Serious Business: It's Time for an Upturn

Serious Business 2022 helped salon owners and managers put the pain of the past two years behind them and move into a space of creativity and innovation.

Hosting a live event in current times isn’t for the weak of heart, and Debra Neill-Baker and Carol Augusto, the organizers of 24^th annual event, showcased their courage in bringing top-notch speakers in both personal and business development back to the live stage in January 2022 at the Saenger Theater in New Orleans.

Choosing the title of “Upturn: An Energy Lift,” for this year’s conference, Neill Corp’s Chief Energy Officer Debra Neill Baker explained that to move forward in life and business, you first have to deal with and heal from grief—then you can accept change and create innovation.

“Many of us have experienced loss and tragedy over the past two years, and I’ve found some strategies that work for me, and they may work for you,” Neill Baker said. “Be forever grateful. Be in a space of continued acceptance. Control expectations. Think—question beliefs without overthinking. Be in the flow, rather than going with it. Choose rigorous routines over resolutions. And, love and express your love, and do it often.”

The first keynote speaker was Genein Letford, an author and consultant who coaches companies in intercultural creativity. “Creative thinking is the number one skill needed in the workforce today,” she said.

Letford walked the audience through her "7 Gems of Intercultural Creativity":

1. Creative Growth Mindset: Developing the ability to interact with various cultures and increase creative thinking are skills that can develop with the right experiences, mindset and training
2. The Empathetic Way: Growing in creative thought while increasing cultural competency requires the ability to engage with empathy and handle conflict with an open mind.
3. Cultural Obsession: Refining observational skills increases the ability to sense environmental data and the nuances of cultural similarities and differences.
4. Cultural Curiosity: Seeking information to fill gaps of knowledge through culturally respectful questioning and investigation reveals new possibilities and diverse opportunities to innovate.
5. Perspective Shifting: Exploring cultural elements through multiple modalities and perspectives is a creative skill that highlights hidden connections and unique discoveries.
6. Authentic Adaptation: People further along in their intercultural development can shift their perspective and adapt their behavior in cultural situations while remaining true to their authentic core values.
7. Creating Across Cultures: Intercultural creativity equips people to be a bridge between cultures and successfully communicate, create and innovate across cultural lines.

“In our next era, our leaders need observational complexity,” Letford said.

Next, Gigi Dunn, M.D., took the stage. A former anesthesiologist, Dunn later opened up a practice to help individuals cope with trauma. Dunn talked to the audience about the public health crisis of the pandemic and how that was creating trauma for business owners, workers and clients. In a breakout class on the following day she shared strategies for coping with trauma, from tapping to eating right and sleeping well to meditation and visualization.

“The pandemic is still changing our normal—PTSD is the new health crisis,” Dunn says. “Unresolved emotion wreaks havoc on your body. In order to move trauma, you have to move emotion. Feeling is Healing.”

Claudia Klug, an Aveda executive director of brand growth intelligence, shed some light on the current beauty situation by sharing some analytics. Connecting to the audience via remote camera, she said, “Our world is undergoing a paradigm shift—the salon is not a physical location, it is an experience—we’re shifting from the traditional to the digital,” she said. “And, it’s not about money and luxury any more, it’s about storytelling and creating a better experience.”

Other truths Klug shared:

• Inspiration from trends used to be designed by a few. Now, vision and inspiration can come from everyone, everywhere. 
• Inaccessibility is no longer a standard of beauty, it’s OK to be accessible.
• People are driven to brands that take a stance on social issues.
• With technology, consumers expect to be invited even if they can’t be there in person.
• Relationship marketing is growing, you need to prove that you know a consumer before you can market to them.
• People want to be part of something bigger than they are.
• For the salon world, there are significant opportunities post-visit, as well as pre-visit and when clients are in the salon.

Author and Grief Expert David Kessler continued leading the audience on a self-healing journey. “Grief is everywhere, it can be the death of someone or the death of trust. You can experience grief in a job loss or in a relationship,” Kessler said. “All grief doesn’t have trauma, but all trauma has grief.”

Kessler told the audience that salon workers are similar to therapists, and that grief needs to be witnessed. Fortunately, loss of hope is temporary. He also brought up a friend and colleague Paul Denniston, the founder of Grief Yoga, to walk the audience through a few yoga exercises that ease the emotions around grief.

In parting, Kessler shared, “What we run from pursues us, what we face, transforms us.”

After lunch, Teresa Witherspoon, an American professional basketball coach and player, welcomed the audience to her own huddle. “You have to know your own value and your worth,” she said. “I was told I would never be a great basketball player. You can’t lose yourself in the identify of someone else. If no one understands your Drive, it’s OK to leave them in Park.”

James Allen, a marketing guru from High Tide encouraged the audience to tap into the essence of their brand, which he defined as a gut feeling about a product, service or organization.

“You are a moment of inspiration, transformation and escapism for your client,” he says. “Deliver it and you’ll tap into their desire to come back. Remember the experience doesn't end when they leave the salon. For example, a vacation starts when someone wants to go somewhere, it only ends when they stop sharing the pictures afterward.”

Next, Destroy the Hairdresser’s Cyd Charisse and David Bosscher took the stage, talking about how to ‘salon differently.’

They explained the Rental Exodus is happening because people crave freedom with responsibility but the typical commissioned salon makes them feel trapped, intimidated and cheated. “Stylists believe if they can rent a chair, they will make more money, but it’s not true,” they said.

Charisse and Bosscher propose bringing rental and commissioned concepts together to create more freedom in scheduling, pricing and client communication. “We need to educate staff members about business, and stylists need to have access to client information," they said. "If you can’t trust your team, why did you hire them? Change is inevitable.”

Next, Futurist Gary Golden blew a few minds when he talked about the possibilities of the Metaverse, the virtual land grab that is happening and about bitcoin and NFTs.

First though, he explained what a futurist does and how they forecast trends. “There are four futures, including one we want to see and one we want to avoid,” he says. “There is 1) continued growth, 2) disciplined, constrained, 3) transformation, and 4) decline and collapse.”

Golden predicts the future could see social medicine programs with doctors prescribing social activities to boost mental health and wellbeing.

“As alternative therapies become more mainstream and the notion of wellbeing expands, what role can beauty play in this?” he said.

While the first day of Serious Business got attendees thinking internally, externally and into the future, the organizers wound it down soulfully with the final speaker Poet David Whyte, who weaves poetry and commentary to illustrate how we can the qualities of courage and engagement.

Whyte shared the process of writing a poem for his niece Maureen who lived in Ireland, then recited the poem for the audience.  

On the second day of Serious Business, attendees were able to choose among breakout sessions to further their education with a few of the mainstage speakers and learn from new ones.

In the sessions, James Allen went deeper into Branding and Rebranding; while Genein Letford helped attendees practice Intercultural Creativity; and Dr. Gigi Dunn further explored techniques for coping with trauma. In addition, Stefanie Fox helped owners understand how to reach and hire new talent; Jen Baudier talked about how she’s empowering her team, creating flexibility and increasing pay in the salon; and Qnity’s Erin Kuhn talked about the importance of teaching your team financial literacty.