Tabatha's Salon Takeover

Tabatha's salon takeover is a reality show with this woman named Tabatha who goes to a salon that's struggling for a week. When she is at the salon, she tries to help them out and change things to make them a more successful salon. She then goes back in about six weeks to see if they followed her rules and are successful or went back to their old ways.

I watched an episode of Tabatha's Salon Takeover to see what some of these owners and staff are doing wrong. On this episode, the only problem was really the owner. She tried to control every little thing her staff did, even setting up cameras and watching her staff when she isn't in the salon. She always tore her staff down and never told them anything good. A good owner needs to be at her salon everyday and be understanding of her staff. She needs to help them out and be there for them instead of just telling them they did bad and not helping them out with it. She even tore down the customers. That was so shocking to me because without customers you don't have a business. She would send messages to her staff saying things like make sure that hag pays. That's extremely disrespectful even if the customers don't hear it. She needs to learn how to treat people with respect before she gets any respect from her staff and builds up business.

I thought it was hypocritical of her to tell her staff that they needed to put on makeup and do their hair because they looked bad when she didn't even wear makeup. If you're going to make rules you need to follow them. My staff will need to their best everyday and that includes me.

She also let people talk back to her. You need to let the staff know who is boss, but you don't want them to fear you. They need to feel comfortable to do good work. This episode did teach me a lot about being an owner of a salon. I will need to be one of the staff, not just the boss.

I thought it was quite offensive that she was yelling at Tabatha and saying that when she left she was going to put the cameras back in. She was extremely disrespectful towards someone who was just trying to get her salon back on track. I don't think her salon will ever make it with her pessimistic attitude. She acts like she could run the salon herself and she doesn't need any of her staff or anything, which is obviously not working for her.

I will probably start watching more episodes of this show because it was really helpful. I learned a lot from just one episode, I'll obviously learn a ton from watching more. Hopefully, learning from other people's mistakes, I will never have to be on this show. I don't think I'll ever let my salon get that bad in the first place, when you start losing money it should be a warning sign that changes need to be made.

Location

The location of the salon will basically decide for me how my salon does. My book gives me a lot of tips for putting my salon in the best location for the services I will provide. For example, if I put a high end expensive salon off of First Ave, it probably wouldn't do very well. Since most people in that area have a lower income, my prices would have to accommodate and my salon services would have to change based on that neighborhoods needs. If I were to put my salon in a completely dead area, like Westdale mall, it definitely wouldn't last. It needs to be put somewhere close to where a lot of people come and go so they can check it out easily and it will get better business being out in the open.

My book also talks about prices of services. If my prices are too low, we will be booked and my business won't have anytime to grow. If my prices are too high, it would be hard to get business and I'd probably end up losing money that way. Once again, the prices would have to depend on the location. If my salon is located next to a country club, I'd probably be alright with the higher prices.

Although many salons don't, I would research the area and it's needs to salons around the area before settling on a place. Just because it seems like it's a good location to my eye, doesn't mean it is. I could get statistics of the area from the census and learn about the economics and business of the area. For example, if the type of people who frequent this area are people 70 years old and up, I probably wouldn't want to open up a modern and urban salon up. It probably wouldn't do very well.

I wouldn't want to open my salon in an area where there were already eleven salons on that street. Competition is good, but when you're starting out, trying to compete with salons that are already established and have their loyal customers is tough. I would need to get my own plethora of loyal customers before moving into such a competitive area.

To make my salon successful, I would probably have to start out as a cosmetologist at a salon I didn't own. That way I could get some loyal customers that would come to my own salon. If I didn't do that, it would be incredibly difficult to draw people in and get word of mouth advertisements. A lot of people are scared to try out new hair stylists unless they've heard they're good because you have to wait for all the hair to grow back. So getting good, loyal customers first would be important.

Overall, location is very important. It will most likely decide if my salon will sink or swim. Researching the area before opening it up will be very important. Last, but not least, I will need loyal customers before opening up a successful salon.

Opening it up

I started reading my book about owning a salon. When I got to the part about how much money they make I wasn't sure I wanted to do it anymore. They said the average salon owner makes $50,000 a year. I want to make more money and I sat there for a while thinking about what I wanted to do. I decided this is what I want to do. That's only the average, I could be above average and make more than that. If I work hard and make my salon one of a kind, it will be easy to make more money. I'm not going to give up on something I love just because the average person in that career doesn't make as much money as I want.

I realized reading this book would really help me understand what it would be like to own the salon and choices I'd have to make. I decided I'd want my salon to be in a beautiful location, not just in the middle of a city or something. I want my salon to have a good view from the windows so people will want to keep coming back and it will be relaxing for them.

I want my salon to be different and have personality. I don't want a boring, generic salon. My salon will have color, instead of just black and white everywhere. I don't want the color theme to be brown, I want it to be bright. When people come there I want them to remember it and want to come back not only because of how great our salon is, but how fun it is. When I walk into a salon and it's just same old, same old, nothing sticks in my head about it. Nothing makes me want to go back there again and again. The people who work at my salon will be welcoming and never make you feel out of place. Just because it will be a fun and welcoming environment, doesn't mean my stylists will be unprofessional. There will be punishment for unprofessional things done at my salon. I want people to feel welcome and at home, not uncomfortable.

I know I'll have to work in salons before I open mine, so I can learn some things about it first hand. I think it will make more sense learning it when it's right before your eyes and you're a part of it instead of just reading about it. I will need practice before I open it up. I'll need to learn what sets a good salon apart from a bad salon or even an average salon. I'll learn all the little things I wouldn't learn through the book. I'll learn tricks and easier ways to do things, even the best way to do things.

I don't expect my salon to be a huge success right when I open it. I do, however, expect it to be a huge success after a few years. I will not only work hard on my salon being perfect and fun, I will work hard on advertisement. Without advertisement, salons wouldn't survive. Even word of mouth is a good advertisement.

What got me to where I am

I got interested in cosmetology when I was really young. I always looked at people and thought of ways I could make them even prettier. I've never really thought anyone was truly ugly and I just wanted to help people reach their full potential. I used to have this little head mannequin that I could cut the hair on and style it. Even though I wasn't supposed to, I put makeup on it also. My mom would get mad, but I never stopped. When I was in fourth grade, I started cutting my mom's hair. The first time I did it, it was exciting and I absolutely loved doing it. She wanted to make sure it didn't look weird so she went to a hair stylist who told her there were no strays and I had put layers in it, which looked great. I've always been the one to style my friends hair and do their makeup. On weekends I always spend time figuring out new ways to do my hair and makeup, it's not always successful, but I have found some really cool things while trying things out.

I've always wanted to make a lot of money and cosmetologist's income doesn't suit me well. I decided I would open up a salon and own it for better income. I love having control over things and being in charge, so I thought, this is perfect! This is why I made the decision to go to school for entrepreneurship instead of going straight to cosmetology school. I'm still struggling with where I want to open it. I know I want to go to cosmetology school out in California, but I can't decide if I want to open it there too. There is a lot of good competition out there and I'd have to be above them to get and keep customers. I love competition so I think that will be exciting for me.

My brothers have all taught me to follow my dreams because none of them have ever given up on their dreams. They get closer and closer to them everyday. My parents have also, finally, decided they want me to follow my dreams. They don't want me to do something that might rake in a lot of money, but doesn't make me happy. My mom gave up on her dream to dance and regrets it every single day, so she pushes me to do what I want.

I would definitely want unique stylists at my salon. I don't want people who can do what everyone else can do; I want them to be able to do more than the bare minimum.

I've seen people who are very unhappy with the way they look and don't know how to change it. I would give them the advice I need and help them out. When I see someone who is very self conscious and wants something different I can picture in my mind what would look best and how I would reach my goal of making them feel beautiful. I've made my friends feel better about themselves and my family. I want to help even more people feel good. My friends hate waiting for me to get ready because it's so tedious and long, but at the end of it, I feel good and I look good.