Building your own small business means putting in a lot of time, effort, attention to detail, and planning. Even so, it’s something that’s within reach as long as you have an idea, a plan, and the will. If you’re reading this right now, we’re guessing you’re someone who works in the health and beauty industry. Maybe you’re considering the advantages of being a small-business owner instead of an employee at someone else’s salon. That’s great! Opening your own salon in Lawton is a big deal. You’ll be taking a big step down an unfamiliar path, which is a brave and amazing thing for anyone to do, and there are plenty of our Salons de Beauté blogs you can look over when it comes to getting started!

Maybe you’ve already made the transition from employee to owner, and you’ve already opened a salon in Lawton. As you’re probably learning, opening a business is only part of the work of owning a business. You have to do more than survive; you have to thrive! Growth is a part of thriving. Eventually, you’ll want to grow your business, whether it’s bringing in new kinds of products or new services or even an employee or contractor. That can seem super intimidating

The good news is, you’re not the first person in the world to think about how to grow your own small business, salon or otherwise. Plenty of now-experienced entrepreneurs have done exactly what you’re about to do. We’ve gathered their best pieces of advice here for you. In fact, we found so many great ideas that we’re going to bring you a two-part series!

Our team at Salons de Beauté read over a dozen articles by entrepreneurs on how to grow a small business. We found that many of the authors had similar advice, regardless of their field, and that most of it could easily apply to building a small salon business, too. We’ve talked here a lot about salon and beauty industry-specific tips such as asking for referrals, seeking peer support, getting a mentor, building your unique brand, leveraging the power of social media, using a customer rewards system, and ongoing skills training, but we’re dialing out our focus a bit here to give you a bigger picture. We hope you enjoy this curated list of ways to grow your salon in Lawton! We think you’ll find a lot of help below.

  1. Find Good People to Support You.

You probably already know this, but the support one gets from having good people in one’s life is invaluable. And we don’t just mean your great friends, your awesome family, or your wonderful significant other, either. We mean people such as your banker, your accountant, your vendor, your landlord. They need to be good people too.

Trust your gut when gathering your team. After all, you’re basically assembling your own Avengers or Justice League for your small business! If something doesn’t feel right, pay attention to that feeling sooner rather than later. You’re going to need to have a relationship with these people, so if you don’t like someone, something doesn’t seem right, or you don’t feel you can work effectively with someone, make sure you transfer your account or do what needs to be done. Take the steps you need to feel secure, happy, and safe enough to work effectively.

  1. Develop a Growth Plan.

Once you have one, you’ll be always thinking about it! If developing a plan sounds intimidating, don’t worry. Your growth plan can be is as simple or complex as you need it to be. Ask yourself these questions and write down your thoughts on your phone, in your journal, or on your laptop: How do you expect to grow in the first year? What about years two and three? Would ten new clients a year feel like enough growth your first year? Do you want to see more revenue from retail sales? Do you need more followers on social media? Answering these sorts of questions will help you focus your efforts and develop an effective plan to keep your business growing on track. One thing most successful entrepreneurs have in common is a tendency to outline their plans for growth by the year and work toward achieving them. You can do the same with your salon in Lawton.

  1. Say “No” to Anything Off Focus.

Growing a small business means putting a lot of thought into that growth. It’s therefore good to streamline one’s business in other ways when entering a growth phase. Remember, nobody can do everything. Identify your core competencies and stick to them. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try new things, but you should make sure everything you do is in alignment with your mission as a small-business owner. A hair salon deciding to carry a killer new product line is one thing, but greeting cards, jewelry, or little knickknacks might not really be such a good fit, especially when you’re working on growing your business. You need a strong trunk to support branches!

  1. Research Your Salon Competition.

Do you know who your competitors are in town? Taking the time to find out who else is out there can be a really good thing for a small-business owner to do. Not only can you see what works (and doesn’t work) for them, you can position yourself in the market as offering things that they don’t or promoting specialties that make you distinct. Competition is healthy. Don’t be afraid of it! Competitors show there is a demand for what you’re doing. Embrace the competition and use them to show off what makes you unique.

That’s a wrap for part one of our two-part blog series on growing your salon in Lawton. We hope you found it interesting. We’ll be back soon with even more spectacular ideas for making your business grow.

Salons de Beauté offers new small-business owners a great chance to make a big splash with their little salon. Contact us today!