In general, there are five reasons hair salons fail. In this episode, Brett shares these pitfalls and how hair salon owners can avoid them.
When I first started this podcast, I thought it would be a great idea to cover everything financial in such a detailed and granular way that hair salon owners are going to get a lot out of it, and they’ll have immediate actions to implement. And after a year’s worth of episodes, they’ll have an entire playbook of financial planning ideas for retirement.
But what I’ve found is that hair salon owners really appreciate repetition. I mean, just look at how they structure their days. They like it when I go back and sometimes just talk about the various points I’ve made in previous episodes, but perhaps approach them from a different angle and a different perspective. So, for today’s episode, I want to cover the five reasons why successful salons fail.
Now, salons can fail when they’re in the startup phase. They can fail when they’re growing or scaling. And they can even fail when they’ve been established, and they lose track of external things going on like market factors, team morale, that sort of stuff. And they just fail.
Generally speaking, there are five reasons hair salons fail. But before I talk about why those things matter and what they are, I want to talk about something that I heard this week.
The prize you get for being successful in solving a challenge or problem is getting a bigger challenge or problem to solve.
As soon as we think that we’ve got something that’s insurmountable, we beat it. We cross that bridge, so to speak. And then we find there’s a bigger challenge waiting for us on the other side. I think that typifies the journey of your entrepreneurship and growing your salon.
Because as you know, you started to build something that got bigger, and the challenges or problems that you had to face became bigger, too. And the things that you thought were big issues a year ago, five years ago, 10 years ago, look easy in comparison, don’t they? That’s the hair salon owner’s journey.
I often try to counsel stylists who want to open their own salon to remember that this is what you’re signing up for.
When things feel like they’re impossible, that’s when you have to remind yourself, this is why I’m here.
I’m here to challenge myself, to push myself and see what I’m capable of.
So that’s the first thing I learned this week. The second thing I learned this week is effectively what I call compounding growth.
I read in an article that when you go from four years old to five years old, that year, those 12 months, you’re effectively 20% older. However, if you’re going from age 55 to 56, that year, those same 12 months, is only 2% of the amount of time you’re alive. So, 2% versus 20% growth in the same year. That’s a 10x difference.
So why in the world would that be important to you?
Because sometimes as we become successful, we stop thinking about the relative gain we’re making.
Yes, we’re becoming more successful. But the gain of that success makes us feel more like the two percenters than they do about the 20 percenters. Said another way, we feel like we’re growing slower. But in relative terms, the shifts we’re making are still big, they’re still significant.
But the faster we grow, the more difficult it becomes to top our previous successes. Now, the only reason that’s cool for a financial planner like me, working with hair salon owners like you, is that it becomes a mathematical exercise. It’s a mindset exercise, yes, but it’s also a mathematical exercise.
You have to keep in mind that the relative gains for the two percenters is equally as important as some of the bigger gains you had when you were just starting your hair salon. Because as you’ve grown your salon, your relative gains have compounded over time. Other things are going to drive your growth equally, they’re just relative gains that you can’t see.
So, I wanted to use those two things that I saw this week to use as context for this episode, as I get into the five reasons hair salons fail or become less successful.
Episode Highlights
[05:50] Why lack of clarity is holding you and your hair salon back.
[06:52] The importance of identifying and implementing the right growth strategy.
[09:09] Do you have the right people supporting you, and are they in the right roles?
[11:28] Why systems and processes matter when it comes to growing your hair salon.
[13:00] The real reason most startup hair salons fail.
[17:04] Bonus: How to make a greater impact as your hair salon grows.
Looking for more tips for how to grow, scale, and ultimately sell your hair salon business? Check out our other Unchained From the Chair podcast episodes.
