Leadership & Growth

Million-Dollar Mindset: Building a Team That Thrives

Estimated read time: 1:20

Summary

In an engaging episode of the Brazen and Bold Podcast, Justin Gold shares his journey from his unique upbringing in a family of hairdressers to becoming a national business educator and leader. He discusses his entrepreneurial journey and personal mission to empower others to be their best. With anecdotes ranging from professional breakdancing to building a salon empire, Justin offers insights into effective leadership, the importance of culture, and balancing empathy with business obligations. His deep connection to personal experiences, particularly through his late sister, underscores his ethos of leading with heart.

Highlights

Justin's upbringing in the salon industry taught him the distinction between working in and on the business. 🔑
He transitioned from not knowing his career path to finding a purpose at age 40, focusing on empowering others. 🎯
Justin discusses the importance of non-emotional decision-making in leadership roles. 📊
He emphasizes fostering a conversational environment rather than confrontational in leadership. 🗣️
Clear expectations prevent conflicts within a team, leading to smoother operations. ✔️

Key Takeaways

Discover the balance between compassion and business success with Justin's strategies for thriving teams. 🤝
Justin Gold highlights the importance of clear communication and defined roles in an organization. 📢
Embrace change and evolve your career even later in life, as Justin discovered at 40. 🔄
The foundation of business is building strong relationships, not just chasing numbers. 💼
Justin shares how personal experiences shape professional journeys, making leadership personal. 🌟

Overview

In this vibrant episode, Justin Gold shares his transformational journey from watching his parents work in the salon industry to becoming a leader in empowering business owners and teams. He talks about the unique blend of personal and professional experiences that guided him to discover his mission at the age of 40.

Justin reflects on the importance of cultivating a thriving culture within any business. He stresses that good leadership is about empathy balanced with accountability. Using examples from his own career, Justin offers valuable advice on managing teams, setting clear expectations, and holding people accountable in respectful ways.

The podcast covers an array of engaging topics such as Justin's early days as a breakdancer, the impact of his sister on his life, and his transition into a renowned business educator. These experiences highlight the importance of viewing business as personal, built on relationships, and guided by clear, compassionate leadership.

Chapters

00:00 - 00:02: Introduction of Guest The chapter introduces Justin Gold, a guest on the show, who is the founder and CEO of multiple businesses. The host expresses excitement about having him on the show and highlights his impressive bio. Justin is the founder of Rise Coaching and Consulting, where he specializes in empowering salon owners.
00:02 - 00:08: Guest's Background and Journey The chapter introduces a guest who focuses on helping businesses reach new heights, overcome plateaus, and optimize performance through effective systems and team-building. The guest owns the Changing Room Salon located in South Florida and is the creator of a niche product called EasyRack USA, a specialized color storage system.
00:08 - 00:16: Leadership and Business Philosophy The chapter discusses leadership and business philosophy within the salon industry. It highlights the common disorder in salon break rooms and dispensaries and introduces an innovative solution through Loba Essentials, a patented terry towel. The solution aims to streamline operations in salons, improving processes from start to finish. Additionally, the chapter notes the impact of experience and coaching in achieving national awards for salons, guided by over a decade of expertise.
00:16 - 00:24: Coaching and Helping Others This chapter highlights the achievements and contributions of Justin, a national business educator for Matrix, and how his salon has been recognized multiple times in Salon Today's top 200 salons list. Justin is portrayed as a passionate individual dedicated to helping beauty professionals reach their full potential. The narrative also touches on a personal meeting experience with Justin at a prestigious salon event, emphasizing his inspiring influence and dedication to the empowerment of others in the beauty industry.
00:24 - 00:45: Conclusion and Contact Information The concluding chapter introduces a charismatic guest whose story and leadership qualities have left a lasting impact on the host. Excited about the insights shared, the host welcomes the guest warmly in the show. Observations about the guest's impeccable style and charismatic personality are highlighted, creating a lively and engaging atmosphere for listeners. There's an emphasis on gratitude and enthusiasm for the shared experiences and discussions.

Million-Dollar Mindset: Building a Team That Thrives Transcription

00:00 - 00:30 [Music] Welcome to the show, Justin Gold. We're so happy to have you on. I want to take a second to introduce you to all the listeners in our audience. Justin is a founder and CEO of multiple businesses. Um, looking at his bio, I had to get like this is it's a lot and it's amazing. So he um is a founder of Rise um coaching and consulting and um that's where he helps empower salon owners to
00:30 - 01:00 new heights in their growth and to smash plateaus and really um get the best out of their businesses through systems and building award-winning teams. So that's amazing. He also owns the Changing Room Salon and that's in South Florida. South Florida. I got it right. Okay. South Florida. Awesome. um has he's the owner of a product called EasyRack USA. It's a a specific color storage system, which is incredible, very niche, and something
01:00 - 01:30 that's needed if you've ever worked in a salon and you've seen the amount of disorder that happens in the break room or the dispensary. Also, Loba Essentials, which is a patented terry towel that has a nice a nice a nice way to like basically streamline and and essentially make everything better from start to finish in the salon industry is kind of what you've had your hand in, which is awesome. Um with his over 10 years of experience in the industry and coaching, he has led multiple salons to awards nationally. Um including but not
01:30 - 02:00 limited to being featured in Salon Today's top 200 salons multiple years in a row and your salon is also included in that list of honors, right? Um in additional he is a national business educator for Matrix. Justin is passionate about helping um beauty professionals across the country to reach new heights. And I was inspired meeting him about a year ago. Um we met at the actually the salon today's top 200 um where he was there and I was
02:00 - 02:30 there with my business spark and we hit it off. It was great to get to know a little bit about him. I was inspired by his story and um really a lot of things that I learned about him and his leadership. So I'm really excited to have you on the show. Welcome. Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it. Yes, of course. Of course. Um, and if anybody is, you know, just listening and not seeing um, watching the show on YouTube or any clips from Instagram, he looks fabulous and sharp in his suit. Always put together. Um, it's the first thing I noticed about him. I think that's just it's fun. It's fun to see
02:30 - 03:00 somebody in business take over the hair world. So, I want you to tell me a little bit about um kind of your your business your mission statement like what drives you and like what I would should say what leads the decisions you make as a coach, consultant and business owner. Um thank you. Thanks for the question. What leads me and what what's my why essentially right because that's we have to have our why. I figured out through my journey um 46 years on this business I finally figured
03:00 - 03:30 out what I want to be when I grow up. when I turned 40. So, you know, anyone listening, if you haven't figured it out, you still got time. Um, my purpose, I feel, is to help others to be the best version of themselves. That's my mission. Okay. And the question is, well, how did you get into the beauty industry? Right? Because I've never been behind a chair. I I've never been to cosmetology school. My background, a little quick um twominut story, is that my mom and dad were hairdressers. And so, I grew up at the dinner table. uh learning about
03:30 - 04:00 business, you know, essentially my mom and dad went to the school hard knocks. We're all immigrants. We're from England. I'm the only one in my family with American accent. And so being immigrants, my parents definitely came here for America for like, you know, the American dream to have a better life for themselves. They were both behind the chair. So as we know as entrepreneurs or if you don't know, you know, there's a distinction between working on the business and working in the business. And so my parents spend a lot of time working in the business, meaning behind the chair. the only time they had the
04:00 - 04:30 opportunity to work on the business to move the needle and grow was at the dinner table. So, I was fortunate to be able to sit in on those conversations because we had dinner every single night at 7:00. Uh non-negotiable. We had to be at home. Okay. Yep. Yep. That was the same for me. I eat dinner at like 4 and then a second dinner around 7. But that's cool. I love that. So, every night, every night, you know, when the lights came on, you know, I was fortunate to grow up without a cell phone. I was in that generation. So, I played in the streets and when the lights came on, you had to be home. Um, and so dinner, you know, dinner time was
04:30 - 05:00 business time and I didn't realize at the time how important that would be and impact my life. My my parents goal for me was to go to college because I'm the first one in my family to go to college. Um, so I went to Florida State. I have a degree in finance. I have a degree in entrepreneurship and small business management. My journey took me all over. I did a lot of different things. Financial adviser for Northwestern Mutual. I was essentially like a GM at Abberrombie in LA. Uh, fun fact, I was a professional break dancer for a couple years in LA. I used to teach uh Yep. Mhm. That is a very fun fact. Pause.
05:00 - 05:30 Like we're just gonna pause on that. Everybody, everybody wants tutorials when I tell them that. I can I teach I used to teach beginner breaks. Uh breaking. That's fine. This is a video. I didn't warn you, but you have like some cardboard or something you can lay down real quick. Oh, it's funny. You know, I can still do I can still bust it on the dance floor a little bit. I mean, I can't do head spins anymore. I mean, I probably could, but the only breaking I'll do is probably breaking my neck. But uh yeah, it was my passion. Like low key, no big deal. Degree in finance, degree in entrepreneurship. Oh, I broke
05:30 - 06:00 I was a break dancer in LA for a while. Like just throw that in. You thought we were just going to like slide through. Well, you know, I don't know. Um Okay. So, you were a break dancer in LA professionally for a few years. Did you do that like moonlighting or was that your full-time gig? Um I had a scholarship at Millennium, which is a very big dance studio out there. There's Debbie Reynolds, his Millennium, The Edge. And I had a scholarship there. I also used to work there and then I would teach there, but then I would also bartend um to subsidize your income because as a starving artist, LA is
06:00 - 06:30 extremely expensive. Yeah. Um it ended up becoming work and not fun anymore. It was just a it was just a gift I had. I was very I'm very talented in that arena of dancing. And um prove it. Next episode, I'll tell you to come dressed accordingly and make sure you're ready to go. There you go. I um you know people always ask me but you see I didn't grow up with cell phone generation so it was like the flip phone so I didn't have as much video. There's no Tik Toks and stuff back then but I have some videos I got to put on my Instagram. People keep asking me so I got to put it quit sandbagging. It's
06:30 - 07:00 2025. We all have an iPhone on us. You can do it now. It's not too late. I I've I've had some people record me. So I'll see I'll have to dig it up and put it on. Okay. Good. Um and then I was like uh Abberro and Fitch. I got a management position there. I ran overnight crew was the second largest store in the nation which taught me a lot about business and about people. I work at a marketing firm. I went on tour with Disney for a little while as electrician uh Disney on Ice. So I've done a lot of different things which has been beneficial. It's allowed me to learn different skill sets
07:00 - 07:30 and work in different arenas that um essentially is I've been able to apply to the salon world. And then you know how I how I got back to Miami was my mom took ill. So that you know if you have a good relationship with your family hopefully they put food on the table and put clothes on your back and then you know one day you end up taking care of them. And that one day for me was about 18 years ago. So my mom took ill. We had three salons at one point and my dad needed to help. He couldn't manage it himself. So I came back temporarily to help out the family business because I had always grew up in
07:30 - 08:00 it. Temporarily has turned into 18 years. uh five companies like we said we discussed a lot of the companies and I saw an opportunity to um take it to the next level. See my mom and dad they were technicians and they sold haircuts and and hair color and then I realized we sell an experience and so coming back in and not being a hairdresser at first was very challenging because I got push back from the team. Not only is it a family business, I was selling a service and
08:00 - 08:30 not a product, which uh which is really difficult. Most of the staff had seen me grow up. We've been in business now 44 years. And we have a lot of tenure. Like my most tenure co-orker, I don't like calling them employees. My co-orker was 35 years with us. You know, now we presently have 31 years and and 20 years and 25 years. So, it's not an anomaly on how long they've stayed with us. So, seeing me grow up is a challenge now that I become their boss or their leader. Yeah. Um, however, you were the 12-year-old Torp who was hanging out probably in the back room and they're
08:30 - 09:00 like, "Wait, you're you're in charge now?" Yeah, exactly. There was it was it was a it was a it was a challenge for sure. Um, and you know, and then and then not being a hairdresser, right? And they're like, "What do you know about hair? What do you I used to fight them, you know, and and and here's a fun story to make an analogy. Have you ever seen 8 Mile, Heather? Have you ever seen 8 Mile the movie?" No, I am pop culture literate. That's okay. So, it's Eminem based and you know he's he does these rapping and he's battling these other people on stage and they would make fun of him like you know they would say he's white
09:00 - 09:30 or he's trailer park all this kind of he would try to like defend himself and then one day he got so fed up that he's like you know you're right I am this I am that I'm all the things you say and he won the rap battle and then he had a lot more respect because he owned it and that really resonated with me I used to fight you know my staff and be like look you know I know I grew up my and then one day I was like you're right I'm not a hairdresser I'll never know what it means to be a hairdresser but let's do this you focus on the hair, I'll focus on the business and together we will elevate the company. And that's essentially what happened. Um, in the last 10 years, we've won top 200, like
09:30 - 10:00 you said, seven of the last 10 years. I'm super honored by that. And culture, you know, I implemented systems and procedures and culture is is the the the pivotal element of why we're so successful is culture. And I speak for that when I coach and I help. I, you know, I love giving back. My biggest my biggest uh why and of who I am just to bring it full circle and then I'll then we'll move on to another question is is my sister uh my sister was mentally and
10:00 - 10:30 physically challenged. She was my big sister. She was older by three years. She passed away a couple years ago. Um she had a great run. She had a great life. My parents were amazing amazing parents for my sister. Um she was an amazing person. She was a beautiful light in this world. And um she she made me who I am. Sorry. She made me who I am. And she made me realize that giving back and helping others is what my purpose is. And so I finally figured out what I want to be
10:30 - 11:00 when I grew up. When I turned 40, as I said earlier, is I my purpose is to help others be the best version of themselves. And what does that look like? Yeah. So I'll show you. Here's a photo of my sister. Tilt it forward towards the screen a little bit more. Nope. Up. You're right. Hold on. Tilt it up so we can see. There you go. Can you see my sister? That's awesome. Yes. In the pink dress. Yep. She was my big sister by three years. You can see how tiny she was. She's teeny tiny and beautiful. Yeah, she's Yeah. Thank you for sharing that. And um you know, it seems like there was a little bit of
11:00 - 11:30 emotion as you're sharing about her and the impact being her big little brother had on you. And um there's no need to ever apologize in my opinion for for being overcome with emotion, especially as it comes to people who've impacted us in such a a beautiful way. tell us her name. And um sounds like a lot of what you learned about character and what matters was from being her brother. I think that's really important. And who cares if it has nothing to do with business? It has everything to do with business because it's how you show up. So tell us a little bit more about that. Um her name is Kelly. Kelly Star Gold.
11:30 - 12:00 Um she's amazing and she like I said made me who I am. And it does relate to business because what I've really started to understand is that business is all about people. And people are some is the could be can be the hardest part about business but it also can be the most rewarding part about business and all business has to deal with relationships whether it's you know customer to c you know customers or employee to employee or the relationship
12:00 - 12:30 management to employees and and learning how to be empathetic and how to really see your co-workers I don't call them employees my co-workers as people versus the dollar or numbers is is extremely important. And that's one of also another reasons why we've been so successful is because this is my perspective on leadership is that we have my team's health is number one, their family's number two, and then the
12:30 - 13:00 job is is number three. And not a lot of employers see it that way. and and growing up with a sister who was in and out of hospital, who had a lot of sicknesses, who needed a lot of help and care. I understand that her health was number one, my family came second, and then business came third. And so I was able to learn that and apply it to business, which is obviously helped us get become so successful. Yeah. And I think what you touched on too is like you're you're dealing with people, not numbers. But as a business owner, you've
13:00 - 13:30 got to worry about the numbers, too. You're not just running a charity organization. And so can you talk a little bit about striking the balance between making sure that the numbers work that what you're doing is profitable while still respecting the individuals and the people on your team that are human beings with lives of their own whether it's family members, friends or children. You know a lot of us find ourselves in caretaking positions at some point or another as you mentioned you had your sister and then your mom. Um, but how do you show up with respect to the business numbers
13:30 - 14:00 and what needs to be produced and also respect to the humanity that you're dealing with? Because this is this is the question for all business owners. Your money's on the line, right? Very well said. Um, yes, there is a balance and finding that balance and that sweet spot is the million-doll answer, right? Well, I'm here and I don't have a million dollars, but I bet if you tell us the answer, we'll both have a million dollars before tomorrow. Let's do it. There you go. Um, how do you realize
14:00 - 14:30 the, you know, taking care of the employee and also maintaining the numbers, right? There is a balance and the balance comes from first setting what the expectations are of the culture. Um here having clearly defined job roles and and guidelines or rules in the organization allows for you to still be uh compassionate and have conversations, but it's no longer me verse you. It's you and me. Um and this
14:30 - 15:00 is what we both agreed on in the organization of the rules and regulations or the handbook essentially, right? And so you can still be empathetic and you can still be uh a human, but they it's not a charity case. they have to abide by what we both agreed on in the organization so that we're making sure we're hitting the numbers or showing up on time which in taking care of the guest and that in turn will provide for profitability. So the balance is is having a clearly defined structure and systems and uh organization that we all agree on as
15:00 - 15:30 worker co-workers or you know employees of the company. uh in conversations it's you can still be strong and soft at the same time. You can still be empathetic but hold your team accountable. And the accountability is we still have to be profitable. Otherwise, we don't have a job. As much as I care about you as a person, if you're not showing up and doing your job, I'm very flexible to understanding that your health and your family. However, we still need to make sure that
15:30 - 16:00 the business is taken care of. So, that balance comes, how do you find that balance? It's it's a clearly defined culture of expectations of core values and our mission and our rules and regulations and systems and allow people to decide if they want to be a part of that or not. And that's taking too many days off or you know showing up showing up late whatever that looks like. Um I was going to say one other key element on that and I lost my train of thought. Um profit. Oh yeah, charity. We're not we can't be a charity case. as much as you really want to help everybody. Um,
16:00 - 16:30 if they're not helping themselves, then we have to sometimes show them the door. And that can be done in a respectful and professional manner. And if they're if this isn't the place for them to be, then that's okay. Then you're you're allowing them to make that decision. I don't fire anybody at all. They decide that they no longer want to be part of the company anymore based on their actions and whether they they they follow the rules and regulations or not. Okay. And like, you know, I I like to tell people on my team that um I don't fire people either. I
16:30 - 17:00 like that. Um I release them with love to find a better fit. And I think if we understand leadership um and it's something that you coach too, you know, working um nationally as an educator, but if we really understand leadership, we have to know that if someone is not a good fit for our culture, you know, the hardest thing for me to do when I first bought my salon was letting the first person go that I needed to let go of. It me months longer than it should have. Um, I've now heard a lot of people talk about hire slow, fire fast, you know,
17:00 - 17:30 how to be more nimble and right. But at that point, I was acquiring a team that was already established and I was it was gut-wrenching. I was stressed about it, right? And then I started realizing when I when I was able to have a business coach reframe it for me and this is to the point of how, you know, the value of working with others like yourself, Justin, who have this expertise and, you know, multiaceted experience in the business world. But I remember someone saying, "Hey, if they're not a good fit for your team, your team is also not a good fit for them." The only way I was able to release them with love at that
17:30 - 18:00 point was to realize I'm keeping them stuck by trying to do them a favor by not letting them go. And if I look at the other, let's say, 18 to 20 people that were on my team at that time, by allowing like what you permit, you promote, right? So allowing that behavior to continue was actually affecting the other people who were showing up in alignment with the agreements like you've said you've established with your team and it was it was sending a message to them that that their um their cooperation and their dedication was really just nh I didn't
18:00 - 18:30 really care. I wasn't actually adding or showing them that I value their behavior because I was letting other people get away with something else. So when I started reframing it that way in the context of what it did to the entire team and especially to the individual who is no longer a good fit, it made it I wouldn't say easier, but palatable for me to finally do it. Um, but it it is a really hard thing for leaders to do and to learn. And it sounds like with what you've defined, especially as setting up very clear expectations, systems, processes, structure. You said a lot of
18:30 - 19:00 these words that are very indicative of like clarity in your messaging, clarity in your vision, the direction you're going, and setting that forth to set your team up for success to either, you know, get on the train or leave. and check out of the station. Talk to us a little bit about this because if if any of the entrepreneurs, this isn't just a salon podcast, but a lot of people find me from the salon world. A lot of entrepreneurs hearing these words are like systems. Okay, got it. Policies, structures, agreements. Uh-huh. Okay.
19:00 - 19:30 This kind of stuff to a newer business owner or someone who's more like you were talking about your parents being technicians. um people who are good at their craft, maybe not so experienced in leadership, this is going to start giving them what I like to call a panic attack. Like these words are overwhelming. So, what would you say to somebody who is um finding themselves lacking this alignment in their team and they're struggling with this compassion piece while dealing with behavior challenges? They're like, where do they even start? Maybe they don't have
19:30 - 20:00 systems in place yet. Like where where do you tell a person like that to start, Justin? Well, let's take let's let's let me just take one more piece of as as um at a at a higher level and then we'll break it down a little bit more from the macro to the micro. Yeah. But will you break dance while you break it down? We don't want it if you're not going to do it. One of these days I will. Okay. One of these days I will. Um the macro level is something that I want to really
20:00 - 20:30 hone in and and give to anyone listening to this, any entrepreneur, anyone who wants to be an entrepreneur, any manager, any leader. Um because you know management's a title, leadership, you don't always have to be have the title to be a leader in your organization, which is important as distinction is I want to encourage everyone to make sure that you take your emotion out of the decision. And that's one thing I train my leaders. I have four managers or leaders that are on my team that help me run my organization because I have a pretty big organization and uh and it's non-emotional and so we
20:30 - 21:00 have to look at the facts. I think Heather and I you and I mentioned this before the facts of the situation without our emotion attached to it. we can emotionally be empathetic to the person whom we're talking to in coaching on our team and we can care for them and as much as I am empathized that they, you know, have to drive both ways in the snow and up the hill and all that kind of stuff, the job the results still matter and we still have to have accountability and it's a non-emotional
21:00 - 21:30 decision when it comes to having those structured and constructive criticism conversations with your team. So that again is the balance of being empathetic and understanding but not being a charity case that there still has to be accountability which can be done in a non-emotional uh manner and understanding that we have to look at the facts versus just the feelings around the person and the situation. As I like to say, I think this is what you're referencing from our conversation. Facts don't have feelings.
21:30 - 22:00 Um and neither do heartless people like me. Just kidding. I like people a lot. Oh, that resonates and and neither do I. You have to have a heart to have feelings and that went out the window. No. Um, that's actually why I think the conversation that I first had with with Justin really resonated because I really saw your heart in it. and though you have so much of this business acumen and experience and leadership that that is what you lead with and I think that's a really um it's an art form and it's something that that's why I wanted to have you on as a guest to help people
22:00 - 22:30 listening understand you know how do we distinguish between the two and facts don't have feelings and something else that doesn't have feelings is numbers so numbers don't have feelings facts don't have feelings um and I think that this could be like something we could talk about leading into that's why it's powerful to have metrics and to have tracking systems when you're leading any sort of organization, a dashboard if you will. So, I don't care if you're in hair or any other industry, but leadership metrics so that we can look at what are our sales goals, what are our KPIs, our
22:30 - 23:00 uh key performance indicators to see because those numbers aren't lying. I might love you as a human, which if you're a human or an animal or a plant this point, I kind of love everything and everybody just love people. I might love you as such, but those numbers are telling me that you're not a fit for the organization or that you need coached. So, you know, I think that's what you're talking about here is it's really important to distinguish what do those metrics look like. And um something that you talked about too is making sure it's very clear to the people on your team so
23:00 - 23:30 that they know what's expected of them when coaching comes up. Now, how do you handle that? Let's say somebody's underperforming. Um, how would you advise somebody listening in who's got a hard conversation to approach to to begin that conversation or structure that conversation? Do you have any guidance on something like that for those who are listening? I have I have I have plenty of ideas. Leadership is so I teach a lot of different business classes um that are not just cater to the beauty to the beauty industry which has been my niche but I have done other classes outside. Leadership is one of my
23:30 - 24:00 favorite pieces because there isn't enough education around leadership. people generally are good at their job and they say, "Well, you're really good, so you must be able to get promoted and you can teach other people." That doesn't necessarily mean that's the case. Um, I met some amazing dancers that just can't articulate and teach other people. And some people that are not the best dancers, but then they know how to break things down simplatically and systematically and and share that and help people, you know, get to the next level. So, taking a step back, um, one thing that you did mention that I want to speak on is is before we talked
24:00 - 24:30 about the systems and some guidance about having some tough conversations because there's a lot of pieces here is is having clearly defined expectations of your team will help minimize any challenges that may be arising. And so, when I do coach some some business uh, entrepreneurs is like, well, what are your what's your handbook look like? What are your your job descriptions for the front desk? Oh, I don't have one. Give you a blank stare. uh ask these questions couple of them but they they some you know most people now in this day and age know what they
24:30 - 25:00 kind of should and shouldn't be doing but whether they have it it's that's a whole another conversation but I imagine if they're working with you at the level where they would be a person who would engage you they've probably got a lot of these basics going on right um you would be surprised because you would be surprised because I'm open to helping all all all levels from from inception to exiting to second locations to third locations. You know, I mean, I've worked with salon in St.
25:00 - 25:30 Louis. They have 10 salons. And so, you know, they're all different. So, some do have it. And even and ironically, even the ones that are like some of the most successful or the the most, you know, expensive salons, they don't always have everything done correctly. Um, so one thing with about clearly defining your your job descriptions in in your expectations will help minimize these tough challenges and conversations, which I'll talk about in a second. One of the greatest quotes I've ever heard, which I'm a really big quote guy because they they stay with me. They resonate with me because words matter and words
25:30 - 26:00 are important, is conflict arises when expectations differ. I'm going to say that again. Conflict arises when expectations differ. Meaning, I had an expectation of this. you didn't do this so then conflict arises well if it's clearly defined of what your role is or your expectation then it minimizes the conflict because like did you or did you not do it it becomes metrics you mentioned KPIs there's two different types of KPIs which means key performance indicators there's leading and there's lagging most KPIs are
26:00 - 26:30 lagging meaning we look back and say hey how are our numbers last week what did we do be before which is okay they're good it's like looking in the rearview mirror but you need to have leading KPIs of where we're going what does that look For instance, pre-booking. Pre-booking will allow you to see next week how busy are we? Are we going to be able to pay the bills or not? Um uh so to answer your question and bring it back is to what would I suggest or give some advice or speak to some of these managers or um owners that have to have tough
26:30 - 27:00 conversations with some of their their their employees, right? First is how you show up. How you show up in your mindset and your body language as a leader is crucial for the outcome of the conversation with your co-orker or your team member or your employee, whichever verbiage you want to use. And when you show up and realize it's a conversation and not a confrontation, that shift will allow for
27:00 - 27:30 um a softer space and conversation and to resonate and have a connection with your coworker versus battling like crossed arms and you know leaning back and and a fight. Hostage negotiation status versus a conversation. Right? There you go. So, first thing I would say to anyone who has to have these tough conversations is a be open. Be soft in your tone. Make sure you're sitting down. All conversations are sitting down. All my
27:30 - 28:00 team members know when they come in my office, we sit down. Cuz when you sit down, you're in an equal playing field doesn't mean I'm better than you. Just because I'm the boss or the owner. And it allows people to feel safe. Feeling safe is really, really important when you create that environment of a safe space to have open dialogue. Uh, in addition, I would view it as a conversation, not a con confrontation. And then use the facts. Uh, facts are really important, like you said, because it's like, hey, I think you were late the other day. Well,
28:00 - 28:30 no, I wasn't 2 minutes. Um, here you go. You print out, I just want to share with you. I say late because a lot of people relate to their jobs. Here you go on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. You were late these times. And it's hard for them to like, no, I wasn't. When you have the time sheet right there. However, when you're doing have a conversation, I like saying the poop sandwich. I I don't know if you've ever heard that one, Heather. Yes. Crab sandwich. Good. Start with the good, have the bad thing, finish with the good. And And when you do start with the good, and you end with the good, it has to be genuine. You have to be sincere
28:30 - 29:00 about it. Look, so and so, um, Mary, Mary, if you've ever been in my classes, I don't think either you ever seen in me class, but Mary is my fictitious employee and Mary is my fictitious client, right? when I talk about, you know, uh, analogies and stories. So, Mary sits down, she's my employee, and she's been late. And I say, "Look, Mary, I just want to, you know, I want to recognize that I really appreciate that you've been looking the part. I I recognize that you've stepped up and your hair and makeup looks dread every single day." Um, and and I appreciate that. In addition, I want to talk about
29:00 - 29:30 your tardiness, right? Be careful not to say but because negates what you already said. Hey, your hair looks really good makeup, but you've been late. It means that it's just kind of you know? So it's like and in addition and I want to talk about your tardiness and that's when you get into the crap part and like let's talk about that and then end is saying look I truly believe in you. I know that you can be here on time. I know you want to be here based on your actions you know and so how can we how can I support you is a really great as a leader. How can I support
29:30 - 30:00 you? How can I help you? Right? The very first sorry the very first question in any tough conversation that I would have with my team member is how is how is Mary doing? There's a key distinction. I didn't say, "How are you doing?" I said, "How is Mary doing?" If you use their name, it allows them to self-reflect in third person and be honest with themselves. That's an interesting tactic. Kind of a psych psychology hack there. And I want to pause for a second because for most of us, we are the we are the trees in the forest and we can't even see it. So,
30:00 - 30:30 what you just did was an interesting like, hey, how's Justin doing? all of a sudden I take, you know, you're fused with your own experience and I put a little distance in that question is what you did. So now it's you got space to maybe like get an aerial view and look more globally at what's happening which um that's like a nice little distinction. I haven't heard of it being asked that way to kind of invite and provoke greater self-awareness and maybe some some perspective versus just being
30:30 - 31:00 inshed in our own experience and not see I I like that. I've never heard of that before. Okay. So, how is Mary doing? And then Mary gets a chance to say, well, well, if they ponder for a moment, you see, because we're so, right? We're so conditioned when you say so, hi, how are you? I'm fine. How are you? I'm good. How are you? Good. Okay, let's go. And that's bull like you said. Like that's, do you know, I don't say that though, Justin? When people ask me how I'm doing, do you know I say I actually always tell the truth, but most of the time this is true. And I say, I'm happy. How are you? and they like you'd think I gave them something earthshattering
31:00 - 31:30 because so many people are robots like you said how are you good how are you good now let's go to the meat instead I'm always I throw happy in there cuz and if I'm not I'll be like oh um you know like it's always weird when I'm like today is catastrophic thank you for asking and it's like whoa too much information we don't really nobody really wants to know how you are they just want to make a pleasantry and get to the point anyway I like I like that distinction I think that's helpful and hopefully the people listening can appreciate that little that little shift can disarm a little bit and help people be more real in the conversation. That
31:30 - 32:00 little nugget is it could could really allow for a beautiful conversation to unfold. Um because when you're in, you know, the supermarket and stuff, how are you? We're fine. But when you're about to have a tough conversation with your coworker who you've you've hired, you've trained, you've invested time and money into. So there has to be that human nature on it. How is Mary doing? It gives them a space to say, "I'm not doing great." Yeah. And they say, "Okay, well, tell me a little bit more before
32:00 - 32:30 you just like, you know, lay down. You you you're terrible at all these things." And they say, "Well, this is what's happening." And they say, "You know, my I had to put down my dog yesterday or I had to put down my cat and literally that happened to two of my co-workers this week." Uh, and does Yeah. And and does that give them the grace to be able to have a bad temper and stuff? No. But it allows for you to have a human conversation and saying, "I'm really sorry for that. Is there anything I can do to help you?" No. I'm having a day. You can then sometimes sick. That's the kind of day like I don't I show up to work barfing sick,
32:30 - 33:00 pregnant, I don't care. But I mean only not the cold or not the flu, but when you know I I'll show up I'll show up anything like oh I broke my leg. I'll get it set later. When my dog died, I had to take two days off. So yeah, like knowing that though. Yeah, knowing that can really like set the stage for being like, hey, she might be a little slow starting or she might not look as great at work or she might not have the energy or the the consciousness around what she's doing this week. I think that's great to to bear in mind. People are like you talked about earlier, a whole human. You got a whole human you're dealing with 100%. And and and because I
33:00 - 33:30 knew that when I saw a moment, I I said, "Well, do you need to take the rest of the day off?" And she said, "Well, can I finish my next guest?" And I said, "Yes, of course." And we understood that. Um and then we can table that conversation when she's feeling better because if it was for tardiness, it wasn't just that one day, right? It was if if I'm having a conversation with somebody, I'm very lenient, right? Because I believe that things happen. we we can table this for another day when they're more receptive and stuff. So, that's a very very important question you have if you're going to have a a conversation, not a
33:30 - 34:00 confrontation with one of your co-workers is how are they how is so and so doing and then get into the sandwich if they're oh, I'm doing great, whatever. Okay, great. Okay. Well, I like that. You know, thank you Justin for that idea and and giving us some some framework around how you would lead that and how you would approach it because I think that that's a really helpful place to start and especially those of us who are sensitive to hurting someone's feelings or doing a difficult thing when there's a person we care about deeply, but we do have facts and numbers that don't have feelings that need to be addressed. I think that that's a really that's a really supportive thing. Um, you mentioned a
34:00 - 34:30 few times that you figured out what you wanted to do when you were 40 years old, right? Um, okay. So, I'm asking you cuz I want to know how many years have you known what you got to do because I want to know what that felt like in that journey. And I'm not just trying to ask you how old you are. I'm actually really curious for people listening cuz like you said, man, if you're just 40, don't worry if you're barely figuring it out, right? You did a lot of things up until you figured out who you were and what you wanted to do. And the truth is hopefully over the next 5, 10, and 20 years, there's different iterations of that always for each of us. Um, I've always always known I wanted to do hair
34:30 - 35:00 since I was little. I sometimes would, you know, bemoone the fact that I never wanted to do something what I would say or consider more important or more notorious. And at this point, I see how important and how beautiful what I chose to do for my career was. And I'm I'm happy for that. But I I've never wanted to do anything else. So just curious when you say that for people listening. Um how long has that been? Give somebody who's 40 barely deciding. I'm 41. I just barely figured out what I want to do. Not really. I'm still trying to. So
35:00 - 35:30 anyway, maybe there's still time for me, but like give somebody listening hope for what does that look like and what's that process after you've done so many different things and you you've really made this now this decision of like, okay, this is what I want to do and be. Um, how overwhelming is that midlife, if we can call it that? Great question. Um, you know, I you see a lot of Tik Tok and Instagram, Facebook, and a lot of, you know, they speak to the youth, right, of like, oh, you got so much time and everything and all these all your goal setting and stuff. And it's been dish this disheartening to some degree because I'm
35:30 - 36:00 like I don't know what I want to do. I haven't figured it out. Um however that being said is I heard a great quote once that said the first 40 years is just practice like just trying to figure it out. Now it's game time. And that really kind of resonated with me. Uh I'm 46 and I've been really developing my coaching in the last several years. Even though I know I wanted to do it's just one step in front of the other. And anyone who's listening, my greatest advice I think I've ever gotten my whole life is my best friend Jessica. Um she said to me
36:00 - 36:30 once, she said, "You have the right to say yes, no." And I changed my mind on almost anything. And that's that grace has always allowed me to say, you know what, do I want to do this? I think I do. And if I don't, that's okay. And for everyone who went to school for med school and they're and they're doing for whatever and one day they said, "I don't want to do this anymore." That's okay. And that's really hard to do when you've put that many years into work. I have a few friends that have gone to law school who have found themselves in that position. And I I honestly, you know, I
36:30 - 37:00 think we put so much value on commitment and followthrough. And I I love that. It's important to me as somebody with integrity that you follow through and you do what you say you're going to do. Now, at the same time, someone who completes a schooling course or they they do something in life and they say they wake up and they're like, "I'm sick. I'm miserable. I don't like this what this is doing to my brain or my body or my relationships." I think it's the most powerful thing to hear somebody, especially from a position of, you know, white collar prestige say,
37:00 - 37:30 "No, I don't want to do this anymore. I changed my mind." I love that. So, Jessica, hopefully she listens to this. Jessica's a badass and she's right. She is definitely bestie status. Um, but yeah, you have the right to say yes, no, I changed my mind. I want to add one more cuz she didn't give this one in. Jessica, you can use it all you like. I don't know. That's a fourth one that I think we need to give a lot of permission for. I don't know the answer or I'm not sure. Let me think about that. Because I think a lot of us feel um maybe some shame around not having the answer like you were saying, a
37:30 - 38:00 little bit feeling overwhelmed like, well, here I am. I'm 40 and I'm still trying to sort out who I am or what I want. Um, I love that you're giving yourself permission to change your mind middle of life or anytime actually. And it sounds like based on what I know of you and how you show up that it's it's in it's an integrity and you can you reserve the right to change your mind. That's what my one of my best friends says. I reserve the right to change my mind at any time. She'll say whatever it is like you know I am never getting married and then I reserve the right to
38:00 - 38:30 change my mind at any time. And I like her little asterisk that she has. But I I think that that I don't know component, like, hey, it's okay to say I don't know yet. And I think that that that would be really powerful to hear from a larger platform of people admitting that they don't really know and that they Yeah, they're okay. They're okay getting help and asking. And I think that that's what would actually lead somebody into being um in a position to work with someone like you, Justin, where a person might say, "I'm seeing this challenge or this hangup or this need. Something needs to
38:30 - 39:00 shift, whether it's in their business or their personal life. And I don't know, do you do personal um one-on-one coaching or are you working mainly with businesses in a structure of a business? No. No. I've done I've had asked people to do I've done some personal life coaching. I'm not certified, but all my knowledge I've helped them grow. Um quite a few testimonials of people I've had helped. It started off as business, but it's it's overlapping, right? We're holistic. So, our personal and our professional, they overlap with each other, and some take precedent over the other. So, I do do one-on-one coaching. Uh some people have businesses, some
39:00 - 39:30 don't. Some are just uh, you know, they work for an organization, but they want to know how to start or do something that they're passionate about. I've I've helped quite a few different arenas. I think that's awesome. That's helpful to hear. Um, because I think it's um that kind of question of I don't know or I changed my mind. That might be the perfect segue of someone saying, "It's time for me to look at someone who can consult me, a person who can coach or a person who's capable of of moving me more in a direction that I want to or that I can be proud of." Or maybe I
39:30 - 40:00 don't even know what direction I'm going. I want to talk to somebody about getting an idea and clarity around that. Are those comfortable um concepts for you and topics that you cover when you work with individuals? 100%. That's actually some of the most uh creative and and most powerful conversations is I don't really know what I want to do, but I know I'm not happy where I'm at. I say, "Okay, great. So, let's let me just ask some questions." Because I for me, my coaching is you don't do it my way. It's not my life. It's your journey. I'm your coach on the sidelines cheering you on. And I'm just going to ask the right questions for you to come up with the right answers and give you some tools
40:00 - 40:30 and some perspective that you may not have thought about so that can help guide you to what you are passionate about. Yes. I love that. I think that's really important. And um it's a place of humility to ask for that kind of help or to even consider that I don't know the answers or I made a wrong turn and I want to write this the direction I'm going. I want to change the direction of whether it's your career trajectory or anything else. Um so I think that's really powerful. Justin, will you share a little bit with us about you know if anybody's listening how they can work
40:30 - 41:00 with you? Um, I imagine your style, the empathy that you lead with, and um, some of your experience in the industry, whether or not you have experience behind the chair, would um, really speak to a lot of the listeners. And I love that you have a broad um, a broad array of background experiences, because you can coach a lot of people, not just within the hair industry. And tell me, if someone wants to work with you and they want to learn more, where can they go? Thank you. Um, for me, the best way is either my website. It's uh, w
41:00 - 41:30 risecc.com. Very simple, riscc.com. Um, there's a contact form in there. You can just fill that out and I get emailed. Uh, or you can email me, just [email protected]. And then lastly, my Instagram. Instagram, right? Yeah. Yeah. My my Instagram. My Instagram is Rise Coaching Consulting. All one word, no spaces, no dashes, just rise coaching consulting. You can DM me, you can follow me, see some videos on there, some classes that I teach. Um, some a lot of motivation. I just love inspiration and motivation and that's my
41:30 - 42:00 purpose. So that's a fun way of connecting and kind of just seeing what I'm doing and where I'm going and what I'm teaching and and such. So it's a good way. Cool. Yeah. Thank you. And then obviously if there's a salon they can book with Matrix to work with you. Can individual salons just hire you as an independent contractor if they're wanting to work with you or have you in to talk to their leadership or their teams? Yes. Great question. So if you are at L'Oreal, any L'Oreal brands, you can use I'm on level loyalty. You would know what that is. So, I'm level loyalty, so you can use your points and I come speak to you and we do custom.
42:00 - 42:30 Every class I do is custom for what you need. It's not a cookie cutter. But if you're not part of L'Oreal Brands, um you can still hire me directly and I come teach your stylist, you your leadership team, your receptionist, your assistants, whatever you need. I've customized everything specific to what your needs are. I don't believe in one size fit all. That doesn't work. Okay. I agree. And I think that's really helpful, especially because so many of us are in different stages of business ownership, entrepreneurship, or our own personal journeys in what we need. Um, and I think that's excellent. What worked for me 15 years ago is not going
42:30 - 43:00 to work for me today. And hopefully what works for me today is not what's going to work for me in 5 years down the road. I don't want to be recognizable to my own self 5 years from now and 10 years from now. I want to completely uh just completely uh continuously grow and go in that. And it sounds like that's what you really help people do. So, thank you so much. so much for your generosity of time and insights today sharing a little bit about how to lead difficult conversations and how to have alignment with your team. So, thank you so much for everything. Um, I'm going to link
43:00 - 43:30 everything that you shared with us in the show notes so that you can know. And then I'm also going to ask you um Justin to tell me really quick too, are you hearing the barking pickup mad? I hate that. So, we're going to wait. We're going to wait for a second. They're going to edit that out, but I'll just, you know, recap and thank every thank you for your time. If not, we'll just have dogs cuz you know what? I like animals. That's my problem. I love animals, too. I didn't know if you heard the cat crying here. Wanted my attention. I was like, "Oh my gosh, crying little." You can bring the cat in the frame. People like animals. Except
43:30 - 44:00 for Why are they This is what happens when someone knocks on my door. Lord, help me. They're sh just a second. I'm going to push. How do I push mute? I'm pushing mute. Okay. You can still hear me though, right? You know what would be nice is that if if there's any topics that anyone does reach out or listen to that they want more on, maybe we can do another one based on around certain topics because there's so much we can unpack. I got to sit there and talk about just one-on-one
44:00 - 44:30 leadership conversations. Okay. So, I think that you just finished saying before the dog started barking where we can work with you, right? Yes. Okay. So, I'm just going to hopefully my editors can handle this. And if they can't, guess what? Everybody, I have dogs. Please spay new to your pets. foster, you know, adopt, don't shop, foster the humane society. And now back to Justin Gold. Okay, so thank you, Justin, for sharing how we can work with you. Um, and to continue our journey as leaders and as individuals. I think that
44:30 - 45:00 it's really inspiring to hear someone lead with such heart. And it sounds like there are a myriad of topics. If you look at some of the classes that Justin teaches, um, that he shared with me, there's there's a ton of content and things that we could go over. Legitimately, that's what you get for owning dogs. I'm I protecting you. I don't know the UPS guy, the mailman. They're protecting you. Knock on the door for Amazon, but I'm going to have to tell you to hold on. I'm going to go yell at them because Go ahead. I'm here. Go ahead. Okay. Thank you, Justin, for sharing us. Uh,
45:00 - 45:30 thank you, Justin, for sharing with us how we can work with you. I think that it's um really beautiful to hear someone lead with such heart and to have the suggestions on how we can do the same in our organizations and our life. And um obviously there's a ton we could talk about. I think based on um the different classes that you teach and subjects that you're expert on, it would be great to have you on as a guest another time to do a deep dive into one of your favorite subjects. So appreciate your time today. Thank you for everyone listening in. Um
45:30 - 46:00 look for where to find Justin and work with him in the show notes. And I hope that this episode inspired you as much as it did me today. Have a good one. Thank you. And then um they'll cut it now so we're good. But yeah, thank you for your time. I appreciate you. Yeah. Oh my gosh. I'm going to have to put my I don't have like a kennel or something, but like I put a sign like don't approach my household recording in session. Whatever. It's okay. It happens. It's fine. I like it. Not children. It's organic, right? I mean, that's that's how it goes. But if they would stop
46:00 - 46:30 barking at some point, it would be one thing. And they're not big barkers. They don't. But I'm like, what? We're also fostering a pit bull right now for a girl who's in between housing. And so, she has a need for like kind of a long-term foster. It's a few months. And um I think that like there's added energy. She'd usually chill out, but then they're like, "I'm going to bark with you." Yeah. Okay. Thank you so much. You made it totally on time and we got you right in in an hour. So, thank you again. And then, um if you want to just look at like maybe what we didn't cover, something that you want to do a deeper
46:30 - 47:00 dive on, we can schedule for a follow-up time. And um I I would release them like probably spaced apart. I none of it's published yet, so I'll let you know when it's published and edited. I'm going to get multiple things on the books recorded. Um, mostly owing to the fact that I'm busy and I have ADHD and I want to get at least a few of them. So, before like I don't launch and just have one for a year. So, it's fine when whenever I'm not in a rush and I'm here to support and if you want to do another one when you want to fill in some time and we'll do we'll do another topic. I mean I I think that'd be so fun. I would love it. Love it. So, thank you so much.
47:00 - 47:30 I appreciate it and hope you have a beautiful evening. You too. Thank you so much. We'll see you in April if nothing else. All right. Bye. [Music]