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

Danni, appreciate you joining us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

I feel success is subjective and varies from person to person. For me, personally I have found success in myself & my business. I have spent years watching and listening to others success stories. Having mentors guide me, take me under their wing and show me the ropes from the bottom to the top. I have met so many unique and wonderfully talented stylists and entrepreneurs along the way and strongly believe it all starts from within. I have found what I am passionate about in hair, from creating others peoples visions to watching them glow with happiness as they leave the salon and go about their day. The passion for what I do creates a drive. I use that drive and energy in every aspect of my business and believe in myself and my success. Having a clear vision and plan is key. Knowing the industry inside and out, educating yourself on the fails and success stories of others and knowing you will create your dream by staying focused on your goals.
Having a love for others and being able to help others in my own unique way through creating styles for Brides on their big day, fashion color and distinctive styles for someone trying to express themselves through their hair, short styles or grow out styles for those going through medical issues keeps that fire ignited inside of me. I believe this, combined with giving something you love your whole heart has created MY success story so far.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Growing up I did not have much direction. I toyed around with the idea of SOMETHING creative. I looked at Journalism and geology but nothing really spoke to me. I grew up in England so we graduate at 16. Who knows what they want to do for the rest of their lives at that age?! I did not know what I wanted to do, but I knew what made me feel good. Art and being outside. You would catch me drawing flowers and trees, mixing colors together, exploring the woods and admiring nature. Close to graduating my Dad told me I had to get a weekend job to learn how to manage money, so I did. I started at a well known salon in my town and found my calling! The creativeness, teamwork and buzzing atmosphere spoke to me. I told my parents this is what I wanted to do and absolutely ran with it. The first 4 years (two years college and another two as an apprentice) consisted of learning from the best, learning from mistakes, learning about people, styles, fashion and trends. I was in my element! I traveled around the country competing in hair competitions. Once I had won all the competitions that meant the most to me I moved on to trying out for Scwarzkopfs young artistic team in London and made it! One of my best achievements to date. The 10 young stylists that made it travelled around the country promoting Schwarzkopfs latest trends at large industry events, Salons and fashion shows. I then went on to work for Toni&Guy where I got to attend London fashion week and learn a whole different side to Hairdressing.
A few years later I moved to the US where I grew my clientele until I saved enough money to start my Salon and here I am. I run a happy, buzzing salon with the best team I could ask for. I get to focus on what I do and love most, Bridal and Event hair and love every minute of it. I enjoy creating content on Social media, networking with other entrepreneurs, visualizing my next steps in business, helping other younger stylists find their feet and most importantly put smiles on peoples faces with my work. I now get to make all my own decisions and choices, so does the rest of the team. I care deeply about my art and making people feel amazing. I embrace all people, hair types, backgrounds, beliefs and lifestyles. I focus on what I was put here to do. Great hair!

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

If you are as anal as I am and a perfectionist at all things in life you will understand this struggle. Making mistakes. This was a hard, HARD lesson to unlearn. I will be honest by mentioning this is an ongoing lesson.There is an idea that making mistakes is a negative thing. I have found that if I look back all the “mistakes” I have made have been an opportunity to grow. The more I change my mindset the more resilient and innovative my thoughts and practices become. I have discovered it stimulates my creativity and brings a level of humility at the same time. To summarize, all my mistakes have led to a positive outcome even if it was one day, one week or years later. If I had to give an example on a smaller scale but relevant to what I do for a living I would say making mistakes on clients hair. In the past I would put myself down, not think I was good enough at my job, truly beat myself up over the fact I didn’t get the color or cut right and the client was unhappy. A lot of this happened at the beginning of my career but looking at it now I became so much better at my art once I learned this was not personal. This was growth. I knew not to make the same mistake again, I learned why the mistake was made in the first place. I have carried this throughout the 20+ years of my career which to this present day helps me educate younger, newer stylists on 1. Not beating themselves up when they make mistakes and 2. Help them avoid some of them by teaching them about the mistakes I had made in the past. This has helped me become not only a better leader but a confident educator.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

High morale is a priority in my business. I knew in starting from the bottom and working my way up what I needed to do to maintain high morale in the salon. I knew the issues I had working with and for other people. I knew where past bosses/managers had made mistakes within the team that led to low morale and learned from this. Morale can go tumbling downhill quickly if “issues” are ignored or brushed to one side. I make a point when interviewing new team members to express the importance of good energy, positive thinking and Now, I do my very best to keep open and honest conversations with team members. I allow them a safe place to discuss any issues they are having. I keep an open ear and mind to any ideas, requests or problems they’re facing. I make it known they are an asset to the team and that whatever is on their mind I am here for so we can find a solution or put into effect the ideas they have to help grow as a stylist and with the business as if they thrive, the business thrives.If they feel stuck, unheard or undervalued this will cause a low morale in the salon. Having said that, I have also faced issues with team members that bring negativity or contentiousness to the salon. This is rare but in these cases I feel one person alone can drag an entire team down. Learning from this I decided to spend longer vetting stylists and exploring a probation period so that we and the team member can truly see if they’re a good fit.
Promoting team building by hosting educational classes, happy hour, meetings and outings create bonding between the team. A place outside of the working environment where we can relax a little more and talk about anything business related a little more fluidly. Lastly I feel continuing education is key for fresh new talent and to teach us old dogs new tricks! Education keeps us motivated to recreate new trends and techniques. This goes hand in hand with attracting new clientele and staff.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.zoetrysalon.com
• Instagram: @zoetry_salon

Image Credits
Kelly Thomas