In this week's episode of Big Money Stylist, Danielle and her team have a conversation about increasing profitability and productivity, and how sometimes you have to take a step back as an artist and ask yourself: Am I as good as I can be?
QUESTION: Take a look at your skillset: What are you actually producing?
Danielle: I remember when I decided to become more focused; when I decided to reclaim my power as an artist. I started comparing my work with the work I was seeing on social media and got curious about how I could fine-tune and level up my skills and craft to become the best at what I was doing. As far as being the best you can be behind the chair, you have to be able to back up what you’re promoting. I would never want a client to sit in my chair or to be a part of my salon experience and feel underwhelmed. I’d rather have someone come and sit in my chair and say 'you guys are so much better in person!'
QUESTION: Where in your life do you see that you need to level up?
Coach Val: I feel there are two sides to the ego: the side that gives you the confidence to push through and keep going, and then the downside that actually stunts your growth. Coach Ani: The kind of ego that doesn’t serve you is when you look at something and think you can automatically do it. Danielle: I think of Ego as the dickhead, where confidence is owning your power. You definitely want to have that confidence going into your work, but the ego is what drags you down; it's what takes something you could learn and grow from and keeps you stuck where you’re at.
QUESTION: What do you see inside of your life where maybe you’re having a bit of an ego and not being realistic about the work that you’re producing?
Danielle: We’re not looking to be platform artists to build popularity. We’re looking to give our students results, we’re looking to inspire them, we’re looking to literally change the game; we're looking to get rid of old habits, patterns, and behaviors. For as long as I've been doing hair, being the celebrity stylist is not enough, making the kind of money I’m making is not enough, just teaching, in general, is not enough. What is enough is knowing the impact we're making on so many people's lives. That's when you know we’re doing some good shit.
QUESTION: What is it that fuels you as an artist?
Danielle: I have to constantly choose where to put up the blinders and where to focus, constantly reframe everything and ask myself, "What serves me"? Lately, I’ve been going into things asking myself if this isn’t serving me, even if its a thought, how can I flip it to predict the outcome of my day? ** Coach Ani**: For me, it’s doing constant things that make us better continuously. There’s never a place where we feel stagnant - we're either moving forward or backward, there’s never a place where we’re just sitting still. Everyone here values growth so much that it’s a constant push and hustle.
QUESTION: What do you do to level up and improve?
"Your marketing in front of the chair can only be as good as your magic behind the chair."
-- Danielle White "We want you to charge what you’re worth, but step back and take a good look: are you worth that? If not, what steps do you need to take to get to the price point that you feel confident in and that you are actually delivering that dollar amount of work - or over delivering, which is our end goal at DKW."
-- Valerie Plunk
"We always want all of our artists to just be happy and to live a fulfilled life, having time with their family and not be stuck behind the chair six days a week and the one day you’re off, doing laundry and napping. That’s not a life that we want for them."
--Anianne Rivera