“I have a team member who has done 5 things wrong in the last 2 weeks… I might explode”   We’ve all been there before.    A team member keeps doing things wrong but you’re dreading that awkward conversation of “when you did XYZ, it’s not ok”.    And next thing you know, you have a three-page list of things they’ve done wrong and you’re starting to feel resentful.    But you don’t have to be… you just need to know why it’s happening and how to talk to them.   Here is When to Have THE Conversation With Your Team Member… How did we get here?   We’re al ..read more

“My team keeps leaving to go solo!” Opportunity always comes out of crisis - and we’ve been through a lot as an industry (and the world) over the past few years.  We’ve heard a lot about teams leaving to go solo, profits dropping and Salon Owners have hit their limit with pricing.  2024 is a new chapter and a new opportunity for us to grow our Salon and make a killing in the industry. And although a new chapter brings new challenges, it doesn’t have to be challenging… look at it as a new opportunity for growth and success.  You just need to focus on the three things you CAN co ..read more

“Why aren’t my Instagram followers also customers?!” 2024 is quickly approaching, and whilst we look towards all kinds of new adventures and challenges, it’s important to reflect on 2023.  Reflecting not only helps us celebrate our wins, but we also take in all of our learnings from the year and apply them to the next.  For the last blog of the year, I thought it was only fitting we reflect on some of the conversations we’ve had this year on the Salon Owners Collective Podcast. We’ve done nearly 50 episodes. In 2023 - welcomed over 20 new guests onto the podcast and we’ve delved int ..read more

“My clients are coming less often” We’ve had this consistent conversation with over 100 salon owners that Salon Owners Collective looks after worldwide. Clients are the ones who are pushing appointments out, not coming in for the same services they used to, they’re the ones not picking up products on the way out.  It’s easy for the team to blame the clients, right?  “They're trying to save money. Everybody's on a budget, we're in a recession, and I'm not making targets  because my clients don't want to come as often” and as a result, sales become a little stagnant… which is a ..read more

I remember it like it was yesterday … one of my strongest team members pulled me aside and delivered those two gut-wrenching words.  I’m leaving.    And I felt like my whole world had been turned upside down - how could she just leave me like this?   To tell you the truth, I felt blindsided - and I couldn't see a way through the chaos I knew was heading straight for me.  So I did what any other 20-something would … I rang my boyfriend and cried to him. Hysterically.    I told him that my world had been turned upside down and he had the AUDACITY to give me a ..read more

Nobody talks about how Salon Ownership can be lonely… The Secret to Working Less Hours in the Salon (That Nobody Talks About) …and the reality is that your business can feel like it’s your entire life. Without it, who would you be?    You spend more hours in the day in your business than you see your partner, family, or friends. And whilst this is never the intention, you feel it’s just what has to happen to ensure everything gets done; putting out the team fires, the admin jobs, rebooking clients, marketing, cleaning, the list goes on!   Who else is going to do it like you ca ..read more

Fate can be a funny thing, right?    You’re dreaming of building your own $1M Hair Salon, and the next you’ve made it happen! All of a sudden there becomes a whole new set of responsibilities.  Some, expected (like hiring, firing, marketing, you know… ‘all the things'). Others, perhaps, you weren’t so prepared for, (the team dramas, covid, recessions, industry staff shortages, struggles to maintain a healthy work/life balance…OH MY!)    No matter how profitable your business is, or how far you move up the success ladder, there are always a new set of challenges around ..read more

Do you find it tricky to create a client attracting social media plan? You know you have to do it, but you often don’t have the time, nor the energy to really put effort into it and prioritise it. As a result, you can end up posting the bare minimum just to keep things ‘ticking along’. Hair transformation photo after hair transformation photo, before and afters of your team’s latest blonde transformation… you know the one!   After all, it’s just taking one more thing off your busy list.   ...And honestly, kudos to you for getting it done when you can! But the problem with doing thi ..read more

How to regain the freedom you though you'd lost. When I first opened my Salon, and also my coaching business for that matter, I remember this feeling of thinking “Ahhh yes, this is why I opened my own business!” I was experiencing this incredible feeling of freedom, autonomy and creativity all in one, that you just cannot get from working for someone else! I could order and buy what I wanted, come and go as I pleased… If I wanted to take the afternoon off, I could! But then, something changed… My business started to become successful! And, like most success, the success of my business was a ..read more

How to prepare for a Stress-Free Christmas in the Salon... Every year, I see Salon Owners make the same mistake of just ‘accepting their Christmas fate’.   You dread Christmas so much that you put off preparing for it, and then as we know, it ALWAYS sneaks up on you faster than you expect!   Then, you blink and it’s November 30th & you feel COMPLETELY unprepared for what’s around the corner. You take a look at the books & it’s SCARY in there:   Clients are booked back-to-back & squished up You know there’ll be lunch breaks missed, and overworked team memb ..read more