Starting your own salon business might sound like an overwhelming venture. In reality, with the correct amount of business planning and foresight, opening your own salon shouldn’t be too daunting of a task.

Take Janine Jarman for example. Upon graduating from beauty school in 2006, she purchased a failing salon in Los Angeles. The salon had a fantastic location and perfectly fine equipment. With a smart and savvy rebranding and reopening, Janine’s salon immediately turned around their business into one of the most successful ones in the neighborhood. Now she is one of the many salon owners enjoying the annual earnings of over $45 billion nationwide.

To begin, it’s a good idea to team up with people who have the right business mind to take you the next level. If you’re like Janine, and more geared towards the creative and styling side of running a salon, it’s a great idea to partner up with a company or product line. Janine works with Sebastian.  While the partnership has worked out great so far for Janine, she stresses the importance of working with a partner or company who understands your business and will continue to be an ally. Having one person focus on the creative aspects of the salon business while one focuses on the business itself is a great way to divide and conquer. Trying to handle everything yourself can wear you thin and take away from your business.

Having a plan is also key in financing your own salon business. You’d be surprised at the amount of companies that go into business without a clue about their marketing strategy or business plan for the near future. Sitting down with an accountant and attorney is a great way to create a vision for your business that includes not only a plan for financing, but your marketing strategy and brand identity.  Having an idea of what’s to come for your company will help you tackle and erase problems before they even start, letting you stay focused on furthering your business.

Lastly, you’ll need to obtain financing. While at this point in time it’s quite difficult for a startup to obtain a business loan, you may need to use family, friend, or personal loans. It’s a good idea to start out with 6 months worth of capital in the bank. After you’ve been in business for about a year, you can start to try banks and credit unions, but their standards can be strict.