Opening a hairdresser business - is it viable?

The wife is looking to open her own hairdresser business. I just wondered if anybody on here had any tips on how to do it, whether its worth it, and if its a worth while business in the current climate?

She has a lot of qualifications in this and has worked as a hairdresser for a few years

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

why not try mobile

Does she actually want to run a business, be her own boss, work for herself, be responsible for generating her own pay packet, etc?

She has a lot of qualifications in this and has worked as a hairdresser for a few years

Thanks

AS Indizine alludes to - thats not the same as running your own business.

Being a subject matter expert doesn't mean your business will succeed.

However, it is a rule of thumb that however bad the economic situation get, people will always have to do two things...

1. Eat

2. Get their hair cut

Maybe this helps?

Thanks sharpend - maybe I could turn it into a restuarant/hairdressers and could have a winner!

Indizine - she would be happy to start with the cutting of the hair but the dream is to 'move upstairs' and just run the business.

ah, now saying its her dream to run the business makes a difference. Having the quals and experience alone is not enough.

She needs to do her market research (donkey work) and find out where the location would be and if there would be a demand in that location. Remember, for a shop - location, location, location. I see so many shops open up in the wrong place and close down within 6 months.

she would be happy to start with the cutting of the hair but the dream is to 'move upstairs' and just run the business.

It's one of the hardest things to do to go from being "one of the girls/lads" to being in charge of them..

Suddenly, you have to tell your mates (who you know maybe struggling financially or whatever) that there is no overtime this week or that they are all on short time or whatever.

Think about how many ex-footballers fail as managers..

How much profit can be made from hairdressing depends on the size and location of your salon.

That probably is obvious, but the larger the salon the greater the risks, although the greater the potential rewards.

On one level a person running a local salon in the middle of a housing estate cannot expect to make much more than £100 to £150 per week profit.

Employee two or three stylists and be on the edge of town and the profits can be up to £750 a week if everything goes well. But that tends to be with the boss being the main stylist.

Run a large city centre salon and profits can exceed £2,000 a week, and the bosses run the business and don't get involved in the salon work.

However to get from the small local salon to a large salon is very difficult and costly.

To setup and furnish a relatively small salon can cost £30,000 to £50,000 and you probably need to do that at the very least once every five years.

To xetup a local salon is a lot cheaper. Say up to £10,000.

Running a hairdressing salon is viable but you do need a lot of initial capital to get the salon up and running.

The wife is looking to open her own hairdresser business. I just wondered if anybody on here had any tips on how to do it, whether its worth it, and if its a worth while business in the current climate?

 

She has a lot of qualifications in this and has worked as a hairdresser for a few years

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

Thanks

i opened my own salon last november. knowing full well it was not going to be easy, even though i already had a massive clientelle, was opening up salon locally and premises was a salon prior to me taking over. plus have 17 years in hairdressing.

im getting there, but belive you me there is a LOT of hard work to be put in.

i.e working 56 hour weeks(then going home to do paperwork.)

staffing is a nightmare. i now have 4 lovely staff but they alone can make or break your business.

when you have a shop you are not just a hairdresser anymore.

you are also a cleaner, manager, receptionist, accountant. need i go on.

i have had to make big sacrifices to make it work. husband has had to come out of work to help with shop as i had no staff at first and was compleatly on my own struggling to manage a full colum plus answer phone. deal with clients walking in, cleaning bowls,washing towels, seeing reps etc.

this was a worry as i suddenly became bread winner in family.

plus when you do find staff trust does not come overnight which i had not considered before.

i am only now just managing to get a day off and that does not happen every week.

if you would like a chat i would be happy to speak to you and share my experiance. i can honestly say that this year has been the hardest year of my life but on the other hand i do not regret it and belive next year will be a little easier.

i opened my own salon last november. knowing full well it was not going to be easy, even though i already had a massive clientelle, was opening up salon locally and premises was a salon prior to me taking over. plus have 17 years in hairdressing.

im getting there, but belive you me there is a LOT of hard work to be put in.

i.e working 56 hour weeks(then going home to do paperwork.)

staffing is a nightmare. i now have 4 lovely staff but they alone can make or break your business.

when you have a shop you are not just a hairdresser anymore.

you are also a cleaner, manager, receptionist, accountant. need i go on.

 

i have had to make big sacrifices to make it work. husband has had to come out of work to help with shop as i had no staff at first and was compleatly on my own struggling to manage a full colum plus answer phone. deal with clients walking in, cleaning bowls,washing towels, seeing reps etc.

 

this was a worry as i suddenly became bread winner in family.

 

plus when you do find staff trust does not come overnight which i had not considered before.

 

i am only now just managing to get a day off and that does not happen every week.

 

if you would like a chat i would be happy to speak to you and share my experiance. i can honestly say that this year has been the hardest year of my life but on the other hand i do not regret it and belive next year will be a little easier.

THIS is a SUPERB post of what it's really like. Should be required reading for all start ups.

Many thanks for sharing..

Foxydon has really got the realities of running your own business off to a tee.

Many people believe that you put your feet up and let your staff do all the work, have long business lunches, play golf several times a week, and collect a large bag full of money at the end of the week.

It isn't like that. But I wouldn't change what I do and go and work for someone else now I've been my own boss.

Running a hair dressing salon in particular can involve very long hours and working 6 days a week.

But I think to make a success of any business and career you have to put the effort in and from time to time make sacrifices. But if you put the effort in you should get the rewards eventually, just don't expect it to be easy.