Sorella Salon Consulting

04/04/2023

We truly care about the salon owners we work with now, and also salon owners we have helped in the past!

Hannah and I take the time to focus on our clients individually so we can give them exactly what they need as a person, supporting them through the highs and lows of being a salon owner, balancing their business and life together and we also provide the education and information they need to create a thriving and successful business.

Our hearts sing, when we see our clients happy because they are learning how to be a better business owner, a better leader, create financial stability and they truly start to live their best life.

We see and feel the stress and enormous pressure lifting and fading away for them!

We hear the joy come back into their voices!

We see how helping salon owners change their business and their life, also helps those around them get better and become happier.

We truly are lucky to be able to help others and to be able to witness how incredible the people we work with are!

We are so grateful and blessed to have been able to impact so many lives in a positive way and to be able to continue helping so many people in the future. ❤️

03/03/2023

It's so sad to see so many salons up for sale or owners just simply closing the doors and walking away because they feel like they have no other choice.

A lot of salon owners are feeling defeated and broken.

We have dealt with the uncertainty of Covid and now a recession!!

The stress we have to continually battle being a salon owner, can be a really heavy negative force in our lives but it doesn’t have to be.

We continuously question,

What am I doing wrong?
Why isn't my business making enough money?
Why are my staff not performing?
How can I make it better?
How can I afford to pay my bills after I have paid my wages?
How can I support my team better?
Why did our staff member leave?

We keep ourselves up at night going over and over again in our heads asking ourselves, how can we make it better!

We work harder and for longer hours, but it seems the more money you make the more bills you have to pay.

I get it!

I have been there before myself, I understand what it is like to feel like you have no other option but to walk away!

I understand the pressure that comes with owning a business and what that can do to your mental health, relationships and family.

I have had a lot of financial pressure with a mountain of debt, I've had staff leave unexpectedly and not ending in a nice way, I've delt with depression personally and handled family tragedies while running my businesses.

Sometimes we can feel trapped and like there is no other choice for us, owning a business can be very lonely.

But there is a way out, there is light at the end of the tunnel!

I am living proof, and so are the other salon owners that my sister and I have helped over the years.

You just have to ask for help and accept the opportunity when it reveals itself to you.

You do have choices, you can change your business, you can make the amount of money you want, to have more time and freedom to be with your family and do what you want, you can get your life back and have an amazing business at the same time!

you can have it all!

You just have to want it for yourself!

If you have decided you are tired of struggling to make ends meet, and you want to learn how to use your business to actually make real money and live the life you want then all you have to do is message us, tell us about yourself and your salon and we can see if we can help you get your life back.

That's it, a simple conversation, no strings attached.

All we want to do is help you.

All you have to do is ask.

06/02/2023

30/01/2023

Are you finding that you have some clients, new or existing, that are becoming more difficult to deal with lately.

Clients who are expecting an amazing service for very little $$

Clients who come in and have their services done, pay, but then ask for a refund even though the service you provided was exactly what they asked for?

Clients who send you a pm at very inconvenient and out of hours times and get upset when you don't reply or will even try to call you or continue to text to get you to reply.

A person who gives you a one-star review, but you have absolutely no record that they even came into your salon!

What about a client who had their hair done, went home and changed their mind, and either expect a refund or want you to change it back for free?

Clients who are not showing up to their appointments or showing up late and just expect you to fit them in by either moving another client's appointment or asking you to work after hours and sacrifice your personal time off with your friends or family.

The client that is so negative, is never happy with the results that you work so hard to get for her, always complains about the smallest things and by the time her appointment is done you feel like you have had the life sucked out of you, completely drained of all of your energy. When you see the appointment booked in, you cringe before they are even in the salon.

What if I told you that yes, there are some difficult clients, and in this industry, we have to expect some difficulty with some clients but in reality, some of the issues you are having with some clients, it is actually you that has created them!

You see as an individual we can teach people how to treat us, and this includes our clients.

If we text that client back after hours, even just the once, then we are sending a message to that client that it is ok for them to do the same and expect you will text back next time.

If you agree to do that clients hair or beauty service out of your normal working hours, then the client will think it is ok to ask again for the next appointment.

If you fix the service for free even if it was your client that changed their mind, then they will always expect you to do services for free every time they have a change of mind.

If you fit your client in because they ran late, then every time they run late, they will expect you to fit them in.

If you discount their price because you needed the money or felt bad that they couldn't afford the full service then they will always expect the discounted service, in-fact when they leave you because you've had enough of doing all the work for cheap, they will ask another stylist or beautician to do it for the same price if not cheaper and get angry when they say no.

Why wouldn't they disrespect you and your time, if you have taught them that it is ok to do so.

The great news is that you can start to fix this behavior immediately!

First figure out what your boundaries are, what are you ok with and not ok with. Write them out in a list.

Then start re-training your clients, you might say yes ok, I will do that for you this time however this will not be happening again or next time ...........

or

You can literally just start saying NO!

At first setting your boundaries can be difficult and you may feel uncomfortable or nervous before you do so, but I promise that once you do, you will start to feel empowered, strong and respected!!

Yes, you may lose some of the clients who did not respect you however, you will also find that you will start to attract more of those clients who only come from a place of love and respect for you as a professional!!

So be brave, set your boundaries and start to teach your clients how you want to be treated!!

25/01/2023

STORY TIME (Warning long post ahead lol)

Have you ever been deliberately scammed by a client before?

I have!

It was back in 2005 when I was about 1year qualified but I still remember it like it was yesterday!!

I had just started a new position managing a salon, while my two amazing bosses at the time went away to the Melbourne Cup.

I had a new client come in on a Thursday evening, she was scheduled for full head foils touch up, treatment, beauty and haircut but ended up deciding that she wanted to have big change and wanted to go to a darker blonde colour with lighter blonde foils.

I was like YES great let's do it!!

So we proceeded to look at photos for inspiration, she found something she absolutely loved and I went ahead, as it was the policy in the salon to give her an $$ amount of how much it would all cost her, I had already recommended her hair care program to look after the new colour, so that was in the price as well and the products where sitting in front of her. It all came to around $450.00.

I got the go ahead from her and she was so excited!

We spoke about her hair and how amazing it would look, while applying the colour, even decided to add a little more layers into the cut as well.

She sat while her hair was processing and had a Capuchino and read her book.

The apprentice rinsed out her hair and completed her facial beauty while her treatment was in. Then took her back to the chair for me to do her haircut.

I was watching and listening this whole time. The apprentice was teaching her how to use her new products at home and they were having a great conversation, giggling here and there.

I finished with the client I had in-between her colour, and then started on her new haircut!!

She loved it!! Her hair was all finished, she was so happy and was praising me, saying, how good of a hairdresser I was, and I must admit I had done an amazing job in the time I had to do it in.

It was an absolutely crazy Thursday night, it was buzzing with staff and clients, it was as busy as it ever got on a Thursday night. We had 12 chairs in that salon, and every single one of them was full and we had 2 people in the waiting area.

Anyway, she was so happy!! She stood up out of her chair she grabbed the products and we headed towards the reception desk to pay and reschedule her next appointment, which we had already discussed.

Where she was sitting was at the back end up the salon, so she had to walk past all of the other clients in order to get to the front of the salon where the reception desk was.

All of a sudden, she stopped in the middle of the salon and started raising her voice saying, that it was horrible and asked what I had done to her hair, she never wanted to change, the cut was awful as well, I pushed her into this, and she never wanted it and she would not be paying anything. In fact, she screamed that I should give her more money to have it fixed elsewhere!!

I tried to calm her down and tried leading her back to her chair, but she wouldn't have it.

After what felt like forever she continued to walk towards the front door.

I stood Infront of her saying, I understand you are not happy with your hair, but I would like the chance to fix whatever it is that you don't like. She then became louder and more aggressive!

I then said that she should a least pay for her product, treatment and beauty.

She refused. I explained that I could not allow her to take the retail, so if she just put it down then she could go.

Honestly, at that point, in my head I was considering paying for the retail myself so she could just leave.

I was so upset, holding all my fear and tears in, but my hands were shaking. I was so embarrassed that this happened in front of everyone!! I was also aware that I had to get to my next client who had now been waiting for a good 10mins.

She put the products down on the bench and left. Finally!!

I went into the back room, did a really good like 30sec, body shaking cry, dried my eyes and went to my next client.

Then I had another client call to me across the room.

She said, Nikki that was bu****it! I've been here since she arrived, I heard your conversation about what she wanted and it looked perfect, exactly like what she was describing. That client just stole from you, and you need to call the police NOW!

So that's what I did, I called the police!

I gave them her first and last name, they didn't even ask for her contact details which I thought was very strange. They said they would deal with it and hung up the phone.

All of the clients where so lovely, they had me laughing again in no time.

Skip to the next morning when I unlocked the front door, there was an envelope that had been pushed in underneath the door, with her name on it and the amount she should have paid the evening before!

I was so relieved!! I hadn't told my bosses what had happened yet and didn't want them to worry while they were away, but now I had a great story to tell them when they got back.

Skip ahead another 3 months, I had another new client that I was telling this story to, not using any names of course. And she stopped me halfway through the story and told me the person's name and proceeded to tell me that she knew the lady and that she had done it to so many salons before and boasts about getting away with a free service!!!!!

OMG!!! I couldn't believe that someone would actually deliberately try to scam hairdressers to try and get a free service!!

So that was my worst story of a client trying to scam me out of paying for her hair service.

I've had a few more scenarios since then, but this was a pivotal moment that really opened my eyes.

I'd love to hear your stories, so feel free to share your experiences below!!

12/10/2022

A salon stops growing when the business owner stops growing!

And I'm not talking about you as a hairdresser or a beautician, you can do all the hair or beauty services yourself in the world, but this will not get your salon to the next level!

Think about it.........

When we first buy our salons, we think that because we made all this money for our past employers, that we will make all the money still, but this time, keep it for ourselves now that we are the owner.

Only to then discover that we have more bills to pay then we could have imagined.

So, because at that stage we know that we can make money by doing more services that's what we do right, more services?

By the time you know it, you are working RIDICULOUS hours, stressed to the maximum, not spending anytime with your partner or children, forget about any family holidays, not sleeping properly and really not living any type of life at all!!

Your business has consumed your life completely!!

Then we think................ I'll hire some staff, that will fix my issue.

So, we hire new employees, thinking they will take some of the pressure off.

But now we have wages, super, PAYG, holiday pay, staff holidays to cover, sick pay and sick days to cover, staff management issues!!

Then we decide that we have to work MORE HOURS and do MORE CLIENTS to cover what the staff cost, because this must be the answer right?

Are you starting to see the pattern?

And yes, in some cases, hiring staff can be the answer. However, I have found that if you're in a place of struggle before hiring staff, even if the staff you hire are incredible, you will still be in a place of struggle after hiring staff as well!

WHY you ask?

Because you are still expecting the same actions to fix the issue that you have always had!

Doing more appointments and working longer hours will only get you so far before you will be completely burnt out!!

You need help!!

And not with doing more appointments, if I hadn't already made that clear!!!

You need help learning to be an actual business owner!!

What we don't realize in the beginning is that it takes a different skill to run a business and those skills are not hair or beauty. Hair and beauty allowed us to get this far but will not help you get to the next level.

What is the next level for you, I hear you asking?

Well first it would be educating yourself on how to run your salon, and this won't be a Uni degree, I have a Diploma in Business and trust me this doesn't help for our industry.

I hear you say, you just need someone to do your marketing............. while this will help a little (if you have someone doing it well and actually getting results WITHOUT DISCOUNTING) maybe it will but please hear me when I say - MARKETING IS NOT THE ONLY THING YOU NEED TO RUN YOUR SALON!! In fact, it is a small speck on the list of the things you actually need to successfully run your salon.

While you are learning and growing, you and your business will change!

You will start getting your life back!
How could this look for you?

Everyone is different but here are some results that our current students have -

- Working less hours
- Only working school hours
- Making a s**t load more money
- Paying out debt for the business or personal
-Taking regular holidays
- Family time where they are actually present and able to enjoy.
- Alone time, no kids, no husbands, just time they need to do whatever they want.
- Amazing team and hiring more staff.
- Running the salon from home while on maternity leave
- Choosing if they actually want to continue clients or not
- Better relationships with the people they love.
- A lot less stress

I could go on and on!!

The one thing all of the salon owners that we work with have in common, is that they chose to step up, learn something new and TRUST THEMSELVES!!!!!!

I can guarantee that you can have the life you pictured when you decided to buy your salon!!! It is 100% possible!!!

You just need to get out of your own way, stop doubting yourself, accept help and invest in a better future!!

If you are ready to invest in yourself, we can help you!!

Message us today, if you are sick and tired of feeling alone and lost about what you can do to change your current circumstances within your salon.

Message NOW to change your life❤️

17/06/2022

Four amazing women will spending the next 3 days with us in an intense workshop that will be focusing on breaking down barriers to grow more than ever before.

❤️❤️❤️

25/03/2022

17/03/2022

Why are we different to every other salon coach out there you ask?

Well we are not just a "quick fix"!

What we teach lasts you a life time!

It isn't just about marketing for us, yes we do have a incredible way of getting new clients in the door and yes it works amazingly, only the other week I was able to create an ad boosted through Facebook and Insta, spent $200 and got $2200 worth of actual bookings, every client showed up except for one who rescheduled to the following week.

You see marketing wont work if the foundations of who you want to attract are not in place!

We don't just teach you how to get clients through marketing, we teach you how to get AMAZING CLIENTS through marketing.

Clients who you love and enjoy doing, clients who appreciate you for your training and experience and are willing to pay more for it. Clients who will show up EVERYTIME and will never miss an appointment and if they do they will always give plenty of notice.

Marketing is a very small portion of the skills we will teach you!

We will teach you how to increase your profit margin IMMEDIATLY!

And this isn't just with clients by upselling in retail, although we will blow yours minds with our unique system to increase the profits this way, we also have very clever ways of looking at your numbers for the salon and teaching you a better way of being able to handle your money so nothing goes to waste and you are spending wisely. This will allow you to become debt free and also save money!

We will teach you how to manage your team to be able to motivate and create loyalty so they stay longer! We will also teach you how to manifest and use your amazing new marketing skills to attract more team members if that's what you want!

We also specialize in teaching salon owners to be able to step away from the salon, maybe a couple of hours, a couple of days, or even if you just want to work on the salon from home full time, what ever you want your work/life balance to look like, we will help you achieve it!

As you can see we are not just about marketing, while it's important it isn't everything, and I could go on and on about many many more business skills that we can teach you to be able to run your salon at 100% capacity!

Another reason we are different is because we don't just work with anyone!

We are very fussy!

We don't have a program where anybody can just sign up.

There is process where we decide if you are someone who we would like to work with, if we can 100% help you and you decide that you would absolutely love the opportunity then and only then would we commit to helping you.

Once we are working with someone we have their back and support them every step of the way!

We care about the salon owners we help and are dedicated to help them achieve their dreams.

Yes we will help you create a better more successful business, but we will also help you create YOUR amazing life, the life you knew you were always meant to live!

If you need a salon mentor who is going to be dedicated to helping you and support you every step of the way,

REACH OUT!

Lets have a conversation!

All you have to do is message us!

This moment could change your life!