Monday hits and you are already behind. The phone has messages on it from Saturday, the book looks fine until you actually look at it, and you have no real idea what last week made. So you open the salon, get in the chair, and tell yourself you will sort the rest of it later. Later never comes, and by Thursday the whole week feels like it is running you.

In this Mini Moment, Sam walks Jen through exactly what she does every Monday. Not a theory about admin days. The actual list. The appointments she moves, the confirmations she chases, the wages and bonuses, the accounts she gets down to the dollar, the inbox she empties, and the running to do list she keeps beside her the whole time. She does it in rounds through the day rather than one long block, and she has done it from a hospital bed.

Jen adds the other half of it. She runs a lot of the same work through AI and her software so the sorting is done before she sits down. Two salon owners in Australia, two different setups, the same rule underneath. If Monday is messy, the week is messy.

What we cover

• The Monday non negotiables Sam has never skipped, no matter what
• How to read your appointment book properly and find a full hour of wasted space
• Chasing confirmations and working the cancellation list before you post to socials
• Wages, super, bonuses and getting every account down to the dollar
• Paying credit cards off weekly instead of waiting for the month
• Clearing the inbox to zero and keeping a live to do list while you do it
• Why Sam refuses to touch any of it on a weekend
• Putting your projected numbers on the board on a Tuesday morning
• Using AI and your software to do the sorting before you start
• Going back over Instagram messages to make sure nothing got missed

Start with a real Monday and the other four days stop feeling like a fight.

FAQs

What admin should a salon owner do every Monday?

Check and rework the appointment book, confirm every unconfirmed booking, work the cancellation list, then do wages, bills and accounts. Finish by clearing the inbox and writing down anything left over so nothing is carried in your head.

How do I find more appointments without getting more clients?

Look at the gaps in your existing book. Fifteen minutes here and there across a day can be shuffled into a full extra appointment, which is why Sam moves clients up and down before she does anything else on a Monday.

Should salon owners do admin on the weekend?

Sam says no and treats it as a hard boundary. Jen replies when she genuinely has capacity, but flags anything that needs proper thought and leaves it until she is back in work mode.

Mentioned in this episode:

💛 A Limited Time Offer From Our Amazing Sponsor, Timely 💛

➡ Timely is the easy to use booking and payments system that puts salon owners in control of the whole client experience from the first booking to final payment.

➡ Salon Rising listeners get a 14 day free trial plus 50% off their first 3 months.

➡ And when you activate with Payments, you'll also get a free Touchscreen terminal, worth $349 + GST.

Use the code SALONRISING at checkout or click the link below to get started. Once you're set up, your Timely contact will take care of the rest. 👇

Timely

https://www.salonrising.com

💖 Celebrating Our Podcast Partner – Christophe Robin, proudly distributed by McM Imports

We’ve partnered with Christophe Robin and MCM Imports to bring you something beautiful:

➡ Experience the Christophe Robin Discovery Box — curated by pro ambassador Monique McMahon.

➡ Inside, you’ll find her handpicked favourites — the hero products she swears by in the salon.

It’s your invitation to explore the range and discover why Christophe Robin has become a quiet obsession among stylists who know their craft.

Click the link below to request your FREE Christophe Robin Discovery Box, exclusively through McM Imports. 👇

MCM

[00:00:17] Samara: I know, and I just felt like I wanted to do it now.

[00:00:20] Samara: I don't ever wanna say it on my own. Yeah. Security blanket Jen. I decided today-

[00:00:26] Samara: the topic is going to be what your admin looks like on a Monday. Okay. Because so many people say to me, "Okay, what does admin actually look like for you? What does that, like, overall..." And also guys, I'm talking for a tiny team now.

I'm not talking, like, this will be very different. It was very different back in the day when I had a huge team, and I was planning meetings- What? I was- ... and I was doing all the- Oh,

[00:00:47] Samara: all the stuff, but I don't do that anymore ... 'cause I was gonna say, was it

[00:00:49] Samara: It is different. Like, but yeah.

Yeah? Yeah, yeah. It was. I don't plan meetings anymore because generally it's me and Indy and Laura going to breakfast and talking shit, because I have constant conversations with them- Yeah ... throughout the whole day. So it's kinda like doesn't need... We still have a monthly meeting, but it's pretty much just eating breakfast and talking shit.

But more so my Mondays are what sets my entire week up.

[00:01:09] Samara: So I just wanted to talk into that, and it can be done over any time of day. As we said earlier You know, we're here all day, so my admin had, has to fit in throughout our day. Last week we were at a retreat, so it had to fit in throughout the week So we

[00:01:27] Samara: do, do, do Yeah Yeah.

But these are my non-negotiables for a Monday that I do no matter what. I've done when I'm in hospital, I've done anytime, I never miss my Monday negotiables- Yeah ... and it's what sets my week up. So, I, again, other salons are gonna be different, but I am the admin of my business, I'm the receptionist. Yep.

So the first thing I will do on a... Well, not the first thing, it depends. Whatever I feel like doing, but these are the my non-negotiables. So I do the appointments. So check over Instagrams, check over, my Instagram, my phone, and then, or the work phone, and then I'll go through the messages that are sitting on Katoomba.

Mm-hmm. I'll make sure everything's confirmed. I also, the we- I also, before kinda doing anything, I look over the appointments. You know, sometimes your team can move appointments and you're like, "That is dumb. Why did you stretch that out by 30 minutes?" Yeah. Or, "Why is that stretched out by, by 15 minutes and that stretched for 15 minutes?"

At which point I could fit a whole- Fill ... another- Yeah ... appointment in. So I really like to look at the appointment book and go, "Okay, that can be moved, that can be shuffled, that can be moved. Actually, if I get her in earlier, I've got a whole nother space." Yeah. Because I feel like there's lots of room for opportunity when I actually look at the book properly, because I don't, even with a small team, I don't feel overwhelmed by our appointments, which means I'm running the book right.

Yep. But sometimes I'm like, there's too much space in that day if you allow another 15, allow another 15. So first of all, I go through and like really make the book workable, and then I'll go through all the appointments and anything that's unconfirmed I'll, I'll text straight away, 'cause I want everything confirmed in the computer.

I'll go through anyone that's sitting on our cancellation list, what do they need, what can they do, what can I move, and I will message them first, and then obviously post to socials- Yeah ... if I've got anything left over. That's first and foremost. I will do that generally throughout the day because things will come in.

So I did it- Yeah, yeah ... I got up early this morning before coming here and did the first round of it, then I'll look at the next one when I get home and then just before I go to bed. I also... Jen can be a little bit different. She doesn't mind being fluid and getting back to people, you know- Late ... on a Saturday nights and stuff like that.

Yeah. I don't do anything on my weekend. My... It's non-negotiable for me.

[00:03:48] Samara: Yep ...

[00:03:49] Samara: Yep.

Yeah. I will look at that again when I'm in a work mode.

[00:04:00] Jen: Yeah.

So wages, super, I pay out bonuses. I go through the figures from the previous week and look where we've done well and look where we need to adjust. And then I... Yes, and then I go into the bank accounts and everything has got its- Place ... place and purpose. Yeah. So, you know, as I said, wages, any bill is paid.

I go... I have two credit cards, and for some people that sounds terrifying. I've got a Visa credit card and an Amex, and both never ever, ever owe a dollar. Yeah. So I don't get to the end of the month and pay it all off. I pay them off weekly. So if I've put something on the Amex, it's because I wanna gain the points and then that gets paid off straight away.

[00:04:52] Samara: So there's like money shuffling and I will go through my personal and our... Like, so the personal bills get paid, the business bills, bills get paid. I can kind of see a screenshot of what the entirety of our accounts look like, home loan, everything. 'Cause then I can go, "Oh, okay cool, there's n- that's money.

Rent is gonna get taken out of this plenty. Stock will get taken out there, that's plenty. This is coming out of that, that's plenty. All right, everything's fruitful. We're good. Let's move forward."

[00:05:19] Samara: So accounts is a huge one for me because we're dealing with different accounts. I will do the same thing and go through emails And emails is a big one for me because anyone that has 986,000 email things on their bottom of their email makes me wanna- Mm-hmm

physically be sick.

[00:05:38] Samara: And I think when you're running a business, it's really hard to do that. So my emails are cleared. So anything that needs to be done gets done. Like any-- I just leave it all in the inbox. Is there any... 'Cause I can look at it and go, "Is there any bill that needs to be paid?" Paid, done.

Everything goes off to its folders. Anything that I need to respond to, I can find the time to respond to. I also keep a constant to-do list as I'm doing this. Mm-hmm. Because for me, when I'm doing this, I'm like, "Ooh, that's right. I've gotta respond to that thing for Sadie for school, but she needs that lip gloss."

Yeah. So-- or that lipstick for dance. So I'll be like, "Lipstick for dance." And then I'll be like, "Okay, cool," and I just put it on the to-do list. So it means that as I'm kinda going through this, all of the things are going on to-do list, and then I can go through that to-do list and be like, "Where's my capacity at?"

[00:06:22] Samara: Right now it may not be enrolling the kids at that school that I know I need to do, but I can go and get the lipstick when I'm out today.

[00:06:30] Samara: So I go through the to-do list, and I go through the emails, and I'll go through my text messages. Just so that I know when I'm going into the following week, I'm like, "Check, check, check, check, check, check, check."

You know, that might be the day also that I send some messages out to friend-- messages. Messages out to friends. Like, so it might be a personal thing as well and check in, like, "How are you?" Because I've got the time and the capacity. I'm sitting there with my phone. Yeah. But I know that if I don't set my week up like that, then everything is messy.

Yeah. And if everything is messy, I don't cope, when it comes to finances. So that's the best way for me and all my little accounts, and then I feel like, okay, we're good. The other thing I do, the first thing I come in on Tuesday, I know this is Monday, but the first thing I do on, on a Tuesday, and I got slack with it for a w-while, guys, because my, my team's been smaller.

But I've gone back to putting our projected on the board. Yep. Projected what we wanna make, projected what we want. I've done it the last two weeks, and it's just always wildly successful. I think you also can be, um, mindful of what your business is doing and be grateful- Yeah ... and be excited. That's reminded

[00:07:42] Samara: Yeah. It's so simple.

[00:07:44] Samara: It's literally we have what's projected- What our goal is, what retail goal is, and then down the bottom if we've reached it. And even for the girls, it's really nice if, you know, I've-- if it's projected, I think, I don't know, I can't remember numbers off the top of my head, but say it's projected for three seven, and you're like, "All right, I reckon we can do four one or four two today," and then you hit like four seven, oh, you're just like so like, I'm like, "Yay."

Yeah. You know, you're really proud of yourselves and some days you'll have a retail day that won't hit what you wanna reach, but the next day you do a really good day. And I think it's a really nice way of being like, "Good job, guys." Yeah. Like, "We needed this this week. Thank you. Good job." And I definitely see the profitability in it when we do it.

[00:08:27] Samara: Um, and it's a good reminder for me as well, instead of be like, "Uh, I don't really wanna do that appointment," you're like, "Nope, get that appointment in. It'll make this much. You need th- this much to reach the week."

[00:08:36] Samara: So I think it's like a good check-in. So I would say do that on a Tuesday morning when you come into work.

It's just something-- I don't even have to say anything to the girls. It just sits there. So I think that's been a really nice thing too. So yeah, what I would say is clean all the inboxes, clean all your phone, flag anything that needs to be done, put it in the to-do list, get your finances to an absolute T that you're like, "Yes, this feels really, really good," and make sure you find the wasted space in your appointment books, um, and get those appointments up.

Is there anything else you add on that?

[00:09:16] Samara: them. Yeah, I was gonna she, I was gonna say AI then.

and the dating. And then-

[00:09:35] Jen: No, it just, just flicks them across as I need it. And then my software system gives me all those things. So it gives me the previous week, what we were u- what capacity we were utilized at and on what days and for each person, and then the projected week, and it tell- tells me where the holes are so that I can go in and put them, and, and do those things, but I don't have to manually do any of it.

[00:10:11] Jen: I know. I know what you're saying. I do that, too.

[00:10:15] Jen: No, but it c- that's my first checkpoint.

[00:10:18] Jen: Cause it's like, okay, this person is only utilized to, like, 60% of their capacity.

[00:10:23] Jen: So that means that they're only projected to do this much, but they need to do that.

[00:10:28] Jen: And so then I know what I'm looking for.

[00:10:37] Jen: make sure that they actually got responded to ...

[00:10:45] Jen: We've definitely had that- Yeah ... and had to go back in and check things, and I've... Yeah, the rule is now do not open it or- Yeah ... unread it unless you actually have time to complete the task.

[00:11:01] Jen: Yeah.

Indy's really good at it, but yeah, it can definitely, things can definitely get missed, so I don't wanna miss anything, at which point I make sure that I kinda check back in. Yeah.

Anything else you do?

[00:11:19] Samara: Reconciling is a great one.

[00:11:20] Samara: I don't do that because my accountant does that for me now. Yeah. But I used to do that every week.

[00:11:30] Samara: Yes.

[00:11:31] Samara: Yeah, agreed. So yeah, that's just like the littlest, simplest stuff that I never, ever, ever leave undone.

[00:11:42] Samara: Yep.

[00:11:45] Samara: But it tunes you back in. Like, if you go, "Ooh, that week we kind of weren't profitable," and you're like, "Okay, I need to be back on it for next week." Yeah. Or if you go, "We had a cracker week this week. What did we do?"

That also feels different. Or, you know, you look at the accounts and you're like, "Yes, yes, yes, yes. This all feels really, really good." Then you're like, "Okay, that's amazing. This is what we need to do."

[00:12:05] Samara: It just kind of keeps you accountable. I move money around too, so things sit in my offset. But you've got to be really conscious and cautious on that because if you're transferring anything out of your business, you need to make sure it can be transferred back in.

[00:12:17] Samara: So even those things are really, really important of making sure that you're just so clear with every single dollar of everything and where everything goes, and I do that personally and professionally so that everything feels like it eases. And if you leave that too long, it's gone. Yeah. And you have to start fresh.

[00:12:34] Samara: Yeah.

[00:12:37] Samara: Anyway.

[00:12:46] Samara: Thanks, guys. Bye. Bye.