I love being small…
I work for myself, I work only the hours I want to work…
I’m not accountable to anyone and I only work with those I want to.
I used to own mid to large salons. By large I mean 20+ staff. I love working with hairdressers, helping them grow and learn and have them basically become a part of your family. I love owning and building salons. I’ve now built 8 salons and 4 side businesses and I’ve been successful with them. As much as I love them it took me 20 years of owning salons to realise it wasn’t actually my thing. I was sucked into the belief that the only way to be successful in hairdressing is to build a big award winning salon with a large number of staff. To be super popular on social media and the envy of all other hairdressers.
Only problem is…the bigger I got the more of a burden it became to me.
I ran a good ship but problems are always going to arise. People get sick, people go on leave, people will make mistakes. Everyday there was always an issue deal with. Nothing I couldn’t rectify or work through but it was always left to me to fix. Me…the top of the chain…all accountability remained solely with me and I accept that.
I put systems in place, employed management, tried many different techniques in order to gain more personal time and relieve the burden that can sometimes be all engrossing when running a small business. But the issues still weighed on my shoulders alone.
Staff are a wonderful thing. The only problem is they’re not there forever. Everyone moves on at some point. I see too many salons thinking that their staff should be grateful for them working for them.
It’s actually the other way around…the salon should be grateful for their staff.
We’re in a time where any salon you walk into would employ you in a heartbeat as long as you can hold a pair of scissors and a comb. Staff shortages have never been bigger. If you’re in a salon you love and are being looked after well then kudos to you…you’ve found a unicorn. Salons that look after their staff well are wonderful ambassadors to this amazing industry and if your on a good thing then stick with it.
More than likely though…it will end. All things do.
You may just want a change for something different.
Be careful with this decision though…the grass isn’t always greener.
My change was for myself personally. I no longer wanted the pressure of small business and after being in my own businesses a didn’t really want to be an employee. I still needed an income but didn’t want to have to be committed to one place doing a set amount of hours with a limited amount of time off. Unless I could find that unicorn salon that worked with me on my wants and needs through employment I was probably going to end up resenting the job and the industry.
Being a Solo Stylist now gives me the best of both worlds. I get to run my own ship and still be able to associate with other hairdressers depending on what work I’ve planned and where I am.
I’ve been told it’s selfish because a Solo Stylist doesn’t help the growth of hairdressing by not having apprentices. I still give back to the industry by running education, teaching hairdressers about scissors and tools, presenting to apprentices at TAFE and sharing all of my advice to any hairdresser willing to listen. It’s just not the “traditional” way we’ve all been brainwashed into believing.
I now give back more by interacting with 1000’s of apprentices and hairdressers as opposed to the small amount staff I had in comparison over the years. I still do the clients I love doing in a salon environment only at the times I have set aside for this work. I take leave when I need to…no questions or justification. If I need to make up time or do extra hours because I need to have time off…that’s totally my decision as well.
Being a Solo Stylist puts me in control of everything and lets me prioritise the most important things to me. It gives me more interaction than I’ve ever had with the industry and makes my world a better place and me a better person. I just had to realise it.
Key Points:
- Prioritise yourself
- Small is the new big
- Your options are endless
Until next time…
Craig
The Solo Stylist
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