We recently connected with Paige Morgan and have shared our conversation below.

Paige, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

The mission of PAINT is “a salon for everyone.” While that mission statement is important and inclusive for our clientele, for our staff the mission statement goes deeper. For our staff, “a salon for everyone” means all types of hairdressers. Hairdressers from different places, hairdressers of different ages, hairdressers of different skill sets. I decided to open PAINT after working at a couple of different salons; one in Metro Detroit and one in Seattle. Eventually, at each of these places, I grew to a point where these salons could no longer support me. I’m the kind of person who always wants the latest thing, I want to explore new trends, I like new clients, I want to evolve when more technology is developed. I always want to grow. So, I opened PAINT and when I did I said “this is going to be a salon for old hairdressers!” I wanted to make a space where stylists felt like they could have a whole career here, if they wanted. I’ve always considered myself to be a hairdresser first, and a business owner second. I really care for my staff. It is my highest priority to help my team set and reach their individual goals. At PAINT we have some assistants who are right out of school, we have some stylists who are a couple years into their career, and we have some stylists who have over 15 years of experience, having this variety allows us all to teach, learn, and grow together!

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

I’m a seasoned stylist with 13 years of experience and now have my own salon, PAINT Salon, which will celebrate her 4th birthday this fall. I went into the beauty industry very young; I was only 19 when I started at my assistant program with the first salon. I instantly liked working with people, color, shape, design, and being in a creative setting. When I started working at the first salon I felt like a duck to water.

The first salon I worked at was very problematic for a lot of reasons. I think something that a lot of people might not know about the beauty industry is that it really can be quite exploitative. I mean it’s a trade, right? You’ve got all these young people, 18 or 19 years old, fresh out of high school, going to work in salons. For a lot of people this is their first job. They don’t know about employee rights. They’re just looking for a job and they’re not thinking about protecting themselves.

As a result, a big goal of mine in opening PAINT was to have a better business practice than places I worked previously. I wanted to pay FAIR and competitive wages, have top of the line products, and provide PTO for my staff. I really wanted to create a space where my staff felt like they were getting some benefits that previously were only thought to be available to corporate employees. It is my goal that as we continue to grow that I will be able to increase the benefits for my staff.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Probably the most resilient I have ever felt in my entire life was opening PAINT. PAINT is a pandemic baby! The idea was conceived during the lockdown of 2020. After my previous employer kept changing our product lines to cheaper, but worse, lines and wouldn’t buy us disposable gloves AMID A GLOBAL PANDEMIC, I knew I needed out. Because by that time I had already worked for two people who ultimately didn’t value me, or their other staff members, I knew I needed to do my own thing.

I started PAINT with my former business partner, Erin. We pooled our life savings, got ourselves a lease, and worked with my husband, who is an architect, to build out our space. I really can’t fully describe how hard it was. We didn’t have investors. We really did this all on our own. Because it was such a stressful time and I was so concerned that we would have another shut down once we opened, and therefore not have revenue coming in, I preemptively started looking into financial assistance options. We weren’t eligible for any of the financial assistance programs offered to small businesses during the pandemic. Something most people don’t know is that there was no rent moratorium for commercial leases, and to be eligible for any of the PPP Loans or grants, you had to have 6 months of revenue. Because we were opening a brand new business, we didn’t have any revenue. It became clear there was no safety net for us. I was almost regretful that I even looked.

Fortunately for us, there weren’t any more shutdowns. Since most of the staff had been working in Capitol Hill for years, we had many established clients with a backlog of pandemic hair, eager to come in! Without the support of our clients, it wouldn’t have been possible for us to survive. Thank you to our clients, you’re really the best!

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

I think the best advice for managing a team is to be a good listener. People want to have a sense of ownership in their work. It’s really important to me that my staff feels I’m approachable. I want to remain innovative and relevant to the changing times. I think the best way to do that is to listen to your team and remain adaptive. If someone has a new and better idea, I want to hear it. I want my team to feel like anything is possible. I’m open to growing in any direction as the trends or the workforce changes. Ultimately, I want my team to feel they can confide in me. I want them to have all the support that I didn’t have when I was working in other salons.

I also feel that it’s so important to recognize each staff member as an individual. Because we are a very small salon with only a team of 10, I’m fortunate to work closely with everyone. I’ve had the ability to observe and learn how each person likes to be coached. Not everyone is the same. So, people need to be coached in ways unique to themselves for it to be the most effective. It’s of the utmost importance for me to respect the individuality of each of my team members. I love and respect my staff so much. I’m thankful for them everyday.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.paintsalonseattle.com
• Instagram: paintsalonseattle
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/paint-salon-seattle
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@paintsalonseattle

Image Credits

Emily Sexton, Lenaig Delisle