Owning a salon is an exciting prospect that many people are interested in pursuing. Very few people however actually know what it is like to be a salon owner. Most who are interested in owning a salon want to know what the job entails and what kind of responsibilities are involved?
The salon owner is the head decision-maker for everything dealing with the salon and is essentially responsible for the success of that salon. The responsibilities of a salon owner include hiring, marketing, and branding, keeping track of financials, and overall, ensuring the salon makes a profit.
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What does the job description for a salon owner look like?
The owner of a salon is the head decision-maker for that business, deciding nearly everything that goes into a salon themselves.
While you most likely already knew that, you may still be wondering, what exactly does the job description for a salon look like?
Essentially, the job description for a salon owner would look something like this:
A salon owner is responsible for the overall success of the salon, being in charge of marketing, financials, hiring, branding, as well as simply managing the salon as a whole.
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What do you need to own a salon?
The requirements for owning a salon vary mostly depending on what responsibilities an owner will be taking on.
If an owner is simply going to be the manager of a salon, then they simply need a business license to legally operate in their state, but they do not need a formal education of any kind.
On the other hand, however, if an owner is to be actively working in the salon performing cosmetology practices on customers, then they are required to have a cosmetology license.
This is something to consider if you are interested in owning a salon, as if you do not have a cosmetology license but would like to work in the salon, then it’s best if you get one before opening.
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The daily responsibilities of a salon owner
As a salon owner, you are going to have several different responsibilities, some bigger than others, but all are going to be important.
We are going to take a look at the responsibilities that a salon owner fight have on any normal day to give you an idea of what their work-life looks like.
Reviewing appointments for the day
A salon owner could realistically start their day by reviewing the appointments that their salon has prepared for the day.
They are most likely looking to make sure there will be no point where there are too many appointments for the salon to handle.
They also may be looking to see if there are any times with a potential opening to schedule another appointment.
Ensure cleanliness
Like every business, a salon should remain clean throughout the day.
As the owner, you should ensure that your salon is clean and ready to go, especially before you open for the day!
Supervising
As the owner, you are the boss of all the employees in your salon.
As such, you should be supervising your employees throughout the day to ensure that they are meeting all of their responsibilities and are doing their jobs well.
This is especially important when you hire new employees!
Handling complaints
Perhaps the worst part of any owner’s job, handling complaints from customers.
Hopefully, you won’t get many of these, but when they do come, it will be your job to take care of them!
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The monthly responsibilities of an owner
Now that we’ve seen what an owner does daily, let’s skip forward a bit and see what they do from month to month.
The odd thing about monthly responsibilities is that they are not as rigid as those that take part daily, meaning that the monthly responsibilities for an owner are going to vary depending on the individual.
Nevertheless, we are going to take a look at what we would consider some of the most important monthly responsibilities for a salon owner to give you an idea of what you should be doing.
Monthly budget checks
At the end of each month, it’s the owner’s responsibility to check if the salon is keeping its expenses under budget.
If it isn’t doing so, then changes need to be made by the owner to ensure that the salon is under budget in the future to maintain a healthy financial status.
Review customer satisfaction
The end of the month is a great time to check your reviews, particularly online, to see how people are responding to your salon.
These reviews are going to give you a good idea of how the average customer feels about their experience, which can help guide you to make any changes if needed.
Inspect equipment
At the end of the month, it would be a great idea to do a run-through of all of the equipment that you use in the salon regularly.
By doing this, you may find you have some equipment that is not working correctly or is making your employees’ job more difficult.
If you can identify and replace this equipment, you will make your employees feel like you care about them by making their job easier rather than merely making them figure out how to use broken equipment, improving employee satisfaction.
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The yearly responsibilities of a salon owner
Since we have already discussed the daily and monthly responsibilities of an owner, it’s only natural that we next focus on the responsibilities an owner has every 12 months.
Employee performance reviews
The best way to perform these reviews is to do them every six months or twice or a year.
These reviews should give you a chance to discuss the performance of your employees and whether or not they have been exhibiting satisfactory performance.
This should also be a time for employees to rate their enjoyment of working in your salon as well as voice any concerns they may have about you
Whether these concerns are about the salon equipment, a particular customer, or something you may have or have not been doing, this should be a time for them to be heard.
Financial reviews
Although we did recommend that you review your finances every month to ensure that you are staying under budget, at the end of the year, you should do a full review of all of your finances.
This means you should review your costs for the year broken down into categories to see if there are any expenses that you have been spending too much on.
You should also be reviewing how much money you are bringing in throughout the year, focusing particularly on if there are any services that you are offering that are bringing in much more than others.
By reviewing all of this information, you should get a good idea of how the year went for you and what you can improve on for the next year.
Update your business plan
Every year you as the owner of a salon should be updating your business plan to reflect any changes that you have made over the last year.
This includes updating your financial status, the number of employees you have if that has changed in the past year, your plan for advertising over the next year, an updated market analysis, and any other information you may need to update.
Updating your business plan every year is going to help you ensure that your business does well in the future by giving you all the tools and information you may need.
Summary
While we did cover several responsibilities that a salon owner will have, there are of course others that we did not cover.
These responsibilities will vary depending on your unique customer base, the location of your salon, as well as several other possible variables.
These responsibilities may be daily, weekly, or even yearly.
They can vary from salon upkeep to financial responsibilities, to equipment maintenance, as well as many other responsibilities that you may not have thought of before.
On top of these responsibilities, you should keep those that we discussed earlier in the article, such as supervising, performing employee reviews, and ensuring cleanliness, in the back of your mind, as they are just as important as anything else you may think of!
Related Questions
How much does it cost to operate a hair salon?
Although opening a hair salon may be the first step in the process, a step that can be quite costly, you are still going to have to pay to keep your salon open.
To get a good idea of how much you are going to be paying each month, you will need to run some calculations.
However, most experts say that you will need approximately $500 a month to keep a hair salon running.
The exact amount, however, is going to depend on a few factors, including the following:
The number of employees you have
Simply put, you are going to have to pay your employees a livable wage, so the number of employees you have is going to affect how much you pay.
Whether you have to rent or not
Your monthly cost will vary depending on how you are paying for the space you are operating in.
If you bought the space outright, then you don’t have to worry about this.
However, if you are renting this space or are paying back a loan on this space, then you will have to include this in your costs.
Utility bills
Different cities have different rates they charge for the use of utilities.
If you live in a city whose utility costs are a bit higher, then your monthly costs are going to be a bit more expensive.
Advertisement costs
Assuming you are actively advertising for your business, you are going to have to include what you pay for these advertisements into your monthly costs.
What are the best skills for a salon owner to have?
There are several skills and attributes that a salon owner should have that can greatly benefit them in their line of the world.
Some of these skills include the following:
Computer skills
Operating a computer is an important part of running any business.
Being able to run a computer skillfully and effectively could make your job as a salon owner much easier and go much smoother
Marketing
Like any business, running a salon is going to require you to market your business to the public to help you attract customers
Having some marketing skills can help you save money as you may not need to hire anyone else to perform these marketing activities for you.
Problem-solving
As the owner of a hair salon, you are going to be in charge of everything.
As such, being able to solve any problem that arises is an important skill for you to have.
People Skills
Salons are a customer-oriented business, one that relies heavily on the ability to relate to people.
Having people skills is going to help you connect to your customers.
They will also be more likely to come back to see you if they are comfortable with you.
Leadership skills
Once again, like the one in charge of your business, you are going to have to be a leader.
Being able to lead your employees is going to prove important, especially at the beginning of your business’s life when things will be especially tough.
Looking to start your own Salon? Get the documents you need to get organized and funded here.
Please note: This blog post is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Please consult a legal expert to address your specific needs.
About the author. Entrepreneur and Salon Business Fan.
Hi! I am Shawn and I am a happy individual who happens to be an entrepreneur. I have owned several types of businesses in my life from a coffee shop to an import and export business to an online review business plus a few more and now I create online salon business resources for those interested in starting new ventures. It’s demanding work but I love it. I do it for those passionate about their business and their goals. That’s why when I meet a salon business owner, I see myself. I know how hard the struggle is to retain clients, find good employees and keep the business growing all while trying to stay competitive.
That’s why I created Salon Business Boss: I want to help salon business owners like you build a thriving business that brings you endless joy and supports your ideal lifestyle.
