Embracing a sustainable approach with Claire McEvoy
Summary:
In this episode, I’m thrilled to welcome my guest, a good friend and LR Comms client to the show, and that is the gorgeous Claire McEvoy.
Claire is the founder and owner of Alta Hair Studio and Light Lounge, an eco hair and beauty salon nestled in the picturesque Chapel en Ie Frith, in the Peak District. Claire shares insights into her journey as a business owner, her commitment to embracing a sustainable ECO approach and sharing her skills and love for what she does with her growing team.
Claire's passion for sustainability extends beyond her salon walls, reflecting her personal values and love for nature. She highlights the importance of community engagement and shares anecdotes of how she was able to think outside of the box to make sure she could continue to connect with and nurture her clients during the COVID lockdown.
Through her dedication to eco-conscious practices, Claire has not only been able to attract more of the right clients for her salon she is also inspiring positive change within the hairdressing industry. Her story serves as a brilliant example for other business owners looking to embrace their values and passion, and still be able to grow a successful and profitable business.
Claire McEvoy Resource Links:
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[00:00:00] Lucy Rennie: Hi, and welcome to this week's episode of the Future Proof Your Business podcast. And I'm thrilled this week to welcome my guest, who's a good friend and also has been for a few years now and a client with LR comms, and that is the gorgeous Claire McEvoy. Hey Claire. I've prepared for you a little bio that I'm going to read out and you can let me know whether I've got it right or whether I'm missing anything.
[00:00:23] Lucy Rennie: . Claire is a highly experienced hairstylist, trained salon educator, and the founder owner of Alter Hair Studio and Light Lounge, which is an eco hair and beauty salon providing high quality hairdressing and beauty treatments in a friendly environment. And she's based in Chapel on Ifrith, which is here in the High Peaks, so in the Peak District.
[00:00:43] Lucy Rennie: Claire is committed to being as Eco friendly and sustainable as possible, and right from the beginning even chose to renovate a disused old shop into a clean, modern, and stylish salon space. She loves sharing her skills and love for what she does with her growing team, and she's also become a brand ambassador for the Green Salon Collective Recycling Scheme and a brand ambassador for Her Hair Tools.
[00:01:05] Lucy Rennie: Welcome to the show, Claire. Did I get it right? Have I missed anything? Yeah. Is there anything else that you want to add to that?
[00:01:13] Claire McEvoy: No, I think you've pretty much summed it all up. Obviously there's a bit more
[00:01:18] Lucy Rennie: to it, but yeah. Oh, it's nice. It's funny, isn't it? Sometimes hearing somebody else describe, your business or what you do.
[00:01:25] Lucy Rennie: And we're going to delve a little bit deeper into kind of the things that go on and what it all means and more of your story, if that's okay as well. I think. Really in the beginning, for those listening as well, they'll have heard there's a big emphasis on that eco friendly approach, that sustainability side of things.
[00:01:40] Lucy Rennie: And I suppose for me, it's, it feels quite unusual or it's not something we necessarily associate with hairdressing and the beauty industry is that sustainability side of things. Maybe that's cause I'm a country bumpkin as well and I live in Whaley Bridge and don't get out very often, but I'm intrigued.
[00:01:56] Lucy Rennie: Do you want to share a little bit more about what that means and kind Yeah. I know you're on a mission, aren't you, to change the way that we do things in that, in your world. Do you want to let us in a bit more into what that means?
[00:02:08] Claire McEvoy: Yeah. Over the years I've been hairdressing a long time and over the years I've become more and more frustrated at the lack of movement forward in sustainable practice within the hair industry.
[00:02:20] Claire McEvoy: And it was, Opening a new salon was an opportunity to really harness everything I could to do my very best to minimize the impact on the environment through hairdressing services. It, it started with the building and thinking about how to re renovate and reuse an old building in the most sustainable way.
[00:02:43] Claire McEvoy: So right from the beginning, I was picking Manufacturers, suppliers building products that were all more sustainable than other alternatives available. And also actively sourcing companies who had sustainability statements as part of their company ethos. But also I did a lot of research into recycling because.
[00:03:06] Claire McEvoy: I have had years of people saying to me, Oh, what do you do with the hair? Do you make it into cushions? Do you make it into wigs, and being more and more disheartened at the amount of general rubbish as a hairdresser or a hair salon we were creating that just felt wasteful, really wasteful and.
[00:03:26] Claire McEvoy: It was at quite the early days of the Green Salon Collective. They'd only been around sort of 18 months, two years when I found them. And they actually have processes to recycle hair and foil metals, things like your cans of hairspray and mousse when they're empty and stuff like that. So they specialize in recycling things that hair salons and beauty salons will generate that wouldn't normally.
[00:03:55] Claire McEvoy: be recycled that would normally end up in landfill. So I decided to become a member of the Green Salon Collective because it really helped fit in with that sustainable mission of mine. So that, that's a little bit about what we do, but yeah, we look at every aspect of sustainability within the salon environment.
[00:04:19] Lucy Rennie: It's amazing and we're going to dig deeper in because I think there's loads of, it's, yeah it's, yeah, even watching your Instagram and seeing what you're doing with the hair and the plants and all the things. But where does it come from though before? So is this something that's always been important to you?
[00:04:32] Lucy Rennie: Is this linked to your values or is it something like you said about that you've been disgusted at all the waste and that's what's causing this. Where does that actually come from?
[00:04:41] Claire McEvoy: I think it's a gradual thing that's happened over time. I think education and awareness has got more widespread about environmental issues.
[00:04:51] Claire McEvoy: But I remember the very first time I thought about the fact that things weren't being recycled was when I joined a salon nearly 20 years ago. As a rent chair stylist, and I left a town center salon and went to this little salon in a small market town. And all the rubbish got put in the same bag, outside the same door, straight into somebody's general waste bin every week.
[00:05:19] Claire McEvoy: And, I just used to look and even when there was like deliveries and there were big cardboard boxes, it was all going to the same place. It was all going to landfill. Now at home, we'd got the recycling bins and I knew that if I took stuff home that I would be able to recycle quite a high percentage of what was going into landfill.
[00:05:43] Claire McEvoy: So that was the first time I really noticed the waste as an issue. And then. I set a salon up of my own in that town and decided to separate the recycling that I could, but there was no specialist recycling, so the foils and the hair still had to go into to landfill but I could recycle plastic, card, paper, and all that kind of stuff.
[00:06:07] Claire McEvoy: Even dabbled around with Having brands that did refillable shampoo bottles and that sort of thing. But there wasn't
really anybody else in the salon that was as passionate about it as I was. So it never really got the motion behind it that it should have done to be something bigger. So it was during the pandemic when I was starting to feel that it was time to set up closer to home.
[00:06:30] Claire McEvoy: I didn't want to be doing the commute either. It was a big commute, 40 miles a day just You know, when I can do the same job on my doorstep and reduce my carbon footprint. So it really was a cumulative thing of years of noticing all that sort of waste and really thinking about how I can personally minimize my impact and then share my goals with other people in a way that helps them reduce theirs.
[00:06:59] Lucy Rennie: Yeah. Yeah. So it's something that's actually outside of work is really important to you as well then, isn't it? In your personal life to be doing things sustainably. Yeah,
[00:07:08] Claire McEvoy: I think because we live in the Peak District, we live in such a lovely area and it's, we're surrounded by nature and I can go out of the door without even getting in the car and walk.
[00:07:17] Claire McEvoy: Beautiful walks over fields, moorlands, through woodlands along rivers. It just, it's Makes you appreciate what is there and what needs to be protected.
[00:07:29] Lucy Rennie: Yeah, no, definitely. And it's interesting. So in your cause in your industry, I know you've had a salon before this one, haven't you as well, for you talked about like 20 years.
[00:07:38] Lucy Rennie: So do you think it's something that at school or when you train, is it something that's recognized and encouraged within your industry to go down that sustainability route, or is it still something that's, was this something that you've come along and this. I don't know. Yeah.
[00:07:52] Lucy Rennie: What do you, what's the it's
[00:07:53] Claire McEvoy: massive. We'd like to think that we're making headway. We really would. But Fry, who heads the Green Salon Collective, talked to 50 hairdressers in Manchester, only yesterday. And out of the 50 hairdressers, only five of those worked in salons that had a general recycling bin.
[00:08:13] Claire McEvoy: Wow. The other 45 was still putting everything to landfill. That's horrific. That just shows that we are massively behind the curve of where we need to be as an industry. So the opportunity to really try and educate people into the fact that there are easy ways of doing things differently is just an opportunity that needs to be grabbed and driven forward,
[00:08:39] Lucy Rennie: yeah. God, that's massive though, isn't it? So yeah, scary. Yeah. Yeah. I suppose I imagine that's what the Green Collective is all about, is to promote that and highlight it and build awareness for it. Yeah. They provide
[00:08:52] Claire McEvoy: the recycling services, but a massive part of what they do is educating people and trying to encourage people to be sustainable.
[00:09:02] Claire McEvoy: Yeah. How
[00:09:04] Lucy Rennie: are they doing that though? So do they go to the colleges and go right to the beginning or is it
[00:09:08] Claire McEvoy: more? Yeah, there is a little bit of, there is a bit of interaction into colleges and like Frye talking to groups of hairdressers when they're brought together for other things, taking it to industry expos and stuff like that, but also using US Green Libert teams were called Ambassadors for the Green Salon Collective.
[00:09:29] Claire McEvoy: Yeah. To spread the word. We use our social media to promote sustainable hairdressing. And it's not just promoting it to potential clients or to our loyal clients. It's all so promoting it to other hairdressers and salons just to make people aware that it is doable.
[00:09:46] Lucy Rennie: Yeah, it's really interesting.
[00:09:48] Lucy Rennie: So I work with, as a lot with engineering and manufacturing businesses who are on that same path of making that shift towards more sustainable approach and very often because it's kind of production mindset and kind of delivery and all those things, there's a cost to it or it becomes a, there's a barrier to embracing those new things and sometimes the driver is because those, Bigger clients are actually expecting it now.
[00:10:13] Lucy Rennie: They want you to be sustainable or they want to see what you're doing. In terms of that, what are the benefits? Cause I imagine there's a cost to recycling or doing these things. So obviously there's the benefit to the planet. We completely agree with you on that. Are there any other things? How has it helped you from a business perspective to have that real focus?
[00:10:34] Lucy Rennie: On your eco friendly approach or hasn't it? I don't know. What do you think? Is it purely just for you and your mission or is it actually attracting different kinds of clients? That kind of thing?
[00:10:44] Claire McEvoy: No, it definitely attracts clients that are coming to us because we are an eco salon.
[00:10:49] Claire McEvoy: We do also get clients that aren't even aware that we're an eco salon. Maybe they've just been recommended by a friend or walked past us on the street. But Especially the clients that tend to find us on social media or on search engines, they, they do generally, they notice that we're an eco salon.
[00:11:08] Claire McEvoy: And even if they're not coming specifically for that, we'll be inquiring about it and, and asking why. There is a cost with recycling because it is specialist recycling. But one of the things that the Green Salon Collective encourage you to do is to charge a green fee or I call it an eco charge on each and every client.
[00:11:28] Claire McEvoy: Now it's only a pound and one pound on every bill is enough to cover the cost of all the environmental stuff that I do in the salon every year. And. I ring fence that money so it's guaranteed non for profit. So I can go on my system and see exactly how much of the takings is the eco fee. And I use that money for all the recycling boxes that go back to the Green Salon Collective.
[00:11:55] Claire McEvoy: And then I also use it for offsetting the carbon footprint of the stylists. If there's any other sustainable things that we need to bring into the salon, that all comes out of that pot of money. So actually. It doesn't cost people a lot of money. It doesn't cost the salon anything and Each client is only paying one pound extra per bill for the recycling.
[00:12:21] Claire McEvoy: Yeah It's not just recycling either. It's using,
it's reusing, It's everything, so it's minimizing your impact in every way.
[00:12:31] Lucy Rennie: It's brilliant. And I love that there's almost like a model for it. So that it is sustainable in its own sense, isn't it? That it's not costing you, but actually you're sharing that with the, with your clients.
[00:12:41] Lucy Rennie: Do you think that allows, has that helped you stand out from the crowd and be the salon of choice for some of your clients? Do you think they pick you because of that? Do you think that's? Yeah,
[00:12:52] Claire McEvoy: definitely. Definitely. I think because it runs through everything, our product ranges and what colors we use, everything has to be from companies that have sustainable statements.
[00:13:03] Claire McEvoy: So it, it really does resonate with people and they do come to us specifically for that. It, because there are a lot of people out there that are very passionate about, far more than I am even, about recycling. And I, it's brilliant. I have clients come in and tell me all about different sustainability things that they, the Olio app and, I've got a client that it does the Olio collections and she'll come and bring, leftover stuff to us and we, it's just amazing what people know about.
[00:13:34] Claire McEvoy: We've got a lady who recycles cards to raise money for charity. So we have those in the salon. So we actually are a collection point for used cards and the, And then clients can come and buy cards and the money is going to the charity, but it's reusing as well. So all of those things really appeal to our client base.
[00:13:54] Claire McEvoy: Even the little things like the cards for people that maybe aren't so bothered about other eco things, they buy into that stuff and they do that because they feel good. It makes us all feel good if we can do something. Yeah, that's so good. And it's, you're going to have to tell me what the OLIOF is because I've never heard of that.
[00:14:11] Lucy Rennie: So I'm sure there's people listening and I was going to ask if somebody is listening and wants to maybe encourage or find out more about it and encourage their hairdresser or to do it, what would, where would you signpost them and what would you get them to, what questions would you get them to ask or yeah, how can they find out
more?
[00:14:27] Claire McEvoy: So they can follow me on social media and contact me directly, or they can have a look at the Green Salon Collective. And they've got a really good website with lots of information on there for hairdressers. There is a green it's called the Green Bible that they can download for free.
[00:14:43] Claire McEvoy: And that's got lots of good tips in there for being a more sustainable salon. So the Green Salon Collective is probably the most. Direct way to get information about being more sustainable in a salon.
[00:14:56] Lucy Rennie: Yeah. And I'll pop that link into the show notes. So anyone who wants to go and have a look at it can, but I think what you were saying about the fact that by having that approach, it's actually allowing you to connect with other businesses or with the local community, isn't it?
[00:15:08] Lucy Rennie: Outside of maybe. Your hair salon. What is the Olio app then? Tell me what the
[00:15:14] Claire McEvoy: Olio app is. So at the end of the day, supermarkets will get rid of food that hasn't been sold at a reduced cost or given to food banks. And they literally put it into skips. It goes to landfill complete within its packaging.
[00:15:26] Claire McEvoy: They don't even empty it out. So if you've got a lettuce in a bag, it goes. in. And then what happens is that lettuce starts to rot down within the plastic bag in landfill and it causes loads of methane. So it's a really unsustainable way of getting rid of waste food. The Olio app. It works by people have a collection time where they go to the supermarket, collect all the food and then they load it up on the app and distribute it to people for free.
[00:15:55] Claire McEvoy: It has to be given away for free and it has to go on the day that it's collected. But I've took stuff off of this person before that had a date. of that day. And it was, I remember it was a romaine lettuce. It was the first time she brought me anything and it remained in my fridge and got out over the next two weeks.
[00:16:15] Claire McEvoy: Yeah. And it's just scary. You think there are things that, you know, yes, there are things that should go that shouldn't be kept past there. Used by date, but things like a letter, surely you look at it, you smell it, you wash it, you, you use your common sense as to whether or not it's gone off.
[00:16:32] Claire McEvoy: You don't have a best before date on it. If you grow it in the garden, If it's right. If it's not, you put it in your compost heap. So the other thing that people that collect from the supermarkets do is that if they can't give the food away, they actually then open the packaging up and recycle everything properly.
[00:16:49] Claire McEvoy: So soft plastics in soft plastics, hard plastics in hard plastics, paper card, and the food goes in a compost bin.
[00:16:56] Lucy Rennie: Yeah, it's yeah, I didn't know there was an app. I knew there was these things going on, but it's, I don't know who I was talking about this to the other day, but I, I lived in France for 10 years and
[00:17:07] Claire McEvoy: I
[00:17:08] Lucy Rennie: always, I hate going into our supermarket.
[00:17:10] Lucy Rennie: So one thing I think I miss is the markets and the supermarkets over there just didn't have this packaging and you'd go in and you'd, I always talk about the melon man in my book, but you'd say, he'd ask you when you're going to eat the melon and he'd smell it and touch it and know this one's okay for another five days, or if it's, You're going to have it this afternoon.
[00:17:26] Lucy Rennie: You'd pick that. And it's so true. We're teaching people that you, to go off those dates, aren't we? Whereas actually you should be able to, yeah, smell and taste and touch and see. So yeah, it's drives me mad as well. Anyway, going back, you talked about the COVID lockdown and I think it's funny cause that's it's.
[00:17:45] Lucy Rennie: I think that's when you get me, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that's when you launched the salon was 2021, which was in the middle, but at the end of it, wasn't it after all of that, but it's funny because we didn't know each other then, but I remember hearing
about you from shared friends and clients and you were like this magic fairy that was going around and leaving little bags of potions and things on people's doorsteps.
[00:18:06] Lucy Rennie: And I always remember thinking, Oh, it's amazing. Cause we were doing lots of things and we had this, group where people had come, business owners and stuff, throughout the pandemic, and you knew when you met somebody they were either going to thrive and survive and use it as an opportunity because they were happy to jump on, like you were doing, by keeping it going, or they weren't, and it was they were set in their ways.
[00:18:26] Lucy Rennie: And I think this is what's amazing about you is that outside of the box and keep it, you've got massive resilience, which we'll get onto, but do you want to tell us a bit more about, cause I think it was quite pivotal, wasn't it, for you that period in terms of shifting and changing your whole life around, really?
[00:18:41] Lucy Rennie: Do you want to share a bit more about what that was and the impact that it had and the, yeah, what you went through? So
[00:18:47] Claire McEvoy: when we went into the first lockdown, the salon that I had, I was actually in a partnership. And so the first thing you do when you're closing your business because of a national lockdown is panic.
[00:18:59] Claire McEvoy: But the next thing I did was look and think how on earth am I going to earn any money? And B, what am I going to do with my clients? And all my clients were contacting me and saying, Oh no, my roots. And it was. People had real concerns and even though they were sat at home, they're still sat on Zoom calls or, or maybe even just the fact that you're looking at the mirror more because you're at home more and, hair is a massive thing for us all.
[00:19:26] Claire McEvoy: And some people, it really does lift their mood or make them feel depressed if their hair's not good or whatever. And I just wanted to help my clients. And one of the things I realized I could do legally and safely was delivery because delivery drivers were allowed to work. So I set up a Root Touch delivery service.
[00:19:51] Claire McEvoy: So clients. All my clients that would have a full head of colour that had already been skin tested, I offered to deliver them their root touch every four to six weeks whenever they needed it. And so I'd drive over to the salon, mix the colour up and then drive out to the house. And then the first time they had a root touch I'd send him a prerecorded video of me applying a route torch to a mannequin head with, as a tutorial.
[00:20:19] Claire McEvoy: Didn't did. Yeah. I found the video the other day. It's a biting. I was like, oh my God. To find that. That's brilliant. Hidden. Yeah. And then I'd drop it off and then I'd sit on the end of the Drive and WhatsApp video, call them in the car. Go. Okay. Do you need any help? Talk them through it because some people had somebody to help them, but other people were doing it themselves.
[00:20:43] Claire McEvoy: And then I'd say okay, call me back in half an hour and we'll look at your development. So in that half an hour, I'd then go off, mix another one and drop it off somewhere else and do the same again. So I had this little side hustle going on. And the other thing was that people were still buying a few products off me and stuff, because they wanted the products that they know and love.
[00:21:03] Claire McEvoy: So I was able to take them and deliver them. And it didn't make me loads of money, but what happened I actually ended up having people contact me who weren't clients and saying, I've heard you doing this. Can you do that for me? I don't, that caused problems because well, not really, cause I need to skin test you.
[00:21:20] Claire McEvoy: And so I was doing things like remote skin testing and hair assessments over video call, trying to pick. Colors and stuff for people without seeing them in person, but I actually gained new clients that way who are still with me now, which was incredible. And those clients are the ones that are more local to where I live.
[00:21:42] Claire McEvoy: So I think it was at that point that I realized there was still, an opportunity. To move my business 20 miles away and restart all over again. But yeah, the business partner that I had at the time just didn't want to do the same and she didn't see value in it. But when we came out of lockdown, my regular clients were all still coming and having the root touches.
[00:22:07] Claire McEvoy: And they might have needed a haircut, but their colour wasn't awful, whereas she was having to deal with lots of colour corrections from people that had done box dyes. And there were also a lot of her clients who were of an age where they went, you know what, I'm just going to grow it out and go grey.
[00:22:20] Claire McEvoy: Which is fine, but it's a massive chunk of your income gone. Because a root touch up is still, according to the most recent survey in the Hairdresser's Journal, root touch ups are responsible for 57 percent of all colour services within the salon. That's a massive portion of your business you're losing if you're not maintaining that client base.
[00:22:42] Claire McEvoy: Yeah, it's so good. Honestly, I didn't know the details of all of that as well, but it just sums it up, doesn't it? It's everything about it's people, it's adding value, it's the relationships and you've proved it, haven't you? It's massive. I feel like we need to document that as well, just for future generations.
[00:22:58] Lucy Rennie: Cause it was it's one of those, isn't it? It's tell the grandkids or what what you did during the pandemic to survive. I just think it's, yeah, it's amazing. And I think that was one of the things that. And even today you can see is it's, that's the difference, isn't it? That helps you to future proof your business is being able to have that resilience or that grit or think outside the box, or just do stuff sometimes that's not necessarily rewarded straight away, but actually it's just about that kind of showing up and being there for people.
[00:23:25] Lucy Rennie: So yeah, I think it's a so yeah, so then you. That's when you ended the partnership and then started the new salon in Chapel. How was that tricky? Was it easy? What was that kind of, that shift? Cause you don't mind me asking, how old were you when you did that? Cause you weren't as.
[00:23:42] Claire McEvoy: 50.
[00:23:43] Claire McEvoy: Yeah, I was 50 in the summer that we were doing the shop up. So it took us three months to renovate the shop. We actually were both working full time and me and my husband and we'd finish work and go straight to the shop. And we did loads of the work ourselves to try and keep costs to a minimum, but also so that we could
react to things as we went along and, not just do things for the sake of doing them, whereas a builder might have come in and just gutted the whole place and not thought about the environmental impact of certain things that we did.
[00:24:18] Claire McEvoy: We were able to react to that and, think along as we went along. So it was hard work and yeah, in the middle of our renovations, I had my 50th birthday.
[00:24:28] Lucy Rennie: It's massive.
[00:24:29] Claire McEvoy: It's
[00:24:29] Lucy Rennie: yeah. And so what, Was it easy? What are the learnings from that? Would you do it again? Was it the right decision to make?
[00:24:37] Lucy Rennie: Yeah, it was definitely, yeah, definitely the right decision. What, would I do it again? Yes, I probably should have done it many years earlier, but I think hairdressers, we're all a bit, we worry that if we go out of area, we won't be able to build a client base again. And it can be hard, but if you are good at what you do and passionate about it and good at connecting and building relationships, it will come, so yes, it was hard. The relationships that got lost along the way was really hard as well. The business partner that I was. In business with was also a friend and her understanding of my reasons for doing things, I think just didn't resonate with her, why I would do everything and why I would want to start again close to home.
[00:25:28] Claire McEvoy: So that was a real sadness that was a relationship that I lost along the way. But I have forged many new relationships going forward that are, far more satisfying. In terms of business and friendships and clients.
[00:25:46] Lucy Rennie: Yeah, no, and it's, yeah that resonates so much. And I think it's one of those where you, I know you in particular, but the kind of it's that constant learning, isn't it, and evolving and growing and things, and actually sometimes it does mean that other people don't necessarily evolve in the same way or that we may, But like you say, you then meet new people and form new communities and new relationships and things which, which keep going.
[00:26:09] Lucy Rennie: I know you're really passionate as well about training. So there's this sort of sustainability in terms of looking after the planet and being eco friendly, but there's also sustainability in terms of kind of future proofing the business and the next generations. Do you want to share a bit more about how you're growing your team and how you, cause I know you're super passionate about this as well, aren't you?
[00:26:27] Lucy Rennie: And even if I can, I'm going to take you back to January last year. Was it just 2023 when we had the business and it was that moment, wasn't it, when we We were encouraging everybody to stop and think about where you are and what the future is going to hold and, what you enjoy doing and all those things.
[00:26:45] Lucy Rennie: And I know you had a bit of a moment of coming, maybe thinking about things a little bit differently. Do you want to share a little bit more about, about that and how that's maybe driving what you're doing now with your team as well? Yeah,
[00:26:58] Claire McEvoy: I think, At that point, it really focused me going forward onto where I could take the business over the next 12 months.
[00:27:09] Claire McEvoy: I'd got ideas about what I wanted to do with the business. I've got a business plan that, ran alongside that overall sort of long term mission. But it was being able to actually put wheels into motion piece by piece. It really helped me solidify that in my mind really and not feel so overwhelmed by running a new small business that actually was getting some real momentum to it.
[00:27:40] Claire McEvoy: It almost felt like it was running away a little bit with me, and I just had to sit back and pause a bit and really reflect on. Those goals of mine. And one of the things, like you say, one of the things I've always been passionate about is sharing my knowledge. It's passing on to other people, not just younger generations, work colleagues, other people around me.
[00:27:59] Claire McEvoy: I love sharing knowledge. It's something I do even with my clients in the chair. I always try and educate them on products or hair care or styling advice. They're not just there for a haircut, and the same with my staff. They're not just there to earn me
money. That's a great by product of it, but they're also there for me to develop them so I can champion them in their own right.
[00:28:23] Claire McEvoy: So I Started looking towards getting a apprentice and that seemed like the natural progression, really. I'd already got one other girl who was working with me, who came to me with quite limited salon experience, but fully qualified, very capable hairdresser, but just lacking experience and confidence.
[00:28:45] Claire McEvoy: And she's doing brilliantly. So I worked with her right from day one. Day one pretty much. But yeah, a year down the line, I was ready to start to, to expand the team again. And so I actually ended up, I was thinking I was going to get a level two apprentice, but I ended up with a level three apprentice and.
[00:29:03] Claire McEvoy: She's been amazing because she's got a basic hairdressing qualification, but what she's doing is the advanced qualification. The qualification that gives her the ability to do color corrections and more more precise cutting techniques and the real stuff that makes her an excellent hairdresser.
[00:29:20] Claire McEvoy: And. So she works in salon and the ability to be able to train somebody whilst they're working is it's just such a special situation to be in because you can really hone that person in a way that just a college based education won't because you can expose them to a much more diverse range of clients.
[00:29:43] Claire McEvoy: And they'll see a lot more. They'll do a lot more and they'll learn a lot more. And I just, I can see that at the end of her apprenticeship in September, and we have had a conversation about this, she wants to work for me and I want her to work for me. It's just amazing that it's, Homegrown team member.
[00:30:04] Lucy Rennie: Oh, it's so good. And cause yeah, I remember, we have to say and acknowledge you were 50 when you changed and that's, so being able to do that and then think about what you want the next 10, 15 years to look like. And yeah it's amazing. And the atmosphere that you've got in your team now, and you can see it go in, if you listen to this, go and check out Claire's Instagram as well, because you're doing it.
[00:30:28] Lucy Rennie: Proof of it there, isn't it? You get them involved, you can see and they're growing in confidence. If you look back and see the evolution of that as well, I think it's brilliant. And I'm with you on that. I think there's something really special, isn't it, about mentoring and helping people to gain the skills and be able to do it themselves.
[00:30:42] Lucy Rennie: I know if I had the choice again, I would much rather go back and be an apprentice rather than going to university or doing those kinds of things. I think there's so much more value in it, in actually learning and doing and being on it. But yeah, having somebody like you that is just amazing and being a part of that team that I'm not surprised she wants to stay in September.
[00:31:00] Lucy Rennie: It's it's really exciting. It's finding the right people, isn't it as well, which is great. And I suppose really that comes on to just touching on where we are today. If you're happy with that, it's just, I think your team is, has been a real source of. strength maybe or of support over the last few months.
[00:31:16] Lucy Rennie: And it's all, it's, I don't, what, how do I want to say this? I suppose it's, that's what's allowed you to keep going right now as you're facing new challenges. Do you, I don't know, do you want to share a little bit about that and what that means to you and how that's helping you today and what you're going through?
[00:31:33] Lucy Rennie: Yeah,
[00:31:33] Claire McEvoy: of course I can. For anybody that doesn't know me about Beginning of February, I got diagnosed with breast cancer. And so one of the first things I did was grab my team around me for a team meeting and just explain to them what was happening with me and what. I felt might be my journey over the next few months.
[00:31:57] Claire McEvoy: Knowing that I was going to have quite a lot of chemotherapy followed by surgery. And the team were just incredible without. Hesitation, each and every one of us. There's only five of us. We're a small team. But without hesitation, they all said, yep, what can we do? And it's just the fact that team is really close knit and they're really invested in me as well as me being invested in them meant that I've got their total support and the salon is carrying on running, Even when I can't be there and I am managing to go in and do little bits of
work.
[00:32:37] Claire McEvoy: But during my treatment, it limits my ability to work full time. But it leaves me a bit of time to do other stuff outside of work. So admin sort of other business based Training and things that I can just pick up and put down as and when, but yeah they've just been incredible and they've, they are doing my clients alongside their own clients and managing visiting reps, stock orders, all sorts, all the management stuff that I was doing has just been delegated across the team.
[00:33:10] Claire McEvoy: We've got a load of tick lists in place and spreadsheets and between them all, they've just. took up the mantle and run with it. And it's just been incredible because I don't worry about the salon. And the first couple of weeks, obviously I did worry. I was like, Oh my gosh, I'm self employed.
[00:33:26] Claire McEvoy: What am I going to do? How am I going to pay everybody's wages? But yes they just made it so easy for me to put those fears aside and just get on with looking after me whilst I'm going through treatment.
[00:33:38] Lucy Rennie: Yeah. Yeah. And it is so important, isn't it, for you to be able to do that and put the priority on you.
[00:33:44] Lucy Rennie: And I think like you were saying, what as a small business owner, these are things that can fill you with dread, can't they, when they happen and that fear of how can you keep going and what can you do from it. And I think it's something that maybe we don't talk about enough in terms of, putting that protection, whether that's income protection or critical illness protection or.
[00:34:03] Lucy Rennie: Yeah. There's those kinds of things, but ultimately I think what you're describing is actually it's building that team and I know you've been working really hard and on your communications and having that transparent communication and really sharing with them and even communicating to your customers and what was going on and those kinds of things has been really It's been massive, hasn't it?
[00:34:22] Lucy Rennie: You've nailed it. Absolutely. And I think you've seen the benefits of being able to do that in a way that felt right for you.
Is there anything that you would change or do differently, do you think, or are you
[00:34:33] Claire McEvoy: I am actually also in the process of recruiting again, because Izzy and Sophie are doing so well with their own clients.
[00:34:40] Claire McEvoy: I don't want them to get to the point where later on in, in my journey, I go back to work and they haven't got room for their own clients because they've been doing all of mine. So I decided that I could probably do with somebody just a couple of days a week, two or three days a week. I've started recruiting again.
[00:34:55] Claire McEvoy: The idea being if I get somebody sooner rather than later, they'll be really settled into the business before I go off on my surgery break when I'm totally not working for a couple of months, probably. And the great thing about all the work that I've done on social media is that hairdressing's an industry that's got a real recruitment problem at the moment, that salons advertise for team members and just don't get any.
[00:35:19] Claire McEvoy: Applicants or they get a few, maybe young applicants that just don't meet the brief. I've advertised for a team member and within a week of putting the advert out I've got two applicants from really skilled, experienced stylists that want to come and work with me. Which is just incredible.
[00:35:41] Claire McEvoy: It's, yes, things are going to change a bit again because that is, it would have been the next phase of my business anyway, but I probably just brought it forward by sort of nine months ish. So yeah, so continuing to grow the business a little bit whilst I'm not around, which will then enable me to not have to work full time behind the chair at the other side of this, which has always been a bit of a goal of mine anyway, was to reduce my chair hours possible.
[00:36:09] Claire McEvoy: That's how you age.
[00:36:11] Lucy Rennie: Definitely. But no it's great. And it's, I'm not surprised that you're finding it, that people do want to come and work with you. And I think it's part of everything that we share on here as well, isn't it, about, doing what you want to do, but from your values and from a real place of adding, doing what you love, I think, because you can feel
it resonates from you. And it was not resonates. What's the word it radiates from you. And yeah, so yeah, I'm not surprised at all. It's incredibly exciting to, and even just imagining where you're going to be this time next year. And also that you're doing all this and managing all the other things that you're going through at the moment, which is, yeah, which is tough.
[00:36:44] Lucy Rennie: Isn't it? Just can I touch base on the communication side of things as in those first few weeks, because I know we had these conversations, didn't we, about whether to let people know, whether to keep it for yourself or whether to share it. I know you, you made the decision to. Put it out there and be honest with people.
[00:37:00] Lucy Rennie: And I remember you sharing some reflections on how people had reacted and the difference that made. Do you want to, would you mind sharing a little bit about why, or I suppose why you chose that decision and also then how did that help or did it help? What was the benefit of that? What was the impact of you actually being really honest with clients and your team?
[00:37:20] Lucy Rennie: The thing is when you get a health diagnosis like I do You're in turmoil yourself, so it's very difficult to pick your way through what to do for the best and what to share. And the other thing is that for the first couple of weeks, you probably haven't got all the information yourself anyway. So I did keep it to myself slightly for a week or two and asked my team just to reschedule appointments and stuff going forward with limited information going to the clients.
[00:37:50] Claire McEvoy: But there was a phone call that I made myself. to a client to reschedule her appointment. And she was a little bit disgruntled, it's probably the word, and was insistent that she would wait for me to come back to work. And in the end, I just thought, I'm just going to tell her. And the minute I told her, she backed right down, was really understanding and said, yep, just put me in with Izzy.
[00:38:22] Claire McEvoy: When you're back I'll come back to you. And from that phone call, I just thought, do you know, it was far easier to tell her the truth than to try and keep it to myself. And so I started to tell people one to one on phone calls. Just ringing them up, speaking to them. I changed the message to the girls and said, you can tell them that, I'm going to be having treatment for cancer.
[00:38:47] Claire McEvoy: Because that will smooth the way a little bit when you're making those phone calls. And it does, it breaks down barriers because we all live in fear of that kind of diagnosis. And people genuinely, generally just are understanding. So that helped massively. And then being able to then send newsletters out to my mailing list going into big details, but I have a group that are very much my clients that have been with me for years.
[00:39:17] Claire McEvoy: I give them more information but mailing to all of the client lists, just saying, this is what's happening in salon and telling them how we're managing it so that the right information gets out there. Because we do live in a world where. Gossip goes rife on social media, one minute you've got a cancer diagnosis, next minute you're terminally ill, even though you're not.
[00:39:37] Claire McEvoy: So it's I'm going to be in charge of what people know about me. And so they're getting it from the horse's mouth then, aren't they? And they're not hearing it from Joe Bloggs down the road who's auntie's. Neighbors to my second cousin or whatever it's, they've got actual genuine facts about how I'm doing and I am doing really well and the business is doing really well.
[00:39:58] Claire McEvoy: And that gives some stability there that will help with the longevity of the business, so that clients know that it's, it is business as usual, despite what's happening with me.
[00:40:09] Lucy Rennie: Yeah, no, it's honestly, it's such a, I really appreciate you sharing this cause I know it's, yeah, it's not an easy conversation, but I think if we can encourage more people to have that honest, transparent communication and actually be a bit vulnerable sometimes it allows us to connect even more with people, doesn't it?
[00:40:26] Lucy Rennie: And like you said, yeah, people change the way they behave or the way that they react, don't they? So yeah, thank you, Claire. I think as well, What is amazing with you is that you're not only being open and honest with your clients and your team, but you're smashing it on social media as well, and it's I know what you're going through and all these things you're doing every week.
[00:40:47] Lucy Rennie: And then you're like down the gym and, yeah, you're going above and beyond again with everything there as well,
which is just inspirational to everybody as well. So I think there's something that it's not just on the business side, but I think it's, yeah, it's. It's amazing what you're doing and showing everybody that we can do it and, we've got to keep going.
[00:41:05] Lucy Rennie: So it's ace. So what's next then? What are your plans for, I don't know, because you were 50 when you started the business. So what's the big vision? Is there a kind of a big goal in, in all of this? Sort of what's the sort of the place that you're working to? What's driving you?
[00:41:21] Lucy Rennie: My goal's always been retirement , which might sound daft when you're only 50. But you need to know where you're going with it. You need to know why you're doing it. And at the end of the day we all have things that, are gonna come along in life, but we all get to a point where we stop working and it.
[00:41:40] Claire McEvoy: In hairdressing, it is hard on your body. So I've always been mindful of the fact that I know that my shoulders that will give up or I'll end up with, varicose veins or whatever. Not that I have so far, touch wood, but it's putting myself in a position where I've either got an income or got a business to sell at the point of retirement.
[00:41:59] Claire McEvoy: So that has always been my long term goal. But breaking it down. It's much more than just that. It's growing that team. It's growing a real solid business that adds value, not just financial value but in the sustainability margins and way and also in growing team members.
[00:42:21] Claire McEvoy: So yeah short term, obviously I've got new staffing. Coming into place a little bit further down the line. I am hoping because we're nearly there anyway, we will outgrow the shop that I'm in. And that will be a whole different ball game then. If that goes probably yeah, another couple of years down the line maybe go to somewhere a bit bigger and again, maybe a little step change in how I do things in creating sustainable, sharing, shared working spaces.
[00:42:57] Claire McEvoy: I've got one member of staff who one team member who's self employed, maybe having more self employed team members, I've got But providing them with the sustainable workspace so that I can spread that sort of practice with people that might otherwise go
and set up a small salon, but not have the skills to make it a sustainable one.
[00:43:19] Claire McEvoy: Yeah, that's the midterm goal, really. Yeah.
[00:43:23] Lucy Rennie: No it's brilliant. It's dead exciting. With that in mind then as a final, just before we kind of recap close off, cause I'm conscious of your time as well. If you were to sum up over the last, since you've been on this journey, what do you think would be the biggest challenge that you've had to face?
[00:43:39] Lucy Rennie: And what would be the biggest learning or the kind of the key takeaway that you would share with people who were maybe starting out or who were thinking about growing a business or embarking on that life as an entrepreneur, what would you say, what would you share?
[00:43:53] Claire McEvoy: I think one of the big, biggest challenges. There's also been one of the most rewarding and that is getting to grips with where my marketing is now. And that's through communication across social media, newsletters and also setting up a salon team that spread the same information consistently to clients about Not just sustainability, but about how we approach their hair as well.
[00:44:21] Claire McEvoy: So having that same message that goes out consistently across all those platforms, it is a challenge. There are times that I think, Oh, I maybe didn't get that right, especially on social media, but. It's also very re rewarding because people do find us there and they do hear the message and they do engage.
[00:44:39] Claire McEvoy: I've got really good engagement rates on Instagram and Facebook. One of, one of the biggest challenges I had was last summer when I got hacked and I lost my Facebook page and I had to start again. That was horrific. But actually it wasn't so scary 'cause I've done it all only 18 months before, so it's.
[00:44:58] Claire McEvoy: Building those right methods of communication and getting the right message out and just trying to make sure that you're consistent with it, really.
[00:45:06] Lucy Rennie: Yeah, it's brilliant. And I think the last bit
though, that adds to that, which you can see and it resonates. So please go and check out Claire's Instagram.
[00:45:13] Lucy Rennie: It's just the joy and the sparkle that comes from it. And you're not taking yourself always too seriously, are you? Having a bit of fun and you're you're not scared to put yourself out there or try different things and have a go and encourage others to do it as well. So I think that's. That's a real joy for us to watch is that and see the impact that's having.
[00:45:31] Lucy Rennie: So yeah it's brilliant. And I think there's things on there, but it's not necessarily just for your industry, is it? Anybody can take away from it and it's, yeah it's brilliant to see. So
[00:45:41] Claire McEvoy: it's, Yeah, don't go there expecting a perfect page full of perfect hair. There is hair on there.
[00:45:46] Claire McEvoy: It's mixed in, but there's all sorts on there. Tips about how to recycle hair in your pot plants and all sorts of things. Yeah.
[00:45:53] Lucy Rennie: Yeah,
[00:45:53] Claire McEvoy: and a real feel of the salon and the team.
[00:45:56] Lucy Rennie: Yeah, which is everything, isn't it? It shows the personality, the joy, and it's those, it's people do business with people, which is what it's all about.
[00:46:02] Lucy Rennie: And you smash it. So yeah, so just before we leave, can I ask, is this, I always ask my guests on here, if there's a bit of a challenge or there's something that People can maybe take away or go and do or try out or I'm putting you on the spot here a bit, but if there's something and people listen from all over the UK, in fact, we've even got some in France that listen to us.
[00:46:24] Lucy Rennie: What would be something, maybe it's to do with your mission for being, promoting more green salons. What can people do? Is there something that you'd like them to go and maybe challenge their hairdresser or maybe it's, I don't know, what could what can they do to help you or what could be the challenge?
[00:46:39] Lucy Rennie: So a
[00:46:40] Claire McEvoy: really simple thing is you could ask your hairdresser if they recycle hair and if they don't recycle hair point them in the direction of the Green Salon Collective but ask if you can take your hair that's been cut off your head away with you that day in a plastic bag or preferably not a plastic bag I was just thinking hairdressers are processing caps, preferably a paper bag or an empty colour tube box and you can take that hair And you can put it in your pot plants and it acts as a slow release fertilizer for your house plants.
[00:47:14] Claire McEvoy: So take the plant out the pot, put some hair in the bottom, pop back in and a bit of hair around the top. It helps prevent Infestations, it slow releases the nitrogen to help feed the plant. It's better than getting your bottle of baby bio and that, that's something that you could do really easily each time you got your hair cut.
[00:47:32] Claire McEvoy: And if you haven't got any house plants, you can put it in your compost heap because then it will go in around your garden borders as well. So that's a dead easy one.
[00:47:41] Lucy Rennie: That's perfect. That's brilliant. So yeah, so once you've had a go, when you go for it and maybe it's not the same for our male listeners who don't necessarily have a lot of hair, but we could, we can get them to do it with their families maybe as well.
[00:47:53] Lucy Rennie: I love this. Send us some pictures or post them and tag us in. Your hair popped in your plant pots. But thank you, Claire. That's ace. And now what I'll do. So if people want to find out more, do you want to share what's the best place to come and find you? The best place
[00:48:07] Claire McEvoy: probably is into Instagram.
[00:48:09] Claire McEvoy: So it's alter hair studio, at alter hair studio on Instagram. Or we have got a website which is alter hair. com.
[00:48:16] Lucy Rennie: Yeah. And on the website you sell all your different products, don't you? So if people want to get access or want to get hold of those eco friendly products.
[00:48:23] Claire McEvoy: Yeah. So all the products are by a company called Davinaise, which is an Italian bee corporation.
[00:48:29] Claire McEvoy: company. We do sell them online as well. Brilliant. And it's
[00:48:33] Lucy Rennie: ALTA, A L T A, just for those who are wondering. So thank you so much for coming on today and talking. I think we could probably sit and talk for hours and hours, and maybe we come back and we deep dive into a different part of your journey.
[00:48:45] Lucy Rennie: But thank you so much. And you know that Yeah, all my thoughts and everything is with you to get through these next few months and I can't wait to see where you're going to be this time next year. And in the future when you've got a massive team and you're not doing any haircut at all, you're just enjoying the buzz and being on Instagram.
[00:49:01] Lucy Rennie: That's exciting to see. So thank you again and looking forward to seeing everybody's pictures of their hair in plant pots. Thanks for listening and I will see you next week for another episode of the Future Poofy Business Podcast. Thank you.text goes here