Latest / Honest Esthetician Education / Our Path To Success As a Solo Esthetician

Transcript

Our Path To Success As a Solo Esthetician · Honest Esthetician Education

• 0:08
  Hi guys, and welcome back to another episode of your Best Esthetician Podcast.
• 0:12
  As you can see, we are in a new location.
• 0:14
  We're actually in Dallas, Texas.
• 0:16
  We have so many podcasts lined up while we're here that we cannot wait to release with you guys.
• 0:21
  But we wanted to give you guys a little life update.
• 0:24
  We've been talking to so many estheticians, as you guys know, with our podcasts.
• 0:28
  And it's just been really...
• 0:30
  It has sparked just so much of our past and what we've been through and just how far we've come.
• 0:38
  Just the fact that we're even able to travel to Dallas and bring the kids with us.
• 0:43
  It's just been such a fun journey.
• 0:44
  So we want to give you guys a little update and talk about our struggles and what we're currently going through as a business right now.
• 0:50
  Yeah, it's been pretty inspiring to be here and kind of tell the story over and over and over again to every guest that we meet.
• 0:56
  And then also hear their stories, too.
• 0:58
  And we had a really good talk at the end of our day yesterday with with Uni and just kind of them explaining their story of her getting into aesthetics and being terrified and not having money and and the ways that we kind of scrape things together.
• 1:13
  And it reminded us and and.
• 1:16
  kind of gave us a place of good perspective to look back.
• 1:18
  And, you know, last night we were, you and I went out to dinner and I was looking at March from two years ago.
• 1:25
  So where we are right now, two years in the past and trying to like relive like what we felt in those moments.
• 1:29
  And, and fortunately, you know, with, you know, some struggles that we've been through in life, we've always made the best out of every situation, even when we were broke and
• 1:37
  But looking back at two years and remembering opening up the business and being terrified and what we did to make money.
• 1:44
  And we were explaining that we were doing shipped together as a family.
• 1:47
  So we were doing like a grocery delivery as a family with our son at the time just to make ends meet.
• 1:53
  And remembering that those nights that we'd sit up frustrated and trying to get clients and trying to make money and being here right now in this beautiful home in Dallas and and be able to interview like these amazing estheticians and business owners.
• 2:08
  You know, two years ago, that dream didn't feel like it would ever come into fruition.
• 2:13
  So being where we are now, I think it's what we were explaining with Unian talking about was just remembering where you came from.
• 2:20
  And, you know, if you can make it to where you are now, imagine where you're going to be in another two years if you continue on the same trajectory.
• 2:28
  Absolutely.
• 2:28
  And I and it's I will never forget the struggle that we went through in the beginning.
• 2:35
  And just looking at where we're at right now, I it's when you're in the moment of success and getting past that point of of basically you're drowning.
• 2:45
  Yeah.
• 2:46
  It's such a breath of fresh air, but you do forget because you're living in the moment of success.
• 2:53
  So when we talk about it with other people and the things that we've been through, and I'm like, wow, we have been through a lot.
• 2:59
  And it was such a hard time.
• 3:01
  And...
• 3:02
  I think a lot of people don't know our story because on Instagram, all we do share and there are posts in there where I do share my journey, but it's obviously not every single post.
• 3:12
  I'm not going to be like, I started with zero clients in a new town, every single post.
• 3:16
  But if you don't know, I mean, we literally started a business from scratch and it was the hardest thing that we've ever done.
• 3:21
  But two years later, it has been the most rewarding.
• 3:24
  And you truly cannot give up in those moments of despair and feeling hopeless because
• 3:30
  we did what we had to do to keep the lights on.
• 3:33
  We took out a personal loan.
• 3:34
  We, you know, went into massive debt.
• 3:37
  And now we are in a place where we're able to finally pay that back.
• 3:40
  And I think you have to go into the mindset of, yes, you may not make money in the beginning.
• 3:45
  You are basically essentially investing into your business.
• 3:48
  And we were not in a place where Chris, you know, I mean, we were a team.
• 3:53
  Chris and I are a team.
• 3:54
  So we run Skin by You together.
• 3:56
  We like.
• 3:58
  can't go without each other.
• 3:59
  We complement each other so well with our business.
• 4:01
  So we built Skin By You together.
• 4:03
  So Chris didn't work at the time and I didn't want our kids to be in daycare.
• 4:08
  I just was like, one of us has to sacrifice and one of us is gonna stay home.
• 4:12
  So Chris does stay home with the kids.
• 4:14
  And now two years later, we're in a place where we have
• 4:18
  true balance of what works best for us.
• 4:20
  And I think it's really something that's so special because you can build your business however you want it to be.
• 4:26
  We I could I could have built my business to where I'm in the treatment room five days a week, you know, and kind of maybe that looks like balance for me.
• 4:34
  But for us, we wanted to spend time as a family.
• 4:36
  So now I only work two to three days a week.
• 4:39
  And as we built, we figured out
• 4:41
  what we want to grow and venture out with other businesses like sister companies essentially.
• 4:46
  So that's why we started Optimize Aesthetics, our Patreon, interviewing other estheticians.
• 4:51
  So it's just been really fun to see our growth and all the things that we've been able to accomplish together.
• 4:56
  Yeah, I think also thinking about the seeds that we plant in the beginning, even as far as this podcast goes.
• 5:01
  And, you know, we talk about the business a lot.
• 5:03
  But this is going to be almost episode 60 of our podcast together.
• 5:08
  And we started that podcast, you know, two years ago or so now.
• 5:11
  And it was a really rough start.
• 5:13
  We jumped into the podcast when we were broke and we were trying to kind of document the journey and teach about what we were doing at the time.
• 5:20
  Um, but business was so difficult.
• 5:22
  Um, and we were struggling so much.
• 5:24
  It was so hard.
• 5:25
  And at the time, which we still have to, we were filming the podcast after our son went to sleep.
• 5:29
  It was before the baby was born.
• 5:30
  Um, but filming at nine o'clock at night and doing these podcasts and then we'd watch it back and they were like kind of embarrassing.
• 5:38
  And we were really struggling to kind of get the information out correctly and be comfortable speaking in front of the camera and on these microphones.
• 5:45
  And now we're here two years later.
• 5:48
  And, you know, even from the beginning, and I'm sure you remember as well, but I was like, one day we're going to travel across the U.S. and interview all these estheticians.
• 5:57
  And at the time, you know, I remember you going like, OK, relax.
• 6:00
  Like we can't even like we're barely paying rent.
• 6:02
  And the podcast has at the time we were averaging like two to three viewers.
• 6:06
  I remember the first time we got like 10 views on a podcast.
• 6:09
  I'm like, Victoria, YouTube is going up, right?
• 6:12
  And now we're here a couple years later and averaging 250, 350 views within the first month of podcast dropping and everything is growing and accumulating.
• 6:22
  is we're 60 podcasts in now and now we're finally traveling and interviewing more guests and we have more travel planned for this year um but you know with all that to say it's so crazy to look back where we started um for one you weren't a podcaster and for two you weren't an interviewer right and we weren't travelers we couldn't afford it i'm still not
• 6:40
  I'm not the best at it, you guys.
• 6:41
  And I'm learning and I'm growing.
• 6:43
  And I think one thing that I really wanted to touch on was you're not gonna be an expert at anything at first.
• 6:49
  If you open up your business, you're not gonna be, you're not gonna know the ins and out of owning a business.
• 6:55
  If you go into trying to start a podcast, you're not gonna be the best at it at first.
• 6:59
  And I, for so long was,
• 7:02
  was cringing at my own content of me talking on camera because we look at ourselves and we just analyze it.
• 7:08
  We over analyze and we just nitpick ourselves.
• 7:11
  And I still struggle with this, you guys.
• 7:13
  And I just want you guys to know that like you can't
• 7:18
  you can't get better unless you keep putting content out.
• 7:21
  And that's where like I look at podcasts from a year ago.
• 7:24
  There's videos where my perspective has changed on things.
• 7:27
  The way that I speak is honestly embarrassing to me because I didn't know how to talk on camera
• 7:35
  uh organically i guess you'd say so there is so much growth when it comes to you putting yourself out there and again you're not gonna if you keep nitpicking yourself you're never gonna get past that point there was a point where i never posted our podcast but i uploaded them i'm like okay well they're there you know but that also built my confidence and it built my skill of being able to speak better yeah
• 7:58
  And again, I now I promote it because I feel more comfortable.
• 8:01
  But for the longest time, I'm like, hey, this is just practice.
• 8:04
  It doesn't have to be perfect.
• 8:06
  I don't have to promote it right away.
• 8:08
  And yeah, I think we were like 20 podcasts in before you started promoting.
• 8:12
  And we were already we started getting views and started getting that traction, which I think was also good for us to like not have a head start on YouTube as well and not get like.
• 8:20
  I don't want to call them free subscribers, but people only subscribing because they're trying to be nice to you because they're friends with you or followers on Instagram.
• 8:26
  But really built the foundation.
• 8:28
  And I'm sure there's a lot of people that have watched or watching these podcasts who don't even follow you on Instagram and, you know, don't fully know what you're doing over there.
• 8:36
  But stumble upon the podcast where we try to just drop a lot of information.
• 8:40
  And, you know, with with episodes like this, just inspire people because we were struggling.
• 8:45
  You know, if you guys have time, go back and look at the first podcast and the lighting was the lighting.
• 8:51
  Well, yeah, I really don't want to either.
• 8:52
  I was just telling somebody yesterday, I was like, I don't know if I'm ready to go back and watch the first five episodes yet.
• 8:57
  Um, but looking back and going like, wow, they were rough.
• 9:00
  The lighting was worse.
• 9:01
  Um, our microphone situation was changing constantly.
• 9:03
  We actually bought these mics that are amazing for podcasts and couldn't afford them after a few months.
• 9:08
  And we couldn't put the energy into the podcast.
• 9:11
  So we ended up returning the microphones and taking a break for a long time.
• 9:16
  I was pregnant.
• 9:17
  I mean, we just found out we had a baby and I'm like, Oh,
• 9:19
  All right, we need to put everything on pause for a second.
• 9:22
  And I think you have to realize that when you're trying to be an expert in so many different things at one time, it's overwhelming and you spread yourself too thin.
• 9:29
  I think that we try to rush what success is because we see other people and we want to get to where they are.
• 9:36
  But success truly does take time.
• 9:39
  And if we would have done...
• 9:41
  five different things, which I feel like we were at the time, we couldn't ever perfect one because we were brand new baby business owners.
• 9:50
  And so for me, I think it's really important to, I mean, number one, look at your personality.
• 9:56
  I think me and you are different in that way where you're like,
• 9:58
  let's do it all.
• 9:59
  And I'm like, hold on.
• 10:00
  I need time to process one thing at a time.
• 10:03
  I'm more mellow and you're like, let's go.
• 10:05
  And so it's, I mean, which I love about us because we just compliment each other so well in that aspect.
• 10:11
  And again, it's just been so fun to see ourselves grow and I'm excited to see where we will be at
• 10:18
  in two more years because another update really quickly.
• 10:22
  We don't know if we're going to get it.
• 10:24
  Nothing's locked in, but we're looking into a storefront location, which is really exciting because this is going to be a new learning opportunity for us to
• 10:33
  help other estheticians or other business owners of us going through it ourselves and the things to look out for.
• 10:39
  And it's just such a new and again, it's sparking a new fear, like that fear when we first opened up our business, I'm like, Oh my gosh, it's that same feeling.
• 10:48
  Cause it's triple the rent.
• 10:50
  It's triple the, what is it called?
• 10:53
  Triple the,
• 10:55
  risk.
• 10:56
  And I'm comfortable right now, you guys.
• 10:59
  And I don't like that.
• 11:00
  I, we, I want to push myself out of my comfort zone.
• 11:03
  I'm happy with where I'm at.
• 11:04
  And I would totally like, if this is, if my business was the, uh, the way it is right now, I'm thankful I get to spend time with my kids, but I know I'm going to have to sacrifice some more time now.
• 11:14
  And if we do end up blocking that end, it's all in God's timing, but it is scary.
• 11:19
  I like wake up some nights and I'm like, Oh my gosh, what if we get it?
• 11:22
  Like, you know, it's so,
• 11:23
  scary.
• 11:24
  Yeah, it's definitely a new, yeah, terrifying, but exciting moment.
• 11:27
  So this is another reason why we have this podcast is to kind of clock this journey in and take you guys along for the ride.
• 11:33
  So as we learn and make mistakes, hopefully we can pass down that information to the next people to take those shortcuts.
• 11:40
  And yeah, so like I said, Victoria kind of put that information out like early, we just applied for a place and we'll apply for more as well.
• 11:46
  Yeah.
• 11:47
  But yeah, that's kind of the biggest goal for this podcast is to let everyone know that
• 11:52
  we're struggling and we're figuring it out still too.
• 11:54
  Right.
• 11:55
  And we're out of the struggle financially for the most part.
• 11:57
  Um, you know, there's better months and months that aren't as big.
• 12:00
  Um, but we're out of, you know, kind of that, that real scraping your way out of the hole in the beginning of business.
• 12:05
  And we want to share that and let you know that we were there just like everybody else.
• 12:09
  We didn't take a shortcut.
• 12:10
  We didn't have some kind of giant funding.
• 12:13
  There was no, I wasn't working full time and funded her side project until it worked.
• 12:17
  It was us
• 12:18
  clawing our way out to a position to pay off debt and build goods, you know, systems and you not have to work six days a week anymore.
• 12:25
  So, yeah, that's kind of the biggest inspiration.
• 12:28
  And we we made so many mistakes in the beginning and we know what to tell other business owners or other solo estheticians, what to avoid and what not to do when you first start the successes and the secrets that we have.
• 12:41
  discovered just doing that and opening up our business, which is where we teach everything on Patreon.
• 12:46
  We teach protocols in the treatment room, how to shoot and edit, how to attract your dream clientele.
• 12:52
  So premium quality over quantity of clients and actually making more in the long run.
• 12:57
  So if you want to check that out, make sure you join our exclusive community.
• 13:01
  But yeah, I hope you guys are enjoying all of these podcasts and us interviewing so many Estes.
• 13:07
  We literally would love to interview every single esthetician from small to big.
• 13:11
  We have some in Florida next month that we know and they're such amazing estheticians.
• 13:18
  Now they're not...
• 13:19
  you know, quote unquote, huge social media influencers, but they are just such amazing business owners.
• 13:23
  And I'm so excited to just interview everybody, a big, small to big estheticians in the space.
• 13:30
  So yeah, thank you guys so much for tuning in today's episode.
• 13:33
  Make sure you like, comment and subscribe and we will see in the next video.