The Official Blog for Hairdresser Career Development Systems

Welcome to Jon’s Blog

Keys to Staff Retention

In my last article concerning staff turnover, I stressed how important it was to understand why people change jobs. No salon can continue to grow and be profitable with a constant merry go round of staff turnover.  Business stability and growth benefits everyone.

The following guidelines can help you avoid staff turnover:

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Booth Rental: Is it Right for You?

**Such an important topic – moving to the top of the posts!

Renting booths vs. hiring employees is one of the most controversial and divisive issues in salon management today. Many people are going into booth rental without a clear understanding of its consequences. As a result, the lives and standard of living of everyone working in the beauty profession is now affected. Division between salon owners who hire employees and salon owners who rent booths is making it difficult to address the many deep-rooted challenges facing all of us.

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Combating Staff Turnover

Before you can combat staff turnover,you need to understand why people change jobs . Turnover will always be a threat to your salon’s continued growth and bottom line. By determining the causes of staff turnover, you can start taking preventative measures to combat this obstacle. These are some of the causes of staff turnover:

• Unrealistic career and earning expectations Sadly many hairdressers change jobs too frequently , especially young hairdressers just starting their careers due to unrealistic career earning and job expectations. Far too many want to run before they walk. Please read my article Beware the Grass is Greener Syndrome found in my business articles of interest on my web site, it is designed to help combat staff turnover and misunderstandings between hairdressers and salon owners.
• Salon Gossip and Pettiness A negative salon environment affects everyone. A house divided will never grow, everyone should contribute to a positive and professional salon environment. Nobody will be happy working in these types of working conditions. As leader of your team it is your responsibility to make  their jobs fun and uplifting so your team will look forward to coming to work everyday.
• Poor Job Change Decisions Many hairdressers often make poor job change decisions, without carefully considering the consequences of their decision, try to find a mutual solution first, if they still want to make a change,  let them know that if they leave on good terms you will keep the doors open for possible employment if their new job is not what they expected. If they still decide to go to another  make sure you conduct an exit interview and find out the reasons for changing jobs. Please read my article titled Beware of the Grass is Greener Syndrome to be found on my articles of interest and share with your staff.
• Poor Communication Between Staff and Management When managing your team create an environment of trust not fear. It is important that you keep lines of communication between staff and management open. Let your staff know that your door is always open.
• Lack of a Team Environment Everyone working together sharing the same team values will create a positive and professional salon environment.
• Too Much Down Time Between Customers Who,s really at fault, the owner, the hairdresser, the economy? Probably all the above. People seldom take personal responsibility for their own success or failure,it is much easier to blame the boss if your not busy enough. I urge you to work hard to keep your staff busy, making sure you measure their customer return rate.
• No Standards of Performance How can you expect your staff to perform if they do not know what is expected and how those expectations will be measured. Employee training and development is critical, and it begins with your employee handbook.
• Burnout and Fatigue As leader of your team it is your responsibility to recognize the warning signs then address the problem. Be sensitive to the needs of your team. Many challenges may relate to personal problems at home. Always offer support and understanding towards the needs of your staff when warranted.
• Lack of Education Invest in your salon’s greatest profit potential by educating your staff.  As leader of your team you must work hard to make your staff successful and help them grow. Give them the educational tools and support in helping them reach higher levels of excellence.
• Poor Leadership Skills Praise, incentives and rewards are great incentives in taking your team to a higher level.I urge all salon owners to to work hard at developing strong leadership skills. My book on leadership will be very helpful to you in this area.

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Keys to Influencing Customers

In today’s tough economic environment building an upscale clientele begins with developing a positive first impression. The following steps will help you earn the trust and long term patronage of your customer. You never get a second chance to form a positive first impression. Keep in mind that today’s consumer has many choices and price ranges to choose from when searching for a hairdresser that meets and exceeds client expectations.

Follow these guidelines with an open mind:

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Keys to Success and Happiness for Hairdressers

Many hairdressers are trying to raise their standard of living for themselves and their families in a very difficult economic environment. The question is how do you meet these challenges while at the same time balance your personal and professional lives? The next challenge is how to stay busy and create a demand for your services and stand above the crowd. The following tips will help in your personal and professional growth:

• Invest in yourself through ongoing education — Keep learning. The more you learn the more you earn.
• Work smarter, not harder— Learn the business aspect of your development. Become more business minded.
• Don’t follow the crowd — Dare to be different.  The beauty industry has changed dramatically. Surround yourself with successful and positive people.
• Cultivate your mind — Tomorrow’s successful professional  will  have to know more than how to cut and style hair if they want to stand above the crowd.
• Develop a marketing mentality— Learn to toot your own horn. Learn all the endless possibilities of social media and marketing your skills.
• Avoid Gossip and Negativity— Don’t allow yourself to be drawn into salon gossip and pettiness, instead contribute to a positive and professional salon environment.
• Take Personal Responsibility — Sometimes we have to look in our own mirror,  if we are not as successful as we want to be. Your customer return rate will be your score card.
• Stay Focused — Avoid distractions, so you can focus on maximizing your full learning and earning potential

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Financial and Retirement Planning

Financial and Retirement Planning

You work hard for your money–
make your money work hard for you

One of the pitfalls we face as hairdressers and  salon owners is that, more often than not, our jobs do not provide us with pension plans, medical insurance, paid vacation, or other benefit packages compared to other professions. As a result, many in our profession end up living paycheck to paycheck and seldom take the time to think about their futures when it comes to financial and retirement planning, which is a mistake none of us can afford to make.

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Seven Ways to Renew Your Fighting Spirit in 2010

For far too many of our colleagues, 2009 was a tough year for both hairdressers and salon owners. Let us learn from the past and look to a brighter future for ourselves and our families. Let us view our past mistakes and challenges as an opportunity to benefit from adversity and begin 2010 as an opportunity to start over and a lot wiser.

As we prepare to enter a new year, let us renew our passion and fighting spirit to succeed. Your attitude towards adversity will determine your own success or failure. Don’t follow the doom and gloom crowd always looking for excuses to fail.  Look at adversity as a fantastic opportunity to move forward in reaching your goals and aspirations.

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A New Year, New Challenges, New Opportunities

Steps to Follow in 2010:

Review 2009 — Take time to reflect on 2009. Review your failures, accomplishments, and lessons learned. Review your numbers and profit and loss statement. Did you make a profit? If not, why? Take a long look at your score card, numbers do not lie.

Set New Goals for 2010 — What are your goals and aspirations- personal, professional and financial? With out goals or a plan of action you will drift aimlessly, make sure you have a road map to follow. A trial and error approach to learning in today’s tough economy is unacceptable.

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Raising Prices in a Tough Economy – Tips for Salon Owners

Salon owners, like business owners across industries of every kind, are struggling in this tough economy to make a profit. Many salon owners are trying to find solutions to these challenges by trial and error. In an effort to keep top hairdressers, salon owners may have resorted to any number of the following: recruiting top stylists from their competitors; paying commissions that are too high; or renting out stations just to survive.

Raising prices of services, individual stylists and/or products, are options you may want to consider. Here are a few tips to keep in mind:

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