Navigating The Struggles Of Opening A Salon During (And After) The Pandemic With Sherri Belanger

There are some great sacrifices to be made when you want to become successful. For Sherri Belanger, that was deciding to open her own salon and watch her bank account go down to almost nothing. Now, she has become a celebrity stylist and top San Diego salon owner. In this episode, Sherri talks to Ryan Weeden about her career journey, her struggles to open her salon and keeping it open, and managing now with the current COVID-19 pandemic. She shares the mindset that allows her to see through the tough times, her business model, and her dreams for the future. Plus, Sherri then tells us how she is navigating all the craziness with work life and personal life as a mompreneur.

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Navigating The Struggles Of Opening A Salon During (And After) The Pandemic With Sherri Belanger

We have Sherri Belanger who is a local superstar. She is incredible with what she does. She owns a salon. It's the highest-rated salon in La Jolla, California. Her salon is beautiful. She's done remarkable things with it. I want to talk to her about her journey to become a salon owner. What she's learned along the way to become a salon owner, how she's dealt with the pandemic, how she pivoted and how she's moving forward with this in addition to being a mom, like a mompreneur. Welcome, Sherri. Thanks for being on the show.

Thanks for having me.

There's so much that I want to talk to you about. If we don't have time for it all now, we can do this again. There are many relatable topics here. You are a salon owner. How long have you wanted to own your salon?

I always knew I wanted to, but I wasn't ready until I would say about years into my hair career. That was simply because I knew how much work it was going to be and how much sacrifice. Up until that point, I wasn't ready to live outside of myself and my hair journey. At year twelve in my career, it was like, “Game on.”

When you got out of hair school, your first job was what?

My first job was assisting a salon owner in La Jolla where Belle Sirène is. It was a fast-track assistant. It was a great opportunity for me. He nurtured my education. I became a network educator with Bumble and bumble. I did training in New York a bunch. It was amazing. I was there for four years, kept evolving and flowing and then went up to LA and did that thing.

You said something that caught my attention, fast-track assistant. The two don't normally go together. When somebody hires an assistant, you hope they're going to be your assistant forever.

He saw the potential in me and was like, “Let's get her behind the chair and bring in some dollars.”

You were a commission stylist then after being an assistant. How long were you a commission stylist for?

I was a commission stylist for three years. I did take the leap to booth rental and I left my salon because my owner wouldn't let me rent. He did have my best interests. I wanted to take six weeks off to go travel. I started dating somebody in Los Angeles. I went through that season of career that I didn't want to work. I didn't want to be held accountable. My solution was to work for myself and figure it out. I did booth rent after that.

After being a commission stylist to booth renting, how long were you a commission stylist for?

Commission stylist, I think 3 or 4 years. I was a booth renter for a year. I ended up moving to Los Angeles and starting over. When I moved to LA, I became a commission stylist again. I did back and forth. I went from commission to booth rent, to commission, to booth rent, to suite owner, to salon owner. I’ve worn all the hats.

What's your favorite? I assume salon owner.

Yeah. I love owning a salon.

Before that, what was your favorite? You went back and forth. You have been in a suite. You've been a booth renter. You've been commissioned, which I feel like it's important to know all of those roles going into owning a salon.

Someone said to me like, “You have to know what it's like to wash the dishes before you open a restaurant.” I agree with that.

For most people that don't know our relationship, we first met at Phenix Salon Suites. You had your suite. I had my suite. We had this almost like this passer-by relationship, “How are you guys doing? You're doing great.” We built a friendship starting from there. That was cool to watch you. You decided that you didn't want to do the suite life anymore and it was time to invest into a salon. Where was your mindset at that point? Where were your financials at that point? Did you have money saved up for this? Did you take out loans? Are you happy with the way that you jumped into being a salon owner?

Salon owners are not supposed to be working full-time anyway if you want to be working on your business and taking care of your team.

I'll be super transparent there because maybe it will be helpful. When I went into a suite, I never intended to stay in a suite. I had been brewing of Belle Sirène and a bigger thing with a team of people, but then I had the opportunity to open a suite with a suitemate. To me, I'm like, “This is going to be my last, I'm going to try this before I go all in.” What if opening a suite fulfills whatever I was craving? I instantly knew that I wanted something bigger and more. It started becoming less about me as the star hairdresser and more about wanting to nurture a team of stylists and grow them to skyrocket above me became the focus.

While I was in the suite, my vision became clear. I started looking for locations, trying to figure out what city was going to feel best. I looked at salons that were for sale. I looked at blank canvases. I was looking for probably six months before I got a broker. The broker doesn't cost you anything. They're paid on the backend so that was cool. The broker helped me hone in and found the location about Sirène. Financially, knowing that this was something I wanted to do, I was working my ass off and saving every dollar. Up until I had a suite, I was doing well. I did well in LA. I wasn't working in a salon.

I was doing a lot of freelance work with celebrities. I was doing hair for some actresses and on Glee. I had additional income aside from what I was doing behind the chair. I was doing a lot. In LA, I was running 2 to 3 chairs with an assistant. I put it in savings. When I knew that I was going to open Belle Sirène, I quit getting mani-pedis. I quit buying expensive makeup. I didn't buy $12 smoothies in the village. I bare-boned everything. I stopped drinking bottles of wine that cost more. I wouldn't buy a bottle of wine unless it was $6 or under. I shifted my mentality because I knew that every dollar was going to count. I looked into the small business loans and there are loans and they were overwhelming to me.

I decided to use my savings. I was able to open up a line of credit under my business account, my personal account, all of that combined. I went for it, but I should have had a lot more money saved before I did it. I will say that because everything costs much more money. When I was under construction, the cost of my project ended up doubling. It became a family affair. My husband, my father-in-law, who's a retired contractor, started helping to figure out how to save. I should have saved more money than I did because I legit emptied my entire savings and maxed out the credit cards to build Belle Sirène while working twelve-hour days to keep money coming in.

Can I ask what that money looks like? How much money did you put forth initially to opening the salon?

Belle Sirène costs me to get open at least $100,000. Even my buy-in with the things that you don't think about like I brought in Oribe and their buy-in at that time was $18,000 to bring in the retail. Now that's money that you're going to get back, eventually. I threw that money in. I didn’t have a team. I didn’t have anything. I watch my bank account go down to nothing. Every dollar that I was making was being put back into the salon. I had two lines of credit. Each of them was for $15,000. I maxed those. I don't remember what my bank account got to, but I got scared. I still have it on our refrigerator.

My husband Scott wrote me a check from his savings account for $10,000 in case I needed it. I'm stubborn and I'm like, “No, I don't need your money. I'm doing this by myself.” I never cashed it. I never needed to. We have it on the fridge as a sweet thing. It is that. I don't come from money. That wasn't the story. It was my eye on the prize and having faith in the process. I'm all in or all out so I was all in and doing whatever it took.

Let's take a step back because you were in LA, you're in San Diego. Anybody reading this might think of you like “Total Cali girl,” but you're not a Cali girl. You still have a thicker accent. You're from the Northeast, from Boston?

I'm a New England girl. I grew up outside of Boston. When I was twelve, my parents moved us to San Diego, but my roots are East Coast.

Once you moved out here, you realized that people didn't understand half the things you said.

It's funny because I've recognized I over pronounce my Rs. I know it's because I worked so hard to pronounce my Rs after neglecting it for the first twelve years of my life. I over pronounce my Rs to make up for my East Coast accent.

Now you're a salon owner. People talk about with contractors and with any type of construction establishing a new business or home remodeling, you learn this firsthand. I have myself too, it usually costs twice as much as the initial estimate. It takes about three times as long to get done. It's something crazy. It seems I always fit that type of model.

Contractors aren't my number one favorite people.

They might have the best intentions, but permits take longer. There are a lot of uncertainties.

They're running a business too.

You have this salon now and this is pre-COVID when everything was going great. People were coming in regularly. You were filled. Clients happy, coming, going. You have a full salon at that point with stylists. How was your life feeling at that point? Were you feeling accomplished? Were you excited about the future? What was going on in your head?

My team beginning of 2020 was magic. We were a packed house. I was interviewing more assistants to come to work for us to have salon assistants because we were busy. Stylists were double booking. We were crushing it. It was like this big family. We maxed out the space that we had. We all loved it because the energy was magic. We'd cram in my tiny break room and it was great. Belle Sirène did amazing in 2019 and the numbers, it was going to be the best year as we all thought. The lessons learned. There’s a lot of reflection and everything. It was great.

You had all this stuff going on. Your best year was in the making. You had to close your salon. You're in California. We had to close twice in California. How did that make you feel and how did it make all your stylists feel?

I feel like I blacked it out. We flashed back to that in March, April 2020, we were all very scared. We didn't know what was going on. That's when we were like bleaching our groceries. For me, what was tough was figuring out how to show up as a leader. You tell your team to file unemployment. Yet you still have to be a leader but honoring everybody's individual feels about what’s happening. Figuring out how I feel about it. That was a challenge for sure. Once we got back, we found our groove a little bit and then the rug was swept out from beneath us because we were doing everything right and then we still got shutdown.

Everyone handled it differently and I lost a bunch of stylists trickled throughout those 6, 7-month period because we had a lot of time to sit and reflect on our lives. We felt content and sure and we were able to maybe work on ourselves, or some people were scared, grasping for control and figuring out what that looks like for them. Everybody had a different revelation during these closures. I know for me as a business owner, there's only so much I can do depending on where somebody's journey is. I did the best I could. We did one-on-ones. We did the Zooms but it was tough.

You have less staff now because of the people that left. You're getting back on your feet just like everybody else is. How are you staying optimistic? How have you changed the way your business runs?

I would say staying optimistic because I've done it before, a different scenario, but I've started from nothing a few times. When I opened Belle Sirène, I didn't have a team at first. I started from zero and made it what it was. At this season of toughness, I know that we're going to overcome and that I have faith in the process of it. I'm not starting from nothing. I still have an incredible team. If anything, it's amazing, like my heart feels for the people who still believed in the vision and didn't look elsewhere when times got tough. The foundation is good. The biggest challenge is I'm taking my time interviewing and keeping my focus on my values, who I want on my team, who is going to be the right fit and not buckling and hiring anybody because I want to build chairs. That’s where we're at now, but I've already brought on some great people. I'm still interviewing. It’s exciting.

You've shifted your model a little bit to work with some people that were having some challenging decisions to make.

Especially here in California, this is an independent hairdresser state, there are salon suites popping up on every exit off the freeway. It’s hard. A lot of people don't have employee-based salons because it's hard in California. It's expensive to manage an employee-based salon with the employer taxes. I still believe in a commission model and nurturing assistance, helping stylists grow and nurturing that journey. I wasn't necessarily welcoming the booth rental side because as a renter, you are an independent business owner. How does an independent business owner fit within a team? I shifted my model.

I have some salon owner friends here in San Diego. We had a lot of chats. You can go hybrid and still make it your own, still have standards, and be selective with who is part of that family dynamic, whether you're independent or an employee. Something now that I'm offering that I was against for a minute is a career path that if a stylist gets to a certain place and they're yearning to be a business owner, which is what being a booth renter is. I can help coach them and have them truly understand the numbers before they jump and do whatever. Make sure it's right for them and offer them that opportunity within Belle Sirène. It's a big deal. It wasn't on my mind before. I switched gears. I'm excited about it.

I've seen you shift too. I've seen you pivot even personally as well where you are being more outspoken. You're being more of an inspiring leader with more focus on Instagram, on trying to help other stylists make the right choices when it comes to how to run their business, how to overcome these different unseen challenges that are happening now. I love watching you and seeing, hearing everything you have to say, and that's why you're here now. You've mentioned that you have this salon owners group that you get together with and you guys chat about things. How long have you been doing that?

That's from the closures and that's something that's cool. There's a handful of us who have similar but different business models. It's like the top salons in San Diego for sure. There's a handful of us that came together during the closures and we would Zoom. We're on a text chain. We were all open and transparent, raw and supportive. There was no competition. These leaders truly believe there's enough clients and stylists for all of us. We have each other's back. It’s a cool dynamic to be part of. Recognize like, “We can do similar things, but it doesn't have to be competition.” That started with the closures and it's special. I would encourage anybody to try to find their like-minded other salon owners and grab a drink.

It's good that you have that too. That's important. It's almost like your own mastermind group where you get together and you're like, “I'm having these challenges. How would you face this?” Everybody is on the let's help each other win side. It's important especially once you're a leader, a salon owner and a company owner, you have these people who work for you. Although you might want to be buddy-buddy with them, you still are their boss. You still have to be able to tell them what to do and have them listen because it's your business that they're working for. I ran into those challenges as well. It can be lonely as they say at the top, unless you find your own core group of people to have these, if you need to rant, then rant to them. You don't want to do it to your employees. That's a terrible thing to do. I've seen salon owners do that.

It is cool to be able to have conversations and have others who have been through it like having a mentor too who can speak their truth. It is important. I’m lucky that I have that. It's been helpful for all of us. There have been moments where a few of us have called each other ready to throw in the towel or in tears. We were like, “You cannot give up. You're too great. Your salon is too great.” That is awesome.

Did you ever think you were going to close?

No. I knew I wasn't. It was funny timing. My lease was up for renewal on November 1st, 2020. I’m like, “Is the universe giving me a hall pass to walk away?” My vision is still forward. I still have a lot of fight in me. I'm excited about the evolution now with our hybrid model and creating a new career path. I feel super invigorated and excited about the future. I know things are going to come back and be better and better. It's like riding out the storm.

What does the future look like for Belle Sirène and for you?

I don't look too far ahead. It looks bright and awesome. I hired a manager who's helping me. As an owner too, you wear many hats. You can only be in many places at once. Being able to delegate a little bit and have that support does free me up to start dreaming a little bit bigger, what that looks like, I don't know. I've always dreamt of another location in North County, but then I have conflicting fields there. I know sometimes a second business isn't going to be the solution anyway. I'm enjoying the ride and seeing what happens. I'm doing some mentoring on the side. I'm fulfilled with that.

Is your salon profitable? Are you finally starting to make money again? Are you finding ways to do that or are you riding out the storm until things get better? How are you focused now like you had mentioned surviving the storm?

In life, we don't want to take advice from somebody that we don't look up to or that doesn't have our best interest.

If we're profitable, it's not by much with the business expenses because I have a lot of employees too like non-income-producing employees, assistants, management, front desk crew, and all that, in addition to the overhead. Until we rebuild more stylists behind the chairs, it’s at a breakeven, maybe a little bit profitable. Luckily, I do hair so we're good. I would say it's riding the storm and keeping eye on the future.

You were a mom of a toddler, two-year-old. I know this because I could play together sometimes. That had to have presented its own challenges too. Even before that, when you became pregnant, you had a five-year lease initially with your salon. Halfway through, you got pregnant, you took some time off, but your husband works full-time. How challenging was that having a newborn and running a salon?

It’s challenging but super rewarding. I care about my business and I understand that I need to be involved in present to make its greatest version. Becoming a new mom and having a baby at home, I’ve got to show up for her too. She's number one. How do you suddenly find the balance between the worlds? For me, my team was solid. Once Raea was born, I took five months maternity leave. I didn't do hair for five months and I was able to still show up how I needed to a degree for my team. I'm sure it could have been better. It's the thing too, as a salon owner, you're not supposed to be working full-time anyway if you want to be working on your business and taking care of your team.

It was good in that sense that I went back to work after the five months but super limited hours. I was able to create the balance, being home with Raea, make time for my meetings. I've got my OG loyal clients. They book out way far in advance and they're willing to pay my rates. It's worked itself out. I’m fortunate because I have childcare with my family. It’s making it happen. We have one, I don't know if we had two.

You do have two babies. You've got your salon and your toddler.

It was tough. I struggled between both hats. I don't feel it as much anymore now that she's a little bit older.

People who are reading this, some of them are going to be salon owners that might be facing that question, should I stay open? Should I close? How am I going to survive this? Is there any advice that you can give to those people who are thinking about throwing in the towel?

It goes back to the deeper questions. You have to remember why you started and if that is still important to you, then do everything you can to not close your doors. Everyone's financial situation is different though too. Everyone's overhead expense is different. It's such a personal decision, but I would say if somebody does have to close their salon and it is what it is, I don't think that has to be a closed door forever. I have no doubt that many people that close their business, you don't just turn that switch off. There's going to be something created when life calms down a bit. You’ve got to remember why you started, go back to the basics.

For me, during these challenging times and the questioning time, almost questioning myself as a leader, experiencing loss in my business, it turns me into doing a lot of self-work and self-reflection. I said it to you like drinking the Kool-Aid, finding the mentors, the podcasts, the things to keep me inspired and also reflect on me as a person, maybe the feelings that are coming up during all this junk. That's been helpful for me to make sure that my mind is in a good space and that I'm clear about everything that I'm thinking.

It's also our individual relationships to the F word, the word failure. Some of us might think that if we close our salon, we failed or we closed our business, we failed. It's not a failure. It's a learning experience. You're making the best choice you can give in certain circumstances. It doesn't mean it's the end of something. It could be like the end of a chapter, but you have your entire story, your life ahead to continue your journey and to continue writing chapter after chapter. If one door closes, another one opens. It's about pivoting your mind as well, not just your business.

You said something there too. It's a choice. Most of us have the choice if we want to close or not. If we want to take on more debt, fight harder and rebuild, and it's okay to choose not because it doesn't serve you in this season. That isn't failure. Maybe that's growth.

This group of owners that you get together and chat with, it sounds like it's super helpful. Would you recommend that to other people to reach out to other people in their community that are supportive minds that they can talk to be like, “Should I close? Am I making the right decision?” as opposed to maybe asking their employees, their spouse or their animals?

A good place to find recommendations for people is maybe through your product reps, whatever retail lines or color lines, those reps that are in a lot of different places and they know different leadership styles and salon styles. They could be a good source of connection because obviously not every salon owner is going to be like-minded. In life, we don't want to take advice from somebody that we don't look up to or that doesn't have our best interest. You have to be good with your ego. You have to not feel competitive and not be heard if your stylists try to interview that person, salon or whatever. You’ve got to be ready for that too and okay with it.

A lot of times we end up training our competition. We have to be okay with that too that we're going to teach somebody everything that we know so they can be successful in our salon. One day they might decide to take everything that we've taught them even with their own clients. We can't keep our clients anymore in our salons because of Instagram. If we leave, they'll find us. We have to be okay with that. You have to leave your ego at the door and continue focusing on moving ahead on what you do have, not what you don’t.

It's part of our role. In a perfect world, we keep our people forever. If we're doing our job right, maybe that means we don't because we built them to believe that anything is possible. The positive spin on it is if you lose somebody to another salon that you've trained and brought up, they trained and brought somebody up too. Maybe that stylist is going to find you. It can all come full circle too if we let it happen and not take ownership over people. Think about what's best for you and be grateful for the time that you have with people.

Maybe we should beat them down a little bit so they don't want to leave, so they don't feel confident. Teach them a lot and make them super incredible at what they do but you're not ready to own a salon. You don't have what it takes.

With my stylist that left during the closure, everyone left kindly. We have conversations. It was a positive closure, but I found myself after, I'm like, “Was I too supportive?” I put myself in their shoes and I'm like, “I understand your need to do this. If that's what's on your heart, I support you.” I’m like, “Am I too nice? Go ahead and go.”

There's no other way to be. Even if you are hurt inside, people will do what's in their own best interest. You have to support that. You can't hold grudges. It’s not going to hurt them. It's going to hurt you.

I don't want to hold anybody back.

Sherri, it’s always such a pleasure. We're going to start getting our kids together for play dates so that's exciting. People who are reading this, where can they find you if they have a question or they want to reach out and say hi?

Instagram is great. I have that easier Instagram handle than I did last time. It’s @Hair.Love.Sherri.

Thank you, Sherri, for being here. A lot of people need to know what you have to say and you will be back for more 100%. Do you have any parting words of wisdom?

Thanks for reading until this point. I’d love to connect on Instagram, reach out anytime with anything that I can support you with.

I love watching you grow and your journey. I wish you nothing but success in the months, the days, the years ahead. You’re awesome.

Thanks. Back at you, Ryan.

 Important Links:

• Sherri Belanger - LinkedIn
• Belle Sirène
• Phenix Salon Suites
• @Hair.Love.Sherri - Instagram

About Sherri Belanger