Hairdresser Sanna Furu values wellbeing above money
"Good employees are really important for small businesses"
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By Merja Ojansivu
Sanna Furu, 29, started her own hairdressing business as a private trader when she was 22 years old. Now she owns a profitable limited company that operates in downtown Helsinki, with four employees who rent a chair in her salon, and plans for the business to grow gradually to even larger proportions.
"The most important thing is that I have good employees, sleep soundly, and feel good."
So how good a business is running a hair salon in downtown Helsinki?
Furu punches figures into the calculator of her mobile phone and rattles off her compulsory costs: rent, taxes, social security contributions, insurance, equipment, loan repayments, and the share of income paid to her employees.
"That just about eats up all of it. There is some profit left over, but that is the way it has to be. Otherwise the prices would not be set right."
According to Furu, the hairdressers who rent chairs in her salon earn more than the industry average. The average income for a hairdresser is in the range of some 1,200 to 1,800 euros per month.
As an entrepreneur or chair renter, monthly earnings can rise to 2,000 - 2,500 euros. "This is definitely a typical low-wage field."
Furu has calculated that her business is growing at an annual rate of ten percent. She wants to keep the pace of growth at a moderate level.
"We all aim to limit our days to eight hours, and have proper annual vacations. I am on holiday for 6-7 weeks a year. We do not want to burn ourselves out."
Furu does have experiences of working too hard. In the beginning of her career, she worked 12-13 hours each day, and wound up exhausted.
"Now I aim for a maximum of ten hours a day, and I am constantly learning time management. As an entrepreneur, I naturally work longer days than my employees."
Furu has emphasised the importance of social security contributions to her employees.
"It is worth it to pay pension contributions according to your true income so that you get proper maternity allowances and pensions. After all, we are all young women at the age for becoming mothers."
Furu graduated as a hairdresser and barber from a two-year vocational programme that required a high school diploma.
"I had my doubts about choosing a trade profession after high school. There was the idea that a trade profession is not good enough for someone who has a high school degree."
"But when I decided to choose this field, I also decided to be a good hairdresser." Furu has been an active competitor and has achieved the Finnish championship of hairdressers, among others.
Furu believes that a high school education is a benefit to entrepreneurs. In her field for example, language skills are indispensable if one wants to train abroad and keep up to date with developments in the field.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 12.4.2004
More on this subject:
 Poor social security hinders entrepreneurship among women
FACTFILE: One in three entrepreneurs are women
Helsingin Sanomat
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