Problem to access license server. cURL error 6: Could not resolve host: www.markdulisse.com{"id":614,"date":"2013-08-21T19:40:30","date_gmt":"2013-08-21T19:40:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/salonmarketing.com\/?p=614"},"modified":"2013-08-21T23:45:37","modified_gmt":"2013-08-21T23:45:37","slug":"owning-a-salon-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/salonmarketing.com\/owning-a-salon-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Owning a Salon business&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Owning a salon business can be hard on your marriage...<\/h1>\r\nOr probably any business for that matter, which is where I was at...\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>PART 1 (of 3)<\/strong>\r\n\r\nOne sunny afternoon I was pulled into my office...\r\n\r\nAnd without warning...\r\n\r\nWithout notice...\r\n\r\nI heard the words that would change my life\r\n(and my business for the better, but I didn't know it at that time)\r\n\r\nBut I heard those words we all <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">dread<\/span>...\r\n\r\nAnd I heard them when I thought it <em>wasn't even possible<\/em> for me to hear as an owner...\r\n\r\nBut they came anyway... \"you're fired.\"\r\n\r\n<em>Worst yet, they came from my wife.<\/em>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n...the second time I heard them I knew she was serious and things had to change.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nSee, even though we were doing hundreds of thousands worth of sales, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">we didn't have any profits<\/span>...\r\n\r\nHeck, we were barely even taking home a <strong>paycheck<\/strong>...\r\n\r\nBetween the two of us combined, we weren't even making minimum wage (our accountant told us we were at $2\/hour, each)...\r\n\r\nThis is what happened...\r\n\r\nI saw our staff member, Wendy, open her door while I was in the corner of our waiting room observing things...\r\n\r\nThe client came out from a massage and she gave her a glass of water...\r\n\r\nShowed her a stretch...\r\n\r\nAnd then <em>waved goodbye<\/em> and said \"I hope to see you again\"!!!\r\n\r\nWendy went back into her room and the client checked herself out.\r\n\r\nI went into our massage room and began a little chat with Wendy...\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/salonmarketing.com\/owning-a-salon-business\/crying\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-621\"><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-621\" alt=\"crying\" src=\"http:\/\/salonmarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/crying-300x278.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"278\" \/><\/a>\"Hi Wendy\" I said, \"can I have a word with you?\"\r\n\r\n\"sure, what's up?\"\r\n\r\n\"Well, we need to be walking clients up front when we're done to recommend products and reschedule them. Did you have a spa-scription to give her to sell any products?\"\r\n\r\n\"no\"\r\n\r\n\"What we should do is meet them up front, go over your personalized spa-scription to sell products and then recommend a treatment plan and get her back on the books for next week, ok?\"\r\n\r\n\"ok\"\r\n\r\n...where then Wendy went straight to my wife, broke into tears saying I had chastised her...\r\n\r\n<strong>Then she QUIT!?<\/strong>\r\n\r\n...and then I got fired from (working in) my own business\r\n(which actually turned out good, it taught me the #1 rule for business owners)\r\n\r\nSee, when I met my (future) wife, she had a nursing degree from Russia so knew all about massage to heal...\r\n\r\nI figured that getting a massage license would be easier than getting a nursing license...\r\n\r\nSo with the success of an online business I had, we packed our bags and moved to CO to open up our day spa!\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/salonmarketing.com\/owning-a-salon-business\/dsc00098\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-616\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-616 alignleft\" alt=\"DSC00098\" src=\"http:\/\/salonmarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/DSC00098-300x225.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/><\/a>We chose a mall location, signed a lease, took out a home equity loan to build out a couple of rooms (ourselves) and setup shop!\r\n\r\nWe built the rooms, the walls, shelving, even the front desk...\r\n\r\nWe even took care of the signage, website, decorations, retail, the WHOLE thing as I'm sure most of you have done too.\r\n\r\nGift Certificate sales were great so we added on facial services figuring to double our gross sales...\r\n\r\nThen we decided to add a salon for hair and nail services...\r\n\r\nNext we grew, hired staff, business (well, sales) are booming...\r\n\r\nAnd we decided we wanted our own location and we got a loan and bought a Million dollar building, tripled our space and moved in!\r\n\r\nYou would THINK things are great, right?\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nWELL GET THIS...\r\n\r\nWith hundreds of thousands in sales, owning our own building and a staff of a dozen or so...\r\n\r\nWe weren't really making any money for ourselves!\r\n\r\nSo I took action and decided on a few steps:\r\n\r\nFirst, I hired a professional website designer and had her come out...\r\n\r\nThe designs she was sending over weren't capturing the feel I wanted so I had her come out to our salon spa...\r\n\r\nAnd she captured the same feeling, a real spa experience online - BAM, a home run!\r\n\r\nOur clients LOVED our new ($6,000.00) website...\r\n\r\nWe got compliment after compliment on it from every one of our clients...\r\n\r\n<em>I even knew enough to have the focus be our e-newsletter signup because getting prospects from online is CRUCIAL...<\/em>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nBUT WE WERE STILL LOSING MONEY\r\n\r\nOuch, this is becoming a <em>serious problem<\/em> because not only are we barely paying ourselves now, but the bills (and loans) are adding up quickly!\r\n\r\nI sat down and thought about it, running it over and over in my mind...\r\n\r\nI decided to take action on a SECOND Step:\r\n\r\n...and we booked tickets to the national salon and spa show...\r\n\r\nBut not to visit the show floor to see everything new...\r\n\r\nbut to sit in on ALL the business trainings in the classroom...\r\n\r\n<strong>Guess what?<\/strong>\r\n\r\nWe were more confused than ever, talk about information overload!\r\n\r\nSo we took a THIRD Step...\r\n\r\nWe looked to the one guy who has head and shoulders above the rest in business sense...\r\n\r\nAnd hired him for a $10,000.00 consulting package and flew him out for a few days to help out.\r\n\r\nAlthough there was a LOT of information, here's the main gist of what he said:\r\n\r\n<em>\"You've got to train your staff how to sell retail and reschedule... that is KEY\"<\/em>\r\n\r\nSo we did, or I tried...\r\n(this is where it all backfired)\r\n\r\nAnd I still have (post being fired) the same problem...\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nSEE...\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">my income was based on my staffs performance...<\/span>\r\n\r\n<em>It was <strong>all<\/strong> in THEIR hands...<\/em>\r\n\r\nSo whenever I saw that the ball was being dropped, I'd go up and suggest they follow the protocols we trained them on.\r\n\r\nWell, you already know how that worked out...\r\n\r\nApparently there was a reason why I was in the back office, I can't manage \ud83d\ude42\r\n\r\nActually, I can't even talk to staff, they get upset, can't take my constructive criticism and...\r\n\r\nThey end up quitting.\r\n\r\n<strong>Do you see the problem we're facing (that many of us face)?<\/strong>\r\n\r\nWe just bought a million dollar building...\r\n\r\nSpent $$$ building it out...\r\n\r\nInvested $6k into our website to get clients...\r\n\r\nJust paid for $10k worth of consulting...\r\n\r\nAnd it's all VITAL that this works...\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">because we're not making any money...<\/span>\r\n(and forget about ever seeing any profits)\r\n\r\nAnd to rub salt in the wound, I can't even tell staff what to do to fix it!\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>SOMETHING HAD TO CHANGE AND QUICK<\/strong>\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/salonmarketing.com\/owning-a-salon-business\/sky-welcome\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-622\"><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-622\" alt=\"sky welcome\" src=\"http:\/\/salonmarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/sky-welcome-300x199.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" \/><\/a>And it did.\r\n\r\nIt was so simple...\r\n\r\n<em>It was right in front of my face...<\/em>\r\n\r\nAll it took was seeing things from a different light...\r\n\r\nLike being in a meadow outside at sunrise, it dawned on me...\r\n\r\nAnd when it dawned I could feel the warmth...\r\n\r\nAnd the simplicity of it all put a big smile on my face \ud83d\ude42\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong><em>I was relying on my STAFF to bring in my money, literally, for my paycheck...<\/em><\/strong>\r\n\r\n<strong><em>Where I should be relying on MYSELF for my paycheck \ud83d\ude42<\/em><\/strong>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nLet me say that again, in a slightly different way:\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">The income of MY business should be dependent upon MYSELF<\/span>\r\n\r\nHell, I'm \"fired\" from speaking to staff anyway, so I thought...\r\n\r\nInstead of depending on them to do their job, or training them (that's my wife's job) I should focus on what I can control...\r\n\r\nAnd that's the #1 job of ANY business owner...\r\n\r\n<strong>Marketing the business<\/strong>\r\n\r\nSpecifically... that is <strong>getting NEW clients<\/strong> into the business...\r\n\r\nbecause even if my staff was doing outstanding, they can't do their job if they don't have any new faces to talk to...\r\n\r\n<em>Which is exactly what I began to do.<\/em>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nFirst, I got OUT of the spa...\r\n\r\nI setup my own office...\r\n\r\nAnd then went to town marketing my business...\r\n\r\nWith the specific focus of getting NEW clients in, ASAP!\r\n\r\n...that's what I learned...\r\n\r\nThe #1 lesson of owners, focus on marketing...\r\n\r\nWhy?\r\n\r\n<em>Because getting NEW clients into my business is 100% under my control...<\/em>\r\n\r\nMy paycheck (&amp; profits) are dependent upon myself, and no one else...\r\n\r\nAnd I like it that way.\r\n\r\n\"Who Loves Ya?\"\r\n-Christopher\r\n\r\nPS\r\nTomorrow I'll get into exactly what I did to take control of my own paycheck by getting new clients in...\r\n\r\nAnd you'll never believe what marketing worked BEST (it's the Opposite of what most of us do)!\r\n\r\n...leave a comment below please, I'd love to hear your thoughts!","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Owning a salon business can be hard on your marriage&#8230; Or probably any business for that matter, which is where I was at&#8230; &nbsp; PART 1 (of 3) One sunny afternoon I was pulled into my office&#8230; And without warning&#8230; Without notice&#8230; I heard the words that would change my life (and my business for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17,13,14,15,19,20,26,10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/salonmarketing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/salonmarketing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/salonmarketing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/salonmarketing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/salonmarketing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=614"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/salonmarketing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":625,"href":"http:\/\/salonmarketing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614\/revisions\/625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/salonmarketing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/salonmarketing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/salonmarketing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}