15. Evolving & Adapting To Stay Successful in The Beauty Industry With Gordon Miller

If there’s anyone who understands evolution in the beauty industry it’s Gordon Miller. Gordon has been a part of the Sola family for many years as both a speaker at the Sola Sessions and Sola Summit as well as a close friend and mentor to Jennie Wolff. Gordon’s insights and mentorship have made tremendous impacts on Sola’s evolution and programs over the years, including his advice when we first decided to launch the Sola Stories podcast! Gordon is the CEO of Hairbrained, a digital platform exclusively for hairdressers, and he hosts their incredible podcast Hairbrained Conversations. He has been at the forefront of social media for the beauty industry and has continued to be an advocate for its marketing power, allowing beauty professionals to go independent earlier in their careers than they could before social media marketing.

Listen, as Gordon shares how crucial social media is in this COVID world and why staying connected through platforms like Hairbrained are so important in our time of social distancing. Gordon believes that once we are on the other side of this pandemic, beauty professionals in salon suites who have continued to invest in their education, learn new skills, and stay connected with their clients and the industry will be set up to flourish.

Gordon says that beauty professionals need to be prepared for whatever uncertainties might come their way. It could be a resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic or something smaller like a slowdown in the industry, but whatever it is, being financially prepared is the key. If you haven’t already, download Sola’s free guide 8 Tips for Beauty Professionals to Navigate COVID-19 and Overcome Financial Uncertainty and prepare yourself to stay successful no matter what life throws your way. 

In This Episode

[03:19] Welcome to the show, Gordon!

[05:57] Gordon shares how his journey in the beauty industry started.

[08:50] Working in social and digital in the early days led him to work with American Salon Magazine.

[10:09] Gordon speaks about his career in the educational side of the beauty industry.

[11:42] Why did you become so passionate about social media?

[14:30] Gordon shared that every time he saw someone do social media right, he saw the results and just knew that social media would be huge.

[16:34] Marketing matters and it has always mattered; you can bootstrap yourself through social media.

[18:24] Why do you think social media is essential in this COVID world?

[20:52] Gordon says that social media is like an ongoing buffet of information.

[23:49] Gordon discusses what his team is working on at Hairbrained.

[26:06] He speaks about his primary role at Hairbrained and what the rest of his team does.

[29:41] Gordon feels like Hairbrained is the perfect company for what is happening now in the world.

[32:36] Gordon believes that once we are on the other side of this pandemic, the people who have done the work and stayed strong will flourish.

[37:15] When do you think events will come back?

[39:20] Gordon speaks about a movement in the K-pop world to reopen the entertainment business in South Korea and how that will affect us in the U.S.

[43:15] Gordon shares how people can stay connected and get their education through the pandemic.

[45:18] We might see a throwback to the old days where the star educators were local.

[47:49] What do you think hairdressers need to do in case they close the salons again?

[50:45] Were you financially prepared for a crisis? Are you mentally prepared in case shutdowns happen again?

[51:22] Download Sola’s 8 Tips for Beauty Professionals to Navigate COVID-19 and Overcome Financial Uncertainty. 

[54:05] Gordon speaks about Hairbrained’s digital education platform hblive.me with a free course from Michael Cole on how to up your game on Instagram.

[55:21] Who are your mentors?

[57:02] Thank you so much for being on the show!

Stay Connected

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Connect with Jennie 

@jenniethewolff

Connect with Gordon

@hairbrained_official @gordnm