Rasheeda Moore, is one of the fabulous salon directors, at Red 7 Salon, with locations in Chicago and Evanston, Illinois. When not running the front desk, Moore is active in the theatre/improve world. In a recent conversation with owner Jason Hall surrounding the summer of upcoming movie blockbusters, they came up with a great twist on how it relates to what they do everyday at Red 7. We are lucky they wanted to share it with other owners and managers in the SALON TODAY audience:

Choosing a Concept

When putting together a script, you want to find a subject that is new and fresh. No one wants to see the same old concepts being explored in the same old ways. You want to choose a subject that really means something to you. When you connect with a subject in a personal way, the results tend to be more honest and interesting. If it is a theme that has been explored already, how can you bring something different to it?

When opening a salon, you need to have a strong concept and theme too. Do you want your salon to be open and friendly, or more high-end and posh? What is going to make your salon stand out from others. The team you build has to embody those elements. Having one person who doesn’t fit into the concept that you’re creating can poison your entire team and salon. It would be like placing Bruce Lee in a romantic comedy with Jennifer Anniston. 

Build Characters

Great scripts have strong exciting characters that an audience finds appealing. So, make sure you pick characters with character! You can’t go wrong when people have bright and attractive personalities with which clients can identify. Well-rounded, honest, hard working, and kind characters will keep your salon afloat.

Clients, and fellow employees, want to be surrounded by people who have a positive attitude and are out for an adventure. No one wants to work with someone who is one-dimensional or boring. Your team should lean more toward the definition of a protagonist, a hero of a story, and less toward an antagonist, someone who opposes the main character.

Conflicts and Obstacles

Every script needs conflict and obstacles for the characters to prevail against, but conflict in a salon is usually a bad thing. When building a strong team you want to make sure that no one is going to intentionally cause conflict. If someone is playing the villain- write them out of your script! Conflict will arise in a salon no matter what- blown fuses, irate clients, clogged sinks, no towels, yikes! (Mama said there’d be days like this), but you need to do your best to make sure your team has the same values and goals so conflict can be handled appropriately and resolved quickly, and better yet avoided!

Strong Beginning, Middle, and End

Once upon a time--meanwhile--and they lived happily ever after. Any writer can tell you that a solid beginning, middle, and ending to a story is essential.  You need to keep your audience entertained and invested in your story. The script needs to be strong and continue to build until a satisfying conclusion is reached.  

A salon team needs strong beginnings, middles, and ends too, but in a different way. Stylists at the beginning, middle, or end of their careers will give your salon varied perspectives, and a wealth of knowledge. Salons thrive on energy. When everyone is at the same point in their career, the energy can get stuck on one level. However, different levels of experience bring a variety of energy to a salon that helps it stand strong and makes the company more interesting. More experienced team members can help groom the less experienced, while stylists that are new to their career tend to bring a much needed level of excitement and creativity!

Create a Crescendo

Don’t you love that point of a script when you’re on the edge of your seat? Something is about to be revealed, or the two crazy kids that you’ve been routing for are about to have that ultra romantic kiss! Crescendos make scripts pop! 

In a salon, creating a crescendo means creating an experience. This can only happen when people are passionate about what they do and with whom they work. We want clients to have that ‘edge of the seat’ feeling when they see their new do, or get super excited to come into the salon after talking with the extremely friendly staff person who helped them book their appointment! Your team needs to know what details are really going to effect their clients’ experience. Is the salon clean? Is everyone friendly and open? Do the stylists speak well of each other? Attention to detail is so important for a salon.

For example, in the movie Space Mutiny a character gets killed and then that same “dead” character is seen working in an office two scenes later! When you miss details like that, your script is greatly weakened. Don’t let missed details weaken your team and salon. Be certain everyone is working to preserve your plot and themes. 

Footnote

Writing a script isn’t easy. It takes imagination, time, patience, and many corrections to get it right. Putting together a great salon team has it’s challenges as well, not everyone is going to fit, but keep rewriting and expounding on your vision. Eventually, all the aspects will click and you can be proud of your fully-functioning success story!

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