowed Apple to create incredible technical advancements that were also intuitive, easy, and fun to use. This thinking inspires what I call the Unifying Business Principle, that is, the idea that sums up in a few short words or sentences the most basic idea of how a small business will operate.

As I’ve worked with hair salons around the U.S., I believe we have discovered the Unifying Business Principle that is worth considering for those readers in the salon industry: Owners, stylists, other service staff, receptionists, and administration.

Operate at the intersection of Art and Business. This alone provides the opportunity to contribute at the highest possible level: To perfect our Art in the service of our clients, ourselves, and our organization. Without Art there is no beauty. Without clients there is no organization. Without organization we are alone.

Jim

Lucavia

gojimlucas@lucavia.com
www.lucavia.com
(925) 980-7871

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