Martha Lynn Kale founded Mirror Mirror in 2011 to improve the salon experience and earned the honor of “Best New Salon” and “Best Highlights” from Austin Monthly that same year! Since then, Salon Today has named Mirror Mirror one of the “Top 200 Salons in the Nation” several times! Mirror Mirror is known for offering warm hospitality, creating gorgeous hair, making clients feel beautiful, and being a great place to work! Passionate about products that perform well without compromising health and safety, Martha Lynn is a leader in the safer salon movement. Martha Lynn uses her position as a business leader to empower others to embrace their beauty inside and out so they can go out and be their best - whatever “their best” means to them!

Can you tell our readers about your background?

I left a successful advertising career to go to beauty school. I was working as a media planner for a huge ad agency. It was an incredible opportunity to work for a company that big and to create high-profile, national ads for major corporations. I worked there for three years and then joined the Texas Monthly ad sales team. I was doing really well for myself.  

My stepdad is an entrepreneur and he encouraged me to own my own business. He challenged me to think about what I enjoyed doing and how I could build a business. I am creative and when I thought about owning my own business, I didn’t want to own an ad agency or start a magazine, I wanted to own a salon. I had a nice little apartment and a cute car and got rid of all of it and moved in with my mom to go to beauty school.  

After graduating from cosmetology school, I started working in a small salon, where I learned how to build a clientele all on my own. I got very big, very fast, and I realized that while I was good at marketing myself, I needed to improve my skills. I wanted to be surrounded by more talented stylists so I moved to one of the biggest salons in Austin. There, I improved my skills and technique, learned from experienced stylists, and helped the salon market its business.

I ended up being fired from that salon which catapulted me into opening my own! Mirror Mirror opened in 2011 and we were named “Best New Salon” and “Best Highlights” by Austin Monthly magazine that same year! By 2016, we were named one of the “Top 200 Salons in the Nation” by Salon Today magazine, a distinction we’ve now earned for six years straight.

What inspired you to start your business?

I was the kid at recess braiding my friends’ hair. I was the person in high school and college doing my friends’ hair and makeup. But I never considered it as a career. I grew up in Alabama and working in a salon or a creative field wasn’t as respected; you went to Auburn or Alabama and you got a degree and worked. That’s what I did; I graduated from Auburn with a degree in marketing and went to work! I enjoyed it, and I was good at it, but when I really thought about what I loved, I wanted to be more creative, work with my hands and help people feel beautiful!  

As a stylist, I love how in a few hours, you can completely change your client’s mood! The moment you see your client light up is the best part and absolutely the reason I do what I do. Now, as a business owner, my focus is helping my team members grow and reach goals that they never thought they could. I love to build confidence in others, whether that’s building confidence in clients through hair transformations or building confidence in my stylists through new techniques and goal setting.

Where is your business based?

Mirror Mirror salon is in Austin, Texas.

How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?

I knew I wanted to eventually open my own salon when I went to cosmetology school, so I approached my career as a stylist with that goal in mind. I was planning my wedding when I stumbled upon a space and saw the vision for what Mirror Mirror would become. I fell in love with the location and my fiancé, now husband told me to go for it!

A salon is only as strong as the talent behind the chair so my first step was to enlist talented stylists who understood my vision and shared my passion for genuinely caring for people. After that, the design was critical to bring my vision to life.  So many salons are all black and white and can feel cold or stuffy; I wanted my salon to make guests feel at home. Once I had the right team and the right environment, we were ready to launch!  

What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?

We empower every client with the confidence to love what they see in the mirror!  We provide exceptional hospitality, color, and cuts. Our clients look and feel beautiful and that’s our strongest advertisement. 

What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?

Early on, I choose the wrong business model. I started as a booth rental, which is essentially a real estate transaction. I realized I wanted to create a team of artists who wanted to be a part of something bigger, but first I had to make the transition. It’s hard to go from booth rental to a team-based structure so I started with my first assistant. Once she was ready to go onto the floor and see her own clients, she became my first commissioned stylist.

We grew one by one from there. The team-based commission structure attracts ambitious team players and it creates a career path for stylists. When you build a team of growth-minded individuals, naturally your business will grow and we did.  Today, the stylists at Mirror Mirror earn more than four times the average annual salary for a stylist in the U.S. 

COVID was a huge challenge for our salon. Every chair in Mirror Mirror was filled when we had to shut completely down. In this industry, you can’t work from home and if you’re not working, you can’t get paid. I had to look my team in the eyes over zoom and tell them that we were closing our doors. I was essentially away from their income. My stylists were scared. It was devastating. I knew my role was to calm and care for my team. I created ways for our clients to donate directly to stylists and sold #MirrorMirror strong swag. Many salons jumped into selling gift cards but stylists aren’t paid on gift cards until they are redeemed so we knew that wouldn’t get them the help they needed immediately. I encouraged our team over Zoom and text. I applied for a PPP loan, the U.S. government’s Paycheck Protection Program, and, thankfully, our team was able to be paid the same money they would have earned standing behind the chair in the salon. But the PPP loan wouldn’t have been possible had we stayed in the original business model of booth rental. When we opened again, we gave back to the community, providing 20 makeovers to women impacted by the pandemic. 

How do you stay focused?

I’m committed to picking my kids up from school every day so I my days are tight!  Mornings are sacred for me so I try to do my most strategic work first. I keep my office door closed during certain times of the day to prevent too many people from popping in. I’ve also gotten really good at working in little 15 to 20-minute sprints even in the school carpool line! 

How do you differentiate your business from the competition?

Mirror Mirror is an award-winning, clean beauty salon known for creating brilliant blondes and all-around beautiful hair in a fun, welcoming space that empowers modern women to love what they see in the mirror. We differentiate ourselves through our core values. We are warm and welcoming to clients and behind the scenes to our colleagues. We are fun! We create an upbeat, positive atmosphere in the salon. We are fresh and innovative. We don’t look to other salons for inspiration, we innovate new systems, business models, and teaching methods. We are not a salon that follows trends; we set them.

What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?

Social media is our most effective marketing strategy, which means great photography is critical. People want to see what they can expect when they visit a stylist or a salon so it’s vital that we showcase the quality of our work and the environment we have to offer. Testimonials from clients are important. We really try to paint a full picture for anyone who is looking for a new salon.

What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs? 

Here are three tips for any aspiring or new entrepreneur:

1.    Don’t be afraid to be a leader.

It’s so intimidating when you start your own salon. When you start doing hair, you don’t think about the fact that every single client is someone who’s going to have to break up with their stylist. Similarly, when you open a salon, you don’t think about the fact that your new clients will all have to leave their old salon. You have to stick your neck out and lead. Your team wants and needs someone to show them the way and bring them alongside.

2.    Identify your core values and hire people that share your core values.

The right people are everything! The right people for your business will support you, trust you and get in the trenches with you. On the flip side, the wrong people will get in the way of everything you do.  They will confuse you and distract the right people. Keeping them around will also hold them back from who they are meant to be!

3.    Don’t be afraid to fail

You will mess up. You will try things and they will not work. You will let people down. That’s ok. If you don’t take chances or try things, you won’t know what does work! Your mishaps and failures will shape who you are in business and in life. 

What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?

A goal of mine this year has been to spend less time on my phone and more time reading books. I recently reread Dare to Lead by Brene Brown. This time, I really dug in with my highlighter. I love that she has practical “words to say” to have more meaningful conversations with your team. Brené writes, “A leader is anyone who takes responsibility for finding the potential in people and processes, and who has the courage to develop that potential,” and that resonates with me. I gave the book as a gift to my leadership team and it’s been a complete game-changer!

What's your favorite business tool or resource? Why?

We use the Strengths Finder assessment in our business.  I am a big fan of focusing on my team’s strengths and using those to propel them to the best they can be rather than focusing on trying to “fix” a weakness. I believe in well-rounded teams, not well-rounded people. That’s a perk of being on a great team – if you have an area that isn’t your sweet spot, chances are that someone else on the team can help fill the gap! At Mirror Mirror, we are all the yin to each other’s yang and I think that’s been a huge contributor to our success.

Who is your business role model? Why?

I created Mirror Mirror because I wanted to create a different salon experience. I didn’t look to other salons or business owners as role models. But my mother has been a huge role model for me in life. She was a single mom who was extremely successful and worked her butt off to give us what we wanted. She listened to Zig Ziglar and Tony Robbins while she drove us to school so the mindset that I could be anything and do anything was engrained in me. I am fortunate to have married someone who saw the potential in me and really encouraged me to take chances. My husband believed we could build the staircase as we went…and we have. I wouldn’t be the business owner I am without either of them. 

How do you balance work and life?

I have lots of help. I have created leadership roles in the salon, so I am able to come to the salon, focus, and get it done within school hours. Fridays are my reset day. My husband is awesome and very hands-on. We are partners in business and at home. But I think in general that moms are master managers – we know how to get it done and get it done quickly.

What’s your favorite way to decompress?

Fridays are sacred to me. I try to take Fridays off and spend the day doing things I love. Reading, shopping, or enjoying lunch with a friend helps me to decompress. Friday nights are always date nights with my husband. I’m fortunate that my mom lives in town so our kids spend every Friday night with her. They are getting a bit older so I know our days are probably numbered with that, but I’ll enjoy it as long as I can! Fridays help me to be a better wife, mom, and friend!

What do you have planned for the next six months?

The next six months are going to be very exciting for Mirror Mirror!  We just signed a lease on a new building and are planning to expand in this new space! I am in the thick of planning and this is my favorite part of the process - thinking through what’s working, what we want to carry over, and what we want to re-envision and improve! Each version of Mirror Mirror has surpassed my wildest dreams and I love creating these spaces for my team and our guests!  

How can our readers connect with you?

Readers can connect with me on Instagram @mirrormirroratx, contact me through www.mirrormirroraustin.com or www.marthalynnkale.com