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Time…a very limited resource.
We all have a finite amount of time available to us and once it's gone, it cannot be regenerated. Knowing this offers us a sense of urgency to make the most of our time and to use it wisely.
With the majority of people having a plethora of obligations, appointments and to-do lists that are never ending, being resourceful and efficient with how we spend our time is more valuable than ever.
Those of you that know me well know that I am a no BS, get shit done type of person. If I can find a way to do something easier, faster and more efficiently, I will find it!
While I have SO many tips on how to be more efficient and maximize your time in general, today, I want to focus on a few of the most important tips to save time in the salon.
These are strategies that I use personally and have worked well for me, hoping there are a few nuggets of gold here for you as well.
Let’s dive into it.
1. Automate your social media posts.
It's 2023, and if you are a stylist and you are not on social media, it's time you re-evaluate that position. I’m not going to sell you on why you should be showing up regularly (I'll have a different post for that), but I would highly encourage you to at least start.
Now, to those of you who are utilizing the incredible resource known as social media, you know how important it is to be consistent and show up regularly. Whether you are looking to attract new clients, market and nurture current clients, or are looking to branch out and work with manufacturers and brands, consistent posting is KEY to remaining relevant.
Too many of you are posting your work as you go throughout your day, or posting directly on the IG app. While there is nothing necessarily wrong with that, there is a better way.
There are so many apps and platforms, and even on IG directly, you can upload your content, write your captions, add hashtags and tags and schedule your content to be published at a certain day/time.
THIS IS LITERALLY GENIUS.
Imagine, you spend a few hours a month creating all of your content, writing all of your captions and planning all of this out on the app or platform you choose. Now you have a whole month of content ready to go 30 days out.
Spend the next 30 days creating new content and the following month, do it all over again.
When you automate your content, you can spend more time on social media being strategic with your engagement, posting on stories or having fun with reels.
If this seems too overwhelming, you could just automate 1-2 posts a week and have the rest of it be organic.
Whatever works for you, do that.
Just know, this is a HUGE time saver for you…and also so relieving knowing it's done ahead of time.
2. Online booking
I know I know…so many of you are still are “appointment book and a pencil is all I need” type of stylists. But I'm here to tell you this: YOU ARE WASTING YOUR TIME!
Using online booking has SO many more pros than cons.
I’ve heard a lot of the objections, but I want to shed some light on the positives that online booking offers:
Clients can see your work - uploading photos to your menu so the clients have a visual idea of what they are wanting to book for helps significantly
Clients can see your pricing- no more negotiating or sticker shock for clients
Appointments must be requested and approved by you, so no random people are getting on your books
You can use it to book your clients appointments too if you have those regular, standing appointments
The apps typically have an option to have a client put a card on file - saving you the money you lose when a client no call/no shows or cancels last minute
Waitlist - if a client wants to get in but doesn't see an available appointment, they can put themselves on a waitlist and will get notified if there is a cancellation
Here's my $0.02- before you completely shut down the idea of online booking, poke and play around with the different apps and platforms that are available. A lot of them offer onboarding calls to answer any questions or concerns. I promise you this though, once you take that leap, you’ll never look back!
3. Learn faster and more efficient ways of creating requested looks.
This is for all of you over thinkers and over foilers. I promise you, a service does not have to always take 4-6 hours (there are exceptions to this so don’t come at me).
There are so many great techniques, classes and educators who teach stylists how to be more efficient with placements and foiling.
I recommend you take as many classes as you can, and learn ways to be more efficient BTC- whether its changing your tools, how you fold your foils, your sectioning or your application method - I guarantee there is a better/faster way to achieve the look.
Secondly, work on getting your timing down.
Do you know how long it takes you to apply a root re touch?
How long does it take you to place 1 foil?
How long does it take you to section the hair?
Time yourself and set your baseline…then spend as much time as you can practicing and perfecting your technique to drop that timing down.
Say it normally takes you 25 seconds to place a foil, and you place 100 foils.
At 25 seconds a foil, you're at approximately 45 minutes.
If you can get your timing down to 15 seconds, that puts you at 25 minutes..
You just shaved off 20 minutes of application time.
Try it out.
4. Stay organized
As someone who is so unorganized and messy, this has been a HARD one for me.
I’ll give you an example: I had 1 drawer for clips and all of my clips were just thrown in that drawer.
If you're anything like me, I like using different clips for different reasons.
If I am working on fine hair, I like to use the little metal duck clips.
If I am working on dense long hair, I like the XL alligator clips.
If I am cutting a bob I like the small metal YS Park clips…
What I'm getting at is that I have a variety of different clips I like to use for different reasons.
I was wasting so much time digging through my clip drawer looking for the right clips…
And one day I got a drawer organizer...
Life CHANGED!
Having a home for everything that you use regularly helps significantly when you are trying to save time.
Not having to dig through drawers and cabinets to find what you are looking for will surprisingly not only save you time, but will also save your sanity.
5. Lastly, the biggest no brainer, use Megix 10 as your main color line.
Megix 10 is a full color line that processes in 10 minutes or less.
Gray coverage, 10 minutes.
Vibrant red head, 10 minutes.
Gray blending, 5-10 minutes.
Toning, 5-8 minutes.
You could save up to 70% in processing time when you switch to Megix 10 and the best part?
The line can be used as an acidic demi, an alkaline demi, high lift blondes, permanent color…and is not progressive so you don't have to worry about the hair getting darker.
Literally, no brainer.
To close this out, I have to say this: take what works and leave what doesn't.
As always, my goal is to help you with the lessons I've learned along the way. If this resonates with you and works for you, I'm thrilled!
If not, it's all good, still love you.
I hope this has encouraged you to take a look at your business and see where you can shave off some time so you can either see more clients, or take more time for you!
Until next time,
Araz