When Barney Martin sold his award-winning hair salon in Sydney’s Surry Hills after 25 years, it was partly because he couldn’t keep up with competition for staff.

“We had a [rented] chair space open 200 metres from us and I had three staff go there. It was one of the reasons I sold my business – it was just getting too hard,” he said. “There is a lot of chair space – people are going freelance.”