Advice on opening a new salon?

[Ryan]

Hi,
Me and my sister would like to start our hairdressing business... BUT! We have no business experience at all... This is a 1st for both of us.... we both have salon experience and really want this to work.... where the hell do we start... We need a plan and we really dont have a idea... Can any salon owners help us..... Please!

 

[craigkeane]

Business plan... Management courses ..

Craig Keane
www.hculture.co.uk

 

[persianista]

Do you mean that you want to open a salon, or buy a salon, or start up mobile?

 

[Ryan]

Do you mean that you want to open a salon, or buy a salon, or start up mobile?

Sorry lol Open a salon

 

[persianista]

There are two routes. One is to buy an existing salon. This is usually an outlay, but you get cashflow from day one. The other is to take on an empty shop and fit it out. This can be as low as 10-15 thou or as much as you want. The downside is that you also have to fund the building up period when you make a loss.

Have you got an idea in mind of what you want to do, or how much you want to spend?

 

[Ryan]

Thanks For replying

And tbh we havnt really thought about anything it was an idea wich were pretty serious about....

we dont really no where to start or no whats more important... we wouldnt have to spend a great deal on doing the place up as our brother are all capable of plumbing plastering ect so were kinda glad we have them in that line of work... How much would we need to start? and we understand that most salons dont make a profit for a while... were total virgins when it comes to this stuff :/

 

[Changez]

hi,
to be honest your half way there if you have salon experience, you know how they run ect...... my advice to you would be to phone your local council and ask them to put you in touch with any local organisations who at this rather unstable time, would be able to help guide you, in wales we have PBI, or FS4C, they are on the Welsh Assembely Government web sit,
they will give you free advice, free training and put you intouch with other organisations who may be able to offer funding, also if you are going to employ staff, you will be able to access funding, i have just opened a hair and beauty salon myself, and like you have no business experience, all the above helped me,,,,,, also barclay's bank business account , our barclays adviser was fantastic at offering us funding advice, accounts and a really good deal on card machine so give them a call...... remember the government want all of us to work.. so they will offer as much help for free as they can ooohh and barclays also do the sage for accounts and contracts of employment, hope this helps and good luck go for it

 

[Ryan]

Thanks for the great advice.. ill definatly be looking into that! Thank you so much

 

[Changez]

no worries, its very scary when you start, but just think whats the worst that can happen, i really wish you both well, and believe it or not you just might make a huge success of it, we bought all our fixtures and fittings off ebay are set up costs were halved by doing this so dont think to big ok just big enough,

 

[Ryan]

Yeah we was thinking ebay for most things... well at least till we find our feet... if you dont mind me asking.... did you need alot of cash to start with? x

 

[marie.st]

hi ya! i opened a salon with a friend 3 years ago. we found a property to rent, fitted it out and started within a month. we layed out about 12,000 initially to get it up and running but started making it back as soon as we opened.... we both had an existing clientelle.
the advice i want to give you is to be sure of the business set-up from day one. i found myself in a very one sided partnership where she didnt pull her weight and i was left picking up the slack. i have now decided to go mobile because of this.
as far as the business side of things goes, get yourself a good accountant and they will teach you what you need to do to get the numbers down on paper, and from these you will then be able to work out where your money is going and make the adjustments as needed.
hope this has helped and good luck!!

 

[Changez]

hi,
for us we scoured ebay for good finds we had back washes x3 for £275.00 and chairs and styling stations for about the same, so you can work out how much you can aford to spend, and work within your limits, the stuff we found took the most was the sofa's desk, and phone line these were the big money pits and products, so check out all you can before you buy, once we could we up graded the furniture, but the first year will be the hardest, but a good reputation will earn you a good clientel, the customer care policy works :lol: even if they are wrong:irked:

 

[moobar]

oh I hope it works out for you both!! I am currently in the process of opening my own salon (open evening is may 3rd eeekkkk)

I found a really good shop by looking through local commercial agents and driving round the areas I know well. The premises I found needed total renovations but it was all done by my husband and his friends in the trade. So that cut costs a lot. I have also choses premises where I have the option to expand. The premises are currently split into two, and its in my contract that should the premises next door become available I have first dibs.

FOR FURNITURE I was looking on ebay but them some of the wholesalers had sales on new furniture or vat free periods, that really helped me as I managed to get everything brand new - bonus!!

In total I have spent £6k and that is for everything including rent. Really do your homework, ring the council see what they offer etc. Also thing about your business rates as you will get small business rate relief if your rates are under £6k a yr and this is a great help too. Ring business link for advice, they also offer loads of free courses with accounting etc. I have a good book keeper that only cost £100 a yr and he does everything which is great as I HATE IT!! lol

If I can be of any more help pm me and I'll do my best