In this compelling podcast episode, Matthew and Jason Fuentes from IMAGE Studios in Sparks, NV, dive into the inspiring journey of a dedicated father who made a courageous career shift to prioritize his daughter. Discover how Jason transitioned from a demanding corporate role where he spent over a decade, to pursuing cosmetology and owning his own business. As a single parent, the decision was challenging, but his commitment to being present for his young daughter drove him to seek a career with more flexibility and personal fulfillment.
Jason shares the challenges of attending cosmetology school while juggling a full-time job and parenting responsibilities. He reflects on the sacrifices made, the support system that kept him going, and the ultimate reward of owning his time and being there for his daughter's important moments. The story highlights the importance of following one's passion and the transformative power of making bold life changes for the sake of family and personal happiness.
In addition, he offers valuable insights into building a successful independent salon suite business. From creating a unique client experience to mastering social media marketing, he provides practical advice for aspiring entrepreneurs in the beauty, health, and wellness industry. Learn how he overcame initial setbacks, rebuilt his clientele, and established a reputation for luxury service and personalized care. This episode is a testament to resilience, the power of community, and the pursuit of dreams despite the odds.
The VIP Suite is the official podcast of IMAGE Studios, created for independent beauty, health, and wellness professionals who want to grow their businesses and thrive in salon suite life. Hosted by Director of Education, Matthew Landis, each episode shares real success stories, marketing tips, and business strategies from top beauty entrepreneurs and wellness leaders.
This episode is sponsored by GlossGenius, the all-in-one salon software designed to help independent professionals book appointments, accept payments, manage schedules, and build strong beauty brands. Learn more at glossgenius.com.
Don’t forget to follow, rate, and review the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Connect with us on Instagram @imagestudios360 and visit imagestudios360.com for more information about IMAGE Studios luxury salon suites. New episodes drop every two week. Subscribe to hear how beauty and wellness professionals like you are building powerful, independent careers.
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Episode Transcript
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Matthew Landis (00:01):
Welcome to season three of the VIP Suite at
IMAGE Studios. The podcastexclusively designed for
independent beauty, health andwellness professionals brought
to you by IMAGE Studios, theluxury leader in the salon suite
industry. I'm your host industryexpert and certified business
coach Matthew Landis. In eachepisode, we will bring you
insightful interviews with soloentrepreneurs who have forged
(00:24):
their own path to success. Fromstories of triumph to practical
tips and strategies for growingyour client base and building
your brand. This is the place tothrive and take your Salon Suite
business to the next level.
Please welcome to the podcastJason Fuentes of Fade Life Fade
Shop at IMAGE Studios in SparksNevada. Good morning, Jason.
Jason Fuentes (00:45):
Good morning, Matt. How you doing?
Matthew Landis (00:47):
I'm good. Thank you so much for joining me here
on the podcast. You know ourowners there in Reno. They love
you. They can't stop talkingabout how great you are. That's
Tim and Lisa marks. So yeah,you're you're a superstar.
Jason Fuentes (01:01):
I appreciate that. Definitely honored to be
on the podcast. Pretty exciting.
So
Matthew Landis (01:05):
Thank you for being here. It's Fade Life Fade
Shop. So tell me how you cameabout with that name.
Jason Fuentes (01:10):
So honestly, ironically enough of down here
in Nevada and Reno specifically,they have the rules with the
State Board and the cosmetologyboard. So I actually graduated
with a cosmetology license andnot a barber license
technically. So if I were to becalling it a barber shop, and
you know, just because of that,they would be able to either
(01:30):
find you or try to basically saythat you don't have the license
for barbering, technically. So Igot creative with it and thought
of the way to get around it. AndI was like, You know what, I'm
gonna call it a paint shop. Sothat's kind of how that came to
be.
Matthew Landis (01:45):
That is so smart. It's interesting, because
we're now in over 20 to 23states, almost half the states
across the country. And eachstate has its own rules, and
sometimes Each city has its own.
So I love that you were able tofind a way around that. And you
know, it's interesting when Istarted back in the mid 90s,
barbering was going sort of outand they weren't offering
(02:06):
barbering licenses anymore. AndI was only I think, in the last
10/15 years, I got my license inUtah. I'm a hairdresser by
trade, that they reinstated thebarbering programs.
Jason Fuentes (02:18):
Yeah, it was really hard to be able to do
that. And that was the mainreason why I decided to go to
cosmetology school out here, me,I have a little girl at the
time, she's probably about fouror five, when I decided to go
through with this and make mywhole career change. But it was
impossible, it was either megoing to Sacramento to try to
(02:39):
get the barber license or inVegas. And unfortunately, me
having my little girl and beinga single parent, there was no
way that I was going to be ableto, you know, leave her and go
or try to uproot her somewhereelse for like, six, seven
months, or whatever is gonnatake a year. So I was just like,
You know what, I just need alicense to cut hair. So I just
dove in and went to cosmetologyschool.
Matthew Landis (03:00):
What career were you doing before?
Jason Fuentes (03:04):
So ironically enough, I've always cut hair as
well. So I started when I wasabout 16/17, in high school, but
I always did it as a side thing.
And then at the same timearound, when I was 17, I started
at UPS. So I became a supervisorthere and basically climb the
ranks. I stayed there for aboutsix years, and then just the
transportation management. And Ijust kept climbing that ladder,
(03:25):
several positions, a supervisor,manager, you know, the Walmart
distribution center, you know,being second in charge of
transportation there. So I ranthe facility here and in
Sacramento total about 12 yearsin that industry. In my last job
before I finally pulled the plugand said I was ready to go. I
was actually the plant managerfor Costco out here. So at the
(03:45):
end of the day, I was just like,You know what, I'm tired of the
corporate America, I don't wantto do this anymore. I was pretty
miserable. You know, money wasgreat, but I was miserable. And
that that was one thing that Istarted noticing I wasn't
spending enough time with mydaughter, you know, I sacrifice
a lot of years, you know, and atthe end of the day, I knew that
if I could hop into somethinglike this, I would have full
(04:06):
control of my schedule. I couldtake as much time as I needed.
And most importantly, just bethere for my daughter on on
times that you know, I couldn'tyou know, whether it was a
little show that she was doingat school or a concert or
whatever, it was hard for me todo that. So you know, being on
call all the time, it wasmiserable. I finally said I'm
done. And I followed throughwith it, having a full time job
and having to go to school atthe same time. It was rough, but
(04:28):
you know, I'm here now. So, youknow, it all worked out.
Matthew Landis (04:33):
That's so great.
And you know, it's so nice toown your own time. And to have
that kind of flexibility and tomake the kind of money that you
need and to support the otherpeople and the other things in
your life that we love. Yeah,yeah.
Jason Fuentes (04:49):
100%
Matthew Landis (04:50):
Tell me more about your business.
Jason Fuentes (04:54):
I think what really sets me apart is you
know, I do provide a differentlevel, in my opinion. service,
you know, it's more than justthe haircut to my clients, you
know, I definitely take my timeI follow through with all the
details, you do pay a little bitmore, and it is a little bit
longer of a cut, but it's wellworth it in the end, you know,
(05:14):
my clients all know what they'regetting at the end of it. And,
you know, the goal has alwaysgoing to have them be satisfied
when they walk out of that door,and I do a very good job at, you
know, keeping my clients happy.
So I think it's just, you know,the, obviously the luxury suite,
as part of it, the location isgreat. I mean, it's awesome. In
here, I don't know, as soon asI'm looking around, I don't
remember how many timeseverybody that walked through
(05:34):
the door, just even to the maindoor, you know, seeing that
image studios logo, like that'sright behind you. And then just
looking at the, you know, theambience of the room, they're
just blown away, and then youknow, walking in, so I have the
penthouse suite. So they just,you know, the solid glass and
all that. And, you know, it justreally gives off the, you know,
the notion that you are cominginto something different. It is
(05:55):
the luxury cut. And, you know,this is luxury, luxury service
overall,
Matthew Landis (06:01):
That's so great.
Now, what made you decide to goindependent, and what was that
like?
Jason Fuentes (06:06):
Originally, I was at three shops, and it kind of
felt like I was returning backto going to work again, I
understood, obviously, at thebeginning of it. Luckily, I did
do a pretty good job ofmarketing myself while I was in
school, and actually had signedup for a booking app while I was
doing that. So I did have myfoot in the door with at least
(06:27):
having some clientele coming in.
And but I did, I was very fullyaware that it was risky to go
straight from school, the sweet,if you're not fully established,
I definitely had to go down theroute of being at a shop. And,
you know, the first experiencewas pretty, pretty terrible. I
only only lasted there aboutthree months. And I was like, I
can't do this man, I'm sorry,but they need to go her own way.
(06:48):
So I tried another one afterthat. And I lasted about a year
there. It was, it was okay. Butagain, you know, just just
feeling like I was undersomebody's thumb, you know, it
just wasn't for me. So when assoon as I got myself established
is when I was like, You knowwhat, I think I need to make the
jump on, you know, just doing itall on my own. And if I can find
a good place to be at, then I'lldo it. And it all just kind of
(07:10):
worked out. So that's that'sbasically how I got into being
an independent and, you know,having the full control of
everything, whether it's themoney, the price, things that I
charge, you know, the hours thatI work, the days off that I
have, you know, if I don't wantto be here, I'm not here, if I
do want to be here, I'm here,you know, and it's all up to me
to run the business ownerpercent,
Matthew Landis (07:32):
You know, we probably have a lot of people
listening that are thinkingabout going independent, or
maybe they've just goneindependent, and they're in that
scary phase of like, Oh, whatdid I do? How can I do this? Can
you tell me a little bit aboutthat sort of the beginning, and
then how you really built yourbusiness to what it is now?
Jason Fuentes (07:50):
I guess if I had to say, you know, as a
recommendation, anybody outthere? I mean, number one, you
definitely don't want to makeany hasty decisions and just
jump in. And, you know, I getit, I understand that, you know,
if you feel it, and you just youjust want to go for it.
Obviously, yeah, that that ispart of it, though, as well. You
have to have confidence inyourself, you have to believe
(08:12):
that you're going to be able todo this and just not take, don't
take no for an answer and justgo for it. But definitely set
yourself up, you know, and ifthat means having a little bit
of a sacrifice of like sixmonths, or up to even a year
just to build that clientele upand then you can get out, then I
would definitely recommend doingthat. Obviously, it did have its
(08:35):
challenges, because you know,you depending on where you live,
and I know it's probablydifferent everywhere else. At
least I can speak for here. Itis a pretty small city for the
most part from like sparks toReno. It's 15 minutes. It's not
anything crazy. So even like ourfurthest towns like Carson City,
and Burnley and all that, that's45 minutes, everything's pretty
(08:56):
close. But believe it or not, Ifeel that we do end up being a
little spoiled here. Why? And Isay why? Because people think
about it. Well, if I have to gojust right down the street and
on it's five minutes away,versus Oh, no, I have to go to
downtown or 15 minutes outthere, they're gonna want to do
that. So and what I'm getting atis location, you know, does play
(09:16):
a factor sometimes into that.
You know, I was always kind oftold, Hey, Jason, as long as you
have your clientele base happyand all this, they usually
follow you wherever you go. Butat the end of the day, I do
believe firmly that convenienceis a big thing too. People want
to have the convenience so ifyou're making it convenient for
them, they'll definitely dothat. But I think in the end,
the biggest one that I hadespecially at the beginning, I
did lose quite a bit. It wasactually this last time that it
(09:39):
before I moved over here. I wasat a shop called numbers only
it's in downtown, great shop,luxury shop. It's beautiful. But
in the end, I again didn't seeeye to eye with what was going
on and I was like you know whatI need to get out of here. And
the biggest thing that happenedto me there, the price jump that
I had to be at with them was toosudden obviously going into of
the downtown. Now people, mycustomers deal with parking
(10:01):
stuff that they weren't used tobefore, you know, so I lost
about maybe 75% of my clientele.
So it was a big blow. And to saythat I started right back again,
that's exactly how it went. Soas soon as I heard about this
place, it was literally canbeing built from the ground up,
I got a little sweet that, youknow, the manager was really
(10:22):
nice enough to not have to putme on a lease, and she said, you
know, month to month, you let meknow, and your place is ready
and give me 30 days, and you'regood to go. So luckily, I think
God that I was able to find thatduring that time, you know, it
was hard, you know, trying torebuild all that stuff. And
those doubts do come into yourmind where you're like, man,
like, what did I do? And youknow, and then obviously, I was
(10:43):
beating myself up even evenmore, because I'm like, you
know, all this, all this time Iwas already established, or
you've been cutting for aboutfour years and or five years.
And I was like, What did I do Ieven start second guessing, you
know, Damn, I should have neverleft my job. You know, like, I
should have just stayed in thecorporate What was I thinking
and, and times got rough, youknow, they did get rough. But in
(11:06):
the end, I think what reallymattered was the belief in
myself and not knowing 100% thatI was going to stick it through.
And that's the biggest thingright there. You can't give up
you have to basically have thatmentality of like, whatever it
takes, it's bad now, but what amI doing, that I need to fix or
maybe do an extra thing here totry to get more people in the
(11:29):
door or whatever, but not givingup? You know, no matter what
happens, the biggest thing isjust sticking to it, sticking to
it, believing in yourself. Andyou know, doing whatever you
have to do to get through it.
Matthew Landis (11:40):
What were some of the things, the practical
things, that you did? What doyou what do you think really
contributed to your success inrebuilding that clientele?
Jason Fuentes (11:49):
I had at least the skin in the game, if you
want to say at least I know Ihad that. So I was well known.
And I think it just had to bemoving into this new location
and really just, you know,marketing 100% Normally, the way
that I've always worked aboutgetting booked, it was through
books, see that book. See, it'sbeen phenomenal for me. And you
(12:10):
know, that has obviously justlike anything has its pros and
cons, one of the biggest consand I feel like I had just that
you if you're not with them, ifyou if you don't use their app,
and say you delete it orwhatever, there goes your whole
clientele base, it goeseverything. And I you know,
that's the only thing that doesis that if you're not with them,
then you're pretty much screwed.
Other than that, though, I dohave to attribute about 80% of
(12:33):
my clientele base came from thatthey do a really good job of
marketing you out there. Butobviously, like I said, I had to
kick it up a little bit, becauseI had just lost a lot of people.
So how to discover ways on howto do it. And number one, you
know, very powerful tool,Instagram, tick tock, you know,
those things is such powerfultools. Nobody really realizes
it. And I know it took me awhile and for the longest time
(12:55):
I've never really been a bigsocial media buff. And I was
like, Oh my God, dude, am I likeantisocial, because I don't like
to have social media so much.
And it was kind of like a reallyhard transition to get myself to
think like, well do this is sonecessary for your business. And
you know, whether you like Likeit or not, at least for your
(13:16):
business, you're gonna have to,you know, really get into this
and figure out how the algorithmworks. All this, the whole
thing. So I would say themarketing that between
Instagram, but see and all thatI did fire up Yelp for a little
bit, as well as all thosethings. I mean, it basically to
say it this way I looked for anyway in every way possible to
just get my name out theretrying to you know, let people
(13:38):
see the ads, the picture, theInstagram, all that. And that's,
that's what I can attribute justbeing able to build my business
Matthew Landis (13:45):
You know, I've seen a lot of our pros use all
back.
of these. I've seen some buildtheir business on Yelp. I've
seen some of it on Google, evenFacebook, we know that most of
our pros are on Instagram. So Ihave a few questions for you
about that. Because I thinkpeople really want to know and
your Instagram is fantastic.
What what is your Instagramhandle for our listeners so that
they can find you?
Jason Fuentes (14:05):
so it'll be @_jscissorhands__fadelife
Matthew Landis (14:11):
And they can also look up your name Jason
Fuentes, right?
Jason Fuentes (14:13):
Right. Yeah, yeah. And it'll come up or you
can even look up FadelifeFadeshop.
Matthew Landis (14:18):
I've seen your Instagram. I hope everyone
listening checks that out. It'sreally good. So how did you get
to that point? I think for a lotof people, they do feel
overwhelmed. So I'm alwaysreally curious how you improve
your Instagram game to what itis now?
Jason Fuentes (14:32):
The biggest thing was basically like the posting
part of it and I still kind ofstruggled to it to this day
where it's like, making thattime but the only way that I had
to get myself there is settingdays aside, you know, whether
it's a day off that you have Iknow it's staff to work on your
day off. But you know, that'sthat goes with the part of being
(14:53):
a business owner. I think I workharder now than I did before.
You know, I work more hours nowthan I did. Before when I was in
the corporate world, but theenjoyment of knowing that it's,
it's, for me, it's online makesa whole difference coming down
to a schedule, whether it's aday off like say, every Tuesday,
that's the day that you're gonnago through and make videos,
obviously, you don't want topost everything every day or
(15:14):
like all of it in one day, butmaybe scheduling posts
throughout the week, whetherit's, you know, say, starting
out with like, maybe two posts aweek, at least, you know, and
then kind of going up fromthere. That was my strategy, I
did go and watch a ton ofYouTube videos. And that,
ironically enough, was kind ofhard, because obviously,
everybody has their methodthat's mine works. And this one
(15:36):
doesn't. And you know, you just,it's kind of like a never ending
cycle of just like, well trythis or try that, I think where
I started to kind of really seeimprovement is where I shied
away from trying to, more orless, take people's advice and
just learn how to actually makethe videos. So it was like, hey,
like, this is the app that I usethe Zillow kind of transitions
(15:57):
that you want to do, how to getthe, you know, the attention of
people like the call to action,all that kind of stuff. So if I
had to say one thing for sure,and that's kind of where my,
where my Instagram is successfulis just showcasing the work,
learning how to do the videos,and getting on a normal posting
cycles. So that would be my wayof saying it. And obviously, I
(16:17):
can do a lot more improving.
I've seen other people that Iadmire so much more, because I'm
like, dude, like you guys arekilling it. I don't, you know, I
gotta get up to that level, youknow, but I think just doing it,
you just have to try. And I knowa lot of people, especially as
barbers, I hear this all thetime, especially with people
that are coming up. Well, I'mnot that good, right. And it's
like, I don't want to post mystuff yet until I get there. And
(16:39):
it's like, No man, like, even ifyou're not good or not. Or if
you are not, it doesn't matter,you need to get yourself out
there, you'll figure that outwith either the pricing or
whatever you have to do, but youhave to showcase your work. If
you're not doing that, it'sgoing to be really rough,
whether it's word of mouth toyou know, that works a lot too.
But obviously, we live in this,you know, era where social media
(17:01):
is king, and it's almost betterthan word of mouth, you know
what I mean? So, you know, ifyou can showcase that word, get
on a schedule, learn as much asyou can, to see what the new
trends are, whatever you have todo with those videos, that would
be the best bet on how I gotmyself there as well.
Matthew Landis (17:17):
That's great advice. There's so much to
unpack there. I think one of thethings to your point people are
afraid to post, you know, Ithink that we are afraid of
being vulnerable. We don't wantto look stupid, we're afraid
that it's going to be cringy.
But the only way to get betterat something is to do it. So you
kind of have to just close youreyes and put it out there. And
also what I tell people is, mostpeople are only interacting with
(17:37):
your material for one or twoseconds. So they're really
picking it apart. They're justscrolling through and you know,
maybe something stands outthere.
Jason Fuentes (17:48):
Exactly.
Matthew Landis (17:49):
And I think the most important thing about what
I heard you saying is whateveryour strategy is, the most
important thing is to have astrategy, right. And I you know,
this is one thing, I'm abusiness coach as well. And one
thing I really tried to coachpeople on, you really have to
plan you really have to put itout there you and be less
reactive, be be proactive, andhave a plan. Because if you're
(18:11):
reacting all the time, it'sgoing to feel like you're never
going to catch up. You're justalways going to be running
behind. I had one question whenit comes to Instagram, did you
pay for it? Have you done paidads on any of these apps?
Jason Fuentes (18:24):
So I have done it a few times. Honestly, I didn't
really see too much of a crazy,like a whole bunch of people
came looking after I did it.
Obviously I think it was morethe way that I tried to look at
it because at first, I was alittle discouraged. And I was
like oh man, like, let's justsay 500 People saw my video, but
nobody looked like what theheck, right. And at that point,
(18:44):
I did get discouraged. But Ithink the important thing that I
realized at that point was like500 people saw your video,
whether they booked now, itdidn't matter if 500 people saw
it. So kind of having thatmentality and it didn't work.
But I also think that if you areunder budget, if you can't
afford it, your business day,you're starting out and you're
struggling a little bit with it.
(19:07):
I think you need to stick to thefree stuff. First, try to get
the most that you can out ofthat. If you do have the money
to spend, I don't think it's abad idea. But I definitely don't
think that people should getthose high hopes of like, oh,
you know, I'm gonna get a wholebunch of beer because it's more
than that. You know, it's likethe consistency of posting
videos is probably moreimportant than you paying for an
(19:29):
ad for one video that you onlytell us once a month. That's
Matthew Landis (19:32):
Great advice. I think one of the things there
you said is consistency. And onething I try to remind people
with marketing is most peoplebecause you know I started in
the mid 90s Before you know theinternet. Nobody even really
knew what that was yet. We werestill that was all word of mouth
and when it comes to marketing,most people don't see an ad they
(19:52):
don't see something andimmediately react when it comes
to brand awareness and you'rebuilding your brand. It's
consistency and rep attritionwhen our pros and this is
something we, we've talked aboutwith our owners, sometimes
people need to see your brand,they need to see it over and
over and over and over again.
Until they go, You know what,I've seen this guy on Instagram
for two years. Ya know, a lot ofpros are like, I can't wait two
(20:17):
years, whatever the time frameis, but you know, eventually
it's going to when they'reready, they're going to they're
going to book that appointment.
Yeah, but you may not seeimmediate results. Yeah.
Jason Fuentes (20:29):
And that's the thing. I think just getting over
that, because like I said, it'seasy to fall into that trap of
like, Well, that didn't work.
And it was a waste of money.
And, you know, being upset overthat. But it's like, you know,
in the end, don't think thatway, try to see it as you know,
whatever exposures exposure andtake it for what it is, you
know, and like you said, whetherit's that day, two weeks from
(20:49):
there, or a month from there, ora year from there, it's still
work.
Matthew Landis (20:54):
What would you say, is your superpower.
Jason Fuentes (20:57):
I guess one of the best things in what I
usually hear at least evenreviews, or just people being
honest with me, while I'm hereis just being able to interact
with people in a way that makesit more personable. So I think
the biggest thing my clientsreally enjoy, obviously, they're
getting a good time. But I thinkit's the relationships that I
(21:18):
build with them, that's moreimportant than that, if I would
have to say that's probably youknow, is being able to give my
clients a really good time,while they're here. It's an
experience. It's not just there,I saw this crazy post the other
day on Instagram, and it reallystuck with me, because I fully
agree with it. But it saidsomething along the lines, it
was actually a real video, butthe client was sitting on the
(21:40):
chair and the barbers going.
He's like, what's, what's one ofthose, you know, quotes that you
would say, you know, like a kindof like a quote, at the
beginning of the day, I had asuccessful quote or something
like that. And he said somethingalong the lines, and I might,
you know, chop this up andmurder, but I'm gonna try to
remember exactly what it was,but it's something along the
lines of your client will becomea friend, before your friend
(22:01):
becomes a client. And that stuckwith me deep because I have a
lot of friends that didn'tsupport my business that didn't,
you know, come over. But it wasso easy to see a client, you
know, become a friend, where itwas like, you know, it's crazy,
right? That's something thatreally stuck out with me. And
going along the lines of that,that was really powerful. I
(22:21):
really liked that.
Matthew Landis (22:24):
And it's so true.
Jason Fuentes (22:26):
Sadly, it is.
Matthew Landis (22:29):
Who or what inspires you?
Jason Fuentes (22:32):
I would have to say, you know, and I know it's
gonna sound a little cheesy, butright now, who really inspires
me is kind of like Tim and Lisa(Mulks). I think the biggest
parts of my actual dream is toactually own one of these one
day. That's my dream, you know,I used to dream about opening a
shop and being a barber, youknow, owner or whatever. But
(22:53):
I've came to realize how awesomethis environment is. And it's,
it's still necessarily be abrand or a shop and still be
that but you give full anatomyor autonomy to your renters, you
know, so it's more of like, Hey,I'm not your boss, I'm just your
landlord. That is one of thosethings that I look up to them
for that. Because like I said,it's a dream for me, but in
(23:14):
general entrepreneurs, peoplethat have become very successful
in owning multiple businesses,those people are my heroes, I
definitely fantasize that dreamof being that person one day, I
know I'm gonna get it. I wish Icould get it off faster, because
I'm an impatient person. But youknow, I know that Patience is
the virtue and at the end of theday, I'll get there one day,
(23:35):
that's what I would have to say,this is like my heroes.
Matthew Landis (23:38):
I love hearing that. And, you know, I'll give a
shout out to Tim and Lisa Mulks.
They're in Reno and Sparks. Theyjust won IMAGE Studios Owners of
the Year. I don't know if theythey told you that or past that.
But they're incredible. And it'sabsolutely well deserved.
They're just such great people.
Jason Fuentes (23:56):
Yeah, I agree.
100% Ever since the day I metthem, you know, it just clicked
and I respect them both asbusiness owners as people. And
like you said, they're amazingpeople, they definitely deserve
that award.
Matthew Landis (24:09):
I asked this question of all my guests,
because I feel like we love ourbusinesses. We love what we do.
We love our clients, but we alsohave rough days. Yeah. And for
most of us, we have days wherewe just want to pack it all in
and say okay, quit. How do youovercome those days?
Jason Fuentes (24:28):
I think the way that I do it is more or less. In
the moment, obviously, you'regonna be feeling the way that
you do and you might even, youknow, pack a little, maybe pack
a little bag and start walkingout and start thinking to
yourself that I'm gonna startrethinking this and maybe it's
time for a change or whatever.
That's, that's okay. You know, Ifeel like that and that's the
biggest part of it is being okaywith thinking that because we
(24:51):
all have doubts, we're all gonnago through those moments. So I
think that that's okay, butobviously recognizing that it's
just for the moment at It's notforever, it's not something
that's gonna last. It's just forthe moment. And if you can think
of it that way, I know once youcool down in here more than a
sane mind, it's not going to beworth it. You know, I think the
thing that really pulls me backto think, is where I came from
(25:13):
all the hard work I put in, andI refuse to let it go after
giving up a full career that Iwas good at good at all these
lessons, whether they were goodor bad, I'm not going to let it
go. Because of that, you know, Iclawed my way up here, and I'm
definitely not going to justthrow it away, because I had one
bad day or one bad pine or one,you know, it's just not worth it
(25:34):
in the end for what I put intoit. It's not worth what, you
know, it's something you did. SoI think overcoming that would be
that, you know, trying to thinkof it in the sense of, hey, you
worked your ass off to get here,you're not just gonna throw it
away just like that. It's justright now, it's not going to be
forever.
Matthew Landis (25:51):
That's great perspective. Because we do we
put we invest. And this is whatI tell our owners, this is what
I tell people outside theindustry that maybe they don't
understand about people in thebeauty, health and wellness
industry is how much blood sweatand tears that we put into this,
how many years that we haveworked to hone our craft and
build our clienteles and theamount of money that we've
(26:14):
invested. I mean, it is anexpensive career to be in. And
so all of that adds up. And Ithink you're right, even on our
worst days, it's still betterthan almost anything else.
Right? I know that tomorrowit's gonna be better and it's
gonna be great. I wouldn't wantto do anything else.
Jason Fuentes (26:36):
Yeah, or even thinking of it is offensive. You
kind of want to scare yourself alittle bit. It's like, well,
what's the other option? Goingback to what I was doing before?
Like, yeah, no.
Matthew Landis (26:47):
I agree. All right. So a couple other
questions, what other parts ofyour life bring you joy and
happiness?
Jason Fuentes (26:54):
Honestly, my daughter means the world to me.
She's everything to me. She'sbeen able to meet Tim and Lisa.
Especially Lisa loves her. Sojust kind of seeing that because
I always given her ironicallyenough and a little sidetrack,
but like, even with my lovelife, you know, I was trying to
tell people a day, that's myheart right there. So if you can
get to her, you got me, man. Soit's like at the end of the day,
(27:18):
that means the world to me rightthere. So that that is probably
the main thing that brings joyoutside of my work. And
normally, I mean, I'm a bighomebody person. So I love being
at home. I've invested a lot ofmoney into my home theater. So
I'm a movie fanatics are one ofthose things that I just, you
know, bring joy to me is one ofthose things, too. And, you
know, traveling, stuff likethat.
Matthew Landis (27:40):
I'm a homebody as well, you know, one of the
things about this business thatsomeone said to me years ago, is
we throw a party every day.
Yeah, the last thing we want todo when we get home is go to
another party.
Jason Fuentes (27:54):
I never really thought of it that way too.
Because it's like all the peopleyou interact with. Sometimes you
just need to unplug and getaway. You know what I mean?
Because you see, however manyclients each day yeah, that I
never really thought of it thatway. That's cool.
Matthew Landis (28:08):
We're playing host every single day. So you
know, when we go home, we justwe want to be in our home
theater. We want to have thebest experience we can with our
loved ones in our plays. Yeah, Iagree. 100%. All right. One last
question. What are you lookingforward to?
Jason Fuentes (28:23):
Kind of like I was saying just a little bit
ago, I look forward to reallysee myself become that person. I
want to I definitely want to ownmy own place like this. And I
think that that's what I lookforward to the most. And just
seeing the benefits that comefrom that, you know, whether
there's obviously everything isnot money, but money is kind of
everything right? You know, itsucks. But I think at the end of
(28:45):
the day, if if I can get to aplace where I'm a little bit
more financially free, I lookforward to being able to travel
the world see things that I'venever seen before. You know, I
said all the time, the luxury ofmy career, so I can take it with
me anywhere. I definitely lookforward to those things, those
benefits that I you know, thatI'm getting because of the hard
work I put in?
Matthew Landis (29:04):
Well, Jason, it looks like all the hard work
that you put in is really payingoff. You look like you're in a
great place. You look happy. AndI'm really happy for you. It
looks like you've createdsomething really great there.
And I just want to thank you somuch for joining me on the
podcast today.
Jason Fuentes (29:21):
Yeah, thanks for inviting me over man. I
appreciate it.
Matthew Landis (29:23):
Thank you so much for joining me on this
episode of The VIP Suite. I'mMatthew Landis and I hope you
found the insights andinspiration shared today truly
valuable for your journey as aSalon Suite entrepreneur and
independent beauty, health orwellness professional. Don't
forget to follow us on Instagram@imagestudios360. And if you
enjoyed this episode, don'tforget to subscribe to the VIP
(29:44):
Suite on your favorite podcastplatform so you never miss an
opportunity to connect with ourvibrant community and to
discover more incredible storiesand strategies. We love hearing
from our listeners. If you haveany questions, topic suggestions
or want to share your ownsuccess story, feel free to
reach out To me atmatthew@imagestudios360.com.
Remember listener, you are theheartbeat of the beauty, health
(30:05):
and wellness industry. Yourdedication and passion make the
world a better place, one clientat a time. We'll be back with
more engaging and inspiringconversations in our next
episode. Until then, take care,stay inspired, and continue to
create your own VIP Suite. Formore information about becoming
a part of the image studiosluxury Salon Suite community,
visit our website atimagestudios360.com.
Welcome to season three of the VIP Suite at
IMAGE Studios. The podcastexclusively designed for
independent beauty, health andwellness professionals brought
to you by IMAGE Studios, theluxury leader in the salon suite
industry. I'm your host industryexpert and certified business
coach Matthew Landis. In eachepisode, we will bring you
insightful interviews with soloentrepreneurs who have forged
(00:24):
their own path to success. Fromstories of triumph to practical
tips and strategies for growingyour client base and building
your brand. This is the place tothrive and take your Salon Suite
business to the next level.
Please welcome to the podcastJason Fuentes of Fade Life Fade
Shop at IMAGE Studios in SparksNevada. Good morning, Jason.
Jason Fuentes (00:45):
Good morning, Matt. How you doing?
Matthew Landis (00:47):
I'm good. Thank you so much for joining me here
on the podcast. You know ourowners there in Reno. They love
you. They can't stop talkingabout how great you are. That's
Tim and Lisa marks. So yeah,you're you're a superstar.
Jason Fuentes (01:01):
I appreciate that. Definitely honored to be
on the podcast. Pretty exciting.
So
Matthew Landis (01:05):
Thank you for being here. It's Fade Life Fade
Shop. So tell me how you cameabout with that name.
Jason Fuentes (01:10):
So honestly, ironically enough of down here
in Nevada and Reno specifically,they have the rules with the
State Board and the cosmetologyboard. So I actually graduated
with a cosmetology license andnot a barber license
technically. So if I were to becalling it a barber shop, and
you know, just because of that,they would be able to either
(01:30):
find you or try to basically saythat you don't have the license
for barbering, technically. So Igot creative with it and thought
of the way to get around it. AndI was like, You know what, I'm
gonna call it a paint shop. Sothat's kind of how that came to
be.
Matthew Landis (01:45):
That is so smart. It's interesting, because
we're now in over 20 to 23states, almost half the states
across the country. And eachstate has its own rules, and
sometimes Each city has its own.
So I love that you were able tofind a way around that. And you
know, it's interesting when Istarted back in the mid 90s,
barbering was going sort of outand they weren't offering
(02:06):
barbering licenses anymore. AndI was only I think, in the last
10/15 years, I got my license inUtah. I'm a hairdresser by
trade, that they reinstated thebarbering programs.
Jason Fuentes (02:18):
Yeah, it was really hard to be able to do
that. And that was the mainreason why I decided to go to
cosmetology school out here, me,I have a little girl at the
time, she's probably about fouror five, when I decided to go
through with this and make mywhole career change. But it was
impossible, it was either megoing to Sacramento to try to
(02:39):
get the barber license or inVegas. And unfortunately, me
having my little girl and beinga single parent, there was no
way that I was going to be ableto, you know, leave her and go
or try to uproot her somewhereelse for like, six, seven
months, or whatever is gonnatake a year. So I was just like,
You know what, I just need alicense to cut hair. So I just
dove in and went to cosmetologyschool.
Matthew Landis (03:00):
What career were you doing before?
Jason Fuentes (03:04):
So ironically enough, I've always cut hair as
well. So I started when I wasabout 16/17, in high school, but
I always did it as a side thing.
And then at the same timearound, when I was 17, I started
at UPS. So I became a supervisorthere and basically climb the
ranks. I stayed there for aboutsix years, and then just the
transportation management. And Ijust kept climbing that ladder,
(03:25):
several positions, a supervisor,manager, you know, the Walmart
distribution center, you know,being second in charge of
transportation there. So I ranthe facility here and in
Sacramento total about 12 yearsin that industry. In my last job
before I finally pulled the plugand said I was ready to go. I
was actually the plant managerfor Costco out here. So at the
(03:45):
end of the day, I was just like,You know what, I'm tired of the
corporate America, I don't wantto do this anymore. I was pretty
miserable. You know, money wasgreat, but I was miserable. And
that that was one thing that Istarted noticing I wasn't
spending enough time with mydaughter, you know, I sacrifice
a lot of years, you know, and atthe end of the day, I knew that
if I could hop into somethinglike this, I would have full
(04:06):
control of my schedule. I couldtake as much time as I needed.
And most importantly, just bethere for my daughter on on
times that you know, I couldn'tyou know, whether it was a
little show that she was doingat school or a concert or
whatever, it was hard for me todo that. So you know, being on
call all the time, it wasmiserable. I finally said I'm
done. And I followed throughwith it, having a full time job
and having to go to school atthe same time. It was rough, but
(04:28):
you know, I'm here now. So, youknow, it all worked out.
Matthew Landis (04:33):
That's so great.
And you know, it's so nice toown your own time. And to have
that kind of flexibility and tomake the kind of money that you
need and to support the otherpeople and the other things in
your life that we love. Yeah,yeah.
Jason Fuentes (04:49):
100%
Matthew Landis (04:50):
Tell me more about your business.
Jason Fuentes (04:54):
I think what really sets me apart is you
know, I do provide a differentlevel, in my opinion. service,
you know, it's more than justthe haircut to my clients, you
know, I definitely take my timeI follow through with all the
details, you do pay a little bitmore, and it is a little bit
longer of a cut, but it's wellworth it in the end, you know,
(05:14):
my clients all know what they'regetting at the end of it. And,
you know, the goal has alwaysgoing to have them be satisfied
when they walk out of that door,and I do a very good job at, you
know, keeping my clients happy.
So I think it's just, you know,the, obviously the luxury suite,
as part of it, the location isgreat. I mean, it's awesome. In
here, I don't know, as soon asI'm looking around, I don't
remember how many timeseverybody that walked through
(05:34):
the door, just even to the maindoor, you know, seeing that
image studios logo, like that'sright behind you. And then just
looking at the, you know, theambience of the room, they're
just blown away, and then youknow, walking in, so I have the
penthouse suite. So they just,you know, the solid glass and
all that. And, you know, it justreally gives off the, you know,
the notion that you are cominginto something different. It is
(05:55):
the luxury cut. And, you know,this is luxury, luxury service
overall,
Matthew Landis (06:01):
That's so great.
Now, what made you decide to goindependent, and what was that
like?
Jason Fuentes (06:06):
Originally, I was at three shops, and it kind of
felt like I was returning backto going to work again, I
understood, obviously, at thebeginning of it. Luckily, I did
do a pretty good job ofmarketing myself while I was in
school, and actually had signedup for a booking app while I was
doing that. So I did have myfoot in the door with at least
(06:27):
having some clientele coming in.
And but I did, I was very fullyaware that it was risky to go
straight from school, the sweet,if you're not fully established,
I definitely had to go down theroute of being at a shop. And,
you know, the first experiencewas pretty, pretty terrible. I
only only lasted there aboutthree months. And I was like, I
can't do this man, I'm sorry,but they need to go her own way.
(06:48):
So I tried another one afterthat. And I lasted about a year
there. It was, it was okay. Butagain, you know, just just
feeling like I was undersomebody's thumb, you know, it
just wasn't for me. So when assoon as I got myself established
is when I was like, You knowwhat, I think I need to make the
jump on, you know, just doing itall on my own. And if I can find
a good place to be at, then I'lldo it. And it all just kind of
(07:10):
worked out. So that's that'sbasically how I got into being
an independent and, you know,having the full control of
everything, whether it's themoney, the price, things that I
charge, you know, the hours thatI work, the days off that I
have, you know, if I don't wantto be here, I'm not here, if I
do want to be here, I'm here,you know, and it's all up to me
to run the business ownerpercent,
Matthew Landis (07:32):
You know, we probably have a lot of people
listening that are thinkingabout going independent, or
maybe they've just goneindependent, and they're in that
scary phase of like, Oh, whatdid I do? How can I do this? Can
you tell me a little bit aboutthat sort of the beginning, and
then how you really built yourbusiness to what it is now?
Jason Fuentes (07:50):
I guess if I had to say, you know, as a
recommendation, anybody outthere? I mean, number one, you
definitely don't want to makeany hasty decisions and just
jump in. And, you know, I getit, I understand that, you know,
if you feel it, and you just youjust want to go for it.
Obviously, yeah, that that ispart of it, though, as well. You
have to have confidence inyourself, you have to believe
(08:12):
that you're going to be able todo this and just not take, don't
take no for an answer and justgo for it. But definitely set
yourself up, you know, and ifthat means having a little bit
of a sacrifice of like sixmonths, or up to even a year
just to build that clientele upand then you can get out, then I
would definitely recommend doingthat. Obviously, it did have its
(08:35):
challenges, because you know,you depending on where you live,
and I know it's probablydifferent everywhere else. At
least I can speak for here. Itis a pretty small city for the
most part from like sparks toReno. It's 15 minutes. It's not
anything crazy. So even like ourfurthest towns like Carson City,
and Burnley and all that, that's45 minutes, everything's pretty
(08:56):
close. But believe it or not, Ifeel that we do end up being a
little spoiled here. Why? And Isay why? Because people think
about it. Well, if I have to gojust right down the street and
on it's five minutes away,versus Oh, no, I have to go to
downtown or 15 minutes outthere, they're gonna want to do
that. So and what I'm getting atis location, you know, does play
(09:16):
a factor sometimes into that.
You know, I was always kind oftold, Hey, Jason, as long as you
have your clientele base happyand all this, they usually
follow you wherever you go. Butat the end of the day, I do
believe firmly that convenienceis a big thing too. People want
to have the convenience so ifyou're making it convenient for
them, they'll definitely dothat. But I think in the end,
the biggest one that I hadespecially at the beginning, I
did lose quite a bit. It wasactually this last time that it
(09:39):
before I moved over here. I wasat a shop called numbers only
it's in downtown, great shop,luxury shop. It's beautiful. But
in the end, I again didn't seeeye to eye with what was going
on and I was like you know whatI need to get out of here. And
the biggest thing that happenedto me there, the price jump that
I had to be at with them was toosudden obviously going into of
the downtown. Now people, mycustomers deal with parking
(10:01):
stuff that they weren't used tobefore, you know, so I lost
about maybe 75% of my clientele.
So it was a big blow. And to saythat I started right back again,
that's exactly how it went. Soas soon as I heard about this
place, it was literally canbeing built from the ground up,
I got a little sweet that, youknow, the manager was really
(10:22):
nice enough to not have to putme on a lease, and she said, you
know, month to month, you let meknow, and your place is ready
and give me 30 days, and you'regood to go. So luckily, I think
God that I was able to find thatduring that time, you know, it
was hard, you know, trying torebuild all that stuff. And
those doubts do come into yourmind where you're like, man,
like, what did I do? And youknow, and then obviously, I was
(10:43):
beating myself up even evenmore, because I'm like, you
know, all this, all this time Iwas already established, or
you've been cutting for aboutfour years and or five years.
And I was like, What did I do Ieven start second guessing, you
know, Damn, I should have neverleft my job. You know, like, I
should have just stayed in thecorporate What was I thinking
and, and times got rough, youknow, they did get rough. But in
(11:06):
the end, I think what reallymattered was the belief in
myself and not knowing 100% thatI was going to stick it through.
And that's the biggest thingright there. You can't give up
you have to basically have thatmentality of like, whatever it
takes, it's bad now, but what amI doing, that I need to fix or
maybe do an extra thing here totry to get more people in the
(11:29):
door or whatever, but not givingup? You know, no matter what
happens, the biggest thing isjust sticking to it, sticking to
it, believing in yourself. Andyou know, doing whatever you
have to do to get through it.
Matthew Landis (11:40):
What were some of the things, the practical
things, that you did? What doyou what do you think really
contributed to your success inrebuilding that clientele?
Jason Fuentes (11:49):
I had at least the skin in the game, if you
want to say at least I know Ihad that. So I was well known.
And I think it just had to bemoving into this new location
and really just, you know,marketing 100% Normally, the way
that I've always worked aboutgetting booked, it was through
books, see that book. See, it'sbeen phenomenal for me. And you
(12:10):
know, that has obviously justlike anything has its pros and
cons, one of the biggest consand I feel like I had just that
you if you're not with them, ifyou if you don't use their app,
and say you delete it orwhatever, there goes your whole
clientele base, it goeseverything. And I you know,
that's the only thing that doesis that if you're not with them,
then you're pretty much screwed.
Other than that, though, I dohave to attribute about 80% of
(12:33):
my clientele base came from thatthey do a really good job of
marketing you out there. Butobviously, like I said, I had to
kick it up a little bit, becauseI had just lost a lot of people.
So how to discover ways on howto do it. And number one, you
know, very powerful tool,Instagram, tick tock, you know,
those things is such powerfultools. Nobody really realizes
it. And I know it took me awhile and for the longest time
(12:55):
I've never really been a bigsocial media buff. And I was
like, Oh my God, dude, am I likeantisocial, because I don't like
to have social media so much.
And it was kind of like a reallyhard transition to get myself to
think like, well do this is sonecessary for your business. And
you know, whether you like Likeit or not, at least for your
(13:16):
business, you're gonna have to,you know, really get into this
and figure out how the algorithmworks. All this, the whole
thing. So I would say themarketing that between
Instagram, but see and all thatI did fire up Yelp for a little
bit, as well as all thosethings. I mean, it basically to
say it this way I looked for anyway in every way possible to
just get my name out theretrying to you know, let people
(13:38):
see the ads, the picture, theInstagram, all that. And that's,
that's what I can attribute justbeing able to build my business
Matthew Landis (13:45):
You know, I've seen a lot of our pros use all
back.
of these. I've seen some buildtheir business on Yelp. I've
seen some of it on Google, evenFacebook, we know that most of
our pros are on Instagram. So Ihave a few questions for you
about that. Because I thinkpeople really want to know and
your Instagram is fantastic.
What what is your Instagramhandle for our listeners so that
they can find you?
Jason Fuentes (14:05):
so it'll be @_jscissorhands__fadelife
Matthew Landis (14:11):
And they can also look up your name Jason
Fuentes, right?
Jason Fuentes (14:13):
Right. Yeah, yeah. And it'll come up or you
can even look up FadelifeFadeshop.
Matthew Landis (14:18):
I've seen your Instagram. I hope everyone
listening checks that out. It'sreally good. So how did you get
to that point? I think for a lotof people, they do feel
overwhelmed. So I'm alwaysreally curious how you improve
your Instagram game to what itis now?
Jason Fuentes (14:32):
The biggest thing was basically like the posting
part of it and I still kind ofstruggled to it to this day
where it's like, making thattime but the only way that I had
to get myself there is settingdays aside, you know, whether
it's a day off that you have Iknow it's staff to work on your
day off. But you know, that'sthat goes with the part of being
(14:53):
a business owner. I think I workharder now than I did before.
You know, I work more hours nowthan I did. Before when I was in
the corporate world, but theenjoyment of knowing that it's,
it's, for me, it's online makesa whole difference coming down
to a schedule, whether it's aday off like say, every Tuesday,
that's the day that you're gonnago through and make videos,
obviously, you don't want topost everything every day or
(15:14):
like all of it in one day, butmaybe scheduling posts
throughout the week, whetherit's, you know, say, starting
out with like, maybe two posts aweek, at least, you know, and
then kind of going up fromthere. That was my strategy, I
did go and watch a ton ofYouTube videos. And that,
ironically enough, was kind ofhard, because obviously,
everybody has their methodthat's mine works. And this one
(15:36):
doesn't. And you know, you just,it's kind of like a never ending
cycle of just like, well trythis or try that, I think where
I started to kind of really seeimprovement is where I shied
away from trying to, more orless, take people's advice and
just learn how to actually makethe videos. So it was like, hey,
like, this is the app that I usethe Zillow kind of transitions
(15:57):
that you want to do, how to getthe, you know, the attention of
people like the call to action,all that kind of stuff. So if I
had to say one thing for sure,and that's kind of where my,
where my Instagram is successfulis just showcasing the work,
learning how to do the videos,and getting on a normal posting
cycles. So that would be my wayof saying it. And obviously, I
(16:17):
can do a lot more improving.
I've seen other people that Iadmire so much more, because I'm
like, dude, like you guys arekilling it. I don't, you know, I
gotta get up to that level, youknow, but I think just doing it,
you just have to try. And I knowa lot of people, especially as
barbers, I hear this all thetime, especially with people
that are coming up. Well, I'mnot that good, right. And it's
like, I don't want to post mystuff yet until I get there. And
(16:39):
it's like, No man, like, even ifyou're not good or not. Or if
you are not, it doesn't matter,you need to get yourself out
there, you'll figure that outwith either the pricing or
whatever you have to do, but youhave to showcase your work. If
you're not doing that, it'sgoing to be really rough,
whether it's word of mouth toyou know, that works a lot too.
But obviously, we live in this,you know, era where social media
(17:01):
is king, and it's almost betterthan word of mouth, you know
what I mean? So, you know, ifyou can showcase that word, get
on a schedule, learn as much asyou can, to see what the new
trends are, whatever you have todo with those videos, that would
be the best bet on how I gotmyself there as well.
Matthew Landis (17:17):
That's great advice. There's so much to
unpack there. I think one of thethings to your point people are
afraid to post, you know, Ithink that we are afraid of
being vulnerable. We don't wantto look stupid, we're afraid
that it's going to be cringy.
But the only way to get betterat something is to do it. So you
kind of have to just close youreyes and put it out there. And
also what I tell people is, mostpeople are only interacting with
(17:37):
your material for one or twoseconds. So they're really
picking it apart. They're justscrolling through and you know,
maybe something stands outthere.
Jason Fuentes (17:48):
Exactly.
Matthew Landis (17:49):
And I think the most important thing about what
I heard you saying is whateveryour strategy is, the most
important thing is to have astrategy, right. And I you know,
this is one thing, I'm abusiness coach as well. And one
thing I really tried to coachpeople on, you really have to
plan you really have to put itout there you and be less
reactive, be be proactive, andhave a plan. Because if you're
(18:11):
reacting all the time, it'sgoing to feel like you're never
going to catch up. You're justalways going to be running
behind. I had one question whenit comes to Instagram, did you
pay for it? Have you done paidads on any of these apps?
Jason Fuentes (18:24):
So I have done it a few times. Honestly, I didn't
really see too much of a crazy,like a whole bunch of people
came looking after I did it.
Obviously I think it was morethe way that I tried to look at
it because at first, I was alittle discouraged. And I was
like oh man, like, let's justsay 500 People saw my video, but
nobody looked like what theheck, right. And at that point,
(18:44):
I did get discouraged. But Ithink the important thing that I
realized at that point was like500 people saw your video,
whether they booked now, itdidn't matter if 500 people saw
it. So kind of having thatmentality and it didn't work.
But I also think that if you areunder budget, if you can't
afford it, your business day,you're starting out and you're
struggling a little bit with it.
(19:07):
I think you need to stick to thefree stuff. First, try to get
the most that you can out ofthat. If you do have the money
to spend, I don't think it's abad idea. But I definitely don't
think that people should getthose high hopes of like, oh,
you know, I'm gonna get a wholebunch of beer because it's more
than that. You know, it's likethe consistency of posting
videos is probably moreimportant than you paying for an
(19:29):
ad for one video that you onlytell us once a month. That's
Matthew Landis (19:32):
Great advice. I think one of the things there
you said is consistency. And onething I try to remind people
with marketing is most peoplebecause you know I started in
the mid 90s Before you know theinternet. Nobody even really
knew what that was yet. We werestill that was all word of mouth
and when it comes to marketing,most people don't see an ad they
(19:52):
don't see something andimmediately react when it comes
to brand awareness and you'rebuilding your brand. It's
consistency and rep attritionwhen our pros and this is
something we, we've talked aboutwith our owners, sometimes
people need to see your brand,they need to see it over and
over and over and over again.
Until they go, You know what,I've seen this guy on Instagram
for two years. Ya know, a lot ofpros are like, I can't wait two
(20:17):
years, whatever the time frameis, but you know, eventually
it's going to when they'reready, they're going to they're
going to book that appointment.
Yeah, but you may not seeimmediate results. Yeah.
Jason Fuentes (20:29):
And that's the thing. I think just getting over
that, because like I said, it'seasy to fall into that trap of
like, Well, that didn't work.
And it was a waste of money.
And, you know, being upset overthat. But it's like, you know,
in the end, don't think thatway, try to see it as you know,
whatever exposures exposure andtake it for what it is, you
know, and like you said, whetherit's that day, two weeks from
(20:49):
there, or a month from there, ora year from there, it's still
work.
Matthew Landis (20:54):
What would you say, is your superpower.
Jason Fuentes (20:57):
I guess one of the best things in what I
usually hear at least evenreviews, or just people being
honest with me, while I'm hereis just being able to interact
with people in a way that makesit more personable. So I think
the biggest thing my clientsreally enjoy, obviously, they're
getting a good time. But I thinkit's the relationships that I
(21:18):
build with them, that's moreimportant than that, if I would
have to say that's probably youknow, is being able to give my
clients a really good time,while they're here. It's an
experience. It's not just there,I saw this crazy post the other
day on Instagram, and it reallystuck with me, because I fully
agree with it. But it saidsomething along the lines, it
was actually a real video, butthe client was sitting on the
(21:40):
chair and the barbers going.
He's like, what's, what's one ofthose, you know, quotes that you
would say, you know, like a kindof like a quote, at the
beginning of the day, I had asuccessful quote or something
like that. And he said somethingalong the lines, and I might,
you know, chop this up andmurder, but I'm gonna try to
remember exactly what it was,but it's something along the
lines of your client will becomea friend, before your friend
(22:01):
becomes a client. And that stuckwith me deep because I have a
lot of friends that didn'tsupport my business that didn't,
you know, come over. But it wasso easy to see a client, you
know, become a friend, where itwas like, you know, it's crazy,
right? That's something thatreally stuck out with me. And
going along the lines of that,that was really powerful. I
(22:21):
really liked that.
Matthew Landis (22:24):
And it's so true.
Jason Fuentes (22:26):
Sadly, it is.
Matthew Landis (22:29):
Who or what inspires you?
Jason Fuentes (22:32):
I would have to say, you know, and I know it's
gonna sound a little cheesy, butright now, who really inspires
me is kind of like Tim and Lisa(Mulks). I think the biggest
parts of my actual dream is toactually own one of these one
day. That's my dream, you know,I used to dream about opening a
shop and being a barber, youknow, owner or whatever. But
(22:53):
I've came to realize how awesomethis environment is. And it's,
it's still necessarily be abrand or a shop and still be
that but you give full anatomyor autonomy to your renters, you
know, so it's more of like, Hey,I'm not your boss, I'm just your
landlord. That is one of thosethings that I look up to them
for that. Because like I said,it's a dream for me, but in
(23:14):
general entrepreneurs, peoplethat have become very successful
in owning multiple businesses,those people are my heroes, I
definitely fantasize that dreamof being that person one day, I
know I'm gonna get it. I wish Icould get it off faster, because
I'm an impatient person. But youknow, I know that Patience is
the virtue and at the end of theday, I'll get there one day,
(23:35):
that's what I would have to say,this is like my heroes.
Matthew Landis (23:38):
I love hearing that. And, you know, I'll give a
shout out to Tim and Lisa Mulks.
They're in Reno and Sparks. Theyjust won IMAGE Studios Owners of
the Year. I don't know if theythey told you that or past that.
But they're incredible. And it'sabsolutely well deserved.
They're just such great people.
Jason Fuentes (23:56):
Yeah, I agree.
100% Ever since the day I metthem, you know, it just clicked
and I respect them both asbusiness owners as people. And
like you said, they're amazingpeople, they definitely deserve
that award.
Matthew Landis (24:09):
I asked this question of all my guests,
because I feel like we love ourbusinesses. We love what we do.
We love our clients, but we alsohave rough days. Yeah. And for
most of us, we have days wherewe just want to pack it all in
and say okay, quit. How do youovercome those days?
Jason Fuentes (24:28):
I think the way that I do it is more or less. In
the moment, obviously, you'regonna be feeling the way that
you do and you might even, youknow, pack a little, maybe pack
a little bag and start walkingout and start thinking to
yourself that I'm gonna startrethinking this and maybe it's
time for a change or whatever.
That's, that's okay. You know, Ifeel like that and that's the
biggest part of it is being okaywith thinking that because we
(24:51):
all have doubts, we're all gonnago through those moments. So I
think that that's okay, butobviously recognizing that it's
just for the moment at It's notforever, it's not something
that's gonna last. It's just forthe moment. And if you can think
of it that way, I know once youcool down in here more than a
sane mind, it's not going to beworth it. You know, I think the
thing that really pulls me backto think, is where I came from
(25:13):
all the hard work I put in, andI refuse to let it go after
giving up a full career that Iwas good at good at all these
lessons, whether they were goodor bad, I'm not going to let it
go. Because of that, you know, Iclawed my way up here, and I'm
definitely not going to justthrow it away, because I had one
bad day or one bad pine or one,you know, it's just not worth it
(25:34):
in the end for what I put intoit. It's not worth what, you
know, it's something you did. SoI think overcoming that would be
that, you know, trying to thinkof it in the sense of, hey, you
worked your ass off to get here,you're not just gonna throw it
away just like that. It's justright now, it's not going to be
forever.
Matthew Landis (25:51):
That's great perspective. Because we do we
put we invest. And this is whatI tell our owners, this is what
I tell people outside theindustry that maybe they don't
understand about people in thebeauty, health and wellness
industry is how much blood sweatand tears that we put into this,
how many years that we haveworked to hone our craft and
build our clienteles and theamount of money that we've
(26:14):
invested. I mean, it is anexpensive career to be in. And
so all of that adds up. And Ithink you're right, even on our
worst days, it's still betterthan almost anything else.
Right? I know that tomorrowit's gonna be better and it's
gonna be great. I wouldn't wantto do anything else.
Jason Fuentes (26:36):
Yeah, or even thinking of it is offensive. You
kind of want to scare yourself alittle bit. It's like, well,
what's the other option? Goingback to what I was doing before?
Like, yeah, no.
Matthew Landis (26:47):
I agree. All right. So a couple other
questions, what other parts ofyour life bring you joy and
happiness?
Jason Fuentes (26:54):
Honestly, my daughter means the world to me.
She's everything to me. She'sbeen able to meet Tim and Lisa.
Especially Lisa loves her. Sojust kind of seeing that because
I always given her ironicallyenough and a little sidetrack,
but like, even with my lovelife, you know, I was trying to
tell people a day, that's myheart right there. So if you can
get to her, you got me, man. Soit's like at the end of the day,
(27:18):
that means the world to me rightthere. So that that is probably
the main thing that brings joyoutside of my work. And
normally, I mean, I'm a bighomebody person. So I love being
at home. I've invested a lot ofmoney into my home theater. So
I'm a movie fanatics are one ofthose things that I just, you
know, bring joy to me is one ofthose things, too. And, you
know, traveling, stuff likethat.
Matthew Landis (27:40):
I'm a homebody as well, you know, one of the
things about this business thatsomeone said to me years ago, is
we throw a party every day.
Yeah, the last thing we want todo when we get home is go to
another party.
Jason Fuentes (27:54):
I never really thought of it that way too.
Because it's like all the peopleyou interact with. Sometimes you
just need to unplug and getaway. You know what I mean?
Because you see, however manyclients each day yeah, that I
never really thought of it thatway. That's cool.
Matthew Landis (28:08):
We're playing host every single day. So you
know, when we go home, we justwe want to be in our home
theater. We want to have thebest experience we can with our
loved ones in our plays. Yeah, Iagree. 100%. All right. One last
question. What are you lookingforward to?
Jason Fuentes (28:23):
Kind of like I was saying just a little bit
ago, I look forward to reallysee myself become that person. I
want to I definitely want to ownmy own place like this. And I
think that that's what I lookforward to the most. And just
seeing the benefits that comefrom that, you know, whether
there's obviously everything isnot money, but money is kind of
everything right? You know, itsucks. But I think at the end of
(28:45):
the day, if if I can get to aplace where I'm a little bit
more financially free, I lookforward to being able to travel
the world see things that I'venever seen before. You know, I
said all the time, the luxury ofmy career, so I can take it with
me anywhere. I definitely lookforward to those things, those
benefits that I you know, thatI'm getting because of the hard
work I put in?
Matthew Landis (29:04):
Well, Jason, it looks like all the hard work
that you put in is really payingoff. You look like you're in a
great place. You look happy. AndI'm really happy for you. It
looks like you've createdsomething really great there.
And I just want to thank you somuch for joining me on the
podcast today.
Jason Fuentes (29:21):
Yeah, thanks for inviting me over man. I
appreciate it.
Matthew Landis (29:23):
Thank you so much for joining me on this
episode of The VIP Suite. I'mMatthew Landis and I hope you
found the insights andinspiration shared today truly
valuable for your journey as aSalon Suite entrepreneur and
independent beauty, health orwellness professional. Don't
forget to follow us on Instagram@imagestudios360. And if you
enjoyed this episode, don'tforget to subscribe to the VIP
(29:44):
Suite on your favorite podcastplatform so you never miss an
opportunity to connect with ourvibrant community and to
discover more incredible storiesand strategies. We love hearing
from our listeners. If you haveany questions, topic suggestions
or want to share your ownsuccess story, feel free to
reach out To me atmatthew@imagestudios360.com.
Remember listener, you are theheartbeat of the beauty, health
(30:05):
and wellness industry. Yourdedication and passion make the
world a better place, one clientat a time. We'll be back with
more engaging and inspiringconversations in our next
episode. Until then, take care,stay inspired, and continue to
create your own VIP Suite. Formore information about becoming
a part of the image studiosluxury Salon Suite community,
visit our website atimagestudios360.com.
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