Salon Swagger

Hey there and welcome back to another episode of Salon Swagger.

I'm Brie and today I'm joined by the amazing Chandra C Hey girl, what's up?

Hello, not a whole lot today.

Yeah.

How's your week been going?

It's been good.

It's been a little busy, but it's been much calmer than it has been, so it's been good.

Yeah.

Well, I was thinking with quarter four right around the corner that we could take some
time on this episode to kind of share with our listeners how we plan for Q4 in our salons

to make sure that we're not just maximizing the holiday season, but we're also setting
ourselves up for a successful Q1 in 2025, really.

So I think we'll just kind of get into a little bit of strategy and tell them what we do.

How does that sound?

Yeah, I think that'll be awesome.

Awesome.

Well, we all know that Q4 is usually the busiest time of year for salon and spot owners.

It is what it is.

It's, in my opinion, when the beauty industry really kind of comes to life.

Everything just starts bustling and hustling and everybody's in good spirits.

Clients are eager to look and feel their best for the holiday events from parties to
family gatherings and everything else in between.

And let's be honest, this is the time when they are ready to spend some money.

It is what it is.

They want to spend that money, which really makes it a season full of opportunity for
every single salon owner out there if we know and understand how to make the most of it.

And so that's what I really want to touch on today.

Here's the thing.

It's important to note that being busy isn't the same as being profitable.

I'm going to repeat that really quickly because it's so important.

Being busy is not the same as being profitable.

I've known many salon owners that will have like a record breaking Q4, right?

Hit numbers they never thought possible only to find out that they completely overspent
and they are left with zero to negative profitability when it's all said and done.

Have you dealt with that before with salon owners?

Yeah.

And myself in the past.

yeah, for sure.

Yeah.

This quarter isn't just about keeping up with the holiday rush.

It's about making strategic moves that allow you to maximize every single opportunity that
you're given.

When you go at it with the right approach, you can turn this surge in demand into serious,
serious revenue growth and positive profitability.

So I want to talk about how to leverage this time of year, not to just meet

but exceed business goals that we've set for ourselves.

So quarter four is packed with key dates, right?

We've got Thanksgiving, we've got Black Friday, we've got Cyber Monday, we've got
Christmas, we've got New Year's Eve.

I don't know if Cyber Monday's in there, whatever.

Anyways, there's a bunch of holidays, which means we have a lot of opportunity to offer
special promotions.

But here's the thing, just having these promotions is not going to be enough.

If you don't have a solid plan to maximize them, you're gonna find yourself busy, but not
necessarily reaping the

rewards of your hard work or hitting your goals.

In my opinion, what really makes a difference is that strategic planning aspect.

It's what turns these promotions into real momentum, setting you and your studio up for
success in the long term, not just for quarter four, but as you move into 2025, 2026 and

every other year to come.

If you don't have that plan in place,

You're likely to feel stuck, missing out on the growth that could propel your business
forward.

Chandra, what are some of the promos that you run for the key dates that we talked about?

Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's.

Yeah, we do a lot of product promos during that time of year because it's so much easier.

feel like to move product during those months.

Like you said, people want to spend money.

And so I feel like with products, it's hard to move them all year long, but for some
reason that time of year, everybody's game to buy stuff.

And so we do a lot of product promotions.

I would say in the past when we've done them before, we've lost a lot of money doing
product promotions because we weren't careful.

about what we were putting together.

We were just kind of putting these crazy packages together and then losing money at the
end of it.

So I think one of the biggest things that I could lend to that would just be really
knowing what you're putting into those promotions and knowing what your cost looks like

and then understanding how much you can afford to offer on those promos.

And the same thing with service promotions.

We do offer some stuff like around glossing treatments, things that make your hair shinier
for the holidays or something healthy.

But it definitely is something that you have to be very careful on how you're structuring
those.

Yeah, 100%.

And I think we can get into retail just a little bit later on in the episode because I
think it is so important.

Some things that people can think about are maybe like Halloween offer fun themed services
like spooky makeup, bold nail designs, whatever that looks like for you.

Thanksgiving, always do, we show gratitude.

We do client appreciation events or even pre -holiday pampering packages.

Black Friday,

We boost retail, you know, that's always going to be a thing.

You want to sell it online, especially bundle sets, flash sells always work really, really
good.

And then for Christmas, you want to do, you know, gift sets and service sets packaged
together.

And then always, always think about those gift cards because those are going to come into
play very, very handy.

So I usually start planning my Q4 promos in quarter two.

When do you plan yours and what does that look like for you?

We tend to start ours always a little too late.

I'm not gonna lie, but it usually ends up being around Q3.

Like we've already started going through some of the ideas and things that we're gonna
have for the holidays.

And we try to really plan out several different packages as far as the products go,
several different promos for services.

And then we also do like a guest appreciation event and...

some fun things like what you're talking about, like hair tinsel or things like that.

And so we start planning that out in Q3, we get our team together and we kind of ask them
to like what they would like to put into those packages and promos because it's a lot

easier to get them behind it when it's something that they're part of creating.

And so I really recommend getting the team involved and having them help pick out.

what you would like to create for those packages.

But that's kind of what ours looks like.

mean, we just started doing it about a month ago, so we're getting there.

Yeah.

Well, I think, I think that's the thing and everybody does it differently, right?

And I, that's one reason that I love this podcast is because we can go back and forth on
how you do things, how I do things.

And even though it's a little different, we all want the same result.

I used to be like you, I used to kind of push mine off and not even think about it until,
you know, Q3 was well, until like right now I would be planning for Q4 right now, 10 years

ago.

Unfortunately, it didn't work out and it didn't work out well.

And so I started pre -planning quite a bit and it's really, really benefited me going
through this strategic process that we're talking about today.

And we're not going to be able to get through all of it.

It's just way too much.

It's too in depth, but this is actually how I really, really upped my revenue from that
$350 ,000 to the million dollar mark to the $2 .5 million mark.

very, very easily was just by following this plan and repetition all the time.

So unfortunately, many business owners, enter Q4 without a clear plan at all.

many of them, salon and spa owners are no exception.

It's in all the business world, right?

We know it's a busy time and it's so easy just to get caught up in chasing those dollar
signs.

That's kind of all we think about.

We know we're going to be busy.

Without that strategy,

I feel like it's so easy to get overwhelmed by the rush.

Planning ahead really allows you to control the flow of your business, avoid any
unexpected setbacks, and really most importantly, make sure that this busy season turns

into, once again, actual profit, not just revenue.

Here's the thing.

I know you've seen it.

I see it all the time.

We will see...

I salon and spa owners, they get so caught up in providing services.

They really overlook the bigger picture.

And I hate calling them out all the time, but it's the reality of the situation that we
live in.

The salon owner is booked, money's coming in, but are they really paying attention to how
much is going out?

Are they really tracking what's actually staying in the business as profit?

No, right?

They're not.

I didn't for the longest time.

You did it for the longest time.

And I get it, right?

We're behind the chair all day.

We're managing clients.

We're managing a team.

It's tough to step back and actually assess what is going on.

But the truth is when you have a role as a salon owner and that is to take advantage of
this holiday rush, not just be busy, but to maximize on everything, including that

profitability.

And this is where that strategic planning really comes into place.

So I want to kind of break down what strategic planning looks like for our listeners,
because so many people don't understand what steps those are.

The first thing in my opinion, and you can tell me if you disagree, is knowing your cash
flow.

Yeah, a hundred percent.

So everybody needs to have a very clear picture of what's coming in and what's going out.

You can't just get caught up in that fully booked, right?

If you're not managing your expenses, increasing your revenue isn't going to mean a thing.

The real goal is maintaining healthy profit margins.

So I want you to ask yourself, are you overordering on your retail?

Are you overordering on your back bar?

Are you over staffing?

Is your staff wasting too much product?

You have to stay on top of

every dollar to ensure your hard earned revenue is actually turning into profit.

So what do you do to know your cash flow?

I mean, I really monitor all of it.

We use a lot of different things to make sure that we are staying on top of it.

And I create budgets, right?

So I know exactly how much money I have to spend on purchasing, like, holiday packages and
things like that.

We've got ourselves into trouble many times over the years by over -ordering.

Because all of our manufacturers, our distributors, they all have all these holiday sets
and all of these things that you can buy.

And you get caught up in that.

And like you said, when you're working behind the chair, you're like, yeah, this all looks
great.

And you spend all this money.

And you have no clue that you didn't have even that much money to spend.

And so for me, creating those budgets, knowing exactly how much I have to spend on holiday
packages, knowing exactly how much I have to spend.

or how much I can discount as well if I'm creating something that's discounted and just
paying attention to all of those numbers and going, okay, if we discount this, then I know

we're gonna lose a little bit of money over here.

What does that look like at the end of that?

we still making a profit?

And so you've got to pay attention to that stuff and create a spreadsheet or create
something where you can really define that budget and know exactly how much money you have

to spend or on a client appreciation event.

We've way spent too much money on those before too.

And so it's knowing exactly what you can allocate to that.

And maybe you can't even do that this year or, you know, being firm too, I think is
something, you know, we've, we've done that and we had to really put the.

kibosh on the manufacturers and say, we're not gonna order that this time.

And it's hard, because they can be pushy and their stuff looks so amazing you want it.

But if you don't have the budget for it, then you can't buy it.

And you've got to know those numbers.

I think that's great.

I think something else that people overlook is they set revenue goals, but they don't set
profit goals.

And that is really when my vision started to change completely and my mindset, because
once again, it's not just about how much you're making, it's about how much you're

keeping.

At the end of the day, that is what matters.

You can make $150 ,000 a month.

If you're keeping zero of that, what good does it do?

If I'm making $35 ,000 a month and I'm keeping 20K of that, I'm in a much better spot,
even though you out hit me revenue wise, right?

So you have to look at last year's numbers.

You want to set profit targets for the quarter specifically, break it down by month, then
by week and figure out what you need to bring in each and every day in order to hit those

goals.

You can, you know, think about raising your prices.

You really, really have to think about pushing those high margin services though, because
that's going to help boost profits without increasing your workload.

I say this all the time.

Chandra says it all the time.

Work smarter, not harder.

Very, very important.

So not all services are created equal.

Some bring in more profit than others.

And if you aren't sure about that, please get in touch with us because this is one of the
most crucial aspects of your business.

And Chandra is a guru when it comes to this stuff.

So you want to focus on your highest margin services and promote them very, very heavily,
especially during quarter four.

What are some of your highest profit margin services in your salon?

Believe it or not, some of our highest profit margin services are our Bolliages and our
bigger ticket items.

Sometimes you feel like those are the most costly, but because of the way you usually
price them, they actually end up being a higher profit margin.

And some of our lower profit services are as simple as like a tent retouch.

Like some of those do not make the amount of money that those higher tickets do offer.

And I wanted to touch a little bit on that point of what you were saying with that
profitability, because if you're just focusing on revenue numbers and not profitability,

especially for those types of services, you don't really know exactly how much money is
coming or going.

But when you reverse engineer that and focus on profit first, then you automatically know
how much revenue has to be coming in in order to hit that profit instead of just pulling

those numbers out of the sky.

And so really breaking down those services and knowing that profitability for each
service, I think is going to be a huge, huge component in knowing that, knowing how much

money you're making.

And for us, it's eye -opening because the things you think are making a ton of money
aren't always the things that are making that much money at the end of the day.

And the things that are, you think are costing you aren't actually costing you.

So it's very eye -opening for sure if you do it that way.

Yeah, I know for a lot of our members, when we're going through our pricing for profit
method, they are sometimes astounded at what they thought, you know, they were trying to

upsell, upsell, upsell some of these services, and they were losing money on them, instead
of focusing on upselling the services that had just that huge profit margin in there.

So make sure that you offer value added packages or bundles that are going to attract
clients

while keeping your bottom line healthy.

Very, very important.

Very important.

Something else that you probably want to think about doing is creating a promotions
calendar.

So plan your holiday promotions in advance.

Focus on driving, you know, the high value services, the retail sales that support those
profit goals that you set for yourself.

But

I have found this to be extremely beneficial.

So I know every day, every week, what we are going to be promoting exactly without having
to just come up with something on the fly.

What steps do you take to make sure that you're capitalizing on Q4?

Do you do this type of calendar?

What do you do exactly?

Yeah, we do have the same thing.

call it our marketing calendar and we usually plan it out every three months.

So that's why we hit that Q4 a little bit late, but we could plan that sooner.

But we definitely get on that for the whole year, every quarter where we have the next
three months always, you know, on that calendar.

And, you know, we have a big team, so I have somebody that helps with product and I have
somebody that helps with marketing.

And so the calendar that we utilize, we all share and each person plugs in all of the
different things that they are responsible for.

if we're doing

say a holiday promotion or a holiday party, then they plug in what the dates are and then
the marketing person knows she's got to do social media posts for that.

Our product person needs to put together what packages we're going to.

have and you know things like that and then I kind of do the final say make sure the
financial part's good make sure all of those things make sense and set budgets for them or

things that they can do and so our calendar it's pretty extensive like we show like all of
the things like what the social media has to look like how much money is it going to cost

what the package is going to look like how we're going to market it

And then also any product knowledge we need to give to the stylist.

So if it's a particular promotion, we make sure we have all that product knowledge there
so that we can make sure they're armed with what they need to know in order to promote it

too.

So really having that organized calendar makes it so seamless.

Yeah, 100%.

So we kind of talked about the strategic plan.

You've got to know your cashflow, right?

You want to set profit goals, not just revenue goals.

You want to track those expenses diligently because that's important.

Create those promotions calendars and not just simple calendars.

Like Chandra said, they need to be very, very in depth according to this strategic
planning.

That's going to be very, very important.

Now, another part that you have to think of

is the finances.

And Chandra has brought it up just a little bit, but this is something that is very, very
important.

It's easy to get swept up in the excitement of the holiday, but without tight financial
management, you could end up working hard without seeing anything at all, anything that

you want, anything that you need, anything that you deserve, and nobody wants to do that.

So Chandra said it earlier, that Q4 budget, create it.

Fix it, stick to it, and it needs to be a realistic budget.

It's so tempting to overspend on things like even extra decor.

I see people do this, right?

New product lines, you brought that up.

If you don't have a clear budget, it's hard to know where you're crossing the line between
investing in your business and overdoing it.

So you have to break it down.

You need to look at staffing, you need to look at inventory, you need to look at
marketing, and you have to track it all.

You want to review your budget weekly because this is going to help you stay on top of any
surprise expenses and ensure once again, those profit margins stay healthy.

Now, when it comes to inventory, don't overstock in one big order.

And it's so funny that I have Chandra here with me today because she was so guilty of this
when we started working together.

And that's the thing about this podcast, guys.

We share strategies, insights, tips.

because we've done everything wrong in the past.

And so we really, really want you guys to not make the same mistakes that we've made.

One thing that helped me was staggering my purchases so that I could adjust based on the
demand.

Just because Redken comes out with all of these cool things doesn't mean you have to buy
everything that's in the package, right?

You can always, always, always reorder and, and

If you can't reorder it, can create it.

You can buy individually and create the same exact, the same exact thing.

So this is going to keep your cashflow steady.

It's going to prevent you from sitting on extra stock.

Once the holiday rush ends, how many times Chandra have you walked into your own salon or
a salon that somebody else owns and you've seen holiday promotion kits available in March.

Yeah, all the time.

We always had them left over.

Sometimes we even had them by the end of the year.

And so it's not always worth it,

100%.

So I know that I am always extremely aware of my finances during Q4 because I really, it's
not just about Q4 to me.

It's about something so much bigger.

I want that momentum moving into the new year.

That's really, that mindset shift for me was everything.

Thinking about the new year, not just the holiday season.

I'm practically glued to my Beauty Biz Agency profit tracker at this time during Q4.

So you are too.

How much time do you spend tracking your sales, your expenses, and your profits during
quarter four?

Because for me, I track them all year long, but quarter four, I am pinpointed on every
little thing.

Yeah, I mean, I definitely do it weekly for sure.

And sometimes if there's something that comes up that I want to purchase, I'll just dive
into that really quick and just see where I'm at.

You know, even if it's only been a couple of days just to kind of reevaluate.

So, but weekly for sure.

Yeah, it's important.

It's important.

I even do mine every other day.

So I will go through and just make sure that we are right on track, right where I need to
be.

And I'm going to be honest with you, I'm so anal that if I don't see things a little above
in revenue and profitability, I start making changes immediately so that I can see that.

It's very important, right?

Now I want to talk about retail, people are going to roll their eyes, but

We have to talk about it.

You brought it up earlier.

This is where so many salon and spa owners leave serious money on the table.

Q4 is a perfect time to ramp up that retail game.

And if you have the right approach, it can make a huge difference to your bottom line and
to the paychecks of your employees.

That's what you have to think about.

One of the easiest ways in my opinion to boost retail sales is by creating holiday
bundles.

So something that I've actually found

is that I don't even purchase them very often from the companies anymore.

For the last eight years, I think I've been creating my own.

And the reason for this is I can buy them cheaper and create them and make them look the
way that I want them to.

So they're going to be more brand related to my studio instead of to the retail
manufacturer's studio, right?

Or to their business.

Clients love the convenience of grab and go gift sets.

They love them, especially when they're filled with high margin products and they're
wrapped with your brand on there.

So make it easier for them.

And what do you do for retail?

Do you guys create your own or do you buy them from the manufacturer?

I don't think I've ever asked you that now that we've kind of gotten your inventory in
line.

I mean, we used to always buy them from the manufacturer, always.

Now I might buy one or two if there's something that I know is going to fly off the shelf,
but we just create our own.

And something that we've done the last couple of years that's worked really well is we
make a table in the salon and we have like, you know, certain products on this table and

we let people create their own packages.

And so there's like some wrapping stuff and they can pick what they want and then they can
pick.

yeah.

though.

People can grab and go and choose and pick and, they can really just kind of create their
own.

You know, we have certain things that cost a certain amount.

We know exactly what that is and then it'll add up to the certain things.

So sorry, I lost you for just a second.

You disappeared.

Something, something else is upselling, right?

Your team has more client interactions than ever in quarter four.

for majority of us out there.

So you wanna train them to recommend products during every single service.

As the owner, this is why it's so important that you are aware and that you are not so
bogged down with services because you need to be on top of them making sure that this is

happening.

I don't care if it's a treatment, a product, a finishing spray, any type of suggestion can
quickly turn into extra revenue during quarter four.

What do you do to train your team and get them pumped up and hyped up for Q4 when it comes
to their retail game?

We run a lot of contests this time of year with them.

So we'll do different things where they can get a bonus or, you know, even they can get
free product.

We've done that and that seems to work really good with our team, but that really gets
them kind of pumped up.

think they're excited this time of year because it's easier for them to sell retail
because people are in a more purchasing mood.

So it kind of gives them that extra little confidence boost too, which also just sort of
motivates them to do it more and to try a little harder.

And then having that contest on the back end really seems to get them going.

They love contests.

I don't know.

They really do.

because as we're coaching salon and spa owners, so many of them come to us and they're
like, my team hates contest.

They won't do it.

And we've come to find out that it's just because they haven't been created correctly.

I think most people when, when these contests and these challenges are created correctly,
people really kind of get into it and they have fun with it.

And it's a, you know, it's, it's competitive.

to an extent, but at the same time, we're all working towards the same goal.

So it really brings the team together.

Something that we do, and I know I brought this up earlier, but I want to kind of go over
it again, is we do some flash sales or some limited time retail discounts or service

discounts.

Now, we're always really careful.

We don't discount them too deeply because it'll cut into that profit, right?

But we do things for just a limited time.

For the next

hour you can get this for the next hour you can get that.

And so if you're looking at trying to hit your daily goal or your weekly goal and you're
not quite there yet, but you just need that little push, try something like a flash sale

or that limited time for the next 30 minutes.

it goes over really, really well in our studios.

So can you kind of give me an example of a retail bundle that you offer and break down the
way that you would

just for people out there to understand.

Yeah.

So what we usually will do is we'll usually pick about three products.

That's kind of where I feel like it's kind of that sweet spot.

So anything too much can be a little overwhelming.

Anything too little doesn't seem like a great enough deal.

So for us, we find that three products works really well.

So what we'll always try to do is pick three and two of the higher cost items that we put
in there.

And then one, let's like a little bit of a lower cost item.

So we can either discount

you know, the whole just a little bit, like maybe 10 % or 15%.

Or if we pick a lower cost item when we put two higher ones in there, we can sometimes do
that product free.

And so I think it depends on what your margins look like.

I mean, we try to always do 120 % markup.

Sometimes you don't always have that luxury, so you really have to pay attention.

But as long as you're balancing that out, and then we do talk to our team first and they
know, you know,

whatever goes on their retail total is going to be that discounted rate.

it does, they're not getting necessarily paid on the full amount, but they wouldn't have
probably sold that product anyways.

So it's still a win -win.

And so you just have to make sure you're presenting it in that way.

But that's kind of what we try to do.

So you always want to have something a little higher so it offsets that discounted cost.

And then reach out to your manufacturers too, because if you're going to do a flash sale
or if you want to do a product bundle, sometimes they'll give you some free product for

that.

I know ours have done that quite a bit, where they'll give us some of that product free
that we can give away for free.

And then it doesn't eat into your margins at all.

So get a little creative with that.

That's what we do.

And that's how we price it.

Perfect.

I think that was great insight and I think we've given some really good nuggets for people
throughout this episode.

At the end of the day, Q4 isn't just a sprint to the finish line.

You have to look at it as the launch pad for long -term success.

It's not only about ending the year strong, but about building momentum that sets the tone
for the year ahead and beyond.

Here's why it's so powerful.

We know that Q1 can be so unpredictable.

You know what I mean?

Like so many of us struggle during Q1, even some of the members that we coach, you know,
they're not looking forward to the holiday season being over because they know what Q1

brings.

If you maximize your efforts in Q4 though, you aren't just going to survive, you're going
to be thriving coming out of that.

And by leveraging Q4 to its fullest,

you're going to create a financial cushion that allows you to start the new year with
confidence and with stability.

Instead of scrambling, you're going to have peace of mind knowing you and your team are
set up for success.

That's going to give you a better attitude, a better temperament as the owner, as the
leader, and your team is going to feel the same way when they have ended the year with

huge checks, right?

And they're excited.

That's going to be really, really good for January.

for Q1.

However, you've got to make sure that you, you know, stay on them and make sure that that
momentum keeps and stays where it needs to be.

Because when your team's morale is boosted and they're seeing their hard work pay off,
whether it's through, you know, just bigger paychecks, whether you give incentives or

bonuses, or even just simple recognition, it reignites their passion for this industry.

and it really reignites their energy.

I think it's so important that we make our teams feel valued.

They'll start the new year motivated.

They're gonna be ready to just go for it as they come back from the holidays.

And it'll help avoid that dreaded Q1 slump.

What do you do to ensure that your team is energized and motivated moving into January of
the following year?

Yeah, I mean, we try to really recognize when they are doing really, really well, and that
seems to help a lot.

We also try to keep their...

benchmarks and goals, we start talking about that a little bit more at the end of Q4 when
they're really high and that seems to help keep them a little bit motivated as we start

getting into that slump because they're kind of coming off of really doing really well.

And so that doesn't quite discourage them too bad when it does slow down a little bit.

And then we plan any kind of holiday event for our team in Q1.

And so that also kind of gives a little bit of extra motivation.

It's like celebration.

got through Q4 and it's like really exciting and we'll recognize, you know, things that
when people that went above and beyond and things that they did, you know, in that Q4.

And I think that keeps them energized and excited a little bit too, because otherwise, you
know, you're so busy and crazy in Q4 and then that it does happen.

You slow down and you're kind of lose your momentum or.

you know, you get a little bit demotivated.

So I think keeping doing little things like that.

And I think the recognition piece is huge.

More than anything doesn't even cost you any money.

Just really recognizing how amazing they're doing and giving them just that little extra
boost, that confidence that that's what we find works better than anything else.

So pay attention.

I know if you're working behind the chair, you're not paying attention to your team.

You just want them to crank, crank, crank and

You've got to pay attention to that because they're the ones that are really, really
pulling the weight too during this time of year.

Yeah, 100 % and watch for burnout.

Please watch for burnout with your team.

And if you start noticing things of that nature, handle it, handle it quickly.

It's your role as the owner to do that.

Very, very important to watch out for.

I have seen so many artists or stylists or technicians kind of give up after Q4 because
especially if it's like their first or second year in the industry and they are just not

prepared for it and the owners are just like crank, crank, crank, crank, crank.

They just lose.

all passion, all momentum, and they just really don't want to do it.

So please be aware of that if you aren't.

It is, I'm going to be honest, one thing that I didn't pay really close attention to in my
early years of ownership, and I really, really regret not doing it.

It's not like I was treating my employees poorly.

There are just signs that I should have seen in some of them, and I should have been aware
of that, and I should have handled it in a better...

in better way.

So I think burnout is something that we really, really have to watch.

One of the best things about Q4 is that it helps you build habits for that long -term
success.

So it's really the season to solidify the habits that are going to carry your business
forward in 2025.

The financial discipline, the strategic planning, the attention to detail that you put in,
it's now going to continue to serve you

all year long.

So track that revenue, manage that cash flow, stay on top of expenses.

These are really the building blocks of sustained profitability.

Chandra can tell you, I can tell you this is what keeps us profitable in our businesses.

These are the things that we look at every single day.

So it's going to be very, very important.

Q4 is really everybody's chance to set the stage for a powerful new year, to maximize it
and to watch your business soar

well beyond the holiday season?

Well, I think we've covered some really key points today.

I think people understand why Q4 is so critical.

It's just such a critical time for your business and it can literally be a game changer if
it's done right.

What advice would you give to people who have not ever really planned for Q4 before?

I mean, yeah, maybe they did some retail packages or things like that.

Maybe they had a little bit of a social media content calendar, but they never really sat
down and strategically planned and paid attention to these finances and everything like

that.

What advice would you give to them if they're listening to this right now?

Yeah, I mean, I think start planning now ASAP as much as you can.

And I think really pay attention to those finances because the biggest thing, the biggest
piece of advice that I could give would really be what feels really good when you hit that

Q1 is when you come out of that Q4 and you have money in your bank account.

And I can say that so many years of owning my salon, especially in the beginning, I always
thought that last quarter was going to be so amazing and we're going to make so much

money.

And every single year we came out in the negative.

And so you don't want to do that.

And I'm sure, you know, many of you are experiencing that now because it's very common for
a lot of this industry.

And so if you play your cards right, and you start doing that planning and start figuring
that out right away.

you could come out of this with a really good cushion on the end that's going to get you
through the next year.

There's nothing like that feeling either.

The first, you know, if you were to sit down and look back over the past Q4s that you've
had, go back five years, six years or whatever.

I mean, I've done the same thing and I've seen so much revenue being brought in, so much
hard work being put in only to end up with nothing, right?

It is so deflating, but I'm telling you that first year.

that you go in and you're reconciling everything and you see that safety net, you see that
money, you see that profitability in there, there's no feeling like it.

It's literally the best feeling in the world.

And so we want that for every single one of you out there listening.

And so if we can give you any advice, it's to just start doing it now.

We didn't have time to go over every step, obviously, in this episode.

I said that earlier.

But if you're out there and you're listening and you want to see the entire Q4 playbook
that we created with the step -by -step process, you can reach out to us.

Chandra, how can they do that?

Yeah, reach out to us on social media, Instagram, Facebook at the Beauty Biz Agency.

You can also send us an email at admin at the beauty biz agency .com and visit the
website.

We've got tons of stuff on there for you.

So if you just let us know you'd like to get this playbook, it is really step by step and
call, you know, it it's so easy to follow.

telling you, you definitely if you need help, definitely let us know.

Well, that's a wrap, guys.

Be sure to tune into our next episode.

Don't forget to follow us, like Chandra said, social media platforms.

We want you to follow us on all of them.

What is, how do they follow us on social media, Chandra?

Yeah, we're at the well at Beauty Biz Agency on Instagram and on Facebook and then on tik
-tok as well at Beauty Biz Agency so start following it

yes, please.

And if you haven't already, make sure to visit our website, www .thebeautybusagency .com.

We've got some amazing resources that will help you take your studio to the next level.

We also just launched a free course on our website with some amazing strategies, insights,
and tips.

So take advantage of that.

If you enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it
with other salon and spa owners.

Now go out there, start planning for a killer Q4 and make some boss moves.

Until next time, keep slaying those business goals with a whole lot of swagger.