Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Maddy Petit. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Maddy, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Going back to the beginning – how did you come up with the idea in the first place?

I entered the cosmetology world fresh out of high school. I was eighteen years old, and not at all focused on doing hair. My original plan was to follow in my mom’s footsteps as an esthetician until I was able to decide on my career path. That plan quickly changed when I discovered my love for the creative expression I could have with hair. 

I quickly found what I thought was my dream salon to dive into, and started out as an assistant and front desk coordinator. This salon taught me so much about the industry, and expanded my knowledge and love for hair. I walked away from that salon and a toxic environment that prided itself in breaking stylists down to build them up. Even though I loved my career so much, I found myself crying between clients until I decided I had had enough. After trying another commission structured salon, I decided to go out on my own as a booth renter. I had a great clientele at this point, and was married with a young family. I needed more freedom with my pricing and schedule so I could be present in my home life and committed to my career. Three years later, I opened a private salon with two chairs that quickly grew into five! I offered a booth rental structure for my stylists, and provided a nontoxic work environment. 

During COVID lockdowns, I watched stylists in my industry struggle to pay their bills. I shifted my focus to learning more about the business side of owning a salon, and realized how little I knew about running a business! This planted the seed for my idea for my new concept offering.

I asked myself, “why is our industry forced to be underpaid and overworked for a salon owner who is only focused on money, or working for ourselves with no concept of budgeting, pricing, or marketing?”

My idea began to grow with a great team behind me to support me in areas that I am not as strong, so we are able to offer stylists a complete package. I developed a new structure for stylists called Commission with Freedom, which is a salon environment that gives stylists the freedom they crave in creating their own schedule, opportunities for PTO, and unlimited time off while still providing the support of a commission salon by supplying haircolor, backbar products, retail, salon booking software and support, marketing, goal setting and planning, and education. The beauty of this idea is to help everyone achieve their goals, not just mine! If my stylists have a vision to become a salon owner or grow beyond the walls of my salon, I’ll feel like a successful boss. I want nothing more than for my stylists to be happy and creatively express themselves, and be able to find a balance of life outside of the salon. We encourage taking vacations, and can help you meet your goals so you are able to take as many as you want. The tides have changed! COVID taught us that life is too short to be unhappy, and we will no longer waste our lives away working in a way that isn’t benefiting us. We found the cure to this issue in the hairdressing world, and we are so excited to get the word out to inspire salons and stylists everywhere to do the same.

Maddy, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

First and foremost, I am a wife and mother. Most of this soul searching and drive to shake up the industry is because I desperately needed to find a better way to make my career work for me. Being a hairdresser doesn’t mean I should have to give up all of my evenings and weekends away from my family. But improving the industry isn’t only about restructuring our schedules- it’s important that we focus on our health and wellness, and the overall health of the planet. We work with chemicals everyday, and I am dedicated to using products that have a positive impact on our environment as well by lowering our exposure to toxins with sulfate- and paraben-free, PETA approved products. Our skin is the biggest organ in our body and we need to treat it with respect. Mane Addiction carries EVO products that do just that! I’m not only wanting to make my salon a great place for stylists to work, but also provide a welcoming and inclusive environment for our guests. 

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

Creating this concept has been a complete unlearning lesson! I’m trying to erase everything I thought I knew about running a business to create a better standard for stylists. An old lesson I was taught was to have your employees sign a non compete, and to not allow them to have access to their client information. Those ideas need to be tossed! I don’t believe clients belong to anyone, and they especially are not the property of the salon. If there is a better salon or opportunity for my stylists, I not only want them to explore it, I want to support them to get where they want to go! Redefining these old school ideas has been an invigorating experience for me and my team. We’re constantly inspired to make things better when we start to rethink everything we’ve hated about the industry for so long. 

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

Leading a team is hard! It’s taken so much personal and professional growth for me to learn how to be proactive instead of reactive. It’s easy to assume that differences equate to business challenges. I’ve been focusing on trying to understand people to learn from their backgrounds and life experiences. To maintain high team morale, I believe that a leader’s job is to coach our staff to develop emotional intelligence. It not only helps in business, but in their personal lives as well, which then pours into our businesses. It starts with caring about your people, paying attention to their boundaries and time away from work, and learning how you can best support their journey to achieve their goals. 

Contact Info:

• Website: www.maneaddictiontx.com
• Instagram: @maneaddictiontx
• Facebook: Mane Addiction LLC.
• Yelp: https://yelp.to/XWXvglpwPwb

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