08/09/2026
We'd just had our best year ever.
The salon was busy.
Money was coming through the till.
From the outside, everything looked great.
Then I sat down with my accountant.
He congratulated me.
“Best year you've ever had.”
Brilliant.
Then he told me I owed $60,000 in tax.
There was just one problem.
I didn't have it.
I'll never forget that feeling.
I'd worked my arse off.
We'd taken more money than we'd ever taken.
Everyone looking at the business probably thought we were doing really well.
And I couldn't pay a bill I should have known was coming.
I felt like a fraud.
But it taught me one of the most important lessons I've ever learned about business:
The money coming through your till isn't your money.
Some belongs to wages.
Some belongs to tax.
Some belongs to stock.
Some belongs to running the salon.
And hopefully, some belongs to you.
Eventually I stopped looking at turnover as the measure of success.
Because I don't care if your salon takes ÂŁ20k, ÂŁ40k or ÂŁ100k a month.
I care how much you keep.
That's something I definitely learned the hard way.
Has this happened to you?