The energy and drive that can come from seeing the success of change is infectious and rewarding.
How many of us look to the New Year as a shiny, bright, new opportunity to put in place all the things we meant to get around to doing the previous day, week, month, year? But somehow, time just ran out or there was always something more important to do or that simply demanded our immediate attention. And after all, there are only 24 hours in a day.
Whether at home, in our personal lives or in business, how we order and manage things inside our minds, greatly influences how they actually get done in reality. Surely all of us will know at least one person who, whatever the circumstances, workload or stresses, just somehow always manages to get things done. And then, there are those who manage to fit so much into their day, it’s as though they are living in a world where 48 hours pass before a new day begins.
I have no doubt the skill of time management can be learned or acquired; but if it comes to you naturally, to my mind, that truly is a huge bonus in life! It is also a fair probability that such a skill is accompanied by a positive “can do” attitude and ergo, the lucky individual is likely to be one of life’s great achievers in anything to which they choose to set their mind.
But for the majority of us, juggling the day-to-day stresses and challenges of our busy work/life commitments – particularly in a demanding job or indeed owning and running a business – can sometimes border on overwhelming. And owning or running a tanning salon or business is no exception.
If we wrote down a list of the advantages and positive elements of working in our industry, the list would be long: we provide products and a service that makes people feel and look good; our salon guests are typically happy coming in for their dose of sunshine; we offer a sociable environment to work in; good, fun people to work with, and the list goes on.
Yet, it’s only natural that if and when the stresses of life begin to mount up, it’s so easy to dismiss all the positives and allow negativity to creep in. And if the negativity is allowed to fester, this can cause a hitherto successful business to just bob along, treading water before it eventually has no place to go but down.
Take a real example that I recently witnessed: two salons in the same town, both in good locations and with the same number of tanning beds, a decent distance apart and not likely to attract exactly the same footfall. One salon is buzzing; the other certainly looks as though it is struggling. The owner of the busy salon happens to be one of our customers, who is proud to tell us how well the business is doing.
The picture last year was somewhat different. Along with adding one new tanning bed, the difference has been made by a bit of a décor facelift, a fresh approach to the branding, improving the salon retail area and a strategic approach to promotions with staff incentives. It was quite a lot for the salon owner to take on; but she knew she had to do it, we of course helped her in the process and the success is absolutely there to be seen.
Making a few small changes in your salon or business can reap huge rewards and is, I suggest, another good reason for using a New Year as a shiny, bright, new opportunity. The energy and drive that can come from seeing the success of change is infectious and rewarding. I certainly am doing this within my own business. It’s a great time to put into action those plans we have all had darting in and out of our minds.
Now … where’s my list?
