Working Smarter, Not Harder By Karla McDiarmid

Its been over 16 months now that I, like many of you, have been looking for new employees to recruit in my business.

I have tried Seek, beauty forums, I have contacted private colleges and even our local TAFE over five times, I have advertised to our customers on social media and even an email with only one reply from someone who hadn’t moved to our region yet and didn’t even end up moving.. so, when you have a business sitting with vacant rooms and a waitlist through the roof what else can you do?

At first, I went into panic mode like any human being would but now I see the light at the end of the tunnel & it is shining ever so brightly!

Two years ago, I had two clinics with over 20 employees – we were winning every award possible I was working my butt off even whilst I slept!

Fast forward to Christmas 2021 & I have now just seven employees (I have sold one clinic this year as well) my life is more balanced, less stressful, less drama and more profit!

This huge transition is incredible and scary to say out loud but in reality, it’s been a blessing in disguise! I feel many business owners will be scared of change and not having enough employees

BUT I have the silver lining for you! over more money with less staff – we are working smarter not harder!

We were closed in a lockdown, so we edited our pricelist to remove a lot of the body waxing and nail treatments our team didn’t love, deleted the exhausting 1.5 hr massages and re-opened after Covid with a smaller luxury menu.

The benefits of having a smaller team is we don’t have the sick days we were having, the vibe amongst the team is at an all-time high with positive hard working employees looking after our customers, retail sales are through the roof and we have added several higher end brands to keep our customers always shopping locally with us. We have had two price increases in the past year alone to cover costs and to give our team all a well-deserved payrise and renovations in the business to always keep on trend. Our average $ spend has increased by 37% since re-opening making me wonder why did I need so many staff, now my wages are down and our profits are up and our customers are spending more on a regular basis!

With several treatment rooms not being used we have invested in new pieces of equipment such as the MediLux LED, ONDA Body Contouring and a Recovery Massage Chair so we can continue to earn an income from equipment not relying on skin therapists for facials & massage & this new business model for us has increased our business tremendously. Next time you are thinking you need more staff and no one is applying for your positions – don’t work yourself up over it - try some new ideas to take your business to the next level. · Add specialist equipment · hire your treatment rooms out to practitioners such as tattooists / nurses / naturopaths/ remedial massage therapists · train your team to increase retail and average $ spends and you will be so happy you are making more in your business then if you hired several more staff. · Create yourself a work life balance for all of you - we now close earlier on several weeknight night and Saturdays – its important our entire team is happy at home and work.

Work with what you have, if there is one thing, I have learnt in my 20 years in business, it’s not to hire people because you are desperate (right now many of us are desperate for workers.) For my business now it’s all about quality over quantity and getting the right team to increase our bottom line further.

Covid has had a silver lining for my business and it’s a great opportunity for you to take the bull by the horns and create the business you have always dreamed of having.

If you would like help with your business Karla offers private business mentoring with a passion for marketing and education. www.secretstosuccessbykarla.com