We were lucky to catch up with Keanna Schmidt recently and have shared our conversation below.

Keanna, appreciate you joining us today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

As a hairdresser I hear clients every day, and I mean EVERY day, express concerns over their home and work life. To be successful within your career takes passion, work ethic, and to put it simply, happiness. Too many people work in jobs that they never saw or hoped for in their future, and long for a change. I feel that the most successful part of my work life is doing something that I love and enjoy, day in and day out.

In my opinion, to be succesful as a salon owner or any business owner, is to begin with a set plan and always create goals to obtain. I began with a vision, a strong need to accomplish an enjoyable atmosphere where stylists can work freely but as a unit. That is why an open concept, chair rental establishment was the best opportunity to fill my desire! When my salon and books are full is when I feel most accomplished.

My successes will come from profitability and continuous growth, both behind the chair and within the salon. There is no form of pure or true success, only a brighter future.

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 back background and context?

My name is Keanna, and I am the owner of Wash House Salons LLC in the beautiful town of Oconomwoc, WI. It is also where I call home outside of the salon! It was always my dream to own a hair salon when I began in this industry, and within 4 1/2 years behind the chair, I started my own business as a sole proprietor within my town. From there, my dreams of owning a salon grew each day.
My passion for hair began in high school, when I would cut my best friends hair in the bathroom, style everyone for school dances, and play with my own hair colors into all hours of the night. I actually aspired to be a counselor when I graduated, and always laugh that I completed my goal with far less schooling and debt right off the bat.
Being a hairdresser is so much more than “playing with hair” everyday. I create bonds with guests who have followed me through the years, gain a new best friend out of a first time client each day, and enjoy being a part of every high and low that someone might be facing, while making them feel their best when they leave my chair.

For myself, I have continued my education and follow every trend to be knowledgeable in every aspect with my craft. I pride myself of having a great consultation each time, to truly learn the best route to take and ALWAYS offer my honest and insightful feedback to obtain the best outcome.

For my salon, it is my goal to have a family friendly atmosphere where you feel the most comfortable and best version of yourself when you leave. I want my “staff” to be able to work freely, passionately, and ALSO comfortably within their work environment. We’ve even begun hosting classes for our community to help with the day in, day out nature’s of their hair upkeep – to create a fun and inviting salon in our area, offering you to bond with all of us and people you’ve yet to meet!

I would say I have always had a plan in mind when it came to opening a salon, but had to gain experience and of course, make sure I was well equipped to do so. But the opening itself was a very quick paced, last minute decision. It was jump started from seeing a salon being sold in town, that lit a fire inside me to move on to ownership. I did not have the opportunity to purchase said salon, but did start viewing other possibilities soon after. I was working in a wonderful chair rental salon with stylists I loved, but knew I was ready to commit to ‘something more’. That being said, I signed for the run down, vacant, building that was needing a remodel for 40years, 7 short weeks before my goal for opening. Fun fact! It was also the same week I had my first child, just 5 days after signing. But with a heart full of passion and a mind full of goals, we worked with a brilliant team (and landlord) to complete the entire gut-out remodel and set up the last of the equipment one day before opening.

Each day I enjoying seeing a new face in our building and hearing love and positive feedback about our new little salon. That is what brings me the happiness and drive to push through the hard parts, and continue on serving our community and building our dream!

Have you ever had to pivot?

There are about a million pivots i feel I’ve done in my life thus far, but I will keep it within the business stand point to share a portion where I’ve felt I’ve failed and had to pivot my goals to create new successes.

As previously mentioned, I had worked as a rental stylist and enjoyed the workings of a rental salon as a whole! My goal for my salon was to offer rental opportunities to other stylists who shared the same passions. However, I’ve found the ability to come and go as you please is not all it’s cracked up to be when it comes to salon ownership.

With being open for less than 3 years, my chairs have been ‘filled’ with stylists under half the time we have been open. When I first opened we did not have a large opportunity for sole proprietor/LLC based options within our community. However, after opening my salon our small town alone has gained 8 other options for chair/booth rental, not to mention the surrounding areas. Chair rental opportunities have become more saturated than the typical hourly/commission salon where you can call and simply set up an appointment with any stylist. Now, for guests there are hoops to jump through to simply set up a haircut!

With the large variety of salon businesses, stylists come and go rather than staying within their home salon for years and years like we used to. People I thought id work with forever have moved on after one lease, and I knew after having so many changes, my mind set had to pivot to create a more opportunistic business for myself.

So, after 2 years of being opened, I have geared the salon to offer both employment based as well as rental. My goal in the end is to evolve our employees into someone comfortable in running their own business, and also be the best stylist they can be. I want to create a salon life where employees share similar desires and expectations (something I’ve found is not always the case with a rental stylist), and to grow with both myself and the salon. I do not believe I would ever let go of the rental opportunity, only because I WANT the people I work alongside to fulfill their greatest expectations and work capabilities. But employment is a must in our industry for many of reasons, including training and success rates.

This services the community as well, re-gifting guests the opportunity to have relationships within the salon that remain, and offers the ability to pop in and set up at any time. It just makes things easier!

Since my game-change I have gained 2 amazing employees who i see bright futures for, and am excited to grow the business once we’re all ready!

How did you build your audience on social media?

In the stylist industry, social media is your best friend. YOU are your largest supporter!
When i first began I was thankfully hired by the owners of my school, into a salon that was right in my home town. I moved on after 1 1/2 years to another salon near by, and quickly watched my following grow.
My best advice to anyone growing their social media is to be persistent, be ANNOYING. I posted everything I did on guests, some things looking back that I probably shouldn’t have. But in my line of work, there’s a stylist for everyone and many people search for all sorts of different options everyday. The continuous reminder that, ‘hey! I do hair!’ TRULY jump started my career.

Within a short amount of time at my second salon, I became one of the highest rated stylists with not only filled books, but requests and rebookings. I was also the most apparent social media influenced stylist within the salon.

Offering services that are lacking in your area, discounts, small giveaways, and gentle reminders of your craft are all great ways to catch someone’s eye. Using multiple social media outputs, as well as specific groups (such as local community pages or Facebook marketplace) are all great, FREE options to boost your social media growth and client sales.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.facebook.com/share/18VrJfc4Fz/
• Instagram: keanna.washhousesalonsllc
• Facebook: Wash House Salons LLC

Image Credits

Thank you to Jordan with J. Tay Photography for the professional shots