Kylie Hayes: The Freedom to Do What I Love
Owning a salon and winning countless awards might seem like a lofty goal, but our longtime friend and Timely user, Kylie Hayes from Moha Hairdressing, takes it all in her stride. We chatted to Kylie about business, being an artist, and how Timely has given her the freedom to do what she loves.
Kylie Hayes of Moha Hairdressing is an award winning hair stylist from Dunedin, New Zealand. She recently represented NZ in London, winning the Platinum International Trend Vision Award, which lead to her being nominated for International Hairdresser of the year.
Watch Kylie’s story above, or check out the full Q&A below:
Hi Kylie! What can you tell us about being a salon owner?
Once upon a time we had a huge 194m² loft-style salon. It was a huge business and it got to the point where we had 12 people in the one space. That’s a lot of personalities to manage. We wanted to take control and future proof ourselves, so made the decision to build a more bespoke, boutique presence hair salon: Moha.
With a smaller team you can enjoy yourself more and it’s easier to trust those you’re working with. Moha has allowed us to have the freedom and flexibility to grow a family. I’ve never worried about the money. I truly believe that if you know, and love what you’re doing, the money follows.
What else do you do in the hair industry?
I’m an artist; I understand hair and how to make it work. I create beautiful colours, beautiful textures, and I chose hair to be my medium. I remember going to my first ever expo, looking through the gallery and thinking, “This is me. I want to be producing these images to inspire other people in the industry.”
You’ve got to do what you love, because then you’ll never have to work a day in your life. I know that’s really cheesy, but that’s the reality. I’ve got so many clients that are unhappy in their workplace, and I’m like, “What do you love? What do you want to do?” I love hairdressing.
What I love about the digital world is that it can actually make us international, even being from Dunedin. I’m hugely competitive. I really like to win. When I’m doing my competition work people say to me, “She’s so detailed.” Everything works harmoniously together. When I teach that, I say to people “You’ve got to think about your total look, your total story, what are you trying to teach us or show us?”
I often enter international competitions and love the creative thinking, planning, and execution that goes into them. I’ve won numerous awards representing New Zealand around the world. I recently won the Platinum International Trend Vision Award in London, and that led to me being nominated for International Hairdresser of the year.
How did you get onto Timely?
I got into Timely because I was at my masseuse. She was making her appointments and I was like, “What is that?”, and she showed me. You can do it anywhere and everywhere, and she’s like “Yeah it’s brilliant”. She introduced me to Timely, we looked into it further and it was a no-brainer for us.
The beauty of being with Timely is that I’m able to free up my time. It gives me the flexibility to be anywhere and everywhere, and log in. People always say to me, “How do you do all the things that you do?” When you have the systems in place that allow you to do that, like the ease of Timely, then you have the freedom, the flexibility, and the time to be doing the other things that you love. Which for me is being on the salon floor, doing competitions, and being with my family.
I love that my customers can book anytime they want, whenever suits them. People want to book at 10pm at night when no one will be answering the phone. I know that I do that. It will get to the end of a busy week and I will realise I haven’t made an appointment somewhere, so having an online booking system makes like so much easier. That’s what I want to offer my clients.
I’ll see a client in a coffee shop, they say they want an appointment and I can just book them in right there and then on the app, which is brilliant.
I love that Timely helps me run my business, so much so that I can spend the time I need to on the salon floor with my customers and working on the international competition pieces, and still spend enough time with my family.
We have changed between three salon software options in 10 years, and Timely has everything we need. It’s brilliant.
