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The Station Sharing Method

If you know about Destroy the Hairdresser, then you know that they’re all about teaching their students to “Salon Differently” with radical theories that challenge the way conventional salons operate. So, it’s no surprise that Aura has aligned with DTH to make it possible for salons to adopt their methods.

For example? DTH teaches their students to set up salons as co-working spaces and Aura is the only salon software capable of providing the technology that support this.

What does this mean?

It means that no stylist has an assigned station. All chairs and stations are available to all hairdressers.

Wait, what?

Yes, according to David Bosscher, the Co-Founder of DTH, who says that “the concept of assigning stations is a massive hindrance to salon scalability. By assigning stations, salons tend to stop hiring when stations are full. However, having an entire staff does not always equate to having a fully booked team.”

“By having a co-working-type environment, the salon can be scaled endlessly, allowing those who are busy to expand and those who are not busy to contract. This system enables the cream to rise to the top, and natural talent will naturally take up more space. This is exactly what should be happening” says Bosscher.

Christen Barrs, Owner of Good Hair Collective in Annapolis, MD, who advocates for the Station Sharing method says, “giving up control and allowing stylists to schedule themselves was a bit scary, but it allowed me as a salon owner to make more money while giving people more job opportunities by having flexibility.”

“The concept of assigning stations is a massive hindrance to salon scalability.”

DAVID BOSSCHER

Watch and listen with David Bosscher (Destroy The Hairdresser) and Christen Barrs (Annapolis Extensions Owner and DTH Coach).

For salons that follow the Station Sharing method, gone are the days of holding someone’s station while they build; it is not beneficial for the hairdresser or the salon owner. Barrs agrees. “It gives me freedom so I don’t have to micromanage. The stylists just set up their schedules, which can overlap – and it’s really just about who books the chair first,” she says.

“Before I started using Aura, I gave up my Tuesdays behind the chair so another stylist could take it,” says Barrs. “But there were times when I could have brought clients in but she was on the schedule without clients – so it was just a loss of money. When we started using Aura, that went away because I could put her and I on the schedule at the same time, and that pushed her a bit more to get her chair filled up, because if she didn’t, one of my clients would come in and take the chair. So, it kept my stylists moving forward, and kept me from losing money on days that I was used to making money.”

Side effects of salons with assigned stations:

  1. Seniority issues: stylists feel ownership over stations
  2. Cleanliness issues: like our homes, we tend to only clean properly when someone is coming over
  3. Cliques: everyone wants to sit next to their friends until they are not friends anymore
  4. Complacency: same station, different day

Side effects of salons with our co-working method:

  1. Community: produces proactive and sharing environments
  2. Greater cleanliness: because we all use the space, we feel a stronger need to clean up after ourselves
  3. No cliques: Everyone works everywhere
  4. Excitement: Each day brings a fresh start; the entire salon is the canvas

“Giving up control was a bit scary, but it allows me to make more money while giving people job opportunities.”

CHRISTEN BARRS

The future is co-working.

“When I set up my six chair salon and introduced the station sharing method to my stylists”, Barrs says, “one of them asked “Can I have my own station because I am going to be here all of the time?” So I simply asked her, “Are you going to be working from 9am to 9pm, 7 days a week?” She said no, but it was like a lightbulb clicked on in her head and she realized that there were five hours a day when she wouldn’t be in that chair, plus the two days she doesn’t work.  

To have a co-working type salon, Bosscher recommends that salons either require stylists to take home their tools (which is better for insurance purposes) or  provide lockers where stylists store their tools at the end of the day. Either approach promotes cleanliness and respect for the salon space. Barrs adds, “most of my stylists do work in other salons, so they either bring their stuff in with them, or I have lockers setup on the back area and we have a cart that allows them to bring their stuff back and forth from their locker to whatever station is available.”

The future is freedom and movement. The future is share culture.

Are you ready to Future-proof your salon one step further with this co-working method?


Check out Destroy The Hairdresser for help implementing The Station Sharing Method or to learn more about how to Salon Differently.

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2022-10-26T07:19:13-04:00

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