My biggest hiring mistake as a salon owner

My biggest hiring mistake as a salon owner

From Build Your Salon with Phil Jackson by Build Your Salon with Phil Jackson

May 11, 2026 · 14 min

About this episode

Phil Jackson shares his biggest hiring mistake and provides essential guidelines for hiring correctly in a salon business.

You're maxed out, turning clients away, and thinking about hiring someone. STOP. Hiring at the wrong time, for the wrong reasons, nearly broke Phil's own business. Don't make the same costly mistake. In this episode, Phil Jackson shares his essential green lights and red flags to ensure you hire correctly, profitably, and sustainably for your salon. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ THE THREE GREEN LIGHTS TO HIRE: * **80-85% Utilisation Rule:** You must be consistently booked at 80-85% (or above) for at least three months, including quieter periods. If you're not, you have a demand problem, not a capacity problem. * **Raise Your Prices First:** Before hiring, increase your prices by 10-20%. If your diary remains full, your business is strong. If it empties, hiring won't fix a pricing issue. * **Delegate Low-Value Tasks:** If over 20% of your week is spent on admin, laundry, or stock, consider outsourcing first. This frees your time for profitable client work without adding a full-time wage. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ THE THREE RED FLAGS TO AVOID: * **Inconsistent Bookings:** If your diary is up and down, never consistently above 70%, you have a marketing or pricing problem. Hiring will just make…

People in this episode

Host: Phil Jackson

Topics covered

  • hiring mistakes
  • salon management
  • business growth
  • entrepreneurship
  • staffing strategies

Keywords

  • hiring
  • salon owner
  • green lights
  • red flags
  • business mistakes
  • staffing
  • profitability

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