The Art of Salon Systems: Strategies Behind a Thriving Hair Business w/Billie J. Ross

Billie J. Ross: 00:00:00

When I started to see that my clients were being very consistent. Weeklies, bi weeklies, monthlies, and then their hair was thriving consistently. And I had a system in my business where it kept them coming.

Shy Speaks: 00:00:14

When we talk about creative entrepreneurs, that spans a wide spectrum of creatives. And a lot of times people think, oh, a visual artist or music artist or, you know, but it's like, no stylists are creative.

Billie J. Ross: 00:00:27

How people are operating in their business online and you do start to compare.

And not a compare like where you're putting yourself down, but a comparison in a sense of like, wow, I am doing something that's different and it's aligning with what clients are saying.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:00:49

Welcome, welcome. And welcome to the Minding My Creative Business podcast. The number one podcast for creators to learn strategy, structure and self development.

I am your co host, Ron ironically.

Shy Speaks: 00:00:59

Jr. And I am your co host, Sh speaks. And today's episode is delving into a creativity or creative format that we haven't touched on before.

This one is styling, but not just styling, like wardrobe, we're talking about, not interior, we're talking about hair styling.

And so if you are a creative entrepreneur and you've been trying to figure out how to apply these things to your hair styling business or your hair salon business or any of that, then this is the one for you. And if not, it's still the one for you because she about to drop some gyms. I just know it. I just know it. I don't want to put too much pressure.

Without further ado, introducing my buddy, Ms. Billy J. AKA the salon success coach. What's up, Billy? Hello.

Billie J. Ross: 00:01:44

Thank you so much for having me. Yes, I'm so happy to be here.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:01:47

Thank you.

Shy Speaks: 00:01:48

So you are the very first stylist that we're having on, and we want to make sure that on the laser. Yeah. On the creative. When we talk about creative entrepreneurs, that spans a wide spectrum of creatives.

And a lot of times people think, oh, a visual artist or, or music artist or, you know, but it's like, no stylists are creatives. Yeah, I'm excited.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:02:14

I'm excited as well. I've heard a lot of great things about you.

And just even preparing for this interview, seeing some of the phenomenal things that you've done and just seeing your transition. Right. The trajectory, and then now you're not only just styling, but you also do coaching and things like that.

So, yeah, I'm definitely looking forward to kind of delving into hearing about this journey, but we're going to do a little different we going to start from the end and then kind of work our way back.

Billie J. Ross: 00:02:37

I see. Yeah.

Shy Speaks: 00:02:40

So when we say we're going to start from the end, where you are now. Right. Usually when you see somebody sit down and talk, we talk about, like, oh, okay, well, tell us how you started and get us here.

No, let's get into the meat of the matter. You are a salon success coach. How did you arrive at that place that you decided, like, okay, that's. I really want to do that. Like, I'm.

I'm successful enough with my salon that I actually want to teach other people? Was it because people were asking, was it because you desire. You saw your own teaching gift?

Like, how did you arrive at this place of being a success coach?

Billie J. Ross: 00:03:15

I think it was always in me. No, I know that it was always in me. I think that it had to get to a point where it was just, like, inevitable.

Like, okay, like you said, people are asking, people are wanting to know. Okay, I like how you are curling that. I like how you're cutting that. You know, even clients, you know, I'm seeing clients are like, you know, you.

Everybody don't cut like, you. You know, everybody don't style like you. Everyone isn't having the same salon experience that you offer.

rse, Instagram got popular in: 2013

And so, you know, you start seeing how people are operating in their business online, and you do start to compare.

And not a compare, like, where you're putting yourself down, but a comparison in a sense of like, wow, I am doing something that's different, and it's aligning with what clients are saying. So from there, you know, people start reaching out. People like, hey, can I. Can I assist you? Can I come in and shadow you?

Like, I want to know what you're doing so that I can implement that. Or even just, hey, I'm getting out of school. Can I come? You know, fold towels, wash hair, do something like that? So it started from that.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:04:38

Now, I love that, right, because you said people were asking you to do some things, right? That is like, okay for you. I would assume that it was just normal. It's like, well, no, this is what I do.

Like, I noticed a lot of times we creators downplay our skill set, right? And we don't think everybody, right?

But from what I'm hearing, like, no, there was value in how you Were putting that right because you kept hearing these same questions over and over again. You was like, oh, wait a minute. There's something maybe a little deeper here right now. Did you come to that aha moment on your own?

Did you have somebody else that you could fight it in and talk to? And they kind of was like, hey, you might got something here. Like, how did you get to that point?

Billie J. Ross: 00:05:18

You know, honestly, I believe that it took me so long to get there because I had to start believing in what I was doing. And I think I struggle with, you know, doubt.

I feel like I struggled with a little bit of perfectionism, you know, looking at others and thinking, like, there's so many other people who are way better than I am and have been doing it longer than I've been doing it. I can't possibly be as good as everybody is saying. Right. So it took me a minute to get to that point.

But when I started to see that my clients were being very consistent, like weeklies, bi weeklies, monthlies, and then their hair was thriving consistently. And I had a system in my business where it kept them coming over and over. It really wasn't until I would say. I would probably say the last.

Starting from this point, maybe the last 10 years, where I realized I have a system. And then this last year, I'm now saying, I have a system. Yeah.

Where it's really coming into fruition, where I really understand, like, I have a system that I can share, and. And I was supposed to share all along, and I didn't realize that I was sharing it. But not in the capacity that I'm sharing it now.

Shy Speaks: 00:06:36

Yeah.

Billie J. Ross: 00:06:37

If that makes sense.

Shy Speaks: 00:06:38

Okay, so that's my language right there. Come on. I like a good system. So I want to talk to you about this system that you feel like you. That you discovered that we really had it.

But then it's like, oh, I have it, and I didn't teach it. I want to talk about that. But when we say a minute, I want to give people a little bit of context.

For those who want to know, like, what level of creative entrepreneur are we talking about here? How long have you actually been in business?

Billie J. Ross: 00:07:06

minus: 2009

Shy Speaks: 00:07:11

That's 16, I believe. See, she can calculate two out of nine.

Billie J. Ross: 00:07:15

So, yeah, 16 years as of March. And then before that's when I got licensed. And then I would do hair. I've never had a real job. When I say real, my job is Real, Real.

But I'm saying, like, I've never had, like, a corporate job. I've never worked at a grocery store. I've always did hair at home. I always knew that that's what I.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:07:35

Wanted to do, even as a. As. Like a teenager. Right. You know, as a teen, you get those little. I worked at Burger King as a teenager. Right.

Billie J. Ross: 00:07:41

So, yeah, Yeah. I am a very. If it don't make sense, it don't make sense kind of person, you know? And so even as a teenager, I realized, like, who paying for college?

Who got the money? Because we don't. And I understood very early that people were taking out loans and things like that, and that was scary to me.

And so as a teenager, I had the mindset that, okay, if I'm gonna go to college, if I would rather do that and pay my way than to get into debt and do all the things that everyone else is doing, let me do a different route. So as a teenager, I started doing hair at home because I knew it really started because there was no option.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:08:24

Right.

Billie J. Ross: 00:08:25

That's how I started. It was no other option.

Shy Speaks: 00:08:28

And so. Oh, I love it. There was no option for me. Because most of the time, you have to get to the point that there's no other option.

Billie J. Ross: 00:08:33

Yeah.

Shy Speaks: 00:08:33

Like, at some point, people have these things going. It's like, I. I have this option, that option. They have to eliminate the option eventually to thrive. You started with, this is the option.

Billie J. Ross: 00:08:44

Yeah, it's no other option.

Shy Speaks: 00:08:45

This is. I love it. Okay, so you had something about the same.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:08:48

Yeah, I don't want to go off that. This timeline. Right.

Billie J. Ross: 00:08:50

Quick.

Shy Speaks: 00:08:51

Yeah.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:08:51

Right. Because you was going somewhere 16 years. So what point in that, 16 years, did this aha moment take place?

Because a lot of times, like I said, people think that it's either a snap, you know, snap of a moment, or it may take the 15 or the 16. But for you, like, yeah, what, what, what? In that timeline, where did that happen?

Billie J. Ross: 00:09:11

Remind me of which. Which aha moment?

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:09:13

The one when you was like, okay, I have these systems. I've been, you know, these people are asking me this, that I'm adding value that other people aren't adding. Right.

So it's something else that I'm something more that I'm bringing to the table. Right. That's enhancing this experience for them. So when did that happen?

Billie J. Ross: 00:09:30

. Between: 2013

And so that's when I hired my first assistant. And in that, with me training the assistant, I realized that I really had systems because now I have to teach it.

And so in order for me to teach it, I had to break down what I was doing. And it was normal to me. So it was all in my mind. But now I'm putting it in tangible form for her to understand I'm breaking things down.

And I was like, wow, okay, I really do have a system. And I think that's when it started to make more sense, because I saw it on paper versus in my head. That's a good.

Shy Speaks: 00:10:15

That's okay. So, yeah, What. What was this system that you saw that you had at that time? I'm sure it has developed and grown from now, from up to now.

But let's go back to that time where you're first hiring your first assistant. So that's a. That's a gem for somebody. At some point, you're at capacity. You just keep working more hours and more hours and more hours.

You may want to go ahead and hire somebody, but before you hire somebody, you have to kind of have a system.

Billie J. Ross: 00:10:39

So.

Shy Speaks: 00:10:39

So what was the system that you had?

Billie J. Ross: 00:10:42

So what was different from what I did from. Excuse me. What was different from what I offered that other stylists were not? I wasn't doing anything that clients wanted when they came in.

I wanted to focus on healthy hair only. That was my focus. And so even then, I still didn't understand the concept of niching down like I understand it now.

But I was still in a way, niche down in a way, because my focus was healthy hair. And in that, I would create structure for my clients that you would need to come in this amount of time, this amount of time.

We would have to see this amount of improvement in this amount of time before you could get color, before you could get extensions. So I wasn't just going in and immediately giving color, giving, you know, extensions and all the braids or whatever it was at the time.

You had to go through a process to get your hair at a certain level. And so in that it would create incentives for my clients to stay consistent because they wanted. Then Basketball Wives was really popular.

They wanted basketball wife hair. They wanted, you know, Fantasia. You know, she had the shortcuts. Rihanna had the shortcuts. Everybody wanted, you know, the color and the shortcuts.

They wanted the wow factor, but their hair was not wow. So. So I developed that. And even the way, like, from the shampoo to the Blow drying to the styling.

Like how I had everybody in a rotation, clients were in the salon all day. Like, we were in and out. And I was able to.

I mean, there were some days that I had, like, I think the most amount of people I've had in a day was like 13. And that's insane, by the way.

Shy Speaks: 00:12:24

Yeah, but you had such a flow.

Billie J. Ross: 00:12:26

19, 20, 21.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:12:28

You know, I'm over here geeking out, right? Because I'm hearing a lot of things, like in between what you're saying. So what I'm hearing you say is you approached it with a desired outcome.

Like you had the desired outcome, right? Like they came in for one thing, saying, okay, I want this look, I want this style. But you like, well, no, my focus is healthy here.

Billie J. Ross: 00:12:49

Right.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:12:50

And before you can even get to what you want, there's some things that need to take place prior to.

Billie J. Ross: 00:12:55

Right, right, right.

Shy Speaks: 00:12:56

So how.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:12:57

What took place in order for you to build that trust, Right. Because they're coming to you and saying, no, but I want the basketball wife look. I want this.

Billie J. Ross: 00:13:04

Right.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:13:04

You like, well, hold on. Before you get there, right? We gotta go through this first. And it's gonna take a while. It's gonna take you about five or six visits.

Billie J. Ross: 00:13:10

Right, right.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:13:11

So what made them like, okay, cool. Yeah, let me listen to Billy.

Billie J. Ross: 00:13:15

Yeah.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:13:15

Paul's fellow. Let me just go find somebody else that I know gonna give me that look.

Billie J. Ross: 00:13:18

So I would say I have been told that I am a little. No, nonsense, you know, I've been told that. And yeah, just I'm very direct and straightforward.

Over the years, I've learned how to have a little bit more tact. So the younger me did not have as much tact. And so I would be like, you know, if you want healthy hair, this is the way.

If you don't, then I'm just not the stylist for you. And so that's not the way I would suggest. But I have people that love that about me, you know, And I do appreciate people who could see past that.

And they were just like, man, she's awesome. She just don't play about, you know, like, this is how you do it. Now I have a lot more. A lot more professionalism with my delivery.

And so I share with people that, you know, this is how healthy hair works. I explain it to them. I let them know that I'm not going to do anything that you don't feel comfortable with.

However, if what your comfort level is doesn't line up with the values and the goals that we have here at Exclusier Salon, then this may not be the best fit for us because you won't be able to get to your desired goals.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:14:30

Those core values, I love it. I don't think a lot of people approach business developing core values. Maybe you didn't have them at the time.

Billie J. Ross: 00:14:37

Right.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:14:38

They were intrinsic. So.

Billie J. Ross: 00:14:39

But to your point, even though my delivery was a little rough, it was still communication and that's what built the trust. That was the answer. It's just the clients would say that stylists don't communicate.

And whether my communication was, you know, patchy or whatever, you know, it was still communication and it made them feel comfortable with knowing what they were going to get.

Shy Speaks: 00:15:03

So now we are talking about customer education. And that's a part of your system that you had this time where you talk to them, which is really self development. Right.

Because you have to already have enough confidence with whatever the product is that you selling. If you are a creative whatever it is, you have to be confident enough in the product and take pride in it.

And the fact that you took pride in it, I think that's where the trust came in. But I think we were also talking about this system. Right.

So it's like, okay, when people come in, I take them through customer education about how this is going to go, then that means you have to come back so many times. Not that you were just trying to make people come back so many times.

Billie J. Ross: 00:15:42

But it, it, it, but that sales.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:15:44

Right. And it creates continuity.

Billie J. Ross: 00:15:45

Yes, that's, that's how it works. I mean every, the world is sales and the world works like that. So I didn't realize it at the time. Right.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:15:54

So that was unintentional.

Shy Speaks: 00:15:55

But it, Right, it works.

So now, so you got them coming in for this rhythm, then once they get the, to the point where you want them to go now, you can start exploring some of the styles and then is there like more to the system or was there more to the system?

Billie J. Ross: 00:16:09

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think that it's a. Essentially it's a client retention system. And so it's, it's all about, you know, being able to.

First off, first off, being able and that, which I didn't have this initially, but now it's all about being able to sell the client before they come in. So they already know that you're the person that they want before you. They even sit in your chair.

And so that takes the heavy lifting because you've already done the work online. And so once they're in the chair now. They already know who I am, they know what I offer.

You've built a brand and an online presence that it's almost like, I don't want to say celebrity ish, but it's just, it's kind of like going to a church that you've been watching online. You already know what you're going into when you get there.

Shy Speaks: 00:16:57

Yeah.

Billie J. Ross: 00:16:58

So they don't have to like prep and prime you. They already know you already know. So, so same difference. So it started with that and then when you come in now you are doing consultation.

That's the communication aspect. This is where you are building the trust of your consumer and letting them see why you are different from everyone else.

And then from there is the experience. You know, I tell stylists that you could legit be like average. Like when I say average, I mean like average.

But if you can master your online presence, if you can master communication, making people feel just special in that moment, they will come back to you over and over and over again, even if you are average.

Shy Speaks: 00:17:46

Okay, so you had, at least you had a way of getting people in through online. So that's that branding. You have the, the client retention system.

So it's already built in that, hey, there's going to be so many sessions because we're working towards something. Then there's the, I'm sure this is what you're teaching your, your assistant. There is the experience and there's a way we go about the experience.

Like there, you can't just walk in and then there's, you know, there's a order to it like that what they had to go through first or sit down and wash or. I'm sure there was that. And then is there, was there a follow up system that you had as well?

Billie J. Ross: 00:18:20

So now I'm one of those people, I don't do the, the follow up, like hey, how was your appointment? But people do. And I think that' great tactic to have. I think that's awesome.

I personally didn't have the bandwidth to do that, but I, I'm gonna be honest, I didn't need to follow up because not to say that I think it's still good. I've been to five star restaurants, talk your stuff.

Shy Speaks: 00:18:45

The follow up could have been I already booked your next appointment. While we were in this appointment was.

Billie J. Ross: 00:18:48

That'S the point I was gonna get to is that I made sure that there was a system in place that they were already booking their next appointment appointment. And really you can tell when a Client is not gonna come back. You know, you can. It's just. It's.

There's signs are there, you know, so I'm not gonna say every single client was just like, oh, you know, yeah, I love my hair. I'm coming back. But a large percentage of people that I did, they booked their appointment and.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:19:14

They came back that. Oh, man. Like that. That experience that you're talking about is just. Is huge.

I don't think a lot of people really put that thought into the actual experience. They're more so focused on delivering the product or the service.

But if the experience that I'm receiving from receiving your product or service is not favorable.

Billie J. Ross: 00:19:35

Right.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:19:37

I'm not gonna return.

Billie J. Ross: 00:19:38

Right.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:19:38

I'm not gonna share it with Shy and let Shy know. Shy, you should probably go check that and such out. You know what I'm saying? So that's a huge part of it. Like, I love that.

And that's a part of the system. You approach it systematically. Yeah, that's. That's.

Shy Speaks: 00:19:50

I like that. Okay, so if someone is watching this now and they're like, listen, I'm already sold. Like, I know. I want my, my salon to be successful.

Before y' all go further into her story, how we even get to all the other things that she's going to teach, I'm. I'm sold on understanding the system. I'm sure we're going to talk about social media here in just a moment because we talked about IG briefly.

We want to talk about how long it took you to get to six figures. We're going to talk about all the things.

But if somebody's watching this and they're like, I'm interested in her salon services or salon success coaching, how can they get involved with that? How do they get signed up to work with you?

Billie J. Ross: 00:20:29

Yeah, absolutely. So my Instagram is Billy J. Ross, B I L L I E J Ross. And from there is the link to my. My store. And I have a list of the services that I provide.

And I'm also currently working on launching It's a secret, so I can't say it yet, but it'll probably be out by the time this podcast comes out. Yeah. So I'm working on doing a secret community. And I know it's all God because I said I would never do a community. And it just.

God, just dropped it in my spirit in at 2 in the morning. And I'm like, okay, I'm doing it. I'm doing it. I'm doing it, I'm doing it. And I'm excited about it.

And so that would be available to people who have all of my products only, which is why it's a secret community for people who are serious that are investing in their education. And it's just a community for growth and support and development.

And the goal is hopefully in the future where I can be able to be completely from behind the chair, where I can commit to doing, you know, hey, every Monday we're doing coaching sessions, hot seat sessions. Every Friday we're doing, you know, like, I want to really pour into this community, so I'm excited about it.

Shy Speaks: 00:21:47

Okay. So be on the lookout to be able to join that community. Now, when you talk about products, let's be clear.

You said investing in the education, so you're talking about educational products that you have.

Billie J. Ross: 00:21:57

Yeah.

Shy Speaks: 00:21:58

So how many educational products do you have right now?

Billie J. Ross: 00:22:01

Oh, man, the ones that I have available.

Shy Speaks: 00:22:02

Available? Yeah.

Billie J. Ross: 00:22:03

Are three. Okay. And it is my. She creates cash flow. That is my first product.

And that is where I walk stylists through specialization in systemizing their services for six figures. And in that I talk about the structures in the salon in your six figure content creation.

So it's literally my six figure cash flow style system, which is how you develop those systems in the salon. But it is for people who specializes in, who specialize in silk presses only. So that's a part of my niche.

So I don't, I can't, I can help, but I do not help. I focus on silk pressing only. And then I have an actual silk pressing master class and a haircutting master class.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:22:52

One thing that I notice about, about you and what I, what I'm keep hearing, that's a, you know, a reoccurring thing, is that you qualify your clients or your customers. Right. You said for this, for this product here, you don't, you can't even get access to it unless you've already had the prior three products.

Billie J. Ross: 00:23:09

Right, Right.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:23:09

So that's.

I'm over here just really, really geeking out because that's a phenomenal approach that I think a lot of people would do themselves a service if doing that. Right. Cause it's like, no, it's like you can buy it, but if you haven't done steps one and two, something, you're gonna miss something in this thing.

Billie J. Ross: 00:23:28

So I think the, the. And I hope this doesn't sound like, I don't know what word I'm looking for, but like, I want to say the beautiful thing about myself.

Does that sound bad?

Shy Speaks: 00:23:38

Yeah, yeah.

Billie J. Ross: 00:23:40

The thing that I love about myself. Maybe let me say that the thing I love about myself is that what I am doing is that I'm trying to prevent people from going ghost.

The route that I took, because it took me 16 years to get to this point. And so that's what my products are about, is to say, hey, I've done the hard work. I'm trying to eliminate that for you if you follow these systems.

So to your point, I qualify people because I've been in the coaching sessions that are draining where they paid me, you know, 90 minutes, 60 minutes, and I was on the Zoom for three hours, you know, because I'm just like, I really want them to get this and they're not getting it because they're not qualified. And so I've done the hard work. So don't do what I'm doing.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:24:30

Yeah, I love it.

Billie J. Ross: 00:24:31

Qualify your clients, qualify your people, because otherwise you're gonna do the hard work.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:24:36

No, I get it.

Shy Speaks: 00:24:37

If you watching this podcast right now, there are two people that she's speaking to at the same time, which is why I said I can. I'm gonna.

This is gonna be one of my favorites because if you are a stylist and you're that kind of creative entrepreneur, she's talking to you about ways to get. Go deeper with those educational products. But also if you're a person who is already coaching, she just gave what Ron would say is strategy.

And the strategy is, how do I get people into the coaching program? Is first of all, you got to be a part of the community. Probably. I don't know how it's going to be laid up because it's her thing to do.

But also, first you have to be a part of all the. Get those other things. Yeah. Educational products. And so I now just sold all those products because you want to be coached.

Like, so there's packages and all that kind of stuff. How would you. How would you describe that?

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:25:23

No, I mean, like I said, so there's a couple things that's going on. So, yeah, from a business standpoint, it's sure genius because like you say, I'm going to sell more of my.

My products, but then it's also, I'm not going to waste your time and my time when you get here because you already received steps 1, 2, and 3 prior to getting here. Right. So it's just that, that preparation piece. And I get it because I've been there, right.

I've had clients to where it was like, they're not getting it. And I've had to cut people loose. Like, listen, I love you, I appreciate you, but I'm not, I'm not doing this because I want your money. Yeah.

We can continue to do this session. Right. And I'm gonna take your money and you're gonna walk away and not get the result. Yeah, Right. But that doesn't do anybody good.

That doesn't do you good.

Billie J. Ross: 00:26:03

Right.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:26:03

Because you're not getting it. And it doesn't do me good because you gonna probably blame me. Hey, I took Ron coaching because this is program and I didn't even get nothing.

Billie J. Ross: 00:26:11

Yeah.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:26:11

Like, no. So before we get here, let's go through these steps to make sure that you're prepared for this.

Billie J. Ross: 00:26:18

So, yeah, one of the things that I teach my stylists and my coaching classes or the courses that I offer is out of all of the clients that you have, if you take all of your clients and look at them, out of those clients, who has the biggest transformation with the services that you provide? And I think that's a really powerful reflection that they should sit with.

Because a lot of times we don't think about when we are taking on clients, who is going to get the transformation that I'm offering. If they don't have transformation, they're not going to come back.

If they don't have transformation, they're not going to feel like your services are valuable. And ultimately that dilutes your brand and it dilutes the service that you offer.

Shy Speaks: 00:27:00

That's perfect. Because if, if, then that's who I should be focusing on. I know I can give this group of people a transformation.

Billie J. Ross: 00:27:08

Right.

And let's say, for instance, like for me, my clients, the person that would have the biggest transformation is going to be the client who's going to come all year round for silk presses.

If she's a girly that likes to wear braids, that likes to wear extensions, she's not going to have transportation because she's gonna have other factors that are going to cause issues with her hair. And so in a 12 month period, she's gonna say, oh, my hair is not thriving. Oh, this is happening. Oh, this is happening.

Whereas the client that fits my schedule, you know, you have to factor that into like, who fits the schedule that you work fits my schedule. Our personalities match.

She likes healthy hair, she likes silk presses, she's going to market my, my work in the best possible way because she's getting the transformation because she's coming regularly.

Shy Speaks: 00:28:00

All right, so, okay, so we're, we're at the point where we, we know that you have done this for 16 years. We know that you actually have educational products for hairstylists. And moving into the.

Even those who actually have salons, because some people are just currently only styling. They don't own the salon just yet. Can we pivot a little bit and talk about the salon ownership side?

Because you know me, I know you personally, so I knew you just styling at some point. You then got an assistant. At what point did you know that you needed to scale into, like, it's time for me to have my own salon. Tell us about that.

Billie J. Ross: 00:28:36

Okay, well, I'll keep this short because that, that's a. Yeah, keep. Okay, that's a. That's a lot to unpack as well. Because that's a whole, A whole thing there.

Yeah, but I've always wanted to have a salon, so that was always a desire. Most, most stylists come out with that possibly being an end goal. But I knew that that's what I wanted to do.

Like I said, I always felt like teaching was always there. The type of salon that I had in mind was a salon that was educational based.

Unfortunately, it didn't start out that way, but it is educational base now. And so.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:29:15

Hold on, I don't mean to interrupt. What did you mean by the educational base? Like, what does that mean?

Billie J. Ross: 00:29:20

So I always had a desire of having the type of salon that stylists could go to and they could learn and grow, not just come in and just pay booth rental and they just figure it out on their own. I always wanted to walk with people. That was my. That was my desire.

Shy Speaks: 00:29:36

Yeah.

Billie J. Ross: 00:29:37

, I decided to get a salon in: 2019

I was able to find a location which was next door after looking all over DFW for maybe like two years prior. And it just wasn't the time. And I just kind of felt a little defeated.

you know, and so I opened in: 2019

And so, yeah, it was kind of like, okay, is this really, for me, is this like, God, is this what you do telling me to do? Because you told me to open the salon and then now it's closed.

Shy Speaks: 00:30:22

Yeah.

Billie J. Ross: 00:30:22

And so we open back up. And it's just been. It's just been thriving ever since. It's really going well.

Shy Speaks: 00:30:29

But I'm saying where. When you. Before you had the salon, which Is how many seats do you have or how many?

Billie J. Ross: 00:30:34

I have seven. Seven chairs.

Shy Speaks: 00:30:36

Okay, so were you at a suite on your own and it. Was it like one or two? You know how sometimes the suites is just the one seater and sometimes the suites have like multiple seats?

Were you in one of those?

Billie J. Ross: 00:30:46

Yeah, I had a suite, and then I moved to a larger suite. And the assistants that I were training, I was training at the time, I let. I started to let them take clients.

And so I got into a bigger suite where I could put multiple chairs in there. So we just kind of had reached. Like, I saw that we were growing, you know, and I was like, okay. You know, I was praying about it.

I was scared, but I was praying about it because I was like, we are growing. We're expanding, and this little room is not gonna cut it.

Shy Speaks: 00:31:13

Right.

Billie J. Ross: 00:31:15

And so again, I just found that salon just by walking to go get some catfish one day. Like legit. Like, I was hungry and I was walking and I saw a building and I called and I was just like, I'm just gonna do it.

I'm scared, but I'm just gonna do it.

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So, and the reason why I asked that is because sometimes people want to go from, I do hair, I style people, a few clients, and then I'm gonna go ahead and open up a salon, right, Because I'm gonna just have a couple of my friends in there. But then they don't. There are some things that they don't know about how to manage.

Yes, because there's bills, there's people, unlock people, there's, you know, unlocking and opening the doors.

Billie J. Ross: 00:32:52

Number one, the people.

Shy Speaks: 00:32:54

There's people, there's people.

And so you learned how to manage a salon because we got salon management from actually managing first your suite and then a bigger space with a couple of more chairs and then there's the full on salon. Now, when you had the smaller suite, did you have a couple of stylists in there or were you the only stylist and a few assistants?

Billie J. Ross: 00:33:17

I had two stylists in there.

Shy Speaks: 00:33:20

Okay, so. Okay, so let's talk about, let's talk about. For me, I'm going to ask you, let's go into the back end of that.

Okay, so if I'm a person, I'm, I'm a creative myself. So you're still thinking about how to do your thing.

You're, you're drudging up your clients, making sure you deliver them that color, that cut they want. So you're a creative, but you're minding your creative business at that time. Because now I have two other people who work here as well.

You may think that this is common knowledge, but for somebody who doesn't even have the small suite yet, what are some things that it takes to manage that on the back end while you're still creating and working with your clients? But I still now have other people who work here who are paying. Like, I have this business now, like the salon and the sweet. That I'm a sweet owner.

What are some things that they should think about?

Billie J. Ross: 00:34:11

Vision, I would say vision for sure. I, I think with me working with people and training people for so long, I have noticed that there is a lack of vision with hairstylists.

Sometimes we can only just see what we're doing right here, what we're making today, if that. You know, sometimes it's not like sometimes we don't even know what we're going to make for that day.

And so I would teach and train my stylist on how to see the vision that they were trying to create.

You know, like, I'm like, you should always not so much control, but you should kind of have an estimate of what you want to do in a certain amount of, in a certain time frame. And I'm not just talking about goals.

I'm more so just talking about, like if you're seeing that, say for instance, if you're seeing your books are slowing down, okay, you have to have vision in order to know, okay, what do I need to do to pick up my books, you know, and not just sit and just be like, well, maybe it'll get better.

Shy Speaks: 00:35:11

Yeah.

Billie J. Ross: 00:35:11

If your salon is at capacity, you know, and you're seeing it progress to that, then you need to know, okay, what's month. What's the next month gonna look like? And the next month.

So you have to be able to look further out in order to be able to plan and make the decisions that you need for your business.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:35:29

Now, question, you said books. What books are you referring to? Are you referring to your, like, booking, like scheduling or booking, like, your accounting books?

And I'm just asking, you know, I just want to be clear.

Billie J. Ross: 00:35:39

No, you're scheduling books.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:35:40

Okay.

Billie J. Ross: 00:35:41

So just again, like, the amount of people that you're able to take, you know, and so that when we were in that suite, it was three of us and we were at capacity. And so the. With me. And again, it's just. Not everybody has that. And I would just say it's just a gift. I do have a gift to just be like.

I'm thinking, like a year down the road, you know, sometimes further. I'm literally seeing. We ain't got a room in here.

Shy Speaks: 00:36:06

We don't have.

Billie J. Ross: 00:36:07

We don't have a room. Like, we are like, the Lord is blessing, you know? And so I just literally started praying for vision that, like, okay, we at capacity.

We're gonna have to do something.

Shy Speaks: 00:36:21

Right? So I love that the vision piece, because you said it's a gift, but it's also can be taught and encouraged.

And I love the fact that you're encouraging that.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:36:30

Yeah.

Shy Speaks: 00:36:30

The second thing, though, you are the person who are creating. At some point, you have to. You're collecting booth rent or space chair rent. I don't know the proper terminology, but, like, was there.

Is there something? Like, if I'm a girl and I have a small space, I'm about to go to a bigger suite, get a couple of styles in here. That's what I'm saying. Like, what.

What else? So now you have vision, but, like, how do.

What's something to know about managing that process of being a suite owner before they become a salon owner?

Billie J. Ross: 00:36:59

Yeah, I think I honestly, I think being a suite owner was probably one of the best things that I could have done before going into a salon. Because when I was trying to open a salon before, I thought I was ready based on my income, I was like, oh, I can. I can do this.

You know, if I don't have anybody in here, I'll be okay. And it was. No, could not have. Like, so I, I had to kind of take a beat and slow down. And so in that time of, I was actually getting, like, rejected.

My, my offer letters for commercial properties were getting rejected and I didn't know why.

Shy Speaks: 00:37:35

Yeah.

Billie J. Ross: 00:37:36

And during that time, I was focusing on just growing what I had. And so that was probably the best thing that I could have done, was to create a mini salon experience in a salon suite.

And I'm not just talking about me by myself, because I had already been doing that. I was in suites my whole career, pretty much. I was talking about having the chairs, creating the systems, creating the structure.

It taught me how to do it in that aspect. So when I got bigger, I had a little bit more knowledge.

Shy Speaks: 00:38:08

And that's what, that's why I'm asking. I'm trying to give, I'm trying to squeeze you, to give them the juice of, of like, you need, you need that experience. Because it's not okay.

I can afford it. Yeah, affording it. We think about affordability, we think about how much can we afford it financially. But can you afford it management wise?

Like, and that's what I'm trying to get you to say. Like, what is some of the things that, that you learned in that as far as managing?

Billie J. Ross: 00:38:32

Yeah.

Shy Speaks: 00:38:32

Because I'm sure you didn't always have the seats filled, right? You have to figure out how to refill a seat. You have to. They have, they got to pay you some kind of way. You have to pay them.

Billie J. Ross: 00:38:41

I mean, you know, it's interesting that you asked me this question because I had a stylist come to my salon this week and she just wanted to just ask me some questions about starting a salon and what she needed to do. And she was like, wow, I've never really heard it from the perspective that you're sharing it.

And so one of the things that I said was, you need to know your people, Max, because you are, you're essentially, you're the boss, even if they're paying rent, but if they're doing commission, you are their boss. You are the owner of the salon. And so you're going to have to oversee everything. Everything.

And with people comes miscellaneous things, issues, all the things. Right. It's not just doing hair. It's not just having to deal with the clients.

You're now having to keep your salon culture the way that you want it, the people that you're bringing in, you know, really developing a really solid interview process.

Because now I'm bringing in people who are either either gonna make a break, sink my ship, or not, you know, and so that, I think, is the most challenging part of ownership and why a lot of salon owners quit because we don't master the management. And I'm not gonna lie, I was not the best my first few years. You know, I developed relationships with my stylists.

And I would probably say that's, you know, in my opinion, I would say the best. That's not the smartest thing to develop relationships with people that you're managing. And so I believe in team building.

And so now my crew that I have now, we have team outings, and we build team activities, and we have a really strong dynamic. But in my first years and where I am now, I compared that, okay, I have to be the owner. I can't be everybody's friend.

Shy Speaks: 00:40:37

So by relationships, you mean too much of a personal relationship, trying to be people as opposed to relationship?

Billie J. Ross: 00:40:44

Yes. Not, I think. And it's. And it's the personality thing. Everyone may or may not do that, but I'm that type of person.

Like, I want people to enjoy where they work. I want people to love me. I want them to love their environment. I want them to come in like my salon owner.

She cool, you know, and so I wanted to create this almost like a family type thing, and that could just be good or bad, you know, And.

And so now the structure that I have is that we have a really good relationship, you know, a great relationship, but there are boundaries that we have. And so I didn't. I had no boundaries. None. You could call me anytime, any day and night.

We would have holiday functions, and there was just no boundaries, right?

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:41:24

No. And that's good, I think, a lot of times, because we want to develop that rapport and the relationship that we kind of let those boundaries down.

Any thriving relationship, even in a marriage, they need. They need help to be healthy. Boundaries. So that's good that you were able to identify that and say, okay, cool.

Nope, I want this environment, but I need to put those boundaries in place. And the piece that I'm hearing you say as well is that one of the main things of the major things is learning how to.

I don't say manage, but, I mean, you know, just. Yeah, manage people. But knowing your capacity, you know what I'm saying? Knowing they're going to suffer. So we talk about self development.

So knowing who you are as an individual and knowing, okay, I'm introverted, extroverted, there's only so much human involvement that I can have. I got to know that they're going to behave this way and you know, just certain things.

So having that level of self awareness with yourself, but then understanding how people work and knowing how to engage them and how to get the best out of them and challenge them, but also where it's not just destroying the relationships, it can come back and destroy the business.

Billie J. Ross: 00:42:28

Right. Which is all a system in itself too.

Shy Speaks: 00:42:30

Yeah.

So when we talk about you talking about managing the people, there's also an aspect of managing the resources is within the structure that you created or the system that you more so endorse.

Would you recommend that the, the owner or the suite owner, the salon owner manages like the facility, ordering this inventory, as far as certain things that are come with the salon or everybody operate like independence and I'm just giving you a space. You need to bring your own towels, you need to bring your own shampoo, you have to do your own.

Like, is it, do you promote an independent model or do you promote a model where I manage these resources as well that we provide.

Billie J. Ross: 00:43:12

Right. So what I have learned that I believe, and I'm one of those people, I feel like there's always more than one way to skin a cat.

You know, there's no perfect way.

But what I believe that works for me is in order to maintain your culture, you have to make sure that every stylist that you have carries the same DNA that you have. It's not going to work if they don't.

And if you have stylists who come in and they have their own clientele, they're doing, doing their own thing, nine times out of ten, your culture and their culture are going to bump heads because they have their systems and the way that they do things. And you have your culture. Now, if you can find someone that lines up with that, then you have a great fit.

So my advice would be to focus on stylists who are fresh out of school. Stylists who have either low clientele or just trying to get their, their income up. You know, they're trying to build their business.

And mostly stylists who just don't have salon experience because it's almost like a relationship. If you, if you have never experienced someone breaking your heart, you won't go into that relationship with heartbreak.

So when a stylist has no salon experience, she comes in like a sponge. She's hungry, she's ready. But unfortunately. And again, this does not apply for every stylist.

But unfortunately, when you do hire stylists who are seasoned, who have clients who've had their own experience. They come in with baggage, they come in with hurt, they come in with skepticism, especially towards salon owners.

And it just takes one, one person that has a bad experience that will totally change and shift your salon culture. So for me, commission based salons, okay. Is where you're going to make the most amount of money. Rent is going to cap your income. Always.

But again, it's your bandwidth. If you can handle written and you're okay with the, the income cap, perfect. Yeah.

But commission is where you will literally make unlimited amount of money. Like literally. But you gotta train your staff.

Shy Speaks: 00:45:28

So, so we got the, so the commission based resources, like, you know, this things, these types of things may not be as important to you because you get them intrinsically important to talk about. They're obviously important because you're a successful salon owner, but you get them, so you do them.

But for somebody who's trying to listen to this and learn, do you. And this may be an important question for them.

So as far as like salon stuff, should I be letting everybody else do their own thing or should we have a way our towels, we warm them up, we do what, you know, I'm trying to say, like all the backyard.

Billie J. Ross: 00:46:03

That's all culture.

Shy Speaks: 00:46:04

Yeah.

Billie J. Ross: 00:46:05

So, and again, going back to booth rental versus commission, it depends on the structure that you have set up.

And I would recommend commission because again, you get to train your staff and you will provide them with some level of not only education to make sure they carry your DNA and uphold the culture, but education to make sure that they are receptive to learning and to being able to implement the policies and keep the culture and the brand that you have cohesive. Right. That's commission. But I did it with booth rental as well.

And it's very possible, but it requires finding stylists who don't feel like, oh, I'm paying booth rental, I can do it. I, I want. There are some people who don't mind paying rent in an environment that lines up with their goals and their values.

Shy Speaks: 00:46:54

Okay. I, I pushed a little bit on that. I, I just. Because I wanted to get some more on the back end of what happens. Yeah, yeah.

So as far as like the independent approach like that, you know, it's commission versus which one you prefer. But I'm more.

But I know Ron probably has some, some other, other things that he wants to ask and I know we need to get back because we, we delved into the salon owner side and they can talk to you later about the salon success coaching. But there's this also this thing that you have. This. This digital piece. Right. So this is my favorite. Yeah.

This marketing that you're doing and so that you talked about being able to get people to six figures if they're not there at six figures or multi six. And so specializing. But then there's also coupled with like this branding and digital stuff.

And I want to talk about that because people like, I see her stuff online. I want to know how she does that. So. But before we do that, was there something that you wanted to say?

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:47:49

It was just something that. When she talked about how she goes about who she brings into her culture. Yeah, right. That stood out to me. Right.

And it's the same approach that I take where it's like I hire character over skill set because I can always train skill set.

Billie J. Ross: 00:48:02

Correct.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:48:02

So it's like you saying, I'm looking for them fresh out of beauty school or whatever the case may be. Because. Because I can give them the skill set that I need.

Billie J. Ross: 00:48:08

Absolutely.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:48:09

But this other piece, I need them to come in there with because I can't really train them on that.

Billie J. Ross: 00:48:13

Absolutely.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:48:13

So, no, that was just a.

Billie J. Ross: 00:48:16

That just jumped up and just really quickly, to your point. When I first became a salon owner, my mindset was like, I want to hire the baddest stylist. And that's where I went wrong.

I wanted to bring in people who already had their own culture, their own baggage, their own way of doing things. And you had all of these different people in one room, six feet apart from each other. It's very challenging. Very challenging.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:48:42

Like an all star team.

Billie J. Ross: 00:48:43

Right. Everybody want to be Kobe, everybody want to be my MJ. Everybody want to be LeBron. And it was very challenging.

And the second go round is now like, no, I want to hire people who have integrity, who have passion, who have drive, who you can be coachable. Because the training part, that's easy now. I mean, you do got to know how to do hair.

Shy Speaks: 00:49:03

Yeah.

Billie J. Ross: 00:49:03

You can't not know how.

Shy Speaks: 00:49:05

Yeah.

Billie J. Ross: 00:49:05

But, yeah, even if you're average, even if you're just like. They have the concept, the training part is the easiest part. But you cannot train integrity. You cannot train consideration.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:49:15

Yeah.

Billie J. Ross: 00:49:16

Those things. You can't.

Shy Speaks: 00:49:17

Yeah.

Billie J. Ross: 00:49:18

If you either got it or they don't.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:49:19

Yeah.

Shy Speaks: 00:49:20

All right, so listen. Okay, so you. Okay. I could keep going on there, but I want to get to this piece because they probably.

It's like, when they gonna ask her how to do this part. So we. We know your salon coach. We know that you opened up the Salon. But you didn't just open up the salon.

And then after: 2020

One had to do with niche, but the other one was social media. And the only reason why I knew you was focusing on niche niching is because you. It was social media. So really, the social media was the.

Was the shift. What. What made you go that route?

Billie J. Ross: 00:50:09

In the midst of my previous ownership style, right. Where I was just like, I am drowning. I don't know what to do. I don't think this salon life is for me.

I was at church, and I got a word from someone that I do not know. And can we say names on here?

Shy Speaks: 00:50:33

If you feel like disclosing them, go ahead.

Billie J. Ross: 00:50:35

Okay, well, I'll leave it out. So someone I didn't know. And it was a very powerful word. But when I got the word word, I was like, maybe he's not talking about me.

Maybe he's talking about my husband. Because my husband was right there. Yeah. Because I have no desire to have any type of product.

Shy Speaks: 00:50:51

Wow.

Billie J. Ross: 00:50:51

And so the word that he gave me was that the Lord is going to give you strategy and vision for how to create products. He's literally going to, like, he's going to tell you how to write it down. He's going to tell you how to create them.

And he said, and right from your home, you will build business, says the Lord. And so I was like, I don't. There's nothing I can create at home.

I'm literally, like, trying to think of, like, I went home literally trying to think of what to create, and I could not. I was thinking about flat irons. I was thinking about hair products. I'm like, I don't want any hair products. I don't want that.

And I'm like, I don't like this word.

Shy Speaks: 00:51:30

I don't like this.

Billie J. Ross: 00:51:30

I don't like this word. You know? And now I do know that I remember received it because it affirmed some things in me. Like, he was like, you know, God is giving you a.

A greater anointing for entrepreneurship. And this man didn't know me, right? So I knew that the word resonated with me.

But I was like, this ain't lining up now because this is in the middle of a storm. Right where I wanted to quit.

Shy Speaks: 00:51:54

Yeah.

Billie J. Ross: 00:51:54

Okay. Because I'm like, I'm not a great salon owner. This is not for Me. Yeah. So three years later, I'm now at peace.

I'm now like, my mind is like, I'm happy now. I'm scrolling on Instagram. So I hope I painted that story for you.

Shy Speaks: 00:52:06

There you go. Yeah.

Billie J. Ross: 00:52:08

Found this lady. She's selling digital products. I don't know what a digital product was. I just liked her content. And she's.

You know, I watched this lady go from 800 followers to 40,000 followers in a matter of months. Like, I was following her. I knew she was not paying for these people because of how she attracted me. Right. I knew.

I saw the slow progression of it, so I started following her. And so I decided I was like, I'm gonna buy one of her courses that she's selling because I just want to learn what she's doing.

I was absolutely blown away. It was a $47 course, super inexpensive. And I was so inspired. I wanted to. Because I have this wonderful team now, right? I can think.

I'm like, let's do a challenge. Let's get together. So we get together as a salon, and I teach them what I learned, and I'm like, yo, let's. Let's do a challenge.

The first person to get to X amount of followers. We did a thousand dollar a week. Why? I gave them a thousand dollar a week goal. First person to get to this.

Like, we had all these different goals, and we did that for three months. October. Yeah, in October. So November. No, October. November. December. January 1st. I went from 13,000 followers to 26,000 followers.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:53:26

Wow.

Billie J. Ross: 00:53:27

By. By January. Just because I was implementing these social media strategies.

Shy Speaks: 00:53:32

Wow.

Billie J. Ross: 00:53:32

That's how it started. It was solely just, I just want to learn. I just. I'm tired. I just want to master Instagram. I'm tired. I feel like I want a hamster wheel, you know?

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:53:41

And it was so. And it was this general strategy. It wasn't specifically solely for Stylist.

Billie J. Ross: 00:53:46

No. She was marketing digital products. But I knew I was so drawn to the aesthetic. I was drawn to her caption.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:53:53

Right.

Billie J. Ross: 00:53:54

She was doing something that I was not. And I was like, if I can take what she's doing, doing and apply to my content, then I know, like, this. It'll blow up.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:54:03

Wow.

Shy Speaks: 00:54:04

I want to. I want to pause right there. This is not specifically for me, but I know I can take that and apply it. That. We got to let that happen.

Because this is the whole purpose of this Minding my Creative business podcast. Because some people are like, I'm already tuned out to the podcast because I'm not a hairstylist.

But for those of you who are still watching, you have this mentality that Ms. Billy J. Has, which is, okay, I'm liking what she's saying. I'm liking where it's going.

Let me see how I can take this and apply this over here and achieve success. So it was not. You can't say it wasn't for you. It was for you. It literally was for you to then go and take and apply in whatever niche you in.

So that's what I hope that you guys are doing. And at this particular point in time. Ron, you got something?

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:54:51

Well, no, I mean, and that's. And that's key to be able to look at different industries and see what they're doing and be able to incorporate it in what you're doing.

Because if you're solely focused on your industry, you're missing out. And then you're not, as you're limiting your creativity. Right.

And don't just focus on creating in the sense of, okay, we create the product, but how can I use my creativity in order to bring and innovate certain things within my business? So.

And I think that's what I'm hearing you say is that, no, she wasn't for stylist, but I saw that it was something that drew me in, and I'm like, yo, I can take this and incorporate this and use this. And we see it works.

Billie J. Ross: 00:55:23

So it's not limited. Yeah, strategies work for anything, you know, like, and I think that's. I knew, like I said, I was drawn to her, so I knew that there was some.

Some type of strategy. First of all, she was on my feed, right? So there's a reason why I'm seeing it. And I just wanted to know the strategy.

Shy Speaks: 00:55:40

Okay. Okay. So first of all, shout out to you for that. Okay. So I want to clap it up because that, That's. That's a massive amount of growth.

Like 100 increase, pretty much. And so I saw it. It's like, oh, my gosh, this is. This is pretty cool. And then it looked like you were having fun doing it.

Billie J. Ross: 00:55:57

Yes, Yes. I enjoy content. Yeah, I do.

Shy Speaks: 00:56:00

So.

Billie J. Ross: 00:56:01

And I.

Shy Speaks: 00:56:02

And I wish. I want to love. I want to learn how to enjoy it. You know, I enjoy doing this. Long form conversation is great for me.

I swear, for him, I'm like, but you do it so well. So I want to say shout out to you for that. Okay, now I'm gonna try.

I'm gonna ask you a structure question because we know we're talking about social media strategy. But at some point, how do I. Okay, okay, I want to start implementing this. I want to have a challenge, a goal to release one video a day, five videos.

How do I do that? Like, what's the back end? What do I need to put in place? How do I achieve that?

Is it just do one every day or do I sit down and do five or do I write captions on one day and then like, you know, because people just tell you to do a thing, but they don't tell you the how to.

Billie J. Ross: 00:56:45

Yeah.

Well, I think when I started, I think when I started I didn't know about chat GPT and so now that I do know about chatGPT, like I don't write any of my content now. I feed ChatGPT my brand, my thoughts, everything. So it now knows everything, literally.

It was kind of creepy, but it knows everything about me so that it is my brand, voice. But it has totally eliminated the work that I was putting in, you know, a year or so prior.

So that would be my suggestion is making sure that you have Chat GPT GPT download it. I walk stylus through and she creates cash flow.

I show you actually how to use Chat GPT, how to have prompts that give you the content that you really need, that's going to attract the type of clients that you want.

Because I mean, anybody can type in chat, but if you don't know how to put the prompts in there the right way, you'll be creating content that's not really.

Shy Speaks: 00:57:42

Yeah.

Billie J. Ross: 00:57:42

Making you.

Shy Speaks: 00:57:43

Because it always sounds like you. It sounds, it sounds like a human.

Billie J. Ross: 00:57:47

Right.

Shy Speaks: 00:57:47

It's creepy. Yeah. So I think it's good. So that's one. You put the Chat GPT.

Billie J. Ross: 00:57:54

Yeah. So Chat GPT. Another idea is if you ever feel like, you know, you're. You're can't come up with content, you know, a simple.

If you don't have Tick Tock, I would suggest Tick Tock.

But Tick Tock and Google are like top searches and you can just type in Silk press or if that whatever your niche is, but Silk Press and see what comes up. They might say, is a Silk press healthy? Is a Silk press? Does silk presses damage my curls? Those are your top search things. Right.

And so that's what you want to create content on. Because people are actively searching for that already.

So if they're actively searching for it, then that means that when you make a piece of content on Instagram, then it's likely going to be viewed the most because people want to Know, is. Is silk presses. Are silk presses healthy? So I would say that, like, use TikTok as a search engine.

You know, search what people are looking for and create content on what people want, not what you think they want.

Shy Speaks: 00:58:52

Yeah.

Billie J. Ross: 00:58:53

And you can literally create. I mean, it's, it's literally endless by just simply Googling and using TikTok.

Shy Speaks: 00:59:01

So that's coming up with the ideas of what to do. Then what about filming it and releasing it, you know?

Billie J. Ross: 00:59:07

Oh, yeah, that's the fun part.

Shy Speaks: 00:59:08

Okay, you'll get that later.

Billie J. Ross: 00:59:10

Okay, yeah, that's the fun part. Yeah.

Shy Speaks: 00:59:12

Okay. Okay. So that's. So that's. That's the fun part. I'm. I'm. I'm gonna probably have to take the course even though I'm not in.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 00:59:17

No, I'm thinking the same thing.

Shy Speaks: 00:59:19

I need to learn how to have fun with this.

Billie J. Ross: 00:59:21

Okay.

Shy Speaks: 00:59:21

Because I want to. The reason why I, we wanted to talk to you is because again, you are a salon owner, but you also, you're. You're a stylist. Right.

And so we know that you've been styling, you know, been in business 16 years. I actually this offline, but I want to ask for you to share with the audience. How long did it take you with these systems that you're talking about?

Because most people who are successful have systems but you don't know it. They just think they're doing a thing. But we found out that there's a system there.

Would you be in this systemized person and approaching your creativity? How long did it take you to hit like six figures?

Billie J. Ross: 00:59:56

started my. I got licensed in: 2009

But I think the difference between then and now is that I was toiling for that. You know, I was working six days a week. I was working sun up to sundown, like sometimes 5am appointments, 8pm appointments. And so now I.

The systems that I now share is not to make you toil, is to make you work less in the salon, make more money so that you can enjoy your family.

Shy Speaks: 01:00:33

How many days do you work now?

Billie J. Ross: 01:00:34

I work three days in the salon.

Shy Speaks: 01:00:36

Three days in the salon. And then how much time do you say you put into doing social media content?

Billie J. Ross: 01:00:41

Oh, I love content. So see, I, I am always doing content content.

Shy Speaks: 01:00:48

So you just, it's just, it's just natural.

Billie J. Ross: 01:00:50

I'm always doing content. I'm the person that you have to tell, like, okay, chill. You know, I used to Be a binge. I am still a binge watcher. I like to binge shows.

But it's, it's even taken that love like, of me binging shows because I'm like, oh, I could think of this, I could create this or let me do this. And so it's just, it, it has released another level of creativity that I didn't have.

Shy Speaks: 01:01:12

That's what I wanted to get to.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 01:01:14

Yeah.

Shy Speaks: 01:01:15

I think that a lot of times creative entrepreneurs, they are so busy focusing on the thing for a stylist, they're focusing on the head for a visual artist, they're on the sketch for the musician, they're trying to fine tune the beat.

But they don't realize that if you really start minding your creative business, it actually unlocks another level of creativity and you're still creating, but just in a different way. I love the fact that you're creating within your approach to business.

I love the fact that you are incorporating everything that you love, teaching and, and styling and all in one. And so I think there's just so much more to gain. I feel like we only scratch the surface for sure. I feel like we only.

Billie J. Ross: 01:01:55

Yeah, we talk about the, the digital products.

Shy Speaks: 01:01:57

Like. Okay, so we did. You said you have three digital products.

Billie J. Ross: 01:02:01

Right.

Shy Speaks: 01:02:02

Okay, before we, before we wrap, give, give us this. How. How about. How many digital products do you say you sell in a month? Like on average, you can just give a.

Billie J. Ross: 01:02:16

Honestly, I have not looked at how many. Like, consistently. I more so focus on sales.

Shy Speaks: 01:02:23

Yeah.

Billie J. Ross: 01:02:24

But if I had to guess, I would say anywhere between 30 to 50.

Shy Speaks: 01:02:28

30 to 50amonth. Okay. So. And then you got 30 or 50. These are digital products that are selling. This is a product you sat down and evergreen. And they're evergreen.

So you're making that income. Then there's the income from owning the salon. I know you had say you have seven chairs. How many stylists do you currently have?

Billie J. Ross: 01:02:48

So I'm now restructuring my salon. So yeah. So now it's going to just be three of us and I'm turning it into a studio. So I'm now just focusing on the ladies that I have here.

Shy Speaks: 01:02:59

Yes.

Billie J. Ross: 01:03:00

And growing them. And I have now shifted my vision to growing stylists outside of my proximity. So now my proximity is going to cost.

Shy Speaks: 01:03:13

So. Huh.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 01:03:14

No, that's. That's it.

Shy Speaks: 01:03:15

And that's it. And because also you say you want to have the educational component too, so you're moving more into that.

So I'm happy that you're moving towards that. Vision. So you have, you have couple of different streams of income from one thing.

I love when people don't have to have people think of multiple streams of income. They think like all these different areas. Yeah. But it's one thing is she's milking in several different ways.

So you have digital products because of the people you're teaching. You have the salon that you own. You still have clients that you do three days a week. And then there's this social media piece.

Are you like monetized on social media?

Billie J. Ross: 01:03:49

Yes, but, but I don't. I feel like Instagram pays you like pennies on monetization.

It's like, you know, so I feel like the monetization aspect is really just you learning how to make money online.

Shy Speaks: 01:04:04

Yeah.

Billie J. Ross: 01:04:04

And not using, not allowing the platform to quote, unquote, pay you, but you pay yourself.

So instead of me wanting Instagram to pay me for that real, I now know I can make it real and make hundreds, if not thousands for one reel based off of strategy.

Shy Speaks: 01:04:21

Yeah.

Billie J. Ross: 01:04:22

And being able to attract a certain.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 01:04:24

Type of client, find a funnel on them and direct them to where you want them to go to where they pay you. So that makes sense.

Shy Speaks: 01:04:29

You saying the real may only pay me $10 from Instagram, but because it sold 100 courses from that same reel.

Billie J. Ross: 01:04:36

Right.

Shy Speaks: 01:04:37

Then I made however much.

Billie J. Ross: 01:04:38

So it's monetization through that aspect.

Shy Speaks: 01:04:40

Right.

Billie J. Ross: 01:04:41

Oh, and that's what I learned through that lady. That originally I just wanted her content.

Shy Speaks: 01:04:47

Yeah.

Billie J. Ross: 01:04:47

And then she encouraged me to. To do a digital product.

Shy Speaks: 01:04:51

Okay. And this is what you encourage. You encourage other stylists to do this as well.

Billie J. Ross: 01:04:57

If they like. If they like, if they like. But it does take mindset. It does.

Shy Speaks: 01:05:04

A couple of things that we learned in this episode. She talked about just ending on mindset, which is certain level of self development. I, I like to kind of go a little bit deeper with her.

I may have to have her back because this is just not enough. Because there, there's some development that happened along the way that she kind of naturally talked to.

I wasn't good at this, and I had to change that and I had to do better at this.

And so you have to stay committed to that because you can't be a successful creative entrepreneur if you're not willing to develop and say, I'm not good at this. We talked about some strategies, social media strategy. We talked about some different.

One of the things that I love about her is that it didn't seem like she was trying to like, teach us about like her course material or her coaching material. But you were using certain terminologies that, that most creative entrepreneurs are not frequent.

Like for example, culture branding, you talked about. Brand voice, you talked about, you know what I'm saying?

So like, so these are, these are the type of things that I want creatives to start talking about more like, more often. And then of course, like structure piece. I want to get into more of the nitty gritty of what it takes to do the back end of all the things.

Maybe I, maybe I have to buy the. Of course to get it. But you know, but I want, I want you to share that. So, so, so that people understand what they're getting themselves into.

If they want to say like, I don't want to just do the one thing, I want to do all the things like, bit like. And so I would love to talk about that possibly in the future. Ron, you got something else before we get out of here?

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 01:06:32

No, I mean this was a very wealthy episode. Right. You were definitely dropping a lot of gems. I'm hoping that the audience picked up on those gems.

If not, go back and watch it and just kind of listen and see. But just as we close out, if there was one thing that you wanted to leave our audience with. Right. What would that one thing be?

Shy Speaks: 01:06:55

So good.

Billie J. Ross: 01:06:56

Yeah, I would probably say don't be afraid to follow what really fuels you and what really gives you passion. Because wherever your passion is, the money will always come.

And trust, like if you are excited about extensions, if you're excited about silk presses, and if you just want to specialize in that, like maybe the other things are, you know, just taking you down. Like you're tired of doing all the things in the salon.

Like trust that what you're passionate about is going to lead you to your six figure income, your thousand dollar days, your five figure months. Trust that. Don't be afraid of losing clients. Don't be afraid of judgment, criticism because it's going to feel uncomfortable, comfortable.

But if you follow what you're passionate about, I promise you your business is going to do absolutely amazing.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 01:07:51

Awesome.

Shy Speaks: 01:07:54

Thank you so much for being with us. We really, really appreciate it. And also thank you to you all for tuning in and watching this and tapping in and sharing it with somebody else.

You know, you normally watch it for your own snippets, but now you're like, oh, I know, I stylist, I can send this to. I know a suite owner, a salon owner, I can send this to. Please do.

So there's going to be a Link in this description so that you can actually tap in with her. You know, of course you can try to go to Instagram if you missed it.

We're going to make it convenient for you to be able to tap in and go directly to those courses. We really encourage you to get them. I've watched this entire process of her doing this, building this, and I know she's the real deal, McCoy.

The real deal. Holy field. She's the real deal.

So you, you definitely want to tap into one of the three products that they're eventually all of them, so you can get into the secret community. Okay, so I'm, I'm telling you, make sure you sharing this, make sure you're liking this and, and of course like dropping a comment running out.

We check those comments and we actually respond back and we want to have feedback with you guys. And if you have not already, what should they be doing? Speaking of community.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 01:08:59

So you need to be joining the Creatives Corner community, right? This is a community for creative entrepreneurs just like yourself to where there's a newsletter attached to that.

So you're going to get information that's just going to encourage you, but not just encourage you, but give you strategy, structure and self development along the way in your journey. But then be surrounded with other creatives that you can connect with, hopefully break bread with.

Hopefully just be encouraged and motivated and be held accountable so that you can achieve the things you want to do. So if you go to our wonderful website, WWC cbpodcast.com you can join, be a part of that community.

Shy Speaks: 01:09:32

Yeah. You should do it. I agree. I think you should do it.

Billie J. Ross: 01:09:35

I agree.

Shy Speaks: 01:09:36

Okay. I'm always playing and being silly.

So, but, but on a serious note, before we, in every episode, every conversation, I always want to make sure that we end with a mantra. Perhaps that is the, the artist in me firing up. That's what I do. I do words right? You know, and so I love these words that we can take.

We can, we can own them, we can say them together. So when I say this, I want you to repeat after me, okay? Everybody in here, including Ms. Billy, okay? All it takes. All it takes is intention.

Billie J. Ross: 01:10:09

Is intention.

Shy Speaks: 01:10:10

Consistency, consistency and laser focus. To mind my creative business.

Billie J. Ross: 01:10:16

To mind my creative business.

Shy Speaks: 01:10:18

Peace.

Ron "iRonic"Lee Jr.: 01:10:19

Peace.