I can tell you what you want to hear and make you feel good, but motivation only last a couple of weeks,or i can give you tough love and tell you what you need to hear, and yes I will step on a few toes including my own.
As professionals I know you want straight talk, not the glitter and hype within our profession.
If we are to grow we need to have the courage to look on the dark side of our profession if we are to find solutions and seek out ways to grow the bright side of our profession.
Of course, you will read articles written by special interest groups that business is great. Yes, the product companies are doing great. Beauty schools are doing great. Producers of our trade shows are doing great.
Unfortunately many salon owners and hairdressers are not. A recent government study showed the average income of hairdressers was $20,000 to $25,000 per year. Alarmingly, only about 5% of salons survive beyond seven years. Many salon owners are resorting to renting booth spaces just to keep their businesses open.
I spent 45 years working as a working hairdresser and salon owner, during that time I was working 10 – 12 hour days and had to sacrifice time with my family; owning a salon was tough, I always had to find my own solutions to my business challenges. Through hard work and determination , and the help of my great staff, I was one of those 5% of salon owners to survive and retire financially independent and debt free. I’m writing this not to boast but to help you identify and avoid the many challenges of owning a successful salon,learn from my experiences and help you develop a profitable business. I don’t want you to have to suffer through unnecessary hardships and challenges I experienced during my 43 year career by sharing my experiences so I can make your journey easier than mine.
These are my opinions and solutions on the problems in the beauty industry, but that’s an opinion based on years of experience and communicating with thousands of hairdressers, salon owners, educators and instructors who I have had the privilege of meeting personally at my seminars and at trade shows.
If we are to find solutions, we need to identify these concerns and address them by improving the way we conduct our businesses practices. It’s time for new ideas, new thinking , and innovation. for some tough love. I don’t expect you to agree on some of my opinions, i just ask you review with an open mind; we can agree to disagree.
If honesty and a “code of ethics” are wrong, then I consider myself guilty!
Athough these are only my opinions, I believe my opinions are shared by many open-minded salon owners who are trying to build and grow a successful business. My sincere intention in writing this article is to help raise the standard of living for the many hardworking professionals who work diligently daily in the beauty salons across the country. They represent the heart and soul of our profession. I believe we can accomplish this through education and working together in our industry by setting professional standards.We must raise our standards towards educational excellence if we are to grow as a profession and raise our standard of living.
Here are a few of the challenges we must address :
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**Beauty Schools — many of our beauty schools are closing due to the department of education targeting our beauty schools due to growing student loan defaults and other factors.
New tough Labor Law —
**Product companies — Most education in the beauty industry is to encourage us to sell their products ,unfortunately we are seeing their products being sold at discount stores. Where is the loyalty. Of course retailing should play a large role in selling our services and products in our salons. Although many of the product companies may not like this opinion, but if salons stay in business and hairdressers are successful, the product companies will also be successful.
**No voice or unity — Salon owners have no voice of their own,many associations are run by the product companies,
would be nice if salon owners would have their own association.An association run by salon owners for salon owners.
The vast knowledge and experiences of salon owners could be powerful. ,just focusing on our business and educational needs.
**Salon Owners — we have a growing split between independent salon owners and booth rental. sadly I think we have a wide split between independent salon owners and booth rental salon owners.
**Hairdressers — we are allowing hairdressers to turn owner against owner for better deals through
**Playing on unequal playing field — We have developed an underground economy, many owners are playing by the rules by paying their taxes,worker compensation,educating and training a newcomer, then losing them to a booth rental salon.
there is plenty of business for everyone.
On May 15-16, in Las Vegas I will address this issue and hopefully unify all salon owners. An equal playing field will benefit everyone .
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