In trouble with my boss... weird situation, any advice appreciated.

[Ginismedicinal]

I'm a hairdresser with 30 years experience, I'm employed in a salon and FULLY booked up til the end of November, not even room for a cut and blow dry... but, my boss sat me down yesterday to say I'm not earning her enough money, she's having to 'carry me'!
I've been here 2 years and, strangely, they charge about £40 for a full head highlights, toners and cut and blow dry!! I've NEVER worked anywhere that charges less than £90+ for a service like this.
Obviously they can't be charging enough to cover wages/overheads etc, and suddenly, out of nowhere I've been taken asside for this chat that there's not enough money coming in.
I'm the only stylist here, I open up, I close etc, just me. How am I to earn them more money if I'm fully booked up months in advance? I don't even have ANY breaks etc.
Is there something I'm missing? I'm so confused by this sudden 'problem' where the solution is in the owners control, not mine... charge more for the services! 🤦🏻‍♀️

Leave.

If she's complaining about this, she's preparing to give you the push. Jump before you're pushed.

Poach every client you can.

Minimum wage is for the junior as she's learning. You deserve more for sure.

Defo decide how to leave and crack on and do your own thing.

I can't thank you all enough... I'm going to go mobile!
I'm going to quit the salon tomorrow and collect my equipment etc.
I'm terrified, but I'm so unhappy in that place, it's time I moved on.
It's very clear I should have done this long ago...
Leap of faith coming up... 🙏🤞🙏❤️

Well done! Make sure you have your clients' contact info before you fire your boss.

'Before you fire your boss' 😅 that's brilliant.
Yes, I've got ALOT of my clients contact info, and they all have mine 🤞 x

Your boss is full of shit and needs to take responsibility for herself and the way she runs her business. If you're an employee and are fully booked up ie you're busy working the whole time you're at work, then she's not carrying you.

The conversation sounds like a prelude to firing you for no reason/making you redundant when it's not true and they plan to employ someone else, both of which are illegal, but trying to gaslight you into believing its all your fault and you deserve it, so you don't complain.

Stand your ground, refuse to accept her comments that she's carrying you, let her know you're onto her and her shady tactics. Then look for another job because you're good at what you do, you're in demand, you do not need to work for this bitch. You deserve better.

Time to get cards printed with your personal number on it and move along. She’s obviously planning on getting rid. What an idiot.

Think I should go out on my own yes... never done mobiling before, not sure where I'd start 😬

Choose company name
Business bank account
Register with HMRC as self employed
Decide prices
Get a second phone so you can switch it off out of hours
Sort out some form of transport (business insurance for your car, buy a car/van if you don't already have one)
Buy materials, equipment, training etc
Third party liability insurance, professional negligence insurance in case you cut someone's ear off or burn them with chemicals or drop your equipment on their favourite vase etc
Advertise your services

Get a bookkeeper or learn to do it yourself
Tax return in January
Register for VAT if you start earning enough to get close to the limit for paying it
Employers insurance if you're having employees
Any other employers duties eg staff training for chemicals, pension schemes etc

Consider becoming a limited company so if you go bust the loss is limited to the company's assets and your personal assets don't come into it

Good luck!

Before you walk out, check the notice period in your contract.

What a weird set up. Yes go mobile. You can earn money which reflects your skills. The other alternative is to hire a chair in a salon.

Ditch her, go mobile, quietly let your clients know & charge what you think is the right price for your services. If your clients value what you do they will recommend you to their friends & you can build your business from there.

Please do not walk out of the job tomorrow. Give yourself TIME to get organised and set up your business. The universally used inexpensive business cards provider (vistaprint) charges more the quicker you want them. Order on the cheap slow rate while you still have your current income. They will usually have deals on other marketing objects like magnets for your car too.

Give yourself the time to get advice on setting up the business side of it for yourself - just because you won't have a salon doesn't mean you won't need to run it properly as a business. You may need to save up the money to buy insurance, and to give yourself a buffer to live on until you have built up your client base - you cannot just take them from your employer, your employer may well take legal action against you for doing that.

Have a Google for business set up advice in your area. Sometimes there are government, (or, weirdly, still some EU-) funded free training days. Barclays is usually a good bet for business start up advice too. Take all the free advice you can get.

All of which takes time, and time that you won't be earning money. Might as well do as much as you can evenings and weekends while you have your existing income, be it for 2 weeks or 6 months.

Definitely check your contract and do not walk out just yet... bide your time!

She may well require you to work your notice, she could take legal action if you walk out and lose her money and, as you say the salon is fully booked and you're the only stylist, that is a guarantee.

If you piss her off, she's likely to do her best to scupper your plans, she'll accuse you of poaching customers (which is what you're planning on doing and whilst it is exactly what I would do in your shoes you need to be subtle about it) - she could accuse you of more and even if there is no evidence at all (because you've done nothing wrong), mud sticks, and for a new start up company that is just you, thats going to be a big problem.

Do all you can do before leaving.
Make sure you get your equipment out of the salon before you leave - no one needs a scene like there will be if an employee starts gathering up scissors and clippers etc and then an employer starts to claim they're stealing...

Start letting favourite clients know that you might be leaving - only the ones you would bet will not blab!!

Once you have as many ducks in a row as possible THEN hand in notice and hopefully, she'll tell you to sling it early to stop you nicking clients.

Yes please don’t just quit today, get your land sorted first to ensure you can have new business going. You should be able to earn much more than minimum wage. Consider whether hiring a chair or mobile would be better. Many clients might not want mobile, like the salon experience etc

Personally I would not make any decision in haste, you have plenty of time to do this, but if you rush it, you run the risk of taking on an awful lot of overheads, expenses and stress whilst potentially having a very low income stream at the beginning.

I don't know about the legalities of basically pinching existing customers, I would make sure you are compliant in all aspects of the law and GDPR. There is a date by which you have to register for self assessment, so it is not something you have to do straight away, I believe its 5th October for the last tax year, so if you were to start trading today, you would need to register next year. If you keep a separate account for your income and expenses and just transfer your income to your personal account, most accountants will work off the bank statements, as it is then quite easy to see what has come in, what has gone out, and what is drawings/profit. From day one your going to need liability insurance and business car insurance, and money for stock, products etc.

Would it be better to try and find a salon that engages you as an independent, and you split the profit with them, whilst you build your business up slowly, being bald, I am not sure how these things work, but I do know that a steady income stream does no harm whilst you transition from employed income to self employed income.

For the moment, accept your employer is a moron, and start looking for another job, once you have another job where your work ethic and skills are accepted, and they charge a reasonable amount and pay you a reasonable amount, then start looking at how you can work for yourself and build up a business from scratch in your own time.

2 links you may find interesting, I would point out that although your employer is clearly a moron, there may be legal, and certainly moral issues with stealing customers, you sound good at what you do, and certainly good enough to be successful without resorting to something that could be illegal or immoral, word quickly gets round, if your good, you will do fine!

good luck,

How to Start Up Your Own Mobile Hairdressing Business %%sep%% Le Salon

A former employee has stolen my customers and is targeting my staff, what can I do about it? - Acumen Business Law

Good luck

Don’t quit until your new business is ready to go!!

OMG please move jobs, so well booked up and 30 years experience you should be earning far more than minimum wage
Good luck

Depending on whether you can afford to have no income (or very little) for a while, don't leave until you've worked out a pricing structure for your new mobile business. Remember, you don't want to become a "busy fool" by continuing to charge your current boss's prices.

You have to think " are my clients here for the cheap prices or because I do such a great job with their hair ?" Until you know what you're going to charge, you won't know how many clients may follow you.

Your boss's current prices may actually be too low even for a mobile hairdresser to make good money on and if your existing clients follow you, they'll possibly be expecting that they'll get the same services even cheaper if you're mobile. Mobile hair services are usually cheaper because clients aren't paying salon overheads.

Pose as a potential customer and ring round locally to research what other mobile hair services charge for cuts/colours etc to give you an idea of what you could price at. Use this to decide what your own pricing will be for each service.

Research the cost of supplies, insurance (remember to factor in that your motor insurance would go up if you let the insurers know that your vehicle is being used for business transport). Your current clients are used to the range of colours provided by the salon you now work at. Will you be able to purchase the same range ?

Someone has already posted a link to a guidance on becoming a mobile hairdresser which is great.

Go you ! You are currently underpaid for your skills (although round here, even stylists and colourists with many years experience get little more than minimum wage but then I'm not in a big city so things might be different if you're in or near London).

Do come back and update us once you're up and running, we love a follow up even if it's years later !

On uk.gov says minimum notice is a week.

There will be local workshops/courses etc. for people wanting to set up a business, with advice from HMRC etc. (I did one before Covid but didn’t set anything up - there were HMRC people there that said you can set up as a sole trader/partnership or limited company. Sole trader is the simplest, just tell HMRC which date you start up and start earning money and take it from there). No doubt there is helpful info on uk.gov about setting up a business.

This is brilliant to read, as in having read the progress via filtering the responses by the OP.
I'm so happy to see someone who has swiftly moved on and made a positive decision.
Wishing you lots of luck with going solo, I'm certain you'll smash it.

Assume you have checked your contract for a non compete clause, it might have something about taking clients with you.

You need to find a new job ASAP it's clear she is an idiot and you should be earning much, much more.

When my hairdresser left to start up a mobile business I dropped the salon and used her. I love having a hairdresser come to my house. You can definitely make a go of it. Good luck 🤞

I get my hair done in a saloon where they specialise in colours. Bleach + vivid color + cut is around 180-220 depending on the experience of the stylist.
a crop cut is£60
I used to go to another one and used to be similar prices

bear in mind that if you go solo and increase prices then you might not be as full as now as I suspect people are going there cuz it’s really cheap (at least for the city I live in)

@Ginismedicinal my hairdresser isn't mobile, but she rents a space in a salon. There's multiple people renting spaces there and it's just lovely. She owned the salon across the road before getting fed up with staff management and selling that business. Now she works for herself in a salon but only rents the space. It's a great compromise between a salon and mobile.

Just another suggestion for you to consider 🙂