A Lifestyle of A Professional Cosmetologist

Cultivating “Professional Friends Forever” (PFF) ©

Professional cosmetologists (stylists) seek to generate a steady flow of revenue to financially support themselves, families, and lifestyles. For stylists, the flow of revenue comes from their clients. There is a tremendous benefit to the stylists if the revenue comes from the same clients. Client retention controls the ultimate staying power of a professional stylist’s career and dictates strategic career decisions (Stokinger, 2018). Personal services delivered by stylists are needed on an ongoing basis hence the optimum “repeat business”; familiarity with the client's preferences and needs allow the stylists to deliver high quality service (Moratto, 2019a). The revenue flow will be efficient if the revenue comes from the same chosen clients and in predictable increments. Cultivating PFF © can afford stylists this luxury to maximize income, practice personal financial planning while visiting with friends in a stress-free environment.

The definition of “Best Friends Forever” (BFF) is

(The Oprah Magazine, September 2019).

The definition of “Professional Friends Forever” (PFF) © is a client (or clientele) who comes to a stylist for a personal service(s), and a mutual friendship result. The relationship is a hybrid with elements of both an interpersonal friendship and a customer service with payment arrangement. You get to maximize your revenue, decide when you want to schedule your revenue intake, whom you want to collect your revenue from, and manage your long-term financial planning with revenue coming from your PFF ©. Also, long range transitional retirement plans can be easily executed.

The time to cultivate a PFF © will vary; one year and 24 appointments is the minimum time frame to cultivate an individual PFF ©. Repeat appointments and standing appointments are clear indicators that a PFF © is developing, the relationship has to stand the test of some time.

This is financial and lifestyle planning at its best because you select the particular clients whom you chose to engage regularly. Are personalities compatible? Do personalities complement each other? Talking and communicating is the cornerstone of an interpersonal relationship (Toerien, 2007).  Without talking/communicating an interpersonal relationship is impossible. Winfrey (2019) reveals:

"Our friendship has stood the test of time. You may have heard me tell the story, which I’ve told often over the years: In the winter of 1976, when Gayle King was a production assistant at the Baltimore television station where I was co-anchor of the evening news, a snowstorm prevented her from getting back home to the suburbs. We were colleagues, not friends, but I invited her to spend the night at my place. We sat up and talked till dawn and have been talking ever since." (p. 128)

There are topics of conversation that can assess personalities, ideologies, and values. Based on the results of the assessment by the stylist, internal decisions are made spontaneously and intuitively whether this particular client should be cultivated as a PFF ©. Intentionality should be exercised when planning for the future (Moratto, 2019a). Some assessment topics are: social media, religion, politics, television or radio shows, educational experiences, family dynamics, magazines/books, and local community events (Gill, 2010). How does the client make you feel?

The stability of the beauty industry is unquestionable (Jones, 2010).Through depression and recession, the beauty industry has flourished because the enhancement of one’s looks and comfort touches all humanity's souls (Black, 2004). As a professional stylist, your question becomes, how do I fit into the industry and make it work for me?

Of course, only a select few are privy to and/or desirous of the lifestyle with PFF ©. For the purpose of this document, cultivating PFF © is in the beauty industry, namely licensed cosmetologists (i.e., hair stylists, nail stylists, aestheticians, and barbers). There is considerable responsibility on stylists to stay current, relevant, and authentic (Moratto, 2019b). Stylists must know and adhere to the power of trust and consistency in unspoken and spoken business/personal relational interactions.

This strategic plan seeks to give a fresh perspective to client building/retention philosophy in this walk-in, instant beauty world and a possible diversion from the typical “salon owner” desire. Cultivating PFF © isa process that may appear subconscious at first but moves to a conscious deliberate decision complete with an epiphany and an aha moment. Cultivating PFF © is a conscience, intentional, discriminatory practice with a deliberate and decisive mindset (Modern Salon Custom, 2019).

A client retention report is the ultimate test of cultivating PFF ©. Analytics affords the knowledge of how many clients come and how many stay (Soble & Moratto, 2019). This strategic plan exposes a tremendous benefit because the stylist is handpicking ongoing clients who are compatible. This systematic approach to desirable client building and/or retention rests on a mutual friendship that can be a consideration for the novice or veteran stylist.

The revenue is maximized or limited by the stylist’s chosen work schedule. A formula for success is to develop a work schedule leading to a revenue which will drive long term financial and retirement benefits with friends along for the journey. How many PFF © can you handle? Once you can answer that question, then you can undertake serious financial and lifestyle planning in a career that requires passion for your clients and your skills (Modern Salon Custom, 2019). Is this alternative career lifestyle for you?

REFERENCES

Black, P. (2004). The Beauty Industry: Gender, Culture, Pleasure. New York, NY: Taylor and Francis e-Library.

Gill, T. (2010). Beauty Shop Politics: African American Woman’s Activism in the Beauty Industry. Chicago, IL: University of Illinois Press.

Jones, G. (2010). Beauty Imagined: A History of the Global Beauty Industry. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, Inc.

Modern Salon Custom. (2019, July 19). Salon Centric. Retrieved from SalonCentric:  https://www.saloncentric.com/learn/categories/business/business/ch-5-steps-to-building-a-career-that-sparks-joy.html

Moratto, A. (2019, September 19). NAILS Magazine. Retrieved from NAILS Magazine:https://www.nailsmag.com/609779/thrive-a-call-to-beauty-industry-physical-emotional-money-smarts

Moratto, A. (2019, September 25). Modern Salon. Retrieved from Modern Salon: https://www.modernsalon.com/616275/how-to-build-a-beauty-brand

Soble, S., & Moratto, A., (2019, July/August). Salon Today. Retrieved from Salon: https://www.salontoday.com/603925/talk-data-to-me-salon-owners-    define-opportunity-measure-results-at-data-driven-s

Stokinger, E. & Ozuem, W. (2018). The intersection of social media and customer retention in the luxury beauty industry. In Digital Marketing and Consumer

Engagement: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications (pp.1305-1328). IGI Global.

The Oprah Magazine - September 2019 Digital Magazine from Magzter - World’s Largest Digital Newsstand https://reader.magzter.com/preview/dseqrvylrwdvuidx2d87yg3652340/365234

Toerien, M. & Kitzinger, C. (2007). Emotional labour in action: Navigating multiple involvements in the beauty salon. Sociology, 41(4), 645-662.

Winfrey, O., (2019, September) what I know for sure. O Magazine, pp. 127-128.