Software application helps hair salons to better schedule appointments

Persistence is paying off for Jason Swett, founder and developer of Snip, a software application that helps hair salons easily schedule customers.

After almost three years of development, cold calls, product demonstrations and online marketing, Swett, a software developer, says his venture is profitable and poised for growth. "I started working on Snip by building a network of roughly 10 stylists and salon owners and I consulted my 'panel of experts' as I developed ideas and built the product. Due to the surprisingly sophisticated requirements of hair salon scheduling, it took me 10 months to build something complete enough for anyone to use to run her business."

Swett says the inspiration for his application was a response to a problem he discovered when his wife began working in the salon industry. "I started Snip in January 2011 when my wife got a job at a hair salon and I noticed how not-user-friendly their scheduling software was. The competition wasn't too strong, either, and since I was in the market for a new business idea after having gone through five other failed product business attempts, this seemed like an opportunity that would potentially make sense."

Swett says he currently has five salons and over 50 stylists using his application, each paying a monthly fee based on the number of features selected by  the salon. Most recently, Swett says, Sin Chun, who just opened Sin Republic in Grand Rapids will be using his scheduling software.

Looking to the future, Swett is very optimistic about the growth potential for Snip and says if he falls short of hitting his 2014 goal of adding 12 more salons, it will be because of "lack of execution, not opportunity."

To learn more about Snip you can visit their website here.

Writer: John Rumery, Innovation and Jobs News Editor