Running a business is hard. Running a successful business is exhausting, to say the least. The business behind hair is extremely underrated and most of the time, hairstylists are underappreciated.
It’s not all cuts, colors & styling. Behind the glory of the finished product is:
•Marketing to build the clientele to cut, color & style.
•Branding to make your personal statement in the industry
•The responsibility and commitment to someone else’s appearance
•Consistent changes to adapt to a demanding industry
•And so much more!
Most of which, happens outside of your time behind the chair. Although we all know hairstyling isn’t always something you can put on a time frame, let’s estimate. Lets say average salon hours are 9am-6pm and according to https://www.totaljobs.com/advice/hairdresser-job-description the demand calls for hairstylists to work 6 days a week. Thats 9 hours behind the chair, 8 to sleep (in a dream world), leaving ~7 hours to eat, shower, catch up on your shows, build your business and let life happen. Yet, as unrealistic as it sounds, it’s all too familiar to a lot us. It’s time to draw the line!
What does that mean and how do I do it?
Simply put, everybody has a breaking point. Know yours. Once you figure out how much you can handle, work toward setting yourself up to set your schedule around that. Keep track of the things you ‘wish’ you had time for as a reminder to stay disciplined. In most cases less work means less money except when you control your profit! Your greatest advantage as an entrepreneur is that you get to set your prices to your terms. To charge more your quality of service has to be enhanced and growing but, when you aren’t stuck behind the chair more hours than not you’ll be amazed at how creative you can get!
Whether you rent a booth or own your salon completely, you are an entrepreneur in the hair industry. Take pride in that and in yourself enough to pay yourself what you deserve. You chose this career for your passion but your purpose was ultimately to support your dream lifestyle. In order to make that happen, you have to find your boundaries.
