How to open a beauty salon: expert advice and beginner mistakes

Sergey Nizhelsky, business trainer, coach

What changes has the salon business been experiencing lately?

In my opinion, the salon business is not changing for the better. Many salons are switching to a chair rental system, which breaks the concept of service altogether, since it is impossible to maintain it in such conditions. Also, business is spoiled by people who come into it without any knowledge, but with the goal of immediately making a big profit. They bring chaos into the system by promising the masters what they cannot give them.

On the positive side, there is the successful development of some franchises, as well as the desire of the owners to improve the quality of service, to become better, more interesting, and more comfortable. Everyone is trying to surprise the client with something, and that’s great.

Where should you start opening your own salon?

First and foremost, I recommend hiring an expert who understands business issues and will ask you the right questions. Even before starting your own business, it is important to understand what you are opening, why, what you expect from this business, what your clients will be like, and what you want to get as a result. And depending on the answers to these questions, you need to build a concept, look for premises, create a communication channel, and so on.

Unfortunately, in our country everything is done the other way around. Not every owner understands that business is systematic, has certain rules for running it, risks and threats.

Even an hour-long consultation will give a novice businessman a lot. At a minimum, he will understand what not to do and how to avoid mistakes. After the consultation, it will become clearer to him what to focus on, what to pay special attention to and what to do next.

What mistakes do newbie businessmen most often make?

Firstly, beginners, as a rule, expect huge profits literally from the first month of work. They invest a lot of money and expect a quick return on that investment.

The second common mistake is the wrong attitude towards work that owners come into business with. For example, they treat their subordinates like children, help them in everything, look into their mouths and forget about their function as a leader.

The third mistake is opening a business without a development strategy. In this case, development occurs chaotically, a lot of money is invested in it, but this does not bring the desired result.

And the last common mistake is the desire to get emotional satisfaction from business. At first, you shouldn’t think about it at all, because all the time and effort will be spent on the process of building this business.

What role do social networks play in promoting salon business?

If a salon is interested in its own development, it is impossible to do without social networks. Social networks are a must have. If you are not on social networks, you are nowhere.

I also want to emphasize the importance of masters maintaining their own accounts in order to increase the level of recognition and professionalism. Also, maintaining social networks improves your ability to communicate with clients. If a master does not maintain work pages on social networks, he will remain at a certain level and competitors will begin to bypass him.

For development in the beauty industry, the number one promotion channel is Instagram. It is important to use all its capabilities to develop your business: publish beautiful photos, put hashtags, communicate with clients.

I also believe in a communication channel like Telegram, which is now also gaining momentum. Using this messenger, it is easy and simple to convey all the information about news and promotions in the salon, and it is convenient for a person to enter the necessary correspondence and find everything he needs. But here it is important to understand that the content in Telegram is special and it differs from the content in social networks. But if you manage to manage a Telegram channel correctly and constantly interest customers, then the effectiveness will be much higher than promotion on other social networks.

What can you wish for businessmen?

I wish you respect for the place you create, patience regarding the result you want to get, and respect for the work - yours and the craftsmen who work with you.