For most people, the Hamptons season starts on Memorial Day weekend, but for me, it starts right after New Year’s Day!

When we are in the salon in mid-June and clients are wowed by how busy it is and how we make everything work in our little indoor-outdoor spot in the middle of Bridgehampton, little do they know the real pressure behind the scenes. It takes months of preparation to bring the salon to a state where every problem can be solved on the spot and everything looks ready, as though we were never closed for nine months between seasons.

For me, the process starts in January, after the holiday season is over and at the same time that part of our team is preparing to travel to Miami and Palm Beach, but that is another post.

I start with the basics by reviewing my notes from the previous season, along with feedback from stylists and clients, to understand what worked well and what could be improved. I literally think about every difficult interaction with a client or employee, what caused it, how we solved it, and what I can do to prevent it from happening again.

I then work closely with my colleagues on the management team to secure a house for our employees, one that is big enough, comfortable, and hopefully close to the salon.

I also tour the salon and review what changes need to happen, including painting, touch-ups, and replacing old items with new ones. I think about the customer experience, what we can improve this year, and how we can create a better flow for our team.

I have two big challenges. One is lateness, which happens quite often in the Hamptons because the traffic is horrible and the roads are limited. The other is what happens when a team member from any department calls out at the last minute, since both situations affect our schedule and put pressure on the team.

Already in January, I am thinking about how to build enough flexibility into the schedule so that we can accommodate situations when we are short-staffed or when clients arrive late, sometimes very late. Leaving some openings in the schedule and training team members to handle multiple tasks, even outside their own departments, are key to managing both problems at once.

Then comes the team scheduling and figuring out how to divide everyone’s time between Manhattan and Bridgehampton while also taking their individual and time-off requests into consideration. At the same time, we want to make sure we can accommodate our clients at both locations. Add to that hosting members of our Miami team, who come to cater to their clients spending the summer here, and the scheduling becomes even more complicated.

This year, I found it especially challenging because I feel this was the first year in my career when both locations were almost equally busy. New York was slightly less busy than Bridgehampton, but still busy enough that it was difficult to decide how to divide everyone’s time and accommodate all our clients, everywhere, all at once.

It is not just the stylists; it is also the assistants, front desk, housekeeping, nail technicians, and makeup artists. We need to be able to offer everything at both locations so our clients can rely on us, and if there is one thing Valery Joseph Salon does not say, it is “no.”

However, to always be able to say yes, we have to be well prepared, with enough team members, enough inventory, and the highest possible level of customer service to defuse difficult situations and cater to our clients.

About a month before opening, the official schedule is complete, the location upgrades are done, the house is secured, appointments are open for booking, and the driver is ready to begin making daily trips back and forth.

Once the schedule is sent to all our clients and booking begins, I start receiving calls, sometimes only three weeks later, about major weddings or parties happening in the city while the Hamptons location is already open. After months of preparation, I now need to revise the schedule again and keep more technicians in the city to accommodate the influx there, even though I already have so many clients booked in Bridgehampton.

If there is one thing I have learned, it is that we must remain flexible with the schedule. It is not only me who has to roll with the punches and make changes in the moment of truth, sometimes with as little as two hours’ notice before the VJ bus leaves the city at 7:00 a.m.; the team members have to do it too, and let me tell you, it is not easy.

During the week leading up to opening, the housekeeping team comes in for the final touch-ups, the music is tested again, the inventory is triple-checked, and we all prepare to arrive.

By opening weekend, our clients see a beautiful salon ready for summer, but what they do not see are the months of planning, scheduling, budgeting, problem-solving, and teamwork it takes to make the experience feel effortless.

At that point, I personally pray for a beautiful, sunny opening weekend because rain can quite literally rain on our parade.

Stick around for Part Two next week, when I will talk about what happens once the season actually begins.