Issuing a strong leadership mindset and practical applications for everyday salon life, the AHC Leadership Summit brought together top salons, artists and the industry’s business minds to learn the latest industry stats and have more meaningful connections with the industry at large, writes Cameron Pine.

The mission of the Australian Hairdressing Council (AHC) is to continue to lobby for the industry while connecting hairdressing and barber professionals, educators, and suppliers together to form a collective voice of knowledge and industry growth.

Aiming to create a sustainable, positive future for our industry, the AHC since its inception in 2010 has set ethical business standards for salon and registered training organisation (RTO) members and suitably represents the industry across all sectors. Each year culminates in the Industry Day and Leadership Summit, sharing the Hair Festival weekend over June 30 and July 1.

This year’s Leadership Summit carried significant meaning with the stepping down of Sandy Chong as the AHC’s CEO after a decade plus long commitment to our industry and the welcoming of Melissa Kalan, who boasts an impressive background in the hotel industry. Melissa’s passion for banding together to create better outcomes run parallel with the goals of the AHC and the industry’s current and future challenges.

“The Leadership Summit for the Australian Hairdressing Council offers an invaluable opportunity to step away from the day-to-day operations and be inspired by critical skills and strategies for achieving better business outcomes. Effective leadership skills are crucial for all business operators, and this Summit is the perfect environment for professional and personal growth,” said Melissa.

Emceed by James O’Loughlin, a comedian who works with the ABC, James is also an author and radio host and television presenter who brought interest and knowledge by telling true stories of persuasion and perspective in the world of reaching the consumer.

“I’m going to talk about two things. First part of the talk, I’m going to talk about persuasion and influence, how we can all be more persuasive and more influential. In the end, I’m going to talk a little bit about mental health and dealing with stress, and if you think about it, starting with persuasion and influence, we spend a lot of our lives having to persuade or trying to persuade people and that’s ultimately the same in business,” James said.

Kicking off the stellar speaker line up was Sandy Chong and Anne-Maree Mason, AHC Business Manager, divulging key industry trends and statistics in the hairdressing industry. Industry data presented included information from the Australian Taxation Office, industry software companies and sustainable salons. These insights revealed that 71 per cent of hairdressing businesses are sole traders and 28 per cent register for GST.

Sole traders are primarily home based (45 per cent) or commercial businesses (31 per cent) while 19 per cent rent a chair in a salon. It’s not news that sole traders face challenges such as isolation (71 per cent) and increased costs (69 per cent) while commercial salons face challenges such as increased costs (75 per cent) and staffing issues.

Collectively, Sandy and Anne-Maree highlighted the need for a collaborative approach to apprenticeship training involving salon owners, RTOs, teachers, independent educators and suppliers. As with hairdressing, barbers face the same challenges of finding staff and visas among some of the top challenges the AHC is continuing lobbying to address.

Not only providing a solid brush-up of industry stats, Sandy and Anne-Marie covered trends, sustainability and overall profitability in our industry.

The first guest speaker following Sandy and Anne-Maree was Gary Strachan, Founder of Deadly Hair Dude. Gary openly shared his heartfelt experiences from teaching hairdressing in remote indigenous communities where there are various challenges to deliver such services including safety, RTO issues, government negativity and funding constraints.

Overall, it was moving to see how indigenous people can be empowered through micro business and job opportunities and also how a prison program has helped inmates engage and rehabilitate through hairdressing. On top of this face-to-face presence, Gary uses the mobile salon footage and YouTube to teach indigenous people how to cut hair.

James O’Loughlin then uncovered more in-depth Innovation, Persuasion and Mental Health practices – how to persuade decision makers and be a good advocate for strong mental health practices in-salon. In collaboration with Professor Ian Hicking, James shared practical strategies for maintaining mental health.

“Stress, burnout and the impact on mental health is significant and I emphasise the importance of addressing early warning signs and taking care of one’s body clock,” James said. Mental health strategies, anxiety management strategies and future proofing your business to charge on worth also became key topics of discussion.

Andrew Griffiths then spoke on the often-debated topic of price, with his seminar covering, ‘Someone has to be the most expensive, why not make it you?’. This had an inherent mission to lead entrepreneurs in future-proofing their businesses with increasing costs in a forever complicated world and encouraging businesses to charge what they are truly worth.

“Only 2 per cent of business owners charge what they’re worth. Despite asking this question to 100,000 people in the last 18 months what I’ve also uncovered is negative experiences with money in childhood can lead to a lack of confidence in charging what they’re worth,” Andrew said. “I’m an advocate for courageously zigging when others zag in pricing strategies.”

Not only this, but Andrew shared ‘Zingy’ business and farming practices that buck conventional wisdom and explained how he transformed his dive shop into a boutique gallery, tripled prices and became the best in the area, in an already crowded market.

Clint Piper, Chair of the AHC Board of Directors, then gave a snapshot of some of the key milestones and changes within the AHC since its inception, while thanking Sandy for her service. An emotional and heartwarming video from the early days to now showed some of the key highlights throughout Sandy’s countless hours serving the industry and the AHC.

“Sandy has tripled membership growth in nine years and now two thirds of salons are accredited,” Clint said. “Sandy’s advocacy has raised industry standards and has been instrumental in shaping our future steps for the AHC, generating nine million in revenue and ensuring the organisation’s growth and success.”

This also marked the perfect moment to welcome Melissa and her aim to lead the reins with her understanding of the similarities with hair and her last industry and how better to serve the industry and its members.

The night then ended with the wind-down networking and drink opportunity that is Schmoozefest – the perfect chance to loosen the belt buckle and talk with industry peers in a celebratory atmosphere.

“The AHC Leadership Summit is wrapped up with the popular and well-attended Schmoozefest, a highlight event of the year,” Melissa said. “It’s a fantastic chance to network and meet other industry peers, fostering collaboration, connection, and learning, but most importantly reinforcing our confidence to lead.”

For more information visit www.theahc.org.au

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