beauty salon business plan template free

Beauty Salon Business Plan Template

Beauty salon business plan.

You’ve come to the right place to create your beauty salon business plan.

We have helped over 100,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans and many have used them to start or grow their beauty salons.

Below is a salon business plan example to help you create your own beauty salon business plan.

Executive Summary

Business overview.

Major Lengths Beauty Salon is a newly established hair and beauty bar located in Glendale, Arizona that is founded by Jenna Diaz, a local hair stylist and aesthetician that has worked in the industry for over 15 years. Jenna’s knowledge in hair, nail, and facial trends have made her a popular stylist in the community. As her client list continues to grow, Jenna realizes that it’s time for her to open up her own salon.

Major Lengths Beauty Salon will be located in Glendale’s upscale district in a 5,000 square foot retail space. The area is highly trafficked with middle to high income residents who spend on luxury items such as cars, clothes, jewelry.

The beauty salon will offer haircuts and treatments, facials, manicures, and pedicures. Major Lengths will also carry a large selection of hair and beauty products that will be available for purchase. Jenna will have a loyalty program where the top clients will receive discounts on their service as a thank you for remaining loyal and referring other potential clients to the salon.

Product Offering

The following are the services that Major Lengths Beauty Salon will provide:

• Color Treatment
• Healthy Hair Treatment
• Nail Services

Customer Focus

Major Lengths Beauty Salon will target the male and female adult population of Glendale, although the majority of clientele will be women. They will be middle to high income and working in a variety of industries, such as medical, legal, business, education, or other white collar professions. The salon will target stay at home mothers as well who enjoy a day of pampering.

Management Team

Major Lengths Beauty Salon will be owned and operated by Jenna Diaz, a local Arizona hair stylist and aesthetician. Her years of experience and in the industry have allowed her to meet the following talented individuals.

Jenna has recruited a talented nail technician and aesthetician from her previous salon to join her at Major Lengths. Jenna regards them as the best in the industry and knows that their quality of work is up to her high standards. They also have a loyal and large list of clients that will likely follow them to the new salon.

While the three of them will be in charge of their respective department, Jenna will be the head manager to oversee the entire operation of the beauty salon.

Success Factors

Major Lengths Beauty Salon will be able to achieve success by offering the following competitive advantages:

• Latest hair and nail trends
• Modern and comfortable environment
• More selection of each service offered than any other salon in town
• Major Lengths Beauty Salon offers the best pricing in town

Financial Highlights

Major Lengths Beauty Salon is seeking $100,000 in debt financing to open the beauty salon. The funding will be dedicated towards securing the retail space and purchasing the salon furniture, equipment, decorations, opening inventory, and working capital. The breakout of the funding is below:

• Beauty salon build-out: $30,000
• Opening inventory, furniture, equipment, decorations:  $40,000
• Three months of overhead expenses (payroll, rent, utilities):  $15,000
• Marketing costs: $5,000
• Working capital:  $10,000

  The following graph below outlines the pro forma financial projections for Major Lengths Beauty Salon.

Company Overview

Who is major lengths beauty salon.

Major Lengths Beauty Salon is a newly established hair and beauty bar located in Glendale, Arizona. The company is founded by Jenna Diaz, a local hair stylist and aesthetician that has dedicated her career to making women look and feel their best. Throughout her years in the beauty industry, Jenna gained extensive knowledge in hair, nail, and facial trends as well as how to give exceptional customer service to all of her clients. Jenna realizes that men and women invest a lot of time and money into their appearance and she takes extra care to ensure her clients not only feel special, but walk away with their desired result.

Major Lengths Beauty Salon will be located in Glendale’s upscale district in a 5,000 square foot retail space. The area is highly trafficked with middle to high income residents who spend on luxury items such as cars, clothes, jewelry. Some of Arizona’s most expensive homes are within a 15-mile radius from the location. The salon will be decorated with a contemporary style, have modern furnishings, and include a welcoming waiting and reception area, large hair styling room, and separate areas for facials and nail services.

Major Lengths Beauty Salon History

Major Lengths is owned and operated by Jenna Diaz, a local hair stylist and aesthetician who has made her career working in the beauty industry for the past 15 years in Glendale. She has gained extensive knowledge through her continuing education and industry seminars. Jenna has a long list of loyal clientele who will follow her to her new salon. Aside from her beauty salon knowledge and expertise, Jenna has taken local business courses to learn salon management and leading a small team of stylists, manicurists, and aestheticians.

Since incorporation, Major Lengths Beauty Salon has achieved the following milestones:

• Registered Major Lengths Beauty Salon, LLC to transact business in the state of Arizona.
• Has obtained the necessary salon permits and licenses for the state of California.
• Has a lease contract in place for the 5,000 square foot beauty salon.
• Has developed the complete list of salon services and products.
• Has developed the beauty salon’s logo and branding image.
• Began recruiting a team of stylists, manicurists, and nail technicians.

Major Lengths Beauty Salon Products

The following will be the services Major Lengths Beauty Salon will provide:

Industry Analysis

The Beauty Salon industry is expected to increase in size by 2.5% over the next five years. Demand for industry services mirrors broader economic performance, as economic growth boosts consumer spending on personal care products and services. Specifically, new products and services have favorably contributed to industry revenue growth over the majority of the past five years.

Online platforms such as Instagram and Facebook have provided a convenient and low-cost marketing strategy for many stylists and technicians to garner new clientele. Higher service prices and increased consumer spending on high-margin merchandise and services have also fueled revenue growth, as operators capitalize on rising per capita disposable income. Continued growth in household income over the outlook period is expected to drive consumer spending and boost demand for premium personal care services. Moreover, equipped with larger budgets, consumers will likely continue to favor professional salon products and services, such as hair coloring services, over less expensive alternatives sold at drugstores and supermarkets. Environmental sustainability concerns are expected to become more prevalent over the next five years, leading salons to offer a wider array of eco-friendly products that appeal to trending consumer preferences. Specifically, nontoxic products will likely benefit industry revenue, staff and patrons. This growing niche will likely drive hair salon revenue over the coming years.

Customer Analysis

Demographic profile of target market.

The precise demographics for Glendale, Arizona are:

Customer Segmentation

Major Lengths Beauty Salon will primarily target the following customer profiles:

• Stay at home mothers and fathers
• Working professionals
• College students
• Retired females
• Mothers with adult or teenage daughters

Competitive Analysis

Direct and indirect competitors.

Major Lengths Beauty Salon will face competition from other companies with similar business profiles. A description of each competitor company is below.

Hair Xtreme

Hair Xtreme is located on the west side of Glendale and is owned by a local hair stylist with over 30 years of experience. Hair Xtreme specializes in haircuts and hair coloring services as well as hair color correction. The owner is also certified in Balayage highlighting by the prestigious L’oreal SOHO Academy. Hair Xtreme Beauty Salon was established to create a higher level of service in the Glendale community and has amassed a large clientele. The salon is regarded as the go-to salon for anyone looking for extreme color or haircut transformation. The pricing of services are on the higher end of the spectrum and caters to the community in the middle to higher income range.

Hair Xtreme Beauty Salon’s full list of services include haircuts, balayage, ombre, highlights, color retouch, hair treatments, and special occasion styles. The salon is open Tuesday through Saturday and is by appointment only.

The Complete Package

The Complete Package is not only a hair and nail salon in Glendale, but also provides massage treatment, eyelash extensions, and body treatments. The salon is moderately priced and leans to be more affordable to target the population who doesn’t spend lavishly on beauty services, but also occasionally like to get pampered. Owned and operated by a mother and daughter team of hair stylists, The Complete Package is located in a small retail shopping center in the middle of the city. The salon has been in operation for over 20 years and was founded by Kate Beneducci. She was able to bring The Complete Package into operation due to her experience and background in cosmetics, marketing, and management. Every single stylist is a certified cosmetologist and are all required to attend a mandatory training every year to learn the latest techniques.

The Complete Package’s full list of salon services include hair, makeup, eyelash extensions, and nails. The full list of spa services include waxing, facials, microdermabrasion, massage, and body treatments. The salon regularly posts promotions to increase customer loyalty. The Complete Package is open daily by appointment and is able to take walk-ins Friday through Sunday.

Fringe Beauty Salon and Spa

Fringe Beauty Salon and Spa is located on the west side of Glendale, Arizona and was established in 2013 as a premier beauty salon. Fringe caters to the higher income clientele and their pricing is the most expensive in town. The owner relocated to Glendale to start her own beauty salon after working in the beauty industry in New York and Los Angeles for many years. She did hair and salon services for many celebrities and has been known to be the stylist for awards shows such as the Emmys and Oscars.

As a Glendale native, she relocated to her hometown to provide a higher quality of salon services to the community. The full list of services for Fringe Beauty Salon include haircuts, hair treatments, hair color, balayage, ombre, special occasion, manicures, pedicures, massage, facials, eyelash extensions, waxing, and makeup.

With a luxury atmosphere and relaxing spa environment, Fringe Beauty Salon and Spa is frequently booked for those wanting a full day of pampering.

Competitive Advantage

Major Lengths Beauty Salon will be able to offer the following advantages over their competition:

• Friendly and knowledgeable staff who are all trained and experienced in the latest hair and beauty trends.
• Complete list of beauty salon services intended to provide a full day of pampering and relaxation.
• Casual and comfortable environment with a luxurious feel.
• Major Lengths Beauty Salon offers the best pricing in town for the high quality of services provided. Their pricing structure is the most cost effective compared to the competition.

Marketing Plan

Brand & value proposition.

Major Lengths Beauty Salon will offer the unique value proposition to its clientele:

• Complete list of beauty salon services all provided by trained and knowledgeable hair stylists, manicurists, and aestheticians.
• Pricing is affordable and moderate so customers perceive value when visiting the beauty salon.

Promotions Strategy

The promotions strategy for Major Lengths Beauty Salon is as follows:

Website/SEO Marketing

Major Lengths Beauty Salon has hired an advertising firm to develop their branding image and logo. They will also develop the hair salon’s website. The website will include a full list of services, pricing, and pictures. The advertising company will also manage the company’s website presence with SEO marketing tactics so that anytime someone types in the Google or Bing search engine “Glendale beauty salon” or “beauty salon near me”, Major Lengths Beauty Salon will be listed at the top of the search results.

Word of Mouth/Referrals

Jenna Diaz has a long list of loyal clients that have been with her for decades. They will follow her to the new salon and will receive additional clients from their referrals.

Social Media

Once the branding and logo is finalized, Jenna will use social media to her advantage and create social media business pages on all of the popular social media platforms. She will commit to posting daily to increase the list of followers and use it to regularly engage with customers.

Print Advertising

Major Lengths Beauty Salon will invest in professionally designed print ads to display in local magazines and hand out flyers to local businesses.

The pricing of Major Lengths Beauty Salon will be moderate and on par with competitors so customers feel they receive value when purchasing their salon services.

Operations Plan

The following will be the operations plan for Major Lengths Beauty Salon.

Operation Functions:

• Jenna Diaz will be the Owner and Manager of the beauty salon. She will order salon inventory and products, oversee staff, payroll, and manage customer service.
• Melanie Brooks – Head nail technician that will oversee the nail department.
• Fiona Adams – Head aesthetician that will oversee the facial and massage departments.
• Jenna has hired third party companies to manage the bookkeeping, accounting, tax payments, insurance, and legal requirements.

Milestones:

Major Lengths Beauty Salon will have the following milestones complete in the next six months.

8/1/202X – Finalize retail space for beauty salon

8/15/202X – Begin build-out of beauty salon to include stylist stations, facial and massage rooms, and nail service area

9/1/202X – Order opening inventory

9/15/202X – Begin marketing campaign

9/22/202X – Hire staff of hair stylists, nail technicians, massage therapists, and aestheticians

10/1/202X – Major Lengths Beauty Salon Grand Opening Event

Major Lengths Beauty Salon will be owned and operated by Jenna Diaz, a local Arizona hair stylist and aesthetician. Jenna has made an impressive career helping women achieve their desired look and feel. As an Arizona native, Jenna has attended the local beauty college and attends industry trade shows and training seminars annually. She has amassed a large and loyal clientele and has even done hair treatments, cuts, and facials for local celebrities and sports personalities. Jenna is committed to establishing a beauty salon in her hometown of Glendale and making it a place where the women and men flock to when they want the latest hairstyle, manicure, or facial.

While the three of them will be in charge of their respective department, Jenna will be the head manager to oversee the entire operation of the beauty salon. She will also outsource a third party insurance company, CPA, and attorney to take care of her insurance, legal obligations, and tax filings. Jenna will also employ a part time bookkeeper to handle her day to day accounting and payroll of staff.

Financial Plan

Key revenue & costs.

The revenue drivers for Major Lengths Beauty Salon are the sales from hair services, nail services, massages and facials.

The cost drivers will be the overhead costs required to staff the beauty salon. The expenses will be the payroll cost, rent, utilities, salon inventory, and marketing materials.

Funding Requirements and Use of Funds

Major Lengths Beauty Salon is seeking $100,000 in debt financing to open the beauty salon. The funding will be dedicated towards securing the retail space and purchasing the salon furniture, equipment, decorations, opening inventory, and working capital. Jenna will need to allocate funds for the first three months of payroll and operating expenses as well as spend approximately on branding and marketing. The breakout of the funding is below:

Key Assumptions

The following outlines the key assumptions required in order to achieve the revenue and cost numbers in the financials and in order to pay off the startup business loan.

• Number of Beauty Salon Services Sold Per Month: 300
• Average Revenue per Month: $20,000
• Beauty Salon Lease per Year: $110,000

Financial Projections

Income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement, beauty salon business plan template faqs, what is a beauty salon business plan.

A beauty salon business plan is a plan to start and/or grow your beauty salon. Among other things, it outlines your business concept, identifies your target customers, presents your marketing plan and details your financial projections.

You can  easily complete your beauty salon business plan using our Beauty Salon Business Plan Template here .

What are the Main Types of Beauty Salons?

There are a number of different kinds of beauty salons, some examples include: Beauty salon focusing strictly on hair styling, beauty salon offering hair removal services, skin care services, nail services, tanning services, or massage services, and beauty salon offering products.

How Do You Get Funding for Your Beauty Salon Business Plan?

Beauty salons are often funded through small business loans. Personal savings, credit card financing and angel investors are also popular forms of funding. This is true for a business plan for a beauty salon or a hair salon business plan.

Why do You Need a Business Plan Template?

If you’re looking to start a beauty salon business  or grow your existing salon business, you need a business plan. A hair salon business plan template will help you raise funding, if needed, and plan out the growth of your beauty salon in order to improve your chances of success. Your salon business plan is a living document that should be updated annually as your company grows and changes.

Where Can I Get a Beauty Salon Business Plan PDF?

You can download our free beauty salon business plan template PDF here . This is a sample beauty salon business plan template you can use in PDF format.

Salon Business Plan Template & Guide

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Over the past 20+ years, we have helped over 10,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans to start and grow their salons. On this page, we will first give you some background information with regards to the importance of business planning. We will then go through a salon business plan template step-by-step so you can create your plan today.

Our salon business plan template works for all types of salons, including:

• Hair or Beauty Salons: which most commonly include hair-cutting, coloring and styling hair and other beauty services
• Nail Salons: which typically include nail treatments, manicures and pedicures
• Hair Removal Salons: commonly include waxing and other forms of hair removal
• Skin Care Salons: commonly include facials and other skin care services
• Tanning Salons: include tanning services
• Day Spa Salons: often include massages, aromatherapy and other services
• Combination Salons: include services from more than one of the above salon types

This being said, we also do have specific pages for information on our hair salon business plan ,  nail salon business plan , and beauty salon business plan .

Download our Ultimate Salon Business Plan Template here >

What Is a Business Plan?

A business plan provides a snapshot of your salon as it stands today, and lays out your growth plan for the next five years. It explains your business’ goals and your strategy for reaching them. It also includes market research to support your plans.

Why You Need a Business Plan

If you’re looking to start a salon or grow your existing salon you need a business plan. A salon business plan will help you raise funding, if needed, and plan out the growth of your salon in order to improve your chances of achieving success. Your salon business plan is a living document that should be updated annually as your company grows and changes.

Source of Funding for Salons

With regards to funding, the main sources of funding for a salon are bank loans and angel investors. With regards to bank loans, banks will want to review your business plan and gain confidence that you will be able to repay your loan and interest. To acquire this confidence, the loan officer will not only want to confirm that your financials are reasonable. But they will want to see a professional plan. Such a plan will give them the confidence that you can successfully and professionally operate a salon business.

The second most common form of funding for a salon is angel investors. Angel investors are wealthy individuals who will write you a check. They will either take equity in return for their funding, or, like a bank, they will give you a loan. Venture capitalists will not fund a salon. They might consider funding a chain of salons, but never an individual location. This is because most venture capitalists are looking for millions of dollars in return when they make an investment, and an individual location could never achieve such results.

Finish Your Business Plan Today!

Salon business plan template.

Your salon business plan should include 10 sections as follows:

Executive Summary

Your executive summary provides an introduction to your business plan, but it is normally the last section you write because it provides a summary of each key section of your plan.

The goal of your Executive Summary is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the type of salon you are operating and the status; for example, are you a startup, do you have a beauty salon with existing customers and revenues  that you would like to grow, or are you operating a chain of salons.

Next, provide an overview of each of the subsequent sections of your plan. For example, give a brief overview of the salon industry. Discuss the type of salon you are operating. Detail your direct competitors. Give an overview of your target customers. Provide a snapshot of your salon’s marketing plan. Identify your management team. And offer an overview of your financial plan.

Company Analysis

In your company analysis, you will detail the type of salon you are operating.

For example, you might operate one of the following types:

• Beauty Salon
• Hair Removal Salon
• Skin Care Salon
• Tanning Salon
• Combination of the above types

In addition to explaining the type of salon you operate, the Company Analysis section of your salon business plan needs to provide background on your business.

Include answers to question such as:

• When and why did you start your salon business?
• What milestones have you achieved to date? Milestones could include sales goals you’ve reached, new store openings, etc.
• Your legal structure. Are you incorporated as an S-Corp? An LLC? A sole proprietorship? Explain your legal structure here.

Industry Analysis

In your industry analysis, you need to provide an overview of the salon business.

While this may seem unnecessary, it serves multiple purposes.

First, researching the salon industry educates you. It helps you understand the market in which you are operating.

Secondly, market research can improve your strategy particularly if your research identifies market trends. For example, if there was a trend towards new hair services, nail services, spa services or beauty services, it would be helpful to ensure your plan included offering such services.

The third reason for market research is to prove to readers that you are an expert in your industry. By conducting the salon industry research and presenting it in your plan, you achieve just that.

The following questions should be answered in the industry analysis section of your salon business plan:

• How big is the beauty salon market and/or hair salon industry (in dollars)?
• Is the market declining or increasing?
• Who are the key competitors in the market?
• Who are the key suppliers in the market?
• What trends are affecting the industry?
• What is the industry’s growth forecast over the next 5 – 10 years?
• What is the relevant market size? That is, how big is the potential market for your salon. You can extrapolate such as figure by assessing the size of the market in the entire country and then applying that figure to your local population.

Customer Analysis

The customer analysis section of your salon plan must detail the customers you serve and/or expect to serve.

The following are examples of customer segments: college students, sports enthusiasts, soccer moms, techies, teens, baby boomers, etc.

As you can imagine, the customer segment(s) you choose will have a great impact on the type of salon you operate. Clearly baby boomers would want a different atmosphere, pricing and product options, and would respond to different marketing promotions than teens.

Try to break out your target customers in terms of their demographic and psychographic profiles. With regards to demographics, include a discussion of the ages, genders, locations and income levels of the customers you seek to serve. Because most salons primarily serve customers living in their same city or town, such demographic information is easy to find on government websites.

Psychographic profiles explain the wants and needs of your target customers. The more you can understand and define these needs, the better you will do in attracting and retaining your customers.

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Competitive Analysis

Your competitive analysis should identify your indirect and direct competitors and then focus on the latter.

Direct competitors are other salons.

Indirect competitors are other options that customers have to purchase from you that aren’t direct competitors. This includes products they can purchase from supermarkets and other retailers both offline and online. You need to mention such competition to show you understand that not everyone in your target market frequents a salon on a regular basis or at all.

With regards to direct competition, you want to detail the other salons with which you compete. Most likely, your direct competitors will be salons located close to your location.

For each such competitor, provide an overview of their businesses and document their strengths and weaknesses. Unless you once worked at your competitors’ businesses, it will be impossible to know everything about them. But you should be able to find out key things about them such as:

• What types of customers do they serve?
• What services do they offer?
• What products do they offer?
• What is their pricing (premium, low, etc.)?
• What are they good at?
• What are their weaknesses?

With regards to the last two questions, think about your answers from the customers’ perspective. And don’t be afraid to stand outside your competitors’ locations and ask customers as they leave what they like most and least about them.

The final part of your competitive analysis section is to document your areas of competitive advantage. For example:

• Will you provide superior salon services?
• Will you provide superior salon products?
• Will you provide salon services that your competitors don’t offer?
• Will you make it easier or faster for customers to acquire your products?
• Will you provide better customer service?
• Will you offer better pricing?

Think about ways you will outperform your competition and document them in this section of your plan.

Marketing Plan

Traditionally, a marketing plan includes the four P’s: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. For a salon business plan, your marketing plan should include the following:

Product : in the product section you should reiterate the type of salon that you documented in your Company Analysis. Then, detail the specific services you will be offering.

Price : Document the prices you will offer and how they compare to your competitors. Essentially in the product and price sub-sections of your marketing plan, you are presenting the menu items you offer and their prices.

Place : Place refers to the location of your salon. Document your location and mention how the location will impact whether you achieve success. For example, is your beauty salon located next to a heavily populated office building, or gym, etc. Discuss how your location might provide a steady stream of customers.

Choosing a location for your salon is an extremely important decision. With the right location, the salon will at least launch on the right foot. With the wrong location, customers may never arrive in the first place. Consider the following two factors with regards to your location:

1. Proximity to Customer Base

To decide on a good location from a customer perspective, you must first know who your target customers are (stay-at-home moms, working women, teens, families) as discussed above. Once you’re clear on this, you can begin scouting locations. Being close to your customer base could mean being close to their homes, but could also mean being near their workplaces or en route between the two. Being close in distance is important, but being accessible (e.g., adequate parking) is even more important.

2. Landlord

Hopefully you’ll be in your location for many years. That means that you will be forming a long-term relationship, even a partnership, with your landlord. The landlord should be invested in the success of your business and understand that what is good for your salon is also good for them. During initial discussions with landlords, look out if you sense that they are focused solely on rules, restrictions and regulations, rather on what you want to do. If the landlord seems intent on starting an antagonistic relationship, think twice before signing the lease. When you choose your location, you are choosing a landlord so make sure you’ll be able to get along with them and have the leeway you need to run a successful salon.

Promotions : the final part of your salon marketing plan is the promotions section. Here you will document how you will drive customers to your location(s). The following are some promotional methods you might consider:

• Making your salon’s front store extra appealing to attract passing customers
• Developing and marketing your website
• Social media marketing (advertising and organic posts)
• Advertising in local papers and magazines
• Reaching out to local bloggers and websites
• Partnerships with local organizations
• Local radio advertising
• Develop marketing materials

Also think about your salon’s Unique Selling Proposition (USP), which should answer why customers should choose you over other salons. Make sure your USP is reflected in your marketing.

Here are some additional marketing tips if you are launching a new salon:

Promote the Opening of Your Salon

To be sure of a well-attended launch event, start promoting early, with attractive signage outside your salon. This should be geared towards your target demographic – women for most salons. Setting up an employee on the street outside or nearby to hand out flyers in the days leading up to and during the opening event can increase visibility, especially if this is an uncommon occurrence in your neighborhood. The point is to stand out and to reach a large portion of your intended customer market with the message that your opening event will be something they don’t want to miss.

Plan a Great Spa or Salon Deal to Increase Profits

When opening, develop a clear deal or incentive for customers to attend and to try your services during the opening day, week, or month. Rather than offering discounts on different products, freebies, two-for-ones and other offers, try to find one nice offer and promote it heavily so that it is memorable both to those who hear about it beforehand and to those who take advantage of it. For example, a free pedicure with purchase of a manicure if you are a nail salon. The offer does not have to break the bank – it could be a small free gift with any service of $50 or more.

Plan for Smooth Salon Operations

To show off your salon at its best, having a pristine and spotless store is a minimal requirement. The operations have to be smooth as clockwork on opening day, especially if appointments and walk-ins make it a very busy first day or week. Customers who use your services during this time can become ambassadors to your customer target group for you, speaking of how wonderful the experience was, or they can spread the word about how they waited forever without hearing what was happening, how salon staff were sloppy or rude, and how they would never return. You need the early adopters on your side, so make sure the human, computer, and mechanical systems are all ready to work perfectly from day one and that you have contingency plans for unforeseen problems.

Operations Plan

While the earlier sections of your salon business plan explained your goals, your operations plan describes how you will meet them. Your operations plan should have two distinct sections as follows.

Everyday short-term processes include all of the tasks involved in running your salon such as serving customers, procuring supplies, salon equipment, keeping the salon clean, etc.

Long-term goals are the milestones you hope to achieve. These could include the dates when you expect to serve your 1,000th customer, or when you hope to reach $X in sales. It could also be when you expect to hire your Xth employee or launch a new location.

Management Team

To demonstrate your salon’s ability to succeed as a business, a strong management team is essential. Highlight your key players’ backgrounds, emphasizing those skills and experiences that prove their ability to grow a company.

Ideally you and/or your team members have direct experience in the salon business. If so, highlight this experience and expertise. But also highlight any experience that you think will help your business succeed.

If your team is lacking, consider assembling an advisory board. An advisory board would include 2 to 8 individuals who would act like mentors to your business. They would help answer questions and provide strategic guidance. If needed, look for advisory board members with experience in salons and/or successfully running retail and small businesses.

Financial Plan

Your financial plan should include your 5-year financial statement broken out both monthly or quarterly for the first year and then annually. Your financial statements include your income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statements. This section of plan should also include startup costs and whether or not you are seeking funding.

Income Statement : an income statement is more commonly called a Profit and Loss statement or P&L. It shows your revenues and then subtracts your costs to show whether you turned a profit or not.

In developing your income statement, you need to devise assumptions. For example, will you serve 20 customers per day or 50? Will your average price point be $50 or $100? And will sales grow by 2% or 10% per year? As you can imagine, your choice of assumptions will greatly impact the financial forecasts for your business. As much as possible, conduct research to try to root your assumptions in reality.

Balance Sheets : While balance sheets include much information, to simplify them to the key items you need to know about, balance sheets show your assets and liabilities. For instance, if you spend $100,000 on building out your salon, that will not give you immediate profits. Rather it is an asset that will hopefully help you generate profits for years to come. Likewise, if a bank writes you a check for $100.000, you don’t need to pay it back immediately. Rather, that is a liability you will pay back over time.

Cash Flow Statement : Your cash flow statement will help determine how much money you need to start or grow your business, and make sure you never run out of money. What most entrepreneurs and business owners don’t realize is that you can turn a profit but run out of money and go bankrupt. For example, let’s say a company approached you with a massive $100,000 salon contract to provide salon services to their employees. Let’s assume the contract would cost you $50,000 to fulfill. Well, in most cases, you would have to pay that $50,000 now for supplies, employee salaries, etc. But let’s say the company didn’t pay you for 180 days. During that 180 day period, you could run out of money.

In developing your Income Statement and Balance Sheets be sure to include several of the key costs needed in starting or growing a salon:

• Location build-out including design fees, construction, etc.
• Cost of equipment like chairs, washing equipment, etc.
• Payroll or salaries paid to staff
• Business insurance
• Licenses and permits
• Legal expenses

Attach your full financial projections in the appendix of your plan along with any supporting documents that make your plan more compelling. For example, you might include your salon’s design blueprint or location lease.

Summary & Keys to Salon Success

Putting together a business plan for your salon is a worthwhile endeavor. If you follow the salon business plan template above, by the time you are done, you will truly be an expert. You will really understand the salon business, your competition and your customers. You will have developed a marketing plan and will really understand what it takes to launch and grow a successful beauty salon or hair salon.

Finally, in addition to completing your salon business plan template, be sure to pay special attention to the following factors that often define success for salon businesses:

• Make sure all of your clients are thrilled with your services
• Keep your salon clean at all times
• Provide excellent communications with current and prospective clients
• Embrace new technology, particularly social media to engage your clients and get them to return to your salon
• Focus on growing revenues, but also on profits, by keeping a close eye on costs
• Hire the right team, train them well and treat them well so their performance is strong and they are loyal to your business

Download Our Salon Business Plan PDF

You can download our salon business plan PDF here . This is a business plan template you can use in PDF format.

Salon Business Plan FAQs

What is the easiest way to complete my salon business plan.

Growthink's Ultimate Salon Business Plan Template allows you to quickly and easily complete your Salon Business Plan.

Where Can I Download a Free Salon Business Plan PDF?

You can download our beauty salon business plan sample pdf here. Our salon business plan PDF template is a business plan template you can use in PDF format.

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Hair And Beauty Salon Business Plan

Start your own hair and beauty salon business plan

Trend Setters Hair Studio

Executive summary executive summary is a brief introduction to your business plan. it describes your business, the problem that it solves, your target market, and financial highlights.">, opportunity.

There is a need for a full-service beauty salon dedicated to consistently providing high customer satisfaction by rendering excellent service, quality products, and furnishing an enjoyable atmosphere at an acceptable price/value relationship.

We plan to supply services and products that enhance our clients’ physical appearance and mental relaxation.

We will be targeting male and female clients who are fashion conscious and have disposable income.  Our clients are mostly women, but we will make sure to include men who fit the criteria as well 

Competition

There are a number of salons like ours, but they are mainly in the very high income parts of MyTown and surrounding areas. We do not intend to compete with these so called "Day Spas." We wish to offer a middle ground for those clients who can’t quite afford those high-end luxury salons.

Trend Setters will, upon commencement of operations, sell a wide range of beauty services and products. We will provide quality hair, nail, and skin services, along with top lines of beauty products. What will set Trend Setters apart from the competition is our commitment to providing all of these services in one convenient location.

Expectations

The forecast shows small profits leveling out in the third year. We believe this is realistic, even conservative. Of course we will be watching actual results on a monthly basis, and revising the forecast as necessary. 

Financial Highlights by Year

Financing needed.

We plan on needing $60K owner’s investment and getting a $50K vendor financing to purchase equipment.

Starting costs include $50K cash cushion, $9K starting expenses before launch, and $53K tangible assets at launch. 

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