Starting & Scaling a Salon Business (with my Dad!)

In this episode Nathan describes the highs and lows of starting up and growing a hair salon with his Dad and navigating the issues that come with starting up. The emphasis of this episode is his relationship with, and memories of his Dad as he has now been gone for six years. KEY TAKEAWAYS It was an incredible feeling; opening a business with my Dad. It was one of my greatest achievements and I got to spend so much quality time with him. Though, working with my him daily could be a challenge, his customer service was certainly something else! Dad had been a particularly good businessman all his life, he’d won the British Championships in the 60s in his 20s and he opened a string of salons, we had a beautiful family home, nice cars and big family parties. He earned a lot and he spent a lot, which he enjoyed and has passed on to me. Six months in we realised we needed an extra stylist, we brought in Anita, who was an incredible stylist with a great client list which brought in some ‘ching-ching’ to the business. She quickly grew her business which meant we had to expand again which meant we had to knock through into my Dad’s living room. This meant we found Dad a new house and I moved in above the salon and took on another stylist, Emma. We built a following for ourselves, including a lot of local press and were approached by a TV company about making over a lady for a TV show starring ex-Arsenal footballer, Ian Wright. This got us exposure on a 7pm, Saturday night prime-time show and national magazine and newspaper coverage. Within a couple of years we expanded to a team of eight. We had a bad apple who was turning the rest of the bunch a bit brown. Dad’s and my HR was a bit shit, so we never thought this kind of thing would ever happen. We lost five stylists, which was about a quarter of a million quid walking out the door. I thought I was going to lose the business, but actually it turned out OK. We ended up working our arses off to keep clients on the books and happy and recruited a new team of stylists and I vowed to try to never have that happen again.   BEST MOMENTS ‘It was truly about family and enjoying the creativity that comes with enjoying what you do for work.’ ‘It was something out of Fawlty Towers!’ ‘Hairdressing is a lifestyle business.’ ‘Expanding and hiring lets you focus on growing the business.’ ABOUT THE HOST Welcome and thank you for reading this, I’m Nathan Plumridge salon owner and Hair Stylist. I’ve been in the industry for nearly 30 years and have been a salon owner for 23 of them. I have been fortunate enough to work and learn with some of the biggest names in the industry and this has given me the experience and drive to now be here with you sharing my experiences. CONTACT DETAILS Website: https://energyhair.com/ Email: [email protected] Instagram: @nathan.hairlifeThis show was brought to you by Progressive Media