Joe Hemmings: F*%ked up… but fixed it!
As part of our ‘F*%ked up… but fixed it!’ series here on the HUB, we’re asking salon and barber shop owners to get real with us about a notable mistake they’ve made in their business and what they did to resolve it. This month we spoke to Joe Hemmings, founder of award-winning Bristol salon, Bloggs Salon about a time he recognised his major business error and what he did to turn things around…
THE F*%K-UP
The biggest mistake in my time as a salon-owner was losing sight of the reason I was running my business. When I started my salon, I was chasing money to pay the bills and then the moment we became busy, and money started coming in I became greedy and started chasing money more and more. The main problem here was that I was not personally happy nor proud of the business I was running. I had a lot of problems with team members being unmotivated which was resultantly causing me a lot of stress outside of the salon.
THE FIX
When I became a dad, everything clicked into place, I realised what was important in life and what made me happy, and I remember thinking I wanted my kids to be proud of their dad. So, I began to mould my business into the one I have now. This included changes like putting my team first and making sure they were content with the lifestyle they had whilst working at the salon. Now, as a salon owner I ensure that there is an environment for them to develop and grow with me always being there for my employees, and not the other way around. Subsequently the business is now performing better than it ever has before and I am far happier. Essentially, the biggest mistake you can make is putting money above people – it is simply the wrong style of employment.