Latest / Honest Esthetician Education / I Spent $50,000 Opening A Storefront As An Esthetician

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I Spent $50,000 Opening A Storefront As An Esthetician · Honest Esthetician Education

• 0:00
  Hi guys, I'm with Maddie from Glon Studios back with another podcast.
• 0:04
  She spent $50,000 on a storefront and we're going to be talking about the biggest regrets and give you guys all the tips that she wished that she learned while going through this process.
• 0:16
  So we've done about five episodes now that you can watch before.
• 0:21
  I'd like to say we're experts now because we've done so many of these.
• 0:24
  We've done quite a few.
• 0:26
  Every year.
• 0:26
  Yes.
• 0:27
  Every year.
• 0:27
  This is our thing.
• 0:28
  But I guess the first thing that we'll talk about is, is it easy to get a storefront location?
• 0:36
  I think it really does depend on your location because for example, I know that you and Chris have shared your journey to finding a storefront location here in Queen Creek and Gilbert.
• 0:49
  And it seems to be a lot more difficult than somewhere like Sacramento area where I'm at.
• 0:55
  Um, for me, I really didn't struggle finding a location.
• 1:00
  It happened very naturally and just flowed in my life, which I feel like I have the lucky girl syndrome because I think things just happen as they should and flow very well.
• 1:14
  And it's very organic for me.
• 1:16
  Um, so I had moved homes and
• 1:20
  And where I live now, I was passing a new UPS to my old location and I drop off my packages for shipping out products at UPS.
• 1:30
  So I started going to a new UPS location and I loved the shopping center that the UPS was in.
• 1:37
  So I asked them who their landlord was and if they had availability and in the shopping center and they happened to.
• 1:45
  And it actually was the building next to the UPS, which would have been very convenient, but it was a little on the small side.
• 1:53
  And so I actually almost signed the lease.
• 1:56
  I had the lease in my hands and then signed.
• 1:59
  The realtor called me and said that he actually had a bigger suite in the same shopping center open up and asked if I wanted that one.
• 2:08
  And that's the one I'm in now.
• 2:09
  Wow.
• 2:10
  I know.
• 2:11
  I do believe that you're clearly you're.
• 2:15
  your city matters, I guess the demand and how you're, if your city's still growing and like for us, we can't even, there's nothing that's available on the market.
• 2:25
  Like it's a bunch of new builds.
• 2:27
  Um, any, everybody who has had businesses for 20 years has stayed in that business or when they do leave or sell their business, it's typically the same type of business, like a lot of dental offices, for instance.
• 2:41
  Why are there so many dentists?
• 2:42
  I know.
• 2:42
  Like, do we have an epidemic?
• 2:44
  I know there's literally three dentists in my shopping center.
• 2:47
  That's crazy.
• 2:48
  There's a big demand, I guess, teeth emergencies.
• 2:52
  But that was so silly.
• 2:56
  No, but it is so true.
• 2:57
  And I think that even comparing to.
• 3:01
  Florida, even when I lived there, I know an esthetician that was actively looking for a storefront and she had like 10 options.
• 3:10
  And I was so jealous of her, uh, that she was able to find so many options and see what worked best for her, what spaces she liked.
• 3:18
  It's kind of like, if I had the opportunity to actually own my own storefront, it would be such a long process, or I would have to spend, we actually did look into a new build and
• 3:31
  that alone with just building was $300,000.
• 3:37
  And then on top of that, you have to pay for the building.
• 3:41
  Like it probably would have been a million dollar project at the end of the day.
• 3:45
  And so I think it's really important to practice patience and like whatever season that you're in, don't rush to it.
• 3:52
  I think that's really important because it's,
• 3:54
  like there will always be opportunities for you to eventually get that dream storefront.
• 3:59
  And I think that there's a big pressure in our industry to have that.
• 4:03
  For sure.
• 4:03
  And I think it's awesome if you can obtain it and if that's what you want.
• 4:08
  But a lot of people also don't want that.
• 4:11
  And I think that I could have gone either way.
• 4:14
  I could have been happy renting or I could have been happy with a storefront.
• 4:17
  For me, a storefront was my ultimate goal.
• 4:20
  And I will say once I hit that, it was a little bit of, okay, what now?
• 4:27
  I'm just a goal-oriented person.
• 4:29
  I always like to have a goal in front of me and work towards something.
• 4:33
  And so to be honest too, when I finally did get my storefront and settled in and I'm happy there, I felt a little lost for a minute because it was like, well, this is something I've worked towards for so long and now I have it.
• 4:48
  And what's the next step?
• 4:50
  You know, is it finding another storefront?
• 4:52
  Is it bringing on another employee?
• 4:53
  I'm still kind of figuring out, but I do really enjoy that too.
• 4:57
  That's also a fun new challenge of just figuring out what my end goal with my business is.
• 5:03
  And if there is one or it's just keep evolving and growing.
• 5:06
  Yeah.
• 5:07
  When, can you talk a little bit about your process of where you started, like what the location was and then where you're at right now?
• 5:14
  Yeah.
• 5:14
  So I started in a beauty collective and,
• 5:17
  And that was where we did our first ever podcast together, which was so crazy.
• 5:22
  What?
• 5:22
  Four years ago now?
• 5:23
  Yeah.
• 5:24
  Or more?
• 5:24
  Yeah.
• 5:25
  Oh, it had to have been longer because I've been here for like five years now.
• 5:28
  Yeah.
• 5:28
  I keep telling.
• 5:29
  Or four or five?
• 5:30
  My business turned four in April.
• 5:32
  Oh, okay.
• 5:33
  Maybe I'm.
• 5:34
  I think.
• 5:34
  Okay.
• 5:35
  Yeah.
• 5:35
  Anyways.
• 5:36
  It was four years.
• 5:36
  Yeah.
• 5:36
  Four years.
• 5:37
  You were pregnant with Adelina, so.
• 5:39
  Oh, duh.
• 5:40
  Yeah.
• 5:40
  Wait.
• 5:40
  I'm.
• 5:41
  Yeah.
• 5:42
  Okay.
• 5:42
  Anyways.
• 5:43
  Three years.
• 5:43
  Three years.
• 5:44
  Yeah.
• 5:47
  I don't know.
• 5:47
  Okay.
• 5:47
  This time I'm getting, yes.
• 5:50
  Anyway.
• 5:52
  Um, yeah.
• 5:52
  So I was in like a small little room, you know, waist half this size.
• 5:57
  Sorry.
• 5:57
  Hang on.
• 6:00
  Are you OK?
• 6:00
  Yeah, I was choking.
• 6:03
  Do I need to do the Heimlich?
• 6:05
  Yeah, get over here.
• 6:09
  I was in a tiny, tiny little room in a beauty collective surrounded by a lot of other beauty industry professionals, which really, really helped me.
• 6:19
  figure out my footing.
• 6:20
  And, um, it was nice because none of them were new to being business owners.
• 6:24
  They had all been in business for at least a year, if not longer.
• 6:27
  Um, and so I really enjoyed having people to ask questions to, um, none of them were, did skincare, but they were all in the industry.
• 6:37
  And so they could give me answers about taxes or business license or that kind of thing, which for me, I just needed.
• 6:44
  Um,
• 6:46
  And then after a year of being in a small room, I moved into a bigger location upstairs of that beauty collective.
• 6:53
  And I think it was maybe 900 square feet, maybe a little smaller.
• 6:57
  It's a good size.
• 6:58
  Yeah, it was a good size.
• 7:00
  And I really liked that.
• 7:01
  But...
• 7:02
  There were a couple problems with the building.
• 7:04
  The AC didn't really like work very well in the summertime.
• 7:07
  And it was upstairs.
• 7:10
  It was kind of hidden.
• 7:11
  And so I just outgrew it a little bit.
• 7:15
  But I'm very happy with my start because it eased me into it.
• 7:20
  That's kind of how I started aesthetics in general, too.
• 7:22
  I started as a part-time esthetician, and I was a part-time nanny.
• 7:27
  And I just really wanted to make sure that, one, I liked doing skin.
• 7:31
  I liked being an esthetician, and it was really what I was passionate in.
• 7:35
  And then after about a year, then I took a full-time esthetician job and just kind of eased into it.
• 7:42
  Yeah, that's awesome.
• 7:43
  And I think, again, just going back to like not rushing something that isn't meant for you in that season, maybe because of the pressure that we all feel.
• 7:52
  Yeah.
• 7:52
  Or that we can feel.
• 7:53
  I feel like there's always one point in your career where you feel this pressure to have a storefront location.
• 7:58
  Yeah, for sure.
• 8:00
  I like the point that you made.
• 8:01
  Like, I don't know, you're, I feel like as an esthetician or just an entrepreneur, you're always chasing something.
• 8:06
  So when you get to that end goal, you always have something more that you want to accomplish.
• 8:12
  And so how was that process?
• 8:14
  Like what, what were you a little bit lost about once you reached that goal?
• 8:19
  Yeah.
• 8:19
  I mean, I think just my, when I started my business, it was just kind of honestly a little bit out of desperation of not knowing what else to do.
• 8:28
  Um, it was either, you know, keep being an employee and for lack of a better word, be miserable or move and be an employee for someone in a completely different area, which like I didn't want either to rebuild my whole clientele or start my own business.
• 8:44
  Yeah.
• 8:45
  Um, and so that seemed like the obvious answer of what to do.
• 8:50
  And when I opened my business, I didn't have those initial goals of, yeah, I want a storefront.
• 8:55
  I want employees.
• 8:56
  It was just kind of like, this is what I have to do.
• 8:58
  And then that evolved to being something that I love very dearly.
• 9:03
  And then I wanted to bring on an employee and then a storefront.
• 9:07
  And still now, now that I have my storefront, it's been almost a year and a half that we've been in there.
• 9:13
  I'm still just unsure of the next big move.
• 9:17
  Um, but I'm getting more and more comfortable about just living in the moment and enjoying what we have.
• 9:26
  Um...
• 9:27
  You know, me, it's just me and one employee right now.
• 9:30
  We have room for a third and we'll eventually bring a third on.
• 9:33
  But it's also you get in these moments, I think, in life in general.
• 9:38
  And you sit back and this is where I'm in, like, in my personal life and my business.
• 9:44
  And I sit back and I say.
• 9:46
  Yes, I have other goals, you know, get married, have kids, but also I'm really happy with where I'm at right now.
• 9:53
  And it's really important to just sit back and enjoy that because there's going to be moments in life that you don't have everything that you want or you're working towards your next big goal.
• 10:01
  And it's important to just remember to be happy with what you have.
• 10:07
  So yeah, no big plans for my next move, but just...
• 10:10
  enjoying all the hard work that I put in to get here.
• 10:13
  Yeah.
• 10:13
  I think that as we continue to grow our businesses, we all kind of get, I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but I do feel like a lot of people feel like you kind of get in this rut as a business owner.
• 10:26
  And so for sure, when you get to your, when you accomplish your goals, sometimes you forget how far you've come and how, um,
• 10:35
  little, the little version of you being a baby SD, or you even starting a business, you forget how good you have it now.
• 10:41
  Like how blessed are we to have a booked clientele, right?
• 10:46
  Or even the fact that people would dream to have a storefront location.
• 10:49
  You're like, oh wow, I actually have this now and whatever that looks like for you.
• 10:54
  But when you have it right in front of your eyes, sometimes we just get lost in burnout in the season of being an esthetician or feeling this pressure to bring on a new device or keep up with the product lines.
• 11:06
  And I just see it constantly in this industry.
• 11:08
  Something's always coming out.
• 11:09
  So like you have to learn to be happy with where you're at.
• 11:13
  For sure.
• 11:14
  I think that's so, so important.
• 11:17
  I think you're totally right, especially in this industry and honestly, most industries
• 11:21
  Everything's always evolving and growing.
• 11:23
  And you just look at our lives now, you know, technology is evolving and growing AI, you know, these self-driving cars, like everything is evolving so, so fast.
• 11:34
  And I think that you feel that pressure to evolve too.
• 11:38
  But there's also something so amazing and wonderful in just feeling so confident in your business that you don't feel the need to constantly be learning or bringing something new in.
• 11:50
  Because I also think that your clients enjoy what they're familiar with.
• 11:55
  And if you constantly have a new device or a new machine or a new treatment that you're trying to sell to your clients, it's a little bit of whiplash almost to help.
• 12:05
  Gosh, you just told me this product was great.
• 12:07
  Yeah.
• 12:09
  So, yeah, just right now my era is loving where I'm at and enjoying it because you never know when things are going to change either.
• 12:17
  Yeah.
• 12:17
  And I feel the change coming too.
• 12:21
  Yeah.
• 12:21
  I know that something is a brewing.
• 12:25
  And so I'm just trying to enjoy what we have right now.
• 12:28
  Yeah, no, I love that.
• 12:29
  You have to, every business center has to learn to be happy in the seasons.
• 12:33
  I mean, Chris is always like, I want this new gear.
• 12:36
  I want this and that.
• 12:37
  And I'm like, look at our equipment right now.
• 12:39
  Like this is insane.
• 12:40
  Like we, we have a good and you just have to learn to like love what and appreciate what you currently have.
• 12:47
  Um, so let's get into the storefront and all about it.
• 12:51
  So yeah.
• 12:52
  We talked a little bit about the process of you getting a storefront location and how it happened more naturally for you.
• 12:58
  And it was perfect timing location for you.
• 13:01
  How was the building when you first, how does it work getting a storefront location?
• 13:06
  Do you have to put on a deposit or I'm assuming you have to, is it like credit score checks, all that stuff?
• 13:12
  None of that.
• 13:13
  What?
• 13:14
  None of that?
• 13:15
  Literally none of that.
• 13:17
  I mean, maybe I think every landlord, what I've learned is every landlord is very different because, I mean, maybe I paid a security deposit.
• 13:27
  Maybe I paid the first month's rent.
• 13:29
  I don't even remember at this point.
• 13:31
  I can look back and let you guys know.
• 13:34
  But, um, they never checked my credit score.
• 13:37
  Um, it was basically like, Hey, this is the lease sign your life away and say that you're going to pay this.
• 13:45
  Um, and that was that.
• 13:47
  Wow.
• 13:48
  It was honestly really, really easy.
• 13:49
  It's, I think it's easier than getting an apartment.
• 13:52
  Wow.
• 13:53
  Yeah.
• 13:53
  That's a big move.
• 13:54
  I mean.
• 13:55
  Yeah.
• 13:55
  Yeah.
• 13:56
  I mean, I feel like it makes sense considering you see how many businesses go under.
• 14:01
  Yeah.
• 14:01
  Which is really sad.
• 14:02
  Yeah.
• 14:03
  Especially in my town.
• 14:04
  I'm like, oh my gosh, it's hard for small businesses to keep up.
• 14:07
  Yeah.
• 14:07
  Yeah.
• 14:07
  I think opening my business was way more stressful than opening the, getting, securing the location for the storefront.
• 14:18
  Yeah.
• 14:20
  Again, I feel like it happened very organically for me.
• 14:23
  But I also think that my landlord was really, really amazing and is amazing.
• 14:28
  I love him.
• 14:29
  Um, and then his nephew was like my realtor.
• 14:33
  Um, and so it just made communication really easy for all of us.
• 14:38
  Um, and they did a lot of the work too for me, at least for the construction side.
• 14:45
  So we did a walkthrough.
• 14:46
  They had like a half wall in there and they had some offices already put in.
• 14:52
  And I wanted a wall knocked down and I wanted a room put in and new flooring.
• 14:57
  And they did that all for me.
• 14:58
  Wow.
• 14:59
  Yeah.
• 15:00
  Yeah.
• 15:00
  Oh my goodness.
• 15:01
  So the construction side, I really didn't have to do a ton.
• 15:04
  The only thing that was a little costly that I would do 10 times over again was putting in a washer dryer hookup, um, and, uh, also a water heater for the washer too.
• 15:19
  Um, cause there wasn't a big enough one, just that like your normal, typical,
• 15:24
  storefront location you oh wow for a washer the water needs to be really hot to sanitize so we had to put one in was it like really expensive someone came in and quoted me twenty thousand dollars oh i remember that yeah and in that moment i said shoot i was like
• 15:44
  I need to get out of this.
• 15:45
  Yeah.
• 15:46
  This is very, very scary.
• 15:48
  And I fucked up.
• 15:52
  But then I found someone who did it, I think, for five.
• 15:56
  Oh, my gosh.
• 15:56
  That's a significant difference.
• 15:58
  Yeah.
• 15:59
  Would you say that?
• 15:59
  Would you recommend having a savings for situations like that?
• 16:06
  Yes.
• 16:07
  So I had really, really good advice given to me by another industry professional.
• 16:12
  Yeah.
• 16:13
  Um, because I knew that I wanted a storefront after I had been in business for a year, I said, okay, this is my ultimate goal.
• 16:20
  I want to just grow, grow, grow, grow, grow.
• 16:23
  Um, but there's no blueprint.
• 16:25
  You know, I've, I've talked about this so many times, but there's no blueprint blueprint in this industry for anything we do.
• 16:31
  And no one before you has really opened up and shared online because everyone wants to gatekeep everything.
• 16:38
  And so I had dinner with one of my girlfriends who owns her business and she told me that she felt like she was ready when she had $50,000 in her savings.
• 16:50
  Wow.
• 16:52
  And since she opened several years before I opened mine, I wanted to do more money than that because...
• 17:00
  Everything's gotten more expensive.
• 17:01
  Yeah.
• 17:02
  So I waited until I had a decent chunk.
• 17:06
  Yeah.
• 17:07
  And like Victoria said, it cost me around $50,000 to open my storefront.
• 17:11
  That is crazy.
• 17:14
  So did you have full freedom to...
• 17:17
  kind of just decorate your whole space?
• 17:19
  Yeah.
• 17:20
  They pretty much didn't care what I did.
• 17:22
  The only thing that was a little bit of a bummer, but I also accepted these terms was the offices that we have for our treatment rooms have windows in them.
• 17:34
  Um, and they came like that.
• 17:36
  I did want the windows taken out because obviously people are undressing in our treatment rooms.
• 17:40
  We wanted
• 17:47
  if I signed a five-year lease.
• 17:49
  I didn't want to lease that long because I hadn't worked in that area before.
• 17:54
  Um, I had started my business in Fair Oaks, which is kind of in the middle of two freeways, maybe 20 minutes away from Sacramento.
• 18:02
  And this place is in gold river, which is right off of a freeway, um, a little bit closer to Sacramento.
• 18:09
  Um,
• 18:10
  So it was just a little bit of a different neighborhood, and I just wanted to make sure that it was a good location.
• 18:15
  So I think I ended up signing a three-and-a-half-year lease.
• 18:20
  Now, looking back, I'm like, maybe I should have just done the five.
• 18:24
  But you never know.
• 18:25
  I think...
• 18:26
  playing it safe can never do you wrong, right?
• 18:29
  When you're still learning in the beginning and you could be saying the opposite.
• 18:33
  I wish I didn't sign a five-year lease.
• 18:36
  For sure.
• 18:36
  For sure.
• 18:37
  I didn't want to get stuck in a building that wouldn't have been right.
• 18:42
  Yeah.
• 18:44
  And I still think that there are maybe other locations that could be better because the neighborhood that we're in,
• 18:51
  the community is maybe a little bit older than our average client, but I also think in California, people are really used to driving a certain distance to get to where they need to go.
• 19:02
  Whereas maybe here people want to drive five minutes, you know, away from the house.
• 19:06
  No, absolutely.
• 19:07
  So, yeah, I think that, so you said that one of your biggest regrets was the washer and dryer situation.
• 19:15
  What was your...
• 19:17
  top, I guess we'll talk about your next top, um, just struggle with the storefront location and opening it.
• 19:24
  Was there anything major that happened?
• 19:27
  Yes.
• 19:29
  Um, I think the number one thing that went wrong, I have a beautiful storefront, so I can't really say that anything went wrong because it's amazing now, but we planned for, um,
• 19:44
  Two to three weeks of construction because, again, they did a ton for us already.
• 19:50
  All we had to do was come in and do the walls.
• 19:53
  So the walls were textured, and I didn't like that, and I also wanted lime wash.
• 19:58
  So lime wash doesn't really look great, in my personal opinion, on a textured wall.
• 20:02
  So we wanted to smooth that out.
• 20:04
  Now, my dad did do all of the construction for me.
• 20:09
  So I saved a ton of money by not having to pay someone to do it.
• 20:13
  But he's obviously an amateur.
• 20:15
  So he didn't know how to smooth texture.
• 20:18
  And there were a couple ways that we thought we could do it.
• 20:23
  And he tried one way, he tried another way.
• 20:26
  And of course the third way, which was the most amount of work was the only thing that worked.
• 20:31
  Oh no.
• 20:33
  We basically, I forget what it was called, but we like layered the wall with something to smooth it out.
• 20:38
  And then we had to go back and sand that.
• 20:41
  And it was just a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot of manual labor.
• 20:45
  So we had to do it very quickly.
• 20:48
  And by the end of it, well, I mean, we almost killed each other.
• 20:52
  But also we were dead.
• 20:54
  Our bodies were exhausted.
• 20:55
  My backs never hurt more in my life.
• 20:58
  I was there every day working late with him.
• 21:02
  So that definitely was the hardest part about it.
• 21:07
  But at the end of the day, we got it done.
• 21:09
  So that's kind of all that matters.
• 21:10
  Yeah.
• 21:11
  Would you say that you'd recommend giving yourself an extra few weeks based on what you had planned?
• 21:16
  Yeah.
• 21:17
  Then for sure.
• 21:18
  Okay.
• 21:19
  Especially if you're doing the work yourself, but also I think even if you hire out, it's probably always going to take longer than they say it is like a home buying a home.
• 21:28
  Yeah.
• 21:29
  I think it's construction is just time consuming and you don't really know what you're getting into until you get into it.
• 21:35
  Um, yeah.
• 21:37
  So yeah, we could have given it more time, but I also think my dad lives in Kentucky.
• 21:42
  He came to California to do the work.
• 21:44
  He needed to get back at a certain point.
• 21:46
  So we did kind of have to push through.
• 21:50
  That's such a good point with construction.
• 21:53
  So the place where I'm at right now, it is a storefront location, but I'm in the back part of the building.
• 22:01
  And when they were...
• 22:04
  re when they were remodeling the whole place I remember I was like hey when can I move into my room and get things settled and decorated and the process took I would say an extra month than I was initially supposed to start and so yeah that is such a good point I mean I've I've seen it with even people building homes yeah I was gonna say that too and it's like wow it can take so much longer than the actual date that they tell you
• 22:28
  Yeah.
• 22:28
  Yeah.
• 22:29
  So that's like my number one piece of advice.
• 22:31
  I think when it comes to opening a business in general, but especially if you're doing any kind of construction or work, always give yourself, you know, double the amount of time that you think it's going to be.
• 22:45
  Even just like after we did the construction, oh my God, I'll never forget this.
• 22:49
  I gave myself basically two days to move everything in.
• 22:55
  furniture and we had movers but obviously they pick stuff up and they put it in the new location like you have to unpack all your boxes and yeah get things organized i was probably the worst person on earth to be around in those two days because i was so stressed my boyfriend was out of town for a friend's birthday my dad was basically dead to the world because i he just worked him like a mule for the construction and it was pretty much just me unpacking all
• 23:25
  all these boxes, setting up the rooms that we could take clients.
• 23:29
  I highly regret that because I put so much stress on myself, but it was also like, I hate to reschedule clients and I couldn't go in and block time off because I didn't know when we would be done with construction.
• 23:43
  Yeah.
• 23:44
  So when we had the chance, we just moved and did it as fast as we could.
• 23:49
  But I think, I
• 23:50
  hindsight's 2020, I would have gone back and just moved clients around to give myself, I think you need at least a week to move, you know, and get settled.
• 24:00
  In your mental state.
• 24:01
  That's such a good point.
• 24:02
  Yeah.
• 24:03
  Like you need time to decompress, especially when we're about to like pour into our clients.
• 24:07
  Yeah.
• 24:08
  It's a lot.
• 24:08
  I feel like sometimes they can feel your stress.
• 24:11
  Oh, totally.
• 24:12
  Totally.
• 24:12
  And I feel so bad, like coming to work, feeling that type of way.
• 24:16
  And I'll never forget the first client I took in my new storefront location.
• 24:21
  I was a mess, you know, cause you move rooms and everything's in a different place.
• 24:29
  And I had forgotten something in the storage room and I went to go get it and I locked myself in the storage room and
• 24:37
  And I had to figure out how to get out and like, like Jimmy a key and stop.
• 24:44
  You locked yourself?
• 24:45
  I locked myself.
• 24:46
  My client's in the treatment room.
• 24:47
  I'm locked in the storage closet.
• 24:49
  You're like, help.
• 24:51
  No, literally.
• 24:52
  Let me out.
• 24:54
  That's crazy.
• 24:55
  Could you imagine like she has to get out of the bed and go.
• 24:58
  i was just a mess what is it called the locksmith yeah i mean it was one of those like wow it's like one thing after another you're like what is happening i wanted to go home after her yeah it's like oh my god let me move back to my old location i'm done um but now it's fine yes yeah it's great oh my gosh so that is crazy i know right
• 25:22
  Oh my gosh.
• 25:22
  Okay.
• 25:23
  So washer and dryer for sure.
• 25:25
  I think that's a necessity so that you don't have to especially go back and forth home and or I don't know.
• 25:31
  Would you recommend a laundry service or do everything?
• 25:33
  I looked into it and I forget how much money it was a month, but it would have...
• 25:42
  the washer and dryer has paid itself off.
• 25:43
  Yeah.
• 25:44
  Having that, we do probably four loads a day.
• 25:47
  Oh my gosh.
• 25:48
  Yeah.
• 25:49
  And I also didn't want to buy a ton of extra linens so that we could go multiple days without washing, you know?
• 25:56
  Because then also you need storage for all those extra linens.
• 25:59
  You know, we use a shit ton of linens.
• 26:02
  There's no way.
• 26:03
  What about the... Did you look into...
• 26:07
  places that had like fragrance free did you get that far into it that's always my biggest worry yeah that's my biggest worry is that they'll smell yeah like fragrance yeah I didn't even worry about that yeah but that's awesome I would do the same thing if I had the ability to have my washer and dryer right now I take everything home um oh that's rough I know you guys have a really nice washing machine here though and laundry room in general it's it's it's big so it works that's nice
• 26:35
  Yeah.
• 26:35
  And it's just me.
• 26:36
  I mean, I don't have any employees right now.
• 26:39
  Um, so it's, it's very, and I work two to two days, about two days a week and I like jam pack my days.
• 26:45
  So like when I do my laundry, it's pretty consistent.
• 26:48
  I know my schedule, but, um, yeah.
• 26:51
  So for, um,
• 26:53
  for like looking into a storefront location, did you look through the building and did it feel right?
• 26:58
  Did you feel like there were some things that you couldn't work through that you had to kind of figure out?
• 27:03
  This was really hard because I'm such a visual person and I was completely changing the layout, you know, and putting rooms in, taking walls out.
• 27:13
  And so it was really hard for me to visualize it.
• 27:16
  And when they showed me this bigger location, I had kind of already tried to visualize the first location I had.
• 27:23
  Um, I needed to see the layout.
• 27:25
  For example, when we moved in our house, I literally drew basically a blueprint of what the house looked like so that we could also put our furniture in and figure out where we wanted the couch, where we wanted the TV.
• 27:37
  And I had to do that with this storefront too.
• 27:40
  because the walls weren't up the floor wasn't in the rooms weren't put together and i just needed to know what it looked like so that was really challenging for me and then it was also like because the walls weren't up we weren't sure exactly what size we wanted the rooms we couldn't get furniture because we didn't know the size of anything so furniture came in slowly it just and i think clients are okay with that too you know they are they know
• 28:11
  They know that you're, they know that you don't want to like rush into it.
• 28:16
  Like they know that you're in the process of going through your storefront.
• 28:18
  Yeah.
• 28:19
  They're like, you just moved to this is amazing.
• 28:21
  Honestly, thank God for my clients because every single one who came to our new location, um, which is obviously all of our clients.
• 28:30
  Um, they all followed, but they're always so nice about it.
• 28:33
  I feel like clients are like happy for your growth.
• 28:35
  Yeah, they really are.
• 28:37
  And they love like being a part of it too.
• 28:39
  You know, so many of them, I became an esthetician when I was 19 and I've had clients since I was 19.
• 28:46
  I'm now 28.
• 28:49
  Have you had any clients that became estheticians?
• 28:51
  Yes.
• 28:52
  yeah me too yeah i feel like it's very common yeah i really like that i think it's fun i mean obviously i love my job we love our jobs and it's really nice i feel like especially in today's day and age i don't know if you talk to a lot of other people who work in different industries but i feel like a lot of people hate their jobs yes they are really unhappy and the whole vibe of today's culture is i feel like moving away from living to work yeah
• 29:20
  And or working to live.
• 29:23
  Yeah.
• 29:24
  You know, like, yeah, like you're, you're, that's your 24 seven life.
• 29:29
  Yeah.
• 29:29
  Your life revolves around work.
• 29:31
  And instead of like living like that, people are like, okay, this is my job.
• 29:36
  I clock in and out and then I go live my life.
• 29:39
  And I do really like that.
• 29:40
  I think that's really healthy, but I also like my job.
• 29:45
  Yeah.
• 29:45
  I also kind of live for my work and like it's so fulfilling.
• 29:49
  Yeah.
• 29:50
  It's so fulfilling.
• 29:52
  Yeah.
• 29:52
  Yeah.
• 29:53
  And I feel like I use chat, GBT, to visualize things too.
• 30:00
  I don't know.
• 30:01
  Did you do that during the storefront process?
• 30:03
  I didn't use it a ton because...
• 30:08
  I don't know.
• 30:08
  Yeah, I feel like it's so temperamental.
• 30:11
  And I'm also...
• 30:12
  I still haven't paid for the pro where I can just do unlimited images.
• 30:17
  Stop!
• 30:18
  I need to.
• 30:19
  I don't know why I haven't.
• 30:20
  I do use chat a lot.
• 30:24
  I love chat.
• 30:25
  This is another topic that we should talk about because some estheticians are like...
• 30:29
  how can you use chat?
• 30:30
  This is all about, you know, creativity in this industry.
• 30:35
  And we can tell when you use chat and like, I don't think you should use chat for everything.
• 30:40
  Yeah.
• 30:40
  But I think sometimes it's really helpful.
• 30:42
  Yeah.
• 30:42
  And I think that once you use it more and more, it understands your rubric, understands your business.
• 30:49
  And I don't know, I always say, like for me, for instance, I use chat and I say, you know, just, you know,
• 30:56
  keep it the exact same, but just make it sound better.
• 30:59
  Like make it sound like me still, but make sure it's professional.
• 31:03
  One thing that I do take out whenever I like do any typing is I take out the dashes.
• 31:08
  Cause I feel like that just like, that just screams chat.
• 31:11
  And I'm just like, I don't want to go that far, but it is nice when you can like have a base of ideas even.
• 31:17
  Yeah.
• 31:17
  Like I use chat.
• 31:18
  I'll be like, Hey, what do you think a good Instagram posts?
• 31:22
  this week is you know sometimes like yeah i just need a little yeah i need a little buddy to get ideas from um it's funny that you say the dash thing because i used dashes in my paragraphs and my captions before chat was a thing and now people are like if you use dashes i can tell you use chat and i'm like okay i've been doing that i've been using dashes i've been proper but now i feel awkward about it and i try to take them out you're like it's me guys i swear
• 31:50
  That's hilarious.
• 31:51
  But no, I, I, um, once I kind of put together my presentation and my speech and everything, I use chat a lot when preparing for the aesthetic experience, just talking through my topics and saying, is there anything I should add?
• 32:04
  Like what are good hook lines to start my sentence off?
• 32:09
  You know, as long as you have a base, I will say it's good.
• 32:13
  I think that if you're relying on it for, to be your, um,
• 32:19
  your voice.
• 32:19
  I think that it, as long as it's coming from you and you're using it as a resource and not like this is the end all be all like chat shouldn't be your business, but it is a great resource and tool.
• 32:31
  I now do, I think AI has gotten out of hand, like strawberry to the fruit AI videos.
• 32:36
  Yes.
• 32:37
  We're obsessed.
• 32:40
  comment below if you've also seen the ai fruit videos if you're as invested as i keep my fruit separate now i'm like no one's beefing or getting pregnant any vegetable or if you i can't look at my fruit the same cherry girl get out of here i know miss cherry charita
• 32:57
  There's like, yeah, we can go down a whole rabbit hole.
• 33:00
  But yeah, I think that chat is a great resource.
• 33:03
  You know, we are living, unfortunately, in like an AI world now.
• 33:07
  And it's just kind of the direction that it's going.
• 33:09
  It's all about evolving.
• 33:10
  You like you constantly have to evolve.
• 33:11
  And my dad was a professor for, you know, a college.
• 33:15
  And he was all for getting students to use chat and getting...
• 33:21
  you know, students to understand it because it can be a really helpful resource.
• 33:25
  It doesn't take away from the work, but it can help you do even more and do your work even better.
• 33:31
  You know, my boyfriend's in finance and he uses it all the time to double check his work and
• 33:37
  get new ideas and figure out how to do a better workflow.
• 33:41
  And yeah.
• 33:42
  And it's not like you're looking up how, how can I treat somebody's acne or what's the, what's the best anti-aging routine?
• 33:49
  It's like, you are the expert in the esthetician and it's, if you're not harming anybody's skin or using it in like that way or whatever way that is not appropriate, I think it's a great tool.
• 34:00
  I think so too.
• 34:01
  I I'm pro chat.
• 34:03
  Yeah.
• 34:04
  Pro chat.
• 34:05
  Pro chat.
• 34:05
  Pro chat.
• 34:06
  Me too.
• 34:07
  So we talked a little about, about the regrets.
• 34:10
  Is there anything, any major regrets before we go into the positives?
• 34:19
  to think on that I feel like there needs to be like a drum roll sound okay we'll go back to that one um it sounds like it was a pretty nice process though I mean it sounds like it happened organically for you and you really got to make it your own space yeah um what that is actually do you have a question what how much did you probably spend on furniture and retail space and front desk like is it a huge chunk
• 34:47
  Yes.
• 34:48
  I'm assuming.
• 34:49
  Yes.
• 34:50
  The, we did not, I don't know who we is.
• 34:54
  Me.
• 34:55
  We.
• 34:56
  You and Max say that.
• 34:58
  Well, he didn't do.
• 35:00
  He was very helpful, but he, I try to keep my relationship with, this might be a different topic, but I try to keep my relationship and my business separate.
• 35:08
  Yeah.
• 35:09
  Even when we do get married, like, he's the handyman though, right?
• 35:13
  He's the handyman.
• 35:15
  Him and Gus, my dog.
• 35:16
  They come in and help.
• 35:18
  Cute.
• 35:19
  Cute.
• 35:19
  But no, I feel like I'm very independent in that regard.
• 35:22
  Like I don't need a man involved in my business or telling me what to do with my finances.
• 35:26
  I can't relate.
• 35:29
  But also you guys are married.
• 35:30
  You know, when Max and I started dating, we were, I had been a business owner for a year already.
• 35:37
  So like Glow On was established.
• 35:39
  I've been in the industry.
• 35:40
  He doesn't, he's not as familiar in the industry.
• 35:42
  Absolutely.
• 35:43
  Anyway, this is a whole nother topic, but sorry.
• 35:45
  I just thought it was funny.
• 35:46
  It's totally fine.
• 35:49
  Well, he is in finances.
• 35:50
  So you would think like that could be a benefit for me.
• 35:53
  Maybe one day.
• 35:54
  But, and I've definitely said that, but he's also not American and doesn't know taxes and all this.
• 35:59
  So, you know.
• 36:00
  No, totally.
• 36:01
  Yeah.
• 36:01
  No, I get that.
• 36:02
  I respect it.
• 36:03
  A hundred percent.
• 36:03
  If he could do my taxes though, that'd be amazing.
• 36:07
  Max, get on it.
• 36:09
  You're watching this.
• 36:09
  Get on it.
• 36:13
  but yes furniture was really expensive I would say it was one of the biggest expenses but also I didn't want to hold back on furniture because I knew that most like my reception desk I custom did that I would say that might have been my biggest regret money wise reception desks are so expensive like what
• 36:39
  For what?
• 36:40
  I know.
• 36:41
  It does, I will say, really makes the room because I had like two – it was so, so, so, so, so cheap looking.
• 36:51
  But I had two desks put together before I had my custom-built desk.
• 36:55
  Yeah.
• 36:55
  And it looked like crap.
• 36:57
  And that's a huge thing.
• 36:59
  Yeah.
• 37:00
  I was – I really like the way that it's turned out, but it's not going to be a piece of furniture that holds up really well.
• 37:07
  I can already tell.
• 37:08
  Mm-hmm.
• 37:09
  And it's probably a little bit on the trendy side.
• 37:14
  I think I could make it work for a really long time, but eventually I'll need to get something different.
• 37:19
  So I would say try not to do anything too trendy.
• 37:25
  I did do primarily white with all my furniture, which I feel like will work really well with everything.
• 37:30
  Everything and whatever vibe I want to create in other spaces, potentially.
• 37:36
  My reception desk and my retail shelves were the two things that I spent the most amount of money on other than putting in the washer and dryer.
• 37:45
  I think I have regrets with who I used for the reception desk, but at the end of the day, I don't have regrets for the money.
• 37:52
  This woodmaker, um, a local Sacramento person.
• 37:57
  So it wasn't like a major company.
• 37:58
  No, it wasn't a major company.
• 37:59
  I wish I used a major company.
• 38:01
  That's.
• 38:01
  I really like to support small businesses, but I think the customer service and maybe that person had never done this kind of desk before.
• 38:10
  There was just things like no holes in the desk for cords to go through.
• 38:16
  I think someone else might have thought to put outlets in the desk.
• 38:21
  Yeah.
• 38:22
  Yeah.
• 38:22
  do all the little things and the little details and um when the desk was put in there was fuzz that was sealed into the desk from the moving blankets and the bottom foot
• 38:37
  whatever it's called, um, where we put gold was foil and started peeling off and they had to replace it.
• 38:44
  So like there were little things like that.
• 38:45
  That was definitely an annoyance and a big bummer when you're spending a huge chunk of money on something custom.
• 38:52
  But at the end of the day, it is what it is.
• 38:55
  Um, furniture will just have to be replaced, especially when you put it in a business.
• 39:00
  People don't treat your stuff the same way they treat their stuff.
• 39:03
  Do you ever have kids come in?
• 39:05
  Yes, we do occasionally.
• 39:08
  But of course, like all of our furniture is white, you know, our couch is white.
• 39:12
  I'm you're like, don't put your shoes, please.
• 39:14
  I know.
• 39:16
  But it just is what it is.
• 39:17
  You buy furniture knowing you're going to have to replace it like our couch.
• 39:20
  We're definitely going to have to replace multiple times in the future.
• 39:24
  But I couldn't think of a color other than white.
• 39:27
  I know it's timeless.
• 39:28
  Did you destroy away from the pink as a whole then?
• 39:31
  Um, my employee Ashlyn's room has a lot of pink in there.
• 39:35
  Okay.
• 39:36
  Um, but there's no, there's pops of like pink decor.
• 39:39
  Yeah.
• 39:40
  Um, in our place, but it's more neutrals and I'm just like a beige girly.
• 39:43
  That's just who I am at home too.
• 39:46
  Um, with pops of color.
• 39:48
  And I like that cause I can kind of switch up the vibe.
• 39:51
  Yeah.
• 39:51
  Um, but I think it's just classy and timeless.
• 39:54
  Yeah.
• 39:55
  White looks clean.
• 39:56
  I think it's so important to walk into your business and feel comfortable.
• 40:00
  clean.
• 40:00
  Yeah, that's a really good point.
• 40:02
  And I think that going back to the major investments of retail shelves and front desk, like that is somebody's first impression of you and your business.
• 40:11
  So I love...
• 40:13
  Like if you're going to spend any extra money, I believe that that's where you would want to spend it.
• 40:19
  A hundred percent.
• 40:20
  Yeah.
• 40:20
  I have no regrets.
• 40:22
  Um, maybe I do.
• 40:23
  I just said I do, but I, I think I would have to spend that money regardless.
• 40:28
  You want people to walk in and be, Oh, wow.
• 40:31
  wow.
• 40:31
  And I've really tried to make that happen.
• 40:35
  And I also want people to walk in and feel good.
• 40:37
  I want it to smell good.
• 40:38
  I want there to be drinks on hand.
• 40:41
  If they're thirsty, I want there to be snacks.
• 40:42
  If they're hungry, I want the bathroom to be aesthetic.
• 40:47
  It's also picture friendly, marketing.
• 40:49
  Yeah.
• 40:50
  It's just great for your business.
• 40:51
  If people come in, they want to take a picture and they come in and they feel...
• 40:57
  clean and comfortable.
• 40:59
  I think if someone walks in and your business is dirty, then immediately they don't feel comfortable.
• 41:04
  And also you're cleaning their face.
• 41:06
  They want your business to be clean.
• 41:08
  Absolutely.
• 41:08
  And I think it's just like also the shopping experience.
• 41:11
  Like every girl loves to shop at Sephora.
• 41:14
  It is.
• 41:14
  I mean, I do.
• 41:14
  I don't know if you do, but I love to go to Sephora for my makeup and shop.
• 41:19
  It's just a fun experience.
• 41:20
  So the more appealing that you can make it, the better.
• 41:23
  And also it opens up
• 41:26
  your clients to ask questions or while they're waiting for their appointment.
• 41:30
  Hey, what's this product?
• 41:31
  Do you have a lot of featured product?
• 41:34
  Do you do product of the month or?
• 41:36
  We do products of the week and we, we kind of just posted on our Instagram story just to educate about our products, because we do have products.
• 41:43
  so many different ones.
• 41:45
  Um, I really would love to feature products more, um, and do kind of a little feature spotlight, but I also am very cautious about not overfilling my storefront and not having someone walk in and be like, Oh, there's so much junk.
• 42:04
  Yeah.
• 42:04
  I think that there's a very fine line of that.
• 42:08
  And so I actually just bought a third retail shelf to have more products because we filled up our two that we have right now.
• 42:18
  Wow.
• 42:19
  Um, so I think that'll help a lot more and maybe there will be a shelf for like a feature product of the week and that switches every week.
• 42:26
  We have like a bulletin board and we switch up what's on there a lot.
• 42:31
  Um, and we'll do product highlights on there or upcoming events cause we have a loyalty club and we throw loyalty club events for that.
• 42:40
  Um, so yeah, we try to switch it up too and, um, try to switch up the shelves so that people come in every quarter and, you know, they have to look around a little bit more for their products.
• 42:51
  We try to have new snacks and drinks and just, yeah.
• 42:56
  What is that?
• 42:57
  Have you always had snacks and drinks when you had your different locations?
• 43:02
  Um.
• 43:03
  um so my other locations at the beauty collective that i was at it was kind of like on the landlord to have drinks and snacks and um it wasn't always necessarily like stocked yeah um but i didn't have space in my tiny little room necessarily i would always have like
• 43:22
  a bowl of pink starbursts or you know something little like that but this we kind of have our whole snack station and we have a little mini fridge and i have little bottles of champagne or rose or prosecco for if they're celebrating or i give um new mommies a little drink for their first facial after they have their baby or brides to be i want to go i want to book an appointment
• 43:53
  that's crazy um I love that do your clients love it as well do you get a lot of comments you know what's so funny is so many of them don't take anything and I feel like I have to force it on them and then I have some clients that are just like hey I'm my full name is Madeline and I have the little Madelines from Costco that are individually wrapped stop and I just know my girlies who like them are coming in and taking a Madeline so I already have one set aside for them when they come in
• 44:22
  Um, and then I have a couple of clients that'll always be like, Hey, I'm grabbing my drink or I'm grabbing my snack or, you know, so I love that because I'm like, yes, I spent the money.
• 44:31
  You know, I want you guys to utilize it.
• 44:34
  Um, but I would also love to, okay.
• 44:38
  Question for the viewers, um.
• 44:41
  I would love to offer my clients coffee or tea or something a little bit more customizable and take their drink order.
• 44:49
  But I feel like you come in, for me at least, my appointments are set up.
• 44:54
  You come in and within the first five minutes, as long as you're not there insanely early, you're already laying down.
• 45:01
  So there's not really a time to drink.
• 45:03
  Like I love to see my hairstylist because she has a glass of wine waiting for me and a little coffee ready to go.
• 45:08
  So fun.
• 45:09
  And I love that.
• 45:10
  I think that's so fun.
• 45:11
  I would love to offer that to my clients, but they lay down majority of the time.
• 45:15
  I feel like it's kind of a waste water.
• 45:17
  I have that struggle is I'll offer them a water and then they take two sips and then they just take the rest of it unless they're parched and they down it within that.
• 45:26
  Yeah.
• 45:26
  Well, it is a lot hotter here.
• 45:31
  maybe i mean i'm just thinking off the top of my head i'm like maybe have like hey if you want to enjoy a refreshment come 15 minutes early for your appointment i don't know but that might be if you have a storefront location but then it kind of causes a lot of people in the waiting area maybe i don't know that's a little tricky but so yeah and again if you guys have any furniture with the coffee yeah or if somebody has a little too much wine before they're
• 45:57
  Yeah.
• 45:57
  Maybe we just leave it out.
• 45:58
  It is.
• 45:58
  Yeah.
• 45:58
  Yeah.
• 45:58
  I like, I like what you have.
• 46:00
  They normally grab it to go after they leave.
• 46:02
  Cause a lot of them to drive a good amount of distance.
• 46:05
  We have some clients that drive from San Francisco.
• 46:07
  That's two hours away.
• 46:08
  Um, how cute would that be?
• 46:10
  If like somebody had a little coffee shop in there, wait, that'd be too chaotic.
• 46:14
  I keep telling Max, this is Max's dream to own a coffee shop.
• 46:18
  And, um, I keep telling him he needs to open a little, or just come in on Saturday mornings and make our clients coffee.
• 46:24
  Um,
• 46:24
  Oh, that would be so cute.
• 46:26
  Yeah.
• 46:26
  He makes everyone coffee at our loyalty club events or like any event we have.
• 46:30
  He's the bartender and makes coffee.
• 46:32
  I love that.
• 46:33
  Yeah.
• 46:34
  I would love to eventually have a coffee shop next to Glow On and it's his.
• 46:38
  And I also.
• 46:40
  The dream.
• 46:40
  Okay.
• 46:41
  I won't tell all my plans.
• 46:42
  Yes.
• 46:43
  I'll tell you later.
• 46:44
  Yes.
• 46:44
  Sounds great.
• 46:47
  Okay.
• 46:48
  So we talked a little bit about struggles, some positives too.
• 46:52
  I think that learning lessons are always a positive.
• 46:54
  Um, what would be your favorite part about having a storefront location versus a standalone treatment room or even just having a little bit bigger of a space?
• 47:05
  Yeah.
• 47:06
  My favorite part is that it's like mine and I can make it exactly what I want.
• 47:11
  And I get a little frustrated because we rent our house right now and we can't paint the walls.
• 47:17
  We can't make the house our own.
• 47:19
  And I'm obviously renting where I'm at with my storefront, but yeah.
• 47:24
  I feel like it's more worth it to make it my own.
• 47:28
  And I don't mind putting in the money because I really care about the appearance and the aesthetic of it.
• 47:34
  And with my other locations, I didn't want to replace the flooring because I knew it was a much more temporary location.
• 47:41
  Whereas this, I know I'm going to be here for at least three years, probably even longer.
• 47:47
  So it makes it more worth it to put in money and really make,
• 47:51
  care about every single detail.
• 47:53
  And I'm such a detail oriented person that I love the floors.
• 47:57
  I love the way the walls look.
• 47:59
  I love the furniture.
• 48:00
  I don't mind putting in the money because I know that it's worth it and I'm going to be there for long enough to enjoy it.
• 48:07
  Yeah.
• 48:08
  I love that.
• 48:08
  Is there anything else that you...
• 48:10
  that you love?
• 48:11
  Is it just like the, like, do you love your treatment rooms more?
• 48:15
  Do you love, do your clients make comments too that they love the location way better?
• 48:20
  The clients definitely love the location way more.
• 48:23
  It's a little bit more accessible.
• 48:25
  My other location, my last location before this, you had to walk up a huge flight of stairs and they were such steep stairs.
• 48:32
  You remember those?
• 48:32
  Yes.
• 48:32
  Yes.
• 48:33
  It was like a workout.
• 48:34
  It's like stair master.
• 48:35
  Yeah.
• 48:36
  And I stopped actually wearing heels because to work, because I knew I had to climb the stairs.
• 48:42
  Um, and I probably also didn't invest in big furniture pieces because I had Claire stairs.
• 48:47
  Yeah.
• 48:47
  Claire Claire's earrings.
• 48:49
  Yeah.
• 48:50
  Um, uh, so yes, I love the location.
• 48:55
  The clients love the location.
• 48:56
  It's right off of the freeway.
• 48:57
  It's a little bit more accessible for some people.
• 48:59
  It's a 20 minute drive from my house.
• 49:01
  It's so much nicer rather than driving down like a long street and having a million and one stoplights.
• 49:08
  Um, it's very clean where I worked as an employee.
• 49:12
  It was downtown Sacramento and there was a lot of the, um, you know, homeless population that would walk around and make people feel a little unsafe or bang on the windows.
• 49:24
  And I love that we don't have to deal with that.
• 49:28
  Um, it's very, very safe.
• 49:30
  It's a very quiet, um,
• 49:32
  occasionally we'll hear the dentist next door drilling and yeah that sounds rough like but no our our neighbors are great um the ups store is right there our packages ship out so fast yeah it's really perfect honestly i'm i'm very blessed i couldn't have asked for a better situation um and i just love just i'm constantly doing something to improve it yeah um we just put in some little
• 50:02
  uh wall lights and hung portraits and now i'm like oh i kind of want to make the entrance look cute i want to get a little bench for outside and put up holiday decor outside just to make it a little bit more of a porch appeal um so yeah i'm i just i'm thriving i love it the fun of making it your own is amazing do you get a lot of walk-ins
• 50:25
  We do have people, we have a sign, Skin Solutions by Rachel also did this.
• 50:32
  And I love how the A-frame looks, but it's a little A-frame and we did it on Canva.
• 50:41
  It has two of our before and afters on there and then the QR code.
• 50:45
  Every single person, which again, we're surrounded by three dentist's office.
• 50:48
  People are walking by all the time.
• 50:50
  Every single person that walks by our business stops and looks at this sign.
• 50:55
  50% of them scan the QR code or they'll take a business card or they'll write down the name or Google us immediately.
• 51:02
  Um, yeah, so we don't really get a lot of walk-ins because we have signs on our door that say we're by appointment only.
• 51:11
  We don't have a receptionist.
• 51:13
  We don't really want people walking in because we're likely in with appointments.
• 51:18
  And for me personally, the last thing I want to do, um,
• 51:22
  it during an appointment is walk out of someone's service and help someone who's walked in from the street.
• 51:26
  Do you have to lock your door then, or do you just leave it open?
• 51:29
  We're not allowed to because of fire hazard.
• 51:33
  It's not like there's just a little switch.
• 51:35
  We have to use a key to lock it from the bottom.
• 51:38
  So our business hours, the front door always has to be open and unlocked.
• 51:43
  That's the one I think downside of having a storefront and not having a receptionist that does everything.
• 51:49
  kind of suck.
• 51:50
  Um, but it really hasn't been a huge problem.
• 51:53
  We kind of have to say, Hey, we are by appointment only.
• 51:56
  You can take a card and call us.
• 51:58
  Unfortunately we are with a client, but I would rather invest my time into that client that has booked and is there than someone who's just walked in from the street.
• 52:08
  Yeah.
• 52:08
  I can talk to them later.
• 52:10
  Yeah.
• 52:10
  Yeah.
• 52:11
  Awesome.
• 52:12
  Um, if you guys haven't seen her Instagram, her store for it is so beautiful.
• 52:16
  I love the little touches that you've been adding, even the gold frame around your TV.
• 52:20
  So cute.
• 52:21
  I feel like, like, I don't know.
• 52:22
  It's, it's like decorating your home.
• 52:24
  It's over time.
• 52:26
  You just start building it and you get to add more and more and make it your own.
• 52:29
  And I love that.
• 52:30
  And more write-offs.
• 52:31
  Yes, absolutely.
• 52:32
  We love write-offs.
• 52:34
  That's the best perk.
• 52:36
  My last question is if you had, it's probably going to be a, not a tough one, but if you had one piece of advice for somebody looking into getting a storefront, what would it be?
• 52:48
  Um.
• 52:50
  It's okay.
• 52:51
  I, I can narrow it down to two things and we've already touched on these.
• 52:55
  It's save up more money than you think that you're going to need and expect to make it back much slower than you think.
• 53:06
  And to give yourself enough time to move in and get settled and do
• 53:20
  a thousand times more ready than you thought you were.
• 53:23
  Yeah.
• 53:23
  Cause it's an investment.
• 53:25
  Yeah.
• 53:25
  No, it really is.
• 53:26
  Yeah.
• 53:27
  And it's not just your monthly payment or your rent.
• 53:30
  It's, you know, everything, your wifi, your insurance, your, every building kind of requires different things, different insurances.
• 53:41
  I have to have a special fire insurance.
• 53:43
  Yeah.
• 53:44
  And it's, I mean, I'm assuming it's more expensive than, yeah.
• 53:48
  Yeah.
• 53:49
  the monthly, you know, rent is more expensive.
• 53:51
  So it's a lot easier to like, it's, it's a lot harder financially, I would assume because it's a bigger chunk.
• 53:58
  So you want to make sure, like you said, you, you plan for not the worst.
• 54:02
  I don't like to plan for the worst, but you just want to have a cushion.
• 54:05
  Yeah.
• 54:06
  Yeah.
• 54:06
  I will say this is going to be a little bit of a crazy statement, but I make less money owning a storefront than I did renting a small room.
• 54:14
  Yeah.
• 54:15
  And I believe it.
• 54:19
  quick to run to a storefront location.
• 54:22
  And yeah, it may look more glamorous, but it costs more.
• 54:25
  Yeah.
• 54:26
  Yeah.
• 54:26
  Yeah.
• 54:27
  So enjoy whatever season you're in.
• 54:30
  Learn to appreciate every season as you grow as an esthetician.
• 54:35
  Obviously you didn't grow...
• 54:37
  to have a store for overnight.
• 54:38
  So just know that it comes with a lot of hard work, dedication.
• 54:42
  Um, every city state is going to look different for everybody.
• 54:46
  Be patient.
• 54:47
  Um, don't rush into things.
• 54:49
  So, um, yeah, this was such a fun podcast and I hope that it was valuable.
• 54:54
  There was so much good information that I learned.
• 54:56
  Yes.
• 54:56
  Um, but, uh, yeah,
• 55:01
  Maddie's Instagram is glow on studios.
• 55:04
  Yes.
• 55:05
  Um, and my tech talk, I'm posting a lot more about our storefront there.
• 55:09
  Yeah.
• 55:10
  Oh my gosh.
• 55:10
  I love all your tech talk videos.
• 55:11
  I always tell people her voice is soothing to listen to.
• 55:15
  I know that sounds weird.
• 55:17
  You're so nice.
• 55:17
  You say that all the time to me.
• 55:19
  No, I do a little bit obsessed.
• 55:20
  Like, can you, can you sing me a song tonight?
• 55:23
  Oh my God.
• 55:24
  You don't want to hear that.
• 55:25
  I'm just kidding.
• 55:25
  I'd rather hear you.
• 55:28
  Okay.
• 55:29
  Alrighty.
• 55:29
  Well, thank you guys so much to, uh, for listening to this episode all the way through.
• 55:34
  If you have listened this far, comment, glow on, show us a love answer any, all the questions that we asked throughout the video.
• 55:41
  Uh, if you watch AI videos or if you have any tips and tricks on share your coffee, strawberry.
• 55:49
  Well, thank you guys so much for listening, like comment, subscribe, and we will see you in the next video.
• 55:54
  Bye.
• 55:55
  Cheers.