For years hairstylist, barbers, and other beauty professionals have had two options; work for someone else or start their own salon. Both concepts offer opportunity however they both have major limitations. For the individual who works for “the man“ or “the woman” the limitations are many. Typically this individual is a commission based employee who shares not only a portion of their income from their expertise, but also a portion of the profits on the products they sell. The owner of the traditional salon has influence over their income, the hours they work, the rules they must follow, and a host of other limitations that limit their lifestyle, family life, and their future.
Traditionally for the individual who wanted more independence and wanted to own their own salon they had somewhat more freedom in that they had the opportunity to work for themselves, to be their own boss. However with this option brought many other risks and headaches. First there was the question of location and typically the better locations cost more money. Then the question of should I rent or should I purchase. Many times this question is answered by the financial ability of the hairstylist or barber and typically the answer to that question is to rent due to the excessive cost of buying a building. Whether you rent or buy a location then there’s the added expense of the build-out and the need to meet the cosmetology board requirements as well as the necessary equipment to operate your salon. If you decide to open your own salon you have to maintain the building and pay all of the monthly associated costs such as rent or mortgage, taxes, electricity, water, repairs, etc. etc. etc. Too often the risks outweigh the rewards.
Welcome the salon studio concept. To many this concept may seem new, however it has been alive for years and is now rapidly expanding across the US and Canada. Beginning in the mid 1990’s as a new concept and slowly gaining acceptance at first, it started making its way into the hair salon industry. Now nearly 30 years later it is quickly becoming the new standard. There are both franchise salon suites concepts and individual owned concepts. This concept has become so popular it has been featured in Entrepreneur Magazine, Franchise Times, Modern Salon, American Salon, Salon Magazine, and Yahoo Finance.
In 2019 the top four franchise salon concepts currently have over 1000 locations across both the U.S. and Canada and along with approximately another 1000 independent locations provide over 50,000 individual salon operators the opportunity to “do their own thing”.
The reason? Quite simply many people want to be their own boss. They want to control their own schedule and lifestyle and give themselves the independence to work when they want and how they want. With the studio concept all of the major details are taken care off. The fully equipped studios make it easy, so they can own their own salon, choose their own products, set their own hours and keep all of the profits. It simply provides the best of both worlds freedom to be the boss without all the risks, so you can enjoy the income, and choices of being in charge of one’s life.
greg johnson leadership 