New Salon Advice!

[pinkprincess01]

Hi fellow geeks

Im due to open my new salon in about 3-4wks and im wondering what to do as regards to taking on staff, i have another business which is mainly weekend work and i have two children under 4 so obviously i need to balance things out. My first thoughts were i will work on my own in the salon at first untill its off the ground and then take on staff but now im nearing opening im thinking can i really work 6 days with at least 2 late nights a week and manage my kids, other business and not to mention the house etc etc

The other thing is my youngest child is not in school yet but goes to nursery 3 mornings a week so i would have to up that to full time at a whopping £40 per day! Would i be better off trying to take on someone part time to split the hours do you think?
Im worried as at first i dont know how well it will do but then again im going to have to pay nursery fee's anyway :irked: God im so confused as to what to do for the best!

Last thing to bore you with, any ideas of what im looking at paying for a level 3 therapist these days ive been mobile for the last few years im a bit out of touch now.

I look forward to your replys any help will be much appreciated!

Thanks guys,

The Stress Head xx

 

[Hair2Beauty]

Hi,

Im in a similar situation,im opening a bigger salon (Hair & Beauty) and couldnt dicide whether to take on more staff (i have 2 Therapists at the moment one 10hrs a week & one 4hours) but i figured if im going to do something i want to do it right & i don't want to turn down any business especially right at the beginning because a new salon opening attracts a lot of new clients which you want to make the right impression on.
Therapists ive interviewed tend to ask for £6 - £6.50 an hour (some ask for commision which would maybe be 10% of takings after there wages) really depends what additional qualifications they have as to what wage you want to offer.
Its very hard to find good staff & but my advice would be to get 2 part timers so one can cover the other for holidays etc plus my accountant says it works out better not to take on full time staff as you have to then pay there tax & national insurance etc it just gets more complecated..
Or you could take them on on a self employed basis,i dicided not to do this as i had a bad experience and would rather everyone work as one team.
Hope this helps..

 

[pinkprincess01]

Thanks for your reply.

Its so hard to make the right decision but i see what you mean about having enough staff in the beginning and i suppose it would cost more for nursery fee's anyway.
You know you said about the 2 part timers, do you think i should take 2 on straight away so they'l be 3 of us? Maybe a level 1 or 2 on about 4-8hrs then a more experienced therapist on about 16 hrs? Sorry for all the questions! My heads about to explode with it all

Good Luck with your new salon i think if your going bigger then you'd be right to take a couple of extra staff on.

Take Care xxx

 

[number1kitty]

Speak to your local college. There are always girls needing work placements that can help you for free on different days of the week. These can be level 2 or 3 girls and they can help not only answer calls and help set up treatments but also do some of the basic treatments too.

You can also ask your local collages if there are any girls on level 3 courses who have qualified at level 2 whom may want part time work. I had a couple of great girl s3 days a week!

I paid them minimum wage and trained them up myself too as well as putting them on product training courses. At the end of the month I gave them a 10% comission on any treatments they did.

The fab thing is you often get the pick of the girls at the college all desperate to work in a salon and all willing to work. If you trade test them then you can get the best. Once that girl qualifies at college and wants full time work, you have a girl there trained to your needs without starting again, and hopefully by this time your business is busy enough to take her on.

There are a lot of full time mature students too at college who may be mums or housewives looking for a new career who will jump at the chance. As long as they are qualified to level 2 and confident then they will be an asset to your business.

Colleges always need work placements too for girls and your not obliged to pay them as its part of their training. I use them to help with the answering of calls etc and in return spend time training them too to my standards. Again any treatments they do I pay them a commission to show my appreciation and if you invest in them when they qualify they are often loyal to you!

I prefer part timers as full timers can let you down and you are left with no cover! But they are hard to come by!

Do you not also get your nursery fees back??? Depends what your other half earns but I get mine back through WFTC. If you have invested money into the business, you wont officially have profits to start with so its worth ringing them and asking.

Hope this gives you some ideas of where to recruit staff!

 

[pinkprincess01]

Thanks for your reply im going to ring my local college today. As far as nursery fees go i didnt know i would be entitled to any help as me and my husband are both working but come to think of it im not really earning as all my money is going into the new salon and my husband is doing all the work so he's not earning a great deal at the mo, il look into that Thanks! xx