Monday, October 26, 2009

Salon and Spa Owners...Work Less & Make More

  • Are you are a busy Salon or Spa Owner in desperate need of making more money but you don’t have the time or the energy to do it yourself?
  • Do you feel that you are really close to grabbing the ‘brass’ ring only to find yourself unable to reach it yet again?
  • Are you frustrated by the lack of initiative, willingness and drive among your team members?
If you answered "Yes" to one or all three of the above questions then take a moment, kick your feet up and read about how you can change your course to working less and making MORE. What I’m sharing isn’t rocket science, however, even the best of us could use a good swift ‘kick-in-the-pants’ every once in awhile to get ourselves back on track.

The three ways to making more are:

1. Understand the 80/20 Rule
In 1897 Pareto, an Italian Economist came up with the 80/20 rule. This rule in of itself revolutionized the way we think not only about wealth but about every area of our life. Applied to your business it can be said that 20% of your employees will produce 80% of your revenue. Many business leaders spend little if any of their time focusing on those areas of their business that can generate the most revenue. You’ve got to shift your focus and begin spending your valuable time on those areas that can generate the most revenue and thereby save you time.

In any given situation the question to ask yourself what is the 80 percent and what is the 20 percent. In other words if you want to be wealthy ask yourself what is it that the 20 percent do differently that allows them to control 80 percent of the wealth. If you want your business to be more profitable ask yourself what is the 20 percent that is accounting for 80 percent of your profits and focus in on that.

2. Build it and they will come!
I love the movie Field of Dreams! The theme serves as an excellent analogy for salon and spa owners struggling to make more. When I say, ‘build it and they will come’, I don’t mean go out and build a brand new salon and spa, I simply mean build a business. Allow me to clarify. Most successful small business owners do one thing really well. They think like large businesses. Meaning they visualize themselves making it big, align themselves with individuals that can help them get big and systematically implement the necessary structures to be big.

You bought and opened a business, now act like a business! Success comes to those who plan for success. Planning begins with preparation. Establishing a clear vision and mission for your business, developing a realistic cash flow plan for profit and establishing the specific systems, policies and procedures in which you will operate your business. Even if you have only one employee you must prepare your business to receive. Preparing eliminates fear, procrastination and reduces turnover. It also provides power and positions you in the rightful seat of leader. If you feel behind the eight ball and that you are loosing traction in your own success. STOP! Take a vacation from working IN your business, hire a coach and go work ON your business. When you return you will be armed with the tools necessary to work less and make more. Not only will you save time but you will save money and quit possibly your sanity.

3. Serve your number one customer FIRST!
As a salon and/or spa business owner your number one customer is your team! Without a team you don’t own a business you own a job. Taking care of your team and serving them well is your key to success. Marcus Buckingham wrote a fantastic book called, The One Thing You Need to Know. In his book he writes that great leaders and managers have the ability to turn talent into performance. Read that again…turn talent into performance. To make more money in less time your job is to simply turn your talent (your team) into performance (producing revenue). He goes on to say that doing so is as simple as; finding their talents and strengths, trigger great performance and tailor their learning style.

Essential to your job as their manager/leader is to get your team working on those activities in which they perform their best. Secondly, you must work to trigger great performance. You’ve got to consciously recognize and reinforce desirable behaviors. Get creative! This may be in the form of a personal thank you note, a public acknowledgement in front of the team or simply having an employee of the month board. Lastly, tailor the learning. Your job is to discover the best way in which each individual on your team learns and work to provide an environment that supports their learning preferences.

Although these three steps are simple they do require time and effort to implement. Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day! Working less and making more can be done but you must be willing to make the necessary changes.

For more help email me at julie.shepperly@cengage.com

Monday, October 12, 2009

Create Your Business Day! Time Management for Working On Your Business!

So, you want to make the leap and start working “On” your business, not just work behind the chair. Good For You!!!

You might be asking yourself, “Now what?” What do I do?” HELP!

As a coach I have supported many salon and spa owners successfully through this transition. As you start this new structure of running your business you will be on a major learning curve, so here are four tips to help you along:

1. Be Patient: Being that you are on a learning curve, you have to be patient with this process! You are so used to having to “do” something, every minute you are in your salon, it will feel strange at first to not be “doing” what you are used to. Curve balls will come your way and at first you will be tempted by last minute client requests, etc. Do not get sucked in.

2. Your Business; Your Most Important Client: Your salon or spa needs your attention! Shift your thinking to your business as your most important client; because it is! Remember this when you walk into your salon or spa for your business day! Be prepared and shift your mindset.

3. Coach Your Team: Coaching your team to understand that you are not available for clients at all and to not interrupt you is crucial. If you do not set this up they will be all over you. They need to understand what you are doing, why you are doing it and the benefit it will have for them in the long run. Without this knowledge you may have people on your team confused and wondering why you are not “working”.

4. Plan Your Day: Write out a set schedule from 9-5, including breaks and a lunch and HONOR YOUR SCHEDULE! Set the example to your team and stay fresh.

Here is a sample list of items you should be doing On Your Business Day:
- Return messages and emails
- Open mail and pay bills
- Reschedule when you meet with your distributors so they meet with you on your business day so you have time for them
- Project time: Each week on your business day schedule two hours where you will be looking specifically at one area of your business broken into four areas: Sales, Operations, Marketing & Finance. Take this block time to research and analyze current systems and figures, look at results, research trends and use this as time for you to study, read and understand these crucial areas in your business.
- Schedule all interviews on your business day and block out time in your schedule for this. If you come to this part of your day and no one is scheduled you just got another hour or two to work on other things.
- Always schedule time on your business day for observation and being on the floor, watching the customer service experience from a fresh perspective, listening to your teams interactions with their customers and assessing their technical ability
- Schedule all meetings, reviews, education and one on ones with your team on your business day so you are fresh, prepared and ready to lead!

As you can see there are so many important components that you need to focus on to run a successful salon or spa business. Take the time you need and get organized, invest in your business to grow and it will improve at a pace you wouldn’t have thought possible!

Milady Business Coach, Steve Gomez

Monday, October 5, 2009

How a “Regular Gal” from Massachusetts Ran a Successful Salon - All While Three Thousand Miles Away!

Well, let me tell you how I did it - because I'm that “regular gal” from Massachusetts that owned and operated a successful salon from three thousand miles away.

After owning my salon for 8 months I decided to start researching business support in the salon/spa industry, and landed myself in Vegas at a conference where I sat in a business class called 10 Profit Points. The class was amazing; the speaker was nailing everything on the head - it was like my prayers had been answered.

It was then I knew I could bring my ideas and my excitement of having a successful salon to fruition - all I needed was a plan, and that was the tough part. How do I take everything that has been swirling around in my head for 8 months and create a plan? What do I do first, what is most important, ugh, where do I start?! Somebody help me, please!!!!! Well, I took the time to sit with a Salon/Spa Business Coach from Milady at the conference. She listened to what I wanted, my challenges and my desire to get there quicker, faster. She assured me that my dream could be realized by creating a plan.

I made a decision to began business coaching and learned about the four critical areas of focus needed to have a successful business:

  1. business planning and management,

  2. sales and finance,

  3. marketing; and lastly
  4. operations

I quickly learned that any successful business has a game plan for these four areas and I began working on them in my business and with my team.

First We determined what was working

Second We took a good hard look at what was not working

Third We created actions to correct what was not working

Forth We prioritized the action steps we created

All said and done, we created our business initiatives for the year and now knew where we were going, why we were going there and how we were going to do it.

So how did this allow me to run and operate my business from three thousand miles away? Implementing systems, structures, accountabilities, responsibilities, incentives, and coaching my team created my success and allowed me to step out from behind the chair to work on my business not in it. I was able to manage the systems we had in place leading my team to their own success which gave me the freedom to take on the next venture of my career - becoming a Business Coach and Trainer for Milady. (that's a whole other story, I will have share another time)

It was my commitment & support from my business coach/mentor in learning what was needed to run a successful salon as well as the commitment from my team that gave me the foundation to operate my business from three thousand miles away!

What’s your step out from behind the chair struggles and success? I’d love to hear.

Kim Lento, Milady Business Coach