Recently cleaning up with four separate awards at the 2024 Australian Hair Industry Awards (Business) and Salon of the Year at the Australian Hair Fashion Awards, Circles of Hair owner Sharlene Lee sought to find a solution to constantly asked business questions and advice. This shadowing program is designed to reveal her salon’s every single move by serving complete transparency to inspire others and trigger industry growth, writes Cameron Pine.
As the only way to reach salons across the country, and across the ditch to New Zealand, Sharlene Lee’s shadowing program has garnered international interest and is the only program like it ever to be launched in the industry. Allowing salons to come to her and her business and learn every detail including figures behind the scenes, Sharlene believed it was time to see how her salon operations really work.
“As hairdressers and salon owners or managers, we have to see it and not just sit down and be dictated to. They need to learn just how we do it from seeing it first-hand. The shadowing program provides an open-door policy for them to really see if what we are saying and achieving as a salon is really true,” Sharlene said.
Convinced that many salons are stuck in a cycle of thinking they can’t have more, but still with so much room to make more money and up-sell services, the first shadowing program, following a pilot session with Sharlene’s dear friend Terrina Brown from Zedz, was undertaken by Chantelle from Miss Monaco salon in Queensland. Chantelle was willing to do whatever it took to get into Sharlene’s business back-end. From posting this first experience across social media – including Sharlene’s rapidly growing TikTok and Instagram accounts, where her TikTok has amassed a significant 110,000 followers in fewer than 12 months – Sharlene’s social footprint has people in the street coming up to her everywhere she goes.
Already booked out until June next year, Sharlene admits she’s bitten off a little more than she can chew with the programs happening almost every week in the first year. While it’s a simple process for the salon to get hands-on and sit side by side, both her salon receptionist, Fallan, and her son Declhan, who is carrying the torch in salon as the Operations Manager, have to ensure that the salon team still gets the focus it deserves.
Sharlene charges $2,500 for the one-day program and $4000 for the two-day program. An additional person adds $600 for the program.
“Nobody before in our industry has done this and been so honest,” Sharlene said. “A lot of salon owners not only don’t pay themselves enough, but our program reminds them to think about why they’re going through all the stress of running a business if their figures aren’t personally rewarding.”
Sharlene says that from just about every experience every salon that has worked with her program has shown how they have been able to make an extra $10,000 a week instantly after the program, sharing that “salons are doing my program are texting me saying that they are hitting more of their goals that they didn’t think were possible”.
“If you come to my program you have to get in front of the camera, and for some salon owners or managers who have never been in front of the camera, it’s a daunting experience. However, we have to prove and allow you to speak in your own words just how a busy salon like Circles of Subiaco does the figures that we do,” Sharlene said. “If everyone that comes isn’t prepared to go on my TikTok and Instagram and their social media channels and share their experience and takeaways, then they can’t do the program.”
Sharing the load between those that drive the salon, Sharlene splits her fee for the program between herself, Declhan and Fallan. Where many salon owners forgo generosity in the quest for more profit, Sharlene’s approach has always been to share the most possible with her team and the dividends will come back tenfold.
“I break everything down from costs to expenses to back-end functions. For some salons, simple things like their Google Maps and Google profile aren’t updated and they are losing the opportunity for new clients just with a few small tweaks instantly,” Sharlene said.
Once a new client also sees how busy the salon is, re-booking then flourishes, just by having the processes in place to cash-in on the salon’s unique atmosphere every step of the way.
“Dissecting things in the back end is how we show that we attract more than 110 new clients coming into the salon each week,” Sharlene said.
Once salons see this in the backend the penny drops about just how many small changes they can make to boost their business.
“We then go and customise the program to suit their needs because everyone needs something completely different in terms of goals and targets and how to apply what we do to their business. I can’t do it to a wide audience because everyone needs something different,” Sharlene said.
“I just want our industry to elevate and I’m sick and tired of hearing from these salon owners who work like they are a one-man band. There are so many little salons that aren’t making enough to pay their owners adequately and I just want to keep the industry alive by encouraging salons with four or five or more employees to share in success.”
Believing that most salon owners don’t adequately look at their reports, if at all, Sharlene shows all of her reports and figures – obviously assuming that most shadowing program participants keep these confidential out of respect. Anyone who knows Sharlene is well aware that either way she is not afraid to share the truth. From an increasing waitlist of inquiries towards the end of 2024, Sharlene admits she will limit the number of programs for 2025 to focus on her own team, in order to practice what she preaches.
“It’s hard to address your team when you’re spending one on one time with shadow team participants every week,” she said. “I have been left feeling exhausted from the shadowing programs and feel sometimes I have not been giving enough to my team – we get inquiries every week and currently have a list of 20 salons waiting to do the program in 2025, so we are working on a process to streamline this and some other education we can offer nationwide in 2025. My team is constantly growing but there’s only one of me and I can’t do it every week. I gave it everything this year but I have to cap it at one to two a month.”
Having to ensure value for the salons attending and give her all to every program, Sharlene gains significant satisfaction from hearing from salons following the program, not only that they are making more money but the fact that the team is more engaged and instantly set on new targets as soon as they are back in the salon.
In 2025 Sharlene is currently in conversations with L’Oréal Professionnel about a roadshow with PRO.CONNECT – with details to be announced soon. More salons will too have the opportunity to be involved with Sharlene’s lauded skillset in business.
“We push the participants to focus until they can really see how they are going to change,” Sharlene said. “Salons really need to look at their bills and how they are quoting clients, this is one of the biggest concerns when seeing the figures of another business. After my program you want all of your staff to be making $10,000 a week,” Sharlene said.
The program has gained significant traction through social media. Even other businesses are noticing the power of transparency, sharing detailed financials, and pushing participants out of their comfort zones, including public speaking. The program aims to elevate the industry by encouraging salon owners to expand and improve their business practices.
The program also promotes a better work/life balance for owners and reminds them that they can’t work 12 hour shifts forever. It asks salon owners what their plan is for engaging staff to help push their business into the next bracket.
“People don’t want to share their success anymore and it’s becoming a real public problem because the salons that won’t share are all complaining about everyone going out on their own and doing rent-a-chair. I’m trying to make a difference to our industry, that it is possible to have a big team of 10, 15, 25, or 55 like I have,” Sharlene said. “While they are scared that their people are going to go out on their own, they’re also scared to show their staff their figures. We show a solution for everything. Saying ‘let me show you’ is the most powerful thing.”
Sharlene has been posting her staff’s weekly commissions on a public forum for more than a decade, and this is just an extension of this.
Sharlene also says that too many salons have seniors who are in complete control and particular over their own columns but, to be a busy salon, they have to be prepared for things to jump around, especially if they want to make more money.
Sharlene’s shadowing program is about catapulting each staff member to the spotlight and is Sharlene’s open book. Overall, it highlights the need for salon owners to track their numbers, set clearer targets for every staff member and maintain accountability. The program has significantly impacted participants’ revenue and business practices, leading to industry recognition and high demand from even more staff wanting to work for Circles, a problem many salons are grappling with but aren’t proactive in trying to fix.
If Sharlene’s program can be booked out just from a few posts on social media, then your business too can change dramatically just with a few small changes, ones that the shadowing program will force you to make.
For more information visit www.circlesofhair.com.au
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