The Client Is Always Right. Right?
Wrong. Don't jump on me all at once. I know it's not OK to say it, but anyone in the service industry will quietly roll their eyes and agree with
Read the full post →General Manager of Valery Joseph Salons, Manhattan, Bridgehampton and Miami. Twenty years on the floor, running the teams, setting the standards, and creating the systems to support a room full of demanding clients. I write here for the people doing the same work.
I came to New York from Israel with no experience and started as an assistant on the floor. Almost twenty years later, I run the operation, working alongside ownership to lead one of the city's luxury salon groups.
It didn't happen overnight. I learned the business from the ground up, made plenty of mistakes, and learned from every one of them. Over the years I grew, refined how I work, and built the efficient systems that now let the salon run smoothly, the same way, every day.
In that time I've built the teams, the standards, and the systems that let a luxury salon run the same way every day, across every location, for some of the most discerning clients in the city. I've learned what makes people stay, what makes a brand mean something, and what quietly separates a great salon from an ordinary one.
This is where I write it down. Not theory from the outside, but what actually happens on the floor, from someone still standing on it. If you run a salon, manage a team, or care about building something people belong to, I think you'll find something useful here.
Featured in The Purist — “Rooted in Heritage”
Wrong. Don't jump on me all at once. I know it's not OK to say it, but anyone in the service industry will quietly roll their eyes and agree with
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Here I go again, finding myself in need of hiring someone new to join the team. Finding the right employee in today’s world, in almost any industry, is a challenge. Over my career,
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Getting the salon ready to open is very hard, but compared with managing it throughout the season, opening is actually the easy part. Opening the Hamptons salon each year is almost like opening a
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For most people, the Hamptons season starts on Memorial Day weekend, but for me, it starts right after New Year’s Day! When we are in the salon in mid-June and clients are
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Can technology in general, and AI in particular, coexist with service businesses like a hair salon? Can they actually support each other? Will a robot ever replace your talented haircutter? Or apply flawless makeup
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“If you charge me, I’m never coming back.” If you work in a service business long enough, you will hear some version of that sentence. I certainly have. Cancellation policies are one of
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Here's what I see most when I walk into salons that aren't ours: everything is scattered. There's no consistency, no pattern to how the place runs. Stylists wear
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Why are some high-end salons packed year after year while others, despite having beautiful spaces and incredibly talented people, seem to spend years trying to get busier? The answer is simple, but also
Read the full post →I read everything that comes in. If something here resonated, if you're stuck on something in your own salon, or you just want to trade notes, email me.
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