OMG I've taken £40 this week

[Marilyn Monroe]

what is happening, i know im a new business but ive been taking about 250-300 a week i know im far from a millionnaire but this week ive taken £40!! IT DOESNT EVEN COVER MY RENT

i feel so sad! any ideas ladies?

 

[Miss Pink23]

Times are tight at the moment, people have to cut back on certain things and beautifying themselves is one of those things.
Hang in there it will pick up im sure, its just going to be slow for a while.
xx

 

[r kelly natural]

its quiet on the beauty product selling front at the moment as well hang in there

 

[hippy-chick]

this week is the first week in nearly year that I haven't even covered my rent. In my one room I had 1 client booked in all week, granted I've taken 2 days off to be with my sister, but I'm still £13 out of pocket.

the other venue I've done 1/3 of what I normally do!

Had a biz link person out yesterday and she said its across the board and to hang tight as it will eventually level out.

 

[bombini]

If it makes you feel any better I have had a quiet week and id say at least 5 clients rearrange there appointments from this week to several wks ahead so it works out better for xmas. I have always found October to be fairly dead I have got some very good offers on this month and not one person has booked in for them !

Luckily Ive had several facials in this week otherwise I would be very poor :cry:

 

[Terese]

Everyone is right so far, I have found clients rescheduling their bookings and l too have some good offers on but no takings for them and Oct/beg of Nov is usually quiet

..but we are at the start of the recession imo and it is going to be a tough ride through to about april/may time.....lets hope that the lead up to christmas will be good for us all, Im sure it will.

I wonder how the geeks in spain and europe are fairing?

 

[Martin Duffy]

I've been fully booked all week, taking about £170-£200 a day, obviously my town is immune to the recession!

 

[oey]

Dont panic - remember that this time of year is very quiet seasonally but use this free time to market some special offers to your clients and post mail shots to stores and employees around you too.

 

[Kim Lawless]

I'm sorry to hear that some of you have been quiet and of course it is a worry. Don't rush to give up your rooms. Just weather the storm and when it turns around again, you'll all be nice and busy.....and rich. xxx

 

[pure]

The last 2 weeks have been quiet for me but I have at least covered my rent. <phew>

I have taken comfort from the many on here who have said that October is normally quiet and so I have tried to take advantage and have organized some training, begun preparing and buying for Christmas and generally having a good spring clean and trying to come up with good ideas.

I certainly haven't given up hope but I can't wait to see the back of October!

 

[nikkiseed]

it is so hard i've been trading 2 years in december and i can still have weeks like it. the good weeks just help you out in bad weeks

 

[Sassy Hassy]

I wonder how the geeks in spain and europe are fairing?

Well the recession is hitting here too and many ex-pats are just handing back their keys to the banks and moving back to UK - although a lot of our clients are more affected by the exchange rates of £ to &#8364; as they get their pensions from UK. However with that said our salon is doing okay, and I get new clients each week through client recommendations. Only been there for a few months so still a long way to being fully booked, but I manage to pay the bills each month.

I think you need to push the Feel Good Factor of your teatments rather than promote them as discounted offers. Look at you all going out buying dresses for The Event and the buzz that is giving you, and I bet a lot of you can't really afford it, but you do because you want to look and feel great. Well I reckon that's how you should be pushing your treatments at the moment - look good and feel great and forget the dismal news that's being flung in our faces every hour of the day.

 

[~Emmsybabes~]

I think you need to push the Feel Good Factor of your teatments rather than promote them as discounted offers. Look at you all going out buying dresses for The Event and the buzz that is giving you, and I bet a lot of you can't really afford it, but you do because you want to look and feel great. Well I reckon that's how you should be pushing your treatments at the moment - look good and feel great and forget the dismal news that's being flung in our faces every hour of the day.

:idea: what fantastic bloody advice hun, and a VERY good point!
I think that will give an awful lot of us stuff to think about.

 

[*Ang*]

Well the recession is hitting here too and many ex-pats are just handing back their keys to the banks and moving back to UK - although a lot of our clients are more affected by the exchange rates of £ to € as they get their pensions from UK. However with that said our salon is doing okay, and I get new clients each week through client recommendations. Only been there for a few months so still a long way to being fully booked, but I manage to pay the bills each month.

I think you need to push the Feel Good Factor of your teatments rather than promote them as discounted offers. Look at you all going out buying dresses for The Event and the buzz that is giving you, and I bet a lot of you can't really afford it, but you do because you want to look and feel great. Well I reckon that's how you should be pushing your treatments at the moment - look good and feel great and forget the dismal news that's being flung in our faces every hour of the day.

Ditto Emmsybabes - that is a fantastic statement and such great advice :hug:

 

[DEBI-DEE]

I dont even know if its because of any recession, im mobile and my friend has a salon, we`re were both quite quiet last week but i didnt give it another thought, i just put it down to being October. Enjoy the break and prepare yourself for the party season, youre feet wont touch the ground:hug:

 

[rebeccaj]

Well said Sassy, you are definitely a.. "the glass is half full" kind of gal.

 

[Lynne Baker]

I think this is a knee jerk reaction to the latest doom and gloom force fed to us day in, day out. Once people get used to hearing the words "recession" and "economic downturn" I believe things will pick up again. It's a bit like having a radical hair do: it's a shock at first and then it just becomes natural. One of my suppliers tells me that in the last big recession their business went through the roof, because where people can't afford the big luxuries they'll compensate by enjoying a few little luxuries, like beauty treatments.
On the plus side, the oil price is coming down, and we'll all be far more realistic about "globalisation" and capitalism.
Courage, mes braves!

 

[NailsXpress]

Hi, I'm on the Costa Tropical, Spain. It is pretty quiet here too. I am mobile and a lot of my clients seem to have disappeared back to the UK. I know a lot of my clients are holiday makers and people who are here for the summer months, but I am hoping it will pick up for Christmas. I have to do more advertising, but it isnt cheap here for that either. We cant do any more than keep trying and like Sassy said, look at things with a different angle.

 

[pazzy]

Yeh, I'm quiet too and so is lots of other business's.

I do think that people take the credit crunch (hands up who's fed up of hearing those 2 bloody words?) just a bit too serious.

I do remember the 9/11 thing affecting too - everyone was in shock - and lots of my appointments cancelled. It's strange how we are affected by things.

October is generally quiet and a non-month - so is Novemeber - you would even put a drop in cash flow forecast of a business plan. But I am quieter than usual (could be my pregnancy circumstances too).

Plan end of November and December so that your all prepared for it as itt will be busy because clients will have budgeted for treats xmas time.

 

[divalou]

Things have been really hard here too, especially September - i wanted to DIE! :S
October has picked up a bit but we are really struggling to hit the break even point atm. Sort of June/July/Aug time we were doing really well and things were on the up, then the effing credit crunch popped up and put a real spanner in the works!
We've only been open a year and started out client base pretty much from scratch, so I am pleased with our amount of regulars, but we do need more, much more. We get new clients evey week but there's always a hole in the bucket and its difficult getting new clients in the bucket and even harder keeping them there!
Just gotta keep plugging away, rewarding existing clients, enticing new clients and getting my salons name in everyones head as the 1st port of call for hair, nails and beauty.

Noticed a real dip in the nail regulars for some reason atm, maybe its the dirt cheap chinese nail bars