How busy are you?

[9192lauren]

Hi

I have never done pamper evenings mobile before although we do them in the salon where i work. If you're quick you may pick up business from the weddings that are going to take place this summer? I have noticed that we have had a serge of brides wanting to book a pamper day a couple of days or even a week before her big day. Its a great way to do treatment s on a few people therefore lots of word a mouth clients afterwards and a good profit at the end of it.
Just a thought.

xx

 

[Urban Geek]

I have been renting space up stairs in a hair salon for the past 1.5 years. I have established a good client base and have a full book for 3.5 days (back to back clients) which gives me a nice wee income (I am at college 2.5 days a week too). It was really hard building the client base since I had relocated to this area and didn't know anyone at all whereas I built client bases without half the effort (or at the time skill lol!) when I was in Essex.

You really will need to market yourself very rigorously and persevere. If you are not ground level within view of the passing public, it is so much hard. It doesn't happen over night but when you get new clients through recommendations the hard work starts to pay off.

Good luck!

 

[Lavander Rose]

To Angelina221 and to corsgi

I had a salon for 14 months and I was really really busy makin loads of money then the hair salon closed down and I was forced to leave. I then had to relocate and start again.

MORE MONEY readvertising done it all, gyms, librays, shops health spas health clubs, advertising on my car, familys cars, chippys newspapers yell.com, u name it ive friggen done girls.

This has all been explained in a previous thread if you did read it now I have relocated and like I said have had to start all over again,

Im not being negative but I have,.nt got the friggen rent to pay them for the two weeks that I am away with my husband and 3 children there is NO WAY i am forking out £300 of my own money i just hav,nt got it,

They wont negotiate so I have NO choice do I?

good luck to all of you that are fine and dandy in your business though

 

[Inspirational]

Few quiet spells but on the whole the salons busy.......

Its the press thats blown this "credit crunch" out of proportion.....

 

[Lynne Baker]

good luck to all of you that are fine and dandy in your business though

None of us, not a single one of us is "fine and dandy"
Every last one of us is working our collective arses off making sure that we don't wake up tomorrow to an empty book. Hell, it's hard enough running our own business without having 3 children to care for and nurture; perhaps now is just not the time to be self employed for you. Some journo nitwit in Cosmo years ago perpetuated the myth that women "can have it all". Well, guess what?! They can't! Something has to give. Rather it were your business while your children are small because the alternative is too awful to contemplate.
Go back to being mobile/employed while your children are dependent - you owe them that much.
Use your holiday time to consider your options.

 

[pure]

To Angelina221 and to corsgi

I had a salon for 14 months and I was really really busy makin loads of money then the hair salon closed down and I was forced to leave. I then had to relocate and start again.

MORE MONEY readvertising done it all, gyms, librays, shops health spas health clubs, advertising on my car, familys cars, chippys newspapers yell.com, u name it ive friggen done girls.

This has all been explained in a previous thread if you did read it now I have relocated and like I said have had to start all over again,

Im not being negative but I have,.nt got the friggen rent to pay them for the two weeks that I am away with my husband and 3 children there is NO WAY i am forking out £300 of my own money i just hav,nt got it,

They wont negotiate so I have NO choice do I?

good luck to all of you that are fine and dandy in your business though

Well I have to say that I feel for you and I DO understand too. :hug:
I was in a similar position 18 months ago, upstairs in a hairdressers and getting virtually no business at all. I often had to pay my rent from my own purse because I hadn't earned enough in the week to pay it.

I was fortunate that another room became available at a cheaper rent but in the main shopping street, so a far better physical position and it turned around my business from one which wasn't going to last very much longer to a now sucessful one.

Sometimes despite all the best efforts things won't work out. It is a wise person who knows when to quit and start anew in my opinion.

 

[AnnaCupCake]

None of us, not a single one of us is "fine and dandy"
Every last one of us is working our collective arses off making sure that we don't wake up tomorrow to an empty book. Hell, it's hard enough running our own business without having 3 children to care for and nurture; perhaps now is just not the time to be self employed for you. Some journo nitwit in Cosmo years ago perpetuated the myth that women "can have it all". Well, guess what?! They can't! Something has to give. Rather it were your business while your children are small because the alternative is too awful to contemplate.
Go back to being mobile/employed while your children are dependent - you owe them that much.
Use your holiday time to consider your options.

As a Mum of 3 myself I know how hard it is to fit everything in! I work mobile and from home and I fit around the kids - it works brilliantly for me and I am as busy as I want to be at the moment. It's not full time work / money but it's enough for us to enjoy being a family.
Enjoy your kids, enjoy your holiday with your husband, then plan your next move!
All the best,

x

 

[angel fingers]

i can undertand why you are so demoralised. i think a break will do you good and give you time to get your head together. it really sounds like you need a rest. everyone deals with these situations differently and people have different breaking points too.

keep clients contacts and get in touch to tell them you may no longer be at the salon but will still be available for treatments.

ive slowed down for a bit atm, not for the same reasons as you, but because i'm trying to get on top of some health difficulties. to be honest i feel a lot better for it and have been more enthusiastic as a result of the shorter hours.
when i'm better i'll up my hours again but not until i feel i am ready.

enjoy your holiday and just relax for a couple of weeks and i'm sure you'll feel more positive in time too.:hug:

 

[zcook]

I think you have been brave to stick it out this long, I can understand why you are so upset.

I have a morning job in an office which helps pay the mortgage and afternoons. evenings and saturdays I work from home in my beauty room. It works well for me as I have two young children who play happily when I am working. (apart from today when my youngest chopped all the hair off her pony toy!!)

That aside, advertising in the press has not worked one iota for me, I had my business cards made by vista print (dirt cheap) and went around car parks and put them on cars, I went around the banks and shops in town and handed them to all the girls on checkouts and tills, people were happy to put them on their counters, I put my website on facebook and emailed everyone I know, I popped in hairdressers with cards and I set up a website £5.98 a month and get daily hits, every day!!!

I would go mobile or work from home, even if its just in the lounge, who cares as long as you have money coming in, contact all your clients and ask them if you can come to their houses to see if they are interested :green:

Hope you have a nice holiday.

Zoe x

 

[angelina221]

To Angelina221 and to corsgi

I had a salon for 14 months and I was really really busy makin loads of money then the hair salon closed down and I was forced to leave. I then had to relocate and start again.

MORE MONEY readvertising done it all, gyms, librays, shops health spas health clubs, advertising on my car, familys cars, chippys newspapers yell.com, u name it ive friggen done girls.

This has all been explained in a previous thread if you did read it now I have relocated and like I said have had to start all over again,

Im not being negative but I have,.nt got the friggen rent to pay them for the two weeks that I am away with my husband and 3 children there is NO WAY i am forking out £300 of my own money i just hav,nt got it,

They wont negotiate so I have NO choice do I?

good luck to all of you that are fine and dandy in your business though

I think your comment of 'can't be bothered anymore', was what made the post sound negative!
6 months is really not a long time to get a good client base especially if you have re-located. It takes months to build up a good client base.
I have forked out lots of my own money to see me through bad times but you reap the rewards later.
I have forfeited my holidays and leisure time to put 100% into my business as i was completely focused. No it hasn't been easy and it's a lot of hard work and i still have quiet days from time to time.
You can't blame us for thinking you sounded negative when you said you can't be bothered and that there was no way you would fork out your own money for your own business.
As i said in my earlier post, that was how it came across.
Your heart obviously wasn't in it otherwise you wouldn't have felt so down and i was you luck in your new venture.

 

[essentia]

I really feel for you. There are some areas and places that just do not work out, no matter what you throw at them, I know - I used to feel I was banging my head against a brick wall as I have been in the same situation. Shining optimism will not always cut it.

I also think you are wise to give up the room before your holiday as you would be worrying about it and spoil the time with your family. Enjoy the break and start afresh. If you can work from home or go mobile you will feel more liberated from the shackles of paying the rent and have more flexibility for your family. Good luck and let us know what you decide.:hug:

 

[claire1976]

i can understand exacly how you feel i agonised with the same decision as you and decided to let my room go and go mobile. i to have three kids one who was only a baby when i started renting my room.(i think my horemones afected my thinking that it would be a good idea! lol) i had only just come out of college and i hardley made the rent some weeks and i got run down. when i decided to give up my rooms it gave me a big kick up the bum. I went mobile and have not looked back. i use my quiet times to search for free advertising or ways to improve my buisness and always have a price list or buisness card to hand where ever i go. i have managed to raise money to add extra services to my buisness such as eyelashes and tanning and that is all in a year. iwas quiet at first when i went mobile and felt like giving it all up sometimes but you have to keep trying. trust me it will come right in the end. have a good holiday hun enjoy the time with the children if you ever want some one to scream at you can pm me any time.xxxx

 

[Lavander Rose]

Thankyou to everyone that replied.

I have now closed my salon down moved everything out on Saturday paid the owners the rent and left.

The two salon owners never spoke to me for two days after I said I was leaving due to not haveing the money to pay the rent while I was on holiday for two weeks.

They were really funny with me probably coz they will not have the rent from me anymore lol

 

[persianista]

It probably seemed to them that you were leaving them in the lurch, as;
1. With almost no notice they have no rent coming in.
2. They have no beauty cover.
3. They have the expense of re- advertising the room.
Most salon owners ask for a deposit and a rental contract to avoid the scenario here.

I'm sorry that your room rental didn't work out for you, however I'm not surprised the salon owners were unhappy with your behavior. Anyway, how would you have felt if they had jumped for joy?!!

I agree with "calla" in that we are not all "fine and dandy" I have just paid all my staff holiday pay, covered their hours and clients (65 hours of appointments last week), paid the VAT and corporation tax. I'm now skint and not getting paid this month. Thats life.
I put up with the crappy times now knowing that come September it all picks up again.
Business is not all counting the money and taking time off. It's repetitive hard graft at times for little or no reward.
I hope that you can pick yourself up from this and find the success that you want.