This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Today's caller on Side Hustle School is a hairstylist preparing to leave employment to run her own shop. Congratulations, that is awesome. That's what it's all about, at least for many of our listeners. What can she do to build her initial clientele? Her client roster, her customers that keep coming back.
That is so, so important for a service provider, a service business really just kind of thrives on recurring revenue. If you know people are coming back on a certain time and such, you can still serve new customers. You can still serve one-off people who come in for a haircut or some other service in this case, but you really want, as I said, a clientele. So where do these people come from in the first place? This magic client list, what are some simple things a service provider can do to kickstart that process, especially when, like today's caller, they're going to a new area or starting out for the first time.
Let's see what we can come up with and thanks for tuning in, by the way. My name's Chris Guillebeau, the detailed question in my answer after this. [Music]
Hey, Chris, this is Laura and I recently found a show after my sister recommended it. I've been a hairstylist for a national chain for the past two years. Now I'm ready to strike out on my own and open my shop.
I've found a good space in town about 15 miles away. So it's close, but it's also new to me in some ways. What's the best way to build a clientele for a service like this and as quickly and effectively as possible? Looking forward to hearing from you. [Music]
Hey, Laura, once again, congratulations.
It's exciting that you're taking this step. And fortunately, you're not alone. A lot of people have been in this situation, whether they are hairstylists or some other service provider moving to a new area. What can someone like you do to quickly get clients in this new town or this new place that's a little bit farther from your existing location? First thing you wanna do is announce your arrival.
What's that whole thing about how if a tree falls in the forest, if a hair salon opens and no one hears about it? I'm not quite sure how it ends, but the point is you want to announce your arrival. You want to get to know surrounding businesses. Go around and say hello. You wanna have good signage.
Can you put a sign out front? Where do people connect locally? Can you post on apps like Nextdoor or whatever forum, website, app, platform, wherever people gather, Facebook, of course. So you wanna announce your arrival. That's the key point.
Tell everyone that you can. Maybe offer a new client discount. Maybe make it clear that for the first 30 days, anybody who gets a haircut will either get a discount or maybe even a discount for several months, right? So those new clients kind of become regular clients, which of course is the goal. So get involved as much as possible in the community just because this is a community-oriented business.
And ask every new client that comes to help with referrals, right? So you can kind of extend that discount to people who are referred and even just on a good faith basis, just on a, you know, hey, this is new. I'm trying to, you know, get established here. And if you're doing good work, if you're providing great haircare services, then hopefully those clients will come over time. And it is just a matter of, as we said, kick-starting the client list.
So good luck with the move. And again, going out on your own, excited for you. Listeners, if you've got a question, trying to figure something out, sidehustleschool.com/questions. Let me know what you're working on, what's going well and what's not, and we'll continue to feature them throughout the year. That is all for today, end of the episode, but guess what?
New one's coming out tomorrow. My name is Chris Guillebeau. You're listening to Side Hustle School. [Music]
- From The Onward Project.
