Teamwork: The key to Salon Success

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. Lovely to see you. My salon friend Phil Jackson here, your Queen of Salons, here with another batch of advice and tips and tricks to help you lead a fuller life and enjoy your salon business a lot more. How on earth are you? How's business? Lots of people in my tribe are saying there's been lots of people moving appointments around last minute and lots of cancellations and lots of people complaining that they're poorly. Everyone seems to be dropping like flies at the moment with colds and flu and still the remaining bits of Covid hanging around. And that said, I'll be honest with you darlings, I'm just back from a trip to Spain and it's no surprise, I have to say, this public transport thing, after we had all that lockdown, doesn't public transport feel a bit icky? And I could have welcomed a little bit of social distancing, everyone rubbing up against me, all those people in economy thinking they could come and say hello. Anyway, there are ways of dealing with these things, of course, and I think my biggest tip if you're struggling with people cancelling last minute so you've got to get those booking fees in place. And most salon software systems now do this really easily, where people are booking online, they just pay a percentage as a booking fee now, which they will lose if they don't continue with your cancellation policy. Now the one thing I will say, gosh this isn't even today's topic, oh well, we will milk it for a couple of minutes and then we do need to start talking about villages, I'll talk about that too. So back to our booking fees, well of course the point is, just because you can take that booking fee, just because you can charge people for missed appointments and so on, doesn't mean you have to. And lots of teams in particular, and a fair few salon owners too, will say to me, well what if somebody's, you know, got a great auntie Nellie who's been rushed into hospital, or what if, you know, they've been run over by a bus on the way into the salon? Well of course we're not going to charge them then, it doesn't mean you have to, just because you can doesn't mean you should. We still use our discretion, we're still human beings after all. But I think it does discourage those people who are just, you know, maybe pushing the envelope a little bit, maybe just not quite making it into an appointment even though they possibly could, and maybe they're just a bit hungover, or perhaps they change their mind,

or perhaps they're realising actually they'd have a bit more money to spend on their hair and beauty therapy treatments. Next week, not this week, they're the ones that we want to make sure that we are sorting out with our booking fees. Anyway, more on that if you want it. Phil at buildyoursalon.com, I'd love to hear from you. If that's a topic you want us to delve into a little bit more thoroughly then please feel free to reach out. But today's episode is called It Takes a Village. Now, why does it take a village to raise a salon? Because I'm still hearing lots and lots of people saying that they are overwhelmed in their business, they're not enjoying their business as much as they feel they should be, they're not enjoying the success that they feel they should be, lots of you still taking work home and carrying out lots of admin tasks and posting to social media and replying to messages in the evening. And of course that means that we're not fully present with our families, with our children, with our partners. You can't do this on your own, my dear. That's why it takes a village. Even if you're a solopreneur. In fact, especially if you're a solopreneur. I think we need to realise that it takes a team. You need a team. And in fact, you already have a team. And as we start to pan through the three different types of team that I've identified, you'll realise you already have a team in place. Now, of course, if you've got a team, that means that we need to manage the performance of that team too. So even if you're a solopreneur, this episode is for you. And I think it's going to make you think about the teams that surround you in a slightly different way. So we're going to dive in. And I think there are three types of team that need managing in my mind. The first one, if you're a solopreneur, then perhaps you don't need to worry about it. And that's your employed team or your payroll team. So these are people that are employed by you to carry out a task, either carrying out services alongside you or instead of you, if you've delegated a bit. Or they're the support staff. So they're things like your apprentices or your salon juniors, we used to call them. Or you may have a reception team or an admin team that are actually paid as part of your fixed costs every single month. And we've done an entire episode on performance management before. If you'd like more help with that, again, reach out to me. Phil at buildyoursalon.com I have a personal fondness for salopreneurs who employ teams. That doesn't mean I don't support solopreneurs. I would be crazy to ignore the march towards people being self-employed or renting salon suites.

I would be insane to ignore that trend in our industry that's been happening for quite a few years now. But I do have a personal affection for salon team, people who employ salon teams. And that's because that's the model that I grew up with. So my background, even though I talk to more beauty therapists than I do hairdressers these days, but my background is hair. And I went through that traditional model of hairdressing apprenticeship. So I spent a lot of time being paid less than minimum wage while I was learning my craft and working alongside qualified stylists underneath the manager. And then you have that time of cutting your teeth when you're first on the salon floor before you become a fully-fledged stylist. And I think that the people who employ teams in our industry are kind of the guardians. They're the ones who hold the keys to the industry of the future. Because if we were all self-employed, if we were all running salon suites, if we were all renting space or setting up units in our homes, well, there's nobody taking care of that next generation. Now, I appreciate lots of us will have come to the industry on a different route. Lots of us will have put ourselves through hairdressing or beauty therapy college or got our aesthetic qualifications. And I appreciate that lots of us have that particular desire to do things our own way, on our own, from the beginning, all the way through. But there are a number of people in our industry who could not have got to where they are without that extra supervision, without that extra mentoring, without that extra little bit of help that that traditional apprenticeship model brings along. We have always attracted in our industry a disproportionate number of people, for example, who find written communication very difficult. There are a lot more dyslexic in our industry than most other industries proportionally, I would hazard a guess. And I think that whether you've got something like dyslexia or dyspraxia or whether we just need that extra bit of emotional support while we're learning, I think that traditional model of apprenticeship needs to exist. I think it's really important for the future of our industry because the alternative is that, oh my gosh, I'm ranting again. What is it you do to me each week, darlings? You get me all het up on a topic, don't you? But I think without that, we are throwing the baby out with the bathwater a little bit. I think some of those people that have come through that model who would not be in the industry otherwise have actually contributed an awful lot to hairdressing and beauty therapy and aesthetics over the years. So let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Let's make sure that model still exists.

That means we still need employers in our industry too. But beyond that, there is also an outsourced team. There's also a team that is not on the payroll who we are delegating tasks to. So for example, I suspect you don't do your annual tax returns yourself. Are you feeling like you're stuck in a rut? Like you're just going through the motions or that whatever you do, the next level in your business stays just out of reach? Well, it's time to shake things up. With one-to-one coaching, you'll have buckets of support, inspiration and accountability to help you bring the buzz back to your salon business. Whether you're looking to achieve a specific goal or just feeling that things are lonely at the top If you want someone to coach you to be the best version of yourself, I am here to support you. And don't worry, even though it's called coaching, I won't make you join a gym and I will never suggest you give up your Toblerone habit. What's the alternative? More of the same? Come on, you can do better than that. Ping me an email at phil at buildyoursalon.com with the subject line coaching and I will send you all the details. I can't wait to help you on your journey to salon success. But just because somebody isn't on our payroll, just because we've delegated a task to them, doesn't mean we don't manage their performance. And I think people go wrong here. I think there's a real blind spot for lots of people that are running small businesses, in particular salons, where we're delegating these tasks externally or outsourcing them. And then we're just trusting people to get on with it. And there are a whole host of these people that will exist. We need someone to help on the financial side. I particularly think that you should be getting proper advice from a qualified accountant, at least annually, if not more frequently, particularly in times of change in the business. On top of that, we have a bookkeeper. If you're looking for a bookkeeper, I always think to ask around locally, of course, for recommendations or ask your tribe, but also ask your accountant, because very often they will work with a team of bookkeepers. And what we're really looking for is a bookkeeper who's using the same systems and the same software as your accountant. That's going to save a lot of time when it comes to your annual filings. So normally, if you've got really tidy books because you've got a decent bookkeeper who's been working for you every quarter and each all the way through the year. Well, normally that keeps the costs of your accountant down a bit because they've got less tidying up to do.

They're getting all of the information from you in a pre-approved format. And things should be relatively accurate from the get go. So I think a bookkeeper is actually worth their weight in gold. Now, my bookkeeper is particularly good. So I'm going to talk to you about some of the stuff that she does, because there are a number of tasks that she does over and above bookkeeping. But this is kind of the ideal standard, if you like. So my bookkeeper is interested in self-development. So she's been doing a lot of exams, which means that she can file returns as well. So over time, not only has she been doing our day-to-day bookkeeping, but she's also been taking care of our quarterly VAT returns. So we have value-added tax here in the UK. And each quarter, a return is submitted to His Majesty's Revenue and Customs with a chunk of cash. And she's taking care of those returns. And that's normally a role that would have been reserved for an accountant rather than a bookkeeper. But because she's looking at progressing and building her skills, that's something she's able to do for us as well. She also takes care of all of the invoices for us. So lots of our paperwork gets sent straight to her house rather than to my salon, where she takes care of paying all the invoices. So she has access to our bank accounts as well. She has a role on the bank account, which means that she can authorise payments up to a certain amount. She can't set up new payees. So she can't set up new people to pay money to. That's my little bit of security. But if it's a supplier that we've used before, we've had an invoice from them up to, I think it's £2,000. I think beyond that, she needs approval from a second person. But up to that amount, she can take care of payments for us. Now, because she's taking care of the payments and has access to the bank account, you see that bit of extra information means she's also very good at timing those payments. Because she's got that bigger picture of what's going on with the business. She knows when we need to delay payment of an invoice for a day or two because we need to wait for a few more pounds to come in. So I like her having that slightly bigger view of what's going on in my salon. Now, because she is progressing, she's now also able to take care of our annual returns. And this is very definitely into traditional accountant territory. So in fact, I no longer have an accountant. My bookkeeper now does everything for us at a fraction of the cost, I have to say.

And it's working extremely well. She also produces a very basic management report, which she whizzes back to me each month, telling me what the cash flow looks like for the last month and also our cash flow forecast is for the coming month. So she does an awful lot. And you'll be lucky to find a bookkeeper who can do all of those things from the get go. But if you can, my goodness, get your claws in and hold on tight because my bookkeeper is absolutely worth her weight in gold. But beyond the financial side, of course, we also need to make sure that we are complying with our regulatory requirements. We need somebody on the legal side. And I think you need someone who not only can make sure that you're compliant, but I think you need someone in your back pocket who I hope you never need. But I think you need someone who is good with litigation as well. I think we live in a society now which and it's bloody depressing. And I hate the fact that everyone's suing everybody and looking for excuses. You know, I can't think we ought to redefine exactly what an accident is. An accident is something that accidentally happened. There is no blame to apportion there. Anyway, I'm not going to rant about that today. But you need someone in your back pocket that again, hopefully you don't need, but you've built a bit of a relationship with you at least to introduce your business. So that if something awful comes along and somebody decides they're going to sue you, we can reduce that anxiety. We're not shopping around for a lawyer who can take care of things for us. So have those people in your back pocket. Plus, there's an awful lot of other stuff that can be delegated to. I don't want to dive too deep into delegation because I think we've got an episode on it. If you want an episode on delegation, please let me know. I love it when you tell me what content to record because I always do these recordings at 5.30 in the morning. So coming up with a topic sometimes can be a strain, my dear. So please feel free to let me know if delegation will be a handy one. But there are lots of people delegating, for example, their social media these days. Lots of our design and branding tasks are outsourced and lots more stuff besides. All you've got to do is jump onto Fiverr.com and the scope and scale of things that you can delegate in your business to people you've never met, you're never going to, is quite breathtaking. And actually, I can lose an awful lot of time just chewing through Fiverr.com to see what people are delegating these days. Some of the stuff, oh my goodness, would make your toes curl. Are you ready for some predictable in your salon business? How would you feel if you knew you could look ahead and rely on a certain level of income month after month?

Would that stability help you become the confident, inspirational salon owner you were always meant to be? Or maybe you're looking for a way to stand out in a crowded marketplace by offering something truly unique. Salon memberships are what I know best and what I know more about than anyone else. It's my honour and pleasure to bring you my salon memberships master plan. Step-by-step training to help you get salon memberships into your business without overwhelm, without guesswork and without any missing steps. Head over to queenofmemberships.com for all of the details and a very special deal for my podcast listeners too. You'll love the simplicity of salon memberships and your clients, maybe even your competitors' clients, will love them too. That website again is queenofmemberships.com. I can't wait to help you on your way to salon business success. And then the final layer of team is a little bit more subtle, or can be, and I see it as your support, your entrepreneurial support. And that will be made up of a number of elements. There should be some kind of networking going on. So you should have a team that you've networked with. So they're not a team that's on the payroll. We're not, it's not a transactional affair necessarily. But there are people that you network with that you're continually rubbing along, alongside. And where people go wrong is with the, particularly with the second layer where we're looking at the delegated stuff, the external team. But also with the support team as well, they're not managing the performance of the team. So what do I mean by that? I mean that this team should be, this support team should be ticking some boxes for you. We should be recognising how they're contributing to the business. And I've caught myself out here, particularly with networking, where I've been a part of networking groups that I enjoy being part of. But when I look to the support that they offer, or when I look to the networking opportunities that they bring, they don't actually represent particularly good value for money as far as the time that I'm spending. So I think we need to be really clear what we expect to get from our networking. Is it just socialising? In which case I would argue that it's not really part of a support team at all. Or is it that we're looking for opportunities, future business opportunities? In which case, put a number on it.

How many of those opportunities do you expect to get? Is it one per networking meeting? Or is it one per quarter? Or do we just want one glorious opportunity per year? And if your networking opportunity isn't ticking those boxes, it may be time to withdraw from that network and start to look for somewhere else to spend your time. You're not spending your time effectively. You're also going to need some kind of coaching or mentoring. And again, this should be subject to performance management. You should expect to be able to, and I'm always very clear actually, in my own coaching. And this isn't a plug for my one-to-one coaching because we've already had that. But I have always made sure that we've got some clearly defined goals at the beginning of our coaching journey together. Because what I want at the end of six months or 12 months is a piece of paper that says these are the things we've worked on together. These are the things that you might not have been able to achieve on your own in the last six months. Therefore, the next six months of coaching is a no-brainer. And that's what you need as far as your group coaching or individual coaching or mentoring is concerned. We need some stuff that you can say, yes, I achieved this as a result of spending that time and spending that money. So we need to manage that performance of your support team as well. And then the third element to that support team is a bit softer. You need a tribe. You need some people that you can vent to a little bit. Some people that are in the thick of it with you. Some people who just understand what you're going through. And that might be people in the same industry as us. It might be fellow business owners of different sizes, different industries. It might just be a group of gals who are all in senior management who you meet up for brunch once a month. And just vent about the business. You need someone who you can just pick up the phone and say, I'm really struggling with this right now. Either what would you do? Or can you listen? Or can we have a coffee? Or can we do a bottle of tequila together? But we need some people on our side who offer that slightly softer support. But again, we do need to manage the performance of that too. And that feels a bit cutthroat. And remember, we're not talking about your friends here. We're talking about your business pals, your tribe. But they're not necessarily your personal friends. And I think occasionally we need to review those relationships too. Because there are relationships that we get stuck in sometimes. Where the other person is taking an awful lot and obtaining an awful lot from that relationship. But we're not. And part of that can be because you don't trust yourself to lean into that support when it's available to you. That we're so used to doing things on our own and struggling. Or we get that martyr syndrome where we have to be a bit persecuted in our business. So we don't actually ask for the help.

Or maybe it's just that you don't get the opportunity because the other person in that relationship is asking for so much help and so much support. So be a bit mindful. Be aware of the balance of power in those slightly softer relationships. And the balance of support that's available. Because it might be sometimes that we need to withdraw from one tribe. Or start to withdraw from certain people in that soft support network. And lean into trying to find new people to add. To keep us going. To G us on in those tricky times. And let's face it, over the last few years, I think we appreciate that level of support more than ever. So there you have it. Three levels of team. All need performance management. All need targets. All need to be contributing meaningfully to our business week in and week out. I hope that's been useful to you. If it has, reach out and let me know. And maybe even spend just a moment leaving me a little review. That will be awesome. It increases the reach of the podcast. Means that we can help even more estheticians and beauty therapists and salon owners around the world. With these little bits of advice each week. Maybe even think about sharing the episode too. I think Five Styles looks best on the page. And maybe mention what you like most about my podcast. This stuff's like catnip to me. Keeps me going darlings. So please just take that moment in your week. Just seven short days until I'm coming in your ears again. Please 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.