Preparing for the Future: What You Can Do NOW to Make Your Business Rock Solid

Did you have a plan to keep your business afloat and navigate the COVID-19 shutdown?  I know I didn't.  From businesses to schools, the complete shutdown of commerce as we know it has had a lot of people scrambling, including my Beauty Business Owners.  In this post, I talk about preparing for the future.  I touch on podcasts to listen to and things you can do now to help generate revenue and improve your business so you're better prepared if something like this ever happens again.

Business As Usual vs. Recession

It's no secret, we are in the middle of very uncertain times. Some people are optimistic that things will bounce back and we'll return to business as usual soon.  While others are not so optimistic and feel we're headed in to a recession.  I just read an blog post from a Beauty Consultant that got me thinking and made me start this post.  Her thoughts were pretty blunt and unnecessarily negative, in my opinion.  Not a shred of hope for recovery to be found LOL.  She feels that the beauty industry as we know it, will plummet post-COVID-19.I totally disagree and think it's more helpful to have hope and be positive.  Her post was the exact opposite. I don't want to spread her negativity by linking to her article but the gist of it was:

• The beauty industry is getting hit hard by COVID19. (This we know!)
• The government isn't going to bail us out.
• Many businesses will be forced to close.
• Those that remain open will be plagued by recession and forced to work for less.
• Many professionals in this industry will hang on too long and "go down with the ship."
• Get out while you can.

Yikes. I didn't write this post to spread doom and gloom.  I wrote it to get you thinking about what you can do in your business right now, TODAY to start working toward a business that can weather the storm.

Preparing for the Future: How to Recession Proof Your Salon, Spa or Skin Business

Then, it was almost like the Facebook Gods knew I needed a pick me up because they put Daniela, from AddoAesthetics Academy in my feed this morning.  She shared a podcast about recession proofing your business.  It's GOLD.  She packed  her podcast with actionable items you can do RIGHT NOW without investing a dime to start preparing your business should we slip in to a recession when all this passes.She focuses on:

• Knowing your numbers.
• Managing your inventory so cash isn't sitting on your shelves in the form of products.
• Managing expenses and cash flow.
• Continuing to market even when business slows down (and gives you some ideas on how to do that in a cost effective way)
• Ways to prepare your business by creating a savings and getting credit in place.

Be sure to watch her podcast here.  Whether you are a salon, spa or skin care professional, there are things you can implement from what she suggests.

Plan B: Virtual Operations and E-Commerce

You can start doing what Daniela suggests now to prepare for the future.  But, if you're like many of the Beauty Business Owners I know, there is a need RIGHT NOW to generate revenue and stay afloat until this blows over.  That's where your Plan B comes in.  While in-person operations are closed, many Beauty Business Owners have shifted to virtual operations and e-commerce.  If you haven't been able to do this, I encourage you to start thinking about how you might be able to start just in case this goes on for longer than expected.My skin care and MedSpa clients have started doing online consults followed by product sales and/or taking deposits for appointments at a later time.  They are also doing gift certificate sales.  I've seen some experts suggest going all in and offering a buy $100, get $100 free promotion!For a hair salon, this may be difficult but you could still focus on online gift certificate sales.If you don't have online gift certificate sales set up, that's the first thing I'd work on.   Then, if you don't have an e-commerce site set up, it's time to think about that too.  In times like this, having a e-commerce capabilities allows you to generate SOME income online. I know many of you are thinking you wouldn't use the e-commerce option outside of a situation like this but it could really become another stream of revenue for your business if you focused on developing it that way.Implementing ways to generate revenue online is something you can right now to prepare for the future and generate revenue while we're closed so start thinking about what you can do!

What if that consultant is right?

I don't think the consultant I mentioned above is right. But, the reality of our current situation is that some businesses may not survive going without revenue for weeks on end.  If this continues, some Beauty Bosses may be forced to find other jobs to pay the bills.I'd rather see you spend time preparing for the future and recession proofing your business than job hunting. But, we do need money to survive.  So, if you're concerned about what coming out on the other end of this looks like for you, don't ever feel bad about finding a job that allows you to pay your bills while you rebuild your beauty business.  The salon, spa and skin care industry will be here when you're ready to come back.  It never hurts to have some ideas on the back burner of what you could do to generate income if you weren't working in the beauty industry.

Closing Thoughts

You can do this!  Go in to the next few weeks with hope and use it as a time to improve and strengthen your business.  If you haven't already, start looking for ways to generate revenue online during this time.  Then, start looking for ways to recession proof your business, should we find ourselves in an economic downturn once this is over.   As you'll hear Daniela say, we aren't in a recession YET, so there is still time to prepare should we find ourselves in one.If there is anything I can do help you start preparing for the future and get your business online, feel free to contact me!