Ask a stylist what first attracted them to the salon industry, and they’ll most likely tell you it was working in a creative profession or the wide variety of people they meet on the job—maybe even their passion for all things beauty.

 Stylists aren’t going to tell you they are in it for the money. And many don’t even view professional hairdressing as a long-term career.

Erin Kuhn, president of Qnity, says becoming financially literate will reveal that not only is hairdressing a viable career, it can also be a profitable one that allows stylists to achieve personal goals. But first, they may need some help overcoming the fears that surround money. Qnity is launching a new Money Pro by Qnity program to help stylists become financially literate and understand their personal finances better.

Kuhn says there are some common myths around money that can be debunked with the right coaching:

5 Common Money Myths and Traps

Tracee Herring, owner of two Davanti salon locations in the Dallas/Fort Worth area has taken Qnity classes for years, and enrolls her team in training as well.

“Qnity teaches basic business knowledge in a visual, appealing way,” she says. “They help stylists love what they do, do what they love, and make money doing it.”

Herring says her team has benefited from Qnity’s tools and simple concepts presented to understand finances.

Translating Salary to Goals

As a salon owner, Herring helps her stylists understand their full compensation plan and how they are paid. Recently, she rolled out a new payment structure, and presented it to her team with beautifully designed handouts.

 “They each got a visual showing them everything they would receive at their level: earning potential, health care, paid time off, how we pay their taxes, etc.”

 Kuhn says the conversation about compensation should begin before a stylist is even hired.

 “Beginning at the interview, owners should highlight the true value of compensation a stylist gets from working in their salon—not just the salary,” Kuhn says.

Full compensation packages include:

• Salary
• Benefits
• 401(k) plans
• Education
• Mentorship

“Put a monetary value on the non-cash benefits so stylists can see them—and don’t just talk about it—show them,” Kuhn says. “Stylists are visual learners.”

For current team members, understanding the “why” behind the work is important so you can coach stylists to their individual goals.

Are they trying to move out of mom and dad’s house? Paying off debt? Saving for a vacation? It’s your job to lay out a clear path for stylists to see how they can meet those goals.

“Every employee is different,” Kuhn says. “Money is not the primary motivator, but certain financial ‘whys’ are their motivators.”

At Qnity, a Q Plan is used to visually explore these motivators so stylists can see that what they do daily in the salon affects their long-term goals.

“It allows stylists to set up goals, actions and steps to hit the benchmarks they need to achieve to reach their goals,” Kuhn says.

Becoming Financially Literate in 8 Steps

“Financial literacy in the workplace benefits everyone, at every phase in their career,” Kuhn says. 

Aveda Arts & Sciences rolled out the Money Pro by Qnity to their students in November, and General Manager Kalli Blackwell Peterman says Money by Qnity has helped develop students’ understanding of business and personal financial responsibility as they enter the beauty workforce.

“While schools have been successfully preparing students’ technical skills, the Money Pro by Qnity curriculum supports student education to translate their skills to profit, understanding the weight of student loans and debt, and how to build savings.” 

“Another benefit to Money is the instructional breakdown of working behind the chair and managing or owning a salon. Overall, Money wholly prepares students to be financially successful in the beauty industry.”

The Money Pro by Qnity program revolves around these eight pillars:

1. Money Mindset: Identify your money ‘why.’ Understand that knowing your numbers does not mean you’ll lose creativity.
2. Money In: How to grow your income by increasing sales.
3. Money Out: It’s not what you make, it’s what you keep. Learn how to live within your means with spending categories and benchmarks.  
4. Money Borrowed: Understanding debt
5. Money Saved: Learn about 401(k) plans and other saving vehicles.
6. Money Taxed: How to read a paycheck and understand why/how we pay taxes.
7. Money Plan: Turn your financial dreams into goals and create a path to reach them.
8. Money Success: Build out a cohesive plan and follow it.

Resources for Success

Creating financial goals isn’t enough. A visual plan (like Qnity’s Q Plan or 9 Grid) is a helpful reference, and regular one-on-one meetings are a must.

“We use 9 Grids on a regular basis—we think in 9 Grids,” Herring says. “It allows us to visualize and simplify our thoughts around goals. We also use Q Plans targeted to individual stylists to set their individual goals. It’s how we turn what’s on the 9 Grid into action.”

As part of the new financial literacy program, Kuhn says in addition to discussing goals and progress, owners should celebrate financial wins when they happen.

“Share it with your team when someone gets out of debt or puts down a down payment on a home or makes any financial milestone happen,” she says.

Some owners even choose to make their stylists’ success public on social media, with uplifting posts about buying a car or taking a dream trip.

“Progressive employers are seeing financial wellness is important and focusing on it,” Kuhn says. “If a stylist is under financial stress and living paycheck to paycheck, they are vulnerable to misinformation and going somewhere else to work.”

Herring adds, “I’m looking forward to bringing Money Pro by Qnity into the salons because my team needs help understanding their paycheck and the value of saving a percentage of it,” she says. “We only have two employees who split their paycheck into checking and savings. I want open, honest communication around money.”

Ready to improve your team’s financial literacy? Click here for three free financial literacy lessons from Qnity.