A lot of people think opening a salon starts when you find a shop and buy the chairs. It doesn’t. It starts much earlier. And this is not just for someone fresh out of college. This is for anyone who thinks, I can do hair, so now I should open a salon.
Honestly, being good behind the chair is not enough. Running a salon is a different job. If you open before you are ready, you will learn the business by losing money, making bad hires and fixing problems you should have seen coming.
The one thing I’d say to anyone before opening is this: go and work in a busy, well-run salon first, and pay attention. Not just to the hair. Watch the bookings, the staff, the money, the stock, the complaints, the no-shows, the quiet days, the pressure. Simply put, if you have never seen how a proper salon runs from the inside, you are not ready to run one yourself.
And before you sign anything, be honest with yourself. Do you actually want to be a salon owner, or do you just like the idea of it? To be fair, they are not the same thing.
Don’t open just because you can. Open when you understand what you are taking on. I go into the full system in the Appointica Academy.