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

Hi Jacki, thanks for joining us today. One of the toughest things about entrepreneurship is that there is almost always unexpected problems that come up – problems that you often can’t read about in advance, can’t prepare for, etc. Have you had such and experience and if so, can you tell us the story of one of those unexpected problems you’ve encountered?

I always knew I wanted to open my own salon, It’s always been a goal of mine to help other stylists achieve success & experience the type of freedom I had as a stylist. An alternative to the abundance of toxic salons. With 19 years under my belt, I was ready to open my space. I signed the 5 year lease in November of 2019 for a completely new space. I was pumped & ready! I took all of my savings & got a loan to make my dream happen!

As we were starting to get to the build & hire contractors, the world shut down in March of 2020. I couldn’t build, I couldn’t work to pay the expenses of now having 2 locations, my studio & my new Salon Space. In California we had an extended shut down. I could not find a contractor willing to do the work. I have never felt so much dread in my life. Not knowing the health risks we faced as well as thinking I was heading to financial doom. With my husband & 2 young daughters, I had risked it all. I was terrified.

So my family stepped in to help me build my space. My mom took the lead managing the project & my uncle came out of retirement as a contractor for me. My siblings & cousins helped with paint, tile, floors & everything they could. Words cannot describe how grateful I am for them.

In order to make ends meet, I drove all over town, made home hair color kits, I released some merch & I opened a Go Gund me out of financial desperation. The support I received was extremely helpful & humbling at I time I was brought to my knees.

Lifted Salon opened in June of 2020. I could start working again & start to hire a team. I hired 2 people. But we were shut down by the Governor again shortly after. Each county in California had different rules according to infection rates. So I went to work at a friend’s salon in the next county that was allowed to remain open. I worked there for about 2 months to make ends meet.

I believe it was September when I was allowed to re-open Lifted Salon again. Then the Holidays hit, & we got shut down again. So I got creative, again.

By the grace of God & all the people who believed in us, we were successful! We are still open & have gone from surviving to thriving. I just renewed our lease for our space. We have fantastic clients, an unmatched vibe & I have an amazing team I’m so proud of!

When you get through your worst fears coming true, there’s a level of freedom you get out of that. I have so much to be thankful for that experience!

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

Since I was 9 years old I wanted to be a hairstylist. I had 2 aunts who did hair & I thought they had the coolest job! I had about 20 Barbie clients in my bedroom was working on back then.

I started working in my aunts salon when I was 15, sweeping floors, stocking shelves & doing laundry before working the front desk as a salon receptionist. When I was 16, the year 2000, I decided to leave my highschool, do homeschooling to pursue a Cosmetology Apprenticeship with my aunt, Marilyn.

Through the years I pursued a lot of certifications, & worked at various companies. I’ve worked in every salon model you can imagine. I also pursued becoming a haircolor educator for a big beauty brand. Always striving to be the top stylist in the salon, mentoring colleagues & taking on my own apprentices as well.

In 2017 I fell in love with Hand Tied Extensions & was able to scale my business to a level I hadn’t expected.

In my career I’ve been able to grow & scale up through economic stress. Including the crash of 2008. I now mentor & coach stylists on how to build sustainable businesses that grow through any economic ups & downs.

Lifted Salon is a laid back luxury brand, founded on authenticity & strong values, which is branching into Lift.Ed Stylist Coaching, to help stylists do the same & build a fulfilling career.

We use eco friendly biodegradable products, utilize salon recycling programs, & biodegradable towels. We try our best to minimize our impact this industry has on our environment.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

I believe that having staff meetings is actually counter productive in building morale. Most anything in a staff meeting can be an email, so we use a communication app for all of that. We do have get-togethers that are a lot more creative and fun for us to hang out and connect.

What I believe builds the best moral is actually one on one meetings. Where I can sit down and connect with a stylist on what their personal goals are and how we can work together to achieve them.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

As a stylist you have to constantly be marketing yourself! Especially as you scale your business up, your clientele will change. At every level, your client experience is the most important, your technical skills are next.

Building your own brand & having that on your own website is important to standing out & building a trusted business.

Word of mouth referrals is the strongest form of building trust in your marketing. Google & Yelp reviews help a lot with this. Social media is a great, free way to showcase who you are, what your experience looks like & showing your work.

Consistency & authenticity is the key to showing up in those spaces. When you know who your ideal client is, it becomes easier to market to them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.liftedsalon.com
• Instagram: @lifted_salon & @theliftedstylist
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LiftedSalon
• Yelp: https://m.yelp.com/biz/lifted-salon-folsom

Image Credits

Nikki Hancock Photography