Jan 15 2010
Not too long ago a hair salon owner posted this little expression on Twitter:
In case you can't read the image, it reads:
"Just realized I've been in front of photoshop for 3 hrs now. Whoa could not do this for a living but just excited that it's getting done."
(And no, it wasn't this great Beaverton salon.) I certainly applaud her efforts and knowing how to use Photoshop (DIY is a good thing!), but there's something that, from a business perspective, makes this a little crazy.
Now, I have no idea what this gal was working on, but I'm going to make an assumption that it's something for her business. I also have no clue what her skill level in Photoshop is, but considering the comment and that her profession is cutting hair, it's safe to say she's not a designer and that she's probably a beginner. Sure, I'm being presumptuous but there's still an important message at play here.
Whatever she's working on, it's taken her 3 hours (give or take because again, I'm assuming that she didn't continue after those 3 hours) to complete. Let's do some math. An average salon charges $40-$60 for a woman's hair cut*, depending on location, scale, etc. And the good stylists can cut and style hair in about 30 minutes. So in an hour a stylist can potentially make anywhere from $80 to $120. Multiply that by the three hours she spent on Photoshop and she effectively lost $240-$360. (More if she's a fully licensed cosmetologist that can perform nail and skin care services.) Even if she had been doing this after work, that's 3 hours of time that she could have been spending with her family, friends, relaxing, whatever - just doing anything besides work.
It's easy to say, that it's her priority, her choice and business owners are slaves to their businesses, etc., etc., etc. And while those things may be true, is that really how we should be spending our time? Working on stuff that others could do in less time?
Is being a slave to your business the reason you decided to work for yourself? My guess is no. For the most part, we start our businesses for the flexibility. So why do so many insist on doing things themselves instead of hiring pros to make our lives easier and businesses better?
What's your priority?
*I'm using this range because when I went to look up her prices on her website all I saw was "coming soon". Tsk, tsk, tsk. That's a quick way to turn people away in the salon industry.