Say NUTS to Recession Talk

by Greg Milner on Wednesday, June 11th, 2008 at 10:04 pm

Last Friday I had lunch with an old colleague from my years in television. With glistening eyes, he was remembering the ‘good old days’, and bemoaning how everything was better in this long-gone world. I have little patience with, nor understanding of, this fantasy-world attitude. He didn’t take it kindly when I none-too-gently rebuked him for his maudlin mumblings.

But the truth is, these ARE the good old days. We’re in them NOW. Despite the media’s insistence that the world economy is either already in, or rapidly descending into depression, there has never, in the history of the human race, been more opportunities to make money. Despite the doomsayers, our own Inner Circle members are proving, day after day, that making money is NOT rocket science, it’s no more and no less than doing what already works for other salons to bring customers in the door, and keep doing it over and over again.

This week, I spent hours on the phone, talking to salon & spa owners all over America. (And thanks to technology, I did it while sitting at my office computer, using Skype, for two cents a minute. Back in the ‘good old days’ it would have cost me a small fortune.)

(Free Resource for Inner Circle Members: to find out how to use Skype – and slash your phone bills to near-zero – we’ve put together a tutorial video in the Members Only ‘sealed section’.)

One minute I was chatting with a salon owner in San Francisco…(and looking at a street scene outside his salon as we spoke! You can do this yourself – go to Google Maps here and type in just about any street address – or zoom in – in any major American city, and it’ll give you a panoramic street scene, right there at the address you chose.)

Half an hour later I was talking with another salon owner, in Snellville, Georgia…then another, in St Louis. And all seemed spooked by the gloom talk, until I took them through some of the key ‘customer-attracting’ strategies we use, and they began to see the wood for the trees. (Two of these three, by the way, were admitted into the Inner Circle marketing & mentoring program)

And just to show you that this isn’t mere idle talk on my part, here are a couple of videos of Inner Circle members, talking about how their sales are booming – in an industry awash with salon & spa owners complaining about how ‘tough’ it is to make money….

This is Michael Curtis of Blush Spa, who joined the Inner Circle program in December last year…

And this is Kendal De’graaf of Shendals Signature Salon (hair):

And remember folks, some of the world’s great fortunes in the beauty industry had their beginnings in the dark days of the Great Depression – when ladies would go out of their way to spend their last pennies to cheer themselves up!

(Want a piece of the Inner Circle action? Want to be one of our hundreds of Member salons & spas around the world? Click here to apply for a 30-Day Test Drive)

A post by Greg Milner

The odd idea, a bit of prodding, a nudge here and there, a little fun, and the occasional dose of brutal reality. Greg is co-founder and CEO of Worldwide Salon Marketing, a writer, direct response marketing consultant, specialist marketing systems adviser and coach.