You’re still clocking in at a commission salon, and lately you’ve been doing the math on what your chair would be worth if you kept all of it. You’ve thought about the freedom. You’ve also thought about everything you don’t know how to do yet, from what to say to your manager to what happens to your clients. This is the part of “going independent” that almost nobody actually walks you through in order.
Here is what actually happens: moving from commission to a suite means moving from employee to independent business owner. The IRS has its own way of describing that shift, generally as a “true booth renter,” someone who sets their own prices, manages their own bookings, and takes on their own supplies and insurance instead of having an employer handle it. The very first move, before you say a word to anyone, is reading your own employment agreement, specifically any non-solicitation language, because that document decides what you can and can’t do next.
From there, the rest tends to fall into place. Clients tend to stay loyal to the person doing their hair, not the address, so losing your book over the move is less likely than it feels right now. The real order of steps is: read your agreement, give notice, tell your clients, choose your suite, then get through your first week. The honest catch nobody puts in the brochure is that business tends to go quiet for a stretch right after the move, while your client base finds you again. That’s normal, not a warning sign.
Before you tell a single client you’re leaving, read your own employment agreement, because most commission-salon contracts include a non-solicitation clause that limits how and when you can contact those clients again.
Most agreements in this industry carry a non-solicitation clause, a non-compete clause, or both, and they are not the same thing. A non-compete tries to stop you from working in a competing business at all for some period of time. A non-solicitation clause is narrower. It restricts you from actively contacting the salon’s clients or staff to bring them along with you, but it doesn’t stop you from working somewhere else. Knowing which one you signed, or whether you signed both, changes everything about how you handle the next two steps.
This is the single most consequential step in the whole move, and it’s also the one most stylists skip because they’re eager to get moving. Read your own agreement in full. If any part of it is unclear, talk to a lawyer before you give notice or say anything to a client. This post can’t tell you what your specific contract says or whether it would hold up, since that depends on the document in front of you and the state you’re in. What it can tell you is that this step comes first, always.
Non-Compete vs. Non-Solicitation: The Difference That Decides Your Next Move
Non-Compete
Can restrict where you work at all, not just who you contact. It may block you from a competing business within a set area or time period.
Non-Solicitation
It blocks actively contacting the salon's clients or staff to bring them along, not working elsewhere.
Some agreements include both, one, or neither. Read your own contract in full, and ask a lawyer if any part of it is unclear.
Give notice to your current salon within whatever notice period your own agreement specifies, not whatever feels customary, and do it before you tell anyone else.
Beauty is a small industry, and word travels faster than most people expect. How you leave a commission salon follows you into your new chapter, especially in a market where clients, suppliers, and other stylists all move in the same circles. Give notice professionally, in person if you can, and within the notice period your agreement actually calls for. Don’t assume it’s two weeks just because that’s the standard in other industries. Some salon agreements specify something different, and you’ve already read yours, so you know.
Keep this step separate from telling your clients. It’s tempting to think of “leaving” as one conversation that covers everyone at once, but your employer and your clients need to hear it in a specific order, and mixing the two together is how good exits turn into bad ones. Handle the professional notice first, cleanly, and let it stand on its own before you move to the next step.
People rebook with the stylist they trust more than they rebook with a building, which is why most of your regulars will make the move with you, but how you communicate that move still matters enormously.
That’s because how you tell your clients is exactly what a non-solicitation clause governs. This section is really the payoff of step one: once you know what your agreement actually restricts, you know what you can and can’t say, when you can say it, and through what channel. Some agreements limit direct outreach to a former salon’s client list for a period of time. Others are narrower. You won’t know which applies to you until you’ve read the document, which is exactly why that comes first.
Inside whatever lines your agreement draws, be straightforward with clients about where you’re headed and why. People respond to honesty better than they respond to a vague announcement that leaves them guessing. Give them a way to find you once you’re allowed to, and let the relationship do the rest of the work.
In practice, that usually means treating your regulars differently than your occasional clients. Tell the people you see often in person or with a phone call, not a mass text or a social post they might scroll past. Save the broader announcement, a text to your client list, a social media post, or a simple “I’ve moved” card at the new location, for clients you see less often. And time all of it to when your agreement’s non-solicitation window actually allows you to reach out, not before.
Choosing a suite comes after your notice and client conversations are already handled, and what you’re evaluating now is the space itself, the suite lease, and who runs the building.
Walk in and look past the paint color. Ask what’s actually included in the rent, whether the suite comes furnished, what the security setup looks like, and whether there’s a real person on site day to day or an absentee landlord you’ll only reach by phone. That last question matters more than most new renters expect, especially in your first few months when questions come up that you didn’t think to ask during the tour.
Addison Salon Suites’ own suite-evaluation checklist covers furnishing, security, and on-site management room by room, if you want the deeper version of this list. And if you want to see what’s included in an Addison suite specifically, that’s worth a look too, as a concrete reference point while you’re comparing options.
On day one in a salon suite, you become the business: you set your own prices, buy your own back bar, handle your own booking and payments, and pay self-employment tax instead of having it withheld from a paycheck.
The IRS uses its own set of criteria to describe a “true booth renter,” and it doubles as a practical day-one checklist:
That last one deserves a plain explanation, at a high level only. Self-employment tax covers Social Security and Medicare, and the combined rate is 15.3%, typically paid in quarterly estimated payments rather than withheld every pay period. Talk to your own accountant about what this means for your situation and how to set money aside. But knowing the shape of it before you sign your suite lease means it won’t catch you off guard in your first quarter.
Take these five changes one at a time instead of all at once, and the move feels manageable rather than overwhelming.
New Responsibilities From Day One
Ordering Product
Comparing brands and pricing your own order instead of pulling from a stockroom.
Answering the Phone
No receptionist to greet a walk-in or pick up mid-service. That's you now.
Opening & Closing
You're the one who unlocks the door every morning and locks it every night.
Self-Employment Tax, Broken Down
Social Security
About 12.4% of net self-employment earnings.
Medicare
About 2.9% of net self-employment earnings.
Combined rate: 15.3%, typically paid in quarterly estimated payments rather than withheld per paycheck.
Business tends to be quieter right after the move than most new suite renters expect, and that stretch is normal, not a sign the decision was wrong.
The quiet stretch itself comes from a simple, unavoidable fact: existing clients need time to find your new address, and new local awareness takes time to build. It isn’t a signal that something went wrong. Stylists who plan for that quieter window, financially and mentally, tend to weather it a lot better than stylists who expected the chair to be full from day one.
A common fear about going independent is running the suite alone, with no one nearby to ask when something comes up that you didn’t plan for.
At Addison Salon Suites and Spa in Addison, TX, that’s not how it works day to day. Bijan Adhamy is the on-site owner, in the building daily, not occasionally, so a first-time suite renter has someone right there to ask when something comes up, rather than figuring it out alone.
If you’re weighing this move, take a look at Addison’s available salon suites and bring your questions with you. Walking the space and talking with Bijan directly answers more questions in twenty minutes than another article ever could. There’s no pressure to decide on the spot, just a real conversation with someone who’s watched other stylists make exactly this move.
It depends on your client volume and how ready you are to run your own business, not on one model being universally better. Commission trades a share of your revenue for the salon handling overhead and scheduling; a suite means keeping what you earn above rent but taking on everything that comes with running your own space. This post focuses on the mechanics of the move itself, not the fuller financial comparison.
Commission structures commonly fall in the 40-55% range, with something close to a 50/50 split being the most typical setup, according to Zenoti’s guide to salon commission structures and industry comparisons of commission versus booth rental.
Yes, and in that order. Give notice to your employer first, within whatever notice period your agreement specifies, before you say anything to a client. This protects your relationship with your former employer and keeps you inside the lines of any non-solicitation language in your agreement.
Yes, according to research from Phorest Salon Software (reported by Salon Today), 84% of clients said they were likely or very likely to follow their favorite hair stylist to a new location, and 88% said the same for a favorite esthetician. The bigger variable is how the move is communicated relative to your agreement, not client loyalty itself.
As a commission employee, taxes are withheld from every paycheck automatically. As a suite renter, you’re self-employed and responsible for self-employment tax yourself, a combined 15.3% rate covering Social Security and Medicare, typically paid quarterly. Talk to your own accountant about what this means for your specific situation. This post does not give tax advice.
Yes. Most first-time suite renters see a quieter stretch immediately after the move while existing clients find the new location and new local awareness builds. It’s a normal part of the transition, not a sign the move was a mistake.
Bijan Adhamy is the owner of Addison Salon Suites and Spa, on site daily since the location opened in January 2015. He’s watched beauty professionals across every specialty make this exact transition, from the first read of their employment agreement through their first week running their own chair.
Thinking about making this move yourself? Call Bijan at (469) 906-7777 to talk through what a suite at Addison Salon Suites and Spa could look like for you.
