Opening a beauty salon

[HelloPrettyBeauty]

Hi and sorry if this has been asked a thousand times!

This may all sound as very naive but it's something I'm passionate about and am desperate to pursue.

I've recently set up in a little beauty room at home and am offering beauty treatments such as lashes, hD Brows, gel nails, spray tans etc. Very very slowly I'm building a small client base.

My dream is to own my own salon and the perfect premises has just come to market. It's in a prime location for so many reasons and wondering if anyone has ever been in a similar position and took the leap to start up a salon?

I literally don't know where to start!

My gut tells me to stick with my little beauty room but my heart and goal is really to go for a salon.

Any thoughts?!

 

[Emma Derbidge]

Hi and sorry if this has been asked a thousand times!

This may all sound as very naive but it's something I'm passionate about and am desperate to pursue.

I've recently set up in a little beauty room at home and am offering beauty treatments such as lashes, hD Brows, gel nails, spray tans etc. Very very slowly I'm building a small client base.

My dream is to own my own salon and the perfect premises has just come to market. It's in a prime location for so many reasons and wondering if anyone has ever been in a similar position and took the leap to start up a salon?

I literally don't know where to start!

My gut tells me to stick with my little beauty room but my heart and goal is really to go for a salon.

Any thoughts?!

Hi,
I was in the same predicament as you but have decided to take the plunge and rent a place of my own eek! I figured I would rather look back and know I'd tried rather than having regrets. I wish you all the best and am sure you'll do very well x

 

[HelloPrettyBeauty]

That's fantastic! Well done you!

Where did you even start though?! I recall about a year ago I was feeling the same way and enquired about a property with a letting agent and they didn't even call me back as I didn't have a client base and therefore they wouldn't take me seriously. The premises I have seen is with the same agent so have reservations about their response again!
I'm just not sure about the funding etc. I could get a loan up to £25k but just don't know if that's going to be enough to cover a start up. I'll call my bank today to see if I can an appointment with a business advisor and go from there.
Good luck with your new venture! Would love to hear how you're getting along! X

 

[x167346]

I've done pretty much the same, I didn't take out any loans though as I didn't want any debt incase it all didn't work out. All the money I would make I put right back into the business and training. I only work mon to Fri 6pm to 10pm doing HD brows nails lashes and recently microblading

 

[HelloPrettyBeauty]

How did you manage to cover the rent and business rates when you started up? I don't particularly want to take out a loan and get into debt but I don't see how I could cover it all otherwise

 

[licclelollyx]

Would love to see people replies currently in same boat x

 

[BannerPenguin]

In my opinion please don't take a loan out or any other debt.

It's not just the start-up costs, it's the ongoing costs and marketing that will also eat any money you have. Remember, the industry is extremely saturated and beauty is a luxury. Also, people are currently going somewhere so you could open the most amazing salon in the world but if you don't have a USP to get clients through the door then you'll become stuck. Location means very little really. People tend to be loyal to their current salons/therapists.

Shop overheads are huge, not to mention if you need staff down the line this is another difficulty. I'm sure some of the geeks with shops on here will tell you. There are fellow geeks on here that went from home to salon back to home as they were so much better off financially at home or in their garden.

As you're a new startup, it normally takes a year just to break even so really you need the money in the bank to cover a year of overheads in an ideal scenario.

I'm a strong believer in everything happens for a reason. If it doesn't look like it's meant to be, then carry on with what you're doing. I promise I'm not trying to be negative but just realistic

If you have savings you're happy to risk, then that's your call if you want to give it a go but the last thing you want is to take a £25k loan and then have to close in 3-6 months as you can't keep up with the overheads and you didn't really gain any custom then have to keep making repayments.

 

[user 111574]

In my opinion please don't take a loan out or any other debt.

It's not just the start-up costs, it's the ongoing costs and marketing that will also eat any money you have. Remember, the industry is extremely saturated and beauty is a luxury. Also, people are currently going somewhere so you could open the most amazing salon in the world but if you don't have a USP to get clients through the door then you'll become stuck. Location means very little really. People tend to be loyal to their current salons/therapists.

Shop overheads are huge, not to mention if you need staff down the line this is another difficulty. I'm sure some of the geeks with shops on here will tell you. There are fellow geeks on here that went from home to salon back to home as they were so much better off financially at home or in their garden.

As you're a new startup, it normally takes a year just to break even so really you need the money in the bank to cover a year of overheads in an ideal scenario.

I'm a strong believer in everything happens for a reason. If it doesn't look like it's meant to be, then carry on with what you're doing. I promise I'm not trying to be negative but just realistic

If you have savings you're happy to risk, then that's your call if you want to give it a go but the last thing you want is to take a £25k loan and then have to close in 3-6 months as you can't keep up with the overheads and you didn't really gain any custom then have to keep making repayments.

Banner Penguin is spot on here!