Salon CEO Day, Friday 13 November, Melbourne CBD - grab your spot! https://www.laurenlappin.com.au/salon-ceo-day

“I don’t know how to hire someone. I hardly know how to run a business myself.”

That was Nic in 2024, still working out of her garage, when her first team member asked her for a job.

My Salon Boss Mastermind member Nicola Dainton from Nic’D Collective in Shepparton, Victoria started doing lashes on her three-seater sofa in 2021, on friends, with no plan for it to become a business.

In this episode Nic shares why building slowly let word of mouth do the heavy lifting, how getting obsessed with her numbers changed everything, and how she uses AI to take admin off her plate. We also get real about choosing your hard, and why the path everyone else in the industry seems to be on doesn’t have to be yours.

• Welcome Nic, and how a lash conference led her to the podcast and Salon Boss Mastermind [00:00].
• From real estate to lashes on the couch, moving into the garage, and hiring Ally then Kayla [03:52].
• Leasing the commercial space before she felt ready, and finally separating home and work [08:07].
• Why the people who spend the most on fancy beds and lights early often struggle the most [10:20].
• Going from “I thought I knew my numbers” to doubling revenue in 12 months [12:22].
• Fitting out two shops at once with her partner stuck overseas, and why the money always follows [17:22].
• Why fewer client hours made the salon more money, and how it made Nic a better boss [20:05].
• Sick leave culture, the comments I copped online, and why we’re both over our phones [33:58].
• Setting up AI employees with Grok Bots and Whisperflow, plus your Salon CEO Day invite [38:05].
• Claude vs ChatGPT, the quick Claude Design fix, and automating your weekly reports [47:15].
• Choose your hard, and the Runway Lash Co story behind why I sold it [55:26].
• Final takeaways, and where to follow Nic’s journey [1:06:16].

Want to set up Claude Design the way we talk about in this episode? Grab my AI masterclass here: https://www.laurenlappin.com.au/ai-masterclass

Follow Nic and Nic’D Collective in Shepparton, VIC:

Website: https://www.nicdcollective.com.au

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicdcollective/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nicdcollective

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Lauren on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laurenlappin_

The Salon Goals Podcast: https://www.instagram.com/salongoals_podcast

Questions? Email me: [email protected]