If the word “negotiation” jolts your shoulders up to your ears and immediately makes your face contort, you can’t afford to miss this episode of Spa Marketing Made Easy. Because whether you like it or not, as a spa owner and CEO, negotiation is a non-negotiable part of business.  

Now, here’s the good news, anyone can learn to be a smooth sailing negotiator, and here to show you how is my guest, Susie Tomenchok. 

Susie works with individuals and organizations to amplify their strengths and unleash their internal negotiation skills to increase professional success. 

With over twenty-five years as a corporate executive with a Fortune 50 company, Susie and her team were responsible for end-to-end agreements valued at more than $80M annually and her portfolio of clients included ESPN, Discovery, Viacom, NBC, CBS and Boeing. 

From big boardrooms to small business owners, strengthening your negotiation skill set is for everyone. 

In this episode, we discuss:

•  Why most small business owners need to shift their mindset around negotiation and understanding its role in business beyond what we commonly think of (i.e. salary negotiations)
• How to get out of your own way when it comes to ressisting negotiation and leaving opportunity on the table 
• What it really means to be a good negotiator and why you don’t have to be inauthentic, but rather embrace your personal strengths to leverage negotiations 
• The breakdown of Susie’s P.A.C.E. Method and how it facilitates walking away with a win-win situation

References Mentioned in Episode #236: Using Personal Strengths in Professional Negotiations with Susie Tomenchok

• Connect with Susie via her website, Instagram or LinkedIn
• Get Susie’s free Negotiation Love resource by clicking here
• Learn more about your Myers-Briggs Type Indicator 
• To keep the conversation going, ask questions, and connect with other like-minded aestheticians building thriving careers, click here to join the free Spa Marketing Made Easy Podcast community. 

As a thank you for being a loyal listener to the Spa Marketing Made Easy podcast and for helping us to reach more aestheticians working on growing their businesses and creating a life they love, we have created a free resource portal just for you! 

It’s totally free to join, and for every 25 reviews we get on iTunes, we’ll add a new training video, PDF, tracker, or other high-value resource to help you grow your aesthetic business!

If you have yet to leave a review, click here to leave one on iTunes, and click here to access the free resources already unlocked! 

Episode Transcript

00:00

You’re listening to the Spa Marketing Made Easy Podcast where we share simple, proven strategies just for spa industry professionals to help you get more clients in the door so that you can create a life you love. I’m your host, Daniela Woerner licensed aesthetician and spa marketing strategist. 

00:22

Hello my dears, Daniela here and welcome to another episode of the Spa Marketing Made Easy Podcast. Now let me ask you a question. Are you comfortable negotiating for yourself? Have you ever asked for a raise? Have you ever negotiated terms of a least, maybe you have. But my guess is that it probably wasn’t your favorite thing to do. But it is my belief that we as women, if we want to step into more leadership roles if we want to bring our companies to new levels, it’s a skill that we have to master. That’s why I’m so excited to have my friend Susie on the show. Now Susie is an accomplished businesswoman. She’s had an incredible corporate career. And now she helps women master the skill of negotiating. So let me take a quick second here and read you her bio. And then we will jump right into the interview.

01:13

Susie Tomenchok, works with individuals and organizations to amplify their strengths and to help unleash their internal negotiation skills increasing professional success. She believes that when people learn how to use negotiation strategies every day, they create more opportunities to walk away with a win win. It matters most. With over 25 years as a corporate executive with a fortune 50 company Susie and her team were responsible for end to end agreements valued at more than $80 million a year. Her portfolio of clients included ESPN, Discovery, Viacom, NBC, CBS, and Boeing. She’s now committed to helping clients, especially female executives, or business owners, to choose a better option than being the path of least resistance and letting their careers or businesses happen to them, not for them. 

02:06

It’s a great interview. I love everything that Susie talks about. And I especially love, you know, what really hit me was talking about how we show up in business, when we are asking for the things that we need. When we are negotiating. We’re actually teaching our children, specifically our daughters, how that skill, right because kids learn from watching as well. So that was a big piece for me that really stood out. And you know, as a way that I can educate my daughter is by making sure that I’m negotiating that I’m asking for the things that are important for me. Great episode, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Alright, let’s go ahead and play that interview. 

02:48

Susie, welcome to the Spa Marketing Made Easy Podcast. I’m so excited to have you on. I’m so excited about this conversation. Because I think it is so, so important, not only I mean for women in general, to talk about negotiation to talk about how to improve that as a skill set, right and going after what it is that we want, but incorporating it into our everyday lives. But also as business owners, there’s so many pieces, so many areas where women just don’t have that same. And I’m over generalizing here, but we don’t tend to go after things as aggressively. as men, we don’t we tend to say, Oh, that’s what it is, instead of asking for more or compromise negotiating on the topic. Why do you think that is?

03:46

Oh, it’s such a good question. And there’s been a lot of research around it. And a lot of it has to do with just that mindset that we expect to be seen. Or we expect if we work really hard, we’ll get what’s deserved. And so just changing that mindset, I mean, little simple things that we could do to just create curiosity, asking more and thinking about things in pieces of leverage, and discovering and just thinking through the conversation can really shift that mindset. I think just the awareness around that can help you understand and be aware of what’s happening around you.

04:28

Yeah, I, you know, I didn’t really have awareness around the, you know, you always hear about like, women get paid less than men. It’s like 76 cents on the dollar or something like that. You know, women are not in leadership roles, like all of these stats, but I didn’t really understand the mindset piece or how, how it was affecting me as a woman every single day of my life, really until probably about 10 years ago. And because you think I don’t feel Like I’m being discriminated against, or I don’t feel like this or that, you know, but when you realize that as women, I wouldn’t apply for a job if I didn’t have every single criteria. Right? Where I think there was a study that men, if they just have three, they’ll be like, great. I’m qualified. Right? So, really like, I don’t know if that’s because of the way that we’re raised or because like, I have no idea the why behind it. But I think just being aware that sometimes things are so ingrained in who we are, as people, we don’t even see it. We don’t even realize that pretty much everything can be a negotiation. If it doesn’t break the laws of physics, right? I mean, yeah.

05:48

And yeah, for sure. And, and one of the things another mindset shift is, the research does show that women are great negotiators when it’s not for themselves. So how do you reframe that, you know, if you are negotiating something that feels very personally, personal. How do you reframe that for advantage for your family? Without feel, you know, like, how do you do that? Or it’s for your team, or even as, as a woman, doing something different just to show other people another way? So how do you it’s a very personal but reframing that in a way, and then thinking, the other stat to that is really interesting, as men are really good at negotiating ambiguity, where women need to know the details. So like, if you’re told, you know, this position is $120,000 value, then the woman’s going to fight for that, because she has a reason she has the facts around it. So even if you make up the facts as business owners, about what you’re willing to have, having that clarity, can also lead you to the end. Because if when women have that power, how do you leverage that to get what you want?

07:06

What are some? So, you know, I read your bio, in the beginning, you’ve had a really impressive career. How do you, can you just give us the highlights of how negotiation helped you build the career that you have? Like, what where were you using it in your life and your business in the day to day? Like, it’s not always just I’m negotiating for my salary. It’s, you know, everyday conversations, how did that help you create this incredibly remarkable career?

07:45

It’s, it’s such a great question, I had some aha moments for myself. One was being a mom of three girls. And seeing that even early on, they started asking more and advocating for themselves because of, they kind of mimicked me, there was one situation where my two daughters were on two computers and other parts of the home. And she was saying, you know, I understand your proposal, I appreciate it. But we need more strategy, less tactics, do it again, and come back to me. And then they have since admitted they’re all in their 20s now that they used to have a target strategy about getting what they wanted at Target and thinking about timing and asking and who has relationship equity and, and knowing you know what to present to me. So that was an aha for me around how important it is to show others and that happens every day. And then, when I was at corporate, one of the big aha moments for me, my coach, my peer was a man. We had been were pretty high up in the organization. We both were given new offices at overlook the mountains had a conference table, that both offices were exactly the same size. And I was so happy that they gave me this great office on executive row, you know, I was just appreciative. And my coach said to me, you know, the difference between your office between yours and Dean’s is his isn’t at the end of the hallway. So he has the corner office. You need to ask for the corner office. I was like, Oh, I don’t want to ask for the corner office that’s so selfish. And he said, you know, for other women you need to so I went to my boss said I wanted it she was just like she kind of knew me and she was like seriously, but she went to the COO and said, you know, she wants to corner office blah blah blah took like a week later and they and she came back to me and said the seat, COO had thought about that, but they like you better so they want you closer to them and they intentionally just put them on the end of the hall. And I was just like shoo you know, like done and Just because I did it, I was proud of myself for doing it. But my coach said, Do you know why they didn’t give you the corner office, because they knew you wouldn’t say anything. And they knew he would fight. So I thought, don’t be the path of least resistance. And so I that awakened my awareness around, it happens all the time around us. And if we’re not aware, we’re opting out of an opportunity, maybe don’t get that project or those things. So it happens all the time, in retail as business owners, so…

10:34

What I’m thinking about so much as you know, a lot of aestheticians, they’ll start out solo, a lot of times, they’ll be in solo suites, which are these kind of one person, one organization, or a franchise owns all these different rooms, and there’s all these independent businesses within there. So they’ll start out there, build their books, and then they go out and do a storefront. So they’re renting a space. And there’s so much that goes into opening a storefront. And it starts with, you know, negotiation around ti dollars, right, and negotiation around price per square foot, and all of these things. So many just go in there and say, what’s the, how much does this cost per month? Right? And sometimes that can make such a huge difference in the like, if you’re doing a build out, you know, what type of improvements is the landlord growing to pay versus what you can pay the landlord’s paying it, then you automatically have that extra money for advertising, marketing, hiring, right? But if you don’t ask, it’s not going to just be given to you.

11:44

Yeah, completely. And if I was going to coach, somebody that was looking at those things, I would I, I have a framework, and I’m going to give something to your audience to help them think this through. But it’s all about preparing an understanding that the negotiation starts at the first conversation. And so asking out of curiosity, before you get to the specifics, understanding the lay of the land, asking questions to understand what is negotiable.

12:17

So let’s use let’s use a storefront. Okay, as an example, and can you walk us through your framework? And how someone would negotiate renting a space? Like what are the what types of questions would they be asking? Out of curiosity?

12:33

Yeah, so as so the framework is, is four parts, it’s just a way of thinking. One is, its pace, prepare, aware, close and evaluate. Okay, so the most important part of negotiation that’s often overlooked, is preparing. And that’s because we don’t like to negotiate. So we don’t want to spend that time we just want to get in, get it over with. But preparing is really important. so in this situation, I would say, who can you ask who’s rented from this person before? Or this organization? How does it work? How do they make decisions? Get the lay of the land, ask what had worked before? What are some of the terms that they use, you know, if you’re new to negotiation, just ask a lot of questions, ask other people around you, then find out and understand who the decision maker is. And what are think through what’s important to you. And what’s important to them. Maybe timing is important to them. Maybe those adjustments and things that you want to have control over that you mentioned, is important to you. But really being clear about all of the pieces of leverage that they have, and that you have. And then being clear about what you want making a list of all the things that are important to you, in the short term and the long term. Because the key is going to aware is being as objective as you can. So being really clear about what you want to get out of it, and what their interests are so that you can really adapt and change in the moment. Does that make sense?

14:16

It does. And I think also like, being able to think clearly, and without emotion during the negotiation piece because we can get we all have our own triggers. We all have our own stories. And, and just knowing what that walkaway point is, like, you know, for me, I’m thinking about this situation when I bought a car and I was like, Okay, well, I’m just, this is my walkaway point. I knew that in my mind. And if I didn’t get the price down to that particular point, then I was just going to walk away. So it makes so much sense that you know that ahead of time and I’m not going to go in and be like, Oh, I really want the car. And it’s this much. Like I, I did not let my emotions get in the piece get in the way, because I had made that I had thought it out and looked at my budget and did all this stuff ahead of time. And I think that’s so important in in business, right to know, like, okay, there’s so many opportunities, if this one doesn’t work, if this one doesn’t get you what you need, there will be other opportunities. 

15:36

Absolutely. And there’s the emotion does cloud your thinking, positive and negative, both ways. So you should never make a final decision without it. And I love what you said, have a walk away, and be ready to walk away. And the way to make that really comfortable is have options, even if it’s not what you want, have looked at other places that you could go so that you feel more comfortable, because that will drive you to be more objective. So having those those pieces is absolutely important to think about how do you get objective, and also framing it as you know, this is benefit to them, too. So this is a win win, how do I make them feel like they got what they needed. But I have to ensure that I get what I need to.

16:26

And I will say I mean, this is a little bit off off topic. But I think that it’s relevant. You know, we talk about removing the emotion, and all of that, I do believe that emotional intelligence and having emotion around our team and team development can be a really beautiful thing that women are so good at. But it’s understanding and like on the Myers Briggs, I’m an F, like, I am an emotional person. But I have had to train myself to how do I think of objectively about this decision? How do I any decision that I’m making in business, for my business for my company, for the company of my clients that I’m, you know, coaching. How do we look at that from a purely objective standpoint, and make that decision?

17:21

Mm hmm. And you can become more, it’s so important, it’s you can become more objective by having more data. Like, I know, you like data around how things go and looking back at that, you know, for your business to say, Oh, yeah, negotiation, all the data, even if you have options, and you know, square footage from other places, comparatively, and you look at the story, and you frame it, right. If you have that plan, it is all about managing your reaction, your emotion, even pacing, because you can come across really confident. And knowing your position, which can give you power just by applying silence. And sometimes when we’re nervous, understanding, we’re going to be nervous, sometimes we just have to say Okay, and now I’m going to be nervous, because this is a high stakes negotiation. How am I going to leave that in my body and just get through it? But knowing that having that objectivity having those decisions already made about your walkaway, then in that moment, you don’t have to think about it, you’ve already made that choice.

18:34

Okay, so let’s continue through the framework.

18:38

Yep. So awareness is is getting in there, you already have your prep done, you really know what you’re, how you’re going to get through it. It’s being aware of those triggers that you have being really clear about your frame, like really thinking about what is your story, and what is important to you and how you want to walk that person through the negotiation. You want to continue to have them look at it from your perspective. So that awareness is about what is happening to them. You also don’t want them to go through emotional ups and downs. Don’t make them frustrated, if you feel like they’re getting a little bit out of control. How can you take a break? How can you keep them also objective because that’s the key. And then understanding where you are in it don’t oversell when they’ve agreed to it, know that it’s time to move to close. And then in prep, you can also anticipate all of those relationship things along the way. And there’s awareness around that even personality types. You know, there’s a lot of data around salespeople and with introverts, extroverts, and ambiverts and they found that ambiverts, the middle between extroverts, introverts are actually better at negotiation. extroverts talk too much. They don’t know when to close, they don’t have that awareness, the other person doesn’t feel heard. And then introverts sometimes don’t speak up enough to tell the story. So I think about that is how do you think about your personality and give equal time? or allow that to happen? This is a relationship. So how do you do that? That’s all about awareness.

20:29

I love that. I love that and you have a little handout or download for everybody

20:34

Perfect, that’ll be so helpful. Because I’m like, trying to like go through all the steps. In my mind, it’s so helpful to have something visual that as you’re because anything that does make you a little bit nervous or uncomfortable, like, the more you do it, the better you get. But for me, I find that if I have a checklist, or I have a resource or something, it just makes it so much easier. That’s like, Am I doing this? Am I doing this? Right? Absolutely. I love that. So any other advice? for aestheticians, for business owners, in how to incorporate negotiation just in their day to day lives?

20:34

Yes.

21:15

Yeah, that’s such a great, I love to talk about silence. And the thing about negotiation, if you practice it every day, you do find those tactics that work for you, or you get comfortable doing it when the stakes are high. So you really want to have that. So like you said, the more you do it, the more you understand how to get better at it. And so the key is how do you practice those things? So some of the things that people practicing silence with somebody that you know, and changing the pace of a conversation, it’s just interesting to see what happens.

21:49

Well, and I know with when we’re recommending homecare products, so often, like I say, a confused mind always says no. So if you’re making recommendations and and for us as aestheticians, we’re, so I’m interested in ingredients, and the technology and the science and all of this kind of stuff. But if you’re talking to someone, right after they have a facial, and they’re in facial fog, and they’re all blissed out, and so happy, and you’re talking about glycosaminoglycans and changing…, they’re gonna be like, what, what is this going to do for my skin? And so sometimes just saying, here’s the homecare that I recommend, this is what I want you to do, and the am and pm, you know, just making the recommendation and then being quiet, and letting them make the choice or letting them answer the question. And I think knowing that their decision, if they say no, they’re not saying no to you as a person. They’re saying, No, that doesn’t feel like the right fit like that homecare, or whatever. It’s, I think a lot of times in negotiation, just my personal belief. We take it personal. If someone says no to us, and it really has nothing to do with us. It’s we either haven’t communicated the value of what we’re offering in a clear way. And we need to work on how we can communicate that in a better way. Or it simply just wasn’t the right fit, right? 

23:30

Completely. Clarity and that awareness around the know, like and trust factor, because after you’ve given a service like that, the trust is really high. So they don’t need a lot of information. If you say this, you know, either. And if they’re not ready to say yes, just have that awareness around how where the relationship is.

23:51

Mm hmm. Yeah. No means not yet.

23:55

 Yes, it’s a starting point in this. 

23:59

Yeah. Very good. So Susie, tell us where people can find you follow you stay in touch with you. I know, we’re going to include our links below this. And we’re going to include your resource, but what’s the best place to kind of stay in touch with what you’re doing?

24:12

Yeah. So all the places where you can find me is my Susie Tomenchok , which I have to figure out an easy way to dispel it. But the good thing is, it’s the one I use everywhere. So you can find me on Instagram, and I’m very active on LinkedIn. And because I work with a lot of corporate people as well, and then we will have that resource. And if there are any questions for your audience, I would be more than happy to, if they reach out to me, help them guide them and help them figure out what negotiation strategies they can start to use.

24:50

I love that. Thank you so much for your time, Susie. This has been incredible and I know it’s going to help some of our spa owners, all of our spa owners, right anyone that puts into practice just advocating for yourself. You know, knowing that no means that yet right it’s just the start just the start. I love that. All right if you want to keep this conversation going head on over to the spa marketing Made Easy Facebook group. We love to talk strategy we love to talk business, we love to talk all of those things. So hang out in there join us and we’ll catch you on the next episode. 

25:26

As always, if you want to keep the conversation going, I want you to head on over to the Spa Marketing Made Easy Facebook group. The number one free resource out there for aestheticians focused on business building. We’ve got weekly marketing tips, a monthly goal setting and planning session monthly, aesthetician business book club, plus a community of thousands of aestheticians committed to business building in the spa industry. I’ll see you there.

It’s one of the biggest spa-lidays on the calendar, and this year it felt like it crept up faster than ever before…I’m talking about Mother’s Day! 

With many spas shut down during Mother’s Day in 2020, this year is an opportunity to create a surge of sales both online and in-spa, because, let’s face it, after a year like 2020, mamas need a spa day (scratch that, week!) and plenty of pampering products. 

While I hope you’ve already been hard at work preparing your Mother’s Day promos, I also wanted to get your wheels turning on a few ideas for not just bolstering more Mother’s Day sales, but paving the way for greater relationship building and retention. 

How do you do that? 

Through surprising and delighting the moms in your community and audience. 

In this week’s episode, I’m sharing a few ideas you can put together quickly and without taking too large of a chunk out of your budget. 

Be sure to let me know if you try any of these ideas out in your spa on Mother’s Day by sharing in the Spa Marketing Made Easy Facebook community, I would love to cheer you on and see what you did!  

In this episode, you’ll learn: 

• 3 quick and easy ways to make the moms you’re connected to in your business feel special and cared for 
• Why these ideas work to not only help your clients feel loved in the moment, but also further your relationships for greater retention and loyalty 
• How you can incorporate these ideas even if you’re on a tight budget for “extras,” as well as how to not look at these ideas as “extras” at all, but rather a part of your advertising budget
• My top tips and do’s and don’ts for these ideas to ensure that you’re truly surprising and delighting your clients, giving them a great experience, and making it pay off for you in the long haul!  

References Mentioned in Episode #227: 3 Ways to Surprise and Delight Your Clients This Mother’s Day

• To keep the conversation going, ask questions, and connect with other like-minded aestheticians building thriving careers, click here to join the free Spa Marketing Made Easy Podcast community. 

As a thank you for being a loyal listener to the Spa Marketing Made Easy podcast and for helping us to reach more aestheticians working on growing their businesses and creating a life they love, we have created a free resource portal just for you! 

It’s totally free to join, and for every 25 reviews we get on iTunes, we’ll add a new training video, PDF, tracker, or other high-value resource to help you grow your aesthetic business!

If you have yet to leave a review, click here to leave one on iTunes, and click here to access the free resources already unlocked! 

Fact: I am a die-hard fan of Profit First.

It’s simple, yet groundbreaking, and ever since I started Spa Marketing Made Easy over three years ago, today’s guest has been on my interview “bucket list.” 

In the world of entrepreneurship, he needs no introduction, but just in case you’ve never heard of him…

He’s the creator of Profit First, which is used by hundreds of thousands of companies across the globe to drive profit. He is the creator of Clockwork, a powerful method to make any business run on automatic. (And our current read for this month’s Aesthetician Book Club). And his latest, arguably most impactful discovery, is Fix This Next. 

In this must-listen episode, Mike Michalowicz, prolific author and shareholder (more on that in the episode, you’ll just have to tune in 😉) and I touch on all three of his powerful business concepts and how spa owners can power up their profits, mindset, and systems for growth on all levels of life and business. 

At a crucial time in global business and entrepreneurship, this discussion is both right on time for our industry as we move forward from some of the biggest pivots our businesses may ever see, and timeless in that the principles Mike illustrates through his words and body of work will always be applicable. 

In addition to being a sharp entrepreneur, he’s just a down-to-earth guy who takes big biz concepts and makes them relatable, easy to understand, and dare I say pretty damn fun. 

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why Mike has made it his mission to eradicate entrepreneurial poverty and what that actually means
• What investing in your business entails and when it’s a good idea to make different investments
• The two biggest challenges that entrepreneurs face and Mike’s thoughts on the key traits, solutions and core values needed to overcome them
• How shifting our identities as aestheticians or spa owners to that of a “shareholder” can change our businesses 
• Mike’s top insights on where to start plugging in the holes of a leaky business to build a strong systemized organization that feeds your passion and fuels a life of freedom

References Mentioned in Episode #225: Becoming a Profitable Shareholder of Your Business with Mike Michalowicz

• Learn more about Mike, his books, and ethos via his website and connect with him on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube
• See all of Mike’s books here and learn more about titles specifically mentioned in this episode: Profit First, Clockwork, and Fix This Next 

• To keep the conversation going, ask questions, and connect with other like-minded aestheticians building thriving careers, click here to join the free Spa Marketing Made Easy Podcast community. 

As a thank you for being a loyal listener to the Spa Marketing Made Easy podcast and for helping us to reach more aestheticians working on growing their businesses and creating a life they love, we have created a free resource portal just for you! 

It’s totally free to join, and for every 25 reviews we get on iTunes, we’ll add a new training video, PDF, tracker, or other high-value resource to help you grow your aesthetic business!

If you have yet to leave a review, click here to leave one on iTunes, and click here to access the free resources already unlocked! 

Episode Transcript

00:00

You’re listening to the Spa Marketing Made Easy Podcast, where we share simple, proven strategies just for spa industry professionals to help you get more clients in the door so that you can create a life you love. I’m your host, Daniela Woerner, licensed aesthetician and spa marketing strategist.

00:22

Hello, my dears, Daniela here and welcome to another episode of The Spa Marketing Made Easy podcast. Now I am so excited about this episode and I know I get excited about a lot of our episodes because we really have had some pretty awesome guests this year especially. 

00:39

But my friends, today we have a pretty awesome guest we’ve got an interview with Mike Michalowicz, the author of “Profit First,” “Clockwork,” which is actually our book club pick this month over in the Spa Marketing Made Easy Facebook group. 

00:53

He’s the author of the “Toilet Paper Entrepreneur,” “Surge,” “Fix This Next,” lots and lots of great business books. And we’ve been sharing his systems inside of our programs for years, we use the Profit First method to operate our business. And I can tell you that when the pandemic first hit back in March of 2020, I was so glad that I had a business savings that I had been running and operating my business in the correct manner. 

01:23

And I can tell you if I had not been using that system and had not been focused on saving and paying myself first and all the things we would be in a very different place right now as a company. Now, if you are a business owner and entrepreneur or as you’ll hear in this episode, Mike referring rather than entrepreneur business owner, he uses the term “shareholder” in that episode, and he’ll explain why. But if you identify as any of those, and you’ve been in a position where you see money coming in, but at the end of the month, you have nothing to show for it. You’re barely making ends meet. You must read “Profit First.” 

02:08

Now this system around finances, around accounting, just about how you operate your business. It is such a game changer. And we’re talking specifically about how estheticians can implement Profit First in their spas. Now let me do a quick read of Mike’s bio, and then we’ll jump right into the good stuff in the interview. Okay, so Mike Michalowicz launched and sold to multimillion dollar companies, and is the co-founder of the Profit First Professionals, a membership organization of accountants, bookkeepers, and coaches who teach the Profit First method. He’s a former columnist for The Wall Street Journal. He’s a popular keynote speaker and he shared his insights on business and entrepreneurship at TEDx, Creative Live, and other conferences. He’s the author of the “Pumpkin Plan,” “Surge,” “Clockwork,” and “The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur.” His columns have appeared in Entrepreneur, Open Forum, and Harvard Business Review. Alright guys, without further ado, let’s go ahead and play that interview.

03:12

All right, Mike Michalowicz. Welcome to the Spa Marketing Made Easy Podcast. I am so beyond excited and honored to have you here, Daniela, it’s a joy to be with you. 

03:23

Thanks for the invite.

03:26

Okay, so spa owners and and really the whole world, we have gone through such a crazy year with COVID. So many, I mean, there’s always I feel like there’s a silver lining to everything. I feel like as business owners, we pushed ourselves out of our comfort zone quite a bit. We’ve had to pivot we’ve had to really look at look at and refine our systems. And the businesses that were doing Profit First are really grateful that they were doing Profit First. Yeah, when everything happened.

04:01

I know that in all of your works, and and I’ve got the books behind me. I’m a big fan of everything that you’ve created. But really, there’s this common theme of eradicating entrepreneurial poverty, really.

04:16

Let me show…actually, check this out. This is my office here, and there it is on my wall…eradication from poverty. 

04:23

Yes, it’s a very visceral thing for me because I struggled with it. It’s funny I was I just did a keynote this morning for a conference a virtual one and they open up like “oh, you know he’s sold multiple businesses, he this”…. I sound like the biggest tool on the planet when I hear that, because you hear the bullet points of like, when wonderful successful things. But when they don’t share because I had that I wrote myself is that I struggled. I lost all my money. I started a business venture, right? No clue what I was doing. I had multiple businesses that outwardly look successful, but inwardly, we’re just dying. 

05:02

And the common theme between all those businesses was a lack of understanding of now we’re icons from poverty, that we need finances to have a runway, we need profitability. But we also need time, you know, there’s this, this hustle and grind mentality, which was seconds means like, oh, if you’re an entrepreneur, you gotta sacrifice everything in your life, screw your family, screw, screw your life, work harder, which has never been the intent of entrepreneurship, right? That’s a form of poverty. 

05:31

There’s even this what I call soulful poverty, where people are losing touch with why I started a business in the first place. So I hate what I do. Like, that’s totally not the reason why we started our business. So to me, this is very visceral, I’m out to cure that for myself, honestly, because I struggled with it, and for as many entrepreneurs as I can. 

05:50

So what do you think has shifted with what we’ve gone through? Do you feel like we are stronger as business owners? Do you feel like we’re weaker? Have you seen like, the systems, the frameworks, the things that you believe in preach? Has that shifted? Since we’ve gone through the pandemic? 

06:11

Yeah, I see. I’ve seen both sides. I think the common thing is we’re more aware of the vulnerability of a business to the macro economy. And I have seen some businesses explode. And they’re so successful. It’s almost like shameful, right. They’re like, I don’t want to tell anyone, things are so good, because every other business owner is buried and, and dying and wants to give up. But the common theme is consistently that we are vulnerable to the macro economy. We need to put in a foundation today that brings longevity and protection to the business long term. I think one of the key indicators if your business has been, or is surviving, check by check, you’re very vulnerable. Meaning, if you need to make sales immediately today to cover the bills for tomorrow, let alone pay yourself, you are extremely vulnerable. 

07:05

So these business owners that have survived this, and sadly, some businesses are just wiped off the face of the planet. Now, hopefully, those entrepreneur will come back in a new flavor. But the business that survived this, this isn’t like a we’re gonna return to it the new normal or an old normal or any kind of normal, something will present itself going forward. But it’ll change again, it’ll change again, that we have to put in foundational principles to maintain the healthy organization through the volatility that we experience.

07:34

Something that has been this ongoing struggle for me as an entrepreneur, and a lot of other of my friends that are in the entrepreneurial space is this conversation that goes on is, what does it mean to invest in your business? And when are you you know, like, when is that a good idea? And when is it a good at, you know, you don’t want to just dump money and that you’re not going to get back? but in the same time? You know, there’s that you need money to make money, right. So when is it right to put the money in? And when is it you know, being financially responsible? And when are you like, “hey, I can’t afford to hire I need to stay?” 

08:16

So I’m actually at odds with that term, that we need money to make money. I actually don’t think that’s true. But it is such a popular term or like, well, if you want to make money, you have to have money. I think what makes money is innovation, out-of-the box thinking, sometimes just pure frugality can actually serve you in making money. At the end of day, I think there’s a lot of great businesses that are missing on two things. 

08:42

They’re not controlling their costs. And or just commonly, they’re not controlling their margins or amplifying them. There’s a theorem I talked about in Profit First called Parkinson’s Law. And so Parkinson was a theorist in the 1950s, nothing to do with Parkinson’s disease, different guy is studying human behavior. And what he noticed is that as a resource expands its availability, we actually consume more of it, right? So what was funny, like, the bigger the closet in your home, the more clothes you have, like where they all come from, you can never have a big enough closet.

09:15

Right? When it comes to time, if you and I were discussing a contract, say, and I’ll say, Hey, I can get that to you in a week. it’ll likely take me a week to get to you. But the same people the same conversation around the same contract, and I say, I’ll get you tomorrow, I’ll likely get to tomorrow. So the resource of time has been compressed. My efficiency, my use my necessity to get done, amplifies. Well, this is true for money, too. So the problem is, as more money flows into the business, the more we spend, and you see this constantly, that a business you know, it’s kind of growing kind of growing, but gosh, I can’t get that one big client that never seems to appear to get into the range of profit. They’re just getting by, like, “Oh, I need that loan.” So, now we think we get someone else’s money in. All right. Okay, finally, in the money’s gone within a few months…”oh my gosh, here we are again. Now I am laden with debt.” 

10:06

The thing is, as more money comes in, we inherently consume more. And so the key – I don’t think it takes money to make money. It takes innovation, frugality. And one thing is you can force frugality. I also teach us and Profit First, I’m not trying to be like all promoting here. 

10:20

Oh no, everybody that’s listening has already, we read the book as book club… like, oh yeah, buy another one of my books! 

10:30

So, then to you’re probably familiar with this, with Profit First, if you remove your profitability, if you take your compensation, if you reserved for taxes, all these liabilities and things you want to do first, then the remaining money is truly available for the business. It’s actually forced frugality, the beautiful thing is you start becoming very innovative. When you have less available cash, we have to find ways to get the results. And so we control costs, we, more importantly, we find ways to amplify margins, we kind of package our spa services differently or a new way, or we can dictate a bigger margin. So the key here is actually to remove the access of money, it’ll force you to think smart.

11:10

So, do you feel like that is one of the biggest competitive advantages of businesses that are using your systems using Profit First? First, it’s, it’s forcing that innovation, and that’s what’s putting them ahead? 

11:25

For sure. So, so we have we know of over 500,000 businesses have implemented Profit First, I never anticipated or expected, which is just as amazing, but I couldn’t compute it in the beginning, was the businesses that implement a Profit First consistently, are outpacing their contemporaries in growth. They’re growing faster, which at face value makes no sense. If they’re taking their profit first, and they’re more profitable, they have less money to spend, how can you grow with less money spent? But what happens? They take their money first. 

11:58

And then they say, “Well, I can’t spend the way I was in the past. So I’ll spend more prudently, they become much more selective in how I spend it,” because everyone’s doing Facebook ads doesn’t mean Facebook ads is a good choice to do, or to make. So they’re becoming more selective. They were also thinking more frugally. Why do we need to buy all brand new equipment, there’s a place down the road that shut down, why don’t we just take over their equipment? And they started thinking that way. And those two elements of innovative thinking, being be more focused on what’s working and amplifying, and frugality started this them to grow faster. The beautiful thing too, is they have a cache of cash, a reserve of cash that’s building to partly go into the owners, but partially is what’s called a cash equity position, they have a reserve of cash, so they become opportunistic, when something presents itself, like, “Oh, that’s going to grow me I know, grow me, I can jump on things.” But the check to check survival. I’ve spent every dime they have, when an opportunity presents itself, they can’t grab it.

12:53

Yeah, and it’s it’s such an important concept just in personal finance, in general. And I don’t want to remember if it was “Profit First” or one of your other books, but there was a story that you were saying, the gentleman was saying, “Oh, I’m gonna wait just one more day…” One more day, right. And I was like, “Oh, wow.” 

13:11

You know, like, that’s a great, I’ve actually used that in my business, but also in my personal life. Do I need this? Can I wait just one more day and see how that changes? 

13:23

And we’ve all I’ll tell you, we all do this. So the “wait one more day” is really a necessity. And in the moment, it feels that way, emotion is where we got to get it. But if we don’t, then sometimes that necessity fades away. It was just a feeling. Well, we’ve all done with Amazon. Have you ever said like I need to get on Amazon, you buy it and you didn’t realize you didn’t buy it? It just went to the cart? And then two days later, you’re like, “wasn’t supposed to get something?” And then a month later, what was it, and you go back in your cart…and you see it sitting there like, “Oh, that was a big deal a month ago, I don’t need that.”

13:56

Well, I think with one of the positive things with the pandemic is realizing, you know, how much, or something that I’ve experienced, is how much we can get by without and still truly be happy.

14:09

We need so little to be happy, in my opinion.

14:13

Listen, stuff is nice, but also stuff requires maintenance, and maintenance. So I’m thinking my own business. The biggest I’ve ever had, I had a big business in definition by the SBA, SBA calls a big business, if you’re over $25 million in revenue, by the company’s doing 7 million, we have 30 employees. It was a great braggadocious thing. Uh, gosh, the maintenance required the politics that was going on. It was so it was it was actually I wanted to pull my hair out. Today we have a tiny business there’s there’s 17 people in total and most of us are part-timers here. It’s a tiny little business. Oh my gosh, so much more joyful. So you know the time wealth and money wealth, right? Yeah, time, wealth and money wealth. 

14:56

Yeah, exactly. And so the interesting thing is this, this is extremely more powerful than anything I’ve ever had. I have way more time to do things. But actually my wife was just funny her before he came on here, she texted me said, “Hey, how’s it going I have an apppointment tomorrow, Friday, do you mind is taking me? I don’t want to go by myself.” So I’m like, “Yeah!,” and it’s so easy. But I’ll tell you 10 to 18 years ago, but no, I have to work. I have to work every single day, I gotta work this Saturday, I got to work. It’s a hustle and grind. And now what I have today is a business that isn’t depend on any one person, including my colleagues, there’s redundancy in place, there’s appointments that need to be taken care of tomorrow, but doesn’t have to be me. There’s other people here. 

15:37

So this kind of leads me into a topic that’s very much been in every coaching call, you know, it’s just, I imagine it’s in all industries, but this feeling of overwhelm. So how do we, how do we address that? How, over that, right, because it can be like, Okay, I get that I should be doing Profit First, I get that I should be using, you know, the systems and Clockwork, I should be doing all this stuff. But that’s, I feel so overwhelmed just thinking about it. I don’t even know, you know, all of this stuff. 

16:11

I will share something with you, which I suspect you’ve never heard before. And it’s so simple, but it starts the entire process. The label we use for ourselves is, I would argue the worst label use. Even though it’s my favorite word, is entrepreneur. If you call yourself an entrepreneur or a business owner, those terms have become bastardized. It is equated to hustle and grind. And there’s pundants out there saying you’ve got to hustle and grind. And that’s bullshit. It is bullshit. 

16:37

Entrepreneurship was originally defined as someone who has a vision for an outcome and then organizes resources to make that outcome a reality. We take the risk of coordinating things and putting resources together and people together. But our goal is to be vision creators. But it’s been translated to just pure workaholism, which is just the worst thing. So here’s the step I suggest you take starting today…now we can do this, it’s not simple. It’s not easy, is to change your title. Start calling yourself a shareholder of a small business, which I’ll tell you is very weird. 

17:09

Next time, you’re like out with some friends, like, “so what are you doing?” Like, “I’m a shareholder of a small business.” Right? What the hell’s that mean? Like, some wacko guy on a podcast told me to say this, I don’t even know what I mean. But here’s what a shareholder does. I have some stock in Ford. I own 100 shares, like big investor here. But here’s the deal when Ford sends their profit distribution, which is send me one for $13, thank you…. when they sent it, I didn’t say “Oh, Ford, I have to earn this back, I gotta head down to the factory and hustle and grind for you, so I can earn this.” 

17:40

No. I invest in the business, the value of Ford stock hopefully will go up, it can go down, I’ve taken on risk as an investor. By starting our own businesses, we’ve taken on risk, the value could go up or go down. And we’re the ones who made that investment. Now Ford does give me two things – One, is they give me a profit distribution. The second thing is they give me voting rights, I give strategic direction to Ford with the other shareholders, on who the board of directors will be, and what strategic direction we’re gonna take.

18:08

Well, that’s also true for my small business. Now, the other thing is, are the thing in my businesses, I own 100%. And I think many people listening in right now own a vast majority or a big chunk of the business. That means you’re your big time, shareholder, your job is to collect the profits (thank you for taking the risk) and give strategic direction, not to run into the factory. If you simply change the label, it changes your identity, and you got to stick with this. This isn’t a one time deal. Every single time. 

18:36

You’re a shareholder, you’re a shareholder. Over the weeks and coming months, you’ll start opening your eyes to your behavior, and then the behavior starts changing, which takes you out of the business and more on the business. 

18:47

That’s really interesting, because in our industry, so many people identify as aestheticians. And so they’re not even thinking about being an entrepreneur. And I’m always, I identify as a problem solver. That’s been something for me is okay, how can I solve this problem? But that’s still that still does put stress on you to a certain degree. 

19:09

Totally, you know, it’s, it’s very much…we comply with our label, right? So if you’re a problem solver, I strongly suspect you get a lot of problems by people coming to “Hey, Daniela, real quick…” and it’s like, oh, Superhero’s here, I’ll answer because I’m a problem solver. I say I’m an aesthetician, I kind of be playing around so skin like, right, but it gives me the creeps. 

19:32

Have you ever had a facial? No, I need one so bad. 

19:35

Oh my gosh, are you in Jersey? I am! Okay, I’m going to send you an email with the best two Jersey girls that will do a facial for you. There we go. There we go. And a shout out to Sykes and Lanno. Okay, and I’ll gladly reciprocate too in supporting them helping them in some capacity.

20:00

I used to call myself an entrepreneur which I equated to a superhero, I could swoop in and fix things my business and guess what I did, swoop in and fix things, and wreck things behind me, which I didn’t notice with my colleagues had to clean up. Once I started acting like a shareholder, here’s what’s fascinating. I’ve been news for a couple years, I’ve removed myself, my identity, from being in the business doing all the different work. But as a shareholder who owns 100%, I also have the right to re-insert myself in the way it gives me joy. 

20:28

I love being the spokesperson, kind of we’re doing now, I love talking about entrepreneur concepts. I love writing books. So, I continue to do that. But I first removed myself so the business could continue and actually grow in my absence, which it does. And I can just do what gives me joy. I think the one fear some entrepreneurs have, shareholders, is that they run themselves out of a job, and we love to do what we do. It’s okay to love to do what you do, but we have to this in stages, don’t do what you love first, because at a certain point, you’re going to hate it. Instead, build a business that’s sustainable, and then insert yourself in a way that you love.

21:03

So, shifting your identity is a really complex thing….Or is it? It can be? It can be, but I think that we we build our identity from the time that we’re little girls, you know, or little. So there’s all these things of I am this type of person, I am that type of person. And if you spend so much of your life dedicated to “Okay, I’m an entrepreneur, I am doing this.” I imagine you had to go through a process, having several businesses, what was it that helped you make that switch? Was it kind of hitting rock bottom? I remember one of your books, you were like drinking a beer on a couch or something? 

21:51

A beeer? Like 100? Yeah. So it was a trauma trigger. And I’ll tell you, everyone listening in right now has experienced trauma. My trauma was around financial trauma, I wiped out and lost everything, which was a big identity crisis. Sadly, that’s mild compared to what many people, particularly women, face.

22:13

I do believe we can leverage trauma, and I do believe it is important to get professional therapy through this. I’m not a therapist by any stretch of the imagination, but I do believe that point can be a line in the sand where we say that thing, that thing happened will never happen to me or anyone else. It can become that visceral. The day I said, I lost all my money, just out of my own arrogance and ego, when I said, I will never allow an entrepreneur again to suffer financially or myself….

22:42

The day I drew a line in the sand, I keep on looking back at that. And I keep asking myself to for me to play out the highest level, what capacity must I serve? And it’s not to be the in the job aesthetician, it’s not to be the guy who’s doing all the work. It’s to build a company that can amplify this. So, there’s a reason you are an aesthetician, there’s a reason we went down this path and somebody it’s happenstance. But we can anchor into that trauma experience, I believe, and make it a statement for amplification. And then we can make a decision, if need to have the impact I want to have, does it have to be carried on my shoulders? And that’s what you choose, fine, that’s okay. Or you can say, is this something that I’m going to leverage others to support me in so we can have a bigger and greater impact? And it’s a choice. I think if we point back to that moment, the day I looked at that moment with clarity, everything changed. It was like an overnight change. I said, Oh, no longer am I a doer, I’m a designer. 

23:39

You found your “Why,” and I believe that our traumas or failures, or whatever happens, those are our biggest opportunities for growth. Right?! Really shittiest package…

23:56

And as someone who has had quite a bit of challenging things happen and in her life, I look at them as my greatest gifts. You know, I really, really do. And I think that that is what has shifted my beliefs and allowed me to reach the level of success that I have is by looking at it in that way.

24:17

I’m not surprised. You I meet some people who are just so driven. They’re such overachievers. I look at them, like they must have real big trauma, causing that. But, sadly, are some people that go the other direction and I understand why the trauma is so significant, it just compresses or depresses their progress and holds them down. And it reverts to, you know, behaviors that actually doesn’t become more harmful. So it’s, it’s ironic that the exact same instance, it’s just we have a choice to frame it as a positive springboard or something that can suppress us. So, especially then let’s make it a springboard.

24:58

Let’s let’s go back to your books here as we’re kind of wrapping up. And I feel like we have talked quite a bit about Profit First, you know, not directly here, but in our communities, in the Spa Marketing Made Easy Facebook group, we talked about that a lot. But for the aestheticians, or for the the spa owners that are just maybe hearing about you for the first time. Where do you suggest they start? What’s the most impactful? Is it Profit First? Is it Clockwork? Is it Pumpkin Plan? Like, what is the…where do they start?

25:30

Great question. And I so I used to answer that by saying, “Oh, you must read….” and I’d say whatever I’m hyped up on, the starting point, maybe is one of my books, I’d be honored if it is, but maybe it’s not. Here’s a starting point: We need to identify what the biggest impedance or challenge is in our business. What’s the biggest problem we have right now? That’s the thing we need to solve. And we need them to find the resources that solve that. So, if you have a problem, financial problem, that’s your biggest problem, maybe Profit First is the solution, if it’s efficiency, Clockwork, if it’s HR, I haven’t written that book, yet. I plan to…

26:06

There’s so much going on with HR right now. 

26:12

So there’s there’s amazing books out there for that, and we look for the resource. I will tell you though, why I wrote my most recent published book, which is, “Fixed This Next,” was I have found that for most business owners, most shareholders, the biggest challenge they face is knowing, in fact, what their biggest challenge is. So “Fix This Next,” is a compass tool, it helps navigate and tells you, “this is what you need to do, and then that, and then that after.” So if you don’t know what your business’s biggest challenge or problem is, then I invite you to look at “Fix This Next,” next.

26:44

Perfect, so where can people find you? Follow you? Learn about your books? Get in your circle? What is what is the place to go?

26:52

Yeah, well, you could try to go to MikeMichalowiz.com, but here’s one, no one can spell it!

26:58

I know, my name, my maiden name, is Konstantinos, I’m Greek. And then I married a German, who spelled Woerner, and now it’s like “no.”

27:11

My mother’s German. So here’s the place to go, is Mike Motorbike, an old nickname from high school, as in the rhyme Mike Motorbike just because people like to say that even though I’ve never driven a motorcycle. Ironic. I know. If you go to Mikemotorbike.com. That’s the mecca for me. All my books, free chapter downloads, I used to write for the Wall Street Journal, you can get those articles. And there’s lots of videos and other content up there. All free. Mikemotorbike.com.

27:42

Perfect. And we will link that up below this. Thank you so so much for your time, for your expertise, for your contribution to the shareholders.

27:55

There you go! 3D check that out. That’s awesome.

28:00

I so appreciate it. For those of you that want to keep this conversation going, be sure to head over to the Spa Marketing Made Easy Facebook group, and we will continue it over there. 

It’s no secret that I advise every spa owner I work or speak with to have multiple revenue streams. 

Diversifying your revenue, especially with retail, is a no-brainer for aesthetic professionals, but with the world of retail and ecommerce rapidly changing, simply selling standalone products doesn’t have to be the only option. 

Enter: Subscription boxes! 

In this episode, I’m joined by Julie Ball, the Founder + Chief Sparkler of Sparkle Hustle Grow, a monthly subscription box and online community for female entrepreneurs as well as the founder of Subscription Box Bootcamp. 

In addition to being a subscription box expert, Julie is also an author, speaker, community builder, and subscription box coach who’s been featured in Forbes, USA Today, POPSUGAR, and more. (i.e. she knows her stuff, and just wait until you tune into this episode, she’s dropping gold nuggets left and right!)

Together we’re discussing how spa owners can capitalize on the format of subscription boxes to see their recurring revenue sales soar.

If you’ve ever given thought to creating a seasonal beauty box offering or a monthly box subscription, this is a can’t miss episode! 

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How Julie became a subscription box expert and her journey in perfecting the process of creating, selling, and scaling a subscription box business. 
• Julie’s top tips, tools, and insights on everything from product sourcing to pricing to fulfillment and shipping 
• Ideas and tips on how to make the subscription box model work specifically for spa and skincare retail 
• What measures you can take to ensure quality control, especially if you move to have someone else fulfill your subscription box orders

References Mentioned in Episode #205: Setting Up, Streamlining, and Making Sales with a Subscription Box with Julie Ball

• Connect with Julie on her website by clicking here and listen to her podcast, Subscription Box Basics
• Connect with Sparkle Hustle Grow on Facebook and Instagram 
• Learn more about Subscription Box Bootcamp on Facebook and Instagram
• Tools and resources mentioned in this episode: Givr Packaging, ULINE, Sticker Mule, ShipMonk, Pirate Ship, Cratejoy, Shopify
• To keep the conversation going, ask questions, and connect with other like-minded aestheticians building thriving careers, click here to join the free Spa Marketing Made Easy Podcast community. 

It’s totally free to join, and for every 25 reviews we get on iTunes, we’ll add a new training video, PDF, tracker, or other high-value resource to help you grow your aesthetic business!

If you have yet to leave a review, click here to leave one on iTunes

Does the task of filling up your spa’s social media calendar feel like pulling teeth? 

Do you even have a social media calendar, or are you flying by the seat of your pants making random posts whenever you get a gap between appointments? 

Either way, this episode is here to solve all your woes around the question, “what should I post on social?!” 

Together we’re going to take a high-level view of crafting an editorial calendar so that you can not only anticipate and plan for what you’re going to post, but also do so strategically so that your social media efforts actually result in interest from new potential clients and customers and continued connection with your existing audience.

After all, that’s kind of the point of social media. 

So take out a pen and paper or pull up your planner and tune in as I take you on a step-by-step walkthrough of how to craft a month’s worth of content in a matter of minutes. 

Let’s go!  

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How to craft a weekly editorial schedule that keeps you consistent in posting and streamlines your social media process
• Tangible ideas for beginning to create content today to start filling your scheduler 
• How to pitch and promote in your posts with ease and authenticity 
• Key steps for getting started with posting consistently including post ideas, copy and graphics tips and my top social media scheduler recommendation 

References Mentioned in Episode #199: Creating a Month’s Worth of Social Media Content in Minutes 

• Tools mentioned include – Wellness Stockshop, Canva, and Sked 
• Learn more about Post With Purpose, our monthly spa social media marketing membership with social media trainings, tech tutorials, templates, coaching calls, and more. 
• To keep the conversation going, ask questions, and connect with other like-minded aestheticians building thriving careers, click here to join the free Spa Marketing Made Easy Podcast community. 

It’s totally free to join, and for every 25 reviews we get on iTunes, we’ll add a new training video, PDF, tracker, or other high-value resource to help you grow your aesthetic business!

If you have yet to leave a review, click here to leave one on iTunes

The idea of being “booked out” is often the epitome of success, especially for a solo aesthetician, but what does being “booked out” really mean? 

For the next month? 

Quarter? 

What if you could actually be booked out a year in advance? 

If the hairs on your neck just stood up, just wait ‘til you tune into this conversation with my guest on this episode of Spa Marketing Made Easy, Katt Philipps. 

Katt is a spa and beauty industry veteran with over 30 years experience, and is a spa owner, true solo aesthetician, e-commerce store owner, author, and most recently added to her resumé, spa industry educator. 

Katt’s newest project, The Beauty Educator, serves as a platform to help beauty professionals maximize their profit potential by strengthening relationships with existing clients and showing others the ropes on how to build a business where you can be booked out a year in advance. 

And as a spa owner and solo aesthetician with a proven track record for building and growing a multi-six-figure spa and being known by her clients as the most in-demand therapist in her area,  Katt is here to spill her secrets on how she made it happen and how she continues to make it all work to support her clients with the best experience as well as her life with a true sense of balance. 

In this episode, you’ll learn: 

• How Katt build up her books when first starting her business and how she quickly became so in demand that she couldn’t take on any new clients 
• Why she chose to go the route of staying solo and how she began structuring her system to keep her full book of clients happy and returning again and again 
• How her framework was born out of a need and the mindset shifts that surround her working structure as a booked out therapist who still continues to grow and scale as a solo year after year 
• Katt’s insights on structuring her schedule, work/life balance, and the “Email That Changed Everything”

References Mentioned in Episode #196: Getting Booked Out a Year in Advance with Katt Philipps of The Beauty Educator

• Download Katt’s freebie resource, “The 5 Booking Mistakes We All Make” and be eligible to receive a gifted Kindle copy of her new best-selling book, “Beauty & The Best (free for first 50 sign-ups). 
• Learn more about Katt via her website, The Beauty Educator, and connect with her on Instagram @the.beauty.educator

• To keep the conversation going, ask questions, and connect with other like-minded aestheticians building thriving careers, click here to join the free Spa Marketing Made Easy Podcast community. 

As a thank you for being a loyal listener to the Spa Marketing Made Easy podcast and for helping us to reach more aestheticians working on growing their businesses and creating a life they love, we have created a free resource portal just for you! 

It’s totally free to join, and for every 25 reviews we receive, we’ll add a new training video, PDF, tracker, or other high-value resource to help you grow your aesthetic business!

If you have yet to leave a review, click here to leave a review, and click here to access the free resources already unlocked!

Maybe you think a membership will be the key to client loyalty or consistent cash flow. 

Well, you wouldn’t be wrong. 

Memberships can certainly be a powerful offering that helps to fuel client retention while also bolstering revenue, however, every plus side also comes with a cost. 

Whether it’s the admin effort, marketing resources, or even your ideal client’s desire to sign up for yet another membership, a membership may sound great in theory, when in reality it’s not the best fit for your business. 

Now, that’s not to dissuade you, as you’ll hear in this episode of Spa Marketing Made Easy, memberships are becoming an increasingly popular way of conducting business and making lives simpler for clients and customers – just look at companies like Netflix, Amazon, and HelloFresh. 

You could stand to make an exponential leap in growth by introducing a membership into your spa, but the decision doesn’t solely lie in whether to create a membership program or not. 

In this episode, I’m examining spa memberships from every angle to show you the good, the bad, and the ugly so you can move forward with providing a membership in your spa (or deciding not to) with complete confidence and knowing the key metrics to know so you can make your membership a wild success. 

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• The 3 key types of revenue to have in your spa and where membership falls
• Two styles of membership you can offer and the pros and cons of each 
• Key considerations for running a membership depending on whether you’re operating as a solo aesthetician or have a team
• What you need to have in place to successfully market and operate a membership program 
• Important metrics to know and my top tips for running a successful membership should you choose to launch one! 

References Mentioned in Episode #187: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of Memberships

• To keep the conversation going, ask questions, and connect with other like-minded aestheticians building thriving careers, click here to join the free Spa Marketing Made Easy Podcast community. 

As a thank you for being a loyal listener to the Spa Marketing Made Easy podcast and for helping us to reach more aestheticians working on growing their businesses and creating a life they love, we have created a free resource portal just for you! 

It’s totally free to join, and for every 25 reviews we get on Apple Podcasts, we’ll add a new training video, PDF, tracker, or other high-value resource to help you grow your aesthetic business!

If you have yet to leave a review, click here to leave one on Apple Podcasts, and click here to access the free resources already unlocked! 

If you’re reading these show notes, I already know you’re a podcast listener, so now I want to know — is your audience also filled with podcast lovers? 

With lives getting busier and busier, podcasts have quickly risen the ranks as one of the top strategic marketing channels for establishing your authority, growing your audience, and driving your sales engine. 

There are plenty of stats to prove it, which I’ll be sharing in this week’s episode, but I want you to think about your own experience as a podcast listener…

Isn’t it the longest form of content you consume? 

(You may listen to a 20-30 minute show, but never would sit and read a blog that long!)

And don’t you feel more connected to the hosts of the podcasts you listen to? 

(I don’t know about you, but the podcasts I listen to on a weekly or daily basis feel like an intimate conversation. If I ever met the host in real life I feel like I’d talk to them as if we’ve been long-time friends.)

In this episode, in addition to sharing why podcasts are such a powerful platform, I’m also sharing the behind-the-scenes of starting a podcast — from selecting your show topics to understanding your overall strategy in creating a podcast as a core marketing channel. 

Plus, I’m sharing my entire podcast production system from A to Z so you know exactly what goes into starting your own show. 

If you’ve ever tuned into a podcast and thought, “Maybe I should do this!,” I’m here to tell you that the best time to start is now! 

In this episode, you’ll learn: 

• Why podcasting is quickly rising the ranks as one of the top content marketing channels and how it can position you as an industry and local authority 
• How to decide on your show’s topic and considering the end goal of creating a podcast as a marketing strategy 
• My top podcasting tool recommendations plus a complete walkthrough of my team’s podcast production system 
• Top tips for effectively sharing your show to drive listeners and the best style of episode content for your time and bandwidth

References Mentioned in Episode #184: Launching a Podcast to Market Your Spa 

• Podcasting Tools Mentioned: Yeti Microphones, RODE Microphones, and a Scarlett Solo
• Check out Libsyn for podcast hosting and distribution 
• Build out your podcast creation and production system in Monday project management software
• To keep the conversation going, ask questions, and connect with other like-minded aestheticians building thriving careers, click here to join the free Spa Marketing Made Easy Podcast community. 

As a thank you for being a loyal listener to the Spa Marketing Made Easy podcast and for helping us to reach more aestheticians working on growing their businesses and creating a life they love, we have created a free resource portal just for you! 

It’s totally free to join, and for every 25 reviews we get on Apple Podcasts, we’ll add a new training video, PDF, tracker, or other high-value resource to help you grow your aesthetic business!

If you have yet to leave a review, click here to leave one on Apple Podcasts, and click here to access the free resources already unlocked! 

New year, new brand!  

This past year brought so much into perspective here at AddoAesthetics, and one of those things was what we truly help our people with. 

After having countless phone calls with spa owners all over the country and hearing first-hand how we helped spa owners bring “calm to the chaos,” it was clear that what we did and how we shared that, weren’t entirely aligned. 

We dug deep and got clear on how we help spa owners create systems and processes that pave the way for true freedom, flexibility and financial growth and through that, discovered that it was high-time to give AddoAesthetics a visual glow-up! 

I’m so excited to unveil our new brand and website with you, but of course, wanted to make sure you walked away with some solid takeaways that you can apply to your own brand and business. 

So, in this first episode of 2021, I’m discussing what factors came into play to realize that it was time for AddoAesthetics to get a rebrand and the three key questions you can ask yourself to assess where your brand stands between who you are and what you do with who you serve and how you serve them. 

Let’s dive in! 

In this episode, you’ll hear: 

• What brought me to the decision of a rebrand and why 2020 was the best time to make a big project like that happen for the business
• How I found what our “brand superpower” was an how it boils down into our brand story
• The 3 key questions to ask yourself about your brand as we enter 2021
• Why you have to dig deeper into your “why’ to get to the crux of what your brand does 

References Mentioned in Episode #181: Unveiling Our New Brand + Assessing Your Branding

• Learn more about Post With Purpose, our social media membership where you’ll learn how to develop your brand story and visuals as well as create a month’s worth of social content in just a few hours
• Listen to Episode #026 – Defining Your Spa’s Brand and Crafting Your Mood Board with Chris Beltran
• To keep the conversation going, ask questions, and connect with other like-minded aestheticians building thriving careers, click here to join the free Spa Marketing Made Easy Podcast community. 

It’s totally free to join, and for every 25 reviews we get on Apple Podcasts, we’ll add a new training video, PDF, tracker, or other high-value resource to help you grow your aesthetic business!

If you have yet to leave a review, click here to leave one on Apple Podcasts

Let’s put the “fun” in funnels, shall we?! 

Maybe you’ve never heard of funnels and this is brand new (and mysterious) territory. 

Or you might’ve heard funnels are essential for closing sales on auto-pilot, but when you began the creation and set-up process it felt like a tech nightmare… until now! 

In this episode of Spa Marketing Made Easy, I’m breaking down the simple 7-step funnel-building process with my top tips and insights from crafting an irresistible offer all the way to knowing your top conversion metrics so you can see whether your funnel is missing the mark or on track to be a souped up sales machine. 

Not only will these 7 steps allow you to get your next or first funnel up and running in a matter of hours (perfect timing to get it in gear for your Black Friday weekend and holiday season promotions), but having this funnel know-how in your back pocket will be integral in your spa’s ongoing growth and scale goals for years to come. 

So get your notepad ready, you’re going to want to make sure you don’t miss a step! 

P.S. – If you’re tuning in when this episode originally aired, you know that you still have the opportunity to jump in on the Spa Marketing Funnel course for just $197 (a $300 savings)! Click here to sign up before this deal disappears! 

In this episode, you’ll learn: 

• What a funnel is and why it’s such a valuable asset to have up and running within your business 
• The key elements of what goes into a funnel and the 7-step process of getting your first funnel up and running 
• My top tips on crafting a funnel offer that’s enticing and irresistible and how to craft your nurture sequence to warm up a cold audience member into a paying client 
• Numbers to keep an eye on through the entire funnel-building process from selecting a profitable offer to understanding conversion numbers 

References Mentioned in Episode #174: Your 7-Step Funnel Building Process

• Sign up for our Spa Marketing Funnel course plus my templates and email swipes for just $197 (a $300 savings). Learn more and sign up here. 
• Tune into Episode #170 : Launching Your Own Line with Sara and Melissa of Sykes & Lanno
• Create an account with Canva 
• Learn more and sign up for ConvertKit
• To keep the conversation going, ask questions, and connect with other like-minded aestheticians building thriving careers, click here to join the free Spa Marketing Made Easy Podcast community. 

As a thank you for being a loyal listener to the Spa Marketing Made Easy podcast and for helping us to reach more aestheticians working on growing their businesses and creating a life they love, we have created a free resource portal just for you! 

It’s totally free to join, and for every 25 reviews we get on iTunes, we’ll add a new training video, PDF, tracker, or other high-value resource to help you grow your aesthetic business!

If you have yet to leave a review, click here to leave one on iTunes, and click here to access the free resources already unlocked!