Today, men are even more conscious of their hairstyles and maintenance than women. With an independent brick-and-mortar, you can squeeze the most out of your barbering skills. You might wonder how to start a barber shop business.
Don’t worry. We have got you covered in this extensive guide. Let us go through all the steps required to initiate the business and start a barbershop.
Steps to Start a Barbershop Business
So, to build a barbershop from scratch, you need to deem some specific factors. Let us go through them.
1. Hone Your Skillset
Other than being presentable and friendly, you need proper skills to start your own shop and elevate it to the top. Go through the trending hairstyles and groom your skills before entering into an independent business.
Also, you have to master the art of keeping your clients gratified while giving the best service. To master this, you need a certain amount of hands-on experience.
2. Look out for Suitable Premises
Finding the correct location for your business will play a key role in scaling your business. A particular site can either bring loads of customers or ruin all your investments. There are some significant points to consider while investing in suitable premises.
Client coverage and rent ratio
It is a critical aspect to deem about. A shop in the busy part of the town will definitely attract more customers, but the place will come with a high price tag.
On the contrary, sites next to the office and schools will have a reasonable price tag. With locations near the office building, you will find a regular flow of customers on weekdays. In the case of schools, you can elevate the inflow of your customers by providing special student discounts.
Also, consider starting your shop in the rising parts of the town if you want to spend very little on your rent. With the rise of locality, you will see a rise in your client number.
Area of the site
It is another imperative aspect to look into. Opt for premises that can accommodate all the staff and equipment without creating a suffocating environment.
General amenities
Look out for any dampness or mold on the site. Check for air ventilation and heating and air-conditioning systems. Your customers are looking forward to a relaxing experience, so you need to maintain an excellent ambiance.
3. Light up a Barber Shop Business Plan
Once you are set with your skills and experience, you need to write a business plan. Cooking up a well-planned idea is always fruitful. So, brainstorm your ideas about the services you are going to provide to your customers.
Go through the latest trends and see what particular styles are in demand. List out all the services and see if you are fully capable of fulfilling them.
Some of the basic services that are prevalent in barbershops are:
- Haircutting, washing, and styling
- Beard styling and maintenance
- Facial shaving and maintenance
- Mustache trimming
4. Pen down Your Well-devised Strategy
Writing a barber shop business plan and your strategies will help you to evaluate different aspects of your business. You can easily plan and plot the management, marketing, and cash flow strategies.
With all your ideas in front of your eyes, you can quickly strike down the loopholes and make countermeasures for them.
Visit this complete guide to learn more about how to write a detailed and informal business plan.
Devise the pricing for the services
To put out your rate list, to need to consider several factors. Let us give a quick look at them.
Skills and experience under your belt
It is well said that if you know how to do a task with high proficiency, never do it for free. So if you are confident with your skillset, then why settle for low prices? You can charge a good amount for the services that you can deliver with the best quality incomparable to others.
Inflow and Outflow
You need to have a clear picture of your cash flow. As you are in the business of making a profit, so remember, the inflow of revenue should always be higher than the outflow. Evaluate your fixed and variable costs.
Fixed costs include the rent of your place and other charges that are constant. On the contrary, the variable cost includes different types of bills, wages of your staff, maintenance charges, etc. List the prices by balancing the flow in your favor.
The price range of competitors
Go through the price range of the barbershops in your locality. This will give you a general idea of the price range of different services. With this, you can easily tweak your pricing strategy.
Aim of your brand
Have a clear image of your brand in your mind. Are you going to provide reasonable barbering services or planning to serve a unique luxury experience?
Also, think about the target audience. The pricing of your services in the house should represent the type of clientage you are inviting for the future.
5. Look into Financing
You cannot start a barber shop business without adequate capital. You need to keep your savings intact to serve you in the long run. To generate additional capital for your business, you can look into loans. There are various loans available like startup loans, business loans, etc. Go through the pros and cons of different options and choose the best one.
Also, tracking the finances of your business is vital. So, you should open an individual business account to evaluate the flow of the revenue.
With Upmetrics, you can easily plan your financials and add various financial reports to your business plan. Learn more about how to write the financial section of your business plan in this article.
Evaluate the investment cost
Starting a barbershop requires certain investments. Apart from giving the basic rent of your premises, you have to consider some other costs too. Some of the basic outlays will be:
- Revamping the interiors of the shop
- Cost of the equipment and supplies
- Insurance and legal fees
- Wages of the staff
- Training course if necessary
6. Look into Regulations
You have to look into the license and insurance policies. To run a successful business smoothly, you should license yourself as a barber with your local government authority. Also, register your shop with the authorities and go through all the bylaws properly.
Most of the time, barbers skip out the insurance policies. But in the days of heavy rains, these policies can shield you from a lot of damage.
Some of the fundamental policies you should consider are:
- Employer liability insurance
- Accidental cover
- Treatment liability cover
It is wise to look into different package offers to avail the bunch at affordable prices.
7. Deem about Health Safety Concerns
In this field of work, you have to work with different electrical tools and chemicals. As your staff will be working to build your brand image, you must take proper measures to ensure their safety. A happy workforce will work with full intent and keep your customers happy. With your customers happy, your business will rise in no time. So keep a keen eye on these concerns.
Here are some of the major health and safety issues to look into:
Hygiene
Never miss out on the cleanliness aspect of your shop. Keep the environment hygienic so that customers leave having an excellent experience. Ensure proper cleaning of the tools that you are using. A slight slip-up from your side will give a nasty infection to the client resulting in ruining your brand image.
Chemical safety
You have to work with certain dyes, gels, and different chemicals. Do your homework on all the supplies properly and avoid using hazardous materials. Get in line with Control of Substances Hazardous to Health laws for proper storage and disposal of these products.
Electrical safety
A tiny error in maintaining the electric tools and equipment can land you in challenging adversities. Never neglect a faulty tool, constant flicker in lighting, and other signs that may indicate an electrical issue.
8. Find the Right Staff
Having a great team at your disposal will allow you to elevate your business. Advertise the vacancy in both offline and online modes. Scrutinize all the applications on definite criteria.
Here are some pointers to look for:
In hand experience
An experienced barber will have a strong skill set but will demand more wages. A newbie, on the other hand, needs to be trained but can work with a moderate wage.
Appearance and social skills
The job demands constant interaction between the barber and the customer. So, to keep your customers happy, your staff needs to understand the social cues and invite the customer with proper warmth.
9. Time to Attract the Customers
After fitting all the pieces of the shop in the proper places, it all comes down to attracting more customers. Here are some tips to follow:
Build a digital persona
Build a website for your brand and advertise it with the strong back hold of different social media platforms.
Offer exclusive discounts and incentives
Offer different rewards and referral programs to new customers to bind them with your brand.
Provide excellent service
Customers stay loyal to the brand if they experience excellent services. Dash up your services with your unique touch to mesmerize your customers so that they keep coming in and even refer your name to others.
Summing Up
Barbering demands fantastic customers dealing socially and professionally. Provide the best ambiance and offer excellent services to magnetize more customers.
With strong determination and passion for the activity, you can quickly set up your own business and pave the way to the top in no time.
