Salon Rising: The Podcast

 Transcript

Welcome back to the Inner Sanctum, Salon Rising, the podcast. We're getting real good at that. So good. When I say we, um, I mean, you, I don't ever say it, man. I appreciate that. Um, Samara, I'm going to introduce our special guest this morning, if that's okay with you. So I'm really excited because today we are joined by the beautiful Alyssa, who's flown all the way in from New Zealand to spend the morning with us.

I know I've been talking about, I'm so excited. Like, I know I came in this morning. It's like, it's so cold. And they're like, it's not, um, so Elisa is the general manager of Kitomba and for anybody that is listening, that doesn't know what Kitomba is, um, do you have a special tagline that will go with this?

Or shall I just do a little spiel spiel? Oh, do the spiel. I want to hear it. So Kitomba is a software system designed for businesses within the hair and beauty industry, predominantly. But can be used for some others, uh, that have a team, correct? Is there anything I've missed off that? Probably. I mean, others could use it, but we definitely are very, in the hair and beauty space, and it's been really special for us to be doing some work with Kitomba because obviously Samara has been using Kitomba in her salon for some time now, I don't even know how long, maybe like 12 years.

I don't know what we had before that, to be honest, it was probably a paper. I do, but we're not saying, no, but it was like, no, no, no. Before that. No, I know we're not saying names before that. It was like a dodgy online system that was like, correct. Yeah. It wasn't like any predominant. It became, it began with a no.

Okay. So it was like, I kind of remember, I think I remember what it was, but it was just very basic. I went from paper book. Yeah. To that paper book to iPads to then we got Kitomba. Yeah. We went all in and yeah, it's been a dream. Yeah. Yeah. So Alyssa. And we reached out to Kitomba because I love it so much that I kept saying to you and Rich, can we please reach out?

Can we please reach out? Like I use this program all the time and I talk about it all the time. We need to know them. Yes. So I think let's just have a little backstory on Alyssa first. So I think, so you have not always been in the hair and beauty industry, correct? No. Yeah. So how long have you been working with Kitomba?

Cause it was that your first step into the space? Yes. Yeah. So I've been with Kitomba for eight and a half years. And you originally started in the marketing space, correct? Yeah. So I started marketing and management at uni and really liked marketing. So I thought, right, that's kind of what I'm going to pursue.

Um, and was lucky enough to get my first job with another brand in Wellington and worked there for three years and learned so much. Um, and then decided it was time to move on, um, to learn more and this Kitomba role, you know, showed up as a marketing and communications executive and it just sounded amazing.

I'd always wanted to get into kind of the hair business. Beauty or kind of fashion kind of space, typical girl thinking, you know, you're going to love those types of products the most. Um, and yeah, so that kind of, that really drew me to it, but also the team and the software side as well. I thought that could actually be really, really interesting rather than kind of physical products where I was before.

So I think it was so interesting because we were having a chat before we came on camera and you were in that marketing space. During COVID and that must've been so challenging because you really would have had to rally the spirits of everybody that is subscribing to your platform that feels like their whole business is being ripped out from underneath them.

So that must've been a really hard space to be in. Yeah. I mean, I just didn't know what to do. So I was running the marketing team at that time and I just felt for our industry so much because I felt. Not that they did lose their businesses overnight, but it felt like they had lost their businesses and I just sat there feeling useless thinking, what on earth can we do?

And there were still aspects of the software that could be used, which was great, but in terms of how much our customers use our software day to day, that just wasn't enough. You know, that need wasn't there anymore. They didn't have clients coming in. Um, and there was still certain things that they could be doing, but it's also how do we help them survive and how long is that going to go for as well?

It was completely unknown. Um, so yeah, really, really tough. It's such a crazy time. Hey, like when you think back now, I can't, I just, I still blows my mind that all of that even happened. So. So when was it that you took on the general manager's role? Uh, so it was the end of 2022. So it's been about a year and a half now.

Yeah. Yeah. Exciting. Crazy, right? Yeah. I think one of the amazing things about Kitomba and why I've been there for so long is because They're always giving their people opportunities to learn and grow. Um, you know, otherwise like my previous job, I didn't want to leave the company. It was amazing. I loved the product, but I got to a point where I knew there was nowhere for me to go next, or is it Kitomba of kind of, there's always been, Oh, here's another opportunity and here's another one.

And another one, um, And, you know, some really big challenges as well, things that I never thought I would do. Um, but I'm just really lucky to work for such a great company and, you know, have had managers that have really believed in me and been like, you know, I really like that. We always love a great company culture, company culture, all about it.

So I think. Samara, let's talk a little bit into your journey with the product, because Kitomba is something you are super passionate about. So let's talk a little bit about the why's behind that and your, your journey with the product. I don't remember. I heard you guys say before, like, why did you take it on?

I don't remember, to be honest, it's been, I've been with the company for so long. Um, I think I just looked back, I'd seen other software at the time when I'd started, and I don't know what's. Screamed out about Kutumba for me, but I don't know. Do you remember? I remember us implementing it. Like I remember the day that we had our onboarding and all the training.

I think it really came down to the fact that the business was growing and it was growing in a way that the things that we were using would not support it anymore. And it, we needed software that was going to do some heavy lifting. And we, Come from a Jen and I, back in the day, we'd come from a salon that had big software, so we were like, okay, the software is what's important now.

Yeah. Yeah. I think it was important for you at that time because your business was growing Yes. Very, very rapidly and you needed something that was going to support you Yeah. During that growth. Yeah. And, and especially I think the team features. Yeah. Uh, even just the little thing about. The, the targets being able to be individually seen was one of the key things that got me over the line at that time.

Even now, like I still, like anyone is listening to this every single, I can, I tell me if I'm wrong, anyone can comment on these videos and go, no, you're wrong, but nobody uses the full features of any computer software. Because we just, There's so much, there's actually so much in Kitomba that I don't use because I'm like, I'm handling the rest of the beast and it's not like I'm working that day to day.

But the thing about that is, and I always say to other people, like, I don't use it because I don't know how. So I'm just like, I can't do it. Whereas I'm realizing now. And I always talk to my clients that it's because I feared doing it. I don't think I can do it, that I don't use it. And it could be such a good tool if I was actually using it.

So it is something that I'm like, I want to get in there now and actually be using the features because every time I. I'm like, holy shit, this has changed my life and my business. You do. 100%. And this is something that you were saying as well before, Alyssa, that's a real trend. It's like that, you know, I mean, obviously like Kitomba is your, you know, your team's baby and you know, all the incredible things that people could be utilizing, but do you think everybody's utilizing their stuff?

No, absolutely not. And it's like your iPhone. How much of your iPhone do you use? I'm sure it's probably like, oh, Not like 10 or 15 percent of our iPhones, right? Um, it's just kind of life. It's human nature. It's, we're all busy. Um, but I think there's so much that our customers could be using that could add so much value to their business or save them time, or, you know, you've got to put time, you've got to find the time to put in to learn how to use the feature in the first place.

Um, but then you, I think you need to think about, well, what are going to be The, I guess, benefits and pros that come out of you putting that time. And it's probably going to be like, you get a lot of time. You always say slow down to speed up, slow down to speed up. Okay. So I'm going to say that this to you now, cause I will make myself do this.

Cause I was listening to something this morning and it was telling me like each morning you should work on mind, body, and soul. And I was like, okay, what am I doing actually for my mind? So where do I find the information that I need to start learning more about Kitomba? Cause there's heaps online, isn't there?

Yeah. So we've got tons of, you know, videos and, um, we've got support guides. We've got an amazing support team who's there that call them up, Hey, I want to start using campaign marketing. Can you help me? Um, there's lots of different things that are available, um, on social media as well. Um, and then you can also purchase training as well.

So you could spend, you know, an hour or three hours with one of our trainers and go, these are the goals in my business. Can you help me to get started with the features that are going to help me achieve those goals? Um, yes, there's lots of options and you can look for it, but it's finding that time, which I know is such a tough one with our industry.

Yeah. I think that's the thing though, is one of the. things back to Bruce, it's like, you guys are so contactable. So yeah, there's been many a times that I'm like, Holy crap, I need help. And someone's like, okay, cool. I'll just log in via team viewer and they can be in my computer and kind of showing me what I need to see.

Like, that's super cool because I'm like, I don't know where to look for this. How do I look for this? Or, um, so, and I haven't had to use it too much over the time because. Kutumbra is so easy, but at the same time, the fact that it's there at all points, it's really, really cool. Because, you know, a lot of people say that to me, I don't know where to, you know, a lot of my clients say, I don't know where to find this.

And I'm like, I can't help you unless you with Kutumbra, because I've been with Kutumbra for so long, like I can help look at certain things, but. Um, when it comes to reports and stuff like that, Kitomba's are just so easy and simple and I can really understand them that I think that was a game changer for me.

There's reports out there with other companies that are just, I'm like, I don't know what I'm looking at. And if I don't know what I'm looking at and I look at reports all the time, how are my clients meant to understand this as well? So that for me was a really cool thing with Kitomba. It's just the fact that the reports are extensive and just simple and I can really understand You know, change things up based on those reports.

And for me, I never used to look at reports, whereas now I'm just like, um, I think that's when, I think that's when you really. Started to use Kitomba properly and it was no longer just a glorified point of sale. It's that, and it's having people understand that if they, yeah, if they use a system like yours and they want to know what's actually happening in their business, they will be able to see it.

See it. It's really cool too. Cause you can break down all of that with my team and people think that team fear numbers. My team are inspired as hell in numbers. And so if the numbers are there, they don't lie. So even one of the things I remember ages ago. a long, long, long time back, I went to an Olaplex brunch and, um, it was actually with one of my dear friends that she was hosting it.

And, um, she was, you know, I remember coming back and I'm saying to the team, like, how much do you actually think we use? And they're like, Oh, like 75%, 80%, 90%. I think it was like 13 or 14%. And they were like, holy shit. And I'm like, yep. So even knowing those different types of things, it's really cool for me.

Yeah. One of the things I love when I look at the reports is you can see the percentage of retail. So I say to my clients, it's not about percentage overall. So it's not about the total percentage. It's about, you know, when we look at Kitomba, it tells us the clientele percentage that's taking retail.

That's the important number because it shows me that my team is actually looking after each individual client. They're not selling one person. 10 products. It means they might sell 10 people, one product, and it means actually doing their job properly because they're listening and supporting people.

They're listening and supporting people rather than just, you know, selling a whole lot of retail to one person. So even those numbers being able to go, okay, that's what that means and stuff like that. It's the numbers don't lie. Yeah. So when I can sit down with my team and go, this is what you did, like, these are our numbers.

How are you feeling about it? They obviously, the cool thing They can have the reports on their phone and then they just see their own targets. That's it. They don't have to see anything else if you don't want to, and you can set that. So you can set that your team can see it all, or they can just see a portion of it.

But my team all have their targets on their phone and they can bring it up. And they're like, this is where I'm at for the week. This is where I'm moving. And it's something that we focus on. And there's something really empowering in that. They love it. As you know, they're in control of, they're competing against themselves.

They feel like they are their own business within your business. Like, and that's when you get the most out of people. Yeah. Um, okay. So obviously even more so in the landscape that we're in now, there's a lot of things out there, but. Other than all the things that we did, like what, what would you say is the reason that someone needs to come and use a product like Kitomba?

Like what's the, what's the elevator pitch? Why do we come to Kitomba? We know why we can't, but why would everyone else come? I mean, you guys have kind of stolen my fun, but I guess that's a good thing, right? We're on the same page. Um, so. I think, I mean, ultimately software is so important and it's probably so much more fun to go out and spend your money on all these beautiful products and I don't know, you know, other things.

Software really is at the core of your salon's operations. Like you've got to have the right software for your salon. And people look at it and they go, I'm spending this much and like spend it. It's nothing like, it's actually nothing in the grand scheme of things. Cause if you don't know, you can't push it.

You don't know what that looks like. You can't push it. You can't sit down with your team and go retails down. This is down. And again, over and over and over, I'm like, you know, We hear from our team, no one's buying, everyone's buying online and I'm like, okay, cool. Like let's put an incentive in place and, and this has been a big one for my team lately, but we can see the movement because of our reports.

We can see what's selling, we can, you know, or someone will say, Oh, we can't get rid of that. That's our favorite product. I'm like, cool. You've sold one in six months. That was not your favorite product. Favorite feature. Yeah. Every order. Yeah. Oh, you use that all the time. Do you bring up the number three in the last month?

Yeah, no, not getting any more. And also you just keep taking off the shelf to use. No, not yours. You can't have it. So things like that, people think I don't want to spend the money on the computer system, but the software. It is literally what backs you up to being like, this is why we've got to change things.

And this is what we've got to move. Again, people fear numbers, but once they start doing numbers with their team, everyone's just so inspired by it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You need it at the most basic level. Like you, you need point of sale. You need an appointment book. Otherwise you won't survive. Yeah. Probably online booking.

You know, online booking is appointment reminders as well. Changer? Yeah. Online booking is honestly because nobody wants to talk to anyone. I make all my bookings online. No, that's so annoying. Do you not make me ring someone and talk to 'em? I wanna make, like last night I made a physio appointment, they're like midnight.

Like, let me make all my appointments online. No one wants to make appointments. Absolutely. If I can't book an appointment online, I am not going there neither. That's so crazy. Right. It's just like, I had to change dentist and I really liked my dentist. He's lovely, but I don't want to call, I don't want to, so I gotta go down the road.

Cause people say like, Oh, but what if, you know, especially in hair, what if someone books the wrong thing? I'm like, well, the cool feature is it. It's a different color. Like obviously we love our colors. It's a different color. And once you accept it, you accept it and you can, you know, contact the person via text message.

Don't call them. They don't want to be called. You can contact them via text message and say like, does this feel right or can I give you a call? They may say no. Then you'll just see him on the day. But it is definitely like we can open our book on a Monday and have like nine bookings and it is definitely a game changer.

Doing your weekend. Yes. Sleeping. Mm-Hmm. , you know, and you just have all this money coming in. Yeah. It's interesting that, 'cause this speaks into what we were speaking about before we came on camera, Alyssa, about the whole, um, there's a huge fear at the moment around AI and software and all this sort of thing, and I think that people don't understand, and correct me if you, if you think I'm wrong, that.

Especially with our industry, our industry is about human connection. So any form of software and AI that can streamline the other things so that all we have to do is focus on the human connection when that person is sitting in front of us is going to be a good thing, right? Like I think of all industries.

We can just sit back and be like, yeah, there is no robot coming to do someone's hair or do someone's facial or provide that same level of connection, but man alive, will there be some incredible software like ships and stuff that we can see and AI sort of, you know, You know, helping with that, that's going to really push what we're available to do in the industry.

Do you agree? Yeah, absolutely. I think, you know, technology is never going to be able to replace the creativity, the passion of our industry and yeah, that human touch and people doing what they're doing, that's just. I mean, maybe a robot could try and do your hair, but I wouldn't give it a go. But yeah, I just mostly as really helping and enhancing our customers, businesses, and helping them to be more successful overall, like saving time, doing things more automatically, um, helping you to kind of do some of those things that you guys aren't necessarily experts in.

So with marketing, it's actually more, it's more of a, The, you know, AI or technology being smart enough to go, Hey, um, you've got, uh, 30 of this product, you know, still in stock. Why don't you do a marketing campaign to the clients that have purchased this before? And then you kind of just, you know, hit a button or quickly set that up and fire it out.

So it's, and I think that is that I want to know all these things as creatives within our industry. We have to remember that not all our clients are creatives and with it. So their brain thinks differently. So I think we, we can get caught in this trap of, Oh no, well, you know, people don't do that. It's like, no, we, as people don't do that, but that doesn't mean if you've got corporate clients that they won't respond well to receiving that email, you know, it's having that, it's having that toolbox that allows you to offer all sorts of marketing and not just.

You know, certain things of doings, you know, even fast, we brought out online store on, and that's been a game changer. I didn't realize that that would be as successful as it was Jen's laughing caution. You it would be good. Cause she, anyway, again. Do not do it. Someone else did it for me. Don't know how that that's the thing, right?

We were talking about this. It's having the capacity and the time for To do the thing that will change your business, but you've got to find the capacity and the time for that. And, um, it's going to be a big topic for me within Salon Rising of how do we delegate? How do we find the people? Cause everybody always knows that I say no at first and then be able to delegate it out.

I don't know the online store and it's something that I'm learning as I'm learning it now, I had that, I headed that up with my manager and was like, you learn it and then you teach me so that I know it, but I don't want to do all the background stuff. And I think that's important, but it has been a game changer because again, like you said, like last night I did a video, we did a video from start to finish on.

Uh, like that we use and we recommend to our clients and people are just buying because they're like, yeah, I needed all of these things. I just didn't know what to use, but I put myself in that position because I don't understand skin and I would love to go onto a social media page of skin therapists where they really know it.

And they're like, okay, if you struggle with this skin, his whole kit, just buy the kit. And I would be like, purchase now click because then it all just comes. And then I know how to use it. Cause there's also a video that goes with it. So I think. We get scared of those extra things and we get scared of moving and we stay very concrete in the way that we think as we can stay really concrete in the ways we think as business owners.

But I think that evolving and in this time of our industry, this in the in 15 years, I've never seen our industry like this. And we've had COVID. We've had market crashes. We've had all of it. And all of a sudden the industry has gone really quiet. And I'm seeing it from every single person I work with.

I'm seeing it from the big corporations. I I'm seeing it constantly. And it was like, there was no warning for us. And we're all like, huh, what's going on? Why is it quiet? Why we've, you know, there's so much sickness going around. We've having all these cancellations. Our staff is sick. Like I'm watching it and I'm like, How are we pivoting people?

Like how are we pivoting? I don't use to stay in it, but I'm like pivot, pivot, pivot at all moments and interesting enough for me, the more I get involved in those things of learning those different things to be able to evolve our business, my business is changing. Maybe that's the time, maybe this is the time that people are looking for to be able to learn those new things.

Yeah. So what. So what direction, and I know we can't talk about the roadmap, but what direction do you see? Kitomba is constantly changing. I think that was a cool thing for me is you guys, look, I'm going to be, I'm going to put my hand up and say, I'm, I'm that client that you send emails. I don't read it ever.

Like even when I'm on the email, I do not read it. I've never read a Kitomba email. I'm sorry. I love you, but I'm not that client. And we were saying that, you know, you will have other people that read every email. I have 19, Billion emails I'm trying to scribe from right now. Oh no. So that I can have the emails that will actually provide me something.

What's the photo of the number of the emails that you have? Oh, she tell because I be very anxious. No, no, I have none now I have zero. I know. I work through my emails. I'm so bad. Look, I would like up because I threw up a little my mouth. I would like to say that I individually went through and looked at all of them, but I press select all, delete 7,000 emails.

I was like, if I remember a thousand emails, if it's really important, then someone will just email it to me again. Like, and I remember Richard saying that once, actually I was talking about him when he was in his job and he was just like, I'll just start it again. Cause if it was really important, someone just email me again.

And I was like, true. I don't have the time to late, but. But you know, even for me, I'm trying to go through and I'm subscribed from everything right now so that I can get the important knowledge. But I think if you look at the different areas in your business for growth, your software system can do that.

You're already paying for it. So like getting, it has literally been one of the things on my list that I'm like, if it, I just implement one thing. So I'm going to hatch this. Um, and I think that that's the thing is I need to watch the videos because when I do, then I get really inspired. But I think what happens is.

In our industry with us being creatives, we want to do and move the needle on a thousand different things at once. Like, let me just implement 1000 things and then I will follow none of them. And then it's like, no, it was too hard. Nothing worked. I'm not doing it. Yeah. Get out of my brain. 100%. Whereas I am definitely getting on that bandwagon and selling rising as well.

Yeah. Do that. We're just slowing down to speed up rather than doing 50, 000 things. Let's just slow it down and see. And for me, I don't get client emails. I don't send. And I'm like, that's dumb because emails are free. Um, like emails are free text messages, cost emails are free. So what is something that I can do just simply get clients emails and how do I do that in a way that is, it becomes tricky for my team.

And I know you can put a button in with Kitomba where you can't move on from a section until that's filled out. Oh yeah. And for, with forms. Yeah. Yeah. So. There's obviously so much we can be doing and we try things sometimes and they don't work. I think that it's like find one thing that's going to move your business and just simply do that.

I mean, I think stop and come back to the strategy for your business, or if you haven't set one out, it's about taking that time to go, okay, well, what am I going to achieve in 2024 or what's my longterm vision for the business and in 2024, what am I, what do I need to achieve? I think that's the only thing I can focus on towards.

That long term goal. And then it's about looking at that strategy and going, okay, well. A thousand ideas or a million things running through my head. What's actually going to help me achieve that. And I think that's how you kind of carve out the distractions and the things that aren't going to actually make the difference or help you really achieve what you're trying to achieve.

People implement something and I'm like, that's not going to make any difference to your business. It's not going to bring any more money. And how much time are they spending on there? And that's, you know, so easy to say that. Um, But I think it's actually come back to those rule, like business basics of having a strategy and always coming back to that and then asking yourself that question.

So I'm gonna, I don't know, implement an online store. Why am I doing that? Well, if your goal is to sell more retail and to increase revenue or whatever. Yeah. Great. That's a fantastic decision. If your retail numbers are through the roof, um, and you know, every client's walking out with a retail product, then do you need an online store?

Like, or is that an opportunity for growth? I don't know, but it's assessing that because otherwise you do, you're already, everyone is so time born. No one's got enough time. Um, and we've got, you know, we, we do have ideas and things we've got to make sure we choose the most. Yeah. Setting you on the path to your desired destination.

And I think like, we always come back to this, right? I just said to you guys, I was tired because I have five kids. I'm tired because I stayed up scrolling Instagram and TikTok till 1030 last night. Like that's when I'm actually tired. At the heart of things, I fucking doom scrolled last night. I would use the five kids as theirs.

My partner constantly looks at me, he's like, I'm like, Oh, so like, I'm, you know, I'm just in someone's page. Yesterday when I got online, I ended up on like Fisher's page. Cause I was looking at their babies. So I was like, Oh, I ended up on that. And then I ended up on Ellen. And I was like, I am in this whole, like I could right now actually be doing something that's of.

Use for my life, but that's fine. I'm just looking at this real cute baby. I must say that I have an ability to doomscroll with purpose. Don't I, Richard? He's off screen. You can't see him because that's when Richard wakes up in the morning. He's like, Oh, Jen didn't sleep again last night because there's all this stuff.

Like put this in this, add this to that. This is a great idea. I do very much get like that. Like I definitely like things inspire me and anyone, like everybody knows, like Social media when I'm on fire, I'm on fire last week on someone rising, which was like this seven days in a row you've posted. And I'm like, I didn't like my children this week.

I had to be like, so what I've learned is when you have to home, when your children are home from school, you actually get more achieved because you're like, you're annoying me now I'm going to do work. Absolutely. Um, but yeah, it's. I think we all say we don't have time. And I think when I say that, like, I'm like, I've got no time.

I actually log, like lock myself with, um, Opal, my favorite, my favorite app. I log myself out of Instagram then you'd be surprised at how much shit you actually get achieved. Yeah. That you can be using learning new systems. Yeah. Yeah. Like there's so many like, and. You know, that whole idea of, you know, create before you consume, or if you are consuming, like, are you gaining knowledge from it?

Or are you just looking at random people's children or, you know, like, are you down a Tik TOK rabbit hole where you like only fans, like I get into the most random shit, so I could be using that time and I should set myself a goal of no doom scrolling, but you know, no one's there. It's out of my hand. Or even in your, Calendar.

I mean, you guys live and breathe your appointment books. That's correct. So even just blocking out your own time, like that is me time for strategy. That's like every month I take two hours and I'm just going to think about the strategy of the business and where we're hitting, or I'm going to spend an hour learning something new, like really time boxing time out.

So yes, you probably want to be on tech talks. Um, but God, I know this is my time and creating a bit of a ritual with it. Like you grab a coffee and it's like, It's, and again, it's so hard to find the time, but yeah. Kind of then turning your phone off, closing down your emails, telling your team, telling your family, this is me time for one hour.

I need to focus on this thing. And making it something that you really wanna do. Time boxing is really important. Mm. And it's that, yeah. It's that wanting to, mm. And not saying I don't have time, but that we all have time. Yeah. We're just wasting it on social media. I think sometimes when you change it and you say, I, um, you know, it's like I didn't have time.

I, I didn't, it's like. If you say the, if you say the sentence, Oh, I don't want to do that, then it's like, Oh, that's embarrassing. You know, it's, it's flipping the, flipping the mindset. It's probably also working on things that you are excited and passionate about. Like when you're like, Oh, this is actually going to move the needle because this is in line with my strategy.

Then you're probably going to be excited to take that hour and do it. Whereas if you don't use that hour, is it, do you really want to do it? Are you not excited? Is it not the right thing? Yeah, I think for me, like you can look at it like that too, right? I do want to learn orkutuba, but do I actually not really?

So I want someone to want to learn it. So like find someone within your business that can learn it and then teach me. And then I'll feel excited about it because same thing. I always liked the idea of an online shop, but the actual thought of. Going through with everything it needed, like the amount, it took my manager, like a good nine months to set it all up, have everything going.

Like, do I want to buy the sticker machine? No. Do I want to buy all the packaging? Like, I don't want to do any of that. But now, huh. Every time an online order comes through, I'm like, I, and I'm now really passionate about the other side of it. I'm passionate about like coming in and like the girls love, I'm not, I'm not a big fan of packing the boxes, but I'm really passionate about talking about retail online and retail has gone through the roof in my business as well, because we're all really focused on it because it's become really exciting.

And I think the same thing applies when it comes to, you know, with learning new things with the software system and there's definitely stuff for me, I'm like. I want to redo this with Kitomba. I want to redo this with Kitomba because I know, and Rich knows this, when I'm in the business, in my business, changing things, that's when all my team, like my clients get excited.

Cause I'm like, Oh my God, I did this and it worked, do it. It's so good. Yes. And that's the thing. Every time that you have had a problem in your business, And you have figured out how Katuma could solve that for you. You have just flow. And it's that same, it's like a doom scroll, but for your business, like you have like, Oh my God.

And it does this and it does this. And then I can find that out. And it's really, really powerful. Yeah. Really powerful. Yeah. Agreed. Um, I think the difference. That I, and I think because there's so many business owners like Samara, and I think the difference that your company has is the level of support that you provide.

I can't tell you the number of times that we hear people like, Oh my gosh, this is happening. And there is no way for them to contact. Yeah. The particular system that they're using. And that is terrifying as a business owner, when there is something going wrong in your business and not being able to get in contact with, I know we're talking about like, I don't, I don't want to book anything unless I can do it online.

If you've got a problem, I want to talk to someone that is the only time. I don't want to talk to anyone unless something's fucked up. And at which point you better answer your goddamn phone. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Right. You've got a client in front of you. You need to figure that out really, really quickly time to wait for an email response, you know?

So yeah. Do you feel like that's something that you guys focus on as a business, like providing that sort of like support? System like, is that like a big key value for us? Yeah, really, really focused on having the right team, the right level of like team as well for the number of customers that we've got training them really, really well so that they are there to help, um, and making sure that their availability is.

Is obviously, you know, quite wide because we do have, um, customers in New Zealand and Australia in the UK. We want to make sure that need to be covering different times. Yes. So we've got to cover the different time zones and things like that. So they start early in the morning and finish late at night.

Um, but then, you know, always available for, um, emergencies as well. Um, it's so important to us and we just know that our customers. That's what they want is what they need. And so we really pride ourselves on their work to, to provide the best support for sure. Yes. I love that. Cause when you first start, you're like, This just looks like a whole lot of words and numbers and weird things on a screen.

And then as you start to use it, you become really comfortable with it. And then you generally, like, as I said, I've been with Kitomba for a really long time because I'm so comfortable with the system, but I also know that there is so much more that I could know because I've got such a creative brain that sometimes when I look at that stuff, I'm like, and I'm tuned out.

Yeah. Um, Whereas Rich could do something like that for me and put it into place easy. And, and I could just, you know, do the background stuff of it, but it's like learning those things and potentially, you know, outsourcing them to someone so that someone can do up your, you know, your email letter for you or whatever that looks like.

But there's just so much we could use. And people also say, You know, like you can do text campaigns, texts, you know, I get real mad when people text me from companies. Cause I'm just like, you sneaky little bitch, but they got in touch with you. They got in touch with me and you saw it. I read it. Whereas you're not reading the email, I deleted, like I deleted the email without even looking at it, but they text, I'm like more 40 percent off.

I read that is this cost associated. So it really turns people off. Yes. But actually, if you stop and think about it as an investment, so if you spend, I don't know, let's just say 50 or a hundred dollars on TX, if you have, if you've got your strategy and you're going, okay, well, I want to see that in my marketing campaign about this to this particular group of customers, that's the other thing.

Choose your target market. Mark it really wisely so that you're not sending a text to your entire database. Cause it's going to cost you far too much money, but if you really target that campaign to the right clients that you think are actually going to, you know, want to hear from you about that particular message, they're also not going to get annoyed at you because it is so targeted.

Um, but if you think about it, say you spend 50 doing that, could you make a thousand dollars out of spending 50, then the 50 becomes totally irrelevant. Yeah. But again, it just comes back to what are you really trying to achieve in the business? And what is the thing that you're going to spend this money on investment, right?

Marketing and advertising on Facebook. Like I'll go through periods where I don't use ads and then I'll be like, I'm just going to do a couple of ads. Cause if you book for us, if we booked one client off spending a couple of hundred bucks here and there on ads. It's not like, Oh, it's going to cost me.

It's like, well, no, it's an investment because the aim is to bring you, yeah. Right. It's exactly the same with your computer system. If you're spending $400 or whatever it is a month. Mm-Hmm. You can get that value back like that if you are actually doing the right things with your system. Like how many appointments is that also?

No, come at us. That was just a number she plucked out of the air. Oh yeah. Not sure how much it's, I can't, I, I just pay it. I don't care. I just, but whatever. One appointment, whatever, it's, whatever the, the amount is, if it's, it's one appointment, but you are able to actually look at your reports and go, okay, well, I moved the needle in this business.

This is this way and actually made this much more. And that was for me retail last week, you know, being able to look at what, so the funny thing is, is I was like, okay, I'm going to look overall at a number. And for me, this is how it came up. And it was hilarious because it was an angel number and I just went with it.

So I was like, I'm going to. So I'm going to pull up a report. I'm going to find out how many clients we did over the space of nine weeks. And then I'm going to divide that by 30 percent because 30 percent is what I want the retail number to come out. And then I'm going to times it by 50. And it literally came out to one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, like 1, 111 and 11 cents.

So, but because I have all the reports in the background, I can do that easily. And then I was able to give that to the team and work out a way to do an incentive, which is blown my team up of the way that I've worked with my team. It's something we'll talk about in sale and rising over time. So I'm not giving it away something.

And it doubled, like they were able to move the needle. That was because I knew what the numbers were based on the report. And if I didn't have the report, I couldn't give them for me. It's really important to back up why to my team of why I want this number, why this is our target and across the business completely, why this is their target, why this is the salons target, why this is this target.

It's really important to back it up and be like, I'm not just pulling these numbers out my house. Why we charge what we charge. All of those things. The thing is too, though, like you're even one step ahead of, and this isn't, this isn't To everyone, but you know, a lot of businesses where you actually have, you know, the why, and you know, the why, because you're using a system that has allowed you to have the information that you can then share.

You know what I mean? Like it's that you first and foremost, no, what is happening in your business. Yeah. Yeah. Agreed. I think I'd be interested to hear from you about it as well, because for us and for me and my role as well, and as I've kind of progressed in the company, I've had, I have to look at more and more numbers.

Um, and I'm not a numbers gal, but I don't mess was not my favorite subject at school. Um, and it is very overwhelming, like some of the reports and the things that I have to look at, I used to look at them and just go, I don't know how, how am I going to make sense of this? And it's about actually stopping and believing yourself and being like, no, no, no, I'm I'm done.

I'm smart enough to figure this out and not totally letting it overwhelm you. Because if you have that overwhelm in your head, you just go, ah, can't do it. Whereas if again, it's like, you know, can you take 15 minutes with your coffee and just print out the business summary or grab it on your phone? And just be like, I'm actually just going to stare at this report and I'm just going to try and figure it out for 15 minutes and see you like our customers will recognize those numbers.

Right. And then you start to go, okay, well, what's actually important to me. Cool. And say, can you explain what each of these heading means just so I can get my head around it? Because even for us being able to go, you know, and I say this to my, like, if my team are like, Oh, but we were quiet. I was like, okay.

We were, my team actually works better under pressure than what they do when we're quiet. So when I was like, most people do, we've got less clients, but your client average is severely down, your retail severely down. So if you guys did what we did on the busy week with your client average and your retail, we'd be exactly where we needed to be, you know?

So again, knowing those numbers to be able to say to your team, this is a, I have the evidence guys, like, this is what we need to focus on. And this is why, because we've got the evidence behind it. Yeah. Yeah. And then they eat and empowers them to move themselves. Yeah. And if you've got goals, then you've got these numbers that allow you to see how you're progressing and then how good will it feel when you see the success of that?

Like I don't know my rebooking, right? I'm not happy with it. So you work with your team on that. Okay. Well, what about watching it over every week? Like wake on wake, just open up your business summary. What is it? Oh my God. Amazing. We're up 2%. We're up 5%. We're up 10%. Sharing that with your team and your weekly meetings and guys.

You're doing amazing. Let's keep going. You know, how far can we take this? Um, but also this week to be able to say to my team, Holy crap, you absolutely smashed out park and how motivated and happy are they like, you know, it's your culture and the happiness of your team, they'll feel more motivated.

They'll work harder. It's all those things. It's just from you understanding one number on a report, you know? Yeah. Um, yeah. Yeah. I think I just want people to just give it a little bit of time. I think it does. It is quite scary, but it's kind of just choosing that one report. I think the business summary is amazing because it's one report.

Just stick to that. That can be your comfort zone until you're ready to kind of go and, you know, explore Um, and just pick a few numbers and just track those. And also the report actually tells you where your opportunities are. Like don't even think, Oh, I've got the crappiest revisit, right. Or I'm really, really not happy with my retail numbers.

Actually look at that and go, wow, what an opportunity. So we're not doing well with retail sales. Awesome. Let's have a chat about it as a team, come up with a bit of a strategy. How can we increase this? No, let's have a goal and. You know, because as you said before, like seeing that and taking it as an opportunity rather than just thinking, no, no, we're doing all the things and it's just not working.

Do you know what I mean? It's like, well, yeah, like you're saying, it's such a tough time at the moment. It's yeah. What are those opportunities that can help you actually maybe change that? Yeah. You know, like we have a strong focus on retail. But it's not to sell to people. It's to solve problems. Like I have a strong focus on retail because I generally want to solve your problem.

So when a client comes to me and I've solved their problem, then they text and like, you've changed my life with that shampoo. So greatest compliment you could possibly give me. And it's the same within Salon Rising. When we have someone that comes to us and goes, I implemented what you told me and it's changed my life.

I'm like, this is why I do it. And I, but I think this is also the same for me. For, and this, I think is why it's so important to not underutilize your system because Kutumba has the ability to do that for business owners. It is the, it has all these capabilities to take a problem that you're having and fix it.

You know, and I think if you, uh, you get to be excited behind it as well, like you get excited to look at like, don't get me wrong. So for reports a couple of weeks ago, mate, I was ready to burn it down. But now that I've been able to go, holy shit, that's what my reports were. And this is how I've moved in my business in the last couple of weeks.

Like. That's cool because I'm sorry, I love being a mom, but there's no reward. I can't look at a business summary based on what my kids need and being like, Oh yeah, I've achieved that. You know, like a tick great mother. Whereas at work I can look at a report and go, okay, that's down. How can I actually motivate and inspire and move my team towards something?

And then I feel like this massive sense of achievement this week. I'm like, Oh my God, I'm going to tell everybody how I did that. Because. It's almost for me, I've been trying to crack how, you know what in, like everyone says, what incentives do you do and what does that look like? And I'm like, that one did, it did fail.

That one I did, didn't work. That one I did was okay. And then you finally find the one that cracks me, like, that's it. Mm-Hmm. That's what I needed to do. That makes so much sense. If anybody opens the kaumba email, we will be speaking about this in the upcoming blog. Excellent. There you go. So actually read your emails,

Yeah. That come from Ooba. Just you. Yeah, please. Yeah. No. Um, I wanted ask. You was how, when you first, um, had Kitomba and you thought should probably know and look at the business and how it's performing, how did you approach that? Were you already very comfortable with reporting or was that quite a journey for you?

Cause that's just my advice, right? But I'd love to hear how you went about it. I don't remember. I don't know. I feel like that was actually when you started your journey of really knowing my numbers. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I think. To like, I can get in a vortex of my numbers and I'm like, all of a sudden I'm down this rabbit hole.

You knew all like the, the outline numbers before that, like all the bottom line and all that sort of thing, like that was all there, but where you really started to see the opportunity. Was when you started. Into those. Yeah. And I'm, I'm cautious on things. Right? Like I don't, again, another report that's great is finding your miss missing clients and some business coaches will be like, focus on that focus on and Kitomba has it.

Here's a report that says the clients that went in this time. I do not do that report myself because I will hurl myself off a bridge because I'm like, oh my God, why haven't, why are they not back? Why is there so many people on this? Why have I done it enough? You Again, I delegate out because that report is so handy to be like, okay, what's happening?

Can we email these people, text message them? Can we find out if there's anything happening? Can we offer them something to get them back? And so on. And interesting enough in the last couple of weeks, the amount of clients that have returned is being massive. And it's such a massive compliment to me because I'm very much.

And you said it before you said we have clients leave and then they come back because they're just like, we don't want to do. And again, I think that process for me is really important. I would never let any of my, I never want my clients to feel uncomfortable leaving or coming back. I, when they come back, it's just like, welcome home.

It's awesome. But it has the capacity of having reports like that where you can find those numbers and then I delegate that shit out. So I don't. feel terrible about myself. Um, but you have that ability because getting that feedback. And we did this one, we did the Hambrows, um, episode. One of the things that was so cool about listening to them is they don't get so emotional about those things because they're not doing the services.

Yeah. So it's again, finding out like where things are. And using it as an opportunity, as an opportunity for growth. Yep. Yep. Okay. What, you know, this is an information, this is information that I have received. What can I do now as a next step in my strategy towards my overall goal with this information?

And don't get me wrong. Anytime I get feedback in any form, it takes me so long to process. It takes me a day now. Come off it. It's a day. It is a day. It used to be weeks and breathe out months and maybe before that a year. I've got it down to a day or a couple of hours before I move. Yeah. But now, and I don't, I don't take feedback well because I take it all really personally.

I'm like, Oh my God, I'm the worst. I suck at this. I went through one of these last night, actually with parenting, I'm the worst I suck and like, why am I even doing this? And, you know, but it helps like the feedback then with the reports and stuff like that. It helps you move the needle in your business because you're like, all right, what can I change?

All right. Let's actually move forward. But I think also that's part of the journey. Like if you need to be sad about it or feel crappy about it, that's cool. Go through that motion and then kind of use that to be like, okay, but I know I can actually do something about it. Yep. What should I do? What should I do?

Yeah. Yeah. Who can help me get through this mess that's going on in my head? Um, the other thing I also really like about what you're saying is delegating as well. Yes. Um, I think that's the thing is. A business owner or a manager, you can't do everything yourself. Your staff will have so many different talents and things that you either know about or don't know about.

So if you know someone is incredible at social media or I don't know, maybe someone did really, really well in maths at school, those things to them, but that's also an opportunity for them to learn and grow. Right. Yeah, absolutely. It doesn't necessarily just have to be about the training that they're doing in the hero beauty space, it's actually like.

Well, let me bring you into some of the business sides. You know, I'm sure there are so many of people's staff always have aspirations to own their own business. So pull them in and show them that that's part of their, an opportunity for them to learn and grow as well. And that's not all on you. Yeah. Yeah.

I definitely think that delegation for me, as long as I know it. The delegation has been massive because things like, you know, the amount of people that I, that I hear that like I hate social media, I'm like, I don't care if you hate it, you have to do it. Yeah. You know, I don't, I don't. Same thing with reports.

I don't care if you hate numbers, work out how you like them. You decided to have a business. You have to know numbers that just is part of it. And I honestly think we hate it because we don't understand it or we don't feel passionate about it because we don't understand it. We fear it. Like I used to be like that with social media and now social media is like my.

Biggest passion, because when I see things moving in my business, because my social media game is strong, I'm like, yeah, more of this, more of this, more of this. And I think that's how I feel right now when it comes to computer systems. It's like, how can I learn more? How can I grow more? How can I, because.

Again, I think when it comes, I think one of the powers to me being a coach is I'm an owner. I'm an owner. Correct. I literally live it every day. I am an owner first. And so when I've discovered something and I know how to explain it as a hairdresser to other people, I'm like, guys, I've discovered it. I know how to do it.

It's changing. I cracked the code. It's amazing. Everybody needs it now. It was every single time I do that. And every time you do that. Everyone's like, okay, yeah. And off we try to do it. Everyone gets on board the minute I cracked that code. And I'm like, that's what it was. I'm like, okay, let's move.

Everybody moved together. Yeah. And if everyone was with Kitomba, it makes my job much easier because I know Kitomba, so you're welcome guys. I'm just like, but again, I, I said to Rich and Jen. We need to talk to Kitomba because I'm really passionate about this product. Not because you guys sponsor me or whatever that that is not the case.

I work, my salon is with you guys independent. I needed to work with you guys because I love the product so much for my business. And I think I became more in love with it after. Wild was born. And I really started really knowing it because I needed to know it also for silent rising. So I really started to get savvy in the reports.

And then I saw other systems that work too, but because I work with clients and I was like, mine just makes more sense. Yeah. So I think that's the important, like there's, There's a middle ground between what both of you are saying, because I totally agree that you should delegate. It is not a dictatorship, like get everybody in, you know, in and involved.

But I do think it's really important that you understand. Yeah. Great. Before you, so that you're not like, Oh, this person can't do it now. And I have no idea what it is. So it's got to be that understanding, like almost working in a partnership with the people within your business so that everybody's working on that.

And I think too, as we've said, the industry is changing. There is. so much happening and everybody needs diverse skills. Yeah. Everybody. Yeah. And yeah, those knowing, and people say to me, like, is it worth having a manager? Is it worth having a salon coordinator? Is it worth having a receptionist? It just depends.

Having a software system. Yeah. I hear that all the time as well. It just depends. Where you're at mindset wise to what you as exactly what you said, what are your goals for your business? No way in God's name earth. I could do this business without a computer system. Like no way. God damn way. I could run my life without having it.

It gives me the shivers. Like back in the book days where you rub that shit out. It's just like, everything is there for me. I can see everything. I know how like, yeah, I think for me, Kitomba is so much easier to read than Xero. Like zero is confusing AF for anyone that doesn't know accounting software, but for me with Kitomba, I can go into Kitomba and be like, okay, that's what it is.

And that's my report. And that's where I need to go. And Oh, that's how much, even this is a game changer, right? Everybody says to me, um, I hate discounting my friends and family go on and find out how much discount you gave people in the last 12 months. I promise you. Stop. Yeah. There's a report for that.

Find out how much discount you gave out. You'd pretty much want to blow your head off. Stop doing it because if it says to you, you've given 30 grand of discounts, I promise you, you could have 30 grand in your pocket or give 30 grand of discounts. I know what you're going to do next. Like, so having the information behind it for you to make decisions and go, Oh, that wasn't a good choice.

I think that's the thing is the decisions as well. Comes to you with questions or yeah. If you've got kind of got all these two ways I could go here, how do you make that call? Like you can make guts. You know, instant calls, but you know, imagine if he had some data behind it to help you make it easier.

It's like my gut tells me this, and also the printout tells me this, and like these things combined, my answer is this. Yeah. Yeah. And even the point of sale, like the point of sale being. So easy being able to access it anywhere, you know, at home, I can do anything I need to do, you know, in like, when I'm in the salon, I can do whatever I need to do.

Like I just, I find it very easy, you know, having Kitomba and Kitomba One. So Kitomba One is what you use when you're not in the salon. Kitomba, the main Kitomba is on the salon computer. Um, but you know, just being able to access it anywhere. Even last night I sit in bed and I'm like, Oh, I'm going to put my.

Appointments up and I'm going to go through to online bookings and I'm, and I can just kind of go back and forth. And, but even, you know, we are a massive selling and quoting before we start. So all our quotes are done in Kitomba. They're ready to go. It's super easy. It's super set out. Like I look at people's back of system and I'm like, why do you have 120 different services?

And why is it short, medium and long? Like, and I change even just changing that and showing people what the backside of my Kitomba looks like and how. Simplified and simple it is so that it's really easy for my team. And also for the clientele, it's just a game changer. And it's so like, I find also, I will just say to that mobile component with Couture No.

1, with a, like a large salon where we had like a team, um, obviously this isn't what I do anymore because I'm not here, but us being able to be like, okay. I'm going to go in and do the appointments. Now we're not all in the same place and we, you know, so it's that delegation of like, okay, I'm on, I'm looking at this.

Hey, can you quickly jump on? And you know, these were on days when we weren't in the salon and we could still move things around and be like, okay, this needs to move when, when staff called in sick. Yeah. And you're not like, I've got to get in the car and drive to the salon now. It's like, right. I'm on everything sorted.

All clients are contacted. Everything's moved. Yeah. So it's really important to be able to access that information wherever. Yeah. Yeah. And that's a real focus for us as well. We definitely want to keep adding more functionality to Kitomba ones that you guys can access it from anywhere on any device and it just makes it easier.

We're getting close to wrapping up guys. Is there anything that we need to touch on that we have not covered? Other than the fact that basically everybody just needs to get Kajuba. Is there anything else?

Tough question, putting me on the spot. No, don't feel on the spot. I mean, in all honesty guys, we will include a lot of the information that you might need in the show notes. Um, if you have any questions in regards to how to get in touch with Kitomba or anything like that, please just send them through and we can direct you to the team because it, It is a product that we are truly passionate about.

We forget too, guys. Like we look at Kitomba software system behind the software system. There's people. Yeah. We want to work with people. It's really nice to be working with a company that values their people and has such great people in it as well. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We're about the peoples. Yeah. All about the people.

So yeah. Even I like when we did the life with Cameron, like he's the best, I was like, how can I get him in my business? He's awesome. You'll get to meet him. He's so maybe not in person, but you get to see, I think that's, what's really cool as well about Cameron. Like quite a few of our staff have come from the industry, so they actually understand our customers.

Um, and then Cameron originally, he worked in our customer support teams and he knows our product really, really well. Um, but he also studied marketing and. He's just, yeah, he's absolutely amazing. And so I was actually lucky enough to promote him into the marketing team. Um, I feel like it feels like Cameron's worked for us for about 10 years, but I think he's only been with us for a couple, but it just feels, you know, so he's been in the marketing team, he's just doing amazing.

And it's really cool that he's got that background. Absolutely. Yeah, yeah. Amazing. Yeah. Cool. Oh, look, thank you so much for coming to join us this morning. It's really been so lovely to talk to you and to talk more about the product and yeah, we're really excited about Kitomba and everything it's got to offer.

And yeah, if anybody needs anything, you just reach out, but thank you so much. Yeah. Thank you guys so much for having me on. This is so nice. Great way to spend my morning. Yeah. Yeah. And just looking forward to working with you guys more and yeah, here at like love hearing about how passionate you guys are about Kitomba.

Cause that's how we are at, you know, um, in the office. So yeah, that's great. All right. We're signing off now, guys. Thank you so much. Bye.