From Chaos to Clarity: How Automation Can Transform Your Salon Operations.

By Declhan Lee, Circles of Hair

I’ve spent the last few years watching salon owners drown in admin work while their passion for hairdressing gets buried under endless paperwork, followups, and reactive problem-solving. As Director of Operations at Circles of Hair, I’ve made it my mission to change that narrative entirely.

When people hear “ automation,” they often think it’s about replacing human connection, but that just isn’t true. Automation isn’t about cutting corners, it’s about reclaiming your time so you can focus on what actually matters: growing your business strategically, supporting your team, and reconnecting with the reasons you opened a salon in the first place.

The Reality Check

Let me paint a picture that’s probably familiar to many of you. It’s 8PM, the salon closed an hour ago, and you’re still there dealing with staff scheduling conflicts, chasing up suppliers, responding to client messages, and the frustration of being stuck manually calculating and entering hours into different systems.

This reactive cycle is exhausting, and more importantly, it’s preventing you from operating with intention. Instead of strategically planning your next quarter or investing time in team development, you’re constantly putting out fires. The irony is that many salon owners entered this industry because they’re passionate about creativity and people, yet they spend most of their time buried in administrative tasks that drain that passion.

This is exactly why we are so focused developing and sharing automation systems that work specifically for the hair industry. At Circles, we’re not just implementing these systems for ourselves, we’re pioneering them and then teaching other owners how to transform their operations.

Education Through Real-World Application

My approach to sharing automation expertise goes far beyond theoretical workshops or generic software tutorials. Through our Circles Shadowing Program, we invite salon owners into our space to see these systems working in real-time within a successful operation.

There’s something powerful about watching automation handle your new staff onboarding while you’re having a coffee and planning your next marketing campaign instead of scrambling to find contracts and chase signatures. My focus is always on practical implementation. I’m not interested in impressing people with complex tech talk, I want to show them exactly how to set up systems that will save them hours every week and eliminate the manual errors that cost time and money.

Here are three suggestions to start exploring;

ManyChat

A simple starting point for salon owners exploring automation that I recommend is ManyChat. This is a user-friendly tool for automating social media responses and client communication, and something which you can learn about online and start playing with to familiarise yourself with similar applications. The more you become accustomed to the language and functionality, the more this world opens up to you.

Zapier

One of the core tools I teach and rely on is Zapier, which acts as the automation engine connecting all your everyday platforms. Think of it as the invisible assistant that makes your CRM talk to your payroll system, ensures your online forms automatically update your staff database, and triggers follow-up messages without you lifting a finger.

Zapier doesn’t update or store anything on its own, rather, it’s an example of middleware, a connector that links your apps together using “triggers” and “actions.” It simply tells one tool to respond in a specific way when something happens in another.

The beauty is that you don’t need to be a tech expert to create powerful automations. I help salon owners set up workflows that automatically:

• Add new client inquiries to their CRM and send personalised welcome sequences

• Update staff schedules across multiple platforms when changes are made

• Generate reports and send them to managers at predetermined intervals

• Create tasks and assign them to appropriate team members based on specific triggers

These aren’t just time-savers, they’re mistakepreventers. When systems handle routine tasks consistently, you eliminate the human error that leads to double bookings, missed follow-ups, and frustrated clients.

Slack

While many salons rely on a chaotic mix of text messages, emails, sticky notes, and verbal updates, I’ve implemented Slack as our single source of truth for all salon communication. This isn’t just about having another messaging platform, it’s about creating a centralised hub where all critical information flows seamlessly. Here’s how it works in practice: when a staff member submits a leave request, it doesn’t just sit in someone’s email inbox hoping to be noticed.

It automatically posts to the appropriate Slack channel with all relevant details, tags the right managers, and creates a thread for easy approval tracking. Similarly, voicemail notifications, online order updates, and client reviews all filter through Slack channels, ensuring nothing falls through the cracks. This systematic approach prevents the doublehandling that wastes so much time in traditional salon operations. Instead of information living in multiple places and requiring constant follow-up, everything has a clear path and accountability built in.

The Onboarding Revolution

One of my favourite automation success stories that perfectly illustrates the transformative power of systematic thinking is our new staff onboarding process. This used to be the typical nightmare of scattered paperwork, forgotten steps, and inconsistent information sharing, but not anymore.

Now, the moment a new team member is added to our Slack workspace, they automatically receive a welcome message containing a comprehensive onboarding form. This isn’t just basic contact details, it’s everything we need to create their complete profile in our systems. Once they submit that form, the magic really begins. Zapier automatically creates their profile in Xero, our accounting system, with all the correct details and tax information.

Simultaneously, it generates a personalised employment contract using their specific details and role requirements, then sends it directly to them via DocuSign for electronic signing. When the new team member signs that contract, it’s automatically filed in the correct Google Drive folder with proper naming conventions, and they begin receiving a series of carefully timed messages with essential information: when they’ll be paid, what the dress code expectations are, how to request leave through our system, and step-by-step guides for using our in-house booking software.

This entire process, which used to take hours of back-and-forth emails, phone calls, and manual data entry, now happens seamlessly while we focus on more strategic priorities. More importantly, every new team member receives the same comprehensive, professional onboarding experience, regardless of how busy we are or who’s handling their start date.

Start Here, Start Now

One of the most powerful steps a salon owner can take today, without spending a cent or investing in education or shadowing is to get clear on your backend systems. The truth is that most salon owners don’t even know what platform their website is built on and that opens the door for all kinds of problems. If you don’t understand how your own tech stack functions, you’re at the mercy of developers and digital marketers who can spot that gap in knowledge and take advantage.

Start by asking yourself: What platform is my website built on? Can it integrate with my CRM, booking system, or marketing tools? Does it have API capabilities? If you’re unsure, find out. This simple awareness unlocks smarter decisions and protects your business from overspending or being misled. Nobody will ever give your business the same care, attention, or passion that you will. If you don’t understand how your digital systems work, even at a basic level, you’ll always be reliant on someone else to tell you what’s possible. True freedom comes from owning that knowledge.

From Reactive to Strategic

The shift that happens when salon owners implement automation systems goes far beyond just saving time on admin tasks. What I consistently see is a fundamental change in how people operate and lead their business.

Instead of starting each day by reacting to whatever urgent issues have piled up overnight, you can begin with clarity about your priorities and the mental space to work on strategic growth initiatives. You can set meaningful goals because you have the systems in place to track progress automatically, and invest time in your team because you’re not constantly interrupted by routine tasks that should be handled systematically.

Team accountability improves dramatically when everyone understands the systems and knows exactly where to find information or submit requests. Productivity increases not just because processes are more efficient, but because team members feel supported by clear, reliable systems rather than frustrated by chaos.

Perhaps most importantly, you can rediscover the joy in your work! When you’re not drowning in administrative chaos, you can reconnect with the creative and interpersonal aspects of running a salon that drew you to this industry in the first place.

Leading the Industry Forward

At Circles we see ourselves as trailblazers in salon automation, but our goal isn’t to hoard these innovations. We’re committed to sharing our expertise because we believe the entire Australian hair industry benefits when salon owners can operate more strategically and sustainably.

The future of salon management isn’t about working harder or longer hours, it’s about working smarter with systems that support your vision rather than constrain it. Automation gives you the freedom to lead with intention, invest in your team’s development, and build the salon culture you’ve always envisioned.

If you’re ready to shift from chaos to clarity, the tools and systems exist right now. The question isn’t whether automation can transform your salon operations it’s how long you’ll wait until you’re ready to jump in!

@circlesofhair