My top 7 tips for salon business success & a fluffy sponge!

After spending over 30 years in this amazing industry of ours, working for small independent salons around the world, large corporate million pound companies, owning my own award winning salon and starting BOOSTmySALON; I have come to the conclusion that salon business success can indeed be compared to baking a fluffy sponge…no, really!

In both baking and business, specific tasks must be completed at specific times to ensure a ‘perfect bake’ every time. A delicious, light and fluffy sponge can only be created with the right ingredients, know-how and time; just like a well-run salon business, no matter the size.

So here are my top 7 tips, or ‘ingredients’, to a fuller, more successful and productive business.

1) The very first ingredient: YOUR THOUGHTS. If your mind doesn’t believe you will succeed, then that will be true.

I’m sure we’ve all heard now about the law of attraction, and how we control what we attract through our thoughts. So what thoughts are you having right now?

Successful people, generally, have that ‘self-assured’ aura around them, because their thoughts are telling them they are and will be successful! And as they are proved right in their thoughts, their self-belief only gets stronger, attracting more positivity into their lives.

Did you know?

75% of us have negative thoughts 80% of the time? Whether consciously or subconsciously, we are always thinking. If we are mostly thinking negative thoughts, then we are attracting more negative things into our future. But, if we make a conscious effort to think more pleasant thoughts, then, guess what? We’ll be working towards attracting a more pleasant future!

“Almost every significant break-through in the field of scientific endeavor is first a break with existing ways of thinking with old paradigms” Thomas Kuhn. The Structure of Scientific Revolution

So start believing in yourself and your business right now and BOOST the positivity you are attracting.

2) The second ingredient: GOALS. Creating, sharing and measuring your goals

To paraphrase Steven Covey in his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, begin with the end in mind.

If you don’t have a clear idea of what your goals are, then how can you measure whether you’re moving in the right direction or not?

There are a few questions you need to sit down and answer, or at least think about, before you start setting your goals:

Are you working with a business plan each and every year? Where are you now in relation to your business plan?
Where do you want to go with your business?
What do you want to achieve?
What is your financial goal?

By answering these questions, however in-depth or briefly you choose to, they should then help you in getting an idea of what goals you want to set for your business.

Make sure when setting your goals, they are SMART.

Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Realistic
Time bound

SMART goals give purpose and renewed energy to achievements. And sharing your goals with others lets them out of the bag, into the universe and makes them accountable. A shared goal has a much better chance of being achieved as it pushes you to take responsibility for your dreams and to make them happen.

The more detail you can put into the what’s and the how’s of the goals you have, the more clearly you can visualize fulfilling your goal. Remember the first ingredient? It’s all in the thoughts. What becomes clear, becomes near!

3) The third ingredient: DEADLINES. They make the world go around

There is nothing that works better in business to continuously move it forward – than setting a deadline.

Deadlines focus the mind to work out a plan to get the task done. When you book your summer holidays in December, you know you have to find the money and pay for it by a certain date. Have you ever missed a holiday because of a lack of planning and finances? Doubtful. Use that same process for all your future business activity and set deadlines for every activity you and your team do; and you’ll soon see those completed ticks lining up against the tasks.

4) The fourth ingredient: FOCUS. Learn the art of focusing the mind

We so often tend to spin too many plates, juggle too many balls and have too much going on – before the plates start to fall, the balls are hitting the floor and we’re doing nothing because we don’t know where to start.

Understanding that we can’t do it all, means there has to come a time when you learn to say no. Not everything is essential. Have a list with four columns 1) Urgent. 2) Must do but not urgent. 3) Nice to find time to do. 4) No time, dismiss.

Then, list everything your have going on under the four headings (be ruthless here), then only work from your ‘urgent’ list, working on them one at a time until they’re all gone.

By letting go and focusing on one thing at a time, we can get that one thing done properly, rather than getting everything badly half done. And when we dismiss the tasks that don’t fall into our urgent, must do but not urgent or nice to find time to do categories, we can do a much better job of focusing on what matters.

Having only one true focus gives us clarity of vision like a laser beam towards succeeding. For example, next week, the task of you and your team is to sell more colour upgrades. What would you do?

Educate your team on colours to inspire them?
Create a colour sale or promotion?
Created a window display and visual merchandising around the salon to encourage customers to think about colours?
Wear campaign t-shirts for your team to wear?

By focusing on this one task, I can guarantee you would do more colour services and take more colour money than ever before. What you focus on is what you get! Make sure its just one thing at a time.

5) The fifth ingredient: AVOIDING THE NORMAL.

About 10 years ago I learnt the psychology of normal behaviour, or the law of familiarity. And since learning this, it has changed my life completely.

Human beings, quickly get used to their surroundings and environment and become complacent. We all know them, the people who ‘don’t like change’, the sufferers of normal behaviour. Every one of us suffers from it and if we don’t do what we can to fight against it, we gravitate towards the average.

The process takes about 4 to 6 weeks when suddenly we stop noticing things and take people, clients, loved ones and work colleagues for granted.

That’s why window displays and visual merchandising calls to be changed every 4 to 6 weeks (the top departments stores know about law of familiarity). By continually mixing things up and doing the unexpected, you, your customers nor your colleagues will have time to become complacent. Go on, do something daring today and see the atmosphere change for the better in your salon.

6) The sixth ingredient: EDUCATION. Be a life long learner.

How can you be continuously inspired if you think you know it all? New trends, new techniques and new ways of thinking should all be influencing your business, helping you to change it up and keep the inspiration levels at an all time high.

Successful people know that things change and that an open and learning mind can create wonderful things. They all have a passion and desire for continuous learning.

Go on courses, read books, learn more and get inspired. Repeat this process over and over again. Never stop!

7) The seventh and most important ingredient: HAVE FUN!

Every experience is a learning curve, so take them all in your stride, enjoy what you do, enjoy who you do it with, and don’t be afraid to laugh at yourself.

Success is many things to different people, but success to me, is a goal that’s been achieved. No matter how small or big that goal is. All goals achieved should be celebrated. Success comes from within, so get yourself ready first and celebrate the gift of each day that comes your way. Then you can begin and enjoy the process of building a healthy salon business you deserve.

When I coach salons and teams I usually start with an education on positive thinking and the value and changes it brings to not only the business that you are all a part of, but to your own wellbeing. If you would like more information on my coaching sessions for your salon, then please get in touch here 

HappyBIZness

Carey

7 tips for making an extra fluffy sponge

1) Ensure your ingredients are at room temperature
2) Always preheat your oven to the correct temperature, never put your mixture into a cold oven
3) Use fresh eggs as they help to hold air
4) Avoid using a plastic bowl or plastic utensils
5) Sift, sift and sift again
6) Beat your mixture for longer than you think after every ingredient you add
7) Avoid opening the oven when your sponge is cooking. Only open when you think it is cooked thoroughly, but don’t leave it in the oven for too long either.