By Grant Miller, salon consultant

Just a few days ago I did some consulting with a couple who just one year ago bought a salon that has been in business for 27 years. Sometimes when I do these consults they can be agonizing. The owners are frequently unprepared, shooting from the hip, with no direction or focus. Fortunately, my most recent consult was just the opposite, and the lessons gleaned from it will benefit you as well.

This couple went to the most recent Smart Tan Nashville trade show and attended my training sessions. They told me during our time together that they went to Nashville with two specific goals that they wanted to accomplish. There’s’ lesson number one: They had clear, concise, purposeful goals. They had definition of purpose. Goals without specific deadlines or details are just nice ideas.

They knew that they didn’t know certain things, and they wanted to go some place where the answers would most likely be. That’s the second lesson: They sought out the right place to discover the correct answers. No matter how good you are at some things, no one knows everything.

They eventually found me and and invested in some resources that they felt would be beneficial to them. Before I consult with a client, they have to jump through a couple of hoops to make sure that we are a good fit for each other. They at least have to read through my Fast Start Manual and fill our a detailed questionnaire about their business. This way we are both prepared for each other to maximize our time together.

When we had our consult they were incredibly prepared and focused. That’s lesson number three: Showing up and being prepared for the task at hand. One of Woody Allen’s famous movie quotes is, “Showing up is 80 percent of life.” How true. Most people never bother showing up in the first place. Then they wonder why nothing changes or gets done.

The fourth and most important lesson was how they took massive action and immediately implemented what they learned. Even before our consult, they created new effective marketing materials based on what they learned from my systems and started using them.

So as a quick recap: They had clear concise goals; they sought out expert advice to help them grow their business; they were prepared for the tasks at hand; and they implemented what they learned. I have no doubt that this couple will be very successful in growing their salon business.

Go over that list again and see which lessons could help you to build your business and make it more successful. And remember, showing up in the first place is 80 percent of it.