Plan a superb 2024 - 5 clever resolutions for your beauty business

What might 2024 hold for us, and what changes should we be making in our businesses to make sure this is our best 12 months ever? Here are my five resolutions, things that you should be changing in your salon business. Hello my salon friends, Phil Jackson here, your queen of salons, coming in your eyes and ears again with another dose of wise old owl wisdom and Happy New Year. I hope 2024 is going to be peaceful and prosperous for you. And how was December? Mixed bag coming from my salon coaching group and from my one-to-one customers. It seems that the Christmas rush did appear for most salons, but it seemed to take quite a long time to get there. It certainly wasn't there at the beginning of December, which is what we've been traditionally used to. And for a few, the Christmas rush didn't happen at all, which I think is a bit scary for some businesses because many use December as the big profit month, and I don't think we can rely on that anymore. In fact, I'm afraid 2024 looks a little bit like 2023 was going to be. I don't see anything huge on the horizon that's going to change our fortunes, change outcomes in our salon businesses. Okay, we've got elections here in the UK, so that might mean a change of government. In fact, at the moment here in January, the signs are that we will be getting a change of government. I don't think it's going to make an awful lot of difference to us on the ground floor of retail and high street business, though. And the reason for that is that here in the UK, we have a conservative government and markets and the banks like conservative governments traditionally. They don't like labour governments very much because labour tend to be heavier on public spending. So I don't see the economy taking very kindly to a change of government. And of course, markets and economies hate uncertainty. So still until things have settled down a little bit, I don't see very much changing for us at all. But because 2024 looks like 2023 doesn't mean you have to get the same out of the year. And that's what this podcast is all about. Here are my five resolutions, five business resolutions to help you get more from 2024. Number one, you're not going to like me for saying it, but you've got to get to grips with the figures in your business. I know that these reports aren't terribly sexy. I know that accounts can be confusing. But I promise you the businesses that get to grips with the figures, that monitor their expenditure closely, that figure out where the best money is being spent in the business are those that are going to thrive in 2024.

So I want you to book a meeting with your accountant. If all your accountant is doing for you is preparing your annual returns and filing them for you, get rid. You need a management accountant. Someone who's going to help you keep a really close eye on the money that flows in and out of the business and can advise you on things as well. If you haven't got the money for a better accountant, have a look at getting a really good bookkeeper. Someone who can provide you with timely, useful information on the performance of your business and the profitability of your business month by month. I promise you spending a little bit of time each week. I call it my money hour on a Friday morning. Just getting to grips with what's going into my bank account and the expenditure that I can expect over the next seven days as well. Once you've got to grips with a week, start to expand your horizons to a month and then a quarter. Number two, this time of year is awesome for reviewing our progress, figuring out where we are at the moment, doing a little bit of a survey on the areas of our life that need work. And one that I really want you to focus on is your business tribe. There's an old adage that you're the average of the five people that surround you, the people that you spend the most time with. The same is true in your business too. If you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room. If you're the highest achiever in a group of business owners, you're in the wrong group of business owners. We want people that are going to help you on your journey, but also that can inspire you and motivate you. People that are just one or two steps ahead of where you are now. Of course, I'm going to plug my Salon Spark group coaching program here. And if you head over to buildyoursalon.com, you'll see details of Salon Spark, which is my accountability and coaching group. And we've got some amazing Salon owners in there, but there are lots of others out there. If you don't have something in place, if you don't have some organisation that you're part of, that you have regular contact with or a group coaching or accountability group, I promise you it's going to be time and money really well spent this year. Number three, while we're taking stock of where we are in the new year, I want you to learn to review your progress really regularly. Not only so that you can recognise your achievements and monitor your progress towards your goals, but so that we can start repeating what works in our businesses. For example, at the end of every marketing campaign or every marketing cycle, take a look back.

Did you hit the target that you set yourself? You are setting targets now, aren't you darlings? What worked in the promotion? What worked this month? What didn't work? What's worth repeating? What's worth polishing and refining and doing again? I promise you this process of review is where the gold is in your business. So many people think that business and marketing success comes from inventing and creating new things all the time. I promise the money is in refining and improving what you're already doing well. Take a look at Apple. Yes, of course, they come out with new models every year, but it's a new iPhone. It's not a brand new product. It's not a brand new item for us all to go crazy about. They're polishing, refining, improving what's already popular. And I want you to do the same as well. And that's because number four, I want this to be the year that you simplify. So many of us are scrabbling around for bits of business success here and there, getting more and more frantic, more and more overwhelmed, more and more disorganized, not knowing what's working in the business, not having time to breathe and actually enjoy the process of making money. That's when we start to fall out of love with our businesses. That's when your salon starts to lose the buzz. So simplify, simplify, simplify. Instead of running promotions every two or three weeks in your business, what if you did two or three promotions per quarter maximum? What if I put you on a marketing and promotional diet and made you cut way back so that your promotions have time to breathe, so that they have time to succeed properly, but so that you're not running around like a headless chicken trying to do more and more? It didn't work in 2023. I don't think it's going to work in 2024 either. And finally, and most importantly, number five, I want you to be investing in yourself. So many of us are really good investing in the products that we bring into our businesses. We're really good at bringing in new services, investing in technical training, but we're not mirroring that spend, that investment when it comes to our personal growth, our personal development, and our business growth and business development. And of course, as a salon business coach, I would say that, wouldn't I? But I promise you've got to be really getting to grips with all aspects of your business, all aspects of your own skill set that you need to nurture your salon to greater success. So my challenge to you is every pound or dollar or euro that you spend on technical training in your business this year, I want you to mirror it. I want you to match it with business and personal development training. You will thank me when we get to the end of 2024. So there we have it, my five business resolutions for this year to help your salon to further success.

I hope they've been useful. What have I missed? Reach out, let me know, phil at buildyoursalon.com. You know, I love hearing about you and your continued success. Also, please reach out with questions for my Q&A. The Q&A sessions are going to carry on through 2024. So every month I have a podcast dedicated to the questions that you bring me. It doesn't work unless you send some in there. Same email address, phil at buildyoursalon.com. Look out next week for another guest episode. We're going to be continuing with those two. Every two or three weeks on the Build Your Salon podcast, we're going to have a guest bringing their point of view on the salon industry. Just seven short days until I'm coming in your eyes and ears again. And until then, take care. 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.