Idea overload

[Helenoliver]

I have an idea please let me know if you all think its a fast laner or not. I have just finished reading the book and I dont really know where to start first.
Heres a bit about me im 45 and a long story short i have at present 3 hair salons one is 7 months old and barely making a profit due to high overheads and major staff issues. My main one I have had for 6 years and was doing well (slow lane) until 2 girls left taking their clients with them. The other one is a barbers where I rent my chairs but it still doesnt stop them being off sick all the time, prevuiosly I had 2 other salons which I sold . I dont really enjoy hairdressing anymore so I dont know why I kept opening more shops, i should be bloody loaded by now but im in debt and earning £20,000 a year people think im rich with all my salons.
So its time for me to get in the fastlane and start earning some reall money.
My idea (not sure if its selfish ) but i know the business , is to start with a anti aging beauty blog, with a forum, i would then like to write a book, and possibly my own skincare range and become an expert in the feild as well as a hairdresser i am a qualified beautician. I have also bought the book lean startup, to help my test it. I have done my own website for the last 6 years so thats one thing i dont have to outsource.
What do you all think.
Winner or possible time consuming loser?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Helenoliver]

I am so sorry about the spelling mistakes, its 3am in the morning here, and I didnt check it. I just wanted to clarify that I am not illiterate

 

[AgonI]

I don't understand how can you be successful marketing your stuff online when you have failed so bad in the offline world. What makes you think you can get members to the forum, subscribers to the blog and people to buy your book? There are tons of books on styling, hairdressing etc, already successful out there, so what will make your book stand out from the rest?

I think you should focus on what you already have. I have never operated a local business myself but I bet you with some basic marketing you can get some clients back to your hair salons.
I am wondering the following:
-Why are you keeping all three locations? Why not close at least one of them, the one/s that's costing you money instead of making any? Do you really need all the three locations?
-Did you ever keep an e-mail or mailing list of your past customers? Why not e-mail them with an irresistible offer and try to get them back(offer them a free haircut, provide extraordinary service when they come in, and maybe they will stay as your customer, you have nothing to lose here, you are already paying the girls to give hair cuts, so why not get them busy)? Or do a direct mailing campaign?

If you need help on marketing, message me and I'll give you some advice in return for a testimonial(and real world experience of course) because I have been looking into working as a local marketing consultant in my area.

 

[Alana]

While women will always be looking/wanting to improve their looks (which makes this industry recession…even depression…proof), you also have to understand that it is an incredibly brutal market to get into….and unless you approach it with some serious know-how in the industry, you’re going to struggle (a lot).
You are all over the place…an anti-aging blog/forum, a book, a skincare line…..all huge undertakings. You have not mentioned what it is you personally excel at when it comes to the business.
Here’s what I personally suggest:
Stop and re-cap. Figure out what it is that you (and you specifically) have to offer women of a particular age that no one else can offer them. Don’t think about what kind of money you will be brining in at this point…think about what need you will be filling for, say, women ages 35-45 (or whatever age you feel you can best serve). What is it that I would be paying you for that I can’t get anywhere else, and why would I pay you (when I have so many other options).
Break it down even more: what are you selling: Quality, Convenience or Price?? I would focus on one of those three attributes as a starting point AFTER it’s determined what need you will be fulfilling.

Folks who tend to run FROM something TO something else will continue to do just that…run and run and run. You want to stop, figure out where you are going and what tools you have to take along with you before you take your next step.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[DennisD]

I wouldn't start the blog... and I'm a huge fan of blogs.

I'd work on making what you already have profitable and then iterate once you've gotten the kinks worked out.

 

[Helenoliver]

I didn't say it was a hairstyling book it is an anti aging book a completely different business to my salons,
my salons are slow lane as stated in the book,
and I am trying to solve people's problems, with anti aging help
I know how to market my salons i have have done it for 17 years it's just staff keep getting pregnant leaving or being off sick, also it's not just my salon all the salons in the uk are struggling I think I just opened one at the wrong time. I don't want to be doing this I don't enjoy it so I want to eventually get out. What your also saying is because I failed in my salons ( which I haven't it's just not very lucrative) that I would also fail in the Internet world . So what ,do I just give up and carry on doing something I hate.
Obviously I will keep my salons until I have solid incomes.
But I am searching for the idea that can free me at the moment I am working 45 hours a week.
And I don't enjoy it which is why I bought the book ,if I wanted to stay doing what I'm doing I wouldn't have read the book, I am implementying marketing into my salons, and I have done the best I can for them.
Sorry about the rant, I know you were just giving me your opinion and I appreciate you input but I just needed to get my point across

 

[Helenoliver]

Hi thank you for the replies, my last post was in response to agoni, I will now respond to the others, alana, when I said blog book forum and skin are I was just thinking for future I would start with the blog forum ,while writing the book, skin care is if this was successfully, I would only concentrate on one thing at a time. In business I do excell in customer service but obviously not in staff retention which was out of my hands as they leave to move abroad get pregnant or get signed off sick.
I have made some poor choices, because I was doing better a year ago until my staff left, I'm 45 do I really want to carry on working 45 hours aweek until I retire, I have no control over staff and want a Internet business that eventually gives me time. I am willing to study and put in the hard work but just need that one idea to get the ball rolling.
In response to Dennisduty, I really couldn't think anything worse then having lots more salons 3 is enough (3 too any) the reason why I did more was to do that but as I said I don't enjoy it. But thank you anyway,
I hope I haven't pissed anyone off and not been too defensive,

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[JEdwards]

You are burned out on your biz, it happens. wind it down or sell it out. (if you can) From your post, at this point it seems like a big lease liability,

You do not make enough $$, you should be able to replace it somewhere else easily. You need to be able to focus on that new thing, not employees getting pregnant, etc.

 

[Helenoliver]

Thank you jack my thoughts exactly, I need focus, but seem to be having a problem what to focus on. Maybe start my learning first. Until my mind clears read some more books, it will come to me somehow.

 

[DennisD]

Only reason I suggest working on your salons is this:

It's easy to want to find an ESCAPE. Everybody and their brother now thinks the internet is some way to escape their 'trap' of a job. But please understand that it's just as tough. You don't have to deal with employees being knocked up, but you have to deal with MUCH more competition. MUCH MUCH more competition. You'd suddenly be dealing with every college beautician, every internet savvy Avon sales rep, and every other hairdresser who read a business book. There's NO barrier to entry on this internet stuff

However, there is a cost of entry with physical salons. You're already IN that space. I don't disagree with expanding what you do. Perhaps you can create tutorial DVDs to sell out of your store, perhaps you can create your own cosmetics and use your shop as a starting point... or you can start a makeup blog MAKING SURE that it's based in/around your salon as a marketing tool.

What I'm saying is owning a salon is a HUGE advantage you've got going. You've already gotten past the huge barriers to get that in place, turn it to your advantage.

and yes, your 3 salons may be barely profitable.. but with some clever marketing and positioning maybe you can triple your prices, improve your overhead, sell your own high end products, change your business model. Maybe you can develop a new system of hiring quality staff. If you can do that.. maybe your future does lie on the internet but in training salons on how to properly staff.

I just don't think a generic beauty blog is for you. There's too many of them out there already, it's new to you, you'd have to endure for a few years before you could live off of it, and frankly your writing's not the best either, so that's another skill you'd have to perfect on the way.

I think while you're reading books your brain is becoming overloaded with NEW ideas and you don't know which direction to head in. I have a friend who writes movie/television scripts and we were talking about brainstorming. A 'tip' he told me that never wore off:

Partially through a script, you'll get new ideas for other stories. This happens to everybody, what distinguishes the accomplished writer from the newbie with 3 dozen half-finished stories is this: The accomplished writer realizes the 'new' idea applies to his existing story. It takes incredible skill to integrate them but it's what makes masterpieces.

Now I don't have to tell you that this doesn't only apply to scriptwriting. Sometimes while developing a business idea you'll have new ideas... and it takes great skill and a creative mind to realize these ideas can work into their existing business.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Helenoliver]

Thank you Dennis, you make some very valid points, I still want to have a business on the Internet, I will never be rich or even comfortable off from my salons and will keep them until I have a stable alternative income source. My writing is good enough, writing these posts are not blogs or a book so I don't really proof read before I post, I have had articles in hair magazines that did not need to be edited and I am typing from an iPad not my laptop, so I am quite capable of writing an ebook.

 

[chrishobson]

Thank you Dennis, you make some very valid points, I still want to have a business on the Internet, I will never be rich or even comfortable off from my salons and will keep them until I have a stable alternative income source. My writing is good enough, writing these posts are not blogs or a book so I don't really proof read before I post, I have had articles in hair magazines that did not need to be edited and I am typing from an iPad not my laptop, so I am quite capable of writing an ebook.

If you have written articles for magazines, then you should use that to your advantage in your existing salons. Write more of them, and make yourself an acknowledged expert in that field. People will pay more for services when they believe they are receiving better value for their money, even if it is just your employees doing the work.

Make your salons the best in your area. Normal prices for a women's haircut here is ~$60-80 (with highlights), but there are salons that sell haircuts all day long for $200+. One of the salons in my old neighborhood used to have different levels of hairdressers, so they could get new customers for a $120 haircut, and then slowly work them up over $200! Sell your own brand of hair supplies (I assume this is normal, but maybe not). Think add-on sales to your existing client base to improve the profitability of your current customers. Link to that salon, with which I have no affiliation - Hair Salon & Spa Folsom | Hair Extensions & Color Roseville, El Dorado Hills, Granite Bay - Hoshall's Salon And Spa

Employees are the hard part, but if you get their compensation right they'll stay. I'd be willing to bet you're hiring cheap young hairdressers, I wouldn't hire many of them at all. Too unreliable. Look for hairdressers that have already shown they want to keep doing hair for a while, but are interested in earning more money through sales and continued improvement of their craft.

Already being in these businesses is IMO an advantage as Dennis said above. You just need to get better leverage off of them. More customers, or more profit per customer. I'd prefer the latter.

Also, I feel like I have written far too much on hairdressing for someone who is balding and shaves his head lol