Brett Pierce grew up in the world of hairstyling as the son of award-winning hair artists Gary and Ann Bray, who opened The Masters Salon in 1973 inside Huntsville’s old Dunnavant’s Mall. His mother, Ann, began styling hair as a teenager and went on to earn international acclaim, becoming the first American woman to win a world championship in hairdressing. Her visionary styles have even appeared on the big screen in films such as The Hunger Games and Jumanji.

More than 50 years later, Pierce is leading The Masters Salon in its next era, carrying forward a legacy of excellence while introducing an innovative, team-based business model that’s reshaping the salon industry in Huntsville and beyond. In addition to serving as CEO of The Masters, Pierce and his wife Barbara own Strategies, a company that coaches salon, spa, and medspa owners on how to build strong, sustainable businesses.

Pierce recently sat down with the Huntsville Business Journal to share his insights on the evolving salon industry and how he’s helping owners nationwide rethink the way they operate.

What is unique about The Masters Salon?

The way we take care of people. A lot of people can tell you about customer service, but the thing that’s different here is that we really step up and help each other. We are a team-based system, and the reward that everybody gets comes from how financially healthy the company is, not just one individual’s production.

Because of that, we can provide a career for people who don’t have to feel like they have to shove a bunch of things into a time slot in order to be rewarded better. We make sure that they’re rewarded equally and fairly.

What do you enjoy most about owning your own business?

Sometimes people think, “I want to own a business, because I want to have the security of owning a business.” It’s not that for me. I want people to be able to reach their goals, but I want to do it in a way that we help support each other’s goals to get there. Those goals might be just as simple as wanting to buy a house or wanting to buy a car. Helping others achieve their goals and being a part of that is my favorite part.

What are some challenges you’ve encountered in your business?

One of the challenges that we run into is that in our industry, people tend not to stay in our industry more than three or five years after graduating cosmetology school. There are a number of reasons for it. I feel like one of the main reasons is the expectations that are set up front. Somebody goes to cosmetology school to become a cosmetologist, and sometimes the school doesn’t really know how to direct them after they’re done. Because they don’t have that true direction, they end up going independent, not working for a company, not working with a team, and that sounds great for the moment, but then they’re by themselves, and after a while, they get a little burned out. Some make it, some do really great. Some have that tenacity to keep on doing it that way. But a lot don’t. And it’s not that they don’t have the tenacity to be great in the industry. They just go, “What if I choose something that’s going to give me more steadiness?”

We have to be careful about what expectations we set up for them when they first enter the industry. Think about what career growth might look like, where you might be, and what you might get paid as you continue.

The reality is, it takes work. It takes tenacity. It takes aligning yourself with a team that will support you all the way through.

How do you balance personal and professional life?

A good friend of mine pointed this out to me years ago. He said, The important things that you’re putting on the calendar to make sure you don’t miss, like that meeting, put on your calendar to call me too, as your friend. Put on your calendar any event that your grandchildren have, and make sure to do those things because you only get this time. So if I have a Grandparents Day, it’s on my calendar, and I go and do that.

What is it like to be part of a family business?

When it comes to family business, on the business side of it, it is still a partnership, so you have to treat it like a legitimate partnership. It’s no different than going into business with somebody that you were friends with or somebody that you’ve actually just met that has similar interests and goals.

It was a huge goal of mine to be able to work with my wife. I watched my mother and my father work together, and they had such a dynamic, fantastic relationship working together. I wanted to see the same thing. And so Barbara and I have gotten to do that. That was a dream.

What is the secret to your success?

I have two things that I say on this. First, recognize luck when it’s there. I think all of us have luck in front of us. It’s just recognizing it. Sometimes things present themselves to you, and your ability to make a decision and do something about it is where your luck lives.

Then, remember when things occur–things that are fighting against you–you have to say it out loud, you can’t say it to yourself, you have to say it out loud, especially if there’s other people around–“It always works out.” There’s only one time it doesn’t work out, and we all know that it’s when we pass on to a higher plane of existence. But other than that, for a majority of those things, they will work out. This too shall pass.