Working for yourself help

[babygeek]

Hi there,

Was just wondering if any mobile hairdressers could offer some advice.

Ive been working in a salon for years but now feeling i'd like to go mobile as im only wanting to work a few days to fit around my family.

How can i go about doing this with regards to letting clients know thats what im doing without being seen to be 'poaching'?

Also can anyone offer any advice as to the basic info as to how to go about setting up on my own. I know i would need insurance and contact the tax office etc.
Any help would be really appreciated!

Thanku

 

[SJK]

You don't say whether you are employed or self-employed.

If you are employed, you need to check your contract. It's probably detailed fully that you can't poach clients, can't contact them to offer your services and can't work in the same area for a period of time. Any clients belong to the salon and not to you. I can't stress this enough. I don't know any salon owner who wouldn't take action against a former employee poaching clients.

 

[babygeek]

I realise iam unable to contact them myself by phoning etc. So if set up a facebook page can i not add friends of mine that were former clients to the group?
How would that work?
Most of my clients are friends that i see socially so what happens then?

Can my OH not mention it on his page that im going mobile just to spread the word?
What is the best way to spread the word

Thanku

 

[babygeek]

My contract which was given to me but i never signed and was never asked for says im not allowed to work within a 4 mile raduis of the salon for 6 months and not intice clients for 6 months

 

[alexandra.]

Yeah like sjk said it all depends on wether your self employed or not. They are simply not your clients if you are employed so adding them on a facebook page is poaching they are the salons clients regardless of wether they are your friends or not. If you rent a chair your free to take them with you wherever you go discussing with your boss will be your best bet...you dont want to end up in court after all! x

Sent from my GT-I9000 using SalonGeek

 

[babygeek]

Well what i will do is set up a business fb account so its there for all to see then its their own decision. Surely this is allowed the same as me putting an ad in the paper?

 

[SJK]

I know you say that you didn't sign the contract but I was once told that if you accept two months' wages then that is acceptance of the contract.

Without knowing the details of your contract, I can't give you advice but I would urge you to err on the side of caution. The last thing you want when starting up a new business is trouble with a previous employer. After all, you might be an employer one day and be in the reverse position.

 

[babygeek]

Yes i understand what ur saying. But am i not able to ever set up my own business then? Im just wanting to do every thing to the book

Anyone correct me if im wrong may i without gettng into any legal sutuations
-Advertise my business in the local paper
-Set up a face book business page
-Put postcards up in local shops that arent in a 4 mile radius off the salon

Surely im allowed to promote my business and surely they cannot stop me from doing so aslong as im not inticing clients away from the salon and working in a 4 mile radius?

Who would be best to contact about this?

thanku x

 

[SJK]

Each of these specific items should be covered in your contract. If it's not, then just play fair. Standard contracts I have known specify not working in a salon within a 5 mile radius with 6 months of leaving the salon and not advertising in a local newspaper for 1 year after leaving.

 

[Lou x]

Right I am probably going to get hounded for is but...
Will they really know your working mobile??
I don't agree with poaching clients, I'd start up fresh, make a facebook add your friends and family, their friends and family, eventually your clientelle will grow.

But there is no way it's possible to leave a salon and not be aloud to work mobile for 6 months!!!
We're in a recession. What if you left your job and couldn't find another?
As a tax payer I'd rather you worked mobile than signed on for 6 months!!!

 

[Essential Bliss]

I'm with Lou...i think you'd fine to go work mobile, but I don't agree with trying to poach clients from the salon! If they see an ad in the paper then fair enough but I don't think It's worth the hassle of you purposely finding and adding them to your facebook group, how do you no that a client might am added to the group and turn round to your former employer and say what your doing? Is it worth getting sued over? I don't think so. Yeah you said you never signed a contract but I've also heard bout the accepting 2 months pay means you have accepted it.
Go for being mobile, just build up your own clientele, dont try to steal someone else's.

Good luck

Kayleigh xx

Essential Bliss Beauty Therapy

 

[taggyboy]

Hi there,

Was just wondering if any mobile hairdressers could offer some advice.

Ive been working in a salon for years but now feeling i'd like to go mobile as im only wanting to work a few days to fit around my family.

How can i go about doing this with regards to letting clients know thats what im doing without being seen to be 'poaching'?

Also can anyone offer any advice as to the basic info as to how to go about setting up on my own. I know i would need insurance and contact the tax office etc.
Any help would be really appreciated!

Thanku

Wouldn't the simplest solution be to discuss with your current employer to see if you could change your hours. This way you still have income coming in that is guaranteed. It's tough out there at the moment, whether you own a business or mobile.

If your adamant you want to be self-employed and there is no reason not to be, you have to think logically what impact this could potentially have for your boss.

There is nothing to say you cannot advertise your business in the local paper but you can't blatantly put something along the lines "Im so and so and worked at so and so salon, I'm now mobile contact me".

Setting up a face book business page is also acceptable but I wouldn't think it acceptable to announce where you originally worked. People will find you if they want to.

I think you also need to look at it from your boss (or ex-boss) point of view. They have kept you employed (for you say a few years), when things probably have been tight for them. You sound as though you've had a good working relationship and one day you may want your own salon. You WILL want to keep the clients you have built up and not your staff (ex staff) walking off with them.

Nothing stopping you, you just need to start from scratch like we all do

Good luck

 

[babygeek]

Ok thanks for all ur help! Can i just point out that im not wanting to' poach' clients thats why iam asking for help to go about it the right way! Ob i need to start from scratch but it seems all is against me, ob i need to advertise but i dont want to be deemed to be 'poaching'
Thats why i was wondering if in a few months it would be ok to put up a FB business page? that way im not inviting ppl im just putting myself out there to the public!

Also ive been off on maternity leave so this is why the thought has entered my head. Im only wanting 2-3 days worth of work and i feel this will b more flexible as i can work eves.

Any thoughts?
x

 

[babygeek]

Also it does not state in my contract anything about advertising should u go off just that u can work within a 4 mile radius for 4 months and entice clients for 6 months

 

[SJK]

I would say that means you can't do anything to attract your current customers for 6 months. I know this sounds harsh, but the clients aren't yours, they belong to the salon.

 

[babygeek]

I will just advertise in the paper and in local shops etc. If i c an ex client of mine how do i go about that? As they will prob ask me etc.

thanks

 

[Lou x]

All sounds good to me!
If you see a client and they ask you about it...
That's a tough one and I don't really know what to say!

If it were me I probably would say I'm now starting my own mobile business....
I don't really think it's poaching if you haven't gone out of your way to find/contact them.

I'm not a hairdresser but if my hairdresser left and went mobile I'd go out of my way to find her because I trust HER with my hair!
x

 

[AcidPerm]

"you say that you didn't sign the contract but I was once told that if you accept two months' wages then that is acceptance of the contract"

As a former legal professional, I'd strongly advise any Salon owner relying on a court to uphold the terms of a contract aimed at restricting former employees from poaching staff, do ensure that their staff actually read and sign a written contract and that copies are retained by the Salon and the employee. Agreement (by all parties) to terms and conditions within a contract is at the heart of basic contract law. If the employee hasn't signed the document, it will be for the employer to convince a court that the employee accepted the specific terms of the agreement. Without a signature, this will be difficult to prove.

The issue of 'accepting wages' is generally used (by the employee) to prove a contract of employment relating to pay, exists between two parties.

 

[babygeek]

Im so confused about it all..........wondering if it really is a good idea now. I spoke to a solicitor and he reckons they could sue me if i even try to advertise????
So basically im stuffed if thats the case. How is someone suppose to ever start up? So basically i have to sit at home for 6 months b4 i can start up? even though ive not been in the salon to poach due to being on MAT leave.

Any thoughts?

x

 

[kimi1101]

Right here is my thoughts.

If you contact clients, if you advertise and the clients hear of you through this, if your pal tells the clients.... Any treatment of your salon clients is against your contract. If a client gets in touch with you, you must say you are in breach of contract if you treat them, but if they'd like to give you their number you could call them
In however long it says in your contract.

Personally, I would say that the radius thing is a by product of not treating clients from your old salon. Ie if you worked 3 miles away and did salon clients, they would be peed off. If you were building up new clients, then they wouldn't be so bothered.

Why, if you didn't agree with terms of contract, didn't you try to negotiate? I'm not being harsh but I bet at the time it didn't seem that important, but now it does. I've been caught out BIG TIME in this respect, pm me if you want details etc.

Yes it may seem like everything is against you being self employed, but remember your employer was probably just like you one day, and has worked hard to build a business. You treating their clients will jeopardise this, and they will wanna protect that.

Good luck.