Taking a step back from hairdressing to focus on business

Charles Dodd, co-owner of Cutting Room Creative in Leeds recently made the decision to step back from hairdressing and focus on more of a business-orientated role. Here he talks about the reasons for his decision. “After 24 years of running a highly successful North Leeds Salon my partner Karen and I decided to open a salon in  Central Leeds which we did three years ago. Never ones to do things by half we decided to go for something special. Our City salon is a 5,000 square foot space set up over two floors. Like our North Leeds salon it is a colour specialist salon and started out with 15 staff. We decided that Karen, head of colour for Cutting Room Creative, would go down to our City salon and I would stay in the North Leeds salon. Like any salon owner opening a new salon within the last four years obviously it has been a challenge. Karen has always divided her time between being on the salon floor and running the business from the office. I have always put pretty much 100% on the salon floor other than dealing with PR and marketing.  As our business has grown and our salon team has grown to 60, Karen has been spending more and more time running the office. Three months ago we decided to swap salons. Karen returning to our North Leeds Salon and I took a new role at our City salon. Although I see four to six clients a day the rest of my time I have  taken on a kind of maitre d’ role. With the City centre clientele growing rapidly I recognised that there was a level of service even higher than that which we were already providing that I wished to give to our clients. Like many salons our managers are both busy stylists and with the salon covering two floors they were pushed to be able to run busy columns and always ensure the salon service was Michelin Star standard (something we always strive for). With six colours specialists now in our City salon we thought the time was right for Karen to go back to our North Leeds salon and run our business from there whereas my time could now be devoted to supporting the managers at our City salon and ensuring our standards are never less than excellent. This is a role I have grown to love. Meeting and greeting, organising refreshments, working with the reception team and getting lots of feedback from the salon quests. The greeting and talking to as many clients in the City Salon as I can on any given day (as well as continuing to see my stable of clients, most of whom have transferred with me) has enabled me to reassess and ensure that every client receives that Michelin Star treatment. What has been interesting is how well our team, as well as our clients, have reacted to the partners swapping salons. Our North Leeds salon continues to be our strong core business. Karen working with the managers there, to run the business, and lead the team of 18 stylists particularly the seven colour specialists, being in charge herself of all our colour business. I now support the managers at our City salon, and together we have grown the team there to 12 stylists (including six colour specialists), six assistants and two receptionists. Running up and downstairs at our City salon all day, interacting with the team, looking after my personal clients, and embracing the role of maitre d, certainly keeps me fit as well as helping to drive the business forward and I am loving it.”