'If you knew then', brutal advice desired

[BeautiqueSpa]

If you knew then what you know now, would you still open your salon?

I have the opportunity and desire to open a salon and run it myself from the business side of things. I have worked with my partner in many different types of businesses and in many different positions to the point where I am now experienced in payroll, bookkeeping, accounts, promotions, branding, marketing, advertising, admin, legal, bar work, customer services and sales. I have also got myself trained in a good few beauty treatments including nails and lashes, not for myself to do the treatments but so that I can know what my staff should be trained in and be capable of doing and also to in the case of sick days I could fill in for staff.

Would you advise me to do it or not? I will be using my life savings to do it. The salon that I would be opening will be in the town centre, and would be a fun salon which does get ready type treatments, so make up, lashes, brows, bouncy blow drys, facials, make up, nails and pedicures.

I really want to run my own business having worked for someone else for so long and my passion is the beauty industry but I understand that beauty/hair is a bit of a revolving door for new salons that crash and burn

I understand that staffing will always be an issue and also one of my biggest hurdles will be initial customers as I don't have a book of customers as I have never worked in the industry myself.

Please be brutally honest as I cannot afford to just throw away my nest egg on something that is sure to be a flop.

 

[Beckybee]

It's so hard to say, yes, when things are going great and money's coming in... No, when it's really slow and that week you made a loss.

But in general, a big yes do it, life's too short for "what if's"

 

[jbr]

Just bear in mind it will take longer than you think to build a client base and more money than you think to keep going during those times. And if you have signed a lease, even if your business fails, you'll be liable for the rent until your lease ends or you find a new tenant. A lot of the rest depends on knowing your market, the market opportunity (what else is around/potential clients nearby) and, as you mention, finding and retaining quality staff. If you've got all that covered then the rest is a mixture of risk and taking the chance. The biggest mistake you can make is underestimating how much your first year overheads will be and ensuring you have the cash flow to fund it.

 

[squidgernetball]

I don’t know that I could consider opening a premises without an existing clientele. From day one in my salon, I had money coming in from my clients. I would also caution the ‘fun’ treatments. Bouncy blow dries and make up etc. There isn’t a lot of money in these treatments. You have to do a lot to make it worthwhile and there is a lot of cheap competition in these areas. Everyone and his mother does nails and make up. That means a lot of staff. We have concentrated on high end facials and when we do 90 minutes of those, there is usually a lot of money spent.

Do please also check with your local council. There was a very experienced nail tech who wanted to open a salon. Her council insisted that she have a minimum level 2 qualification to open it. She had to go back to college to get her qualification.

Good luck

Vic x

 

[rubywoo]

I would have started very differently. I started without a client base, which I grew rapidly over six months without a problem, however I had 25 years of therapy experience and spa director roles under my belt. Had I known now that standard of beauty teaching had dropped so very low, even courses labelled as full time are two to three days per week, that is an impossible amount of time to teach the required amount of information. Most colleges now just get you to standard where you won't kill someone. It takes me at least a year to train a qualified therapist in house. I would have found bigger premises and had a teaching room as struggling to find talented therapists has been enough to make me consider selling my business many, many times. I have found all aspects, except recruitment, great fun and very rewarding.

Before I opened my salon they one thing I had never done is managed a small business, I had run large spas but didn't know what to expect from a much smaller business, so I found a job managing a small three room salon and found I had all the skills to do it. I would suggest that if you have trained in treatments to get a job doing them for a few months, you will find it invaluable. If you have to step in to cover sickness, how are your timings? as an owner you need to be on time and providing the best quality work in the business.

Cost your treatments thoroughly, list every expense your business has and make sure your ATV (average transaction value) covers this.

Good luck.

 

[BannerPenguin]

I'm not in the industry so to speak but worked with quite a few who are over the years and I even thought about opening up one once and decided against it.

I like my investments risky by default but opening a salon was too much for my blood.

Also, it's all well and good saying follow your dreams, do what you love and avoid the what if's and I'm a firm believer in that BUT - life savings are no joke. I know it's rude to ask a ladies age so I won't, however, you do need to think about the future. Something I've started thinking more and more about over the last 2 years. You really want a financial nest egg to one side either stuffed in the mattress, in some kind of stocks/shares/isa investment or in property.

I'm no financial advisor but that's my take on it

I think in most businesses these days you need to niche down and become a specialist in a sector for a certain thing like Vic above who does the high-end facial stuff while offering a rural setting which is relaxing.

 

[BeautiqueSpa]

Thank you so much everyone. I am 33 and have run a few businesses with my partner, currently we are in the nightclub industry. My partner owns and runs 2 very successful venues but neither of them are in my name and I'm fed up with not having anything under my belt that is mine. I have saved £24K so far that I would use towards the lease for the first 3 and 3 rent and deposit. Which is £12K!! Leaves me £12K to set up plus wages. The property that I am looking at is over 2200sqft on the high street which in my town is not actually the high street, that has moved to a de-pedestrianised road off of the actual high street however all the salons are in my vicinity. There is short stay parking behind the high street. Ideally I would have liked a much smaller salon to start with but this one is such good value it's hard to quantify going small for safety or just making the most of the large area, plus the town is very popular so not many properties come up for rent. There is a room downstairs which I can rent out as a studio or training room too which I would not need to use for the salon. And there is a large room at the back before the kitchen, which could be separated into a 3rd beauty room and still be big enough for a great staff room. The town I am in is a party town within a very large shopping district and surrounding villages and the shop is within walking/stones throwing distance from both our nightclubs. My clientele would be the same people that come to our clubs as I am very well known in the area but I am still very hesitant to take the leap.

 

[RED STAR]

Your money will be gobbled up pretty quick.
I've just opened a very small salon, that was in fairly good repair.......but it easily swallowed £60,000.
This is without the cost of staff.

 

[jbr]

Just to follow on from Red Star, giving yourself just 3 months to turn a profit from no client base with such a relatively small budget is incredibly risky imo

 

[jamiereid92]

I'm just about to open a salon and I don't plan on making profit for 6 months and I already have a small clientele.

Doesn't mean it won't work though, if you find staff that already have clients it can work, are there many other salons in the area?

You could use the club's to your advantage, have free entry if you have a blow dry in the salon? I was thinking of contacting the nightclub in our town to organise something like that x

 

[BeautiqueSpa]

Thanks again for the advice. It was previous advice on here that I read people could set up a salon with £20K! Eek. So with that in mind I think I will hold off on renting that retail unit and perhaps look at using two rooms not currently being used in the smaller bar to see if I can build a clientele from there. It only occurred to me yesterday that I could potentially do this. I'll have a look at the rooms tonight when I am there. Thanks everyone, your advice has been priceless xx

 

[squidgernetball]

@BeautiqueSpa I set up with about £3000. My rent was cheap as chips and I just had some dividing walls and ceilings put in. It was super basic. I earned a bit and did a bit more and so on. But-and its a big but-I had a steady clientele who were 100% behind me and I knew they’d keep coming. From day one I was generating a couple of hundred pounds a day. I always say that clients are going somewhere. They’re not sat at home twiddling their thumbs waiting for you (or anyone) to open their salon. You have to make them come to you. I would also add that party type treatments do attract the bargain hunters. Nails, make up, spray tans and blow drys. They’re all quite cheap and as I said previously, lots are experts because they’ve watched it on YouTube!!!

I think you’re being wise. Testing the water and seeing what the uptake and profit is going to be. What feedback you get and what you would change moving forward.

Very best of luck x

 

[IBUK]

Honestly... If I could do it all again... I wouldn’t

A lot of hassle, staff issues, money worries during quiet periods, other salons popping up and undercutting you, staff leaving and taking clients... there’s just too much to list.

Would suggest you also work in your salon so you are not reliant on staff! I thought like you and have done loads of courses so I know what each treatment is about and what to expect from staff. But when you are left in the lurch and you haven’t been regularly keeping up and honing your skills it is of no help.

Sorry to be the voice of doom and gloom x

 

[BeautiqueSpa]

I have had a goosey gander at the rooms in our bar and they would work fabulously with room for 2 nail bars, 2 Mirrored stations and 2 treatment rooms. I am planning on doing what Rubywoo has suggested and specialising in the luxury field. That is more where I would want to work if doing treatments myself so I will concentrate on that side of things for myself. I am lucky that in the meantime I will still be earning an income from the club so I can take my time over converting the 2 spare rooms.