Timely Blog

I remember when I first opened my salon, someone suggested it wouldn’t make any money because ‘sitting around all day painting nails is a hobby and not a business’. Well, I proved them wrong. After growing a 9-treatment room spa which I sold in 2020, I now coach salon owners daily and regularly see that actually, owning a salon or hair and beauty business, is probably more complex than most other business models.

As the post-pandemic world returns to normal, many beauty professionals are redefining success in their own terms. But how can we find purpose at work without returning to hustle culture? Tamara Reid, Head of Partnerships at Timely, speaks to business owners to find out.

We’ve all been there. A client calls to cancel 20 minutes before their treatment and asks for their deposit back and we don’t know what to say. Refund, and all will be well, but we will have lost that booking space? Or tell the client we can’t refund and we are holding their deposit and risk a tirade of abuse?

It’s a wonderful thing, the salon world. It’s sparkly, ever-evolving, transformational and a truly beautiful industry to be part of. We are so lucky that we can bring our passion to life and spend time looking after our gorgeous clients.

But, (because there is always a but) this ONLY works IF you can get your numbers right. Your salon pricing is fundamentally the biggest building block of your business, and now, more than ever, we need to have this in hand.

Almost all small business owners will agree that the first few months after launch are a rollercoaster of emotions. Thankfully, you can steady the ship by focusing on these seven things.

Off the back of a challenging two years, we’ve seen a rise in salon owners future-proofing their businesses by adding an online store. Here’s how they’re doing it (and how you can too)

Last minute Covid cancellations can impact your business big time. In response to the Omicron strain, some salons are cracking down on cancellations to help reduce no-shows as the Covid crisis continues to drag on and on (and on…).

At some point or another we’ve all felt deflated or disrespected when someone has gotten our name wrong (even when it’s clearly written at the bottom of an email 😅). Pronouns are as much a part of someone’s identity as their name. Getting them right means more to people than you might think – it’s a way to help someone feel respected and seen.

Our new pronouns feature makes it easy for your staff and your clients to communicate their pronouns, which in turn creates a safe, inclusive client experience for everyone who walks through your salon door.

Selling retail products online is a great way to boost your business and keep money coming in, even when your doors are closed! We know online product sales might seem daunting, so we’ve joined forces with Shopify – the world’s leading E-commerce platform – to make selling your retail products online an absolute breeze.

Once upon a time, if you needed a plumber, you used the yellow pages. If you aren’t familiar with the yellow pages, it was a HUGE yellow book, filled with listings for every business whose services you could ever need.

Someone once said to me “EVERYONE who comes into my salon is a VIP. I do not differentiate”. Bold statement. Because whilst I appreciate the sentiment, if EVERYONE is a VIP, surely no one is a VIP right? Because VIP implies an elevated experience for your clients. And if everyone has that elevated experience, then surely that experience is just, well, normal. But of course, wanting to attract a certain calibre of clients – particularly those who seek a VIP experience and are willing to pay for it, can only be a good thing. As long as you structure it in a way that provides different levels of VIP experience.

Last year gift voucher popularity exploded as customers looked for convenient and contactless ways to spoil their loved ones. This year, gift voucher spend is going to be even bigger, with a projected 50% increase year on year! With Timely, you can get online gift vouchers set up in minutes, getting you ready for your biggest December EVER! 🥳