Beauty businesses come in all shapes and sizes – some are loaded with multiple stations, others have many locations, and some are mobile or at home businesses. Each of them has its own requirements needed in order to function at full capacity, but when it comes to an at-home beauty salon, you can expect a lot of work. Although most at-home beauty businesses have only a couple of stations, making sure they function accordingly and look stunning can be quite challenging.
Brainstorm your work area
Providing beauty services at your home is full of advantages – you don’t have to drive to work, you run and manage everything yourself and best of all, you are the boss! Sounds great, but before you get started, plan out the work area accordingly. Take into account how many stations you plan to have, as well as storage room and how you will go about disposing waste.
An important question you should ask yourself is “do I want to give clients access to my home”? Chances are they will have to wait for their appointment in a waiting room or make use of your facilities. Most at home businesses do not have enough room to create a separate waiting room or a restroom solely for client use.
Outlets, fixtures, waste disposal and equipment
Once you’ve created a thought-out blueprint of your work area, it’s time to create the foundation of your business. Most beauty businesses use a substantial amount of electrical outlets – be it for hair straighteners, curlers, blow dryers, UV nail lamps and bright mirror lights, so hiring a professional electrician would be a wise choice for installing any new outlets.
As far as waste disposal and fixtures, you should hire someone that knows what they’re doing – never take on construction work without any prior knowledge! Hire a plumber and maybe an architect to help you plan out everything. You should focus on tasks such as purchasing a sink, chairs, table and other furniture that would fit your salon and make it look stunning. Make sure to make proper measurements of everything, including cabinets, shelves and chairs before making any purchases. You wouldn’t want to buy a chair for your station, only to realize that it takes up too much space.
When deciding on equipment to work with, take into account that spending every last penny on it is not the best decision. Sure, everyone wants to run their business with professional gear, but when push comes to shove, less-expensive equipment can be outperformed by competitive brands by only a miniscule percentage.
Color
Choosing the right color for your workspace can be tricky – you want clients to see the salon as a professional business and associate it with good vibes, but at the same time, it should fit with the theme of your business (if you have one). Are you planning on incorporating a steampunk theme to match your “out there” hairstyles? Decide on painting the work area with metallic-looking colors, or use classic and stylish colors with interesting patterns when going for a chic look. Either way, the color of your work area should evoke positive feelings from your customers, making them want to visit your business again!