Boss babe. Girl boss. Female hustler.

All of these Insta-phrases have been thrown around to glamorize being an entrepreneur in the hair world. Be your own boss. Do what you want. Take your success into your own hands.

While there are SO many perks to being your own boss at your very own salon, there are shadow sides that not enough of us are talking about. The struggles, the fears you have to work through, and all the not so glamorous facets that you're responsible for to be successful.

So I want to open a narrative around what it's TRULY like to be a salon owner. Share the mistakes and struggles in the hopes that if you've thought about starting your own business, you can do it fully prepared and armed for what's ahead of you.

Or maybe you've already started your own business but feel like it's been a lot harder than what you expected because you're not "killing" it like everyone else and their cat on Instagram! I'm here to share the not so aesthetically pleasing for Insta details!

I've owned a studio salon business since I was 22 years old, and I've been through every up and down myself. Back before Instagram and online education had exploded. There wasn't nearly any information or resources on running your own business. Everything was the Wild West for me, total uncharted territory. I had to figure it out as I went along. And I made mistakes. A LOT of them.

I don't want you to have that same experience I had. I want you to kill it! You'll still have your own lessons to learn no matter what, but hopefully I can save you from the big ones!

BOUNDARIES. SET SOME FROM THE GET GO.

PRICING

When you set up and run your salon, you are the one in charge of setting prices for your goods/services. Now the market can influence your price range, but the end result is up to you only!

Once you set your price, DO NOT BUDGE! You will hear every excuse and sob story from your clients. It is not your responsibility or burden to help them manage their finances by discounting your prices.

I had clients that would complain to me about how they were super tight on money because of X, Y, and Z. Even if they didn't come out and ask for a discount, I would feel guilty charging full price for my services. So I would do this thing called "emotional discounting". Where I would discount their total bill so that I didn't feel guilty, or that I was adding to their financial problems. 

I was essentially making their money problems MY problems! But here's the thing, I'm in the business of doing hair. Not teaching people how to budget or manage their finances. As I got older, I would pick up on that those same complaining clients would always have their nails done, have the latest iPhone, or vehicle.

The point is: people have money. It's a matter of how they prioritize spending the money they have. It's your client's responsibility to determine if they can afford it or not. Set the boundary of what your pricing model is and don't be influenced to change it.

For every customer that complains about spending their money, there is another client waiting to happily pay full price for your services.

WORK HOURS & ACCESSIBILITY

Your clients should not have access to you 24/7. This means that you have to set up boundaries around the times you will work, and also the times that you can be reached. And then you have to communicate those boundaries to your clients. 

I do most of my hair business over texts. Setting appointments, sending reminders, all of it is done through texts so I can have a written record to refer back to. I make this clear to my clients. They know that if they call me, they most likely won't get a response for quite awhile.

They also know I return text messages when I am available to do so, normally during working hours. Because I have set these boundaries with them, all of my clients respect them and never once complain about my availability or being able to reach me.

TOXIC CUSTOMERS

You're gonna have them. The clients that are emotional vampires, just sucking the life from you. That client that you dread seeing every time their name shows up on your schedule. 

I get it that not every client starts out toxic. You may have liked working with them in the beginning. But people change over time. Maybe you are a different person now, and just don't vibe with them like you used to before.I'm here to tell you THAT'S OK.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with letting a client go. It doesn't make you a mean person. All it comes down to is that the working relationship DOES NOT WORK. You can love them as a person, but not like working with them as a client.

My dad taught me a valuable lesson about entrepreneurship and relationships in general:

If it doesn't work for both of us, it doesn't work for either of us.

So how do you break up with clients? Be honest and direct, but keep it super short. You can send a text that says, "Thank you for your business. Moving forward I don't think I'm the best hairstylist to serve you." And leave it at that. If they keep asking questions, use the broken rule method. And just keep responding with "I don't think I'm the best hairstylist to serve you anymore." Use it as many times as it takes. 

ACCOUNTABILITY & SYSTEMS

YOU ARE ACCOUNTABLE TO YOURSELF

There is no one there to hold you accountable. If you're 20 minutes to work, no one knows. If you want to wear activewear to work everyday, you can. While this has its benefits [hello no dress code!] it can also work against you.

You have to be the one motivating yourself to perform to the best of your abilities. This can be a hard switch if you've been an employee, used to having a boss monitor your work.

When I first opened my salon, I was young and immature. I would cancel clients because I was hungover from the night before. Embarrassing, but true!

While there was no boss to scold or discipline me, my business suffered. I lost clients. I'm not proud of that, but it was a valuable lesson to learn. It forced me to hold myself accountable to my word. If I set an appointment, I was there.

In your own business, it's up to you to hold yourself accountable to your word. If you don't, your clients will. 

AUTOMATE. DELEGATE. SIMPLIFY.

With technology, you can easily simplify, automate, or delegate the tasks you don't like doing.

If there is something you can automate or delegate to a person or piece of technology, do it! Make sure you allow for yourself to spend as much time as possible in your zone of genius-nous!

I would manually send appointment reminder texts to my clients every single day. For 9 years. I hated doing it. And it took so much time out of my free time because I would usually do it at home after a long day in the salon. A) I wasn't respecting my own boundaries of only working when I was at the salon and B) I could have easily used an automated appointment system that would do it for me.

I now use Square Appointments and it's the BEST THING EVER. Not only does Square provide online bookings, but they send automated reminder/confirmation text for every appt. And did I mention that the software is free?!

Also, I used to be  terrible at record keeping my finances. I would ignore it all yer and then HATE my life once tax season rolled around. Not only could this have been easily automated with a bookkeeping system like Wave Accounting, but I was not paying attention to the health of my business.

There is amazing technology today. Use it to your advantage so that you're not spending your free time away from work, working!

PAY ATTENTION TO THE NUMBERS

As I just earlier, I wasn't paying attention to the numbers of my business because I wasn't keeping up-to-date records. In my mind, it was like "I'm making money each month, my business is successful." Having money leftover every month after paying bills DOES NOT mean you have a successful business.

How much money are you spending on color each month? Are there services that are actually hurting your business because they take a lot of time but don't bring in much moolah? Do you need to cut some expenses, or raise your prices? Tracking your numbers will give you insight into the true health and wealth of your business.

Again, set up an accounting system like Wave Accounting, and be sure to check your Profit & Loss report every single month. This was my #1 biggest mistake with my salon business. Lesson learned the hard way [insert facepalm]. 

YOU DETERMINE YOUR SUCCESS

DEALING WITH PEOPLE NOT LIKING YOUR WORK OR DROPPING YOU AS THEIR STYLIST

Aside from straight up damaging or destroying your clients hair, there is no right or wrong way to do hair. It is completely subjective. Which means you could take two clients and give them the exact same service. One client could LOVE it. And the other client could hate it. It doesn't mean you suck as a stylist, it just means you're not a love match with that client.

I had clients for years that I built very close relationships. I had been through deaths, divorces, career pitfalls with them. And then some of them would ghost me before ghosting was even a thing! They would cancel an appointment for some reason and I would never hear from them again.

I can't lie, it really hurt my feelings. I felt like I had lost a friend. It felt like something was wrong with me and that's why they left me. It was one side of being a hairstylist that I hated.

It wasn't until I got a little older and more mature that I realized something that helps in EVERY area of life when someone makes me feel inadequate or triggers my insecurity:

There could have been a million and one reasons those clients left. They may have moved, or wanted to try someone closer to where they lived. Their income may have changed where they couldn't afford my services anymore. Maybe they didn't feel comfortable telling me these things and chose to say nothing.

In entrepreneurship, you have to separate yourself from other people's actions. You don't always have all the facts on where they are coming from. You are only responsible for your actions and reactions.

ALL YOUR FEARS WILL BE TESTED

Owning a business will expose all of your fears and limiting beliefs about yourself. You want to make sure you're spending as much time working on yourself as you're devoting to actually working IN your business.

You can do this through podcasts, mentorships, courses, whatever tickles your fancy!

I never worked on myself when I was doing hair full time. Usually just suppressing or ignoring any fears I felt. Those fears were part of the reason I chose to scale back my business. Honestly, I was SO tired of feeling inadequate after a client left.

With more time for myself, I started paying attention to my mindset. I've been working through Manifestation Babe and Business By Design in the past year. [both amazing and highly recommended]

Both courses and mentors have forced me to work through those fears I had when I was younger. Now I feel like a confident owner that has no problems holding boundaries and charging my worth. Plus, I genuinely like myself a lot more. Which is honestly priceless to me.

Make it a part of your business plan & schedule to work on your personal development. Your success depends on it because....

YOUR SUCCESS IS CREATED FROM THE INSIDE OUT

This is now my life motto. Success is an inside job. By working on yourself and your mental wellness, you create more success around you.

Work through the limiting beliefs you have. Schedule self-care and vacations with your loved ones. Move your body and fuel your work with good food. Set boundaries and don't betray yourself by breaking them. Don't let anyone downplay your success.

There are more female entrepreneurs than there has ever been before! We should support each other by not just showing the great sides, but also discussing the not-so-fun stuff. The things we normally keep to ourselves.

These are all my business failures. I'm sure I'll make more. I'm ok with that because I am failing towards success. I hope you'll embrace your own failures and celebrate that you're a strong woman that's making history by being a female business owner.