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Coaching Your Team With Compassion

It happened in my salon, 6 people resigned all within a few weeks. My business coach at the time told me to “get in there and find out why!” As I started asking, the same name kept coming up. My staff was being bullied on my day off by the person I had left in charge to lead the team. I tried to talk to her. She soon quite too. It wasn’t entirely her fault. That was how she had grown up as a child, in an abusive home. She didn’t really see that she was bullying them. She thought she was protecting me and the business, it was her way of being strong and protective. I was sad, really sad about the whole situation. It was then and there that I decided that I had to set the tone for my business early and often. I never ever, wanted to own a business where people felt bullied. As a business owner, your customers and services are not your only two concerns. Your staff needs to be a top priority too.

Your staff will form relationships with customers and each other. How those relationships develop is up to your leadership and you have to set the example .The team will follow. Coaching with compassion at all times takes practice and patience. Who hasn’t rolled their eyes when someone didn’t fold the towels the night before. Or a team member shows up late to work and their client is waiting. And you have to control that urge to text other staff members about how annoyed you may be with one of your staff. It takes constant communication and extreme effort to try to understand each other. Our situation, our upbringing, how our parents handled frustrating situations at home all play a role in how we evaluate a situation. As much as we think our team should be mind readers to what we expect, they are not! It’s taken me years to develop this skill at work. Sitting with team members and trying to understand their situation or circumstances and helping them understand each other and how they perceive a situation and what may really be going on takes a leader CONSTANT communication without assumptions. It is time consuming but essential in developing a trusting team and reaching the companies goals.

I also help other team members find compassion for each other, another human being, who may be struggling or having a difficult time rather than reprimanding or writing them up. I think of my staff as I do my children. They are not perfect, but I love them all just the same and am here to help them grow in their lives and their careers. Without them, and each other your business can never reach it’s full potential. As your business grows, your staff needs will grow as well! And more of your time should be spent coaching them. Having a team that is willing to be open with you and each other takes time. They need to feel safe, heard and understood. To be able to come to you and other leaders in your company to express their concerns and have a safe place where they can be heard, feel better, move forward with resolution or atleast understanding. Let’s face it, we spend more time with our co-workers than we do with our families. We might as well be happy while we are at work, right? It’s true that your team is an integral part of your business who interact with the customers and each other. So how exactly do you coach them with compassion?

Coaching with compassion allows you to connect with your team and foster a work environment that is positive, safe, never judgmental. Never with harsh, angry words. Sometimes you need to get your point across, I get it. Using compassion helps people understand rather than just be told. Implementing this method of leadership helps you gain a better understanding of your team’s values and purpose. Not only are you able to connect on a deeper level, but coaching with compassion can make your team feel twice as motivated. Positivity can be infectious; once your team sees how you treat them, they will treat you and other team members that way. As my business coach always said when a team member was under performing – “Coach ’em up!

Simple Tips for Coaching With Compassion

Coaching with compassion is easy once you set the tone and make it known that this is how things work around here. But it starts with you getting to know your employees. Sit down with your staff and discuss their sense of purpose, values, and dreams. Prompt your employees with questions such as:

Why do we treat every team member with respect at work?

If your team member’s first response is “to make money,” explain that you can make money anywhere. Ask your staff member to explain specifically why they have chosen this job, out of every other job out there, what made them choose this business. What kind of place do they want to work in. A chaotic stressful one or a busy, growing, empowering one?

What kind of person do you wish to be?

This question will provide you insight into what kind of life they want to live and how they can benefit your business and how you can help them reach their goals.

After carefully listening to your team’s responses, help them see the larger picture. Explain just how vital their role is and how they fit into the overall purpose of your business. Be sure to emphasize how their role not only affects the business but how they have the power to influence their surroundings.

Show them how they can and will one day lead junior employees and how they can help them grow. How they can give back to their team members and industry. Think about the most favorite boss you ever had. Was he or she harsh and irritable or firm but kind and caring? Willing to teach and mentor you? My favorite boss, Ted, would take time every Friday and talk to me about my previous week at work, my prospects for next week and then we would each talk a little about ourselves. He was personable and also gave me tips on how to handle any challenging tasks I needed to tackle to grow my customer base or an upcoming meeting with a new prospect. I knew he was there to help me AND the business grow. I always felt like he listened. He always complimented me and my efforts- often! It was like a treat to be called into his office on Friday’s and I always looked forward to it.

And now you get to choose, what kind of culture do you want to have, how do you want to lead your team? It all starts with you. Need more tips on coaching a team with compassion. Email me at alayne@makemefab.com.

Originally published on AlayneCurtiss.net

Makeup Applications Post Covid

Well, just about everything has changed about the dream wedding you were planning, including how your makeup application will go. That also includes your trial session, engagement photos, and any photo shoots you were planning. In NYS, as of the writing of this blog in mid-July, 2020, we have verified that makeup applications are still not allowed. BUT, makeup lessons and consultations are. So, we will be turning all of our makeup applications into lessons and sharpening your skills for this special day and everyday moving forward.

We will make it fun, so bring your bestie, makeup, and your brushes, and we will do the same. We will be teaching you what works and what doesn’t. Teaching you how to apply those false lashes and also how to draw the cleanest eye line. Most importantly, we will be choosing the proper colors in concealer and foundation for camera and the best way to apply absolutely everything. We will be showing you what you can use of your own and what we think you need to supplement with from our diverse collection of products from Alayne Curtiss Bridal Beauty, Bare Minerals, and more.

At your wedding, we will be there, again guiding you and your girls all the way. We will do one on one with the bride and mom and as a group for your girls. At Make Me Fab, we have already put together more than 15 looks for you to choose from with the instructions already done for you on instruction cards. You pick your favorite look and follow the instructions while we guide you. If you want to purchase any item in the look you can. Or, the full look is available at 15% off; makeup brushes are also available for purchase.

Of course, sanitation protocols have been drastically upgraded, including alcohol sprays, during application and after, UV light sanitation after use of tools and products. Disposable tools and palettes, gloves, masks and eyewear worn by your artist, and use of more disposables like q-tips, single-use sponges, and tissues. Even ghost blush applicators made from cotton balls and tissue (this is a trick Alayne learned at her Clinique days, and we can’t wait to show you too!)

Bridal lessons done at our salon will be $150 and include $50 in makeup. Regular lessons done at our salon are $95 and also include $50 in makeup, instructions cards, artist notes, and a follow-up visit is included. (Special rates apply to Harris Company senior sessions, be sure to say thanks to Mikayla!) Here is a sampling of the looks we can teach you:

Got questions, feel free to email us at frontdesk@makemefab.com

Stay fab,

This article was originally published on AlayneCurtiss.com

Radical Candor and Finally the Answer about Walkouts I’ve Been Searching For

I’ve been listening to the book Radical Candor, by Kim Scott, and wow, Chapter 6 – Guidance, nailed it. Finally, the answer to why walkouts occur and the BIG WHY for me and many other salon owners. Why do the people who walk out most often try to discredit and destroy our reputations and businesses on the way out? Actually, it is a very destructive behavior for all women and Kim explains why. We’ve been told over and over again that our walkout was a salon thing and that it was all our fault. I researched, I studied. I soon realized that it was happening over and over to salon owners all over the country. But why, how? I wanted the answers. All the women I interviewed said the same thing, “I was blindsided. I was so good to them. I haven’t paid myself in months. Why are they saying I was abusive, or a bitch, or a slave driver, a micromanager? “ Or, the new negative connotation for a female boss, especially a successful one, the dreaded “narcissist.”

You see Kim Scott watched the negative talk happen over and over again in silicon valley where the stakes are high. Where the highest of high performing women are experiencing the same thing. This is why it is so destructive to the success of all women, and why Kim states in her book, “It needs to stop.”

So here it is, a successful female boss starts being beaten down by men and other women who feel lesser than her, they need to feel better about themselves. ”She’s too aggressive, she’s a micromanager, a narcissist.” It causes women who are natural caretakers to rethink what we are doing and we become less authoritative and vocal. We become less effective at getting the results expected of ourselves and our staff at work. We shrink our voices, we shrink our expectations, we shrink our effectiveness. The men who are viewed as “go-getters, ” or “strong leaders,” rise, where we women soften so that our counterparts won’t call us disparaging unflattering connotations. The men and women who want us to be smaller succeed in deflating us, so they no longer feel small. Kim identifies studies that reveal that employees do not identify their male bosses’ characteristics the same way they do female bosses. Therefore, the men continue to rise, their salaries continue to rise and they continue to outperform the women in silicon valley.

I also received additional feedback from another psychologist after questioning the why behind the behavior surrounding salon walkouts. Basically, all the bad-mouthing, that the staff member walking out with “their friends,” and “their clients,” is due to the need to make your actions worse than theirs in order to justify the destruction of your business and livelihood that they are about to deliver you on a silver platter. Instead of trying to discredit and destroy successful women, we need to reach out to them for mentoring, support, advice, collaboration, and come together so the entire gender can rise. Women, we have got it all wrong and we are actually hurting each other and ourselves. We need to stop!

How many successful salons that have male or female owners have you heard are mean, or a bitch, or a bad person, or treat their people poorly, or steal money for themselves? I have sat in interviews across my desk listening to candidates completely bash their former bosses. Every salon owner I have interviewed is quite the opposite! Their innate nature as leaders, women, hairdressers, or estheticians is exactly the opposite. They are nurturers, caretakers and care deeply about their businesses, but more about their people, all people! The women who are threatened, or feel inadequate, need to feel better or bigger about themselves by knocking those women who deeply cared for them, trained them, mentored, and sacrificed for them. Business owners, including salon leaders, often sacrifice pride, paychecks, and time with their own families to support their staff, their clients, and their businesses!

So I want you to stop, stop believing the stories that it was your fault and you need to change. Actually, our entire gender norm needs to change and stop the vicious cycle if we are ever to rise above and thrive in society. Think of the wise man or the wise woman in an Indian tribe. The younger warriors and wives go to them for their years of knowledge, stories of survival, and to receive advice. That is how we need to start treating each other. Give gratitude and respect. Seek out advice from the female trailblazers who have come before you, instead of tearing them down.

So here goes, thank you Kim Scott for your years of observation, pushing forward, raising up, and managing men and women alike. For writing your book and finally giving me the answer to the question I have been pondering and trying to figure out for many, many years.

XOXO,

Alayne

This article was originally published on AlayneCurtiss.net

Get Glowing: With Makeup Artist Alayne Curtiss’ Beauty Box

Originally posted by TheScoopSaratoga.com

“This week I got a chance to visit Make Me Fab Salon and Spa in Saratoga Springs, NY, and chat with makeup artist and owner Alayne Curtiss. I had originally asked Alayne to give us some simple tips that we could use at home when applying makeup for an everyday look. She shared that she had recently launched a line of makeup BOXES. Like kits, with an instruction manual, and all necessary products, to take the guesswork out of doing it yourself. THIS. WAS. BRILLIANT.

Watch the video here!

As shown in the video, Alayne shared that she originally launched the “bridal boxes” so that brides could do their own makeup during covid. She learned very quickly that it wasn’t just brides who welcomed the simplicity of the boxes. With twelve looks to choose from, she is making it super easy for ANYONE to recreate these looks.

Although the instruction card for each look is quite explanatory, she also includes a one-on-one tutorial, either through zoom or in-person, to walk you through the instruction card and answer any questions you may have (if purchasing the entire kit). The twelve looks and wide variety of products she carries can be found at https://shop.makemefab.com/ or in her salon and spa, located in The Pavillion Grand Hotel at 30 Lake Avenue in Saratoga Springs, NY.”

10 Tips To Help You Do Your Own Makeup On Your Wedding Day

There are many reasons why a bride may decide to do her own makeup on the wedding day.

Your makeup artist cancels at the last minute. You’re just not comfortable with other people touching your face. You don’t like any of the looks that artists tried on you. You just want to look like yourself. Your budget just doesn’t allow for it. Or in 2020, we saw makeup applications prohibited for many months. Well not to worry, it can be done and we are here to help. Alayne Curtiss has been a bridal hair and makeup artist for more than 25 years and gives you her top tips to help you look fabulous on your wedding day.

Try a lesson with a makeup artist to teach you a few tips about makeup, lighting, and her top tips. This can be done in person or virtually. Schedule a follow-up appointment for additional questions after you try out the look on your own and take good notes and diagrams for reference.
Practice a few looks you like and take photos of yourself in different lighting, wearing light colors and see which look you like the best. Perfect and practice based on what you see and want to change.
Match your foundation to your neck since most often these areas are exposed when wearing a wedding dress and a makeup artist’s job is to make it all match.
Ask your maid of honor, bestie, or someone whose opinion you really trust for honest feedback or assistance.
Wear the look for a few hours after you perfect it and see how well it lasts. What needs touching up? Make sure you bring those items with you on your wedding day…

To continue reading more from Alayne Curtiss visit alaynecurtiss.com

5 Reasons Why the Bride Should Go First on the Wedding Day

“I should go last right, so I look the freshest?” I hear it time and time again and the answer is NO!

Many people think that the bride should go last when receiving beauty services on the day of the wedding, but we actually prefer the bride to go first. Why you ask?

1) This is so we have the most time to spend on the bride. If we leave the bride for last and anything is running behind, guess who we end up rushing on? Yup, you! Our preference is when we arrive, to ‘set’ the bride’s hair in curls and then prep a few attendants and then bring the bride back to finish her hair and makeup so she is ready when the photographer arrives. Then we will finish 1 or 2 attendants at the end. As mentioned above, it is important that the bride is finished, or doing final finishing touches, when the photographer arrives so you look flawless and fabulous in your “getting ready” photos. We can always mock a few makeup touchup and hair shots on a perfect looking bride.

2) Plus, you can also spend the most time on the bride. This way and rush on someone else if time is running late. It also allows the team at MMF to provide a little extra time to apply depuffing eye pads for the bride to wear in the morning prior to makeup application. .

To read more from Alayne Curtiss please visit alaynecurtiss.com

Major Benefits of Continuing Education for Salon Professionals

People who have passed through their education at beauty school may be wondering if they should go on to continue their cosmetology training. No matter what the craft, people should always seek to better themselves through education, and they can do this by taking a course. This will contribute to success as a business.

Learn the Latest Styles and Techniques

One of the advantages of continuing one’s education comes from the fact that they will learn some of the latest styles and techniques of the industry. This field continues to evolve with the fashion of the time, and that means that people have to keep up their knowledge of it. People want to become as well-rounded in the industry as possible.

Sharpens Skills

Education in cosmetology will provide an individual with the opportunity to improve their skills and become even better. For people who may be weak in a certain area of cutting hair, they can use the time to shore up their weaknesses and grow as a hair stylist. This art matters. While someone could practice hair styling all day every day, they could still have fallen into traps, and they need to continue to press for new knowledge.

Continue reading this article at AlayneCurtiss.net.

Finding the Right Glam Squad for Your Wedding

A glam squad is an essential part of the big day. The glam squad is responsible for prepping the bride and the entire bridal party to look photo-ready. In addition to getting the entire bridal party ready for the ceremony, a good glam squad will bring positive energy and create a fun experience while they work.

Start Looking Early

When searching for a glam squad, it is best to start early. The bride usually likes to do a test-run with the glam squad to make sure that her vision is appropriately carried out before the big day. One way to make the most out of this run-through is to use the opportunity to get engagement photos done after the trial with the glam squad. This will give the bride the chance to meet the team, see what they’re like, and determine if she likes the hair and makeup.

To continue reading please visit alaynecurtiss.com .

The Retail Side of Salon Ownership

There are so many sides to the salon business, and as a salon owner, you need to be prepared and well versed in all areas of your business. Your job as a beauty professional is to deliver fabulous looks to each and every one of your clients. But your job doesn’t end there! The retail side of your business is absolutely an essential part of your success. Your clients want to know they can keep up with their hair care at home until their next appointment. And it’s the job of you and your staff to educate your clients on the best ways they can do that!

It’s Not Just Selling

Selling something can be uncomfortable. You don’t want to come off too strong. You don’t have an aggressive personality. All too often, there’s a negative connotation that comes with selling retail. Remember, you’re not just selling. As a salon professional, you should be an expert in the products that you carry and the methods needed to keep hair healthy and beautiful! And, you should have your client’s best interest in mind. No one knows their hair better than you, and they’re putting time and effort in to keep it healthy by making their regular appointments. Use your expertise to show your clients the products that will suit their hair, and that you know they’ll love to use in between their scheduled appointments!..

To continue reading please visit alaynecurtiss.net

4 Staple Makeup Tips for Summer Brides

The summer months are a trendy time for weddings. And with summer around the corner, many brides are ditching traditional indoor venues and heading toward the great outdoors. While outdoor weddings are a popular trend for summertime, every bride knows, heat, sweat, and humidity can lead to an absolute bridal beauty disaster.

Not to worry! Whether you’re a bride, a bridesmaid, or just attending a wedding this summer, here are a few staple makeup tips to keep things look fabulous!

Waterproof Those Eyes

“Pass the tissues, please.” Tears are almost unavoidable at a wedding, and in the summer, you’re essentially worrying about tears and sweat, the ultimate disaster combination for eye make up. If your favorite part of your look is a dramatic eye, there are still a few steps you can take to help your eye makeup hold up throughout the day. Eye shadow can be finicky, depending on the person, and especially the weather. The best bet to keep your eye makeup the way you intended is to start from the base. Before you apply shadow, apply a light concealer or eye primer. This will help your eyeshadow adhere to your lid and minimize the possibility of it wearing off. Once you’ve done that, whether you’re a crier or not, consider using waterproof mascara; a regular formula is no match for wedding tears!

Consider a Lip Focus

If you’re a crier or have oily eyelids, heavy eye makeup may not be your best bet for a summer wedding. Consider shifting your focus to your lips! …

To continue reading visit alaynecurtiss.com

Top Trending Hairstyles for Your Bridesmaids

Your bridesmaids are made up of some of the most influential people in your life. They’re standing by your side before, during, and after your wedding; for detail-oriented brides, they’re an essential component of the perfect day. Bridal beauty trends are constantly changing, and many brides pay close attention to beauty details; coordinating hairstyles, make-up, dresses and more. If you’re in the midst of wedding planning, or you’re a bridesmaid looking for the perfect look on your best friends big day, check out a few of these trending bridesmaid hairstyles:

Romantic Braids

Braided hairstyles can be done in so many different ways, and look great with all different textures, colors, and lengths of hair. You can try braided hairstyles that incorporate one large braid or get a little more creative with a waterfall braid and or braided headband. They’re also a great way to keep hair pulled back, without having to resort to a bun or updo (although both are great choices!)

Up-Do’s

Updo’s are a versatile and trendy way to add elegance to any bridesmaid look. With updos, there are tons of different styles and spins that can add diversity to your bridesmaid’s hairstyles, while keeping things coordinated and uniform (if that’s what you’re going for). You can try romantic braided updos, looser, more whimsical updos with a few falling layers, or elegant top-knot buns to keep hair pulled back and well-kept. Updos are an excellent option for outdoor weddings with warmer temperatures or high humidity; they also accentuate the look of open back or scooped-back dresses…

To continue reading visit alaynecurtiss.com