THOUGHT PROCESS
The New Year is an ideal time to identify and implement changes and new habits that will make your Salon Suite more successful.
ACTION STEPS
Discover factors that lead to New Year Resolution success and failure, decide on specific Resolutions that could be most beneficial for you, and set your Salon Suite up for growth in 2018.
Only about 8 percent of New Year Resolutions are kept; is there anything you can do to increase your chances of success?
Whether they are professional or personal in nature, New Year Resolutions are really about changing and creating habits that bring success. In The Power of Habit, Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, author Charles Duhigg provides science and study-backed stories about habits. He discusses strategies that people have used to create and sustain long-lasting change in their lives and also talks about strategies that didn’t work, and why.
One of the biggest factors in creating change comes down to why. Your “why” needs to be compelling; something – a reward or outcome – that is more important to you than the comfort or payoffs of not changing. The point is that even if we know we need to make changes, without the “why” it’s going to be easy to fail. Let’s talk about New Year Resolutions for Salon Suites as well as some “why’s” that might help you achieve your goals.
1 – Spend More Time On…
- Promoting your Salon Suite
- The client consultation
- Bookkeeping or record maintenance
- Marketing and advertising
- Communications (thank you notes, email newsletters, phone reminders, social media, etc.)
- Skill-building through educational classes, practice, coaching, training, etc.
- Networking in your community
- Improving the client experience
- Adding and promoting new services
- Expanding inventory and/or selling retail products
If you need to spend more time on something (this could be any aspect of running your Salon Suite, such as marketing, bookkeeping, skill-building, selling retail, etc.) chances are the reason you’re not spending more time on it already is that it’s not your favorite thing to do, or you may procrastinate because you aren’t sure how to do it. You may even beat yourself up over this from time to time, which only makes you feel worse.
Why: Give yourself a reward and/or visualize a specific outcome.
You can incentivize spending more time on something that you don’t enjoy doing (or don’t know how to do) using rewards or by visualizing a desired outcome. For instance, taking a class or reading a book that enables you to promote your Salon Suite more effectively using social media or email marketing could help you improve client acquisition and retention. The specific outcomes you envision include these improvements as well as resulting profits. You can further incentivize doing the work by giving yourself a reward for each milestone you achieve.
2 – Eliminate (or reduce) …
- Unnecessary spending
- Slow-moving products or services
- Time-wasting activities
- Distractions
- Procrastinating
Some people cut out unhealthy eating in order to lose weight and improve their health. Some people cut out unnecessary spending in order to save money for the future or improve their overall financial health. Anytime your New Year Resolution involves cutting something out or reducing something, it’s doubly important for you to know your “why,” because it’s really hard to stop a habit or behavior without replacing it with something else.
Why: Short and long term gratifications.
If you’re cutting something out in the short term, make sure that you have both short and long term gratifications in place. When you eliminate something that gives you momentary pleasures in favor of a desired long-term outcome, your resolve may be tested if you don’t replace the short term gratifications you used to enjoy. For instance, many diet plans – even the strictest – provide for occasional treats or replacement treats (like substituting diet soda for sugar-filled varieties or enjoying a glass of wine on the weekend after eliminating alcohol during the week).
3 – Start…
- A 15-minute daily marketing “workout” (like the plan available to MY SALON Suite Members)
- Tracking expenses in real time (like tracking calories when you’re on a diet!)
- A client acquisition, loyalty or rewards program
- Spending time each day on business-related learning: books, magazines, online articles, videos, etc.
- Join networking or business building organizations (Chamber of Commerce, etc.)
Adding a new activity to your professional life is just as hard as cutting something out. Creating new habits requires that you change your routine, find time in what might be an already-tight schedule, and accept the fact that you might feel uncomfortable doing something new.
Why: Visualize a specific outcome and set short term benchmarks.
Some people start exercising to get healthy, physically fit and lose excess weight. Even with all of those good objectives in mind, it’s easy to let a New Year Resolution fall by the way-side when the reality of having to get up early to run or hit the gym before work or the pain of working out becomes discouraging. When you’re going to start something to hit a long term goal, make sure you break that goal out in to specific shorter-term milestones, and provide for some type of reward each time you hit one. When you realize that you are making significant progress over even short periods of time, it will encourage you to maintain your new behaviors until you’ve achieved your long term goal.
Image Source: happynewyear2018.wiki
What about you?
If you’re making professional New Year Resolutions for 2018, which of your Resolutions do you feel is most critical for your success? Leave your answer in the comments below.
What about you?
If you’re making professional New Year Resolutions for 2018, which of your Resolutions do you feel is most critical for your success? Leave your answer in the comments below.