This is a big read but will give you some great planning for the year ahead ❤️

I just love a new year. And a new diary, a clean page to start over, to re-focus, debrief and plan ahead for a successful profitable year ahead.
It’s really important if you want to start thinking about what the end of your year is going to look like financially,then planning has to start at the beginning of the year.
It’s too often that I am constantly hearing salon owners stressed and concerned about their financial state towards the end of the year and this planning and concern needs to happen at the beginning of the year.

Being organised, and being prepared for anything in salon life is vital for any business owner. Because let’s face it we all know in salon business anything can happen and we have to be prepared for everything.
As a gentle reminder I want you to be mindful about why you’re in business. We don’t go into business to buy a self a job because that is crazy. We go into business because we want to become better, successful, make more money, provide a better lifestyle for our family.
A great question to always ask yourself when you mapping out plans or making important decisions in your business
is

1. will this make me money
2. will this make me happy.

Running a Business in 2020 is extremely difficult. And if you’re leading people then that’s even more difficult plus throwing looking after a family and now you almost have a recipe for disaster. This is why having structure, clear goals and A positive mindset is the only way you are going to survive. But I don’t want you to survive, I want you to thrive. Because running a Business is difficult but there are easier ways to to be more successful, to make more profit and to lead a team to deliver the most amazing customer service experience ever to every single client every single time.

Here are here are a few simple easy steps to follow to help you have a successful year ahead.

1. debrief on the previous year
This means making a list of all the things that you did for your business that was successful. These are the things you want to keep doing in the year ahead. Golden rule 101 to salon business is to never fix what is not broken. So what do you do well keep doing more of that this coming year. Also be mindful and write down on paper things that you did as the business owner that you wish you had done differently. What are things that didn’t go as planned, and what are things that you don’t want to happen again in 2020. This is really important to helping you move forward and we never want to go ahead in the New Year bringing baggage and negativity from our previous year.

2)your freedom metric
You’re free to metric is the amount of money that you need and want to live the lifestyle you deserve. What is the right amount of money you want to achieve every single month. This amount is the right amount to give you the financial freedom to be able to pay all your bills and do the things that you want to do whether that means a vacation for your family twice a year whether it means buying a investment property or whether it means just having enough money in the bank to buy a new hot water system. This amount is going to be different for every single one of us but you need to find the right amount of money which is your freedom metric because this is what I want you to focus on. If you can’t see this figure in your mind then how are you achieve the financial freedom you long for.
Write this figure down

3. Re-invent everything
A new year, gives us an opportunity to redo and rewrite everything. This is a great time to revisit your policies and procedures look at what is working and what is not working. Update everything and importantly set aside dates throughout the year we will sit down with your team going over everything from your core values, the reason why your salon exists, and importantly the reason why clients should come and spend money in your salon. Clear policies and procedures give everybody the same guidelines and expectations. But these need to be re-visited often updated and re-trained. This is also a great time to revisit all your salon documents from staff appraisals to new client letters, to marketing letters. This will take some time you need to set aside some time to go through and update all these important things. Keep in mind that there is no point in creating plans systems and documents if you don’t sit aside time to train them to your people. Having regular team meetings consistently where we come together as a team to focus on our strengths, the things that we do really well, and that our weaknesses, the things we need to do better.

4. your breakeven dollars
Now this is the amount of moneyDo you need every week to open the doors. Your wages your stock your telephone your tea and coffee super GST payroll everything...how much does it cost to open the doors every single week. Now if you’ve done this awhile ago then it’s time to revisit it. Everybody in the team needs to know this amount of money. This is the goal every single week. When you work in a hair salon your job is to make every single guest look and feel amazing and you have to be profitable after all nobody wants to work for the salon who is about to go broke we all want to work for the profitable salon. Then breaking this weekly dollar amounts into daily dollar amounts now gives us clarity of what the goals every day.

5. shop around for everything.....What this means is make sure you are getting the best value for your dollars spent. If you’ve been with the same product company for a long time perhaps it’s time to shop around. Just like it’s tough for us salon owners right now it is also tough for the product companies. And this could possibly be the very best time to get yourself the best deals possible. But saving money isn’t the only thing to look for in a product company. Do you want support? Do you want training? Do you want somebody to sit with you and go over your sales? Many different companies will offer different tools. And many will actually offer you business support also. It’s not always about shopping around for the best price. It’s about the added value. And I would like to add here how important it is to do business with people who you actually like. What are the things that are important to you find a Company who shares the same values and beliefs that you do. This is also a great time to shop around for your business insurances, bank it doesn’t matter what you spend money on just be sure to get the most value for your dollar.

6. set important dates aside....for the next 12 months in your diary now write these up in the back room and be sure to let every team member know what important dates are coming up. Set aside your regular team meetings, your staff appraisals, your trainings now this also is not just technical training be sure to set aside time to teach and coach every single team member how you want your clients to feel. Do you want your staff to introduce themselves immediately when the client walked through the door, when would you like them to talk about products, when would you like them to rebook their clients, this non-technical training is vital and it’s super important that you set aside regular scheduled timings to deliver this throughout the entire year. Many salon owners will hold their own mini retreat for the team this usually happens mid year and it’s a great opportunity to take your team away for a cost-effective weekend where you can spend quality time together mapping out their goals and offering them some personal development and professional development you could even bring in a yoga instructor for some added fun these retreats are super bonding and really empower the team be the best they can be.

 7.Marketing calendar
Imagine having 12 months of ready to go marketing to execute at the time that you need. Now remember marketing in your business is like a volume button you need to know when to turn it up and you need to know when to turn it down. In busy times marketing may not be important to you but marketing become super important in quiet times and and in particularly when hiring a brand-new team member who needs a clientele. This is when you would turn the volume up. Being organised and systemised with your marketing is vital it is not just about social media it is not just about regular posting and updating. It’s about marketing to your existing clients who already love you these are the easiest clients to market to because they already trust you. You need to market to new prospective clients And have a promotion ready for most of the events throughout the year like school formals Valentine’s Day Easter and Christmas for example. And be sure to offer every single new client into your business I lovely welcome kit this can be a bag or a box that has some complimentary goodies for the new client and importantly a welcome letter with an attached call to action offer. As the business owner it is your job to be the marketer of your own business and paying close attention and detail to your marketing and having clear goals and plans of what your expectations are is important this will also enable you to achieve your financial freedom metric. How many new clients do you need to achieve this? How much money do you want your existing clients to be spending on their visits? All these KPIs are super important to test measure and monitor please remember to just monitor no more than 5 KPIs at once.

8 Hold yourself accountable for everything and be an inspirational leader
There is no such thing as a bad team just poor leadership. This is sometimes the hardest pill for a salon owners to swallow. We are responsible and we are accountable for everything that’s happening within our salon. If your team aren’t performing it’s because you need to work harder to teach your team exactly what you want them to do. If you are achieving the dollars you so desperately deserve that it’s time to do different things. There is no easy ladder to salon success. It’s hard work. This is also a great time of the year to work on your strengths.what are the things about yourself as the leader that you do really really well and what are things about yourself,as the leader ,that you wish you had the ability to do differently. It’s about making no excuses and taking action so that you can lead your team in the right direction with clear common goals.

9 Check on your team and make sure everybody is rowing in the right direction. The most important trait every single person in your team needs to possess is to believe in you their boss, their leader, their mentor and their trainer. Too often in our industry we get told when our people aren’t doing what it is we want them to do to simply get rid of them. This is why we have such high turnover of staff. Rather than have the mindset to get rid of the people who don’t do the things you want them to do why don’t you take the time and the resources to coach them to be the best they can be. We employ humans not robots so they will make mistakes they will run late they will take sick days when they’re not sick and sometimes they will last themselves do I really want to be here today. Nobody is perfect. Choose your battles. One thing that should always be unconditional is your exceptional customer service experience. This is vital that you maintain your salon standards this is a battle you do want to fight. But staff not wearing the right shoes occasionally, in hindsight is really not a big deal. Our job as a leader is to coach our people up and this time can often be exhausting but when you put the time and the effort in the results are outstanding. The only time I would ever suggest to coach somebody out of your salon is if they don’t believe in you the leader because no amount of coaching or training will change this. Therefore communication as a leader is vital it’s really important to be able to speak and be heard.

10. look after yourself because nobody else is coming to save you. Being a Business Owner is lonely sometimes it feels like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders and sometimes you actually do. Therefore taking care of you is probably one of the most important things you can do for yourself and for the well-being of those around you. I always suggest a minimum of two hours every single week doing something that sparks your joy, something that sets your heart on fire, something that gives you pure happiness. No doubt we have all heard the announcements while sitting on an aircraft on an aeroplane before takeoff and we hear the words in the event of an unexpected emergency put your own oxygen mask on before helping those around you. These words resonate so well for me you are no good to anybody else unless you’re good and kind to yourself first.

Running a Business in 2020 is difficult but when you put plans in place and you’re vigilant about what might happen and you are prepared for anything and everything then you know it’s going to be a great year ahead. We are in the best industry in the world we have the ability to change the way people look and feel on the inside and on the outside and when you do that really really well, better than all the other salons around you then you can charge whatever you want because the client knows your worth ❤️❤️