COACH CAITLYN

I am Cait, the creator of Cait Muir Coaching

It’s always hard to get to know anyone online, but the best way to keep up with me is through my socials, otherwise keep reading!

I joined the industry when I was thirteen years old, qualifying as a hairstylist at seventeen, a make-up artist and a barber at eighteen and purchasing my first salon at nineteen. Since 2009 I have owned and operated multiple hair, beauty and barbering salons – the greatest achievement being ‘Huntress Hair Religion’ in regional Victoria, which I owned and operated for nine years and nine months, eventually selling for a staggering $592,000 in 2019.

I built the business up from a beat-up bogan salon turning over $150,000 per year when I bought it, to exceeding multiple millions in sales every year, and profiting over $200,000 per annum. All the while I was NOT working on the floor (and hadn’t for its final three years!)

I also founded and grew ‘Hunter Barbershop’ from scratch, opening in 2018 and selling in 2021 after a hectic year of lockdowns and making the move up North, from Geelong to Queensland. I never worked on the floor of Hunter, and in short it was EPIC!

Hunter turned a profit within three months of opening, and I built it from a shop with one part time barber, to a team of six full-time barbers and a remote Manager. I don’t want to sit here and tell you that my business ownership journey has been rainbows and smooth sailing, because it hasn’t.

In 2014 I opened and co-owned a hair and beauty salon in country Victoria which I was a partner in for almost twelve months, before selling my shares. Lesson learnt, don’t go into business with family of partners, because when the relationship ends it gets MESSY.

And early in 2012, I purchased a second salon and what a dumb idea that was… 22-year-old me thought I was king dick and that I knew everything – I learned the hard way that I definitely did not! I bought an absolute LEMON from a woman married to an accountant, that should have been a red flag!

September 2012 arrives and it’s been six months since taking ownership, things were slowly starting to improve; I was almost cashflow positive and I had a small team and solid clientele… then what did I do? Went and got myself in a motorbike accident leaving me unable to work for months. It was HELL! So, with broken bones and shattered confidence, I sold for a small $55k profit and moved the F on.

There are so many things I can tell you of what NOT to do in business and life – and there were a lot of lessons in those last two. You take more from the lessons than the successes, right? But over all, I have truly loved my salon-ownership journey as it is what has brought me here, to Cait Muir Coaching.

It was during my 27th year of life that I fell out of love with being a colourist and fell in love with being a boss, a mentor to my team and other salon owners, and educating and coaching people. I literally have the greatest job in the world!

Over my career I have been lucky enough to travel Australia and the world, not only with hairdressing working fashion weeks, platform work and shoots, but also speaking and presenting at business seminars and hair and beauty events, sharing what I know. I’ve also personally earned a number of industry and business awards, at a local, state and national level, and I have trained and grown a number of my own employees; hairdressers, makeup artists and barbers to this level as well.

I am so passionate about the world we work in, and my aim is to teach salon owners to be the best they can be; completely fulfilled and balanced in all aspects of their lives (while profiting – a lot!) I know that when people push through their fear and overcome their past, people can literally do whatever the fuck they want – I am living, breathing, walking, talking proof of that.

Everything I coach and teach, is straight from the horse’s mouth from my own personal experience and the learnings of my clients as well. I’ve been there, done that, experienced the worst of everything. I’ve (literally) had my entire staff walk out, I’ve had weeks of not paying myself, a business that almost went belly-up, and there’s been times where I’ve wanted to burn down the salon and never go back. I hear you GF, you’re not alone! I’ve also had 27 employees at one time, profited a generous six figures whilst travelling the world for months at a time, and relocated and expanded, bought and sold, many, many times over.

I have met and worked with all kinds of salon owners from Australia (my mother ship) and internationally as well, and believe me, I have heard it all, seen it all and helped them overcome it all. It’s never too late or too early, and there is literally nothing that you cannot do. So, let me and my team help you on your way!

STREET CRED

• Former Barbershop Owner, sold 2021
• Former 3X Salon Owner, sold 2019, 2014, 2012
• Certified Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) Master Practitioner
• Certified Non-Violent Communication (NVC) Practitioner
• Accredited DISC Advanced Profiling
• Keynote Speaker at ‘HAIR FESTIVAL’ 2022
• Judge for ‘Australian Modern Barber Awards’ 2022
• Judge for ‘Australian Hairdressing Industry Awards’ 2019, 2020, 2021 + 2022
• Presenter at ‘Woman In Front’ 2021, 2021, 2022 + 2023
• 2020 GMHBA Geelong Young Woman of the Year WINNER
• Keynote Speaker at SalonGrowthCon 2019
• 2018 Geelong Chamber of Commerce HALL OF FAME Inductee
• 2018 GBEA Young Entrepreneur of the Year WINNER
• 2018 GSBA Entrepreneur of the Year WINNER
• Cert IV Qualified Hairdresser
• Hair Team at Fashion Week New York, Sydney + Melbourne
• 2X HBIA Australian Hairdressing Championships WINNER
• 2X IHS Hairdressing Competitions WINNER