As a beginner in the industry, no doubt you’ve experienced a time where you felt unsure of yourself, uncertain of your talent and capabilities in the salon—what if I’m not good enough? What if I mess up? What if they leave unhappy?

The truth is, every successful stylist has experienced the fear, the uncertainty and the anxiety. Even the most successful stylists had challenges in cosmetology school, felt the anxiety of servicing their first client, and felt the fear when applying for their first salon job. But they persevered through the challenges.

The expression: ‘Success is a journey, not a destination’—this expression holds true as we talk to some the industry’s finest about their challenges, their successes and their first salon jobs.

“Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple, really: Double your rate of failure. You are thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn’t at all. You can be discouraged by failure or you can learn from it—so go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because remember that’s where you will find success.”

—Thomas J. Watson, President of IBM, who oversaw the company's growth from 1914 to 1956.

Patrick Mathes
NAHA 2010 Student Hairstylist of the Year

Growing up in Carmel, Indiana, Patrick Mathes was interested in Barbie dolls, playing “house” or “nail salon” with girls from class or the neighborhood, rather than playing with his two brothers.

“Up until sophomore year, I never really cared about school,” he says. “I threw away freshman year and just goofed off.” It wasn’t until Mathes’ mom insisted he get a job that his outlook on life changed. Mathes searched and searched for a good fit—trying desperately to find a job he actually enjoyed. Finally, when he got a job answering phones for his mother’s stylist at a little salon called Bekah’s, he knew he had found his passion.

“After answering phones in the beginning, I was then put in charge of ordering products—then I did a couple of marketing pieces, then I was asked to do payroll,” Mathes says. “I thought, ‘Isn’t this what you’re paying the manager to do?’ Bekah said to me, ‘If you weren’t in school, you would be the manager.’ That one comment made me realize, ‘Hey, I’m good at what I do!’”

Before long, Mathes was heading to high school school during the day and, as soon as it hit 3:10 p.m., he was off to the salon to do what he loved.

“At age 16, to be called Assistant Manager—made me feel unstoppable,” he says. But then, the economy turned for the worse—the books were dead, hours were getting cut and he could no longer afford all the things he wanted. Fortunately, Mathes found a new job at Beauty Brands Spa Superstore. He attended high school, and half days at vocational school for cosmetology at Kaye’s Beauty College. He continued his education at Aveda Fredric’s Institute in Indianapolis, Indiana. And it all took off from there.

“I can remember the first day I had to go on the salon floor,” he says. “I thought, ‘OMG, I have to talk to someone I don’t know? What will we talk about? What if they hate me?’” In fact, Mathes was so anxious about the salon floor experience that he ended up skipping school for two weeks!

Eventually, he mustered up the courage to go back and hit the ground running. “I knew I just had to do it,” he says. His first client had long, black, thick hair and wanted two-inches off her length, with zero projection. “The consultation didn’t go that bad—and the hair cut was easy, it came naturally,” he says. “I remember her clearly because she tipped me $40 on a $5 hair cut!”

Mathes became so good at cutting and styling, he entered the North American Hairstyling Awards and snagged the biggest win a student can earn—2010 Student Hairstylist of the Year! “I don’t remember much from that night—all I know is when they announced me as the winner, I strangled my educator!”

Now that he’s graduated, he can walk right up to a client and do a full consultation and talk all the way through the service, without feeling the fear he once felt.

“Being a hairdresser is something I fell into and I didn’t think I was going to like,” Mathes says. “However, I ended up falling in love with the profession. I love that there is something new everyday and that I don’t have to sit behind a desk! NAHA has really reinforced my creativity and it has helped build my passion for hairdressing.”

Mathes accepts his NAHA 2010 Student Hairstylist of the Year Award.


Check out more industry icons talking about their first salon jobs:
Beth Minardi: My First Chair
Faatemah Ampey: My First Chair
Michael Shaun Corby: My First Chair
Sherri Jessee: My First Chair
Kimberly Kimble: My First Chair
Patrick Mathes: My First Chair