5 Biggest Lessons from 2023

“Why aren’t my Instagram followers also customers?!”

2024 is quickly approaching, and whilst we look towards all kinds of new adventures and challenges, it’s important to reflect on 2023. 

Reflecting not only helps us celebrate our wins, but we also take in all of our learnings from the year and apply them to the next. 

For the last blog of the year, I thought it was only fitting we reflect on some of the conversations we’ve had this year on the Salon Owners Collective Podcast. We’ve done nearly 50 episodes. In 2023 - welcomed over 20 new guests onto the podcast and we’ve delved into some great topics.  

Amongst all of the amazing conversations, there are 5 lessons that we learnt that really stand out from the rest… conversations that you guys really engaged with. 

These are the 5 biggest lessons of 2023…

 

Leading the Next Generation

Your team wants to move up the ladder… but they leave before they finish their apprenticeship!

Does this make them the enemy? Constantly on the defensive waiting for shite to hit the fan!

Many Salon Owners fall victim to this mentality from time to time, believing it’s all the team’s fault. Because it’s easier to blame THEM when actually it’s OUR responsibility as Salon CEO to lead them toward success. 

I know that’s not always easy when you have Gen Z in your team… 

“Gen Z just don’t want to work!”

But that’s not entirely true - they just want to work differently. The world is changing, so we have to change with it. 

 

• Improve your communication with your team and keep it consistent
• Adapt to the Gen Z way of working because if we don’t, we’ll get left behind
• Have confidence in yourself to become a Salon CEO and leader for the next generation!  

 

Know the signs an employee is about to leave…

Everything is going great, you feel like you’ve got things under control and then… an employee leaves! 

It can feel like the biggest blindside, a betrayal sometimes because you’re left scrambling trying to figure out why they’re leaving and how the heck you’re going to replace them. 

We really shouldn’t be shocked anymore when it happens because it’s estimated that Gen Z will have up to 18 different jobs in their lifetime.

Salon Owners always tell me the hardest part about losing a team member is that they didn’t see it coming… but they should’ve picked up on the 5 signs it was about to happen:

 

• Increased sickness or spending more time away from work
• They start to have an attitude that they don’t care anymore about the Salon or clients
• They’re no longer achieving or hitting their targets
• They have the ‘face’ where they’re disengaged
• No longer communicating about their future at YOUR Salon

 

Learn these warning signs and you’ll have no more surprise exits in 2024!

 

Systems and processes will save your sanity!

When going through the lessons we learned in 2023, we talked a lot about systems and processes!

Incorporating the right systems and processes gives you the freedom that you saw on the horizon when you decided to open your own business. 

Right now, you may feel like you can’t step away, if you took even an hour off, everything may fall apart - but it doesn’t have to be like that. 

And I know, as creatives we’re not necessarily the best at structure but we NEED structure to be able to do the fun stuff too!

Incorporating systems and processes to help you understand the numbers and know what to do when things go wrong will save you sanity… trust me.   

 

Turning Instagram followers into lifelong clients

A big part of social media is the number of followers you have, but what good is having a lot of followers if they’ve never actually stepped foot into your Salon? 

You need to turn your followers into lifelong clients!

In today’s online-dominated world, 95% of people who visit your website are new clients. 

You need to start dating your followers… it’s not as weird as it sounds.

 

• Give them a teaser of what it’s like in your Salon, the team, the culture… everything
• Show off your unique brand story 
• Create content that will attract your dream client

 

So sell yourself - give your potential clients some insight into you and your team - humans connect with humans.

 

Pay yourself… what you deserve!

It’s time to pay yourself what you deserve. 

No more scrapping through, you’re working hard as a Salon CEO and it’s about time you started to pay yourself like one too… 

This year we ran a whole incredible bootcamp on it. 

Salon Owners tell me all the time that they're not paying themselves and their salon is not profitable. But if you want profit you have to force it. 

Don’t sit around and wait for it to show up in your pocket because you won’t see it there.  You need to learn the numbers to become profitable and pay yourself!

 

And that’s a wrap - 5 big lessons to reflect on to round off an incredible year. It’s been a great year for us at Salon Owners Collective. 

Just a quick recap:

 

• Leading the new generation of stylists and beauticians 
• 5 warning signs your employee is about to quit
• Importance of systems and process
• Turning followers into clients 
• Learning how to work for  profit AND pay yourself 

 

Bring on new challenges, ideas and perspectives for 2024!

 

Salon ownership can feel lonely, especially after the past three years. But you don’t need to push the boulder alone. I created The Salon Mastery Programme for Salon Owners, like you, can connect and share how they’re growing their business to achieve all of their freedom and profit dreams! 

If you want to join this community, please reach out, I’d love to chat. Let's find out if Salon Mastery is a good fit for you.