¶ Introduction to Operations Unfiltered
Welcome to operations unfiltered the podcast that takes you behind the scenes of influencer and talent management. This week, we have the pleasure of speaking with genomic Iver. prominent influence in the natural hair community for over a decade. Janae specializes in educating her clients on the crucial connection between health, nutrition, and hair care. Her salon, a Sealy haircare center has become an epicenter for black women's hair restoration.
Offering holistic services provided by her skilled and dedicated team. Join us as we dive into the world of natural hair care and explore the operations behind Janae successful business. So without further ado, let's get into this week's episode
¶ Meet Jannay McIver: Natural Hair Extraordinaire and Salon Owner
of Operations Unfiltered. I am joined by natural hair extraordinaire, hairstylist and owner of a Sealy haircare center. Hi, and welcome. for having me. Thank you so much for joining me. Um, I always start off with a little intro about who you are, what business or service you offer. So tell the people. All about you and Asili Hair Care Center. Oh, all about me.
So I am Jougae McIver, like Zarina said, I'm a natural hairstylist, but I'm also a salon owner, a natural hair educator, a natural hair speaker.
¶ Jannay's Journey into the Natural Hair Movement
I'm a nutritionist as well. And one little box I ticked during COVID, I became a financial services professional. So now I also help on the business side with stylists. Yeah, I forgot to So all the things, but all things beauty, like all things, hair, natural hair, you know, our community. I want us to do it right. Get it tight. Yeah, I absolutely love that. And you forgot to tell the girls you are a mom and a wife too. Those are some. And I'm a mom and a wife. Yes, toot your horn.
To COVID baby, honey. Do it twice. Why? I don't know how you do that. At Mom with Multiples, I congratulate you guys because my one Oh my gosh. I don't know how you do. And you own all these businesses. You do all the things. You are superwoman. Thank you. How do you do it? What, what motivates you to do this? What motivates me before, you know, it was really just passion. If it felt right, I was doing it.
I think during the shutdown, like my focus really was able to be re centered and I realized I need to do this. It was fun before, but now I see that this is my source. This is where I get the most fulfillment. It's where I feel like I impact others the most and where literally God speaks to me so, so clearly. Like, You have to do this. I tried to put it down and he was like, uh, no, I love that I love that listening to God and leaning into that divine timing.
So kudos to you for doing that and come on being the, a Jack of all trades or Jane of all trades or Jill of all trades of that. Okay. So here on operations unfiltered, we like to get into the nitty gritty, the behind the scenes, the logistics. of all things, content creation, influencer talent management. So with that, what tools or technology do you use to manage your content, your tasks, your day to day activities? Give us the tea about that. It's, it's all on the phone.
I need all the apps, everything on the phone. I need Canva. I need Vegaro for my booking site. I need Instagram. And I'm just starting to be able to get into, uh, meta business suite, that side of it too. Oh my goodness. Start to understand the numbers of everything. I think actually you were the first one that broke it down to me when you used to do my social media and we're like, you know, this is the engagement. This is the, this, that. And so I just can understand what I'm looking at.
Cause it's cute when you get the notifications, but you're like, for sure. That's not, how does this translate to my business? And fun fact, for those who don't know, I actually did start working a silly hair care center was one of my first clients when I was doing social media management. So Janae and I know each other very well, and I'm so excited and so proud of you for all of the things that you're doing. So that's why I'm like, thank you for coming on the podcast today.
Um, so when you mentioned all these tools that you use and you use it on your phone, you have to have easy access. Do you ever get phone calls? birthed out tech fatigue. What do you do? A thousand percent. And so I have done a very good job. Again, after I met you, I've been like, okay, I need a team. Like with these kids, people are like, how are you doing it? I'm not like, if it's not my task, I do not even, I do not even care. I have two virtual assistants. Oh, we love that.
Yeah, salon manager. So we all kind of do the content creation together, but You know, once I assigned the task, okay, here's the sound, let's do this. Okay. Here's the, the promotion we need to do for next month. We need templates for that. I assign it and I drop it and I let it go. You are giving operations project manager hat without even knowing it. I love it. And that's what I always talk about.
That's a key element of project management is of course, we want to make sure you have the right tools and technology, but who doesn't? Who are the key people that make your business go? And so you mentioned you have a salon manager and two virtual assistants. You mentioned delegation, but can you talk a little bit about who and what these people on your team do?
So my virtual assistants are really, vital when it comes to the marketing that you see online, just in terms of the consistency, the continuity, they make all of those marketing pieces for me, um, through Canva. And then they also make sure that we manage engagement on social media as well.
¶ The Holistic Approach at A Sealy Haircare Center
Was growing and I was like, I cannot respond to all these people in my DMS. Like I cannot go back to each person and be like, yes, queen, like to every single post so that Instagram will show my posts. So that has been so amazing having them there because, you know, you used to be able to schedule the post and walk away and it'd be good and being in Instagram reward you, but now they want you to be in there talking all day and all night.
And I engage for two hours, you know, every day, every time I post just so
so they help with engagement online as well with like, you know, that kind of piece and then my salon manager. So I didn't sell this piece, but literally we just opened. In what was that april a three station salon, so I have four people on staff and when you we were working together It was just me. I know it was just me You're in a salon suite. It was just you Oh my i'm so excited Where are you located? I know we're going to say it at the end, but where are you located just for people?
I'm located in lithicum, which a lot of people don't know that but i'm near the bwi airport Like i'm right off of 295 So if you live in baltimore if you live in prince george's if you live in columbia i'm 15 minutes from everybody Literally. Yes. We love to hear it. Accessibility. Okay. Okay. So back to your team. We love back to the team salon manager. Right? That's a new role because I didn't have a whole salon before I was really doing it all by myself. So she's like tracking inventory.
She is helping with the scheduling of the other stylist. Because the phone was ringing off the hook. I was like, I can't, I had a little bit at night. Like I cannot new clients calling my clients calling. I was like, it's becoming a little bit too much and social media. So she really helps with that. And she is like amazing because. She kind of came in and she was like, I see what you're doing. Again, divine timing. I see what you're doing. Like, I believe in it.
So just having those people that are like solid, right? Like, I haven't really had any kind of ups and downs yet, which I'm so grateful for. I know it's just started, but it's God, nothing but God. We love it. Okay. So as you expand and you see your business growing and your plan for yourself grows, do you envision your team expanding? And if so, what. Positions. Do you have in mind or do you think you might need?
So we're still hiring two stylists for the salon right now because it is like a full fledged salon. So we open like six days a week. And then we are looking at another location. And then a silly hair care center is a hair care center. And my goal has always been education, like educating people how to take care of their hair. And like what the deeper reason is that we have different situations that happen with our hair. So we're
¶ Educating Clients on Health, Nutrition, and Hair Care
working on a school too. Okay. Oh my goodness. Is this breaking news? Are you announcing this on operations? Unfiltered? Breaking news, exclusive Jenae's opening a school. Yeah, you absolutely are going to exceed. Where do I submit my application? Exactly. No, but seriously, you are definitely going to need so many more hands. And that's the message that I want people to understand as small business owners with these big dreams and big, big goals. You need help.
I. Struggled so much with, you know, asking for help and I never wanted people to feel like I didn't, I wasn't capable of doing something, but no, as you expand and as you, Expound on your own dreams. You need that, that support. So I'm in total alignment that we need some help and you got to pay for it, but you know, what I'm learning, you know, I've been learning, stay in your lane. I'm not trying to get nothing for free. Cause I want quality work. Right. Yeah. I can tell you my budget is not.
$12,000 a month for marketing, right? Like absolutely. I'm not there yet. I would love to be there.
Hey, it's Zarrini here with a quick church announcement reminding. You to follow me on Instagram at ladies says, or at live more. Agency for all updates on operations. Unfiltered. I'll be keeping you updated on future guests, upcoming episodes, and so much more. Let's get back to the episode. And so my salon manager, um, that role is really new for me. Cause we went from, of course, like me operating by myself in a suite to a whole entire staff salon.
We have four stylists there and are still expanding, still growing. So she helps with inventory. She helps with scheduling, but when her and I are together, she has been like so vital in. Just helping me understand and get more comfortable. I'll say with the social media piece, because it's one thing to record yourself, you know, have a tripod. It's another thing when a person is like holding a camera in your face going. Okay. Now say this, this, that, the third. Okay. Okay. I have an idea.
Let's do this video. And in that video, like you can't just show your work anymore. Right? Like you have to be somebody or something that people like. Want to feel like they know or want to get to know. So that's been helpful kind of taking the, the loneliness out of it. Honestly, it's, you know, cute to be a boss and work and grind on your own. But when you start to have other people there, it's just like so much more fun actually doing the work. I love that. I love that so much.
And you, since you're in the hair space, that is a very saturated audience and it's a very saturated market, especially on social media. So what has been some of your challenges that you've experienced as far as social media, um, in the haircare space? I would definitely
¶ Behind the Scenes of Running a Successful Salon
say the challenges has been one where the trends are going. Um, I feel like I've been doing natural hair for so long. And when I started doing natural hair, it was, it was the new trend, right? Like it was, we don't really know what we do. So we go to a hairstylist and so with anything, there's never anything new under the sun. So stuff is going to move, but it's how do I make people, you know, confident in coming after their trendy style.
To know that there's still somebody here who actually takes care of hair. Because another thing that's easy to fall into is the negativity online, right? Like hairstyles have been under attack a lot. Also, girl, all the time. Well, that's your fault. Cause you didn't vet your stylist. You don't ask if she has a license. You're willing to go into anybody's home. Then you see that couch online. I mean, you know, so I try to set it apart just from the professional aspect, right?
Like everyone is licensed. You're coming into a clean environment. The booking site is right there. We don't require a deposit because. If you book it, we expect you to come, right? Cause we're going to be there. You don't have to worry like, Oh, is she going to leave me hanging for two hours? I have heard the craziest stories. You would not believe, but just because people have thousands of followers, you know, doesn't mean they have that professional component to running their business.
So I try to impart that On online, but also in my other stylists, right? Like I've been doing this for so long now that I kind of let them know, I know you see other people doing this, but we're not going to do it that way here. It's giving leadership. We love to see it. I love that. Um, so going back to your salon manager and that whole experience in the salon, what is your filming process look like? I know that you can't possibly be doing this by yourself. What do you guys batch film content?
Is it more reactive? Talk about your schedule for that. So the trains move so fast. In terms of just kind of what is the trend? Like, is it a dance? Is it a snippet of something? You know what I mean? Like, is it a fun, quirky fact? So I haven't batch filmed in a while for that specific reason in terms of like sounds, of course, every day that I'm doing hair, I try to make sure that I at least take a picture of the hair. I'm like, and I even remind other girls, I'm like, take a picture of it.
Do you take a picture of it? Take a picture of it. And I really kind of had to tweak my expectation of what is content? Right? Yeah. A couple more things about that. You're gonna see me taking the stuff up the steps, you can see on my, on my personal page. When I was building out this salon, Oh, I recorded everything. And I don't care if it's 20 kips to me painting the wall, you're going to see me paint the wall. And I'm going to use that clip over and over and over again.
So I don't have that mindset of, Oh, they seen it. I don't want to post it. This is the clip I got my phone. That's the best. I love that because you never know what you can create in your free time with old clips. So I love that. And to that point, what advice would you give a small business owner? I know you and I talk, we, you started at a salon suite and now you're doing all of the things.
So what would you, what advice would you give to someone starting small and wanting to work their way up? I would say, um, don't be afraid. Okay. A lot of stuff around posting is not that people don't have the stuff to post is that they're afraid to post it, right? Like, even if it's something that you feel is controversial, I will be honest. I do not like seeing negative comments on my posts. I will delete them, but you know, you gotta, you're not going to please everybody.
You got to know who your audience is. So. I don't care if it's like just a picture of you washing your hands at the sink, you know, that could be your highlight on sanitation or any part of your aspect. Think so, so, so much smaller. Like I feel like people are trying to record you know, like small movies, one little thing. And it's, that's enough.
Um, and then on the building, the team side is again, with that, don't be afraid, don't be afraid to say, I had to tell my team, specifically my manager. Cause she was there right before, even when I was still in a suite, she was there. And so I was, I would tell her all the time, I am learning how to do all of this. What I know how to do is hair. What I know how to do is take a picture on my phone, make it look clear, but I am still open and clear and honest.
I'm not afraid for people to see me not do it right or not know how to do it. I will even say, Oh, you do that really well. Could you show me?
¶ Building and Leading a Dedicated Team
Okay. How did you not be afraid? I love a lifelong student. Always love that so much. So to your point for business owners, you're busy doing the services capture every moment, even the small ones, even the small ones, even the small ones. Have you ever worked with. Influencers or content creators to capture the content for you.
I am a talent manager and I know a lot of my clients love working with hairstylists, but I also have worked with small business owners who are a little leery of working with influencers. So what's your take on that? I, I feel weird about it because I feel like I am the influencer. Period. I mean, I have like, you know, like partnerships and other stuff with brands. So I wonder like. That's how they see me there. Right.
But then for the salon, cause we are trying to grow, I am like, can we have somebody that kind of, you know, helps promote those things sometimes it's a client, I will say A client might have more, uh, following and they'll just do it out of kindness in their heart in terms of a formal thing. I'm not against it, but I feel like because I kind of played
¶ Future Aspirations and Upcoming Projects
both of the sides, I never like had to do it outside of myself, but because I'm a grown up, I totally get that. Yeah. And I guess as you're looking into that and what that could look like in the future, working with influencers, have you ever thought about what your, uh, Ideal influencer or content creator would be what would you look for from their profile? What would you be looking for them to capture? Have you ever thought about that before?
I have and I really wish that the natural hair girlies that are natural hair girlies would work with a specific stylist because I feel like in the beauty world, there's like the influencers and then there's us, there's professionals, you know what I mean? Like hairstyles. Yeah. There's definitely a niche. A niche audience. There's a niche audience. Yeah. So it's like you don't have no background, you're just kind of in your kitchen, which I'm not shading that.
Yeah. But then I wish they would show the side of like, this is the person who I call because trust me. You're calling somebody like I'm getting the calls of Right now, you know what I mean? I'm in the store, right? What do I get? Do I buy? I feel like this is the problem with my hair. I'm on the phone with my stylist now y'all and It doesn't have to be a you know Even like a push my product thing, but just merging the understanding that yes, I can do my hair.
Yes. I can work with these products that are paying me to promote it, but there's still somebody backing that I go to regularly for my trims. And that answers my hair questions when I don't know what's going on. Stuff. I love that. That is a good look. So if you are an upcoming content creator, holler at Jenea, because it seems like that's a great, and me as a consumer, I truly value authenticity. So that type of content
¶ Closing Remarks and Thank You
would resonate with me, right? Because I'm the girly that my, my silly self, I got a silk press in the summertime. So now I'm definitely going to be on the phone with my hairstyles because this is going to coil up. What do I do? It's gonna help me out. Yes. And my edges are already suffering. So that's the type of content that I want to see like putting your frontal on and all of that is great, but I'm not doing that. I want to know how to do a twist out. Right? Like, exactly.
I don't want the three minute video that's online and everybody's like, why didn't it work in 45 minutes? I'm like, It didn't work because it didn't take her 45 minutes. She exactly. Come on, let's get into it. I love that. You know what we're talking about? There is a rise of long form content. I know at one point it was very short into it, but there is a rise of long form content.
So how do you see that impacting the hair industry and even the type of content that you putting you're putting out? What does that look like for you? So I'm trying to do, we're not trying to, I will be doing more classes and so I really want like It not to be quick tip, you know, do this like, no, let's sit down. Let's talk about it. Let me give you a video on why your scout might be doing this in the summertime, or let me give you a video on how to fix your edges, things like that.
So everything's still education based, but. I feel like before I did feel a lot of pressure and also didn't have time to sit there and explain everything or show everything. Sometimes I think people do want to see full services now too, right? Like just the before and after, cause I think people want to see full experiences. How do I get from the parking lot to your, that's something that as a consumer getting my hair done, that's part of the experience that I think sometimes is not caught.
Like you get there every day cause you work here, but I'm coming from out of state. I would love to see how do I get in your building. So definitely incorporating that into content is, is key now too. Yeah, that's a good one. Yes. Oh, put that on the list. I was about to say, don't say nothing when you see it, um, tomorrow on the Instagram. I love it. I love that. Oh my gosh. Now we were talking about dream partnerships as far as influencers. Do you have any dream brand collaborations?
I know all the hairstylists love the Dysons, but what is your dream brand collab? You know, I have like really prided myself on getting everything and almost everything in the salon to be Black owned. I love that. Oh, so every product, I really want every tool. I really want like, whether it's EAP heat, whether it's the do, um, we already use lock and twist. We've been using cultured naturals for forever.
I want these brands to You know, not just work with the influencers too, but with the companies that would retail their stuff. That's not always. I mean, I know, um, a lot of people may not make as big of orders, right. As like the, the retail market, but in the natural hair industry, people still need to, they still have questions. They still need to be taught. I can't tell you how many times I get. Hey, have you tried this? Have you tried that? Have you tried it? Have you tried that?
And it's like, I, I can't try everything y'all, but the ones that I do like, you know, I would love from a salon standpoint or from a stylist standpoint to be like, no, this is how you use it. This is how we use it on our clients. It works on all of our clients. That's why we love it. Yeah. That kind of stuff. And then also be able to benefit from it as well. Like having your hands on one for our clients. But I love that.
And I think that is such a good, all the marketers who are listening, you guys are missing out on a marketing opportunity because these hairstylists and salon owners, they can do in salon demonstrations. They can do all types of things. So if you guys are listening, I'm giving you some free game right now, tap into the salon owners. Yes. Um, and, and let's get into what's next for Asili Hair Care Center. do you have any sales coming up? I know you said you're hiring, but what's next?
What's on the horizon? What's on the horizon? Can I tell you like a dream, dream, dream thing? Absolutely. Is this another exclusive? This is another exclusive. Oh my goodness. But more speaking engagements for sure for myself. Um, I would love to be on stages. I'm not sure if you remember before where I did, um, FroFest in Antigua. Yes! The Nutri Stylist! Is this the resurrection of the Nutri Stylist? I think she's resurrected. And so the big, big goal is Essence Fest.
I'm going to say it just so that if I do it in the next year or two and I come back to this podcast, then I can say, Oh yeah. Oh my God. We should both be at Essence. I'm going to put it out there. I want to do Operations Unfiltered on the stage at Essence with the Nutri Stylist. What? We'll be there. Let's put this out there. Okay. I'll not be attaching myself to your dream because that's what we're here for. Okay. That's I need to get to the next level. I need some more help. I love that.
I love that. And you can absolutely do that. But you know, what's crazy. We talked all things operations and project management in our business life, but you are a mom and wife and want to do all these things. So, Who helps you and what are your tools and technology to manage this along with your business? Like you mentioned you have help with your kids, but do you have a nanny? Do you like what's going on? Give us a ball like that. I don't have a nanny. I have amazing, amazing grandparents.
When people complain online about the grandparents, I can't relate. And I have a fantastic husband who is very present and very helpful. And then I also still use them apps on my phone, honey. Okay. Yeah. Fresh. It's the car, all of that. Like. Anything that outsource, outsource, outsource. I love it. Moral of the story is outsource it. Outsource it if you can. If you can't, put it on a schedule. You know, and when it's done, it's done.
If I clean Sunday mornings, Then don't talk to me on Tuesday afternoon, because it's not my business. It's not my business. I love that. I love that. Okay, Janae, so what is your big piece of advice you can give to someone? Last thing, if we want to leave people on a good note. What is your biggest piece of advice? My biggest piece of advice? It's to trust God every step of the way, every single step of the way. I don't care if I needed another person. The person arrived.
I don't care if I was like, Lord, I need 10 more dollars that the 10 arrived. So if he told you to do it, if your business or, you know, your dream is something that, you know, you've heard clearly from God, it's your vision. He wants you to do it. Just trust him with it. Every single step of the way. Hmm. Amen. I felt that. I felt that. In my soul, I felt that. And of course, how can people follow you? How can people book their appointments? How can people keep up with you? Where do we go?
We are on Vagaro. That's the booking site. V A G A R O. And you just search a silly hair care center, but you can also go to a silly hair care center. com and book. And as well as order the products that we retail at the salon, you can find us on Instagram at a silly, a S I L I hair care center. And you can find my personal stylist page and information page on Instagram at the Nutra stylist and U T R I stylist.
Yes, and I'll be linking all of that information in the podcast notes, but Janaye, it's always a pleasure. I hope to have you come back and thank you everybody for listening to Operations Unfiltered. See you next time. Thank you so much.