In this episode, Nina revisits a conversation around our collective loss of perspective as an industry thanks to the algorithms on social media feeding into our fears and insecurities by amplifying the most enraging pieces of content. Remember, your content is your marketing, and what you choose to engage with online has a direct impact on your salon business and brand. And when you choose to engage, you are feeding these ridiculous narratives about our industry and causing harm to your nervous ...
May 01, 2024•21 min
In this episode, Nina talks about the recent ban on non-compete agreements in the US and why that’s awesome news for the salon industry in creating a positive and supportive environment for your salon team members, focusing on building trust through clear communication, expectations, and shared vision. Nina also talks about how this new ruling is directly connected to your salon brand story which is the foundation for your Salon Team Handbook, which is about building trust, clarifying your salon...
Apr 24, 2024•17 min
In this episode, Nina share insights on generational discourse drawing from their own experiences as a young hairdresser and marketer, the importance of listening to different generations and their perspectives, and how it applies to both your salon business and life and shares some tips from a blog they wrote in 2013 on how to be a more empathetic leader to future generations. Nina also shares why the word awesome has always been a big part of their vocabulary. You can find Passion Squared on t...
Apr 17, 2024•20 min
In this episode Nina dives into the trouble with comparing your salon brand to the one down the street, revisiting a Passion Squared blog post from 2014 on the importance of having clarity around your own salon brand story, marketing strategy which includes your salon pricing, your business objectives, desired outcomes, overhead, and all the things. This episode also includes a little reminder about your rhythm, knowing that some days you’ll be in your flow, some days you’ll be on fire, and some...
Apr 10, 2024•14 min
In this episode, Nina dives into a few key actions that can have an immediate impact on your salon business and brand. New salon clients find you via search, whether it be through search engines, voice, AI, referral platforms or the socials. Every word matters, which means your captions are more important than ever. In this episode I share an exercise I did that proved how social media posts can significantly contribute to how your salon comes up in search engines. We also talk about the missing...
Apr 03, 2024•20 min
In this episode on the pod, Nina comes to you for a little catch up after being under the weather this month to celebrate Passion Squared's 12th birthday, dive into respurposing content, navigating sick days with salon clients, healthy boundaries vs. walls in your salon business, and some things to consider before discounting your salon services when you're business is slow and you're not sure why. Thank you so much for listening! Whether you've been here since day one or just arrived, thank you...
Mar 27, 2024•20 min
In this episode, originally aired in June 2023, Nina shares some simple, high-impact ways to show your salon clients you care, build trust, and create more value for them. These simple actions, which have nothing to do with social media or algorithms, can help you retain awesome clients, and help you generate more revenue in the process. Also in this episode, Nina shares the real reason behind their obsession with squirrels, birds, and trees which is a story of hope and healing. You can find Nin...
Feb 28, 2024•18 min
In this episode, Nina dives into the connection between your salon brand story and your salon's social media content and shares some simple processes to stay focused on creating content that connects you to the salon clients you wish to serve. If you are looking to streamline your social media content process, build relationships with new clients, get out of comparison, and reduce overwhelm this episode is for you. You can find more information on the Creating Your Awesome Brand Course here , Pa...
Feb 21, 2024•20 min
In this episode, Nina sits down with special guest, and long-time friend Candice Moore. Candice is the owner of Moore Grace, a company dedicated to healing, restoration, and hope at the soul level. Candice is a transformative leader, a powerful motivational speaker, a gifted storyteller, and a published author. In this episode, Candice shares what emotional fitness and wellness look and feel like, both at work and in our everyday lives from identifying, processing, and healing traumas, to how to...
Feb 14, 2024•37 min
In this episode, which originally aired on February 6, 2023, Nina dives deeper into an Instagram post shared last week on being mindful about creating content drenched in justification around the value, worth, and pricing of your brand services and products. Whether you are a stylist, a salon, a fitness trainer, a massage therapist, a lash artist, or a content creator, always remember your content is your marketing. When you find yourself sharing content that speaks to your value, worth, and pri...
Feb 07, 2024•9 min
In this episode, Nina shares some thoughts about the 'everyone is slow' narrative being shared on the salon industry socials. The fact is, not everyone is slow, busy, sad, happy, or anything. This is another example of black and white thinking, coupled with remembering the algorithms can be deceiving and distracting. Nina also shares insights on some key areas of your salon business to look at when things slow down and you don't know why starting with having clarity around your salon brand story...
Jan 31, 2024•27 min
In this episode, Nina sits down with long-time friend and award winning hairdresser Ira Pope Sage. They talk about everything, from how Ira became a hairdresser, to his first years as an educator, to navigating his fears and helping others navigate theirs as an educator, to what creates an awesome salon or education experience, to the daily rituals that help Ira stay healthy, grounded and strong. This is a must listen episode for everyone in the salon industry, there are so many gems Ira shared ...
Jan 24, 2024•48 min
We’re sharing this episode again (original episode aired June 2023) as the myth around professional salon products not being profitable keeps coming back to our inbox, as recently as this week. In this episode, Nina talks about the true purpose of providing home care solutions for your clients and some of the false narratives being shared in the professional salon industry. The truth is, your salon client's happiness matters not just on the day of their salon visit, but also, all the days in bet...
Jan 18, 2024•23 min
In this episode, Nina dives deeper into a post shared last week on the Passion Squared socials that spoke to the Stanley cup memes and folks comparing them to investing in professional salon products. The memes were funny and also created an opportunity to talk about brand value and lifetime salon client value. The deeper dive in this episode is about understanding the connection between educating your salon clients, and how that can translate into lifetime client value; the amount of joy, happi...
Jan 10, 2024•20 min
In this episode, Nina proclaims 2024 to be the year of perspective for the salon industry. One viral TiKTok or some comments from random strangers on the Internet is not fact, or truth. The algorithms are designed to feed off our enragement and discourse. Because of that, we are collectively losing perspective around how different salon businesses and models work, how salons make decisions aligned with their brands, and how salons grow. Whether it be overcorrecting and confusing healthy boundari...
Jan 03, 2024•42 min
In this special episode of the pod, Nina is joined by author, writer, storyteller, content creator, and small business owner Roxan McDonald. Roxan shares her story of how she became a writer and storyteller, her viral rise on TikTok, not being nice, where gratitude fits in her recovery and life, moving to a new country and we dive into Roxan’s latest creation, the Spiritual AF Activity Book and Journal. You can find Roxan on the socials here and her new book here . You can find Passion Squared o...
Sep 01, 2023•39 min
In this episode, Nina responds to a question from Evan Joseph about dealing with a salon client who is being unreasonable and combative. There are several things to consider when deciding how to handle upset or angry salon clients; your business Agreements, your brand, lifetime client value, and the outcome you seek. Having healthy boundaries is essential in business, and Nina shares a few different ways to respond to these situations in a healthy way along with an example from My AwesomeAF Heal...
Jul 03, 2023•23 min
In this episode, Nina talks about the true purpose of providing home care solutions for your clients and some of the false narratives being shared in the professional salon industry. The truth is, your client's happiness matters not just on the day of their salon visit, but also, all the days in between. The purpose of offering home care is not about money or profits, it is one of the results, however, not the most important result, which is client happiness and convenience. Nina also breaks dow...
Jun 20, 2023•23 min
In this episode, Nina shares some simple, high-impact ways to show clients you care, build trust, and create more value for them. These simple actions, which have nothing to do with social media or algorithms, can help you retain awesome clients, and help you generate more revenue in the process. Also in this episode, Nina shares the real reason behind their obsession with squirrels, birds, and trees which is a story of hope and healing. You can find Nina and Passion Squared on the web here and ...
Jun 05, 2023•18 min
One way to reduce team discourse, leadership overwhelm and angst is to have clear, simple, aligned, and compassionate communication. And while that sounds like, duh Nina, the truth is it's one of the most common reasons discourse is created in the first place, and why people quit. Unmet expectations, broken promises, or misaligned expectations come back to communication. In this episode, Nina shares the Awesome Team Handbook framework they created for clients of Passion Squared, along with some ...
May 29, 2023•20 min
In this episode, Nina shares the Healthy Boundary Conversation Framework from My AwesomeAF Healthy Boundary Handbook to help guide you through some of the more challenging discussions when salon clients are asking about the pricing of your services and when you have a price increase. Nina also walks you through the differences between healthy boundary communications on price increases and no boundary communications. You will immediately feel the difference. You can apply these frameworks to any ...
May 07, 2023•20 min
In this episode, Nina shares some much-needed context to help you understand the difference between salon-going and non-salon going consumers, which helps you better define your own target market, dream clients, or what we call at Passion Squared, brand people. When you have clarity around this, you can spend more time focusing on who you serve, and less time and frustration on the folks who simply don't see value in a salon experience or never will. Nina also shares a super important marketing ...
Apr 24, 2023•17 min
In this episode, Nina invites you to dismantle a decades-old narrative about salon "retailing". The truth is, your clients come to you because of your professional experience and expertise which includes how to maintain their hair, skin, etc. at home. The purpose and objective of educating your clients and recommending home care products and tools are to ensure your clients are happy. The outcome of happy clients is a happy business, which includes additional revenue. Money is not the objective,...
Apr 03, 2023•18 min
In this episode, I share my process and experience of saying yes to a trip to Los Angeles for a special event and all the feelings I had, and the lessons I picked up along the way. This is a story of identifying new traumas, not feeling ready, the healing that comes with feeling your feelings, determination, finding hope again, and celebrating every step, literally and figuratively. A big shout-out of gratitude to David and Alexis Thurston of Danger Jones and every human I was honored to connect...
Mar 20, 2023•30 min
In this episode, Nina share's chapter from their book Follow Your Heart, written in 2013. The chapter is called PEOPLE, and it walks you through why the concept of independence is a myth, and why interdependence is really where it's at still to this day. You can apply this concept to both your business and your life because the truth is, you need people, we need people, and none of us would be where we are today without the people who held us, guided us, and lifted us up along the way. You can f...
Mar 06, 2023•10 min
In this episode, Nina invites you to look at the words and language you use as a salon owner and how they align with your brand and the outcomes you seek. Traditionally, there's been a focus on commission in the salon industry, which becomes problematic and creates unrealistic expectations, confusion, and disappointment. Whether you are an employment-based salon owner or a lease-based salon owner, this is an episode that may be the spark you need to dive deeper into your brand work, and in turn,...
Feb 21, 2023•15 min
One way to reduce team discourse, leadership overwhelm and angst are to have clear, simple, aligned, and compassionate communication. And while that sounds like, duh Nina, the truth is it's one of the most common reasons discourse is created in the first place, and why people quit. Unmet expectations, broken promises, or misaligned expectations come back to communication. In this episode Nina shares the Team Handbook framework they created for clients of Passion Squared, along with some crucial ...
Feb 21, 2023•20 min
One way to reduce team discourse, leadership overwhelm and angst is to have clear, simple, aligned, and compassionate communication. And while that sounds like, duh Nina, the truth is it's one of the most common reasons discourse is created in the first place, and why people quit. Unmet expectations, broken promises, or misaligned expectations come back to communication. In this episode Nina shares the Team Handbook framework they created for clients of Passion Squared, along with some crucial d...
Feb 13, 2023•20 min
In this episode, Nina dives deeper into an Instagram post shared last week on being mindful about creating content drenched in justification around the value, worth, and pricing of your brand services and products. Whether you are a stylist, a salon, a fitness trainer, a massage therapist, a lash artist, or a content creator, always remember your content is your marketing. When you find yourself sharing content that speaks to your value, worth, and pricing, ask yourself who is this targeting and...
Feb 06, 2023•9 min
Bestie of Passion Squared and the beauty industry Gordon Miller recently launched a new podcast, Social Beauty Makers, and invited Nina on his pod. From Social Beauty Makers A renowned coach, marketer, and thought leader in social and digital media, Nina Kovner, Passion Squared CEO, gives us a 15-minute master class on the fundamentals related to 'brand' and 'branding' -two words too often used interchangeably... in error. Today perhaps more than ever before, the essence of who we are and we sho...
Jan 31, 2023•18 min
