Thoughts from the Salon Chair

I had a moment of clarity at the salon while my eyebrows were being ripped out. Pain does that.

In between the stinging bits, I  thought about the helpful and necessary service, the tools and skills, the environment, and the customers…and I came to a simple conclusion—

What a great setup.

I don’t envy Sheena the long hours on her feet but, conceptually, my eyebrow artist has an admirably nifty business—

Her Customers (Really) Need Her

Some services are hard-to-find, and great practitioners are even harder. She was recommended after someone else made a mess of my brows, and I knew I was with a serious player when we sat down with a mirror to talk about her strategy for correcting them.

Yeah: A strategy. For my eyebrows. This is what I’m saying.

An appointment with her costs twice as much as a kiosk visit, and I spend it gladly. By charging more she can afford to take more time with the work…and she does. And I appreciate that. I mean, the last time my threader was in a hurry, I walked around cockeyed for 2 weeks.

And I wondered—

• Am I selling what people really need? Am I providing something special or doing it in a special way?
• Am I offering my best and rarest skills? Am I charging what I should? What do my prices say about me and what I’m doing?

She Has the Right Tools. And They’re Really Simple

If you haven’t guessed yet, “threading” is a hair removal technique that uses—wait for it—a piece of thread. So her main piece of equipment is a spool of cotton thread. She also uses cotton pads to prep and clean up, tweezers and tiny scissors for fine tuning, and lotion to finish off. She has everything she needs, nothing she doesn’t, and the whole kit can fit in a handbag.

And I wondered—

• Do I have the right tools for my work? Are they as simple as can be? What is the least I need?

She Has a Great Work Environment

Rather than man a kiosk in a corridor of the mall, Sheena offers her service within an anchor store salon. Some advantages are the same as a kiosk, such as someone else handles the overhead of a lease and utilities so she can focus on what she does best.

But the rest of her workspace trumps the kiosk—

• Instead of the feast-or-famine of walk-up traffic, a receptionist sets appointments and manages her schedule,
• Instead of passersby stopping to observe, ask questions, and otherwise distract, it’s just she and I in a private room,
• Instead of the noisy hum of a high-traffic mall corridor, she has light music playing in the background,
• Instead of struggling with whatever light comes through the corridor’s skylight, she has overheads, spotlights, and a magnifying lamp

And I wondered—

• Am I doing overhead tasks better handled by someone else or something else?
• Am I managing my workload effectively?
• Do I have my ideal work environment—comfortable and quiet where I can work uninterrupted?

…and Her Customers Know the Part(s) They Play

While Sheena works on my brows, I also have work to do. She only has two hands (obviously) and needs them both, so sometimes I gently hold taut the area she’s threading. I have no idea how this helps, but every threader requires it, and it’s easy enough to do what I’m told when it helps the work come out better.

And at the end of every visit, she sends me away with homework to help her strategy along: put conditioner on my brows for two minutes daily, come back in 2 to 3 weeks, and don’t tweeze between now and then.

Which translates to: grow your eyebrows back so I can have more to work with, don’t wait too long to return or you’ll overgrow the work we did today, and don’t go messing with my strategy :)

And I wondered—

• Do my clients/customers know how they can help me do a better job?

So.

I want a setup as strong as that.

Some of these things are large, some small, but I feel sure each makes a significant difference in the quality of her work.

So I’m going to wonder a little more and then make some adjustments. Maybe your business could use some wondering, too?

Photo credit: Geroithe