 Hey guys this is Matt Beck from freesaloneducation.com here with American Salon magazine my favorite beauty industry magazine Is that yours? Me too. I've got Sally. I love American Salon. Sally Rodgerton American Salon set up this interview. So I'm really excited to go through just everything that you've done Yeah, what you're doing here. Yeah, and what you have going on career-wise and all of that So let's start off with the fact that I know that your your main focus is education Yeah, absolutely. So let's talk about IBS because I think it's important for people to know when they go to hair shows What they're looking for and what you're providing. Yeah. Well, I mean, I think it's a really amazing opportunity for us to come here We were asked by the New York IBS show to come And you know American Salon really supported us and helped us with that so that was a really big thing and I'd never really thought about doing trade shows to be totally honest with you Right because I just didn't think it was something that I could do You know takes a lot of money to put on these shows and all of that kind of stuff. Yeah So when they approached us I was like so thrilled and I thought let's go for it It's a good opportunity for us. We're mainly based on the West Coast Okay, so to get some East Coast presence into me. Everyone was like a really big thing So we have been here doing a masterclass. We had a masterclass yesterday All my educators are here with me What does masterclass mean? Yeah, so masterclass for us yesterday was to our Very intimate classroom We cut hair on stage. We also had amazing presentation models that we'd done prior We work we worked through like about 30 minutes of each of our programs So we did our women's comprehensive cutting program first We did three models for that We then did a men's presentation and a men's cutting program. Okay with my educators and then we also did Creative class so that was all like a look and learn people sat watching ours present But it was very intimate. So we still got to be able to look at people in the eyeballs, right? Yeah, exactly From that and that was just amazing From that we then went through into the main stage about half an hour later Which is a very different experience right there must have been like, you know, I had a good four or five hundred people there You can't see anyone in the eyes 15 minutes we showed all of our presentation models. So that was like super fun I went out there and did a little bit of haircutting But that was really just to try and meet people and show our brand and what an amazing opportunity to be able to do that for us awesome So let's talk about your brand you I know that this has been a big discussion in this hair show I know last year as well men. Yes. So why did you Have you been into cutting men's hair for a long time? Did you hit the trend on that and and how? How is your training program different from some of the other ones? Well, I think men's hair is like huge isn't it at the moment and it's also all over the place Yeah, you know like you've got with any kind of fashion in anything I think that you've got the high you know the top of the spectrum the lower end and the majority in the middle You know, you'll have some people wanting to do the newest thing before anybody else, right? I'm so cool, you know. Yeah, and so they started barbering their hair off a long time ago They then moved on and started growing their hair But now that middle population that 70% of your clients Then went in had all their hair barbed off and then you've still got that smaller group that are just getting into it now Right. Yeah, so a lot of people now are actually growing their hair out now I know what you're gonna do now. Yeah, so for The SR education men's cutting program. We really wanted to do everything. So we do men's longer hair Medium lens and short hair. The long hair is not like man Bob's or anything like that, you know, it's like, you know You can cut it in your fingers, right? I Find when people come to class they struggle with one extreme or the other they're either So scared of a clipper or they're really scared of long hair So men's long hair can go girly super fast, right? So that's difficult. So we talk about shapes and we talk about Bone structure and we talk about how to build something to be suitable. Okay You know and all about strength in men's hair and not making it too feminine, right? The middle ends we talk about scissor of a comb Also, how to graduate through your fingers because a lot of people just pick up a machine, right? You know, you've got to be able to do it through your fingers as well Can you talk to people real quick? Yeah, what is your thought process on the difference between? Using the machine and using your fingers. Well, I think you should be able to do everything, right? I do tell I would feel more confident in the salon if I can do everything I think it keeps you fresh and excited because if you do it the same way every time you get a bit bored Yeah, right. So some clients. I'm gonna want to use a clipper some clients I'm gonna want to do it all with a barber income to get the same effect some clients, you know I don't know when use my feet whatever. All right. Yeah, so I think it's all good And I think everyone should know how to do everything. Okay, and then it's really up to you Obviously, there's some hair textures and densities that just do better with certain things But I suggest to all of the salons that I work with that everyone should know how to do everything Okay Just to make them stronger. You'll always have a passion like some people will just love scissor of a comb Yeah, and some people just love clipper work, right? I want to know how to do everything Yeah, because I need to understand hair, right? So let's talk about understand everything if you were to say your So you've built a great name for education for your for yourself your your own brand very new still team Right. So tell me how big is your team that you have? Well, my team. I have about nine educators right now Just taking two more on all of my team are super Dedicated and Just it's to me. It's all about people's attitude and vibe Yeah in our classroom the most important person is the student right hands down All of my educators are there to support them to help them It's not about them is about the person that's coming and paid money and wants to learn and right We just want to look after them make sure they have a great experience. How long ago did you start your company? I left the Sassoon organization about 40 years ago. Okay, you know, I had I had a baby had my son Henry Congratulations. Thank you You know, I just realized I couldn't do the job that I did before I was the senior creative director in the Academy in Santa Monica And I needed more flexibility. So nothing against as soon as it was a big part of my life Right, but it was time to move on Yeah, and I'd always dreamed about doing a program that was for hairdressers in salons that were doing eight ten clients a day working five six days a week, right? Right. Yeah, it's got to fit into the appointment time Yeah, you've got to cut hair fast with some direction and some thought and get on with it Yeah, yeah, so I'd always been like Writing this program, you know on a rainy Wednesday afternoon in your mind, right? And now I just thought I'm gonna just try and do it. Okay, whatever happens happens. I'm just gonna go for it We did a Kickstarter You ever done a kick you know what you did do a Kickstarter, I saw that You want to give yourself like a heart attack do a kick Wait, wait, so tell me why was it a heart attack? Oh my god, because if you don't get up to what you're asked for You don't get any of it. Yeah, so you're up at like three in the morning checking. Yeah So and you hit the key barrier So you hit the Kickstarter you hit the amount and then that funded your DVDs and then each person that helped fund that what happened did they get various different things some people put money in and they got the first DVD that came hot off the press they all got credits In the on the DVD at the end and in the book and in the manual Some people are executive producers so they came and we got them a director's chair in the name on the back. That's fun And they're kind of honorary SR education, you know members, okay, you're allowed to come to class whenever they want to Hang out with us do whatever so they gave you guys a lot more money You know and some people bought a t-shirt. Cool. Whatever Yeah, it was amazing. We also got some YS Park SR education combs made in our color so they could buy that which was an exclusive one as well Okay, so lots of different things We got the DVD made it was like like I don't know well my husband's a producer Okay, produces music videos and commercials and everything so we ended up making a you know $350,000 Thing right like a hundred dollars. That's a hundred. I was like wow, that's great I don't think you needed a Kickstarter, but that's okay. It was yeah I could never have done it if I didn't have that situation. That's awesome That's the great thing about we pulled in every favorite week, right? People get so down on the internet and the social and all that but man like you you want to create a company It's so much. Yeah, you know you have so many opportunities now and it's really cool. So so You let so you're not at Sassoon So my big thing would be you've you've moved on you built your brand. What did you do different now? With what makes your education different? Yeah Then anybody not even sassoon, but just then anybody the biggest thing for me is to simplify your technique Yeah, and that's what I really teach people people Re-cut things three four times in the salon. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, we need to cut it once correctly Yeah, and if you have the knowledge and understand what you should be doing to get that end result You can be efficient. Yeah, I also tried to simplify What I was teaching people because they were doing techniques But they were doing it the long way and I really feel like and I don't know if it's just competition with all of the Big companies, but we've got to the point where People think it's only good if it's been really hard to learn right right It's really difficult. It must be really good right and that's a load of rubbish Yeah, it's like it's hard to simplify yourself Yeah, it's hard to clean out all your clutter from your closet and just streamline Yeah, so my my techniques are about helping people to streamline what they do Do a great job every time they know what they're doing Because I think it's hard out there in the salon. Yeah, keep your clients stay on time You know retail look after them, right? That's cool, and that's that's the difference. Yeah, and that's great And I think that a lot of people we were having this conversation the entire week Yeah, and I've known it because you know like I said, I'm putting out videos every single day And I know which ones are going to be more popular than others the least complicated the video The more you know people do that Yeah, I think that that's the biggest thing is that sorry we had never know what's I think you know, I was the queen of complicated. Yeah, so is I've really changed my approach to teaching I was the person that put 500 sections in the top. Yeah, and there's nothing wrong with that I love it if I get the chance. Yeah, but not not real 90% of the people in this building are never going to take 500 sections But it's important to understand why You could take 500 sections because my brain like is too busy, right? Yeah, exactly. Oh, it's awesome. So tell me This is the question I've asked all day long. What is in the future for SR education? What's your next thought process? I've got so many projects that I want to do. I just don't have you know, the finances, right? Cost a lot of money to do everything that you want The next thing we want to do is a color program because that's what we're missing right now We have the men's the creative the women's foundation. We need to do a color program It's all written just got to film it. I just haven't had time to film it, right? The big thing is we have a virtual classroom coming out So obviously I never really wanted to bring it out on DVD, but that's financially what I had to do So we've built a platform to have a virtual classroom So you can actually go on do all of the haircuts in the classroom With tests and you know, it's like traffic school. Yeah, that's good So that's an opportunity for people to go in there and do that in their own time And maybe if they can't get to our class they can go and do it there. Yeah So that's a big thing for us My dream and what I want to do is to open a very small cosmetology school. Okay I feel like cosmetology It's very important. I love working with, you know, the up-and-coming people But I just feel like there's a need out there for To work with people that can't necessarily do Monday to Friday 9 to 5, right? So I want to try and just work with people that are very eager to learn but More part-time or that kind of thing. Yeah So I'm really trying to get that up and running next year We're branching out into You know abroad we're doing a lot of asia stuff Yeah, onwards and upwards. That's awesome. Endless. And how old is your son now? He's four and a half. He's four and a half. All right. He travels with me most of the time. Okay, so he's a You know, he's coming doll head. Yeah, then I have to keep him away from the debbies sometimes Yeah, well, I have an eight year old son. Do you? What do you know? Yeah, so and so he's in school so he can't travel but that's uh, so that's one of those, you know Yeah, it's hard But you know what you're making it happen and he did it for yourself and that's you know Like when when something like that's the whole beauty of this industry and what we've talked about all day long is You have You there was a thing in the road that happened. You had a kid your life happened And you decided to do your thing Like instead of just quitting or going and just going to a salon or whatever you wanted to do You followed your dream and you're doing it. You're making it happen. So congratulations. Thank you so much Thank you too. Uh, how can people find you? Sally rogerson.com is uh, where you can find us Um, also, you know, obviously instagram facebook that kind of stuff Hashtag sr education if you want to have a look at what we do Um, and really we're all about modern salon work. That's what we do. Awesome. Yeah, very cool So thank you guys so much for watching follow american salon on social media and also follow us at free salon education Thank you guys so much for watching. Thank you. Sally very much. Thank you so much. I really enjoyed it Awesome, and we will see you guys on the next video. Thanks