Clear the Desk: How Two Salon Owners Got Out of the Weeds and Back to Doing the Work They Love

There’s the work you love. And then there’s the work that keeps you at your desk long after the salon closes.

The raise template you keep putting off. The training binder that needs updating. The payroll math, order forms, and new hire schedules that somehow find their way into your weekend.

For two salon owners, that pile became the starting point for something bigger: a new way to run their businesses—and make room for the work they actually want to do.

At Serious Business® 2027, Sarah McGee and Chris Murphy will share how they use Claude, an AI assistant, to tackle everyday salon challenges. Facilitated by Andi Alleman, “Clear the Desk: How Two Salon Owners Got Out of the Weeds and Back to Doing the Work They Love” brings together two very different approaches with a shared goal: getting time back.

Sarah McGee: A Business Partner for the Everyday Pile

As the owner of Thirty Hair in Columbia, Maryland, Sarah knows how much happens behind the chair—and behind the scenes.

She treats Claude like a business partner, working through the projects that have lingered on her to-do list for years. One of them? A raise template she had struggled to build.

Now, a photo of a handwritten new hire schedule can become a calendar and a full training binder. Her holiday shop look book came together with the same kind of support. And she’s taking the next step: building her first app.

Sarah’s experience offers a familiar starting point for owners: choose something that keeps getting pushed aside, and see what becomes possible with help moving it forward.

Chris Murphy: Building the Tools His Salon Runs On

Chris Murphy, co-owner and Director of Operations of Maximum FX Salons in Austin, has taken a different route.

Using Claude Code, Chris builds tools that support the daily operations of his salons. His projects include a team portal that trains guest care new hires in under two weeks, a recruiting engine that manages applicants and more than 210 students enrolled at local cosmetology schools, and training modules tailored to each employee’s role.

He has also built employee performance dashboards that make real-time information available to every team member.

He has no coding background. He’s never hired a developer. These tools grew from knowing his business, recognizing what his team needed, and finding a way to build it.

A Conversation About Getting Your Time Back

Facilitator Andi Alleman, a founder, author, brand strategist, and former beauty industry executive, brings her entrepreneurial perspective to the conversation as Sarah and Chris share what they built and how they did it.

Their results look different because their needs are different. That’s what makes this session useful: you’ll see how two owners applied the same technology to the actual work sitting on their desks.

For salon owners spending their evenings catching up and their weekends preparing for Monday, this is a chance to imagine a different rhythm.

Join us at Serious Business® 2027 to see how Sarah and Chris cleared the desk—and made room for the work they love.