352 How Leading Salons Are Using AI Every Day with Martha Lynn Kale
39m 44s
In this podcast episode, Anthony Whitaker speaks with Martha Lynn Kale, owner of Mira-Mura Salon in Austin, Texas, about her practical integration of artificial intelligence into her salon business. Martha Lynn emphasizes that AI is a tool that enhances, rather than replaces, human thinking and efficiency. She primarily uses Chat GPT, which she has trained over the past year to reflect her salon's brand voice and values, and finds it invaluable for leadership tasks like systematizing operations during expansion, preparing for conversations, and pressure-testing ideas. In people management, AI helps her create detailed job descriptions, set clear expectations, and coach stylists more efficiently by organizing her thoughts. Financially, she uses AI to brainstorm ways to boost revenue, such as optimizing slower days like Saturdays. For marketing, AI assists with brainstorming content ideas and writing social media captions, but the final execution remains human-led to maintain authenticity. A key principle for Martha Lynn is that AI should never replace direct client interaction; it is used behind the scenes to improve training and service, not to automate hospitality. She gives an example of using AI to analyze client feedback and create better scripts for the front desk, ensuring a more human and policy-balanced experience. Overall, Martha Lynn sees AI as a powerful ally for salon owners to work smarter, save time, and focus on strategic growth.
[Music] You cannot get away from AI at the moment and love it or hate it, artificial intelligence is here to stay. So understanding how leading salons are integrating and using AI in their business to be more efficient, more organised and ultimately more profitable is essential if you really want to succeed in today's world. I'm Anthony Whitaker and welcome to this week's episode of the Grow My Salon Business Podcast. Artificial intelligence is a tool and there has never been a tool that has captured the attention and imagination of people and businesses the way that artificial intelligence has. Today I'm talking with Martha Lynn Kale from Austin, Texas, who is the owner of the Mira-Mura Salon and she's very definitely an AI fan. So today we're going to be digging into the practical uses that she and her team have for using AI every day in the salon. So, without further ado, welcome to the show, Martha Lynn. Hi, thanks for having me. So excited to be back. It's great to have you, but it is back, isn't it? I think it's just a third or fourth, but it's spread over five years. So it's been a very interesting journey, like knowing you in your business and how your business has evolved. Every time I talk to you, it's bigger and better. So you obviously do a lot of good stuff and I know a lot of people benefit from what you talk about. So today we are going to jump into the world of AI. I've been talking to different people coming at it from a different angle lately as to how salons are integrated into their salon. And I know that you are a big disciple, fan, enthusiast, whatever the correct term is. So let's just start off with a sort of a broad brushstroke and then we'll dig into the detail. So how are you using AI in the salon at the moment? We are using it in leadership a lot. We're going through a big expansion for this salon right now. And so we're systemizing everything. And so it's really helping us get organized in that way. I'm using it a lot in conversation preparation. I know to pressure test things to make sure that I'm, you know, have all the information that I need. And then of course, like training and education. It's more what we're using in the office versus, you know, on the salon floor. But it's been incredibly helpful. And I've only been really using AI for probably a little over a year. There was something I wanted to ask you about that. I think I saw on Instagram or somewhere today where, you know, someone basically said, I'm stopping using AI because it's making my brain, you know, lazy. And so when you just said then, you know, because I use it a lot every day now, I'm using AI in different ways. And it's sort of evolving how I use it. And I get what this person meant when they said that. So, so what would your comment be about that? Is it making you lazy at all? Because you can get more done. You can get it done quicker. You can get, you know, feedback on your thought process and all that sort of stuff. I think you just use the term for pressure testing your, you know, conversations, how you manage people. Like, is it making you lazy at all? Is it sort of looking for a shortcut? No, I think it's sharpening everything that I already was doing. You know, I think that time is so finite. You know, everybody is short on time. And so my job as the leader of this company and as we grow and in my job with even my leadership team is to encourage them to always be thinking through the lens of, is this the best use of my time. So, you know, we all have our marching orders at things that we're supposed to be doing and working on, you know, to move this business forward and to reach our goals. And, you know, there are just certain things that it's like, okay, this is not a good use of time. And I can get there a little faster using tools. And AI is just one of our tools, just like you would use a calculator. And you know, I'm going to do long form division. You would use the calculator because that's, you know, why not? It's right there. And I think that it's more of an enhancement of what your superpower is and what you already do really well versus a replacement of knowledge or making you lazy. And I think that word you used where you said, I think it sharpens my thinking or makes me shape or whatever that that's sort of I think how I feel about it as well that like I'll, I'll brainstorm some stuff. Right. But then in terms of turning it into something. It's amazing how quick it can turn into something for me and it's right that I couldn't necessarily have got there. But it certainly does it a lot quicker and it does sharpen that whole process. So, I'm talking about the platforms that you're using. I think, you know, most people just jumped into chat GPT, but, you know, there's lots of different AI platforms you can use. So what different platforms are you using in the cell? I rarely use chat GPT. I have been, you know, we're 15 year old salon company at this point. And so, you know, we already have brand and guidelines and, you know, core values and ways that we do things. And, you know, kind of feeding this chat GPT platform in a really intentional way for the past 12 months so that, you know, it knows how we want things to be delivered at mirror mirror. It's not just, you know, using it like another search platform. So, primarily chat GPT, you know, Jim and I a little bit, but, and I started playing around with Claude, but, um, chat GPT is so well organized for me that it's like, oh man, it's going to take me forever to just get Claude to speed. Yeah. But, you know, I love it all. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Do you talk or do you type? I'm a, I'm a type. But I try, I try to go on a walk and talk, but I still feel like I don't, I don't use voice text either. So I think, you know, that's personality type, you know, whether you prefer to, you know, just chat and, and not ramble, but brainstorm versus. I like to get my thoughts out via typing. Yeah, that's interesting because before we started recording, we, we were talking about the podcast I did with Frank from Gadibat and he, he uses it primarily. He's just talking into his phone all the time. And I had never, I don't think I told him this on that call. I had never actually used voice. I'm a type or as well. But I got off that call and I started using. Voice as well. Yeah. Okay. Wow. So I've been using voice on Gemini and thinking, actually, this is good. I quite like this. It's, it's speed things up. Even more. So, you know, I'm typing on on on chat GPT. I'm talking on Gemini. I love chat GPT Melinda, my wife, a business partner. She has obsessed with Claude. And so what you just touched on is my expression, my feeling as well. Is that she's tried to get me the navel to transition over to using Claude more. But I use chat GPT. It knows me so well that sometimes I'm typing stuff and I'm reading what it might have written. And as I'm reading it, I'm thinking, oh, I wouldn't have said that. And then the next thing that'll pop up is you would probably say it more like this. And it's like, oh my God, it can read my mind. I know, I know. And that's the thing about training. It isn't that the more you train it to to be like you and think like you, it's it's a varying at a different level again, which is what I find really exciting. Anyway, I'm I'm rambling. Yeah, well, and I think, you know, I'm very visionary. So I'm always kind of out there and I'm always, you know, future casting and, you know, I love to brainstorm. I think that for my CEO and for my husband, you know, I think it's given them a little bit of a break because I can take it to chat GTT and do a little bit of pre work. Yeah, versus just going on and on and on about all my hopes and dreams on in person. And so that's not a good use of their time. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that actually sounds very similar to my relationship. And then you ask me then about the some of the practicalities. It's sort of dig into different areas of the business and how you are integrating, you know, chat GPT or whatever else you might be using. So they start off to talk about management from a people management viewpoint. How are you using it? What are you doing? What are some of the things? Yeah, I mean, from, you know, I mentioned expansion, you know, one thing that we've really been doing is tightening up our, you know, accountability chart or organizational chart as we get bigger. You know, in the past, we've sort of done everybody does a little bit of everything. And as we, we want to create career paths for people that they know exactly not only what is expected of them, but what they'll be held accountable to. And so really tightening up job descriptions, task lists that type of thing. You know, and then saying, OK, here's this personality quiz that we had a team member take.
what I'm thinking for them and here's what they want to do and here's what they mentioned in their review, you know, and it can jumble it all together and say, "Hey, what have you thought about it this way?" And I've really enjoyed that because I think it's really setting people up for success in their roles on our leadership team. As far as managing people, you know, I'm still the primary coach for the stylist, for the talent here. And so, you know, I'm using it more in, you know, I've read a ton of leadership books. I love, you know, Burnay Brown, you know, that type of thing. So, you know, I will pull some of that knowledge and it will help me prep for conversations. Hey, you know, we've got this thing going on. I'm going to have a meeting. Here's the backstory, you know, and it will help summarize. And so, it allows me to have a little quicker delivery, because sometimes I only have 15 minutes with a stylist while they're in a processing time. And I could get there a little faster. Yeah, yeah, I totally relate to that. That my thinking process is often quite jumbled, like all the ideas in there, they're scattered. And so, I bounce around a lot. But when I put it through chat GPT or whatever, it organises it. And I look at my information and I go, oh, that's so much better. Why didn't I think of that? You know, it's just what I meant. Exactly. Exactly. It's like, you know, I have written a book and, you know, to me, I see it as like having an editor with you at all times, you know, and they're just refining your words and helping you be more organized. And so, you can be just a lot more efficient. Yeah, yeah, definitely. Okay. So, when we talk about the business from a financial perspective, is it still chat GPT using for that or are you using any other tools? Sort of tell me how you're using AI, you know, artificial intelligence to send you the finance side of the business. Yeah, we have an entire accounting team. So, I would assume they're probably using it in some accounting way. Trevor still helps a lot with our financial, you know, kind of acting as CFO of the salon. He's big on cloud. So, I know, I know he's using that. But I'm more of the revenue generator. So, when it comes to the financial aspect, my job is to make sure the revenue is coming in. Which comes down to, you know, how productive our chairs are all of our stylist books. So, I'm using it in that way, which is not a traditional look at the spreadsheet and tell me, you know, read this P&L. But, you know, it does help in that way. Right now, we're trying to solve Saturdays, you know, and so I'm like, okay, what can we do to get Saturdays more efficient and, you know, me and chatty Kathy, as I call her, are, you know, brainstorming that. Yeah, and what sort of things come up? For that, for in particular. Yeah, so Saturdays are primarily our newer talents. They're at a lower price point. So, typically, you're going to see lower revenue because they're, number one, they're a little bit slower with their timing and number two, their rates are lower. So, that's to be expected. So, then it's just figuring out, okay, well, what are our expectations around, you know, rebooking and retail? We don't want Saturdays feel like, you know, the stepchild of the week. We want it still a day. And it's a great training day. And, you know, figuring out how to maximize that. So, as a Salon owner, obviously, you've got a, you know, Salon Management software program at the front desk. And pretty much all of them there are integrating more and more AI into it, which is really important and it's fantastic for the industry. So, tell me about your Salon. As far as that goes, are you finding that the AI that Point of Sal's software systems have these days, helping you better manage the Salon? Yeah, definitely. And I think I'm encouraging my stylist to, you know, get more comfortable with our platform so that they can, just like I said, you know, work smarter, not harder, you know, using it for quick snapshots of client history or formulas and that type of thing. But, you know, I think that the biggest thing actually when you talk about software is really the conversation about hospitality. And we still have a huge hospitality team. And they're not going anywhere. And I know there are cool AI capabilities, you know, for the front desk. But I'm training our front desk to start to use it a little bit more strategically so that they can, they're still that human touch. But, you know, and I know there are, there are things that you can use that, you know, take the whole front desk away, but we're just not, we're not there. That's not for us. Yeah, definitely me too. It's like, and I've sort of come at this from different angles with different people. It's like taking away the stuff that AI can do so that your people can be more present for the clients and actually give the greater levels of service, hospitality, whatever you want to refer to it as. And that's the way it's perfectly into the next thing, which is to talk about marketing. Are you using AI in a marketing context? I mean, you can do so much with it now, can't you? In terms of not just marketing programs, but in terms of manipulating images and all that sort of stuff. So, so yeah, and we're really manipulating images, which is, you know, that is a little scary. And I'm sure that's scary for artists as well. You know, you see some of these awards and it's like, I can't even tell what's real and what's fake, but I assume it's all fake. But we have, we have a marketing gal that we work with that is outsourced that helps us with some of our search and, you know, the more back-end strategic social media. And she is starting to use it a little bit more. Again, we use it more for brainstorming ideas. So, you know, we'll share these are, we liked this trend on TikTok. How could this translate for Mirror Mirror? You know, oh, we love that too. Try this song with this idea and it's like great. And then we take that idea and then we cheer you know, cheer you on top of our ideas. And so it's, it's an evolution for us. But I think that marketing is really going to be something that AI can really help with. And marketing does my background. Trevor's too. So, you know, we really love all of that. And I think, you know, everyone is nervous about AI. Like, I think that you just have to become a user of the tool. And then you don't have to be afraid of it. Most of the times we're afraid of anything. It's out of a curiosity or something we don't know about. But the more we can learn about things, the more comfortable we'll get with it. Yeah. Are you using it for stuff like captions on social media posts and things like that? Every now and then we will. We should use it more because I'm like, you know, why make it harder on yourself? This is so easy, especially when you can give it a history. And you can say, this is, these are the last 30 captions we've written. Then it will, because you see the ones that you're like, you can tell it's a little robotic or it's a little doctored. But again, we want it to be more of a cherry on top of what we're already doing versus, you know, the whole Sunday. Yeah. What about for producing marketing assets, whether it's a priceless or, you know, a little shelf talker or anything like that, are you using AI in that context at all? Yeah. I'm starting to play with that a little bit. Again, we have really robust branding guidelines. And so, you know, what I'm trying to do is pull all those branding guidelines in so that it can it can know because when I've tried in the past to, you know, come up with an idea and the idea is perfect and that's it. Okay, let's convert that to Canva, you know, and create an asset. Then it's like done land. So it still needs some refining in that category. But I think that that is sort of what's next for me is to, you know, that's a challenge I'm, I want to take on, you know, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I don't like it if I can't figure something out. I'm like, I will figure this out. And that's, you know, it can be your graphic designer. It can, what a cool time it is now that, you know, you don't have to invest in all of these other people and all of these other experts. Experts, you can, you know, learn so much just yourself. And for a lot of salon owners who are still behind the chair, especially they don't have the time to go do all that. So this can save them some time and so they can focus on either their clients or their team or a strategy for getting out from behind the chair. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. What sort of reaction do I'm trying to think of an example where the fact that you're using AI impacts directly on the client. And so I'm asking you what sort of reaction have you had, you know, for that sort of thing, I can't think of a salon specific example.
I'll have to top my head, except to say, for example, when I go to the doctor's surgery, the check-in is AI. - Right. - And it annoys me. Do you know what I mean? So as a client, that annoys me. I want some personal interaction. I want to be putting in my data birth and registering me and then telling me to take a seat. - And then I still ask anyone. - Is there any interaction? - Yeah, exactly. So is there any areas where you're using AI where clients go, oh wow, that's fantastic. Or equally where they go, oh, I wish it didn't do that. I'd much prefer that the old way, whatever it was. - No, and I think our goal for now is to keep it that way. We want to be using the tools as the team, but we don't want the clients to feel that in any way. So I will give you an example. So this week in a very old client of mine, old friend, text me and gave me a scenario. I'll spare you the scenario, but it was a less than exceptional experience at the front desk. Here, and normally nobody would ever text me and she only did because we're close and she was very nice about it, but she kind of gave me that. If it were my business, I'd want to know. And it wasn't that big a deal. But I was able to take her feedback. I was able to then reach out to my leaders and say, this is what happened. I think we miss about. It was cancellation policy related. And the cancellation policy is almost certainly, we've written the cancellation policy, but then we've used AI to help create scripts for the front desk. And my guess is whoever was working the front desk was a little too stuck on the script versus human verse. It should be human verse, then policy. And so it just didn't land. And so I was able to text my whole leadership team with this context. They were all able to respond. Then I took all of their responses. I took my friends, feedback, put it all in chat, DPPT with my two cents and said, what are we missing here? And we were able to sort of create a plan to rectify that. Now does this client know that we've used AI in all of these ways? No, but that's a way that we can use it for training. We can use it for creating those scripts. We can use it for how the script went wrong. And we can really learn as a team because as we are expanding and as we are looking for other locations, the million dollar question is can culture scale? And culture is people. Culture is AI will never culture for us. And for anyone. And I think protecting your culture is what's so important for any business, but especially a salon. And so that's how we're able to catch those little blips where we may be missing Mark, but we can course correct really fast. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I mean scripts are important. But instead of script, it's like framework. Do you know how we don't want everyone sound like do you want fries with that? Exactly. This is sort of framework in which you address that issue. But yeah, it needs to be you coming through the human elements. Yeah, and we have never done scripts. You know, we've never done, we've always just had higher good people and they do a good job. But you know, as we scale that, you know, you need a little bit more guidelines than that and standards and expectations. And so as we do involve, but you know, it really, she's a very new team member down there and she really shouldn't have been placed in a position of having to deliver a cancellation policy anyway that should have been escalated. And so I think that that was more of the learning opportunity for us as we move forward. Yeah, OK. We've talked a little bit about how your front desk and managers are using AI in different ways. Have you got any examples of how you've used AI for staff training in terms of-- I don't know, in terms of anything. I don't want to put words in your mouth. Yeah. I have redesigned our entire apprentice program over the last probably six months. I went back to every former apprentice that we have, which is we probably have 12 here. A third of our team is probably former apprentices and said, I want as much feedback as you can give about your experiences in apprentice here. And so I took all of that feedback. I took what I'm seeing in terms of people going on the floor and their readiness. Yeah, again, it's like a research paper. I'm gathering every bit of information that I can to then say, OK, this is how we currently do it. This is the feedback we're getting. This is what I'm seeing. This is what I want to see. How do we rework the puzzle a little bit? And so we are manuals and playbooks. And you know, you speak two phases. And now it's four phases. And we've added more educators. And all of that has been with the assistance of AI to help it be more organized. What that former apprentice has told me was they wanted a lot more clarity or they wished that they had had a lot more clarity around, how do I get checked off of things so that I can see my own clients and ultimately get on the floor. And in the past, we've been very trust the process. And they wanted more specifics. And so that's what we're doing. We're being more specific. And we want to be more clear so that they know exactly what they have to do to succeed at Miramir. Yeah, yeah. OK, that's good. From a business perspective, can you think of any examples where you can say using AI has enabled us to make more money? Is there any specific areas where you can go pre-AI? That would have cost us X. And now using AI, it is coming in half that or whatever it is. And it's always-- Yeah, I mean, I think just more in terms of who we don't have to hire. I know what we spent on PR when we opened this location. And we won't need to do that for our next location because of what I can do with AI. And so I think that you can find those direct effects to the bottom line. Also, product sales-- every way that we drive revenue here, if we can do it better, that is going to make this a lot more money. Now, one thing that I learned at this event that I recently went to was that someone suggested becoming your own distributor, meaning buying foils and bull-- that type of thing. So I've been really learning about revenue generation with AI, but what I want to learn next is saving money with AI, that's my next project. Because I can imagine that there's tons of ways that AI can help you comb through your spending or look for duplicates or find better deals. Yeah, definitely-- I know that's not very specific, but I think that that will help. Yeah. That's what I was thinking about inventory management. There's so many salons that could benefit dramatically from having the input of AI in terms of inventory management and how frequently products are turning over-- because it varies dramatically in amongst-- --and the rate of products that you've got on the shelf. So I think AI can benefit salons a lot on that area. And then, therefore, indirectly-- or directly, I suppose-- reduce costs, make more money, and enter into the business. OK, what would you warn against with AI? You're like, the more-- I mean, for all of it, AI is comparatively a new thing. So we're all learning. And so I'm really asking you about that. What have you thought you've gone down a certain way with using it and then thought, no, no, no, that's not what you should do? Yeah, I mean, I think that, again, kind of using the editor example, you want to do the work on the front end. You want to establish who you are as a business, what's important to you, core values, your mission, the type of people that you want on your team. And then you want to bring in things like AI. You don't want to go on AI and say, what are my salons core values? Or what should they be? You want it to enhance what you're already doing, which means you have to do the work on the front end. Luckily, by the time AI came around, I had 14 years of experience of running a salon. But I think back to, man, that would have-- these would have been nice to have back in the day. But you just do the best you can with what you have. And you're just trying to know that you are sticking with your--
what's important to you? We have an important mission. We know who we want. We are people, people, people, people company. And so that is what's most important, taking care of the people. And if you start getting to, you know, down the rabbit hole, you can get ahead of your seas with AI and you've lost touch of everything that, you know, where you even started from. Start with a problem, you know, say, this is a specific problem that is in my business that I cannot seem to solve. And go there and try to solve the one problem versus help me write a 47 page salon manual, you know, like that, just baby steps and go from there. Yeah, that's an interesting point you brought up in that, you know, someone like you, as you alluded to before, you have a marketing background before hairdressing. So you've always appreciated the importance of coming up with your salon values, your vision, your missions, that, all of that sort of stuff. And, you know, let's group all that together and call it your brand Bible for one of a bit of time. Okay. So you have that and you can now feed that, you can upload it straight into chat GPT. Exactly. And so the AI is learning about you and it's building all this information. But the problem is so many salons, when you talk to them about you need to come up with your list of values and what they mean and your missions statement and your yada yada yada your whole brand Bible. It's like, I just want to go and do some more belly-arge, you know, they haven't done the work and the AI can't do that work for you. You've got to feed it that this is who we are. This is what's important to us. And so based on that, what would you say about X? You know, so yeah, that's important. Do the work. Do the work. Yeah. And I think, you know, that's the challenge is a lot of a lot of salons are, you know, made with owners that are still behind the chair. They open the salon because they wanted their own space or maybe they want their name on the door or whatever it is. But you did put your name on the door or you did open that salon. And regardless of the model, you have hopefully people working with you and those people are looking to you to be the leader and you have to be willing to step into that role and you can step into that role as an artist still. But you have to step into that role because they and that is your job to learn, you know, how to use the tools just like you've learned how to use all the other tools that are disposal as artists and as hairdressers. This is just one of the tools. Yeah, it's not the only tool. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but it's a powerful tool. That's great. Fantastic. Yes. Fantastic. Okay. So look, last question. There will be people listen to this that don't use any AI and are quite happy not not using AI. Yeah. Or maybe some of them are just frightened of starting and they sort of hide behind that. Oh, I don't need that, you know, sort of approach. So what advice would you give to someone who's frightened because some of them are or tentative about using AI in their business, Harren, sort of where should they start? What would you say to them? You know, I think that you have to really peel back the layers to figure out what it is you're afraid of, you know, and and do your research on how accurate those fears are because, you know, I think that if you were really willing to get honest with what is scaring you, I think the one we hear the most is, you know, I don't want to lose my creativity. I like being creative, you know, all of that. You know, it's not like, I don't know if you all had cliff notes for books, but when we used to read books and growing up and you have a book report and people would get the cliff notes and that was like very taboo. And I think that people think about AI like the cliff notes, but it's not. And you can really use it to have a great impact either on your team or your life or your salon or beyond. And so figure out, don't go with the math water, you know, you can do so much good with it. And whatever is making you nervous, get really curious about and educated about that piece of it so that you can reassure yourself, just don't do that piece of it if it does make you nervous. Do the part that you feel comfortable doing because I think that it is worth, it is worth, you know, dipping your toe in the water a little bit and seeing and saying, you know, what's the thing that, man, if I had someone on my team that could do XYZ, I would be off to the races, give AI that thing and see what happens, you know, and see what you can learn. Yeah, exactly. Good point. Okay, I do have one more last final question. Yeah, the previous one was the final, but I just want to ask you this one. You said you use chat G.P.T., which I tend to use mostly as well. But you also said, your husband Trevor uses Claude. They're different and everyone has their favorites and, you know, Frank, when we had him on the podcast, he uses Gemini. Right. What I wanted to ask you with is you must sometimes do something using chat G.P.T. and I'm assuming, because I know I do this, that you then might say, hey Trevor, could you put this through Claude and see what it does? Right. Because I do that with Melinda, where we do the same question, same project, and I've done it through chat G.P.T., she might have done it through Claude. I'm asking you, hey, if you do that and B, do you get a different or a better thing from one than the other? Yeah, I mean, Trevor is very new with Claude, so we're not doing that quite yet, but we do, you know, lots of the leadership that is using chat G.P.T. So I created a prompt that, you know, from mine, because mine has been prime for so long and is so accurate that I had it create something for me to give every team member to give to their chat G.P.T. Right. And so, you know, there's, there's this pretty good, you know, but then they'll send it to me and then have me run it through mine and it will refine it even more. I will take something that our marketing, an email campaign that our marketing person has generated and I'll put it through mine. And so mine is like the final blessing because it is so, it's used so much more. But, you know, I imagine that I do want to learn Claude, you know, it's just, every time I go over there, it's like a stranger. I'm like, I don't know you yet. I gotta learn, I gotta learn you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it. I get it. Yeah, that's it. It's because, you know, it's exactly the same for me. I've given and you've given chat G.P.T. a lot of context and so it really understands you. And then you go to Claude now without all that context, you've got to start in. It's like you've got to get to know me again. You've got to build up this relationship. And it's like, you really want to do that. Yeah. So interesting. Well, yeah. And I'm going to Claude and I've tried and Claude has told me like basically, whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down and I'm like, okay, well, you can't keep up with it. You're going to have to, I'm going to have to try this another day because, you know, it's just completely different. But they have different capabilities. You know, the coding and some of that I do want to learn. You know, we just did a huge home remodel. And so I was able to use, you know, a little bit of chat G.P.T. for some of that stuff as well. I do use it for personal, but definitely much more for business. Yeah. Good. Good. Okay. All right. Well, listen, we need to wrap up. We're about to give people connect with you on Instagram or any other social media channels. Yeah. The salon is at Mirror Mirror ATX on social or mirror mirror Austin.com. And you can find me directly at Martelling Kale on Instagram DM me. That's the quickest way to get a hold of me. Good. Okay. Well, look, I'll put those links in the show notes for wherever you're listening to today's podcast. Great. So if you have been listening to this podcast with Martha Lynn and have enjoyed it, do me a favor share it with people that you know would also enjoy it. And don't forget to subscribe and leave us a rating review on the Apple podcast app. So to wrap up, Martha Lynn, it's been great talking to you again. Hopefully we'll do it in another year. Sure. We will. Yeah. Perfect. That sounds good. Yeah. So thanks for being on this week's episode of the Grow Myself a Business Podcast. And hey, by then you might have some big news for me. That's true. Expansion. So I'll look forward to that one. It's very true. Yeah. I can see the topic. The topic already. What is the key? Yeah. What is the key to opening that second cell? You know, we should go. We could do a whole hour for that. Yeah, we could. We could. We will leave that the next time. Okay. Yeah. That sounds great.
Podcast Summary
Key Points:
AI is a tool that sharpens existing skills and improves efficiency, not a replacement for thought or a cause of laziness.
The salon uses AI primarily for leadership tasks, such as systematizing operations, preparing for conversations, and pressure-testing ideas.
Chat GPT is the primary platform, trained over a year to match the salon's brand voice and core values.
People management applications include creating job descriptions, structuring career paths, and preparing for coaching conversations with stylists.
On the financial side, AI helps brainstorm ways to maximize revenue, such as improving productivity on slower days like Saturdays.
In marketing, AI is used for brainstorming ideas and generating social media captions, but the focus remains on human-guided creativity.
The salon deliberately avoids using AI in direct client-facing roles to preserve personal hospitality and human connection.
AI is valuable for training, such as analyzing client feedback and creating scripts to improve front desk interactions.
Summary:
In this podcast episode, Anthony Whitaker speaks with Martha Lynn Kale, owner of Mira-Mura Salon in Austin, Texas, about her practical integration of artificial intelligence into her salon business. Martha Lynn emphasizes that AI is a tool that enhances, rather than replaces, human thinking and efficiency. She primarily uses Chat GPT, which she has trained over the past year to reflect her salon's brand voice and values, and finds it invaluable for leadership tasks like systematizing operations during expansion, preparing for conversations, and pressure-testing ideas.
In people management, AI helps her create detailed job descriptions, set clear expectations, and coach stylists more efficiently by organizing her thoughts. Financially, she uses AI to brainstorm ways to boost revenue, such as optimizing slower days like Saturdays. For marketing, AI assists with brainstorming content ideas and writing social media captions, but the final execution remains human-led to maintain authenticity.
A key principle for Martha Lynn is that AI should never replace direct client interaction; it is used behind the scenes to improve training and service, not to automate hospitality. She gives an example of using AI to analyze client feedback and create better scripts for the front desk, ensuring a more human and policy-balanced experience. Overall, Martha Lynn sees AI as a powerful ally for salon owners to work smarter, save time, and focus on strategic growth.
FAQs
Salons use AI for systemizing expansions, creating job descriptions, and organizing task lists. It helps leaders tighten accountability charts and set clear career paths for team members.
No, AI sharpens existing skills and saves time, acting as a tool like a calculator. It enhances superpowers and allows leaders to focus on high-value tasks rather than replacing knowledge.
ChatGPT is commonly used, especially after training it with brand guidelines for consistent delivery. Other platforms like Claude and Gemini are also explored for different tasks.
AI helps prepare for conversations by summarizing backstory and feedback, allowing quick coaching during short client processing times. It also combines personality quiz results and review notes to suggest role adjustments.
While accounting teams may use AI for finance, salon owners focus on revenue generation, using AI to brainstorm solutions for improving chair productivity, like optimizing slower days such as Saturdays.
No, many salons keep a human hospitality team and train them to use AI strategically for tasks like scheduling, allowing staff to focus on personal client interactions and service.
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