Award-winning hairdresser Cally Borg, who has worked with celebrities including Amanda Holden, Victoria Magrath, Billie Piper and Amber le Bon to name a few, has an unbelievably successful home salon, turning 6 figures without compromising her work life balance – she doesn’t work weekends or school holidays!
Cally knew that something had to give when her kids came along, but it wasn’t going to be relinquishing the dream career she’d worked so hard to build. Instead, she looked at how to create a space and working hours that would suit her. She’s flying the flag for professional hairdressing in a home environment. Read on for Cally’s advice on setting up a home from home salon:
The biggest hurdles you might face when setting up a home salon.
- Parking: Where will your guests park? Consider what the parking is like in your area. If you’ve got a driveway, you’re all good, but otherwise you might want to talk to your neighbours out of respect!
- Water: When I started out my clients used to wash their hair over the bath. Ok, it got me from A to B, but realistically you do need a basin to boss your home salon. Check with a plumber if the access to foul drainage is possible before committing to it.
- Your local council’s requirements: Every council is different and the majority of the time it’s very simple to check out on their website their rules and regulations. However if you’re not sure, arrange a meeting to see where you stand. For example, if you’re planning to convert a garage, you may need to apply for ‘change of use’.
- Marketing: With no shop front, marketing is crucial to keep business flowing. Although we are fully booked all the time, I still keep marketing through free platforms like Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. This keeps our online presence active in our local community, ready to grab the attention of someone looking for a new hairstylist. The average lifetime value of a client is around two years. We are often lucky enough to have more loyal customers who stay a lot longer but I personally like to pre-plan and be prepared.
- Space: When creating your environment, think about your active ‘work space’ – the less clutter the better, and be aware of what your clients can see in the mirror. You want to make sure your clients are seeing a nice calm environment, not towels chucked over things or washing up in their view. Think about storage and what will be appropriate for a busy work day.
- Air conditioning / heating and natural ventilation: Think about those boiling hot days when you’re fully booked and have the hairdryer going 24/7! Air conditioning will keep your clients comfortable during the summer months and on the flip side of that, there will also be super cold months where you will need steady heating and ventilation for some essential fresh air!
Cally Borg launches her new Bossing It With Balance mentoring course on October 5th.
https://www.callyborg.com/mentoring
@callyborghair
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