What You Need to Know Before Opening a Salon Suite

If you're looking for the next way to level up your business but don't exactly love the idea of owning a big full-service salon maybe suite life is for you! Prior to opening my salon suite, I worked in 3 big salons. The reasons I decided to leave & start my own space was primarily because I wanted to cultivate the best guest experience & break away from toxic salon drama ;).

I opened my suite in January of 2022 and it has been an absolute blast! So, I am here to give you all the dirty nitty gritty secrets about suite life! Let's get to it!

#1 Clientele & a Schedule to Accommodate

Moving into a salon suite isn't ideal for someone that doesn't have the clientele to support it. Because since you're out on your own, you are the one having to do all the marketing to find new clients. You won't have a salon doing that for you. So having a stable clientele will ensure that you'll be able to pay rent & your bills each month & still be making money. I started at a commission salon and then transitioned to a booth rental salon and then to a suite. Personally, I think that is the best ideal because you slowly get to take on more responsibilities and not feel like you're drowning.

Overall, if you cannot fill your books, you are losing money since your space is sitting there not being used. It's an expensive investment so make sure you're prepared for it.

#2 Know Your Finances

Before you go suite hunting, go through your finances and breakdown all of your current business expenses:

-Booth rent

-Color / Supplies costs

-Licensing

-Assistants

-Systems and Process fees

(etc)

Once you've done that, you need to pinpoint how much you want to pay yourself. Then after taking all these items into consideration, you can know how much you can budget each month for a salon suite space.

#3 Carrying a Retail Line + Buy Ins

As odd as it is, some lines do not allow salon suites to carry their products. I have never understood the reasoning behind that. So do your homework and see what lines allow you to carry within a suite and if they have any ordering requirements or buy in requirements. I chose to carry the Unite products because I didn't have any monthly minimum ordering requirements or any buy ins to carry their line. Some brands I looked into required a buy in of $3500-$5000 and had minimum monthly order amounts of $800+ dollars. When you are an independent stylist, it is best to know how much retail you can sell & what specific products you sell a lot of. Some brands require you to carry the entire line vs picking and choosing your favorites. Retail is a great additional money maker but don't dry up your bank account buying in to companies and monthly minimums.

#4 Underrated & Overrated Equipment

Some suites will come equipped with most essential equipment's, but here's a list of the necessary items you need in your suite & items you can bypass!

Need:

Styling Chair

Shampoo bowl + Chair

Storage Space

Retail Display

Broom/dustpan

Cleaning supplies

Color tray

Mirror

Towels + Capes

Card Processing System

Laundry Detergent

Optional:

Music

Drinks + Snacks

Processing Light

Mini Fridge

Additional chair for processing

Anti-Fatigue Mat

Brand Logo Sign

Decorations

Ring Light

Waiting area seating

Air Filter

#5 Sharing or Sole-Ownership

Suites can get pricy if you're not careful. If after looking over your finances, you realize that owning a suite on your own in not feasible, perhaps look into sharing a suite with someone else! You can do this in multiple ways: Single Suite with 2 part time stylists, Double Suite with 2 full time stylists, Double suite with 2 part time 1 full time stylist, Double suite with 4 part time stylists.

In my situation, I have a single suite and I have 2 assistants. On the days I don't work, my assistants get to take their own clients here. Since our space is only a single, there isn't a ton of room for a stylist to be booth rent and supply all their own color & such. So, my assistants are commission so they can use my inventory.

If you are finding a suite mate, make sure you find someone who has similar ideas for the space & is as determined to make it be successful as you are. You are co-owning it, so your partner needs to be reliable, responsible & willing to do the nitty gritty stuff right along with you.

#6 Systems & Apps to Use

Find the right booking system for you. Previously before starting my suite, I used the Vagaro booking system. I loved it! It was easy to use and very online booking friendly! That system was great, however, the salon I worked at was paying for us to use that. I needed to make the decision to either pay for it on my own or find something cheaper. I decided that I wanted something cheaper because I needed to make some cuts to my expenses because the suite, I was going to would be more expensive.

So I started using Square for my booking & I have honestly loved it! I use their payment system as well and square makes it super easy to keep track of exactly how much money you make, client notes & formulas and it shows exactly what dates your clients saw you & individual upcoming appointments. It is very easy to use & it is free!

If you are using square to take payments, I would recommend creating a tax that gets added onto every ticket to cover the processing fee that square charges. This will save you at least $2000 each year. Currently the processing fee they charge is 2.6% + 10 cents per transaction. I set my tax rate to 3.4% because it covers a little more of the actual fees on some transactions and covers a little less on others, so it balances out to keep you not spending extra money on those stupid fees. This way you pocket more & you can put more back into making your guest experience better.

#7 Locations & Suite Size

When choosing a salon suite location, pay attention to these key factors:

-What is the city like?

-Is it in a good or bad part of the city?

-How close are you to the freeway?

-Are there surrounding businesses?

-How are the surrounding businesses doing?

-How far is this from your previous workspace? (If you're moving more then 10-15 minutes away you could possibly lose clients due to conveniency)

-What is the parking situation?

-Is it well-lit at night?

-Would you feel comfortable with your client's walking to their cars at night?

At the end of the day, you want to feel safe in this environment and have your guests feel comfortable and safe as well.

When touring suites, here is what you need to pay attention to:

-Are a majority of the suites filled? *If not, this place could be priced too highly*

-How is the building kept? Is it clean or dirty?

-Is the building outdated?

-Is it an inviting environment?

-How expensive is the suite per week?

-Do they provide a laundry room?

-Do they provide a breakroom?

-Do they have a waiting area?

-What amenities come in the suite & what will you have to provide?

-What are you allowed to do to your room to make it your own?

-Are you allowed to share the suite?

-How long is the lease?

#8 Boosting Your Guest Experience

This is your chance to take your guest experience to the next level. That means if you are leaving an awesome salon environment, this needs to be BETTER. Better means they start referring more people to you, your books get busier and so you can charge more. They can't go from an awesome atmosphere to a subpar one. They will leave. So, visualize that you would like to experience as a client and see if that matches the money you charge for your services. Want to charge more, level up your guest experience. & Here are the best ways to do it:

-Hiring an assistant! This allows the guests have more attention!

-Offering complementary drinks or snacks

-Extended scalp & neck massages

-Hot towels during the massage

-Essential oils during the massage

-Providing them with an itemized menu of add on services (They do this at spas, and I love it! I not only a notified of other services which I didn't know of before, but it seems fancier to choose them myself)

#9 Hiring Assistants

Deciding to hire an assistant was a tough decision. I kept wondering if I would have the clientele to support a double-booking lifestyle. Once I hired an assistant, I realized that it made my life 1000x easier. Services went quicker, Laundry was always clean, Color was always restocked & it made the dreaded tasks like blow-drying not seem so bad!

Personally, if you want to maximize the money you can make in a suite. Hire an assistant! This way you can see double the clients and have someone to help you with the nitty gritty stuff that takes away from working on your business.

When hiring an assistant, I would slowly make the transition. Because you might find that you prefer doing it all yourself. I started with 1 day a week working with an assistant and double booking. This way I could learn how to effectively time myself and not be overly stressed. Over the next several months I progressively worked myself up to having an assistant with me full time. Do what feels best for you!

#10 Growing Your Business & Feeling Confident

You will now be in a space where you are solely the ONLY one marketing for you & finding clients. You need to make sure you can handle that on your own. That is why freshly graduated beauty school people start in salons first. Because it helps them grow their clientele when they don't know how to. But here are the most effective ways to attract new guests:

-Having an aesthetically pleasing social medias to attract new guests

-Providing content that serves the guest you're trying to attract (for example if you want potential clients to follow you, they won't benefit from seeing a post about what formulas you used. they will benefit from posts that solve one of their problems or give them inspiration)

-Having a killer salon experience

-Being a nice human! (Being a nice human is doing good business)

-Continuing your education! The more you learn the better you become and the faster your clientele grows!

I hope this post answered your questions about suites! Owning a suite is the best decision I've made in my business but I'm glad that it took me 5 1/2 years to do it! It allowed me to grow & learn necessary lessons that would then be vital to creating a successful salon suite!

For any additional questions feel free to contact me via email or on any of my other social media platforms!

Email: Becthestylist@gmail.com

Social Media: Becthestylist