Episode 3 - Enter The Entrepreneur with Hilerie Whitehouse

Kate Elfatah (00:23):

Welcome to another episode of eight by Kate. Hi Bella. How are you? Good. I'm really excited for this show. As you know, this is our very first episode of drum roll. Please enter the entrepreneur. And the very first one I have to say was an easy one for me to decide on who I wanted to have on the show. And I have known Hillary for quite some time now I'm not going to lie. She's my hairdresser. Okay. She makes me look good and you know, I get to sit with her, um, while she does my hair and we do talk about a lot of things, um, regarding business and marketing. And she's also a super firecracker and has, um, an over the top personality, which, and that's probably why we vibe. So that is just some of the reasons why I had to have Hillary white house of Haven salon and spa on our very first episode. But before we actually meet Hillary, Bella, do you want to tell and brag about her a wee bit to our audience?

Annabella Estrada (01:38):

Yeah, absolutely. So let me tell you a little bit about Hillary. She has been a licensed hairstylist for 29 years in the beauty industry. She opened and operated her first salon in Cape may, New Jersey Haven salon and spa is my second entrepreneur. Her second entrepreneurial in that endeavor, taking the stress out of people's daily routines and making them feel beautiful, relaxed and special makes her feel accomplished. Her experience spans from working fashion week in New York city styling for fashion and photo shoots in South beach Miami to taking care of brides and their party for many weddings on location and in salon, she is a certified perfect tress hair, extension professional proficient in hair extensions inherited along with being a color specialist and enjoys giving a great haircut.

Kate Elfatah (02:29):

Whew. I always like when I go into Hillary and just say, I don't know, should we just cut it off? Welcome Hillary, how are you? I am great. I'm so excited to be a part of your brand new podcast. I know I'm so excited to have you as our first enter the entrepreneur. Um, so what we did is we put together eight questions that we would love to ask you. And as we're just trying to, people used to the format, get it eight by eight. So let's just jump right into it, no time to spare. Um, and the very first thing that I am always intrigued about is how do you, as a stylist in a salon owner stay relevant in both in your industry and as a business owner?

Hilerie Whitehouse (03:21):

Well, for the industry, part of it, we are privy to a lot of continued education through our various companies that we deal with. So we can go to classes whenever we want. Now, some of them tend to be a little expensive, but there's also, you know, depending on the product line that you carry, they, a lot of them will offer free continued education classes at their studios. Like for instance, I'm a wellness salon. So they have an Institute, a Wella Institute in Manhattan, and we can go there whenever we want and take free courses to keep up with what's current, you know, and just stay in the game. That's awesome. Also, I personally, and I think a lot of people are doing this as well. I follow a lot of professionals on Instagram and they also share their techniques with certain haircuts color. And that's a really great way also to stay current is to learn through other stylists in the industry.

Annabella Estrada (04:32):

Yeah, absolutely. I liked, I liked how you, you know, with Instagram nowadays, there's so much out there and just following the right people, you're going to be the first one to hear about those new things that are coming out in your industry. Absolutely. It's the best and YouTube. I mean, you can honestly search whatever you're looking for. If you're interested in learning some new color technique that you've heard of, that's coming out, somebody did a video somewhere that you can watch and just see how they do it and just incorporate it into your daily routine.

Kate Elfatah (05:06):

That's awesome. Now, what about being a business owner and staying relevant with, you know, I mean, I know we have these discussions about how there's so many salons, um, what are some of the things that, that you think makes your salon relevant over the others besides it's absolutely beautiful when you go in.

Hilerie Whitehouse (05:27):

Thank you. I do. I try to make it not feel so Salani in a sense, like I wanted it to feel more relaxed where you would just want to come in and hang out for a minute, just to say hi to everybody that, you know, and then leave quick. If you want, even if you don't have an appointment, just something that's a little more laid back and not so snooty, I guess, in a way, salons can be very uppity and snooty and people actually feel uncomfortable and nervous about going in there where they actually get all dolled up before their hair appointment, which is crazy. You know,

Kate Elfatah (06:10):

I go with dirty hair,

Hilerie Whitehouse (06:13):

You should come with dirty hair and looking a mess. We're going to fix you up. I love it.

Kate Elfatah (06:19):

Okay. So my second question, of course, there's no way around this question and I apologize first, but COVID-19, you know, when COVID-19, and in the state of Pennsylvania where we're at, when they said they were shutting things down, you know, the first person that I text was you. And because I, out of all of our clients, I was like, what the hell is she going to do?

Hilerie Whitehouse (06:47):

So I did freak. I freaked out. Yeah.

Kate Elfatah (06:49):

So tell us a bit about your first reaction to this as you know, a salon owner.

Hilerie Whitehouse (06:56):

So my first reaction, so I have a little boy he's 11 and first I heard about schools closing, and then I guess it was the next day they talked about shutting down non-essential businesses, which I consider my business very essential. So my first reaction with panic, and then I said, well, I'm not closing, we're staying open. Like there's no way I'm closing. And then maybe a couple of days after that, it was mandated and we had to close and I honestly hit the ground running. I didn't stop because you, we didn't know how long we were going to be closed. First of all. And then, um, so I thought maybe a couple of weeks. So I just got working on social media. I started making videos, like silly videos with a different mask for each video that my son has stored in his bedroom and, uh, character masks really.

Hilerie Whitehouse (07:59):

And, uh, just started promoting our products for curbside pickup for clients, you know, that, which we did quite a lot of actually, um, and just really promoting the business so I could stay in basically in people's faces. So people wouldn't forget about us, you know, and I guess that was just my nervous reaction and my, my gut reaction to try to handle this whole thing. Cause honestly, I really had no idea how long this was going to be. And then once it got, you know, a month in two months in, then I was just like, Oh my God. So we started promoting our online store and just doing it that way. Really it's also, it was all social media is what I mean, our business is social media.

Annabella Estrada

So I think a lot of people went into the effect of just getting creative, you know? Okay. What can we do now? Um, because people didn't know how long it was going to last. And then you had some people that were like, Oh, it's not going to be there. And then time went on and it's like two months. And then they were like, Oh no, you know, and then they started having to be creative, but you did the right thing about getting right on it and going right away with being on sort of making fun stuff, staying relevant.

Kate Elfatah (09:17):

I mean, that kind of leads into my third question too. Cause I remember then when they lifted, um, the restrictions and you're actually able to open, I have to admit, I was like, this girl must have been handling all this before they were opening. Cause you had text messaging set up, you had all the proper like actual government signs to

Hilerie Whitehouse (09:46):

Yes, I was ready because honestly I didn't stop for those three months. I lie. I stopped for one week and went off and patient. I was so stressed out

Kate Elfatah (10:02):

Third question. Is that what, what's the biggest challenge that you have owning a slot now and how are you overcoming or how are you going to overcome some of those challenges that even though you're open, we're still in the middle of this COVID crisis. Right? So, so tell me a little bit about those challenges.

Hilerie Whitehouse (10:21):

That's for me, like the biggest challenge I found was, well obviously a decline in business because we can only operate in Pennsylvania at 50% capacity. Um, also you lose employees. So my biggest challenge through this whole thing honestly, was trying to hire new stylists. And the thing is like, we're a commission based business. So if you're not making money, you're not making money. Like if you're not making, bringing in money in clients, you're not making any money at all. So I couldn't hire people that didn't have a following. You know, like I of course could have filled my salon to capacity if I wanted to, but I can't have people just sitting around like, that's just not good for anybody. Well, the biggest challenge was the hiring game. Like there's no one to hire. No one's looking right now. No, nobody wants to leave the salon. Maybe

Kate Elfatah (11:26):

I've seen a lot of people in the, you know, the hairdressing stylist arena make decisions to use this time to either go back to school, change professions. And I've seen a lot of that happening as well as the pivot was real for them. Like they're like we're pivoting in a different direction.

Hilerie Whitehouse (11:46):

Absolutely. I've seen a lot of that too. I've heard of a lot of stylists where this industry, it was always a no matter what, like if the economy tanked somewhat, we would feel it, but not for long, but this is a completely different story. So yes, I've seen a lot of stylists or people in the industry just changed careers all together because it's, it's just not bouncing back. Like, wow. So you're losing a lot of people that way too.

Annabella Estrada

Now when, you know, cause you can only operate at 50%, right. BA and that's still for sale. Right. So mine, my thing that I guess I didn't understand was how come the salons were in the same realm as the restaurants and stuff. What I guess yeah. What guidelines made the salons fall under that

Hilerie Whitehouse

it was because we are in close proximity to everybody, you know, you can't be socially distance at all when you're working on somebody. So I think that was a large part of it because as far as cleanliness, I mean, we are regulated to begin with, you know, like my salon is Coleen. It doesn't get any cleaner and now we're like yeah.

Hilerie Whitehouse (13:10):

And stuff too are very far apart, so right. So, you know, I think it had to do with, because we couldn't socially distance from our clients. Okay. That was really honestly the only thing I could think of. Yeah.

Kate Elfatah (13:28):

You know, my next question,

Hilerie Whitehouse (13:31):

It's indoor. We can't do it outside another. Yeah. And where's the restaurant, they did all the outdoor stuff and right, right. I mean, I'll cut your hair in the park.

Kate Elfatah (13:44):

I was going to say, you will. I think you would do that.

Hilerie Whitehouse (13:48):

Totally do that. I'll roll a chair out there

Kate Elfatah (13:52):

Right in the middle. I will, I will totally be your Guinea pig for that. By the way

Hilerie Whitehouse (13:58):

I had, I had clients begging me to do them in my front yard for crying out loud. I think anybody would be game for the old parking lot haircut.

Kate Elfatah (14:13):

Okay. So this question number four is if you had an extra $10,000 that somebody gave you, um, with your business budget, how would you spend it and why?

Hilerie Whitehouse (14:27):

Well, I would take a very long vacation that served lots and lots of alcohol. Uh, no, but seriously, extra grand. Let's see. What would I do with my salon? Is that what you're asking? What would I do with it? Um,

Kate Elfatah (14:52):

You, would you and take it to cut it in half and change it to cut it in. That's an honest answer. I can respect that.

Hilerie Whitehouse (15:02):

I know it's tough and you know, I don't have a tiny salon it's fairly big, you know? So, uh, I don't know. I think, you know, what I did do because of course, you know, the government offered some incentives, some money to business owners and I honestly stocked up on some new products for the salon just to, Oh, what's the word I'm looking for? Just to, I'm sorry. I went blank.

Kate Elfatah (15:35):

Well, I mean, having the product is a great way to release your revenue in general, to

Hilerie Whitehouse (15:40):

Keep it fresh for our current clients.

Kate Elfatah (15:43):

Yeah. Retention. So you're using it really to retain your current base, super smart, super smart,

Hilerie Whitehouse (15:53):

Fresh products to the salon. And you know, I added a flat screen to the area, you know, so just some new and interesting things I was able to do fresh and interesting for the clients. And especially with your online store, putting more products on, you know, for people, right? Yeah. That's great. It's a good one. And it gets, you know, who doesn't want something shipped directly to their house? I do. And yeah. And more people obviously are doing online shopping. So that was, that was a big thing for me to, to add that and really promote it. So people knew we even had it. Yeah.

Kate Elfatah (16:35):

Okay. So number five, what has been the biggest marketing challenge for you this year? And what are some of the ways that you were able, able to overcome that

Hilerie Whitehouse (16:47):

Marketing challenges? I feel like I didn't really have any, except for the video. You're shaking your head. Yes.

Kate Elfatah (17:01):

The only challenge

Hilerie Whitehouse (17:05):

Because you guys are amazing. So my social media marketing and the website and all that is superb. Um, so the only challenge are making videos, which is crazy because once I do them, it's like, all right, that was cute or whatever, you know, it's just like being consistent with them. I think for me, it's hard for me to be consistent with them. And I don't know why. Cause it's ridiculous. It takes two minutes to throw a video together that's cute and fun and promotional, you know, that was a lot of our clients. And that's what I was going to ask you was what's the most challenging part of making the video, I mean is going to sound horrible and shallow, but half the time. Yes. My hair is not done. I have no makeup on, you know, like it's ridiculous. It's so ridiculous. Who cares? Right. Throw a pair of sunglasses on and call it a day, make a video.

Hilerie Whitehouse (18:10):

So honestly I think that might be for a lot of people too. I mean, who knows? A lot of people don't want to be on camera. They don't want their picture taken because they feel like they look terrible. So that's my biggest hangup that I need to get over and just like put out some video content. Yeah.

Annabella Estrada

No, I feel that too. And even personally me taking videos because you see like everything like in, especially if you're on Instagram a lot, you see all these like models and like these, you know, shop not, you know them. So it does make you feel a little bit like, great. I don't want to post a video or I now totally look less right now.

Kate Elfatah (18:54):

That's really good because you're not alone with that. And we bug clients consistently about video content, video content, video content. And it's a struggle because we get it. It's one, it's very it's time consuming. You know, it normally is, well, it's rarely done on a first take. Let's be honest. Right. And um, also coming up with ideas about what to do on video, that's also another thing. And we try to help our clients with that or throw ideas at them on a monthly basis saying, Hey, just talk about a product or talk about a service or maybe an experience you had with a client or customer that you can share. So, um, we trust me, we know that it's, it's not easy, but you, when you do them, look what happens.

Hilerie Whitehouse (19:41):

I know, I know they are good. I have one of my clients, her little boy is always looking to see if I put a video out. She tells me all the time, he thinks they're hilarious and he loves them. And I'm like, that's awesome. I love that. So, you know, and honestly like you can get them done quickly. But I think what helped me a lot was when you guys were telling me what to you, like what to make the video about? Like, it doesn't just have to be like, Oh, this product and that product, it can be like personal, like something personal that, you know, connects you more. So with your client base on a more personal level, not just they're selling me something correct. Yeah. So that, you know, that helped me a lot. I think

Kate Elfatah (20:27):

Now, you know, Bella's going to expect a couple of videos from you.

Hilerie Whitehouse (20:32):

I would not be pretty, but I'll put what out there you should do right after this, do a quick video.

Kate Elfatah (20:42):

Okay. So number six, I'm going to totally put you like in the direct, in heat of fire, um, what are your thoughts on these home kits to dye your hair? And I see the commercials all the time. And I think to myself, if I did that, Hillary would kill me. I would kill you, but be honest because I know I'm not the only one wanting to know.

Hilerie Whitehouse (21:17):

Okay. So I am not a fan of them at all. I don't think it's okay. I think it takes away from our professional expertise. What we went to school for, how many years we've been in this industry. It's not easy to, we're not just slapping color on somebody's head. That's not, you know, squirting a tube into a bowl. That's not how this works. There's a lot that goes into us, formulating your formula and putting it on your, you know, putting it on your head. There is a technique to that as well. And I have seen, you know, what, I understand that it was, um, a hard time for people and it w when your hair is done, you feel better. And I get that. So people were desperate and they wanted these home kits, or they went and bought box color and did their own hair. But, um, I think it's best to just save it for the professional and have it done properly. Um, I don't know. I'm just not a fan. I, I think that, you know, the technique isn't there, there's a certain way to apply the color. Uh, most people, I mean, when people came back and I was correcting their color, which by the way is two times, sometimes three times the price of what you would pay normally. So for us, just to correct your color, wow.

Kate Elfatah (22:40):

What are some options for someone that

Hilerie Whitehouse (22:43):

We have route concealers, there's tons of route concealers out there, which are fabulous. They come in like a fine mist. They come in like a powder puff kind of situation that you can apply. And the ones that we sell are waterproof. So they only come out with shampoo. So once you spray that on, if you don't shampoo your hair for three days, which I don't, um, that stays in and you're good to go, it covers your root great. It looks natural. So I always recommend root concealers instead of you guys trying to do your own color at home, which isn't easy all over your skin, it gets all over your bathtub. It's everywhere. You know, I can go wrong in that scenario. It's not good, but the root concealers are great and they work phenomenally. I'm a fan. Awesome.

Kate Elfatah (23:40):

So number seven, now I'm going to get off personal. I'm going to use my voice, um, as a business owner, what or who inspires you and what makes you keep going every day, even when you're going through all this crap and these struggles. So, uh, tell us a little bit about that.

Hilerie Whitehouse (24:01):

Please say, um, I have a good amount of friends that, and women also, they're all women. They own their own businesses. And I tap their brain constantly just to keep me from freaking out and, you know, just going off the edge, they, they are amazing with their businesses. And they honestly keep me going when I feel just inadequate, or this is crazy. I'm not smart enough for this. Or they just steer me in the right direction. And they're extremely inspirational to me. And these are friends of mine that I've known my God, almost my whole life that are business owners and own their own businesses.

Kate Elfatah (24:48):

So you really pull from that network of friends

Hilerie Whitehouse (24:52):

And they, yes. And it's good to, like, you got to, I think go outside of your own thought process and ask questions to other people. So you get other, you get inspiration from outside of your own brain, you know, just from other people, other business owners

Hilerie Whitehouse (25:13):

They've helped me a lot. Especially during this COVID-19 situation, they've really helped me because I just thought, Oh my God, what am I going to do? You know? Yeah. I don't know if you can reopen or what's it, is it going to be okay once I do reopen, you know? Yeah.

Annabella Estrada

That's great that you have that support and people, like-minded people also that can help you out and with, you know, everything online and social media, sometimes people, a lot of business owners and I tend to do it, you know, um, you make it look like everything's okay on your page and Oh, businesses normal, but you know, we're all going through it and that's okay. And that's why it's good to have that network and that support around you just sit back about it. And then you're like, okay, it's not just me. Wow. Exactly. And I think like, if you're lucky enough to have like friends, like good friends that also own their own business, that you can just bounce ideas off of or help you grounded.

Hilerie Whitehouse (26:15):

And, you know, I think for business owners and specifically women business owners, I think need, need more of that and need to do more of that versus thinking of, you know, being so businessy and maybe thinking that there's other competition or something like that. Like, you know, it's like, it's not no one. We shouldn't be like that. Like we shouldn't and, you know, by, yeah. And just it's in our nature to be competitive with one another, especially woman to woman. I mean, it's crazy, but we do. And, you know, so if, if you do have friends that are in the industry or, or just business owners in general, I mean, all my friends own totally different businesses than me, um, that you can, you have that network of support that you're supporting one another and their businesses. Like, it's just, it's great to have that.

Hilerie Whitehouse (27:07):

It just makes you feel better. And like that you aren't alone in this whole yeah, absolutely vanity and with the routine, I've been noticing more people just, you know, like, especially with the holidays coming up, more people are going to be one of support, small business buying stuff from them versus, and I just think that's such a great thing and we need more of, than people need to share more of like their friends, small businesses, you know, your friend owns a small business, share their page, or, you know, do simple things like that. Refer people it's really easy to live. Yeah. It is easy to do. And I absolutely 100% agree, absolutely. Forget these big chains and these big box [inaudible], I mean, you get better products and more individualized products from small business. Yeah.

Kate Elfatah (27:55):

And, and that's one of the reasons why we love working with small business because, you know, I feed off of it myself. Like I feed off of the energy and, um, you know, they inspire me every single day to get up and do better because I I'm, I feel like I'm with them on their journey and it makes me feel really good to do that. So I know that's why I work for a small business.

Hilerie Whitehouse (28:20):

Yes, absolutely. I agree.

Kate Elfatah (28:22):

All right. So number eight, your last question and this one fun question, though. Okay. If you could have dinner with any three people that are alive, who would it be and why?

Hilerie Whitehouse (28:42):

Okay. So this might be a little boring, but the first two would be my mom and my dad both deceased. They went too fast, too young. Um, I just want to pick their brain like what the they're very intelligent people, both of them. And, uh, I would just want to pick their brain to see what they think of all of this and what advice they would have for me. And are they proud of me? And you know, their grandson, like, do they, you know, just what they think about the whole, the whole thing, you know, all the events that are taking place since they've been gone. And this has absolutely, you know, so those would be my first two, my parents. And then the last one or the third one would definitely, I'm a big historical buff. So it would have to be like a historical figure of some sort like queen Elizabeth, the first Henry, the eighth [inaudible] King Henry, the eighth, I made that all, I don't know a tutor would be on my list [inaudible] or somebody like that. Right. Like somebody, somebody from like Caesar, maybe Caesar from like agent. So I think that would be so cool. It's like something, for some reason I was getting like bill and Ted's ex I'm like it's Hillary and Bella. Excellent. We spot him too. This is so ridiculous. But George Washington, like, why not totally love to sit down with good old George Washington.

Hilerie Whitehouse (30:32):

He's not even, he didn't make my hundred. Hundred-plus funny. None of the founding fathers were on my list. Unfortunately,

Kate Elfatah (30:45):

Einstein, you have Vanderbilt

Hilerie Whitehouse (30:48):

Like Michelangelo. Definitely not George Washington on my crazy historical. Yes. I love your answers.

Kate Elfatah (31:08):

Your answers were great though. I mean, that's, I can totally relate to that. So I would D you know, definitely. I agree there with those good choices. Good.

Hilerie Whitehouse (31:23):

Um,

Kate Elfatah (31:23):

Thank you so much. Um, Hillary, do you want to, uh, have a special offer for anyone that's listening?

Hilerie Whitehouse (31:33):

Sure. Yeah. So I, I love to offer any new clients to our salon 20% off their first visit to us 20% off any service. That's a DUI 20% off for any new customers that would love to come in and check us out and hang out for awhile.

Kate Elfatah (31:54):

Do you want to tell people where you're located?

Hilerie Whitehouse (31:56):

We are located in center Valley on three 78. Um, it's five, nine, nine, five, route three 78. And we are very close to the copperhead grill. If you know where that is. Um, it's closer to route three Oh nine. Awesome. Yes, Mary's define like two minutes from the promenade shops.

Kate Elfatah (32:19):

Awesome. Bella, do you want to let people know where they can find Hillary?

Annabella Estrada (32:23):

Absolutely. Well, Hillary again, thank you so much. Make sure that you follow Haven salon and spa and social media. Their handle is@havensalonandspaandtheirwebsiteisevensalonandspa.com. Awesome. Thank you, Hillary

Kate Elfatah (32:40):

So much. I'm so happy that you were our very first enter the entrepreneur guest. We will definitely need to have your back on talking about some more friends. So thank you. And I'll be calling to make my appointment girl. That was route's done. Thank you so much for having me. This has been so much fun and I can't wait to come back and do it again. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you, everyone. And Bella, do you want to tell them about what's happening next week? Next week will bring us into December, 2020.

Annabella Estrada

We're getting closer to the new year will be our next need to know episodes. We'll be talking about hot trends and tips and topics that have been going on for the month. So tune in next week.

Kate Elfatah

Awesome. Thank you everyone for listening. And we will see you next week. Happy marketing.