the ramblings of a chronic over thinker

do we have enough time for this?

that’s a lot of time!

there’s a misconception about salon services that i would like to address with this post. if you look closely at our pricing, you should notice that, apart from experience, time is the factor that will cost you. the longer a service, the more it will end up costing. when you’re looking to book an appointment, ask yourself some simple questions like, what do i really want? how long am i willing to sit for? can i afford it?

one huge hang up is colour transformations. if you have jet black hair and you want it ‘blonde’ but only have 3 hours to spare, no, not good. you should be booking a COLOUR CORRECTION because there is more time with this service than a FULL HIGHLIGHTS service. when it comes to lightening hair, we offer the three hour spot to accommodate a basic colour service. but if your hair is really thick, long, or super dark, that time might be more like 5 hours! maybe you don’t need a transformation, maybe you just need a retouch of your highlights but your hair is really thick AND long. you’ll probably be spending upwards of $300+ on your mane and at least 3 plus hours in the shop.

these cornrows took 2 hours

this updo took an hour

these highlights took three hours

have you ever noticed the timing on our services when you book online? for example, in our shop, the service BLOWOUT is 45 mins and the service BLOWOUT AND PRESS is 90 mins. the timing for the blowout is a placeholder and MOST hair types work with this length of time. if you have super thick long heavy hair, that 45 min blowout you booked could be 60 mins! in our shop, after the first appointment, we do our best to adjust your service for future appointments.

all of this to say, pay attention to the timing a little more than the pricing. i’ve seen a few bookings where a 90 min service time booked a 45 min service time because the cost of the shorter time service was more favourable. that’s tricky because you and you 90 min hair want to pay less and complain if the service provider isn’t quick enough! what? not cool.

we want to make sure that you are getting the service you need at the time that works best. honestly, if you’re concerned, book a consult. it’s 15 mins (not much time) and will help clarify any confusion about time and price. remember, good things take time, sometimes even your hair!

✌🏾 -p

the ramblings of a chronic over thinker

shopping and retail, oh my!

i like a 75% off sale myself…

i woke up this morning to an email from a supplier titled ‘spring something or the other’. the point of the email was to remind me, as the business owner, that i should be looking at ordering and stocking up for spring so i’m 'ready’. spring?! for real? it’s not even christmas people!

retail is a huge portion of my business and now that EVERYTHING is so pricey, it’s tough to decide how to navigate the store and my retail purchasing. we have black friday coming up (we’re not even american), then boxing day and then what? new years, valentines and all the reasons that you can buy stuff? that is what is coming up next. it never ends. i feel like the retail tango is hard on me. do we really need this much stuff? gifts? personal items? is it necessary at all? we buy what we need and that’s fine, that makes sense to me. but, it’s when we buy what we don’t need, buy because of a prompt, or buy because it’s 75% off regardless of needs, that’s the troublesome part.

so you come into the shop and buy some shampoo and conditioner, in three months, you can re-up. if there’s a sale along the way, sure, stock up! but is it necessary to purchase all the time? i can’t expect all my clients to buy items every time they come to the shop can i? it is definitely a conundrum i struggle with. all the reporting says retail is one of the best strategies to make money, but is it? i have suppliers emailing me with black friday preorders and deals, just to follow up with more emails about holiday gift sets or deals. how can i buy every time i get the prompt if MY products aren’t moving off the shelf?

suppliers attempt to deliver this scarcity type concept for the month of december. they try to make us understand that if a client needs a product during the holidays and i don’t have it? shame! shame! i have to make sure that i have all the things ready for a client to come and shop/spend. it makes sense because the formula for retail includes a markup so yes, it’s an ‘easy‘ way to make some revenue. but then i worry about how much my clients spend and if they indeed really need all the things i sell? i know sales bring folks in and sales prompt folks to buy but is that okay? who is policing my clients accounts? i can’t convince someone to NOT buy something if they think they need it even though i believe they don’t. …i mean, retail therapy is one of my fave types of therapy….

these are cool, i like the handles

all of this to say, be smart with your spending. buy only what you need and if you have time, go through your product cupboard and see what you have that you use and what you have that you don’t use. take stock before you purchase and don’t be easily prompted by my sales and marketing tactics to buy my stuff, or do!😉😉

✌🏾-p

the ramblings of a chronic over thinker

can you believe it?

counting down the days

november is here. we have this month and another before we wrap up 2024. it has been an interesting year and as a business owner, there was some good and a lot more bad. as a mom and wife, there was a lot of good with some bad sprinkled in. what should be my focus? does one perspective hold more weight than the other?

the year is coming to an end and i’m reflecting through two different lenses. through the business lens, it’s been tough and i foresee at least 3 more tight years ahead before my perspective can shift more positively. through the personal lens, 2024 was good. only a few accidents, no deaths and all my loved ones are happy and mostly adjusted, heavy emphasis on the mostly. i mean, we still have eight weeks left so maybe i should cross my fingers?

i suppose this two way view is quite common for most of us. there’s an intersectionality here that makes issues sometimes contradictory. prices need to go up (business lens), but my kids need food and to engage in social activities (personal lens). higher prices on the personal side are very stressful because i aim to try to give my children a life not just similar to mine, but better. when i was making minimum wage it was $5.25/hour. now it’s $15+/hour and it’s still not enough to live well, not to mention to raise a child! personally, this christmas will be interesting once it’s all said and done. ‘businesslly’, i’ll be happy to wrap up 2024 and move on.

depending where you stand, what do you see?

i’m practicing acceptance and leading by example. these traits, i hope, should guide me pretty well while i wear both hats. i can accept the changes (rising costs) and lead by example (sell more products) in my business. i can accept the rising costs of food and goods and try to adjust my lifestyle (maybe start a garden or get some chickens?) and i can lead by example at home by doing my best to maintain the rules and regulations i set in my home.

it’s difficult to manage contradiction in any way but maybe also not so difficult?? i don’t know the answers guys, i just keep coming with the questions.

✌🏾

-p

the ramblings of a chronic over thinker

checking in!

tick tock

i’m about half way through my business course and i must say, i am learning interesting things. i learned the TRUE cost of products. i learned the REAL definition of inventory and i learned to ask for what i need from my accountant. all in all, great progress. the progression made during the last few months will prepare me for the new year around the corner!

2025 marks a fresh start for many. freshair boutique would be turning 15 and i will be another year older and another year wiser! the last bit of this quarter, i’m going to focus on preparing for the new year using the new methods i’ve learned in this course. i’ll get back to the basics. sometimes i need to remember that owning a business is quite rewarding, and having a space like this to vent, ask questions, and converse, is great! do you have a place you can open up in? do you feel supported in your life? maybe you have a business? are you feeling good about it?

you doing okay?

hit me up if you have any business tips or words of advice and encouragement! i love hearing from the internet wink😉😉.

times are tough out there and let’s try to be kind.

✌🏾

-p

the ramblings of a chronic over thinker

anyone know a thing or two or three about marketing?

welcome back! so this week i’m focusing on marketing. during our last staff meeting we got into a pretty interesting conversation about exposure, promotions and marketing. all kinds of suggestions were given. my personal favourite was that jumbo inflatable person-like thing that grabs your attention. i mean, i’m watching it move, but i’m not sure i’m going to come in for a set of highlights because of that guy…

a very long time ago i remembered someone saying your marketing budget should be 10% of your gross, blah, blah, blah. in the grand scheme of things, that’s not a lot, but it’s also sometimes not enough. the way marketing works is this: you plan, you execute, and then you wait for the results. hopefully the ‘plan’ was fool proof and the execution timely. even with a flawless plan and meticulous execution, do marketing groups or plans have a guarantee? like the inflatable tube guy, if i bought him, is there a guaranteed number of folks that would come into my shop? can the formula of marketing promise me more than 1% return on my investment?

can this convince you to get a haircut?

in my industry, the best marketing is you guys! the best promoting is from the patrons that use our services and can attest to the quality of the goods and services we provide. word of mouth is still killing it aaaaand you don’t need 10% of your profits to implement it.

she’s telling everyone about her new haircut!

there are two main topics i’d love to market and promote. fresh knowledge and a styling line for afros. fresh knowledge offers courses integral to our industry because there is no formal training for afros and other hair types (from the government) and there is no formal product lines either (from our suppliers). the powers that be have made it very clear that afros and other hair types are not a priority in the hair industry. this course could help so many stylists equip themselves so they can provide services for afros and other hair types. the government and the supply companies only let hanging hair have a seat at the table. hanging hair! you know what that is. essentially everyone whose hair grows out of their head and is effected by gravity. it hangs straight down and when wet, has absolutely NO VOLUME. if you have hair like that, you’ve never had a problem getting any hair service (well maybe you did, but it wasn’t because the stylist didn’t know what to do). for the rest of us that fall in between hanging hair and afros, we had to figure out cutting, styling and colouring on our own.

so i can spend thousands of dollars to use a company to package and promote fresh knowledge but will it work? could they guarantee me more registrations? maybe? how about the product line? after i create it, produce and package it, would marketing help me sell it all? i mean, maybe some, but could i get a guarantee?

two incredible ways to increase my revenue and make a difference! the reality is, the cost to communicate my new ideas isn’t feasible for my business in this current climate. how long does one wait? when there’s marketing money available? when i have all the time to plan, produce and execute a product line? well, stay tuned.

✌🏾

-p

the ramblings of a chronic over thinker

salonscale is here!

for you newer readers, freshair is in the middle of a business re-org. since the pandemic, many business have been in a full on slump. from lack of employees, to rising cost of goods, it’s tough. businesses are closing, and this is the time to make some decisions in the new landscape of supply and demand. we have signed up for a business course to expose the leaks in our financial bucket. this week, i introduce salonscale!

it is a new software that helps salons keep costs low in regards to services that uses products. for example, colour or highlights. we mix up your shade and apply, you pay, you love, you leave. the issue is that most employees over mix or under mix and over charge or under charge for this ‘usage’ part. salonscale is promoting transparency with product usage and because we weigh the products used to do the service, you only pay for what you use. nothing more. if you have fine hair and use less, your ‘usage’ should reflect that.

this ethical and transparent way to keep track of the usage, benefits the salon because now we can weigh the products used and then order just what we need. the software tracks the usage and if used properly will reduce waste, and keep the cost to my client steady.

can’t see through this, what’s going on?

we are hoping to roll it out sometime in the next few weeks so if you are coming into the shop and get a balayage or a root retouch, you might notice a few changes. the amazing thing i love about the software (apart from the savings part) is that it records what you used for the service and it is automatically saved so the same amount can be mixed again!

i was a little hesitant to share this with everyone but in the vein of transparency, i think it’s important to know. especially for my clients and patrons of our shop. many folks don’t know what goes into every service and style and we want all of you to be educated. it’s exciting to see the hair industry step up and provide some support to the back end of our business. if you have any question, hit me up. if you’re a stylist and have questions, hit me up too!

upwards and onwards!

-p