Salon on the Verge of Closing: What Would You Do?
Next up in our series of helping business owners solve their most-pressing problems is Kristina Graham, a salon owner whose love for the business keeps her afloat, even when she's struggling.
Let's dive into her story and come together as a small business community to help her get back on her feet.
Missed the last few weeks? Check out personal chef Johanna Gelb's story and music production company owners Cody and Bj's conundrum. Each received an incredible community response, with over 100 other business owners chiming in to offer ideas, solutions, and expertise.
Let's show Kristina the same enthusiasm and support.
Have a business challenge you'd like the community to solve? Drop it in the comments for a chance to be featured.
Business Challenge of the Week: Salon Struggles
This week, we're featuring Kristina's Beauty Salon. Below you'll find more about her business, customers, and problem.
The Business: Kristina's Beauty Salon
Kristina has owned and operated a full-service salon in Carrollton, Texas for over 30 years. And her services go way beyond just a haircut.
Catering to both men and women, she offers everything from hair color and waxing to pedicures and acrylic nails. She even offers free nail art to go along with your manicure.
Like many small business owners, Kristina had to fight the odds to get where she is today. She bought her salon when she was only 18 years old and fresh out of beauty school—she had to sell her car to help pay for it. And even that wasn't enough.
Determined to secure financing, she went to the bank every day asking for a loan. She was told from the start that most women-owned small businesses fail in the first year. But that didn't stop her.
Her persistence eventually convinced the bank manager to give her a loan. Her nana covered the rest, and 30 years later, she's paid back every penny (nana included).
The Problem: The Pandemic Drove her Customers Away
But then Covid hit, leaving her struggling to make ends meet. "I'm already past the point of closing," she says.
But she loves her customers and the people who depend on her. "I can't find it in my heart to say goodbye to multiple generations of families or to lay my employees off."
Despite the fact that she's not making money, she's not ready to throw in the towel just yet.
I wish there was more help out there for us still trying to have the American dream. Any advice would help me—I’m not ready to give up.
What Would You Do?
Now it's your turn—what would you do if you were in Kristina's shoes? How would you try to bring in more customers and more money?
Take a look at her profile for ideas and then share your thoughts, solutions, and advice in the comments below.
Let's help Kristina get back on her feet, save her salon, and give other salon owners ideas and inspiration to keep at it. That's what this community is all about.
Comments (11-20)
Kristina - Sounds like you need to convince all your customers that it's safe to come in for your services. Both men and women don't like going without your services, so it's really just a matter of letting them know you take the precautions necessary to make it safe for them to come in. Wearing thin gloves, as well as masks might give them a visual confirmation that you're concerned with their safety. And of course you'll need to actually do whatever sanitizing is necessary for the shop. Cleaning the chairs between customers, with the waiting customers watching, might not hurt either.
I just want to thank everyone. I have already got covid and I’m high rick I have be covid free for about 3 weeks but now I’m in icu with pneumonia which is going to make things harder on business but I know God has a plan . I do have girls and barbers working feel free to stop by . Once again thank you for the support. KG
Kristina - How big is your salon and how many people work for you? I will share with you that I only operate a 2 room salon with one chair in it and during Covid, I only allow one person in at the time. Even my business has taken a hit, but I'm still able to manage. If you could turn your place into "pods" where each employee had their own room you might be able to create an environment where people feel safe only interacting with one person. I do not know anything about your layout at the salon, but I am grateful I didn't go big - I considered it, but decided to stay small. I think this has benefited me during this pandemic.
I'd be remiss not to mention the elephant in the room. No Fortune 500 firm's managing director LACKS experience, engagement or concern for others; who's efforts aren't consistent with the company culture, and isn't responsible for the largest or smallest gaffes.
We can't expect adept leadership for individuals, families and businesses if it hasn't consistently occurred for a person the past. It's a rule of thumb that the best predictor of future behavior is PRIOR behavior. That's what a CV, resume, and/or references are all about.
IF government is supposed to be run like a business, why do don't we have stricter STANDARDS for people elected to high office? For example, a modicum of relevant experience, demonstrated concern for others, and a COLLABORATIVE APPROACH. How did he spend $500,000 on golf cart rentals, when a new one costs $5,000. That's an overage of $495,000 with zero ROI.
He stole from the military and first responders just like he stole from charities (or overcharged them) years ago.
The initial round of stimulus funding didn't go to hair salons. It went to publicly traded steakhouses. So, you may think this is political, though it's a critique of the PROCESS that got us here. An electorate that mis-read the tea-leaves, ignored the past, and went with group think. And this is where we are. No retail, 220,000 fewer patrons or clients, and severely diminished discretionary income.
I feel for those who feel forced to go out of business. Though, I'm not going to look to a person who somehow got out of paying a caterer and an architect with signed contracts to be the advocate or savior for my business.
In school, we had to do our homework. If we looked at how other people answered the test questions, we could've gotten the answer wrong and/or gotten caught. Ergo, when voting, investing, etc. we must be willing to recognize that a popular option isn't always the right option. If something doesn't feel right, it isn't. That a person who got married to wife #3 in the banquet hall designed by wife #2 may be in need of a few more scruples before he's entrusted to lead unchecked.
In the world we live in all of us is struggling. I owned by flower shop for 17 years I had to close my doors I was not making enough to keep my store front but I am looking into getting a food truck and converting it to a mobile flower shop where there will be no over head maybe you can do the same
Hi Kristina,
One thing you can do for your shop is install Viral Sign cameras to screen all entering and explain to your customers that with this technology your place is virus free.
Viral Sign is advanced screening science for epidemics.
The screening science in Viral Sign is distinguished by the ability to identify the presence of virus, including COVID-19 and influenza (flu), in individuals prior to the onset of fever.
Reach out to me to learn more about the solution and good luck.
Kristina, you need to do some basic business analyses to give you information about how to move forward.
- First, are you bringing in enough revenue to pay your store rent and your home costs. You can’t really keep your doors open if you are losing money.
- If you are able to hang on you can look look into how you can continue to service your customers in this environment. You may for example offer your clients “ private sessions” in which you can ensure them a sterilized environment, or limit customers to two at a time.
- Offer to do home visits. My hair cutter come to my house and cuts my hair on my deck. My daughters usually make the appointment and 5 of us usually get a haircut.
You can build this into a home service business.
- Have you checked out the different government loans that are available to small businesses.
- I like the idea of selling services now for use latter. This provides immediate income to you and secured discounted services to your customers. They have no interest in seeing you lose your business.
- Look to see if you can cut your expenses and increase your exposure by maybe Combining or merging with a complementary business, or add additional services. You aren’t the only one experiencing financial difficulties, there are probably dozens of others locally who would welcome the opportunity to partner with a long established and successful business.
I am not a believer in borrowing money when you don’t have cash flow or know how much cash flow you will have. So what I might suggest is to find a printer and have a thousand flyers printed up that advertise your most popular style or service at a 20% discount. (You can also design them with a free graphics program like Canva and print them up yourself if you have a good-quality inkjet printer.)
Put aside 200 to mail out - yes, snail mail - to your client base, 800 to distribute by hand in front of your salon. You can e-mail out the electronic version of the flyer. You can include in your e-mail those potential clients for whom you have e-mail addresses. And of course you can post the electronic flyer version here on Alignable as part of a services summary. You can also start a free website on a service like wix.com if you don’t already have one and post photos of stylings of satisfied clients along with your limited time only discount offer. For some of them due to COVID you might have to offer home-based service.
The goal is to book maybe 75-100 clients over the next 30-60 days who will order your discounted services - for which you can require them to pre-pay upfront in order to get the discount price - and use that cash flow to pay some immediate expenses and purchase some additional promotional materials for distribution. The cash flow is funding you will not have to pay back and that you can use to build your ongoing promotions and marketing. Good luck, keep on and stay strong.
If you have an email list- Send them a picture of you wearing a clear face mask while working on a client. Have hand sanitizer ready on entering your place and how you keep the place cleaned. Show them you care.
I would operate from home....put the equipment in storage and wait it out