Help!!should i close or stay open?

Ni Uidhir

Hi everyone,
I opened my hair salon in august last year.Its been going great very very busy BUT..my prices are so cheap and my bills are moderate im only taking 400 a week wage home and working 6 days and paying two staff wages.My business account never seems to go up that much i dont think il have the money there for my tax bill.Its just constant bills.Now im due a baby the end of october which id manage fine with the staff i have but then one of them is also preganant due before me shes my sister i was relying on her to keep the place going untill i get back.
so what to do??Im moving house in a month a house me and my partner bought and theres a very big garage beside it.I was thinking close the salon open in the garage no rates!no rent!free electricty because were getting a windmill,and im working to suit me.what do you think?
thanks in advance

scwazrh

Would your customers come to your new place if you move ?

If yes then move.

sandin

I'd move. - Its really a no brainer.

Get a facebook page for the business set up, get email/phone details of customers and keep in contact once a month.

Do a list of pros & cons with the move.

As you say - no rates, no rent, probably a little bit of fit-out.

You'll lose some customers, but you probably need to if its just you there.

If you are working from home, you need to discipline yourself and see it as unattached from the house and have specific openign hours and stick by them.
Be ware of the type that think they are doing you a huge fabour and then expect to be able to call in at 9pm on a Friday night.

oB1

Ni Uidhir wrote: »

Hi everyone,
I opened my hair salon in august last year.Its been going great very very busy BUT..my prices are so cheap and my bills are moderate im only taking 400 a week wage home and working 6 days and paying two staff wages.My business account never seems to go up that much i dont think il have the money there for my tax bill.Its just constant bills.Now im due a baby the end of october which id manage fine with the staff i have but then one of them is also preganant due before me shes my sister i was relying on her to keep the place going untill i get back.
so what to do??Im moving house in a month a house me and my partner bought and theres a very big garage beside it.I was thinking close the salon open in the garage no rates!no rent!free electricty because were getting a windmill,and im working to suit me.what do you think?
thanks in advance

Its definitely a great idea!

Isn't there some law though, that either restricts or prohibits the conduct of a business within a residential home?

I could be completely wrong about that, but i vaguely remember hearing about it before.

Good Luck!!

kildare.17hmr

If your gonna run a business from your home you need planning permission. Id be pretty sure they would still get you for rates but am not 100% on that. Your biggest saving would be rent which alot of the time is one of a business biggest overheads

TheCostumeShop.ie: Ronan

Ni Uidhir wrote: »

Its been going great very very busy BUT..my prices are so cheap and my bills are moderate im only taking 400 a week wage home and working 6 days and paying two staff wages.

I think your problem is there, Why are your prices so cheap? Is it because of market forces or because you want to be busy rather than profitable?

Obviously we dont have enough information here but I'd suggest raising your prices and being less busy for the sake of being busy. Make sure you do an exceptional job and charge accordingly, but don't work 6 days a week as a business owner for less than minimum wage (I mean this nicely, as a business owner I know a half day can end up being a 12 hour shift...) so you probably are doing 90 hours to both cut hair and run the company.

If you raise your pricing to the point that the customers leave then the decision is made, but dont let down your customers who's lives are benefited by your service down, because you don't want to charge the value its truly worth.

How about having a trainee who will cut the students hair for half price but raise the experienced experts rates.

Nuttzz

I'm not sure why you think that if you operate a commercial enterprise from your garage that you wont be liable for rates, indeed you may find an objection from neighbours (if you're in an estate and there is a lot of coming & going) and as the garage doesnt have planning permission to be used as a salon when you could find yourself without a business at all.

I know that some people operate from their homes but its harder to prove what they are doing inside their houses where as your garage (i assume) would be equipped with cutting stations so it would be much more obvious what you were at.

Finally since you are operating since last August can you get out of the lease of what you are renting that quickly?

The Guvnor

It's all been said above.

The key point they all overlooked is more information on this windmill!

EricDub

Where is your business based? There are a lot of ways to save money but remember legally you have to class any space used for business as a commercial property. I would really recommend you not use the garage. If you want to hear some options which are really simple and cheap, let me know!

bbam

Ni Uidhir wrote: »

free electricty because were getting a windmill

Seriously ??
The rest of your business plan would want to be much better researched than this.. There is no way you are getting a wind turbine to have free electricity.. I'd guess you'd be looking at about €100K spend and a turbine about 10-15meters tall..

You need to properly research the details.. And charge correct rates, there's no point in being a busy fool.. Better at home doing nothing than working for nothing..

CamperMan

I would have thought you's need planning permission to run a business from your garage.. it would not be long before someone from the council knocked on your door.. that's the way Ireland has gone, you can't do much without the council knowing about it.

Could you not do mobile hairdressing??