Rebecca Heiss is a PhD in stress and physiology.
Speaker AOh, my gosh.
Speaker AStress physiology.
Speaker BThis is stressful, isn't it?
Speaker AAction.
Speaker ARebecca Heiss is a PhD in stress physiology.
Speaker AShe's an author and keynote speaker.
Speaker AAnd today we're going to hear her story.
Speaker AWhat, what is exactly is she speaks on.
Speaker AI got a chance to meet and see Rebecca speak in at Serious Business and we talked.
Speaker AShe talked a lot about stress, reframing it, different ways to think about stress.
Speaker AAnd I'm looking forward to hearing how this all plays in to not only our lives, but also what's happening right now.
Speaker AWelcome back to the Hairdresser Strong Show.
Speaker AMy name is Robert Hughes and I am your host.
Speaker AAnd today I'm with Rebecca Heiss.
Speaker AHow you doing today, Rebecca?
Speaker BI'm doing great.
Speaker BThank you so much for having me on.
Speaker AThank you for coming.
Speaker AI really, really am excited about this conversation.
Speaker BMe too.
Speaker BMe too.
Speaker BLots to discuss here.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker AWell, okay, so I guess we could just dive right in.
Speaker AWould you give us like a, like, let the listeners and viewers know, like, what exactly is stress physiology?
Speaker BGood start.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BMost people don't know.
Speaker BSo physiology sort of relates to anything that's going on inside of your body.
Speaker BLike think about hormones and receptors and all of these weird mechanisms of the body.
Speaker BBut really what I'm interested in is why people behave the way they do as a result of that physiology under stress.
Speaker BSo you probably know what you do when you're under stress.
Speaker BSome people freeze, some people procrastinate, some people fight, some people run away.
Speaker BWe all have a natural tendency to do those things because it's what our ancestors did to survive.
Speaker BBut we have a choice today to do better.
Speaker BSo I, I work with people to help them work with their stress to begin using it rather than having stress use them.
Speaker ANice, Nice.
Speaker AI love that.
Speaker AOkay, so, so what my first thought is, like, I keep going back to would.
Speaker AI don't want to, like, do it for you and take any words.
Speaker BNo, go for it.
Speaker BGo for it.
Speaker BCome on.
Speaker AWell, I was going to say, like, the message that I picked up from your.
Speaker AFrom, from the conference at Serious Business and shout out to Serious business, thank you for making this happen.
Speaker AAnd so, yeah, so what I picked up was that, like, this idea of stress and how we think about it is, has more to do with or is more important to think about than stress at the end of itself.
Speaker ALike how we react, how, how we can think about it, how we consider it.
Speaker AWould you tell us like a little bit about, like, what are we supposed to do with this stress, because, like, you know, if I go on social media and I, like, look at people's comment and read the comments, everybody's like, stressed out, overwhelmed, bur burnout.
Speaker AAnd everyone's looking for some time off or looking to relax or find, like, safe mental space.
Speaker AWhat do you have to say?
Speaker BAll of which is important, right?
Speaker BAll of which is important.
Speaker BAnd what I say is, it doesn't go away, right?
Speaker BSo I think one of the biggest things that my messaging tries to get across to people is a stress is normal and you shouldn't try to get rid of it, right?
Speaker BThe more we actually try to get rid of stress, the more it pushes back and becomes more of a problem for us.
Speaker BSo people who try and get rid of stress actually have worse outcomes as a result.
Speaker BSo instead, we can embrace stress.
Speaker BWe can say, okay, yep, I see you.
Speaker BThis is.
Speaker BThis is part of life.
Speaker BI don't get to control stress, but I don't have to let it control me.
Speaker BAnd that's where we can begin to sort of shift, I don't know, maybe like a little karate shift or judo shift, whatever that is, to begin to use stress as energy.
Speaker BSo when we recognize it's just energy, right?
Speaker BLike, our body is giving us energy to meet the moment.
Speaker BBecause what our brain is interpreting is, oh, my gosh, there is something that I have to react to.
Speaker BAnd so it puts our body on this heightened path, and from there, it's up to us to decide what we want to do with that path.
Speaker BLike, do we want to use that energy to go to a protest?
Speaker BWe want to use that energy to open a hair salon?
Speaker BDo we want to use that energy to call all these clients and try and get new?
Speaker BDo we want to use that energy to sit and go, oh, my gosh, I'm so stressed out, I can't take it anymore?
Speaker BRight?
Speaker BLike, so there's all these different pathways that we can point down, but the.
Speaker BThe opportunity to use stress to our advantages is there.
Speaker AThis is so first of all, this.
Speaker AThis whole thought line of thinking for me, I really like this because, like, I, like, I've always felt like I am able to reframe stress and, like, you know, use it to my advantage.
Speaker ABut until I started a business, and then all of a sudden, it was very much kind of like, kind of like, kind of lean into it and, like, understand it and, like, make room for it or something like that.
Speaker ASo then I was like, it's the end of the day.
Speaker AI'm stressed out.
Speaker AI need to Relax.
Speaker AAnd that turned into me.
Speaker AMy productivity went down, like, so much.
Speaker AAnd then at some point I broke out of it, you know?
Speaker BYeah, I mean, like.
Speaker BAnd listen, I want to, I want to be really clear in that.
Speaker BIs there a right way to do it?
Speaker BWell, based on my research, maybe, but with a big asterisk there because people are so individual, right?
Speaker BAnd so, like, one of the workplace studies I love to cite, there was a, there was this study done in, gosh, I think it was 2012 maybe.
Speaker BAnd they looked at 90 workplace interventions, okay, for stress.
Speaker BSo things like meditation, massage, one to one, coaching, I mean, you name it, they were looking at 90 different interventions and every single one of them had no effect or made stress worse with the exception of one.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker BAnd this is, this is where, this is where I think it's like mind blowing because we, we all, we all seek those things, right?
Speaker BWe're like, okay, I just, I'm gonna go get a massage.
Speaker BI'm gonna go talk to my coach, my therapist, whatever.
Speaker BAnd those are all fine, but they may not be managing stress the way we think they are.
Speaker BSo the one exception was community service.
Speaker BFull stop.
Speaker BEspecially in your industry.
Speaker BThink about your work as community service.
Speaker BBecause what most people don't notice under stress is that while we're all familiar with the number one stress hormone, right, cortisol, the number two hormone that's released during stress is oxytocin.
Speaker BThat's the cuddle hormone, the love hormone, the connection hormone.
Speaker BAnd so our body is looking for ways to connect with other people.
Speaker BAnd when we do that, when we, when we reach out, when we actually help others, when we are stressed, we're helping ourselves.
Speaker BAnd so in those moments where you're like, oh my gosh, I am so overwhelmed, I can't even like my, my ask of any of us that are listening is, what's the smallest thing?
Speaker BThe like, don't, don't go grand gesture.
Speaker BWhat's the smallest thing that you can do for somebody else right now?
Speaker BMaybe it's just like texting a friend saying, hey, I'm thinking of you.
Speaker BMaybe it's buying the person behind you a cup of coffee.
Speaker BLike, what is that small thing?
Speaker BAnd then apply that same small little bit of energy that you get from that nice oxytocin connection to the smallest step forward you can take in your work.
Speaker BWhat's the, what's the smallest thing?
Speaker BDon't you know?
Speaker BI've got a 20 page paper to write.
Speaker BDon't sit down to write 20 page paper.
Speaker BWrite one sentence.
Speaker BCommit to that small thing, because what that does is it sets your brain into the cycle of dopamine hits.
Speaker BThat's like, oh, that felt good.
Speaker BWell, this feels good too.
Speaker BOh, oh, gosh, let's just keep going here.
Speaker BAnd you get into this cycle where your productivity goes back up without that massive stress response kicking back in.
Speaker AThat's so fascinating stuff.
Speaker ASo that's fascinating.
Speaker ASo anybody who has been, who knows me and all the people that have been following Hairdresser Strong knows that I think that community is the answer to almost all the problems that we address in the industry.
Speaker AAnd so I love that.
Speaker ALike, that just makes me feel like I'm onto something.
Speaker BYeah, absolutely.
Speaker BI think you're more than onto something.
Speaker BI think.
Speaker BGosh, it's so funny.
Speaker BThe first person that I called just before this interview was my hairdresser because I was stressed about something and I was like, let me do this little thing.
Speaker BLet me just, let me do this little favor.
Speaker BAnd, and it, you know, I don't think, I don't think we give you well enough credit for the amount of stress relief that you provide for, for people.
Speaker BSo maybe that's helpful for your own stress.
Speaker AYeah, you know that I appreciate that.
Speaker AI, I, I will say that, you know, on that topic, it feels like an interest, a good segue into like, so a common thing that is talked about online and on social media and in the comments is that hairdressers take on a lot of stress.
Speaker AAnd we're not all the best at standing with people as opposed to like, what we might do more often is standing, stand in their stress with, with them versus, like, standing next to them to support them.
Speaker AAnd if that, if I'm saying that.
Speaker BRight, if I'm making, saying that very well.
Speaker BYep, you're saying that very well.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker ASo, so that, that's a big conversation.
Speaker AAnd, and so I'd be curious to one hear what you have first starting the, that what you have, what your thoughts are about that.
Speaker ALike, if there's anybody out there being like, Because I know, for example, for myself, I, I check out when I'm behind the chair.
Speaker ALike, it's like the one time in my life where I, it's like, it's like the part of my life that I feel like, I know it's like a boundary where I know I don't have to answer my phone because it's like, well, I'm doing hair.
Speaker AYou know, I don't, I don't have to do anything except for take care of my customer.
Speaker BYou Know, see, that's interesting.
Speaker BI would have said the exact.
Speaker BI would say you check in.
Speaker BYou actually check in.
Speaker BIn when you're.
Speaker BWhen you're doing hair, right?
Speaker BLike, you are.
Speaker BYou are in the zone.
Speaker BYou're in that flow state.
Speaker BAnd.
Speaker BAnd that's a really special space to be in.
Speaker BAnd it's a very vulnerable spot to be in because you.
Speaker BYou are so connected and so empathetic to the person in the chair that it can be really easy to take, as you said, take on all of that, rather than staying with them by their side, hearing them saying, wow, that must be tough, and not allowing yourself to get dragged into that.
Speaker AAnd do you have any.
Speaker AIf some.
Speaker ASomeone is listening or watching that's thinking, oh, my gosh, that's me.
Speaker ADo you have any advice for any.
Speaker AAny, like, anything to put in someone's toolkit on how to.
Speaker AI don't know, not, like, go ahead.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker BI.
Speaker BI wish.
Speaker BI wish I had, like, a better answer to this.
Speaker BBut here's what I'll say.
Speaker BMaybe a little reframe here is helpful because I genuinely believe that what you're doing is a superpower, right?
Speaker BYou're a super empathizer, and empaths take on the world.
Speaker BAnd so recognizing that and just giving yourself the same grace that you would give your client, the same grace that you would give the person that walks through the door.
Speaker BGive yourself that for a moment.
Speaker BJust take two minutes after a client leaves and just pick a minute for you and.
Speaker BAnd shake that.
Speaker BShake that out.
Speaker BI mean, movement is huge.
Speaker BSo I know you all are on your feet all day, but you're.
Speaker BYou're not necessarily, like, getting a lot of massive steps in.
Speaker BLike, there's steps in between.
Speaker BBut, like, take a moment and do, like, 10 jumping jacks and just get it out.
Speaker BBecause that acute level of stress, like getting your heart rate up, actually allows your body to come back down fully.
Speaker BSo maybe that moment of grace, getting your heart rate up and then.
Speaker BBecause literally what your brain believes is you're out running the tiger, right?
Speaker BThere's some threat, even if it's somebody else's threat, right, that you've taken on and now you've got to get rid of it.
Speaker BSo, like, get that energy up to allow yourself to fully breathe it out and then carry on.
Speaker AIt's so interesting because it's like, in some ways, it sounds like we have not evolved that much since our.
Speaker AOur ancestors.
Speaker BOh, it's only a few generations.
Speaker BLike, this is.
Speaker BThis is the crazy thing.
Speaker BLike, people are like, oh, that was forever ago, my guys, like, I don't know, a couple of generations before your grandparents, you know, this is it.
Speaker AThat's good.
Speaker BWe really.
Speaker BYeah, we really aren't that evolved.
Speaker BAnd so, you know, there's a reason we love fats and sugar so much.
Speaker BLike, I know for a fact that you love either French fries, hamburgers, or ice cream.
Speaker BLike, or all of the above.
Speaker BYeah, because they are delicious.
Speaker BBecause that's the human tendency.
Speaker BBecause our brains believe that we can't go down and get 5,000 calories for $5 in under five minutes, even though we can.
Speaker BBecause our brains evolved in that space of, like, oh, my gosh, there's limited calories.
Speaker BAnd.
Speaker BAnd so, like, really, our brains evolved to eat all the things, move very little.
Speaker BAnd so all of these things that, like, don't serve us anymore.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BBe scared of people that look different, act different, think different.
Speaker BI mean, these are all natural.
Speaker BAnd the.
Speaker BThe fallacy is natural is always good.
Speaker BNope.
Speaker BNope.
Speaker BIt just is a product of the environment that we lived in.
Speaker BAnd so here we are, and we have a choice now.
Speaker BAnd that's the thing that I think is so powerful, is being able to choose.
Speaker BWhat mindset do we want?
Speaker BSo you said from the start, and actually, I wanted to come back to this.
Speaker BYou said from the start that, you know, stress and how.
Speaker BHow stress shows up is a choice, and it really is.
Speaker BWe don't get to choose the stressors, they're going to come in.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker BStressors find us.
Speaker BBut then what we do with that stress, that's.
Speaker BThat's really.
Speaker BThat's really the crux of it.
Speaker BBecause if I can cite another study that, like, blew my mind here, right?
Speaker BThis was a study in 2013 that looked at 30,000 people across eight years.
Speaker BAnd what they found was that people who believed that stress was bad for them but very high levels of stress and believed that it was bad for them died at a very high mortality rate, 43% higher than controls.
Speaker BNow, most of us are going, yeah, that makes sense that, you know, stress is bad.
Speaker BBut here's the important piece of the study.
Speaker BPeople that had the same level of stress, very high levels of stress, but simply believed that stress wasn't bad for them.
Speaker BStress was good or just energy or, you know, it was irrelevant.
Speaker BThey had the lowest mortality rate.
Speaker BSo the difference wasn't the amount of stress in a person's life.
Speaker BThe difference was whether or not they believed stress was good or bad for them.
Speaker BAnd that, like, that blows my mind because that shows how much power we have.
Speaker ARight, yeah, that, that blows my mind too.
Speaker AAnd I, I, I will say this.
Speaker AI would say I believe that to be true.
Speaker AI know that there are, and, and, and then I would move on with that information.
Speaker ABut I know there are people out there that are going to say, I don't know about that.
Speaker ASo I have to ask, how did this study actually happen in order to find that information out?
Speaker BYeah, I'll actually, I'll send you the citation.
Speaker BSo this was a, this is a study done at Harvard across eight years and looking at mortality rates for, I think it was, I think it was only Americans.
Speaker BSo there's a, there's limitations there.
Speaker BBut they literally looked at who was dying and, and they were able to look at overall rates of stress and they had different categories of like high stress, medium stress, low stress, self rated stress, assessed stress.
Speaker BSo it was, it was a really rigorous study and really powerful one because at the end of the day what their data showed was that 182,000 people died prematurely, not from stress, but from the belief that that stress was bad for them.
Speaker BAnd that's the kicker.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker BWe're really dismissive of the placebo effect of like, oh, well, that's just what my brain is telling me.
Speaker BYeah, it's, it's crazy, crazy powerful stuff.
Speaker BAnd so, and this can be scary.
Speaker BThis can be a stress point for people.
Speaker BIt's like, well, but my brain doesn't believe that yet.
Speaker BThat's okay.
Speaker BThat's all right.
Speaker BYou know, take some time to think about what it is that you actually believe.
Speaker BWhat do you believe to be true about yourself?
Speaker BWhat do you believe to be true about stress?
Speaker BWhat do you believe to be true about any of these things?
Speaker BAnd check your stories because they are incredibly powerful in how you show up in the world.
Speaker AI love that.
Speaker AI love that.
Speaker AOkay, so now I think what I want to do is keep this conversation moving.
Speaker ASo, so hairdressers and their stress.
Speaker AAnd so now, you know, it's a, you know, you could say it's all over the country, but specifically this is going to time this information.
Speaker ABut like as in by talking about current event, this is no longer like an evergreen conversation.
Speaker BSorry, it kind of.
Speaker BIt will be, it will be, it.
Speaker AWill be, it'll be historic.
Speaker BGoing to be something.
Speaker BYeah, there's always going to be something.
Speaker BYep.
Speaker AOkay, so in Washington D.C.
Speaker Aif any of the viewers or audience is not paying attention to what's going on in the world, good for you.
Speaker ABecause it's out here and it's like people are coming into the salon.
Speaker AWe are.
Speaker AI'm in Washington, D.C.
Speaker Awe.
Speaker AWe talk to the nation, but we commune regularly with local hair folk, mostly hairpreneurs, people who are in business or want to be in business or trying to grow themselves.
Speaker AAnd we do meetups.
Speaker AWe do online conversations and stuff.
Speaker AWell, the stress is real when you have a significant portion of the local employment base losing their jobs.
Speaker AAnd it's not just people losing their jobs.
Speaker AIt's also people who had businesses that are no longer getting funded or people who had nonprofits that are now along and getting funded.
Speaker AAnd.
Speaker AAnd then you have all of their friends and relatives that are also our clients.
Speaker AAnd.
Speaker AAnd I've been talking to people, and I haven't talked to anybody who said a lot of their clients are losing their jobs.
Speaker AAnd so, so far, it's not a significant material.
Speaker AAt least material is the wrong word.
Speaker AFinancial impact.
Speaker AYet no one's.
Speaker ANo one's quite seen it.
Speaker AI've had one or two clients say that they're gonna lose.
Speaker AThey're gonna lose a job.
Speaker AOne was a political appointee, so she knew that she was gonna lose her job, so she wasn't as worried about it, but the other person was.
Speaker AAnyway, my point is, like, it's not really the people losing their jobs.
Speaker AIt is those people.
Speaker AAnd I be.
Speaker AWe're having a talk about how to talk to those people.
Speaker ABut the real is, it's like people are coming in.
Speaker AThey're so stressed out because it's, like, their friends losing the jobs or just, like, everything's kind of being flipped upside down.
Speaker AAnd, like, how.
Speaker AWhat?
Speaker ALike, business is not as.
Speaker ALike, as usual.
Speaker AIt's not business as usual in D.C.
Speaker Ait's not.
Speaker AAnd.
Speaker AAnd so everyone's very super stressed.
Speaker AAnd like we mentioned, we're.
Speaker AWe're kind of in that space with them very close, and people want to kind of, like, get it off their chest.
Speaker ASome people really want to just, like, escape and not talk about it at all.
Speaker BYeah, I bet.
Speaker ABut some people just, like, get into it, and then.
Speaker AAnd then, like, the people next sit next to them in the salon are like.
Speaker AThey're like, oh, you know, and then they want to talk about it, and then it turns to this huge conversation, and then you're not sure who around you actually wanted to listen and who wanted to escape.
Speaker ASo, anyway, I'll stop there.
Speaker AI set the stage.
Speaker AWhat do you guys.
Speaker AWhat are your thoughts?
Speaker AWhat are the first things that come to your mind?
Speaker BYou know, when you first started talking about the situation?
Speaker BI.
Speaker BI thought you were going to ask me a different question.
Speaker BAnd the question that I thought you were going to ask is like, is this a bad time to be in hair?
Speaker BIs this a bad time to open a salon?
Speaker BIs this.
Speaker BAnd, and I don't know if that, if that's a helpful question to answer or not, but that's, that's where my head was going.
Speaker BI, you know, I think, I think we're always going to live in strange times, full stop in dc.
Speaker BIs it particularly strange right now?
Speaker BAbsolutely.
Speaker BI am not trying to deny anything that is happening.
Speaker BAnd this is, this is kind of evergreen.
Speaker BThere is always going to be political turmoil.
Speaker BThere is always going to be changes happening in the world.
Speaker BThere are always going to be people losing their jobs.
Speaker BOne of the things about the hair industry that I think is special is, is it's relatively recession proof.
Speaker BPeople need their haircut.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker BAnd, and so with the exception of some clients who literally will not be able to afford it, I suspect that you won't see a huge drastic decrease in any of these, in any of the people that you're serving that said, what they want to talk about, what they need to get off their chest probably will ship.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker BAnd, and I think this is, look, I'm not a hairdresser, but I know the stuff that I lay on my hairdresser and I, I kind of want to go call her right now and be like, I'm so sorry.
Speaker BLike, I don't.
Speaker BI hope you're not taking all of this on that I'm, that I'm just layering on top.
Speaker BI think it's going to be important to be mindful that, that you don't take all of that with you, but that you are an open ear so that you can just, you know, I like to give reflective questions back.
Speaker BLike, this is what I hear you're saying.
Speaker BHow does that make you feel?
Speaker BThis is what I'm hearing.
Speaker BWow, that's gotta be tough.
Speaker BWhat?
Speaker BLike just, just reflecting back to them what they're saying, I think is one of the most powerful things that we can do because it allows people just to feel heard.
Speaker BThere's not going to be a lot of solutions for a lot of the things that are coming down D.C.
Speaker Bright now.
Speaker ARight.
Speaker BLike, I mean, what can you as an individual do?
Speaker BIt feels really, we feel very out of control and our stress response to that is, oh my gosh, how do I get control?
Speaker BHow do I get control?
Speaker BHow do I get.
Speaker BWe don't need that calm in that.
Speaker BWhat we need is a Direction to point ourselves.
Speaker BAnd so I would say first, what's happening is they're using you for this three minutes of screaming terror.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BJust allowing people to have those three minutes of just freaking out and hearing them and providing that safe space is such an undervalued service that you're doing.
Speaker BThe second piece there that I would encourage people to do is help them redirect that energy and say, okay, what small step can we do together that would make you feel better?
Speaker BWhat small step can you do that is going to give you back some of that power and control that you're so desperate for?
Speaker BWhat is the smallest thing that you can do with all of this energy that's not just screaming in my chair?
Speaker BAnd you know, that, of course, is going to have to use.
Speaker BBe used with discretion.
Speaker BYou probably don't want to ask anybody, like, hey, what are you going to do about it?
Speaker BBut I think people are looking to you for that guidance.
Speaker BSo I'd say use.
Speaker BHave them.
Speaker BHave them redirect some of that energy.
Speaker BThat's a powerful space to be in.
Speaker AThat's so.
Speaker AThat's my pup.
Speaker ASo anyway, so I think that I love that because I.
Speaker AI mean, I love this reframe kind of this, this whole reframe thing, because I don't know if it.
Speaker AIt connects.
Speaker AAnd I'm curious of what you say, but, like, there's a.
Speaker AAn adage of.
Speaker AFor investing, it's like, be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful.
Speaker AAnd so when I learned that, I'm like, oh, I can do that.
Speaker ALike, I can't get ahead because, like, I didn't, you know, I didn't have any money, you know, so, like, growing up, being young and like, just, you know, being scrappy, shampooing hair and, like, really not making a lot of money, but I had like a hundred bucks, and it's like.
Speaker ABut I didn't want to put that 100 bucks buy anything with that hundred dollars because I couldn't get ahead during good times.
Speaker ABut if.
Speaker AWhen I found out that when everybody's freaking out and the markets are crashing, I should put that money in and I'll get outsized returns.
Speaker AAnd so I kind of feel like it's a little bit like that kind of vibe, but not, obviously not investing.
Speaker BAnd with stress energy.
Speaker BYeah, you're investing your stress energy.
Speaker BYeah, absolutely.
Speaker BI think that's a great analogy.
Speaker BYeah, for sure.
Speaker BNobody's freaking out.
Speaker BGood.
Speaker BGo do the thing.
Speaker BInvest in that.
Speaker ASo then that.
Speaker AThen to your.
Speaker AThe question that you you were thinking.
Speaker AI was going to ask, like, if someone's saying, and I'm not expecting to get to take this as business or financial advice.
Speaker AUh, but in your.
Speaker AHow would you respond to.
Speaker AHow would you respond to someone who was like, should I.
Speaker AI have an opportunity to open up a small business right now, but I'm a little worried because it looks like the local economy is going to tank and it might not come back for a while.
Speaker BYep.
Speaker BWith.
Speaker BWith the full disclosure that you just gave me of.
Speaker BI'm not a financial planner.
Speaker BI'm not a business.
Speaker BWell, I am a business person, but.
Speaker BBut not in your industry.
Speaker BThere's never a good time.
Speaker BAnd if there is a good time, it's probably when there's a lot of disruption going on.
Speaker BAnd so now maybe a great opportunity when everybody's doing this, to slide into a really great location, to slide into a space that might not be available when the markets are up to.
Speaker BTo get some.
Speaker BTo steal some competitors.
Speaker BOpportunities because they're distracted by all of this.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker BSo it's a.
Speaker BI'm.
Speaker BI'm a go person.
Speaker BI say, like, yeah, invest now.
Speaker BWhy not?
Speaker BBecause.
Speaker BBecause.
Speaker BAll right, this is, this is my, My.
Speaker BOne of my big takeaways is that fear is always going to hold you back.
Speaker BFear is going to be the thing that says anything but anything but failure, anything but not being able to repay back my loan, anything but blah, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker BBut fear doesn't point you toward anything.
Speaker BAnd in this moment, having a direction, being able to point towards something and work towards something, that allows you to take all of that stress, energy and really, like, drive, really go somewhere.
Speaker BSo I think it's a great time.
Speaker AYeah, I.
Speaker AI like that.
Speaker AI like that.
Speaker AI think, I think this idea about stress and trying to reframe it and identify how you can leverage at least.
Speaker AAt least some amount of the stress into some sort of positive vibe is so good.
Speaker AOkay, so a big topic that we talk about here at Hairdresser Strong is that we work a lot with the young people that.
Speaker AYoung people, people that are in cosmetology school that are training to become stylists, like rising stylists, new talent.
Speaker AAnd we focus on what they're going through, what their challenges are, trying to find solutions.
Speaker AAnd when I talk to them, they're very much looking at, like, they're stressed out about wanting to work, you know, for somebody or working full time or like, they're stressed out about that they don't want to find the wrong place.
Speaker AAnd then, so what it leads to.
Speaker AIs like, a lot of times, most students, like, I'm like 80% or more when I go and visit the schools, have never looked and see.
Speaker AEven look to see what salons or shops they want to work in.
Speaker ABut 80% say they want to work in a salon or shop after school.
Speaker ASo when I asked them why, they're saying, well, I'm just going to focus on my school.
Speaker AAnd the only challenge with that, in my opinion, is that I think that that is deflection.
Speaker AI think that it's kind of an overwhelm thing, because I asked one.
Speaker AI got.
Speaker AI got a really good answer from a student who said, you know, you're.
Speaker AYou come into the school, you know, and it's like, you got to remember, like, who we.
Speaker AWhat's going on with us.
Speaker ASo, like, I'm sitting at home on my phone, googling all this information about my career path.
Speaker AI'm creating this plan, and I'm, like, finding my job and that I can make money at while I'm in school because I can't make.
Speaker AI can't work at this job because I can't make this much money.
Speaker ASo they figure out this puzzle, this algorithm of their life, and then they go, press go.
Speaker AAnd then I walk through the door, and I'm like, hey, just joking.
Speaker AY'all are gonna have to do some additional training if you want to work at a salon that charges enough money for you to earn median income in any metropolitan area.
Speaker ANow, if you live in a smaller town, maybe that doesn't apply, but I know in D.C.
Speaker Anobody will.
Speaker ANobody will put you on the floor without six.
Speaker AMaybe there's one or two salons that might do three months of training, but most are like six to 12 months of training.
Speaker AAnd.
Speaker AAnd they don't really, really like that.
Speaker AAnd so, yeah, so I say, but you can get a jump start on it if you start working.
Speaker AIf you go and find a salon now and then you can get working and you can speed your space up.
Speaker AAnd then this young woman tells me that.
Speaker AShe's like, you know, you come in through the door after I got all my ducks in a row and all my balls up in the air, and I'm juggling them, and you're like, oh, guess what?
Speaker AYou need to do more.
Speaker AAnd I'm like, wait until I'm out of school, because, like, that's too stressful.
Speaker AI need my work life balance.
Speaker BOh, to me, that word so much.
Speaker BOkay, first of all, can we just talk about work life balance?
Speaker BIf I could just Write like any word or combination of words.
Speaker BIt might be work, life balance.
Speaker BLike, what the heck is work if it's not part of life?
Speaker BLike, this is, this is one of the things.
Speaker BLike, I'm sorry.
Speaker BLike, this is show up.
Speaker BYou show up as you, no matter where you are, whether it work, whether life.
Speaker BLife is life.
Speaker BOkay, so we're throwing out the door.
Speaker BHere's the other thing.
Speaker BI honestly think your deflection, I think you're right.
Speaker BI think, look, everybody's juggling a lot of things.
Speaker BAnd the challenges, when somebody challenges your trajectory, it's like, oh, well, this, I had all my ducks in a row.
Speaker BLike, I have it figured out.
Speaker BAnd they're like, oh, just joking.
Speaker BHere, try this.
Speaker BAnd disruption is going to continue to change.
Speaker BIt just feels new.
Speaker BAnd so you're going, ah, this is scary.
Speaker BI don't want to do it.
Speaker BBecause anything new, anything that we don't plan for is first scary.
Speaker BAnd so my, my advice to anybody that finds themselves in this position is to do a little fear setting exercise where you write down all of the things that could go wrong, right?
Speaker BOh, I will screw up my work, life, balance, whatever that is, Right.
Speaker BI'm going to do this and this is going to fall through and that's not going to work.
Speaker BAnd good, write that all down.
Speaker BAnd then I need you to move over to the next column and write all of the costs of the inaction, all of the things that you are going to miss out on because you don't do that thing.
Speaker AThat's so good.
Speaker BRight?
Speaker BAnd then I want you to go to a third column and I want you to assume all of the things go wrong that you predicted were going to go wrong.
Speaker BThen once you write down how you can repair them.
Speaker BSo, like, this is, this is.
Speaker BPeople like to plan.
Speaker BWe like to feel like we're in control of our life even when we're not.
Speaker BSo this is a nice little planning tool to help you see, first of all, there's costs that we don't think about, like the cost of our inaction.
Speaker BSo it forces you to think about that, and then it forces you to think about, well, just how bad are these costs of my action?
Speaker BLike if I do fail, if it, if it does, if I do drop some balls, how can I repair them?
Speaker BWhat does that look like?
Speaker BAnd so we put a plan in place that makes it that much easier to slide that extra thing in so that we don't have massive levels of regret six months later.
Speaker AOh, that is so, so good.
Speaker BOh, my gosh Good, good.
Speaker AI feel like that's.
Speaker AI mean, I feel like that's a great place to, like, start trying to wrap it up.
Speaker ALike, that was, like, so good dropping those mics.
Speaker BYeah, thanks.
Speaker AAbsolutely.
Speaker AAnd so not only a bunch of, like, beautiful, like, nuggets of.
Speaker AOf gold, but also an exercise.
Speaker AI mean, what else could we ask for?
Speaker BI mean, go do it.
Speaker BGo do it.
Speaker BFor sure.
Speaker BIt's.
Speaker BThat has been something that has really, really helped me as I struggle with decisions or, you know, the cost of inaction is always more powerful than we give ourselves credit for.
Speaker AI'm.
Speaker AI'm actually going to a meeting after this, and we are whiteboarding out and we're pitching somebody to come on board with hairdresser strong and he has another opportunity.
Speaker AAnd so, like, we're trying to figure out if we can figure out how to make it all work.
Speaker AAnd that is an incredible exercise to like.
Speaker BI love that.
Speaker BThat's perfect.
Speaker BYeah, yeah.
Speaker BHere's the other exercise I'll give you really quick.
Speaker BReally quick, because I think this is actually really applicable the year to your whole industry.
Speaker BPeople talk about five out of five star experiences, right?
Speaker BLike, you get Google reviews.
Speaker BFive out of five stars.
Speaker BGreat.
Speaker BWhat does that mean?
Speaker BWhat that means is the customer came in, they got what they expected, they left, nothing more.
Speaker AFive stars.
Speaker BSo my challenge to you is, what does a 7 out of 5 star experience look like?
Speaker BBecause the question that we ask is, should not be.
Speaker BIt should not be.
Speaker BHow can we make this a little bit better?
Speaker BThe question that we need to be asking is, how do I get you to talk about it?
Speaker BHow do I get you to tell all of your friends about this experience?
Speaker BAnd that kind of like, that kind of thinking that out of the box, like, who's going to?
Speaker BWho's going to.
Speaker BHow will this video go viral?
Speaker BRight?
Speaker BThat's.
Speaker BThat's really what you're asking.
Speaker BAnd.
Speaker BAnd it's about getting inside of people's heads to say, when you go see your friends and they're like, oh, I love your haircut.
Speaker BHow was the salon?
Speaker BYou don't just say, yeah, it was fine.
Speaker BIt was good.
Speaker BYou say, oh, my gosh, wait till I tell you this story about what happened.
Speaker BThat's pretty powerful stuff.
Speaker AAnd you know what that is so relevant to right now?
Speaker ABecause people are so much looking for experiences.
Speaker AAnd so not only can you, like, please take care of your customers, but you can also level yourself up with that type of thinking.
Speaker ASo that was awesome.
Speaker BOkay, thanks.
Speaker AYou're awesome.
Speaker AThis is such a Pleasure.
Speaker AI.
Speaker ADo you have any last minute pieces of some anything to say or any advice that you might want to give before we sign off?
Speaker BMan, just thank you so much.
Speaker BIf, if you feel so inclined, I would love to like pitch my book at you that is coming this fall.
Speaker BSpringboard.
Speaker BIf you want some more insides and insights and tips, I'd love for you to pre order a copy or reach out to me if you have any further questions or comments.
Speaker BI'd be happy to talk with you.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BAnd thank you all for, for all of the incredible work that you do.
Speaker BI think the world owes you a bow of gratitude.
Speaker BSo thank you.
Speaker AThank you.
Speaker AI, you know, with the last couple minutes left, would you want to tell I.
Speaker ASo Kat from Boulevard bought me that book at Serious Business and I haven't had a chance to read it and I've been want, I've been wanting to open up and I'm, and it's lent, so I'm, I'm canceling TV during the week so I can read at night and that's on my list.
Speaker AWould you give us a little like maybe a little bit more of a kind of overview of what, what the, what's going on with the book?
Speaker BIt's my life's work.
Speaker BI mean it literally.
Speaker BIt is my life's work.
Speaker BSo it is.
Speaker BSpringboard is all about how do we use our stress.
Speaker BSo it's a lot of what we've talked about today and it's interspersed with my personal stories and just, just powerful ways to, to utilize your stress as a springboard to perform better and, and help yourself and others around you.
Speaker BThat's the pitch.
Speaker BWhat it is.
Speaker AI can't wait.
Speaker AI can't wait.
Speaker AWell, thank you so much.
Speaker AIt was such a pleasure and I look forward to following you and everybody.
Speaker AHow can people find you?
Speaker BYou can come to my website, rebeccaheist.com or find me on Instagram Dr.
Speaker BRebecca Heist or just reach out to me by email.
Speaker BIt's really easy.
Speaker BRebeccaebeccaheist.com so I'm very findable.
Speaker AAwesome.
Speaker AAnd we'll include all of that in the description below.
Speaker AIf you want to check her out.
Speaker AGo for it.
Speaker ARebecca, you're awesome.
Speaker AThank you so much and I hope you have a wonderful day.
Speaker BIt's been a pleasure.
Speaker BAppreciate.