Connection at The Lash Lounge with John Babcock

SPEAKER_1 (0:04)

The Bliss Business Podcast, the show about empathy, connection, and consciousness in business. Today's episode is brought to you by Zero Company, your paid search, social media, and programmatic ad experts.

Stephen Sakach (0:17)

Well, welcome back to the show, everyone. I'm Stephen Sakach here once again with my co-host, Tullio Siragusa, and we've got a special guest who he'll introduce in a moment.

So beauty and wellness businesses are deeply personal. That makes culture especially important in that industry. And the experience depends on local owners, stylists, and emotional connection created with every guest. So people may come in for a service, but they return because of how they feel. And we know community and connection is not just built by a mission statement, it's built by the daily systems, the relationships, the moments of care that help people feel confident and supported and connected. And so we're going to dive into that with our guest today. Tullio, tell our audience about our special guest.

Tullio Siragusa (1:09)

Absolutely. Our guest today is John Babcock. He's the brand president of The Lash Lounge. This is a special continuation of a conversation we began in June when we hosted Meg Roberts, who's the CEO of Head to Toe Brands, to talk about culture, mentorship, franchise leadership, and scaling beauty and wellness brands with care. The Lash Lounge is part of the Head to Toe Brands platform, alongside brands including Frenchies, Modern Nail Care, Bishop Cut and Color, and Delta Crown Extensions. John has been brand president of The Lash Lounge for two years, and he brings a unique perspective because he's also a franchisee. Since 2018, he has owned The Lash Lounge salons in the Detroit metro area, giving him firsthand insight into both brand leadership and day-to-day local ownership.

Before joining The Lash Lounge, John spent 25 years in technology services across software, engineering, sales, operations, business ownership, and executive leadership. John, welcome to The Bliss Business Podcast. Good to have you.

John Babcock (2:16)

Thank you. Happy to be here. Love it. Thank you.

Stephen Sakach (2:19)

John, as Tullio mentioned, this kind of an interesting perspective of you both being brand president, but also franchisee who owns salons. How does being an owner yourself shape the way you lead the brand?

John Babcock (2:35)

Well, first and foremost, because I can speak from experience. Everything that we talk about, plan, initiatives that we undertake, I can think about it from a first-hand experience of, hey, how will this impact the owners, their staff, the salons, their business and their community?

Having had what is going on eight years of experience now on that side, it's definitely a unique perspective. I think it also lends credibility to the things that I undertake with the team, being able to bring that perspective and then turning around and delivering that to the system.

Stephen Sakach (3:17)

Yeah, that's true. I didn't even think about the credibility aspect. It's rare we see that mix, being able to say you also run a franchise as well. So I imagine that helps you get an empathetic mindset for your other franchise owners.

John Babcock (3:37)

Absolutely. We are in the business of people, whether it's the client or the staff, and when a franchisee says, hey, I just had a situation where I lost a stylist, I can say me too. That's happened to me and I completely understand. I understand what it takes to retain the staff. In unfortunate situations where you may have to replace someone, what is that experience like and how long does it take before you can even find the person, and much less hopefully find the right person.

There's a lot of good things that happen. You go, hey, that was excellent and happened to me too. There's some downsides. They're like, yep, that's happened to me as well. From a firsthand experience, yeah, it's very valuable.

Tullio Siragusa (4:22)

Yeah, it sounds like empathy at its best.

We talk about feeling your way through someone else's shoes, but you've actually walked that mile. Now, before The Lash Lounge, you spent 25 years in technology services, held roles across engineering, sales, operations, business ownership, and executive leadership. How has that breadth of experience shaped the way you think about franchise leadership? I'm personally curious about this question because I had a similar background in technology for 33 years. I'm curious personally to hear your thoughts on that.

John Babcock (4:58)

So in my previous life, we were spread across the country, much like what we are as a franchise. We had satellite offices, and so there was a real need for consistency and systems in place.

What you do much like in franchising, if a client comes to see me in one of my salons in Detroit, they go on vacation, certainly want them to have the same experience when they go, say, down to Florida for vacation. That consistency, that structure, so that the client knows what to expect, when to expect it, whether they're working with one of them, in my previous life, an engineer, in those cases versus a stylist today. There's a lot of similarities.