The Stylist Who Grows vs. the One Who Stays Stuck

What separates the stylists who grow from the ones who stay stuck?

I have thought about this for years. I’ve watched a lot of careers expand in this industry, and I’ve lived through many iterations of my own growth. In my opinion, it is not talent. It is not working the hardest. It is not even who you know.

It is the willingness to be seen before you feel ready.

The stylists who grow do uncomfortable things on purpose.

They post the video even when the lighting is not perfect. They introduce themselves at the show even when their hands are shaking. They raise their prices before they feel one hundred percent confident that their clients will stay.

They do not wait for permission. They do not wait until they have ten thousand followers. They do not wait until someone taps them on the shoulder and says you're ready now.

They go. And sometimes it works immediately. And sometimes it doesn't. And they go again.

The stylists who stay stuck are usually not less talented. They are usually more afraid. And the fear feels logical because there is always a reason to wait. You could always know more, have a better portfolio, have a more polished feed. There is always a version of ready that is one step further than where you are.

You will never feel fully ready. That is not a sign to wait. That is just how growth works.

Work with brands.

I get asked about brand partnerships constantly. How do you get them? How do you approach a brand? What do they actually want?

Here is what I know from being on both sides of it: brands want people who already show up as themselves. They are not looking for a perfect pitch. They are looking for someone whose audience trusts them, whose content is consistent, and who actually uses and believes in what they are talking about.

The biggest mistake I see stylists make when going after brand partnerships is waiting until they feel big enough. Follower count matters less than you think. What matters is engagement, consistency, and a clear point of view. A stylist with four thousand followers who shows up with energy and specificity is more interesting to a brand than someone with forty thousand followers posting forgettable content.

My advice: start using the brands you actually love and talk about them naturally. Tag them, show the work, share what you like and what you do differently. Get on their radar before you make the ask. And when you do make the ask, be direct. Tell them who you are, who your audience is, and exactly what you want to do together.

I have approached brand conversations at shows, in DMs, and via email. The ones that felt most natural were the ones where I had been showing up consistently for a while first. The relationship was already there. The ask was just formalizing it.

Become an educator.

Another question I get all the time: how do I get into education?

The short answer is: you start teaching before anyone asks you to.

You create content that teaches. You do a class at your salon for your team. You assist at a class and stay late asking questions. You build a reputation as someone who knows what they know and can communicate it clearly.

Education is not a title that gets handed to you. It is a thing you do, and then you do more of, until eventually people start paying you for it.

The stylists I see break into education fastest are not always the most technically skilled. They are the ones who can explain their thinking out loud, who can look at a client in the chair and narrate what they are seeing and why they are making the choices they are making. That skill is teachable. Practice it on your clients. Practice it on your Instagram. Practice it until it is automatic.

One thing I wish someone had told me earlier.

You do not have to be the best in the room to deserve a seat at the table. You just have to show up and do the work and make it easy for people to see why you are there.

Nobody handed me my education career. Nobody handed me my brand deals. Nobody handed me a stage at Premier Orlando. I went after those things. I was direct. I was consistent. I showed up as myself even when that felt like a risk.

The thing I kept thinking on stage was: two-years-ago Erin would not have believed this was possible. Not because the work wasn't there. But because she hadn't started yet.

Start. The rest will build from there.

If you're ready to get serious about where your career is going, I work with stylists and salon owners inside my 1:1 coaching container. We do real work on real goals. Discovery calls are open → [BOOKING LINK]