Business Plan at Michelle's

Business Plan Example

Executive Summary

This business plan has been prepared for the purpose of planning the opening and operation of 'Mane Street Hair Designers' - an up market hair salon in the city. The business will be owned and operated by two partners: Peter Haswell and Michelle Milan.

Our goals are to combine our skills in developing an up market, price competitive hair salon catering for 18 - 35 year old fashion conscious males and females. Mane Street will be heavily focused on meeting client's needs and will have what we like to call, 'the complete experience', which will ensure steady repeat and referral business. We have chosen to locate in a 1st floor premises in the Canberra City Interchange as we believe this will make us easily accessed by all of our target market.

In our first year of business, we will work on building strong foundations for the salon to 'set the standard' for the future. If the foundations are strong and the salon succeeds from the 'first impressions' stage, we expect strong repeat and referral business to follow.

There are a number of reasons why we are opening our own business. Starting with the fundamentals, we are both of the strong belief that to be in business you need to have a passion and interest which can be translated into commitment and dedication to the success of the business.

Our primary reasons for starting our own business are:

* to be our own boss and take full responsibility for our decisions

* to utilise the management experience we have developed in previous work

* to support our lifestyles financially

* to be challenged in the work place and build a successful business we can take pride in

* to provide a quality service to our existing and new clientele in a relaxing environment

As a result of 10 years industry experience, my business partner and I currently have a very large client base. While it is not expected that 100% of these will follow the move, the majority of these clients have already expressed their loyalty. We have been subtly preparing our clients for the last year by getting them to make a forward appointment every visit. This will ensure that even in our first week after opening, we will have a steady stream of clients to look after in the new premises.

Structure and Management

Our intention is that Mane Street will operate as a two way partnership initially and once better established, we may look at forming a company. Our solicitor is currently in the process of drawing up a contract of agreement between the partners.

We have identified the strengths and weaknesses of each of us and have broken up the various responsibilities within the salon according to each person's previous experience and expertise. Below is a brief outline of each partner's experience and a summary of their delegated roles.

Michelle Milan For the last 3 years Michelle has been employed as the Manager of a large local salon with 18 staff. Her background also includes 2 years management experience with McDonald's Family Restaurants and a further 7 years hairdressing experience in various salons in Canberra. She has won several awards for her dedication to hairdressing and fashion. She specialises in weddings and formals but is very talented in all other areas of hairdressing as well.

Michelle's primary responsibilities in this business will include:

* all administrative and bookkeeping aspects of the salon

* occupational health and safety issues

* Client Satisfaction and quality control

* marketing, promoting and ongoing research and business planning

* day to day manager of salon operations

* ordering, stock control and assisting in ongoing development of the salon

Peter Haswell Peter has over 12 years experience in hairdressing and did his training in London with Pivot Point (a world leader in hairdressing excellence). He has a natural flair for hairdressing and fashion which makes it very easy for him to convert a 'walk-in' into a regular client. Peter has spent the last 4 years in a management capacity in a Canberra salon and he has special expertise in training. He has also had several years experience in marketing.

Peter's responsibilities in this business will include:

* day to day salon operations

* control of marketing plan and execution of pre-opening and opening night market

* marketing of the salon

* administrative support in the running of the salon

* performance reviews and ongoing planning and research

* rostering, recruitment and training, development and review of staff

Operations and Production

Mane Street will be strongly focussed on identifying the customer's needs and exceeding expectations. The salon will not be a 'walk-in, have cut, leave' salon - each booking, with the exception of children, will be taken on a minimum basis of 45minutes. The client will have a full consultation before having their hair shampooed and conditioned and a scalp massage.

The salon fit out will reflect a natural atmosphere with lots of plants, soft colours and no street frontage that may intimidate someone while having a chemical treatment. In addition to my partner and I, there will be two senior hairdressers and two apprentices. All staff will be asked to curb their creativity when it comes to their own personal presentation as some clients feel uncomfortable in a very 'trendy' environment. The salon music will also be moderately tame as we feel that most of the up market salons play alternative music too frequently and too loud.

The salon has a total of 10 work stations and 4 basins. This will prevent overcramping in the case of client overlap. There is also a large tea room, dressing room and storage area which will enable a later expansion into beauty therapy as well as hair.