Our History: We Can All Learn From It

 

 

 

 


“Study history, study history.  In history lies the secrets of all statecraft”

Winston Churchill

History is an amazing teacher and so we were thrilled to see leading longhair artist and smart salon owner, educator, and artist Ryan Teal post the following question on his Facebook wall. We couldn’t help but add an answer onto his wall, and add to it by sharing this great video highlighting an important and transformative time in our industry’s history.

Ryan Teal Facebook post
“Can you imagine a architect graduating from school not knowing Frank Lloyd Wright? Or an artist not knowing Dali? Why is it that hairdressers are ok not knowing their history?”

Our Comment
“History has to be handed down – by those who know it to those who don’t (since most don’t know what they don’t know and for sure have no way to easily find it).”

Artists tend to seek history out as it informs and offers context and/or inspiration for what they are creating; whereas the average person doesn’t necessarily have an obvious (to themselves) need to know it. They also likely don’t have role models who are mentoring them as to its importance -and offering up interpretations of specific history to help make it relevant in the modern context.

Thank you Ryan Teal for starting this important conversation, thank you Hairbrained.me for sharing this amazing video by Flint Whincop and thank you to all the mentors and leaders who are sharing the rich history of our industry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ8DQrspQvE&feature=youtu.be

(shared with LOVE from your history geek passionistas Gordon+Nina)

video: Flint Whincop via Hairbrained.me 
photo: Vidal Sassoon
Check out The Teals @ http://www.tealsalon.com/

Be Nice…and Make Someones Day

In today’s crazy busy world, “NICE” sometimes goes missing from our interactions. This heartwarming video explores how people react when given the random opportunity to say something nice. Consider how you can consciously use the power of “nice” to enhance your salon experience to uplift your clients and team, and in doing so, add more love and value to your brand.  The ultimate mix of industry greats Winn Claybaugh’s “Be Nice or Else” and David Wagner’s “Daymaker”, we love!

“For our latest mission we constructed a custom wooden lectern with a megaphone holster and an attached sign that read, “Say Something Nice.” The lectern was placed in public spaces around New York and then left alone. We wanted to see what would happen if New Yorkers were given the opportunity to amplify their voices to “say something nice.” This project was produced by Improv Everywhere as part of the Guggenheim Museum exhibition stillspotting nyc.”

Improv Everywhere

(shared with LOVE from your passionistas Nina+Gordon)

Square + Pinterest = LOVE

This is COOL! (and yeah, we know it’s not really cool to say cool, but this just is!)

Square on Pinterest (two of our faves) is a great role model to consider in creating your salon or stylist plan and presence on Pinterest.

 

 

 


Here are some ideas to think about for your boards:

Our Salon Clients (instead of Square merchants – you can make this more lifestyle and personal than in salon, or local business’ you love that your clients own, or both)

Our Salon in Action
  (clients experiencing the salon, interacting with the team, before & afters)

Our Town
(local cool pics or stylists and the salon involved in your community)

Our Salon Life
(your team in action in the salon, salon videos (or videos our salon loves), curation of product videos, fashion news and how to’s)

Our Story (your salon history and “promise” in pictures)

Our Products  (and services – you all know how to make that one shine for sure)

 

 

Pinterest is the third largest (and growing) social site; it is visited primarily by women (70%) who have an average family income of $100,000+, a prime demographic for prospective clients. Pinterest offers a great place to anchor and curate content  for Facebook – and is FUN to engage with as both a business and as a consumer.

How are you using Pinterest to enchant & engage clients? If you’ve yet to start, what are you waiting for?

If you love Pinterest, lets play @ www.pinterest.com/passionsquared

We love this article about how our fave credit card processor for indie’s (like us!) is using Pinterest to promote their business by sharing real stories and engaging current and future clients.

To read this story, click on the link.
http://thenextweb.com/insider/2012/04/06/square-takes-to-pinterest-to-draw-attention-to-the-merchants-using-its-card-reader/

(shared with love from your passionistas Nina+Gordon)

 

 

The Rose Heard ‘Round the World

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet”

William Shakespeare

We’re not sure if Mr. Shakespeare had a rose as a hairstyle in mind when he penned this classic line but if he did, we are sure he’d have been WOW’ed big time by Ann Bray’s amazing design.

These photos of Ann’s creation, shot by our passionista Gordon Miller, went viral in our industry’s facebook community, capturing over 1000 likes and hundreds of shares on peoples pages.

Ann Bray, the renowned educator, competition trainer, platform artist and industry icon created this work of art as a tribute to her long time mentor and friend, Leo Passage, the iconic founder of Pivot Point International.

Our WOW?  We are a visual industry – and we LOVE it when artists push the boundaries of technique and design to create ART.  And when we love what we SEE, we love to SHARE it.  If you have a DESIRE to engage and connect with your fellow artists, remember to WOW them visually every chance you get.

Never Say Never

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it!   Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

 Howard Thurman

 

Justin Bieber “came alive” on YouTube, the ultimate video platform to share and engage (and engage he did!).  We are blown away by his historic rise to fame – and the important role that YouTube and Twitter played in making “Bieber Fever” part of pop music history.

The documentary  “Never Say Never” is a powerful lesson in the power of the social web with a huge serving of inspiration on top.  Gordon has seen it once and Nina seven times (are you laughing right about now?)   Is it because we are big Bieber fans?  Maybe…well Nina is for sure, but more importantly we are fans of YouTube which has forever changed the way we consume and share video.

Second only to Google in number of daily searches, here’s a few stats that show the power of this social platform:
· Over 4 billion videos are viewed a day
· Over 800 million unique users visit YouTube each month
· Over 3 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube
· More video is uploaded to YouTube in one month than the 3 major US networks created in 60 years
· 500 years of YouTube video are watched every day on Facebook, and over 700 YouTube videos are shared on Twitter each minute
· 100 million people take a social action on YouTube (likes, shares, comments, etc) every week

In 2008, Justin Bieber was discovered by Scooter Braun, who found him on YouTube.  As of today, Justin Bieber has over 2.3 BILLION views and over 1.3 MILLION subscribers on YouTube alone.

Now that you understand our love of Justin Bieber, we hope you will watch Never Say Never.  We highly recommend it as an inspiring social web lesson we can all learn from.

Most importantly, we believe in the creativity of our community – and view YouTube as the new PLATFORM from which artists can share, engage and empower with a 24/7 audience of fellow professionals and consumers.  Ask what makes you come alive, go do it, and remember, never say never.