We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rachel Swire a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Rachel thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you tell us a story about a time you failed?
I went through a time in my business where I made it all about the numbers and what my clients could do for me. As a hairstylist, I love being a creative and lost my motivation getting caught up in the numbers and business drained my creativity or so I thought. I had a financial goal and when I reached it, I wasn’t willing to keep up that level of work to maintain it. As a result, I went into a creative slump. I had no motivation to do what I once loved and struggled to figure out where I fit in. I lost more than half of my clientele and my income plummeted. It took me years to find out what I really wanted. I decided to start over and completely rebuild my business. I started to ask how I can serve my clients better. I also got back into educating myself on what I love about my craft and started to rebuild from there. I have more than doubled my clientele AND income. I’m discovering ways to grow and enjoy my business everyday. This makes it fun and explorative everyday. I love serving my clients and learning new creative ways to grow my business.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I’ve been in the hair industry for 17 years. I’ve know since I was 15 years old that this is what I would do with my life. I later found out that I was living my mother’s dream of becoming a hairstylist. She never wanted to mention it because she didn’t want to put pressure on me to feel like I was doing it for her. With that in mind I knew I wanted to make her proud. I want my clients to know that I am always looking to keep the health of their hair first and foremost. I educate my clients on their hair and what it will take for them as individuals to get to their ultimate hair goals. As a self proclaimed hair nerd has lead me to build and maintain a clientele that fully trusts me with their hair and hair goals.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
There was a time when I lost all motivation for my career. I was burnt out from trying to reach a certain financial goal. When I finally hit my goal it was anti climatic and it was a rather unpleasant existence to maintain it. I QUICKLY became discouraged and went into a 5 year depression. I was functioning by showing up to work everyday however I was doing the bare minimum. My clients noticed because they started to find it her stylist to fulfill their needs. I went from having a clientele roster of a little over 400 to around 110. I found a way to pick myself off the proverbial self pity floor and started to start over from the beginning. I went back to my first love which was hair color and honed in on that. Now I have a joyful career again and a client roster that I’ve rebuilt to over 300. I enjoy everyday I go to work and I live to find value in what I do.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
I think my reputation in my market has definitely been the fact that I educate my clients about their hair. I give them the information about their hair and allow them to participate in the goals they’ve set for themselves. I encourage, support and direct clients not only when they’re with me but also when they are managing their hair at home. This makes the relationship reciprocal and gives a better probability for healthier hair goals reached.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.saloncabeloatlanta.com
- Instagram: @rachel_olivia_hair
- Youtube: RachelOlivia