What Salon Owners Should Be Working On (When They’re Not Behind the Chair) [EP:222]

We hear it all the time: “Stop working in your business and start working on it.”
The problem? Almost no one explains what that actually means.

In this episode, we break down what salon owners should really be working on when they’re not behind the chair and why so many owners step back only to feel stuck, unproductive, or pulled right back into old habits.

We talk about why cleaning, hovering, answering phones, and “being available” aren’t owner work; how avoiding leadership decisions keeps businesses from growing; and why simply changing your location in the salon doesn’t change your role.

We explain the four buckets that owners are soley responsible for — money, people, growth, and systems — and how to structure your time so that the work you’re doing compounds, removes friction, and creates long-term stability.

Your business should serve you, so that you can serve others, and that starts with stepping into the work only you can do as an owner.

Key Takeaways

• Stepping away from the chair without redefining your role can lead to stagnation.
• Cleaning, answering phones, and hovering are not owner work.
• Owners avoid leadership decisions by defaulting to “busy” tasks.
• Pricing must be rooted in math, not emotion or staff opinion.
• Owners are responsible for money, people, growth, and systems — no one else.
• Support without direction creates dependency, not growth.
• Marketing only when slow guarantees continued slow seasons.
• Systems create freedom, consistency, and trust.
• Owner work should compound, remove friction, and create clarity.
• Fifteen focused minutes a day beats zero intentional effort.

Timestamps

00:00 — Why “working on the business” is rarely explained
02:00 — Opening takes: decision fatigue, snowstorms, and perspective
05:00 — Why pricing must be math-based, not emotional
07:00 — The mistake owners make after stepping away from the chair
09:00 — Changing your role vs changing your location
11:00 — Low-level work vs owner-level work
14:00 — Owner Bucket #1: Money (P&L, break-even, pricing, allocation)
18:00 — Why owners must own pricing decisions
20:00 — Owner Bucket #2: People (hiring, onboarding, training)
23:00 — Apprenticeships, assistants, and development pipelines
26:00 — Support without direction creates dependency
28:00 — Owner Bucket #3: Growth (marketing, branding, partnerships)
31:00 — Why marketing only when slow keeps you slow
33:00 — Owner Bucket #4: Systems and direction
36:00 — SOPs, standards, and consistency
38:00 — Hovering, over-availability, and lack of trust
40:00 — Owner self-development and mentorship
42:00 — How to audit your work: compounding, clarity, friction
44:00 — Weekly action steps + closing thoughts

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