This is a very important read for you as a salon owner.
Some good advice and some future forecasts about the salon as a business from me. I am basing these predictions on the huge mental shift humans have just passed through. Based on the complexity of running a salon as a real business and based on what I feel the future will hold after working with dozens upon dozens of salons over the past couple of decades.
The world really has dramatically changed.
Did you feel it happen? How has it left you feeling about your future?
Things changed overnight and truly put the fear of god into all of us.
Homes, families, human contact and our businesses or way of making a living changed overnight. As a salon owner, this creates intense complexities and issues for you that are far beyond the realm of being a business owner.
Here in the U.K. (and globally) we suddenly have a massive part of the population being paid a wage from the government to ‘stay home and don’t worry we will cover everything.’ This is incredibly impressive to say the least although that is exactly what communist countries did for decades. This will actually make it more difficult for workers to return due to the inner and deeper mindset of – humans!
But what about the future of your hairdressing salon?
I think the future can be amazing, but you need to ask yourself are you going to reopen playing by the old rules?
For years I have been showing my mentor clients how to re-invent their businesses. Today, I feel even that reinvention needs to be more!
Not only is the old way of running a hair salon dead – you know –
- Rent a shop
- Fill it with paid staff
- Try and work out what you’re doing
- Fall a few times
- Struggle forward
- Try and earn extra cash selling retail
- Pay more out than you can earn
- These ways have been dead for years as I have been saying for years.
Now we are being forced into this new world and this new world is forcing us to think differently.
I PREDICT
I will make some very bold predictions here for you then share something important with you. I will say some of what I make you aware of I share mostly with my PREMIUM MENTOR clients.
Hiring staff will become a thing go the past. I don’t believe the model we have in the industry works. It is no longer sustainable. There is a new way. In the future regular staffing in hair salons will become a thing of the past. Yes, of course, if we have space for 25 hairdressers we will still have 25 hairdressers working in our salon but hiring them will become a thing of yester-year. The new way will be the stronger unbreakable way.
Salon owners will be forced to become true business owners. That means they will no longer be on the shop floor (no more than a day a week) and will have to focus on building a real business (that builds a real-life) rather than babysitting staff and trying to pay invoices whilst doing 50% of the salon turnover. Those that fail to make the transition will probably eventually shut down.
The industry will have as good as zero control in salons. Currently, they control everything. The hairdressing salon owner will be forced to take a make-or-break decision and re-invent their retailing process.
Retail will sell more than ever without all of the industry training hard to push for sales. This is no longer a relevant way to build a salon yet retail will become a serious part of salon life, but just nothing like we see and know it now.
Salon owners will have to localise and re-invent their marketing process (hundreds of marketing articles here). Your marketing can no longer be seen as a cost or a game to try now and then. Playing around on a screen will not build columns. Again something I have said for years, but this is stronger than ever. The ego will have to go and the reality must sink in. If it fails to do so the salon will close.
Salons will have to diversify. Not into a room doing nails or eyebrows or other ways like we all fall into (I had beauty rooms that never took a decent penny), but into ways of creating incomes that they will never have done in the past. This will take imagination and creative thinking. Haircuts and colours will no longer be the only reliable source of incomes. Those that fail to do this will close.
Doing salon management the hairdressing way is no longer an option for a successful salon. A manager must be tuned into the salon vision. If a new world manager isn’t in place salons will not survive. A manager can no longer be the person with the keys. They must be part of the business vision and building.
The old look -same as – salon is dead. The salon of the future is going to look nothing like we have right now. We can no longer rely on premium furniture leasing and being tied into the companies. Yes, they can still help and yes we can still work with them (and should) but not the way we do right now. This will change – NO QUESTION – this will absolutely change.
The birth of the super salon is coming. Those mentor salon clients of mine that get this idea will not only take control of their town but will remove all competition and as good as own the salon business in their city or even county. Super salons will have anything from 25 to 100 stylists working in the salon. They will become true retail and colour kings. This will be the biggest breakthrough the industry will ever experience. It’s radical but I believe its the future.
Wages and PR hassles will become a thing of the past – hairdressers will pay the salon owner.
The super-rich salon owner is coming. The salon owners that plans for the future will become super-rich rather than well paid!
Now I know some of the above ideas might sound far out and pretty unbelievable. I believe all of them will come through and faster than you think.
If you need to know more and want to re-invent your salon. If you want to do something very different and need advice as you’ve never heard before. If you feel the need no longer employ staff but want ideas on how to re-invent all things staff we should talk. If you want to be a super salon or a super-rich salon owner … we should talk. I will say if you get in touch I am stricter than ever who I deal with. I am now strictly working with salon owners that want more from life and business. Get me here. Or click here to email me right now at alan@salonpunk.com.
In the meantime, I am strongly advising all salon owners to …
- Get a copy of SX-21 and devour every page. Why wouldn’t you? Over 600 pages of a manual that has literally transformed salon businesses. All you need to do is act on what you read. From staff to promos it is packed. Get a copy right now.
- Keep in strong communications with your client base. They want to hear from you and they want to know what is going on next?
- Be current – forget yesterdays conversation – speak to them and talk with them in a language that is current. News right now is changing by the day.
- This is. Not a time to stop marketing. Push your marketing in different ways. Get creative and show your customer base you are still here for them.
- Build even more trust. Yes, you might think they trust you but more than ever trust has been eroded and all need to be rebuilt.
- Find new ways of creating new income streams. The web really showed up with its online training and zooming. What did you do and what will you do?
- Guys again – don’t sit and wait – you must take positive steps beyond the average to survive the opening.
These might be crazy times, but they are also times of incredibly unique opportunities for salon owners like yourself.
Everything has and will change even more.
These are critical times for our industry. Don’t sit and wait for industry advice because more of them don’t know (has it worked fort you so far?).
Take higher action and invest in your future.
I am ready to help you.
Peace.
The Salon Punk, Alan.
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The Books
The Salon Punk Book – Written to inspire salon owners into the belief that they can do this.
Salon Sampler – The one tool Alan would use to build any salon, any size, anywhere.
The Missing Client Kit – One salon owner pulled in a huge AMOUNT OF JUST UNDER £6,000 in a single week using this one tool.
Salon Extreme 21 – A huge 600-page hard copy manual. Designed to help you put your business together, keep your salon and staff under strong management and then pack out your salon with paying clients.
Escape From Zoomanity – If you need to make more sense of life this book from Alan will give you that and more.
Online Training.
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