In today’s competitive salon industry, exceptional service is no longer enough—what sets businesses apart is their Customer Experience (CX). CX is the overall perception a guest has of your salon, shaped by every interaction they have with your brand. From the first click on your website to their time in the chair and even post-appointment follow-ups, CX is the thread that ties every aspect of your business together.

Why does CX matter? According to Forbes, 66% of guests prioritize time as the most critical aspect of their experience, and 90% read reviews before booking their next visit. These numbers show just how much each touchpoint impacts your salon’s reputation and growth. With thoughtful attention to elements like personalization, consistency, and journey mapping, you can elevate your salon’s CX to not only meet but exceed guest expectations.

This blog dives into the key components of creating a standout customer experience, offering actionable strategies to review and enhance your service standards. Whether it’s redefining your greeting, refining your consultation process, or ensuring consistent excellence across every touchpoint, this guide is your roadmap to delivering a market-leading guest experience.

Happiness is not just a fleeting emotion; it is deeply intertwined with how we perceive challenges, setbacks, and growth in our lives. Emerging research demonstrates that mindset—the beliefs and attitudes we adopt about ourselves and our abilities—significantly impacts our sense of well-being and happiness. The distinction between fixed and growth mindsets, as explored by Dr. Carol Dweck and other researchers, provides a powerful framework for understanding how mindset shapes success, emotional resilience, and happiness.

Understanding Fixed and Growth Mindsets

A fixed mindset reflects the belief that intelligence, talent, or character traits are static and unchangeable. Individuals with a fixed mindset may avoid challenges and experience failure as a reflection of their innate inadequacy. In contrast, a growth mindset embodies the idea that abilities can be developed through effort and learning. This perspective fosters resilience and a willingness to embrace challenges as opportunities for growth.

Research shows that these contrasting mindsets influence how individuals cope with negative experiences. For example, people with a fixed mindset may interpret setbacks as a sign of personal inadequacy, while those with a growth mindset see them as stepping stones to improvement. Thus, cultivating a growth mindset can encourage positive emotions and enhance happiness.

As we head toward the end of the year, many salons and small business owners are busy handling the holiday rush. It’s tempting to put off some of the “bigger picture” planning—like setting your 2025 budget—until after January. But waiting until the New Year to start your budget planning can leave you behind, unprepared, and ultimately losing money. Getting your budget completed before January isn’t just a best practice; it’s the foundation for a profitable, sustainable year.

Here’s why establishing your 2025 budget is essential—and how it sets successful businesses apart.

1. Why Procrastination Costs You

Starting January without a clear financial plan is like setting sail without a compass. It is like consulting with your guest after you finish the haircut. Decisions become reactive rather than strategic, leading to financial leaks that erode profitability. For example, imagine launching into the first month with uncertain service costs, unclear revenue targets, or a loose idea of your monthly expenses. You may end up spending more on supplies, waste time on unprofitable services, or miss revenue opportunities because you didn’t allocate enough funds toward effective marketing campaigns.

I recently saw a TikTok from @BlakeReedEvans about how service providers react when they have a large hole in their schedule. A few days later I had a conversation with a salon leader who was struggling with people calling out when their first appointment wasn’t filled and it got me thinking about the whole topic of scheduling.

You obviously need to have a schedule that fits into your life. But you also need one that is appropriate for where you are on your career path. For many professionals, the schedule necessary to help them GET busy, may be different that the one that is possible once they ARE busy.

Regardless of where you are on that journey at this moment, it is important for you to be “all in” with your schedule. Another way to say it . . . you need to be 100% committed to whatever schedule you choose. If for you that’s 30 hours/week, be 100%committed to the 30 hrs. If that’s 12 hours/week, be 100% committed to the 12 hours.

I think it is important for you to actually tell yourself, “I’m committed to x hours per week in the salon and everything else needs to be scheduled around that.” Leaving the door open to thoughts like, “it’s okay to leave early if I don’t have anything,” or “I’m not showing up until I have something” can become problematic and affect you in a couple of ways:

For many small business owners, the most significant challenges often boil down to two words: time and organization. You know the drill—juggling operations, managing clients, putting out fires, and trying to fit 30 hours of work into a 24-hour day. This chaos becomes the status quo, and getting stuck in a survival mindset is easy.

But what if there was a way to regain control and change the trajectory of your business? Enter the Summit Leadership System (Summit LS)—a tool designed to help business owners, solo entrepreneurs, and leadership teams stop spinning their wheels and start moving toward sustainable growth.

The Chaos Trap: Why Do Some Businesses Avoid Organization Tools?

Why would any small business owner not adopt a system like Summit LS? Maybe it's because some feel weirdly comfortable in the chaos. The frantic pace becomes their normal, and they believe, "This is just how business works." It can feel easier to react in the moment than to carve out time to plan and organize.

But the hard truth is that chaos isn't sustainable. Eventually, the overwhelm catches up, leaving owners feeling stuck and burned out. Without structure, even the most talented entrepreneurs lose sight of their goals, and business growth stagnates.

The 2024 holiday shopping season is expected to show steady growth, with the National Retail Federation (NRF) forecasting an increase of 2.5% to 3.5% in total retail sales compared to 2023. This translates to holiday spending between $979.5 billion and $989 billion for November and December. Key drivers include a healthy job market, wage growth, and resilient consumer spending patterns despite lingering economic pressures, such as inflation, and weather-related disruptions.

Key Trends to Be Aware of:

1. Shorter Shopping Season: The period between Thanksgiving and Christmas will be five days shorter than usual. This compressed timeframe may lead to more intensive marketing efforts early in the season and a stronger focus on digital channels.

2. Online Sales Surge: Online sales will play a pivotal role, with projections indicating an 8-9% increase in e-commerce activity over last year. Small businesses should enhance their online presence to capture this growth, as online purchases are expected to account for around 30% of total holiday sales.

3. Cautious but Optimistic Spending: While consumers are more measured in their purchases, personal services such as salon and wellness offerings might benefit if bundled as experiential gifts, which are gaining popularity among consumers seeking meaningful purchases.

Running a salon means juggling creativity with business management, and navigating complex tax and financial responsibilities is part of the journey. To help salon owners avoid common financial pitfalls, our partners at Boyum Barenscheer have outlined essential steps to keep your salon compliant and financially healthy. From managing payroll for owners to accurately tracking sales tax, this guide provides actionable insights to streamline your finances, minimize audit risks, and protect your bottom line. Dive into these top 10 tax and accounting tips and set your salon up for success!

Note: Always consult with a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) familiar with the salon industry to tailor these strategies to your unique business needs.

1. W-2 for any owners who are filing Form Schedule C or Partnership Form 1065

• Schedule C salons cannot pay wages to the owners.
• Form 1065 partnerships cannot pay wages to the owners, they would instead pay guaranteed payments which are similar to wages.
• IRS prohibits a Schedule C or 1065 from paying W-2 wages to owners.
• To fix this - immediately stop paying wages.

Maximizing Holiday Sales: How Salon Owners Can Prepare for a Successful Season

The holiday season is fast approaching, and for salon owners, this is an exciting opportunity to boost retail sales and strengthen customer relationships. With a bit of preparation and a strategic approach, you can maximize your holiday promotional efforts and ensure that your salon is set up for success. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you get ready for the most wonderful (and profitable) time of the year!

1. Review Last Year’s Data

Before jumping into this year's holiday promotions, it's essential to reflect on the previous year's performance. Analyzing past data can help you make informed decisions about inventory, promotions, and team engagement. Here’s what you should review:

• Service Sales: Look at October, November, and December sales from last year. Identify trends or services that were in high demand.
• Retail Sales: Analyze the performance of your retail items during the same period.
• Guest Numbers: Check how many guests visited during those months and how many purchased holiday promotional sets.
• Signage and Promotions: Review the effectiveness of any social media posts, contests, or signage used last year to see what worked and what didn’t.

At Summit Salon Business Center, we understand the unique challenges faced by salon professionals. Our consultations often reveal two distinct groups: rental salon owners and top-performing stylists. Both groups, while successful in their own right, encounter limitations hindering their full potential. Let's explore these roadblocks and examine how the hybrid salon model can provide a strategic pathway for sustained growth.

Challenges of the Rental Salon Owner

Rental salon owners, often doubling as stylists, frequently express the immense workload and struggle to achieve profitability. Despite their dedication, many find their income barely covers rent and overhead. This disconnect between effort and reward can be disheartening.

Transitioning to a hybrid model can offer a significant advantage. By establishing a recruitment and development plan for new stylists, owners can foster sustainable business growth. Our Summit coaches can assist in creating a comprehensive career path and onboarding program, addressing critical aspects like pricing strategies and career advancement. Additionally, we can help design a compensation plan that ensures both the business and stylists benefit.

Disruption is synonymous with innovation. Disruptors bring new ideas to the forefront that are typically linked with technology to support innovative ways of working or performing. In today’s world, it’s never been easier to cause disruption. The question we must ask ourselves is, why disrupt? Is the disruption for attention or innovation?

The professional salon industry is not the first industry to attract publicity seekers. For years, publicity and attention were garnered for talent, intelligence, and results. Thankfully, those attributes hold true today, but there are new discussions percolating that unfortunately do the opposite. There are ‘hot’ ideas that remove measurements. An emerging theme we have been hearing lately is, “Why even bother?”

As described by the media, the "great resignation" has caused a lot of disruption in recent years. Even before 2020, SSBC taught and promoted flexible schedules and asking employees what makes them happy. We have since encouraged the companies we serve to embrace employee feedback and consider new ideas.

In 2006, when SSBC started talking about double-shifting and a 30–32 hour work week, many salon owners and professionals thought the notion was impossible. There is no doubt that double-shifting disrupted conventional thinking. It did, however, do something else that is noteworthy; it provided a math model to support the idea. Based on data, the average stylist had 8 hours of downtime during a 40-hour workweek. Further, upon testing and following salon professionals working shorter shifts, attitudes improved, and so did daily service averages—a win-win.