What Kind of Work is Salon Ownership?

Whether you’re listening to a salon owner, a rep from a hair care brand, or a speaker at an industry trade show, it’s hard to miss one message that gets repeated. Everyone seems to want to raise the bar, increase the respect, or make the “industry” somehow more professional. This is a great idea. But why does it come up, year after year? Why is it still a topic?

Here’s my perspective.

Up through the late 1800’s there were few if any organizations. There were very few large organizations except for governments and the like—and even those were very small by today’s standards. Most people made a subsistence living and those who did better were still doing so mostly related to family farming. If a person practiced a trade requiring manual labor, or if they were a professional such as a doctor or a lawyer, they did their work alone or maybe with an assistant or apprentice. These were not organizations as we know them today. They were just an expert and a helper producing a product or a service.

In the 1900’s larger organizations began to appear and the need to “manage” the business, and more than an assistant or two, became a reality. To address this new need a practice called management emerged. Management, or business management, was developed in the early days by companies such as Sears & Roebuck and universities like Harvard began teaching the tasks, responsibilities, and practices of management. In today’s world the vast majority of people in developed nations now work in some kind of organization rather than alone. Management is well developed as a subject and you can earn a degree in management from any one of thousands and thousands of universities. So, management can be learned.

So, where does owning a salon fit in?

Most salon owners I know have vision, enthusiasm, and perseverance. They do whatever it takes to keep their salons going—including subsidizing them with their earnings from behind their own chairs if need be. They take risks and responsibility. They lead by example. But why are so few, and I mean very few, of them profitable? Why can’t they generate money for their children’s college educations and their own retirement? Why don’t their salons “Run themselves?”

I believe the answer is this. What most salon owners have learned about running their businesses, they taught themselves or learned at the School of Hard Knocks. If you’re working 70 hour weeks it’s tough to study management or go to night school. You have to pick up what you can through observation, practice, or at seminars and trade shows. And, some of the knowledge that’s offered is not what it should be.

Salon owners need advisors who can help them learn the best practices of management. Until they do—and until their stylists learn their proper roles—I assert the industry will continue to yearn to be more professional and more respected. Salon owners don’t need inspirational quotes for their walls. They don’t need the-flavor-of-the-month “5 Steps to a Better You.” And they certainly don’t need books and programs promising that having faith in the Universe will solve their problems.

If you are interested in learning how to better manage your business, actually reach the next level, and make the industry more professional one salon at a time; please contact me.

Jim

Lucavia

gojimlucas@lucavia.com
www.lucavia.com
(925) 980-7871

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