4.8 out of 5 based on 183 reviews
A simple plan to increase profit
Steve at Carlton Scott doesn’t tell you what you want to hear. He tells you what you need to hear.
Being able to pay myself a wage has been amazing, I know it sounds simple, but we need the help.
You're working hard, the column is fully booked... but the numbers don't feel right.
It usually looks like this:
You’re not failing. You’re running a beauty business without a clear profit system.
Working towards the end goal, higher profits.
By the end of the 30 days, you’ll have:
This isn’t a course. It’s a proven system, implemented with you and built around your business numbers.
We only take on 10 clients per month to ensure hands-on implementation, not just advice.
Sound like you? Let’s get you Profit Clarity in the next 30 days.
This is a 30-day implementation plan designed to increase profit fast and build control in the business. You’re not paying for BS advice and gurus. You’re paying for profit clarity + implementation + a plan that’s proven.
Our proven Profit Clarity Framework to increase profit works in 3 simple steps. Diagnose > Fix > Grow
See increased profits in just 90 days
“From the first call, Steve at Carlton Scott understood our goals and delivered clear, practical support that made a real difference to our business."
From stuck to profitability. In 30 days
Most small business owners aren't failing, they're stuck. Stuck in the day-to-day, stuck in the same margins, stuck wondering why a busy business isn't paying them what it should.
Yes, and it cuts both ways. Salons in Galashiels advertise chair and beauty space with flexible daily rental, which is a low-risk way for a therapist to start and a steady income for an owner with an empty room. If you are the owner, price the room against what the space would earn you with your own therapist in it, not against what feels easy to ask.
Because a full column and a profitable week are different things. The NHBF's 2026 State of the Sector survey describes the trade as busy but not profitable, and the causes repeat: discounts that became the standard price, treatments priced before the last two cost rises, retail nobody sells, and a rota built for Saturday. Cost each treatment against the hour it takes, and the same clients start paying you properly.
It brings people into the town centre on a timetable, which is what matters for a salon. Transport Scotland's evaluation found passenger numbers far above forecast and station footfall up 19% in a year. Commuters book early mornings and evenings rather than the middle of the day, so a salon that opens eight until four is closed for the hours the railway trade can actually attend.
Around 8.2% net across UK salons, on 2026 industry figures, with a September 2025 analysis putting the average nearer 6.1% and well-run salons at 8% to 15%. A worked salon profit and loss gives the shape of it: gross profit about 43% of turnover, then rent, rates and utilities taking 15% and insurance, software and card fees another 5%. The gap between 6% and 15% is decided treatment by treatment.
Fresha charges around £14.95 a month for a solo professional or £9.95 per team member, on 2026 comparisons, which is a subscription rather than a cut of each booking. Marketplaces work the other way and take commission on new clients. Neither is wrong; what matters is the total each costs you a month against the clients it actually brings, so put both on the same spreadsheet before you decide.
Hourly with a commission layer on top suits most salons, because pure commission makes a quiet week frightening for the therapist and pure hourly leaves no reason to sell retail. Whatever you choose, cost it: what each therapist takes in a week against what they cost you, including their empty hours. A pay structure you cannot model on a slow February is a structure that will break in one.
By deciding what a midweek hour has to earn and building an offer that reaches it. Galashiels has students from Borders College and Heriot-Watt's textiles campus and a working population in and out on the trains, so the people are there at the edges of the day. Move the hours rather than discounting the treatments, because an empty chair at eleven is a cost, not a marketing opportunity.
Between £500 and £3,500 a month plus VAT for one-to-one coaching, depending on the coach's experience, according to Alan Wick's May 2026 guide to UK coaching fees, and the bill runs for as long as the coaching does. The Profit Clarity Framework doesn't work that way: a fixed £1,495 + VAT for 30 days of work on your Galashiels salon's real numbers, and nothing after that.
£1,495 + VAT, fixed, whatever the size of the salon. That covers the full 30-day diagnose-and-fix process on your Galashiels salon: pricing by treatment, the rota, retail margin, booking and card fees and cash flow, with the changes implemented rather than left in a report, and it leaves you with a more profitable salon. Most clients who commit to the framework and follow our recommendations see a full return on the fee within 90 days.
A few hours a week, mostly at the start. You stay on the floor; we work around the appointment book. The onboarding call takes about an hour, gathering your paperwork takes another, and after that most of the effort is ours. With a Galashiels salon we look hard at the booking system's numbers, because how the column fills across the week usually tells most of the story.
Turned a busy business into a profitable one. Should have done this years ago.
I can't thank Carlton Scott enough! Their mentorship completely transformed how I approach my business, and now I feel unstoppable. Highly recommend!