As a beauty business owner, you have a lot riding on your shoulders as you work to make your lasting mark in a competitive industry. Along the way it’s easy to fall into some bad habits that could slow you down on the path to success.
Fixing or avoiding these bad habits can boost the amount you can get done in a day and make a lasting impression on your clients (good or bad). Work smarter, not harder, to accomplish more than you dreamed you could. But be aware if you’re doing these 4 bad habits while you’re working…
1. Don’t Depend on Yourself to Do It All
Do you feel like a one-woman show? It’s easy to think, “My business is my baby, and I can’t trust anyone to care for it the way I do.”
Fight the urge to do everything yourself. It is okay…appropriate…reasonable, even, to pass on some of your responsibilities to other employees and partners.
Give yourself permission to accept help. Surprisingly, your partners or employees might do a really great job. They may have more time to devote to a job than you do. Trusting others with some of your tasks will boost productivity and employee satisfaction while decreasing your stress and the demands on your time. And they may just be waiting to get the go-ahead from you, to take on more responsibility and help you grow.
Think you can’t afford to hire partners or employees? You can’t afford not to! Hiring a PMU marketing agency is one example of a partnership that will free up your time to focus on your artistry. Let them focus on growing your brand and client base. Their expertise will pay for itself as they help you grow your business.
2. Staying Too Busy
Busy-ness might be the new status symbol for this generation. Staying busy means you are important and leads to happiness and wealth, right? Actually, working too much over a long period of time is not good for the health of your business, employees or yourself. There’s a fine line between having a full schedule in a busy salon, and filling your time with small tasks. As Stephan Covey wrote in his bestselling book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, “It is possible to be busy-very busy-without being very effective.”
Why does being busy not always equal maximum productivity?
- ❖ Burnout – Burnout occurs when you are overly stressed, out of energy and unhappy because of working long hours without the proper rest and relaxation. If you’re stressing yourself out, you may be underutilizing your employees. If you are burned out or unhappy, it can start to affect everything else, from your work and personal relationships to your client connections and brand. Your clients are your top priority, so save the most energy for them, and delegate tasks that others can do for you.
- ❖ Decreased Productivity – Does it ever seem like your work takes all your time? You are not alone. If you allow yourself sixteen hours a day to devote to your business, there is a good chance you will be able to fill all that time. However, if you set limits for yourself and work only eight hours in a day, you may be surprised how much you can accomplish in half the time. Reducing your time at work and allowing yourself time for friends, family, and relaxation can significantly improve your productivity during working hours.
Try assigning less time for tasks, and leave time for you (and your employees) to relax and recharge.
3. Not Automating Parts of Your Business
If you’re relying on paper notes, scheduling books, individual texts or Messenger trails to keep up with your appointments, your client management system could use some upgrading.
Automated services and technology can handle everything from your bookings to your routine daily, weekly, and monthly accounting tasks. Automated technology can give you back the time you spend scrolling through different types of media to locate a client’s appointment and decrease confusion and misunderstandings. Need to streamline your booking? We can help with this!
4. Spending Too Much Time On Your Phone
Have you ever been with a professional service provider when they took a phone call or checked their most recent text, Facebook message or Instagram comments? How did that make you feel? More importantly, what was the provider not doing when they were on their phone?
Picking up your phone to answer messages or take phone calls takes your focus away from everything else. It can leave your clients with the wrong impression if you pause their service to check something that could be dealt with later.
Exceptions are understandable–you may be expecting news about loved ones or trying to put out a fire. For the most part, however, limit your phone usage to certain times of the day and stash it away while working with a client. If you don’t want to miss a booking opportunity, consider hiring a partner to handle your bookings and social media marketing for you so that you can limit the amount of time you spend on the phone or social media. Want details? We can help with that!
Pass Along Responsibilities and Take Back Your Time
With so much to do to keep your business up and running, it’s normal for a business owner like you to have a long to-do list that keeps growing. Your full schedule can be a sign that you are doing a great job. But, to take a quote from an Ed Sheeran hit song, don’t let your “bad habits lead to late nights.”
Make the most of each day going forward by figuring out now where you can change the amount of work you are doing. If you can, pass along some responsibilities to employees or partnering agencies who can take specialized business aspects off of your hands. Let software and technology take on some of the workload for you, as well. Spreading out the responsibilities can free up your time and let you immerse sharing your gift with your clients.
