We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Amanda McGerald a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Amanda thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

As a salon owner, my mission is to revolutionize outdated industry norms. With 17 years of experience as a stylist working across various salons, I set out on a journey to redefine business practices and cultivate an optimal work environment for hair professionals. Hair stylists often face exploitation from salon owners, encountering misclassification in contracts and enduring toxic work environments. Also, hairstyling is frequently undervalued as a career choice by other professionals. I envisioned a salon that would break these molds and start a small change in our industry.

My goal was to empower stylists by encouraging freedom and flexibility to grow their businesses while maintaining a well balanced work/home life. I aimed to foster a collaborative team environment where creativity thrives alongside individual independence. Getting to enjoy all the wonderful benefits this industry has to offer! Working as a hairstylist allows one to experience all five love languages daily—an aspect of this remarkable industry that has enriched my life with knowledge, joy, and success. I am passionate about sharing how rewarding and impactful a career as a hair stylist can be with a supportive leader and team environment.

Amanda, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Hi there! I’m Amanda, a hair stylist of 17 years and salon owner of Fringe Hair Studio for last 10 years! I grew up in a family of entrepreneurs and self-made small business owners. Since I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, I graduated college and enrolled in the first college that would accept my mediocre GPA and SAT score, the University of North Florida. After a year of traditional college classes, I quickly realized I was on the wrong path. I always loved to learn new things, but the classes were boring, long and I hated sitting. I remember calling my mom, in tears, not knowing what to do since I was about to lose my scholarship for my poor grades. She said, “You’ve always loved fashion, hair and makeup, why don’t you check out Cosmetology school?” I knew if I had the support of my parents, I could go for it. I enrolled in Cosmetology school the next semester and for the first time, it clicked. I immediately felt comfortable jumping right in to hairstyling. I can’t explain it, but it just made sense to me, it was natural. After exploring classes in skincare, nails, makeup, I decided it was hair, and I was all in.

I was only 20 years old when I was in Cosmetology school. I felt isolated from my friends a lot because most of them were still in college, partying and studying for exams. So to pass the time, I put in extra hours at school and was able to graduate in only 8 short months to get a head start on my career. I think having that early experience starting out in the industry really helped get me to where I am today. I learned so much about myself, my goals and how the industry worked.

I was a fast learner, a hard worker and I was loyal to every salon I worked in. In my 17 years behind the chair, I only worked in 3 salons. Regardless if it was a great or toxic environment, I always stuck it out and made the best of it. I knew hopping around to different salons would only hold me back from building a solid clientele. I knew I wanted to open a salon of my own in the future and those 3 salons gave me everything I needed to know, that I wanted to do it differently. I knew shortly after having my first son, that it was time. I had to go out on my own and start building my own future, my own brand. I had the passion, the drive and I was ready!

I set out on a journey to build a salon that could give myself and other stylists, a dream career. A positive and uplifting work environment where like minded, beauty professionals, could work together in a cohesive space. I wanted a salon where clients were our first priority and giving them an amazing salon experience was the main goal. I wanted a team of stylists who are passionate, goal-oriented, who want a healthy work-life balance, and have a lot of fun! I want other stylists to see that it is possible to be in a salon that can be different from the traditional salon models. That it is possible to have a leader who truly wants the best for them and their career. I took all of the negative experiences from my past and turned them into a salon business that I would want to work in, for a leader I respected and trusted. There are so many talented hair stylists out there and the statistics for how many quit after the first year is baffling! I truly believe it all comes down to the salon environment you choose to work in. It will make or break you, real fast.

I am so proud of the team of stylists I have today and I am honored they chose Fringe Hair Studio to be their salon home. These women are so talented, each offering their own specialties and style. Even on the most challenging days, getting to work along side a supportive team of women, makes me feel like I can handle anything that comes my way. Sometimes owning a business can feel isolating, defeating and make you double think every decision you’ve ever made. But, I can say, after 10 years of being a salon owner, I’ve never felt more passion and more motivation to keep growing and moving forward. I am in a constant state of gratitude for the lessons I’ve learned and for the supportive people around me. My goal is to be a meaningful chapter in the lives of my stylists and clients, so that when they reflect on their journey with my salon, they can say they enjoyed being a part of it.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Word of mouth! Recommendations from friends, family, or colleagues are more trusted than any advertising or promotional marketing that I’ve done. People are more likely to trust the opinions and experiences of those they know personally. My passion, aside from creating beautiful looks for my clients, is giving them the best experience they’ve ever had in a salon. I love taking care of my clients, helping them feel completely comfortable, relaxed and heard. I listen to them, I offer solutions to problems, I share my knowledge on haircare and I help them feel their absolute best!

Have you ever had to pivot?

The greatest pivot of my entire career and life was, like that of many others, Covid-19. When the pandemic started, I was in a large studio space in a Sola Salon Suite with my first employee, who started with me right after she graduated from cosmetology school. Between the two of us, we were busy, booked solid for months in advance. When we heard about the virus, we didn’t think much of it. We figured we’d have to close the salon for a few weeks and we would be back to work in no time. The idea of having to reschedule weeks of clients is a hair stylists nightmare, little did we know it would be much longer than that. During the closure, we had to get creative to keep our clients engaged and also try to generate a small amount of income, seeing as bills were still due. We would meet at the salon, make silly TikToks, create posts for Instagram, and make videos for our clients to watch to learn how to do their color at home. Our most requested service at the salon, is gray coverage. So, with 8 weeks without color, our clients were getting antsy! So we created our take home color kits customized for each client who wanted one. In the kit came, a color application brush, a paper bowl, gloves, along with their color formula in a small sealed container. It gave us an opportunity to see our clients, even though our faces were covered in cloth masks, and feel a sense of community again. They would send us pictures and videos of them following our instructions and even getting their husbands and kids involved to help. It was so much fun and I know the clients were so grateful to feel human again! The stay at home order was the most isolated I have ever felt. The biggest part about why I love this industry so much, is the connection with others. I know all of us in the beauty industry were feeling this way. We missed our people and they missed us. It gave us a whole new appreciation for how things were before the pandemic, we would never take normalcy for granted again.

When we were given orders that we could reopen the salon, that we are also considered “essential” we were so happy! But when the long list of rules and regulations came out on how we had to conduct business, we were terrified. It was obvious that the people came up with these rules, had no idea how a hair salon, or any salon, functions. The rules on capacity for the amount of square footage we had to work with was impossible, we knew it would ultimately put us out of business. Pivot! Shortly after, a commercial real estate agent reached out to me via Facebook, asking if I was happy in my current space. It was a sign. I met with her, looked at some commercial space and a few weeks later, I signed a lease on a storefront just a mile down the road. It gave me the freedom to work when and how I wanted. It allowed me to grow a team of stylists on my terms and reach my fullest potential as a salon owner. We went from 2 stylists to a team of 8 in a matter of a few years. Despite the challenges brought by the pandemic, I refused to let it destroy my dreams; instead, I used it to propel me toward my next destination.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.hairstudiofringe.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fringehairstudio.palmharbor/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hairstudiofringe
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/fringe-hair-studio-palm-harbor-2
• Other: online booking platform
  https://www.vagaro.com/fringehairstudio2

Image Credits

Whitney Boyd Photography

Daydreamfotografia