Salon Success and Social Media - With Heffy Wheeler (Heffy X)

Hello, hello, hello, my salon friends. Phil Jackson here, coming in your eyes and ears again with another dose of wise old owl wisdom. But you lucky people, it's a guest slot, so it's not my wisdom today. Heffy Wheeler, probably better known to you as Heffy X, describes herself as a multi-award winning colour specialist, a salon owner, and an educator. I invited her on the show because I know from meeting her before that she's also a working mum, she's a social media guru, and most importantly, she's one of the people that I've met that's most ready to share for the good of everybody. Let's get her on the show, shall we? Heffy, welcome to the Build Your Salon podcast. Hey, it's so nice to see you again. I know, it feels like it's been ages, but actually, it's only been a month or so, hasn't it? How have you been? Yeah, really good, really good. Good, good. So, everybody wants to talk to you about social media. I don't. Yes. At least not yet. We'll mention it, we'll touch on it, because it would be remiss of me not to. But first of all, for those who haven't come across you before, why don't you tell us a little bit about your journey into salons and salon ownership? Yeah. So, it all kind of like, it sounds really crazy saying this, but it all kind of happened by accident with kind of where I ended up. So, when I was at school, I really struggled, I was undiagnosed with ADHD. So, as a lot of us, as a lot of us were at that point, I was kind of labelled not trying hard enough, not got enough about you. And I had a really difficult time. And when I decided to go to hairdressing, it was quite unsupported. I think things have changed a lot now, obviously, like it's much better. But I think at that point as well, it was an industry that the teachers were like, oh, no, you don't want to be doing that. So, I wasn't really, I didn't really have much support with my ambition to get into hairdressing. But, you know, I did that anyway. And I was just like, okay, this is something that I'm really good at. But again, like, I really struggled to find anywhere that I belonged. I don't know whether it's just the ADHD or me as a person. I've just felt like I was different and I felt like I didn't fit in. So, you know, I worked for a few different places and it just wasn't, it wasn't right, right for me. Then I kind of had like a bit of a quarter life crisis, basically, where I went to stay with family in Canada for three months. And at this point, like I'd worked for some people that weren't very kind. I'd not really had much support within my career. I wasn't really sure. To be honest, I was ready to end it. I was just like, I don't want to be in this industry. I can't find a place for me. So I had my quarter life crisis because at this point I was like 21 and I went to Canada.

And while I was over there, I just kept getting messages from my clients saying, oh, you're still doing her? You're still doing her? And I was thinking, OK, well, what I'll do is I'll do a little bit of mobile. Yeah. Just until I figure out what I want to do. So I started doing some mobile and I was very much like obsessed with doing this. I was like, I'll go wherever. So I drive like I do like 60 miles in a day, do mobile. I'd be wherever I needed. And at the same point, I opened an Instagram account as well. So, I mean, I remember doing my first client. I literally had come back from Canada. I had no money. I had like 30 pound. So I went and bought like a bold brush and a tube of tint and some developer. I went to that client's hair, got paid, went to go to the wholesale list to get the money for the next client. And then I made an Instagram and a Facebook at this point too. And what I was doing is I would just upload pictures of my work. And within probably three months, I was doing seven days a week. I was so busy. I was like, OK, like this isn't sustainable for me to be traveling this far and working these hours. Sure. Because I was just like, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go. Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go. Yeah. At this point, I was living with my mom. So my dad had passed away a few years prior. So it was just me and my mom at home. And I managed to convince her very begrudgingly for her to let me use the spare room in a house. So I literally had like a desk, a chair, a computer chair. And I started doing hairdressing from that. So within about four months, this is when I could kind of do people in between as well. So I was able to see more people. Yeah. Within about four months, my weight was at two months. So I started renting the chair in the back of a barbershop. And again, my weight got to a couple of months. And I had a little sat there girl with me. And then I found a shop in my local area. And it was really big. And I was thinking, oh, this is too big for me. But I thought, let's do it. So it was me and my little junior. And what's really cool is my husband, he's a tattoo artist. And because the shop's two store, I said to him, I can't afford to do this on my own. But if you want to come and jump in with me, we can do it together. Perfect. And it was me and my junior. And essentially, I never even planned to get to that point. It was more necessity. Like, I need more room. Like, I need more space. Like, I've got to do it. It was never a real goal that I wanted to achieve. Because as sad as it sounds, I never thought that I would amount to that. I was always told I wasn't going to amount to anything. So I didn't ever feel like it would be an option for me to do that. And then it just snowballed.

And it just snowballed where I took on Apprentice. Apprentice number two. They're qualified. They're now stylists. And built up to the team I've got now, which there's seven of us now. So, and alongside this, I've been doing my socials. Like, we've been updating everything on there as well. And it's just allowed me to grow my profile in the industry. And I specialize in vivid, creative colors. Things that you don't see every day. So that's really helped me gain more exposure and more eyes kind of on my work as well. So you've alluded a couple of times in that, that social media and your salon journey have kind of been linked and intertwined right from the very start. So why is social media so important in your business, do you think? So I think for me, again, being somebody that I was very young when I started doing it. I am not someone that really knows about marketing. I'm not somebody that really, I mean, now I feel like I am. But at that point, I didn't really know anything about running a business. I just was posting on social media. And that's, that's how I got where I am. So for me, that was, that was the door. That was the key to my success. And without that, I wouldn't have had that success. So because I was essentially just sharing what I was creating with the world. And more importantly, with my clients. So my clients enabled me to create a community. Because I was just this wacky girl driving around in a car going to do people's hair. And that people are like, you know, you should, there's this girl with pink hair who comes out of the house to do my hair. Like you should follow on Instagram. And that was kind of my community of my regular clients. A lot of them who are still with me now, maybe 10 years on. So I was able to kind of gain a community, create images of my clients. And also they were creating a lot of user generated content as well. So there was more of a, it wasn't just me posting endless things. My clients were posting, they were connecting, they were interested in what I was doing. So that was kind of like the really strong foundation to build what now is a really successful business from. I think what you've hit on there, whether you meant to or not, is actually that was kind of what social media was supposed to be. It was always meant to be that community feeling and sharing and supporting. And somewhere along the line, the marketers got involved and turned it into this kind

of one way stream of content. Are you still able to maintain that community feel though? Now that you've got seven stylists and some of your, go on, brag a little bit. Tell us about some of your posts and how viral they've gone. Yeah. So my biggest on TikTok was liked by a quarter of a million people. A bit crazy. Um, on average I get between 1000 and a hundred thousand likes on everything that I do on Instagram. So, um, it's definitely sent out to a much wider audience now, which can be great. And also can be horrible because people aren't always very nice. And it's quite overwhelming to have that many people. If you think of the, if there was that many people on a room, it would be terrifying. So it can be quite overwhelming. Um, and sometimes I do feel like it's, it's that much of a part of my career now. I don't have a choice. Like I've got to be doing it. Um, so there is that one side of it where it has changed and it's less enjoyable, but I try and keep like the core values. Cause that is what works. I think as soon as you lose touch with your, your real demographic, your real clients, your real community, then you lose everything that you've built. You just, you've just got strangers eyes on you then. And it's the people that you want, you want to be appealing to other ones that come into your salon. So the way that I have managed this and kind of been able to make sure that what we're doing is still working is I really pull my team into it. They've all got their own Instagrams as well. And they're really encouraged to talk to the clients. I say to my junior, like ask your clients, if you've got Instagram, like tag them in your pictures. So, um, all of my girls are doing that. So, um, one of my, my, my salon manager, Mal, like she's got all of her clients on Instagram. She'll DM them. She'll chat. Um, and again, it keeps it personal. It keeps it real. And that's what, that's what makes for, I feel like not just doing a viral video. That's what makes for actually gaining clients. I think too many people say to me, how do you get likes? They don't say, how do you get clients? And I think the question should be with social media is how can we actually, how can we monetize that? How can we create an income? How can we create clients? It's not just how can we get quarter of a million people liking the video. Cause that video might've got me some clients, but it's my regular clients that are advocating for me and sharing content and making news during content. That is where I'm getting clientele from. So would it be fair to say then you're creating content specifically for your clients and potential future clients, and then maybe as a kind of added bonus every now and again, you get a hundred thousand or 250,000 likes. Yeah. Yeah. That's what I would say. I think, cause I've got two accounts. I've got one that's my salon account. And that one is that's for my clients.

And then my account, because I do do a lot of collaborations with brands, that one is let's do viral videos more on that one. Cause I kind of, I know how to do a good video, but on my, my salon HX hair account, like I try and keep that, you know, way more personal, like videos of us in our Halloween costumes, photographs of people on the birthday, like really engaging and talking to the audience about what we're doing on a more personal level as a team. Whereas on my account, the content that I'll share is just hair videos that I think will do quite well. Okay. I'm going to leave social media. I promise. I don't want to turn this into a social media interview, but I think one of the points that you made that I found really interesting is that each of your stylists have got their own accounts as well. And I know a lot of salon owners that wouldn't be comfortable with that. So how do you kind of square that in your own mind? How do you get past the feeling that perhaps that's potentially a threat to the business at some stage? Well, it benefits me, you know, and, and for me to create that platform, they're doing the work for them to create the platform. They're doing the work. You know, when my stylist will create the content, they'll make my salon page a collaborator and I push a button. Um, and, and also I think that, I think people potentially are afraid that maybe that stylist may potentially leave, but clients will find them anyway. Right. Yeah, of course. In reality, like I've, I've had stylists that have been with me that I've left and it's not been, other than, you know, missing that person and maybe losing some clients. It's not been as a business, it's not been detrimental ever to the actual business. Um, so yeah, I feel like for me, the perks I've got from my girls having their own socials, the, the organic growth of clientele, the fact that they're now being picked up by brands, they're having more opportunities. They're having opportunities when my girls are getting sent products from brands. They're getting their work shared by brands. Who's that benefiting? Obviously my staff member, but me, you know, if they're getting nominated for awards, if they're winning awards, that benefits my business. So it's, I think too, I can see how some people can worry about that, but I think you're holding your team member back, but you're also holding like what they can bring to your business because your stylists putting that work in to their socials can bring so much to your business so much. It brings so much to mine. That's a really interesting perspective. Thank you for that. And just to finish off, do you have any control, not control necessarily, but do you give them guidelines on the kind of things that you want them posting? Is there a certain style or look to the work that you share? Yeah. I mean, we all, everyone knows I'd say good picture.

So we try and keep things fairly consistent. We'll all like use the same kind of background. I feel like you can tell if a photo has been done at my shop. We try and keep consistency throughout what we're doing really. So because everyone's trained in a very similar way, it doesn't matter. Like I've always wanted it to be, it doesn't matter who you go to, you'll get a similar result. So even though most people really come through as apprentices, so we're all very similar. And I just feel like it all just, it all just flows. We all just kind of do things. And like I said, quite similar. So it is quite consistent as to expectations and kind of rules. I think it's just making it personal, but keeping it professional to a level. So obviously no extreme views, nothing that you deemed offensive. But other than that, you know, I think it's important that, I know for me, if I was going to go and get, say like a tattoo or I was going to have a service done, I want to know who that is. I don't want to just see the work. I want to know, who are you? Are you, are you like me? Are we going to get on? So I think that, you know, sharing more of your life and more of your personality and more of your identity is something that I will definitely encourage them to do. You know, but obviously there's, there's professional limits with everything like that, isn't there? Sure, sure. Absolutely. So you're a salon owner, you're running a team, you're an educator, and you're collaborating with brands as well. That's a lot. It's a lot. In fact, that's probably two and a half full time jobs in there. Yeah. And yet I know from when we've spoken previously that you do manage to maintain a work life balance and that your family is extremely important to you. How do you strike that balance? How do you manage that? How do you figure out what is going to take your time? How do you understand what to work on next? So I figured it out by doing it wrong for a very long time. I think, and I think that's, that's what goes for a lot of us. And I think that being a business owner, like, you know, I wanted it so bad and I was just putting my whole life into it over and over and over and over and over. And it gets to a point where that's not healthy. It's not, it's not healthy. There's, there's got to be a balance. And I've actually been quite unwell by, like when I was pregnant, I just would work all the time. And I ended up like in hospital, um, cause I was so poorly, like I wasn't eating or drinking. I was just work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work all the time. And I think that, um, I kind of needed for me personally, I needed to see how it wasn't worth it and how actually I needed to slow down a little bit. And what I've been able to do is take a, took a step back and started to think, okay, like I, it doesn't work for me to be here all the time.

I've got two young children. I can't work behind the chair all the time. And that's when I started to think about other things. So there's so many other ways that we can monetize hairdressing now without actually physically doing hairdressing. Right. So I kind of started to see the benefit in that for me. And that's when I started doing more of the brand collaborations. So I've kind of took myself part time in the salon and I see my social media content. So my social content and my brand collaborations, I see that as part of my job. So I make sure that I have got, I work in the salon here. I do my collaborations and my content here and I make sure that that will fit in. So that, that's the way that I've been able to do it. But like I said, I had to do it wrong first and realize that, you know, I'm better doing less. I'm better. My team get more of me. I'm a better business woman. Because if I'm behind the chair, running myself into the ground every single day, then I don't have the time to strategize my social media, strategize my marketing, make sure that I'm, we're hitting the right people on social media, make sure that we're getting them positive associations with different clients and new people coming in. And all of that is the foundation for my success. So at times when I've, I've pushed and pushed and pushed and pushed and pushed with, like I said, behind the chair, I've ended up putting myself in a position where I can't do the things. And then my business has actually dipped. My business has actually gone downhill because I'm not, I don't have the capacity to be able to put that part of me that needs to constantly be putting that effort into my salon. So for example, I've not been in, I think I've had, I think I've been in maybe once in two weeks. And one of this was because I have been away with my family, but in that time I've been, I've made sure I still go down the salon and I'll be like, right, what do we need to do? What stock have we got? And I'm sorting things out and I'm organizing that. And that piece of content I'm going to do for that brand will give me a wage. So I don't necessarily have to be behind the chair all of that time. And then these bits of time I'm having where I'm off, I'm able to then put myself back into the business, not just by doing the hair. I'm able to think about all these things that have pushed us and that have put us in this position where we have got the success that we've got and do more. So I think it's really important. I think we get so caught up in like work behind the chair and make money. And I say work smarter, not harder. I think there's, there's phases of business where you have to do that. You have to pull the extra hours and particularly when you're first, you know, opening a business or, you know,

if a team member goes on maternity a month early and all those good things, then sometimes we have to knuckle down. But I think the danger is we get so focused on the chair work that actually you don't see the other opportunities and you don't see what the business needs. So you get caught into that kind of a hamster wheel there where you have to keep doing the chair work because nothing else is growing. You're not sowing any seeds in other areas of the business. Yeah, absolutely. And I'd be lying if I said that I, you know, I did do that for many years. Like what I'm saying with where I am now and how I've learned to balance everything, I have done the hard graft for like six years prior to getting to this point. But with the point that I'm at with having children and being able to utilize my socials, that's what's the socials has given me that that window to be able to, like I said, monetize in a different way, which means I'm not behind the chair, which frees me up a little bit to be able to put myself back into the business. And now that you're when you're educating, what does that look like? Are you educating on the hair side or is that more on the socials or what does that take? Yeah, so I've done a few bits on the socials before and that's something that I'm looking at doing next year. But I'm very much like I want to do everything all the time. So I was going to launch my education this year, but I thought, you know, I've got a three year old and my big one's five. So I've still got very young children. So I was like, you know what, I've got enough going on. So I am going to be launching some education, some more socials. I've done a few bits and bobs before, but I'm going to do some more education on socials next year. And at the minute, it's really great because I do some bits for L'Oreal. So I work with Port Riot and it's just great because I'll do little bits and bobs for them. I'll go into a college. I'll go and do something at the academy. So that's really fun. So that's just the kind of get given a date and I get to go and do that. And that's been quite nice because I just kind of turn up. I don't have to worry about it. I just just go and get told what to do. Yeah, it's lovely when it's someone else's problem. I feel like that about podcasts, to be honest. When I'm a guest on someone else's, it's like, oh, you can worry about all the technical stuff. I'll just chat. OK, you mentioned a couple of times your values. You've talked about your business values and obviously you're living by some personal values. Can you just flesh that out a bit? How do you define what is acceptable to you and what you want to focus your attention and your work on?

You might have to elaborate. OK, so you mentioned values in the business and I've always thought values are great for decision making, for helping you figure out what fits into the overall vision of how you want your life and business to be. What is important to you? So you've mentioned your children, for example. Yeah. OK, so I think that for me, at the top, within the business, it's my staff. And I think this is the mistake a lot of people make. They are the most important thing, part of my business, my staff are. And looking after them and making sure that they have opportunity to take home a good wage, making sure they have a good education is like, that's my top one that everyone's happy. And because that's I think I would put like a lot of the success of the business, probably the majority of it to that, to my staff being happy and enjoying their job and doing a good job at it because they've got a good working environment. So before you move on, how does that play out? Do you spend a lot of time with the staff? Do you do one to ones with them? I just basically let them do what they want. You know, I'm very I'm very relaxed. You know, as long as they work hard, then I kind of, you know, I don't really give them many, many, many rules or restrictions on what they're doing. They can wear what they want. They can have a break when they want. They can eat when they want. They can leave when they want. They can come back when they want. Obviously, you know, not leaving clients. But, you know, if they've got a break and they want to pop to the shop to get some food, that's fine. So, you know, I just find that giving them, letting them run their own columns. So let them put things where they where they need to do them and make sure that we've got an open door policy. So if anyone's struggling with anything that they know that they can come to me, that they can talk to me, you know, any anything ever. If someone comes in and they're having a bad day, they need to go home. They can go home. You know, if they need a sick day, that's fine. And just having that really nice, positive relationship. And also when there are issues dealing on dealing with them in a respectful and constructive way. So rather than want to be letting them, we will sit down and we will talk about what's happened and we will talk about how we can do better. I can see how I can help. And everything's constructive and everything's always really positive. Always. I always try and make sure that everything is positive, even if something that's really annoyed me. I will check myself and be like, OK, let's talk about this. Let's figure it out. Let's figure out what's happened. Let's figure out how we can move forward. And, you know, that's just means they're amazing. My team are amazing. They're absolutely fantastic. You know, and I think that because I give them respect, they respect me back. And there's no need for like me to be cracking a whip because they know that I look after them. They know that I'm here if they need anything. I know that they do a good job. So there's no need for like any sort of hostility or bad atmosphere.

Yeah. And as far as you've mentioned a couple of times working alongside brands and collaboration, is that something that you proactively look for? Do you have a hit list of people that you want to target and work with or is that through your visibility that people are coming to you? Yeah. So a little bit of both. So I work with PR. So if I see something, I'm like, I really like that. She'll then get in touch, see if there's any opportunities for me. But it all started from just tagging the brands. So to tag the brands on on socials is so powerful. And it doesn't matter how big your account is as well. That's something that I love about Port Riot. They don't look how many followers you've got. They just look at what your work's like. Super. So, you know, tagging your brands, I think it opens up a lot of opportunities. And I think, again, some people think, well, you know, I've not got a big of a following. You don't need it. If you're good at what you do, you've got an opportunity to be seen by them. Yeah. So just just tagging. And like I said, now I've built my socials up to a point where I do feel like I can approach people. And I'm like, oh, this is what I've got to offer. Yeah, sure. To work with me. So that's what we'll do as well. Excellent. Okay. I've got three short questions that I finish each interview with. And I never tell people that they're coming. Okay. But bear with me. They're nothing too scary. So firstly, what do you think is the best thing about the salon industry? I think the people, the creativity, the, I can't think of one. This is hard. If I think of one, maybe like the opportunity, I'd say the opportunity, because what I, how many careers can you go to college for two years? And then like travel the world, have your own business, open a shop, take on apprentices, work in a, work in a hospital, work in a prison. Like there is, there's so much that you can do with this, this two, this two years at college. It can open up, it opens up an entire universe. And I just think that's phenomenal. And I think that's so exciting. And it doesn't end. There's like, like there's so much that you can do. So I love that. I love hearing that. And there's so many people who talk the industry down and they're kind of gloomy about it. And just to hear someone who's got so much passion and is still enjoying the industry so much is an absolute tonic. Love it. Okay. So question number two is what's the best piece of advice that you've been given? So I think it's got to be just keep it simple.

Don't overcomplicate it, which I know will sound quite insane with all the stuff that I've said I do. But definitely, you know, figuring out what you can do and what is achievable and trying to stick to that. Like you don't have to do everything. You can just stay steady and consistent and do what you're doing. And if that works for you. Yeah, you don't have to be doing everything at one point. If it's not the time, if the time's not right then and there, then, you know, it'll come. It'll come in time. Perfect. And then final question. If you were speaking to someone at the beginning of their career and they were inspired and wanted to follow in your footsteps, what advice would you give them? I think it would be just keep grafting. If you've got the passion and you've got the motivation, I do believe in hairdressing, like the world is your oyster. You've got to keep consistently working really, really, really hard. There's no point like having one bash it and then thinking, oh, can't be bothered. Like you've got to keep trying. And at times, I think especially if it's a young person or someone that's just getting into the industry, it's really hard. It's not an easy job. And I think at times all of us are thinking, I don't know if this is for me. I don't know if I can do it. I don't know if I can do it, but if you just keep powering through and if you've just got that, that dedication and if you've just got that passion and you work hard enough, then success will just follow you. Excellent. And then lastly, if people want to keep in touch, if they want to keep a finger on your pulse of what you're up to, what's the best way for them to follow? So my Instagram, so it's at Heffy X and that is where I am the most active and post the most stuff. So, yes. Amazing. It's been wonderful to talk to you today, Heffy. Thank you so much. I know how busy you are and I really do appreciate you giving up your time. I'm sure we'll be inviting you on again soon, if that's OK. Of course. It's been great. Fab. Thank you. See ya. I knew she'd be a good one for you. Isn't she amazing? So inspiring and so full of energy and ideas. And it's a tonic to see someone with that much passion for our incredible industry. Just seven short days until the next episode of the Build Your Salon podcast. And until then, take care. Sit down and see what's going on with the queen of salons. Hair, beauty and more successful tips for business owners.

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