Founder of www.behindthechair.com, the leading online resource for cosmetology industry professionals, Mary Rector Gable recently paid our students an educational, inspirational visit.
Her talk began with the value of entrepreneurship; how selling lemonade as a teen enabled her to buy a bicycle by the end of summer, and how that same spirit is vital to all hairdressers when they start out in the business and begin to build a clientele.
Mary then talked about keys to success, including the importance of a great attitude and loving the work you do; how the fundamental techniques of hairdressing are the foundation of creativity; and the value of service with a smile.
Next came new media and how social networking is paramount in today’s world. Mary encouraged all students to develop a professional Facebook page, explaining how having that connection to friends, family, and co-workers provides the ability to reach people with six degrees of separation; and how this can be used to fill up quiet times in a hairdressers schedule.
Mary didn’t stop there, progressing to another great way to build business: Offer a free service to an “influencer’ such as a trendy store manager, sales clerk, cool club bartender, or anyone in a high-traffic job. The value of this, highlighted Mary, is that that person can then ‘display’ your work to a high volume of people, and when those people ask, ‘where did you get your hair cut,’ that person will be you.
She talked about the importance of retailing to your clients and how hairdressers must see themselves as consultants (not sales people) as everyone who sits in your chair needs guidance on what products suit their hair type and style best–and who better than a professional?
After underlining the value of finding a salon that fits with your personality, taste, and style, Mary gave the inside scoop on the Behind The Chair Web site.
Guiding students all around the site, she showed how to view the latest editorial collections from hairdressers worldwide; how to watch educational, step-by-step cut, color and styling demos; how to get access to previously aired webinars; how to use the site as a resource for finding out about industry icons and hot off the press news and opinions; and, finally, how to upload your resume to the site and have new job postings sent direct to your inbox.
After this advanced and insightful tutorial, Mary concluded with a quote from iconic session stylist, Eugene Souleiman, who she had recently interviewed:
“Once you learn the rules, you can break the rules; and once you’ve broken the rules, you can make the rules.”
An inspirational way to end Mary’s talk to the next generation of rule-makers.
Tags: Career Info, Student
Mary has fantastic insight to the business world of hairstyling, which may seem like a far fetch to all of us whom are still students at Arrojo. She gave us some pointers in the right direction as to what we should do to build business after graduation, some of which I’m using right now to build clientele. Her speech really gave me the kick I needed to realize that this is a business where I actually do have to work and sell myself…Or else I’m setting myself up for failure.
I’ve come to know that I have to be quiet, listen, learn and master everything I experience here, thanks to Mary.
Having Mary come to the school and share her story with us was a great experience for me. It was great because I didn’t realize that the industry of cosmetology was being dictate by the big corporation. Big corporations don’t have the clients in the chair in mind the way a personal stylist do. I’m glad that she opened my eyes to how our industry is changing everyday for the better. Mary is a huge motivation, granted not just due to her amazing motivational speaking but to the fact she believes so deeply in what she is doing for our industry. Therefore, I have to say hats down to Mrs. Mary for sharing her time with us and hopefully it won’t be the last.
It was a great experience having Mary at our School. Her speech was a great inspiration for me and sharing her story made a big impact of how hard we have to work to get where we want to be. Hard work will make our dreams come true. Her tips on how to build clientele and how much more is out there to do to build our business push me more to follow my dreams.
Thanks Mary for that great visit!