Happy New Year, Hard Knocks Community!💰

We're kicking off 2025 with the latest edition of the School of Hard Knocks Newsletter. This week, we're featuring Alli Webb, the founder of Drybar, a salon and beauty product company that revolutionized the beauty industry and scaled to a $255 MILLION exit! As a 9-figure entrepreneur, author, and guest shark on Shark Tank, Alli has inspired millions to dream bigger and achieve more.

Today’s Schedule

• Revolutionizing the Beauty Industry, One Blowout at a Time: How Alli Webb scaled Drybar to a 9-figure exit

• From the Hard Knocks Library: Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World

• In Case You Missed It: We recently interviewed Karlton Dennis and he shared all of his tax secrets

Ready, set, go!🔥

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Revolutionizing the Beauty Industry, One Blowout at a Time

Long-time hairstylist-turned-entrepreneur Alli Webb came up with the concept of Drybar 15 years ago. When she finished high school, she was unsure of what to pursue in life and eventually landed on attending beauty school.

In her early career, Alli lived in New York City before moving to L.A., where she started a mobile blowout business. As a mom of two boys, she found herself looking for something that was her own, driving around L.A. to service clients, including celebrities and movie executives.

Alli quickly realized there was a big gap in the hairstyling marketplace: women didn't have a place to go to get a simple blowout. This lit a spark in Alli and she created Drybar. Her new venture took the end piece of the salon experience and turned it into a single service.

The magic of Drybar was all in the details. Each location was made to look and feel high-end, but the service was at an affordable price point. 

For just $35, women could come in and get pampered but without the high price tag of an upscale salon. This was a groundbreaking concept in L.A. where most salons charged up to $100 for a blowout.

Alli put her heart and soul into creating Drybar. Her attention to detail on everything from customer service to the stores' flat screen TVs really made each experience special.

According to Alli, Drybar worked so well because they were so much more than just hairstyling. They were selling happiness and confidence to women.

When Alli started Drybar in 2010, she had no idea where it would lead. By the time she sold the company, she had 150 store locations and 6,000 employees. 

In her second book Messy Truth, Alli shares all of the peaks and valleys of growth that went into creating her wildly successful business.

Inside the School of Mentors community, Alli shared a ton of practical wisdom for today's entrepreneurs on a recent live call and Q&A. Here are some of the most memorable takeaways:

The Right Fit

When Alli was first getting Drybar off the ground, she says she walked into a lot of rooms with men who didn't understand her concept. In those beginning days, many investors tried to convince her to sell different products and many of those early relationships weren't very aligned.

Alli also struggled with how to present herself in meetings. The best piece of advice she received was from her brother who told her to be 100% herself. If an investor didn't like what she had to say, there were always others who would. Alli advises being completely confident in your idea and don't allow others to manipulate or change that.

Whether you're raising money or looking for a business partner, it's important to stay true to your goals and values. It can be tempting to simply take checks when they're handed to you, especially in those early days of starting your business. However, the wrong relationships can wind up costing you big time.

Choose investors and partners carefully and don't be afraid to be picky.

A Culture of Connection

Scaling Drybar to 6,000 employees was no small feat. Alli says the key to attracting talent and keeping them engaged and motivated was creating a culture of connection. She really wanted the Drybar atmosphere to feel like a family environment. We often spend more time with our co-workers than we do with our own families!

Alli believes at her core that what makes a company successful is when people really care about each other. Additionally, when people genuinely love something, they want to be a part of it. She always tried to hire from within and gave employees the chance to grow.

To create a healthy, positive culture in your own company, make sure your people feel seen and taken care of. Don't forget to ask them what they want and need and truly listen to the feedback. It's not always about giving them more money. Sometimes people want more opportunities to be challenged and develop new skills.

Trust Factor

One of the biggest lessons Alli learned from growing and ultimately selling Drybar was how to give up autonomy. In the early days, Alli was super hands-on and did a lot on her own. Once she began hiring people, she struggled with giving up control. However, she knew she had to let go if she wanted Drybar to scale.

Trusting others to take on tasks in your business can be a challenge, especially when they may make mistakes that you could have prevented if you remained in control. Alli reminds us that, just like us, other people also have to go through growing pains to become great.

Allowing space for this will ultimately help both you and your employees become better. If you have big goals of scaling to 7, 8, or even 9 figures, you'll need to loosen the reins and put your trust in those around you.

New Direction

Unfortunately, many new businesses don't make it past the five-year mark. To keep pushing forward after setbacks, Alli encourages entrepreneurs to stop and evaluate what's working and what isn't. Take stock of what's resonating with your customer base and reflect on where you're seeing the most success.

Alli's also a big believer in doing what you love. She says life's too short to dread your work or live in the mundane. As entrepreneurs, this is a big reason why we break away from the 9-to-5 in the first place.

It's important to pay attention to where you're having the most fun and whether or not you're getting burned out. The grind of being an entrepreneur can feel heavy at times, but remembering your "why" can serve as your compass. Remember, you can always pivot when things feel stalled or stagnant.

Connect with Alli here:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alliwebb/?hl=en

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Words of Wisdom

From the Hard Knocks Library

In Case You Missed It

A few months ago we met Karlton Dennis in the streets of Los Angeles while he was sitting in his Ferrari. He told us he made over $7 million and didn't pay any taxes! Our video with him did over 60 million views on social media so we decided to sit down with him and have him share more of his story and break down exactly how he did it.

In this episode of Questions with a Millionaire, Karlton shares how he was able to pay no taxes even though he had a 7+ figure income, how to structure your business entity, tax strategies to save money, how to defer taxes through real estate and various tax strategies that will help you keep more money in your pocket.

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