16: Pink October
A pinch and a punch for our first podcast episode of October! Today we're joined by Leisa Mitchell from Mitchell + Co Hair on Sydney's Northern Beaches. We chat about Leisa's experiences of owning salons vs being employed in one (and which version is more stressful). Leisa is super-passionate about her local community and the work of the National Breast Cancer Foundation. Leisa shares her lessons from being in business and offers valuable advice for aspiring businesswomen.
Number of fucks given in this episode: 9
Mentioned in this episode:
* Leisa's salon, Mitchell + Co
* Contribute to Leisa's Pink October fundraiser
* Killarney Heights Village Shops on Facebook
You can also listen on your favourite podcast apps, including Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Episode transcript
Christine: Welcome to the fuck around and find out podcast. We are your hosts, Rah, Emily and Christine. We're three women who have built and run our own businesses and are here to shoot the shit about women in business and running your own business. So here we are at the Bella Vista podcast studio. Thank you very much, Bella.
Thanks, Bella. Um, It's warm in Sydney at the moment. So, Em, what's summer mean to you? Oh, my question that I demanded we all answer. That is so true. Absolutely. She made preparations. I'd made no preparations today. I
Emily: was on my walk this morning. Everyone know that I walked this morning.
Rah: It's not a walk if you don't tell everyone about it.
Yeah, it's true.
Emily: Because I don't want to. It's true. Um, I, it's so warm today. Like it's 26. It's on the, my car said it was 26 as I was driving here and I was just walking around being like, summer smells different. Like it smells like summer and it's, to me it smells like freedom and I know that might sound a bit weird, but like, I, I don't know, I feel like this time last year was in, I just had the all horrible stuff happen with my job.
Oh, yes. Yes. And I was like, Oh yeah, I can't believe I was here in 12 months. Chris is getting PTSD. I am PTSD. I reckon the fact that I, the Ausmums popped up for us last year. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. That was this time. I remember you went to that. Yep. And that day I had a whole bunch of stuff happen and I was ready to like, walk off a cliff that day.
So I was sitting at the awards looking fabulous, feeling like I'd rather walk off a cliff. Um, and I had that pop up and I was like, Oh God.
Rah: Thank God it's not this time last year.
Emily: Yeah. And, but it's like, I'm going for a walk. Being out of walk and during the day when people are at work in the office, to me, I'm like, this is freedom.
This is a great perk. This is what it means to be free. To not be like, chained and trapped anywhere. Like, it's free. Yep. And it's very Aussie, you know, like I remember coming back from Europe and we came back early January and I'm from then middle of winter and we came home and we're in the car, like going back up to our room home.
And it's as soon as you smell that air, it's like, Oh my God, I missed Christmas. Yep. Like it's just, you know, summer it's beaches and barbecues and sitting in the water. And this time of year makes me really excited because I'm like, it's coming. It's going to be. Did you say flies?
Rah: Chris? I've said fly. My mog.
So my youngest cat, I mean, they're born two weeks apart, but yeah, my youngest, my youngest. Um, she caught her first fly of the season. She loves fly season. She catches them. She's My cats love it too. Yeah.
Christine: My cat, um, used to catch snakes. Oh. And present it in the backyard. Oh, delightful. For a
Emily: prize. Yep. It was really, really nice.
I brought in a bloody possum to my house when we lived in the villages. Oh. How rude. A possum bigger than him. Yes. Well, that was good. Probably an old possum. Or a fat thing. We had to like, herd this thing up onto the
Rah: bloody deck to be like, oh. Yeah. Sarah, Summer, you. Summer. For me, it's seeing the wisteria.
starting to bloom. Yes. As a purple girl. Oh yes. Um, but then especially as October starts to come around and the jacarandas are coming, that's usually sort of when they will start to come out because, um, the jacaranda festival in my hometown of Grafton, northern New South Wales, um, Which is probably where my love of purple probably started because I would eat purple ice cream every October and purple fairy floss and go To the purple festival and watch the Jacaranda Queen be crowned and in her purple cloak.
Yep. Yep. Excellent So it's seeing sort of I refer to them as like purple fireworks when you're sort of looking across Sydney and you start to see All the purple but then also the smell of the star jasmine, which I know sets lots of um allergy ridden people off. Um, so I'm seeing already people who are sharing photos and going sneezing.
Um, I don't have that problem cause I just love it. So when I'm walking down the street and I can just, sorry, hang on. I'm like bear in the big blue house
for the ASMR fans out there. Um, yeah. And it just feels like hope. I can't think of any other word. It's just, you know, the days are getting longer. Yep. You know, it's like, oh, there's so much more possibility now. It feels like,
Christine: I am a lover of daylights. Oh, I can't wait for one of those. God, I can't wait for one of those.
Yeah, I feel like if you get two days, I'm not a big fan of
Emily: having some extra light at the end of the day. It's such a
Rah: helpful thing. Uh huh. Uh huh. Makes me feel
Emily: like
Rah: I can do more.
Christine: Yeah. More with
Rah: my dad. Yeah. So Chris, did you already talk about it?
Christine: Uh, no, I didn't. Well I did, that was in the pre record, the Tess thing.
How cool do we sound? Oh, I know. Well, you know, as, uh, you know, I'm very happy to tell people I don't like summer, it's too hot for me and it smells like heat. Um, but I've got great memories. So I've got a fabulous childhood memory that is simply just, my mother had her own business. So she couriered flowers, she was the bringer of happiness all around Sydney with floral deliveries and um, she, whenever she had an Avalon or a Palm Beach run on a summer Friday, she'd ring through and it was a roundabout picking up the cookchop, someone had to throw the coleslaw together, the tin, the family sized tin of pineapple rings, the bamboo cutlery and the acrylic.
Plastic something or other, we would all jump into the big Ford station wagon, head up, do the delivery and end up at Clareville Beach, Northern Beaches, fabulous memories, fabulous memories. Nothing better than summer on the beaches. Yeah. No, no, no. Not at all. Not at all. So yeah, no, it is good. I'm, I am looking forward to it.
Um, yeah. Yes, although I can't remember the last time I went and had chicken and coleslaw for all class. The bachelor's handbag. Oh my god, yes, absolutely. Um, but we've got a guest today. We do. Hey, who is it? Oh my god. Someone who might relate to the story. Who knows? Who knows? Uh, so look, something that I prepared a little bit earlier.
Oh? So introducing Lisa Mitchell, the fantabulous owner of Mitchell Co Hair, a welcoming and family friendly salon located in the heart of Killarney Heights on Sydney's northern beaches. With an impressive 38 plus, we won't talk about age, years of experience, Lisa has been a trusted name in hairdressing, serving the forest area for over 50 years.
Three decades.
Rah: That's
Christine: twice you've mentioned numbers. We're not, not talking about age. For the past almost 14 years, Lisa has been an integral part of the Kalani Heights community, where her salon offers a, a full range of hair services for where women, men, and children under her leadership, Mitchell and Coha, has become synonymous with quality care.
And community spirit. Lisa is a committed supporter of the National Breast Cancer Foundation and 2024 marks her fifth Pink October campaign. And that if that is not awesome enough, Lisa is not only a co founder of the Kalani Heights Village Shops Working Group, but she's also my baby sister, by 17 months and my color therapist.
Lisa's dedication to her craft and her commitment to her clients makes her a standout guest for today's podcast. Welcome, Lisa. Yay! Thanks
Rah: for having me. Welcome, little sister. How weird was that, though, listening to your big sister? Say all those things. Yeah, I know. It's a bit weird. Yep. Yep. Welcome to our life.
And it's making me feel old. When we talk about people talking about us. Yes. I mean, she's not going to mention age. Yeah. Yeah. As all sisters do. Well,
Christine: no, that's right. Absolutely. Is it secretly 21, guys? Yeah. Obviously. Well, there is a time where we, we, we did have a particular age, um, that we would only own up to, um, but then all of a sudden a nephew is slightly older than your, your age that you're owning up to.
Isn't that right, Les? Yes. Yes. And you'll have to do a little bit of a revision. Of that. Maths
Rah: is hard though, so. You know. Maths is very hard. You
Christine: and stop counting. Yeah. Well, my 50th was my 39 plus 11th birthday. Yep. That's what my inviter got to
Emily: say. I went to a friend's birthday over the weekend and she called it her 30 plus 1.
Yeah. And this is how we do it. We just start adding on from there. My sister, when
Rah: she had, my sister had her 30th birthday party and her then 7 year old, I think it was. Yeah. Six or 7-year-old was running around at the party and was saying, mom's not turning 30, she's turning 2010. Oh, that's actually clever.
That's cool. I know. And we dunno where he got it
Christine: from.
Rah: That's awesome. I know. Yeah. My mom had a 2030 ninth
Emily: instead of a four year.
Rah: Yeah. I've seen people do that, especially for surprise parties 'cause they're not expecting it the year before. No. It's
Emily: true actually. No.
Rah: No. Don't do it. Play this part of the recording out loud for my husband.
Christine: Ooh. Hint. Hint.
Rah: Absolutely. I mean, we've got a bit of time,
Christine: so it's all good. So I know that I've introduced you to Lisa, so I've taken, I've kind of like taken care of that little bit, um, and pieces, but okay, so, I mean, I've got great memories. You know, you and starting out in hairdressing, um, and lots of, you know, electric blue hair and blue black stuff and destroying, destroying Barbie fashion face and Cindy and Barbies and all of that sort of stuff.
But, you know, hairdressing and owning. owning a salon. What made you decide that you wanted to own a hairdressing salon and get into the business side of things as well as the craft?
Leisa: So the first one, cause I've, this is my second salon. So my first one was an opportunity that came along that was one of those opportunities that you can't pass up.
You just take it. Yeah. So when I was originally offered to buy it, it was a price that. You know, was, was doable, but I had small children. We were juggling things and then. As time went on, the price came down. So I think I actually went home one Thursday night and handed Brad a drink and said, I think I bought the salon.
I
Rah: mean,
Leisa: it's how I got engaged. I think I'm engaged. So I had it for three years and it was a juggle and, you know, hairdressing is a business that, or an industry that, you know, appears to be really good for juggling family with because it's something you can do part time. But back in 2003, when I had my first salon, yeah, you could work part time, but there was no work life balance, no fitting it around.
So I bought it three weeks before my eldest started school. We didn't live close by and I had a three year old. Where was it? French's Forest. But we loved that salon because that's actually where I met Brad.
Emily: Oh, cute. So there
Leisa: was a lot of emotion that went with that. But, you know, we went along for three years and I built it back up.
And then somebody came along and asked me if I wanted to sell it.
Rah: Yeah.
Leisa: And I kind of looked around and thought, you can't have everything and maybe it was time to take a step back. So I sold, but I stayed working there, which was the worst thing.
Emily: I was going to ask that question because it's the relinquishing of power as well as, it was your baby for a little while.
Well,
Leisa: yes, it was, but. The person I sold it to was fine to work with. It was actually other staff members.
Emily: They got weird.
Leisa: They got weird. So, and then, and then overbooking me and, you know, so I was doing most of the work and stuff. Yeah. And then my dad wasn't, our dad wasn't well. So once again I went home one night, one Thursday night, and I said to Brad, I think I'm going to resign tomorrow.
Yeah. And he said, about fucking time. Yeah. I was more stressed as the employee than I ever was as the employer. Yeah. God, I feel like that
Emily: says a lot about a lot of things. Yeah. Yeah. So Being an employee
Leisa: sucks. So, I did some work from home. I did a bit of mobile. I was around for my kids. I was around For my mom.
It's great that it's such a transferable skill. Like
Emily: you
Leisa: can kind of,
Emily: it's flexible in itself. Yeah. In a way, like you're not locked into one thing.
Leisa: But then you kind of move forward. So it must have been four years. I did that and I wasn't missing the work 'cause I was doing it, but I was missing the camaraderie of workmates.
Yep, yep. Which I'm sure you guys can all understand. Absolutely. You hate it. One minute you're
Emily: dying
Rah: for it. The next you can't find a happy medium. I love, my kids don't want 'em to touch me. pretty, I feel like it's the same vibe, but yes, I'm the same with my cats. Just FYI just my, I am aware of the. What you guys go through with real children.
Leisa: Yeah. So back in the day, there was a newspaper called the Manly Daily. Oh yeah. I'm pretty sure it's digital now. Yeah. Yeah. And I think you got to pay. Yeah. Yeah. So I was, I was at home. The kids were at school. Thought maybe it's time to get a job, go back into a salon. So I opened up the Manly Daily. There were no jobs, but there was a salon for sale.
Ooh, meant to be. So I rang up and it just happened to be that the person I rang up was a lady named Lisa. Most hairdressers are slightly older than me and a few years younger, we're all named Lisa. Wow. All the Lisas of that generation became hairdressers.
Emily: Popular name at the time.
Leisa: So went and had a look at it.
Brad had no idea he came home that night. Was it the first day? Really don't know what day it was. They all blended into each other at the time. Yeah. Yeah. But he came home and I said, I found a salon to buy to which he went, we've done this, but I really want to do it again. So we did. Yeah. And how long ago was that?
It'll be 14 years in October. Oh, shit. This one's stuck. 14 years. It's
Christine: coming up to 14 years. And how many years has it been under your
Leisa: label? Uh, six. Six. So, I bought an existing business and both times they've been existing. Uh, so with that comes names. Now, the original name had make up in it. We didn't do make up.
I hated the name right from word go. And always. It's gone. But the person I bought off stayed working for me. She had a much better run than I did because I had learned by other people's mistakes. And I always felt a bit like I could do some changes, but I always felt like I was treading on her toes. Yes.
Yeah. So, you know, I kept the name, but I changed the logo. I changed the colors. That kind of thing. You don't want to
Emily: seem like you're telling them they've done a bad job, trying to put your own mark
Leisa: on it. But she had bought, she was the third. So I'm actually the fourth owner of this. Particular salon.
Emily: Yeah.
Leisa: So the first person gave it its name. Everybody else just plotted along. Interesting. But no one did makeup and it had makeup in its name. Yes. And then just flukingly, I'd been wanting to change the name for quite some time. And we started getting some phone calls because a salon in Avalon had changed its name to studio hair.
So we were studio hair and makeup. They changed their name to Studio Hair. So you couldn't even just cut the second half of it off? We used to, we just used to answer the phone as Studio Hair. And it was just my perfect opportunity to turn around to Brad and go, I want to do this. You think naming a child is hard?
You should try and name a business. Ah, yeah. Um, that's why I don't have a business name. Yeah. It's
Rah: too fucking hard. That's
Leisa: for Brad Gardner. Yeah. Work with me, work with me. Yeah, great. Hmm. But it is, it's a hard one, and you know, hairdressing salons are either named by the people or they're kitschy. Yep.
Curl up and die.
Rah: Yes.
Leisa: Like all the Thai restaurants, like Titanic. Oh my god, yeah. So, um, so it was, and I happen to love my surname.
Rah: Mmhmm.
Leisa: And I have a very large love of a particular jewellery store. So our name is a play on a jewellery store that's on 5th Avenue in New York. Oh, I know
Emily: why I didn't click that.
I didn't know that. Okay. Your colour is Tiffany Blue as well. Oh my God. Okay. Alright. The
Leisa: font. The font. Yep. Yep. Is as close as we could work out. Because Tiffany won't tell you what their font is. Oh God, no. Of
Christine: course not.
Leisa: But yeah, state
Emily: secrets.
Christine: Yeah, exactly. Yes. I'm sure there's a nap these days. It's going to
Emily: tell us what that is.
But they'll have it specifically designed and created by someone that you cannot replicate, or you can get as close to it. It's a bit like the Disney font, that kind of thing. It's not an actual font, it's someone's drawing. Yeah.
Leisa: Yeah. Yeah. So I did it, it's six years now, and I love it, except that people don't read it properly, uh, and think it's Michelle Co.
And everybody thinks I'm Michelle. Oh,
Christine: hi Michelle. Wow. There's a
Rah: distinct tea in there. There is a distinct tea. That's almost like the people in my Facebook groups who don't read. The words and then they type into the comments, what about X? I'm like, mate, it's in the fucking post, read it. I get that a lot with this my name as well.
I get people be like, oh, hi
Emily: Emma. I'm like, Emily. You're literally emailing me and it's in my email.
Rah: I get Raj, people think I'm an Indian chick. Hilarious. I'm like, no, I am too white. I can't even handle anything more than butter chicken. That's
Emily: also because it's right next to each other on the keyboard.
They're probably just mistyped.
Rah: Oh, and it's also autocorrect because it's happened to me all the time. Bloody autocorrect. I have a family who I refer to as my brown parents and my brown sister. And, um, I always tell them and they, and yeah, they crack up. No, I love it. Well. The sister refers like, she's like, Oh, I'm your brown sister.
So she christened me. I
Emily: have a friend who's, um, Iranian and she's, every time I'm out with her, she's like, God, you're so fucking white. Thank you.
Rah: You're reminding me. Yep. Super white. I am so super white.
Emily: Only
Rah: you can say that. You know that. So with the naming change, apart from people not correctly interpreting Mitchell, what was it like going through that change?
Exciting. Yeah, okay. Yeah. And was it lots of work? Apart from deciding the name, but in terms of changing systems over to the new name and the logo and that kind of stuff?
Leisa: Not really. Okay. Except that, except I will say, I didn't know enough about social media. So then I kind of set, I had two lots of social media running and trying to, you know, get Merged them and that so I think my social media part was the shittiest part of it Yeah, um, but no it was like once we could make sure we could have the name we wanted So there is no Mitchell and Co hair in Australia.
Cool. Yeah And the only one closest to it is somewhere in America. Perfect. And that was Mitchell and Co salon Yeah, and he can
Christine: stay over there. Thank you. Yeah,
Leisa: so and Are you I kept my I kept my I had a particular logo that I had changed when I took over studio hair. I had this beautiful logo made. I kept that.
I just changed my colors and the name. So the hardest part obviously is it's expensive.
Emily: Yeah. To change it with ASIC is a pain in the bum.
Leisa: Yeah. So that stuff is a pain in the bum for us anyway, because we're quite an interesting structure of everything with our businesses because we both have them. Oh,
Emily: if you've got them under a.
Yeah,
Leisa: so, um, so it was really, it was an. An easy thing we picked a date. We decided when the logo was going up the signage and it just, it was great. And I felt like it was mine. Yeah. Yeah. That's what I
Emily: thought was my thought when you said that many people had had the same name for so long. I'm like, Oh, one of the first things I'd want to do is actually like shed the skin that I was
Leisa: like, you've got to be careful with, with this kind of business because there is a lot attached to where do you go?
Who do you say? All of that kind of stuff. Um, so. And that was Brad's biggest thing was kind of how's it going to impact the business and things like that. Um, but it's just gone from strength to strength.
Emily: How does it work when you buy a business? Because does it, that doesn't, does it come with like the clients or, I mean, I'm guessing that the owner stayed.
So I would imagine. So I'm really knowing my own experience that I've seen with my friend Mel, but I know they would talk, they would, the, her previous business she had with a business partner that were talking about maybe selling it, but I was like, how do you like, so you sell,
Leisa: you sell the lease. Yeah.
You sell the chairs and whatever stock you've got, right. And then there is goodwill. Yeah. And that number for goodwill is only really. Worth what it's written on a piece of paper. Yeah. Because no one is tied to that. Let see, if someone said to me, sorry, can't, I'm like, I'm gonna go
Emily: with my hairdresser.
Leisa: But you have, there's, there's people that go to the salon because there's salon clients and it's up the road from them and they've always gone there.
It's convenient. Then you do have the people that will follow, and I have. A couple of clients and one is coming in tomorrow. I have two of my oldest clients and I have been doing their hair since 1993. Wow. Dedicated. Yeah. But it's that,
Christine: and that's leans into that whole multi generational. And I
Leisa: do actually, one of them, I used to do her grandmother.
I do her mother. I do her hair. And I do her two girls. Wow. They've
Emily: clearly never left their location of where they live either.
Leisa: They just follow
Emily: me.
Leisa: Yeah. So, but those people, it blurs to being a client friend now. Oh, yeah.
Emily: Yeah.
Leisa: We've been through everything together. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah.
Emily: Well, that's how I became good friends with my, with my mate Mel, my best friend.
She was my hairdresser first and my mum went there before I went there. And she was in just a salon up in New, um, Newport at the time. Yeah. Yeah. And mum's like, just come and try, there's a nice girl there called Mel, I think you'll like her. Yep. And you know, we're about 11 years down the track and she's one of my best mates.
Yep. And it stopped being so much about the hair, more about, you know, just for friends. And then our husbands are like a year apart in age and they get along really well and it's just the kids now that are basically the same age, it's just kind of clicked. Yeah. So it happens.
Christine: I know there was a period of time that I didn't come and see Lisa and that was just in a busy, you know, young kid, um, busy, it was just the, it was just the drive and, um, and everything.
But, um, you know, now, well, I can't even count how long it's been now because it's been, it feels like it's been forever. Um, but you know, last
Emily: saw her, which was a week ago.
Christine: Yeah.
Emily: What? Huh? You hurt your head on a week ago, didn't you? I know! It was an edge, so far away!
Christine: So long! Up your bum! I don't even remember
Rah: it.
Christine: Oh, do you see what I have to put up? I know. I just don't know how you do it. I can't wait for I would love to get
Rah: an ear on the group chat when they're going home. Oh my
Christine: god! I know. Those crazy bitches. It's alright. So, um, I suppose, you know, you've seen a lot in all this time, and a lot's gone on in the world, In the last X amount of years, what's been the biggest, the biggest challenge?
What was
Emily: like the grossest thing you've found in someone's hair?
Christine: Oh, sorry. I didn't think about asking that, but yeah, that'd be, yeah. Cause I read
Emily: this thing years ago and I feel like I'm paranoid about it ever since I was a kid and I read it. It was a guy that came in and that could be completely fake.
So I don't know. Some dude that went into a hair salon and needed to get his dreads taken out and they cut open, cut the dreads off and found a freaking nest of spiders in his hair. Cause he didn't know, cause there was just so thick dreads. I was like, Ooh, I'm going to, every time I see someone with dreads, I'm like, no, I'm just going to
Christine: scratch my head in here.
Suddenly my head is itchy. I
Leisa: actually haven't had any experiences like that. So I'm really can't say whether that would be true or not. Yeah. I
Emily: kind of hope not. I hope people have a bit more hygiene.
Christine: Well, but I mean, you don't wash
Emily: dreads. Well,
Christine: do you wash dreads? I get
Emily: wet. I don't,
Leisa: they get wet, but they don't, you don't actually get in and wash it.
You
Rah: can do some washing cause I get. Some of this on tick tock. Oh, yes.
Emily: I love tick tock.
Rah: Yeah. Lisa, I get a lot of my Intel from tick tock.
Emily: I learned my news from Instagram and the Simpsons. Yeah.
Rah: Yeah. Um, and yeah, so you can do some washing. It depends on if you do locks or plats. I forget what they call them when they're plats.
But there's like different terminology and they can do different things. But yeah. But you definitely wouldn't be able to get in there and have it, really. No.
Leisa: No, not at all. So I haven't had anything terrible like that come into the stations. No, no infestations in people's heads. Excellent. So I would say that the worst thing that I have experienced was the Greater Sydney lockdown of 2021 when we had to completely shut down.
Emily: Uh, yeah, especially for your trade, I wouldn't say fucking hard. How long, roughly how long were, did you have to be closed? It's been four months. Four months. That's such a
Rah: bitchy review video. And there was that period when it was, are you allowed to open, no you're not. You're open now. No, you're not. Just kidding.
Close back down again. Yeah, and my hairdresser turned that into her own content of like, her husband walking in the door and then she's going, Fuck off, Jeff! And so now every time I see Jeff, I'm like, Fuck off, Jeff!
Leisa: Look, we were bad, but we weren't as bad as, say, like, beauty. Beauty was shut down, I think, three times.
Christine: We
Leisa: chose in the very beginning to shut for a few weeks, just till we knew what was going on. Um, and then we kind of went through and worked. But yeah, actually shutting it down or putting it into hibernation. Yeah, that was pretty, yeah. Um, and you know, like I love my work, but there were so many people that coming to visit us, like the older ladies, and I have a lot of older clients still.
That was their one and only thing. And some of them still, that's their one and only thing that they
Emily: get out of the day.
Leisa: So, you know, I mean, I was stuck at home. It's only so much cleaning you can do. And yeah, I could walk the dog. Uh, and then I used to come in once a week and ring my old ladies. Yep. No, because they weren't on, they weren't on our socials.
They don't have email. Most of them not even, text messages and stuff. So you'd send stuff out, but yeah, I would, and they'd get all excited because they'd think I was ringing to say that we were opening. I don't know. Just checking in to see how you were going. But yeah, so. That was pretty hard, but you know, I could wander around my LGA because my LGA was rather large.
Yes, yes, certainly was. And I could, yeah, so, you know, nothing compared to what other people went through. Yes, my business was having a little rest, but yeah, we, um, we came out the other side.
Christine: Did a fabulous, um, competition, didn't you? Yeah. Um, to try and get people not to, um, To box color their
Leisa: hair. So we did, we had a bit of fun and it was basically whoever had the worst regrowth and booked something, had something booked in, they got it on us.
Amazing, genius idea. There was some pretty, I mean, there was one guy that actually then liked our socials so he could enter the competition. Because men's haircuts are so much more expensive.
Christine: Yeah.
Leisa: So, but that was good. And then when I, um, actually reopened, Chris came in and helped me for a couple of days.
I
Christine: did work from the salon and I've never been so happy to sleep a floor in my loft.
Rah: And answer the phone and wash. Did you get a complimentary hair wash or something out of that? No, no,
Christine: no. She's a very, very hard task. Oh, I can imagine. I was obsessed for a reason.
Rah: Everyone
Christine: loves the
Rah: good old hair wash. Yep.
Yes. No, no. No. Yeah. I always compliment my hairdresser on the great head job she gives me. I
Emily: love how
Rah: you just make everything instantly dirty. And then
Emily: she blows me afterwards. Oh wow. Might have to cut that out.
Christine: No, don't need to. Oh my heavens. Okay. So we've um, you're pretty much involved in the community.
Um, in Killarney Heights, so, and, and also the breast cancer thing. So I'd love to have a bit of a chat about those because it's very community minded. It's very forward thinking and it's becoming, it's so much more than just Mitchell Co here. So let's talk about, um, breast cancer. Let's talk about Pink
Leisa: October.
So Pink October started, I use, uh, Australian foil company called Foil Me and they're based in South Australia. So they had a fundraiser that you kind of hooked on with them. And I, so I did it with them for the first two years and I have no idea why they stopped. So they've stopped doing their cute pink October foil.
You can just get pink now. And I kind of wanted to continue it obviously with our family. So I just decided that I would continue to do it. So now I do, uh, Pink October. It's a pink ribbon breakfast. They call it, uh, but we actually run it for a whole month.
Rah: Yeah,
Leisa: so we run it for the month of October. Um, and I We have pink foil.
We decorate the salon. The salon is just like so pink. It's not funny.
Christine: Yeah,
Leisa: some
Christine: pink unicorn vomited all
Leisa: over that. Which is very hard because Charlie who works for me It does not like pink, but she's the one that gets there and she decorates it with me and and that. So, and it's just gotten bigger each year.
Um, so we do, we have a raffle, we do a guessing competition, which has always involves lollies. So well, there's no calories in guessing competition. Yeah. And, um, And then we just have a donation box. So, and I'm very lucky it is. a fairly affluent area. Yep. So I'm lucky in the fact that my clients are incredibly generous.
Uh, but then you have the people that breast cancer has touched them themselves. So just before our October last year, one of my beautiful clients was diagnosed. So, you know, it just a member of my husband's family has been diagnosed. Was diagnosed last year as well. So it kind of just brings it closer and closer.
And I'm really lucky that people are so generous that, you know, people just put cash into the box. And then last year was the first year I had the QR code. So. People could just hook on their phone and go straight into because no one carries cash anymore.
Christine: No,
Leisa: they don't. Unless they know they're coming into the salon and it's October and they know that box is going to be there.
So I am, I'm lucky and I'll continue to do it.
Rah: Yeah.
Leisa: Um, this year I have decided to Do it on our own. Yep.
Christine: So this year is, uh, the 10th pink October since our mother died. So Lisa, um, she made me cry in the salon last week when she reminded me of that. And so Lisa decided that she just wanted to do a standalone homage to, um, to Francis. Yes. And that's good. See, now I'm going to cry. And I almost thought about tissues this morning and I left them in the office.
I can offer you the hem of my dress. That's right. Yeah, that's all right. Just excuse me. Just smudge. No,
Emily: if you squeeze your buttcheeks really hard, you'll have a laugh or it'll stop you from
Leisa: crying. I know I can't do that because I did a Pilates class this morning. Bad advice.
Yes. Yes. Yes. So this year is, is, yeah, so it's, um, it's for mum, it's for Francis, so hopefully we might be able to. Raise even more than we have. So, but yeah, yeah, that's my pink October.
Christine: No, no, I think that's that. Well, I mean, you know, hey, I share the mother, you know, and share the, you know, the, the breast cancer history and, and, and stuff like that.
So I think it's absolutely fantastic. But there are so many, so many seriously good, um, things that you can do to raise money, whether it's, you know, it's, it's October is. For me, it's all about breast cancer and fundraising there. September has a whole heap around women's mental health and mental health in general.
Um, and, you know, November brings other, um, fundraising. That's White Ribbon, it's Domestic Violence Month and stuff. So I think it's really important as a business, even though it's got a personal, um, Connection for you. I think it's really important for a business to have that social awareness and have something.
It doesn't have to be every month you're doing X, but I think it's, you know, this is what you do. Your clients know that October is Pink October and you're not, you know, you don't ask them. They just do it because they know that that's what you do in this particular month.
Emily: Like it's not. Picking for the sake of having a song is weird.
No, it has meaning to you. Yes. And they, they can see that, they know that, and so it's their support of you that way. And it's the same thing, you know, with us, we pick things that mean something to us. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, absolutely. And it's not just because unfortunately we pick things that are all in the same bloody month.
But it's so we can, you know, it just has a better impact. But I think you
Leisa: do, you have to pick something that has some connection to you, because then you can really go, you know, You more authentic what you're saying and whereas, you know, yes, you could do this charity and that charity, but if it's got no connection Mm.
Yeah. I feel that you just don't, and I, you know, my clients, a lot of my clients have been my clients through her first getting sick and then at the end
Christine: Yep. Yeah. So they, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So, all right, well let's leave, uh, Mum and Pink October behind and, wipe up the tears. Just, you know, smudge that mascara that you're not wearing.
And, um, tell, tell us about, tell us about, um, the Killarney Heights Working Group. So I should say the Killarney Heights Village Shops Working Group that you're co founder of. I have co founded it. How did you decide to co found a working group? Because you obviously had so much time for it.
Leisa: Exactly.
Because if you want something done, you get the two busiest people to do something. So, um, she happens to be a friend of mine, but my girlfriend Bron who has a business at Killarney Heights.
Christine: Oh,
Leisa: hashtag. Hashtag. Hashtag my nails nails. Yes. Uh huh. Yeah. So she has come to move her business to into our beautiful little shops and just decided that there was things that needed to be done.
And we kind of were working with the council, but the council were trying to get the shops busy up, but only concentrating on the food. So they do a wine and dine or they did a. secondhand market recently, but we knew that there was other things that needed to be done. And so if you want to get things done, you just find the busiest people.
Yeah, it's true. So we have started this it's yeah, we've applied for a grant from the Northern beaches council to run some events. Amazing. We've asked people to help and it's quite amazing. The people are coming
Christine: to the party are helping, or is it a hard slog? It's a hard slog. Okay.
Leisa: Yeah. Yeah. So we've started up social media for the shops.
Uh, and that came about because I don't know if any of you are on community Facebook groups, the dramas and the expectations that you have to have, if you want to promote your business. I don't see why I have to put my ABN on. They asked for your ABN. They asked for our ABN.
Emily: What page is that for?
Killarney
Leisa: Heights
Emily: community. Because it's different for every group. Like I'm on Northern Beaches Mums, and they've got a very fucking expensive membership level to have. The Hills District mums have a different one as well. And then a lot of the community pages have just specifications around the dates.
Mine's uh, is the first
Leisa: and third Sunday of the month. Okay, so it started off with the specification of time. Wednesdays, it was supposed to be Wednesday night. I said, can I do Wednesday morning? Because I actually work in the cell on Wednesday night. So that was fine. And then it was probably, Six months ago, maybe a bit more was that if you wanted to advertise a business, we're only allowed to advertise once a week, but we have to have our ABN number now, as I said to you before, I'm a bit of a different set up, so you search my ABN.
You will not get Mitchell and Co until you scroll all the way down. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Emily: You're obviously registered business under a head of company.
Leisa: So as I say to people, I want you to know my business. But I don't want you to know. I want you to know of my business, but not my business. Yes. Yeah. So I flatly refuse.
To advertise on it. Now, people in good old Kalani Heights can advertise to get rid of their junk in their house a hundred times a week, but you can't put your damn business on. But me as a business, as part of the community, yeah, that's
Emily: stupid.
Leisa: I will put my pink October stuff and I just basically will wait for somebody.
And that's just a normal person who's the admin? Yep. Yeah. Who gives me all these, what I've gotta do and what I can't do, and I think it's wrong. Mm-Hmm. . So we decided that we would start up our social media so that we could advertise for our shops. Yep. Let people know what's going on. It's been such a hard thing to get people to actually do.
Oh yeah, yeah.
Emily: To build and manage those groups is just, it's important. Oh my gosh. And
Leisa: it is, so. Gra
Emily: knows that very well. The Hamilton group.
Leisa: Yeah, so we're getting, we're getting slowly getting there. Um, yes, it's, it's going to be a challenge. Can we make
Emily: up flyers and keep them in the salon?
Leisa: Oh yeah, we have.
Yeah. Yeah. So, but you know, it's just.
Emily: Palming them out to everyone. Yeah. Just accidentally sneeze and throw them in the air. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Let's see who grabs them. Yep. You're about as successful as doing that in other ways.
Leisa: So, you know, we're starting with our plan. We haven't got, we don't know if we've got the grant yet, but we're starting with our planning anyway. Like we had a meeting with parent representative from the high school about getting the kids busking. That's a great idea. So, but now we've found out from the council who owns what bits of, And so that's just becoming a minefield, but, um, but we're getting there and we've got a business that is changing into a wine bar.
So.
Christine: Ooh.
Leisa: Yes. I haven't
Christine: met a wine bar I don't like, so we might have to go and check it out. To be a venue for a little
Rah: meet up for people in the community. Well, that's what we're hoping. So. Well, yeah, absolutely. And I mean,
Christine: you know, this is the thing about, you know, local needs to support local. If you can't find what you need locally, then of course go out.
Yes. Hmm. of your area, but if you can find what you need in your local area, you
Rah: need to support them. Oh, gotcha. Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free? Something, something. Surely that's a relevant quote. I'm sure, somewhere. Yeah, sure. Somewhere. Good job, Rah. Great.
Christine: Sounded right. Thanks for your input there, Rah.
Yes. I'm here all week. Try the fish. But seriously. Woohoo moment. Is there something that we haven't covered? It was the rebranding. The rebranding.
Leisa: That was definitely my woohoo moment. Yeah. Yeah.
Rah: Amazing. That gives me hope that when I eventually think of a business name.
Christine: Yes. I'll be right. Yeah. Good luck.
I'm okay. So. Um, what would be a piece of advice that you would give another, um, woman who's looking to get into business? Whether it's, you know, a hairdresser looking to get a salon or, you know, but somebody in your, you know, your day to day, your world, what would you, what's the piece of advice that you would give them?
Leisa: Okay. You've got to have someone behind you. Yep. Yeah. Um. Yep. just for support, for mentoring. And I've been very, very lucky. I have this amazing husband.
Christine: Yeah. He's actually pretty amazing. I've met him a few times. He's pretty damn good.
Leisa: Yes. And you know, hairdressing is artistic and I talk a lot and I have these ideas and I need someone who occasionally just Pulls me back in.
Um, but he's got this very successful business and they're totally different. They're nothing alike, but he's been going in business for 30 years and he's built his up. And just to have that. somebody that you can talk to and mentor you and just guide you in things so that, you know, things are done and done properly so that you can get in there and do the artistic side of it.
And then just to have somebody that you can bounce ideas off. Yeah, it's true. Yeah. You know, I'm, I'm very, very fortunate in that. And then on the other side, you know, you either just do it yourself. Or you'd get some amazing staff. And I am, I am so lucky. She is amazing. I hit the jackpot when one of my clients came in one Saturday morning and asked me if I was looking for a junior.
And I went, actually, I am. I just hadn't got round to putting anything out. She said, my friend's daughter really wants to do hairdressing. And this shy little person came in one Saturday morning, hardly said boo. And I went, well, okay, come back Wednesday night and we'll have a trial. She's been working for me for seven years now.
And she is just the most amazing hairdresser. She's got my wicked sense of humor. She's Nothing phases her, she just rolls with it and Charlie is just, yeah, I'm so lucky to have Charlie. So, you know, I've got Brad on my back end getting me through things and advising me because quite frankly, I probably would have emptied the bank account by now.
Um, I come up with these grandiose ideas. Oh, I want to do this and I want to do that. Is Brad available for hire?
So, and then I've got Charlie. So, you know, I, I'm very fortunate enough to holiday a little bit. Um, And everybody asks me, what am I doing? You know, you're going on holidays, what's happening with the salon? Charlie's running it. Charlie runs the salon when I'm not there. Um, I joke, she and I go to Pilates together, and I joke that she's actually my boss.
Not the other way around. Um, but yeah, so I'm lucky.
Christine: Yeah, and if you go, and if you, and if you don't have a business, or your business model is not going to have staff, and you don't have someone there like you've got in Brad, a partner, somebody who can have your, your back, um, and help you there, then it's around about getting some kind of business coach.
Um, you know, it's connecting with people who can help you.
Leisa: And that's the thing, I think, and I'm very lucky in the fact that I can bounce stuff off him. Sometimes he shoots me down because I come up with some amazing grandiose plan. And he shoots me down. Oh look, look,
Christine: M's for that. We've got big sky blue sky fantasy lists on the wall and everything like that.
And there's a place for all of that. Yeah. But it's just sometimes it's a, yeah, great idea, but not now. Not right now. And, and you know. We've
Leisa: got to work out the logistics. If you don't, if you don't have someone like I have. Yeah. And you're working, or if you're working in the salon on your own. Mm hmm. Like Mel is.
Yes. Um, you know. You're putting so much effort into the time that you're in the salon, and then you've got to do all the other side, which, as everybody knows, owning your own business is not the ticket to it. It's not a walk in the park,
Christine: no. We're
Leisa: not out there just counting our hundred dollar notes. No, no.
There is so much that goes with it. It's a hundred dollar note. Yeah, apparently there is. We're doing something wrong. They're green. Oh. Um, but you, you do. You've got to have that person that can either help you with that. Yep.
Rah: Bye. Bye.
Leisa: Or, you know, I mean, I'm lucky. I, I, I love, you know, I live with him. He's there all the time.
And, and he doesn't charge her
Christine: an arm and a leg, you know? Yep. No. Yeah. All right, Lisa, I've got a box and it's got everything that you've lost. in your life up to this moment in time? Do you think that there's one thing that you would like to take out of that magic box?
Leisa: Do you know, I thought about this and my first thought was time with my children when they were younger.
Yep. And then I decided I didn't want that. Because I think for the fact I've always worked, I think it has made them quite resilient. Yeah.
Rah: Yeah.
Leisa: So then I kind of thought about it a bit more, and I've decided I don't want to take anything out of your box. How cool am I overwhelming it?
Rah: Damn it, she took my answer.
You can shove your box. What a sisterly way to go. I think your box is lovely.
Leisa: But I truly believe that what I've lost and my experiences that I have gone through have all been for a reason.
Christine: Yeah.
Leisa: And I think I am in the place Where I'm supposed to be and I think I'm going to leave it all back in that box of yours. Okay,
Christine: I'll just put the lid back on. Shove it away. I like that answer, Lisa.
Yeah,
Leisa: beautiful. Yeah,
Christine: no, it's really true. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Seriously, thank you. How can, um, how can, um, our listeners, um, Out in the Northern Beaches, the Killarney Heights forest area, who are looking for a salon or are in, um, yeah, how can they find
Leisa: you? So you can find us online at, on our socials at Mitchell and Co Hair, both at Mitchell and Co Hair.
Facebook and Instagram or online on our website at mitchellandcohair. com. au Fantastic. So we'll um, we will link all
Emily: of that. We'll also link through the breast cancer. Yeah, because,
Leisa: because we will, we will. When someone reminds me how to put my link on to a social. Yeah, that's okay. We'll hold your hand up.
We've got people here. I think we know what to do.
Emily: We'll get you that link and put it on the website. Yes. Perfect.
Rah: for coming. Thank you for having me. Thank you for coming
Christine: all the way from the Northern Beaches. Yeah. Well, you know, got to see how the rest of us are doing it out here. Yeah. Enjoy it at the Bella Vista
Rah: podcast studio.
There we go. Got the, got the mention in. That's right. Yeah. But thank you for being so open and yeah. Thanks. Yeah.
Leisa: Not always easy. Yeah. It was definitely out of my comfort zone, but it's been great. Thank you. Good. Thank you for being nice to me. Oh, well. This is a safe place to be outside your comfort
Christine: zone.
No, it really is. Yes. Like and subscribe. Oh yes.
