Beauty Business School

Send us Fan Mail
How much should a beauty business owner pay themselves? If you’re running a six figure salon and still can’t afford a holiday, this episode shows you exactly where the money is going.
I break down the real numbers on a $100K beauty business in Australia: GST, salon expenses, tax, Medicare and super. After all of it, the owner can take home less than a level one salon assistant on the Hair and Beauty Industry Award.
This was me for years. Six figures coming in, clients booked and I still couldn’t save for a holiday. If you’re a lash artist, brow artist, beauty therapist or salon owner who’s busy but has no money left over, start here.
In this episode
Why six figures isn’t enough for most beauty businesses in 2026
Beauty therapist award rates in Australia, by qualification (cert III, cert IV, diploma)
Where every dollar of a $100K salon goes, and what’s left as your wage
Why salon owners need holiday pay and sick pay, and how I learned it from a hospital bed
How to work out your salon expenses, profit and pricing from 12 months of takings
Plus a catch-up on the BBS Insider Event on the Gold Coast and what running beauty industry events really costs.
Want help knowing your numbers? We teach salon finances inside Beauty Business School, including the calculator that shows exactly where your money is going. beautybusinessschool.com.au

Are you looking to level up your salon in 2026? Every beauty business owner needs Beauty Business Foundation, this is the KEY areas you need to have a successful beauty business. Want to learn more? 
https://beautybusinessschool.com.au/beauty-business-foundations-2025/

Loved it? Leave a five-star review, it helps more beauty business owners find the show.

Send us Fan Mail
This one is different. I'm auditing your business.
Eight areas, five statements each, one point for every yes. Client retention, client attraction, revenue, cancellations and no-shows, occupancy, retail, client spend and branding.
It's the same diagnosis I run with my one on one clients. Grab a pen, be brutally honest and add up your score out of 40. Whatever you score lowest on becomes your plan: one area a month, starting now, so you head into 2027 with a plan instead of the same problems.
I also open up about hitting 100 episodes and the real reason BBS exists.
In this episode
Why most businesses that are busy one month and dead the next have a retention problem
The rebooking script that tells clients when to come back (instead of asking)
Why your automated text is not a follow up
KPIs for solo operators, and why you should be paying yourself a wage
Booking fee vs deposit (they're not the same thing)
Knowing your occupancy, retail percentage and average client spend
The 5 second branding test
How to turn your score into a month by month plan
Are you looking to level up your salon in 2026? Every beauty business owner needs Beauty Business Foundation, this is the KEY areas you need to have a successful beauty business. Want to learn more? 
https://beautybusinessschool.com.au/beauty-business-foundations-2025/

Loved it? Leave a five-star review, it helps more beauty business owners find the show.

Send us Fan Mail
Terri from TK Lashes and Brows opened a shopfront salon at 23. Then COVID hit, she lost $30,000 in the first month and her accountant told her beauty would be first to close and last to open.
So she went home. Just brows and lashes, a separate studio entrance and set hours. She made more money than she ever did in the shopfront.
Terri joined BBS after hearing me speak at Salon First, where I told her to just put her prices up. She did it that week and didn't get a single complaint. She's implemented 4 to 5 modules and is now fully booked with a near 100% rebooking rate.
We also get into her brow take that has the mappers fired up and why I want her raising her prices in December, not January.

You can follow Terri HERE
In this episode
Why a 6 figure shopfront made less than a home salon
Raising prices $10 to $20 with zero kickback
Going from "rebook online" to rebooking every single client
10 clients booked into a lash lift launch in 3 days, at full price
30 minute brows without mapping, and why it makes her more money
Why December is the best month for a price rise
Terry's advice: back yourself sooner

This podcast is sponsored by aglow.  aglow is the only membership platform built for clinics and salons to manage your memberships and your members. Missed payments, cancellations, contracts, the lot, handled by real people,
 
Think of them as an extension of your team. Try it free at getaglow.co.
Are you looking to level up your salon in 2026? Every beauty business owner needs Beauty Business Foundation, this is the KEY areas you need to have a successful beauty business. Want to learn more? 
https://beautybusinessschool.com.au/beauty-business-foundations-2025/

Loved it? Leave a five-star review, it helps more beauty business owners find the show.

Send us Fan Mail
Trigger warning: this episode mentions domestic violence, human trafficking and alcohol dependence if these topics impact you please skip this episode or skip to 18.26 minutes.

Our 100th episode is a collab with Brooke Cherry from the Beauty Boss Frequency podcast. Couch, uggs on, tarot cards out.
If you run your business solo and feel behind because you're not hiring, teaching or launching a product, this one is for you. We ask: do we actually want bigger businesses, or have we just been taught that bigger means more successful?
I share the lash ladder I climbed (salon, head educator, a 250 person conference, a lash line) and why every move out of alignment made me more insecure. I also get honest about BBS right now. Our biggest month yet, two years and a lot of tears to get there.
Brooke shares her golden water ritual for leaving clients' stories at the salon and why one appointment can be the only thing a client gives themselves all month.
We finish on the part most people skip.. the work on you. Your self-talk, rewiring your brain and the question my husband asked me on the drive home.

You can find Brooke here

This podcast is sponsored by aglow.  aglow is the only membership platform built for clinics and salons to manage your memberships and your members. Missed payments, cancellations, contracts, the lot, handled by real people,
 
Think of them as an extension of your team. Try it free at getaglow.co.
Are you looking to level up your salon in 2026? Every beauty business owner needs Beauty Business Foundation, this is the KEY areas you need to have a successful beauty business. Want to learn more? 
https://beautybusinessschool.com.au/beauty-business-foundations-2025/

Loved it? Leave a five-star review, it helps more beauty business owners find the show.

Send us Fan Mail
I'm going back to ground zero and it scares the sh*t out of me.
In this episode I share why I'm starting a second podcast and a mindset course alongside Beauty Business School, the fears that came up (capacity, burnout, "who do I think I am") and the question my husband asked that stopped me in my tracks.
Then I take you through three moments from my own business where growth was on the other side of fear: being the first in my area to bring in deposits (and losing clients for it), doubling the BBS price and stepping into the next version of you before you feel ready.
Plus a catch up on Tamara Reid's personal branding intensive, 25,000 downloads and next week's 100th episode with Brooke Cherry.
In this episode
Your nervous system will try to keep you safe, which means keeping you small
Do the scary, aligned action: the deposits that lost me clients kept the ones I actually wanted
Confidence comes after: 90% of students since doubling the price are doing the work
Your why has to be bigger than the failures that are coming
The next version of you is going to cost the old one
This podcast is sponsored by aglow.  aglow is the only membership platform built for clinics and salons to manage your memberships and your members. Missed payments, cancellations, contracts, the lot, handled by real people,
 
Think of them as an extension of your team. Try it free at getaglow.co.
Are you looking to level up your salon in 2026? Every beauty business owner needs Beauty Business Foundation, this is the KEY areas you need to have a successful beauty business. Want to learn more? 
https://beautybusinessschool.com.au/beauty-business-foundations-2025/

Loved it? Leave a five-star review, it helps more beauty business owners find the show.