Working With the Right Bookkeeper Helped This Salon Owner Hire 3 Employees

If you're a salon owner or hair extension specialist wondering whether hiring a bookkeeper is actually worth it, I want to introduce you to Aysun.

Aysun has been a client of mine since 2023. She hired me because she wanted "to understand where exactly my money was being spent and what my monthly profit or loss was." 

Before we started working together, she described her financial situation… 

"Like I was playing a guessing game about if I could afford to spend my money on specific things. I didn't have or understand my budget."

If that sounds familiar, I need you to know you're not alone. It's one of the most common things I see with salon owners.

What was Happening with the Salon’s Bookkeeping

When Aysun and I started working together, she was behind on categorization in QuickBooks, and her chart of accounts wasn't set up to reflect how a salon actually operates. So I reorganized it using terms that made sense for her business—things like "backbar"—so her reports actually reflected her industry instead of a generic template.

From there, I used reports from her payment processor, MangoMint, to break her income down by service type—regular haircuts, hair extension services, and more—so she could see exactly where her time and revenue were coming from. 

I use a Profit & Loss percent-of-income report with clients like Aysun, because it lets them see exactly where their money is coming from and going, based on percentage of income, not just raw numbers.

For Aysun, that revealed something she never would have known otherwise: "what percentage of my business was coming from services I wanted to offer versus other services. This helps me make decisions on when I can pivot or change things in my business."

The Result with Better Bookkeeping

Before seeing her actual numbers, Aysun wasn't able to make informed decisions about her business. Once she could see them clearly, she made the decision to move into a bigger space and hire employees. Today, she has three employees generating more revenue for her business.

That's not a coincidence. That's what happens when a business owner can finally see, in black and white, what's working.

Now, Aysun describes the experience like this: "I feel like I have clarity. I can make better decisions with factual information about my business." And when I asked her how working together felt, her answer was simple: "very easy!"

A Common Blind Spot for Salon Owners

In my five years working with salon owners—including hair loss and hair extension specialists, and salons with teams of 10 or more—I've noticed a pattern: using general expense categories that don't align with your industry makes your reports difficult to understand. 

Getting a chart of accounts that's aligned to your business is key to actually understanding your numbers. Things like:

• What are you spending on backbar? 

• On hair color? 

• On hair extensions you're purchasing for clients? 

• Do your employees get a commission? 

Getting clarity on questions like these is what makes your reports easy to understand and helps you grow your business!

I didn't start with a background in salons. When I landed my first salon client, I had to learn the industry from the finance side, including the lingo, so I could build systems that actually made sense to the people using them. 

Five years and many salon clients later, I've seen what works, what doesn't, and what transforms a business. So I can confidently say: 

Yes, bookkeeping is worth it for salon owners!

As Aysun puts it: 

"Working with Pothos Bookkeeping has made making business decisions very easy for me. Elli helps me understand how to read my reports, and goes above and beyond to learn specifics for my industry. Having her as a bookkeeper has completely changed the trajectory of my business and I'm forever grateful to her for making this very confusing and tedious job extremely easy for me."

If you're a salon or beauty industry business owner ready to trade the guessing game for clarity, fill out my new client form and let's talk about your books.