Hillcrest Hair Design, located in Hamilton, New Zealand is a family-owned salon that has been operating for over 50 years. In 2021, Amy Carswell took over the business from her grandparents and it has seen incredible growth, even during the pandemic.

Watch the video below and keep reading to learn more about Amy’s start in the hair industry at a very young age, how she maintains a great culture at the salon, and her top tips for anyone who is thinking about stepping into salon ownership.

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We spend so much of our lives at work, it’s no surprise to learn it can have a huge impact on our health and wellness! Likewise, our health and wellbeing can have a huge impact on our work, and a lot of this is down to your working environment.

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We all strive to create loyal clients. The type of client who visits you without fail every six weeks for their facial or the client who books with Sarah every time because she has always done her nails. 

That’s because loyal clients are much easier to service, they tend to buy more and most importantly, you have regular guaranteed income. That is of course, a dream client!

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Managing a team can be difficult, particularly as we often don’t receive any formal training on how to be a great manager. Very few people could walk into a role with all skills, and of course not every manager operates in the same way! There are a few key areas however that as a manager you should be competent in, or working towards improving.

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We know how important your clients are to the success of your salon, spa or clinic. You focus on providing them with the best service. You focus on remembering the details like their favourite hot drink and that they’re excited for their holiday next week. But there’s another way you can focus on your clients which will grow your business – by looking at the numbers.

Read on to discover the client metrics that can make a massive difference to the growth of your salon, spa, or clinic, and how to improve them.

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Now I know, you know, that Christmas will happen this year whether you’re ready or not, so you might as well be ready!

Make some time to gather your thoughts, put together some ideas and sketch out a plan for your Christmas marketing. Think about timing, budget, staff, products and promotions. It may all seem very daunting at this stage, however planning now will not only save you time and hassle later, but will also boost your business profits this coming Christmas and New Year.

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Salon pricing – it’s timely and relevant because increased costs make it a very real issue for most small business owners at the moment. The inflated costs of supplies and other overheads make price increases a necessary part of doing business. 

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Managing a salon, spa or clinic is hard work. Not only do you have so many different hats to wear, you often need to wear them all at the same time!  

There’s only a limited number of hours in the day, so it’s important to be able to manage your time as efficiently as possible.

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