Episode 2 - Mastering Time Management.mp3

[ 00:00:05]Welcome to the Hair

Hustle Podcast. I'm Heather Podlesney, 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. Welcome, welcome to episode two of the

Hair Hustle Podcast. I am your host, Heather Podlesney. I'm so excited that you decided to

join me for episode two. Today we are going to talk about one of the biggest

issues and problems that I see on my stylist minds, and that is time management

in the salon. So today I am going to give you four simple tips in 15 minutes or

less to really get you on the right track with your time. Tip number one in

time management is time blocking. So I know that you guys have heard it. I know

that you understand it.

[ 00:01:35

] We need to take this to

a new level, and we need to make this part of our habit. One of the biggest

things with time blocking in your salons is simply dedicating specific tasks to

a certain time. So whether that's appointments, whether that's social media,

bookkeeping, anything like that, time for it to get you around, whatever that

looks like, those all need to be blocked off. So let's start with how can you

create the perfect day for yourself, and that is literally to come in 15 or 30

minutes before your guest. So we are not walking in the door when our guest is

already sitting there, because that time blocked 15 minutes can be enough for

you to get set up and get ready for your day. Obviously we have time blocked

for appointments.

[ 00:02:22] I know you guys are all

already great with that. Possibly you have an office time. You know. I have a

lot of clients that are just busy, and I have time, I even have some clients

that we have started to block off like just a little 30 minutes for maybe for

them to eat and not just like shovel their food in their mouth as they're

trying to mix up color. So if that's one of your dreams, do that. And then also

bookkeeping, we talked about that in episode one. Like where are you going to

find that time? So if you have a set schedule that you want, if it's Monday

through Thursday from nine to six and that's all that you want to work, great.

[ 00:02:54] One of the beautiful

things about this industry, especially even about being an independent stylist,

is that we have control of our time, so we need to take advantage of that and

not let everything just come into this huge overwhelming situation. We want to

prioritize our tasks; we want to make sure that we have efficient productive

hours, whether that is we're working on someone behind the chair doing

highlights or we are figuring out what our business budget needs to be. Tip

number two for time management is to prioritize profit. So, we just talked

about in time blocking showing up 15 to 30 minutes before our guest. What does

that mean? What do we do there? Some people might be saying, and if you're

wondering what to do, you can actually be looking at your day, finding out

where you can put add-on services.

[ 00:03:42] Like I had just

mentioned, if you want to be someone that works only you know three to four

days a week or specific days or hours, there's only so much that can Be done in

that time and there's only so many ways that we can make money. One of the ways

to make more money without doing more or working more hours is to do add-on

services, so taking that 15 to 30 minutes to look at each person and what type

of treatment can we be adding on and looking for those little 5-10-15 nugget

minute nuggets of opportunity. Those could be really great options for you to

make more money and I have literally seen people make hundreds of extra dollars

a month simply by looking at what type of add-on services that they can be used

with the people who are already in their books, so analyzing that is a really

great.

[ 00:04:35] Step in that first 15

to 30 minutes before your first guest arrives, the third tip for mastering time

management in the salon. Oh, this is a tough one, but I know you guys can do

it. It's reducing overwhelm and looking into automating tasks. There is so much

to do in a day, we all know it, and some of you are working 10-12 hours behind

the chair, and quite honestly, even eight hours behind the chair is a lot. It's

a lot of mental energy, it's a lot of physical energy. So really finding out

ways to reduce overwhelm is a great way to like take some of those things off

of your plate. That's why I love automated tasks because they're able to just

help.

[ 00:05:19] You're saying whether

that's if we're looking to reduce your overwhelm, reduce your overwhelm, and

reduce the amount of work that you're doing so it's a really good thing to do

that! What are a few things that we can do? Number one is you can start looking

into online booking. I know you guys sometimes say like, 'Heather, I don't want

to get into online booking.' Honestly, it streamlines your booking so much. It

can prevent double bookings. And honestly, it can even help to reduce no-shows

because it will give you automated reminders, which is also another automated

test. If you're not doing online booking, make sure you have those automated

reminders. You can send a text and that's one less thing that you have to do.

Another thing is social media.

[ 00:05:56] I know how overwhelming

social media can be. And it's like, I'm not even sure what to do about social

media or what to put. And so something that you can look into is apps like Meta

Business Suite, Planoly, Later. There's so many different scheduling apps. So

maybe if it's just that you need to post two or three times a week to maintain

your followers and you don't necessarily want to grow a social media, but you

just want anything to do with it, then you can send a text. And that's one less

thing that you have to do. A presence and you want people to be able to go on

there and look and see your work. That could be a really great way to simply

automate and plan out.

[ 00:06:29] Using scheduling apps

can be a really great way to automate your social media for you. Another great

way to automate some of these tasks and get rid of some of this overwhelm is

having something like an automated form. So for example, JotForm for any new

guests. So I know several of my clients, they are very overwhelmed sometimes

when it's like a new guest is wanting to get into their book. Sometimes a

simple JotForm, if they're trying to ask you if they could go from one color to

the next or this or that, sometimes a simple JotForm of like before and afters,

what times can you come in? I can actually help you with a really great form. I

can help you with some amazing questions to put on a JotForm just to get all

the information that you need.

[ 00:07:14] But it's not a

four-hour text or four-hour messaging conversation through the JotForm. It's

really just a few DMs to get through. It's just automated. It's easy. And then

as soon as they're done with it, you simply open it up, you look at it and you

tell them what times that you have available. And the final tip is boundaries.

When we're looking at mastering our time management and wanting to be happier

and healthier stylists that provide amazing services, we really do need to

sometimes look at our own boundaries. Because sometimes when we get

overwhelmed, we are just not in the best self. I struggle with saying no. I

100% get it. You don't have to explain it to me. But I always want everyone to

feel good about saying no.

[ 00:08:01] And I was given this

tip a long time ago. I love it. And I still use it now because everyone always

says, 'Do you ever hear this?' No is a complete sentence. Oh my God. I know

that no is a complete sentence. Thank you so much for sharing that with me. However,

sometimes I really do have a hard time saying no and then not saying anything.

A couple tips that I have from a fellow people pleaser is you don't have to say

no. Sometimes you can simply say 'not right now' or 'not at this time'. Both ways

of saying no without actually having to say no. If maybe you have the guest

that calls, that we all know they have missed two appointments.

[ 00:08:41] Their grey's are down

to their ears and they need to get in and there's just no anything. They want

to come in. Maybe your day off is Thursday and they're like, 'nope', I want to

come in on Thursday. I want to come in on Thursday. I want to come in on Thursday.

I want to come in on Thursday, that's the only day that I have. So something

that you can simply say is 'Susie, I do not have that available right now.' Or

'Susie, I do not have that appointment available at this time.' I do have a

reservation available on next week on Tuesday at whatever time that is. So I

just want you guys to feel more comfortable simply setting clear boundaries.

[ 00:09:14] Just because we make

our own schedule doesn't mean that everybody and their brother has to fit in at

the exact time that they need. I just want you guys to feel more comfortable

simply setting clear boundaries. It's also about prioritizing you and prioritizing

your healthy boundaries. Some of you are really great at healthy boundaries,

and I'm like high five. However, there is a really big percentage of you that

we still have a really hard time having personal time for ourselves and just

being okay with that. So I'm here to help you. I'm here to help coach you

through that. And I sure hope that this mastering time management episode was

so helpful for you, or at least for you. At least gave you the confidence to

say not at this time. Thank you so much for listening to Episode Two of The

Hair Hustle podcast. Make today a great day.

[ 00:10:21] Thank you so much for

listening to The Hair Hustle podcast. Make today a great day.