Why Are You Working 70 Hours a Week While Your Team Does the Bare Minimum?
You're working 70 hours while your team coasts because you've trained them to be dependent on you instead of developing them into leaders. The fix is identifying someone with leadership potential, giving them one area of responsibility like opening or closing procedures, letting them figure it out without rescuing them, then debriefing and expanding their role. Candace went from 70 hours to 40 hours in six months by developing her senior stylist to run daily operations. Vincent took his first vacation in five years because he documented his decision-making process and taught his assistant manager to think like an owner. This guide breaks down exactly how to stop being the bottleneck and build a team that functions without you.
Candace was refolding towels at 9 PM on a Saturday when she finally broke down.
Her salon had closed two hours earlier. Her team had left immediately. She was there alone, redoing everything they'd half-finished.
She called me from the salon floor. Crying.
"I can't do this anymore," she said. "I'm working 70 hours a week. My team works their shifts and leaves. Why am I the only one who cares?"
I've been coaching salon owners for over 25 years. Candace's problem is everywhere. Owners killing themselves while their teams coast.
Let me show you what's actually happening.
What Made Her the Only One Who Cared?
Candace had never taught her team to care. She'd taught them to wait for instructions.
"They don't take initiative," she told me. "They only do exactly what I tell them."
"Because that's what you trained them to do," I said.
She'd been micromanaging for eight years. Every decision went through her. Every problem was hers to solve.
"They text me constantly," she said. "Even on my day off. Can't make a single decision without me."
Her team wasn't incompetent. They were dependent. She'd created that dependency by never letting them think for themselves. This is exactly why teams keep testing boundaries. They've learned that standards are negotiable and you'll always step in to fix things.
Another salon owner, Vincent, had a different problem. His team made decisions. Terrible ones.
"I took one week off for my wedding," he told me. "Came back to absolute chaos."
Schedule was a mess. Clients double-booked. Products ordered wrong. Drama everywhere.
"They tried," he said. "But they have no idea how to actually run things."
Because he'd never taught them. He just did everything himself.
Then there's Shanice. She had three locations. Drove between all of them constantly. Putting out fires.
"I'm at Location 1 in the morning, Location 2 at lunch, Location 3 in the evening," she told me. "Every single day."
"Why?" I asked.
"Because they need me," she said.
They didn't need her. They just didn't know how to function without her because she'd never built real leadership.
What Changes When You Stop Being the Hero?
Candace's first step was admitting she was the problem.
"My team doesn't take initiative because I've never given them permission to," she realized.
We identified her senior stylist. Been there six years. Skilled. Reliable.
"Could she run the salon if you weren't there?" I asked.
"No," Candace said immediately.
"Why not?" I said.
Candace thought about it. "Because I've never let her."
We created a leadership development plan. Started small. Gave the senior stylist responsibility for opening procedures.
"She checks that everything's ready," Candace said. "I'm not texting her instructions anymore."
First week was hard. The stylist texted Candace constantly with questions.
"I didn't answer most of them," Candace said. "Told her to figure it out and we'd debrief later."
The stylist figured it out. Made some mistakes. Learned from them.
"Now she owns opening," Candace said. "I don't even think about it anymore."
Then they moved to closing. Same process. Give responsibility. Let her figure it out. Debrief and improve.
"Six months ago I was doing everything," Candace said. "Now my senior stylist runs daily operations. I work 40 hours a week instead of 70."
Vincent's problem was he'd never communicated his vision or decision-making process.
"My team doesn't know how I think," he realized. "So when I'm gone, they're lost."
We documented his decision trees. How he handles different situations. What his priorities are.
"Now when a problem comes up, they can ask themselves: what would Vincent do?" he said.
We also created weekly leadership meetings. Vincent and his assistant manager.
"I teach her how to think like an owner," Vincent said. "Not just how to follow instructions."
He went on a two-week vacation six months later. "First real vacation in five years," he said.
His team handled everything. "A few minor issues," Vincent said. "But nothing that couldn't wait until I got back."
That never would have happened before.
Shanice's three-location problem required building leaders at each salon.
"I can't be everywhere," she admitted. "I need people I can trust to run each location."
We identified potential leaders. Not necessarily the best stylists. The people who showed initiative. Who problem-solved. Who lifted others up.
"I was looking at the wrong criteria," Shanice said. "I kept promoting based on technical skill. Should have been promoting based on leadership potential."
She put her best leader in charge of Location 1. Gave her full authority to run it.
"I check in once a week," Shanice said. "She handles everything else."
Location 2 and 3 followed. Took a year. But now Shanice isn't driving between locations constantly.
"I visit each one once a week," she said. "For strategic planning. Not firefighting."
What's the Difference Between Telling and Teaching?
Candace used to tell her team what to do constantly. "Do this. Do that. Not like that. Like this."
"They never learned to think," she realized.
Now she asks questions instead. When someone comes with a problem, she doesn't solve it.
"What do you think you should do?" she asks.
First few times, her team was confused. "I don't know. That's why I'm asking you."
"Take a guess," Candace would say. "What makes sense?"
They'd suggest something. Usually reasonable.
"Okay, try it," Candace would say. "Let me know how it goes."
"My team is learning to make decisions," she said. "Because I stopped making every decision for them."
Vincent used to give his team answers. Now he gives them frameworks.
"When a client complains, what's your process?" he asked his assistant manager.
She didn't have one. She'd just come get Vincent every time.
"Listen to the complaint. Apologize for the experience. Fix it if possible. Escalate to me if it's beyond your authority," Vincent said. "That's the framework. Now you can handle complaints yourself."
His assistant manager started handling complaints. Got pretty good at it.
"Only escalates to me maybe once a month now," Vincent said. "Used to be every single day."
Shanice used to bark orders. "Do this now. Why isn't this done? Get this finished."
"My team was scared of me," she admitted. "They didn't respect me. They feared me."
Big difference.
She learned to communicate vision instead of orders.
"We're trying to create an experience where clients feel pampered from the moment they walk in," she told her Location 1 leader. "What would that look like?"
The leader had ideas. Greet clients at the door. Heated towels. Scalp massages during shampoo.
"Great," Shanice said. "Make it happen."
The leader felt ownership. It was her idea. She implemented it enthusiastically.
"That location's client retention is now 15% higher than my other two," Shanice said.
I break down these leadership development frameworks in detail in my masterclasses.
How Do You Know Who Can Actually Lead?
Candace's senior stylist was obvious. Been there longest. Most skilled. Most reliable.
"But she'd never had leadership responsibilities," Candace said. "I didn't know if she could do it."
She could. Once given the chance.
Vincent's assistant manager wasn't his best stylist. "She's middle-of-the-pack technically," he said.
But she had leadership qualities. "She'd already been informally leading," Vincent realized. "New stylists came to her with questions. She helped resolve conflicts. She was leading without a title."
Giving her the official role just formalized what was already happening.
Shanice made a mistake at first. She promoted her top producer at Location 2.
"She was bringing in the most revenue," Shanice said. "I thought that meant she'd be a good leader."
She wasn't. "Great stylist. Terrible leader," Shanice said. "She had no interest in helping others or managing operations."
Shanice moved her back to just being a stylist. No hard feelings.
"Then I promoted someone who showed actual leadership potential," Shanice said. "Someone who cared about the team, not just her own chair."
That worked much better. This is what makes great stylists stay. When you build real leadership and growth paths, your best people don't leave.
What Happens When You Actually Let Go?
Candace stopped working Saturdays six months into developing her leadership team.
"I was terrified," she said. "What if something went wrong?"
Something did go wrong. Product delivery was wrong. They needed extra color.
"My senior stylist called the supplier, worked it out, and borrowed from another salon until ours arrived," Candace said. "Problem solved. Without me."
That never would have happened before. She would have been called immediately to fix it.
Vincent took a two-week vacation. First one in five years.
"I checked my phone maybe three times," he said. "Just to make sure the salon hadn't burned down."
It hadn't. His team handled everything.
"One client complaint. My assistant manager resolved it perfectly. One scheduling conflict. They figured it out."
He came back to a smooth-running salon. "I actually felt a little unnecessary," he said with a laugh. "Which is exactly what I wanted."
Shanice stopped going to Location 2 and 3 daily.
"I check in weekly now," she said. "My location leaders text me updates. I'm not needed for day-to-day anymore."
She's opened a fourth location. "Because I have leaders who can run the first three without me," she said.
That was impossible a year ago when she was the bottleneck at all three locations.
When you're not buried in daily operations, you can finally work ON your business instead of just IN it. Things like optimizing your online presence or fixing a website that doesn't convert become possible when you're not the one refolding towels at 9 PM.
What About When Leadership Goes Wrong?
Candace's senior stylist made a bad decision once. Changed the schedule without asking. Caused conflicts.
"Old me would have yelled and taken the responsibility back," Candace said. "New me used it as a teaching moment."
She sat down with the stylist. "What happened? What would you do differently?"
The stylist realized her mistake. "I should have checked with everyone before changing the schedule," she said.
"Right," Candace said. "So what's your process going forward?"
They created a schedule-change protocol together. The mistake became a learning opportunity.
Vincent's assistant manager mishandled a difficult client. Made promises Vincent couldn't keep.
"The client was furious," Vincent said. "Demanded to speak to me."
He could have undermined his assistant manager. Apologized for her. Made her look incompetent.
Instead: "My team member was trying to help," he told the client. "She made a mistake. Here's what I can actually do for you."
Then privately with his assistant: "Let's talk about what happened and how to handle it differently next time."
She learned. Hasn't made that mistake again.
Shanice's Location 1 leader got too comfortable. Started slacking. Not holding her team accountable.
"I noticed standards slipping," Shanice said. "Had to address it."
She sat down with the leader. "I've noticed X, Y, Z issues. What's going on?"
The leader admitted she'd gotten complacent. "I guess I thought everything was fine."
"It's not," Shanice said. "You're responsible for maintaining standards. That's your job."
She gave her two weeks to fix it or lose the leadership role.
"She fixed it," Shanice said. "Standards are back up. She just needed accountability."
Where Do You Start?
Candace started with one person. Her senior stylist. One area of responsibility. Opening procedures.
"I didn't try to build a whole leadership team overnight," she said. "I started small."
That small start led to her senior stylist running daily operations within six months.
"Now I'm developing two more leaders," Candace said. "But I learned to start small and build."
Vincent started by documenting how he thinks.
"I wrote down my decision-making process for common situations," he said. "Took me a week."
Then he taught that to his assistant manager. "Now she makes decisions like I would," he said.
Shanice started by identifying who had actual leadership potential.
"Not who was the best stylist," she said. "Who showed initiative. Who helped others. Who problem-solved."
Once she promoted the right people, everything else fell into place.
All three of them went from overwhelmed, overworked, bottleneck owners to leaders who've built teams that actually function.
Candace: 70 hours weekly to 40 hours weekly, doing everything to senior stylist runs operations.
Vincent: first vacation in 5 years to two weeks with three phone checks, team handled everything.
Shanice: driving between 3 locations daily firefighting to weekly strategic visits, opened 4th location.
If you're working 70 hours while your team coasts, if you can't take time off without everything falling apart, if you're the only one who cares about your business, you're not leading. You're still managing.
Stop doing everything yourself. Start building people who can do it without you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Why am I working 70 hours a week while my team does the bare minimum?
A: You've trained your team to be dependent on you instead of developing them into leaders. Every decision goes through you, every problem is yours to solve, so they've learned to wait for instructions instead of taking initiative. The fix isn't working harder. It's identifying someone with leadership potential and giving them real responsibility to own.
Q: How do I get my team to take initiative instead of waiting for instructions?
A: Stop giving answers and start asking questions. When someone brings you a problem, ask "What do you think you should do?" Let them figure it out, then debrief afterward. Candace's team texted her constantly until she stopped answering and told them to figure it out. Within weeks, they started solving problems independently.
Q: How long does it take to develop a leader who can run my salon?
A: Expect 3-6 months for meaningful results. Candace gave her senior stylist one responsibility (opening procedures) and expanded from there. Six months later, the stylist was running daily operations. Start with one person, one area of responsibility, and build gradually rather than trying to create a leadership team overnight.
Q: How do I know who on my team has real leadership potential?
A: Look for initiative, not technical skill. Shanice made the mistake of promoting her top producer who had zero interest in helping others. The right person is already informally leading: new stylists come to them with questions, they help resolve conflicts, they problem-solve without being asked. Leadership potential shows up in behavior, not revenue numbers.
Q: What do I do when my new leader makes mistakes?
A: Use it as a teaching moment, not a reason to take the responsibility back. When Candace's senior stylist changed the schedule and caused conflicts, old Candace would have yelled and taken over. New Candace asked "What happened? What would you do differently?" They created a protocol together. The mistake became learning, not failure.
The leadership development systems I've built across three salon locations are exactly what I teach inside Level Up Academy.
