For a lot of us, closing your books means you’ve made it.
You post on your social media and website that you aren’t accepting any new clients because you have a [insert air quotes] “full clientele.” You can’t take in anybody else, and you’re not asking for referrals because your business is cozy as it is.
Uh, no.
That is a common misconception, and if you buy into that idea, your business will close quickly.
Think of it this way: name one other successful business you know that says, “Sorry, we’re not looking for any new customers?”
You can’t because our industry is the only one that thinks it’s okay to turn away business, that it’s a sign that you’re a gangster. That’s why today we’re diving into why closing your books is essentially the first step in closing your doors.
First, let’s look at why stylists close their books.
You close your books to serve your ego
If a stylist has done everything right and properly marketed themselves, they can get to where they are bursting at the seams and feel they have no other choice than to close their books.
This is fully serving your ego.
Closing your books to serve the ego will make you the stylist who doesn’t understand why your business tanked. You had it all: full books, big business, fat bank account…and now you’re watching your income drop month after month. All because you felt like you had it all figured out and got a little bit complacent.
We have all watched industry icons fall into this trap. Think back to some of the industries’ big name educators that hit the scene five years ago. They were in a new city every night because of the huge demand, but now we hardly remember their names.
If you’re wondering what happened to those educators, I’ll tell you what they’re up to: they served the ego, closed their books, and their business faded.
Many stylists you’ve never heard of struggle with this, too. They had it all and closed their books, not realizing it was a devastating business decision. Now they’re dealing with the embarrassment of going from top to bottom in three to five years.
You close your books to release the pressure
What if you aren’t trying to be famous, but the pressure is mounting and you feel like you’re drowning. You can’t even respond to all of your DMs, you have 20 to 30 new guests requests a month, and you’re working 12 hour days.
The rush of new clients, a beautiful business model, and a working marketing funnel is fun for a while, but what kills you and makes you a bit resentful of the industry is the pressure.
Emotionally and physically, you can’t take that pressure forever. Every client that comes in sucks a little piece out of you, and it hurts your family, maybe even your relationship with your partner or children.
Or you see people who decided to take a big step back from their career because they need to breathe. That’s the stylist that closes their books because they need to release the pressure. I understand that it does bring temporary release, but it is the beginning of the end.
Closing your books damages your business in the long-term
Let’s go back to the original question: What other successful business or business model can you name that closes its doors as soon as business starts to boom?
When you build a big, beautiful reputation and then say sorry, I’m full, find somebody else, you leave those 20 to 30 new clients out in the cold. They don’t think, “Good for her,” and just wait because you must be worth it. They feel rejected.
Can you see how crazy that is? No other business creates this incredible stream of new business and then shuts it down as soon as it peaks. It’s not healthy or scalable.
You might have heard the analogy of a water faucet. Once you’ve turned the flow off, how long can you survive without running water? Not long. We could do it for a while and then we start to get desperate.
This is exactly what happens when you close your clientele flow. Unfortunately, when you turn off the flow, you lose tens of thousands of dollars a year, kill your reputation, and set yourself up for struggle in the next three to seven years.
We keep talking about this timeline of three to five or seven years, but there’s no way to tell how long you can drive on cruise control with closed books. By the time you open your eyes to see your income dipping month after month, it’s way too late. Because when you start thinking about a game plan for opening your business back up, you have years of foundational work.
How long do you think it will take to rebuild your reputation and get that flow going again? Some time because you’re rebuilding from scratch. You’ve built this beautiful, scalable business with 20 to 30 new requests a month, and you want to shut that off only to try and kick it up a notch again in a few years.
Do you seriously think if you have closed books, your current clients will legitimately see you for the next 20 years? Of course not. Life goes on, so at what point will you start taking new business into your chair? It is unrealistic to assume you will keep that client for the next 20 years. Since you probably won’t retire in the next 10, you need a scalable business system.
What’s the other option?
What if there was a better way? A way to release the pressure, serve the ego a little, but apply a system like Thrivers Society so you can grow your income, nail your business, keep your books open, scale back your schedule, and make more money? Plus, save your sanity, your relationships, your marriage, your kids, your health, and more.
Wouldn’t that be the true win? Doesn’t that sound so much healthier for your mind, body, soul?
The question is how to do that, and the obvious answer is to raise your prices. That’s a piece of the puzzle we need to take seriously, but not all of the steps. Do you need to balance first? What needs to happen so that price increase goes smoothly and you retain the guests you want yet you open your doors to those you’re ready to attract as well?
My ask is that if you are at the point where business is booming and you’re considering closing your books, don’t.
Find a resource like Thrivers Society that helps you helps you actually build a business plan for yourself so you can one day retire, to have a scalable business model that doesn’t kill you in the process, and lets you enjoy their your instead of being the hookup hairstylist.
What if you’ve already closed your books?
If you’ve already closed your books and you feel like your business and income continues to grow, think about this:
What if there are new, better clients waiting for you just beyond your business, but because you’re so comfortable with business as it is, you’ve closed yourself off to better possibilities?
Did the light bulb just go off above your head? Because that’s what you’re doing.
When you say you’re closing your books, you’re really saying you’re not open to new opportunities.
It’s like that friend we all have who’s in that crummy relationship. We want to tell her to leave him, that he is holding you back, but she says it’s comfortable, he means well and we’ve been together for just so long.
That is truly what you are doing when you say you’re closing your books. You’re content with the clients, you don’t want to rock the boat.
There is something bigger and better waiting for you, but you are choosing comfort or good enough over living your biggest, wealthiest life.
Nobody wants to be overwhelmed or sacrifice their health or love and their family. But we have to open ourselves up to the truth that something bigger and better is waiting for us on the other side and create a real system that gets us there. If you have an open mind and open books, you’ll have an open business.