This industry is so much more than hair. The sky is the limit; you can be as successful as you want to be. There are so many avenues to go down if you have a full book and you’re looking for that next step, which as entrepreneurs, we are wired to do.
If your book isn’t full yet, I want to give you peace of mind: you will be there. Don’t even think for a minute that this won’t be your problem one day. Some of you are already bursting at the seams and aren’t sure what the next steps are.
You may think you should take the traditional next steps, but I want to encourage you to consider all of the possibilities to level up as a stylist and find the one that feels right to you. Today, I’ll cover a few different options so you can do a little soul searching to see which one sits most comfortably in your gut.
Are you ready to level up?
Before we dive into the ways to level up, make sure you’re ready for the next step. You’re ready to level up if you meet both of these criteria:
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You’re booked solid at least four weeks in advance. If you’re booked out on the weekends and evenings, that’s not a full clientele; focus your strategy on filling those gaps first.
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You aren’t just looking for the easier option. So often I see stylists rush to the next level when their clientele isn’t panning out because they believe it’s easier than building a clientele. It isn’t.
If you truly feel your schedule is at its maximum and you are looking for the next chapter, there are three ways to level up.
Path 1: Increase your average ticket
If you’re already full, you’ve got the volume. For most people, that’s the hard part. Why don’t you maximize what you’ve got?
Raise your prices.
If you haven’t raised your prices in the last two years or you’re pre-booked three weeks out, and you’re seeing at least five new requests a month, it’s time. Get a baseline price point before you do a price increase by balancing your prices and making sure everything is appropriate to your expertise and area.
When you raise prices expect 10 to 15% of your clientele to fall off, so don’t do an increase unless you already see a good, steady flow of new business. Make sure you have the peace of mind that if 10% of clients decide to move on, you’re seeing enough new business to grow on.
Maximize ticket prices
There is so much money to be had in add-on services like conditioning treatments, brow wax, hairline touch-up, any kind of quickie add-on service. Let’s say your treatments are $10 a piece, you work four days a week, and you see six guests a day. Even if only half your guests each day get the treatment, it increases your income by $6,240.
A lot of people talk about retail when maximizing ticket price, but a lot of salons aren’t set up for profitable retail success. If you buy your own retail and are set up for success, that’s a great way to increase your ticket value. Just make sure you’re running it in a way that produces a profit for you.
Path 2: See more clients
You might be wondering how you’re going to see more clients if your book is full; that’s where your assistant comes into play.
Hire an assistant
You might be ready for an assistant if:
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You’re booked solid for four weeks
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You’re open to releasing control
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You’re willing to take on an additional ten hours of work a month.
Make no mistake about it; bringing on an assistant doesn’t allow you to be lazy. It forces you to work a little harder, but for 10 hours more a month, you can easily double your income.
You need to slow down to speed up, meaning you can’t just slot in training your assistant; you’ll have to take a pause from your regular life to get her up to speed. It might mean working Sundays and Mondays or blocking off Tuesdays and Wednesdays for a few weeks or months to get her trained up.
If you’re going to pay your assistant $10 an hour and she’s working 8 hours a day, that $80 out of your pocket. You need to be double booked in a way that that $80 is covered, and you’re still coming out ahead. Meaning, if you’re doing a haircut, your assistant can apply color to someone else or help with retail sales. Run the numbers and figure out what that would have to look like to make it happen.
Path 3: Take on a second job.
Become a salon owner, an educator, or an industry influencer to raise your income. No joke, all of those things are like taking on a second full or part-time job.
Become a salon owner
If you’re maximized as a stylist and think it’s time to become a salon owner, do it because you want to build a salon culture and impact the industry, not for the money. You want to have a team unlike any other and be proud to say you own the best salon in town.
Both booth rental and commission salons can be profitable. There are different levels of profit in each; there’s no perfect cookie cutter answer to what you should do to make the most money. Focus on becoming an effective leader and building a salon culture, and then the money will come.
Become an educator
If you want to become an educator, do it because you want to influence the industry. If you’re doing it to chase a paycheck, it will be incredibly difficult. Any educator will tell you the money doesn’t come at the beginning at all. It also requires a lot of travel and time, so make sure you’re ready to go all in.
There’s going to be a financial commitment to get up and running, especially if you are thinking about becoming a branded educator. Generally speaking, you are required to invest in their training because they want to make sure that you’re serious. You have to pay for your flight, your training, even your audition sometimes before you’re considered to teach for them.
Become an industry influencer
If you want to be a successful influencer, in the long run, begin with the end in mind. Don’t just say you want to be popular; figure out where that’s going to take you. What will you get from that popularity? Also, popularity isn’t profitable, so figure out where the income will come from.
What is your competitive edge? It sounds so basic, but figure out what makes you incredibly unique, what you have that nobody else is offering. It’s very difficult to grow as an influencer if you don’t have something special that makes you different from everybody else.
Be 100% certain that there is a need for what you’re offering. Sometimes people want to be an influencer because they’re really passionate about something, which is awesome, but if hundreds of other people aren’t interested too, you’re going to be talking to an empty room.
No shortage of options, right? You have three umbrella topics that you could dive into deeper: increase your average ticket, see more clients, or take on a second job. All of these options could take you to levels you didn’t even know existed, or you could find yourself needing to take a step back, marinate in it, appreciate what you have, and enjoy life a little bit. Sometimes leveling up means being confident in not taking on anymore and just being thankful for what’s going on around you.