If you know it's time to come off your salon floor, but you don't know how ... I can help you.
If you're asking ... "why should I listen to you Steve" ... it's a fair question. Its a question I can answer best by briefly sharing my story with you and it begins when I was still working as an employed stylist. It also begins with a feeling that snuck up on me when I wasn't expecting it ... it was a feeling that I could do better. As much as I loved my job and respected my employer, I felt I had it in me to deliver a better service and build a stronger brand than they had done but the only way to prove it was to take a brave pill and set out on my own … so I did! My instincts proved to be right because my new salon got busy very quickly. The bad news was that I soon became by far the busiest stylist, which meant I was so wrapped up in the process of delivering an amazing service to my clients that I had to fit managing my staff and dealing with all my business responsibilities in the gaps between appointments, or when the salon was closed. |
In the early days it didn’t matter too much … the excitement of having my own business made it all worthwhile, but bit by bit I grew tired, fed up, disillusioned with the treadmill I was on, working, working, working, always feeling knackered!
Many times I said to myself there’s got to be a better way than this but every time I tried to pull away and delegate to others a problem or crisis would crop up and I’d be sucked back in. To say I was frustrated with my business, frustrated paying my stylists good money to sit around and watch me work, frustrated to be busy and yet not truly UNDERSTAND MY SALON and how to make it work for me would be an understatement. I spoke to lots of other salon owners at conferences and events and discovered I wasn’t the only one to feel like this … the shocking fact is MOST SALON OWNERS FEEL MUCH THE SAME WAY! |
Determined to find the answer I bought books, went on courses & listened to CDs but for a while nothing really changed. Looking back, I now understand it’s because I was looking for answers outside myself. I thought I needed to change my business to make it work, but actually what I really needed to change was me. By that I mean my attitudes, beliefs, habits and behaviour. The first clue to this understanding came in a book I was reading on holiday. The author had built eight successful, million pound plus businesses in the last ten years or so and he was sharing his golden rules for success. His first golden rule was … “Take 90 minutes a day away from your customers to work on your business.” Now in itself this wasn’t new knowledge … in fact I’d go so far as to say it’s just plain common sense. What was new to me was the attitude he insisted you had to bring to those 90 minutes a day. |
The ninety minutes were NOT to be used for popping down to the cash and carry. NOT to be used to catch up with your paperwork. NOT to be used for talking to reps or staff members who wanted a pay rise or just to have a moan.
Instead it was to be used to work on understanding your numbers. Understanding how to motivate and lead your team. Understanding how to create and deliver a compelling marketing message that creates a flood of raving fan clients of the salon … not just it’s superstar stylists. In other words, the 90 minutes a day was for strategic, financial, operational and marketing planning and implementation … not short term firefighting and problem solving. It was 90 minutes for being a bold business owner not a busy manager or stylist. It was 90 minutes for growing a pair. 90 minutes for becoming the leader I needed to be to create a business that worked for me, instead of just giving me a stressful job. |
Scared of what my clients would say. Scared of losing the valuable turnover I brought to the business. Scared I might not be good enough, because it really would need me to step up and be a different sort of salon owner.
I might have been a bit scared, but I was also excited because my little voice was telling me this was my way out, this was my CHANCE … so I grabbed it with both hands and I’ve never looked back! Now let’s be clear here. The author had never been a salon owner. There was nothing in his book that was salon specific which meant I had to take his general principles and adapt them to create salon specific answers … and I did. I started by RULING out the 90 minutes he suggested and what I noticed was my clients SOON adapted and just booked around me and my diary! This was a great start … I was beginning to take control. Next I looked at my pricing structure. I put myself right at the top on a much higher price with my team spread out on a tiered pricing structure below. Those first two steps soon made a massive difference. They were the foundation for all the success that followed and a message to my team and my subconscious that it was OK to be scared as long as we took bold action together as well. |
My answer is … YES YOU CAN … YOU REALLY, REALLY, CAN!
Remember … I thought I couldn’t for many years and I was wrong in fact I couldn’t have been more wrong. This is good news because it means I can say to you with absolute confidence that if you follow the path down the 7 steps I created you’ll soon realise you really can do it too. By 7 steps I mean what I now call my “7 Steps To Getting A Busy Salon Owner Off Their Salon Floor & On To A Profitable Stress Free Life!” I’ve told you about some of the steps already ... but experience has shown me that when you follow all seven consistently you’ll find you’re living a life free of stress, with no money worries and the freedom to choose what you do and when you do it in your salon! |
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This will allow me time to go through the 7 steps with you and make sure you understand them fully. It will also allow me to answer any questions you have about how you can adapt and apply them to your salon.
By the end of our FREE hour together you'll know exactly what steps you need to take to get off the salon floor and if you think you'd like some help actually implementing the steps then with your permission I'll explain how that can happen. Arranging your FREE session couldn't be easier, just click on the SHC button below and you'll be taken to my contact form. Fill that in and I'll do the rest. I look forward to talking to you soon. |