WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?

As the author of the article “The Death of the Professional Beauty Industry” which was posted in July of 2015 and has now been viewed over 60,000 times online, I am so thankful that it was read by so many people that responded well to its message to Industry Professionals.

To be honest, nothing has changed since the article was originally posted. If anything things have gotten worse for the everyday working Hairstylist/Barber Stylist/Aesthetician that puts in their time behind the chair or treatment room.

Along with the many signs shown by the current economy that indicate we may be headed into a “Bear” market and that money continues to roll up to the 1% versus the 99% that most of us are members of, we all continue to work hard to make ends meet. Current statistics indicate that 70% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, that inflation continues to grow annually, pushing into the 4% range, and that 50% of Americans are not prepared for their eventual retirement.

I am blessed in having spent the past 53 years working within the Professional Beauty Industry and also holding a Financial Professional status in the Financial Services Industry. This gives me a solid foundation on the intricacies of our “Beauty” Industry while being educated, schooled, and trained on helping individuals and their families on “How to Save money on any budget, Eliminate Debt, Minimize taxes, and get into better financial shape for their eventual retirement” in financial services.

The two industries really go hand in hand as the bottom line reason so many salons and spas go out of business is the lack of even basic information on how to manage, develop and grow their businesses.  I spent twelve years behind the chair of two Redken Concept Salons that I owned back in the 70’s, when the world we knew was just taking off. Redken, Nexus and Sebastian were already growing their companies, as it was not until the early 80’s when we saw the emergence of Paul Mitchell and Matrix Essentials.

The great reign of these five giant companies showered their respect, education, training and support for the common denominator, the working Hairstylists/Barber Stylists/Aestheticians of our industry and the salons/barber salons/spas that they worked in. In the process, unless you were there and a part of the industry’s evolution, it is hard to position and describe the passion, comradery, friendliness, support and enthusiasm we all had for each other and the industry we represented.

As my article reported, we are now in the Corporations phase of our Industry’s evolution, where large corporate entities own the largest companies that were originally owned by families such as the Meehan’s of Redken, the Miller’s of Matrix, the Sebastian’s of Sebastian, and the Redding’s of Nexxus. Additionally these large corporations bought out the large distributors with their numerous stores, creating two huge groups, Saloncentric for the Redken, Matrix, and Pureology brands and Cosmoprof for the huge assortment of lines they purchased to compete against Saloncentric.

In the process, you now have Hairstylists/Barber Stylists/Aestheticians shopping the stores in person or online as they have limited sales people in the field calling on their accounts. But in direct comparison and contrast, you now have the owners of major professional lines allowing their products to be marketed and sold online through companies like Amazon, Ebay, Sleek, and Target and on and on.

Unfortunately the losers in this press for control of the market are the working Professionals who now have lost control of where their products are found. I calculate that the average Professional has lost around $ 10,000 a year in income that normally would come from their Professional Recommendations to their clients for maintenance products.

I have literally been present and observed this happening in at least three salons that I have called on. I hear the Professional make their Recommendation and then almost instinctively, the client is on their phone Googling the brand. In a minute the client is asking the Professional “What did you say the product’s cost was?” and then after hearing the price say “I can get same product at Amazon for a few dollars less and I get free shipping with my Prime membership.” How can you compete with that? You can’t! What continues to happen to our once great and proud industry is that Professionals have almost completely lost the income steam coming in from Professional Homecare, as I call Retail. To be honest, we were never in Retail, even though we used the term for product sales. Along with the loss of Professional Homecare, we continue to see less women coming into salons the way they used to. I remember in the 70’s being booked three months out. Today I see many salons almost empty and when asked the question “Where are all the Stylists?” the answer is “They don’t come in unless they have an appointment on the books”.

I continue to conduct classes on financial information to about ten contemporary beauty schools in Los Angeles and Ventura counties, where I am disappointed in the interest level and enthusiasm for the information. I try to convey to Professionals in California which is almost 100% Independent that they are now both the “employee” and the “business owner”, as they are literally Self Employed. Yet again, the interest level is low and almost non-existent.

Let me go one step further as one of the recommendations I made in my article for positive change to happen was for a company or companies to start using legal agreements for participation in the line.

I aligned as a partner with Alan Benfield Bush, who many of you will remember was one of the owners of ABBA Haircare and whose “Method”, a great functional hair cutting system is known worldwide. We both have the same mentality and passion for the industry that gave both of us a great lifestyle and earning power and started YHS Haircare a little over a year ago to prove to the industry that our basic and Professional Only approach would be received by any Professional that needed a solid base to operate from, with the ability to position and market exclusive products to their clientele.

I started this article with the question, “What is wrong with this picture?”, as everything I have shared with you so far underlines the fact that we all need the security of being able to professionally Recommend our clients their haircare or skincare regimen without worrying about where else they can find the same products for prices sometimes less than what we are asking. What is wrong with this picture?

Our basic foundation is based on a legal agreement that protects the brand for the good of all and if found outside the agreement’s stated parameters, allows us to legally challenge the person involved. You would think that once presented and supposedly understood, that many Professionals would immediately gravitate to our company. Wrong, we still hear statements like, “Let’s see where you are in a year.”, “I’ve heard that line before.”, “I don’t like signing anything legal.”, or they exhibit an attitude that I could care less. What is wrong with this picture?

With an Independent Contractor status affecting most of the professionals in this country, it is critical to support them as the Owners of their business and to generate education for their success through companies that provide quality professional brands that support the Independent with useful artistic and business education including financial information that can help them build their business while planning for their eventual retirement.

The YHS Haircare line and its relevant and timely concept can be viewed at https://YHSHaircare.com .

To be honest with you, I am still in disbelief at the poor reaction to such a concept or product line. I believe our products are competitive with all the mid to high end lines and share this thought. We believe that our entry into the market is not about products. There are really no “bad” products in our industry, yet because of the branding efforts supported by the manufacturers, we grade all lines as they are presented to us.

This opportunity is all about standing up for your rights as a working Professional. You should be able to Professionally Recommend a hair or skin care product and not have your client tell you that they can find it at Amazon, for a lower price.

This is about understanding that you have lost a major cash flow stream that developed into 25% of your gross business, can easily deliver one half of your salon/barber salon/spa’s total profit. It used to be stated that “Retail” was the difference in Profitability for many salons. What is wrong with this picture?

To say that I have been blindsided by the poor attitude and poor follow through exhibited by many working Professionals would be an understatement. We now know that our products have been well received by the many Professionals that brought us in, and that once into the system, Professionals see value in our Agreement, and the mutual respect that it affords each party with our education which is timeless and applicable to today’s turbulent world. As an industry we are still sailing in uncharted waters without GPS and having to find our own way.

If you are sick and tired of being sick and tired about how you have lost an important income stream coming from products sales through Professional Recommendation, if you are sick and tired of dealing with large corporate companies whose key consideration is how much profit is made to pay stockholder dividends, and if you are sick and tired of competing with your clients to see who can find the best price, you need to look at YHS Haircare and our simple approach to doing business with our Professionals.

In closing, the end is not in sight. It will actually get worse before it gets better. If you are willing to sit it out to see where you wind up in this long and drawn out battle, I don’t think you will be satisfied with the results. And if any of this made any sense to you, look us up and get on board with the only opportunity to start the change that is desperately needed by all working Professionals in the Professional Beauty Industry.

We invite all forward thinking companies to join us and let’s work together to get this huge ship back on course and a smooth trip wherever you are headed.

The Author James Hobart has a sixty-three-year career behind him, ten in the U.S. Military and fifty-three in the Professional Beauty Industry as an industry executive at every level, with twenty four years as a Certified Hypnotherapist. His insight and experience have helped many companies and individuals with their growth and development over the years. His books “Happiness Is Your Birthright”, and “Salon / Spa Retail – The Lost Revenue Stream”, and his Blog: https://jameshobartmarketing.com, support his philosophy on life and are practical sources to create positive change throughout one’s life.

His support of the global Wellness movement and its eight-dimensional model is defined by a focus on multiple income streams, Financial Coaching with a world class financial services company, a Certified Hypnotherapist with a practice in Ventura, CA, a COO with YHS Haircare and a Wellness Coach with the largest Consumer Direct Wellness Marketing Company in North America. More information is available at: https://melaleuca.com/jhobart or https://wfgconnects.com/jameshobart or https://YHSHaircare.com  or www.dhirubhai.net/pub/james-hobart/5/7/a87/ Contact phone: 213 276 4588 (in Ventura).