Nick Stinson is the brand founder and CEO of Nick Stinson Beauty.

Today we're going to hear his story, how he got to where he is and what it's like launching a luxury beauty line.

Welcome back to the Hair Just Strong show.

My name is Robert Hughes, and I am your host.

And today I'm with Nick Stinson.

How you doing today, Nick?

Good, Robert.

How are you?

I'm good, thank you.

Thank you.

So I just want to start off by giving a shout out to Maria, Beauty Gives Back and making this.

This introduction and making this happen.

And so thank you so much.

And we met at Beau Gives Back.

So if anybody hasn't been there to the event, definitely go.

It's in Chicago.

It's awesome and very inspiring.

And that's where I got to hear a little bit of your story, Nick, about how you got to where you were, and now you're in a whole new position.

And I'm so excited to have this conversation with you today.

So thank you so much for coming on and sharing with us.

No, thank you for having me.

And I'll tell you, this is the first conversation I'm having in my new official role.

So it's exciting.

Exciting to talk about and definitely excited to share with you all the cool things that's going on.

Awesome.

Cool.

All right, well, let's start from the beginning.

So let's see.

You are former.

I mean, are you still a hairdresser?

Former hairdresser.

How do you.

I think I'm more of a hairdresser now than I've been in the last few years, so.

So, yes, hairdresser through and through.

Nice.

So.

So how did you get started?

You know, we're going to kind of give.

We're going to hear, learn a lot.

But maybe you could give like a.

How did you, like, get into, like, hair?

Did you go through an apprenticeship?

Did you go to school?

You know, maybe start at the beginning.

All right.

So I'm kind of born into beauty.

I always say.

My mother was a hairdresser for 37 years.

Aunts, uncle, cousins, everybody did hair and nails, and everybody's been in beauty.

My that surrounded me growing up.

Ironically, my goal wasn't to be a hairstylist.

My goal was to be an orthopedic surgeon, which was an interesting change of events.

I would say I had.

I was going to school.

I would come home from school every day.

I'd go into the salon.

I would do my homework there.

I would help my mom with her salon, whether it was like Stocking shelves or shampooing, or at the time, you know, taking out some perms or putting some perm solution on, doing some colors.

And I really kind of learned.

I always say I learned hairdressing, like, I learned how to cook by watching my mom my whole life.

And it just came very natural to me.

And it was something that was fun and never felt like it was a job or a career.

Fast forward, I kind of got into it, and I was, you know, doing my EMT program as well as working in an emergency room on an ambulance all night, doing the graveyard shift.

And then I would wake up in the morning and I would shower, change, go over to the salon.

I'd open the salon and be there all day.

It was such a major different lifestyle, right?

Like trying to help people physically through medicine, and then coming into a salon and realizing that my mother and all the hairdressers in her salon were actually making a huge difference in people's lives, but they were doing it in a much different way.

And what I realized is that the reason I wanted to get into medicine because I wanted to help people.

And what I realized my mother was doing is that she was helping people feel their very best.

She was a change maker of the way people feel felt about themselves, about their image, about the confidence that they had every single day.

And now, ironically, when you go back many years, I don't think she realized that that's even what she was doing or anybody in that salon.

But what I saw was that people would walk in with their head down and the shoulders forward and kind of the weight of the world on them.

And then by the time they left, their shoulders were back and they were smiling, and everybody was friends in the salon and talking to each other, and hairdressers talking to hairdressers and clients all talking to each other.

And it was a community of people.

And the salon became a place where people wanted to be because it made them feel real good.

So I realized really quickly that I didn't need to be a doctor to make people feel feel real good.

I wanted to do it in a way that kind of came effortlessly, in a way that I never felt like I was working.

Hence, then when I decided to go into hairdressing.

Nice.

So I got to ask, you're working as.

I have to ask, you're working as an emt.

How long did you do that for?

So I did that probably two years.

Two years?

Yeah.

And so I'm in physical therapy and then in a program.

I was just about to Take a big scholarship to go into a medical program, and decided I was going to pivot and go to beauty school instead, which, as you can imagine in any hairdresser out there, probably wasn't a very popular decision at the time.

My parents kind of thought I lost my mind.

But, you know, I was the youngest of three, the first going to college and on a scholarship.

So I think, you know, my.

My parents had a lot of hope and excitement over what was potentially going to be.

And then when I said I wanted to be a hairdresser, they're like, what?

Kind of a typical story I think you hear across many families out there.

And now it's fun.

You know, it was like, gosh, I've been doing hair now 25 years.

And the fun part is, like, about 10 years ago, it was.

I was out having cocktails with my parents, and my dad said, you know what?

Good thing you never listened to me.

Does a child hear that from their parents?

Right, right.

Never heard that.

Yeah.

And it's funny because now, you know, it's really beautiful.

My parents have turned into.

Right quickly after I became a hairdresser, turned into my biggest fans.

But literally, like, I'll leave the salon or I'll leave corporate America, where I just was.

Or I'll be working on my product and my parents.

But tell me everything.

And I'm like, like, what?

Where do you want me to begin?

My day's been long.

You know, like, they literally, like, excited about everything that I do.

So it's kind of fun all these years later.

So anybody who's in just getting into hairdressing and their families and excited about it, just show them how great it is, and show them how much fun you're having in a livelihood that you've made.

And listen, at the end of the day, people want their kids to be happy.

Yeah, totally.

So I have to.

So one, you dropped a little nugget there about when you were formally in corporate.

But before I ask you that, I gotta ask, what is the most crazy thing you saw when you were in emt?

I'm just super curious.

It's actually the pivotal moment of what made me change and go out of medicine.

I was working the graveyard shift in the emergency room, and there was two really bad incidents.

One was a really bad car accident where people were ejected from the car and everybody died.

It was a terrible night.

Terrible, terrible night.

And then after I was part of that whole thing, had to go back to the.

To the emergency room.

Kind of was trying to get, like, recollected to go back out on the rig, and there was a cardiac arrest that came in.

But there was a changing of the.

We called the changing of the guards, the shift change between ER doctors and all of their teams.

And the ER doctor who's been on all night took the call, and then the new team was coming in, and they were arguing about what was the right call to make, and ended up that the person died.

Now, I don't have any idea if the reason why the person died was because of the arguing that was happening there, but it didn't feel good.

This bottom line didn't feel good at all.

And I was like, okay, this is not what I envisioned for my life.

And listen, if I would have become a orthopedic surgeon like I wanted to at the time, that wouldn't have been my day to day anyway.

But still, it just became.

What I realized was you have to become kind of callous to it all and to be able to handle that.

Right.

Because there's a lot of emotion in the world, and you're looking to doctors and people in the medical industry to be the strength in those types of situations.

And I really didn't think I could be that over time.

I really didn't want to become that callous person.

I didn't want to become desensitized to people.

And that was something that I was afraid of, to be honest with you.

Wow.

Wow, that's actually so powerful.

And thank you for sharing that.

So let's get back to your story of your career.

So you decide to go into hair.

Tell us a little bit about, like, you're.

You.

You go to school.

I think you said you went to school, right?

Yeah, yeah, of course.

Apprenticeship program.

Both.

I went to school and then did an apprenticeship program.

So funny story.

My.

My mom was like, listen, you want to be a hairdresser, that's fine.

You can't work in any of the family businesses.

You got to work in the real world.

So, like, go get a job like everyone else in a salon.

Well, my friend's uncle had a really beautiful salon and spa that I wanted to work at, and he's like, listen, yeah, I would love to have you, but you're really green.

You're young.

You don't have the experience I can't give you.

Walk in people, because I just opened a new spa and salon, and those people are gonna want the guests first, and I really don't have any money to bring you on as, like, an apprentice, you know?

And I said, okay, I Have an idea.

Just let me live off tips.

Like, I'll shampoo everybody.

I don't need any salary or hourly rate.

Just, like, pay.

Just let me keep my tips, and I'll be the shampoo guy for, like, everybody here.

And I just want to stand next to you all day long and watch how you color hair and cut hair and that's it.

He's like, are you sure?

And I was like, yeah.

And I did that for, like, a year.

But what was funny is, in between that year, I was, like, looking around, and I would answer the phone, and somebody would call and say, you know, I'd like to come in for a wax and be like, oh, sorry, we don't have anybody.

I'd like to come in for a makeup application.

Sorry, we don't have anybody right now, or we're booked.

I'd like to come in for a pedicure, a manicure, a full set of nails, all this good stuff.

And I was like, oh, my God, we're walking all this business.

So I quickly went and became certified in all of it.

Waxing, makeup, nails, body wraps, ear candling.

At the time, like, anything I could learn.

And that was the best thing I ever did because I slowly pulled away from everything except makeup and esthetics.

Like, I was an esthetician.

So skin I loved and makeup, I kept and got rid of the rest of the surfaces, and I really focused on hair.

What was amazing about that is I turned all of those clients from all of those services into my hair guest.

So I actually, after year one, had a full book of business.

That's awesome.

That's something you don't hear often, but it was a creative way of doing it, and I would suggest anybody do it that way.

Yeah, I love that.

I love that.

Especially, like, you know, I've talked to a lot, a lot of students, and that's a big part of what we do with Hairdresser Strong.

And a lot of them have all these ideas about what they want to do, and.

But they're, like, trying to move fast, and they.

They don't want to, like, spend the time after school doing the extra work and extra training.

And this is, like, a great way for them to, like, be making money, taking, Building a clientele while they're maybe honing their craft in another area and transfer.

I like this conversion thing.

I like that a lot.

I like that a lot.

Cool.

Yeah.

Okay, so.

So you.

You get up, you're.

You build your book, and you.

You do it in this, like, you know, you Go to school, you apprentice, you identify a space to.

To.

To.

To thrive in, and you lean into it, it turns into a full book.

And then what?

And then at the time, that person who owned the salon opened a second salon.

And then I became manager of both.

Of the salons and a hair.

And you were taking clients?

Yeah.

You're going to see a pattern through this journey.

It's more is more with me.

So I was doing all this, and then I realized that I really wanted to be in the city of Chicago doing hair in, like, a cool neighborhood.

I was looking at, like, Bucktown area, Wicker park.

And I'm like, I want to be where, like, it's cool and hip, and I want my own salon.

So I decided to leave there.

And I was going to buy a building in the city and I was going to open a salon.

And at the time I'm like, okay, well, I don't want to lose my clients while I'm doing this.

So I went back to my mom's salon and took my clients.

Well, funny story is my mom's salon was, I would say, a little dated at the time.

And I was just coming from some really beautiful, modern salons.

So I was like, how am I going to now bring my clients into this older, kind of more tired looking salon?

I have to, like, do something about it.

So literally, I started to remodel her salon for her to, like, just update it and bring it a little bit more current.

And when I did that, the phone didn't stop ringing.

Literally.

People were like, oh, my God, you're a new salon in town.

It's so pretty.

I want to come in, like, can you get me in for a haircut?

You mean for a color?

Blah, blah.

And it literally brought.

When I tell you, we would laugh every time the phone ring.

We're like, my mother's been here for years.

Nothing has changed, but, like, the way that it looks.

And the phone never stopped ringing to the point where she's like, you do what you want, but I think you're onto something here.

Maybe you shouldn't leave.

And I didn't.

And then I had to bring in three other hairdressers there, and it just, like, skyrocketed the salon overnight, which was really cool.

So then we got to work together for a while until I made the whole salon digital.

Brought in credit card machines and everything.

And my mom was like, I'm out here.

Go.

I'm done.

I don't want to learn all this technology.

I don't want to Learn sms, all these types of things.

She's like, I did this for years.

I want to go.

Enjoy life with your father.

And then I took over the salon and it was really cool.

It was a smaller salon and then I wanted a big salon.

So then I went into business with a business part with a friend of mine who I thought was a friend.

And then we had a big salon.

So the small salon was a staff of nine and the big salon was a staff of 52.

So I did that for a few years and then realized that that was a bad idea and a bad partnership.

Why?

Or at least give us some information.

Maybe someone is thinking about going into a partnership, may some red flags or some things to think about.

Here's what I will tell you.

Everybody's going to be good at something.

If you go into a business partnership with somebody, it doesn't mean it's a bad idea.

You might be good at like the books, somebody might be good at the customer service, somebody might be good at hiring, somebody might be good at ordering.

Like there's different strengths that you have.

What I will tell you, especially in a salon, you have to be good at it all or be enough.

Good enough to be dangerous.

And what I mean by this is we had somebody, we had her sister running the books and it was just a bad thing.

I just trusted too much and ended up that a lot of my money was taken from me and then in the end tried to take the whole salon from me.

And it was a nightmare.

We had to get attorneys, police, everything.

So it was not a really good experience at all.

What I will tell you I learned from that is for years I blamed them.

Blamed her, blamed her sister, blamed them for what they did to me.

Now all these years later, I really had nobody to blame but myself because if I would have been paying more attention, I would have caught it sooner and none of that would have happened.

And the other thing is I trusted her so much that when I took over the salon and started remodeling it all, I wasn't worried about getting my name put on the lease because I was like, no, it's her, who cares?

Well, when Push came to shop, she locked me out of my own business because I didn't do my due diligence to make sure that my end of the deal was protected.

So there's a lot of things here now today that I realize that I own because I didn't do the due diligence to make sure that I was protected as well as her protection.

So anybody Looking to go in business, get a good attorney, make sure everything is extremely fair, make sure that everybody has an equal part playing part in this whole thing and that everybody's very clear on what their role is and what the expectations are.

And then you just, you know, you will make sure that you won't have obstacles along the way if you do that.

And then continuously check in with each other to make sure that each person is holding their end of the bargain up.

Totally.

That's great.

That's awesome.

I, you know, I actually worked for somebody who we found out that, you know, and this is kind of like to your point, like, how much responsibility do we have of our own?

We found out that, you know, something was never right with our books and our numbers, but they had like old school software that had no app or had no, no way for us to look at the book, at the numbers.

So we had to like kind of guess.

And we were so busy that they would, they were constantly moving appointments around because the clients, we shared the clients.

I mean, not 100%, but enough to where it was really hard to keep track.

I mean, I'm talking about volume, right?

Everyone was always talking about like, why does my paycheck feel like it doesn't really move?

I feel like I'm on salary, you know.

Well, it turns out that the owners were shaving a fraction of a percent off of our, our income just a little bit at a time over years, over like 13 years.

And, and, and it turned out to adding up to something like three and a half percent or something like that.

And you know, it's not a lot of money.

It's more of like the fact that it happened and the fact that like, you know, we weren't managing our numbers and we needed to, you know, we try to ask them, like, what is the formula?

How do you configure this?

Because when we do the formula based on the percentages, so nothing was adding up.

And they, they came clean once and was like, no, you haven't been making that much money for 13 years, you know.

Yeah, yeah.

And they didn't want to, they didn't want to try to like negotiate with us or meet us even in the middle.

So we like half of us left and, and come to find out that one of the owners had no idea, at least that's what he claims, but he had no idea that this was happening.

And, and that turned into those two had a worse time as partners because of some of the reasons that you're saying, like not knowing what's going on in your business, not paying attention to the books.

Like, one person was in charge of the talent and.

And was in charge of, like, staying on top of people.

The other person was in charge of the payroll and the book.

Over time, we're talking like 40, 40 plus years in business together.

Over time, they diverged and they just broke up and they just kind of, like, the business kind of broke apart, and now it is no longer in existence anymore.

And it was a pretty bad situation.

So I can totally appreciate everything you just said is, like, definitely, like, take responsibility.

Like, you know, I can't get that upset that they were shaving my percentages down because I should have known the formula.

Yeah, I got hired, like, true.

You know, so, like, it.

For me, it was kind of like, you know, poop or get off the pot to.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You know, just like, you know, it's time for me to go.

So for me, it was good.

But for some people, it wasn't because they had other personal relationships.

But, you know, I totally.

I totally feel you on that, like, taking responsibility, being it is business at the end of the day.

And I think, like, when you try to go into business with friends, you know, if you don't have the mentality of everything needs to be in a contract, then you're probably gonna, you know, you're setting yourself up for failure there and disappointment.

So I.

I totally appreciate that.

So, all right, so you go through this piece and you go through this season of life, and you.

You get over it.

So, like, were you also running the salon that you took over from your mom, and then you were also dealing with this at the kind of the same time.

So, like, talk about that.

Like, talk about, like, dealing with, you know, running the salon.

Talk about, like, where this.

That salon went and that.

What was that like, kind of handling all, juggling all that at once.

Yeah.

You know, a theme in my whole career has been juggling.

That's kind of been my mantra my whole life.

Not only did I have the two salons, but I also was a educator and platform artist for Matrix, one of the L'Oreal brands.

So I was traveling all over the country, world actually doing that for them as well, and then working once a month out of their global academy in New York City.

So I was flying down there every month to do that.

So I was kind of always juggling a lot of balls.

I'll be honest with you.

I burned myself out of it because, I mean, I think about this.

I was just talking to somebody about this, the other day, during like the Christmas holiday time, there would be my clients that would come in from on a Friday night, that would come into my salon at night on their way home from being out and having dinner and bring me dinner or a bottle of wine at like 10 or 11 o'clock because they knew I was still working.

Like that's, that's how crazy it was.

I never left the salon during the month of December before midnight.

As a matter of fact, there would be clients that would literally say, I'm gonna put the kids down to bed.

Can I run in and get a highlight?

Oh my gosh.

And I was the fool.

I was like, yeah, sure, come, I'll open a bottle of wine.

Come on.

I mean, you were stacking that money though, right?

I mean, yeah, I mean I was.

Making crazy amount of money and I was.

My book was insane.

You know, at the end of my time, full time behind the chair, I was working with three full time assistants.

That's how crazy my schedule was.

So I was super blessed and I had an amazing clientele that literally I felt like everybody was a friend or family member because of how many years they were all coming to me.

But then what I realized is that by doing it that way, I just burned myself so out.

And then with the whole situation with my business partner, I was like, you know what, I'm out.

So we, you know, closed that down, sold that off.

And then I said, you know what?

I love New York.

Every time I go to New York, I'm just like, feel like I thrive.

So I sold everything except the small salon and I moved to New York City and I did the reverse.

I lived in New York City, I did platform work, I got an agent and a publicist, started doing all kinds of stuff with more celebrity and editorial.

And then I would go back once a month to work behind the chair to take clients until one of my stylists ended up buying that salon from me.

And then I was fully in New York City.

So a crazy change of like, okay, I need to change this all and break it up.

Which was.

I have a question, Two questions.

One, I guess I'll ask the first about the business first before I ask the one about the celebrity and platform artist stuff.

So when you so you were, was having the business, did that enable you to be able to pursue this dream of, you know, because like I imagine that's expensive, going to New York, living there, hiring a publicist, hiring any get.

I don't know if agents cost money until you get Jobs.

But like a publicist, I know it costs money.

That's a lot of money.

So, like, I'm assuming the business was helpful in, like, making this reality.

And then.

So that's the first thing I want to ask.

And I guess they're related to ask both questions at the same time.

So, like, figuring that out and then.

And then, like, selling the business, if there's any, like, any information about selling a business in case someone's interested in selling their business.

And then, like, I guess those are the questions.

Okay.

So I would say yes.

Obviously, my clientele, the success of my salons afforded me to start over in a new city and all that.

Right.

And take my career to the next level.

Equally.

I have a lot of gratitude for L'Oreal because they were keeping me very busy, as well as a session stylist, as well as doing a lot of photo work for them, working at their Global Academy.

So I had more regularly were working out of the Global academy because I was now based in New York City, so that was easier.

Then I started building a clientele in New York City.

As you can imagine, the ticket on a cut, color, and highlight is much different than it was in Chicago.

So, you know, it was crazy amounts of money I was charging at that time to be able to do those services.

So, you know, I will tell you what.

My whole entire life, what has helped me become successful and continue to, like, figure out how to grow this ladder of mine has been my mantra has always been to say yes.

Say yes.

Say yes.

Say yes.

Even when you don't know, say yes.

Even when you're afraid, say yes.

Even when you're like, I'm not sure if I even know what I'm doing.

Say yes now, and we'll get to this later.

I have realized 20 some years later that now it's about the power of saying no, not yes.

And that my time now has to be protected, to be able to do the things that I want to do because they're bigger and they're different and they're challenging.

So protecting that and not giving it away to just everybody and anybody, that I can continue to grow my businesses is extremely important.

Today, however, I go back to say yes.

It wasn't until just about six or seven years ago when I literally was sat down by an executive coach and they said, what got you here is not going to get you there.

So your philosophy of saying yes is actually now hurting you.

So there will become a time when you'll have to pivot from the yes.

To the.

Let me take that back and think about it and let's see where it fits into my roadmap.

But in your early years, if you say no to anything, you're just hurting yourself.

And now everybody is all about the dollar and, like, what are they going to pay me?

And if I do all these posts on social media, how much am I going to make?

And all that.

And I will tell you, I learned this From John Paul DiGiorio When I was very young, and it was, the dollar is never more important than the cause.

If the cause is the forefront of what you're doing, if what you're doing is so important to you and really fuels you inside, you'll never want for the dollar.

So that was kind of how I built my own brand as Nick Stenson.

And I did a lot for free.

A lot.

But you know what?

Now, all these years later, it has paid off in different ways.

And now guess what?

I'm the guy calling other people that need the favor and they're the first to pick up because I did stuff for them back then.

So people don't forget.

And karma is real.

And when you put good out there, good comes back.

That's amazing.

That.

Oh, my gosh, I'm so glad you said that.

I was.

I wasn't sure where you're going, and that was amazing.

So.

So, yeah, because I was actually gonna ask you that and you, you basically answered the question before I could even ask it about saying yes and then eventually say no.

So, yes, you're saying what I think you're saying, correct me if I'm wrong, is if you were.

Well, actually, I shouldn't do that.

Let me ask you this question.

Yeah.

If you could go back and do anything differently, what would there be anything differently that you would do?

I mean, I'm not talking about, like, talking about, like, generally general sense, nothing very super specific, not much.

I'll be honest with you.

Even that whole partnership with my friend, I think I just would have handled it differently.

I would have been a better businessman.

I would have understood things better and focused on things a little differently.

But I wouldn't have taken that back because I do believe that everything that I've gone through in my life, both challenging and rewarding, has helped shape me for the person that I am today.

And I've always lived a life of being a student.

I'm like a student of life, I call it.

And every moment in time, every transition in time, I'm going through a very big transition right now, which we'll get to.

I sit in it to understand, like, what is the lesson in all of this and what do I need to get out of this in order to move forward, to continue to enhance my knowledge, my ability to, you know, help others, my ability to be a better leader, all of those types of things.

And I also believe that in life you have to give it to keep it.

And there are so many people that are so passionate about holding on to their secret sauce.

And I'm like, no, because nobody's you.

And no matter if I teach you exactly how to do everything that I do, you're going to put your own spin on it and it's going to be yours and it's no longer mine.

And by me giving it to you is going to open without something like, we were crazy.

But, like, it's going to open the universe to allow more to come my way so then I can continuously give it out.

And I do believe that it.

It's a circle of life.

We have to continue to give it and then be open to learning new things.

I love that.

That's so good.

So.

That's so good.

So good.

So, okay, so let's go.

Like, like, let's, let's come kind of come to.

So you're.

You're in New York, you're doing session work, you're working at.

You're.

You're running your salon or salon.

Any words of advice for anybody selling a business?

Get a good attorney and a good accountant.

But those things are two things you need.

Here's what I'll say.

Whether you're selling a business, opening a business, going into a partnership, no matter what, you need two things.

A good accountant and a good attorney.

And I will tell you both of those people, like, my accountant has been with me for 25 years.

My attorney and her firm have been with me now 17 years.

I have a few more attorneys now than I once did.

But, you know, having a loyal network of people that you can trust and count on is really important that are much smarter than you.

Because I know that I have areas of opportunity that I need, and especially when it comes to legal documentation and things that becomes overwhelming for me.

So having a strong team of attorneys to say, like, break it down, let's talk about this.

Let's really dissect it.

And they know intimately what details need to be in it.

You need that.

And us creatives, like, we need people like that.

We need analyticals around us.

Totally awesome.

Awesome.

Okay, so you sell your business, and so what comes after that?

Like you mentioned corporate world.

So where does that come in your story?

So one thing I will tell you before I jump into the next part of the story is don't over control your journey.

If you allow yourself to be open to possibilities of what could be, you'd be surprised at what comes at you.

And here's what comes next.

So I'm living in New York City.

I sold my businesses.

I'm no longer going back to Chicago.

I'm living my best life.

I'm in my early 30s.

I'm just like, feel like I've died and gone to heaven.

I've got like the best career.

I'm freelancing.

I have an agent and a publicist.

I'm doing all these cool celebrities.

I'm doing all this editorial work.

I'm doing New York Fashion Week.

I'm working in Rockefeller center at a salon, doing hair.

Like, life is good.

I'm living on Central park, like, life is good, right?

And then I get a call from a friend of mine that says, hey, there's an interesting opportunity that I want to run by you.

I was like, yeah, what's that all about?

He's like, hey, you know, like, JCPenney is getting a new CEO as a.

No, I didn't know that.

Why is that relevant to this conversation?

And he's like, well, this new CEO, like wants an A plus team of like leaders to come in and like revolutionize the retail space and like take this all America, all Americana brand and like, make it really cool and exciting.

And I'm like, jcpenney, make it cool and exciting.

Okay, all right, I'm listening.

Like what?

Okay, so he's like, yeah, and they called me and they were talking to me about like wanting to like reinvent their salon business and really put it on the map and like, really put beauty at the forefront of the experience inside store.

And I was like, sounds cool.

What does this have to do with me?

And he's like, well, they called me because they want you to be the one to come in and be the creative director of all this.

And I was like, no, thanks.

No, no, no.

Just like that.

Just flat like.

And he's like, listen.

He's like.

Because I was like, what does this mean?

And he's like, well, you know, you'd have to live in, in Dallas and it's a corporate gig and you have to be in the office every day.

And I was like, just stop.

I'm not leaving New York City.

I'm not moving to Dallas.

I'm not Going into an office every day, like, I'm not doing any of that.

He's like, will you listen to me?

He's like, listen, you've done a really good job of what, Making your career very well rounded.

You're a platform artist, you're a colorist, you've done every spa service imaginable.

You've led big teams, you've been on big stages, you've done all the fashion stuff.

But what you haven't done is multi level unit businesses, like big box retail, specialty retail, multi unit, you know, salons.

I'm like, what does this even mean?

Like, multi unit?

What are you even talking about?

He's like, where you have impact over hundreds of thousands of salons and thousands of hairdressers.

I'm like, sounds exhausting.

And he's like, just do me a favor and talk to them.

Just talk to them.

Something.

Fine, I'll talk to him.

So I won't bore you with the whole story, but I flew out there and met with them and I said, thank you so much.

This has really been an amazing experience, but no, thank you, I'm not interested.

And they called me back.

We're like, so my friend me, he's like, why did you say no so fast?

And I'm like, you're out of your mind.

This is not for me.

He's like, just continue to talk.

Like, this is pretty cool.

So I did.

And then I eventually said yes because they were going to let me still live in New York City, but travel back and forth every week.

So I was like, okay, fine.

So took on this big beast of a job, went into corporate America.

What I will tell you about that experience is anybody who knows the whole story about what happened to J.C.

penney, if you don't Google it.

But what I will tell you is I was brought in there to really kind of revolutionize the hair salons and the space in there.

What I ended up doing was learning more than I could ever imagine in my lifetime.

I spent five years there.

I worked with some incredible people.

We went through three CEOs during the time I was there.

There was a lot of change.

There was a lot of rebounding happening.

And what I learned was how to be a great leader around great leaders, support your teams through a lot of uncertainty and act like a duck.

Become cool and collected on the top and work your ass off underneath behind the scenes to make sure that you're showing profitability and strength and all those types of things.

So that ended up being a really amazing chapter in my life.

I have a lot of gratitude for that whole experience, knowing that it was never going to be long term, but that it was something that I wanted to do and that I learned probably more in that chapter of my life than I thought I was ever going to learn until the next chapter happened.

And that was when I was at an event and a woman I got introduced to, and her name is Keisha Steelman, who is now the CEO of Ulta Beauty.

And she said, listen, you're on the wrong side of Beauty.

You need to be with Ulta.

Like, she's like, we're doing some cool things.

I said, no, no, I've been through this conversation before.

I'm not doing it.

I'm moving myself back to New York City.

I'm going back to my cool life.

And she's like, no, you're not.

You're coming to Chicago and you're gonna come work with me, because I think we're gonna have a lot of fun.

So, long story short, I agreed with her and we, you know, I decided to take a role with Ulta Beauty, and it was a really cool opportunity.

Ulta is an amazing company.

They've had so much growth in the almost nine years that I was with the company.

And I grew so much as a leader.

I came in as chief creative director and was promoted four times in my nine years of being there.

And when I left just 30 days ago, I left as the senior vice president of store and service operations for the company.

So huge job, really cool experience.

I kind of grew in the company as Keisha Steelman grew in the company, too.

So we kind of grew together, which was really cool.

I was very sad to leave because she became CEO, and I was excited about that and wanted to stick around for that.

But it was time to turn the page in my own career, in my own book.

And there was a lot in the universe telling me the timing was right.

So I took that moment to say, you know what?

It's time to move on.

But I will tell you, both of those experiences in corporate America, I wouldn't be able to do what I'm going to do next.

And I wouldn't be even the person I am today without both of those experiences.

This is.

This is such.

This is so good.

So, like, you know, a lot of times I go to the.

I go to high schools a lot, you know, because we.

We.

We recruit for large number of salons in the area.

And so we go to this.

We go to this trade schools, we go to the high schools.

And when we go to the high schools, they're never thinking that hardly any of them think that they can make this a career, like a career out of this industry.

And so your story is just like a, such a great example of just exactly what's possible through this industry.

So I love all this.

So, so you're, you're, you go, you have all this, all this experience and you're taught, you kind of like are alluding to like throughout the conversation, what's next and what's coming.

And we'll talk about it later.

And the time is now upon us for us to hear like, so what exactly is what.

Tell us a little bit about what this transition is.

And like you said 30 days ago, by the time this comes out, this will come out.

It'll be like 35 days or 34 days or whatever it is.

But tell us, tell us the story.

So when I was talking to Ulta about going to work with them, the one reason I was so apprehensive of doing it is because I had already started to work with chemists on creating my own luxury hair care brand.

And I explained that to her and she's like, okay, well, like, tell me more about that.

So I told her about it and she's like, do you have a team of people?

And I said, yeah, I have a whole huge team.

And she's like, do you feel that that would be a conflict in your day to day?

Like, do you think you would have to dedicate a lot of energy into that or would your team kind of take that?

I said, no, no, all of the work would go into my formulations and stuff.

And then my team would kind of take it and run it.

I said, so I don't think that it would ever be interfering with my day to day job, you know.

And she's like, okay, as long as it doesn't interfere with your day to day job and we can have your undivided attention.

Like, you know, this is pretty cool.

You're coming in as creative director and then you're gonna have your own brand.

She's like, I'm not saying we'd ever sell it, but like, we would, you know, want to look at it too and maybe there's an opportunity for you, but I'm not making any promises.

And I was like, this is super fair.

Like, of course I, I want to take this opportunity.

So fast forward in the whole journey.

It took many years to get my formulas right.

I even tell the story that my hairspray was 19 formulas before I signed off on it, I thought the chemist was going to throw the bottle of hairspray at me by the time I, like, told him to twe.

So, like, it was really grueling process to get these formulas right.

Super problem.

Sorry, can I have to ask?

So for anybody, including myself, who doesn't know what this process is of like building your own products, because, like, a lot of people pay like 10 grand to white label their products from manufacturers that already create products and they just slap their logo on it and they maybe change the smell, maybe change like one or two properties about them.

You're talking about something, something different.

Can you just give us like a sidebar on like some.

Even if it's high level, like what that looks like, creating your own line.

I literally sat down with such a cool chemist.

Here's why the chemist was so cool.

He's just a brilliant man.

He's a brilliant chemist, but he's also a hairdresser.

That's very rare.

So when we would sit there, we would geek out.

I would fly to Washington state and we would like, literally geek out at the lab about like, okay, no, you see this product?

You see how sticky that is?

I don't want that.

You see the hold here?

It's missing, like the width of the spray in the way that it kind of moves on to the hair.

Do you see how when you spray it, it goes into one spot instead of has a longer kind of Runway of product.

Or I would be like, okay, so you see this blow dry cream?

Well, it.

I can't even get the brush through it.

It's so sticky.

And now I have too much and it leaves a film on the hair.

Let's break that down.

Like, what's in this?

That is making it do that?

I don't want mine to do this.

I want mine to do this.

And like, like, we would literally geek out for hours and days on like, what we liked and didn't like about product.

And that was where I never even said, like, this is how many products I want and this is what I want them to do.

I never even said that.

I said, I want to create an artist toolkit.

The most frustrating part for me is when I was a session stylist and I would be like, okay, like this hairspray from this brand and this cream from that brand and that shampoo from that brand.

And I was like, oh, my God, one day, if I ever get the luxury of creating a brand, I'm going to create, create a brand of like, all hero Products so that they can all work together in one.

In one brand.

And I don't need 15 different brands piecemeal together to create a look that I want.

So that's kind of where the.

The birthing of all this went.

And then, because my chemist was.

Who is a hairdresser, he just really got passionate about it with me.

Like, he.

We had a lot of fun, and it's down to, okay.

If anybody's never picked fragrance, it is the most grueling experience of your life.

I literally sat there in his office, and I was like, so, David, like, how.

How are we going to pick this fragrance?

Like, I know what I like, but I don't even know.

And he starts pulling trays out, these little glass bottles, like, 50 trays of bottles with like, 30, 40 bottles in each one of them.

And I'm like, what is all this?

He's like, start smelling.

And I was like, I beg your pardon.

And its process of elimination was like.

Like, yes, no, yes, no.

And it would go right, left, right, left.

And then you go back to the good pile and go right, left, right, left.

And then you would get down to, like, your top 30 fragrances.

Now, after a migraine, several.

Like, I need to walk away smelling coffee beans.

All these things need a drink.

Then you would get down to, like, the 30 that you liked.

And then you would bring focus groups together, and then you get a group of guys, a group of girls, different walks of life to come together to say, okay, let's smell these, and, like, what do you like?

And then narrow it down from there to five, and then up to me to pick out the five kind of.

And then what nodes I wanted and all that kind of stuff.

So it was a very grueling process.

I didn't have any idea all that was going to be involved.

I thought it was going to be super simple, but it's not.

So how long did this process of developing this line take?

Almost eight years.

Eight years.

All right, eight years.

So a couple reasons.

We had something called the pandemic in the middle of all this.

We did.

So that kind of screwed a lot up.

Well, what ended up happening was during the pandemic, my financial backers said, listen, we're so passionate about doing this with you, but now we're freaked out about our own brands.

They had companies of their own.

They're like, we're not gonna be able to do this.

We can't commit to this.

And I was like, well, we're so far down the line now, I can't let this die.

So I decided to self fund it myself to get it to the finish line.

And that was a whole nother thing.

Like.

Like, that was a little, very painful, but got it to the finish line.

What the pandemic did allow me to do, though, is because componentry and different things like that was stuck on boats across the seas.

You know, like, things were not easy to get during that time.

It allowed me time to really take a step back and reconfigure a few things.

And I really believe that that time, although during it, I didn't think it was a blessing at all, ended up being a blessing because when I did launch, I felt like I was ready to launch.

And I felt like, like the products were even better and the marketing was even better and the brand positioning was even stronger for me when I got to.

When I got to launch, which was a year ago.

Nice.

Awesome.

Awesome.

So, okay, so I.

I do.

I kind of took us off track for.

For that sidebar.

Okay, so you.

You are le.

You decide to step down at.

In your role at Ulta and tell us about, like, what that whole kind of like, pivot in transaction is like, and kind of tell us where you're at and what's going on and all that stuff.

So I think it's important to tell, like, why, what made me make the change right.

And pivot.

And I will tell you, I always knew that there would be a crossroads that I would come to.

I just kind of didn't think it would happen so fast.

And I, you know, I'm very passionate about the work that I do.

I work pretty much 24 7.

I love to work.

I love this industry.

I love to do it.

So as the company continued to grow and as I continued to grow at Alta, I was sitting kind of at a crossroads going, okay, so what's next in both directions?

Well, with next, what me, what Alta would be, that I would hope that I would one day make C Suite, and that I would, you know, kind of morph into that role.

And then on the brand side, that my brand would take legs and grow multiple different distribution channels, go international, become a global brand.

And I literally sat there and was like, I think I got to the point where I can't do both now because to become a C Suite leader is extremely demanding and very hard and very rewarding.

Right.

Especially for a company like Ulta beauty.

That's Fortune 500.

It's a dream, right?

But then on the flip side, growing a company to become a global brand takes all Your energy.

So it's really where I kind of stood in the crossroads to say, okay, what is going to fuel my soul for the next 20 years?

And that's where I said, you know what?

I really am proud of the work that I did at Ulta.

I'm proud of the team that I built.

I'm proud of the impact that my team and I have had over the last nine years.

And it's okay.

I could step back and they can all soar, and they will, and they have already, right?

And at the same time, it's okay for me to take a step back and not be the big executive, but now be the humbled brand founder, kind of sitting back, going, okay, now I have to do this again.

I have to build a team again.

But now it's my own team, and it comes with a lot of reward, but a lot of work and stress, because now it's all you, right?

But the opportunity in front of me is really big.

Should I do this right?

So that's why I made the decision when I made it.

And I will tell you, I think timing is everything.

And I'm really proud of myself for making this decision because I think the easier time, I'm just gonna say it like it is, the easier decision is to stay with the job that, you know, with the paycheck coming in and the comfort of what was built, you know, at that time, there's a lot of uncertainty on the other end of the door in a startup company where your name is on the bottle and you're the one that has to make it or break it.

Right now, I'm surrounded by a lot of amazing people.

Trust me, you don't get to these levels of success on your own.

And that is something that I think everybody needs to hear me say, like, over and over and over again.

Every bit of my success is because I've been surrounded with tremendously successful people that have mentored me, held my hand, and guided me along the way.

Like, by no means did I do anything on my own and still won't.

And every single day, even as CEO of my own company right now, I have surrounded myself with smarter people than myself because they will bring something unique to the table that will help me continue to grow.

So know that in your journey that if you think you're going to do it alone, you're not going to go very far.

But if you really want to go far, go with a group of people that are going to take you far and that you're going to equally Bring some value to their life as they're going to bring to yours because it's not a one way street.

So that I just had to say, I think that's really important.

I had a guy on the show that said, if you want to go fast, you want to go far, go together.

So I totally.

I'm on the same page for sure.

It's no truer words are spoken and fast don't go fast.

Way to go fast ends fast, right?

You grow fast and you end fast.

So don't do that.

Slow and steady wins the race.

It's true.

It's true.

I'd like to go a little faster than I'm going at the moment, but, you know, it's okay.

So, yeah, so now, you know, a little over a month into 100% dedicated into this.

And it comes with a whole new level of discipline because now I control my day to day more than I ever have, which somehow the day still fills up, you know, tremendously with meetings and without, you know, things I need to do.

But it comes with a different level of discipline in that process.

I've realized that there are a few things you need to do in order to be successful.

And I didn't understand this for years.

Eating the right food is important to be successful.

Exercising every day, some form of exercise, whether that's walking, running, bicycling, swimming, weights.

Well, you also do some sort of.

I saw a post you made about.

It's not CrossFit, it's.

What is it called?

Hyrox.

Hyrox, yeah.

That's a new level of crazy that I've just gotten myself involved in.

I'll tell you about that in a second.

Okay?

But all of that to say, like, for years I thought, like, put it on the back burner.

Like, I'll get to the gym later, I'll eat better later, I'll sleep better later.

And what I realized is that I was running on empty for so long and you can't pour from an empty cup.

And I realized that late in life.

But now I realize, like, no, no, no.

I have to invest in me first.

I have to eat the right food and often I have to sleep more than four hours a night.

Like I was sleeping.

I need to get up and move my body five days a week, like those types of things.

And obviously the more you do it, like in the beginning, it's hell, guys.

Like, there's no way around it.

Like, it's miserable.

It's miserable.

When I started, I was like, I hate going to the gym, I hate it.

I hate eating right.

It's expensive, all this kind of stuff.

And now what I realize is I actually love going to the gym.

I love eating right.

And it's actually a lot cheaper than it is going to the doctor.

So it's.

It's good.

And sleep is amazing now.

Amazing.

You know, it's like those things that you just totally take for granted, and then when it starts to happen, you're like, my God, wait, this.

This means something.

And then you get a little more confident because you're like, oh, wait, I look better.

The pants are a little loose, and you look better in your own skin and you feel more confident.

And then you're pouring from a full cup and you're able to give more to the people around you.

Whether that's a significant other, which I don't have at the moment, or if it's your friends or family or all those types of things, like, pouring from that full cup is really important to be the best version of yourself, to be the best version for others as well.

So I say all that to say, if you're not investing in yourself, make sure you start, do it small, and then you'll continue to grow.

Hence why you just saw that.

I just did Hyrox, which I said is a new level of crazy for me, because it's this, like, crazy cool fitness event that's all over the world, and it's like CrossFit meets Running Kind of event.

It was the first time I ever did.

It took me almost two hours to do.

My goal was to complete.

It wasn't to have like, some amazing time or anything.

It was just to complete it, to say I could do it.

Because in the last two years, I've shifted.

I won't say I'm down because I've taken off and put back on, but 52 pounds of weight and redistributed it.

So, yes, I took it all off and then became real skinny and thought that that was really cool.

And then I'm like, no, I look like I'm on Ozempic.

No, got to change that.

So then, like, started to realize, like, muscle definition is important and important for your, you know, your health, not only your, you know, vanity.

So all of that became really important.

And then now be being part of this Hyrox, which was the most terrifying thing I've done in a long time, but also the coolest thing I've done in a long time.

Because when I walked into that auditorium and there was 6,000 people that were all there to do the same thing I was there to do of all walks of life.

The energy was so infectious.

It was such a high, and it was so cool.

And I'm already, like, looking at November schedule to see when I could do another one, because now I have a baseline to work from, and now I have something.

Here's another thing that's really important to the story is now I have something outside of work that is fueling me in a different way with a different community, that they don't care if I'm successful or if I'm a failure in my job.

They don't care if I'm the best at what I do.

They're just like, let's go.

Let's do this.

Like, we're in this together.

So I get to work out with all kinds of really cool people all the time.

And.

And that's been super rewarding in itself.

So having something that's outside of the beauty industry, that's also fueling me is this is the first time in my life that that's happened, and I'm loving it.

That's amazing.

This is.

This has been an incredible conversation.

I know everybody listening and watching this is going to get so much from this.

So tell us what to like as we kind of wrap it up here.

Tell us, like, what, where.

Where we can.

Like, where we can look.

Where.

Where to look for Nick Sense and beauty.

And what should we expect next?

Yes.

So here's what I can say.

Head over to nixensenbeauty.com you can learn all about the brand for all those hairdressers out there.

Head over to Salon Centric, either the marketplace or the store, to be able to purchase the products at wholesale.

I would love if you would take them into your salon and test them and play with them and send me videos and feedback.

DM me @nickstensen on Instagram or any social media channel.

I read every DM and I want to know what you guys think.

There's more and more salons that are bringing in my full brand to use on their clients every day.

And that just warms my heart because I built this for artists to use and have an artist toolkit to be able to help people feel their most beautiful every single day.

So when I see another salon open with my brand, it makes me.

It just.

It's the best feeling in the world.

So that's number one.

Let's see what's next.

So here's.

Sorry, I have a question before you tell us what's next on that point.

Is your line all like, is it like shampoo, conditioner, hairspray, styling product?

Like yes.

The answer is yeah.

12.

12 SKUs shampoos, conditioners, styling products leave in conditioner oil and then three different aerosols, texture, spray, hairspray and a dry shampoo.

What I could tell you, all aloe vera ingredients, certified organic ingredients.

Very, very conditioning to the hair.

I created 12 products, not 112 for a reason.

I wanted to make sure that I solved the need to create a hairstyle, not a hair type.

So if you have somebody with really fine hair, I have a routine that you can use to make your hair look its best.

If you have very curly coily hair, I have a routine that's going to make your coils look amazing.

So it's not intended for a person, for a hair type.

It's intended to help you create the hair type and the look that you want that day.

And every product's interchangeable.

So once you get in and you start playing with it, you'll start to realize, oh my God.

When I mix the root lifter with the smoothing cream, like my blowouts are incredible or in their thinking smooth.

Well, I don't want my hair to be straight.

Well, it's not straight, it's smooth.

It's just smoothing down that cuticle.

So doing a two strand twist with like the smoothing cream and the leave in conditioner and the oil is like the most amazing cocktail to have bouncy, beautiful coils.

So, so that's how I built the brand.

And yes, there will be more products coming out with the brand time.

It's going to take a little bit of time and here's what I will say when you say what is next, I will leave you with this.

I didn't name the brand Nick Stenson Hair Care.

I named it Nick Stenson Beauty for a reason.

So I'll leave you with that and just say that I'm working on a lot of really cool things with a lot of really cool people to do a lot of really cool things for a lot of people.

That's very, very vague on purpose.

But you'll have to have me back so I can tell you more later.

Yes, absolutely, absolutely.

This has been incredible.

Thank you so much for sharing.

We are definitely going to be looking at for Nick Stinson Beauty, it's pretty awesome that you're in salon centric.

That makes it super accessible.

And if you're interested, nyxtensonbeauty.com but we're gonna put all that information in the description below.

So thank you so much.

And, yeah, have a great one.

And I look forward to having you back to hear about the next phase of all this stuff.

Thank you.

I appreciate you having me on.

And thank you for all the support.

And to the whole entire hairdressing community, thank you for all the years of support.

It really.

It means the world to me.

Awesome.

All right, well, you take care.

All right, you too.