Salon Rising

Hosted by Samara Scott-Hunter & Jen Veivers

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Aug 2026

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About the show

Introducing Salon Rising: The Podcast - your personal business BFF in the world of hair and beauty! Hosted by the incredible duo, Samara Scott-Hunter and Jen Veivers. This podcast brings real-talk and heart-to-heart conversations. It's your go-to space for navigating the wild journey of being a woman, a mother, and a business owner. And how to blend those all together. Join Samara and Jen as they spill the tea on their own business escapades. Share the highs, lows, and everything between. It's like catching up with your besties, swapping stories, and debriefing about the rollercoaster of business life. It's where authenticity meets entrepreneurship. Offering a raw and honest peek into the challenges and triumphs of badass women in the industry. Salon Rising is the safe, supportive space you've been craving. Whether you're a seasoned pro or starting your business adventure. Tune in for a dose of realness, laughter, and the camaraderie of women who've been there and get it. 💪💖 #SalonRisingPodcast #WomenInBusiness #RealTalk

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August 30, 20261 hr 2 min

Get your salon out of fight or flight before it costs you – with Siobhan from Siobhan Hair Artistry

There is a version of salon ownership where you grow the team, fill the chairs, take the whole space, and still lie awake on a Sunday night doing sums in your head. Siobhan from Siobhan Hair Artistry lived in that version for four years. She started mobile with a plastic basin and a bag of colour, moved into a home salon, rented a chair, then ended up renting the entire hair space at Cliff Newport with an apprentice, her mum and a team around her. And in her own words, she had no clue what she was doing. No break evens. No idea what the business had to make in an hour just to stand still. Then last June she smashed into the back of a car on the motorway, fractured her sternum, and was back on the floor two weeks later doing foils with a broken chest because the bills did not stop. That was the moment the maths stopped being about the business and started being about her. Six months ago she made the decision she had been avoiding. She let go of the apprentice she loved and went back to just her and her mum. She is busier now than she has ever been. She is also less tired, she knows exactly what she needs to make every week, and her clients keep telling her she seems like herself again. This is a conversation about what it actually costs to hold a team together when the numbers underneath are not working, and what happens when you finally stop. What we cover Building from mobile hairdressing to a home salon to renting a whole salon space Employing a team with no break even figures and no idea what the business had to make A senior stylist who quit on her first day Why your team will never be invested in your business the way you are The car accident, the fractured sternum, and going back to work after two weeks Letting go of an apprentice she loved and finding her a job with a friend Knowing your weekly numbers before you employ another person Income protection and super when you are a sole trader Fair Work, hard conversations, and why so many Australian salon owners have stopped hiring Being busier on her own and less tired than she was with a team Why you have the right to change your business, whenever you want She did not go backwards. She went back to the thing that was working all along. How do I know if my salon is in fight or flight? If your body is braced every time your phone lights up, if you check the schedule five times a day, and if you cannot remember the last week that felt calm, you are in it. Siobhan spent four years there and only recognised it once she was out. Should I let staff go if my salon is not making enough money? There is no single right answer, but the starting point is knowing whether each week is profitable before you decide anything. Siobhan let her apprentice go because the business could not hit its numbers consistently once anyone was sick or on leave, and she found her a job with a friend rather than leaving her without one. Mentioned in this episode: 💛 A Limited Time Offer From Our Amazing Sponsor, Timely 💛 ➡ Timely is the easy to use booking and payments system that puts salon owners in control of the whole client experience from the first booking to final payment. ➡ Salon Rising listeners get a 14 day free trial plus 50% off their first 3 months. ➡ And when you activate with Payments, you'll also get a free Touchscreen terminal, worth $349 + GST. Use the code SALONRISING at checkout or click the link below to get started. Once you're set up, your Timely contact will take care of the rest. 👇 Timely https://www.salonrising.com 💖 Celebrating Our Podcast Partner – Christophe Robin, proudly distributed by McM Imports We’ve partnered with Christophe Robin and MCM Imports to bring you something beautiful: ➡ Experience the Christophe Robin Discovery Box — curated by pro ambassador Monique McMahon. ➡ Inside, you’ll find her handpicked favourites — the hero products she swears by in the salon. It’s your invitation to explore the range and discover why Christophe Robin has become a quiet obsession among stylists who know their craft. Click the link below to request your FREE Christophe Robin Discovery Box , exclusively through McM Imports. 👇 MCM

August 23, 202617 min

Mini Moment #28 - Stop being the weakest link in your own business – with Simone from Apotecari

There is usually one part of your business you avoid looking at. The numbers, the ads, the software, the thing you pay someone else to handle. You are not avoiding it because you are lazy. You are avoiding it because you do not understand it, and it has been easier to hope than to learn. That gap is where most owners get stuck. Not in the work they are brilliant at. In the bit they handed over and never checked. Simone from Apotecari has nine years of this behind her. Staff who left and set up down the road. A house on the line to fund something she had no business running. Agencies on big monthly retainers doing work she had no way of judging. The turn came when she admitted she was the weakest link in her own business, and then did something about it. She is more profitable now than she was when she was paying other people to do all of it. What we cover The highs and lows of nine years in business, said out loud Why every industry loses people to the person they trained, not just salons What it actually feels like to put your own house on the line The part of the business you have been avoiding, and what that avoidance is costing Why you should never hand over something you do not understand yet Knowing enough to ask the right questions, without becoming the expert Building the skill inside your team instead of renting it every month Where the growth came from once she stopped guessing You do not have to know how to do it. You do have to know what good looks like. Frequently asked questions Should salon owners outsource their marketing? Yes, once you understand the basics of what you are handing over. Plenty of Australian salon owners pay a monthly retainer for a long time before anyone checks whether the work is bringing people through the door. How do you know if the person doing your marketing is any good? You have to know enough to ask a real question and understand the answer. If you cannot tell the difference between a good month and a bad one, you cannot manage the relationship. What do you do when a staff member leaves and opens up nearby? It happens in every industry, and it is not a sign you did something wrong. Some people are there to build with you and some are there to build off you, and you rarely know which until they go. Mentioned in this episode: https://www.salonrising.com 💛 A Limited Time Offer From Our Amazing Sponsor, Timely 💛 ➡ Timely is the easy to use booking and payments system that puts salon owners in control of the whole client experience from the first booking to final payment. ➡ Salon Rising listeners get a 14 day free trial plus 50% off their first 3 months. ➡ And when you activate with Payments, you'll also get a free Touchscreen terminal, worth $349 + GST. Use the code SALONRISING at checkout or click the link below to get started. Once you're set up, your Timely contact will take care of the rest. 👇 Timely 💖 Celebrating Our Podcast Partner – Christophe Robin, proudly distributed by McM Imports We’ve partnered with Christophe Robin and MCM Imports to bring you something beautiful: ➡ Experience the Christophe Robin Discovery Box — curated by pro ambassador Monique McMahon. ➡ Inside, you’ll find her handpicked favourites — the hero products she swears by in the salon. It’s your invitation to explore the range and discover why Christophe Robin has become a quiet obsession among stylists who know their craft. Click the link below to request your FREE Christophe Robin Discovery Box , exclusively through McM Imports. 👇 MCM

August 16, 202644 min

What the other side of a hard season actually looks like – with Sam and Jen

Some seasons you do not get through gracefully. You just get through them. And then one day it is over, and you are standing on the other side wondering why it feels so quiet. This one is just Sam and Jen. No guest, no plan, no idea where it was going to go. Sam opens up about the end of a chapter that ran almost three years and cost a quarter of a million dollars, and what it actually took to come out the other side of it still standing. Not the tell all version. The honest one, from a woman who is finally regulated enough to talk about it. It is also a conversation about what a business has to do for you when everything else is falling over. Sam is blunt about it. If she had not known how to work her numbers, she would not have lasted. Seventeen years in, booked out, still not sure about hiring again, and finally choosing stillness over the chase. Jen brings the other half of the picture, a first six months of the year that tipped everything upside down, a business that has been genuinely hard, and why the changes she has made were measured ones rather than panicked ones. What we cover Why knowing your numbers is what actually carries you through a hard season The real cost of a long legal chapter and how a salon absorbed it Building a team of people around you who tell you the truth, not what you want to hear Seventeen years in business and why staying still is a decision, not a lack of ambition Being booked out and still unsure whether to hire again The Monday spent filling the book and what it does to your nervous system Protecting your peace online, and knowing when it is safe to open back up Making measured changes in a hard six months instead of erratic ones Why no relationship, personal or professional, is a failure Scars not wounds, and why the timing of your story matters There is hope on the other side. Sometimes it just arrives quieter than you expected. Do you need to be good with numbers to survive a hard season in business? You need to know your numbers well enough to see what your business can carry. Sam is clear that her financial literacy is the only reason her salon supported her family through three years of legal costs. Is it a bad sign if you do not want to grow your salon right now? No. Choosing to stay still, keep your book tight and protect your energy is a legitimate business decision, not a step backwards. How do you make big business decisions when everything feels uncertain? Make them slowly and on the information you actually have, not on fear. Measured changes you have sat with beat reactive ones every time. Mentioned in this episode: https://www.salonrising.com 💖 Celebrating Our Podcast Partner – Christophe Robin, proudly distributed by McM Imports We’ve partnered with Christophe Robin and MCM Imports to bring you something beautiful: ➡ Experience the Christophe Robin Discovery Box — curated by pro ambassador Monique McMahon. ➡ Inside, you’ll find her handpicked favourites — the hero products she swears by in the salon. It’s your invitation to explore the range and discover why Christophe Robin has become a quiet obsession among stylists who know their craft. Click the link below to request your FREE Christophe Robin Discovery Box , exclusively through McM Imports. 👇 MCM 💛 A Limited Time Offer From Our Amazing Sponsor, Timely 💛 ➡ Timely is the easy to use booking and payments system that puts salon owners in control of the whole client experience from the first booking to final payment. ➡ Salon Rising listeners get a 14 day free trial plus 50% off their first 3 months. ➡ And when you activate with Payments, you'll also get a free Touchscreen terminal, worth $349 + GST. Use the code SALONRISING at checkout or click the link below to get started. Once you're set up, your Timely contact will take care of the rest. 👇 Timely

August 9, 202612 min

Mini Moment #27 - Nervous system resets that actually work for salon owners – with Sharelle from Miss Lash

You can be off the floor, home, sitting still, and your body still behaves like something is about to go wrong. The phone buzzes and your heart goes before your brain does. That is not you being dramatic. That is a nervous system that has been running on alarm so long it has forgotten there is another setting. Sharelle from Miss Lash The Studio is back in the Inner Sanctum, and she, Sam and Jen have all been working on the same thing this year, from very different directions. This is a short, honest conversation about what actually brings you back down. Yin yoga for one, prayer for another, a Sunday morning at the markets before it gets busy. None of it is complicated. Most of it is free. All of it starts with deciding you are allowed to give something back to yourself after a day of giving it all away. There is a lot in here you could start this week, and none of it asks you to add another thing to a life that is already full. What we cover What a nervous system reset actually means when you are the one giving all day Yin yoga, prayer, movement, and finding the thing that regulates you rather than the thing that works for someone else Why a busy supermarket can tip you straight into overwhelm, and what Sharelle does instead Buffer time between appointments and how a spare half hour changes the shape of a whole day Rushing woman syndrome and why cramming wellness in does not help your nervous system Your phone as an invitation, not an obligation Turning off notifications and getting free of that little red number Five tasks on the list instead of fifty, and why ticking things off actually works The 90 second rule, and why you never reply to a one star review while you are heightened Calm is not a personality type. It is a handful of small decisions you keep making. FAQs What is a nervous system reset? It is anything that moves you out of fight or flight and back into rest and digest. For Sharelle that is yin yoga, for Samara it is prayer, and the point is finding the one that works for your body rather than copying someone else's. How do salon owners get out of fight or flight during the working day? Small resets built into the day work better than one big fix at the end of it. Buffer time between appointments, notifications switched off, and a shorter task list all lower the load before it builds. Why should you wait before replying to a bad review? A strong emotion runs its chemical course in about 90 seconds, so anything you send inside that window is written by the heightened version of you. Australian salon owners deal with reviews and client messages constantly, and waiting until you feel steady almost always gives you a better reply. Mentioned in this episode: https://www.salonrising.com 💛 A Limited Time Offer From Our Amazing Sponsor, Timely 💛 ➡ Timely is the easy to use booking and payments system that puts salon owners in control of the whole client experience from the first booking to final payment. ➡ Salon Rising listeners get a 14 day free trial plus 50% off their first 3 months. ➡ And when you activate with Payments, you'll also get a free Touchscreen terminal, worth $349 + GST. Use the code SALONRISING at checkout or click the link below to get started. Once you're set up, your Timely contact will take care of the rest. 👇 Timely 💖 Celebrating Our Podcast Partner – Christophe Robin, proudly distributed by McM Imports We’ve partnered with Christophe Robin and MCM Imports to bring you something beautiful: ➡ Experience the Christophe Robin Discovery Box — curated by pro ambassador Monique McMahon. ➡ Inside, you’ll find her handpicked favourites — the hero products she swears by in the salon. It’s your invitation to explore the range and discover why Christophe Robin has become a quiet obsession among stylists who know their craft. Click the link below to request your FREE Christophe Robin Discovery Box , exclusively through McM Imports. 👇 MCM

August 2, 20261 hr 0 min

The hair catastrophe that launched a brand – with Simone from Apotecari

Shiny scalps. Sparse hairlines. Clients who used to have a mane and now don't. You're having these conversations every week and you need better answers than the ones on the shelf. Simone from Apotecari has them. She's a naturopath, twenty years qualified, with a career spent formulating supplements for brands already sitting in your bathroom cabinet. She also had a hair catastrophe of her own, went looking for something that would fix it from the inside, and found nothing worth taking. So she built it. These are clients you already have. The one whose hairline is quietly moving back. The one on a weight loss injection who hasn't thought to mention it. The one who's oily by day two and blames your shampoo. Simone explains what's happening in each of them, and why the answer is almost never another bottle on the shelf. What we cover The bond builder era and what a lot of stylists were really doing with it Why hair is the first thing your body stops feeding when nutrients are short Perimenopause hair loss and why nobody connected the dots for so long Shiny scalps, receding hairlines and what is actually happening in the follicle Oily scalps, dandruff and why washing more often changes nothing Why your scalp ages seven times faster than the skin on your face The difference between hair shedding and hair loss, and why the word you use changes everything Why the hair industry is not great at doing its own research What a proper ninety day product trial looks like, with data instead of feelings She hid her hair for six months. Then she went and fixed it for everybody else. Frequently asked questions Why does hair fall out during perimenopause? Hormonal change alters how follicles behave, which is why thinning often shows down the centre part and around the hairline. It rarely happens alone, and it sits alongside other perimenopause symptoms that are just as real and just as connected. Does washing your hair more often make it less oily? No. Washing removes the sebum already on the scalp but does nothing to the rate your body produces it. Balancing oil production happens internally and usually takes two to three months. How long should you take a hair supplement before judging it? Give it ninety days minimum, because that tracks with the hair growth cycle. Take before photos and test porosity and elasticity first, so you are working from data rather than a feeling. Mentioned in this episode: https://www.salonrising.com 💖 Celebrating Our Podcast Partner – Christophe Robin, proudly distributed by McM Imports We’ve partnered with Christophe Robin and MCM Imports to bring you something beautiful: ➡ Experience the Christophe Robin Discovery Box — curated by pro ambassador Monique McMahon. ➡ Inside, you’ll find her handpicked favourites — the hero products she swears by in the salon. It’s your invitation to explore the range and discover why Christophe Robin has become a quiet obsession among stylists who know their craft. Click the link below to request your FREE Christophe Robin Discovery Box , exclusively through McM Imports. 👇 MCM 💛 A Limited Time Offer From Our Amazing Sponsor, Timely 💛 ➡ Timely is the easy to use booking and payments system that puts salon owners in control of the whole client experience from the first booking to final payment. ➡ Salon Rising listeners get a 14 day free trial plus 50% off their first 3 months. ➡ And when you activate with Payments, you'll also get a free Touchscreen terminal, worth $349 + GST. Use the code SALONRISING at checkout or click the link below to get started. Once you're set up, your Timely contact will take care of the rest. 👇 Timely

July 26, 20268 min

Mini Moment #26 - Who is going to cut your hair when you are 70?

Ask a salon owner in Australia whether she is taking on an apprentice this year, and listen for the pause before she answers. It is not that she has gone cold on young people. Jen has been training apprentices since she was about 21 and still loves it. Sam has had apprentices who became some of the best people she has ever worked with. The pause is about everything sitting underneath that. A wage that climbs on a timeline while the skill is still building. Eighteen months of your time before any of it comes back. Support that used to exist for owners and quietly stopped. And a salon floor that, with a smaller team, no longer needs the person who once kept the whole thing moving. So the industry has ended up somewhere strange. Owners who genuinely want to train are turning young people away, week after week, because they cannot see the landscape they would be sending them into. Which leaves the question this episode opens on and never quite answers. If nobody is training them, who is cutting your hair in twenty years? What we cover Why Australian salon owners are turning apprentices away The support that used to exist for training and does not anymore Wages rising while the skill set is still building What a Cert II at TAFE is delivering, and what it is not The myth that owners are getting kickbacks that cover the cost Why apprentices worked in a big salon and stopped working in a small one Uni students do unpaid placement, hairdressers pay for theirs Committing to three years when you cannot see your own next three What happens to the young people knocking on the door Neither of them has the answer. Both of them would really like one. FAQs Why are salon owners not taking on apprentices anymore? The cost is front loaded and the return has moved. Wages rise on a set timeline while the skill set is still building, and the first 18 months are almost entirely the owner's time. Is there an apprentice shortage in the Australian hairdressing industry? Fewer salons are taking apprentices on, so fewer are coming through and fewer are staying. Owners are turning young people away because they cannot see the industry they would be sending them into. Do salon owners get paid to take on an apprentice? Not in any meaningful way in hairdressing. Incentives have grown in other trades, mostly construction, and those employers also pay a much higher apprentice wage. Mentioned in this episode: 💛 A Limited Time Offer From Our Amazing Sponsor, Timely 💛 ➡ Timely is the easy to use booking and payments system that puts salon owners in control of the whole client experience from the first booking to final payment. ➡ Salon Rising listeners get a 14 day free trial plus 50% off their first 3 months. ➡ And when you activate with Payments, you'll also get a free Touchscreen terminal, worth $349 + GST. Use the code SALONRISING at checkout or click the link below to get started. Once you're set up, your Timely contact will take care of the rest. 👇 Timely https://www.salonrising.com 💖 Celebrating Our Podcast Partner – Christophe Robin, proudly distributed by McM Imports We’ve partnered with Christophe Robin and MCM Imports to bring you something beautiful: ➡ Experience the Christophe Robin Discovery Box — curated by pro ambassador Monique McMahon. ➡ Inside, you’ll find her handpicked favourites — the hero products she swears by in the salon. It’s your invitation to explore the range and discover why Christophe Robin has become a quiet obsession among stylists who know their craft. Click the link below to request your FREE Christophe Robin Discovery Box , exclusively through McM Imports. 👇 MCM

July 20, 202656 min

She had staff, now she's solo and it's the best thing ever – with Sharelle from Miss Lash

Sharelle is back in the Inner Sanctum for the third time, and she is almost unrecognisable. Last time she was here she had staff, an education arm, a big space on the Gold Coast Highway and a to do list that never ended. This time she walks in and Sam asks her who she is, and she cannot answer straight away. Because the woman who built that salon at 21 is gone. Sharelle says it plainly. That girl is dead. She wanted the team and the education and the big version of it all because she wanted to feel good about herself, and somewhere in there she stopped being able to sit still with her own clients. Now it is just her, she is on the floor full time, she is booked out months ahead without posting, and she says it is the best thing that has happened to her business. This one gets honest fast. Sharelle did not want to talk about her tax debt again, and then decided it would be worse not to, because there are women listening who are sitting in exactly the same spot and think they are the only one. So they talk about it properly. The payment plan, the cycle, the ego of pretending you are not on one, and what Sam actually does about it. What we cover Going from a full team back to solo, and why it felt like relief rather than failure The ego trap of headcount, and who you are really trying to look successful for Why hiring to work less usually means working more Sam's numbers a year on from seven staff, and how little the revenue actually moved Tax debt, payment plans and the one habit that gets you out of the cycle Why your future tax matters more than the debt you already have Being present with clients again, and what changed for both of them on the floor Staying booked out without living on social media Flexibility over income, and what owning a business is actually for The dream you built at 21 is allowed to die, and the woman who replaces her usually knows better. Should I hire staff for my salon? Only if you have checked why you want them, because most owners hire hoping to work less and end up working more. Sam's honest test is whether the decision is about the business or about how the number of staff makes you feel. What should I do if I owe tax debt in my salon business? Keep the payment plan as low as you can manage and pay it off slowly, but start putting your future tax aside from this week. Paying the old debt fast while ignoring the new bill is what keeps Australian salon owners stuck in the cycle for years. Can you actually make good money as a solo salon owner? Yes, and often more of it lands in your pocket. Sam compared her numbers with seven staff to her numbers with a team of two and a bit, and the difference across the year was about three thousand dollars, with retail up sharply. Mentioned in this episode: 💛 A Limited Time Offer From Our Amazing Sponsor, Timely 💛 ➡ Timely is the easy to use booking and payments system that puts salon owners in control of the whole client experience from the first booking to final payment. ➡ Salon Rising listeners get a 14 day free trial plus 50% off their first 3 months. ➡ And when you activate with Payments, you'll also get a free Touchscreen terminal, worth $349 + GST. Use the code SALONRISING at checkout or click the link below to get started. Once you're set up, your Timely contact will take care of the rest. 👇 Timely https://www.salonrising.com 💖 Celebrating Our Podcast Partner – Christophe Robin, proudly distributed by McM Imports We’ve partnered with Christophe Robin and MCM Imports to bring you something beautiful: ➡ Experience the Christophe Robin Discovery Box — curated by pro ambassador Monique McMahon. ➡ Inside, you’ll find her handpicked favourites — the hero products she swears by in the salon. It’s your invitation to explore the range and discover why Christophe Robin has become a quiet obsession among stylists who know their craft. Click the link below to request your FREE Christophe Robin Discovery Box , exclusively through McM Imports. 👇 MCM

June 28, 202611 min

Mini Moment #25 - Finding an accountant who gets you, not just your numbers – with Paris from Group One Accounting

Most of us treat our accountant like a stranger who happens to know our numbers. Someone we email at tax time, brace ourselves for, and quietly hope is not judging us. But what if that relationship could feel like the complete opposite? In this Mini Moment, Sam sits down with her own accountant, Paris from Group One Accounting, to talk about what it actually looks like to work with someone who gets you. Not just someone who lodges your BAS on time, but someone you can be honest with, lean on, and yes, even cry to about tax. Because here is the part most salon owners never get told. Your accountant is not there to be your business strategist, and expecting that will only leave you let down. The real shift comes from knowing what the job actually is, asking for exactly what you need, and finding the person who fits the way you work. What we cover What an accountant is actually responsible for, and what they are not The real difference between a bookkeeper and an accountant The questions to ask before you take someone on, from communication style to fees and response time Why Sam pays her accountant a set amount each week, and how that protects her cashflow How to find an accountant who feels personal, not just professional Why you should never feel judged by the person doing your books The right accountant does not just know your numbers. They make you feel safe in your own business. FAQs What is the difference between a bookkeeper and an accountant? A bookkeeper handles the day to day reconciling, data entry and the quarterly BAS that Australian businesses lodge for GST. An accountant usually comes in at the end of the financial year to tidy everything up and do the tax level work, though plenty of accountants can cover both. What should you ask before hiring an accountant? Ask how they communicate, how quickly they respond, and how they charge, including whether phone calls are billed. Being clear about what you need up front is what stops you feeling disappointed later. Should I do my own bookkeeping as a salon owner? For a lot of smaller salons, basic reconciling and paying wages is simpler than it looks, and learning it first keeps your head in your own business. You can always hand it over once you understand what is involved. Mentioned in this episode: 💛 A Limited Time Offer From Our Amazing Sponsor, Timely 💛 ➡ Timely is the easy to use booking and payments system that puts salon owners in control of the whole client experience from the first booking to final payment. ➡ Salon Rising listeners get a 14 day free trial plus 50% off their first 3 months. ➡ And when you activate with Payments, you'll also get a free Touchscreen terminal, worth $349 + GST. Use the code SALONRISING at checkout or click the link below to get started. Once you're set up, your Timely contact will take care of the rest. 👇 Timely https://www.salonrising.com 💖 Celebrating Our Podcast Partner – Christophe Robin, proudly distributed by McM Imports We’ve partnered with Christophe Robin and MCM Imports to bring you something beautiful: ➡ Experience the Christophe Robin Discovery Box — curated by pro ambassador Monique McMahon. ➡ Inside, you’ll find her handpicked favourites — the hero products she swears by in the salon. It’s your invitation to explore the range and discover why Christophe Robin has become a quiet obsession among stylists who know their craft. Click the link below to request your FREE Christophe Robin Discovery Box , exclusively through McM Imports. 👇 MCM

June 21, 20261 hr 3 min

The real PuraU story, from her own acne to a brand that actually works – with Founder, Acacia

Everyone's starting a side business right now. A product, a brand, a little something on the side that might just take off. Acacia actually did it. She and her partner built PuraU , a natural skincare and gut brand, out of her own years of struggling with acne. And in this episode she tells the real story, not the highlight reel. It started with her own skin. Years of the pill, antibiotics, Accutane, naturopaths she could barely afford, and nothing that lasted. So she set out to build the thing she wished she'd had. What she's honest about is everything that came after. They launched to crickets and didn't make a sale for two weeks. They cold called journalists themselves when the expensive PR agency did nothing. It took three years before the business turned a profit, and three years before they paid themselves a wage. If you've ever sat on an idea waiting until you had enough money, or felt behind watching everyone else online look like an overnight success, this one will land. Acacia is proof that the unglamorous version is the real one, and that the people who make it are simply the ones who stick it out. What we cover Building PuraU from Acacia's own years of acne and trying everything Launching the website and not making a single sale for two weeks Cold calling journalists herself instead of paying a PR agency Why a great product means nothing if nobody can find it Learning Facebook ads herself to stop relying on one off PR spikes The three years it took before breaking through, making a profit, or paying themselves Comparison, social media, and the false reality of replacing your income in four weeks Knowing your customer because you were your customer Pushing into chemists and skin clinics, and the setbacks that nearly broke them She built it from nothing, on persistence not luck, and she's only just getting started. You'll find the whole range at purau.com.au , plus there's a quick skin quiz to find your own starting point. FAQs How long does it really take to build a successful business? For Acacia and PuraU it took three years before the business made a profit or paid them a wage. The overnight success stories you see online usually hide years of work that happened before the launch. Do you need money and business experience to start a brand? Acacia was a nurse with no business background and sold her car to help fund the brand. What carried them was resilience and a willingness to learn each part themselves rather than pay someone else to do it. What is PuraU? PuraU is an Australian made skincare and gut health brand, formulated with microbiologists to treat the root cause of acne rather than the surface. It was created by Acacia and her partner out of their own experience with skin and gut issues. Mentioned in this episode: 💛 A Limited Time Offer From Our Amazing Sponsor, Timely 💛 ➡ Timely is the easy to use booking and payments system that puts salon owners in control of the whole client experience from the first booking to final payment. ➡ Salon Rising listeners get a 14 day free trial plus 50% off their first 3 months. ➡ And when you activate with Payments, you'll also get a free Touchscreen terminal, worth $349 + GST. Use the code SALONRISING at checkout or click the link below to get started. Once you're set up, your Timely contact will take care of the rest. 👇 Timely 💖 Celebrating Our Podcast Partner – Christophe Robin, proudly distributed by McM Imports We’ve partnered with Christophe Robin and MCM Imports to bring you something beautiful: ➡ Experience the Christophe Robin Discovery Box — curated by pro ambassador Monique McMahon. ➡ Inside, you’ll find her handpicked favourites — the hero products she swears by in the salon. It’s your invitation to explore the range and discover why Christophe Robin has become a quiet obsession among stylists who know their craft. Click the link below to request your FREE Christophe Robin Discovery Box , exclusively through McM Imports. 👇 MCM https://www.salonrising.com

June 14, 202615 min

Mini Moment #24: The AI Hacks for Busy Salon Owners – with Renee from Salon Society

You already know AI can tidy up a caption. Most salon owners stop right there. Renee from Salon Society and Jen do not. In this Mini Moment the two of them fall down a happy little rabbit hole on all the other ways AI quietly takes the load off a busy owner. Not the marketing stuff. The day to day stuff that clogs up your head and steals your day off. Renee, who is in salon in Perth every week, shares the exact thing she did after a five hour client meeting. One voice note, dropped into Claude with a bit of context, came back as a full action list of who does what. If you want to go deeper on this kind of thing, Renee teaches the whole system in her online course, How to Market Your Beauty Business Online . Jen then talks through how she runs her admin days now, from sorting her inbox to building apprentice training plans, so the mental load stops living rent free in her head. This one is for anyone who has ever sat staring at a to do list with no idea where to start. Especially the neurodivergent owners, who Jen speaks to straight here. AI does not replace you. It just clears the path so you can actually get going. What we cover Why AI is for so much more than checking your captions Turning a long staff meeting into a clear action list in a minute The voice note habit that writes your client content for you Giving AI proper context so it sounds like you, not generic Using AI to sort and triage your inbox on admin days Building apprentice training plans that are easy to actually follow AI as a way past analysis paralysis and the never ending list Why it buys back time without ever doing the work for you Dip your toe in. The water is warm, and your next day off will thank you. FAQs How can salon owners use AI for more than writing captions? AI can turn a long staff meeting into a clear action list, sort your inbox, and build training plans for your apprentices. The trick is giving it context about your salon so the output sounds like you, not generic. How do you use a voice note to create salon content with AI? Record a quick voice note about a client's consultation on your phone, then drop the transcription into a tool like Claude or ChatGPT. Ask it to write the caption as a story about that client, and you get content in your own voice in seconds. Does using AI mean it replaces the salon owner? No. AI does not do the work or send your emails for you. It speeds up the planning and thinking you already do, so you take action Mentioned in this episode: 💛 A Limited Time Offer From Our Amazing Sponsor, Timely 💛 ➡ Timely is the easy to use booking and payments system that puts salon owners in control of the whole client experience from the first booking to final payment. ➡ Salon Rising listeners get a 14 day free trial plus 50% off their first 3 months. ➡ And when you activate with Payments, you'll also get a free Touchscreen terminal, worth $349 + GST. Use the code SALONRISING at checkout or click the link below to get started. Once you're set up, your Timely contact will take care of the rest. 👇 Timely 💖 Celebrating Our Podcast Partner – Christophe Robin, proudly distributed by McM Imports We’ve partnered with Christophe Robin and MCM Imports to bring you something beautiful: ➡ Experience the Christophe Robin Discovery Box — curated by pro ambassador Monique McMahon. ➡ Inside, you’ll find her handpicked favourites — the hero products she swears by in the salon. It’s your invitation to explore the range and discover why Christophe Robin has become a quiet obsession among stylists who know their craft. Click the link below to request your FREE Christophe Robin Discovery Box , exclusively through McM Imports. 👇 MCM https://www.salonrising.com