Question

Topic: Strategy

Full Service Hair Salon Wants To Start A Chain Of Salons

Posted by Anonymous on 3/16/2009 at 1:56 AM ET 250 Points
April 2009 will be the one year anniversary of
Mar-Lanna's Hair Studio. I have aspirations of owning several salons but I run into a problem on what the next step to take to make this happen. While looking for a second salon, I've decided that I wanted to use the banks money this time around. The reason for this is because I knew the ins & outs of the business but I didn't know that it was gonna take up so much capital upfront. What's the best way to go about making this dream come true? Lastly, a friend of mine said I needed to try to get a government grant. Is there any advice on how to go after a grant with success?
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 3/16/2009 at 9:39 AM Accepted
    Talk to you local SCORE (https://www.score.org/findscore/index.html?zc=75115) or SBDC (https://www.bplans.com/sbdc/#Texas) chapter. Also, organizations such as https://www.tabboards.com may be of help to guide you through your process.
  • Posted on 3/19/2009 at 9:45 PM Accepted
    It all starts with your business and marketing plans. You need to lay out the business proposition: How much money you'll need, what you'll use it for, how much business you expect to generate (based on experience in your first salon), and how and how soon your lender and/or investors will get their money back.

    Satisfy yourself first that your business concept can be scaled up profitably. Once YOU believe it, then explain your thinking to others. Typically service businesses don't scale well ... because the biggest expense is for people ... and they're typically very competitive.

    Why do you want to open additional shops? Is there some economy of scale? Have you found a way to build in some source of higher-than-average margins?
  • Posted by michael on 3/19/2009 at 10:53 PM Accepted
    Marcus,
    Congratulations! One year is huge. It's probably the hardest.

    The key is to network with other owners that are some distance from you. Try to cooperate on advertising and purchasing...if you can. When you do this, you'll find out people who are looking to get out of the business. That's when you can come in and make an offer...without bank money. (This isn't the place for how you do that)

    Michael
  • Posted on 5/13/2009 at 6:07 AM Author
    Can we please open this question back up?
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