The Ambitious Stylist: Making the Most of Cosmetology School

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Copyright © 2024 Martha Lynn Kale

All rights reserved.

First Edition

ISBN: 978-1-5445-4642-1

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For Trevor, Ford, and Luke. You are my three great things.

For Mom, my biggest cheerleader!

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Contents

Introduction

Part I: Dream and Learn

1. Start with the End in Mind

2. Classroom Time

Part II: Build a Clientele

3. Networking

4. Blowouts Are the Gateway

5. Personal Brand

6. Online Presence

7. Salon Search

Part III: Go Get That Job

8. Informational Interviews

9. Résumé Building

10. The Interview

11. Maintain the Momentum

Conclusion

Acknowledgments

About the Author

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Introduction

I’m quitting my job and going to cosmetology school.

I said those same words to my roommate, my boss, and my mom. I expected all of them to try to talk me out of it. After all, who earns a college degree in advertising, lands a high-paying job in another state, and then quits to go back to school to learn to do hair?

Any one of those people could have laughed or even cried (looking at you, Mom!), but none of them did. Instead, they all responded with some version of, Fun! How can I help?

So, I moved out of my cute, single-girl apartment, sold my brand-new Tahoe, and moved back home. I went from wearing heels and making my own schedule to putting on a uniform and clocking in and out every Tuesday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

My own hairstylist warned me cosmetology school would be challenging. She actually said I would hate it. But I’m an optimist. I figured it couldn’t be that bad. It would be like art school: lots of creatives honing their craft to do what they love. I expected to spend my days chatting about current color trends. I expected to find camaraderie with fellow students who were all in the trenches together with the same goal.

Boy, was I wrong.

Cosmetology school was brutal. I wasn’t prepared for the difficult book work (hello, Skin Disorders and Sanitation), or dealing with clients who wanted to pay five dollars for a haircut, or fellow students who were bored and unmotivated. I was definitely not prepared to have barely a half hour to grab the cheapest lunch I could find (my health tanked while I was in school). I was not prepared for standing on my feet seeing clients at school and then going straight to my retail job, where I stood on my feet for another four to five hours. I was not prepared for how lonely I felt because my fellow students didn’t share my goal. I wanted to create an entirely different life for myself; many of them didn’t seem to have any goals at all.

Bridging the Disconnect

Sound familiar? Does the reality of your cosmetology school experience fall short of your expectations?

You are definitely not alone.

Not only can cosmetology school be challenging, it is sometimes ineffective. It doesn’t always prepare students like you to enter the workforce, let alone land a dream job in a dream salon. There can be a big disconnect between the classroom time required to get the license and using the license to do hair.

In the past thirteen years as a salon owner, I have conducted over five hundred job interviews. No matter how many hours they logged, or where they went to school, or what their background was beforehand, most were not ready for the interview or the stylist position. They rarely had a proper résumé, dressed appropriately for the interview, or followed up with a simple thank-you email afterward. Most of the time, the person who showed up did not at all match the person I had seen online through social media. Bottom line: most of these cosmetology school grads were not ready to enter the workforce.

Isn’t school supposed to set you up for success? In theory, yes, but that often doesn’t happen. In Texas alone, only half of the students with the required number of hours actually pass the written portion of their boards. Of those who pass the written, 10 percent fail the practical. Of those who pass both sections and start doing hair, only 30 percent are still in the industry five years later.

Think about that. Approximately two out of every three students drop a ton of money on their education, spend nine to twelve months going to school, wear themselves out logging their hours, work part time to make ends meet—and then say, Nah, I’m gonna do something else.

Why is that?

There are many reasons, but here are the most common:

They lose momentum. Students start off excited and starry-eyed like I did, and then they get discouraged and bored. They start skipping class, which prolongs their time in school. They don’t have a cheerleader or mentor to encourage them to keep going, so they eventually give up altogether.

They don’t have a client list, and they don’t know how to build one. You can’t run a business in this industry without clients. Period. Unfortunately, most schools don’t teach this skill.

They don’t make enough money. The average hairstylist in America makes around $30,000 per year. That’s near the poverty level in most states.

They think they are ready and skip an apprenticeship. This can be tempting, but thinking you are ready to go for it straight out of school is risky. Later I’ll share how I made this same mistake.

They try to go the independent route and get overwhelmed. Cosmetology school doesn’t teach the different business models. It doesn’t explain that if stylists do independent booth rental, they will not actually take home 100 percent of the service price. Out of that they have to pay for shampoo, conditioner, styling products, rent, towels, capes, shears, curling irons, brushes, hair dryers—everything you use in your business—in addition to taking care of tasks such as washing their own towels, scheduling their clients, finding new clients, and cleaning their space. For many, it’s too much.

They pick the wrong salon when they apply for their first job. All salons are not created equal. Some have a bright, cheery, easy-listening vibe, and some have a darker, cutting-edge rocker feel. Students don’t learn to think about what they want in a salon or where they would feel most comfortable. Then they apply for the first stylist position they find and end up miserable.

I have good news: It doesn’t have to be this way! You can still make your dream a reality. I can be the mentor to share the information you aren’t gaining in school.

Now, I know that not all beauty schools are the same and not all teachers are the same, but as with everything else in life, there’s the good and the not so good. This book can help you embrace the opportunity you have at school and make the most of it, no matter what your school experience is like.

Here’s what you’ll learn in the pages that follow:

Action items to keep yourself motivated and engaged when school gets tough

Prompts to help you dream about why you’re in school, what kind of salon you want to work in, and what kind of stylist you want to be

Tips for building important service industry soft skills, like being friendly, open, and conversational

How to network and start building your clientele now

How to use blowouts to build trust and win clients

How to intentionally create a personal brand and professional online presence

Tips for researching salons and finding the one in your area that’s a perfect fit

How to use informational interviews to learn more about the salons you find

Tips for creating a résumé that fits this industry

A step-by-step preparation timeline for your first job interview

Tips for accepting a job offer and getting off to a great start in your new career

Along the way, I’ll give you action items, checklists, and email templates. I’ll share real-life stories (though the names have been changed) and advice from stylists who have been where you are. I’ll also provide reality checks and journaling prompts so you can start thinking about where you are and where you want to be.

How do I know these tips and tricks work?

I taught myself the skills in this book, and I’ve coached hundreds of apprentices in my salon—many of whom have gone on to make six figures much faster than their peers. (Are you surprised to learn that making six figures as a stylist is even possible? It most definitely is—if that’s what you want and you work hard to get there.) I know that if you take even the smallest steps in implementing these tips, you will be far ahead of the crowd.

One note: cosmetology school does include nails and skin care, in addition to hair. In this book, we’ll focus on landing a dream job as a hairstylist, but you can apply the same tips and tricks to pursuing a career as a manicurist or esthetician.

Get a Journal

If you don’t have a journal, buy one. Use it to answer the prompts in this book and to record your thoughts and feelings as you go through school. Someday you’ll want to look back on these challenging days to remember how far you’ve come. I saved my calendar from the year I was in cosmetology school because I wanted to remember how crazy it was.

My Purpose

Back to the I’m quitting my job story: It should have been clear to me, and everyone else, that I was meant to be a stylist. At recess, I was the girl braiding my friends’ hair instead of playing on the monkey bars. I was the one doing everyone’s hair and makeup before high school formals and prom. In one of my favorite childhood pictures, I’m sitting on my mom’s bed, brushing my hair.

But growing up in Alabama, hairstylist was not seen as a viable career opportunity. Most people I knew went to college and then business school, so that’s what I did. I didn’t ask myself, Who am I? What’s going to fill my cup? What kind of person do I want to be? I simply followed the crowd. I enrolled at Auburn University and earned a business degree.

After graduation, I moved to Austin, Texas, for a job at one of the biggest advertising agencies in the country. The owner was all about purpose-based branding. He even wrote a book about it. He believed that when it’s all said and done, if you—and your business—don’t have purpose, then you’re just like the next competitor. Nothing sets you apart. The importance of having purpose and creating impact was ingrained in me.

I excelled in my role, but I wasn’t working in my purpose and I made no money. It was entry level, after all.

After about three years, I left the agency and took a sales role at one of the most iconic magazines in Texas. Here, I learned what it’s like to have my entire paycheck based on my output. If I didn’t produce, I didn’t get paid. At all.

I responded well to the pressure, and I started making decent money, but I still felt like I was faking it. This wasn’t my thing and these weren’t my people, but I didn’t know what my thing was, so I just kept going because that’s what everyone else was doing.

Then one day my stepdad sat me down and said, You know, I really think you should think about owning your own business.

His comment caught me by surprise. What kind of business? I’m not gonna start an ad agency. I don’t wanna start a magazine. These were the things I was trained to do in some capacity, but none of them sounded appealing.

Well, what would you do if money were no object? You do have to love what you’re doing when you start a business because you will go through seasons where you don’t get paid.

I didn’t give him an answer that day, but the wheels started turning. What do I love? What would I do even if I didn’t get paid?

Pretty quickly, the answer became clear: I love hair and makeup. I love helping people feel good about themselves. What career would allow me to do that? Being a stylist.

Soon after that conversation, I talked to my own hairstylist about my idea. Is this crazy? I asked.

No, it’s not crazy. But I’m warning you—cosmetology school won’t be easy. You might even hate it. But you’ll get through it and have an amazing career.

So I toured a few cosmetology schools and talked to some of the owners. One conversation in particular stood out. Look out there on the floor, Wendi said. There’s probably two stylists out there who will ever make over a hundred thousand dollars.

I didn’t say anything to Wendi, but in my mind I had accepted the challenge: I would be one of those two.

At that point, the decision to switch careers was made. I told my roommate, boss, and mom; I moved back home; and I started cosmetology school.

After graduation, I worked at three different salons in three years. I don’t recommend this plan. In fact, I’ll give you tips to avoid it!

Still, during that time I showed that I knew how to sell myself and my skills. Ten months out of school, I was a finalist for Best Hairstylist in Austin, and in 2010 I was named Best Hairstylist and runner-up for Best Colorist by a local magazine. In 2012, I won Best Highlights and was named a Rising Star in the fashion community of Austin.

After my first three years of bouncing around, I shifted from stylist to salon owner and Mirror Mirror was born. We were named best new salon in 2011 and grew from five to eleven to nineteen chairs in thirteen years.

Since then, we have been on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing privately held companies in America three times. We have been listed as a Top 200 Salon by Salon Today magazine for the past eight years.

These accomplishments didn’t come without struggles. I’ve been in your shoes. I’ve done many things wrong. I want to help you avoid those mistakes.

Your Personal Cheerleader

As a child, I attended a private school with kids primarily from two-parent homes and fathers who were doctors and lawyers. My mom was a single parent who worked extremely hard as a sales manager at a local