Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sami Skinner . We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Sami thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.

Never in a million years would I imagine speaking in front of a large group of people. I grew up with an extreme fear of public speaking. I remember in 11th grade we had a presentation, AS A GROUP OF 2, and when it was our turn to come up and present I told the teacher I had to take an emergency bathroom break. I would have rather my high school class think I was going to shit my self then talk in front of them. True story.

When I first became a hairstylist back in 2005, classes were few and far between. The ones we did goto were grandiose, a huge production really. I always thought WOW, I would seriously LOVE to have the courage to do that one day. Truthfully it always seemed like a pipe dream. One of those goals you set for yourself to sound driven but you know it won’t happen because you’re not willing to do the work..

Several years down the road I’d built my clientele some and started training new stylists coming in to the industry- one of my coworkers and now close friends Laura coerced me to audition to be a Redken artist. I honestly had no idea what it meant, what I would Be doing or what it entailed but it did feel like I was making a step in the right direction. We both made it to induction and then the next 3 months of my life were nothing short of life changing. While I was an extreme ball of anxiety every day walking into the unknown with people I just met, it was very exhilarating too!

They always said to us “we’re not going to let you sink, but you have to swim.” It was a huge push in facing fears that I kind of forgot were there. I hadn’t pushed myself or taken a risk of an actual true fear in my life.

What they don’t tell you about conquering your fear is that you every time you are facing said fear you will have to conquer over and over again . Now with each time the fear becomes slightly more diluted, hell maybe it will go away someday, who knows?

7 years later, a ton of one on one mentoring, 2/3 trainings a year on facilitating and public speaking , 100+ classes taught and a few stage appearances I STILL can’t sleep well the night before a public speaking.
Of course now my body feels more excited about this than anxious! It’s true, your body can’t tell the difference between being excited or scared so use it to your advantage.
As a mentor I will always tell you to take the risk because the reward at the end will be so sweet.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

I was born and raised in Jacksonville Florida and became a hairstylist when I was 20 years old. I’m 37 now and started educating for a brand about 7 years ago. I specialize in bold and wearable fashion color, dimensional color and detailed hair cutting. That happens to be the base of what I teach as well. I’m a forever student and love learning. It’s what gives me excitement and passion for not only what I do behind the chair but what I’m able to bring back to the industry through education.

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

I knew it was time to go into business for myself when I would sit in my car for 30 minutes after work to decompress (to be honest I still do this sometimes). I worked for a growing salon that built their business on volume at the time. The more clients you had the better. I would work with an assistant and there were some days we would have 10-14 clients a day most being color which are longer services. Not only are we having 14 different conversations I was mentoring my assistant as well.

I was exhausted and knew I wanted to be less is more stylist.I decided to go out on my own and become a more specialized hair stylist. I changed my pricing structure to hourly and only take the projects that speak to me.

I loved where I came from, it taught me to be work hard and it made me so thankful for everything I have worked for to this moment. Without the team I grew with I would absolutely not be where I am today.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

“Say yes to everything.” Don’t confuse this with “learn everything you can.” When I started out as a young hairstylist we are told to say yes to everything. It’s honestly the worst thing to teach and one of the hardest things to unlearn. As a service provider you are a natural people pleaser and want to say yes.

What we should be taught is to be confident in saying no. No, I don’t have time. No, I’m not comfortable performing that service. No, I can’t fit you in. ETC

I don’t have once specific lesson rather than over half of my career was me saying yes to everything. This resulted in redoing services due to not having a enough time but saying yes anyway. It resulted in me saying yes to things I wasn’t confident doing, thus having a less than a desired result. It resulted in me getting burnout several times in my career thinking hair wasn’t for me. I used to always think there is no way I can continue this in to my later years if I want to last.

I hired a coach that not only helped me create a new structure they helped me develop boundaries. Setting boundaries take time and with them it’s not setting it then you’re done. No, It’s a muscle and the more you work it the stronger it gets. I have wonderful people in my life and clients in my chair that respect these and I couldn’t be more thankful.

Contact Info:

• Website: Samiskinnerhair.com
• Instagram: Samiskinnerhair
• Facebook: Sami skinner

Image Credits
Sara Jane Maples