Jaiden Robinson 00:00:11  Hello everyone, and welcome back to The Rave Social Podcast. I’m your host, Jaiden, and today we have Nicole with us. She is incredible. She’s a client of mine. She is a brand designer and a marketing strategist for specifically like beauty brands, hairstylists, people of that nature. And we’re so excited to have her on the podcast. Today, we’re going to talk a little bit about your visual identity as a brand. So I feel like that’s really valuable to everyone, even if you’re not in the beauty industry specifically. But welcome, Nicole, and why don’t you tell us a little bit about what you do?

Nicole Nixon 00:00:43  Thank you. I’m so excited to chat with you. So I have been in the beauty industry for over 20 years now. I started as a hairstylist. I worked for big product companies in education, development, training, marketing, social media, pretty much everything. But now I run my own agency where I help hairstylists grow their own brands, reach their dream clients, and really build a future for themselves that can sustain for the long haul.

Nicole Nixon 00:01:09  I’m a huge fan of hairstylists making money. I think that’s a controversial take in the world for some reason. But hairstylists have gotten a bad rap for hairstyling being a fallback career, and I just don’t. That’s like, it’s one of the hardest jobs out there. And so I feel really passionate about helping hairstylists find success, whatever that looks like for them, whether it’s behind the chair or launching programs or products, whatever their big dreams are, I want to help them achieve them.

Jaiden Robinson 00:01:38  Yes, and you’re absolutely right. Like, for some reason, hairstylists do get like a bad rap for like that is a fallback career or whatever. But honestly, like some of my closest friends are hairstylists and I see what they deal with every day and I’m like, oh, I could never do that. Yeah, it’s just wild.

Nicole Nixon 00:01:57  Yeah, it’s wild out there and I think that it’s getting better. I got my license in 2000, 2001, and so we’ve come a long way in the last 23 years.

Nicole Nixon 00:02:08  But yeah, I think it’s just reinforcing that message that like, no matter what career you’re in, you deserve to make a good living and you deserve to do the things that you want to do. And no matter what other people’s perception is, it’s up to you to decide what your dreams look like or what success looks like for you. So again, I think our industry is getting better, but I think we still have a ways to go.

Jaiden Robinson 00:02:30  Yeah, absolutely. So I want to talk a little bit about like visual brands and we can apply this to the beauty industry. But I know that’s like your bread and butter. You’re amazing at it. You create the most beautiful brands for people. Like it’s just amazing. You’re welcome. And I just want to talk about like, why is that important in the beauty industry? Because I feel like, honestly, a lot of the stylists that I know, like, don’t even really have branding or a logo or like colors or anything like that. And I know it goes beyond that.

Jaiden Robinson 00:03:01  So why don’t you let me know what’s up with that?

Nicole Nixon 00:03:04  Sure, I’ll tell you all about it. One of the reasons why I started this business was, I know that hairstylists are not set up for success because I was one, and jumping into this industry myself and the friends that I had when we were starting the struggle, it’s it’s a struggle. It’s a slog to get to a place where you are making decent money, you have a decent clientele, and the industry as a whole doesn’t really help hairstylists become entrepreneurs. And when you become a hairstylist, even if you’re working in a commission salon, you are essentially the business. Because without you, none of this stuff happens. So you are the brand. You are the person holding all of it together. And that’s a lot of pressure. But it also it can be really exciting because you can build a really dynamic brand around yourself if you have a strong point of view. And so one of the things that I really wanted to focus on when I started this business was helping hairstylists kind of see the big picture and think outside of the industry, because there is a very stereotypical aesthetic when it comes to hair stylist brands, and there’s nothing wrong with them per se.

Nicole Nixon 00:04:06  But when you are building a brand, you want to stand out and you want to make an impact so that people want to watch more of your content, want to follow you, and then hopefully want to book you for a service. And so when it comes to your visual identity, I mean, I know we’re not supposed to judge a book by their cover, but when it comes to social media and marketing, like capturing somebody’s attention, you have literally seconds to grab somebody’s attention. And the visual identity that you create for your business is the thing that’s catching them. And so for hairstylists, that means being really consistent with your identity and the work that you do. I think it’s really important for hairstylists do not just have our logo and colors and fonts, which of course are really important to like the overall brand story. But what kind of hair do you want to do? Like, what do you want that hair to look like? Like what is your work? What is the art that you’re putting out into the world? And what’s the story that you’re trying to tell with the visuals and your work and your messaging? Like it all kind of flows together.

Nicole Nixon 00:05:08  And so there are hairstylists in the industry that do this really well. They have become known for 1 or 2 things. They’ve leaned in, they’ve become specialists in that thing, and then they’re able to launch education. They’re seen by brands, you know, the doors really open for you when you’re able to create a brand around what you really love to do and what you’re passionate about and what you’re really good at. So pulling all of that together with a strong visual identity is really that initial like, oh, this is something different, or oh, I haven’t seen anything like this, or continuing to have that visual identity over and over again is what builds that brand recognition. It’s why you can always recognize a Matt cosmetics ad because their visual identity is so strong, you can always recognize a target ad. You know those brands, obviously they’re huge companies, but those brands have done a lot of work to hone that visual identity. And so you always recognize them. And that’s really what I tried to do with hairstylists, is create a visual identity for them that they can maintain that is consistent and that builds that recognition for them.

Jaiden Robinson 00:06:10  Yeah, that was a beautiful explanation. And it’s true for every industry. Like I think a big mistake I see people make, especially on social media, is they are sometimes using this font. And I know I’m talking about fonts and that doesn’t sound that serious, but it’s true. Like if you’re like a different font on every post, on every reel, if you’re using different colors in every post, if your B-roll looks really inconsistent, if you’re always in a different room in your house, like all of that is confusing to your audience on a very subconscious level. Like they don’t realize that they don’t know what’s going on, but they do know that they don’t know what’s going on, you know, and if you have a stronger identity and you have consistent tone of your messaging, a consistent look on your page, a consistent B roll, all of those things, you become really sticky in people’s minds, and then they think of you way more often, which is like, again, it’s so subconscious, but it makes a huge impact on the longevity and like the strength of your brand.

Nicole Nixon 00:07:13  Yeah, 100%. And I also think that you talk about like subconscious when you’re always doing something different and maybe you feel like, oh, my branding is boring. I don’t want to do the same thing all the time. Your branding is not for you. Like, yes, it should represent you, but your branding is not for you, it’s for your audience. And if you’re consistently changing things up and doing things in a different way, you’re always retraining your audience. You’re losing people because what you have told them you are now, you’re something different. And so you have to, like, retrain them to understand who you are now. And so, yes, you know, you can have flexibility in your branding, but you really have to have an overall understanding of like, what am I saying? What do I look like? How am I presenting myself? Because it’s harder for your audience to connect with you if they’re constantly seeing something new.

Jaiden Robinson 00:08:03  Yeah. You’re not going to be like sticky in their mind and also just makes your life so much harder because the amount of content that you have to put out with the new brand or whatever, until it gets to the point that it was before you did that is like a lot.

Jaiden Robinson 00:08:20  That’s just a lot of work. I’m not saying like it can’t be done. And I’m also not saying like, never, ever change your branding. But I do think it’s something that to be conscious of, like, are you just a little bit bored of it right now? Because like, if you’re just a little bored of it, that’s going to go away. It will be fine. Yeah.

Nicole Nixon 00:08:37  And I think there’s a lot of things that you can do in your brand to freshen things up without without your audience necessarily recognizing that you’ve done it. I think there are ways to. There’s way to adjust. There’s way to adapt, ways to adapt. But you know, I’ll speak for myself. Like what my branding, I feel like is fairly recognizable because I use a signature color. I have a group of fonts that, even though I kind of cycle through them, it’s not always the same one, but I’m using a group of them that are always consistent. My colors are always very consistent, like photography style.

Nicole Nixon 00:09:10  I’ve invested a lot in my photography, so when people see it like I actually like, people have tried to steal my photos and like I have other people coming to me telling me, like, isn’t this your photo? So like that kind of recognition, even though, like, obviously I don’t want my photos stolen, but that’s the kind of recognition that you want is you want people to see your stuff and be like, oh, I absolutely know that that’s Nicole’s, because I know what her stuff looks like.

Jaiden Robinson 00:09:35  Yeah. What would you say to people who maybe are not that, like, aesthetically inclined? Or maybe they just don’t even know, like, they’re like, I, I know what you’re saying, but I don’t know how to even do that.

Nicole Nixon 00:09:47  Keeping it simple in the beginning is the best answer for me. I think Canva is a great tool, but it can also really. Can I curse on here? Yes, okay. It can really fuck people up because you have a thousand different kinds of templates, and it’s almost like an algorithm sometimes where it’s like it’s feeding you the most popular ones and, you know, it’s like walking into a candy store and being like, you can have anything you want, but you don’t want all of those things.

Nicole Nixon 00:10:13  You want the stuff that works for you. And so for me, it’s if you feel uncomfortable with choosing your branding or you’re not really sure how to put things together, I would keep it simple. I would choose 1 or 2 fonts. I would keep your color palette minimal because like especially in the hair industry, so much of your content is going to be humans, like it’s going to be people. And so you don’t need eight colors in your color palette. You don’t really need, you probably don’t even need for like your color palette is going to be your surroundings and your work. And so to me, it’s far more important to get really good at taking your content and understanding what it looks like. Like, where am I taking it? Am I taking it in a with a business background and people walking by? Is my station a mess? Like, is there bad lighting? Like those kinds of things I think are far more important in the beginning. Get really good at taking pictures and video.

Nicole Nixon 00:11:11  Get used to capturing your work and setting up your camera and taking video and getting B-roll footage. I think right now it’s like the easiest way to create content is just like cutting up video and putting text over top, and then you have content and hopefully, I mean, obviously you want it to make sense with your brand and you want it to be strategic. But to me, that’s a much better use of time in the beginning is to get really good at taking content and understanding, like, what is your salon look like? Because if your salon is all white and your branding is dark and moody and, you know, or lots of color. Somebody’s going to book you and then walk into your salon and be like, okay, well, this wasn’t what I was expecting. And that’s the opposite of what you want. So you just want to try to tie in the social media experience with the in real life, in-person experience.

Jaiden Robinson 00:12:01  Would you say that if someone is working at a salon that maybe they feel is like, let’s just say the word Chucky, like maybe they’re working.

Nicole Nixon 00:12:12  It’s not their ideal aesthetic.

Jaiden Robinson 00:12:13  Yeah. They’re like, would you say, like, you should probably look at moving salons? Like, what would your advice be there? Because you’re right, it is. Most of your content is going to be taken in that space. Yeah, I think that’s tough.

Nicole Nixon 00:12:26  I think that especially for stylists that are in big salons where there’s a lot of stylists or working in a salon that like maybe is not their ideal aesthetic. It’s not what they would do for themselves. You can get a backdrop, you can set up a backdrop somewhere. If there’s not space for a backdrop, maybe it’s finding somewhere outside that you can take your content and you really don’t need a ton of space. I think that if you could find a corner that’s like pretty simple, or even a lot of salons, like they’ll stand in the doorway and they’ll take their content facing into the salon. A lot of times you can create like a dark background, and it kind of it mutes everything, or it kind of like blends everything in, in the background and all of your focus is on your subject.

Nicole Nixon 00:13:07  So I wouldn’t like necessarily recommend jumping into a new salon unless there’s other reasons that you want to go. But I think there’s resources that you can look into, like getting a backdrop or maybe talking to the salon owner and saying you want to take your content more seriously or your brand more seriously. And maybe that’s something that the salon owner would be interested in helping you. Do you know, I know there’s a lot of really great salon owners out there that would be willing to help.

Jaiden Robinson 00:13:32  Yeah, absolutely. That’s such a good take. And I liked something else that you said where you were like, if your brand is very like, bright and cheery and whatever. And then the salon that you work in is like the opposite of that. I know that does, like, affect the client experience because there’s a bit of a mismatch there. So when clients come to you to work with you on a project and they’re like, I’m this big, bright, bold, cheery person and my salon is dark and moody or whatever.

Jaiden Robinson 00:13:59  Like, what do you do there? How would you coach someone through that?

Nicole Nixon 00:14:03  I would try to incorporate aspects of both. I think it also depends on the stylist. Sometimes if the stylus has like a really strong personality, the experience is them. Like a lot of times when people go to get their hair done, they go for the hair, but they come back for the person. I mean, I’ve never gone to a hairstylist that I didn’t feel somewhat connected to. I’ve had my hair done by a lot of people, and the people that I go back to are the ones that I feel the most connected to because I like the experience of hanging out with them, and obviously they also do a good job. So I think it depends Hands on the person. I think that there are times when you can incorporate aspects of both, and I think that sometimes, again, it’s really trying to figure out what kind of content are you creating in the space and how can we take that and incorporate things like color and fonts to kind of mold the two together and find something that works for you and feels like you, but also is going to kind of tell people what the experience is like in the salon.

Nicole Nixon 00:15:06  And again, I think the experience is the stylist, but you also want to like when you walk into a restaurant and you’ve never been there before and you’re like, do I see myself? Do they bring me the check? Do I pay at the desk? Like you want to know what’s happening? And so kind of seeing what to expect when you get there I think is still really important. So it’s just finding that middle ground of both.

Jaiden Robinson 00:15:25  Yeah. And I feel like if you have a strong personal brand in the sense of like what you’re saying, people know your personality. They know what it’s like to be in your orbit. I think you can get away with a little bit more play in that. Like it’s like it’s okay if you’re on space. Maybe isn’t like the most perfect ever. Because like, they are coming to see you. Which brings me to something that you say a lot is like, you need to have a strong personal brand, and you have to have like your point of view and like I think those are like stronger than really anything else that you have.

Jaiden Robinson 00:15:57  How would you go about uncovering what your point of view is like? If there’s a stylist listening to this, that’s like, I don’t know.

Nicole Nixon 00:16:05  Yeah, it’s really hard. I mean, I think it’s hard to get to a point where you feel comfortable sharing your point of view because your point of view might not align with everybody. And when I talk about point of view, I think about what is your expertise and how has your experience gotten you to a point where this is like, this is what you do, this is how you do it. These are the results you get. And why do you feel like these results or why do you feel like this process, this approach is the best one for you, the best one for your clients that might not align with everybody. It might not be what everybody does. And I think in an industry where hairstylists are really encouraged to follow, we are encouraged to do the same thing, to follow the trends, to style the hair the same way, to take content in the same way.

Nicole Nixon 00:16:53  Brands are always like, you know, trying to feed us the next big thing. I think it really is an opportunity for you as a hairstylist, kind of like take a step back and be like, what do I really want to do? And say? Like, who do I want to be in this industry? And I think it also is an opportunity to think about what are the things that I really don’t like about this industry, what are the things that ruffle my feathers or like, make me like, give me the ick about things that the industry does or has done? And how can my point of view shift that, like even in a small way, how can my opinions, how can my expertise and my experience maybe shift the mindset of somebody else in the industry, especially if you want to go into education and you want to teach something that you have developed or an approach that you do in the salon because you feel like it’s really beneficial. I think those things are so important. It’s like, why does somebody care about this technique? Why does somebody care about what you do? You have to make them care because it has to benefit them too.

Nicole Nixon 00:17:54  Like they have to see the value in what you’re offering. And to me that means you have to be like delusional, passionate, delusional. That’s a word, right? You have to be so delusional about what you do like in a good way. Like you have to be so passionate about the thing that you do and believe in it so wholeheartedly that other people are like, well, wow. Like obviously like she’s it’s working for her. Like, maybe it can work for me too.

Jaiden Robinson 00:18:19  Yeah, absolutely. And I was just saying, like, I’m being the leader. Like, you have to be the one that’s like, gonna lead them to that and show them.

Nicole Nixon 00:18:27  Yeah, yeah, 100%. And I think that for hairstylist again, I think it’s hard because when you think about hair, there’s only so many ways to do hair like hair at its core is like very fundamental, like there’s certain principles that you really can’t get away from. People are cutting hair, they’re coloring hair, they’re doing extensions.

Nicole Nixon 00:18:43  So like at the end of the day, there’s not a lot of differences like it. Even if you want to teach something, you’re probably there’s probably somebody else teaching something pretty similar. So what is your how is your point of view going to change the experience in a class versus that other person that might be teaching something similar? Like, you two are very different people, and that’s the thing that’s going to make those two classes different experiences.

Jaiden Robinson 00:19:12  Yeah, yeah. Like you are the differentiator. And like you got my mind thinking a little bit too about like there’s so many opportunities for hairstylists that go beyond teaching someone how to do hair. Like you could educate someone on, like how to develop a beautiful client experience. Like if you have mastered that, Like you could teach that. You don’t have to teach her. You could teach like, do you have a beautiful onboarding system? Is your client retention rate like through the roof? Why can you teach people how to do that too? Like, it doesn’t always have to be just about the hair I think.

Nicole Nixon 00:19:48  Yeah, yeah, 100% agree. And I’ve actually worked with a lot of hairstylists who have kind of branched into these kinds of educational opportunities, whether it’s business coaching or experience. I worked with a client who she moved her whole life and moved her business and had to start from scratch, and she was able to basically, like, completely recreate her clientele. And now she teaches other stylists how to do what she did. And she has the most important thing is that she has the proof to back it up. So as long as you have the social proof and the expertise and like it didn’t just work for you, it worked for other people too. I think that’s the important part, is you really have to show up with the proof that, like, it’s going to work on a grand scale. And I do think that there are so many opportunities for hairstylists. Like when I went to beauty school, I didn’t even know that the jobs that I ended up having existed, working for beauty companies like doing education development and working at Tradeshows.

Nicole Nixon 00:20:41  And like I never knew those things existed when I became a hairstylist. So the opportunities in this industry are so vast. And the great part is, is that you as a hairstylist can create those opportunities for yourself. It always goes back to the brand. You have to build a brand that people trust, and it has to be built on something that people see value in. And at the end of the day, it’s like, what’s in it for the audience? What’s in it for the client? What’s in it for the student? How can you add benefit to somebody’s life through your services or your teachings, or a product that you want to create?

Jaiden Robinson 00:21:15  Yeah, absolutely. You definitely have to add value in some way. And that could be in what you’re teaching. It could be your personality can add value depending on who you are, you know, and if you’re a fun person to follow, I know I feel that way about certain hairstylists. I’m like, I like following you because you’re funny or whatever.

Jaiden Robinson 00:21:34  I’m not even your client. But I just enjoy, like, the way you talk about things. So I think that’s so important. One other question I have for you is like when it comes to the competition, because I also feel like that’s a big thing. It’s big in every industry. But like especially hair because the barrier to entry isn’t so high. Same with social media management, right? But the barrier is not so high. So there are a lot of people doing it. And when it comes to competition and your visual identity, what is the case? There are people really going to look at your Instagram page and think, oh, she looks cool. I’m going to go to her over their competitor. What have you seen? I do think.

Nicole Nixon 00:22:11  That there are people out there that are going to want to go to the hairstylist. I think there are people in our industry, just like any industry, that rise to the top, that become recognized on social media or recognized through, you know, whatever opportunities that they have, whether it’s through brands or through like consumer facing brands or just their own personal brand, I think there are people that connect with the greater audience, the world on a different level.

Nicole Nixon 00:22:40  And so, yes, there are people that are going to build their clientele because they have that recognition on social media. But when it comes to competition, I think like there’s always going to be competition, like in any industry that you’re in, it doesn’t matter, but you have to have the mindset of that. You are not in competition with other people. You have to feel confident in what you do. And I know that there are a lot of hairstylists that don’t feel confident in what they do, and they’re trying to get better. They’re trying to find that confidence because our industry is so big and there feels like it feels like it’s very oversaturated. But if you can really look inward and think about the things that make you different and special and lean into those things and find something that you’re really passionate about and do more of that thing. Then I think that you have a better opportunity to reach people than somebody who’s just trying to do everything. I mean, I know like the like Niching down is like a really big conversation in a lot of industries.

Nicole Nixon 00:23:42  But to me, it’s much easier to talk to one group of people that needs a certain thing and you offer that thing, than it is to talk to everybody who might need all kinds of different services. Yeah. When it comes to like the visual aspect of that, though, I do think that there when I go to let’s see, I, I’m on TikTok and I see a TikTok ad or a creator that has a cool product and I go to their other platforms like I care about what it looks like. I want it to look like I expect it to for the price point, for the type of product that it is for their personality. Like I have perceptions immediately of like what I expect of that brand. And if I get to their Instagram or their website and I’m like, this looks like a scam, or like this looks like they didn’t, I want to know. They spent the time and effort on trying to get my money. Like what? What are you doing to entice me to spend my money with you? Because at the end of the day, this is all a business.

Nicole Nixon 00:24:43  Being a hairstylist is not a hobby. You might have started doing it because you enjoyed it, but at the end of the day, like being a hairstylist isn’t a hobby. You’re allowed to make money. You’re supposed to make money. So what are you doing in order to build this business for yourself that is going to sustain you for as long as you want it to? I know that a lot of hairstylists get to a point where, like their body is, they can’t handle it anymore. It’s a lot of time on your feet, and I understand that. So like, what’s the next step after that? Like, is there an opportunity for you to stay in the industry but do something different that isn’t behind the 12 hours a day? So I feel like there is competition in that level where like if I go to one hairstylist Stylist’s account and it looks beautiful and curated to a point where I still know it’s them. I still feel their personality coming through, but I can tell they have spent the time and effort on it, versus 25 pictures of the same pose of somebody, the back of somebody’s head.

Nicole Nixon 00:25:37  After 2 or 3, I can kind of get what you do like. And that’s not no shade at people. I know people are doing their best and like, I never want people to feel like I’m speaking down about their content because that’s what they’re doing. And I know people are always doing their best.

Jaiden Robinson 00:25:50  But yeah.

Nicole Nixon 00:25:51  There has to be a time where you kind of take a step back and look like, is what I’m doing moving the needle for me.

Jaiden Robinson 00:25:57  That’s the thing is, it’s like, no shame at all. But if you want to grow your business in whatever way you are thinking, that is, maybe that’s raise your prices. Whatever move salons, blah blah blah could be anything. Then you will have to take the steps to get there, which may include not posting the back of someone’s head, you know? And so it’s like, that’s true. You could feel ashamed that you’ve done that, or you could just recognize that that got you to where you are now. But it’s not going to get you to the next level that you’re wanting to get to.

Jaiden Robinson 00:26:28  And that’s okay, right? That’s okay. And I feel.

Nicole Nixon 00:26:30  The same way about like DIY branding, DIY your brand, like do something. If you’re doing something like great. I’m never going to shame anybody for trying or doing something, but DIY branding is only going to get you so far unless you’re, like, really naturally talented at design. Like maybe you can get yourself to where you want to go. But I do think that there are a lot of people that get to a certain point and then they’re like, okay, this isn’t working anymore. How can I get to that next step? And it means investing. It means investing back into your business. It means hiring experts that are specialists in what they do. Just like people come to you because you’re an expert. So again, it’s all about that mindset.

Jaiden Robinson 00:27:09  Absolutely. And I think part of that too, this is a little bit of a side note. But like, do you really want to spend 17 hours trying to figure out how to DIY your situation? Or would that 17 hours be better suited you developing your next course? You writing out your business plan for how you’re going to launch education or something like where is it spent the best? And I think everyone deals with that in business.

Jaiden Robinson 00:27:36  Like if you’re a business owner, you’ve totally dealt with that challenge of like, I can do it myself, but.

Nicole Nixon 00:27:42  But I don’t want to.

Jaiden Robinson 00:27:43  Yeah, I don’t want to. And like that’s taking up time that I could be spending doing like these other things that I do want to do or that are going to get me to that next level as well. So I think that’s just also an important note. But like I feel the same way as you about like social media is I’m like, people can totally do their own social media like you absolutely can. It just depends on like if you enjoy it and if that’s where you want to spend your time. And if you want to think about it 49 hours out of the week, you know, it’s like those are the things that you’re trading off. Yeah.

Nicole Nixon 00:28:15  And I think that it’s all about priorities in life. In business, it’s all about priorities. And I think this also goes back to when I talk about priorities. I also think about this idea of like the dream client.

Nicole Nixon 00:28:28  Like this is a conversation we have a lot in all of our industries is like, who are we speaking to? This dream client. Your dream client is the one that’s going to pay for your services. At the end of the day, your dream client is the one that wants the thing that you want to sell. So your dream client can look like a lot of different people. It doesn’t necessarily have to be in this certain tax bracket or this certain city, or they don’t have to drive this kind of car. Those things are important to know, but you have to get past that and think about who is prioritizing their services. And if people are prioritizing getting extensions, then they’re going to pay for their extensions. It doesn’t matter if they’re making $25 an hour, or they’re making $250,000 a year, they’re going to prioritize that thing that they want. And so it’s important to get past that idea of like, I have to speak to a demographic of people. You have to speak to a person who wants the thing that you have, and that’s like what it comes down to.

Nicole Nixon 00:29:29  And so I think that it’s like a lot of these mindset shifts, and especially in my industry, it’s like changing the way people think about how they speak through their content. And you’re not talking to like a CEO, you’re talking to a woman who has thinning hair, who wants full long, who wants to be able to, you know, swing her hair around or do lots of, like, Sabrina Carpenter’s hair, you know, she wants that full hair and she doesn’t have that, but you can give it to her. So, like, those are the kinds of things you have to tell a story. You have to bring people into the experience. And at the end of the day it’s like, oh, you want that thing? Oh, okay, I can give it to you like I have it, you can have it, but this is what it costs.

Jaiden Robinson 00:30:12  Yeah, absolutely. That’s a big thing that I do with my clients, too, is like your target audience in the sense of what people teach you in business school.

Jaiden Robinson 00:30:21  And what people teach you on social media is like your target audience is an age, a demographic. You know, there are some different like psychological things that they think blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And it’s like, yeah. And I think that like, it’s good to have that idea in your head, but bigger than that, your target audience is just a problem that you’re solving, like your target audience is just a problem. It doesn’t really matter where they live unless you are extremely geographical, which, like even hairstylists, aren’t that geographical. Like, I travel for my hair.

Nicole Nixon 00:30:52  I’ll travel for hours, travel. People will get on a plane to get their hair done. Absolutely. And you see that a lot in I mean, in some of the biggest hair influencers that are making content right now. I mean, all of their people come from all over the place. So, yeah, it’s thinking about what do I have to offer, what’s problem in my solving and thinking about like problem versus solution.

Nicole Nixon 00:31:14  It’s not just the problem. It’s like the problem can also just be a desire. 100% I really want to be platinum blonde. That’s a problem I have because I’m not. So how can you give somebody that thing? And like, I mean, that’s an extreme thing to do is like take somebody platinum blonde, but that’s a problem that somebody has and you have the solution, then you have to tell them, you have to give them all the reasons why your approach to taking somebody platinum blonde is the best one, and that you’re going to be the one that can get them there, because they’ve probably gone places where they have effed it up.

Jaiden Robinson 00:31:48  Oh yeah, certainly. And like that plays into your content so much. Like if you want to be the go to I will get you platinum girly. Then your visual identity needs to show that like you need to have so many blondes. Absolutely. So many transformations and showing that process. Like, I think that’s one thing you and I have talked about before is that like stylists.

Jaiden Robinson 00:32:13  Yeah, a before and after is awesome, but people actually really want to see your process. They don’t really care about the chemical makeup most likely. But they want to see you, like, mix up the bleach and like, how are you like doing the weave. Like they want to see you put the foils in. Like how long did this process take? That’s a big one. I wish more people would share that. Like here was the process. This was a five hour day to get her from here to here.

Nicole Nixon 00:32:39  Like, yeah, the reality of what it really looks like. Yeah. I think that’s such a good point. And I do think people want to know. They want to see like I had an experience at a salon wants generally I’ve always like known my hairstylist working in the industry. I’ve always known the people that did my hair. But I went to a salon, a very fancy salon in LA, and I was willing to invest in this. Silas, I had the worst experience ever because I never knew what was happening.

Nicole Nixon 00:33:06  I mean, obviously I kind of knew like I was at the chair, I was at the bowl I was in that bowl for like 40 minutes and I don’t know what she did, how many times she toned my hair, what was happening. But like the assistant kept coming in and out and nobody ever explained what was happening. And I just laid there because, like, what am I supposed to do? So it’s things like that. It is. It really is one of like, and I, I did tell her afterwards that I had a terrible experience, but I also like it was like for next time, maybe just let people know what’s going on. But those kinds of things people do want to know, they want to see. And I think it also shows a level of confidence, and it’s instills trust in your audience when you’re willing to pull back the curtain and show them the process, because the before and after might be beautiful, but maybe that before and after was completely photoshopped afterwards, you don’t know.

Nicole Nixon 00:33:58  Yeah. So showing people the process and letting people in about like, okay, you really want this? Okay, here’s how much it takes. Here’s why it costs XYZ and here’s how long it takes, and here’s the maintenance that comes with it, and all of the things that have to happen in order for you to have this thing. And this is also something that comes up when people come to me for branding, like, okay, you want these editorial style photos, you want this level of production quality. This is not cheap. Like this is not something that like, you can’t stock image your way through this. Like this is something that people invest thousands and thousands of dollars in every four months or every, you know, six months, whatever it is, it takes a lot of effort and money to have a brand that looks like a lot of the Pinterest boards I get. And so I think it’s that’s another thing that has to be like, there’s a little bit of a reality check of like, can you really invest in order to get this thing that you want? Because I can help you get there, but I can only get you so far.

Nicole Nixon 00:35:03  I can only get you to the point where, like, I can deliver all the things to you. Eventually you have to take the baton and do the stuff. You have to put it into practice. So there’s that level of conversation that has to happen.

Jaiden Robinson 00:35:17  Yeah. And that’s like two pieces in that process are like, what is the investment and what does that look like and what does it pay off. And then what is my like maintenance. And I feel like that really applies to hairstylists. Like what is the maintenance on this. Like, yeah, you can take me platinum but like then do I have to come see you every two weeks or like what is that going to look like? And the more of those questions that you can answer right there on your Instagram feed, on your website, whatever it is, the better, more aligned. Like we don’t really need to say the word dream client, but like the more aligned your clients are going to be, they’re going to come in knowing what they’re going to get out of it, understanding the maintenance.

Jaiden Robinson 00:35:56  Like then you’re going to have less people being pissed at you later on when they’re like, oh my God, this is way too expensive. I cannot keep this up. Like if you’re clear up front. Those people, like your client retention will go up and all of those things, and that just helps your business be more profitable. It helps you just have a better mental health. You’re not always finding new clients, like it’s so beneficial for you to be more open about those things.

Nicole Nixon 00:36:22  Yeah, absolutely. I do think that the more you can tell people your boundaries is not the right word. Maybe it is. The more you tell people like what you do and what you don’t do, how far you’re willing to go, or like the things that you don’t accept, the values that you have. Those kinds of things play into it as well. Because to find those aligned people, you have to be really clear about, okay, so here are my policies. Like here’s what it’s going to take to get you where you want to go.

Nicole Nixon 00:36:54  And then getting people to commit to that thing. That’s why so many hairstylists have, you know, you have to sign waivers and policies and you have to accept terms. And because it is a real commitment, and these services can sometimes not go the way clients want them to go because their expectations are not realistic. So it’s so important for hairstylists to be really honest and upfront and share the things that go really well, but also the things that might not go well and like why they didn’t, so that clients understand that sometimes they’re not going to get everything they want in their lunch break.

Jaiden Robinson 00:37:25  That’s so true. That’s like a whole nother side of it that I didn’t even think about. Yeah. It’s like, yeah, like tell them what they’re not going to get or like what’s not possible to. Right. Yeah. I think just clarity. And I think that applies to literally every single business. When I see people struggling, other service providers with their social media, and I look at it and I go to their page, I’m like, well, nobody knows what it’s like to work with you.

Jaiden Robinson 00:37:49  And when there are so many options, there’s thousands of coaches, thousands of hairstylists, thousands of photographers. Like if they don’t know what it’s like to work with you, like they’re going to go with whatever one they’re the most comfortable with. Yeah, certainly you’re delivered product matters, right. Like certainly the quality of the hair that you do matters or the level of your photos matters, but not as much as you think it does when it comes down to the wire and they need to book somebody, they’re going to book somebody that they feel comfy with.

Nicole Nixon 00:38:22  Yeah, I mean, trust is like really the core of every single creative brand, I think because when you think of like creative industries, again, there is there’s a lot of us, there’s a lot of hair stylists, there’s a lot of beauty professionals, there’s a lot of creative entrepreneurs. And I think there’s even there’s since 2020 and the pandemic. I think there’s like an influx of people that started their own businesses and went on their own.

Nicole Nixon 00:38:49  And, you know, and I’m one of those people. Yeah. So it really does benefit you to share the experience with people and let people in and let them see what it’s like to be in the space, like what can they expect when they get there? You know, what are the fun little things that you do for your clients when they’re there? I mean, it’s something that I think is it might seem really small, but a lot of people that work from home and maybe they come to get their hair done while they have to work. Okay. So do you have things that make it easy for them to work while they’re getting their hair done? It’s little things like that that I think might seem small, but in the grand scheme of things, there might be somebody that’s like, oh my God, I do need to work while I’m there. I don’t want to feel uncomfortable bringing out my laptop. Like, I want to feel like it’s fine or, you know, things like that.

Nicole Nixon 00:39:36  I just like, what are the extras that you’re doing for your clients? Like, tell people what they are. Yeah, like share that with people so that when they get there they know what they’re getting. Yeah.

Jaiden Robinson 00:39:45  And like if you’re one of those stylists who’s like, I’m actually down to like not chat the whole time. And if you want it to be quiet, we can like that is like a huge thing for you to share on social media in so many different ways, like the why the experience with me is different because like if you’re having a day where you don’t want to chat for five hours, like you’re good, we’re.

Nicole Nixon 00:40:04  Gonna actually, I think that would be like, great content to like, think about the constant noise that you see real after real after real, and then finding a real that’s just like quiet. And it’s just you working on a client. Like, I actually think that’s great content because there’s probably somebody out there that’s like, I don’t want to chat. I don’t want to do the small talk.

Jaiden Robinson 00:40:24  Certainly, you know, I just feel like there’s more people than you even can imagine or like, I don’t want to get my hair done because I don’t want to talk.

Nicole Nixon 00:40:31  Yeah. Like when I go get a facial, like, my esthetician has a little box that you can check that’s like, I want a silent appointment. And I feel like in that experience, I don’t want to chat. Yeah, I want to zone out. I don’t want to tell you about work or my kid or anything. I just want to keep it quiet. So it’s like minimal conversation. And it’s the best. It’s the best to not have to think about topics of conversation to bring up. So yeah, I think those things really matter in the in the grand scheme of things.

Jaiden Robinson 00:40:58  Me too. I feel like this has been so valuable. Just this conversation can apply to so much more than just beauty industry individuals, although it’s really, really important for you as well. If you are in the beauty industry.

Jaiden Robinson 00:41:10  And before you go, I just have one final question and it is this okay, if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?

Nicole Nixon 00:41:21  Don’t be so scared to have people see you. I think that that’s something that the more I climbed the corporate ladder, the more I had to put myself in front of people. I had to do sales meetings. I had to talk in front of big groups of people I had to present on stages. And I was never like, that’s just not natural to me. And I was very scared to do it and I was scared to be seen. I was scared to be judged. But nobody cares. Nobody’s worrying about you. There’s we’re also self-absorbed, and I don’t mean that in a derogatory way. I mean, so true. All so worried about ourselves that they’re not worrying about how you look. Or I say like a thousand times a day. I might say, and it’s just I’m 43 years old. It’s come to this point where I literally lived in Southern California my whole life.

Nicole Nixon 00:42:10  How do you want me to talk? It’s just the way it is. Like I.

Jaiden Robinson 00:42:14  Am a valley girl, okay.

Nicole Nixon 00:42:16  I am so it’s it’s just the way that it is. So I think if I could give my younger self advice, it would be. Don’t be so scared to be seen. You know what you’re doing. You are really good at your job. That’s another thing that I don’t think I ever really knew was like how good I really was at what I was doing because I was constantly trying for the next thing, constantly trying to be better, constantly trying to grow. What was the next thing I could do to be promoted? You know, I was always thinking ahead, and I love that about myself. I love that I can push myself.

Jaiden Robinson 00:42:45  Very Capricorn of you.

Nicole Nixon 00:42:47  I mean, yes, and I was a single mom. And so I was always like, how can I make life better? How can I do more to make our lives easier. And so I like that about myself.

Nicole Nixon 00:42:57  But I also feel like I missed a lot of the stuff happening because I was always looking ahead. So I would say like, just enjoy stuff like enjoy it while it’s happening. You’re going to get where you need to go and the journey is not going to go any way you thought it would be. Like the dream job is going to be the worst job you ever had. You’re going to get fired from it, and then that’s going to put you on the path to where you are now. So just let life happen. I guess this is the core of what I would tell her is just like, let life happen.

Jaiden Robinson 00:43:28  I love that so much. I love both things that you said, like, don’t be afraid to be seen. I think that is such a huge thing now. And I mean, you can be seen on the internet, you can be seen in real life, you can be seen in so many different ways. And I think people have a fear of being seen, especially now because of the internet.

Jaiden Robinson 00:43:44  Yeah. And internet bullies and whatever. And one thing I want to say is like, you can block them.

Nicole Nixon 00:43:49  Honestly, it’s the greatest invention ever. Yeah.

Jaiden Robinson 00:43:52  If someone does decide to comment something mean they’re probably not going to. You can block them. And also just think about like even the most wonderful humans on the face of this planet. Get hate or get a little bit of internet bullies if they are big enough on social media. And it’s like there’s always going to be somebody that doesn’t like you. And it’s just like, whatever like that is on them. That is not your thing.

Nicole Nixon 00:44:17  The bullies are good for engagement sometimes.

Jaiden Robinson 00:44:19  So thank you for the engagement also. Yeah.

Nicole Nixon 00:44:22  Thank you. Keep commenting. It’s only helping me. Yes.

Jaiden Robinson 00:44:26  No. Literally. Thank you so much for the engagement. I’m gonna get my back. No. For real. And then I loved what you said too, about just like being in the present moment. Because I think business owners, entrepreneurs, Capricorns, we are constantly, like, looking forward, like, what’s the next thing? What’s the next thing? And like, while that’s healthy for your growth, I do think be where your feet are.

Jaiden Robinson 00:44:48  Like, are you recognizing how awesome what you have already is like, are you being grateful for where you are now? Because if not, you’re just going to be chasing something that doesn’t exist, you know?

Nicole Nixon 00:45:01  Yeah. And I think that in this like time of our world, I just think everything moves so fast. I sound like a grandma right now, but, like, everything moves so fast. Life goes by in a blink. Like yesterday. My kid was two. She’s 19 now. Like, it just goes by so fast. So, like, really finding a way to enjoy where you are, even if you have big dreams and goals I think is like something that is really hard to do because you’re always being pushed to like what? Especially women. Oh my God, the pressure of just being a woman. So it’s like finding ways to just like be happy with the success that you have and where you’ve come and still having big dreams and goals, but like, still just like enjoying where you are.

Jaiden Robinson 00:45:45  I think it feels hard because they feel like opposites, like it can feel like if you’re really happy with where you are now, that you’ll lose all motivation to do anything bigger. And that’s just not true. So I love that that’s not true. Amazing. Thank you so much for being here. I love this conversation and we’ll have to chat again soon.

Nicole Nixon 00:46:03  Yes, absolutely. Thank you for having me. Bye.

Jaiden Robinson 00:46:09  First I want to say thank you so much for being here and listening to my podcast. It means the world to me, and I just appreciate this community more than you could ever know. If you love this episode or a previous episode that you’ve listened to, go ahead and head to the. Leave a review link in the show notes and leave us a review. We would really appreciate it and we’re so glad that you’re here. Thank you.