Future-Proof Your Salon Business: Diversifying Income Streams

Sit down and see what's going on with the Queen of Salons. Hair, beauty, and more successful tips for business owners. All on Build Your Salon. Hello, hello, hello my salon friend. How on earth are you? Phil Jackson here, your Queen of Salons, here with more business hints and tips to help your hair or beauty business soar and excel as we head into the second half of 2023. Here we are right at the tail end of May, heading into June, probably the last bearable month for an awful lot of the world. Once we get into July, August, things just get too hot and sticky for a lot of places and it's actually when I'm quite grateful that I live in the UK because things tend to be a bit cooler through the summer too. I had some good feedback on our last episode, which is when we took a slight diversion away from business hints and tips and started to look a little bit more at your wellbeing and the lifestyle and the mental health particularly of our salon business owners. And it's kind of got me thinking, I think because we had, for lots of people anyway, we had a patchy April and then a much stronger May. It's kind of got me thinking about different ways that we can lean into the business in order to feel a bit less vulnerable and a few less peaks and troughs during our year. And of course, you know, that my favourite way to smooth those peaks and troughs is to bring some retainer income in through salon memberships. And as well as being your queen of salons, I am absolutely 100% the queen of memberships. It's what I know more about than anybody else in our space. But there are some other ways that we can be looking at moving away from those peaks and troughs as well. And essentially, the fact that we're at the mercy of our customers is because we are built on a one-to-one model of service in exchange for revenue. So we have one person come in, we carry out a service, they give us some money and they go. And that means that there's a limit on what we can achieve in our business because there are only so many people we can see in a day. Even if you've got a huge premises and a big team, there is a ceiling on what you can earn that way. So it got me to thinking around how we can be selling to more than one person at once. And we call that a one-to-many model. And that's quite difficult because we can't carry out more than one haircut at a time on people. We can't carry out more than one session of laser hair removal at the same time.

We can't have two people, one laser gun, one in each hand. So what can we do? What can we do to diversify our income streams in the salon business? And why would we? Well, offering those one-to-many services is just pushing us beyond those traditional salon services. And that can increase our revenue. It takes those ceilings off our potential. I hate anyone telling me that there's only so much that we can achieve. So like I've said, even if you've got a huge salon, a huge team, huge prices, there's still a ceiling on what you can do. And I hate someone telling me that there's a limit to a business. So by looking at one-to-many, we can start to increase the revenue, increase the profitability, remove the ceiling. So we're talking about scalability. We can scale one-to-many services a lot more easily than we can those traditional salon services, which need our one-to-one attention from a stylist or a beauty therapist or an esthetician. So that means that we can increase our impact, too, because we're increasing our reach. We're reaching more customers. We're allowing the business to impact more customers' lives. It means that we can build a stronger brand. We can establish ourselves as an expert in the industry and attract customers in a slightly different way. Maybe we can be reaching a bigger audience because a lot of those one-to-many services could be offered online, which means that we can reach not just a local audience, but a global audience if we want to. And that, again, reinforces the strength of our brand, too. So we're increasing our customer base, increasing revenue, increasing the impact of our brand, increasing the impact of us personally. And then, of course, the business argument is that sometimes we can create those one-to-many services in a way which is a bit more passive. So by looking at things, and we're going to look at some examples of what those one-to-many services might be, but if we're looking at digital products or online courses, for example, we can start to create a passive income stream that generates revenue even when you're asleep and when the salon is closed. And that's a really good feeling, I can tell you. I think it has the potential to increase our customer loyalty and our customer retention, too, because using these one-to-many services, we can provide that increased level of value, establish ourselves as an authority in the industry. And I think that means that we've got something else that our customers can buy into and what customers love. And we know this.

Customers love a strong brand identity and a strong set of values that they can buy into. But most of all, and I think this is kind of where I'm coming from, is I think it allows us to remain competitive in an increasingly crowded marketplace. And I've said before, my darling, that there are way too many salon businesses out there. We need ways that can differentiate us from other salons and attract customers who are looking for something unique. And I don't think there's many salon businesses that I can think of that are offering these one-to-many services. I don't think there's many that have tapped in to these alternative revenue streams. And ultimately what I'm talking about is future-proofing the business because our business is vulnerable. As technology continues to evolve, there are places where we can be replaced. Some of the technology that we rely on in this salon is becoming more accessible for people to use at home. Some of our tasks are becoming much easier to automate and the robots are coming. And I've had whole presentations that I've delivered to different audiences around the world, emphasising how easy it would be for a lot of our services to be replaced by robots. So by adapting to new trends and staying relevant in the industry, we are future-proofing the business. The other thing that I want to emphasise is that a lot of you now will be survivors of lockdown. You'll be COVID survivor businesses. And my goodness, weren't we vulnerable. My goodness, weren't we held over a barrel because none of us had any alternative services in place that we could actually carry on with while we weren't able to operate and carry out those salon services. So I'm particularly interested. And in fact, if you've got ideas, please share them with me. I'd love to share them with a wider audience. Please, phil at buildyoursalon.com. I would love to hear what you're putting in place that means that you might be able to carry on operating should something like COVID happen again. And it will one day, whether it will impact us or whether we'll have retired by then. But something else will come along that will close salons down, at least temporarily. So I would love to hear what you're putting in place to future-proof your business. I know these are scary times, but if you're continually living paycheck to paycheck,

if you can't seem to get ahead financially, I feel your frustration. I have seen your pain. It's time to stop winging it. You know your salon business could be doing more. It's time to finally fix your fear of the figures, take control and charge what you're worth, to step into the shoes of the well-paid, professional salonpreneur you were always meant to be. And that's what my Get Paid Properly program is all about. I'll help you improve your relationship with money, understand the finances in your business, and I'll show you what you should be charging to the penny. All of that, without overwhelm and without guesswork. For all of the details of Get Paid Properly and to sign up now, head to getpaidproperly.com. And with the exclusive discount code PODCAST, you can get an enormous £200 off your investment in the program as well. Let's work together to make this the year you finally take control of the money in your salon business. So it's all very good, Uncle Phil, explaining to us that we need to be putting a one-to-many model in our business so that we can sell to lots of people at once. But what does that actually look like in my hair salon or my beauty business? What can I explore? What can I journal out and figure out whether it could work for me? Well, the first thing, and I don't want to kind of push this point too hard because we've done podcasts on this before, but the first thing, of course, is retail. Because it doesn't really matter how many people come through the door and buy retail products in a day. We can serve a lot more of those customers at volume than we can if they come in for particular hair or beauty services. So retail is scalable. Retail is a one-to-many. And particularly if we can get into that dropshipping model where we're not even carrying a huge amount of stock and someone else is taking care of fulfilment, it's infinite, not infinitely, but it's certainly scalable, which is what we're after. But I want some stuff that we can do ourselves without just relying on retail, because I'm guessing lots of you have tapped that opportunity already. Well, I'm coaching one person at the moment who is offering online courses. So we could be putting courses together on hairstyling or makeup application or skincare.

And there are a number of people across the globe who will be interested in buying that course, buying into your knowledge. You have areas of expertise. You have areas where you have credibility and a reputation that you can be building on and sharing your knowledge. And lots of people are a little bit put off by the technology. I promise you, even though I'm a nerd and a geek, I promise you this is easier than ever before. Creating an online course that people can buy is easier than it's ever been. And there are platforms out there that will take care of the fulfilment side of things. They will take care of the payment side of things for you and integrate with your existing payment solutions. And ultimately, you know, we've all got a phone in our hands at the moment, darling. And I promise you the quality of the picture that you can get from your phone and the audio that your phone can now pick up is plenty good enough for an online course. Yes, of course, you could invest in a fancy camera and you could invest in a fancy microphone if you want to. But I promise you, for a minimum viable product, just to test it and see whether it works, just use your phone. Get something out there. Don't overcomplicate it. Everyone, when they're creating online courses, thinks it needs to be hours and hours and hours of content. I used to be the same, my darling. I used to have a price. Well, I still have a pricing program and it used to be pricing in a month. And it had hours and hours and hours of content on how to set your price. And then I realized, actually, people don't want to spend hours learning how to price. They want to get the quickest result possible. And in fact, a lot of people will pay a premium to get a result as quickly as possible. So don't overcomplicate it. Keep it simple. Keep it a short, snappy, very specific program. Get it out there. See what people think. See what can work. Then it gives us, of course, something that we can promote on social media. We can be sharing that through a much wider audience than our local audience and creating potentially a passive income stream. Now, I use the word passive in inverted commas because, of course, you've got to create the course and market the course. It's not truly passive income. But it's something that is an asset for the business then that you can sweat for years to come. And while we're on the digital products, tech, we could be looking at things like e-books or tutorials or PDFs that people can print out, little hints and tips. And don't just limit yourself to your customers, of course. There may be things that you can teach other salons. And I have one person in my stable of coaching clients who trains people. And, in fact, Google it. Look it up. Find her on social media. She's amazing. Bridezilla Pro. And she teaches other salon owners and other hairdressers how to carry out bridal hair services.

And she's got digital products and in-person stuff. And all the time she's still carrying out those services herself and running a very successful salon business. So we could be looking at other digital products, not just online courses, but e-books, tutorials, those PDFs, little hints and tips, checklists, anything really that will help people achieve a result a little bit quicker. And those things, again, become assets for the business, passive income streams, and they also help establish you as an industry expert. Because if you've got, let's say, a bride who is looking for a bridal hair service, let's say she's getting married somewhere away from home and she's looking for a hairdresser locally. Is she going to go to just any old salon or is she going to go to the salon who's also an industry expert and teaches other people how to carry out those services? So it really does bring a huge amount of kudos and credibility if you can start being seen as the expert. If you're brilliant at social media content, for example, and you've got engaging, informative content, well, that's an asset. You could be selling that. If you've got templates, if you've got posts that have really helped your business increase your social media engagement or attract new customers, package it up. Sell it to another hair salon or a beauty salon. We're all craving content. And if we can access that in an easy-to-digest format, then so much the better. Or why not look at in-person workshops or events? Again, my friend, Bridezilla Pro, she holds training days in person and will coach you one-to-one on those hair services too. So we could be connecting with our local community or connecting with other parts of the industry and offer hands-on learning opportunities. Now, that's not going to be a passive income stream. And also, again, there are limits to the number of tickets you can sell to an event. There are limits to the number of events that you can run. So it's not infinitely scalable, but it's certainly a one-to-many opportunity. And once you realise that you could be educating, let's say, 10 people who also have hair or beauty salons, and they will be happy to pay, for example, £300 for a half day or a day of your knowledge, that's £3,000. You figure out how many people you would have to carry out services on to earn £3,000 in a day. Suddenly, we realise this scalability, this one-to-many model can be a lot more profitable. And I'm not suggesting for a second that you replace your day-to-day salon income with it, but why not supplement your income with something that can really deliver excellent business results for you?

If you don't want to create your own content, you don't want to create your own products, have a look at something called affiliate marketing. And affiliate marketing is basically referrals, but there are lots of other businesses in our industry and lots of other businesses in other industries that will pay you a commission to promote their products or services to your customers, to get the word out. For example, even though I am not a provider of email software, I have an affiliate link to the email software that I use, which I occasionally share on social media, or when I'm recommending that people start getting into email marketing, I can use that link. And if they sign up and start spending money with that company, then I get a small commission for an amount of time. So I'm not only providing extra value to my customers, also partnering with other businesses to increase my earnings as well. Or maybe your amazing video, perhaps you've got an amazing YouTube channel, well, that can be monetized. We can be showing ads, we can be promoting products on our YouTube channel, or perhaps even you want to jump into the world of podcasting. If you do, my darling, please reach out. I'd love to be interviewed. It's a glorious thing. I promise you, when you've been creating your own podcast for a while, if it's someone else's problem, it's like taking a holiday. It really is. If I can jump online and have a chat with someone else and they've got to take care of all the editing and marketing, oh my days. It is like a day off. I absolutely enjoy it. And then the final thing, I know we've mentioned memberships. And the memberships that I teach, of course, are very much around service. So we might have a facial membership or a waxing membership, for example, or a hair colour membership. But we could also be looking at membership programmes that are more like VIP clubs that include exclusive perks like discounts or early access to new products or enhanced consultations or add-on services. They help retain loyal customers. But what they're giving you is that recurring revenue. And some of those things don't have to be service-based. So we're not swapping time for money. So there you go. You've got seven ideas on how to create those one-to-many opportunities. And I hope I've reinforced the importance of this. I hope I've positioned this as something that you should be journalling tonight when you're reflecting on your day and looking for opportunities to grow your business. If you've had any success with any of my ideas, of course, reach out. Let me know. I love hearing from my hairy, beautiful friends.

Just seven short days until I'm coming in your ears again. Until then, take care. Sit down and see what's going on with the Queen of Salon Beauty and more successful tips for business owners. All on Build Your Salon.