Opening new businesses has become easier than it was up to a decade ago. Since we live in a hyper-connected world, it’s easier today to get the required education, knowledge, and even financing. But, as it always happens, when things become easier there are more and more people doing them. And when more and more people are doing business, the competition becomes higher and higher.
It goes without saying that, of so many new businesses launched, not all of them reach success. On the contrary, some of them will soon fail. Why?
Since we’re focusing here on beauty salon business, we’ll try to understand how to avoid failure and reach success by discussing the 9 mistakes you may make while running your business beauty salon. It doesn’t mean that, if you make one of these mistakes, you are doomed to failure. It means that, if you plan your business carefully and avoid these mistakes, you’ll enhance your chances of success.
9 mistakes to avoid while running beauty salon business
1. Not having a guide
Because opening and running a business is becoming easier, a lot of people wrongly think that it’s just easy. It is not. If you think it’s easy, you’re just underestimating all the hard work you’ll need to do to reach your goals.
Wanting to do it all by yourself just because it’s easy could make your first big mistake. One of the most important resources you can get access to is someone else’s experience. Try to find someone who has experience in the field, it could be a friend, someone who is sharing their experience online, or a paid professional.
2. Pick the wrong location
One of the reasons why your business beauty salon may fail too soon is because the location is completely wrong. So, how do you pick the right location for your salon business?
When you find a beauty salon for sale, you may be attracted by the competitive price, but you need to pay attention to many other factors that will be extremely important in the long term.
First of all, between two beauty salons that offer the same services, customers would attend the one that they can access more easily: pick a spot that has good traffic, and at least some car parking space in the front (which would be ideal) or nearby.
You also want to make sure you open your beauty salon in a place where there is a demand for its services. In this regard, it’s important to run a market analysis: find out what kind of houses, offices, and commercial activities are located in the area, and how people are commuting to the place…
Last but not least, pick a location that is visible: if people can’t find you, they won’t come.
3. Cheap or not professional equipment
When we speak about equipment, here, we want to speak about everything that is in your beauty salon: furniture, equipment, tools, products, and more… Furnishing your beauty salon is one of the most important steps of the process for many reasons:
- Furnishing and equipment provide the first impression to your customers; you want everything to have a professional look;
- Equipment, tools, and products will be your tools of the trade: you need to be able to use them, you need to like them, and they need to be up to the quality of the service you’re providing.
- Equipment, in general, consumes a big part of your budget: you want to find a supplier that combines quality and professionalism with the best price in the market.
In simple terms, other than being aware of the importance of this step, what you need is a reliable supplier. In this regard, Omysalon is the most recommended. It’s a growing salon equipment service that brings the important advantage of being focused exclusively on providing products and equipment for beauty salons.
Through their catalog, you’ll find the best beauty salon equipment for sale. And with equipment, we mean anything you need to create and furnish your salon (in this regard, one of Omysalon’s main forte is their beauty salon chairs for sale; make sure you check them out) provide your beauty services to your customers.
4. Amateurish logo
Launching a beauty salon can be expensive, and you may find yourself wanting to save as much money as possible in many areas. There are some aspects, though, that need to look professional, and if you are not able to take care of them by yourself, you’ll need to hire a professional, even though you’ll need to pay him or her.
The design of your logo is one of these aspects. Unless you have some graphic design competence, avoid designing your logo amateurishly. Your logo is your business ID, it’s what will stick in your client's minds when they leave or after they’ve taken an appointment.
A logo can also communicate a lot and if it’s not professional it doesn’t communicate professionalism.
5. Not hiring an accountant
Because hiring an accountant is not mandatory, some prefer not to hire one so that, again, they can save some money. However, managing a business accounting and bookkeeping isn’t like managing your personal finances.
You need an accountant for two main reasons:
- You want to be always aware of how much you’re spending, how much you’re earning, how much money is in your bank account… You also want to be aware of how much you’re going to spend and earn in the next few months.
- You want to calculate your taxes correctly and in advance. Paying your taxes without mistakes or delay makes you avoid penalties (which is additional money that you are required to pay). Knowing, at any moment, how much money you owe the finance authorities allows you to save enough money so that you are always sure that you can pay your taxes and avoid growing debts.
6. Underestimating marketing budget
Marketing is always important but it’s even more important when you’re launching a new business. Your beauty salon wasn’t there yesterday, and now there is: people need to become aware of it; you need to inform them that there is a new beauty salon in town, what kind of service it offers and what makes it different from those that were already available.
When you plan your expenses, reserve a part of your budget for your marketing campaigns. Keep in mind that marketing campaigns need to go on constantly and not just in the first couple of months of your activity.
7. Underestimating the importance of social media
Speaking of marketing, there is another big mistake that new entrepreneurs sometimes make. Because a beauty salon has nothing to do with the web or online services, many think that they don’t need to promote their new beauty salon business online.
This is one of the biggest mistakes you can make: if you are not online today, you don’t exist at all. When people search for a beauty salon, they’ll check online; they are most likely looking at their phones or at posters along the streets; they’ll most likely send an email to require information and then make a phone call. Digital marketing, today, is just as important as traditional one, and maybe even more important than that, even though your business has nothing to do with the web.
8. Ignoring customer service
When you're opening a new beauty salon business you have so much to think about, but there are certain things that you can’t ignore. Customer service is too often ignored to leave room and budget for other aspects. However, customer service is the link between your services and your new customers. It is also what can help you retain your clients and make sure that your salon becomes their go-to beauty salon.
Again, do not underestimate the importance of the Internet: let people contact you via phone but also email, social media, and web chats.
9. Not hiring the right people
When it comes to hiring there are two main mistakes that you can make, and that you should avoid:
- If you hire too many people, you’d be spending too much on their payroll and you wouldn't optimize your costs and budget. If you don’t hire enough people, your service will become slow, you can serve fewer people every day and your income would decrease. Consider your budget and the expected number of clients and try to find a good balance (your accountant can help you).
- You need to hire professionals in the beauty sector, even though you need to pay them more than beginners. Quality is always a priority; just like we’ve highlighted the importance of purchasing quality equipment with Omysalon, the quality of the services your salon can provide is just as important.
Conclusion
Being aware of the wrong steps you could make along the way will help you avoid them. When you launch a beauty salon business, there are so many things you need to have under control that mistakes aren’t rare. However, we hope that with this article we’ve just helped you avoid some.
