 Hey guys, this is Matt Beck from freesaloneducation.com here with Nina Kovner Hi, so happy that I get to sit down and talk to you I'm actually really happy because this is one of my last interviews of the day and I love the energy that you bring At the end so tell me so passion squared net Is your website? Yes, you do a lot of things for the hair industry and for hairdressers and just people in general So let's talk about your company at first just so that everybody has a good idea of what you do and who you do it for Awesome. Well, thank you Matt as always Love hanging out with you. Yes So yeah passion squared I it's an empowerment business. Okay, so I empower owners primarily in professional beauty and wellness okay industry and they work with hairdressers and Creative people awesome. Yeah, so and you when did you launch the company? What year was it? 2000? Then a bit Wow 2012 okay 11 12 was it really? Yeah, okay. I thought it was a little bit earlier than that So you so you launched the company? Well, we we weren't working on it for a while Okay, yeah, so you but you've been doing the consulting thing for quite a while Right. No, not really. I mean I left my career, right at Paul Mitchell in 2009. Okay, so I spent a little time Working with Robert, right, you know in San Diego and then from there. I I just started Kind of digging deep into what was next. Okay. What was next in business? What was next in marketing? I was already a big fan of the social and digital space For a lot of reasons, but I began to really dive in and study it for passion Square probably in 2011 okay, and what was your goal when you launched passion Square? What were you trying? I wanted such a good question I wanted to help empower the people that I loved. Okay. That's all I wanted to do, right, you know We're here at vegan and I was just sharing, you know with the kids earlier This is my second career. It's my second kind of act and I just really wanted to do something that fed my soul, you know and The fact that I get to wake up every morning and and help empower the people that I love that that there's no Agenda other than that. Right. It's really what I do why I do it And it's my passion. What would you say is one of like the? like being a salon owner I Would imagine like a lot of saunas have the same type of issues What do you think is the biggest thing that the saunas are all asking the same question right? Ah, you know I think that there's definitely themes, you know, and This is nothing really new. It's not tied to the social and digital space, you know, it's really none of that Culture and leadership. I think continued to remain a challenge For different reasons like people motivated or attracting even attracting people are building a culture or Keeping a culture strong. Yeah, and that ties to leadership and communication and you know creative folks inherently are not always The ones that love to have really tough conversations. Yeah, and so, you know courage Courage is a big part of that And I work with my clients every day, you know in the areas of courage and communication because So many of the problems that we have are just tied to simply Being afraid. Yeah to have the talk that I don't really the talk that gives me a stomach ache Yeah, the talk that I really don't want to have to have with you And so that you know, whether it's client challenges, right? clients abusing policies or agreements or no shows or you know Abuse in that inform or its team, you know team whatever behaviors it all comes down to that So that's definitely one thing and the other thing which just fits perfectly with my entire life is just marketing Understanding that they have an opportunity to actually build a brand of long-term value, right? And as opposed to I'm opening a room and I cut hair. Yeah, you know, yeah And so really helping people understand that there's a way to generate incredible value and legacy just based on Taking a little bit more time and being more mindful about Those steps we take in being an owner or in reinventing or remodeling or re Anything you know exactly. Yeah, so so I think what's cool about your company is that you are connected to them like you it's it's not a company where you're You know, you're paying a subscription and you might talk to somebody randomly like people say to me that they they wait for you You send text messages every morning. Yeah, yeah to all the people that are part of your yeah So so that's really cool. And what if what has been the big response from from that kind of stuff? Well, I mean, you know You know what I have a better question. I'm gonna lose it. What would you say? Based on what you do for people, how can you transfer that into the salon world where a Like how you send a text message to people every day How could you translate that into the salon world to where people could do that? Maybe for their clients or maybe as a business Instead of just the text messages that say hey, you have a five o'clock, right? Maybe there's something better that people well, you know, that's that's a really good question The the text message program that I have it's called awesome a day, but it's included in my awesome school my a school coaching program so The reason that I did it and where I think it can actually add value in it on any level like you said is that So much of what we do in life is up here. Yeah, right and we know that, you know And as creative people we we sometimes have trouble up here me being one of them and So my idea with a morning message was to help kind of set the intention for the day No matter what's happening in the world because there's always crazy shit happening. Yeah, but no matters what's happening Let's just have a moment to just gain some perspective or to do some gratitude practice or to whatever, right? So where I think that could be beneficial and add value to clients is the same reason. Yeah, right whether it's like I just launched a The text program for teams so owners can buy You know text for the entire team the same thing owners could do that for their clients Right, and I think because the world is so noisy I think because all the benefits of social also bring us the bummer of social, right? Which is sometimes we get a little too caught up in the noise and the drama Particularly with so many horrible things happening in the world right now and the and the election season It's just kind of like this. It's all coming not awesome energy all the time Right, and so this is a way to put out Awesome energy. It's a way to add value to you know As the great Simon Sinek says it's people don't buy what you do they buy why you do it Then I'm a firm believer and subscriber to that philosophy. So, you know, yeah, everyone can give a good haircut But what's that value add, you know, how are you? creating more value in your clients lives outside of That day of experience and and that could be a lot of different ways that could be a whole take-home thing You know, right? There's a lot of different ways to extend that experience outside of that hour, right and and definitely Something that we should always be thinking of you know in terms as marketers as business people. That's very cool Yeah, so so how do people so if you go to passion square dot net is that can you sign up? Yeah, you just go to passion square net this thing. Yeah shop I really think that people should I think it's a great thing to sign up for and it's also So and you've built kind of a community within that right so people can ask Questions a kind in my in my awesome school in my a school coaching group, which is for owners We have a secret Facebook group. So I'm accessible 24-7. Yeah with boundaries, of course, you know I always take a good 24 hours out of the week for just myself. But yeah, I mean, it's fantastic I do workshops. We do a lot of stuff in that group but the thing that kind of the why behind how I designed it was that I wanted to make it so affordable that No one would ever leave and by never leaving I can help them be accountable Because so many times we get all geeked out and excited about some workshop. We attended or some class We're like and then You know and and because the you know creative small business owners have a lot on their plate myself included It's nice to have someone hold this accountable. It's nice to have someone to be kind of the Yeah, you know and that's me That's the role that I get to play for my clients that are in our group and it's just beautiful It's a beautiful thing like I I want to be by their side Every day if need be and in a way that's affordable and easy and accessible. So that's awesome Yeah, it's really it's the greatest thing like that. I have the honor of doing every day Well, it's very cool. And if you guys get a chance go check it out passion square net I'll post the link in the comment or the in the description and People can go follow you there and also on Instagram, right? You're always yeah, Instagram is not chat or my to definitely Yeah, yeah, and you have some stuff coming up so people can see dates of where you're speaking. I do Yeah, I do Lots of things happening. Yeah, so We're doing something together. Yeah in Miami in Miami. Yeah coming up. I deal on October In October Miami so that'll be really cool so if you guys are in Miami definitely check out Nina there and And that's pretty much it but I always enjoy sitting with you and Thank you to American Salon. Thanks Americans on Gordon. Thank you to Matt I always have to tell the story, but you guys I met I met this incredible human when he was just at graduating beauty school It's very true in Vegas actually in Vegas. And I just every time I see you every time I sit down with you I'm so proud of you. Thank you. And you know, I just Such a special place in my heart. It's been 12 years. I think about yeah, it's crazy time flies But I'll grown up. Yeah, but and we're completely doing different Which is why it's so great. It's an elevate an evolution of everything. So thank you, Nina American salon check out American salon And also free salon education calm. Yes, and passion squared net. Yes. Thank you guys so much for watching. We'll see you on the next video