F*ck Your Booking System: Meet Prexi, The ONLY App Built for LICENSED Hairdressers

[00:00:00] So you want to be a hairdresser? Be a 1099? Did you get your UBI number, your EIN number through the IRS? Do you have your business license? You need one from the state? You need one from the city that you work in? Do you have a charging platform where you go through and charge all your clients? What do you have down for that? What are your rates on things like that? Do you have your insurance all set up and your social media all connected to your business? Your website? Is that connected to Google and to your Yelp account?

[00:00:30] Fck, I just want to do hair. Real hairdressers telling real stories about their experiences from behind the salon chair. And we are now saying the quiet parts out loud. This is Shit I Told My Hairdresser.

[00:01:01] Hairdresser. Hola, how are you? I'm doing great. I'm excited to meet um... Fant. I've known him for quite a while so we're gonna go through and bring on our friend here in a second. But before that guys, if you guys don't mind, smash up those like buttons. Hit those subscribe buttons. It's free to do. And make sure that you're going through and telling 10 of your friends and 20 people you hate about the show. Because just like the industry, we are the word of mouth. And we want your stories.

[00:01:27] Hit us up on Instagram, on TikTok, but also go to our website at ShitIToldMyHairdresser.com and send us an email. Because we want your stories. We want real people. Real hairdressers. We're one of those shows where it's like we're bringing on the real guests. Not like all of these high profile hairstyles. Some. Some are. Some are absolutely. You know what I mean? But we want the raw stories and what you guys are going through because this is for everyday hairdressers.

[00:01:54] So having said that though, we have someone on here who I've been working with for the past like eight or nine months. His name is Om. And he hit me up and it was one of those things where he wanted to get on the podcast. And I was like, I don't think we're ready yet. You know, and we've been working on it and working on it because it has been one of those kind of like little passion projects.

[00:02:19] Definitely for him, but it's almost become like those passion project for me as well. And I mean, I've been bugging on a lot on this topic and certain things I like or I don't like. And he is so open to the conversations we've been having. It's absolutely amazing. But what I'm talking about is about the booking systems inside the salon. I don't know about you guys, but they fucking drive me crazy. They don't do what they promise they say they're going to do.

[00:02:49] Or if they do some of the things, you know, I mean, it's kind of like half ass is never. They don't do much. They do the bookings for you. And then everything else is kind of left up to you. Well, yeah. And I know I know people, Jason, that have used the booking systems and then they go in and correct the clients have booked. And they spend more time correcting what the clients and the booking system has done than actually just contacting the clients and just booking them.

[00:03:16] Exactly. And one of the things that really bugs the fuck out of me, though, is that I'm not going to say the name. All right. Of the booking system that we use right now. I'm not going to say it because I know you guys are going to. I just going to get all now. We're going to get hit with you. I haven't got a cease and desist yet, but I'm looking forward to one. So if I get one, I'm going to fucking frame it. But it doesn't. The booking system is not Avenue. It's not Street, but something to that effect. You know what I mean?

[00:03:46] And even when you go through, you call them up or you reach out to somebody, say like, hey, can we go through and can we fix this? Or they go, oh, yeah, here's a website. And basically it's all this hairdressers that use their platform and they just bitch about what's happening and they do nothing about it. And one of the things that I've been working with Om for the past nine months or so, I said, hey, Om, can you change something on the booking platform? And he does it. Oh, I can't wait to hear about that.

[00:04:15] So, guys, let's introduce Om. And Om, you're starting up a new booking system. It's called Prexy. It has been a long time coming since you've been working on it for the past two years. And tell us how this kind of came about because you're not a hairdresser. You're not a hairdresser. So I'll give you my background a little bit. So my name is Om. I'm the founder of Prexy. I have been – my background is in building and growing businesses.

[00:04:44] I have been involved with sales and operations since I was 18. So most of what I've learned is by being close to the actual problem, talking to people, understanding how businesses operate, identifying where things break down, and then building solutions and systems around those problems. And that's exactly what I have been doing over the past two years while building Prexy. I have been listening.

[00:05:11] I have been building, validating, rebuilding, and continuing to have conversations with professionals, clients, students, and industry stakeholders to bring Prexy to what it is. And it all started from my journey as a client. It was – I was about – I was trying to solve the discovery problem, you know, after moving cities. It was like even after all these years and this industry being massive, it was still difficult to discover professionals near you.

[00:05:39] You know, still we use the basic tools, which is Google. 90% of the clients that I've talked to. Yeah. And I asked them, like, how do you find your professionals? They would say, Google. You know, barber near me. Hair stylist near me. So I started solving that problem. And after talking to professionals, I started building infrastructure. But yeah, when I started reaching out to professionals, I got to know that they have a whole set of different problems that they are dealing with every day.

[00:06:04] And despite the fragmentation being a big one, the main problem was that in this industry, to provide these services, you have to be licensed. And none of the booking platforms that existed, they acknowledged that. And just to verify that – Wait. Are you serious? Are you serious? Are a lot of these people that use these booking systems are not professional licensed cosmetologists? That is ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. No, no, no, no.

[00:06:33] No, but here's the biggest point, though, is that you have to be a licensed professional to be on one. Yeah. I actually did that. Not okay. I'll tell you. Like, there are over 40 booking platforms that I did my research on. And I created my account on the biggest one, like 10 bigger platforms. And within 60 seconds, I was an esthetician. I was a cosmetologist. I was a hairdresser without having to ever touch hair. And a surprising part, I still have the screenshot of that email.

[00:07:03] I actually got a booking on a really big platform. I got a booking. Yeah. A girl wanted to get a haircut for her sister. And they were like, they booked me. Obviously, I called in and canceled it. But imagine the trauma that I would have given her. But that was the problem. You had to book a Brazilian. Yeah. We married you now. Yeah. It was like, I was surprised.

[00:07:24] But the thing was, being licensed is like, you know, there are professionals who are doing over thousand hours of training, who are doing examinations, who are doing practicals. And yet, these platforms, they have to compete with people who did not do any of that. You know, you do the thing in the right way, yet you have to compete with unlicensed individuals. So, that's when I started building from this being the foundation, which means licensing being the foundation.

[00:07:52] So, you cannot sell on Prexy if you do not have a license. So, you book your license. We verify it. And once we know that you have your licenses verified, only then your profile gets visible to the public and you can sell your services. So, that was the basis of it. And from there on, we started building on and on every problem that I talked to professionals. They were like, I have talked to over, I would say, 1500 people.

[00:08:18] It includes professionals, clients, students, salon owners, school owners, like a lot of people from the industry. And that's how and what has shaped Prexy. And I'm going to ask a question. So, are you talking not just professional license, also a business license? And then do you go over liability insurance as well? Yes. So, when you come on Prexy, how we are building Prexy, it's like, I started with building for individual professionals, like people who are 1099.

[00:08:48] And so, on Prexy, when you come, you will see there is individual section, there is business section, and then there are schools. So, because even I also had to take care of the students because they are the one coming up with the most creative ideas. You know, people who have been in this industry for over 10 years, they already have their clientele. It's the people who are entering this industry. They not only have to build their clientele, they also have to be the social media manager and everything.

[00:09:16] So, it's from them that I have been getting all these ideas too. So, yeah, we cater to individual professionals, businesses, and schools so that students can get appointments through them. So, you're going across the board. You're not eliminating just us older hairdressers and the people that have been up for 10, 15 years. You're going for the young ones as well. So, it sounds like you've got an umbrella of services to everyone.

[00:09:39] Yes, and that's exactly why it took me over two years because I had to intentionally build, not overbuild or not under deliver. So, I had to intentionally build, talk to people, I build it, I rebuild it, I talked to people, gave God feedback, and I rebuild it. So, if I were to give you, it's not a booking system at this point. It's an infrastructure for the industry and a trust layer for the clients. So, that is what it came about to be.

[00:10:08] Exactly. And so, I think that was probably the most important thing as well, though, too, is that this isn't just like another booking system. You know, an age where it's like, oh, look how amazing we are. This goes through and all the pieces that are fragmented, it kind of puts them all together. And I thought that was probably one of the most important things that you were doing with this platform, you know? Yeah. And it's like, I think one of the most important things as well, though, too, is that you're going to be going through and doing a ton of advertising. So, go through and actually put it out there.

[00:10:38] So, this will actually bring clients to the people in their area. And so, that's one of the things that what happens with it, we say you have a booking system. Then you got to get an Instagram. Then you got to go through and do a Google platform. Then you have to get a Yelp platform. You have to build a website. You have to put all this shit together. You know what I mean? And then you go through and you can start doing clients. Right. Exactly. You know, there were multiple things that opened up just by building the foundation of licensed only.

[00:11:06] Because once you know that these are the people you can trust, like, you know, when you know that all the people on the industry side are the people you can trust, through that we built a community hub where conversations could happen. Because right now, communication itself is fragmented. Because if there are issues that you want to raise awareness about, people are trying their best on their own. People can, you know, you are doing it on Instagram along with Paula. There are people on Facebook groups. There are people on Reddit. But the thing is, even though they are raising important issues, they do not get attention.

[00:11:36] So, once we are able to bring licensed professionals on one platform, the conversations can start happening, you know, about important issues that are about the industry. You know, there are things that are happening every day about legislatures that would affect everyday professionals. But they are not just aware about it. Correct. That's awesome. So, you're adding accountability, integrity, knowledge, information, all of that all in one, sounds like. So, it's like the booking system is just a part of it.

[00:12:05] I got to know, like, there are multiple things that every professional has to handle. So, yeah, just by being the base layer of licensed only, so we also got to know there are also people who do not have a license but are crucial to the industry, like salon owners, school owners, or manufacturers. So, even them, we verify them personally before we let them onto the ecosystem. Once they are on the ecosystem and along with verified students.

[00:12:33] So, once we also own both schools when they have a profile on Prexy and they are able to sell services. So, because students are also an important factor of this industry, but they do not have a license yet. So, instead of, so we cannot show their profiles publicly. So, what we do is we allow the school to build up a profile and sell services and anyone who books an appointment with the school, the school can then assign that appointment to those students.

[00:13:00] So, that the students can build up their portfolio and reviews so that they don't have to start from zero. And they can also participate in industry conversations because they are the future of the industry and they can also get network and get mentors here. Do you add educators to this as well? Can educators run this? Okay, great. Yes, so, community hub is just one part where any conversation can happen, formal, informal. But then there is industry voices and resources section.

[00:13:29] That's where the education stuff can happen. Like the quality education. Because I know like professionals, even though they have their busy days, they still try to provide more value to the industry by creating content like yours. So, that section, industry voices and resources section is the section where you can put that quality content. And along with that, we also do a little thing because, you know, monetization is a big thing.

[00:13:55] So, we allow people who find value from your content to tip because tipping is really ingrained in this industry. You know, you know when to tip, when you get value. So, in that section, so in the community hub, it's just question answers. You can connect and, you know, talk to other people. But in the industry voices and resources section is where the quality content is put on. And people can educate themselves. They can get to know more. So, it's not about that get subscribed, get the package. It's just like you post the content.

[00:14:24] If people find value, they do tip. They support you. So, that is how we are building an infrastructure for this industry because just by being licensed professional, being the foundation, and you know that everyone you can trust, there are more things that we can onboard. Jobs, hiring, and networking. Like, Jason can host an event or in his own salon and saying, yeah, come on. And everyone on this platform is licensed.

[00:14:50] So, anyone who asks to get invited, Jason knows that they are licensed. They are verified. So, we are trying to bring this industry together because that's how the industry gets powerful. And power comes back to the licensed professional instead of anyone else dictating it. Exactly. And that was the thing was like bringing the power back to the professionals. You know what I mean? So, it's like you have a platform here where it's like you can actually go through and email Om, the owner of the platform, and he'll actually go through and make those changes for you.

[00:15:19] You know what I mean? Or it's like, hey, exactly. Exactly. So, that's like, that was kind of like the whole point of Prexy was to go through and not just build this platform, to go through and make money off the booking system like the other people have. You know what I mean? But it's allowing the hairdressers to have more of a voice within it. And then if there are things that can actually benefit the platform, things will be changed. Exactly. You know? And that's what Om did.

[00:15:46] And that's what he's connected me with other professionals in the industry already without even being, you know, having the platform ready. You know? So, I'm also talking to other people within the industry. And that's where he's getting all of his ideas. It's from hairdressers, not from investors, not from big corporations. You know what I mean? This is kind of what is needed. This is kind of like a platform that's built for hairdressers and will be guided by hairdressers. Right. Yeah.

[00:16:15] And I've got to be honest with you. When I started reading through the talking points, I really, really was pleasantly surprised at the fact that you don't pay for Prexy until you're guaranteed your first free clients that, bam, you are for the hairdresser. You're for the industry. Not just, I'm going to sell you this platform. You're just going to pay for it every month and you have no choice. You just have to deal with it. Oh, and by the way, you have a year of membership. Maybe it might take you, oh, another year to cancel if you're not satisfied.

[00:16:45] Oh, yes. Exactly. Because the main reason people come to this industry is for freedom. You know? Every month, the calendar resets. So, every month after three bookings, that's when you pay the subscription fee. After you make money on it, that's when you pay the subscription. Because, you know, there could be months that you don't want to work. You know? You just want to take a holiday. You want to go away. So, that's when you don't have to pay. But that doesn't mean that you will disconnect from the platform. You will still be connected to the community. You can still know what conversations are happening.

[00:17:15] You know? What kind of jobs are there? What kind of events are happening? Because it is an ecosystem at the end. So, that's what was important to me. Because I got to know that even Jason, as he mentioned, that people get stuck in these contracts, yearly contracts. Yeah.

[00:17:30] You know? Another subscription.

[00:18:00] Because that's all over the internet right now. They have all these things. Like, how many subscriptions are you paying for? Well, this one's already paid for itself by the time you get around to paying for it. So, isn't that the first day? Great. That's amazing. Or if it's in the next, like, week? Perfect. You know? But you didn't pay for it until you actually made money off of it. So, that is definitely bringing power back to the professionals. Yes. And what I found fascinating is Prexy can still be useful if you don't use it in your booking system.

[00:18:30] How does that? Yes. You know? Because when I started talking to professionals and I was like, yeah, come on, Prexy. You know? We are building this. But everyone had their own booking system. And I understand that this is a huge undertaking for them to change everything. So, Prexy, the entry of Prexy is your license number. Nothing else. If you have a license number, you come on Prexy. And then you are able to participate in anything that we offer. It's not just booking system. It's just one part of it.

[00:18:58] Because there are many more things that professionals have to deal with. You know? And it's also from the feedback that we built it. You know? And also, I don't know, one small thing that I will mention is like, you know, it's from the feedback that I got. We even are rebuilding the review system. You know? Instead of the five stars. Because clients always get confused. They were like, yeah. Anything that has three in it, they think that, yeah, it is no difference between one or three. You know? What is the difference between 4.6 stars or 4.8?

[00:19:28] So, how we are scoring Prexy is out of 10 on three categories, which is experience. How was the experience? The overall experience. How was their hygiene? And results. So, it gives a better, more information to the client when they evaluate the professional. And it gives a better feedback to the professional himself. So, they are able to see out of 10. And you are able to also differentiate between two things.

[00:19:54] Because that was one of the big things that every professional did say is review bombing sometimes. You know? Then you are able to, if the score range is out of 10, then you are able to differentiate between someone who is constructive criticism, who has given you like 7 or 6. Or someone who is trying to give you 1 out of 10. You know? You are able to differentiate that. So, that was one of the main things, how we built it. Yeah, because that's how it happened in my salon, where it's like one of the girls, I don't know, I think she fucked someone's boyfriend or something like that.

[00:20:23] And so, the girl found out. And so, she went on to Google and started writing shitty reviews about this girl, about her professional work. You know, when she should be like actually going through and trashing her, you know, basically like how she treats herself personally. So, there are people that get out there and do that where we've actually found that have never been, they're not on our platform, never been to our salon.

[00:20:46] And yet, someone pissed them off or, like I said, someone fucked someone's boyfriend and then the next thing you know, boom, they're writing a shitty review. And they'll go to Google, they'll go to Yelp, but wherever they can actually do it. And we can't find them. Can't find their email. What change happened on Yelp? I had the same thing happen on Yelp. A year after I bought my salon, so I bought my salon 2018, 2019, my ex-husband went on Yelp and gave me a bad review on my salon, not on me.

[00:21:15] The divorce is final in 2010. So, I think somebody had a little bit of that. But he was able to do that and then Yelp wouldn't take it off. And I just said, hey, this is my ex-husband that did this. And they're all, there's nothing we can do. No one to talk to. They don't care. Yeah. And then you have to put your valuable time to deal with them. Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. And along with that, sorry.

[00:21:38] I'm going to say, well, I think one of the most valuable things as well, too, that you mentioned earlier on was that your profile follows you, even if you go from one salon to another salon. And that is really important. Because otherwise, you have to go through and do a whole new Google platform, a new Yelp page. You have to go through and do a new website. And that way, make sure all those connect. You got to get on your social and make sure everyone's following you. You know what I mean? As opposed to this, this is a one stop. And then it follows you. Let me let you answer that.

[00:22:08] But then after that, there's also something else on here, another level, another layer added to it. And that's how we can go through and actually rate the client. So, yeah, I would love to do that. Yeah. This is, again, came back from, come from professionals itself.

[00:22:28] First of all, with salons, it was that professionals who have been working in salons for like six years or maybe more than sometimes they want to go independent or, you know, go somewhere else or changing states. Their reviews always on Google were attached to the salon. So what we do is without harming any of them, we duplicate it. So the reviews are also with the salon. But the same reviews that are earned by that professionals are duplicated on their profile as well.

[00:22:55] So that so it is like even the salon doesn't, you know, loses the reputation because it is by doing the services in that salon that that professionals have earned the reviews. But it is for the professionals as well. So that is why we made it in a way that all the reviews that are earned on Prexy by the professionals, they stick with them no matter where they go. Again, it comes back to freedom because this profession is supposed to give you freedom. And that's how we have built Prexy.

[00:23:22] And for the client perspective, there were multiple experiences by professionals that they told me, you know, because it is the reviews always have been one sided. So on Prexy, what we do is that professionals after the service is done, they are able to rate the client and also put labels as in like on time or late or, you know, was an issue like any kind of major labels that they can put.

[00:23:46] So anytime an appointment comes to you, you are able to click on the profile of the client and able to see what is the history of the client by other professionals. And we keep the name of the people private. You have to trust the platform because everyone on us is verified. So it's not that anyone can rate the client. You know, you are able to see what the client is because it is about safety of both professionals and clients that we have to we had to be in the mind while developing it.

[00:24:14] So it's like your Uber driver can rate you and you can rate your Uber driver. That's it. That's brilliant. Absolutely. That's it. And all of these things and technology has been really simple, but none of these big platforms who have been in this industry for decades have made millions and billions of dollars from the people of the industry has tried to listen or build. And that's why when I started. Yeah.

[00:24:38] It's like, you know, even the people like who have been in this industry for over 30 years or 40 years, when I come to them with this concept, they get excited. They are excited about it, that licensed only infrastructure that has been the basis of it. And over them that when I tell them all of this, because obviously we are in an industry with giants, the companies who have, you know, tops five or six companies in this industry. They collectively have one point three billion dollars of funding.

[00:25:08] And with that, they could do wonders for the professionals, but they could not. And that's why that's why I felt the need of building Prexy. And I have been receiving good feedback from every professional I talk to. And that's how we came here. Okay. I'm curious about something now you have. Let's say you have professionals that let their license expire, but they continue practicing.

[00:25:30] Is there something on your platform that will let hairdress other hairdressers and clients know this has been neglectful about their profession? Oh, so what we do is, so first we give you a reminder before your license gets expired. We give you that, hey, your license is about to expire in two months. But if you do not do that, we archive your profile. We hide your profile. It's not publicly visible because essentially our aim is to tell the time you have a license, your profile is publicly visible.

[00:25:59] But once it is not, we archive your profile. And if you reactivate your license, you let us know and we reactivate your profile. So it is about that. But if there are, because obviously there are issues that I wouldn't understand myself. So always I will be putting up professionals. Like it's not just always me doing the decisions or customer service. I will be asking professional and they will be getting paid for it.

[00:26:22] That I'll be putting a committee of professionals that will change every two years with these kind of issues where licenses involve, where industry is involved. Something that I don't understand, like I would not be able to give an answer to properly. I will push it to them. I will say, yeah, this is a professional who let his license expire. Can you tell us what should we do with them? So it will be they who will be deciding us and telling us what to do with them. Okay. And then what about people that like pregnancy with women or illness or anything like that?

[00:26:51] Can they put on the platform saying, I'll be out for a while due to this and I can refer you to this person or this person? Yeah. And not just that, we are also putting trying to put more because, you know, as a platform, we'll be earning more as well. So we'll be trying to put funds for people who have to go there, who have to go out for, you know, issues that are like or like, let's say, pregnancy or parentally. We would be able to even support them as well to some extent. That is something we have built.

[00:27:18] But yeah, they will be able to come to us and tell us that, yeah, this is the issue, let's say. And also there's one more thing. Suppose next week you have to go somewhere else, but you have your clientele, right? Right. So you can even come to us saying, hey, Prexy, I have these clients, but next week I have to go. So what we will do is we will show you, we will connect you with professionals who are in your locality and have those time slots available.

[00:27:43] So we'll just connect you with them and you can see their profiles, see their reviews, see their portfolios and see if they are good for your clients. You can give, you know, you can give you over your appointments to them so that. I would have to approve. I would have to approve of the people that we get. Yeah, I would. Yeah, I wouldn't enforce it. I will just connect you. So I'm a connector at Prexy and I'll connect you with them. And you would be the one deciding that if it if the person is good to get that, I can trust my clients with them because at the end it is a connected ecosystem.

[00:28:12] You are all are a part of big family. And, you know, this is how I think it will also give more freedom to professionals where they do not have to worry about the way they don't have to miss graduation or surprise birthday parties. You know, you can confidently go out. Oh, wow. I'm following. Or reschedule either way. Yeah. Or reschedule either which way, wherever you want to do. You know what I mean? But this is like it's opening new doors on how we think about booking. Yeah. You know.

[00:28:38] You're building this community because, I mean, this community, hair dressers and the industry, it has for years and years have been a bit divisive, which is unfortunate because we're supposed to be a team. And it sounds like kind of helping build that team and and bond them. Yes, it will be a good it will be a hard task. But at least through Prexy, I will be able to show what is possible for this industry and what has not been done. But what is possible?

[00:29:04] You know, it can either because in these two years I have fallen in love with this industry. The people they do, they make business out of their own two hands. They are they give confidence in other people. So my main aim is to either build it myself or show the vision of what is possible, even if it's I'm not done, like they can see like what they are missing out. So that is what my aim is to give them all these opportunities and the value that we can provide to them.

[00:29:32] The biggest one of the biggest values of Willow 2, and this is what I hear from salon owners all the time. It's like I cannot find a good hairdresser. I can't find one. I can't I go to was it they're going to Google. They're going to Craigslist. They're going to like rent or, you know, glass door or whatever it is to go through and try to like hire people. You know, there's there's platforms out there like, oh, you trying to find a hairdresser? Great.

[00:30:00] I'll put them on this platform where hairdressers don't go. They'll look to see if there's a job opening. I know LinkedIn. Everybody says, why aren't you a part of LinkedIn? How does that how does LinkedIn apply to my profession? Right. LinkedIn is like they I think of techies. I think of like CEOs. I don't think the person doesn't pop in my mind. I think LinkedIn is hairdressers. I don't know. You know, it just doesn't. Oh, fuck me. Really? Oh, wow.

[00:30:30] That's kind of odd. You know, but when I'm told me like, no, we're going to go through and post like jobs for you. But they're in that area of LinkedIn's across the world. Yeah. Right. That's the thing about this. About Prexy is that it's it'll be across the United States, but it's meant for you and your ecosystem locally for you. So you can find hairdressers, you know, in your area, you can find salon owners, people who are posting jobs, people, you know, who are or you need to hire someone.

[00:31:00] You can hire a hairdresser that way. And that way you can communicate with them via Prexy and see if that's the type of person you want to hire or if that's the kind of salon you want to work for. Exactly. So as you say, like, you know, because the base layer itself is the trust of licensed only and there are verified students. So everything that you post the jobs is in the internal ecosystem.

[00:31:24] And even if the even if it is it is a student who is applying for the job, you are able to see which school is the student from. If you want to, you are able to see their portfolio is, you know, being a resume, what you can get from the resume. It's on Prexy. You are able to click on the profile. Like even on the community hub, that's how you are able to network. So if you see that someone has asked a really a different perspective question, you can click on their profile and send them a message directly. And they will know that it is from a different licensed professional or a licensed barber that has sent them a message.

[00:31:54] So all the jobs. Yes. And all the jobs that you will apply, that people will apply, you will see that a licensed barber has applied. A verified student from this school has applied for a job. So you can message them. You can talk to them and get reference as well. See, because that was a huge problem. We just had someone on the show a couple of months ago and they had someone who was a rep for a different company. And then they hired her on to work as a hairstylist and come to find out she wasn't even licensed.

[00:32:23] She's selling product. She's working for a major distribution company. She's telling, giving them business advice and then goes to work for them all the while, not even having a license. Like, and they, you know, cause they never checked. It was one of those things where you're busy and you're not thinking about all the little fine print stuff. You're just thinking, oh, well, when we were doing the paperwork, when you come to the salon, bring your license with you. You're already high. Right.

[00:32:48] And then we had that hairdresser out of Pittsburgh that was in a school of suites and she was trying to hire and she got that student that gave her minimal portfolio. And the portfolio was just. It was bad. I was a Barbie. It was bad. It was terrible. And she had to waste her time to have this girl come in and talk to her with no portfolio, just dressed in sweats. And so she had really no way to vet this young woman.

[00:33:17] Sounds like actually might be able to provide that. Yes. Like my name started from like giving, helping professionals save their time and money because your time is really valuable. Like you're, you are already giving out your, a lot of your energy to your clients, you know, clients, you're already being a psychologist to them, you know, when they come to you, they talk to you. And, you know, you don't have to worry about these small things because obviously that is on us. You are paying us.

[00:33:46] We are the platform that will provide you as much value. So every dollar you pay, we will work hard to provide you double the value of it. That has been my aim since I started building Prexy. So we will do these kinds of stuff that is administrative, kind of verifying the people, verifying the students. So anyone who applies through Prexy to your job openings or any, any one of like that, you have to, you will be able to trust them that they are licensed and we will take the liability for that. If anything.

[00:34:14] Oh, can you tell me one of your bad experiences that inspired you to put together this kind of platform? Oh, wow. I got it. I know. I know. There's nothing that happened where you're all ding, ding, ding. I got to, I can help fix this. Okay. So it was like, you know, I'm really, I'm really particular about my hair. I love my hair, you know? So I get, when I moved to a new city, I was trying to find a barber, you know?

[00:34:41] So every time I would call a salon after walking the reviews, you know, I would go there. They would get me to the appointment, whoever is available. But I don't know who, what, what is their work, who they are. And I got a bad experience there. I was like, okay, let's try something else. Another barber, you know, I went there. I tried to start a conversation. I asked, hey, how many years of experience do you have? And he got offended with that question. And he got, he really gave me a bad haircut.

[00:35:08] And after that, I really wanted to leave a Google review, but that person was not even on Google. That shop was not on Google. And I was like, where is the accountability? How can I do that? And that's when I started talking. I went on the street. I started talking to people, you know, thankfully I'm a bit confident. So I could stop people. I would, you know, whenever I would start talking about the situation with clients, everyone had a story. Everyone would want to talk to me. Oh yeah. So I started talking with clients and that's how I started building Prexy. It started from client perspective.

[00:35:38] But when I started talking to licensed professionals, then I saw that, yeah, they are not, they are not in a different situation, even though they have multiple, plenty of options, their situation is still the same. So that's when I started inspired to go and build Prexy for it. And, you know, that's why I'm growing my hair because I promised myself that I'll only get a haircut done that is booked through Prexy with a licensed barber. I love it. I love it. That's great.

[00:36:07] But yeah, these, all of these were like through the experiences and the conversations through with you guys, with Jason, with all the professionals that I've talked to, like every problem that came, there was a solution technologically possible, but I would always get surprised why, why all these platforms have not done it. Like they earn millions of dollars. They, you know, every year, like top four platforms, they have transaction volumes in billions of dollars. They are all competing for the same market.

[00:36:37] So you need to understand that you guys are feeding a really big companies. They are, they are, they are making money off you. But I was always surprised that why could not they provide enough value? That's how I started building Prexy. So that was the thing was I, with, with this platform though, is that it solves a lot of issues. It's going through and becoming almost like a social media platform. And we're also getting into like, you know, going through and finding clients and being more localized.

[00:37:06] But one of the biggest problems that we always see is that, you know, we have all that, but like if I'm a professional, when I first started this and I became my own, you know, 1099 and now I had to go through and get all my ducks in a row, as far as like, you know, my Yelp on my web pages and that, then I had to go through and find the right payment system for me. And that is another fucking headache that's going through and finding that. And lo and behold, Om was like, well, we're going to create Prexy wallet.

[00:37:36] I'm like, holy shit. What is Prexy wallet? So on Prex, like that was one of the things that I, I got to know that consumes a lot of time of professionals is chargebacks, deposit disputes, or any kind of stuff that is related to payments. So I had to figure out what is something that we could solve in a way that would, you know, help professionals save time and the headache that they do not have to worry about if someone is taking the refunds.

[00:38:04] So on Prexy, what we do is along with the traditional payment methods where how clients can pay, clients can also use Prexy wallet to pay their professionals. So once clients use the Prexy wallet, they are paying us and we are paying the professional because there is a trust layer created, which is that everyone that is getting paid is licensed. We can trust them and clients pay us and we pay them as soon as the appointment is done.

[00:38:30] So if there is any issue from the client that they want to dispute the deposit, they want to dispute refunds or anything like that, we deal with it. We do not involve professionals until we need more context about the situation because we are the platform. We know when was the appointment done? It's not that you are talking to the bank who has no clue what happened between you guys. It's Prexy. We know when was the appointment done? What's happening between you? But did the client even go to the appointment? We know all the stuff.

[00:38:58] So till the time we think that we need more context, we will not even involve the professional. We'll deal with the client ourselves. And if there are small refunds, we can do it because we would be the company that will be helping these professionals. Right. So you're going to have like be able to do it through due deposits. One of the things that I talked about as well, too, is actually helping the hairdresser with cancellation policies. So that'll all be built into the system.

[00:39:26] So that way it's not like, oh, God, now I have to go through and get a consult, you know, a cancellation policy, email to my client, make sure that they sign it. They know this. All the waivers are already built into this platform. And then if they do dispute, they have to go to Prexy. And then Prexy is like, OK, if you're going to dispute, then we talk to the professional because right now I were getting so many people saying that in the state of Washington, you can only take 50 percent. You can't take 100 percent.

[00:39:55] A lawyer told me that. Go fuck yourself. What lawyer? Lawyers are meant to lie. That's what they fucking do. Yeah. And I just want to do hair. I just want to do hair. I want to make exactly I want to take my I don't want to have to deal with all this legal jargon and it has to come up with a contract and right here. Right. And it's a bunch of bullshit because that's the thing you need to say to Washington. You can't if you said, hey, I promise to be there and here's a certain time limit. Otherwise, I'm going to give you 100 percent. You they get 100 percent. Yes, because that's your time.

[00:40:24] You were counting on that money to feed your fucking yeah, to pay your bills, to to do all of that. And if you follow through, then you have to be compensated on some level. So again, it's getting power back, power back to the professional. But I had a situation where I owned a salon. I had a booking system from one of the big companies out there because they gave me money to open up a shop. And I said yes to it and come to find out this is back when you actually still slid your credit card and they actually had it built in to rent.

[00:40:54] If you slid the credit card, it wouldn't go through and actually charge the credit card. So you'd have to do it again saying car, not not red, car, not red. So you'd slide it 10 times and not knowing, not knowing that they charged you 10 cents for every swipe. Exactly. So they were making money off of you paying and then making money for, you know, going through and charging you to use the credit card or the other credit card fees.

[00:41:21] But then they asked you another charge that was built into the actual program to make sure it didn't accept every single swipe. I wonder if that was deliberate. It was. I found out it was deliberate. In fact, that platform no longer exists. But that was that was the sneaky part about these big corporations going through and fucking the hairdressers just to make more money. I could not believe it. But that's when you told me about wallet. I mean, I was like, oh, shit, this is a digital wallet.

[00:41:50] You can see where all the transactions are going. You can go through and like you deal with one person only. You're not having to get square. You're not having to use. I mean, all these different platforms, all these different charges for all this shit. It's just amazing. Yeah. And, you know, it's like when every individual professional is trying to set up their own payment system, they have to individually deal with those payment provider. But as a proxy, when we do it, we could be even be able to negotiate the commission rates

[00:42:18] because every payment is coming through us. And we trust the professionals because we verified everyone who is on our platform. So as soon as the booking is done, we pay them. But we because we trust them. And if the client wants to, you know, wants to do any dispute, it's with us we are dealing with. If the payment system wants any dispute, it's us we are dealing with because we have the time and resources which professionals do not. They're already dealing with a lot. So that was I was like, that is that is how it should be, that we are providing value and they are paying for us.

[00:42:48] You know, it's a simple transaction. And that's the value that I have been working on. And, you know, it will be legally difficult, but it is it is not something impossible and we will do it. And Praxivallet is one of the main system, a main feature that we will promote as well. So that is one of the reasons that we are, you know, trying to build before we launch as well. If Starbucks does it, if Uber does it, if, you know, all these different platforms, whenever you go get a coffee or whatever, they'll have that. They'll have a wallet. So people are not afraid of it anymore. You know what I mean?

[00:43:17] Is it is it difficult for you? Yes. But for the professional? Yeah. Well, and I'm curious, too, is my existing clients that I've had for a really long time, would it be that hard or would Prexy be able to help me coach them on how to use Prexy to book their appointments? Yes. I mean, that's what I would love to do that. Oh, yes, exactly. And I'll tell you, like, how we are building Prexy is we are trying to build Prexy on with the features that already clients are already habitual to.

[00:43:46] Like, you know, the discovery section is similar to how the Instagram reels work. The booking is really simplified. And how Prexy Wallet works is that client deposits $100 in Prexy. And that $100, with using that $100, they can pay the professional. And after that, we deal with the client because we are the one paying it. So we are trying to minimize it.

[00:44:12] And we are trying to simplify as much as possible because one of the main reasons that businesses don't grow is the complexity. And that is what we want to cut off. We are trying to simplify it. We are trying to make it as familiar to other platforms as possible. So we are not ashamed of it that we are copying, like, you know, kind of the layout of other platforms. We just want to make sure it's easy for professionals. It's easy for their clients. Because I know everything is time, money, and value for you guys. Yep.

[00:44:42] And speaking of money, I think probably one of the next things I want to talk about is Prexy going through and helping you connect with resources like your taxes, legal advice, retirement resources, things like that, financial advisors. You know, when you mentioned that, I was like, oh, I can't tell you how many hairdressers I talked to. And I go, hey, so do you have a financial advisor? They go, oh, I can't afford that. Or do you have a retirement?

[00:45:11] They go, oh, I'm going to start working on that pretty soon. And I'm like, you need to start working on your retirement day one. Yeah. Day one. And that was one of the things that we discussed was legal, taxes, you know, representation when it came to retirement. You know what I mean? So can you explain a little bit about that? So, yes. As I started talking to professionals, I have heard really heartbreaking stories of how they

[00:45:40] were legally, they did not know how the legal structure worked because of that they had to pay large fines. They did not plan about their retirement, the financial planning. Even though this industry is to provide freedom, yet because they were not aware of it, they were not able to take advantage of the things that were available to them. And so with some hairdressers, that's not how their minds work either. Because for me, I've planned for my retirement because I knew it would be all on me.

[00:46:09] But a lot of my friends that I talked to that are in their mid-40s, they have no retirement ready. And I'll try to set them up with my financial advisor. I tell them about stocks. I tell them about my health insurance, where they can get everything. And they're all, oh, I don't know. I'm just going to do some hair and keep on working forever. And so I know they're in that's just, and I hate to say it, but it is kind of hairdresser mentality. Creatives don't, they don't, that analytical brain of what about where am I going to land when I'm 65 or 70?

[00:46:39] Yes, exactly. That is the problem that I really listened from the professionals and I've wanted to solve on Trexy. So that's what, once we have a layer of licensed professionals, that's when we can connect them to people who are customized, who can customize those kinds of plans for you. That will happen in two parts. First is the resources. First of all, we'll give you free resources to educate yourself so that you can make a good choice. So you know what you want, so that you are not, you know, that you know exactly what you want and you are able to choose that.

[00:47:09] And second, then we connect you to vetted partners that we verify personally and make sure that they are, they can customize the plans for you, either in accounting, taxes, legal, and we will be able to offer you free first counseling if there are any issues that you had to deal with. So it is kind of a supportive environment that we really want to create. You know, if there is something that we are not able to do it, you are able to put that in the community hub because everyone there is licensed.

[00:47:37] You can say, this is the issue that I'm, I am, I am, I'm facing other professionals, Jason, Paula, like if you have already faced that issue, you obviously you would give advice to them. Oh yeah. That is the ecosystem or aim is to provide them with support so that they do not feel alone. And that's the thing is that I can't tell you how many hairdressers I even see it on Facebook who has a good accountant that understands hairdressers and everyone gives you like 15 and you look it up and it's like, they have nothing to do with hairdressing. You know what I mean?

[00:48:07] It's like, who has any help with retirement resources or I need to go through, start retirement. Nobody knows. Oh, try this, try that. It's bringing us all into one area. So that way it's like, you know, you have someone there or like, even like I can actually talk to my financial advisor, Om can vet him and then he can help because he knows hairdressing because he's been doing it with me. Yep. You know what I mean? For such a long time. My financial advisor, he's probably worth his weight in gold. Yeah. Because a lot of times this is a lonely profession as well.

[00:48:37] If there is no networking, like, because most of the time that you're spending is you, all of your energy that you're giving is to your clients and you're not connected to, if you're not connected to other professionals, you are just dealing everything by yourself. So that is what we want to create in Prexy is a supportive environment for these licensed professionals who work really hard so that they do not have to worry about anything else. They just come to Prexy, use Prexy for their day, their day, they do their job and for everything else, we are here to support you. Let it be legal.

[00:49:06] Let it be accounting. Let it be taxes. Let it be business planning. We will support you. We will first, we will give you resources that are free. First of all, through which you can educate yourself to know what are your needs. So that you do not overbuy. So, and then you can talk to professionals who are, who can customize these things to you. Because first of all, it would, it would only happen because we are only catering to professional beauty and personal care industry.

[00:49:34] We are not adding anything more just so that we can make more money. We are right now only have five categories, which are licensed barbers, licensed cosmetologists, licensed estheticians, licensed nail technicians, and licensed massage therapists. So we are only catering to these professionals so that we can cater as much, as much value to them as possible through that. Yeah. It's quality over quantity for sure. Right. And that's our industry. You know what I mean? That is it. It stopped right there. Full stop.

[00:50:04] You know what I mean? And it's like, we don't need anybody. You want to need like, Hey, this is also for a doctor's office or for an accountant's office. No, no, no. It should be just the platform just for licensed professionals where you can go through. And like the fragmentation that you were talking about, it's so fast. I mean, I can just think off this five things on top of my head, just like, you know, booking system, payment system. My insurance just went through and just reinstated today. You know what I mean?

[00:50:31] So I just got an email about it, you know, so I can go to one place and have everything all put into one, which is kind of amazing. Yeah. And social media is one of the big factors that we are trying to lose the dependency on. So yeah. Yeah. I'll just tell you. So we are trying on Prexy. There will be a discovery because right now professionals, they also have to create content. They have to write the scripts. They have to shoot it up. They have to edit it.

[00:50:59] And then they have to post it after because hairdressing is a full-time job itself. You know, being a professional is a full-time job. And after that, you also have to put your energy into creating the content. And this is a problem that I've heard from many professionals is that after doing all this effort, when their content doesn't perform, it is heartbreaking for them because it's algorithm. So what they're doing on Prexy is we are trying to make sure that the professionals do not have to become content creators.

[00:51:29] So on Prexy, your portfolio is connected to a discovery section. So a discovery section on Prexy is for clients that clients can go to the discovery section, set a distance range. And within that distance range, they can scroll through the content of different professionals in that area. And if they like someone's content, they swipe. They are able to see the profile and book an appointment with them. Because on Prexy, people come with an intent. On social media, they are just scrolling around. They are just trying to pass their time.

[00:51:57] But on Prexy, the discovery section is meant for the clients who come on Prexy with an intent to find a professional. And we will show them the local professionals, closest to furthest, because everyone is licensed. So we do not worry about that. That's one thing that fucking drives me crazy right now is every time I go on and I'm trying to find something on Instagram. People do not put their location down. I have no idea where the fuck you were at. I mean, it's like, oh, I have a hair salon.

[00:52:27] Where? Are you in North Carolina, South Carolina? What'd you put down? Next thing you know, I find out they're in like, you know, Australia. You know what I mean? I'm like, what the fuck? You know? But I mean, that's the thing. It's like, where are you? You know? And this kind of helps solve that problem. I mean, I'm looking. Yeah. It's like you're helping us not waste our time. Yeah. Because I'm tired of having my time wasted. Last night, we were looking for a place to eat after my son's like ice cream social at his school that he had, you know?

[00:52:56] And my wife is like, oh, this place looks nice. It was literally 20 fucking miles away. And I'm like, why would I look at something that's like 20 miles away? I need something near me. And then it had an ad for someone that was like 20 miles away. I'm like, what? What? Why are you showing me? Why are you wasting my time? I've got that. You know, your content shouldn't have to compete for attention with the content from a stylist who is 2,000 miles away for a client who is just four blocks away from you.

[00:53:25] It has to be like fair so that you don't have the constant pressure of building content that performs. You are really good at your job. You are already doing a lot already. You know, content creation shouldn't be another job because content creation is a whole full-time job itself for a lot of people. And hairdressers have to do that now. So that is what I really wanted to reduce the dependency on from the professional side. See? There we go.

[00:53:54] Oh, it sounds as though you're building an airplane in the sky, which is a lovely, lovely thing. I like what you're building. When is Prexy going to be launched? Okay. So we did launch or we did launch as a web app when we were validating the problem. We were talking to professionals, to professionals who are using it, schools were using it, we were talking to businesses. We did launch as a web app, but we know that professionals will be relying on us to do

[00:54:22] their business, to use their daily business. It's their livelihood. So we had to make sure that we are building a platform that they can rely on. So our web app, we closed it because we validated the problem. We know what to build. And now we are building the native app, the native infrastructure that would be smooth as butter, like every other app that you use, Instagram or all the media booking apps. So that is how we are building the infrastructure.

[00:54:47] And something I'm really cautious is like speed definitely comes from money, but I'm really cautious with the people I take the money from because I do not want to get investors who are like profit oriented. For me, value is what I want to provide as my priority through Prexy to this industry. So what we are doing is we are building natively the app, everything we are bootstrapped, we are working together and it should be in next four to five weeks that we will be able to

[00:55:17] launch the first version of the app. And we will then do an intimate testing. Like we will only invite a few people who will be using our app. And once that is done, and then we will launch full on. So there is no date, but we just want to make sure that once we launch, it is reliable enough that every professional can depend on their livelihood because this is an important platform for them. Now, are you wanting to launch this like nationally and internationally?

[00:55:45] California first, like California, because the thing is it, I would have loved to launch it nationally, but the thing is every state has a different law. So maybe like we will be able to launch the booking system for the whole US, but as in for proxy wallet, we will start from California because every state will have a different laws and we would have to get permissions accordingly. Wow. You've thought of everything. That's the thing. It's just like hanging out there and like not having any accountability.

[00:56:14] This has accountability along with it, along with value. Yes. And along with it, I'll tell you like Jason, even I know like even you were initially spectacle because this industry has been, they are getting pitched every week, even though they have major platforms, they are getting pitched every week. So I could like every professional I go to, obviously they have some hesitation initially. And that's what even with Jason, like when we started talking, we, he literally talked and understood the concept of proxy to the ground.

[00:56:44] Like he literally asked me a lot of questions he really wanted to understand before he really could do anything else on it. So that is what even like our journey has been. I have talked to so many professionals initially when I started the booking app, obviously it was not a good reaction, but when I said that we are building it for licensed professionals, that's when I started getting better reactions from it. My ears perked out the moment I heard that. So exactly. So the guy, this is not only just like a booking app.

[00:57:12] It is to go through and work on your retirement, to go through and work with your social media, not to replace it, but to actually make it go further from that point. Right. I mean, a wallet is helping you guys with all your resources that you guys are going to need. So basically what Alma is working on is something that's going to go through and put everything that you do within your business, within one platform. So you're not going through and paying for, I don't know how many different subscriptions

[00:57:40] and insurance and you're fragmented going every which direction. You mean it's putting it all in one place, have that resource. And here is exactly where we need your guys' help. This platform has not launched yet. Okay, guys. So Alma needs to hear from you. We're going to go through and put his information within the show notes so that we can reach out to him. Tell him what you like. Tell him what you hate. Tell him what you want to see, what you want to see in the future for a booking system.

[00:58:09] This is exactly what he needs to hear. And that's what we're here to do, to reach out to you guys and be like, talk to us. Tell us. Make this platform better. And then that way later on, Prexy can be that platform for you. And it would be so nice to have an advocate that we can rely on for once. Yeah. Not only that, though, is that what Alma is saying he's going to do as well, the two is bring on a committee of hairdressers that work within Prexy.

[00:58:35] So that way, it's like when things need to get solved, it goes to a hairdresser, not to some pencil neck dick head, you know what I mean? Corporate. Looking at their profits. Pencil dick, right? Looking at profits. And saying like, oh, well, you want to change this because we can't profit off the hairdresser. So fuck you. We're not going to change anything. No. No. It's going to go to a committee of hairdressers. That's what we want. When he told me that, I was like, oh, shit. Okay.

[00:59:04] So it's not going to be wrapped beholden to a corporation and to the shareholders of the corporation. No. And it's refining the legitimacy of hairdressers and the industry. Exactly. So we need to hear from you guys. So, Om, thank you so much for coming on the show and sharing this information with Jason and Paula. It was a pleasure talking to you. And thank you for asking, Push, and it was lovely talking to you guys. You as well.

[00:59:36] All right. Let's get one more shitology on the books. Hey, Jason. I found an AI app that helps me build an AI app that helps me build an AI app for booking. Okay. Is it all AI, huh? Yeah. It's a booking app. With AI? Yeah. And what else does it do? It's an AI booking app. Keep up. So does it help me just book clients and that's it? Does it answer the phone or does it have a wallet?

[01:00:05] No, it's an AI booking app. It's AI. And does it answer the phone for you? No, it's an AI app. Well, how do people find it? Through AI. Through AI? That, I don't understand. But what does it do? Are you kidding me? It's AI. You know what AI does? You just book through AI. Do you send it out to people? No. They can find it. Can you charge people with it? Well, yeah. When they book their appointments. Through what? AI.

[01:00:35] Come on, Jason. It's an AI app. Keep up. You know what AI is, right? It's the answer to everything. And with that, stay shitty. And see you next time. Hey, listener persons. If you're enjoying this podcast, please give us a rating on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, or Amazon Prime Podcasts, or wherever you get your favorite shit. It definitely helps out our algorithm. Also, check out our shitty posts on Instagram at Shit I Told My Hairdresser, where you can

[01:01:04] give us a follow and like some of our content. If you'd like to get your story on our podcast, go to our website at ShitIToldMyHairdresser.com. You can leave us a voicemail using the green mic icon or send us an email. And if you like us, tell 10 of your friends. And if you hate us, tell 20. And remember, stay shitty, listener persons.