Opening my first salon

[Megan.Aura]

Hi Girls/Guys.

I have been working for terrible money ( below minimum wage) managing a salon, with no thanks. I have helped open two salons previously, have all my own clients and know a lot about this business. I told a friend of mine to keep an eye out for a small cheap space for me to rent. She came back with a small space in an ideal location in the middle of the town . This was about two weeks ago ..
since then i have

1. signed the lease.
2. paid the first months rent.
3. Taken out a small loan.
4. bought all necessary equipment.
5. bought all furniture, paint, decorations.
6. Paid for my insurance.
7. met with an accountant ( i have to go back to him when trading begins.)
8. quit my job
9. Got the outside sign designed.
10. Got all necessary marketing materials, price lists, loyalty cards, gift vouchers.
11. Set up social media accounts.
12. Set up online booking system

I plan to open in 26 days, providing all goes to plan. my question for you lovely people is what have i forgot? Am i missing something?

My first £150 a week is untouched (for bills) before i take any money. I am working alone but considering renting a chair to a nail technician. I bought a nail station big enough for two girls and two clients.

The space is VERY small, enough for the nail station, waxing area and spray tanning. But it will work. My lease is 6 months, giving me the option if things go well to leave and get a bigger place.

I have not gone into retail products yet, the money i received just about covered my materiel's and i have none left. Not ideal.

Also, Have you any suggestions for introductory offers, or offers in general that you have maybe done well with in the past?

For the opening week , making money is not the main priority, attracting clientel is, so any offers even on the cheaper end welcomed.

I am running a loyalty scheme 5x EBW get 6th free.

I guess i'm just looking for some guidance, any and all opinions and advice welcomed.

Thank you in advance

 

[BannerPenguin]

What are you going to do for your marketing? Obviously, you said you have current clients but what about gaining new ones? A website is pretty much a must

 

[Megan.Aura]

What are you going to do for your marketing? Obviously, you said you have current clients but what about gaining new ones? A website is pretty much a must

Yeah my brother does computer science at uni , he is pretty talented at this stuff but studying atm, probably have a running website within the month

 

[CFBS]

As above, you will need to have in place:

• a web site
• a salon face book page, Instagram & twitter possibly (no. 11 done already?)
• leaflet drop in the roads close to you
• listings on pages such as Yell.com and as many free ones as you can find
• join as many free community FB pages that will let a business advertise
• Some carefully considered & targeted paid advertising

Sounds like you are already very confident and competent, so good luck with your new venture.

I think my best tip would be to set your prices to a decently high level and then run your introductory promotions for a limited time only.
It's very difficult to raise your prices once up and running, but easy enough to stop a promotion.
I'm sure you'll do well!

 

[Megan.Aura]

As above, you will need to have in place:

• a web site
• a salon face book page, Instagram & twitter possibly (no. 11 done already?)
• leaflet drop in the roads close to you
• listings on pages such as Yell.com and as many free ones as you can find
• join as many free community FB pages that will let a business advertise
• Some carefully considered & targeted paid advertising

Sounds like you are already very confident and competent, so good luck with your new venture.

I think my best tip would be to set your prices to a decently high level and then run your introductory promotions for a limited time only.
It's very difficult to raise your prices once up and running, but easy enough to stop a promotion.
I'm sure you'll do well!

Thank you i have set my prices pretty average as i don't think i would get away with them any higher. the town i'm in has a high volume of salons and they are all charging around the same. one thing i wish i had done was set gel nails to £20 , and i could put offers at £15. I have spent a fortune on printing price lists that say they are £15.

The website is incoming and the social media accounts are created but not live yet ( i have a few things i have to sort out before announcing.)

Paid targeted advertising? Do you recommend Facebook boosting?

Thank you for the reply

 

[CFBS]

Thank you i have set my prices pretty average as i don't think i would get away with them any higher. the town i'm in has a high volume of salons and they are all charging around the same. one thing i wish i had done was set gel nails to £20 , and i could put offers at £15. I have spent a fortune on printing price lists that say they are £15.

The website is incoming and the social media accounts are created but not live yet ( i have a few things i have to sort out before announcing.)

Paid targeted advertising? Do you recommend Facebook boosting?

Thank you for the reply

People have mixed feelings about paying for adverts on Facebook however from my own personal experience I have always gained new clients when I have run a paid promotion - more than enough to cover the costs.
For my first year I did about £20 per month - always promoting a specific special price package of treatments. Make sure you use the demographics selection to target the right audience in the right area for you.
I think the paid ads get a better response than the free community pages because clients who can afford to have luxury salon visits aren't looking for second hand stuff!
I do still continue with the free ads as its keeps your salon name out there and then do paid ones if I have something new to promote.

 

[Megan.Aura]

People have mixed feelings about paying for adverts on Facebook however from my own personal experience I have always gained new clients when I have run a paid promotion - more than enough to cover the costs.
For my first year I did about £20 per month - always promoting a specific special price package of treatments. Make sure you use the demographics selection to target the right audience in the right area for you.
I think the paid ads get a better response than the free community pages because clients who can afford to have luxury salon visits aren't looking for second hand stuff!
I do still continue with the free ads as its keeps your salon name out there and then do paid ones if I have something new to promote.

I wasn't going to pay for advertising but you have changed my mind. £20 a month is not a lot and could increase my sales. Thank you xx

 

[BannerPenguin]

I wasn't going to pay for advertising but you have changed my mind. £20 a month is not a lot and could increase my sales. Thank you xx

£20/mo I wouldn't have thought would get you far on facebook. Maybe a week-ish. CFBS might have got lucky with extremely tight targeting spreading that budget. It depends where you're located.

Nevertheless, no harm in chucking in £20-50 and seeing what happens. If it goes in a week, it goes in a week.

My advice (without digging too much into your personal finances) make sure you're sitting on a healthy pool of cash that will keep you open for a year with barely any clients coming in and make sure you allocate a healthy marketing budget for the year.

 

[CFBS]

My husband has set up his own business recently. We have spent a total of £37 on Facebook advertising since he started 3 months ago. He is now 80% booked up. Nearly all his clients have seen his ad on fb.
It works for us.

 

[BannerPenguin]

My husband has set up his own business recently. We have spent a total of £37 on Facebook advertising since he started 3 months ago. He is now 80% booked up. Nearly all his clients have seen his ad on fb.
It works for us.

Good to hear a success story

 

[Nadia Majid]

Hi Megan you sound prepared...
im in the same boat but im opening a ome studio though... any recommendations on printing leaflets / marketing , a sign for outside my drive, and loyalty schemes as im not business minded at all and need all the help i can get..

lots of best wishes and success for you

 

[Valerie_T]

Good job on opening you own place!
People often underestimate marketing, but it is very important in attracting new customers.
Website is a must, it has to be visually attractive with nice pictures or even a video on the header. You can make your own, or there are some good photo and video stocks with free or low-price options. For your website SEO blog would be very helpful, share articles on beauty care, after salon treatment etc. Such blog will gain attention with useful information, and improve Google search results.
Instagram and Facebook are super important. Especially Instagram, it is go useful in communicating with clients, sharing your work, knowledge and reaching new audience. Plus it is relatively cheap when it comes to advertisement, for $10 you can reach up to 4000 targeted audience. Buffer is a good tool to schedule your social media posts to make it easier for you to manage.
Another good thing is Salon Software, it will help you with routine automation. Plus analytics will help you understand you business and how you are performing, for example what service or service provider brings you the most profit. Recommend CONNECT https://cnnct.io They are free and easy to use.
Pay very big attention to client retention, no business can make money with one-time clients, only loyal customers can make a salon profitable.

Hope this was helpful

 

[AcidPerm]

Another good thing is Salon Software, it will help you with routine automation. Plus analytics will help you understand you business and how you are performing, for example what service or service provider brings you the most profit. Recommend CONNECT https://cnnct.io They are free and easy to use.

Not much point using a US or non European based Salon software company as new EU Regulations coming into effect next month will make it very difficult to ensure compliance.

 

[Valerie_T]

Not much point using a US or non European based Salon software company as new EU Regulations coming into effect next month will make it very difficult to ensure compliance.

It was just an example, I’m sure there are good European solutions. Besides all companies should follow the rules, no matter where they are based, and all are updating their terms and conditions.