Honoring Employee-Based Salon and Spa Owners
This Monday Morning Wake-Up is for the dreamers...
The visionaries and brave souls that ventured into salon/spa ownership.
You are the unsung heroes willing to risk it all for an opportunity to test your ability to turn your vision, ideas and concepts into something special - something of value.
You signed and personally guaranteed the leases and loans. You put your home up as collateral. Family members backed you.
Because YOU believed in you … others believed in you.
Many of you were successful service providers. Your busy chair or treatment room was undeniable proof of your technical and customer service skills. Yes, you were the classic E-Myth entrepreneur technician who became an unprepared business owner.
- You did your first salon/spa buildout and probably spent more than you should have doing it.
- You hired your first team. Some of those original team members may have come from the salon/spa you left to open yours. If so, that scenario is something you hope will never happen to your business.
- That big clientele of yours was about the only sure thing your new company had of making it through that first year. It’s just the way most salons and spas start out.
Did you truly know what you were getting into? For many first-time owners, it's a bit of a wake-up call. What you thought you knew about salon/spa ownership was only a sliver of what was to come.
Do any of these sounds familiar?
- Your approach to cash-flow management may often have been more by impulse than plan. No one ever told you what financial stress would do to your confidence and state of mind.
- Profit & Loss Statements. Balance Sheets. Percentages. Critical numbers. Where did all this stuff come from? Wasn’t there a class for this?
- Payroll cost control and management? What was that all about? If you started out paying the same commission rates as your previous employer and competitors … why were you struggling to make payroll? Ah … if you only knew then what you know now.
- Managing employees … Can’t they just do their job?
- Time to do everything … How were you supposed to get all this “work on your business” stuff done when you’re overbooked with clients?
All this stuff is hard to figure out on your own. So kudos to you and all the employee-based salon/spa owners that find a way to make it all work. No employee will ever truly understand what being a business owner is all about until he or she walks in your shoes.
Here are some No-Compromise Leadership reasons that you are being honored in this MMWU:
- It’s a relentlessly demanding business: They say, “Oh, it’s just a salon/spa. How complicated could it be?” The truth is … salons and spas are massively complicated businesses. Your entire brand is dependent on what the hands and minds of your employees do. Leading and managing a skill-based service business like a salon/spa has humbled many experienced leaders. Your success is a testament to your survival skills as much as it is your leadership skills.
- The cost of creating employee growth opportunities: Too many owners succumb to, “Why train them if they’re just going to leave?” In this industry, that thinking is the kiss of death for a salon/spa. A skill and customer-service based business must be 100% committed to developing its employees at all levels … in all departments. Your brand demands it. Your customers demand it. More critically, employees … especially the most career minded ones … will always gravitate to where the growth opportunities exist. Your relentless commitment to creating career opportunities is a testament of your belief in people and your business.
- The employee loyalty question: Yes, this industry is notorious for employee turnover. So much so, that many owners say, “If you haven’t had a walkout yet … you will.” Employees leave for many reasons. When they leave in mass … it is a brilliant RED FLAG that toxic contamination exists in the business. Too many owners that have experienced the devastation of a walkout fall into a state of denial that sounds like, “How could they do that to me?” Maybe you weren’t paying attention. Maybe you weren’t taking time to show appreciation. Maybe you were just being a jerk. Look in the mirror. Employee loyalty is the work of the No-Compromise Leader. It is earned every day. The employee loyalty that you have earned is a testament to your ability to lead and inspire people with transparency and fairness.
- The client loyalty question: Creating client loyalty to your brand … to your business requires a level of business expertise and savviness that many owners have yet to achieve. It’s one thing to build the client followings of individuals. It’s something entirely different to build a salon/spa where clients are fiercely loyal to your brand. The simple test is to look at your appointment book and ask yourself this question: Are all those client appointments on the book fiercely loyal to your business … or to the service provider’s name that resides at the top of each column? If your answer is that most clients are loyal to your brand … it is a testament to your relentless commitment that your clients are serviced by a team of skilled professionals.
- The booth rental, suite and independent dilemma: There is so much hype over booth rental, suites and the “independent service provider” and too little celebration for the opportunity of owning an employee-based salon/spa. The suite franchises are pummeling advertising, email and direct mail messages aimed directly at YOUR busy employees. It is the ultimate “stylist with following wanted” advertising on steroids hitting all the right hot buttons. “Grow your own business … not someone else’s.” “Escape the drama.” “Keep 100% of the profit that your hands generate.” (They never state that profit can be negative.) The more you differentiate your salon/spa from the traditional “build your following” commission model … the more immune your salon/spa is to the lure of booth rental and suites. Your ability to lead a true team-based business model is a testament to your commitment to consistently deliver those extraordinary customer service experiences that other salon/spas just talk about.
Here’s my challenge to you: Do not buy into the hype that employee-based salons and spas are a dying breed. Celebrate and honor your employee-based advantage … because it IS an advantage. Celebrate and honor the career opportunities your company creates. Celebrate and honor the years of hard work you invested to build a living, breathing, dynamic and profitable business. Celebrate and honor the fact that you created something of value that far surpasses what a booth rental or suite can ever hope to achieve.
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