Come To Work With Me: A Day In The Life Of A Hairstylist
Do you ever wonder what your hairstylist does all day before and after your hair appointment? This week, I’m taking you “Behind The Chair” with me while I apply some colors, install extensions and run errands for my beauty business.
The beauty industry is not your typical 9-5 desk job. Sometimes we work nights, weekends or by appointment only. There are a lot of behind-the-scenes tasks like creating content, building marketing strategies, doing website updates, corresponding with clients and stocking our space with supplies that you don’t see during your appointment time.
Employee vs. Independent Stylist
Running my own business is much different than being an employee at a salon. I could write an entire blog post JUST on that. I currently work for myself as an independent hair stylist. I have an LLC, pay rent where I work, buy my own supplies, decide my own schedule and have an individual payment processing system. I work out of a hybrid salon model, meaning, we have independent stylists and employees working side by side in one salon.
Going independent as a hairstylist has been a big shift in our industry in the last 10 years. As a client, you might not know the difference or care to but it’s something that you should ask about!
After Wisconsin reduced the requirements to be an independent in 2017, stylists can actually go straight from cosmetology school into opening a salon or suite and run an ENTIRE business with no further training or licensing (GASP!!). This is why in ALL of my beauty blog posts I tell you to DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH on picking where and with whom you spend your money with. I personally think that the licensure reduction hurt larger salons and the professionalism of our industry. However, it was a positive change for young entrepreneurs who had a vision and didn’t see a fit in the larger scale salon community.
What’s my typical schedule as an independent stylist?
My “behind the chair” hours vary depending on my appointments. I would consider myself a “by appointment only” business because if I don’t have a client booked I’m not sitting at the salon waiting for one (this is another topic I could write an entire blog post about). My core work days are Monday-Wednesday. Thursday -Saturday are my flex days that I can choose to fill depending on appointment requests. These are the days I can fit in color corrections, new extension clients, photography makeup or wedding appointments. If not, I’ll have those days off to do my NOT behind the chair business duties.
What are some tasks you have to do besides working with clients?
This list can get long so I’ll just name a few:
Creating content for marketing.
Editing videos or photos.
Creating a website and business social media pages.
Creating marketing ideas.
Cleaning/sanitizing your work space.
Changing or updating decor.
Scheduling & corresponding with clients.
Organizing tax documents: write-offs, paying IN to the IRS quarterly.
I hope this gave you a little insight to the salon world <3
@meganlee77 A day at the salon! Ever wonder what your hairstylist’s days look like at work? Well, Here is a typical day for me behind the chair ? while i was editing this i was like OMG do i ever smile!?!? The answer is barely but i DO love my job ?? seriously i do love it. #stylistsoftiktok #adayattheoffice #adayatthesalon #cometoworkwithme #wisconsinhairstylist #behindthescene #behindthechair ♬ All Around the World(La La La) – R3hab / A Touch of Class