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“I believe big things happen in your life and it opens a door to something else”

Oh my goodness, friend, I’m so pumped that you’re here for this episode of The Anxious Creative Podcast. You are in for such a treat, I’ve got a very special guest; she’s an RYB Alumni, an incredible stylist and salon renter and she’s doing big things in her career. Listen in or read on to hear from Stephanie Raggiunti.

The Salon

Stephanie lives in the Greater Toronto Area, in Ontario, Canada and she’s been in the industry for 18 years. Something that may surprise you is that she’s been in the same salon for those 18 years! Wild, right?

When she started she wanted to make it for the long haul, she had a goal to build and create healthy relationships with her fellow stylists so that she never wanted to leave. Looks like she was able to make that happen. 

She’s now renting her chair at the salon but she started out as an employee with an hourly wage, then she went on to be a commission stylist before finally settling on renting. 

The shift from commission stylist to a renter was a difficult transition because it happened during the worst time of her life. 

The Worst Time

Stephanie and I have had a similar life path. We’re both now running our own hair businesses, but we’ve also both been married and divorced. We even divorced at the same age, 28. 

I went self-employed during the thick of my divorce and Stephanie switched to renting on her own. It was as though we both needed freedom in another area of our lives.

The thing about divorce is you don’t understand it until you go through it. 

From the outside, Stephanie had the white-picket-fence life. She was married at 24, bought a house at 24, was married to a great man and she had it all. They had expensive vehicles, great careers and they were on track to do it all. Then it all got stripped away and Stephanie was left wondering “now what?”.

Stephanie recalls the talk she had with her then-husband about the end of their marriage and explains that it was almost an out-of-body experience and she couldn’t even believe the words came out of her mouth. 

Sometimes big things happen in your life and it opens a door to something else. For Stephanie, her divorce brought her to question “what good things can I do in my life?” And that was taking control of her business. 

Rocking Her Business

Almost immediately after finalizing the details with her then-husband, she went to her salon and said “let’s do this, I’m ready to become a renter.” Her manager was super onboard and Stephanie was thrown into the deep end. 

Luckily, she’s a great swimmer and thrives in that sort of environment, she literally had no idea what she was doing. 

She was solid with attracting and keeping clients, she was a talented hair stylist, but when it came to the business side of things she had no idea what to do. Rock Your Business has been a game-changer for her. 

Although Stephanie doesn’t remember the exact moment she heard about Rock Your Business, she does remember seeing my name pop up here and there on Instagram and wondered “who is she?”. Stephanie did a little creepin’ on my profile and once she saw my love for the Backstreet Boys, she knew we were kindred spirits. 

If you don’t know, I’m totally obsessed with the Backstreet Boys and, in my opinion, they are the greatest boy band ever. If you wanna hear Stephanie and me fangirl over BSB you are gonna wanna listen to this episode (hit play above).

So my BSB love got Stephanie in the door, but I was curious to what actually drew her into Rock Your Business? Her answer definitely made me tear up:

“Your energy. I started watching your morning lives and you drew me in with your realness.” 

Definitely the best compliment ever.

Stephanie took the leap and joined Rock Your Business in January of 2021, right in the midst of lockdown in Ontario and a pandemic. It ended up being an easy decision for Stephanie to make because whenever she heard me talk she kept wanting to know more. 

At the time of recording this podcast, Stephanie still hadn’t returned to work. Despite not even being able to be behind the chair she says that Rock Your Business was 100% worth it. 

Stephanie’s the type of person that loves learning and implementing right away. She knows that if she doesn’t implement things right away that it was a bad investment. Stephanie says that every module she went through she implemented as much as she could, without being behind the chair. 

Even though she hasn’t been able to see her clients, she’s stayed on their radar by sending out monthly emails. Although she admits that some months it’s hard because she doesn’t always know what to write about. 

Stephanie is such an active member in the communities and I asked her to speak a little bit about the communities. 

“I like the fact that I can speak with like-minded people who know what I’m talking about without judgement. I’ve put up some weird questions for help and I get responses! People are so supportive. Being able to brainstorm and bounce ideas off of others has been life-changing.”

Stephanie’s words to someone who’s thinking of joining Rock Your Business are “just do it”. 80% of stylists spend a good amount of money on education each year, why not invest in something for your business? Stephanie still finds value in the course and she’s so excited for the future. 

She’s ready to get back behind the chair, implement more stuff from Rock Your Business, grow her business as much as she can and maybe, if an opportunity arises, even open her own salon. 

I know she’s gonna ROCK everything she puts her mind to.

I’m so proud of everything Stephanie has done for herself and her business and it’s such an honour to be able to be her coach inside of Rock Your Business. If you’re interested in learning more about the incredibly supportive community (including Stephanie) and how you too can start growing your business, without any stress, get yourself on the waitlist for first dibs at the next enrolment. I’d love to see ya in there.

If Stephanie inspired you today, go send her a DM on Instagram over @colouredbystephi or on her website here (if you love her website you can learn how to create your own beautifully branded website here)

Thanks again for joining us, friend, see ya in the next one.

Let’s be besties?