Should I stay or should I go?

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Mar 1, 2014
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Hello all, this is a long one so apologies in advance :) ....just looking for a bit of advice on my situation....

I am a beauty therapist working for years in salons and spas and last June I decided to take the plunge and go out on my own, renting a small nail table in a hair salon with 2 stylists and a makeup artist. At first the atmosphere was great, felt like everyone was on the same track/mindset with bringing the 3 businesses together and working as a team. Everything was promised, loads of clients, great footfall, bringing in retail and a computerised system for us all to work off together....

And I will admit, (like any start-up business) it has been very slow going for me and, besides xmas week, I've never really had a week I could call "a great week".
We have 3 separate Facebook pages for the hair/beauty/makeup and I feel it is a bit confusing for clients, but this is how the hair salon wants it done so I go with it.....recently it has just felt extremely stagnant here, the stylists/manger/owner aren't too pushed about business (they get their wage, they have their regulars, they're happy) and the makeup artist doesn't seem to be too pushed about wanting to get busy herself either (I feel for her it's more of a hobby).
It's a hair salon that has been around a while and they seem quite happy to just go with the way things are going and not change anything.

I'm just finding it a bit frustrating at the moment as I feel like I'm banging my head against the wall, on Facebook and social media every day trying to keep a presence there, coming in to empty columns in the books, and an empty salon, and the girls are happy to chat and drink coffee all day! Or when they are busy, I feel like I'm literally paying them rent to answer the phone and make tea/coffee for clients waiting to get their hair done.

I'm trying very hard to push my business here, introduced new treatments, I stay late night after the girls go home to do spray tanning (there's no beauty room so I have a room divider set up for after-hours), talking to every new hair client that comes in the door making sure each one gets a price list and knows who I am, there's offers I put in place for % off beauty treatments if they're getting their hair done, but I feel lately I'm just not getting anywhere with them and I don't feel it changing.

I was just wondering has anyone else been in a similar situation? Is there more that I could be doing that I haven't though of or....when is the time to call it quits?
I love love LOVE working for myself, I know business is always going to be difficult no matter where I am, but where do I draw the line with this salon? I've spoken to the owners and staff multiple times about making it busier, there's staff meetings and it's all biz for about a day and then everyone just goes back to their old ways....am I wasting my time here?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you :) xxx
 
By the sounds of it it's a mix of employed/self employed expectations.

It's not up to the staff and owners to advertise, book anything, give you access to computer systems, push the business or even hold staff meetings (as you aren't staff). It's up to you to do all your own marketing as an individual business so it really has nothing to do with them. You make you busier and it doesn't matter if they're busy or not :)
 
What alternatives do you have? Could you work from home? Go mobile?
It's down to you to find your own clients, and they are not necessarily the ones from the salon. I started off in a hair salon, but soon realised my clients were not the same as theirs, I had most new clients through personal recommendation. It took me about 18 months to realise I could go it alone and I moved into my own salon. Tbh, I was paying more rent to the hairdresser than my own salon costs. So, would this be an option for you?
I think a lot of hair salon owners think that their clients will automatically have nails done too, but that's not strictly true. The salon owner I was with dragged her heels everytime I wanted to organise deals for hair and beauty that would have benefitted us both.
What other advertising are you doing? It has been quiet recently, lots of people have said this. So get your adverts started for the holiday season, start promoting Mother's day and easter (hols perhaps) or just get your feet ready for spring. Do you do waxing?
 
Thanks for your reply Banner Penguin, totally agree with you, and I can see hyow that would have come across when I'm trying to condense my long rant as short as possible :)
I don't hold any staff meetings, I attend ones that the salon owners hold for everyone together (owners, managers, myself, MUA and staff).
I do all my own advertising, marketing, I have my own booking system, keep my own client records etc so I would never assume or have any expectations that anyone other than myself is responsible for the running of my business.
But you're so right I should stop thinking of myself as an extension of their salon and think as an individual - suppose I'm just getting frustrated banging my head against the wall trying to make myself busy and nothing seems to be working. Thanks for the reply.
 
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Thanks for your reply Banner Penguin, totally agree with you, and I can see hyow that would have come across when I'm trying to condense my long rant as short as possible :)
I don't hold any staff meetings, I attend ones that the salon owners hold for everyone together (owners, managers, myself, MUA and staff).
I do all my own advertising, marketing, I have my own booking system, keep my own client records etc so I would never assume or have any expectations that anyone other than myself is responsible for the running of my business.
But you're so right I should stop thinking of myself as an extension of their salon and think as an individual - suppose I'm just getting frustrated banging my head against the wall trying to make myself busy and nothing seems to be working. Thanks for the reply.
Would you consider moving to a different salon or is that an option?
 

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