Vicki 00:05
Do you consider yourself resilient? And what does that even mean to you? In this podcast, Resilient Entrepreneurs with Two Four One, we chat with business owners about what resilience means to them. And we go deep.
Laura 00:19
What we've learned running our own business is, you're never alone, even when it feels like it. So, tune in anytime to this podcast. We're always here for you, celebrating resilient entrepreneurs just like you. We're Laura and Vicki from Two Four One, a marketing company for early-stage business owners who want to launch, grow and be resilient.
Kidist Pinky Emery is a six-figure entrepreneur, owner of the award-winning salon pink, and a speaker and leadership mentor for team-based businesses. With over two decades of experience, Kidist is highly regarded for being a nationwide industry disrupter, her ability to scale salons, build team engagement, and increase business efficiency has led Salon Pink in Bermuda to become one of the most recognisable salons in the country.
Vicki 01:05
And today's episode is packed with great insights and useful business concepts from Kidist, affectionately known as Pinky. We talked to her about the must-haves and must-do things to have in place before attempting to scale your business and how to keep your confidence when you're in business for yourself. We talked about how she managed through the pandemic, and how it changed her business model for the better, and how to bring your 50% to the table so that it counts for even more. We even talked about her morning routine - to pour into yourself first. Kidist’s energy and excitement for leadership are contagious. So, let's get right to it.
Laura 01:42
Okay, So, we're excited today to be hosting Kidist Pinky Emery from salon pink as our Resilient Entrepreneur on the hot seat to have a great chat with us about being a Resilient Entrepreneur. Because hey, all of us entrepreneurs who have made it through Covid times certainly are resilient and we were just talking before the podcast about just that and how Covid has affected your business. And we're excited to get into that today and how you have gotten through it. But before we go there, let's go back a little bit in time and let's start with a nice easy icebreaker question to get us going. So, we'd love to ask you, what was your first ever job that you had and how old were you?
Kidist 02:24
I packed groceries at White’s Supermarket, which is up where PriceRight is now, and I was 14.
Laura 02:31
Nice. Okay. When was your first taste of entrepreneurship?
Kidist 02:36
I always knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I always was a leader, always had my own mind, always did whatever I wanted, but my first business was Salon Pink. But I was always in leadership things, in school and out of school, when I was in the UK, in college here, when I worked, I was the head teacher at the hairdressing program at the college when it first started a couple of years back when I was employed at Bang Bang, but my first business is Salon Pink.
Laura 03:03
Oh, wow. Okay, and how long have you had that business open for?
Kidist 03:07
11 years.
Laura 03:08
Oh, Congratulations!
Kidist 03:10
Thank you.
Laura 03:13
They say only 30% of entrepreneurs make it to 10 years in one business. Did you know that? That's a pretty big deal!
Kidist 03: 21
Wow. My accountant’s always telling me to celebrate my small wins so there you go.
Laura 03:25
It's a big win. Getting over a decade in business is a big win to celebrate. And how many staff do you have?
Kidist 03:33
10 of us I think it is, if I'm correct. I paid 10 people yesterday!
Laura 03:40
(Laughs) Good, good. So, tell us about Covid, because we were just talking about that and how it affects us and you told us that you've actually had really good years through Covid.
Kidist 03:50
I did have some good years through Covid, Covid did my business very well. I took time off to figure out, well, to get centered and back to me. I knew that when Covid hit, I was, Okay, we're going to be fine but what about our clients? And so I amped up my marketing the best way I knew how, I sent out YouTube videos and inspirational emails and had a 24-hour hotline for hairdressing and all the things, and I think that when we opened back up the clients flew through the door and I think that was extremely helpful because we're so much more than just hair. These clients spend money with us. They tell us their business, their lives, we go through emotions with them, we grow with them. And so it was really nice for some of them to just pick up the phone and call me and clients who I've never even touched their hair, that have supported our business, I talked to for two hours on the phone. And I do think throughout it, one of the components was the customer service and the marketing that people really related to. Some of my YouTube videos are purely entertainment for people, but some of them are actually helpful. And then I think when I went back, I thought about all the business ideas that I had when I first opened that I didn't have the balls to do when I first opened because it was out of the norm. And that's what we’ve done so, we opened up for 12 hours a day, for six days a week, we staggered shifts and gave the girls more balance because I think before Covid everybody was exhausted, staff, me, everybody was just exhausted. It was a nine-to-five, we were all there at the same time, it wasn't an efficient business model, and I think we made it work, and our clients were happy but we weren't happy. So going back, we were able to fix all of that and the girls were actually able to have some balance and business went through the roof. Looking back, it's funny, I was listening to a podcast one day and they were like, all the clients came back with color correction and I'm like, oh, my God, they so did, clients really got a good deal because they came back with color correction but they got charged regular prices, and it was crazy when it all came down to it. To be fair it wasn't about the money, for us it was about getting the clients in, making sure they were looked after and making sure they were happy. We sold colour kits throughout our time off and we created an online shop in our second lockdown so that clients were able to purchase products, and things were just way more efficient. We always had an online booking system and it's awesome but I remember when the government announced that we were open, we had to turn the online booking off, because I would be talking to a client, and ‘oh, you can have this spot’ and in would come an online booking, it was crazy. It was crazy! But I do think women realise the self-care aspect of things and realise that we’re a part of that. And we do really well in getting our clients to build us into their budget anyway but after Covid it really became a thing. And we are the ultimate out of office work space and clients were able to come to us, we upped our Wi-Fi, and they were able to come to us and do work. I had a client today in my chair who was on a call with other people, obviously she didn't have the camera on, and she had her mic on mute, but she listened to the whole call and you know, life went along and she had her hair done. So she killed two birds with one stone.
Vicki 07:03
That is fantastic Kidist. The one thing I've often thought of about salons when it comes to business models is that you have that captive customer service thing, where as soon as you finish having the service you're booking in for your next service. Is that true or is that just a perception that I have? It feels like that's the ideal business model, isn't it?
Kidist 07:24
It is the ideal business model but sometimes it can be a little bit tough to track. So we've taken the stance of the doctors and the dentist offices, but it's basically to take the pressure off of the client to have to think about it. So when they get to the front desk we’re, right, here's the products we were using today, what would you like? Here’s your next appointment does this work for you? We take notes so we know that Mrs. Smith likes to come on a Friday at 11 so her appointments are booked throughout the whole year for that, to make sure she gets that spot. And we give hair miles for people who pre-book and those sorts of things, as appreciation. So every client walks out the door with their next appointment booked and if they don’t, eventually they do because they get on the train and they realise, oh wait a minute that stylist is booked and I can't get in. And the other side of the spectrum is once a stylist is busy, it creates momentum with the clients and then they want that person more. So it's better for the stylist to be able to be booked out so that she can check her cash flow and understand what she's making, because salons work on commission, right? So that we get, it can kind of be regulated from their perspective as to what they're going to make and then they become more in demand. When that happens and they get 75% booked out for a three-month period, then we move their prices up or we move their commissions up, so there’s a lot of goal setting from the hairdresser’s perspective as well as making the client's life much easier.
Vicki 08:50
And I really feel like there's some takeaways there for any business sector, it doesn't have to be in the salon sector at all. I mean, it's about building the repetitive nature of the business and being customer-centric so that you're reminding them, yes you're getting the extra revenue from the return visit, but it's very much a great service to the client as well.
Kidist 09:13
Yeah and in our industry and pretty much in a lot of industries that are customer based, a repeat client is a retained client, right? And so making sure, I know a lot of times people focus on the new customer but I do believe if you continue to focus on the customer you have, they will get you the new customer, and then once that new customer comes into the door you can make good of them as well.
Laura 09:38
I like what you just said there because customers do get you more customers because they become ambassadors for you. We often talk in our industry about brand ambassadors, its about your brand, your business is your brand. I mean you are your brand because people know you as Pinky from Salon Pink that connection is already there, but your customers are out there saying, Oh, where'd you get your hair done? Oh, I got it done at Salon Pink. Yeah, you know, Oh, I got to let me book it. So, that's how it all works. It's really important to be customer-centric in just about any business so I love what you said there.
Kidist 10:13
Yeah and also I think from a leadership perspective, I think sometimes people miss that part. As an entrepreneur my leadership is what makes my business great, well its half of the spectrum put it that way, it's my 50. I'm a true believer that things go wrong or right, the 50-50. So if you bring your 50 to the table and they bring their 50 to the table, then you have a winner, right? So my 50, I always try to strive for more from an owner’s perspective and a leadership perspective by helping my staff to meet their goals, setting them goals, realistic goals, like 5 to 10 year goals so that we have some longevity in the game as staff as well. In Bermuda it's very corporate so for these girls to be artistic and come from an artistic background and people think that they have to give up once they're 35 and go get a corporate job, no, that's not the case, you can make what you want to make in our industry.
So that's where my leadership comes in and we set the goals and we have the accountability and the meetings, and how are we going to do things differently? And okay, if this price is, this ticket item is too low how can the assistants assist you so that we can get a higher ticket price in, but that low ticket price could still see you, but just not for the whole 30 minutes, or whatever the case may be. We're constantly trying to figure out how to make things efficient and I think that is a business thing, not just hairdressing. Leadership and efficiency for me, go hand in hand, the minute something goes left, I'm like, phew how can we make this better? Let’s get the system and process out, let's go through it, let's see where the loopholes are, how we can do things better? On Saturday at the salon we were packed and of course, I was oh my God yay, excited, but from an efficiency perspective there were some breakdowns, right? So when we're at capacity, because we can be now, what else can we do? How can we get so-and-so on? Do we need a better system? Do we need to bring that assistant on earlier? How does this work? How can we make it better, because ultimately it makes the girls' lives easier, the customer experience better, and the reviews amazing. So it's a knock-on effect and to me, leadership is really important. It’s one thing that people don't realise when they go into business, I could have walked out of Bang Bang, I’m a great hairdresser I’ll just go and do hair, but I realised that no, I'm now walking into a space where I have to lead a team and I have to be a great leader, so that the team can have a great place to work and provide a great customer experience and we can have routine customers.
Laura
Yeah. So what was that like in the beginning when you made that first move into having your own salon and you had to step into that leadership role? How was it for you?
Kidist
I did a lot of work figuring out what I had to do. I realise now that I'm a bit of a visionary, I am a visionary but I did not have the confidence as a leader to do the things and to put myself in that space. I also didn't have the staff capacity to not do hair. So in the beginning I worked a lot. I have a son but I didn't have a son back then so I worked and just burned the midnight candle for the back end of things. I always had a manager, always had someone on front desk, I knew that was important and once I had my son I realised, Okay so I'm going to be away from the business and now what? I realised that all the systems and processes that we were doing over the years that we now had to relook at, make sure they were okay, and make sure they ran and I just had to walk away and I did, and it worked. But I think it's because I always knew from the beginning that the way my business was going to be able to scale even though I didn't have the confidence to sit in it, was through systems and processes. So from the minute we opened, we documented and now I'm grateful for that, because now when we're looking at these things a second time round, or not even second but the third time around, we’re updating things. I have the data and I have the notes and now we're adding decision trees to it so that if I'm not around the girls know how this is done and that's done and what could possibly happen and you know, all of the things that I think people don't realise.
I know I say this coming from a place of a little bit of a privilege because my business has survived Covid but I do think that all the things I'm talking about, they take a lot of work, a lot of brainpower, a lot of energy, and I don't think business owners do it enough. So now here we are, and they're, ‘I have this failed business’ but then when you have a conversation with them, you're like, well have you done this and this and this and this, which could turn it around and so sometimes, if I would have just been starting that 11 years ago, then I probably would have been banging my head against the wall, because it is a lot of work. I'm literally getting out of my head, what the vision is for the business on a piece of paper and what I think, and who I am to the business, essentially. It's so many things that in the beginning people don't realise could be set up - like the ideal customer, the ideal staff member, what's your operations, what's your HR stuff, what's your policies for this, what policies for that? So when people talk to me and they're setting up a business those are the things I tell them to data dump, get it out your brain, go onto Fiverr and get someone to make sense out of it, but get it out, because if you're not around, then what's going to happen?
Vicki Did you have a mentor, Kidist? Was there someone who you could lean on when you were starting out? You're 11 years in now and this wisdom is wow, I mean, it's so useful for people who are just starting out.
Kidist
Well, lucky for me, my mentors pay me to do their hair. (laughs) A lot of my clients are in leadership positions and or are entrepreneurs! I do believe my network is my net worth and so I surround myself purposely with great people that are doing the things that I'm trying to do. But in the beginning, I knew I had to do these things because I was attached to the Bloomberg channel! That was back when people used to watch TV, now we all stream! I was attached to the Bloomberg channel and one of the guys that I still remember his story today, is the guy who owned JetBlue and he was on a show called Risk Taker and there was another one, I think it was the Ralph Lauren guy that used to go around in the London Eye and interview them, he was one of them. I remember him talking about his systems and processes, about how you can go into a shop in France, in Paris, in London, in Italy, wherever, the shirts are folded the same, the staff will say the same thing to you, the employee handbook is huge, people like rules, they have something to work towards, all those things. So I remember that and I remember thinking, I can't own a business and work behind the chair for the whole time because what happens to me? I can't be the busiest stylist, I just can't, what happens when I take sick, then what? What was the point, I might as well have stayed as an employee. And so for me, between that and another show, I used to watch called the salon takeover, so much of that wisdom came up. And then my father-in-law and I have major conversations about this sort of thing and he was a huge source of wealth for me to lean on over the years when I first started and then coupled with all of that, like I said, I didn't have an official mentor and I actually still don't have an official mentor but I get up every day and try to be my best me.
I get up every day and try to learn and do the right thing and when you have the responsibility of staff, aside from myself, I am responsible for nine people's lives and that's a huge responsibility to make sure that they're happy at work, that they're getting paid fair wages, that they have great benefits. To me all of that can be done because of the things that I do at work so that's my driving force, if that makes sense. But I don't really have an official mentor. I'm a podcast, audiobook, 1981 baby, Scorpio-can’t-tell-me-anything, go forward not behind, and yeah, that's my story.
Laura 18:43
And you know what, I think you are the mentor. I think you have become the mentor for so many people. You help others in business, I know that about you. You work with a lot of other entrepreneurs, giving them business advice, like you've just given such a firehose of amazing business advice. I hope everybody replays this and listens to it three times because what you've just said is so important about the systems, the processes, the surrounding yourself with the right people, you know, learning from others, absorbing it and sharing all that is just absolutely amazing. So all of that, what do you think is like the best part of being an entrepreneur for you? What part of entrepreneurship do you love the most?
Kidist 19:21
I love making my girls my staff, I love my team, I really do. We're actually in the process of adding to the team and they're all like, who is it going to be? Make the right decision Pinky? I really love my team, I love helping people and I love the fact that we live in Bermuda and these girls grew up where they thought they had to be lawyers and doctors and this and that, but they were no, I want to be a hairdresser. And now their passion is a proper career. They work, they get paid good money, they have great benefits, they will have pensions, so to me, the fact that they do well makes me happy, makes my heart sing, the fact that they like to come to work, the fact that I am a boss who is very understanding and doesn't say well no, you only have two weeks’ vacation and can't take any more, that's just ridiculous. I'm a compassionate leader so when they're happy, I'm happy. And I do think in the line of work that we do, we deal with a lot of happy people every day and that makes it better. I think the efficiency from the back end that I work really hard to make sure it is up to par helps with that, flows into the customer experience, flows up to the employee experience, and I’ve learned over the years, I mean, I haven't always been the boss I am today. I've learned to seek to understand, to listen, to meet my girls in the middle, to figure out their backgrounds of where they're coming from, to realise it's not about me, and it's a selfless act. I've realised a lot of things over the years, but I go to work every day and being able to help them make their dreams come true. This is truly what I love.
Vicki 21:11
Yeah, we've always said that business brings out the best in you and brings out the worst in you. And it's also the best psychologist, you can learn so much about yourself by being in business for yourself. Is that true?
Kidist 21:24
I feel like for me, it's being in business and being a mom. Right they’re both your baby I suppose.
Yes, it has definitely brought out the best me. I remember I used to meet my girlfriend in town at 5 o’clock in the morning to go for a walk because that's what entrepreneurs do, when it's quiet, and we were walking and we were talking and I was going through the motions of my reflection on my leadership, and I stopped and said, Oh my God, every single last one of my staff is of the past me. She said, you think? And of course for confidentiality, I can't tell her about my staff but we were talking about leadership stuff and I was, absolutely, 100% they are all a reflection of some part of me, good, bad and ugly, right? And once I realised that I was, phew, you got to change Acegirl, and you're the leader, you've got to level-up, you've got to do differently, you've got to be better, and I realised that you're surrounding yourself with the old you, but you need to help level these girls up and surround yourself with the new you and the new and improve them, and what does that mean? That was one of the times that I realised, okay, I have to go to work every day and put my best 50 forward and I also have to get up earlier and pour into me first. I can't give them what I don't have and I realised that my strength and my leadership is my superpower and it's up to me to figure me out before I get to work. And so, with that being said, I'm up every morning at 4:45 I work out, I journal, I meditate, I have my cup of coffee, I play with my dogs and get on with life. It's the best, because when I don't do those things I'm a mess, I'm a total mess. I get to work and I'm, Oh my God, what does she you want today? (Laugh)
Laura 23:23
I like that. I think that's more good advice - pour into yourself first. They say most super high level CEO entrepreneurs, those multimillionaires, they all have a morning routine.
Kidist 23:35
Oh yeah, my morning routine even consists of having a cold shower, every morning.
Laura 23:40
I do that too! I just started that this year, a cold shower, it's game changing.
Kidist 23:44
It's a game changer. Even sometimes when I'm, ‘not today’ and I put the warm on and then I put the cold shower on, it literally is a game changer. And now a night time routine. I've gotten so busy, my plate is so busy, I have lots of things going on outside of the salon, that I have to, I have to. My phone is on silent, my friends and family don't see me, but if they need me I'm there, and I just I move forward, I just got to stay organised.
Laura 24:14
Yeah, it takes a lot of discipline, that's good! That's really important. I don't want to dwell too much on a negative, but it is interesting to always ask entrepreneurs, especially ones who have been in business as long as you, what were your more difficult times, any failures along the way that you learned and grew from?
Kidist 24:35
Of course, I’m a Scorpio, I learned everything the hard way!
Laura 24:38
So tell us, is there one you want to share?
Kidist 24:42
When I first opened I knew I needed an accountant. So I hired an accountant. The first thing I tell entrepreneurs when I talk to them is, when you start trading money, get an accountant. They say well I only bought an eraser, get an accountant, it's for the business! Anyway, I had this accountant I wasn't exactly happy with, things weren't working out and I thought, I could do this, it’s not that hard. QuickBooks is accounting for Dummies, I'm a dummy, it can work, I’m not an accountant, it's fine. And I literally, I call it the CEO but I was the Chief Everything Officer! And I realised I was doing nothing. Everything was going left in that office, I was bringing the revenue in but everything was going left in the office, things were getting behind, things were getting paid, but it was just a mess and I realised, okay, you need to go find yourself an accountant. God bless her soul, she pulled us out of the reigns and made it happen and it was one of the things that I was, okay, being the operator is no longer going to serve you. You’ve brought business through the door, you have a team you're happy with, you've got a team that you’re growing, you need to scale it back and get in the office and make things better. Fortunately for me, the revenue kept going, it never went down and cash flow got better and we were good, but thinking that I could do it all was a definitely a wrong move. But I am a girl that likes to look at my cup half full, not half empty and I think it was relevant because I do think a lot of the things that were done in the background at that time, an MBA would have never taught me, the school of hard knocks, and I'm ever grateful for those lessons for sure.
Vicki 26:26
Talking about lessons, Kidist, if you were to jump in a time capsule, go back 20 years, knowing what you know now, what would you tell your former self?
Kidist 26:39
Considering I’m only 21! Exactly! What would I tell my former self? I would tell myself to invest my money in my 20s, that's a big one, and I would also tell myself, knowing what I know now, I would have just opened up a salon immediately, I would have opened up a business right away, I would not have gone to work for someone else.
Vicki 27:01
Pretty clear on that, so you would have learned the lessons under your own.
Kidist 27:05
I just think as a business owner you just need to understand your industry. I did that I went to school; I worked in the UK; I totally understood my industry. I just think you need to be a good leader and I feel like I wasn't a great leader back then but I felt like I had a lot of good qualities and there would have been a lot of things I'd have figured out early. However, I try not to dwell on where I'm meant to be, I started a business when I was supposed to.
One thing I do know is words have power. I always said I was going to have a business at 30, I said, I would have my kid at 33 and I didn't realise that until the things happen. I even said when the business when I decided I was going to open the business well it was a couple of years before, the building we’re in, they knocked it down and they built a new one. I said my shop is going to go there and life went along, detachment right? What's it, 7 Laws of Spiritual Success, detach from the outcome. My life went along, January 2011 came around, I said I was going to open up this business, done all the work, looking for the spaces, looked everywhere for space, and in actual fact some of the spaces I looked at have hair salons today and they were all, nope, we’re not having a hair salon, blah, blah, okay, fine. And then a friend of mine, she worked at Deloitte and she said, have a look at that space over there, I said girl I don’t want that space, blah, blah. Then my mom said they still have that thing in the window, you should look. Anyway long story short, I got the space and when I did, and I was sitting in it one day, I was like, Oh my God, you did say you were gonna have a salon here, you said it. So I do believe that words have power and careful what you ask for!
I think if it's your purpose, it's your purpose, right? You can’t sway from your purpose and a lot of times, I'm realising, yes, I own a hair salon but business is business and leaders are leaders and leadership is leadership. And if you surround yourself by the right people, you're on that road, some of my clients are heads of reinsurance companies, huge corporations, we have amazing conversations, we can relate, we're both in leadership. I think my leadership is a little bit different because there's a monkey on my back, whereas I think if you work for a corporation, it's a different story yet, because you get paid to stay or you get paid to leave and so it figures itself out. I think if you're a leader of business, don't worry about the boundaries, it's a job or a task, and if that's your purpose, then that's when it's going to be.
Laura 29:25
Well, I mean I'm not trying to speak anything into existence for you but if I don’t see you on a stage in front of hundreds of people doing the inspirational talks like this, on a much bigger stage, I'll be surprised, So amazing, and such amazing business advice. And applicable to any business, every business.
Kidist 29:49
Thank you. I think once I realised in business that, oh, wait a minute, what I do is just business, it happens to be hairdressing but ultimately, I'm a mentor at Ignite but I don't mentor anybody in hairdressing, the people I've mentored have come from different backgrounds of business. At the end of the day its business, right? There’s revenue, there’s expenses, there's a profit in the middle and you got to figure out how to either grow it or not. Absolutely and leading your business through the things, through your purpose of people, or whatever the case may be, it’s still business.
Laura 30:27
Yeah. 100%. What are you speaking into existence next?
Kidist 30:32
Oh girl, I have lots. I can't tell you, but I have lots!
Laura 30:35
I can't wait to find out. I remember, I actually remember when you opened up in that space and I thought that is a cool space and you've made it even cooler. Yeah, fantastic. So, we finish with one final question. What does resilience mean to you?
Kidist 30:50
Someone told me something the day, it was ‘forward ever backwards never’, and that is it. That is it. I'm a really, really strong believer that ‘everything is happening for me, not to me’, for one reason or the other. I am a child of the Universe and they teach you lessons, you don't listen, you don't listen, but it comes in all forms. And I'm also a true believer that ‘this too shall pass’.
Laura 31:17
Thanks for joining us on Resilient Entrepreneurs. We're Laura and Vicki from Two Four One. We love supporting entrepreneurs, especially with mindset, marketing and motivation, which is why we’ve built an incredible community of business founders who meet weekly in the Level-Up League. If you'd like to know more about it, look us up at www.twofouronebranding.com
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Transcribed by https://otter.ai
