6 Tips on How to Run A Hair Business on A Budget

'Scared money don't make no money' they say, but scared money does preserve your wealth and gets you where you need to be! Saving, budgeting and wisely spending your money are essential to running any business. All businesses are on a budget; whether smaller or more significant than others, so don't fret when running your business, here are some tips for running your hair business on a budget.

Create a list of the things you will need to run a hair business on a budget, budgeting for:

• Purchasing or restocking hair
• Money for damages or lost merchandise
• Storage, Packaging, and Shipping
• Websites
• Promotion

These amounts are a fixed amount and factored into your expenses. Follow your budget strictly keeping a consistent record of purchases and fees that are business related.

Look for a wholesale program like the one with Private Label Extensions. Wholesalers sell hair in bulk with varying lengths and textures. Wholesale is the easiest way to build your products and try out different hair companies for competitive prices and quality. Try a drop shipping program, to save and still run a business. Drop shipping is when you are an affiliate of another company (in writing) but you have full creative control, and the larger company holds the inventory and ships it off to the customer on your behalf. Drop shipping will save you an abundance of money because you do not have to pay for storage, nor invest funds up front for inventory or worry about shipping and handling. Take time to find the wholesaler or drop ship company as a partner. Do not rush the process because this will ultimately cost more money and time in the long run. Try both, commit at least six months to find the right vendor or program. Running a hair business on a budget is a marathon, not a sprint; spending the time to get a set up that works for your company and customers will be the cornerstone of your companies success.

Everybody loves cute packaging, order a large set from a site like Amazon or U-line that allows the packages or bags uniquely embellished and business coloring.

Using the basic package on Wix or BigCartel is a start for running a business on a budget. The basic package gives you a fully functional website to sell, advertise and measure sales.

Every hair business needs photos and reviews that can help sell their hair. To get more professional photographs search places like Fiverr for photographers looking to get more work or exposure. Fiverr usually has workers that provide a service for cheap. Additionally, another way to get better photos is to go on Instagram and search for photographers in your area, check at your school, post, and ask who wants to collab on your story! Be vocal; there are many artists out there looking to get practice and a portfolio that will work for free. Pro Tip: Make videos yourself on your live story, either on Facebook or Instagram or across all of your social media. People love to see the hair in action!

Try to build a big following on your personal and business page, use yourself as a model. When you are on a smaller budget and running a business, promotion is, but that does not mean you will always need a 'brand ambassador'; start off being your ambassador, wear your extensions line and keep your hair looking flawless. Being your ambassador will serve as a means of walking, talking promotion. You know your product best, and you are about your business most, so lace yourself in the hair, carry around business cards or have your website pulled up on your phone consistently, and be careful to brand yourself positively. You can use a free resource like Canva to make excellent flyers and website, Instagram and Facebook banners. This site allows you to upload photos or use the images on the site and change different backgrounds and font styles. After you create these promotional items yourself on Canva, you can print it on thicker, flashy paper at Staples or the library. A cheap way to gain more followers and eyes on your site is to pay a well known Instagrammer in your state for 'promo' on their page. Typically these people have 10K followers and up, and will charge anywhere from $10 to $15 to get your business in front of their audience. Promotion does not have to cost an arm and a leg, find easy and creative ways to promote and advertise your business.

There are two plans you need for a successful hair business: a solid business plan and an emergency plan. A business plan outlines the purpose of your business, goals, ways to reach your goals, potential funds, and resources. Your program is an outline of everything you will need and do to run your hair business smoothly.

An emergency plan is a backup plan when things go wrong. You should have an emergency fund to use in case things go wrong with your products, shipping or any other unforeseen incident. Additionally, an emergency plan allows you to have backups in place for any situations and can save you money by ensuring that you do not spend out of fear or overcompensation.

Use free resources like social media, family and yourself to build your clientele. Have excellent customer service, provide quality extensions, and always ask for reviews! Potential customers are more likely to buy from a company that has good reviews and consistent interaction between the company and the clients.

While promotion, extensions, and branding are essential, do not bite more than you can chew. Be sure not to go over your budget trying to compete or skip the time and energy needed to build a successful hair business and reputation. Pouring extra money into a venture does not mean that it will work, hard work and consistency do!

When running a hair business on a budget, anything you can do to cut costs, take it! However, do not skimp on quality. If you can do something for less money, just as well as when you paid hundreds of dollars for it, go for it! Quality does not always translate into hundreds of dollars. Be diligent in doing your research and changing up the things that may not be working within your business. Bonus tips: Do not be afraid of change. If something is costing too much money or challenging to sustain, do not hesitate to switch it up. The best part of being your boss is changing things to fit your budget and your liking. Additionally, post as often as you can, whether fun, favorite posts or posts that directly relate to the selling of your hair. Posting consistently on social media gets your page and products seen and attracts others to your page. Furthermore, frequent posting helps showcase why consumers should shop with you.

Hair business on a budget? Try dropship. Drop shipping is when you are an affiliate of another company (in writing) but you have full creative control, and the larger company holds the inventory and ships it off to the customer on your behalf. A dropship program will save an abundance of money because you do not have to pay for storage which can cause upwards of $200 a month or a storefront that can cost thousands of dollars and monthly upkeep and decoration. Furthermore, a drop ship program cuts out investing money up front for inventory, that can easily cost $1,000, the cost and worry about shipping and handling is also eliminated by drop shipping. Through drop shipping, all you will need to do is promote your business, get a name and a logo. Through drop ship programs one is also able to use the original photos from the dropship site. Private Label Extensions overs a drop shipping program that provides inventory from bundles to lashes, marketing advice, and website extensions. Additionally, there are some articles on the Private Lable Extensions blog that explains drop shipping more in-depth, called "Top Five Reasons To DropShip." Starting a business by drop shipping is the easiest and cheapest way to run an extensions line on a budget.

The most important part of running a hair business on a budget is creating and sustaining a budget that is conducive to replenishing and promoting your hair business.