Video: 5 secrets to business success
Running a successful salon isn't easy. After 27 years in business, Hellen Ward, PB columnist and managing director of Richard Ward Hair & Metrospa, shares some of the most important lessons she’s learned along the way, from how to know which trends will work for your salon, to the importance of looking after your own health and wellbeing.
1. Grow your own team
“It’s been tempting so many times over the years to try and get that short-term fix and poach staff, but it never works because if someone leaves their place of work to come to you then the chances are they’ll leave you one day too," says Ward. "Whereas, if you can get them from fledgling and shape and mould them then they’ll know your ways.”
2. Stay true to your brand
"It’s easy to be a but splurge gun and look at what everyone else is doing and take some of those bits and try to make it work for you but really, the true path is always that strong path to ignore what everyone else does and only take note of those people you want to compete against," explains Ward. "That then rules out half of the splurge gun and you can then be a bit more key in what you want to embrace and what you want to discard."
3. Learn from your mistakes
"Whenever I hear someone speak or I read about their success, it’s the mistakes they made, it’s what they get wring that shapes the path to their success," says Ward. "All those things that we’ve got wrong along the way is how we arrived at how we got it right. And we don't like to talk about when things go wrong; we like to talk about how successful we are but you can’t learn from that. You can only learn from what you get wrong."
4. Embrace change
"Our customers are so on it; they know about every new development in skincare. So, you’ve got to be one step in front of them but you’ve also got to embrace what you think is right for your core clientele and discard the bits that you don’t think are going to work for them," advises Ward. "You have to stay on top of what your client wants because if she doesn't get it from you she’s going to go and get it from someone else."
5. Prioritise your happiness
"You have to get that perfect mix between your work life and your home life, and doing something that makes you feel good and keeps you sane – whether that’s exercising or something else. Because to be a good boss and lead a team really well, you have to be in a good place yourself, to help them through," she adds.