Summary
This page has a salon business plan template as a Word file (.docx) with a PDF copy, for a hair salon or a barbershop; the download asks for your first name and email. It adds worksheets for the chair model (commission or hourly staff, booth rent, suite rent or a mix), chairs and services, retail stock, the build-out and a licensing checklist, and gives no licensing rule, no industry number and no pay split; every example figure is labeled and made up.
Key Takeaways
- •The template gives no licensing rules or industry numbers. Your state board sets the rules, and your numbers drive the plan.
- •One Word file (with a PDF copy) covers hair salons and barbershops. Two switches at the start set your shop type and your chair model: commission or hourly staff, booth rent, suite rent or a mix.
- •Compare booth rent with your part of what a commission chair leaves after products used, minus the extra costs you carry under commission, not with the chair's whole service revenue. The file leaves the split to your pay plan.
- •Keep products used during services (a cost) apart from products for sale (a revenue line with stock). The free Excel workbook keeps inventory at its opening value, so reorders go into the Year-1 cash plan by hand.
- •The file doesn't decide worker status. It gives the IRS's three categories, Form SS-8 and a table for your own facts, then sends you to your state and an accountant or attorney.
Is there a free salon business plan template?
- Salon business plan template (Word .docx, about 59 KB)
- Salon business plan template (PDF, 19 pages, about 690 KB)
The form asks for your first name and email address, and says: “Your download starts right away. We'll also add you to our free business-plan newsletter. Unsubscribe anytime.”
Yes: the two files above are one fill-in plan for a hair salon, a barbershop or a shop that does both.
What the file has
The PDF is 19 pages, rendered in LibreOffice, so Word may paginate differently. Page 1 is a free-sample release note. Then come two switches (shop type and chair model), a one-page summary and 10 numbered sections, with salon worksheets in 5.1 to 5.10 and projections in 8.1 to 8.5.
This file has four things a generic plan leaves out: a per-chair table setting booth rent beside what a commission chair leaves to split, in dollars, with no split supplied; a month-by-month stock worksheet the Excel workbook can't do; a worker-status box with no verdict; and a checklist that points every row at your state board, city, accountant or insurer.
How to fill it in
- Tick one box in each switch. Its table names the sections your choice changes.
- Work through the section 5 worksheets, from the service menu (5.2) to the checklist (5.9).
- Build the projections in the free Excel workbook and copy the summaries to 8. Replace every [bracketed field] and delete the shaded boxes before you send it.
What the file doesn't do
One box appears three times: “This template gives no licensing, sanitation, inspection or employment rules, and no fees or hours. Your state board sets the licensing rules for the shop and for each stylist or barber. Enter your state's requirements where the rows ask for them.”
- No built-in calculations: the arithmetic is laid out for you.
- No industry prices, rents, splits or rates: every example is labeled.
- “Not for medical spas, tattoo or piercing studios, or for running salon suites as a landlord business.” Making your own products isn't covered either.
- Checked in LibreOffice only: it hasn't been opened in Microsoft Word.
- Not legal, tax, accounting, licensing or lending advice.
What should a salon or barbershop business plan include?
The SBA's traditional plan sections, plus salon worksheets. The SBA lists Executive summary; Company description; Market analysis; Organization and management; Service or product line; Marketing and sales; Funding request; and Financial projections (SBA: Plan your business; the page shows no date, read 2026-10-23).
The file's sections 1 to 8 follow that list in order, with section 5 holding the salon worksheets; risks (9) and an appendix (10) are additions.
| Section | What goes in | Where the numbers come from |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Executive summary | Shop, chair model, chairs, funding request | Write it last |
| 2. Company description | Owners, legal form, lease, zoning | Your lease; your city |
| 3. Market analysis | Your clients; nearby shops' prices and hours | Your research, dated |
| 4. Organization and management | Staff and hires; renters in their own table | License types: your state board |
| 5. Services and operations | Worksheets 5.1 to 5.10 | Your prices and quotes |
| 6. Marketing and sales | How clients find you; rebooking at checkout | Your checkout routine (5.7, 6) |
| 7. Funding request | Amount, type, use of funds | Sections 5.8 and 8.1 |
| 8. Financial projections | Sources and uses, profit and loss, cash | The Excel workbook; 8.4 by hand |
Hair salon or barbershop? Switch 1 offers hair salon, barbershop, both, or other beauty services (nails, esthetics, spa); your choice changes the service menu rows (5.2) and the license rows (5.9). For the whole plan, see the guide to writing a business plan. Another kind of service business? Use the service business plan template.
Commission, booth rent or suite rent: which model are you planning?
Decide first: the chair model sets your revenue, your payroll and what you control. Switch 2 offers “Commission or hourly staff (staff you pay)”, booth rent, suite rent, or a mix.
What the switch changes
Its table shows what changes: revenue lines (services or rent), who is on your payroll, who buys products used during services, who owns the client list (write it down; ask your attorney), and who controls prices and hours. The file: “The model you choose changes who is on your payroll and what you can control. The template does not decide worker status; see 5.5.”
One chair: booth rent against commission
Example — replace with your numbers. A hypothetical 4-chair barbershop with made-up services, prices, bookings and costs; no number here is a norm, a market price, a rate or a target. One chair, one month.
| Line | Booth rent | Commission or hourly staff |
|---|---|---|
| Rent the owner collects | $250 a week × 52 ÷ 12 = $1,083.33 | — |
| Service revenue the chair brings in (5.2) | the renter's, not the owner's | $5,600 |
| Products used during services ($1.50 × 160 services) | the renter's cost | $240 |
| Left to split between the stylist's pay and the owner | — | $5,360 |
| Owner's extra costs under commission (payroll costs, front desk, more supplies) | — | [your numbers] |
Example — replace with your numbers. The reading line: “Commission pays the owner more than booth rent only if the owner's part of the $5,360 is more than $1,083.33 plus the extra costs you carry under commission. The split is your pay plan; this template gives none.” With 4 chairs, the rent is 4 × $250 × 52 ÷ 12 = $4,333.33.
So the test isn't rent against a chair's whole revenue. It's rent against your part of what's left, minus the costs you carry only when you pay the people in the chairs. On staff pay, the file says to ask your accountant and your state labor agency how commission pay is handled.
Worker status: a decision box, not a verdict
Section 5.5 asks, “is each person who works in your shop an employee or an independent contractor?”, and gives no answer and no rule. It quotes the IRS: “Facts that provide evidence of the degree of control and independence fall into three categories”, behavioral, financial and type of relationship, with “who provides tools/supplies” among the financial facts. If it is still unclear, the IRS says you may consider submitting Form SS-8 (IRS: worker classification; Page Last Reviewed or Updated: 19-May-2026; read 2026-10-23).
The file adds: “The IRS page is general. It is not about salons or booth rent”. A table takes your facts for staff and renters (who sets hours and prices, buys tools, owns the client list, takes payment). Then check with your state and an accountant or attorney.
If clients tip staff, the file says to read the IRS tip page and ask your accountant how tips are recorded and paid out. That page lists employer duties for tips and says: “Service charges are not tips” and “A payment is a tip only if the customer voluntarily decides to pay it and determines the amount.” (IRS: Tip recordkeeping and reporting; Page Last Reviewed or Updated: 31-Jul-2026; read 2026-10-23.)
How many chairs, and how many appointments can they hold?
As many as your hours, chairs and service times allow: 5.2 turns bookings into minutes, and 5.3 sets them against your open hours. The file gives no booking norm.
The service menu (5.2)
The rows are prompts, not a standard menu. You enter minutes, price, the license type that can perform each service and products used.
Example — replace with your numbers. The same hypothetical 4-chair barbershop; one chair, one month.
| Service | Minutes | Price | Bookings a month | Revenue | Minutes booked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Haircut | 30 | $32 | 100 | $3,200 | 3,000 |
| Haircut and beard trim | 45 | $45 | 40 | $1,800 | 1,800 |
| Hot-towel shave | 30 | $30 | 20 | $600 | 600 |
| Total | 160 | $5,600 | 5,400 (90 hours) |
Chairs and capacity (5.3)
Chair-hours a month = chairs × hours open a week × 52 ÷ 12. Booked hours = booked minutes ÷ 60. Your booked share = booked hours ÷ chair-hours. “No share is a target or a norm: it is the arithmetic of your own plan.”
Example — replace with your numbers. Open 9 hours a day, 6 days a week = 54 hours a week. One chair: 54 × 52 ÷ 12 = 234 chair-hours a month; 4 chairs = 936. Booked hours: 90 a chair, 360 for 4. Shop service revenue: 4 × $5,600 = $22,400 a month. Line j, the booked share, is “left blank on purpose”.
How do I plan rebooking and keeping clients?
Define your terms, then count. In 5.7, “rebooked” means the next appointment is booked before the client leaves; “lapsed” means no visit in [your number] weeks. You also record who owns the client list under each chair model. Your rebooking share (rebooked visits ÷ all visits) is yours to work out: the file gives no share and no target.
Example — replace with your numbers. Made-up counts, starting from no clients; no rate is implied.
| Month | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| + New clients | 40 | 35 | 30 | 30 | 25 | 25 |
| − Lapsed | 0 | 5 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 12 |
| = At end | 40 | 70 | 92 | 112 | 127 | 140 |
Example — replace with your numbers. 185 new − 45 lapsed = 140. “These counts are made up to show the sum. They are not a rate, a target or a warning.”
How do retail products and product stock fit in the plan?
Keep them apart. Products used during services are a service cost. Products for sale are a revenue line, with stock you carry. Section 5.6 runs opening stock + purchases − cost of products sold = closing stock, month by month.
Example — replace with your numbers. Made-up inputs, at cost: sales $600 a month, cost of products sold $300 a month, opening stock $1,800, enough for $1,800 ÷ $300 = 6 months. Made-up rule: reorder $900 in any month that opens at or below $900.
| Month | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opening stock | 1,800 | 1,500 | 1,200 | 900 | 1,500 | 1,200 |
| + Purchases | 0 | 0 | 0 | 900 | 0 | 0 |
| − Cost of products sold | 300 | 300 | 300 | 300 | 300 | 300 |
| = Closing stock | 1,500 | 1,200 | 900 | 1,500 | 1,200 | 900 |
Example — replace with your numbers. Check: 1,800 + 900 − 1,800 = 900. “The $900 reorder in month 4 is cash out that the workbook does not show”: carry it into the 8.4 cash plan. Gross profit ($600 − $300 = $300) is arithmetic on made-up inputs, not a margin to aim for.
Then three questions: sales tax (your state's Department of Revenue); product liability, which the SBA lists for “Businesses that manufacture, wholesale, distribute, and retail a product” (SBA: Launch your business; the page shows no date, read 2026-10-23); and, under booth rent, who sells retail. See also how to plan opening inventory and reorders.
Which licenses, insurance and tax items do I check?
The ones your state board and your city name. The 5.9 checklist says: “This template states no step as required.” The SBA says of licenses and permits: “The requirements and fees vary based on your business activities, location, and government rules.” (SBA: Launch your business; the page shows no date, read 2026-10-23.)
- “Check with your state board of cosmetology or barbering.” Shop or establishment license; each stylist's or barber's license; “Do booth renters in your state need their own license or permit?”; inspection before opening (your city too).
- “Check with your city.” Local business license; zoning or occupancy, if home-based or in a new space; building permits for plumbing or ventilation work.
The SBA says “zoning ordinances can still apply even to home-based businesses” and “Laws requiring insurance vary by state.” Its table lists general liability for “Any business” and professional liability for “Businesses that provide services to customers” (SBA: Launch your business; the page shows no date, read 2026-10-23). The file's workers' compensation row: “Check with your state. Ask your insurance agent.”
- Sales tax and a state tax ID. The SBA says: “Income tax, sales tax, property tax, and corporate taxes can vary significantly from place to place.” (SBA: Launch your business; the page shows no date, read 2026-10-23.) Check with your state's Department of Revenue.
- The tip credit, as a question. “If you have employees who receive tips, does the employer FICA tip credit (IRS Form 8846; 26 U.S.C. 45B) apply to you? Ask your accountant.” IRS Form 8846
- Chemical safety and ventilation. “Check with your state board and your insurer.”
How much do you need to open, and how do you turn it into projections?
Add up your own quotes in the 5.8 build-out budget: categories only, from stations and shampoo bowls to plumbing, ventilation and a working-capital reserve, each with its workbook line. The total goes to 8.1, sources and uses.
Where loans come in
The SBA lists examples of microloan uses: working capital, inventory, supplies, furniture, fixtures, machinery and equipment. It says: “To apply for a microloan, work with an SBA-approved intermediary in your area.” and “SBA-approved lenders make all credit decisions and set all terms for your microloan.” (SBA: Microloans; the page shows no date, read 2026-10-23.)
For a 7(a) loan, “You will be applying for your loan directly through a local lender”, and the SBA lists: “Be creditworthy and demonstrate a reasonable ability to repay the loan” (SBA: 7(a) loans; the page shows no date, read 2026-10-23). Ask your lender what it requires. The file states no amount, rate or term, and promises no loan.
From the plan to projections
The SBA says: “For the first year, be even more specific and use quarterly — or even monthly — projections.” (SBA: Plan your business; the page shows no date, read 2026-10-23.)
Build the model in the free Excel business plan template: services, retail or chairs rented × monthly rent as revenue lines. It is not salon-specific; the file lists its limits:
- Up to five revenue lines, sharing one ramp-up and one set of seasonality factors.
- No inventory timing.
- Payroll is salaried by role: no hourly scheduling, overtime or bonuses.
- Commission entered as a direct cost “adds no payroll taxes or other payroll costs, so add them by hand or ask your accountant.” The file suggests no commission rate.
- No tips line. Lowest month-end cash is on the Key Ratios tab.
The 8.4 Year-1 cash plan does the rest by hand: slow first months, product purchases, and card tips as a pass-through to confirm with your accountant. The file suggests a working-capital reserve at least as large as your lowest cumulative figure.
Sources
- SBA — Plan your business
- SBA — Launch your business (licenses, zoning, insurance, taxes)
- SBA — Microloans
- SBA — 7(a) loans
- IRS — Worker classification, last reviewed 19-May-2026
- IRS — Tip recordkeeping and reporting, last reviewed 31-Jul-2026
- IRS — Form 8846, last reviewed 22-Jun-2026
All seven pages were read on 2026-10-23; the SBA pages show no date.
FAQs
Do I have to give my email to download it?
Yes. The form asks for your first name and email address. It says: “Your download starts right away. We'll also add you to our free business-plan newsletter. Unsubscribe anytime.” It also says: “Free sample: check all information before you use it. Provided as is, without support.”
Does it work for a barbershop?
Yes. Switch 1 at the start lets you tick hair salon, barbershop, both, or other beauty services (nails, esthetics, spa). Your choice changes the service menu rows in 5.2 and the license rows in 5.9.
Does the template tell me my state's licensing rules?
No. The licensing rows are blank for your answers, and each one says where to check: “Check with your state board of cosmetology or barbering” or “Check with your city.” The file states no step as required.
Does the template decide whether my stylists or renters are employees?
No. It gives the IRS's three categories and Form SS-8 as the IRS route; check with your state and an accountant or attorney.
Is there a spreadsheet to go with it?
Not a salon one. The free Excel business plan workbook on this site can take services and retail products as revenue lines, but it has no inventory timing, no tips line and salaried payroll only, and it is not salon-specific. The stock worksheet (5.6) and the Year-1 cash plan (8.4) are done by hand in the Word file.
Conclusion
Start with the two switches, then the section 5 worksheets: the service menu and chairs give you the numbers the rest of the plan asks for. Fill every licensing row from your state board and your city, with the date you checked, and carry your product reorders and slow first months into the 8.4 cash plan by hand.
