“Every day is getting better and better pricing. We’ve had to up our pricing just a little bit and everybody has been so absolutely wonderful with the increase,” she said. “It’s been a $5 to $10 increase on almost all services, which nobody has bat an eye on.”
In 2019, she worked at another salon, but it was during the tax season of that year she said she felt she needed to switch gears.
“I was worried that I would have to get out of the business just to get something that was a little more consistent and that same week that taxes — we were doing the taxes and the numbers, and this place came available, and I thought, ‘well, you know what? Let’s make the jump,’” she said.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in her salon, like others, having to shut down following Gov. Mike DeWine’s order early on.
She said it was hard once her salon reopened.
“I had $54 in my bank account, and then I worked 26 days in a row after that just to kind of get caught back up,” she said.
She said today, inflation creates new challenges.
The Consumer Price Index reports an increase of 0.5% of all items, excluding food and energy, in February.
“When we do a consult with somebody, we ask them, ‘what is your budget for today?’ If they’re wanting a full head of highlights or balayage or some fun colors, we tell them, we ask, ‘what is your budget? What? Show us some pictures, some deference’ and usually, we compromise and we do think we’ll have multiple pictures where we kind of do a something of everything,” she said.
She said planning is key.
“I tried to keep multiple colors in stock so that we don’t run out, especially the most popular ones for our great coverage,” she said. “I try to keep them, which happened to be the hardest ones to get. But when I find them, I get them just so I have them.”
She said this is how she can provide quality hair care while offering reasonable prices.
“It helps keep the client comfortable, helps keep them comfortable (and) keeps us calm when our clients are calm. When they’re happy to be here, then it’s just going to be positive overall,” she said.
