Overcoming Burnout and Anxiety

"Burnout is nature's way of telling you to take a break."  Jon Gonzales Building  and growing a hairdressing career or owning a salon/spa business can be daunting. Balancing your personal, professional and financial development is a challenging  journey  that can cause a series of peaks and balances that will from time to time cause burnout. Our current Corona Virus is certainly a concern for all of us.  Instead of worrying and eventual burnout, use this idle time to start developing a passion for self improvement [Click here to read full article...]

2020-04-03T13:25:11-07:00April 5th, 2020|

Bridging the Gap Between Staff and Management

"A better dialogue between staff and management will combat staff turnover and misunderstandings." Jon Gonzales Earning the trust and loyalty of members of your staff is a constant challenge for salon owners. Why do some hairdressers perform so poorly? Why do some hairdressers allow themselves to be drawn into salon gossip and pettiness? Why do some hairdressers constantly change jobs? Why do some hairdressers always blame the boss for not being busy? Why do some hairdressers refuse to be part of your team? The list [Click here to read full article...]

2020-03-08T11:21:58-07:00March 8th, 2020|

Salon Owners Summit Conference Cruise Itinerary

Hosted by Jon Gonzales, President of Hairdresser Career Development Systems The purpose of this Salon Owner’s Summit Conference Cruise to the Eastern Caribbean is to open a forum and form a united front in addressing the many deep rooted challenges and obstacles that are affecting our salons, our profession, and our standard of living. You will have an opportunity to voice your concerns in round table discussions of topics with other salon owners that are affecting your businesses. Salon owners sharing their vast real world [Click here to read full article...]

2019-02-03T11:57:53-08:00February 3rd, 2019|

Staying Busy After the Holidays

" Finding ways to keep yourself and your team motivated will be your challenge."  Jon Gonzales During the Holiday Season, most salons will be busy,especially if they are well managed. Unfortunately, after the holidays, many salons will experience a slow down period after the holidays. Overcoming the potential slow months of January, February, March and April; this can be a challenging period, especially to our younger workers trying to build a clientele. A tough and competitive economy doesn’t help matters. For this reason I urge [Click here to read full article...]

2019-12-17T15:03:30-08:00January 27th, 2019|

Thank You From Jon Gonzales

 "Appreciation and Thank You are two  of the rarest but one of the most beautiful virtues."  Jon Gonzales Thank you for following my weekly blog and for your interest in Hairdresser Career Development Systems. My informative blog posts are my way of  saying  thank  you for your support. My goal is to help you meet the growing challenges of owning a successful and profitable business,  so you can make informed business decisions based on fact, not guesswork. As a fellow salon owner/hairdresser,  I certainly understand [Click here to read full article...]

2018-10-05T13:05:04-07:00October 7th, 2018|

When a Good Worker Turns Bad

" When a good work refuses to be part of your team."  - Jon Gonzales When a good worker drifts away from your efforts in building and growing a successful business-- the question is --how do I turn this person into a team player? The key to owning a successful and profitable business is to make sure everyone on your team contributes and  shares your vision and goals of your salon. Business stability and growth will be your reward. Business will not continue to grow [Click here to read full article...]

2018-09-30T09:15:13-07:00September 30th, 2018|

Attracting New Clients

Keeping  your team busy within the salon should be a high priority, especially during the slow months. If your busy with plenty of customers, you are to be congratulated, but be forewarned: it doesn't take much for salons to fail. I have seen salons booming one year and empty the next during my 43 years as a salon owner. Complacency is your biggest challenge. We as professionals should all work hard to create value in our skills through ongoing self-improvement, so we can create a [Click here to read full article...]

2018-08-31T19:07:30-07:00September 2nd, 2018|

Your Journey to Success (Part 2)

Last week we reviewed the characteristics of successful people, figuring out together why certain people tend to stand above the crowd. Now that's all mapped out, we continue our journey to success by learning from their triumphs. Like last week, I urge you to follow these guidelines within yourself every day to unleash your inner power. You and only you have the power to be as successful as you want to be. Follow these guidelines with an open mind: Professional Appearance --- are we are [Click here to read full article...]

2018-07-22T10:59:26-07:00July 29th, 2018|

Keys to Staff Retention

Our business growth, stability  and profitability depends heavily on staff retention. The performance of our staff and the avoidance of staff turnover and staff instability are keys to your salon's success. No salon can continue to grow and be profitable with a constant merry-go-round of staff turnover. How can we grow our business with constant business interruption? How are we to raise prices in this scenario? Maintaining staff stability benefits our salon, our staff, and our profession. Building and maintaining a truly championship team should [Click here to read full article...]

2018-07-01T10:19:32-07:00July 1st, 2018|

Creating Your Apprenticeship Program

There is a real need for an apprenticeship program in the beauty profession. Unfortunately, not enough owners are aware of the numeral benefits of having such a program in their salon. Apprenticeship programs help combat the high dropout rate of young hairdressers, most of whom leave the profession due to lack of opportunity and experience. More importantly, having an apprenticeship program helps to upgrade the quality of education in your salon, equipping your team to better meet job market and consumer demands. As salon owners, [Click here to read full article...]

2018-06-19T08:53:26-07:00June 24th, 2018|

Experienced vs. Inexperienced Hairdressers, Who to Hire?

Making your hiring decisions  will be one of your most important decisions when adding a new member to your your championship team as a salon owner. Choosing between experienced vs. inexperienced hairdressers  will be an critical  decision for your business. Selecting committed professionals will depend on finding people who share your vision, goals, and quality control standards will be a key management skill. A hit and miss approach to hiring a new member to your team is just too costly. Below are some of the [Click here to read full article...]

2018-12-03T11:51:09-08:00April 29th, 2018|

Crafting Your Employee Handbook

The key to employee training begins with your employee handbook. As our economy struggles, salon/spa owners are being stymied by government regulations that make it difficult and challenging to own a small and profitable business. Compounding the many challenges salon owners face is how to avoid turnover and improving staff performance and productivity. You can avoid a lot of hardship and protect your rights as an employer, as well as protecting the rights of your employees, by drafting a well thought-out employee handbook.  How can [Click here to read full article...]

2018-04-15T10:10:13-07:00April 15th, 2018|

Salon Owners Summit Conference Cruise

 Join us at our 2019 Salon Owners Summit Cruise Dear Friend and Colleague, Since you have shown an interest in Hairdresser Career Development Systems, I want to share some exciting news. As I travel throughout the United States and Canada, it is apparent that it is time to unite as professionals and take back our profession and our salons. For too long salon owners have been isolated in having to battle the many deep-rooted challenges and obstacles of salon ownership. Staff turnover, price, commission wars, [Click here to read full article...]

2018-10-02T09:59:02-07:00March 11th, 2018|

A Compensation Reward Systems

Compensation Rewards System - Incentives for Improving Staff Performance and Productivity Our business is such that we must rely on the performance, productivity and stability of our staff to reach higher levels of excellence. There are many ways to improving staff performance and productivity, which salon owners must do if they wish to encourage their staff to continue performing at their absolute best. And one of the best ways is providing a reward system for peak performers. But before you develop a compensation rewards system, [Click here to read full article...]

2017-11-11T10:07:35-08:00January 20th, 2018|

A Message from Jon Gonzales

Due to time restraints and my desire to add more educational content for my University of Higher Learning, as well as finishing up two new books for salon owners, and scheduling my 2 day business only seminar for salon owners in 2018; beginning Sunday, December 3rd, I will be suspending my weekly blog, which will resume on March 11th, 2018. As many of you know, I was able to retire financially independent and debt free. Along the way I had to find solutions to overcome [Click here to read full article...]

2018-01-24T09:18:00-08:00December 3rd, 2017|

Honesty and a Code of Ethics

Many hairdressers and salon owners are working hard and experiencing challenges as they try to provide a better life for themselves and their families. In order to make this a reality, we must join together as professionals and address a topic that is hurting our salons, our profession, and our livelihoods. It my hope that this article will help bridge the gap between salon owners and hairdressers, so we can provide a better dialogue and better understanding between staff and management. It all starts with [Click here to read full article...]

2017-11-19T09:23:43-08:00November 19th, 2017|

It’s Time to Speak Out!

  After 43 years in the trenches as a working hairdresser/salon owner and 10 years as an educator, business consultant , author, motivational speaker on personal growth and development , I feel I have earned the right to speak out and voice my concerns and opinions about the plight of hairdressers, salon owners and our profession as a whole.I know many of my colleagues feel the same way.  Below are just some of the challenges that salon owners face in building their businesses. Before we [Click here to read full article...]

2018-02-21T13:43:57-08:00November 5th, 2017|

You’re Graduating from Beauty School! Now What?

“You're graduating from beauty school — now what?” Congratulations for choosing  a career in the beauty profession as your chosen profession. You have chosen a profession that offers unlimited opportunities provided you know what it takes and have what it takes to be a winner in a profession that can be fulfilling, challenging and potentially financially rewarding. As you proceed  with your school education you need to ask this question, now what? what is your next step? Sadly many new beginners fail to maximize their [Click here to read full article...]

2017-10-29T13:16:52-07:00October 29th, 2017|

The Cloud of Business Instability: Beware of Staff Turnover

A cloud hangs over the heads of all salon owners. One of your biggest business challenges owning a successful and profitable salon will depend on your ability to avoid staff turnover and business instability. In today's changing and volatile business environment, staff turnover will always be a great challenge to salon owners.The cost and time to find a quality replacement is just to costly. There are many things you can do to combat this growing challenge. You can start by  creating conditions that fosters staff [Click here to read full article...]

2017-10-22T09:27:53-07:00October 22nd, 2017|

Hairdresser’s Guide to Success

Why is it that some hairdressers make it big while others just get by? How do they stand above the crowd and gain that all important competitive edge? What secret hairdresser's guide do they follow to see such sweeping success? The truth is there are no magic secrets to being a peak performer than just following a few guidelines. The good news is that you will probably win by default because few in our profession will not take the time to learn; far too many [Click here to read full article...]

2018-04-05T15:50:21-07:00October 8th, 2017|

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