Going independent: leaving a salon for your own suite

Going independent is rarely a skill problem — it's a sequencing problem. Do these in order and the transition takes weeks instead of months.

1. Read your current agreement first

Before you tell anyone anything, read your employment or booth-rental agreement for non-solicitation and non-compete clauses, notice periods, and who owns the client list. Rules vary widely by state and by contract. If anything is ambiguous, an hour with a local employment attorney is cheaper than a dispute.

2. Know your real monthly number

• Suite rent (often weekly — multiply properly) and any utilities or wifi charges
• Liability insurance and your state licence renewals
• Product and back-bar restocking
• Software, card processing fees, and phone
• Furniture, ventilation, lighting and signage as one-time setup
• Taxes — set aside a fixed percentage of every payment from day one

3. Secure the suite, then set the date

Tour several. Ask about hours of access, ventilation (critical for acrylic and any dust-producing service), plumbing, guest wifi, parking for clients, and what happens if you need to leave early. Sign before you announce.

4. Build the business layer before you open

• Business registration and an EIN, then a business bank account — keep it separate from personal, always.
• Payment processing connected and tested with a real $1 transaction.
• Your booking page live, with services, prices, hours, deposits and policies set.
• A client list imported and cleaned, with phone numbers formatted correctly.
• Intake and consent forms attached to the services that need them.

5. Announce carefully

Respect whatever your agreement says about soliciting clients. What you can generally always do is update your own public channels — your social profiles and your booking link — and let clients who look for you find you. Make your new booking link impossible to miss and easy to use.

6. The first 30 days

• Expect a 10–30% dip in bookings in month one. Budget for it and don't panic-discount.
• Ask every satisfied client for a review in the week they visit.
• Rebook clients in the chair, before they leave, every single time.
• Track your no-show rate and your revenue per service hour from week one.

How Rervva handles this

Import your client list from a CSV, get a branded booking page live the same day, connect Stripe for deposits and payments, and start with reporting that tells you whether the move is working — all for $24.99 a month with a 14-day free trial.