With more and more web traffic coming from mobile devices, it's more important than ever to make sure your website is mobile-friendly. A website theme or format that adjusts its display depending on the screen size is called a responsive site. I'm sure you've visited sites on your cell phone or tablet that don't display properly. When that happens you probably leave the page. You don't want that happening to your site!
You can test your site on your desktop or laptop. Bring up your site in a browser window, then slowly decrease the size of your browser window by clicking and dragging in the side. If your site is responsive, you will notice the display changing as the screen size changes. If it doesn't, you may want to give your web developer a call.
Coming into the holiday season our website was only partially responsive. Some things looked ok, others not so much. Unfortunately the Wordpress theme we were using was no longer being updated, so our best option was to choose a fully responsive theme and redo the website. We kept the pages and content, but put them all in a new theme that responds beautifully on multiple devices.
Your website is the first interaction you have with many prospective clients. Make sure you put your best foot forward with a fully responsive website.
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Hiring Mistakes
What is more frustrating and defeating than making a hiring mistake? We recently came to the realization that we really messed up. A stylist with 2 years experience did a stellar technical interview then aced her practice/training haircuts. We put her on the floor in time for the holiday rush and - wow- how could we have misread the situation so terribly.
We took her off the floor and set up one-on-one time with our trainer. Our trainer had to go into serious remedial training. It was like she had no idea how to cut hair. And she didn't seem to see that the cuts were bad...as if her eyes didn't see the weight lines...it never occured to her to taper sideburns...it was a disaster. After two intensive days full of haircuts on live models our trainer was exhausted (so was the stylist) and still gave her cuts just a 6 out of 10. The following week we put her with our salon manager for additional cutting training followed by another day with the trainer. By the time it was over she had done 20 training cuts and was still a solid 6-6.5. To add insult to injury she didn't seem to retain any of the instruction she had been given.
Clearly we messed up. But what do you do at this point? We misjudged her skills and based on our job offer she left a steady job at a chain salon. Had we assessed her skills accurately she never would have gotten an offer.
Sadly, we are at the point now, where as a small company with limited resources, we cannot invest any more in trying to get her on the floor. We need stylists to be farther along than she is. I feel terrible that we are going to let her go and will be offering generous severence to ease my guilt.
Have you had a similar experience? How did you handle a hiring mistake?
We took her off the floor and set up one-on-one time with our trainer. Our trainer had to go into serious remedial training. It was like she had no idea how to cut hair. And she didn't seem to see that the cuts were bad...as if her eyes didn't see the weight lines...it never occured to her to taper sideburns...it was a disaster. After two intensive days full of haircuts on live models our trainer was exhausted (so was the stylist) and still gave her cuts just a 6 out of 10. The following week we put her with our salon manager for additional cutting training followed by another day with the trainer. By the time it was over she had done 20 training cuts and was still a solid 6-6.5. To add insult to injury she didn't seem to retain any of the instruction she had been given.
Clearly we messed up. But what do you do at this point? We misjudged her skills and based on our job offer she left a steady job at a chain salon. Had we assessed her skills accurately she never would have gotten an offer.
Sadly, we are at the point now, where as a small company with limited resources, we cannot invest any more in trying to get her on the floor. We need stylists to be farther along than she is. I feel terrible that we are going to let her go and will be offering generous severence to ease my guilt.
Have you had a similar experience? How did you handle a hiring mistake?
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Private Consultations
Many readers ask if we can communicate via phone or email regarding their specific salon issues. Most inquiries are best handled through the comments because other readers can benefit from the exchange as well. Other times, it would be easier to speak via email or phone. To make reaching me a little easier, I have added a contact form to the right sidebar of the blog. I'm happy to do this as long as it is manageable.
Whether by email or comments, I appreciate hearing from you! Thanks for reading.
Whether by email or comments, I appreciate hearing from you! Thanks for reading.
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