Hairbrained – New Year Perfect for Organizing by Beauty Expert, Gina Rivera

A time for slowing down, a time for reevaluating and a time for organizing. Yes Salon Professionals, I am talking about January.  The beginning of the year offers the perfect chance to get your business in order for the upcoming year.

A few things that should not be overlooked are your work space, your calendar, your client list and your business documents. Of course, we can all think of a several other items that we can add to this list, however, I believe this can set the tone for getting started.

When it comes to your work space, some simple things can be very helpful. Make sure you have readily available a notepad or small chalk board that you can write things on as you run out of them. Next to this, keep some blank order forms for your products. These can be easily obtained from your sales person or supplier. Don’t forget you can always create your own order form as well and place all of the products you use on it.

Go through all your tools and ensure they are in extra good working order, clean and working properly.  Here, I am referring to things like blow dryers, flat irons, curling wands and curling irons. Don’t forget to also take a look at items like combs, picks and brushes. Some items may be showing wear. Figure out what needs to be replaced or if you need to add something to your collection. You will also want to take a look at your sheers and shaving tools to determine if they need to be sharpened or even upgraded.

Load up on things that you know you will use a lot of during the upcoming year. This could be garbage bags, towels or specific products that you use daily. It could also be those things that you offer your client when they arrive like coffee, water or magazines. Equally important is going through the old magazines and towels that you need to dispose of.

When it comes to business documents, now is the time to take a look at all those receipts from 2016 and begin to organize them for tax purposes.  If you don’t have a system for organizing your receipts, you may want to consider purchasing an accordion folder to use in 2017 that you can drop receipts into when categorizing. This will save you a lot of time at the end of the year when you need to have receipts sorted.

Finally, make sure to go through your client cards. Rewrite old cards that are showing wear and are becoming difficult to read. This is also a good time to reach out to your clients and let them know about new services you are providing.  Further, the act of reviewing client cards also lends itself perfectly to putting your future calendar of appointments together. It’s a great time to market by making calls to clients you haven’t spoken to in a while.

Remember, when you organize, you are already heading in a great direction as you start the New Year off. Happy New Year to everyone!