We recently connected with Maddi Brown and have shared our conversation below.

Maddi, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with a fun one – what’s something you believe that most people in your industry (or in general) disagree with?

The hair industry is radical. I believe it is one of the most influential industry in the entire world. Not because it’s a place where many trends and beauty influences begin but because it is one consistent place that there is an opportunity to connect with others every time you step behind the chair. I believe the roll of a hair dresser is far beyond what people believe it is, even most stylists. When I started hair school at 15 years old I thought I was living the dream and wondered why more people didn’t do this job. It was amazing. It wasn’t until I finished my program when I received my first insult of being a hairdresser. I was doing physical therapy from an injury I had and the therapist was asking what I did. I proudly told him I was a hairdresser and had just started my home salon. He responded saying, his daughter in-law was also a hairdresser and he just keeps on asking her when she is ever going to get a real education. He looked towards me as he continued to briefly belittle my job. I kindly replied that I knew his daughter in-law from my hair school, and that she was an incredible stylist then politely moved on with a different conversation. I had never thought anything little about being a hairstylist and this was the first time anyone had made a negative remark about it to me personally. I remember being confused and taken back by his comments. Until I realized that most people have no idea what the roll of a hairdresser really is, but I did. Most people view us as someone who does hair and makes people prettier. I believe that is the last thing we do from behind the chair. From the second that guest walks in, to the moment they leave, we serve them, care for them, listen to them, fight for them, support them, laugh with them, learn from them, teach them, cry with them, and me personally, pray for them. Then we do their hair. I believe the roll of a hairdresser is a sacred position. Whether you see that guest one time or one thousand times, we have an opportunity to help another. We stand in a place that creates an unlimited amount of opportunities to connect with others. I’ve stood there and listened as my guests shared beautiful experiences they had with their families and friends. I’ve cheered for them as they got engaged or found out they were pregnant. I’ve laughed with them as they tell embarrassing stories and chatted with them about the struggles, the beauties, and the questions they have in life. But I’ve also cried with them as they tell me they lost a child, spouse, or friend. I’ve sat with them as they talk about medical and/or mental illnesses they are struggling with. I’ve heard warrior stories from hundreds of men and women that have changed the way I view life its self. These experiences and connections are never ending because I was blessed to stand behind the chair that they sat in. Connection is key in this life. When I stand behind the chair, my purpose is to help that person feel more beautiful, not look more beautiful. And when we set our focus to genuinely connect with another, they will leave feeling seen, heard, and loved every time. Creating connection is what the roll of hairdresser really is and when you lean into that, it isn’t just a job, it becomes a calling.

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?

I’ve been in the Beauty Industry for 15 years and it has been INCREDIBLE. I started hair school when I was 15 years old and when I graduated, my parents gifted me their laundry room to open my first home salon in. I had a thrifted bright blue salon chair and a big old laundry room sink to dunk my clients heads into each day and I could not have been more proud. As I built my clientele, my passion for hair extensions began as I realized that was the service that made the biggest difference for my clients. The confidence and feeling they had leaving my laundry room was uncompilable to the other services I offered and I soon realized that power that extensions have. The problem was that they were a luxury service and not at all safe for those that had damaged hair. If you had damaged hair you couldn’t have them and if you weren’t wealthy, well you also couldn’t have them. That didn’t work for me because I wanted everyone to be able to experience extensions. Especially those that had damaged hair since they were the ones that needed them, not just wanted them. Without realizing it, after some time I had created a new method of hair extensions that I found was not in fact damaging peoples hair and in turn their hair was improving. I started saying yes to those clients that were always told no due to thinning or damaged hair and found the same outcome with them. Healthier hair. My hair extension clientele started to build very quickly as I also kept my prices so cheap to be able to provide extensions for those that didn’t just lack hair but also lacked the funds to do them. This was my most favorite time of my career this far. The emotions that surface and the confidence that came back to those that never thought they could have their old hair back after their chemo treatments, mental illness, post partum, etc. occurred. I got to spend my days with them and it was an unforgettable experience for me. I had a friend I had taught my method to at some point that then called me 5 years ago and asked if I would ever want to brand my method. She had stylist friends wanting to learn this method but felt she needed to ask me first before she taught them. This was the call that started The Connected Method and the next week Marnie Doxie became my business partner.. None of this would have happened or been possible without her. We have now spent 5 years hustling, first as moms, then as business owners to spread The Connected Method across the hair industry. We want as many people as possible to experience it because we know what it has done for the thousands of clients this far. We have offered in person courses, build online certification programs, and are now getting ready to launch our Salon Program designed for select salon owners to house our education in their salons and become Instructors for The Connected Method. What am I the most proud of with all this? The help and the inner difference it has made for not just the clients but the stylists as well. To be able to provide hair extensions created to prevent damage for those with compromised hair.. I’ve seen it bless a lot of lives and were just getting started.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

Both Marnie and I had new young families, both trying to buy or build a home, and very little extra money to give. As we began putting together what we absolutely had to have from lawyer fees for contracts to products to build kits for certifications courses, we got our number. Me, being a little more tight on funds as my husband was personally building us a home had to ask my him for some of our home money for my portion of the investment. I can tell you right now, that was the best thing I could have ever done. There is a different feeling when you are spending money verses investing money. Especially when your investing it in a crazy dream of yours. We went right to work and penny pinched that money right along. We utilized every person we could that would be willing to help us for free and only spent that money where we absolutely had to. I’ll be honest, we shouldn’t have been able to pull this off with the tiny investment we were able to give. I believe we are where we are today because every bit of this process for us has been riding on prayer, especially with funds. We have almost ran out of money so many times and then out of nowhere a course would get requested or product would sell. It has been a thrill and I can honestly say the lessons learned through this process out weight the income by miles. It’s been an incredible experience to go all in on ourselves and our dreams and to be able to teach our young kids, that is a gift.

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

A pivot in our business is an understatement. Our business plans started out with the hope to host certification courses and hire educators through out the US to help host these courses. We dreamed that one day we would be able to go global and at that point we thought those plans were almost too big. We had a point during this journey where we started to feel stuck and honestly we hadn’t really even got going yet. We felt disappointed and unsure of what to do as what we had planned wasn’t really working the way we thought it would. One night during our weekly meeting we had a break through and realized that from the beginning, we had limited ourselves. We had created such tight structure and idea of what this SHOULD look like, that we were never open to what it COULD actually become. A lot of what we were doing was following what had worked for other people and quickly realized that that was not going to work for us. First pivot was to restructure our mindset. Remove all the “shoulds” we placed on ourselves and reset everything we had been working on. Very quickly our excitement began again and our feeling of being stuck was totally gone. New ideas began to pour in, and none of them were things we had ever planned to do. One thing led to the next and we were creating an online certification program and designing ideas to have that evolve into creating a new way to educate in the hair industry through our Salon Program. Our plans, goals, ideas, everything has continued to change and evolve simply because we didn’t just allow the pivots, we embraced them. The plans we have moving forward are beautiful and crazy and bigger than we could ever imagine and it’s all because we didn’t put a cap on what this could become.

Contact Info:

• Website: theconnectedmethod@gmail.com
• Instagram: @theconnectedmethod