Salon Builder Articles

Do you employ a FREEDOM WORKFORCE? The way people – hairdressers – work and think has profoundly changed. If you are still trying to employ staff the way you’ve always employed staff you are in trouble. Staff of today don’t even consider themselves to be workers (or as they would say and think slaves). They want freedom within the refines of a FREEDOM WORKER, not a jobber. The web changed everything. We became a world with no borders. One reason we see so much unrest is the younger ones want what they see online. The top priority is freedom and happiness. When I had my salons, I did something unusual. I gave my s ...

By the time you open this email I will be on a plane at 30,000 feet heading to Aberdeen, Scotland with my little salon punk, Demna and of course my darling wife Tamuna.I am heading to meet a client and make (hopefully) radical changes in their business over the next few months.Here’s what is cool – they invited me to join them.Here is what is even cooler – this is a 20-year old business that has awakened to the reality that now and then you have to step outside your comfort zone and make big changes.I like that and I will tell you (maybe repeat) why.The world is very different.The human condition has changed.The ...

Grab a coffee, grab a seat, get some quiet and read. I’m on a plane. I’ve just had a moment. Before I tell you that moment I will tell you why I am on a plane. I have been invited to visit a 21-year old salon business that has become layered with unnecessary ideas, old concepts and systems that have dragged it down and stopped its movement (in some areas reversed its movement and momentum). That can happy so easy and I have seen it so many times before. So, I went, stayed the day, slept the night, walk their wonderful beaches in the morning with my darling wife and son and then flew home. Here’s something worth s ...

When you love what you do, when you are creative, stepping aside is not easy. But as times goes by, priorities change. How you want to lead your business and what you would rather do on a day to day basis changes as well. Whether you choose to keep your seat behind the chair or not, building a strong salon business will make you feel good about the decisions you make. Listen to the episode below to help you get the answers ...

Opening a hair salon? 9 questions you must ask before opening a hair salon. Listen below as Alan Forrest Smith shares the secrets to opening a successful hairdressing salon. ...

We are definitely in an age where everything is being RE/defined. Salon business, workspace, money, life, death, age and just about anything else you can think of. Take (older) age for example. At the age of just 48, my own dad retired (at 84 he’s still going strong). In those days dads looked old and acted older. After retiring my dad seemed dedicated and resigned to a life of relentless pursuit of cutting grass, trimming hedges and buying, building, removing and buying again a new shed. My dad has owned more sheds than I care to count. Most dads I knew did the same sort of things. But they quickly looked old, t ...