5 Things I’d Never Do Again as a Salon Owner

If I could sit down with 27-year-old Chelle, right before she opened Urban Betty, and give her one piece of advice, it wouldn’t be about pricing, marketing, social media, or even hiring.

I’d tell her to find a therapist and a coach immediately.

Looking back after more than 20 years in business, most of my biggest mistakes weren’t business mistakes at all. They were leadership mistakes. Self-worth mistakes. Fear mistakes. I thought owning a salon would be about learning to run a business. What I eventually learned is that building a business is really about becoming the person capable of leading one.

These are five things I’d never do again if I were starting over.

 

1. I Would Never Start as a Booth-Rental Model Again

When I opened Urban Betty, I started out as a booth-rental salon because, honestly, I didn’t want to be anyone’s boss. I thought it would be easier if everyone came in, paid rent, ran their own business, and I stayed out of the way. Looking back, I can see that I wasn’t really avoiding management. I was avoiding leadership.

At the time, I was uncomfortable asking for what I wanted. I didn’t like confrontation. I wanted everyone to be happy. I thought if I just worked hard enough, everything would somehow come together on its own.

For a while, booth rental worked. It was simple. But as the salon started growing, I realized I wasn’t building the kind of business I actually wanted. I wanted a strong culture. I wanted a team that worked together. I wanted education, career paths, benefits, and a consistent guest experience. Instead, I felt like I was working harder than everyone else while having the least influence over what was happening in my own salon.

The turning point came when four of my five booth renters left, taking one employee with them.

I remember being terrified. At the time, it felt like everything was falling apart. I had worked so hard to build that team, and suddenly most of them were gone. I worried about the future. I worried about paying bills. I worried about whether Urban Betty would survive.

But if I’m being completely honest, there was another feeling underneath the fear.

Relief.

Deep down, I knew the future version of Urban Betty wasn’t going to happen as a booth rental salon. That walkout forced me to make a decision I had been avoiding. It forced me to stop hiding and finally step into leadership.

What that experience taught me is something I still remind myself of today: people leave. Employees leave. Clients leave. Friends leave. Business partners leave. That’s part of life and part of business. The goal isn’t to keep everyone forever. The goal is to keep building something great and trust that the right people will find their way to you.

And they did.

Looking back now, that walkout wasn’t the end of something. It was the beginning of Urban Betty becoming what it was always meant to be.

 

2. I Would Never Stop Asking for Help

For years, I thought being a business owner meant figuring everything out yourself.

I was wrong.

I started therapy in 2008 because I was having dizzy spells, panic attacks, and didn’t feel well all the time. I thought I was simply overworked. During my first session, my therapist asked me a question that changed my life:

“What’s going on in your life?”

I immediately knew the answer.

I was unhappy in my marriage.

I had never said those words out loud before.

That single conversation changed the trajectory of my life. Over the years, therapy taught me one lesson that has influenced both my personal life and my business more than anything else:

You cannot control the conditions of another person.

You can’t make someone change. You can’t make someone support you. You can’t make someone grow. The only person you can work on is yourself.

That lesson transformed how I led people.

Years later, in 2014, I hired my first business consultant through Summit Salon Business Center. I remember being terrified to spend the money. At the time, the consultant cost $1,000 a day, and I truly didn’t feel like I had it.

What I remember most is them telling me, “You can’t afford NOT to change.”

At the time, Urban Betty was doing about $1.45 million in annual revenue. We were busy, but we weren’t running the business strategically. We didn’t have a level system. We didn’t have a true career path. We weren’t pricing correctly. We weren’t looking at the business the way a business owner should.

One year later, after implementing those systems, our revenue jumped to $1.94 million.

Almost half a million dollars in growth.

The lesson wasn’t that consultants are magic.

The lesson was that I was too close to the problem to see it clearly.

The same thing had happened in my personal life. Sometimes we need someone else to hold up a mirror and help us see what we’ve become blind to.

To this day, I still have a therapist. I’ve worked with coaches, consultants, financial advisors, leadership experts, and mentors. Every major breakthrough I’ve had in life or business has happened because I was willing to ask for help.

 

3. I Would Never Open a Salon That’s Closed on Sundays and Mondays

One of the best pieces of advice we received from our consultants was to be open when our competitors were closed.

At the time, that seemed almost too simple.

But they were right.

Guests want appointments when they’re available. New stylists need opportunities to build clientele. If your chairs are sitting empty while demand exists, you’re leaving opportunity on the table.

One thing I want to be clear about is that we never forced existing team members to change their schedules. I don’t believe in cutting people’s pay or suddenly taking away the schedule they’ve built their lives around.

Instead, anyone new coming into the company understood that Sundays and Mondays were part of the opportunity.

What happened was remarkable. We were able to accommodate guests we previously had to turn away. Newer stylists built their books faster. We created more opportunities without adding more real estate.

Sometimes growth doesn’t come from opening another location.

Sometimes it comes from maximizing the one you already have.

 

4. I Would Never Hire Someone Just Because I Need a Body

Some of the most expensive mistakes I’ve made weren’t marketing mistakes or financial mistakes.

They were hiring mistakes.

Early on, I hired anyone who wanted to work for us. If I needed a stylist, I hired a stylist. If I needed help, I hired help. I was operating from scarcity instead of intention.

What I learned is that one wrong hire creates exponentially more work than waiting for the right person.

Today, our hiring process is much more thorough. We do a Zoom interview. We have candidates take an Enneagram assessment. We conduct peer interviews with existing team members. Experienced stylists perform a model. We intentionally consider both skill and cultural fit.

Because here’s what I’ve learned after two decades of hiring:

You can teach someone to become a better hairstylist.

It’s much harder to teach someone to be kind.

One of my favorite interview questions is asking people what they envision for their future. Some salon owners get nervous when someone has big goals. I actually get excited. Often, you’re looking at a younger version of yourself.

I don’t want people who just want a job.

I want people who are looking for a career.

 

5. I Would Never Build a Business I Couldn’t Leave for (at least) 30 Days

There was a time when Urban Betty depended entirely on me.

I worked six days a week. I had health issues. I felt responsible for everything. And honestly, the business owned me more than I owned it.

That changed when we built systems.

We built career paths. We built leadership teams. We built management structures. We developed accountability. We trained people to make decisions without me.

The ultimate test came when Isaac was born.

Because of the circumstances surrounding his arrival, I unexpectedly stepped away from the business for about three months.

And something amazing happened.

The company didn’t fall apart.

In fact, our leadership team implemented a 30-day retail challenge they learned through High Performance Salon Academy, and we had some of the best retail sales we’d ever seen.

I remember thinking, “Wow. They’re actually doing this.”

What I eventually realized is that my absence gave people permission to step into their own power. They weren’t worried about me judging their ideas. They weren’t waiting for approval. They simply led.

That was one of the proudest moments of my career.

Today, my family spends a month every summer in upstate New York. The business runs. The managers lead. I check emails when I need to, attend meetings when necessary, and enjoy time with my family.

That’s not because I got lucky.

It’s because we intentionally built a business instead of a job.

The Real Lesson

For years, I thought becoming a better salon owner meant learning more about business.

What I eventually learned is that the biggest breakthroughs came when I better understood myself.

The booth rental model taught me to lead.

Therapy taught me accountability.

Coaches taught me perspective.

Better hiring taught me standards.

Building systems taught me trust.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned after 20 years, it’s this:

Your business can only grow to the level that you’re willing to grow yourself.

And every lesson on this list taught me exactly that.