” Let us join together to better understand each other. “
There seems to be a growing contempt and jealousy towards pharmaceuticals, oil companies, financial institutions, Wall Street, rich people, or anybody who is successful and surprisingly salon owners throughout the United States.
I was recently reading some chat rooms comments where hairdressers were commenting on their salons and owners.
I was alarmed by the degree of animosity, misunderstandings, and negative attitudes towards salon owners and managers in their efforts to grow their business and improve profits.
Some of the comments from some hairdressers : Salon owners are greedy, why should they keep half of everything I earn, they drive fancy cars, they don’t appreciate my hard work and the list goes on and on. Where and why are these attitudes so prevalent? Were they formed in beauty school, gossip in the backrooms of our salons? Salon owners who lack leadership and poor people management skills?
I’m sure some of these comments may be justified, but sadly many of these comments and attitudes simply result from poor communication between salon owners and hairdressers. Lack of understanding each others needs is a major challenge facing salon owners and their team. I can assure you that most salon owners are not rich.
Many hairdressers just do not have a business back round and understanding of what it takes to run a successful business and the financial risks owners face when opening a business.
Their seems to be a wide gap in understanding why salons need to be profitable, maintain business growth, instill teamwork, and business stability; with out profits a business will fail and jobs are lost.
Perhaps a class at the beauty school level on what it takes to own your own business would help change some of these attitudes. These types of attitudes towards salon owners are one of the leading causes of misunderstanding and staff turnover. When turnover occurs everyone loses. How can we expect to raise prices, advertise for more customers, maintain job security, create a benefits package, create a positive and professional salon environment and improve our standard of living in this negative atmosphere?
It is my wish that hairdressers will gain a better understanding of the heavy duties and responsibilities salon owners face daily. It is also my wish that salon owners become better leaders in helping their team reach higher levels of excellence —personally, professionally, and financially. We are all in this together.
I have yet to meet a salon owner that wants to see his team fail. You may not have the perfect boss at times, but then you may not be the perfect employee at times, all of us must work together and raise our standard of living for ourselves and our families. A house divided will never survive.
This is not to say salon owners are not at fault,but most salon owners do care, not only about their business to succeed but also see their staff succeed.
Salon owners should be applauded for the following:
Salon Owners Create Jobs — in today’s tough economy we should be thankful we have jobs. Most salon owners haven given you the opportunity to develop your full learning and earning potential. Most salon owners sacrifice time and money to provide a better life for themselves and their team with the courage to risk in many cases their life savings.
Salon Owners Make Sacrifices — many owners sacrifice time with their families, usually the first to work and the last to leave. Their business is always on their mind. Their hard work and sacrifices benefits you, and provide you with a job, training and education and an opportunity to reach higher levels of excellence.
Spend Money and Time on Advertising — salon owners are always working hard to attract more customers to keep their staff busy with a measured flow of new customers, which is very costly and time consuming.
Provide Mentoring and Guidance — most salon owners share their vast experience and skills in helping you grow your career. Many offer guidance, moral support and ongoing mentoring.
Education and Training: top salons invest in educating and training their team.
A Positive and Professional Salon Environment. — Many work hard to create a fun,professional, and positive team environment.
Struggle to Make a Profit — without profits there is no money to advertise or promote salon for more customers. If the salon fails— no job security
Overcome Losing Clients — while young starters gain experience in meeting high job market and consumer demands,salon owners have to listen to customer complaints and overcome customer loss while they gain experience and self confidence. Learning by trial and error is risky and very costly. Negative word of mouth advertising affects the entire team.
Owners Must Maintain Business Stability— many owners have to work hard to recover and overcome staff turnover, to maintain business stability and job stability for their other team members when turnover occurs.
Let us join together and take our profession,ourselves, and our jobs to a higher level. We must keep an open mind to trust and understand each others needs. We need each other more than ever. Let us all work together to work as a team.
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