"Present yourself professionally, and you'll find that this can be a very profitable business," says Linda DiMariano, Sebastian's national training manager for professional care and styling. "If you do not respect the professional part, however, this can be a very discouraging business."

To be fully professional, DiMariano recommends:

1. Respect what you do. If you think of your work as a profession, your attitude will naturally follow.

2. Dress to maintain a professional image. "Not long ago, I was meeting with a salon owner on Newberry Street in Boston," recalls DiMariano. "Two women walked in and asked if anyone was available to take them right then. The receptionist said that they could choose any stylist who didn't have a client in the chair. The women looked over the staff, and both chose the stylist who was dressed the most professionally. Yet I see stylists going to work in jeans, flip-flops, no makeup and bad hair."

3. Keep an open mind to every aspect of beauty and to every stimulus that comes your way. If your taste is conservative, for example, don't shut down when you're presented with something that seems over-the-top or excessively artistic. If you simply dismiss it because you couldn't picture your clients ever wearing that look or you would not recommend it to anyone, you'll close yourself off to something you could learn. Maybe it's a technique that helped to create the style. Maybe it's an approach to dealing with a difficult hair type. Says DiMariano, "You don't have to copy the style, but stay open to the presentation."

4. Dedicate yourself and work hard. Take responsibility for where you want your career to go. It may mean working seven days a week or ten hours a day, but there will be a payoff.

5. Have passion for what you do. If you don't, maybe you should switch salons, specialize in the aspect of beauty you love most or go into sales or education instead of being behind the chair.

6. Take classes; continually educate yourself.

7. Become a better retailer. "When I talk about retail to hair artists, I see their eyes glaze over," says DiMariano. "Then I ask, "Where does the majority of your clientele come from?' They'll say it's from referrals. Exactly. Where do referrals come from? From your clients' hair being an example of your work. You have to give clients the tools to keep their hair looking the way you designed it. When that light went on for me as a stylist was when I started making more money. That's when I really became a professional."