Essential hair business starter pack (2024 update)

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You must have the right tools and services to succeed as a freelance or mobile hairdresser. In this post, we’ll introduce you to the ultimate starter pack, which includes a selection of top digital tools and services to help you start your freelance, home hair salon or mobile hairdressing journey. We’ll cover everything from appointment scheduling tools to marketing, design, and legal and business management tools to help you comply with legal requirements. 

Appointment scheduling tools

One of the biggest challenges when starting a hair business is managing appointments. With a busy schedule and clients to keep happy, keeping track of appointments and communicating with clients effectively can be challenging. 

Appointment scheduling tools help you manage your schedule, track appointments, and communicate with clients. With these tools, you can easily set up your availability, book appointments, and send reminders to clients to reduce no-shows.

Some of the key features of appointment scheduling tools include:

• Online booking: With appointment scheduling tools, you can set up an online booking system that allows clients to book appointments through your website or social media profiles.
• Automated reminders: These tools allow you to send automatic reminders to clients, which can help reduce the number of no-shows and ensure that your clients are always on time.
• Calendar integration: Appointment scheduling tools can be integrated with your calendar, so you can easily see your schedule and appointments in one place.
• Mobile access: Many appointment scheduling tools have mobile apps, which means you can manage your appointments from your phone or tablet.
• Payment processing: Some appointment scheduling tools also offer payment processing features, which means you can easily accept client payments for your services.

By using appointment scheduling tools, you can save time, reduce no-shows, and communicate with clients more effectively. 

Ps. We’ve reviewed the most popular appointment tracker & scheduling salon systems on our blog.

Our top Scheduling tools:

Amelia

Key features: 

1. Stay in touch with clients through SMS notifications
2. Schedule online meetings with clients using Amelia’s Zoom or Google Meet integrations.
3. Allow clients to book events (one-off or repeating) straight from your booking form. 
4. You can manage multiple employees, who can also access Amelia’s backend to manage their clients. 

Simplybook.me

Key features: Simplybook.me provides a free plan which is excellent to get started. However, as your business grows, consider upgrading to a higher plan to access more essential features, such as a directory listing, which can help promote your hairdressing business by listing it on their business directory. You can also offer coupons and gift cards directly from your booking form and provide your clients with a customized app to make booking hair appointments even more convenient while on the go.

Setmore

Some key features: 

1. Book personalized 1-1 or group sessions easily using Setmore’s sleek mobile apps or website interface, available at no cost.
2. Enhance your website’s functionality by directly integrating Setmore’s booking form into your page (If you have a separate custom-made website).
3. Allow your customers to book your services directly from your Instagram posts.

Appointlet

Key features: With Appointlet, you can generate a single link to your scheduling page and share it with people via email, SMS, or any other preferred communication channel.

Hairdressing insurance

As a beauty business owner, you’ll work closely with clients and handle their hair and beauty needs. While you take every precaution to ensure a safe and positive experience for your clients, accidents can happen. That’s where hairdressing insurance comes in.

Hairdressing insurance is a type of insurance that protects you in case of accidents or incidents that may occur while providing hairdressing services. In addition, this type of insurance can help cover costs associated with property damage, injury to clients, and legal fees. Insurance coverage should be your priority when starting a hair business. 

Some key features of hairdressing insurance include:

• Liability coverage: Hairdressing insurance covers accidents or incidents during hairdressing services, protecting you from potential legal action and expensive settlements or judgments.
• Property damage coverage: This insurance may also cover costs associated with accidental damage to a client’s property, such as hair care products, styling tools, or clothing.
• Protection for your business: Hairdressing insurance can help protect your business and ensure you can continue to provide services to clients, even if an accident or incident occurs.

It’s important to remember that not all hairdressing insurance policies are created equal, so it’s essential to research and choose a policy that provides the right level of coverage for your business. With hairdressing insurance, you can protect your business, clients, and livelihood as a beauty entrepreneur.

Our top Insurance Company Picks: 

PolicyBee (UK)

PolicyBee is one of the leading insurance companies, with covers specifically targeted towards beauty entrepreneurs. Some of the key features include:

• Targeted Coverage: PolicyBee’s insurance is specifically designed for hairdressers, offering tailored coverage that meets the unique needs and risks associated with the profession.
• Affordable Rates: Starting at just £6.53 per month, PolicyBee’s hairdresser insurance is an affordable option for self-employed professionals.
• Malpractice Cover: The policy includes malpractice cover, which protects against physical or mental injury, illness, or death of clients caused by your negligence or error.
• Public Liability Cover: PolicyBee’s insurance also includes public liability cover, which protects against physical damage and injuries caused by your business or the products you supply.
• Expert Support: PolicyBee has a team of insurance specialists who can provide expert advice and support to hairdressers when needed.

Qualification Requirements: To qualify for one of PolicyBee’s covers, you must have completed a CPD-accredited course or a pathway qualification with face-to-face training. This ensures you have the necessary knowledge and skills to perform your job safely and effectively.

Protectivity (UK)

Keyn features of Protectivity’s mobile hairdressing insurance:

• Affordable Coverage: Protectivity’s hairdressing insurance starts at just £3.76 per month, making it an affordable option for self-employed hairdressers.
• Comprehensive Protection: The insurance covers a range of potential liabilities, including Public Liability, Employers’ Liability, Equipment Cover, and personal accident cover, giving you peace of mind.
• Tailored Information: Protectivity provides detailed information specifically tailored for hairdressers, including insights on the unique risks associated with this profession and how to mitigate them.
• Flexibility: As a hairdresser, you need an insurance policy that is flexible enough to adapt to your changing needs. Protectivity’s mobile hairdressing insurance offers customizable coverage options, so you can choose the level of protection that’s right for you.
• Expert Support: Protectivity is an experienced insurance provider with a team of specialists who can provide expert advice and support to you when needed.

Hiscox (UK & US)

Hiscox offers insurance for beauty professionals, including:

• Comprehensive Coverage: Hiscox’s insurance for beauty professionals offers a range of coverage options, including standard covers such as public liability insurance, employers liability insurance, loss of personal information, personal injury, and legal protection insurance.
• Property Damage Cover: Besides standard coverage, Hiscox offers property damage cover, protecting your business assets against damage or loss.
• Flexible Payment Options: Hiscox offers flexible payment options, allowing you to pay for your insurance in monthly instalments or one lump sum, depending on your preferences.
• Tailored Insurance: Hiscox offers tailored insurance solutions for beauty professionals, including hairdressers, makeup artists, nail technicians, and more. You can choose the level of protection that’s right for your business needs, even if you are just starting a hair business.
• Expert Support: Hiscox has a team of insurance specialists who can provide expert advice and support to beauty professionals when they need it most, helping you navigate the complex world of insurance and find the right policy for your needs.

Marketing/ Email marketing tools

Marketing is essential to any business, including freelance or mobile hairdressing. Therefore, it’s crucial to have a strong marketing strategy to attract new clients and retain existing ones. 

Email marketing is sending promotional messages via email to subscribers, including anything from special offers and discounts to updates on your services and industry news. By building a list of email subscribers and sending regular emails, you can keep your clients engaged and informed about your hairdressing business.

Some of the reasons you would benefit from email marketing include:

• Cost-effectiveness: Email marketing is a low-cost marketing strategy that can attract new clients and keep existing ones engaged.
• Targeting functionalities: With email marketing, you can segment your subscribers based on their location, age, gender, and interests, allowing you to target your marketing messages more effectively.
• Measurable results: Email marketing tools provide detailed analytics and metrics that enable you to measure the success of your email campaigns, including open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates.
• Increased client engagement: By sending regular emails to your clients, you can increase their engagement with your brand and encourage them to book more appointments.
• Improved client loyalty: Email marketing can also help improve client loyalty, as it lets you inform your clients about your services and special offers.

Our top email marketing tools:

Convertkit (we use this tool)

Some of the features you’d enjoy from using Convertkit include:

• Unlimited Landing Pages and Forms: With Convertkit, you can create unlimited landing pages and forms to collect client information, such as email addresses. This helps you build your email list and stay in touch with your clients.
• Unlimited Email Broadcasts: You can send unlimited email broadcasts to your hairdressing clients with Convertkit. This lets you inform your clients about your services, special offers, and promotions.
• Sell Digital Products and Subscriptions: Convertkit allows you to sell digital products and subscriptions to your clients. For example, you could create an ebook about taking care of natural hair or the best vegan hair products to use this year. Creating downloadable products and subscriptions rewards your clients and help you collect their emails to stay in touch with them.
• Visual Automations: Convertkit makes creating visual automations that streamline your email marketing efforts easy. For example, you could set up an automation that sends a welcome email to new clients or a follow-up email after a hair appointment. These automations save you time and help you build stronger relationships with your clients.

GetResponse 

Get Response is an ideal solution for beauty professionals looking to begin their email marketing journey without breaking the bank.

The lowest-tier plan from Get Response includes the following features:

• Unlimited newsletters and landing pages
• Free website builder
• Segmentation: Thanks to its segmentation feature, you can create groups and target specific customer groups with tailored messaging based on their preferences and behaviours.

Design tools

As a hairdresser, having a strong visual identity and branding is essential for standing out and attracting new clients. One of the critical components of your visual identity is your design elements, including your logo, colour scheme, and marketing materials like your Instagram/TikTok image posts, stories and Ads. To create and manage your design elements, you’ll need design tools.

Design tools are software programs that allow you to create and edit images, graphics, and other visual elements. Many design tools are available, from simple online tools to complex professional software. Depending on your skill level and budget, you can use various design tools for your hairdressing business.

Some key features of design tools include:

• Customization: With design tools, you can customize your design elements to create a unique and memorable visual identity for your hairdressing business.
• Consistency: By using the same design elements across all your marketing materials, you can create a consistent brand image that is easy to recognize and remember.
• Professionalism: High-quality design elements can help convey a sense of professionalism and credibility to potential clients.
• Cost-effectiveness: Many design tools are free or low-cost, making them a cost-effective way to create and manage design elements.
• Accessibility: Online design tools can be accessed from anywhere, making it easy to create and edit your design elements on the go.

Our top design tools:

Adobe Rush

Adobe Rush is a video editing software offering various editing tools for creating professional-quality videos. It includes features such as video trimming, colour correction, and audio editing, making it a powerful tool for hairdressers looking to create polished and engaging video content.

Key features of Adobe Rush you would find beneficial:

• A free version is available for you to try out.
• User-friendly interface with easy-to-use editing tools.
• Integration with other Adobe products, such as Photoshop and Premiere Pro.
• Cloud-based storage and syncing, allowing you to access your projects from multiple devices.
• Customizable titles and graphics for adding text overlays and branding elements to videos.
• Built-in audio tools, including noise reduction, are helpful if you create a TikTok or Instagram video and realize the audio is a bit noisy. 

Canva 

You’ve probably used or heard of Canva; an online graphic design platform to quickly create a wide variety of visual content. Its user-friendly interface and customizable templates make it popular for beauty professionals such as mobile hairdressers. Canva offers a range of design tools for creating everything from social media graphics like Instagram images and reels to flyers and Posters.

Some features that make Canva great for beauty entrepreneurs are:

• Easy customization of templates for creating images, videos and other social media graphics.
• A wide selection of design elements, including icons and fonts.
• Collaboration tools that enable team members to share and work on designs together.
• Mobile app available, allowing you to design and edit on the go.
• Ability to save and organize designs for easy access and reuse.

CapCut

CapCut is a free video editing app used to create and edit video content for social media. It offers a range of features, including effects, filters, and text overlays, making it a valuable tool for hairdressers looking to create promotional videos or tutorials. Below are some of CapCut’s key features:

• Intuitive and user-friendly interface for creating and editing video content.
• Range of editing tools, including effects, filters, and text overlays.
• Easy sharing to social media platforms, such as Instagram and TikTok.
• Music library with a range of tracks, allowing hairdressers to add sound to their videos.
• Ability to import and edit videos shot on mobile devices.

Link in bio tools

As a hairdresser, your social media presence can attract new clients and grow your hairdressing business. One way to make the most of your social media profiles is by using link in bio tools.

Link in bio tools allow you to include multiple links in your social media profile, directing your followers to different pages or content related to your hairdressing business. This is especially useful for Instagram, where users can only include one clickable link in their profile bio.

Here are some more features and benefits of using Link in bio tools:

• More opportunities to convert followers into clients: Having multiple links in your social media profile can give your followers more opportunities to engage with your hairdressing business and become clients.
• Streamlined social media marketing: Link in bio tools can help simplify your social media marketing strategy by allowing you to direct followers to specific pages or promotions rather than constantly updating your profile link.
• Customization: Many link in bio tools will enable you to customize the appearance and content of your links, so they match your hairdressing business’s branding and visual identity.
• Tracking and analytics: Some link in bio tools provide analytics and tracking features, allowing you to measure how effective your marketing efforts are and adjust your strategy accordingly.

Our top Link in bio tools:

Pallyy

Pally is one of the most affordable Link in bio tools available, doubling as a social media management tool. Pally also offers a free plan, great for the entry-level link in bio users who want to try the tool before committing and paying for the pro plan. 

Some of Pally’s features are:

• Unlimited scheduling to Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest and Tik Tok.
• Custom analytics to see how your posts and link in bio links perform.
• Ability to add team members; great if you’d like to collaborate with your partners.

Linkin.bio by Later

Link in Bio by Later is a social media tool that allows hairdressers to create a custom Linkin.bio page that serves as a hub for all their social media content. Some other key features offered by the tool include:

• You can add up to 30 posts per social profile to your Linkin.bio page.
• Later provides up to 3 months of data on your Linkin.bio clicks and traffic sources, which would be great as you would use this data to track engagement.
• To make it unique and on-brand, you can customize your Linkin.bio page with your branding, including colours, fonts, and images.

Legal/ business management tools

Having a solid legal and business foundation is essential to protect your hairdressing business and ensure its long-term success. To help with this, various legal and business management tools are available that can make running your hairdressing business easier and more efficient.

Legal and business management tools can be categorised into:

1. Contract management tools can help you create and manage contracts for your hairdressing services. You can use them to create templates, send contracts to clients for digital signatures, and keep track of contract deadlines and renewals.
2. Accounting software: This software can help you keep track of your finances, including invoicing, expense tracking, and tax preparation. With accounting software, you can save time and reduce the risk of errors by automating many of your financial processes.
3. Legal services: Legal services can help with various legal issues, such as creating contracts, filing trademarks, and registering your business. Legal services can provide peace of mind, knowing that your hairdressing business complies with local and national laws.
4. Business planning tools can help you create a business plan, set goals, and track your progress. Business planning tools can be beneficial if you’re starting a hair business and must establish a clear plan for growing your hairdressing business.
5. Project management tools: Project management tools can help you keep track of your hairdressing projects, including scheduling appointments, managing client communications, and tracking progress.

Here is an essential tool you may need:

In business, collaborations and partnerships with other organizations can be a great way to grow and expand your services. Whether working with a wedding planner, partnering with a beauty salon, or collaborating with a fashion brand, having a solid contract or agreement can help ensure that both of you are clear on expectations, deliverables, and payment terms. In this age of digital technology, various tools are available to help streamline the contract creation and management process, making it easier to protect their interests and build successful business relationships.

One of the tools we use is Pandadoc.

Pandadoc’s key features include:

• Customizable templates: Users can choose from various pre-designed templates or create their own, enabling them to create professional-looking documents quickly.
• Electronic signatures: Pandadoc offers legally binding electronic signatures, allowing hairdressers to get signatures from their clients without needing in-person meetings.
• Collaboration tools: Users can collaborate with team members or clients in real time, making creating and reviewing documents easier.
• Analytics and tracking: Pandadoc provides insights on document performance, including the number of views, time spent, and completion rates, allowing users to make data-driven decisions.
• Integration with other tools: Pandadoc integrates with various other business tools, including Salesforce, HubSpot, and Zapier, allowing users to streamline their workflow and improve their productivity.

Maximizing Your Reach: Digital Marketing Strategies for Your Hair Business.

In this section, delve into the power of digital marketing in expanding your client base. Highlight the effectiveness of social media platforms, SEO tactics, and content marketing in creating a buzz around your services. Offer actionable tips on utilizing Instagram and TikTok to showcase your work, engage with your audience, and drive bookings through a strategic online presence.

Conclusion

Starting a hairdressing business can be a rewarding and exciting career choice. However, having the right tools and resources to help you succeed is essential. 

Using these digital tools and services, you can streamline your business processes, save time and energy, and grow your hairdressing business. We hope this list of essential digital tools and services for mobile hairdressers has been helpful and informative. Good luck on your hairdressing journey!

Frequently asked questions

What is the Hair Business Starter Pack for Freelance or Mobile Hairdressers?

The Starter Pack is a curated selection of top digital tools and services to succeed in their businesses. The pack includes appointment scheduling tools, marketing, design, legal and business management tools.

Why do freelance and mobile hairdressers need the right tools and services to succeed?

Managing a beauty business can be challenging, especially if you are starting. The right tools and services can help you save time, streamline your processes, and comply with legal requirements. With the Starter Pack, you can have everything you need to get started on your freelance or mobile hairdressing journey.

What are some of the tools and services included in the Hair Business Starter Pack?

Some tools included in the Starter Pack are ConvertKit for email marketing, Amelia for appointment scheduling, PolicyBee Insurance for insurance services, Pally for legal tools, Pandadoc for document management, and Setmore for appointment scheduling.

Can I use these tools if I only run a home hair salon?

Certainly! These digital tools and services are designed to help all hairdressers or beauty business owners, whether you run a home hair salon or a mobile salon.

Can digital tools help me manage my appointments and bookings?

Yes, various scheduling and booking tools are available to help streamline your business operations and improve your customer experience. Look for tools that offer online booking capabilities, appointment reminders, and the ability to manage your calendar on the go.

What legal considerations should I consider when working with clients?

It’s essential to clearly understand your legal responsibilities and rights. Consider using tools that can help you create and manage contracts or agreements with your clients, and ensure you have appropriate insurance coverage to protect yourself and your business.

Are there any marketing tools to help me promote my beauty business to potential clients?

Various marketing tools can help you reach new clients and build your brand. Consider using email marketing tools to stay in touch with your clients and offer promotions or discounts, as well as design tools that can help you create eye-catching graphics and social media posts to showcase your beauty business.