The Marie Kondo Secret to Managing your Salon Successfully

IS CHECKING EVERYTHING LEAVING YOU TOO LITTLE TIME TO LEAD?

When something is missed, it can feel quicker to check it yourself or take over. That may get today’s job finished. If the same work keeps coming back to you, though, it is worth looking at what would help the team do it without the same check each time.

And I get it.

It’s a straightforward enough connection to make..

“If I keep an eye on everything, at least I know it will be done the way I want.” You may recognise that thought when the day is busy.

All too often when things start to slide who can you rely on except yourself?

managing your salon successfully

But how is micro-managing everything working out for you?

Are you getting what you want?

Do your team do everything the way that your systems and structures has trained them??

Are they reliable, engaged and consistently getting it right?

Do you trust them when you are not at the salon?

Are the freedoms of owning a business and choosing how you want to live your life your reality?

Is the salon owner’s dream you had when you started your salon coming true for you?

Most salon owners find the reality of owning a business quite different from what they expected. Longer hours, less freedom, way more stress and employing people is very different from working alongside them.

If checking everything has become the ongoing arrangement, the time you hoped to gain from having a team may still be taken up by the same work. That is the part to understand.

successful salon

And this is the key word here…MANAGE your business.

If every decision and check comes back to you, the management work can leave very little space to lead or plan.

Management and leadership both matter. The difficulty here is when every detail still needs your personal attention.

Your leadership affects how the team understand what matters, how they work together and where they turn for support. That deserves attention alongside the practical management tasks.

Some work needs organising and checking. Some needs discussion, direction and practice. In a small salon you may do both, so it helps to decide where your attention is needed rather than trying to remove every management task.

Being organised can help get things done. Helping the team understand the purpose, contribute and take responsibility is part of leading them.

Managing your salon successfully means being a leader.. a good leader.

You do not have to choose between caring about the details and giving yourself room to lead. The question is which work needs you, and which work can be supported by a clear, shared way of doing it.

You may not be able to stop doing the management work. You can start by choosing one task that should not need to come back to you in the same way every time.

but how?

  • Who is going to do it?
  • How can you trust things will be run as you want?
  • Who will keep the team on track and on task?
  • How will you manage stock, hours and the key profit areas in your salon?
  • Heck, who will keep on to the team about cleaning, and selling retail?
  • Will the customers get the type of service I have built my business successfully on?

STRUCTURE IS LIKE THE MARIE KONDO EFFECT IN YOUR BUSINESS.

managing your salon successfully

There’s one thing I have seen make a difference in my own salon and with my coaching students.

The right structures and procedures are put in place at the right time and in the right way.

You need to rethink what this looks like in your salon.

Not just a manual or contract.

Not just a passed-down expectation or follow-along method.

We all know how a message can change when it is passed from person to person.

Passed down through the team your initial structures and procedures get shifted and shaped until they look nothing like how you initially set them up.

Structure is a key principle in the A.S.C.E.N.D. Salon Method and I suggest looking at it like this.

Structure is like the Marie Kondo effect in your business.

For example, imagine stock ordering always waits for you. A list of products is a useful start, but the person ordering may still need to know when to reorder, what they can decide and when they should check with you. Agreeing those things gives them more to work with than “Please keep an eye on stock.”

You will still need to make time to show them and review the first orders. The aim is that the same uncertainty does not keep returning to you.

That is the connection I am drawing from the Marie Kondo illustration: a clearer place for things can make the next step easier to see.

Think of sorting an overfilled cupboard: knowing where something belongs makes it easier to put away and find again. That is the comparison I am making with the way work is organised in your salon.

Structure can help you bring order to the “mess” inside your business.

All those messy cupboards and overstuffed drawers are your business’s old habits.

Habits that we don’t necessarily see as “bad” really are holding us back from moving on.

Small changes to the way work is organised can help you see what needs attention.

WHAT CAN YOU MARIE KONDO TO MANAGE YOUR SALON SUCCESSFULLY?

So…. Where do you start when everything is looking a bit unorganised and overwhelming…. Just like your home… It can feel like a monumental task.

Well, you know what they say when questioned….. How do you eat an elephant?

One bite at a time!!

Analyse you and your business and see where you are out of alignment with your goals and dreams.

  • Change your habits, easily said but a must if you want to change and manage your salon more successfully.
  • Create Structures that support your boundaries.
  • Focus on structures that keep you and your team accountable
  • Evolve procedures that just aren’t serving you anymore.
  • Reassess overlooked and ignored structures that are not being trained to new and upcoming team members properly.
  • Evaluate how you price your services.
  • Scrutinise your Time allocation structure.
  • Audit training processes to assess if they serve the new people coming into your salon.
  • Revise opening hours and rosters.

START WITH ONE PART OF YOUR WEEK

Choose something that keeps coming back to you: stock ordering, a repeated booking question or a procedure that new team members learn differently.

Ask someone to walk you through what happens now. Compare that with what you thought was agreed, then clarify the part that is missing. Set a time to come back and see whether the change helped.

When the team have to ask you the same questions each time, the written procedure may not yet give them enough to work with.

If the salon relies on you for every small decision, it can be difficult to make room for the work and life you want.

Changing a way of working takes time, and it is understandable if you are cautious about letting go of a task you care about. Start with a manageable part of it, agree what good work looks like and make space for questions.

Look at what the first attempt helped with as well as what still needs attention. If you are still checking everything, ask whether the person needs more practice, clearer decisions or a different arrangement for the work.

The way you look at business really does alter your experience of it.

Check out the blog I wrote about that HERE

You do not have to wait until everything feels unmanageable to work on one repeated difficulty.

Changing a long-standing expectation with customers or the team can take care and consistency. Explain what is changing, why it matters and how it will work.

How good at change are you?

I wrote a blog all about change and how it is the key to managing yourself and your salon successfully.

Read that HERE