Build a more sustainable business before you ever open your doors

Did you know that roughly 20% of businesses fail in the first year? It’s a scary statistic, but don’t let it discourage your dream. Once your barbershop’s been around long enough to establish itself in the community, running your shop might even feel like sitting in for an improvisational jazz session.

But to get your business to that point, you need to coordinate each element like a well-tuned orchestra. That means building business plans for a barbershop — AKA, a document that lays a foundation for your long-term strategy while giving you room to maneuver in an evolving world. Here’s how to make it happen.

What to do before writing business plans for a barbershop

Before drafting your business plan, take time to develop a vision for your business and how it differs from others. No barbershop is successful just because its doors are open; the ones that stand out are in the right place, with the right people, and the right messaging.

Whether you use Pinterest, a physical idea board, or a pen and paper, spend time refining your barbershop idea until you can pitch it to anyone in thirty seconds. The extra clarity will help you create a business plan that attracts funding and proves your scalability.

What to include in barbershop business plans

Completing your business plan for a barbershop is the first step to ensuring it can serve the community for many years. To do so, you need to include actionable strategies and a healthy dollop of data.

Executive summary

An excellent executive summary is punchy, lean, and informative. Write a high-level breakdown of how you’ll run your barbershop, its earning potential, market competitors, and how much funding you need to get it off the ground. Touch on the critical points of every section in the business plan, making them as digestible as possible. Though this is the first part potential investors and partners will read, you’ll likely want to write it last.

Company description

Kick off your company description with a compelling hook before diving into your core values and mission statement. Detail your target audience, the problems you’re trying to solve, and how you’re uniquely fit to solve them. As you outline your business, establish S.M.A.R.T. goals to demonstrate how you will deliver a strong return for whoever supports you. 

Market analysis

Once you’ve got your summary and description, it’s time to prove you’ve done your homework. The market analysis portion of a barbershop's business plan must be thorough, covering competitors, industry trends, target audience, market gaps, and barriers to entry that may affect the barbershop’s ability to get off the ground. You want to know how many clients you can attract to create accurate financial projections later on, so run surveys and communicate with current clients to estimate your volume.

Look into your competitor’s websites, Google Business Profiles, and social media accounts to see how they stack up to you. If your competitors already have 1,000 reviews on Google, you should include that in your analysis along with a plan on how you’ll compete. Finally, use websites like Statista to highlight the industry’s growth potential (spoiler alert: it’s good), and sprinkle in some evidence that shows people are interested in a barbershop like the one you envision.

Management outline

How do you intend to structure and run the day-to-day operations of your barbershop? Are you the sole employee, or are you hiring other barbers and stylists? Is there a flat management tree or a more traditional leadership hierarchy? These are the questions you need to answer in your management outline.

Focus on the key personnel involved in starting the barbershop with you. If you have partners or co-owners, outline everyone’s role and responsibilities. Doing so sets clear expectations with the people you work with and demonstrates to potential investors that the business will be organized and efficient.

Marketing plans

Whether you’re relying on word of mouth or spending beaucoup bucks on social media, you need to advertise your barbershop. Your marketing plan is a framework you can use to do that efficiently, guiding you as you scale your presence.

Include detailed information about your pricing structure, primary communication channels, and the buyer personas you’re hoping to reach. It also helps to include key performance indicators (KPIs) to guide your growth and promotions you intend to run to demonstrate how you’ll acquire and retain clientele.

Financial projections

Business plans for a barbershop would be incomplete without financial projections. One of your primary responsibilities is to figure out your business’ earning potential and budget, then distill that into a digestible format.

First, calculate your expenses, including equipment, rent, salaries, and anything else you might need to get off the ground. Break those into two categories: initial and operating costs. Next, estimate your clients per day, average sales price, and additional product sales to forecast revenue. Be conservative and use your market analysis to determine a reasonable amount for each number. Finally, calculate your break-even point and a few alternate scenarios to show when you’ll become profitable and what the protocols are if you miss your targets.

Funding requests

The last one is the big one: Include a funding request. Determine how much capital you need to get running and how much you may need over the next five years. Then explain why you need the money and how you’ll use it. If you already have experience as a barber, include supporting documentation, such as income statements and balance sheets, to show you’re reliable with money.

Remember to be realistic. The amount you’re asking for should align with your ability to repay the loan and match the financial projections you came up with earlier. Tailor your wording to your audience and be confident as you present your plan; it’ll help you succeed.

Put your plan into action

You’ve got business plans for a barbershop, and you’ve got some funding — now it’s time to put it all into action. Follow the play-by-play plan you made and measure the results. You know you've made something sustainable if you meet your KPI targets. Consistently miss goals, and you’ll need to buckle down and identify what’s going wrong. You can perform a SWOT analysis to identify your strengths and weaknesses, then adjust your strategy until you meet your targets. Do all that, and you’re on your way to making the next great barbershop.