The VIP Suite at IMAGE Studios with Matthew Landis

Meg Schmitz, IMAGE Studios Franchise Owner, Knows What It Takes To Be An Entrepreneurial Powerhouse

• IMAGE Studios • Season 3 • Episode 16

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Matthew sits down with Meg Schmitz, a seasoned franchise owner and consultant, to delve into the intricacies of running a successful beauty, health, or wellness business. They explore the challenges faced by self-employed professionals, from mastering time management and financial literacy to achieving a harmonious work-life balance. 

Meg and Matthew share their experiences and offer practical advice on navigating the opportunities and challenges within the beauty, health, and wellness industry. They underscore the value of collaboration, knowledge sharing, and hard work in achieving success. By taking risks and overcoming fears, beauty professionals can unlock their full potential. 

Together, they also provide actionable insights for beauty professionals looking to elevate their careers and achieve independence and flexibility through franchising opportunities with IMAGE Studios. Whether you're an established beauty, health, or wellness professional or just starting, this episode offers valuable guidance on building a thriving beauty business.

Matthew Landis:

Welcome to season three of the VIP Suite at IMAGE Studios, the podcast exclusively designed for independent beauty, health and wellness professionals brought to you by IMAGE Studios, the luxury leader in the Salon Suite industry. I'm your host, Industry Expert and certified business coach, Matthew Landis. In each episode, we will bring you insightful interviews with solo entrepreneurs who have forged their own path to success. From stories of triumph to practical tips and strategies for growing your client base and building your brand. This is the place to thrive and take your Salon Suite business to the next level. Joining me today on the VIP Suite is Meg Schmitz. She is an IMAGE Studios franchise owner in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin with more locations on the way in Madison and Milwaukee.

Meg Schmitz:

I am happy to be here, Matthew,

Matthew Landis:

Great to see you as well. I'm so excited for this conversation. Now you are a franchise consultant, a coach, an author, a speaker and all around badass entrepreneur. How do you make the time all of that?

Meg Schmitz:

That in such a small package too? If you're gonna be a badass? Well, you know, you gotta cram it all in. I think the way to get it all done really is to prioritize. My mom is so funny. She says, Oh, Meg, you talk about money all the time. It's like, Yeah, mom, because money solves the money problem. If you don't prioritize how you use your time, then you chase after shiny, sparkly things.

Matthew Landis:

I love that. Now you have a lot of experience in the beauty industry. You owned five Great Clips locations in the Chicago area. Right. So I would like to know more about that experience and what you loved the most about that experience.

Meg Schmitz:

That was such a paradigm shift for me. So I'm 61 now and that was half my life ago, I was almost 30 when my ex husband and I got involved with great clips. And I remember saying to him, wait, what we don't know anything about cutting hair? How can we be an owner of something we know nothing about. And so the nature of franchising is that they have the recipe and they'll teach you teach you how to bake, bake the recipe. And that's really why I learned it was a real eye opener. For me, having been a corporate person, I was a white collar, downtown Chicago, I had a good job, I was making a lot of money, I knew nothing except getting my hair cut. And so for me to step into the industry as an owner, and a boss and a manager, that was really me having to take a step back and learn from my employees and let them teach me for better or for worse, best practices. We had worst practices. And I can tell you more about that we had some stealing and some other shenanigans going on that I wasn't on top of or aware of. So what I really appreciated about my time during those 12 years is how hard beauty professionals work. How physically demanding how how emotionally demanding it is to be that in someone's space, you're touching their skin, and it's a very intimate industry. And it requires a lot of discipline to be successful.

Matthew Landis:

Absolutely, yeah, we you know, we talked about this a lot at our IMAGE Studios annual retreat, the mind of the IMAGE Pro and what that is like for someone emotionally, physically, and everything that that a pro goes through each and every client each and every day, you said that being a an owner really taught you a lot of lessons, I would, I would love to hear more about that. And what some of those lessons were?

Meg Schmitz:

Well, some of it is is discipline in the fact that when you own the business, the buck stops here. And so someone needs to be on top of decision making, and you can't let things fester and brew. Because if they do, then that impacts the culture for your employees. And that then trickles down to your client experience. And you can poison the pot by sticking your head in the sand and not addressing issues when they pop up. So that was from a tactical standpoint, a lesson that I learned early on, if you ignore it, it's it's going to ruin your business. And once your clients don't come, then your employees don't come and it's a whole bad trickle down experience there. I learned a lot from the beauty pros about how hard it is for them to work with customers that many hours a day. And for them to be able to get quality of life in their scheduling. There's the desire to make money and the earning potential with commissions and tips especially. But it's a very demanding industry. So I learned a lot about scheduling and helping my employees balance their employment time along with their family or, or personal time downtime, those were two of the biggest ones was tactical as a business owner. But then as a good employer to be very sensitive to the needs of my full time as well as even the part time people know a lot of them are working two, three jobs, and they love what they're doing enough to come in part time, they still need to be protected, and, and work the hours that are going to be beneficial for them.

Matthew Landis:

I've listened to a few episodes of your podcast and of course, I've gone to your website, it's megschmitz.com Easy to remember megschmitz.com And you place a lot of value on honesty, integrity, and also independence and freedom. And hearing your talk about your employees that Great Clips, it seemed like that was something that you have always valued. And you placed a lot of importance in in creating the right environment for them. And I applaud you for that. Because I think there's a lot of owners and managers out there who don't always see the big picture for the individuals that that worked for them that contribute to the hole.

Meg Schmitz:

Yeah, it's a trap for owners, they fall into pretty easily to say this is the triangle. And I'm up here, I own all of this. And I took the triangle and turned it upside down and said, all of these people are my frontline people, I have got to have their back. Once you take care of your top line, frontline people, they're happy, they're productive, they're calling you tell us happy, then I have a happy business. So that was a realization, pretty early on that. You can't have that arrogance or attitude or ego as the owner. This is all about creating the right environment

Matthew Landis:

That is so smart. When I owned a really big and culture for them. salon, we had about 55 employees, I realized that the people that take the most abuse were the people that you might traditionally think were at the bottom of the pyramid or the bottom of the ladder. And that was the front desk. And I realized they were the brain trust of the whole thing. Because they kept everything together, they had to deal with me, they had to deal with the clients. And they had to deal with everybody that works there who all wanted something, and everybody really depended on them, to make sure that everything ran smoothly. And so I treated them. You know, I gave them the red carpet every day as best as I could to try to make sure they knew how much I appreciated them how much they recognize the important work that they were doing and offering them opportunity because one thing I found that people respond to more than money sometimes is opportunity. And so I tried to provide as much of that as I could.

Meg Schmitz:

Absolutely. I talked about this at the IMAGE retreat with the other owners. This is one of the simplest lessons I learned having sold Mary Kay Cosmetics way back when I was a young woman, Mary Kay would talk about, pull out an index card and have each of your employees, your key people, write down what's their favorite adult beverage beverage, protein bar, candy, bar, flowers, things that would elevate them and let them know. They forget that they fill out this. This index card. Matthew got it in a file box so he could pull it down to Oh, Monica is not having a great day. Something's happening with her kids. And I would leave a sunflower and a Milky Way bar. You'd think that I given them such a gift. It wasn't much. It wasn't money. It wasn't a gift certificate. Just a little something with a note. Hey, Monica, I heard you're hitting a rough patch. I just wanted to let you know I'm thinking about you. When it comes to opportunity, Matthew, that's another good one. I recognize so many of my part time people had so much skill and they they had the discipline to work multiple jobs. There were a couple of them I promoted by asking them if I were to be able to give you full time hours, would you what would your job look like? If you could eliminate one or two of your other sideline? Walking around money, distractions and put more of your time here I recognize these talents in you can I elevate you can I promote you to this position and pay you than what you're worth in order to leave these other sidelight jobs that work beautifully for me to be able to give more opportunity to people who felt in the beauty industry. You know, it's a rat race and it's a it's a puppy mill, for some of them the salons are just not well run and they run into brick wall and they think it's them. But really, it's the location that they're in is toxic. So come and find people like me or Matthew, where we want to find those opportunities so that you can, you can advance and, and earn a greater income as well as that freedom. There's a lot of freedom that comes from less stress in a job.

Matthew Landis:

And love that you said that and you touched on some really big things for me, for us, for our image pros, a lot of our pros are coming to image studios, because they're leaving a toxic environment. And I remember being in a situation myself where one of the issues was, I didn't have anywhere to go, I was in a bad situation of with a salon that I was in and I needed somewhere to go. And I there wasn't anywhere that I wanted to work. So I ended up creating the place that I want it to be. And I think one of the things that you emphasize in your blog posts on your podcast on your website is taking the leap, and a lot of our pros are taking the leap. What advice and what encouragement would you have for our pros that are wanting to do that, or have done that and maybe feeling a little trepidatious? about it?

Meg Schmitz:

Yeah, the the scariest thing is thinking that you're doing something unique, and you've never done it before. And it is scary, to take the leap. What I really appreciate about not only IMAGE but the environments that I've created in the past is to make it feel like there's camaraderie, there's respect. There's teamwork, we're stronger together than we are individually, and you're in business for yourself. But you're not in business by yourself. Everyone else who's at IMAGE Studios is also self employed entrepreneur, facing the same financial and scheduling fears and concerns. Until they make it well then then they've got a story to tell, and they can share that with the others. So beautiful thing for me about having 40 Studios to sell is that I'm going to have people who are newer and fresher and haven't done this before. It's actually talk to somebody who's been in the industry for 25 years and has always worked at a salon and frustrated as heck toxic environment, tired of working his way through the through the Milwaukee system. Where else is he gonna go now except on his own. And yeah, he's got a lot of trepidation. It's so many years of being independent, but not self employed. And so I appreciate the training and support that you have baked into IMAGE studios from the very beginning. And just as we were talking about with the financial health, the financial wellness, building your business, looking forward to retirement. So again, going into business for yourself, but not by yourself. We've got all these great tools and resources that you've created for us.

Matthew Landis:

Thank you, I appreciate it. You know, a lot of people are coming from environments, I know there's parts of the country to where, you know, the traditional salon owners have really done their best to try to brainwash their employees that you're gonna fail, don't do this, it's, you know, it's terrible out there. It's scary, don't go. So I'm really glad that there are people like you who can be an inspiration and help people make that transition to independence, because that's mostly what I've known my whole career. And it's not scary. It's wonderful. And, and you know, most people even when they struggle in this industry, for the first few months, they end up doing pretty well if they give it time.

Meg Schmitz:

And well meaning family and friends are going to foist their fears upon you. They're afraid that you're going to fear to fail. They're they're afraid that you're going to hit a snag. What I hear from the beauty professionals I'm talking to, yes, I do hear trepidation and concern. But how many of them when I asked them, Why are we having this conversation? Because Meg, fill in the blank. I want to be independent. I'm tired of being told what to do. And that of course, Matthew, you know, when you bring somebody in who's who's complaining about something and really need to get down to the bottom of why is that problematic? Are they really being told what to do? Or are they being sculpted to do something that that really is against their their better judgment? I like to give people an environment where they can thrive and be collaborative. How many nail technicians how many estheticians? Yes, they're, they're competing for the same clientele, but each one of them is different, and has their own trajectory for how they got to where they are today. They all have their own story and their way of engaging with their clientele. So I'm looking for that camaraderie and shared experience so that those people who have not done it before will find a welcoming In a collaborative environment, not a competitive one,

Matthew Landis:

that's great. And I think that's one thing at IMAGE Studios that a lot of the pros that I've interviewed and my own feelings is that we try to create spaces that do have that camaraderie, even with the physical design of the spaces that the windows and a lot of the programs that we offer is to create that, that kind of a space. I love the word camaraderie. It's very professional. And I like that. So what are some practical things that you think independent beauty, health and wellness professionals should consider about their business? What are what are some mistakes they might want to avoid? When it comes to setting up their business and running their business?

Meg Schmitz:

There's a very clear set of financial definitions that if you're going to own a business, you need to understand that revenue is not profitability. Revenue is your top line, that's what you're charging, you need to understand what your cost structure is, what what are those items that cost you money, there's your time, but then you've also got your product, your equipment, and that's an investment for some, it's a pretty hefty lift. In order to get some of that esthetician Med Spa, some of that equipment is very expensive. So you need to understand what is the long term payoff? And then how does that also impact the pricing that you're putting in place. The beautiful thing about the training that you offer is you're coming in these beauty pros are coming in all this is a big one coming in from commission, booth rental or salon. And I had a gal say this, I'm charging my clients $100. But I have to split it 46/54% And so I'm just going to charge my client 46? Because that's what I'm accustomed to making? No, no, your client is accustomed to paying $100. Now you're going to keep that $100 But I want to go through, then what are your expenses, so that then they can I understand what their profitability is. I'm like you, an advocate of saying tips are real money. Tips are income, and that needs to go into your financial statement. That is actual money that's going hopefully into a bank and not just to Las Vegas. But putting some structure around. paying yourself first also means putting money in the bank for a future home a future car retirement. For me, it's very much a financial picture than as well as a time. How do you allocate your time? And are you using your time in such a way that you can be financially productive and work fewer hours, that to me is the big goal is don't come in order to work the same hours come in order to work with the clientele that you want to work with. You do have the right to say no to some people, you don't have to work with everybody do. And then really build, build your practice, build your business around what you've always dreamt it to be. So have clear vision of how to use your time and your money in order to get the outcome that you're looking for.

Matthew Landis:

Oh my gosh, thank you so much for saying all of that. I think a lot of our pros know their numbers. They're pretty good at it. But there are a lot, you know, I was one of those people 15-20 years ago. Making money was easy. Keeping it and taking it, that was hard. And it's a really expensive business. So thank you for pointing out that you really need to know your numbers. And if you don't know your numbers, don't be afraid to ask somebody to help. And if they're talking to you, because this was me, I asked for help sometimes, but they would get going so fast. I'm like they lost me five minutes ago, I have no idea where this is going. And I was felt too stupid to say slow down. Hold on. I have a lot of questions. I don't understand this. So it took me a long time to really sit with it and figure it out. Knowing your numbers, knowing the price of your service, what how much it costs to run your business, and what you need to take home and also what you want, you know, how much do you need to put into retirement? How much do you need for the things in your life that are important, but that can be so overwhelming. And I think the one thing that I learned is that once you go through the numbers and you sit down and you figure this out, it's not as overwhelming as you think. And the price of peace of mind is invaluable. You know, I use the example that my husband and I when we went into lockdown, we sat down at the kitchen table looked at all of our numbers. How is this going to affect us? Are we going to be okay? And it was the greatest feeling of my life one of the greatest feeling some of my life to sit down with those numbers and say, we're going to be, we're going to be okay.

Meg Schmitz:

Yeah, it was huge. And this is what I've done for the last 30 something years of my professional career is to build entrepreneurs. No one gets into business for themselves in order to lose money, everyone's got the American dream, or whatever you want to call it. I want to be self employed. Because when I'm the boss, I call the shots and I'm going to make a lot of money doing that, well. Money comes from discipline. When it comes from discipline, I love love, love helping people figure out just what we were talking about, what is your revenue? What are your expenses? How can you raise your prices, here are three people who've done what you're talking about. Don't be afraid of raising your prices. Here, talk to these three people who've done it, and they'll tell you what it's done for their business. So I like to be that Sherpa, I guess the one shining the light on here, here's the pathway, here are your stepping stones, your look here and step over here. And if you follow the pathway will get you there and you're gonna love it. This is also the franchise formula for me and why so enjoy making money in a franchise, I don't have to be the one creating these things from scratch. This is very much success is very formulaic. I know creatives want to want to continue to do that and explore their creativity and get additional certifications. But look at it too, is how you're going to monetize and elevate your your expertise, you ought to be charging more money, you really ought to be charging more money,

Matthew Landis:

I completely agree. And for those of you that are listening, that want to charge more money, please get in touch with us sign up for our courses, I will help you know how much to charge because that's a big one. I don't know what to charge, we have it down to a science, we have the worksheets, we have the tools for you. So if you're listening to this, and you don't know what to do, reach out and ask. And one of the things that as we're having this conversation, all the roadblocks tend to come down to fear, I'm afraid to ask I'm afraid to look, I'm afraid to know. And when it comes to asking people for help, what I will tell you is everybody wants to help people love sharing their knowledge. People want to help you, it makes them feel good. Let them feel good. Let them help you. And people want you to be successful. And that includes your clients and includes everybody that knows you and loves you wants you to be successful.

Meg Schmitz:

And while there are saboteurs out there, and there are we know that there are people who will who will not answer this, I don't have time for you or ask someone else what math you just said is absolutely the truth. There are so many people out there who want to share their knowledge, it makes me feel good to be able to share my knowledge and know over the last 30 years, how many people have I helped to be successful entrepreneurs. That's so self reinforcing for me, what do I get out of it? I nothing except that I've got a track record of creating successful entrepreneurs. It's amazing then to take all of those people who've been successful and talk to a new beauty professional, who just got a couple of years of experience and introduce them to other people who truly will offer their expertise. And not will be withholding or, or that saboteur more people do want to help

Matthew Landis:

More people want to help and if you get a bad feeling about something or you feel like this is wrong, or you didn't hear me or didn't listen, you can also ignore people feel right, listen to your gut. That's what I always say if your gut says, you know, red light, green light. Before we go, I want to know what or who inspires you?

Meg Schmitz:

Oh, gosh, we have so many businesses that we run everything from LaSalle Street, Wall Street, white collar professionals, to people who dig in the earth and we've got a land restoration company. The most inspiring people are not the highest educated, they're not the most highly compensated. They're the people who really inspire me have a creative streak and that's why I'm back with image studios. And back in the in this industry. I love creatives and beauty professionals are making the world beautiful, more beautiful one person at a time. I am inspired by how diverse this industry has gotten in the last since I was really in it. And just in the last 10 years all the different ways that that technology has come into play with beautification. So I'm inspired really by the the beauty pros I'm talking to are continuing to do continuing education Question and learning new techniques. It's just It's fascinating to me.

Matthew Landis:

Yeah, you know, I think social media, this is one of the good things about social media. I think there's a lot of dark things about social media. But social media has really shed a light on a lot of diversity. And a lot of things that weren't given lights are given a spotlight that they deserved in the past. And I think that that's sort of leveled the playing field. Because when I started out in the industry, everything was top down, you had all the rock star hairdressers, beauty professionals in New York, London, LA, who told us what was in style, who told us how to do things, what products to use, and then along came Facebook, and then Instagram, and suddenly it was everybody has an equal opportunity to shine and spotlight. And suddenly, it was more diverse backgrounds, different hairs. I mean, so they just exploded, and now it's all over. And that inspires me as well. I've been with you, and also just information and education. So I think that's been exciting. For me, having been for 27 years.

Meg Schmitz:

The hard work and dedication is so apparent when I go through Instagram and look at because I'll ask people who are who would like to have a tour. And if they'll give me their Instagram handle so that I can follow them. They all want to be everyone wants to be followed and liked. But I do something more I think than most people I scroll through. I do the deep dive I do this also on LinkedIn where or Facebook, I want to understand the Flight of the Bumblebee and who are you and what are the what inspires you what makes your story different from anybody else's. So I like to follow people but I go deep into their posts and see how their messaging how they're self promoting the confidence that they are putting out there in the universe. And to your point, there are some there are some bad ones and people who are a little too edgy for me a little too out there for what I'm looking to pull together. But for good collaborative there, there are so many beauty professionals, Instagram pages that tell such a great story about how they got from where they started to where they are now. You can see it in the pictures that they post, and the accomplishment that they're achieving as they continue in their career. That's really fun.

Matthew Landis:

Yeah, I agree. And I think one thing that you and I have in common is that curiosity, you know, we're always learning. We're curious about other people. And we want to know more. What's next for you? I know you've got some new locations opening and got some other stuff in the pipeline.

Meg Schmitz:

I think about the My husband is just a couple of years older than I am. I'm 61. So many people are retiring. And that's what happens when you like Pete was on Wall Street for many years. Well, retirement is something that that C suite professionals do. So those white collar professionals are looking what what is your retirement age? And what are you going to do after that? He and I look at each other and laugh and say they question us as to why are we continuing to run so fast and so hard. I don't really know any other way. What is most inspiring when it really comes right down to it, Matthew is being able to give people opportunity to advance and to accomplish and become who they want to be where they've either been held back or unable to get that realization. So for me to give people the capacity the runway to go and be and do more. I hope I never get tired of that.

Matthew Landis:

I love that. You know, I'm really fascinated about people that live to be like 101, and the things that they have in common is that they all have a drive. They have a sense of purpose. They keep going, you know, I have a friend his dad is 102 and he still goes to work every day.

Meg Schmitz:

My dad just turned 92 Earlier this week, and my mom will be turning 87 They are just what you're talking about retired from their careers but hardly retired and continuing to engage in community events and they think nothing of what it is that I am doing. They also scratch their heads at this notion of unplugging and going to play golf and what what sort of life is that? There's no curiosity. There's no real but that suits some people and as my mom says I'll make if everybody was just like you the world would be such a boring place. So it can't all be Energizer bunnies, but to your point there are 100 and I'm 61 If I'm halfway through my life, and I can look at it that way. I gotta a whole lot more work to do. And I got a meme from from somebody, another business owner the other day, it was a color coded wheel for when you own your own business, and it divided the wheel into three colors. One is free time, ability to travel and spending money. And it's when you're the business owner, you really don't have any time to do any of those things. Because you're busy all the time doing running your business, I wouldn't have it any other way. I get a lot of satisfaction from working seven days a week. But I don't look at it as work. I look at it as an outlet and an ability for me to help other people create the life that that will make them happier. So it's, it's reinforcing in that way, not so much that it's work, but it's really fun.

Matthew Landis:

I love that. Yeah, I always tried to incorporate those things into what I did for work, it was like I get to travel, do this and see new things and, you know, take a little time off for myself. But, man, I just want to thank you so much for all of your work, the inspiration that you provide you, you know, when I first met you, I just was like, man she is to the badass, of course, I want to know more about her. And thank you so much for also just giving so much opportunity to so many people. It's it's, it's appreciated.

Meg Schmitz:

Well, it's my favorite industry to be involved in. And that's why I gravitated back to it. So IMAGE Studios is where I've wanted to be. And now we're going to be open later in July. And I just love interacting with the pros who have come my way so far. And we're going to we are going to have a really great collective it's it's a real pleasure to be associated with this brand.

Matthew Landis:

Well, thank you Meg.

Meg Schmitz:

Thank you for the interview in the time today. It's been really fun to see you again, Matthew.

Matthew Landis:

Same here. Take care. Thank you so much for joining me on this episode of The VIP Suite. I'm Matthew Landis and I hope you found the insights and inspiration shared today truly valuable for your journey as a Salon Suite entrepreneur and independent beauty health or wellness professional. Don't forget to follow us on Instagram at@imagestudios360. And if you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe to the VIP Suite on your favorite podcast platform so you never miss an opportunity to connect with our vibrant community and to discover more incredible stories and strategies. We love hearing from our listeners if you have any questions, topic suggestions or want to share your own success story. Feel free to reach out to me at matthew@imagestudios360.com Remember listener you are the heartbeat of the beauty, health and wellness industry. Your dedication and passion make the world a better place one client at a time. We'll be back with more engaging and inspiring conversations in our next episode. Until then take care stay inspired and continue to create your own VIP suite. For more information about becoming a part of the IMAGE Studios luxury Salon Suite community, visit our website at imagestudios360.com