The year of 2021 was all about unparalleled growth for Baddhare Salon. Like many others, we spent most of 2020 either shut down from the pandemic or under strict operating guidelines. However, that did not stop us from taking steps towards the future that we always envisioned for Baddhare Salon.
In January of 2021, Baddhare Salon opened its doors to a brand-new location. We knew the future we wanted, and so we merged two small salons into one; a two-story salon right in the heart of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. In order to drive the income and profits that Baddhare had the potential to earn, we had to make a change and take a leap of faith. On paper, this change did not make much sense! To have the potential to succeed with this change, we knew our team would have to double in size, requiring much invested time and dedication. So, what drove our growth and fueled the success of Baddhare Salon in 2021? This new location is where it all began!
Once we opened the doors to our new location, we were met with the challenging hardships of scaling a small
business into a large business in a short amount of time. We created structure and implemented policies and procedures, while focusing on building a dedicated team to establish a core culture. We believe in transparency, so leadership shared our hardships and encouraged feedback as our team doubled in size. We grew from a team of ten employees in 2021, to a family of twenty-five by the end of 2022. We created job descriptions for each position within the salon and found ways to best utilize the strengths and weaknesses of each person. As roles became clearly defined and our business became better organized, this fostered a growth environment throughout the salon, which drove up profitability.
Baddhare Salon attributes education to much of its profitability. We believe that education is the key to success and
strive to continually educate not only our team, but our guests as well. Our team is educated through a course called Baddhare University, and this proprietary course directly impacts our overall bottom line. Baddhare University was designed to focus on every area; from the $200 experience to social media and marketing, tracking and smashing goals, and advanced color & cutting classes to name a few. We focus on educating our team, so they in turn can educate our guests. When our guests feel educated and empowered, they are more likely to become regular, loyal clients of Baddhare Salon. Baddhare University is a free course offered to all Baddhare team members. We do this because we believe when you stop educating, you also stop growing, and no personal growth means no growth in your profits.
As we look at the growth we have had from 2021 to 2022, we cannot help but be excited about the future of Baddhare
Salon. We survived a pandemic, merged two businesses into one, moved into a new location, doubled our team, and are projected to do over a million dollars in sales this year. These are just a few of the successes that we have experienced throughout 2022, despite the ongoing challenges of employee retention.
We do our best to evolve and change, which is why we implemented a new schedule structure to accommodate our employees’ lifestyles and allow them the flexibility to achieve an excellent work/life balance. By no longer requiring Saturdays or evenings, our employees are allowed to choose from a part-part time position (less than 20 hours), a part-time position (20-31 hours) or a full-time position (32 hours and above). While holding a full-time position, our employees gain access to health and IRA benefits, the potential for paid time off, and yearly bonuses. The days of employees working 40+ hours, nights, and weekends are over, and we knew if we wanted to keep our team engaged and content in their positions, our structures and expectations needed to be adjusted.
Like many, another challenge we’ve experienced this year is the increased cost of doing business. Not only is the
inflation around the country near an all-time high, but we have also never done the sales volume that we are currently doing. While we are projected to do over a million dollars in sales in 2022, our expenses are also at an all-time high. We implemented a budget to create a spending structure, so that we can closely monitor every dollar. By utilizing QuickBooks, a monthly expense report, and a retail & backbar tracker, this allows us to see which areas are making and costing the business the most money. With this information, our Sales and Financial Managers get us back on track by creating a path of spending less to make more. We are also very transparent with our team and found that by sharing with them the struggles of owning a small business and how financially taxing it can be, they become more personally invested in assisting us in making the business the most profitable. Knowing that retail is our best income producing area of the business, we often run incentives for the employees to sell more products, and in return, we offer education funds and/or Christmas bonuses that directly benefit them. A win-win for everyone!
When looking back at 2021 and 2022, Baddhare Salon has grown leaps and bounds. We genuinely believe that without facing the struggles and adversity that we have, we would not be where we are today. Without the challenge of employee retention, we would not have the updated systems in place to reward our employees. Without the challenge of inflation, we may have never gotten a true handle on our finances, which could have resulted in us being a part of the sad statistics of businesses that closed post-pandemic. While it is hard to endure these hardships, Baddhare Salon knows that they have molded us into the family that we are today.