If your goal is to expand your lash salon team, that can be daunting, especially if you lack experience in managing teams. However, fear not! With over 17 years of experience as a Lash Artist and business owner, I'm here to share my hard-earned wisdom. I will guide you through the crucial must-dos of establishing and running a successful lash business. I’ll also offer some insight into the recruitment strategy implemented successfully in our own lash salon.
Picture this: You’ve already achieved your first goal of becoming a talented Lash Artist operating from your own salon space. Your next goal is to activate your growth strategy and expand your business by growing your team. If this resonates with you, then buckle up and keep reading because you have your work cut out to get this next phase up and running successfully.
Attracting like-minded Lash Artists to your business is your first step in developing and fostering a positive work environment that promotes collaboration and continues to maintain the consistent, high-quality customer service that you’re delivering as a solo Lash Artist. So, here are some strategies you can implement to help attract talented lash artists who share your vision and values as you grow your team.
You can also join Jodi and Alicia on our podcast as they explore the Pros and Cons of having a team in your lash salon:
Strategies to Attract Talented Lash Artists for Your Lash Salon:
1. Define Your Brand Identity
Having a clearly defined brand identity, mission, and values is not just a formality; it's crucial to ensuring your team has a united view of your business's direction. It's about communicating what you stand for in terms of quality, customer service, and creativity. As a solo lash artist, you may not have needed to broadcast your business vision, but now that you're leading a team, it’s a critical first step. A well-defined brand identity will guide your team and help attract Lash Artists who are the right fit for your brand.
2. Create an Appealing Work Environment
Your team will have different individual goals from yours as the business owner. So, in order to cultivate a positive and supportive work environment that fosters teamwork and collaboration, you need to offer the things that motivate your employees. What’s appealing to one person may not be appealing to the others. Enticing incentives might include continuous learning and skill development, flexible working hours, attractive compensation or commissions, personal recognition, or a sense of belonging and appreciation. A welcoming and inclusive workplace with enticing options will help attract talented, like-minded Lash Artists who respect your goals and values.
3. Attractive Compensation and Benefits
Talented Lash Artists are in high demand. After all, they are doing precisely what you did as a solo lash artist, committing themselves to mastering lash artistry. If financial reward and independence are their go-to, then it’s almost impossible to lure them into your business, and retaining them is a whole different challenge.
Offering competitive and attractive compensation and benefits is one essential aspect of attracting top talent. Assuming you have some qualified artists in mind from your contacts in the lash industry, then getting to know their motivation to work in your business with you is critical to attracting and keeping them. Once you know what they want, you can offer some of the benefits we discussed earlier.
One word of caution: When developing an attractive financial compensation model for your team, make sure that it’s economically sustainable. Ensure you or your financial adviser are clear about the impact on your business's financial performance, profit, and loss. Overcommitting financially will be a shortcut to the end of the growth strategy and your business.
4. Showcase Your Work and Success Stories
You’ve done some great work to get to where you are as a solo Lash Artist, so use your social media, your website, and other marketing channels you’ve been developing to showcase your work and client testimonials. Everyone loves a success story, so highlight your achievements and expertise to help attract other talented Lash Artists who aspire to be part of a successful, reputable, growing business.
5. Industry Networking
Attending industry events where you can meet your peers is your best opportunity to network and connect with other Lash Artists and professionals. Building relationships with like-minded individuals can lead to collaborations, referrals, and potential new business hires.
6. Have a Clear, Transparent Communication In Your Lash Salon
Transitioning from a career as a solo Lash Artist managing yourself to leading and managing a team could challenge your communication skills. Being transparent and clear about your vision, goals, expectations, policies, practices, and procedures is critical to creating a united team and ensuring a consistent approach to your services and the customer experience.
Formalizing who you are as a brand and business is essential to attracting the right clients and staff for your lash salon. It’s vital that your communications are consistent with the story you’re telling about your lash business and can include:
- Utilizing your website's ”About” story to articulate your brand's mission, goals, values, and operational approach.
- Using social media to share stories and posts that highlight your salon's mission, goals, values, and day-to-day operations. This will help you engage with the audience you’re trying to attract, including clients and new recruits.
- Integrating your mission, goals, behaviors, and operating standards into employee training, induction processes, procedures, or how-to videos and consistently mention them in other appropriate staff communications.
Clear and open communication with staff builds trust and helps potential hires understand what to expect when joining your team. Transparency also allows you and prospective hires to assess whether they align with your business values and culture.
7. Recruit Strategically
While we can and should utilize standard recruitment strategies to attract qualified Lash Artists, including online job postings, social media, industry networking, and referrals, our salon's most remarkable success was our in-house recruitment and development program.
As a Lash Artist growing your team and building your Lash business, it’s easy to see our industry's unique challenge in attracting and retaining impressive talent to grow your team. Lash Artists, by nature, are entrepreneurial; the mere fact that they took a leap of faith and invested time and effort in developing and mastering the art is, in itself a testament to the fact that they think outside the box and are already aspiring entrepreneurs in their own right.
Our salon’s recruitment program had clearly defined program outcomes to attract and train new, untrained recruits and provide them with a combination of formal and informal training in our salon. Assessment criteria were used and shared with participants to determine successful candidates who would participate in the program and guide their development along the way.
We held open evenings to attract interested candidates and allow them to try their hand at lashing under the supervision of a qualified lash trainer. We made salon facilities available for practice sessions and ongoing training, and at the end of the qualification period, successful candidates were offered work placements in our salon.
The formal part of the training was funded; the informal training, which involves mentoring, coaching, and educating participants on in-salon practices and procedures, cost the business resource time.
This strategy has pros if you have the capacity and access to resources like a qualified trainer. You create a pipeline of aspiring Lash professionals who are trained in your salon, using your methodology, processes, and procedures. The result is qualified Lash Artists who are well-versed in your business goals and vision and nurture a sense of loyalty to you and your brand because you supported them through the journey.
The program's cons are that it requires dedicated commitment from both the salon and the participants, which is time-consuming. You do get attrition, where some participants fall off the program for various reasons. Those who stay and succeed may work for you until they develop the confidence to leave and begin their own entrepreneurial journey as solo Lash Artists. Hence, it's essential to keep the pipeline of enthusiastic participants a continuous part of your recruitment strategy for the growth and success of your business.
Benefits of having a team in your salon:
1. Avoiding Workload Burn-out
As a solo Lash Artist, you’re it! You’re the artist providing the services, the salon manager, the marketing manager, the business administrator, and the finance manager. Phew! These are just a few overwhelming tasks you perform daily.
When growing your team, you can offload some of your day-to-day workloads to the talented individuals you bring on board. You may also decide that a portion of your team are external contractors who provide necessary services to you and your business on a part-time basis. The option for outsourced assistance is a strategy well worth pursuing, as services available in this area are far more accessible today than ever.
Managing the balance between business growth with new clients and services and hiring new employees is an important consideration that requires a solid plan. Having a clear plan will help you manage your workload and avert the risk of personal burnout from overcommitting yourself to your business. Additionally, it allows you to maintain quality service for your clients while ensuring your team is adequately supported and equipped to deliver a consistent, exceptional client experience. This strategic approach ensures sustainable growth and long-term success for both you and your business.
2. Diverse Lash Extension Services and Product Offering
With a growing team, you can now consider offering a more diverse and complimentary range of services, which may attract more clients or leverage your current client base to spend more with you. Your salon retail space must-have is your Lash Aftercare range. This is where Prolong Lash can help by providing marketing support services as a Prolong Lash Partner with significant discounts on Cleanser Concentrate to display your own brand. Prolong Lash pre-mixed foaming pump for your convenience and Prolong Lash under eye Hydrating Serum. Not only is lash hygiene critical to the longevity of your eyelash extensions and the health of your client's natural lashes, but it’s also a great way to increase salon revenue incrementally as the salon owner.
In my experience, offering a small incentive on the sale of retail products to staff can be a mutually beneficial strategy. Staff becomes more focused on explaining the benefits of aftercare products to clients who may purchase them, and you don’t need to be the sole voice in your salon reinforcing the importance of good lash hygiene to your clients.
Expanding your lash salon team marks a significant milestone in your journey as a business owner. With over two decades of experience, I understand the excitement and challenges that come with this endeavor. Building a team opens doors to a world of possibilities, granting you access to diverse talent and fostering collaboration. Yet, challenges such as resource commitment and turnover must be navigated.
By defining your brand identity, offering competitive compensation, and fostering transparent communication, you can attract and retain top talent. Consider strategic recruitment initiatives like in-house training programs to develop and nurture loyal employees. With careful planning and dedication, you can overcome obstacles and chart a course toward sustainable growth and success in your lash business.
Dive into a world of lash expertise and business growth with Prolong Lash! Check out our insightful blog, engaging YouTube channel, and tune in to Aussie Lashwives Podcast. Discover how partnering with us can elevate your small business to new heights today!
