With more than 30 years experience in the hairdressing industry, Antony Whitaker has evolved his creativity into developing new content and educating salon owners, hairdressers and businesses through educational resources, live seminars and coaching. His weekly content, which is arguably insightful, motivational and informative, provides inspiration and constant learning and is catered for everyone.
The work and dedication of the multi award-winning stylist-turned-educator has lead him to become highly recognized in the hairdressing field and is known as one of the industry’s leading lights worldwide.
This year, Antony has also announced exclusive partnership with ‘John Paul Mitchell Systems’, aimed at sharing his professional experience and knowledge of the professional salon industry around the world.
We spoke to the internationally acclaimed educator, motivator and best-selling author on his Grow My Salon Business, GROW books, management and more.
*
Antony, as the educator, motivator and founder for Grow My Salon Business, tell us how you started your achievement into the hair industry.
I started in New Zealand in 1978 and moved to London 1980 where I worked for Vidal Sassoon eventually becoming a Creative Director of the salons and schools. In 1990 I moved to Australia and opened my own salons and schools. In 2003 I sold my business and relocated back to the UK where I established ‘Grow My Salon Business’ for the purpose of providing practical, inspiring and relevant business education for the hairdressing industry.
Did you always want to be a hairdresser, or did you stumble upon it, get discovered etc? Who or what inspired you to become a coach/educator?
I stumbled into hairdressing as it was a career that offered everything I wanted I.e. creative, visual, use your hands, craft, not sat at a desk, social interaction, fashionable, fun, listen to music while you work, wear nice clothes, opportunity to open your own business…
I was inspired to become an educator because I always felt there was a lack of practical relevant education that usable in a salon sense regardless of whether it was technical and creative or business based.
Every week you provide weekly inspiration and education videos ‘’THE TWO MINUTE MANAGER’’. How can we subscribe to watch and listen to your coaching videos?
You can subscribe for free on my website growmysalonbusiness.com
You have written 4 series of GROW books; Marketing, Management, Team, Super Stylist. How can they be purchased and who would benefit from these books?
‘GROW 1 Super Stylist’ is aimed at everyone in the hair and beauty industry whether they are an owner/manager or an assistant or stylist or beauty therapist.
GROW 2 Management, GROW 3 Team, and GROW 4 Marketing are all aimed at salon owners and managers.
All books can be purchased at growmysalonbusiness.com All GROW books available in book, e-book and audio book CD or MP3.
As you know money motivates staff. What is your insider tip on how to motivate staff?
If they come for money, they leave for money. If you want to attract and keep good people you have to offer them a career that includes training, encouragement and recognition, incentive and reward, opportunity to grow, opportunity to belong to something bigger than they are. It’s not just about the money!
Do you provide coaching for staff online or give private classes?
Most of what I do is seminars. I also have a limited amount of 1-1 coaching spots and are in the process of developing on-line courses.
Everyone in hairdressing salons and services may encounter difficult clients or customer complaints. What is the best way to handle or deal with customer complaints?
You will make mistakes so ‘Learn from them!’ Hairdressing is a service industry. When you have unhappy clients it’s not about ‘who’s right and who’s wrong’ it’s about making the client happy. Do whatever it takes to try and resolve the problem before the client leaves.
There are some clients that are overly demanding, but with experience you learn to recognise them in advance and tread carefully. Most problems are communication problems i.e. “What you thought they meant and what they meant are two different things.” So pay careful attention to doing effective consultations and manage client expectations.
Social media has a big impact on our work, business and who we are and what we do. What’s your intake on social media both professionally and personally?
Social media is the best marketing tool there has ever been. It’s not a trend and it’s not going away so if you don’t embrace it you will be left behind.
Instagram is currently the best Social media platform for hairdressers to master as it is so visual and easy to use.
Favourite social media platform is ……..
What are the four things salon owners must do on a regular basis to grow and maintain a successful hair salon business?
- Ongoing creative and technical education for the owner and the team
- Ongoing business education for the management
- Embrace new technology
- Lead by example, step out of your comfort zone and continually grow.
What do you think about the current state of hairdressing, and what do you think is the biggest struggle stylists are experiencing in our industry?
In many countries hairdressers and salon owners struggle to make a good income. This is largely due to low levels of productivity. There are too many salons competing for a limited amount of good staff. So as a result, they pay too high a percentage of the stylists revenue in wages to attract and keep good people with the result that the average salon isn’t as profitable as it should be, and are therefore is unable to reinvest as much as they should in training and building the business.
What is your final message to all hairstylist, salon owners, managers and start-ups?
Don’t just focus on developing your technical and creative skills. To succeed you also need to develop a commercial reality and the business acumen needed to build a business. Just because you may be a good hairdresser doesn’t mean that you will be good at running a hairdressing business.
If you could offer your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?
Get a business education as well as a technical and creative education and never stop learning.
What would you like to share to all the readers about GROW YOUR SALON BUSINESS.COM that we haven’t covered?
With the opportunities that technology presents there are now many ways to learn. I encourage hairdressers everywhere to subscribe to my free resource ‘The Two Minute Salon Manager’ by opting in at growmysalonbusiness.com The GROW book series is a culmination of a lifetime of personal knowledge in this industry and having now presented business seminars in over 50 countries I know that they are a resource that any serious hairdresser or business owner would benefit from.
Instagram Account: @growmysalonbusiness
Facebook Account: @growmysalonbusiness
