One of the most interesting conversations I’ve had with a successful salon owner started with a simple question:
“What changed your salon business for the better?”
Her answer surprised me.
Not because it was complicated.
Because it was one word.
Education.
But before she reached that conclusion, she’d spent years struggling.
“I Thought I Knew What I Was Doing”
She described spending years just getting by.
She believed she knew what she needed to know about running a business and assumed she was doing everything she could.
When things weren’t improving, she looked around at other salons that were struggling too.
That seemed to confirm her thinking.
If everyone else was finding business difficult, perhaps that was simply how things were.
Then she noticed something.
A couple of salons in her area were doing very well.
That raised a much more useful question:
“If we’re all operating in the same market, why are they doing so much better?”
That question changed the direction of her business.
The Problem Wasn’t What She Knew
She eventually had the opportunity to talk to one of the successful salon owners.
Naturally, she asked what the secret was.
His answer wasn’t a magic marketing strategy.
It wasn’t a new pricing model.
It wasn’t some revolutionary salon system.
It was education.
That conversation made her realise something important.
She didn’t know what she didn’t know.
And that is a difficult problem to solve because you don’t know what you’re missing.
Stop Assuming Your Current Way Is the Best Way
This is something I see regularly with salon owners.
They’ve been running their salon for years.
They’ve developed ways of doing things.
They’ve built up experience.
They know their clients.
They know their team.
And because they’ve been doing something for a long time, it can be easy to assume they’re doing it the best way.
But experience can work both ways.
It can give you valuable knowledge.
It can also make you very comfortable with the way you’ve always done things.
The fact that you’ve always done something a particular way doesn’t mean it’s the best way to do it.
Sometimes you need someone outside your business to ask a question you’ve stopped asking yourself.
What Changed When She Opened Her Mind?
My client decided to stop assuming she knew everything.
She went looking for new information.
She attended courses.
She learned from other people.
She worked with a business coach.
And most importantly, she became prepared to question the way she’d been doing things.
The results didn’t come from simply attending courses.
The learning gave her new ideas.
She then took those ideas back to her salon, implemented them and measured what happened.
Over time, she said she had better quality clients, a stronger team, more time away from the salon and a healthier bank balance.
Education wasn’t the magic.
What she did with what she learned was the difference.
Three Things Every Salon Owner Can Do
You don’t need to spend your life attending courses.
But I do believe every salon owner should keep learning.
Here are three things I’d suggest.
1. Challenge Your Own Thinking
Ask yourself:
“What if the way I’m doing this isn’t the best way?”
Look at the areas of your business that frustrate you.
Your team.
Your pricing.
Your marketing.
Your client retention.
Your profitability.
Your systems.
Your own time.
Don’t automatically accept that the problem is caused by the economy, your location, your competitors or your team.
Sometimes the answer is closer to home.
That isn’t about blaming yourself.
It’s about recognising that the things you can control are the things you can change.
2. Learn From People Who Understand Salon Businesses
Not all business advice is relevant to a salon.
The economics, staffing, client behaviour, service delivery and day-to-day pressures are different.
That’s why industry-specific education can be particularly useful.
Look for people who understand the reality of running a salon.
Learn from other successful salon owners.
Attend relevant workshops.
Read.
Ask questions.
And if you decide to work with a business coach, choose someone who understands the industry and can help you apply business principles to your actual salon.
3. Measure What You Change
Learning something new is only the beginning.
The real test is whether it improves your business.
If you change your rebooking process, measure rebooking.
If you change your retail strategy, measure retail.
If you change your pricing, look at your average client spend and profitability.
If you change the way your team works, measure the relevant performance indicators.
Don’t just implement new ideas. Test them.
That way you can separate things that sound good from things that actually work for your salon.
You Don’t Have to Know Everything
Here’s the uncomfortable truth about owning a business.
You don’t have to know everything.
In fact, you never will.
The best salon owners I’ve worked with aren’t the ones who believe they have all the answers.
They’re curious.
They ask questions.
They’re prepared to try something different.
And when something doesn’t work, they learn from it rather than stubbornly continuing because they’ve already invested time in it.
That mindset can make a huge difference.
Education Isn’t About Collecting Certificates
There’s a trap here too.
You can attend every workshop, read every book and collect every certificate going.
And still have exactly the same business.
Education only creates value when it changes something.
Learn something.
Decide whether it is relevant.
Put it into practice.
Measure the result.
Keep what works.
Change what doesn’t.
Then move on to the next improvement.
That’s how education becomes business growth.
What Don’t You Know Yet?
If your salon is where you want it to be, that’s great.
But if you’re frustrated by the same problems year after year, perhaps it’s time to ask a different question.
Not:
“Why isn’t this working?”
But:
“What don’t I know that could change this?”
That question opens up possibilities.
Maybe there’s a better way to manage your team.
Maybe your pricing needs attention.
Maybe your client retention is weaker than you realise.
Maybe your systems are creating unnecessary work.
Maybe you’re spending too much time working in the salon and not enough time leading the business.
You won’t know until you start looking.
Stay curious. Keep learning. Challenge what you think you know. Then put the learning into action.
That’s how a salon owner moves from simply running the business to getting better at running the business.
If you know your salon could be performing better but you’re not sure what you’re missing, that’s something we can work through together.
On a complimentary 30-minute Salon Bottleneck Breakthrough Call, we’ll look at what’s happening in your salon, identify the biggest bottleneck and work out what you should focus on first.
No pressure. Just clarity on what to fix first.
