Source: Jakob Dozen

Beauty school graduates often picture their career in a linear fashion: start as a new talent artist, work their way up to senior level, and maybe become a salon owner one day.

Jakob Dozen, owner of Jakob Dozen Hairdressers in Fairhope, Alabama, says it doesn’t always work that way. After Dozen graduated from cosmetology school, he spent a few years bouncing from one salon to the next, looking for the right fit.

“I started with a commission salon and then went to a booth-renting salon because I thought I would keep more of my paycheck and be my own boss,” he says.

Source: Jakob Dozen

But as a booth renter, Dozen found he was not putting money away for taxes or retirement, and working in the renter environment put him farther behind, especially when it came to education.

“I think with booth rental, people get comfortable not pursuing additional classes,” he says. “If you don’t have someone actively paying for it and pushing it, it’s easy to say, ‘I’m good at this and don’t need any help.’”

“You don’t know what you don’t know,” he says. “And there was a lot I didn’t know.”

“My original mentor made me a well-rounded hairdresser, but not a business person.”

But Dozen found he did prefer booth renting to a suite, because he was in a collaborative environment.

“But you still lack continuity and leadership because the culture isn’t there like it is in a commission salon,” he says.

A Suite Set Up

After establishing a clientele, Dozen made his way to a salon suite with big plans.

But he quickly realized the solo life wasn’t exactly as he pictured it.

“You’re by yourself all the time in a suite, and it’s no fun,” he says. “It’s isolating—you feel like you’re working in a closet after a while.”

Dozen also took a massive financial loss when he rented his first suite.

“I was in a suite with one business partner, but had no idea what it took to run the business,” he says. “I had no skills, wasn’t financially savvy and butted heads with my partner.”

Rather than looking at his chair as a creative space only, Dozen had to change his outlook and treat it as a business.

“You don’t just take home all the money—there are taxes, health care, overhead, back bar,” he says. “And you can’t go home and turn it off. There are always color orders to make, clients to keep up with, etc.”

Eventually, Dozen realized suite life wasn’t for him and asked his partner to buy him out.

The two were paying more than $2k a month and felt like they were working on top of each other.

“When I worked in a properly run commission salon, the owner took on the majority of the extra responsibilities and costs,” he says. “I was able to come in, do hair, teach and go home at the end of the day.”

Becoming an Aveda Owner

Two years ago, Dozen came full circle, buying the salon he worked in right after cosmetology school. With more experience and knowledge under his belt, he knew what he wanted his Jakob Dozen Hairdressers to look like, but didn’t have the right line of products to achieve his goals.

“I wasn’t happy with the performance of the products we carried and the education and support weren’t there,” he says.

So Dozen became a concept salon for another brand and was spending $80k per year in inventory and back bar.

“But their education was terrible,” he says. “They would announce a class in New Orleans and I would sign my team up to go and it would get canceled last minute.”

He reached out to an SDP at Neill with his numbers and started exploring options.

“We became Aveda the last week of December 2022,” he says. “Our retail in January 2022 with the two other brands we used to carry was $2k.”

“Our first month with Aveda in January 2023, we did $3k in retail (with three stylists).”

Building for a Bright Future

With the help of Neill and Aveda, Dozen has built his salon’s culture around product knowledge and education.

“We have such a strong retail presence because as a company, we believe wholeheartedly that Aveda is best for our guests,” he says.

And when Dozen coaches his stylists, he coaches them to their earning potential rather than commissions.

“It’s the biggest misconception that you’ll make more money and have more free time if you go to a booth rental salon,” he says. “In a commission salon, you have more opportunities to build your clientele and hit bonuses with the support of an owner and team behind you.”

Dozen is just getting started building his own business and is looking forward to eventually expanding his space, adding staff and stepping away from the chair.

“Ultimately I want to focus on building my stylists’  books and educating,” he says. “We want to guide and influence them in the best way possible.”