Rich

To answer some questions that you have asked with my opinion only.

1. Yes you can make money in this business.
2. Yes you can afford $2400 a month in rent.
3. Yes you can draw a paycheck of $60,000 a year for yourself.

All of that said you must follow some or all of the following requirments in order to do that.

1. You must have a fairly large amount of beds, somewhere north of 15 or 18.
2. You must charge a decent amount per session.
3. You must have good lotion sales.
4. You must have a good amount of step up beds and use them.
5. You must get rid of the idea that you can have a salon without advertising and do $180-$240K a year in volume. Anybody telling you that you can generate north of $200K a year by just opening the door is an idiot.
6. You must train and educate yourself and your staff on the new methods of running a salon.
7. I would recommend you having sunless spray unit or units, not air brush. This is up to you, just as High Pressure would be up to you but I would not open a salon without it.
8. My ideal salon from what I have seen and heard about lately is 22-28 units with a good mixture of High Pressure, 2 to 3 spray units, about 8 base level beds and the rest in various stages of step up units.

Others will argue with the mix and that is fine. To each their own, that is what makes the world go round. The size is the key. You are limited on your personal income by what you gross and what you gross is limited by how many and what types of beds you have. Good luck!