The Dream of Opening a New Salon

[Stephen Underhill]

Quote (You do the business plan, negotiate the lease, oversee the buildout, put the beds in and get it open. I'll step in and pay you 75% of the net until I get you paid off with 9.75% interest for the life of the deal.

How about it? Are you willing to make the deal with your money?)

I am not sure what the point of this post is. I do not call people and convince them that they should open a tanning salon. If you would take the time to read and understand the post you would know that what I am saying is, If you have decided to open a salon give yourself the best opportunity for success, get QUALIFIED assistance. The investment is too large to make it a crap shoot.

[Stephen Underhill]

Quote (As a distributor, I will assist in all of the above. But I don't do it for them.)

You don't do it for them because you may not be qualified or maybe have never actually done it. If you know what you recommend is proven you can stand behind it with confidence. here is an email I just received from a client that I assisted with the purchase of an old salon from a guy that owns a number of salons and said that he knew what he was doing. This is what happened after I got a hold of it.

Quote (Hey Stephen, Haven't talked to you in a while. I just wanted to let you know I just completed my 2nd fiscal year and I wanted to give you my totals. I am still learning so much and feel like I still have so much to learn but I am very happy to report that we are definitely the biggest and nicest salon in town now thanks to you.

The year before I bought the salon they grossed 150,000, my first year I grossed 200,000 and this second year I grossed 290,000. My goal for next year is probably 400,000. I still have a lot of tweaking to do so that I can keep more of the money but I am working on it. Thanks, Carmen)

My busiest day we tanned 440 tanners this year. Last years highest was 371.

Our efts reached 17,000 each month this year! They were only like 3000.00 or so when I purchased the salon. )

[Stephen Underhill]

Quote (Jeez Jim, Is it really OK to question the value of forums and the people that offer help, as long as they buy a banner? No offense, just don't seem "right".
Good Luck.

Tom)

Tom you again did not read my post, no where did I slam the people on this forum, however most of you slam each other at every opportunity and none of you pay for the right to do so.

[Stephen Underhill]

Quote (I will do all that and more if you book the Presidential Suite in Nashville. You pay for the room and I will fill your head with dreams of being rich and ways to do it.

With 22 years of experience making and losing money in this industry I have a wealth of worthless stories to share. Some funny, some sad, and some unbelievable. Oh and Drews right the first 5 or 6 don't count because we had no competition.

We can kick back drink a bottle or two of Diaka Vodka, take a few hits of the house bong, and fill out as many "business plans" as you desire. You will have as good a chance of making it as anyone because when we are through I will give you an honest opinion about the most important thing there is to know before starting your own business...are you capable of running a business?)

This is just what people want to hear from someone that is giving them advice, I guess I take this business a lot more serious than some of you do. When we where pioneering this industry in the first 5 or 6 years we made it possible for you to be hear today, and you think it doesn't count. How many people do you know that where there when it started and is still guiding it's direction today. How many people and companies have come and gone, and yet you question my knowledge or ability to assist someone that is new or struggling? You guy's are pretty entertaining. When many of you are long gone off to your next venture, my clients and I will still be here benefiting from a solid growing industry.

[Stephen Underhill]

Quote (I will do it better and for less money than Steve.)

As I teach my clients always design your business so the competition can't be better. Play on a level playing field or tilt it in your direction, but never allow it to be tilted away from you. I strongly believe in this, and yet Drew a salon owner is going to proclaim he will do it better than me. Giving you the benefit of the doubt you may be able to assist salon owners as well as me, I don't know what your level of knowledge is or how well you dispense it. But I assure it can't be done better and that is interesting that you say you can and yet question a qualified Consultant. What is the name of your consulting company I am not familiar with it? Do you advertise here? What is your web site address?

[sparky]

I requested pricing information for a banner. Until I get that I won't bother to answer the ridiculous responses that have been posted here. Until I get that information my responses can be found on forums that I advertise.

http://www.tantoday.com/advertise.htm

Wasn't that hard to find, actually, right on the front page of this site.

P.S. Learn how to use the [quote*] [/quote*] feature (remove the asterisk to function properly).

Hate to see a grown man abuse HTML for so many many years.


P.S.S. to Alan - Put Solarmeter's banners up, he's paid for already! a simple phone call or e-mail during the 90 day conversion process would have resolved it long ago.

[Island Cove]

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[Island Cove]

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[Stephen Underhill]

[quote=Island Cove]

[[i]Quote to tan 440 in a day you'd have to have several units. Probably close to 22 units. So if Rob is not qualified which i would interpret as meaning he doesn't have the experience and doesn't know what he is doing, then please tell me how we can gross over 200,000 with only 6 units, the most tans done in one day is 105 tans. When I look at your above example, I'm thinking, WHAT THE Flip? I know of other salon owners about our size grossing over 300,000 per year with the same model.

So Rob teaches how to max profit with minimal equipment. 440 tans wow what we could do if we had that many per day with our model.

I am sure Rob is quite qualified, I also am sure that most people even though learning the process would like as much hands on assistance as possible unless of course their intention is to become a Consultant. I like to make the process enjoyable and easy.

As far as your comment about this particular model. I did not design this salon. I took a salon that was broken and fixed it. It is in a very small town with a very low overhead by comparison to most areas. Carmen is doing great, she bought the salon cheap, has a lot of very old equipment. We only changed a few of her level two systems.

This is not one of my start-up model stores. Again I am sure that Rob is the cats meow when it comes to opening new salons. If he is a distributor or works for a distributor I am sure he is quite busy working with hundreds of different clients. On the other hand I will only take on 12 new salons a season and 6 existing salon fixes a season because the way I do it requires hundreds of hours spent with each client.

I am not the only Consultant in the market but I am one of them. I am not bogged down with selling a bed to an existing salon or fielding calls from people that are calling every distributor in the country for bed prices. I am a Consultant that takes calls from people that are interested in my services. I am not competing with Rob, unlike the hundreds of equipment distributors in the US there are only a few people that are not only qualified but their time and company is set up to assist clients with every aspect of opening a new salon or evaluating and fixing existing salons. While someone is in the process of developing a new business to properly assist them you practically are married to them.

What is Rob's web site I would love to visit it just to see what the other Consultants in the US are doing.

[Porsha]

Buy a banner, or just go away.

[Stephen Underhill]

Originally Posted by Porsha

Buy a banner, or just go away.

I appreciate your concern with someone sharing information without paying to do so. In fact I have already purchased advertising on this site, the banner is just not up yet. Without sponsors these sites will not survive.

[Derf]

Steve,
There are a lot of know it alls here. They are also the ones crying how bad things have been getting. If they don't want to use you, fine. I come here looking for info, you seem to be providing some while promoting your business. What's wrong with that? I look for your posts, thanks.

[SALON GYRL]

Judging from your years of experience t sounds like I need to talk to you...

I have been in the industry for the past 5 years... I have worked and managed salon... I have worked for distributers and now I am ready to open my own salon.... I am just a little lost and it is starting to look like more then I thought... What where the first stepd you took.. How did you find a great location... Do you have any words of encouragement...

[christine]

Most people will tell you to get a good business plan which really is the best idea so you get it all down in front of you and there are no surprises.

I bought an existing (failing) salon and the day we took over was the first day I had ever worked at any kind of salon. I learned from experience very quickly and thankfully after the first 2 years of working 7 days a week, we were able to relax some and quit our other jobs.

So, I say either find a cheap existing salon or get a good business plan down to follow.

Have fun. And be prepared to work your *ss off.

[christine]

Or there is a third options-ask that Stephen Underhill guy-he seems to know everything about opening a salon.

[Stephen Underhill]

Originally Posted by SALON GYRL

Judging from your years of experience t sounds like I need to talk to you...

I have been in the industry for the past 5 years... I have worked and managed salon... I have worked for distributers and now I am ready to open my own salon.... I am just a little lost and it is starting to look like more then I thought... What where the first stepd you took.. How did you find a great location... Do you have any words of encouragement...

Having a plan of how your business will be operated is important. Finding your location is the next step. I would draw a circle on a map that represents how far you are willing to drive to work every day. You can than drive around looking for vacant spaces or I suggest that you find a local commercial real-estate agent and tell the agent your requirements and the areas that you have established that you are interested in. The agent will give you a substantial list to choose from. Get demographic reports on all of them, rate them by 1, 2 and three mile radius. No you can start evaluating the best locations based on other requirements. Parking, accessibility, visibility, space size, TI allowances, cost PSF, available AC and Electrical and so on.

[Stephen Underhill]

Knowledge is power, don't let the lack of knowledge have a negative effect on the success of your business.

[jaybird]

I don't know and I have never spoken to you. I have read your post for almost 5 years now and I can only say please keep posting! Your information is an asset to this forum. I don't give a shit if your a consultant, salon owner, bed cleaner or whatever. Thanks for your informative post over the years. Allen should pay you to be here. Weve got plenty of crap floating around on these boards. This guys got good stuff.

[Derf]

He knows what he's doing.

[PacificTan]

To all of you non believers. I have owned and operated my own businesses for over 23 years (Non-Tanning.) When I decided to enter the tanning business I did my research over a 2 year period. I went to trade shows, talked to and reviewed every major tanning bed manufacture. I visited over a 100 salons in various States looking for ideals. I looked at the way they market there salons, the type of packages they sell and why, the type of equipment they carry and why, I looked very closely at how many levels of equipment they had and why. I looked at independents and franchises. And I determined to my satisfaction who was profitable and why.

I discovered that there are many ways of operating, marketing and setting up a winning program. I know from trial and error from past business experience that site location is a very tricky and a key ingredient to a winning program. I discovered that I put one of businesses (non-tanning) in a location that was good and profitable but, was just not quite right. A few years later in a costly move I relocated it to a new location just 200 yards away and saw an extra 350k in sales per year. A 40% increase from moving just down the street to much better location witch I should have looked at in the first place. My point is do your research and look and get help from someone you know is qualified and avoid costly mistakes.

There are so many variables in putting together a winning program you need to make sure you do it right the first time and avoid those costly mistakes. I have always done pretty well in my other business ventures and was smart enough to know that in the tanning business I needed help. I started looking for a consultant. I talked to a lot of salon owners and did a lot of online research.

One name kept coming up and I gave him a call. I literally talked to him for hours on the phone over several weeks and questioned his every suggestion. I am hard to satisfy when I am about to invest money in a new business venture. I finally agreed to go to Dallas to meet with him and listen to his whole program. I was very impressed and new I had found the winning program I was looking for.

I could ramble on to make my point but I think you get the ideal. If you have a salon or you are interested in opening one or more. IMHO you owe it to your self to give Stephen Underhill a call and in list his help in your new venture. I did and I have opened 3 very successful locations in a short time and more are planed in the future.

I was not asked to write this by anyone and received no financial gain for doing so. This is just my attempt to try and help those wanting to enter the tanning business or those in business now and wanting a better your program.

Good luck with your new venture.

Steve
Pacific Tan