Look out folks i'm gonna have a rant!!!! (but not reallly)
ok here goes, for the last 5 years i've been doing my full time job in a little village near to where i work , i'm a hairdresser by trade for the past 25 years my boss there was such a lovely person but just over 4 yrs ago she retired and sold it on to 1 of the girls, What a nightmare!!! its a really small place, just her doing 2 1/2 days me working full time another girl working 3 days and a couple of part time assistants. for most of the time she has owned the salon she has continually been "awol" sometime for days on end leaving me and the other girls to pick up the pieces. She is an alcoholic and lots of other things which I wont put on here and goes on frequent benders.
I work for her 5 days a week very often starting early, finishing late and working through lunch breaks and very often have had to double up to keep her clients happy as well. i also work for myself mobile about 30 miles away (where i used to live) 1 day a week and do my "caking" during my 1 day off and evenings.
I get no thanks from her and have not had a pay rise for the last 4 yrs but still work incredibly hard on her behalf, I know times are tough for us all at the moment but she is running the business into the ground and it breaks my heart, as i love my job the other members of staff and the clients there.
Well the straw that broke the camels back came 2 weeks ago when I dared to complain that I couldn't do a service that was booked as we didn't have the stock to do it with,( how embarrassing was that) and had to send the client away to return on another day thankfully my clients are very loyal to me!! and as usual boss lady was not working!!. That evening she telephoned me and ranted and raved down the phone bfore finally calling me a f******* pile of S******. how charming.!! and as if that wasn't bad enough i then got another load of abuse from her mother 2 weeks later after the boss had been on another 10 day bender!!!
I'm not a horrible person but I dont suffer fools gladly, and the stress is really affecting my health but i've finally had enough and after much heart searching have decided to go completely mobile and get out before the business finally goes bankrupt which it will if it carries on this way. My clients have asked me to to there hair at home and so I will oblige.
Sorry to offload, but rant over, my god that feels good to get it off my chest.
So this is my conundrum I really want to cut down considerably on the hairdressing to take some of the strain off of my health, (but not give it up I still love what i do) and really get my cake business off the ground but how do I do that without spending a fortune, at the moment I'm really just caking for family, friends and some of my hairdressing clients,
I know I can do it if I can just get my name" out there" a bit more. Any advise any of you lovely people may have would be greatly appreciated.
P.s. Sorry it was such a long post.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Tracy Deadman on
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WOW Barbara......I think we all need to take on board that advice. Fab xx
Barbara said:Les, You have a captive audience YOUR CLIENTS, give them a sample of your cakes i.e. cupcakes, cake pops etc as a thank you for being such loyal clients. You built your hair client for your hair business not utilize them to build your cake business. Contact wedding officiants in your area. Take samples of your cakes to other salons, doctors offices, dentist offices etc. Put your business card with the samples a menu of cakes you make with some pictures. If you don't have a website get one done or make one yourself. There are several website builders you can use that are Free. wix.com, weebler.com are two I know off. Participate in charity programs offer a discount on a cake or raffle off a cake (up to a certain dollar amount). Link your website with the officiants website, wedding planners, venues, etc.
I hope this helps. Here is my website to give you an idea www.krazyaboutcake.com
Don't give up on doing hair, I have a hair license to in Florida, not doing hair now I work in the corporate world as well as doing cakes. I can retire in a couple years and plan on doing cakes and go back to doing hair or teach cake decorating or teach cosmetology part time.Best of Luck
Barbara
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Les, are you on Facebook? You can have a free Facebook business page and pop photo's of your amazing cakes into the gallery for all to see. It will get linked to your personal page and you can get family and friends to like you instantly. There is a company called Richards cakes and he does shouts for people which will give you more 'Likers'. He also gets requests for various areas that he doesn't cover where good cake makers are wanted - I know of a few people who have had business bounced thier way by him. I'm afraid I don't have the time to participate in the 'Share' thing on Facebook too often and my likes are quite low - but by doing cakes for family parties I've had business from family friends and then from friends of friends. And so it goes on.
I'm glad you thought of yourself in that awful situation you found yourself in - it's terrible. Yes she will go down the pan and I'm sure you wont get satisfaction from seeing it happen. Sometimes you have to go on a self preservation kick and it's us nice guy's that bare the brunt of these people hell bent on self destruct.
I wish you every success with your new venture and I'm sure it will be the best thing you did.
Take care, Tracy x
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Permalink Reply by Katy Nott on
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lol Les - I'm a bit like that too. My husband disappears when I'm trying something new 'cos the air is just blue (mouth of a fishwife let me tell you). I was trying to make gladiola petals yesterday and honestly, anyone would think they could hear me the way I was going on at them........
Can't wait to see your wedding cake - I know it will be stunning.
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