Contrary to popular belief, as the owner of the salon/spa, you are not free to do as you please.

Why? Because you are the one responsible for the growth, performance, financial wellbeing/profitability, and culture of your company.

You are responsible for the performance and well-being of each and every employee.

The day you start or acquire a salon/spa, you are the one in charge — but you’re definitely NOT the boss.

Your true boss is the “company” itself. It doesn’t matter if your company is legally incorporated (which all businesses should be), a sole proprietorship or partnership, the company is your boss. You answer to the company.

As the owner/leader, you’re the one on watch for as long as you retain ownership.

• If things go great on your watch, your boss is happy.
• If things go sideways, your boss is not happy.
• If things go bad, your boss will become your worst nightmare. Why? Because you allowed things to go bad on your watch.

If you think your “true boss” is just semantics or a play on words … think again.... Read More

A salon/spa business begins with an idea that quickly evolves into a vision with amazing opportunities.

Once that entrepreneurial seizure grabs hold, you’re willing to “bet the ranch” on building your vision.

If you were an experienced service provider at another salon/spa, it’s likely that part of your plan involved clients following you to your new business.

You hire some service providers, some with followings, and pay them some form of a commission (straight, sliding scale, level pricing, product charges, etc). Why? Because that’s the way it’s always been done.

From the day you open the doors, the prime objective is to “build” your service providers. The reasoning is simple. The faster you build “them” … the faster your company grows.

The energy of a newly opened salon/spa is exciting and empowering. Sustaining that energy is the biggest challenge — especially for owners that are more skilled at doing services than leading a business.... Read More

The salon/spa industry’s longstanding approach to compensation is built on one seriously simple method: If a service provider delivers a service, or sells a product, he or she gets a piece.

In order to get that “piece,” the salon/spa must determine “who gets the credit” for the service or product sale.

Here are the four most common “who gets the credit” challenges:

1. One or more service providers work on one client and each expects to get “a piece” of the ticket.
2. A front desk/guest services employee sells a retail item to client at checkout. The service provider has a fit because he/she didn’t get the credit.
3. Front desk/guest services employees disengage from closing or selling retail because the credit and commission automatically goes to the service provider.
4. A service provider says, “I’m not doing [insert service/product sale] unless I get a piece.”

These four challenges may seem extremely basic, but they’re far from it. Why? Because the moment an employee feels short-changed or cheated, it contaminates your culture and spreads like wildfire.... Read More

When you admire any company’s culture, commitment to quality and relentless customer service, you’re admiring its values-based behavior.

That level of refined values-based behavior doesn’t just happen. It’s designed and meticulously cared for. Most importantly, it begins at the top.

The structure, discipline, values and guiding principles are the granite blocks that a salon/spa culture is built on.

That doesn’t mean a salon/spa is so rigid that it’s incapable of
changing. It just means its core behaviors are deeply rooted in its values.

Tampering with the values of your salon/spa is much like tampering with the forces of nature. When the owner or leader compromises your company’s values, it can cause a tidal wave of otherwise avoidable issues, problems, and drama.... Read More

Question: Is your salon/spa vision truly worthy of the commitment and effort it will take to achieve it?

That’s a pretty deep question with some profound implications. Why? Because in just a sentence or two, your vision statement embodies the company you want to build.

• Vision describes the destination.
• Vision sets the expectation of what the journey to achieve it will be like.
• Vision defines the type of culture it will need to support it through good times and bad.
• Vision inspires the hearts and minds of employees that choose go on this journey with you.

FACT: A vision is nothing more than words. Only the leader can bring life, meaning, and purpose to those words.

Here’s a great example of a leader bringing his vision to life:
In 1983, Apple was on the brink of bankruptcy. Steve Jobs aggressively pursued John Sculley to become Apple’s CEO. (Sculley was vice president of PepsiCo from 1977 to 1983.)... Read More