Wig Business Plan, With a Projection

A wig business plan is a plan for turning hair bundles and lace into custom units, and hours of construction into a price. A custom frontal wig uses three bundles and a lace frontal, about $225 of hair and lace, and five hours of sewing, plucking, tinting and styling; priced right, it earns more than any other job in the suite. The plan also has to hold stock: bundles bought by length and texture, from the same vendor batch so they match. In the example below, a wig maker in Birmingham sells custom frontal wigs, closure wigs, installs and bundles on their own, and ends the first year about $34,400 ahead on $124,100 of sales, with every hour paid at $22. Below is a description example, each part of the plan, the first year month by month, the startup budget, and a free template.

The short version

• Describe the business in a paragraph: the units, the services, who buys, the goals.
• Cost a unit from the hair up: bundles, lace, cap, the hours, fees.
• Price custom units from the hours; construction is most of the work.
• Installs bring clients back and need little stock; bundles sold alone turn the stock over.
• Buy bundles from the same vendor batch for one unit, so the color and texture match.
• Keep bundles counted by length and texture, so a booked unit doesn't wait on hair.
• TaroStack keeps each bundle with its vendor's batch, and shows which units the hair on hand allows. More below.

Part 1: the business description

Crown & Comb Wig Studio, a made-up wig maker in Birmingham, Alabama, I use in these examples, writes:

Crown & Comb Wig Studio makes custom frontal and closure wigs from human hair bundles, installs clients' own units, and sells bundles, from a salon suite in Birmingham and online. In its first year it aims to book ten custom units a month and keep a two-week wait.

Part 2: what a unit costs

Hair is the biggest cost of a unit, and longer hair costs more a bundle, so a 22-inch unit and an 18-inch unit aren't priced the same. How to price handmade work from materials and time is in how to price handmade items.

Part 3: customers and prices

In a month at full speed the frontal wigs bring $2,710 of the $7,449 of contribution, the installs $1,685, the closure wigs $1,670 and the bundles $1,384. A frontal wig earns $54 for each of its five hours, a closure wig $34 an hour, and an install $47 an hour. The closure wig is the one to watch: popular, and the thinnest margin. Whether installing on a client's head needs a cosmetology license is a state question; check with your state's board.

Part 4: the first year, month by month

Fixed costs are $1,390 every month: salon suite rent ($900), the website and booking ($60), insurance ($70), ads ($300), photo and lighting upkeep ($20), and software and card fees ($40). Sales start at 15% of full speed:

The year's sales are $124,130 and the profit $34,396, with every hour paid at $22. A full month is about 135 hours of construction and installs, so the studio adds help once it's busy. Hair is the biggest thing bought: a full month uses about 65 bundles for units and sells 40 more on their own. Keeping materials like these counted is in raw materials inventory example.

Part 5: the startup budget

The $7,300 spent before working cash is earned back in month 7, when the cash reaches $8,494.

Get the template

Download the wig business plan workbook. Four sheets: your units, installs and bundles with price, variable cost and a month at full speed; the first year, month by month, with sales, profit and cash; your fixed costs; and your startup budget with working cash. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.

Where this stops working

Bundles in six lengths and three textures, each bought in batches from a vendor, frontals and closures in two sizes, ten custom units booked weeks ahead, and bundles selling online at the same time. A notebook can't say whether there are three matching 22-inch bundles from one batch for next Tuesday's unit, or which vendor's batch a client's unit came from when they ask for the same hair again.

How TaroStack does it

TaroStack keeps each bundle with its vendor's batch, and shows which units the hair on hand allows.

Bundles with their batch. Each delivery of bundles is received with the vendor's own lot code alongside your own, so three bundles for one unit can come from one batch, and the batch a client's unit came from is on record when they want the same hair again. How lot numbers work is in what is lot tracking.

Units as recipes. A custom frontal wig is a recipe of three 22-inch bundles, a frontal and a cap, so making it takes them off stock, with the hours recorded, and "what could I make right now" says how many units the hair and lace on hand allow.

Reordering hair. Each length and texture comes up on a reorder list in days of cover, worked out from how fast it's used, with the vendor's lead time, and a vendor's price rises show up in the price-creep report.

Lots, recipes, reorder lists and price creep are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.

Questions people also ask

Is a wig business profitable?

It can be, priced from the hours. In the example, a wig maker ends the first year about $34,400 ahead on $124,100 of sales, with every hour paid at $22.

How much does it cost to make a custom wig?

In the example, a 22-inch frontal wig uses three bundles at $55 and a $60 frontal, about $233 with the cap, and five hours; with packaging and fees, $379. It sells for $650.

How much should I charge for a wig install?

In the example, $120 for an hour and a half with $12 of adhesive and tint. Price from your time and what your clients pay locally.

How much does it cost to start a wig business?

In the example, $11,300, with the first 60 bundles, the suite setup and $4,000 of working cash the biggest parts.