Paula's Top Ten Tips for Improving your Business

1. Take a Walk
Walk by your salon. Is the entrance inviting? If you were entering for the first time, what impression does the entrance make?

2. Sit Down
Take five minutes to sit in every chair a client would. Look around. Notice all the details a client would see from that perspective.
What does the client see, smell and hear?

3. Check Out the Menu
What services do you offer and how is that communicated to the client?

4. Find the Time
Notice how much time per week you spend on your business (as opposed to in your business).

5. Read
Open our monthly newsletter and blogs for great industry related information and up-coming events.

6. Set Goals
Writing out your goals clarifies your vision for future success. As the Cheshire Cat said "If you don't know where you are going, it doesn't matter which way you go".

7. Monitor
Touch into what your books have to say. Your numbers tell you tons about your business and team performance.

8. Celebrate Success
Acknowledging that targets have been achieved is extremely motivational. A simple congratulation, a gift or financial toked...rewarding staff creates loyalty. Have you an incentive program for your team?

9. Pay Attention to Social Media
What is your presence on the Internet? Did you know that there are over 850 million Facebook users? How are you using social media to your advantage?

10. Breathe
Breathing is very good for business!

The Four Realms of Customer Service

Here's a wonderful little reminder of what it takes to provide great customer service! Written and produced by our Business Development Coach, Grant Sheinin.


http://my.brainshark.com/4-Step-formula-for-great-customer-service-364777139

Important Information for owners of CHAIR RENTAL salons

Boy oh boy was there quite an uproar in our seminar today. Some salon owners and chair renters were very unhappy, confused and scared upon hearing about the Canada Revenue Agency's policies on Employment Insurance regarding hairdressers and barbers. Here's some info from you, kindly provided to us by a participant in the class.

Under a special EI regulation, the owner, proprietor, or operator of the barbershop or hairdressing business is considered to be the employer of the individuals who perform services in connection with the establishment, EVEN IF THE INDIVIDUALS ARE NOT EMPLOYED UNDER A CONTRACT OF SERVICE (CHAIR RENTERS).
If you own or operate the business, you have to pay both the worker's share and your share of EI premiums. The worker's insurable earnings are to be calculated based on the net revenue.The worker's insurable earnings are used to determine the worker's share of EI premiums.

Now, as the owner of a chair rental salon you might be thinking...
"I have no idea what my chair renters make" !
Well don't worry your pretty little head about it, the CRA has thought of that...

There are two ways to determine the insurable earnings for a week, depending on whether or not you know the worker's actual weekly earnings and expenses:
a) If you know how much the worker earned in a pay period and the expenses incurred in generating revenue from the worker's operation in the establishment, the amount of the individuals insurable earnings is the total actual earnings (net revenue) from the individuals employment for the pay period up to the maximum annual insurable earnings.
b) If you do not know how much the worker earned and/or the expenses the worker incurred in generating revenue from the worker's operation in the establishment in a pay period, the amount of insurable earnings is the lesser of:

• the number of days worked in the week multiplies by 1/390 of the maximum of the annual insurable earning; or
• 1/78 of the maximum annual insurable earnings

The maximum insurable earning is $42,300.00

As the employer, you have to send int he EI premiums that you paid for your workers.

Confusing, isn't it? As a chair renter myself I was under the impression that I was self employed and had the option of whether I wanted to pay into EI or not (this only became an option for self employed individuals in 2010). According to this, as a self employed hairstylist I have NO choice but to pay into EI.
If you are the salon owner of a chair rental salon, you are required to pay both the employee's and the employer's EI contributions, meaning...unless you want to incur these expenses they should be added on to the chair rent you collect each month.

If you'd like more information please visit the CRA website at:
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/menu-eng.html  or speak with your accountant.

And for goodness sakes,  DO NOT shoot the messenger!

Save money AND be entered to win 2 tickets to "Trouble In Tahiti" at the Vancouver Fringe Festival!

Sign up this week (September 6th to 11th) for our group coaching sessions and be entered to win 2 tickets to the Vancouver Fringe Festival!

http://arianecdesign.com/vancouver-fringe-trouble-in-tahiti

In The Black Salon Business Consulting would like to introduce our new GROUP COACHING!

Group coaching is a great way to learn the fundamentals of successfully operating your business in a cost efficient way!

We are proud to bring you the first in our series of group coaching sessions:

LEADERSHIP

Start Date (Session 1): Wednesday Sept 28

Subsequent Sessions:

Session 2: Wednesday October 5

Session 3: Wednesday October 12

Session 4: Wednesday October 19

Time: 10:00-11:00 am PST

Session 1:

Creating a workspace culture (mission, values, vision, meetings, training, education, events)

Session 2:

Leadership: Who are leaders, the leader's role, team dynamics, expectations of your team, communicating with your team, giving and receiving feedback, 5 daily professional habits

Session 3:

Industry benchmarks

Goal setting

Team reviews

Team incentives

Session 4:

Customer service and client retention

Customer relation management

Participants will be emailed support tools in advance.

Sessions will be conducted by phone and attendees will be required to call in to a bridge line (this number will be provided upon registration, long distance charges may apply).

COST: $300.00 per participant, $250.00 for each additional participant from same salon/spa.

This is a savings of $100.00-$150.00 per person when compared to private coaching rates!

To Register please email us at info@itb180.com

Deadline for registration is Sunday September 18th so don't delay!

What are your Tolerations?

I have been working with a life coach for the past year and a half. It is she who introduced me to the awareness of tolerations. Tolerations, put quite bluntly, are the things you are putting up with.
I made a list of things I was putting up with, some of these included: My keys dangling too low from the ignition in my car and banging against my knee as I drive, scheduling myself to the point where spending time with friends felt like a chore because it was scheduled and not spontaneous, being pulled in too many directions at work, lack of "me" time and lack of exercise.
If I asked you to create your list of tolerations, you may be able to come up with 5-500 things! Some may be related to your personal life and some may be work related, but you will see that (most often) many of the tolerations we experience in our personal lives are created due to the domino effect starting with the tolerations in our professional lives. My over scheduling, lack of "me" time, and lack of exercise was ultimately due to the fact that I was working 12-16 hours a day, taking on too much responsibility and tasks at work, was stressed out and exhausted. Once I was able to recognize my tolerations, set boundaries, delegate more and work less my time began to free up and activities with friends and family became pleasurable again, actually something I looked forward to!
Tolerations are a negative energy source. They drain you and often prevent you from reaching your goals and achieving success. I encourage you to create your list of tolerations then start to get rid of them. Sometimes the elimination process requires help, contact us if we can be of any.

What's Up?

I've blogged about the importance of having a budget for your business, client retention, and inventory control. I've written newsletters about leadership, change, and the benefits of investing in a business consultant...Is anyone listening? You may be reading what I write, but are you actually listening to what I've been saying?

Most new businesses will LOSE money for the 1-3 years, many new salon/spa owners can not afford to pay themselves a decent salary (but sometimes pay themselves too much!), and 80% of salons and spas close their doors within the first 2 years of business...Before you open a business please GET ADVICE!

You must have revenue projections and a cash flow plan, you must have money on reserve in the bank, and you must  posses some business and leadership skills.
I constantly hear stylists and estheticians say "I opened a salon because I was sick of making money for someone else" or "It didn't feel right giving half of my money away (to the salon owner)". Is this reason enough to open your own business if you know absolutely nothing about running a business, you've never been a leader before, and are not aware of industry benchmarks for success. The simple answer is NO.
Most employees have absolutely no idea how many costs are associated with operating a salon or spa and I can assure you that there are very few salon/spa owners who laugh all the way to the bank. Start up costs are usually in the thousands alone (construction, equipment, retail and professional product opening orders, electronics and software packages, advertising, recruitment, team training, etc) and I know that the mountain of monthly expenses can contribute to sleep deprivation!

Here's a list of potential monthly expenses for a salon/spa:


Payroll and payroll benefits (service providers, reception, apprentices, etc)
Incentives (retail commissions)
Professional Product Purchases (Includes wax, wax strips, foils, colour, back bar product, etc)
Retail Purchases
Cleaning and Sundries (tea, coffee, cream, etc)
Decorations/Flowers
Magazines
Dues/Memberships
Courier
Consulting/Coaching
Credit Card Commission/Fees
Bank Fees
Employee Recruitment
Training/Education
Insurance
Legal and Accounting
Telephone/Internet
Advertising
Utilities
Marketing/Promos
Rent/Lease
Security System
Interest Bank/Loan
Donations
Office supplies
Computer Software Support

Besides the financial obligations, many business owners are technicians and are also accountable to their employees and customers. They are the bread and butter of their business, leaving little or no time to focus on the visioning, recruitment, planning, mentoring, networking, system implementation and book keeping required for their business to grow.

With a de-regulated cosmetology industry and such scary statistics about business failure, why is it so hard to find people who want to succeed? I don't just mean talking about it, but actually striving towards becoming an industry leader and being one of the best! Maybe some of you don't like change and some of you may fear the commitment of time and hard work. I can guarantee one thing...if you want your business to grow it will not just "happen".
So my question is...What's Up? I get numerous calls from frustrated salon/spa owners and managers, some are even in tears. We speak (sometimes for hours) about their grievances,  we analyze their business practices, we discuss potential solutions to their frustrations and we agree that change must happen and that assistance is necessary.
I never hear from them again. Why? If it's about money you must understand that it takes money to make money and spending a little to improve your systems can potentially make you lots.  If it's about hard work, you must remember that nothing rewarding comes easy. If it's about fear you must understand that coaches do not judge, we guide.
So my next question...what are you waiting for?

Let's get ready to RUMBLE!!!

It's time to stop procrastinating, face your fears, shape up that business, and "knock out" all of your worries.

We're gonna get down and dirty and talk about your bottom line.

1. Do you have a system for inventory control?

If you answered no to this question, you must have thousands of dollars of inventory collecting dust on your shelves. You are spending more on buying retail products than you should be. You should not be spending more than 50% of your total retail sales buying products for retail.

2. Do you know how much money you should be spending monthly buying back bar products in relation to your service sales?

If you are not controlling your back bar spending you better think about raising your prices NOW, especially your chemical service prices. You should not be spending more than 6-8% of your service sales on buying back bar products. These products include colour, peroxide, foils, cotton, perm and relaxing solutions, massage oils, hair/spa products for your staff to use on your guests, etc.

3. Does your salon have a budget?

If you answered no to this question, you can not possibly set service and retail goals for your team because you don't know how much money the business needs to make! You can't plan your marketing because you don't know how much you are able to allocate to advertising and promotions. You can't hire new staff because you honestly don't know if (and what) you can afford to pay them.


To put it simply: If you don't know how much money the business needs to bring in each month to cover your expenses or how much money should be spent in relation to how much is coming in...your business will never ever ever make a profit.

If you would like to know more about cosmetology industry benchmarks (goals for best practices), retail and inventory control, and/or budgeting please call us at 604-314-4981.

"Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy." -Dale Carnegie