The Covid-19 pandemic has caused several new changes to the way a hairstylist and barber works. Many stylists and barbers have needed to attain new jobs, while others have to found ways to readjust. While most people could take their jobs home, barbers and hairstylists, small business entrepreneurs like you don’t have that leisure. So what can you do? One solution is to open a mobile hair salon or a barbershop business. In a world where staying at home is encouraged and reducing contact is all the rage, this can be a fantastic idea to help grow your existing business or start something entirely new. If you are unsure where to begin, here are the steps you can take to open a mobile salon or barbershop successfully. So let’s get to understand the ins and outs of opening a mobile salon or mobile barbershop business and how it can supplement you and provide you more flexibility and opportunities to advance.
You May Be Asking, What Exactly Is A Mobile Hair Salon?
A mobile hair salon business or a barbershop is a business where the hairdresser or barber doesn’t just work in a traditional brick-and-mortar business. Instead, they work in different places, usually driving to the customer’s home or nearby location for the service.
There are a few different ways in which a mobile salon or a barbershop can operate:
1. A fully mobile hair salon business or barbershop operates out of a vehicle, perhaps a large van—this serves best when you don’t want to spend a large amount of money on rent but still need a structure to perform client appointments.
2. Visit the customer’s house on a request basis without purchasing a van or pay rent—this serves best for freelance hair or beauty stylists or barbers who want flexibility but don’t want to hold themselves to a physical salon business set-up.
3. Operate through a physical salon store as well as operate a mobile service business on the side. The mixture works best for stylists who want to continue servicing their customers from their brick-and-mortar salon or barbershop business and want to increase their income. Having a mobile option gives you the ability to reach out to customers who value your services but can’t visit the hair salon due to age, health, mobility issues, or time constraints.
Details To Pay Attention To In Order To Start And Run Your Hair Salon Business Smoothly
While the essential services stay the same, some complications make running a mobile business somewhat complex. Here’s everything you need to understand in advance to run a mobile hair salon or barbershop business.
Start A Mobile Hairdressing Business Plan
Similar to any other business, starting a mobile barbershop or salon demands a business plan. The only distinction between this business model and a traditional business model is that you won’t inevitably have a permanent business location. Still, other than that, everything else is very comparable.
It would help if you wrote out all of your business numbers. Figure out What type of services you will be offering and at what prices. Also, figure out which cities you will be servicing. What kind of profit goals do you want to see for your business, and when do you plan to achieve your goal? Put your plans on paper, verify your intentions with an experienced salon owner or a business professional, and begin to work.
If you want to work on a physical store combination model + a mobile salon, make sure to count in all of the costs related to your vehicle and travel costs. On the other hand, going fully mobile will reduce your rent and bills, but your transportation and associated costs will go up as well.
Consider Your Mobile Salon Location Possibilities
When you work from a physical location, you’re pretty much bound to it. Being mobile has its benefits, but the flexibility you get also means that you have to determine where and how you’re going to run your business. For hairdressers and barbers, it’s most helpful to purchase a form of transportation for all the supplies you’ll need to haul.
As a mobile hairdresser or barber, you have three primary choices:
-Doing hair from home
-Visiting customers to do their hair at their houses
-Renting a chair in a Brick-and-mortar hair salon or barbershop business
If you work from home, you have the advantage of not having to commute anywhere. You’ll spend fewer funds on the driving expenses, and you’ll have more control over the times you want to work. However, you’ll get the adverse side-effect of remote work. When working from home, you may start to feel like you’re always working even when you’re not seeing clients because your work and home are the same. Financially, this is the best part.
The second option is traveling to see customers in their houses. The main perk is being able to see multiple customers at one time. Imagine cutting hair for a whole family or an elderly home. You could also get a grasp of clients who may have never been to your hair salon because you’re just too far away. On the flip side, you have to factor in the expenses of travel. You’ll not only have to spend money on your equipment and gas, but you’ll have to consider repairs as well. Also, you may not feel like hauling around your tools and products all the time.
Lastly, there is the option of renting a chair in a hair salon or barbershop. The most significant perk is not having to worry about having a precise location to meet your customers. In general, they will be more confident of you and your business when they see you’re operating out of an actual salon. Nevertheless, some downsides come with this.
You’ll have to pay a specific expense for renting a chair in a salon, which may end up costing more than traveling in your vehicle. The second issue is that even though you’re in their salon, you’re still in charge of locating your customers.
Whichever option you decide on, know that there is no perfect answer. The great thing is that as with mobile hairdressing or a barber, you can try out different business models to see what is most suitable for you and your customers. You can even mix and match several locations as you please for the most incredible flexibility.
Mindfully Respect Your Working Mobile Hair Salon Business Hours From The Start
When you’re operating from a salon, you usually have set hours that you’re going to operate, which could be one of the foremost motives of why you want to go to mobile hairdressing. The thing is that freedom may not be everything you had dreamed of; the grass is not always greener on the other side.
You will get the advantage of working early or later in the evening, which some of your customers may favor because they can’t make it to a hair salon during regular hours. However, you are setting yourself up for stress if you don’t arrange strict hours from the very beginning.
For example, you might want to take a break, and you’ll get a customer calling you up to do their hair late in the evening, while you prefer working mornings.
The point is, although flexibility is essential, it’s also a great thought to set some limits. Otherwise, you’ll end up booking appointments at times you don’t want, especially if you’re having a flat time and you need the funds.
One approach to counter this is having firm calendar control and an appointment booking calendar in place. Having online booking software is the way to go. A tool like Tanto, for example, can help you get a better handle on your scheduling.
Lastly, be conscious that although you may still work 8 hours as you would in a regular salon, you’ll spend fewer hours truly doing hair. Depending on where you reside and work, you’ll have to use quite a bit of time every day running from customer to customer, so factor that into your calendar.
Tips How To Market And Promote A Mobile Hair Salons Business To Clients
Salons and barbershops rely a lot on walk-in traffic. While hair salons have established customers, a lot of marketing comes from the storefront and sign.
The location is one of the benefits of having a brick-and-mortar salon. With mobile hairdressing or barbering, you will have to spend double the time and effort on your marketing efforts to get comparable results.
Here are a few pointers:
-Be intentional with your marketing and keep it uniform. Ensure that your vehicle has branding and signage, and all of your marketing elements state who you are, where to reach you, and what you do precisely. If they can’t locate your hair salon’s location, they can and should know what to expect from your transportation form.
-Obtain full use of social media marketing. It’s a fabulous idea to run geotargeted social media advertisements in the cities where you expect to operate. With the right mixture of wording and visual content, you’ll be capable of drawing in the right customers on Facebook or Instagram. A lot of customers are still careful regarding going into hair salons and going out and about in general. Allowing them to get their hair done at their house could be just the right selling point.
-Consider teaming up with other local businesses and organizations to work as partners. One-off customers are fabulous, but having a wedding venue or something similar to work with can provide you with many clients at one time.
-Don’t forget about using conventional ads such as flyers, journal ads, and local radio or getting on to local business indexes. At the very start, you’ll need to spend more on this type of business marketing until you are doing ok with just word-of-mouth promotion.
Conclusive Considerations
While managing a mobile salon or a barbershop is an uncommon hurdle, it has many benefits. When social distancing is growing to be the norm and customers require more flexibility than regularly. Mobile business can be a great way to increase your current business or start an entirely new, profitable business.