We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Nikki Grebel. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Nikki below.

Nikki, appreciate you joining us today. What do you think it takes to be successful?

I think success as a team leader requires resilience and the ability to accept feedback from your team. It’s no secret that entrepreneurs will encounter plenty of opportunities to fail. The ability to forgive yourself and treat failures as a lesson while continuing to move forward is sometimes easier said than done. I personally believe this is why many businesses fail in the first few years. When I opened my salon, I had some management experience from a toxic environment and I learned that I was carrying some negative traits over. I only learned that because I encouraged my team to have difficult conversations with me. Having your flaws on display as a leader is a tough pill to swallow. I could have blamed others, I could have ignored my team, I could have continued to feel hurt by the feedback. I chose to accept it and grow from it. This improved the culture of our workplace and helped us scale the business to 7 figures within our first 15 months.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

When I was a teenager, I got into all things punk rock. I was especially drawn to the DIY haircolor aspect of the counter culture. I would do my friends’ hair (poorly) but loved the creativity and science behind coloring hair and helping others step into themselves through their appearances.

I decided to start my career in the beauty industry in 2011 with a focus on haircoloring. I had backlash from family and friends. I was told I was “wasting my brain” and I was actually kicked out of my house for enrolling in cosmetology school. I didn’t care. I was obsessed and hungry for success. I spent my 20s getting as much education as possible in order to be the best haircolorist I could be. I worked 60 hours a week until I had a solid clientele built. I ended up managing a salon and educating new stylists to grow to their full potential.

While starting my journey as a salon manager, I began diving deep into myself. I got a business coach, I consumed a ton of personal development books and podcasts, and I found myself surrounding myself with amazing entrepreneurs that I connected with on a deep level. Something inside me kept screaming to open my own salon. I met my now business partner, Kelley, through the salon I was working at and we would brainstorm all of these ideas about the salon of our dreams. We opened Willow & Jade two years ago and it has been the greatest blessing in my life. We wanted to create a salon full of like-minded stylists who were also hungry to improve in their craft and in themselves. We started with three employees and grew to a team of 16 in less than two years. I look at my business partner, our team, our accomplishments, and our space with immense pride and gratitude. I cannot wait to see where we go from here.

In addition to the salon, I’ve recently begun coaching other business owners on systems and team leadership. A lot of this coaching involves me simply extracting their beliefs and ideas from them in a way they can digest and understand on a deeper level. This helps them develop confidence in themselves as leaders. I take every lesson I’ve learned in my own business seriously and love leading others to build their own solid culture. Talking with other entrepreneurs regularly will light your soul on fire if you allow yourself to get in the room with them.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

This year, I had to undergo surgery for ACL reconstruction. This meant I was not behind the chair for over three months. I was completely out of the salon for six weeks. As a leader of a business that was basically still a toddler, this terrified me. I thought my world was crumbling. It turns out, this was one of the greatest lessons I could have learned. I learned to trust my business partner even more than I did. I learned that with my absence, my team stepped up because they genuinely wanted to. They care about Willow & Jade as if it’s their own. By zooming out, I was able to see the weak links in the team. Kelley and I were able to restructure our hiring processes and all systems within the salon. I was able to see that I wasn’t going to die if I wasn’t working in the business every day. The salon was actually more profitable without me there which gave me another lesson in humility and so much trust and appreciation for my team.

Any advice for managing a team?

The best thing we’ve done to manage our team is conduct regular individual check-ins with them. We give them space to tell us if they’re struggling creatively and if they have personal challenges they need support with. This also gives them the space and confidence to give us feedback as leaders. We started doing these check-ins a year into business and it has changed our team for the better. My partner and I meet with our team members on an individual basis bi-weekly. We also plan education, team meetings, and team building on a quarterly basis.

In addition to these regular check-ins, we have each team member complete forms in which we ask them what they enjoy doing outside of the salon, how they would prefer to communicate with us, and the ways they would like to be acknowledged for their hard work. You’d be surprised by how many of your team members are just seeking acknowledgement and guidance. Adding personal touches like their favorite dessert for their birthdays or the types of gifts they’d like to receive makes them feel valued. It also makes us, as leaders, feel good about the way we effectively show recognition and appreciation for each team member.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.willowandjadenj.com
• Instagram: @hairsoakedinbleach

Image Credits
@thedeerwoodcompany @alexriveraphoto @p_and_r_styledshoots