A hairdresser's story: From burnout to profit

This is Milla's story about how integrating her paid services turned her life around, saving her money and leaving more time for the family.

Milla had a problem that many wellness and beauty professionals could identify with. Milla was using her spare time to take care of company admin work, such as compiling register reports and reconciling receipts. This meant her family and social life was suffering.

Eventually, Milla found a solution that has not only helped her reclaim free time but also made it possible to hire rental chair entrepreneurs for her business. But how did Milla solve this problem?

First, let’s go back a little and find out more about Milla’s story.

As a little girl, Milla dreamed of a hairdressing career. Now, hairdressing is her profession, she loves her job, and has many wonderful clients. When Milla first set up her hair salon, she hoped that one day she would be able to hire rental chair entrepreneurs. Milla also dreams of being able to reduce her workload without having to compromise on her quality of life. 

In addition to her work, Milla loves to travel and she would like to show her family the world. The problem is, it’s hard enough to find the time and money to run a business, let alone travel to distant countries. 

As was mentioned before, in addition to her own work, Milla handles company admin tasks in her spare time. This includes compiling register reports and reconciling receipts, which cuts into her valuable family and social time.

And of course, Milla also dreams of growing her business.

Some of the key obstacles Milla faces when expanding her business:

• Milla uses a traditional paper calendar. Even when the calendar is full, there are often many last-minute cancellations and no-shows, and Milla has no help filling in the gaps. Sometimes customers just forget to come, as paper calendars don't send reminder messages. 

• Milla's current register is a physical one, which means it takes several hours a month to compile reports and would take even longer if there were more entrepreneurs involved.

• Milla’s register is also not integrated with the payment terminal: first she needs to input the sums into the register and then again into the payment terminal. This means there are often mistakes between checkout and settlement reports. Milla spends hours on Sunday working to fix these receipt reconciliations.

• In general, Milla is not a fan of setting up new systems and she is worried about their monthly payments, which will inevitably fall on the shoulders of the business owner. She also fears what these might cost if there were 2, 3 or 4 entrepreneurs at the site!

Milla is exhausted and already considering a career change. But then she hears from a friend about Book Salon: a service company focused only on beauty and wellness companies that has entered the market. 

Businesses like Milla’s can receive all the services they need from Book Salon in one working package: a payment terminal that works together with the appointments system and checkout, as well as reports for accounting. The service has a monthly price of £29/month/location (excl. VAT). Milla thinks her friend must be mistaken: “£29 a month PER SALON?!”. Yes, really, and on top of that you can start using the service for free by signing up on the Book Salon website. 

In the end, Milla makes a call with a Book Salon expert, and after a comprehensive 30-minute remote demo of the service and its features, Milla's dream of expanding her company is once again rekindled. 

These are the benefits discussed during the demo:

• Book Salon services can be used with a mobile phone, tablet or laptop. -> No expensive equipment purchases required.

• The calendar has been developed to suit her needs, and reminders for customers are automatically sent from the calendar (SMS and email) -> Last-minute cancellations drop to almost zero. 

• You can add as many users to the calendar as your salon needs for no additional charges. Each user can also adjust their own settings for the calendar. -> All of this supports Milla’s wish to expand her business.

• The checkout works together with the calendar and the services can be exported from each calendar directly to the checkout. -> Fast and logical. Milla's company reports now come automatically from the system. Other entrepreneurs also receive their own reports directly from the system.

• Book Salon's payment terminal automatically connects to the checkout. Just turn on the payment terminal and it will connect in a few minutes. -> Now the checkout and payment terminal are integrated, the input errors have vanished and the checkout reports match. 

• Book Salon makes settlements on card payments per entrepreneur on a daily basis. -> Rental chair entrepreneurs always pay Milla a contractual commission, which they can check directly from the checkout reports.

• In addition to all this, gift cards are also available for sale online. -> During the high season (Mother's Day, Women's Day, Christmas etc), gift cards are sold widely online and this offers Milla a great opportunity to earn extra revenue.

Milla decides to take Book Salon for trial, as there is no fixed term in the contract and at the very least she stands to lose nothing. After a few months, Milla sees how much her workload has decreased. She no longer needs to spend her free time wrestling with receipts and reports – instead she has time for her loved ones. As a result, Milla hired her first rental chair entrepreneur and her dream of traveling with her family looks like it might become a reality.

Did you identify with Milla’s story? Book a free remote demo during which a Book Salon expert will get to know your business and tell you about the benefits that Book Salon can offer you. Book an appointment below or read more!