A Day In The Life Of A Franchisee

Owning a franchise is a dynamic and exciting journey that keeps you on your toes every single day. No two days are the same, from managing teams and ensuring the smooth operation of facilities to overseeing payroll, health and safety, sales and marketing – the role encompasses so many aspects of business. It’s a truly multifaceted position that requires both hands-on and strategic approach.

In Salon
The day usually starts early if I’m heading into salon, we all start well before the first customer walks through the door, my focus is always on capacity, ensuring we have everything we need for a successful day. Whilst planning is key, sometimes you have to react to things on the day and the devil is always in the detail. The shift from the day before play a big part in making sure the mornings run smoothly – preparation is key, along with seamless teamwork. As the business owner, it’s my job to ensure the team all know their roles and for me to check that all our processes are running smoothly. Any hiccups can have a real knock-on effect, especially on busy days.
When I’m in salon, I’m looking at how we can improve on these processes, or how we can adapt things to make things run like clockwork. Our recent daily checklist was something we implemented to help with this. Everyone can tick off tasks they’ve done during the day so that the next person can see what’s left to be done. Whether that’s restocking the WC, or the treatment rooms, we have a simple and effective way of keeping on top of the tasks now.

Working From Home
If it’s a working from home day, then the day normally starts with catching up on emails and going through reports. If I’m in salon I don’t get much time to do admin, so I try to split my week 50/50 between home and salon. I usually schedule any meetings or calls I have for my days at home, it’s important that when I’m in salon I’m visible and approachable to both the team and customers. Our weekly stock check normally results in a shopping list for me, so ordering is a big part of the admin I do from home. Sourcing stock at the best prices can take a while, but it’s worth it to keep over-heads manageable, and you soon learn which suppliers work well and who delivers the quickest. Once the stock take and ordering are done, there’s normally some finance admin to do, I try to keep on top of this each week so that there’s not a backlog to do at month or quarter end. It saves time overall and definitely reduces the stress when it comes to doing your quarterly VAT returns!

Team Check-in:

Every day I make sure to check in with the team, whether it’s discussing the rota, or treatments, or even what tasks need to be fitted in during the day, it’s important that everyone is kept in the loop. As a franchise owner, you are not just a boss; you’re a mentor, motivator, and someone who helps your team grow and succeed. My mind-set process is always that I wouldn’t ask someone to do something that I’m not prepared to do myself – including those social media videos.

Wrapping Up and Preparing for Tomorrow
As the day winds down, it’s time to review how everything went. Did the team meet expectations? Were there any hiccups that need addressing? Did we meet the sales targets for the day? What’s in store for tomorrow? It’s often the first time of the day to catch up on any longer-term plans and send any messages out that weren’t urgent or impacting for that day. Then it’s definitely time to put your feet up and have a cup of tea!