Where to advertise my chairs/spaces to rent?

[FreyaHoward]

Hi everyone!

I’m a healthcare professional who’s has recently set up my own business doing medical aesthetics (Botox, fillers, skin care etc). I’ve got the opportunity to take on a lease of an established hair and beauty salon near me. Due to covid, the salon has remained empty and unleased for the past few months. It has a nail bar, beauty rooms x2 and 5 hairdressing chairs.

Now, the issue for me is finding self employed hairdressers and beauty therapists who want to rent a chair or room from me on a daily or weekly basis. As the salon has been closed, I don’t have contact details for the previous people who rented spaces here. While I’ve looked at the published accounts of the previous business and they did very well, it’s important to note we are in a rural location so I doubt I will be over run by people keen to take on the space.

Running a salon would be a complete career change for me and I would absolutely love to take the opportunity as it would benefit my own aesthetics business, but I want to go into this with my eyes open and not end up taking the lease and having no hairdressers or beauty therapists to work with! I’d be really grateful for any advice on how to attract these people to work with me and where to advertise etc.

thank you!

 

[Ruby S]

Hi! Good luck on your new venture. I know this wasn’t necessarily your original question but I wanted to offer advice on something that I think would’ve helped me ALOT when I opened my first salon.... I found a space with space for 3 hairdressers and a nail technician to work alongside my beauty room. It was an expensive space but I knew with 2 or 3 hairdressers in there, at least one working full time that I would definitely afford the rent! I spent a couple of months and nearly £10,000 renovating the place buying everything the renters would need to work in a high end, comfortable salon. I advertised for months on gumtree, Facebook, job centre, word of mouth (like yourself, I didn’t know where to advertise for professional, experienced staff) but had no interest. Eventually my friend who was just ending maternity leave said that she would do a day or two a week for me... I was so grateful that I didn’t get a contract drawn up or anything, it was just good to have someone in the chair. However, with no contract I had no control of things when they started to go wrong. She would decide she wasn’t working one day (which is fine being self employed) but she also decided that she didn’t have to pay. She also never helped with tidying or cleaning up after herself! I walked into her side of the room after a busy Saturday (she had already left) and I actually cried because my beautiful salon had been abandoned like it had been robbed! She hadn’t even swept up?! There were colour stains on the basin etc. Simple things that I thought were obvious to professionals, but I know now that they aren’t! She went on maternity leave again and another stylist answered my gumtree advert, but refused to commit to paying a set fee as he knew he’d have to pay when he wasn’t there. Again, I just needed a stylist so agreed to a percentage but by then he knew he called the shots! There were times when his clients had turned up before him or he came in so hungover that I could smell him. It was awful! Before I decided to move he was committing to one day a month!! That’s all the area was being used! I am older and wiser now and would definitely do things so differently if I ever took on renters again... I decided to move to a lovely much smaller place with room for just myself a couple of years ago and the weight lifted was immense!! So my advice to you is wherever you look for renters or staff, make sure they care as much as you do, they are excellent at their jobs and get official contracts drawn up that you are both happy with! My mistake was getting desperate and just letting my guard down. This is your baby and you’re in charge!!! Good luck

 

[FreyaHoward]

Hi! Good luck on your new venture. I know this wasn’t necessarily your original question but I wanted to offer advice on something that I think would’ve helped me ALOT when I opened my first salon.... I found a space with space for 3 hairdressers and a nail technician to work alongside my beauty room. It was an expensive space but I knew with 2 or 3 hairdressers in there, at least one working full time that I would definitely afford the rent! I spent a couple of months and nearly £10,000 renovating the place buying everything the renters would need to work in a high end, comfortable salon. I advertised for months on gumtree, Facebook, job centre, word of mouth (like yourself, I didn’t know where to advertise for professional, experienced staff) but had no interest. Eventually my friend who was just ending maternity leave said that she would do a day or two a week for me... I was so grateful that I didn’t get a contract drawn up or anything, it was just good to have someone in the chair. However, with no contract I had no control of things when they started to go wrong. She would decide she wasn’t working one day (which is fine being self employed) but she also decided that she didn’t have to pay. She also never helped with tidying or cleaning up after herself! I walked into her side of the room after a busy Saturday (she had already left) and I actually cried because my beautiful salon had been abandoned like it had been robbed! She hadn’t even swept up?! There were colour stains on the basin etc. Simple things that I thought were obvious to professionals, but I know now that they aren’t! She went on maternity leave again and another stylist answered my gumtree advert, but refused to commit to paying a set fee as he knew he’d have to pay when he wasn’t there. Again, I just needed a stylist so agreed to a percentage but by then he knew he called the shots! There were times when his clients had turned up before him or he came in so hungover that I could smell him. It was awful! Before I decided to move he was committing to one day a month!! That’s all the area was being used! I am older and wiser now and would definitely do things so differently if I ever took on renters again... I decided to move to a lovely much smaller place with room for just myself a couple of years ago and the weight lifted was immense!! So my advice to you is wherever you look for renters or staff, make sure they care as much as you do, they are excellent at their jobs and get official contracts drawn up that you are both happy with! My mistake was getting desperate and just letting my guard down. This is your baby and you’re in charge!!! Good luck

Thanks so much for your reply! Good advice, and definitely something to think about. I would only be there on certain days as I also work in the NHS, so would need the renters to be self managing and, as you say, take pride in the salon and their customer service. I’ve had a look at a few draft contracts so will make sure things like that are covered!

 

[Sequins4]

Were also looking for rent a chair stylists, it's so hard to know where to.look, we have had one response from.our gumtree ad, nothing from.facebook yet though.....it's a bit disheartening!
We have signed up to nhbf and they do proper contracts for chair renters... That might be something to look at?
Good luck, if you know anyone.in the south Wales area looking for rent a.chair send them my way!

 

[Sara K]

Hi Freya, I've used hair2beautyjobsource and found employees through them.

They also have rent a chair and beauty room categories to put your job advert in. I hope this helps!

 

[TheOracle]

I feel this may be an opportune moment for many people to become renters- my beauty therapist is giving up her salon as it just doesn't pay enough to make up for the stress of having to have other people in on reception, or using excess product etc.

Have you tried telling any local wholesalers that you'll have space available? Or if you have a college near you that does refresher courses for return to workers, or even college staff?
Have a wander round your local area to check if any salons have closed, and put a note through the door, call a number, message them on SM.

I would so agree with Ruby S though- if you want this to be a reflection of you and your values, pick your renters carefully.
And, if there aren't enough quality people around, then consider this isnt the opportunity for you.
Very best of luck.

 

[Beautypea]

Could you not post on here? Mentioning your area and what your looking for, other than that the other suggestions seem great. You’re not based in Derby are you? I’m looking for a room to rent.

 

[Usha]

Hi everyone we are based in hendon on prim location as beauty salon we are looking for someone to rent chair for hair styles as we have established bissness for 15 year looking for someone experienced please contact if any one interested 07481477720

 

[TheDuchess]

Hi Freya

I’m afraid I haven’t got anything helpful to add other than to recommend that you think very carefully before committing yourself.

I too started in a space I intended to share with fellow self-employed professionals and I couldn’t find anyone that I cared to share with. The people approaching me were so inexperienced I had to manage them and they were only self employed because they couldn’t find anyone to employ them and so they had decided to set up self employed to gain experience!

I too had to accept percentage contracts and there is always the risk that you are inadvertently creating an employee employer relationship when you go down this route becoming liable for holiday pay and potentially much more (maternity pay, pension contributions, redundancy pay). I had one excellent, part time therapist and I worked very hard to fill her column. She ended up resenting paying me my percentage (she’d offered, I’d asked for a fixed daily rental fee). She was making £1000 a week over 2 days (in 2013) but begrudged paying me £200 “commission”. So eventually she left and actually disrespected me enough to lurk outside my door and greet my clients and carry them off to her new place! That was the best renter that I had (oh and she didn’t pay me my commission and left owing me over £2k) Another girl was embarrassingly useless and I ended up mentoring her into a part-time job elsewhere, and a third was unreliable with endless drama and absences without notice. She left without notice because she’d had a better offer.

In general hairdressers want to join an established, busy salon, and they need firm management. They are creatives - there are always a few that expect a cleaning fairy to prep and clean for them.

In the end I recruited a therapist/manager to run my salon/reception because when I started my salon I was working a part-time contract elsewhere. She was my worst disaster. She felt that she should also be setting up on her own account and I had complaints from my clients that she was bending their ear with juice plus weight management plans. When I fired her she had sent 900 tweets (in 90 days!) about her side hustle during working hours and not a single one about my business.

So I went down the working full time and employing staff route. Eventually I went self-employed no staff at all.

There are lots of busy successful salons run by amazing owners and I take my hat off to them. I couldn’t do what they do.