The VIP Suite at IMAGE Studios with Matthew Landis

Zoey Pearson's Salon Suite Story: Going Viral & Growing Fast

• IMAGE Studios • Season 4 • Episode 25

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In this episode of The VIP Suite podcast, host Matthew Landis welcomes Zoey Pearson, a salon suite entrepreneur who turned her single penthouse space into a thriving multi-suite head spa business. Zoey lead a viral TikTok movement that led to over $47,000 in gift card sales, a fully booked schedule, and hiring a dream team of professionals, all within the IMAGE Studios salon suite model.

Zoey opens up how she tackled imposter syndrome, employed a smart and effective marketing strategy, and built a powerful brand using TikTok. She offers valuable advice for anyone looking to scale their beauty business.

This episode is a must-listen for hairstylists, estheticians, and any salon suite owners who are ready to level up. Learn how Zoey combined strategy, authenticity, and community to create a micro-spa that inspires and delivers real results.

On Instagram: @the.headspa & @zoeypearsonhair

On TikTok: @theheadspa614

Matthew Landis:

This episode is sponsored by GlossGenius Salon Hey, IMAGE Pros, your business deserves booking payments and Software. client management tools as elevated as your space. That's why GlossGenus, the top-rated salon software is included in your lease at all-inclusive locations, giving you everything you need to grow your business with less busy work. With one flat 2.6% payment processing rate, you can save thousands on hidden fees. Clients can book in just 30 seconds with no app downloads or logins. On average, businesses see a 27%+ increase in revenue within the first year on GlossGenius. So sign up today with coupon code IMAGEPROALLIN and select your location to start making the most of GlossGenius. Welcome to The VIP Suite, the podcast for Salon Suite professionals who are building bold, brilliant businesses. I'm your host, Matthew Landis, former salon owner, business coach, and lifelong advocate for entrepreneurs in the beauty and wellness industry. Each week we spotlight industry MVPs, from hair stylists, aestheticians, nail and lash artists and a wide array of solo entrepreneurs who are creating success on their own terms. You'll hear strategies for marketing, client growth mindset and overall Salon Suite success, plus honest conversations about what it takes to really thrive. This season, we're going even deeper into growth, grit, community, and all the messy magic that comes with carving your own path. So hit subscribe, turn up the volume, and welcome to The VIP Suite where independent beauty and wellness pros come to shine. Joining me on The VIP Suite today is Zoey Pearson at IMAGE Studios in Dublin, Ohio. Now, Zoey started with a single penthouse suite and has since moved to a double suite for her hair studio, and she now has two single suites that she uses for a head spa business. Hi, Zoey, welcome to the podcast.

Zoey Pearson:

Hi. Thanks for having me, Matt. I'm super excited to be here with you today.

Matthew Landis:

Oh my gosh, I'm so excited. So you went from a single penthouse suite to now a double and two singles for your head spa. Tell me a little bit more about that journey. How did that all happen?

Zoey Pearson:

I started with IMAGE Studios. I was the first leasee here at this building. So IMAGE Studios was new to this area. They had just constructed it, and the day they got the go ahead for tenants to move in. I opened. I had already had everything moved in and ready to go. Everything just kind of really kicked off for me. I expanded upon my business, kind of in two different directions. The first direction was my hair business. I moved to the penthouse suite, and it was, you know, wonderful. I just I have a full time assistant to help me, and I needed that extra station to accommodate my really busy schedule. All my hair salon side were super busy, so now utilizing the double suite has been really, really wonderful. The Spa Suite kind of came along as something extra, something else I wanted to do, I went to the Behind the Chair show in Dallas in August, and so there, I took a couple classes on like scalp health, and they really were talking more about the head spot of things seen all over social media. So I actually took it upon myself to get the service while I was in Dallas, had a wonderful experience, and just knew this needed to be brought back to Ohio. And we did, and we a month later, 30 days. Actually, it was 28 days from the day I went. We were open with our first few clients in there since then, you know, we opened in September, really kind of an interesting time, because September can really be hit or miss. You know, it's kind of the slow before the storm of the holidays. Things really just took off running, um, we ran a gift card promotion, and it was 10% off gift card. So to really throw our name out there, and in the months of November, from Thanksgiving all the way to January 1, we did over $47,000 in gift cards. We went viral on Tiktok and gift cards, almost 47,000.

Matthew Landis:

Oh my God.

Zoey Pearson:

Because we went viral on Tiktok, and in that time, we found we need to open a second one. And I hired two more people to our team. We now have our team is of six people now, so I have myself and five employees, and we now have the three suites, and that's, that's where we are. So we're running the three suites kind of all kind of together.

Matthew Landis:

So oh my gosh. And that is incredible. So you did four day. I'm still wrapping my head around that. Yeah, it. Was crazy that was going viral on TikTok, yeah.

Zoey Pearson:

So our videos went viral, and we just, we were running a gift card promotion of 10% off, and we were really kind of throwing it out there, as you know, $100 gift cards, $200 gift cards and $300 gift cards, and if you purchased in those increments, you got 10% off the gift card. And the it really was for, you know, the the gift card promo was really to throw our name out there. It was really to to get people to understand, well, what, what are we, who we are and where we are inside of a Salon Suite concept. So we really consider ourselves a micro spa, um, you know, we we don't have the typical amenities that maybe a larger spa would have. But you know, when the clients do come, they have the nice, comfortable waiting area to sit in, but we escape them back to our room, and it the tranquil environment that we have back there is is next level.

Matthew Landis:

Wow. I'm so impressed. So tell me about TikTok. Like, what do you think was the secret sauce on Tiktok?

Zoey Pearson:

Honestly, there's a lot of components that went into that. I think one of the big ones was I really leaned on my team, my team. I have, like I said, we at first, there was four. There were four of us, and the my my assistant and my two, my first two heads of employees. They're younger. They know TikTok, they know social media and and I I'm not old, but they definitely are really good at it, making the videos, making content. And I wanted their ideas. What do they want to see? How do they want to be perceived on camera? How do they What do our client what do our what are our clients want? What do they want to see? And these clients, we didn't have them yet. What do our future clients have that we think they want to see? So that was our kind of our first thing. That was our kind of image mapping of how we were going to start. And we started everything from scratch. So from there, we then moved into, I think it also was good timing that head spa services that were being featured on Tiktok, the Moody, the ASMR, the just the pure relaxation that comes from watching these videos. I think people love it, and we fed into that, and our videos were getting thousands of likesand shares. The shares were huge. People were sharing it. We we did one of them that we announced that we were doing the gift card promotion. Had almost 5000 some shares. And I truly believe people were sharing that to their loved ones to buy them a gift card. We were people's Christmas gifts. And I love that.

Matthew Landis:

That is mind blowing, truly. You know, it's interesting, because everybody, I think, wants to escape the noise of the world right now. And it's sort of ironic that in order to escape the noise of tick tock, people found you the relaxing escape on TikTok.

Zoey Pearson:

I love it, yeah. And, and I think just in general, you know, everyone's TikTok is all over the place. You know, it goes from funny to relaxing and all over. But we some of our posts, we did purposely schedule them to be later in the evening, so that people are seeing this as they're getting ready to go to bed, so they're already kind of relaxed and that that that's important. So, so working with that and utilizing tools that I've learned in my career helped as well. But again, having fun with it. It wasn't like this isn't just we've got to make content, we've got to push it out there. It was, we're having fun. We're showing people what we do, and people love that it's authentic.

Matthew Landis:

So how did people purchase the gift certificates? Because that's a lot of money to process.

Zoey Pearson:

So was that an online portal or so we do a lot of them online. We actually had so many people coming into IMAGE Studios for gift cards that we had to make purchasing hours on scheduled days, because this is new for this concept of a Salon Suite as well. People had no idea like, oh, I don't know what's going on there. We don't have that front desk. So truly, it was a lot of people coming and my assistant and I just, you know, doing gift cards. But I would say three fourths of our bulk sales were through online sales and and that went well.

Matthew Landis:

That's incredible. And so you are also balancing your hair studio. You do hair color, you do extensions, you do bridal work. How is that?

Zoey Pearson:

At first, it was a very tricky kind of, you know, balancing. But what worked for me is actually having everything in the same place, you know, while I'm here, you know, I can still be the support that they need when they need it. I think the important thing, and the thing that I'm used to, is, I, you know, in my, my career, more of my career than not, I've had an assistant and have been teaching. So I'm used to the and my clients are used to, you know, people coming in like, hey, I need help with this, you know, whatever. And it's not to interrupt, you know, my my client service at that time. But you know, being able to have have that support when they need it, I also am really lucky. I live four minutes away from here, so that helps too. So, and there's been many times where I'm like, I gotta run over. There's a fire that needs put out. There's always going to be fires that need put out.

Matthew Landis:

I've always worked with an assistant, at

Zoey Pearson:

I worked for a large Salon and Spa, and I am least for, you know, since 2002Yeah, and I always worked better as the sort of Batman and Robin situation. I I just enjoyed having that duo. I agree, dynamic of working it just made it more fun, and I think it really helped my clients a lot. You know, some people work better with an assistant. Some people don't. That's totally understandable, absolutely but yeah, so tell me what made you decide to go independent in the first place? really thankful for like, the journey that I had. I'm really thankful for my clients that I have met along the way, but I think the important thing for me was truly deciding to invest into myself and realizing there's a lot more to the industry to learn. There's a saying, when you've made it to the top, there's only one way to go, and that's down. And I refused to let myself get to that point, because it's like, once you get to that point, you've stopped learning and you stopped growing. And it was time for me to make that jump, because that's where I was heading. And after that, you kind of hit the ground running. I'm going to be very honest, I left a salon that has a very strict non compete process and a lot of trials and tribulations in the time to come. It was a very interesting opportunity. A couple months into me, I had just left the salon I was working for, and I got, I was one of their top stylists. So, you know, it was, it was a lot to process a salon that I had worked at for almost 10 years. Leaving that salon, I got a message on Instagram, and it was from George, the owner of IMAGE Studios, and he said, This sounds crazy, but I am building a salon in the area, and we haven't even broke ground inside. They, they, we, they hadn't even started digging the trenches for the shampoo bowls yet. But he's like, I want to meet you from there we met, and we kind of got to be through every step of the way. And I committed to image studios, because instantly I felt like it was going to be the side of the industry I have not seen yet. And I feel like where I'm growing, I would like to have experienced every part of the industry to know where is it that I want to end up? Where do I want you know, where am I going to go from here to really, to answer your question. I think it was to really become very well rounded as a business owner, and it really has done that for me.

Matthew Landis:

It sounds like you there was a little bit of a struggle, and then you skyrocketed.

Zoey Pearson:

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean, change is hard. Changes. Change is so hard, and sometimes life does force you to change and for the better, very thankful for that.

Matthew Landis:

IMAGE Pros, your business deserves booking payments and client management tools as elevated and modern as your space. That's why GlossGenius top-rated salon software is included in your lease at all-inclusive locations, giving you everything you need to grow your business with less busy work. With one flat 2.6% payment processing, you can save thousands on hidden fees while offering your clients a smooth checkout experience. Clients can book in just 30 seconds with no app downloads or logins so you never miss an opportunity, plus AI powered marketing and automated wait list helps fill your schedule so you can focus on what you do best. Managing your business has never been easier with unlimited appointment reminders, forms and waivers built into booking payroll and time track. Marketing, performance, insights and goal setting tools and more on average, businesses see a 27%+ increase in revenue within the first year on gloss genius, no extra cost, no extra setup, just a powerful tool to help your business thrive. Your image studios. Membership includes the best technology to support your success, sign up today with coupon code IMAGEPROALLIN and select your location to start making the most of GlossGenius. Do you ever experience self doubt or imposter syndrome?

Zoey Pearson:

Absolutely. I think every any business owner does, and I think anyone who says that they don't is lying, because I truly, especially when I first decided it was I had just signed the lease for the head spa, and I remember sitting down and thinking, what like? What am I doing, like, Why? Why am I doing this? I don't have to do this. I have. I'm already making six figures doing what I'm doing now. Why am I doing this? Why am I adding on? And I just thought to myself, like, you have to do it. It's I just I had this compulsion, like I had to do it. It was this gut feeling posture syndrome crept up because I started feeling doubt of like, Am I able to sustain a business off of just this? Am I able to and truly, it crept up when I started hiring people. And it was so funny, I had an employee tell me, I quit my job to come work for you. And I literally was like, what? And then, and then, best way she was like, I quit. I believe in you. Everything that you're doing, I just love I want to learn from you. That's when I knew I was going to make it my priority to make this the best that it could be, because people are depending on me, and they're looking up to me, and I don't have anyone to look up to. It's I've got to make the decisions. And so we hit the ground running and and I've really tried to take any time that imposter syndrome has tried to creep back up, you know, when opening the second studio, or anything like that. I've tried to just realize what we're doing is working, and we just are going to be thankful for for that. Yeah,

Matthew Landis:

That's a big responsibility and very humbling. You know, when people say those kinds of things to us, right? Yeah, it is, like, it's very gratifying, but it's also, like, really scary.

Zoey Pearson:

Yeah, it is. It is scary. But again, they are very happy, and that's what makes me happy, I think, coming from another large salon where you kind of are mass in numbers, I wanted to do things different for my employees. I wanted them to feel valued and seen and heard and loved to to enjoy doing what they're doing. And I think we're really, we've really accomplished that.

Matthew Landis:

Isn't that so much better, it's so much better and so much easier. You know, when I owned a big salon, it just, you know, it's just so much better to figure out a win/win situation for everybody. There's a way that we can all succeed together. It's so much more fun to help people build their business and give people opportunity, and it's just fun to make people happy and watch them grow. So I applaud you for that. That's incredible. Thank you, Matt, thank you. What would you say your biggest mindset shift has been since becoming an independent business owner?

Zoey Pearson:

I think that my mindset shift was that you no longer are leaving your work at the salon. It's going to come home with you, and I am okay with that. As a business owner, you're taking home, and while you're at home, you're even when you're scrolling on social media, you're working when you're making content, when you're doing your inventory, all of those things. So my mindset shift had to be that. One, are you I'm okay with this, but two, I love this, and I think that that's helped a lot, because I think for like, not this, it's not for everybody, and but I know it's for me, and I know I love it, and so my mindset was really leaning into that, and it was it worked for me.

Matthew Landis:

And what do you think is the biggest misconception people have about running a beauty business?

Zoey Pearson:

That anybody can do it, and that's just not true. It's not for everybody, and that's okay. There are salons for everybody, whether it's a commission salon for those who I just want to work and I. Want to go home, and I don't want to take anything with me, and I'm okay making maybe less money, and I'm okay with, you know, whatever that is, that's okay, and there's nothing wrong with that. It takes a strong, willed person and somebody who's okay with failing and trying again and trying new things and learning, because that is the secret sauce to a successful business.

Matthew Landis:

Wow. Thank you so much for sharing that I think that is so important is not being afraid to fail.

Zoey Pearson:

Absolutely, because you know when you when you knew something didn't work, it gives you the opportunity to try something that. Well, when something's working, keep doing it, but when something's not, fix it because something else probably will work.

Matthew Landis:

Have you ever had a client challenge you in a way that changed how you work?

Zoey Pearson:

Not only are we, we in the beauty industry, we're in the people industry, and that comes with good and bad. Um, you know, we've, we've had challenges and and we've overcome those. And I would say some of the challenges are for some people with, you know, maybe the head spot itself was really understanding, well, what is this? What does what is this going to do? What is this? You know, we're not a dermatologist. We are not going to solve your life problems in one treatment. I had somebody who expressed like, you know, maybe their budget wasn't capable of coming frequently, but they did have a problem that they needed to help treat with with some services. So finding ways to say, okay, how can we do that? One way was, when we hired new people, we'd offered model services. Hey, do you want to come in and be a model for us? It's going to be a little bit of a discounted rate for you to get that treatment at maybe a little bit of a better cost for you. And so it's not just completely discrediting the person because they were vulnerable enough to say, this is something that I'm going through and but I need your help and and again, we're in the people industry, so I just try to be there to support people.

Matthew Landis:

Making people happy is fun, but it is a lot of pressure. What would you say is like one of the most surprising or meaningful transformations that you've helped a client with?

Zoey Pearson:

My favorite, I think, truly was on the salon side, I do a lot of extensions, and one of my absolute favorite ways of transforming people is through hair extensions and and I have a client who lost her hair to chemo, as it's coming back, we were able to do extensions. And, you know, just the confidence and the feeling of hope and the feeling of just feeling beautiful, that is just, there was nothing. There's nothing like it.

Matthew Landis:

That's really wonderful. Thank you so much. So, if you could revolutionize one thing in this industry, what would it be?

Zoey Pearson:

I would just say, to really revolutionize and just to really tap into to the people there should be a stylist for every person. I am a firm believer that, you know, there are thousands and thousands and thousands of people just in the close area proximity that we are, there's enough business to go around. So to revolutionize more support between stylists and maybe a little less of the competition and just a little more support to each other and work together. I think that really would be changing for a lot of people. There's a lot of a lot of business to go around, and stylists of all different price points and techniques and experience levels. There's somebody for everybody. And I think when people understood, if people understood that, they would really they would, it would be helpful.

Matthew Landis:

This goes back to that win win. There's so much support. And when I used to have a salon, I would tell my staff, I'm like, Look, we don't need everybody to come here and get their hair done. We don't even need 1% of Salt Lake City, which is where my salon was, we don't even need 1% of the people here. We don't even need 1/10th of a percent. We just need the same people to keep coming back. And you know, we also want to support the other salons and the other professionals in the area we you know, we're not the right place for somebody we're happy to refer them to somebody else. You know, you talked about non compete clauses before, if one of my people left, I, you know, it sometimes hurt my feelings, but I supported them, and I said, I wish you the best, and I'll be happy to tell your clients wherever you go, and I'm here to support you, because I just believe in that good will, that whatever you put out will come back to you. And so. You. You speak my language. I love it so much. Thank you. Now, if you had unlimited resources, if you had all the money in the world, what would you build or create for your business?

Zoey Pearson:

An empire, truly, I just think, I just think more like minded people, a place for everybody and and whatever that, whatever that would look like, I just think I love the support and the the education that I can give to people. And if you know I had unlimited funds, I'd love to give that to everybody. I feel like, if everyone could learn from something that I can give then, then I've done something right?

Matthew Landis:

What's one book, podcast or TV show that you would recommend that has inspired you?

Zoey Pearson:

It's an Instagram page, and I think they do have a podcast as well, but it's self care for you. They just post a lot of mind shifting things. And it's really kind of the half glass full kind of posts. There was a quote that was kind of said the other day, and it's really stuck with me to the point where I've, you know, talked about it multiple times since then, is is using instead of the words I have to switching it to the I get to, I get to do this. I get to go to the salon and full towels. I get to go and have a team meeting with my staff. Instead of I have to do those things because, you know, we have a privilege of even just being here in the first place, especially, you know, with everything going on in the world today, we are privileged to just even be in a, you know, safe community where I have a salon and I have a successful running business. So I really focused my mindset on on switching things, and that's it's been that has been life changing, is I get to do these things?

Matthew Landis:

Wow, talking about a mindset, mindset shift, right? Yeah, that's incredible. One last question, what are the other things in your life thatbring you joy and happiness?

Zoey Pearson:

The most joy and happiness, it's, again, it comes from people. I absolutely adore, spending time with my family, my friends, my dog, ad Sue I love I'm a home decorator. Definitely have a shopping addiction, definitely traveling all the time. So I still try to find ways to incorporate that in my time off, because in self care, self care so huge, because at the end of the day, if we take care of ourselves, then we can take care of other people.

Matthew Landis:

Well, Zoey, thank you so much for this. It has been such a pleasure. I just adore you. I love what you're doing. I think it's so cool. I'm going to spend more time looking at all your stuff, because you are so inspiring. So tell our listeners where they can find you and find more information about you.

Zoey Pearson:

On Tiktok. Feel free to look us up. We are the@614headspa. Or on Instagram, it's @the.headspa. Or if you'd like to check out what I doing in the salon studio, feel free to check us out there. It's Zoe Pearson hair on Instagram.

Matthew Landis:

Thank you again. Zoey, this has been really great.

Zoey Pearson:

Thank you, Matt.

Matthew Landis:

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 image studios 360 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, topics, suggestions, or want to share your own success story, feel free to reach out to me at Matthew at image studios, three sixty.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 image studios three sixty.com you.