5 Policies That Will Protect Your Boundaries: Independent Stylist & Salon Owner
I'm going to move into a little personal story before I get into the real business side of this. Trust me, the reason building for these Policies I'm about to drop here is really important because I think you will connect with it better.
Maybe also get to know a little more of my why too. Okay, here we go 😬
I've been doing hair since 2011, and back then the only business education and mentorship was provided for salon owners or within the salon environment⎯even now it's really hard to find business education specific for independent stylists (but you found me so you're already ahead of the game because that's one of the thangs I teach 🙋🏻♀️).
Let's fast forward a bit to 2014, when I started my first business as an Independent Stylist in sunny Carlsbad, CA.
Booth Rent back then was only $100/week for me because my best friend at the time had an aunt who owned a salon that was willing to give me a 50% discount on Booth Rent while i was building my clientele from 0. It was an incredible opportunity that I could not let pass me by.
Let me introduce you to where Kristen Lumiere was created, DeStefano Salon:
Policies Were The last thing on my mind
At this point in my career, I was willing to do almost anything to get clients in my chair. Things like:
- Hand my cards out to anyone and everyone in the public
- Talk about how I was a stylist at parties
- Discount prices for return clients
- Add on free services for new ones
- Groupon 🥴
- Pimp myself out to all the 'ISO Hair Stylist' posts in the local Facebook groups
For an entire year I made basically $5 an hour while putting in the work to build any kind of a clientele that would have me. As I'm sure you guessed, that was a clientele who expected discounts, texted me at all hours of the day, didn't show up, brought their chaos kids with them and even argued with me over pricing if I tried to raise their service $10.
Working 10-12 hours a day 6-7 days a week for a clientele who was ungrateful for everything I was doing for them really started to suck when I hit year 2 of being Independent.
I fondly call 2014-2017 my years of chaos.
Looking back on that time, I can't be mad at those clients who walked all over me because I was the one who created the unbalanced environment where I would give, give, GIVE, and they continued to take, take, TAKE. There was no give and take in equal measure on both sides which creates a clientele full of ugly behaviors.
Clients are a lot like toddlers, they need boundaries for you both to be happy.
(I mean that figuratively so don't go and get offended now)
Maybe you're experiencing that exact same chaos right now. Or you have some things happen that you wish didn't so you're trying to figure out what you've got to do to make it smooth out a little more.
Since I've given you some history, let's go ahead and talk about the business stuff.
5 Policies That Will Protect Your Boundaries
I know you're expecting me to say Cancellation Policy...but NO! I can't stand Cancellation Policies. I'm not a fan of cancel culture but I do think they should be canceled, tbh. Before you go telling everyone that "Kristen Lumiere is off her rocker,"⎯maybe a little bit⎯I have a BETTER policy that works for YOU instead of the client.
01. Non-Refundable Deposits Required
Since 2019, I threw my cancellation policy in the trash and switched to 50% Non-Refundable Deposits for all appointments. It didn't matter if a client had been with me for years or it was just their second visit.
When someone puts down a $200 deposit on their $400 Balayage Service, you bet they are going to show up. At the same time I made this switch, I also stopped pre-booking all clients⎯i see you thinking I'm loony again⎯which was the best choice I ever made for my sanity.
I'm a spontaneous person. Being fully booked out year round really did not fit with my lifestyle or personality.
02. Contact Is Email Only
Trigger Warning ⚠️ I'm going to say this in all caps because I really need it to hit home for you, so take a second to prepare yourself...
...YOU SHOULD NOT BE EASILY ACCESSIBLE TO YOUR CLIENTS.
Show me a business that will text a client back at 1:00am, or even after they close! There is absolutely no business out there that will, but independent stylists do because we tell ourselves that we have to otherwise the client will go schedule somewhere else.
You know what I say? Good riddance, you don't want them.
When you set the precedent of only having a professional email for clients to contact you, you've managed an expectation without even needing to say anything. Most people don't expect a business to respond to their email within minutes.
The average text response time is 90 seconds where the average response time for emails to a business is 12 hours. See the difference there?
Email is queen when it comes to managing expectations for your clients and creating work-life separation for you, the stylist.
03. Extra People & Kids
Since I have a larger salon now, I don't mind if my client's hubby, friend, or older kid (12+), comes along. I have a few different seating areas so there is never not enough room for them to come chill while I do my client's hair.
I don't allow kids to be in my space and if you missed it, I have a blog post about that too. If you want to read it, just tap here.
When I was in my 150sqft salon suite, I didn't allow ANY extra people. If you sat in a chair, you had to be a paying client because I just didn't have the ability to offer this amenity that I do now. So if you're a suite owner, I would highly suggest you do this too because all of that square footage should be making you money.
In my larger space, I had the ability to make MORE money because I could still double book and had booth renters. All in all it really depends on what you would prefer and your space size. Either way, I want you to outline it.
04. Animals
When I was working in California and when I moved to Texas, both states only allow service animals in salons. Did client's listen? Nope. Especially if they had lap dogs.
Listen, I'm an animal lover. I've had a bunch of dogs, cats, hundreds of chickens, mini donkeys, horses and am really trying to convince my husband that we really do need Nigerian Dwarf and Fainting goats⎯who doesn't⎯but I can't stand it when client's bring their animals into my space.
Does a 4+ hour Foilayage sound like it's comfortable for a poochie to be in a dog carrier the entire time without the ability to take regular bathroom breaks?! No. So this was a no-brainer for me in my business.
You may love it when your clients bring in their furbabies! That's totally fine. I would just make sure you're following whatever rules and regulations are required of your state/country. No one likes getting fined 😖
05. Someone Gets Sick Or Has An Emergency
This really needs to be two policies because you should know exactly how to handle situations if you or your client gets sick or has an emergency. Notice how those two things are very specific.
If I get sick, I'm not coming in.
If they get sick, I don't want them to come in...but I'm smart and I know that some clients will try to fudge the system.
I follow a 3 strike rule. If a client has more than 3 strikes in 1 year, I'll bless & release⎯dump, divorce, whatever you prefer to call it⎯them from my clientele. C'est la vie.
Obviously there are exceptions to every rule and if you feel like someone is taking advantage of you then by all means, dump them sooner. On the other side, if someone has had a really tough year you can of course give them more than 3 strikes. I'll leave it up to your discretion...but don't be a pushover 🫵🏻
Boundaries created with Policies will help you so much if you're struggling with work-life separation and balance.
My goal as a business coach for stylists is to help you go independent and scale your income while prioritizing family and life over work. It all starts on the foundational level which is why it's so important to get these things RIGHT before you move on to the other business stuff (like stopping pre-booking, marketing, building wealth, saving for retirement, hiring an assistant, etc).
If you're looking for help to get you to that business and life goal, I would really suggest jumping on the Waitlist for my 16-week Business Course, Revive🌱
Revive is for starting and scaling independent stylists who want to run and rule their business from a place of freedom and flexibility. If you jump on the waitlist, I'll send you more info about what is inside the course. Just tap here to get on the Revive Waitlist.
Thank you for sticking with me through this lengthy blog. I had fun writing it out for you and hope you were able to take away some great stuff.
See you on the next one,
