S3E3: Sara Cottrell

I'm Welcome back to another episode of Kickflips and Kickstands podcast . I am one of your hosts , Danny , joined always to my left by the effervescent , the beautiful , the radiant .

Grayson .

Connor , you didn't know that you had to say your name there .

Oh no , it's always a toss up because sometimes you say it , you also always say effervescent , and I got to go Google that . Make sure that's a positive thing it is .

I mean it sounds . I promise you it is . Yeah , you don't have to look at it . You don't have to look at it .

I mean now . Now I especially want to no , don't worry about it .

How have you been buddy ? I feel like it's been a little bit , since we've been in the same room it has been . Oh no , I I stopped by your job the other day that's right .

Yeah , so that's false but uh , no effervescence good , but that's false okay , uh good , just super busy and um , super glad to be here nice , I'm glad that you have you been ? I've been great good yeah , just working .

I got the next week off , got a little love that pto I gotta use before the end of the year , sure ? So after today , the rest of the week I'm just doing . I mean , we're probably just working on the house and around the house , but I'm getting paid to do it . I'm not losing money . You gotta love that . That's fun . No , but I've been good .

We've been recording an album and it's coming out in december tight so didn't know you were gonna plug .

I don't know if this will be out it's fine , all right .

I didn't know if this would be out by december oh no , actually yeah , so it's not really a plug .

Well , our album's out . Go check it out . The plan was for sure listener . You should have been listening to this episode by now , but uh , you're not so right it'll probably be 2024 that this comes out . Fair enough , um , but no , I've been good , grayson's been good . Uh , winding down on on some music , uh , and what's ? You're in school right now .

That's it okay yeah , very it doesn't sound like a lot , but it it feels like a lot Okay .

Yeah , well , it's like you get into that like robot mode , where you're just like work and then school , and then make meals , and then you got to clean your house and then it's like , well , now it's time for bed , so I guess I'm fucking doing that , mm-hmm , um , sweet . Well , yeah , a listener . You now know that we have moved the studio .

Cottrell .

Cottrell . Sarah Cottrell's in the studio and I wanted to thank you for coming down to our little old Lockhart studio . Yeah , thanks for having me Making the drive .

No thanks for coming .

For sure , we you guys don't know this as well , but we also did a whole other episode with Sarah . But we were in the midst of trying this last season out and we were kind of rusty and she was like , hey , can we do a redo ?

I appreciate it .

How have you been ? We know how Grayson and I have been , but how are you lately ?

I've been good . I mean same sounds like pretty similar to y'all , just busy yeah .

So you were saying briefly , I know , like background wise I wouldn't say above all else , but like the main gig is your hairdresser .

I am .

And you just got your own little studio spot or how long how long time to tell us how did you get into that whole game ? Like being going out on my own . Oh well , both like how , when did hairdressing come along ? And then like tell us about , this , is your first time branching out on your own .

Okay , yeah , kind of walk us through that always wanted to work for myself and have my own . Like little space tight , of course um and yeah , within this last year , I made it happen .

Are you like , is it walk-ins appointment only ? How does it work ?

Appointment only . Okay , yeah , cool yeah , yeah , yeah .

Sweet . So again , people won't know because of the last episodes not coming out . So just to kind of go back through , we kind of have skated around similar circles so I know we somewhat . I don't think we ever met while we were living in Florida , but we both live like in or around .

I was born in Maryland and I moved to Florida when I was 18 .

Okay .

Um , you know , for love you know the reason anyone moves .

And of course that didn't work out . That's why I moved to Texas . And also it didn't work out , oh no , it's so good , now though .

Yeah , you guys got it . Yeah , oh , you guys got it . Yeah , oh yeah .

Um , so 18, . Of course , that didn't work out . Stayed in Florida I started . I went to hair school in Florida at 18 . Um , and then I landed an apprenticeship at a really great salon there . And I was an apprentice for about two years , and then I ended up staying there for like eight more years after that .

Nice .

So this is my next year will be 14 years doing hair , wow 14 years doing hair .

Wow , damn . I think that's so kind of similar , like the move I'm going to make myself older than I actually am . No , we can edit that . How many , how many years is ?

this ? I don't know .

People don't know , but you can edit time in podcast .

I'm still 25 .

It'll be your voice and it'll be like 17 days . Um , that's tight . So from maryland and then so I mean you were saying move to florida for love , and it didn't work out . But it seemed like it kind of did work out , because now you , yeah , kind of found your passion and you're , and you're doing that absolutely oh yeah , you got congrats on your own spot .

Thank you , that's really good uh man , gracie , how has that been like ? Uh is it ? Was it as smooth as a process as you had imagined it was going to be , or any like huge hurdles you had to get through ?

The branching out on her own .

Yeah , like opening your own spot .

Like , the paperwork was not great .

Obviously like the adults .

I'm like what was challenging about it . It's like all the adult stuff .

Sure when it's like .

I don't get to be , you know , choosing decor all day , like I have to get licenses .

Sure , all this stuff to like branch out on my own . But I mean , I guess , if you to kind of go off of that . If cause the internet and people love lists , what are like the top two or three surprising things that you ran into when starting this that you like .

You're saying like oh , I thought I was just just gonna like be designing a really rad space , but then I had to stop and figure out how to , like become an llc or whatever the case is , yeah , and figure out like what taxes I have to pay yeah when and all that stuff um get an accountant okay have someone that you can talk to is that like for like , get

Okay .

Yeah , yeah

So , going back to like Grayson , like what besides that , what have you found that maybe you didn't expect that you'd be like fully into , but like it's like a pleasant surprise almost with with doing this whole thing ?

I feel like I've I've always loved my clients , that I've gotten through the salons that I've worked at , but I really truly feel like my people are finding me now . And it's so cool to have these like very genuine connections with the humans that sit in my chair .

That's awesome , yeah , and it's kind of like I mean , I forget what I was watching the other day but like it's almost like similar to like a bartender , where , like people go to you and like you're probably hearing people's problems that maybe you didn't sign up for , but also you're building that relationship so they feel comfortable enough with just like spilling

Yeah .

Do you ever have people come in and just like not talk ?

Oh yeah , I have a lot of clients that it's like they will consult .

Is that more awkward ? Sorry , no , I love it Okay .

I love it to me . That's your time . Yeah , like I have clients who come in and they'll bring a book , so we'll we'll do our consultation and we'll talk about what we're doing with their hair and all that , and then they'll just read or they'll answer work emails or like it's your time I want to find out what what we're doing with your hair .

And if you don't want to talk to me , that's totally fine do you ever see like a work email or just an email that maybe you shouldn't have seen ? No , I try , I'm okay .

I try and avert my I'm like I'm , I'm in , I'm in my zone you know I'm making , I'm doing my thing , but , um , going back to like the the first , you're talking about it being stressful when you first walk into a salon .

Sure . You know , everybody's got their little quirky hairlines and curls and if I could still grow it out . I have a mean cow Like . Well , I had a mean cow like on the back of my dome and it was just . I'd just be like fuck this .

Get one of these little sticky up in the back like that . I'm over it .

I have a fierce widow's peak , do you ? That is only becoming more of a widow's peak , oh but that's from you , balding .

It's not like Eddie Munster , widow's peak where it's like .

I don't like phrasing it like that , but , yes , a devil lock in the front . Yeah , straight misfits .

Yeah , that's right , we could style it that way , we could do it . You know , I'm at the point . I'm not going to have a choice . That's like my only option . I mean , they're still doing it Like .

Doyle still has , like you know , a seven foot devil lock with , like you know , the receding hairline that's like to the back of the head , it's like forward long whiskers .

Committed . I love it , put some little extensions .

A little clip on at the end Because tonight will be the night that I will fall for you and make a little swoopy over the one eye . I love it . Well shit , we didn't even so at your salon . Do you specialize in anything , do you not ? Are there things that you don't specialize in ? Let the people know .

no , I do so all my um . I specialize in like lived in haircuts , like it's like . I want to see you no sooner than like three to four months .

Okay , like .

I want , I want your hair to grow in , I want you to live in it . I want it to just do its thing .

Sure .

Um , what do I specialize in ? I don't know what the question was . Yeah , yeah , like what do you ? Or like what do you like ?

to do Like what's what's your ? Go-to . You know what I ?

mean like a lot of like um razor cuts like with straight razor .

Oh okay , so uh like curly hair wavy hair .

Like I love bringing out your natural texture , like I want it to be really easy for you to just wake up like refresh with a little bit of water or maybe a little bit of product okay a little scrunch and you're done tight like super low maintenance , like a lot of my clients describe themselves as lazy when it comes to their hair , but I like to reframe it

Yeah .

Like you want it to look good , but without standing in front of the mirror for an hour and a half with hot tools and a blow dryer and all this stuff like .

I want to enhance what you naturally have going on , so it's really easy for you to style and work with the way your hair wants to grow and yeah , yeah , that's my jam , I mean yeah , there's like a whole I forget the name of it , but like there's a whole like mantra or whatever , or like a way of life where it's like people , it people .

It's just a little shit like that , just an indicator of your priorities . It's like a life hack , yeah , kind of yeah . Do you ever have people be like just surprise me , I don't care what you do . Do something . Yes , really I do .

How do you feel about that ? It depends on if we have a past relationship or not .

Oh , okay .

Because I still want to know like a lot of my haircuts are not only based on like texture and style , but like your lifestyle too . Sure , Like I'm not going to if you say , do whatever you want , I'm not going to give you bangs if you're not going to do anything with your bangs .

yeah , yeah and so you , what was it ? This is where we turn back time . I already forgot what you said earlier with like year-wise , but like how so ? How long have you been doing hair again ?

hold on . I gotta remember how old I am . It's good we're getting there 10 , 13 and a half years okay , I started when I was 19 okay like at like done with school , working in a salon , 19 and then yeah , so yeah , was there ever ?

have you ever been in like shops or , I guess , salons Cause like through tattoo friends , when they just get like a job at like a walk-in shop ? Have you ever been somewhere doing hair where , like you just didn't want to be there , like at that salon , cause of maybe the style or like the the environment or anything like that ?

Honestly no .

I got really lucky .

The salon shout out alchemy Orlando . I love you guys okay , um , that's where I did my apprenticeship , nice , um , and I really I researched a lot of salons before I applied there , um , and they asked me they're like in the interview they said how many other salons um have you applied and interviewed at ?

It was like a lot of um , like stylish , artistic people who seem to really care about their craft that's cool yeah yeah I feel like that's always the best environment to go into like you want to be , somewhere that's they're passionate about what they're doing and they're not just doing it to like exactly .

I'm somewhat ashamed to say no that's okay . I was going to say is there like any , like reputation or like what's the word , on the street , on the chain places ? Like you know , I don't want to name any places , but like Floyd's and Bird's and stuff like that ?

Oh , I don't want to name any places , but like Floyd's and Bird's and stuff like that oh , I've got , we have , I don't know how mutual .

Because I haven't had any exceptionally bad experiences at those Maybe just slightly inconsistent maybe , but I just , I am one of the people that's like . I'm mostly a hat guy , so I don't really think about my hair too much , so I'm just like , when it gets to a certain point , just give me a little chop , chop .

I don't think so at all . I think they're a great like . A lot of those places offer benefits sure like health insurance and retirement and a lot of things that smaller salons like the little local guys can't offer a lot of the time , so I don't . I mean no , uh , no ill will towards those guys at all . Like .

That makes me feel better about going there .

I don't know how , how it works on that , but it sounds like kind of the difference . I've worked in mostly like independent motorcycle shops and one dealership and it was like the independence was more tight-knit community .

Thanks . There's a lot that goes into hairdressing that I feel like a lot of people like it's . You invest emotionally a lot more in it . I feel like than people realize , and it's a very physically demanding job . So you know , I got no shade to anyone who didn't finish school or anything like that .

Oh yeah .

It's fucking hard yeah .

Yeah , for sure , just being like I was thinking .

But so rewarding .

Yeah , it's awesome , even like um , I feel like the people that need to get massages the most are massage therapists because , like they're constantly in that one position bent over , like their backs , at like a 45 degree angle for , like I don't know , like 30 minutes to an hour , multiple times a day .

yeah , for 10 years like this is insane .

Yeah , um damn that happened to me at a shop that I worked at once . I was like forever just in vans . And I got this job at this um , like small local motorcycle shop in South Florida and it was just like a you know garage floor , you know , and I'm just like standing in vans all day .

I'm like , oh , I can actually do something .

Yeah , it was insane , like like just getting the right footwear . So , yeah , like much respect to like almost anyone that's doing some kind of trade or craft is sacrificing one part of their body .

we weren't thinking that one like yeah , yeah , there's a lot , a lot of stretching , a lot of like yeah , you know , strengthening a lot of things you can do to keep your dexterity ?

for sure , keep that carpal tunnel at bay that's all about sales like well , carpal tunnel is a very real thing , and like when your job is very much your hands , it's's like and all your hobbies .

Yeah , that's what gets me .

That's the thing that I was going to get into . What a beautiful segue . I'm sure as a listener , you're like again , the 97% male audience that we have is like why are you talking to this chick about cutting hair ? It's like so you've been cutting hair for I think we said 13 years . How long have you been on a bike ?

It was mid-20s .

Okay .

Mid-20s . I had never been around motorcycles before I didn't grow up with them . Nobody in my family rides Um , and I started dating a guy that had a Harley .

Okay .

Um , in Orlando and we were riding around and I was like this is the fucking coolest thing ever , like these people were , like every Sunday we're out with all our friends . We're like outside , we're going on new adventures . I was like this is the greatest . This has to be a part of my life forever yeah like this is .

why would you walk away from something like that , like that sense of community ?

yeah , it's . Yeah , it was so special . And I remember the first time I saw , I like met all these girls off of bikes , like we were at like a block , like a house party or something , and then a few weeks later they all met up to ride and they all showed up on their own bikes and I was like that's it yeah I want to be like them .

That's fucking cool . I don't want to be on the back anymore . I want to have my own shit .

I don't need like see you later , dude yeah , yeah , like I want . I'm cruising craigslist , I'm getting my own sportster hell .

yeah , that's fucking cool . Yeah , so that was mid twenties , um , and I mean , you still have I think you still have a Harley Yep .

Same Sportster . I was um , I was during my apprenticeship at that salon I was talking about . So I was like a minimum wage plus tips .

Okay .

Right . So I saved up all of my tips until I had enough money to buy a buy a bike outright off of craigslist , nice , so that bike is very special

Yeah , very hard for that . We we're , uh , unashamedly and unabashedly evo sportster fans on this podcast . Um , everyone makes fun of them . We make fun of them too , but it's a good bike they're so fun it always runs , you can build it into whatever you want . You can still , to this day , get them for dirt cheap , like it's . I don't know .

Yeah , was it made of gold ?

yeah , no it was just a regular hardtail , evo sportster , and I was like , okay , like six , seven tops because of the work that you put into it .

But , um , well you know if you're having a . They always say if you're having a hard time parting with something , put a price tag on it . That won't make it sad exactly sad when it leaves .

That's a really good yeah maybe they were very emotionally invested yeah , maybe solid gold sportster um , so you still have that sportster , but you're doing a lot of like motocross now yeah , like um off-road woods racing okay I don't know .

I was asking my fiance , ryan , the other day . I was like what do you classify what we do as ? Because I'm still very new to this sure world and I'm like is it enduro , like what makes it a hair scramble ? So I'm so , but it's .

We do a lot of um trail riding and motocross okay , okay , yeah , tight , yeah , because motocross is on like a circuit track yeah , that's like the jumping , sure you know . And there's like laps involved .

It depends on there's laps in , like in the woods racing that we do the the it's called torques , it's Texas off-road championship racing . They're all amazing . It's like a little family .

They're so great Um but you do laps there too , just laps in the woods , like they go out and cut a course and then you go through and do as many as you can within a certain amount of time . Okay , that's rad .

Um , I rode , so I had been riding Harleys I think maybe four or five years , um , and then again I had a girlfriend who she had ridden dirt bikes , uh , when she was growing up and she decided she wanted to get back into it .

Yeah .

So I got a little um a KLX one 40 was my first dirt bike .

Okay .

And I could not do shit on it . Like I was like riding around in circles in someone's yard , like I made a little dirt hump yeah , yeah oh , my god , I got an inch off the ground . This is the fucking coolest thing ever . Like no idea what I'm doing , no gear , no helmet , like so dumb , um .

So I feel like we've kind of fed off of each other the last few years where it's like that's got you like picked up a hobby together , I'll go race . Yeah , like we've kind of fed off of each other the last few years . Where it's like that's got you like picked up a hobby together , I'll go race .

Like we were kind of into it separately . But he may tell a different story , but I think that I think we've we've done a good job of like supporting each other , getting into getting into the dirt bike

I saw you guys got that little camper too right . You sold that . We did our little vintage camper .

We upgraded . Right , you sold that .

We did our little vintage camper we upgraded it was rad , it was rad , it was it was but it was needed .

We needed to upgrade . Oh yeah , it's a very nice one . It's exactly what we needed . Good job , ryan , thank you .

Shout out to ryan , he's also selling a bike . Oh , it might be sold by the time you hear this , actually , but it's I . I've told him before , um , but that's like my favorite chopper , like I really like . It's more of like a , like a muscle bike , tough guy chopper .

We got um . I believe it's 19 foot toy hauler .

Oh , how many bikes do you guys have ? We were talking about this earlier . Um well , how many bikes do you travel with ?

I guess that's uh it's the same number Somehow more . Listen , when we go to date , we go to , so our anniversary is uh , we met at Daytona beach bike week . We met at Daytona supercross .

That's what shout out to Daytona .

We love the dirt tone up , um , but whenever we go , the week leading up to it is a lot of like well , if , how many ?

bikes are you ?

bringing . Well , can I bring that many ?

yeah , like it's , if we could bring the entire garage , we would sure , but now you got a toy hauler , so you have a mobile garage , so that's right and we are trying to figure out how many bikes we can step in there and put in the van or the truck .

Oh yeah , how many bikes do we have ? I have three . I have my Sportster , a 97 . I have a 2016 250 SXF , xsf , a KTM . That's my track bike .

Okay .

And then for trails , I have I think it's a 2022 Husqvarna a 150 Ti .

How's that ? I heard those things are fun .

I should know this oh my God , I love that trail bike .

Yeah .

I feel like it really like I was trying to ride that track bike in the woods and it was doable .

Yeah .

But being so new , it was hard because the suspension is a lot stiffer and it was a lot of bike to pick up off of myself sure when I would fall ? Yep um , and the husky has been . It's , it's a two-stroke , so it's a lighter , it's more nimble , it's like .

It's just like so much more responsive , yeah well , and it's two stroke , but like they're so fun , I have a huge soft part in my heart for two strokes and like yeah and so you've got three . How many does he have ?

um two harleys . Let's see , he's got the chopper , the Dinah , and then he just picked up a one 25 , a 20 , 23 KTM , one 25 .

Okay .

And then he's got a Husky three 50 for the track , and then he also he has got another two stroke , a Husky 300 . Okay , I think that one's the T . I keep getting the T , e's and the T .

That's amazing .

Feel very spoiled .

Oh yeah , but hey , you know what we says . They figured it out , so why not use it ? So that's five , what was it ?

eight bikes , yes , and then two pit bikes , two 110s , because you've got to have some 110s . That's like a half a bike .

Pit bikes don't count , they're the most fun you can always put that in the back of a truck . Yes , I mean you can put it in the back seat if you need to . Yeah , so eight , so that's not bad .

So wait a second , if you're . If you're mixing oil and gas , are you carrying just like a bunch of oil around with you when you're riding ? Is that how that works , or am I being dumb ?

No you mix it in a separate canister , Like if you need to mix your oil and gas . You measure it and you mix it into a container and then you put it all in .

I see , but like if you're filling , fueling up on the road , are you ? Where are ?

you getting your oil ? Yes , they do like they

It's just there . Yeah , you can like have it pre-mixed already . Sure , okay .

Gotcha .

Gotcha .

Because I was imagining you riding holding like an oil canister and then getting somewhere and then being like I gotta put some oil in now , I gotta put some gas in .

That's before I see when you're early 1900s , like Harleys and Indians , and like there was an oil reservoir and some of them you had to like pump the oil reservoir before you started the bike . Okay , I see , but we've moved past that . Now the bike doesn't for you ?

yeah , it's , it's very fancy .

I feel very bougie out there no , that's awesome , so you guys go to . So daytona is your anniversary , so that's a rad like anniversary trip to go to daytona every year every year , yep , and every year we've been adding more um as we're getting more into racing .

Every year we're adding more racing to our bike week adventure oh , okay um , like the first couple years we would do supercross the first weekend and spend most of the weekend like daytona , like east side of florida . And then they started doing red bull day in the dirt , like the one they do in california , glen . They do it in Tampa at Dade City .

Oh shit , that's in Tampa OK .

So we started , that's , that's on the weekend after Supercross . So we started bringing a couple of bikes to do that .

Nice .

And then last year Ryan actually raced a GNCC race that Sunday after Supercross .

Wow .

Super gnarly , the wild boar one . Okay , his race was two hours , just sand .

Oh Sandy , whoops .

Damn . Wow , it was gnarly . He did such a good job . And then we started adding in also they do amateur Supercross after regular supercross and then after amateur supercross , they do vintage days on that tuesday . So they like it's the same dirt that all the pros ride on , but they dumb the jumps way down .

So you guys are all over the place that week .

That's awesome , though , so now you're going , you're a full week out there , like both weekends basically it usually ends up being about 10 days okay , because obviously we're driving , we've got yeah the whole garage yeah , the whole garage , the dogs , the well , there's so many different styles and then we're like we don't want to be at bike week with no harley

You got into them and then you figured out you could be on your own . You're like , well , no , I'm not going to be on the back of your shit .

Yeah , give me , bring mine or let me ride yours and you sit on the back .

Yeah , how about that ? Does he do that ?

He's written heather , I'm like you should ride the harley .

She's like it's . It's technically lighter than a stock sportster , so and it's lower so it's easier to learn on . She's just like it's the biggest bike she's ever been on .

Every time I move his Dyna I feel like the kickstand is so far from the thing I'm tipping and I'm like okay , well . I guess if I fall on the floor he'll find me eventually . This thing has to make contact with the ground somehow . Whether it's bike or kickstand , it's going to be on the ground .

So you said you had a friend , because we have another mutual kind of friend , um , through mallory . Is that who got in you got into , like off-road racing through , or like how did you meet mallory ?

Um , and we met there . We met up there in real life and like hung out a little bit and I was like , oh my God , this girl is so cool , that's awesome . I want to be her friend .

Yeah , cause I , when I moved to Austin , I worked roughly for the same company that uh Alan works worked for . So I met all them through uh our buddy who's been on the show a good amount of times , josh , and that's how I got introduced to like the whole motorcycle bike scene out in Austin .

Yeah , I feel very lucky with all my moto relationships here .

It's kind of like with the hair thing , family it's great you , you did some research and you found like where you wanted to be in all of these hobbies and crafts and , and that's awesome , you have , like extended families , if you will , if that makes sense .

I don't know that's what it seems like . Yeah , I , yeah , it's , it's I . I don't ride , but uh , one of the more appealing things to me is is like it seems like a cool community to be a part of . So , yeah , I might want to get my little training wheels out .

Yeah , toot around some of our um san antonio buds . Just the same weekend of born free texas . They went and I think what they're calling it now is the gas can run their um road out to west texas and back that weekend . Um , and it looked fucking rad . I was just . I think I know what I'm doing next year around Born Free Texas weekend .

Oh no , Born Free for you .

I don't know man .

The people need to know .

I was going to say they might not let you in at this point . No , okay .

You're blacklisted from .

Born Free .

No , if anyone listening takes any of the memes at the page post that seriously , then you are the meme . That's just kind of . The overall theme is to not take ourselves so seriously . Also , the ticket prices were high .

Blew the fuck up so I mean a lot of people were thinking it . Yeah , people feel strongly about born free yeah , and it was a .

I'll never forget it . It was that idris elba like hot ones , where he's like bites into a super spicy wing and he's just like what the fuck you're also a graphic designer right I was gonna say , that too is that . Is that the term you ?

prefer .

Illustrator , I guess Artist Artist yeah .

Yes , artist , thank you .

Yeah .

Yeah , I have a hard time putting a label on it because I don't really know where it's going or what I'm doing with it Sure . In this process of opening my studio , I feel like a lot of my energy has been directed towards that there . Energy has been directed towards that .

There hasn't been a lot of time for , unfortunately for my art , but sure , well , yeah , normally creative types are super talented but not great at like channeling it into multiple different .

um , I actually wanted to go to art school before hair , so hair I had been like always doing my own hair . In my basement there was , you know , a punk rock kid always mohawked and purpled and been a manic panic down there . So I've always like loved hair .

It's felt really awesome love your shit , like the art that you do and thank you . So , when you first started , what was like your , your medium , like what were you using ? Was it like pastels , watercolor , like what were you doing ?

as far as just now like started getting back into it or like well , yeah , always um or what's your , I guess , maybe what's your favorite thing I love , love watercolor . I'm very inspired by traditional tattoos .

Yeah , like that bold but simple .

Yeah , watercolor I always love . I'm trying to get into more digital art .

Okay , sure .

It's tricky to make that feel like authentic to me like it's hard for me to bridge that gap of like what are you using for , like digital art , like what ?

what do you ?

I guess I'm a mess around on procreate and I probably use like one percent of its capacity dude , I mean like it's same I people make on there is incredible .

I go down like procreate youtube rabbit holes and I'm like , wait , this can't be the same program yeah and it is it's crazy . And if you and they're I mean , they're so well seasoned with it . But they're like it's so funny when you try and watch like a how-to and they're like this is 10 simple steps .

10 , none of them were simple .

Yeah , like yeah , I can do this . I got this and I opened mine up and I'm like this is not even the same .

Well , and I I don't

But there's no way that you can get it to feel the same . Yeah , so that's like a hurdle . A hurdle , that's more what it is .

It's like the amount of times I have tried to zoom in on my sketchbook . It is in and I'm like I'm doing the thing with the two fingers and I'm like oh , my god , it's .

You're not on your ipad . Yeah , it's a piece of paper .

it's a piece of paper . You're holding a piece of paper . You're like double . You're holding a pencil , You're like tapping with two fingers or three fingers and you're like wait a minute .

Copy . Why is it not ? Oh , it's because it's paper .

And you like fuck it up , and you're like I'll just erase . Oh no , nope , nope , I need a new piece of paper .

Help me make this .

So you've done that . You have , like you've done , art that's on display as well right , tell us kind of about that too .

I've gotten to Savannah with . Maiden Moto asked me to create a painting . Last year she did a showcase of all female artists , okay yeah , and I was super lucky to be included in that . And then she took that same piece around this year a little bit too .

Oh , that's just like a traveling art show . Yeah , that's cool yeah .

I had , um , she had asked me to . I feel a little bit guilty because she had asked me to make another painting for this year and I . I started it and got halfway through and then my studio started going and that imposter syndrome in both of my both of my endeavors .

It's like that shit's crazy Dude . People like it's made up right Like you know , we've made if we want to get it . We've made up words , we've made up numbers Like none of this shit is real whatever . But like that imposter syndrome when it gets it sinks its teeth into you . It's like it's fucking hard to shake yeah .

So I've been going through a lot of that with my um , like with opening a studio , like who the fuck do ? I think I am yeah my own hair business , and then it it bleeds over into art too .

It's like that little voice trying to not listen to that little voice , that's like no one's gonna want to see this yeah , but sometimes you just gotta , you gotta take that leap . Yeah , yeah , one's going to want to see this .

Yeah , but sometimes you just got to take that leap . Someone's got to do it you know , that's always my philosophy . And whoever is actively doing it probably also feels that way yeah .

That's cool Shit . I tripped up on myself there , Sorry . This is why we edit baby . We probably won't . We say that a lot . We won't edit this out . What's the point ? We were just talking about it .

You're like breaking the fourth wall right now . Well , no , because it was just . It's kind of tripping me up there's that whole imposter syndrome slash .

Like when we first started this shit , I was super obsessive with the edits and like that's not it . It was almost too much , I started listening to other . I don't listen to a lot of other podcasts , I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing .

So why aren't we ?

Grayson , that Mason , it's true . Answer me that . I mean , if yeah , right now , answer it . Oh , I'm sorry , can we edit this out ?

No , so I mean we'll probably edit some of this out . I know .

It's your art , though . Yeah , you've got to make it true to you .

Sure .

Like yeah .

It's in its raw purest form .

That battle with perfectionism , too , is something that I feel so hard with it's rough .

Specifically , yeah , where I'm like it's not good enough .

We had another episode with Brandon . He's a an artist as well and he does a lot of graphic design and he's worked with he's in Orlando too .

like I thought we were cool . Yeah , you have to divide up your hundred percent in a smart way .

Yeah , and if you're just doing make sure it's still just a hundred percent in a smart way , yeah . And if you're just doing make sure it's still just a hundred percent .

Yeah , yeah , exactly , cause you only have hard when you want to do everything .

Exactly I feel like all my friends have such cool project ideas and like I feel so lucky to be , you know , to have a piece that went with made a moto art show and stuff and that's super rad . Yeah , yeah , it was a really cool experience . And then of course I want to do all the things . Yeah , it's hard to edit it down .

And you were making stickers too and flyers for people . So just with starting your own thing . Now all of that is kind of you're saying you're starting it back up or you're starting to dabble with creating again . I would like to Sorry , I didn't mean to keep getting excited . No , no , that's , that's great . We talked . Grayson brought that up . Like we've .

We've had people that like don't say anything um , I feel like like at first , um , when I kind of started feeling that like creative block happening , I was frustrated and mad at myself because I was like I , this is something I love to do and I've told all these people I want to do things for them .

Yeah .

And make sure that I'm like I don't want to say not like taking care of myself too , but like you guys will have to edit this part out , because I can't think .

We're not going to . We just had the whole conversation about not doing that .

Just finding that balance I don't want to say balance either , cause then like , really , what is balanced ? Do you ever ? Are you ever actually balanced , like I ? Just I need a healthier way .

Yeah , Well , that's why I mean you're building it now .

I feel like that's that's . That's just my job . Sure , and if my clients are running late , like . Just let me like . Usually we can work around it .

Yeah .

Let me know yeah , and I mean , you know , as far as the whole imposter syndrome and like , uh , prioritizing your endeavors that you want to get in , I gotta say you're doing pretty good , because most people , like most people , are a lot of talk .

It's very impressive thank you , I appreciate that very much you were saying too earlier with the like , the art thing , where it's like you want it to seem like you're taking care of yourself . But you also have to like yeah like people . there's like this one meme where it's like how do you make friends ?

It's like don't expect that just no , I was gonna say I think a good rule of thumb is unless someone's like I will do this for you , for just go ahead and assume that you should pay them .

Yeah . Unless it's like clearly stated Well , there's that whole thing of like good , cheap and fast . If you want it good and cheap , you're not going to get it fast . Yes , if you want it fast and cheap , it's not going to be good .

it's like a weird social yeah you know , I think who brings it up ? Yeah , part of what you said about assuming that you're gonna pay for things like pay your friend for their time . To me that resonates as like I need to know that people want to pay me for my time .

Like the other end of that . That's what I struggle with .

You don't know how to ask people for your time , exactly , I want to support , like I want to support all my friends' businesses , like , please take my money , but then when it comes back to me I'm like no , I'll do it .

How do I ask them for money ? Yeah , Like don .

I'm like Sarah , don't do it for free , don't do it for free , yeah , now , that's why .

I have to , and I I kind of operated this way too until I became a mechanic and saw how that worked . So now when I contact a friend for something I'd be like hey , I want you to do this , I am going to pay you . I just make that like , put that on the front end of the conversation .

I mean , I don't really have a discernible skill that I I I peddled to people . But I feel like if someone was you're a musician ?

Yeah , you peddle your music on people if they want it or not Music's all free . If they want it or not .

Stop .

I will force it on your ears .

But yeah , I feel like I would . Just , I don't even know . The best route is to be like oh yeah , I can do that . My rate is blank . I would love to hook you up , but times is tough .

I don't know what to tell you .

And if someone takes issue with that kind of fuck them . You know what I mean . Like we're homies , you should hook me up . It's like we're homies , I can hook you up , but if I am struggling to keep the lights on , I got to charge you buddy , I'm sorry , you know there's other like homie hookups are earned , not given Exactly .

Yes , we're homies , but like .

We should never be expected . Help me out right now .

If I get to the point where , if Sarah gets to the point where her salon is seven people and she doesn't even have to cut hair anymore and she can travel and ride motorcycles and do art , then that's when yeah that's when homie hookups might become more sure yeah , Given out . But yeah , I love a trade trade .

I like a trade bartering yeah .

Talking about if someone can't afford the service that you're offering , like what what you were saying , grayson ?

Yeah , exactly yeah .

And that's been , uh , something I'm getting comfortable with too . Like not being like oh well , I'll do it at a , do it at a discount or do it like in a shorter amount of time , so it's cheaper , like that doesn't align with who I am as a stylist anymore or as an artist .

You're growing and you should be compensated accordingly .

I want my clients to have the best possible work .

someone approach you and they want something that like either not so much that you're not good at , but it's like not your like specialty and you've been like I can do this , but it's kind of the same thing where it's like I know this person that will like fucking kill it at this .

Right , like at the end of the day , I want you to have your best hair or the best art possible , like I had a girl like come into our little studio space , because it's the studio I'm in it's . There's a bunch of other salons around , like it's one of those salon loft kind of places .

I've seen a few like hybrid , like barbershop salons , but the best haircuts I've seen come out of barbershops and the best haircuts I've seen come out of salons were from like a specialty , like appointment only , type of like where it's it's very like to me from the outside . Looking in , it seems very similar even to like tattooing .

it , yeah , your time is worth money .

You should yeah yeah , and you should protect yourself Right and even just starting off like small fish in the sea , just do that from the jump right 1,000% yeah .

Mine is 24 hours . If you cancel within 24 hours , you get charged for 100% of the time booked . Unless obviously like I'm not a monster .

Yeah , you're upside down because you flipped your car . That's different .

Yeah , I can't get my haircut because I'm on the icu if you're like 100% buddy , or if you're hungover or you oversleep , it's like that's you could that's ?

yeah , they're now it's someone disrespecting your time .

Yeah and yeah again I get it like life shit happens that's totally out of your control oh , yeah , sure that's where that communication piece comes into . It's like let me know , yeah , yeah , yeah , just , I won't be mad , just letting someone know goes such a long way Like .

Hey , I can't make it because this , but it's two days in advance and you're like okay cool . Can fit someone into that block absolutely and still get that money .

Yeah , yeah makes sense .

It's part of doing business but I mean going back , way back when we started this conversation about , like maybe a list of things or like something that's a really good one too , or it's just like , just know , maybe you're not gonna know like your your worth fully , like what your hourly rate is when you're first starting out , because you're learning all those

It's um uncomfortable the first couple of times , but in the end it you have to protect your peace and your business Like we're not . I'm not talking about firing people willy nilly like . Oh I don't like doing , I don't like you .

You don't get to come anymore , Like no , it's not like that .

It's um , like people who are not respectful of your time or policies . That's when it's time to let them go out into the world and you know , here's a recommendation .

Sure .

But yeah , at the end of the day , it's protecting your peace and your business and making your business into what you want it to be .

Yeah , that's .

It's like why are you here ?

I'm the specialist have you ever met a customer .

It's like I mean , maybe I feel like , I'm like maybe I want the customer to be happy , but within my business structure , I guess I'm here to give you the best result , the best way I know how , but within my business structure , I guess . Well , yeah , that's you , I'm here to give you the best result , the best way . I know how .

Yeah , you start throwing wrenches into that and then you don't get the best result , and that's another thing too .

And then the person is upset because then I've , you know , I've bent something that I'm trying to uphold . Sure , and it's like I did this to make you happy , and then they're not happy and that person's going to go happy , and then they're not happy and that's it .

Yeah , and like one bad review is worth like probably 10 good reviews , like as far as like how it affects your business . Like people don't remember good reviews , they'll remember bad reviews .

Yeah , unfortunately , good reviews are just a check in the box . Yeah , bad reviews are like what is it ? They ?

do so now , when the customer is like no , you do this , you do it this way , and then you do it and it's bad . They're like oh , I don't like what you did . It's like no , no , no , you did that .

Yeah , I was trying to do it my way .

Yeah , yeah , trying to think .

What ? No , that was me being like .

Oh , kicking it over to me .

This is an instance that will be edited out it . I'm not editing anything else out for the rest of this podcast , let it be known . I don't know , is there anything that we haven't asked that you were like ? Oh , I hope they asked me that .

I've been doing a lot more dirt bike racing this year .

I moved up a race class . This last weekend , oh shit look the fuck out . I love that button up a race class this last weekend . Oh shit , look the fuck out . Congrats , let me just get . Yeah , I love that button .

It's a good one , Good In the Torx that series that I was talking about with you I moved up to women's A .

Okay .

And it's cool , it's really cool . That's great , it's cool to line up with that many fast women . Yeah , there are like 10 of us last Saturday .

Okay , and does that ? Is it one place specifically , or is it all around ?

Torx is mostly central Texas .

Okay .

So , like this last weekend , we were in Smithville .

Okay .

So not like 40 minutes away Sure . They're usually within about two hours and we ended up . We end up usually driving in Friday night and camping Saturday . Sunday . We just started racing . I say we , me and Ryan , just started both racing both days . So a race on Saturday and on Sunday .

Um , and with that toy hauler it's probably way more comfortable now .

It's great we got we have a bathroom and running water . It's great we have a bathroom and running water . Dude , See ya .

It's great Stand-up bathroom and running water . Camping is like . That's when it's like .

Being able to take a quick shower after a race too is like oh yeah , I didn't even think of that .

We go camping a lot and we don't have a stand-up bathroom , but I can't even imagine just literally racing in the dirt all day and then getting in a tent .

I mean it's possible and people do it but that next day I have respect for those people but cause I am ruined .

now I always say this is like the best the first shower after camping , the first shower after being in the beach or after traveling on an airplane is like does this hit different ? Yeah , so being able to do that while you're racing is like that's awesome . So how many races are you doing a month now ?

it's usually about one a month okay um , we've done . We've done . Mostly torques I did . We did do um two of the t-sec , which I now of course can't remember the acronym it sounds like , but sorry to interrupt . That's OK .

With your bikes and all these circuits . It's just like letters , it's like an acronym or something it's like .

This is my .

Husky TI . But then you're like doing the T series and it's just like .

Yeah , I get very confused . Yeah , yeah , I would just . What bike do I have ? No , I have no what ?

what circuit am I racing ? On what bike ?

this is an amalgamation of letters . It's , um , it's a lot , and I feel like it can be very intimidating if you're trying to get into the sport , but I promise it will start making sense .

The more .

You're around it .

Sure .

Woman to woman , I guess , if you're , if you're a lady who's looking to get into racing , I mean it sounds very confusing and complicated at first , but I promise it makes sense and you can do it yeah , I love it .

Yeah , and we do have more .

Okay , yeah , very proud of that . Yeah , we're working on it .

We're working and you are now officially the first lady of kickflips and kickstands podcast . Yeah , thank you . I love that . Yeah , very cool . We've

I it hasn't been as bad as some of the stories that I've heard Like .

I feel like .

I haven't had it crazy , but there's a lot of like oh , was that your husband's old bike ? Yeah , oh did your husband buy that for you ?

Yeah , Like , oh , what Like yeah , I mean , we try and champion equality on this podcast and people probably don't notice . But I'll make fun of everyone . But I'm not making fun of certain demographics or certain things in a certain way , because it's just not how we feel .

You don't want to perpetuate the bullshit that people say sometimes .

Yeah , there's a lot of backwards thinking in the motorcycle scene and some people try and make it political , or people will be like , oh , you're getting into politics . These are just human rights .

It's just not being a dick .

You have made it political or you've allowed people that made it political to turn you that way . But it's like no dude Everyone from anywhere deserves an equal slice of the pie if they can get it like that's it , sure , and if it's not harming anyone , yeah , so yeah , I don't know . I just I know that's that's out there .

he's still around , still kicking , yeah yeah , I feel like the the motorcycle scene can be . I feel like in the last few years , even before I started riding , it started being like I started seeing a lot more women riding . And , like me , seeing women riding made me want to ride .

You can do it too , and you just up the class .

So which is great . Like I , my uh ryan , took some videos and I watched them back the other day and I was like that's not me , like that's fucking crazy that like the progress .

I'm doing that . Yes , yeah , it's wild , not to .

I don't mean to toot my own no , toot it . I mean I'll do it but it's crazy how much , just like deciding you want to do something , if you just practice where you can be , yeah , like even just something as small as reviewing footage , like that oh it's so helpful Like even just something as small as reviewing footage .

Like that oh yeah , and it also shows that , like you're fucking about what you want to do , like there's a lot of people that won't do that and you don't learn from your mistakes , or like you know what I mean . Like it's just like it's a very hard headed way of going about things , where it's just like I'll just do it and then completely forget about it .

It's like no it's you who the fuck did that . Yeah , no Like . Oh , that's wild .

You did . So yeah , Starting on that little . Well , I mean hurt on pit bikes than anything else , it's always the dumb shit .

It's always doing the fun dumb shit that you get hurt . It's never like the serious ass . I don't want to say never , but you just you know when .

I'm assuming . When you're lining up for a race , you know all the risks involved . But when you get on the pit bike around the campfire later on that day , you're just like I . But when you get on the pit bike around the campfire later on that day , you're just like .

I'm just going to ride it around and do whatever . And that's when you smack the side of a truck . Yeah , let's fucking let's get it . Yeah .

Yeah , well , that's rad .

Yeah , ladies , in your late 20s you want to get into dirt biking ? You can do it .

Do it .

It's not too late . It's not too late to do it ?

yeah , I've always been afraid of that too . I'm like who the fuck ? Am I , 30 plus years old , lining up to ? You know , I started in the women's b class and it was a lot of very fast 15 year olds that have been riding their whole life like if you want to get into like skateboarding .

A 15 year old's always to make you feel worse than what you should , but don't don't let it get to you , no , because we deserve to be there too .

Also that 15 year old has nothing going on in their life . They're a 15 year old .

Like they got no career . They got . They're on their parents health insurance .

They're fine . That's all they want to do with that .

They're just full , sending it In skateboarding . They're about to retire . That's the end of their career .

I saw something like the average pro skateboarding career is like four and a half years . It sounds right Damn yeah , I mean , it's a very unforgiving job .

I believe it .

It's a good time , not a long time .

I wanted to be a skateboarder . I can go in a straight line .

Yeah , that's it . Go in a straight line . Yeah , that's it . That's where I'm at now . Oh , that was years ago , so maybe not even now .

We tried to kick around not too long ago , we tried to kick around a parking lot on like a little slappy curb and like 10 minutes into it , my left knee which is the one that , like I got when I got in my motorcycle accident that's the side that got hit my left knee just started like pulsing with a little bit of pain and I was just like , oh yeah , I'm

Why am I ?

skateboarding right now . But it's because I enjoy it and I genuinely love it , Like I grew up doing it . So I tried to dip my toes back in it , but the 35 year old in me that's lived a hard life was just like no , you got to fucking take care of some other shit first . Baby yeah .

I remember it being easier than it is .

Oh yeah , that's all it was .

I was like man , I used to be able to jump higher . Yeah , yeah .

Yeah , and that's cause I like all of that . It's just you jumping . Yeah , so like when you get older and you're like I can't all the as high as I can . It's high as I can . It's like , no , you can't jump as you used to , oh no , because things hurt or they don't recover like as quick as they did .

No , it's crazy after a race weekend , like now that my races are like Saturday , saturday and Sunday , I now race 70 minutes , um . So doing that both days it takes me like three days to recover .

I would imagine .

I'm like I gotta make some like I know some people that go right back to the gym and I'm like I got to figure out .

That's insane . How would you go ? I don't know . I need to figure out how to go to the gym period . Yeah .

I can't do the gym . I got to do something else that's fun and active , but I can't just sit there and do exercise equipment . Do you start racing ?

dirt bikes . It sounds like it's a full-body workout .

I did start going to the gym so that I could deadlift my bike off myself when in the woods .

When I'm crashing into trees .

I've got to be able to pick it up , that's again like reviewing your footage .

That's when you're like , if I cross-train , I'll be better at the thing that I enjoy .

Maybe I'm doing something that I maybe don't enjoy as much , but I'm doing it so that I'm better at the other thing .

Yeah , I would just practice my yelling for help waiting for the sweeper to come by . Yeah , you would be really good at explaining your surroundings , you know what I mean .

Maybe like how's grayson at racing , he's like he's not the best racer , but when he goes down , you'll know exactly where he is . I'm near a sophisticated looking tree . They're like what they get up .

They're like'll know exactly where he is . I'm near a sophisticated looking tree . They're like what they get up . They're like you know what , motherfucker , this is the most sophisticated looking tree out here . Well , Sarah , it's been a blast . We could keep going if you want , but we have had a great time having you out here .

I'm just kidding .

I'm just kidding . We'll come to you if we have to . Sure , no , I've enjoyed having you back out here and getting our little take two in the can , do you ? And do you have anything that you want to ? Let's roll out the red carpet for you . Like what we never like . What's your salon name ? Tell us your where people can find you on the Internet . Yeah .

To book appointments . My salon is called After , while my hair Instagram is Sarah period Cottrell , period hairstylist , and I have a link to book through there , but you can send me a DM if you have any questions . Um , my art page is mild card co . And then my personal page with a lot of my racing stuff on it is chum eater , like a shark eats chum .

I mean when we , when the episode goes live , you know we'll put . I mean when we , when the episode goes live , you know We'll put all the links In social for people too , so they can find you A little easier too . Yeah , Grayson , you got anything coming up that people need to know about .

Nope , nothing . Yeah , my band's coming out With a single this week , but that's

We can edit that , sure Sure , we can edit , we'll . Just that's the one edit we'll put in this episode .

You got anything Well . Anyway , thanks for listening .

No , no , no , I'm saying . I'll go in and I'll just put an audio clip of me saying the correct date for just the single yes Perfect . Everything else will stay in . Yeah , we'll work it out , yeah . And I mean at kickflipsandkickstandspodcast on Instagram .