You seem to be contradicting yourself.
I realise things work differently in different countries, & different people do things differently.
I do take a wage from my business (actually would be less then minnimum wage). Business expenses are paid from my salon's account, personal expenses from my personal ones. Personal assets may come into account when it comes to creditors, but business assets belong to the business & effect things differently.

As a small salon owner I totally empasise with JOM - it not easy!
I do understand where you are all coming from but believe me - its not easy!

I personally would struggle to pay a full time wage to a Therapist if they I didnt have them fully booked so have taken a different route. I have therapists working on a % basis - I supply everything. This means it is to their benefit to encourage new clients and rebookings - their incentive to put in the extra half inch. The harder they work - the more clients they bring in - the more they earn. Flip side is - I am not paying them for standing about doing nothing. They are paying me for overheads so it makes sense to be paying for them as they are used. This is working really well to date.
I have one hard and fast rule which is absolutley no 'homers' (treating clients outside of work) all clients must be with in the salon. If they wish to treat their family in my salon and charge them my % only then its up to them - they are working for nothing through their own choice.
KxXx

confusing...
the word wage was only used so people could associate comparative figure to show yourself the owner might not reach min wage numbers or even if profit did equal a min wage sort of amount there might not be a lot left.
In fact some weeks the figure doesn't even reach min wage amounts.
And other weeks you could make a loss, in which case you get nothing, your profit is nothing not even a min wage figure to fall back on like an employee.

yes running the business could potentially make you a decent living but it's a hell of a risk.

I understand all the comments from employers and employees; of course employers dont want to pay over the odds and all staff think they are woth more!
I run a small salon with 1 beauty therapist. I have employed 2 young girls straight from beauty college, one only had NVQ2 so i started her on basic wage but on commission for baurty therapies and product retailed. She let herself down on a personal note (nicking money) and so was out the door after 3 months!! The second college girl I employed had NVQ3 and had experience of a Saturday job so had more confidence and could do more therapies - therefore I paid her more. We had a good relationship but mine is a small salon and we are not busy all week. After a year she decided to move on to a local health spa, and with the extra experience she had gained she was able to go in there on a good starting wage. Funny enough after 1 more year of 'conveyer belt' waxing at the spa she has moved on again and as we have kept in touch says she much prefers a smaller salon environment like mine where the clients return and become your friends!
Fortunatley after this girl left I took on a girl who had 8 years experience of various salons and spas and had not been treated very well by the management. Some facitilties were poor and not clean, supplies were low and no product in the cabinets to retail. As she had many years expereince she walked through my door with a firm idea of what she 'needed' to be paid, and although this was above what I had in mind she assured me she would bring experience to the role and many clients from her previous salon. The result - a great therapist on a good salary and the better she does the more I intend to pay her, and she gets very generous commission from me and tips from the clients because she is great.
So, all you thereapists, you can only command a better salary than minimum wage if you are good, have experience and something extra to bring to the role. All you employers, of course you dont think you can afford to pay more than 'x' but take a chance if you get 1 that takes the spots of the others. Set all staff tragets as they will work towards them, and NO annual pay rise, they should earn that too by exceeding the targets you set them.
I have fortunatley found its all win win if done this way. Set a limit on what you are prepared to pay and you will only get a young in experienced therapist and it will be lose lose

Great post Tanqueen.
*thumbs up*

Tell me more about how your commission works, and what targets you set please.

PS...
We also had a terrible experiance with a girl who was actually my GF's friend in college when they did there beauty/nails quals together - so we knew her over a few years as you can imagine. She abused our trust big time, sticky fingers, miserable attitude and telling some customers we were fully booked. Luckly we have an ace relationship with the local community, some people not even customers were telling us we were being milked so we got to find out and and let her go as soon as we found out.
Tip for anyone else in this situation... ACAS were fantastic, they are there really for the protection of the employee but they guided us through all the proper process's to make sure everything was all to the book, compasionate and fair.

Now we have 2 fantastic girls, both young but bright and we hope they will grow with us and stick around.
Wages we pay are better than the min and we treat them really well... they both do well with tips but we need to work out some commision and setting targets so I would love to hear your/anyones ideas.

Wow, there's some passionate posts on this thread!

As a salon owner, I like to be fair on what I pay in wages. As in any job, the payer will always think this is lower than what the recipient thinks they are worth.

I have a full timer working for me who is absolutely brilliant. The clients love her, she has an excellent re-book rate and she generates a lot of income for the salon. Her wages have increased many times over the last year or so as I appreciate what she is really worth. She has been with me fresh out of college.

Now to the other extreme. I have employed many other therapists over the years, who may be polite, friendly & all that BUT they do not build up their client base. Instead of say 70-80% re-book rate they manage about 10-15%.

They might think they are working hard & yes they are doing the physical stuff but when it comes down to brass tacks, they don't generate income. So why in that instance should they earn a great wage just 'because they have qualifications'?

In my salon, I keep a very close eye on how many clients come back. If they're not coming back, there's a reason for it. Even though a therapist may have say 3 or 4 years experience, is she actually any good? All I can say is that my standards must be higher than others as I have got rid of 4 employees in the last 18 months (3 of whom had experience elsewhere) because in the main not enough clients were coming back.

Why should I pay them anywhere near as much as my other therapist when in fact they're probably costing costing me money?

At the end of the day, I think a therapist should be paid dependent on how much income she brings into the salon -the more she generates, the more she earns. And just because a salon owner charges £50 for a treatment, doesn't mean they will EARN anywhere near that amount. Wishful thinking, to earn what your takings are.

For the record, I am not some flash salon, raking it in.

Hi just to add to what alot of geeks have said already - working for yourself really does seem to be the only way of really making any money.

When I worked in a health club i slowly began to resent the fact that I could go it alone and make so much more than just be paid 30% commission with no basic salary.

Being freelance you do really feel a sense of the treatments being worthwhile and you can choose your hours, products etc.

Good luck with whatever you choose! X

I'd say yes & no to that - it's not all it's cracked up to be though. It can take a long time to build up a decent enough client base to earn sensible money.

If you're renting a room or working from home/doing mobile, your hourly rate may be good but reading some threads from newly self-employed people, the lack of clients dilutes this somewhat so you're lucky if you're earning min. wage.

hi my last salon job was 5 years ago (now work from home) i told the employer i would not work for anything less £7.00 PH as i am good at my job so thats what i got, you have to ask for the money you think you are worth don't sell yourself short after all at £35.00+ for a facial they will hardley be out of pocket..and after 3 yrs training you deserve it

Hi,
Beauty Therapy may well be a desirable job, but two years standard training,on your feet all day doing treatments which have to be perfect each and every time and all for what amounts to a little more than the minimum wage.It's exploitation! Also, flight attendants make double the salary of beauty therapists plus all the perks and with very little training.

im workin in a spa at the moment aswell on ten euro an hour and my commission is 7%, but i only get my 7% if i hit my target, so even wen i hit it i still get crap money! i have been doin up 2 4 or 5 hours of massage some days in work, very hard!!!
i started in this job a few months back when the spa first opened with 2 other full time therapists(both on 10 a hour also), we recently took on a head therapist which is on 13 a hour............. but wait 4 it......... our receptionist is on 12 euro............. eh sorry....... did u go 2 college 2 sit on ur ass doing nothin all day.... no didnt think so! did we go 2 college, yes, and we come out of treatments after breaking a sweat!!!
may i ask, where is the justice!!!

I think that staff should be told they are valued all the time, i am told all the time by my boss that im the best worker shes ever had & she dont no what she would do without me. i work for a hotel/spa i get paid £5.62 hr i no its really bad !!! & since the pot washer gets the same i do feel dishearted ! but i DID love my job there i do what i want order stock i like, put an offer on, get free dinners, come / leave when i want to, products at trade price, my family can use the pool gym whenever they like. but just lately beauty & leisure is been run it to the ground and iv decidered its time to leave and go mobile my boss is doing everything in her power for me stop & rent the room or be sudcontracted by the hotel even promote my mobile bussiness at a wedding fair haha. she told me yesturday that she was so proud of me for setting up myself.... made me cry, i think iv just got the best boss & friend . warner spa's only pay £6.20ph and look what they make from back to back treatments!

18K? god i wish!! id be so happy with that. I am a senior stylist in a busy town centre salon and on £6 an hour, plus comission which is set very high to even get anything.
I have worked in 4 salons and the wage has never been better than what im on now, i thought this was the normal wage for this industry which is shocking as we work hard, long hours and dont deserve any less than anyone else in another industry.
it drives me mad as i LOVE my job, and try to tell myself id rather that than be in a boring job with more money, but at the end of the day we need money to survive especially at the moment.
I agree the only way to make money in this industry is to be self employed, mobile or with your own business.
shockin
x

Up until last year I worked as an employee in a salon. I made 50% comission and took home $34,000 plus $6000 in tips last year. This year I am self employed, and after taxes and product etc, I will make about $45,000 plus about $6,000 in tips. Definetly better to be self-employed. Although I never would have even considered stepping out of the salon if I wasn't completely booked up 4 weeks ahead with a full clientele.

i'm nearly 20 and have been qualified since i was 17 and have been qualified nail tech since i was 18, been in salon whole time as i did an apprenticeship. i only get paid £4.60 per hour, minimum wage! i'm fully booked most days and have a good rate of re-books. this is how its been in the 2 salons ive worked in. i do treatments at my little home salon when im not at work and i can earn my whole weeks wages in a day at home! i think its unfair that as a skilled profession which ive worked hard for i get paid a lot less money than someone who stacks shelves! (no offence to shelf stakers, i used to be one lol) xx