As a beauty professional, you have a unique business advantage in that your skills will always be in demand. With the right space, the right equipment and the ability to attract a clientele, you have the ingredients needed for long-term success on your terms, especially if you’re in business for yourself. The challenge is in bringing all those ingredients together, and quite often, the devil is in the details. Let’s explore two of the most common ways stylists set up their businesses for success, along with a third alternative you might not have considered.
Option 1: Work in an Existing Salon
One of the most common methods for building a clientele as a beauty professional is to work in an existing salon. This method is by far the simplest way to get into business because it requires the least amount of overhead and because someone else handles the details of salon operation—and for that reason, it’s a popular choice for beauty professionals who are just getting started. However, the downsides are that you’ll give the owner a significant portion of your earnings (often 50 percent or greater), and you may have less freedom to choose your own hours and of course you typically have to accept the work environment the owner has established.
Option 2: Open Your Own Salon
For beauty professionals who don’t want to share their earnings, and who want greater control of their schedule and work environment, the second common option is to open their own traditional salon. This option can work well for those who have an established clientele and who are particularly entrepreneurial; after all, you now become the owner, and you are in charge. The biggest drawbacks: Opening your own salon involves a large financial investment, entails many business and tax and contractual details and requires hiring and managing personnel. Many beauty professionals would rather primarily service their clientele, rather than being saddled with managing a complex business.
Option 3: Lease a Turnkey Studio
An innovative third option for beauty professionals, one that is experiencing meteoric growth, is to lease a turn-key studio space and open their own independent salon. Sola Salon Studios specializes in creating pre-equipped, private studios for up-and-coming and established beauty professionals. These move-in ready studios are completely furnished with everything required to open and operate and succeed, including booking apps, credit card processing, educational opportunities, and insurance. This approach greatly simplifies the barrier to entry for beauty professionals because they get full support for a fixed weekly fee. They get to choose their product lines, set their hours, decorate the studio in a way that works for them, and keep 100 percent of their profits. As the nation’s largest salon suite provider, Sola Salon Studios stands out particularly for its extensive education opportunities and support systems for stylists who just want to get to work and grow their client base.
Beauty professionals who want to be in business for themselves no longer have to choose between the extremes of handing over a huge percentage to someone else or being an owner/operator of a traditional salon. They can now step into a turn-key salon studio that empowers them to run their business on their own terms. To learn more about Sola Salon Studios and the options they afford to stylists, call Bo at 215.392.0779, or email Bo@Solasalons.com.
Sola Salon Studios is now open in Devon/Wayne. Coming this fall and winter, look for many new Sola locations, most notably Horsham in November. Coming soon thereafter, Phoenixville, Media, Plymouth Meeting and more!
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