Starting Small: 7 Tips For Building Your Home Salon Into A Successful Business

Hairdressers provide a valuable service to the community, and hairdressers can make a respectable living using their craft. When you start out, you might be running your salon out of your home, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t turn it into your primary vocation. Use these six tips for building your home salon into a successful business.

Hone Your Skill

Of course, before you can start a business, you need to develop your skills. You can enhance your abilities by signing up for a beauty school. There, you will learn the most current techniques in the industry and get a certification to prove your training to potential clients.

You may also want to explore some business classes if possible. While you don’t need a whole business degree, a few classes can give you a leg up when it comes to managing the practicalities of your new business venture.

Create Business Plan

When you feel you’re ready to get your salon up and running, you should set up a detailed business plan. While you might have a plan in your head, when you create a business plan on paper, it will help you stay organized and on track. It can also help you flesh out details and patch any holes in your plan before you run into them in reality. Things to include in your business plan include:

• Budget
• Services and prices
• Brand personality
• Industry analysis
• Marketing plan
• Daily functions

Obtain Funding

Starting a home salon will cost less than a traditional salon, but it is still an investment. While you will save money doing the work from home, you still need to pay for the equipment and tools to do the job well and keep clients comfortable. You also need to do marketing to get your business noticed.

Fortunately, you have several different options for funding your salon. Depending on the state of your savings account, you may be able to simply draw from your personal finances. If that doesn’t cover your salon’s beginning expenses, you can also look at getting a loan. You might consider a private small business loan, a federal small business loan, or a loan from friends or family members. Finally, you could look into using crowdfunding to start your salon.

Buy Proper Salon Equipment

Even though your salon is at home, it should still look clean and professional, and you should still have professional-quality tools. When you acquire the funds, you need to set yourself up with the proper salon equipment.

One of the largest investments for your new business will involve setting up stations that include the proper salon chairs, mirrors, and sinks. Of course, you’ll also need state-of-the-art tools to provide results clients can get at a traditional salon. When you’re just starting out, get yourself up properly for basic services. As your business grows, you can purchase more equipment allowing you to expand your services.

Take Pictures

You work in the beauty industry, so you should take advantage of the beautiful work you do by taking plenty of pictures to use as both décor in your home salon and marketing tools. With permission from your subjects, take pictures of your best work and add them to a portfolio for clients to look at. If you’re looking to build up your portfolio quickly, you can offer free cuts, styles, colors, or other services to friends in return for them allowing you to use the pictures for your portfolio. Social media is a great way to show off your skills to potential clients as well as existing clients.

Register Your Business

Make it official by registering your business with the government as an LLC and getting a tax ID number. You will also need to get all proper licenses. Finally, you will also need to set up a business bank account, website, email, phone number, and social media account for your business. Keeping these separate from your personal accounts improves the professionalism of your business and can help prevent future legal and financial issues.

Market Services

Once you are up and running, you need to market your services. You have a lot of options, but most experts suggest looking into digital marketing, which includes social media, SEO, and email marketing. You can take care of some of this, but it may also be a good idea to consult with a digital marketing company. Having someone else focus on your marketing allows you to focus on the salon itself.

You can build your home salon into something bigger than you ever expected by trying these six tips. As your salon gets up and running, the quality of your work and your customer service will bring new and repeat customers that can help you as you continue to grow your business more.