Being a solo stylist gives me super freedom in what I do and where I go.
I can be at home in my studio doing the clients I love doing one week and then in New York working on a Tom Ford show the next. I might return to my studio the following week and then be back in Paris for a Chanel show the week after followed by driving around NSW visiting regional salons.
The freedom that comes from being a Solo Stylist is unlimited. You just have to find the work. If you’re good at what you do the work will come.
The down side of being a Solo Stylist is you need to be organised. This can mean planning out your calendar months…even years in advance.
Most of my work is booked 12 months in advance. I start my planning in October for the next year for all of my business stuff. I book out all of the dates I will and won’t be in my studio, where I’ll be travelling to and when I will be committing to it.
This isn’t a thing I ever enjoyed doing. I always was a last minute decision person.
Now…without this planning my business would become the containment of full time employment to me and I wouldn’t be able to enjoy the freedom I have.
Not everything is always perfect though.
The hardest thing about being a Solo Stylist is the lack of community. A lack of external influence and communication with like minded stylists.
This dawned on me last week…
When did I last attend education?
Our industry is progressive. Styles come and go. Quite simply…it’s always changing. We need to keep up with these things and know what to do when our clients ask for that current look.
I remember once having to be in Adelaide for work purposes. While I was there I was lucky enough to be invited to attend Jamming Session by Parlour Academy and Friends which was sponsored by Hair & Beauty Co (DunGud, Nine Yards, O&M). A free event run annually that brought over 200 Adelaide hairdressers together at the Chateau Apollo to watch 3x 30 minute sessions of local hairdressers where 17 hairdressers from different salons in the Adelaide area presented on stage. 9 live demos and 8 pre done models. It was a mix of apprentices presenting what they are doing on floor, long term stylist presenting on stage for the first time along side industry heavyweights including state, national and internationally awarded hairdressers. They even organised for 20 high school students doing Hairdressing Cert II to bus it in to the event just to show them how wonderful and fun the hairdressing industry can be. To top it off…even a former Australian Hairdresser if the Year flew in from Brisbane just to MC the event.
This event blew my mind…so much sharing and support for every single person in the room no matter where you were sitting in your career.
Now the question is…do we do enough personal development and training for ourselves?
As a Solo Stylist getting work and getting paid takes priority. We always put this first and forget about our own development because it’s not as important. We keep doing this and before we know it we’re telling ourselves “I can’t attend that because I’m too busy”.
This is why future planning is so important.
Commit to an education budget and how may hours you are going to spend on it. If you need technical education to upgrade your skills most companies will have their education calendar finalised for the year by the end of January. Go through them, pick what you want to up skill yourself on the year and book it.
Don’t tell yourself I’ll book it closer to the date. By the time you get closer you’ll have filled your book with other work and then justify the “I’m too busy” excuse that everyone uses.
Without external education we go stale. Sure…we can spend time learning things online when we have “time” but let’s face it…we all know we’re not going to commit as strongly to that as we should.
External education should be a large part of a Solo Stylists journey. We don’t have the luxury of bouncing ideas off our work colleagues, there’s no one beside us to watch and be influenced by. We can kid ourselves that we don’t need to educate but if you truely believe you have nothing new to learn then there’s a good chance you’re already stale.
Where else are we going to get inspiration from? We can only rely on ourselves to make the commitment to continued learning. After my Adelaide attendance I realised I wasn’t committing to this and saw how much I was missing out on by being in my own work bubble. I’m making a change and I know how much better my work will be because of it.
Attend a workshop or look and learn soon. You might just be inspired to make a habit of it.
Key Points:
- Education stops us getting stale
- Book education in advance and commit to it
- External influence is super important when you work by yourself
Until next time…
Craig
The Solo Stylist
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