"Salon Slave" by EtchCo!

I work closely with the salon & spa industry, and I spend at least half a typical workday speaking with owners, managers, receptionists, stylists, nail techs, estheticians, and etc.

Around 25% of these people are very savvy and have no problem at all interacting with technology. The remaining 75% are pretty darn clueless about tech.

This is not to say they're not very intelligent people, not to say they don't earn a really good living (they usually earn far more yearly than I do, and often they're working part time).

If this same 25/75 percentage could be applied to their clientele, I might just have a new job idea. As you may know, most salon and spa employees work on commission - this is typically 50% for Services and 10% for Retail sales.

Many other employees are what's called 'Booth Renters'. That is, they do not earn commission - instead, they pay what's usually a monthly fee to the management.

Booth Renters buy their backbar from the salon or provide their own tools and supplies (hair color, straightening chemicals, liquid acrylic). For a Booth Renter, all the payments and tips from customers go directly to the worker.

I wonder if there are salon Booth Renters who perform other services? Car detailing and gas top-off while you're getting your color or straightening done, errands like dry cleaning pickup and delivery, babysitting, personal shopping (grocery shop while you're getting pampered on the massage table!).

How about technical support? Bring in that troublesome cell phone, laptop, handheld game console, GPS, PDA, MP3 Player, and so on. The on-site tech will troubleshoot the device while the clients are getting their salon and spa services done.

This sort of employee should be a pretty easy pitch to the salon management, since a Booth Renter doesn't cost the manager anything beyond the space, which the Booth Renter is paying for.

Management could then advertise and promote all the additional services offered by the techy/errand person - and management is always looking for new things to add to a marketing flyer, postcard or email.

The techy/errand person could work under a company name such as 'Salon Slave Inc.', and work to build brand recognition, hiring other techy/errand workers to staff booths in other salons around the city and around the country. In the end, it could be a name-licensing deal, or even a franchise.

It wouldn't surprise me if a lot of business came from the other employee's of the salon (at a discount, of course), or workers at the businesses nearby who would find the Salon Slave a go-to person for many errands and tasks, large and small.

So how about it? Have any of you ever been to a salon or spa that offered services outside of the typical cut, color, manicure, massage?