How to become true salon owners

The majority of salon owners are actually managers of their own salon which means they are intrinsically tied to their businesses. Management consultant, Ryan Fox, explores what you can do to make yourself freer. Most salon owners get caught up in the day-to-day running of their businesses and don’t have enough time to either develop the business further or enjoy the fruits of their labour. There is some famous advice from business skills guru Michael Gerber that sums the issue up: "Spend more time working on your business and less time working in your business." So what do you need to do to achieve this? Decide what your ultimate goal is It doesn’t matter what it is you want to achieve; it’s completely up to you. There are no rules when it comes to defining your ultimate goal. If you want to carry on doing clients that’s fine, you don’t have to give it up, but you may want to cut down the number of days you are available for bookings. You may want to do more training, shows or competitions or you may want to just focus on growing the business. Growing the business could mean a number of things; it could be growing the size of your existing team or improving their performance, expanding the existing salon or expanding into a salon group. The key is to decide what it is you are aiming for and then work backwards to define the steps needed to get there. Define new roles Define your existing role and your new role. Start by making a list of all the tasks you currently carry out and decide which jobs you want to keep and which ones you want to delegate. The clearer you can be the better. Use the list of delegated jobs as a basis for the manager role and the list of jobs to keep as the basis for your new owner role, adding the new tasks that are going to take you towards you ultimate goal. You should then have two job descriptions outlining the scope of the new roles and a separate list of detailed tasks for each. It’s important to define the role first before looking for the people so you know what you are looking for. Set standards The best way to train people so they consistently perform to a certain standard is by documenting how things should be done and using that as a basis to train to. You should develop documented standards around the following areas: Operations, Client Service, Training, Marketing, IT and Finance. The advantage of doing this is everyone knows what is expected and so it helps keep things consistent. They also no longer have to come and ask you all the time but can refer to the standard procedures, which frees you up. It also makes you a more consistent boss! Find the right people The next step is to find the right person or people who can take over from you. You may choose to allocate different parts of the role to different people. You can train skills in but it’s much harder to train in a great attitude. Be careful who you choose to develop and make sure they want the job for the right reasons not just the pay rise. They also need to have some natural leadership ability and understand business so you should test this before choosing. Set about replacing yourself Once you have found the right people you will need to train and develop them to the role. Show them how you want it done and the standards that are expected using your procedures. Include the following: Induction, in-house culture training if they are from another salon, 1-2-1 shadowing and mentoring from you, leadership training from an external consultant and one or two appropriate external courses. Delegate and monitor progress Once you have the right people in place, allow them to take responsibility by delegating to them. Offer them your full backing and support, don’t expect perfection at first, but correct them by showing them in a positive way. Once you have delegated a job to them, resist doing it again yourself, but instead check the quality of the work. Set up a regular meeting schedule so you can give them feedback on their performance both positive and negative to ensure they are performing to the standards you have set. Shift focus to your new role As well as continuing to do some of your old tasks that you have chosen to keep, you will have some new jobs to do. These will include checking that any Managers are doing their jobs correctly but may also include business development, strategy, personal development and networking, depending on what you have chosen to aim for as your goals. Remember, you will need to allocate enough time and effort to these things if you are to move both yourself and your business on, so resist slipping back into the comfort zone of your old role. Ryan Fox is a hair and beauty salon consultant who improves salon performance through training and innovation. For further help and advice on how to become a true salon owner contact him by visiting www.umbrellaconsulting.co.uk