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[ 00:00:05]Welcome to the Hair

Hustle Podcast. I'm Heather Podlesny, your salon coach dedicated to helping

stylists master the business side of beauty. Whether you're starting your

journey behind the chair or you're a seasoned pro looking to level up, this

podcast is for you. Each week we'll dive into the tips and tricks you need to

run a successful salon business with topics that will change the way you work

and earn. From budgeting hacks to help you keep more of what you make to time

management tips that will keep your schedule stress-free, and the strategies

for boosting your retail sales and nailing that next promotion. Get ready to

build your dream business without burning out. Together we'll cut through the

noise and get to the root of what makes your salon thrive.

[ 00:00:47] So grab your shears,

turn up the volume, and let's hustle. Hey, hey, welcome to the first episode of

the Hair Hustle Podcast. I am Heather Podlesny, your salon coach dedicated to

helping stylists master the business side of beauty. I'm so excited that you

are here today. So I want everyone to keep in mind and let's get episode one

kicked off so that you understand all of the podcasts, unless I've announced

differently, will be around 10 to 15 minutes because I know that our minds work

so quickly here in the beauty industry and we don't always have time to take in

an hour podcast, a two hour podcast, all of the things, and sometimes even a 30

minute. So my hope is to get in your ears for 10 to 15 minutes every week.

[ 00:01:31] So that could be your

commute in the car, taking your kids to school, anything like that. So let's

kick it off, get into episode one. I've got four hot tips on budgeting basics

for independent stylists today. And then I've even got one bonus. I feel like I

might have two bonuses, but we'll get into it. So bonus number one, not bonus

number one. Let's get into it. So let's get into it. So let's get into it.

Let's get into it. So let's get into it. So let's get into it. So let's get

into it. So let's get into it. So let's talk about the hot tip number one and

that's to track every dollar. Now I know so many of you try to track every

dollar and I know most of you know what's coming in and what's going out and

sort of like a, an ish version in your mind.

[ 00:02:14] So let's stop ishing

that. And sometimes tracking every single dollar is simply more about your time

and taking the time to do it. So my suggestion Simply pick a time. I understand

that if Friday's the last day of the week that you're working, do you really

want to do it on Friday night? Especially if you got one munchkin that is maybe

in some type of a sporting event, you got somebody that's in football, and

you're kind of like mom Uber driver as well as soon as Friday night kicks off.

I totally understand. So maybe that is Sunday night for 30 minutes. You're

going to be able to open up your Square, your Gloss Genius, whatever you're

using app. You're going to be able to see every dollar that you brought in, and

you're actually going to be able to write that down.

[ 00:03:01] So now we're going to

get also into a detailed version of what's going out, and that's also going to

be put into this 30 minutes, okay? We're going to do the same thing every

single week. So a couple of tools that can help you to figure out what's going

out are QuickBooks, and honestly, sometimes just a simple spreadsheet of

everything that went out that week, how much you spent at your distributors,

how much you spent on specific apps, anything like that, all to keep your

business going, we're going to track that, and we're going to be organized

about it. If you want a basic spreadsheet to fill out, I also have a super

simple one, and I'd be happy to share that with you as well. Tip number two, we

are creating a budget.

[ 00:03:46] So I am here to tell

you we're going to start this tip off by saying, I am in the Midwest, and I

have been coaching salons and stylists. For the last 10 years, I know and

understand because I've known several people across the country, how definitely

rent prices and costs vary amongst specific areas. Sometimes even here from

rural to urban areas, I am using numbers that are specific to a more Midwest

area, okay? So, and I also- And I also feel that the Midwest is

underrepresented when it comes to things like this and tools to help, and so

sometimes we're listening to things that it's like, oh my gosh, your rent is

$400, and they're not even in a studio suite.

[ 00:04:40] This is specifically

for our area, and I would be happy to help anyone outside of the area. However,

I just want to make sure everyone understands this for here. Number two,

creating a business budget. We are going to go over five different. We're going

to go over five different categories, just to keep it easy. There's going to be

rent, product costs, taxes and insurance, marketing miscellaneous, and then

time off and education, okay? So rent should be around 15%. So what does that

mean? We know that rent is a fixed cost. I, as an independent stylist, am going

to pay the same exact amount of rent, no matter if I bring in $1,000 or if I

bring in $3,000. Your rent should land somewhere around 15%. You do have wiggle

room here.

[ 00:05:25] If you needed a couple

extra percentage points, that's fine. If you needed a couple less, that's fine

as well. We would find a way where to put it. However, if you're bringing in

$1,500 every single week, then that would actually look like a rent of about

$225 a week. So that is what you can afford. Those are things to keep in mind.

Also, if you're an independent owner, and if you're trying to raise rent,

that's a great way to help coach your staff to make them feel better. Okay? And

then as an independent stylist, if your owner does need to raise the rent,

that's how you can also figure out what you can and what you can't afford.

Okay? Product costs. So what are you spending on your hair color?

[ 00:06:07] What are you spending

on your shampoo? All of that stuff. That should land somewhere around 10% to

15%. Industry is stating around 15%. I like to always get a little bit lower

all the time. So that's also something that you can work on. Also, if you're running

this and you're at 18%, try to be 1% better. Okay? So those are all ways to do

it. And also, look at all three, like, three months in a row and average that

out. Because you may have had to make an investment in something, and that's

okay, but you just want to make sure on average you're spending around 10 to

15% on product cost. Next is insurance and taxes. I am not your accountant.

However, we do all have to pay taxes.

[ 00:06:50] So that's around 15%.

Deal? Next, we have Marketing and Miscellaneous. So, I have several people who

are like Heather. What do I need? Marketing and Miscellaneous for? We've put

that down to about five percent. So, Marketing and Miscellaneous are really

great for if you want to do a contest. For example, if you're trying to gain

new clients, um or you want to do like express services. Maybe you're doing a

social media campaign. You can use that money to go towards Facebook ads. You

can use this money to print Express menus for guests. You can use it to print

20% off new guest cards, um there's so many different things that you can use

this. You can even use it to do a giveaway.

[ 00:07:33] So instead of maybe

trying to figure out what product line has a mini-to give to all of your guests

for free, maybe creating a huge basket and that would actually come out of your

marketing budget to do for the holiday. So every single guest that comes in

they get entered to win this big basket, retail value at you know four hundred

dollars and you could actually use that out of your marketing budget. So that's

a great way to use that last category, here's going to be education and time

off. I put these two together, it's about five percent. I put these two

together specifically because I know a lot of times when we actually

[ 00:08:08] go to education events,

we're not behind the chair necessarily making money so also but this can also

be used if you've got a sick kiddo if you wake up in the middle of the night

and they're you know having a they have the flu or they have 103 fever and you

can't come to work the next day then these are all reasons to have a little bit

extra in order to make yourself go. I do have one extra tip on this budget

situation. And this is an emergency, only so I do not recommend that you do

this all the time. However, if you're doing nothing right now and you're

literally flying by the seat of your pants, if I can just ask you to do one

thing and you're doing nothing right now and you're doing nothing, it's to just

take half – what that means is if you're bringing

in fifteen hundred dollars, only take half and put that into like your

personal, what you're paying yourself.

[ 00:09:00] It doesn't quite work

out however we're not I am not delusional, I know so many of you are walking

around just doing nothing and guessing, so if you can at least do half on those

weeks where you went on vacation and you're doing two times the amount of people

or maybe you did have a sick kid that is going to be one step better so i would

be proud of you just for that if you're doing nothing but we're not going to do

that all the time okay all right so i'm all about giving tips and tricks to just

be a little bit better and i love that and then you'll get in once you start to

do that you're going to be like oh that really did work and you might want to

do more all right so tip number three is cutting hidden costs this one's super

quick and super easy also can be done in your 30 minutes of time that

[ 00:09:49] doesn't cost you

anything like it only takes five to ten to one hour for all theyorsuners to buy

this type of thing so this cut-off production type Leonardo Di da Vinci is

great highly worth this one it's cheaper it's a little expensive but you are

see you should probably buy about two like three hours okay and a half to two

hours if you like out there how about we do it in just a couple versions and as

i showed you if you can see when you are closing all this out just remember

that when you're closing all 혹ia but let me be honest if you can get

a Maarie do a 200 and one loan crises if you sing a thousand about just going

already things and making sure that there's Nothing sneaking in on there.

[ 00:10:21] Or girl, you may have

been using QuickBooks since 2022 and you may have been paying the $30 or $35 a

month that that spent and you've never touched it. Let's get rid of that and

let's just get you rolling. Next, the final tip is allocating for growth. This

is a little bit more advanced. However, if you have big dreams, I just want you

to start budgeting so that you can allocate some money to make your dreams

happen. Okay, so whether that's you're an independent stylist and you want to

open a salon, whether that's you're a suite and owner and you want to open up

your own set of suites. These are all things that I want you to keep in mind

and have like for a dream investment and that's why we're getting into this

budgeting.

[00:11:09] There could be an extra

percentage of maybe 10% in that business budget that's like, this is for like

me when I want to open up my own or this is for me when I want to buy that

building. Whatever that looks like. All right, and are you ready for this bonus

tip? Oh, here it is and you guys are probably going to roll your eyes when you

hear it, but it's an emergency fund. I know. Even in your business, you should

have three to six months of expenses because it is 2024 and if you lived

through 2020, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know Know

so, stop it! We even need three to six months of expenses in our business

because as independent stylists we are still responsible for all of those

expenses.

[ 00:11:56] I hope that this was so

helpful for you. We are closing out episode one. I'm always happy to help you

can reach me on all my social platforms with any questions, I love to hear from

you. I would love to hear what was your favorite and also if you have any

additional questions. All social platforms at Heather P-O-D-L-E-S-N-E-Y, so

that's Heather Pod Lesney. Everything will be in the show notes. You can also

email me at [email protected] thank you so much and I cannot wait to see you

next time.