If there’s one core area of business that ruffles feathers more than any other, I’d say it’s marketing. 

It entagles emotions, sets business owners on a rollercoaster trying to find an ROI, and just when it seems you might have it nailed down, something changes. 

Well, as my repeat guest on this episode shares, with some marketing mindset shifts and a simple yet solid framework in place, you can create marketing campaigns and messaging for your spa that are impossible to ignore, but to do it, you have to “Get Different.”

Joining me for this episode of Spa Marketing Made Easy is Mike Michalowicz, an entrepreneur who leads two new multi-million-dollar ventures, which allows him to test his latest business research for his books aimed at small business owners. 

Mike is a former small business columnist for The Wall Street Journal and business makeover specialist on MSNBC, is a popular main stage keynote speaker on innovative entrepreneurial topics; and is the prolific author of Get Different, Fix This Next, Clockwork, Profit First, Surge, The Pumpkin Plan and The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur. 

With a mission to eradicate entrepreneurial poverty, Mike brings simplicity to small business owners by taking some of the biggest challenges businesses face and creating solutions that work and stand the test of time, and I am so excited that he has finally tackled the topic of marketing in his newest book that we dive into in this episode. 

Happy listening! 

In this episode, we discuss: 

 

• Why Mike is now finally addressing marketing as a core focus for one of his books after numerous titles on everything from finances to systems
• Why it’s critical that we conduct our outbound marketing differently now and continuously into the future to maintain a thriving business
• Mike’s signature D.A.D. Framework for marketing differently to ensure that your marketing doesn’t get ignored by your ideal client 
• How his latest book, “Get Different” fits into the overall landscape of the library Mike has written and how you can use his books to set-up, grow, and reinforce a business with longevity and sustainability

References Mentioned in Episode #248: Get Different with Stand Out Marketing with Mike Michalowicz

 

•  Get your copy of Mike’s latest book, “Get Different – Marketing That Can’t Be Ignored” plus additional tools, tips, and resources at GoGetDifferent.com
• Learn more about Mike, his books, and ethos via his website and connect with him on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube
• Tune into my previous episode with Mike, Episode 225: Becoming a Profitable Shareholder of Your Business with Mike Michalowicz
• Explore all of the books Mike has written here 
• 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! 

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Episode Transcript

With a title like “$5K in 7 days,” how could you not be intrigued?! 

 

Well, in addition to that metric being a smashing success, what makes me love this story of how Emilie created a great cash infusion into her business is that she worked through it in true CEO fashion: she got her mind right, devised a strategic plan, executed, and evaluated. 

 

No wild emotional rollercoaster, wondering if it’ll work, and throwing out the plan in the thick of the action, she exhibited amazing promotional prep and follow-through, and she has the successful results to show for it. 

Here to break down the whole experience and share her top takeaways in this episode of Spa Marketing Made Easy is Emilie Drolet, a licensed esthetician with a bachelor’s degree in communications who has been working within the beauty industry for over 10 years. 

She’s currently in the process of taking over her mother’s legacy — a skin clinic that’s been in operation for 42 years  in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and she’s also a student inside my Growth Factor Framework program. 

 

If you’re looking to see what’s possible through a dedicated promotional retail push plus the power of ecommerce, especially as our industry continues to navigate the ongoing pandemic, I highly recommend you tune in for a strong dose of inspiration, encouragement and tangible takeaways. 

 

In this episode, we discuss: 

•  How Emiie has navigated the last year of running her spa with multiple shutdowns that lasted for months at a time 
• Why she pivoted her focus primarily to ecommerce retail sales and why she decided to run her 7-day promotions 
• The steps she took to make $5K from her 7-day promotions plus the key things she noticed made buyers move and what she’ll do differently next time 
• How she’s preparing for continued resilience in business and the mindset piece she feels has made all the difference

References Mentioned in Episode #246: $5K in 7 Days – Crushing Promotion Goals and Pivoting to Online Success with Emilie Drolet

• Connect with Emilie on Instagram @themetafairy and tune in and subscribe to her podcast, The Meta Skin Care Podcast 
• Get on the Growth Factor Framework waitlist and be the first to know when door to enrollment open 
• 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! 

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Episode Transcript

Does having a dream team sound like a pipe dream? 

 

I promise you it isn’t, but finding the right people to make up your dream team and developing them properly so you can hold onto them for the long-term takes intention and a process. 

 

In this episode of Spa Marketing Made Easy, I’m sharing my step-by-step process of finding your perfect-fit employees and team members, hiring them and getting them onboarded so you can demystify what it means to build a dream team once and for all. 

 

No more “it’s easier if I just do it myself” mentality; finding your people with this process will ensure that you get the full benefits of having a team that sees, supports and works toward your company’s vision.  

 

Pro Tip: Be sure to have your Notes app or a pen and paper handy, this episode is chock full of info that you’ll want to reference back to. 

 

Happy hiring! 

 

In this episode, you’ll learn: 

 

•  Why now is the time to build your team and prepare for exponential future growth opportunity 
• The 3 key steps from finding your perfect-fit employee to getting them properly onboarded 
• What tools and templates you need to have working for you inside your company so that you’re never starting the hiring or onboarding process from scratch
• My top tools and new hire sourcing recommendations to assist in building your dream team

 

References Mentioned in Episode #239: Hiring and Onboarding Your Spa’s Dream Team

 

• Understand the employee vs.contractor designation via the IRS website 
• Run your spa’s payroll easily and efficiently through Gusto*
• Find job applicants by posting your job description on Indeed
• Shop the AddoAesthetics “Grow Your Team” template bundle here
• 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. 

 

*Affiliate Disclaimer – If subscribing or making a purchase through this link, we may receive a small commission. We only affiliate for products and services we wholeheartedly believe in and use. 

 

 

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! 

 

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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. Happy July, I hope you are thriving in your businesses right now. I know so many of our students in Spa Retail Rockstar and Growth Factor are just experiencing incredible, incredible growth. But that can actually be a problem. And what do I mean by that? Well, let me tell you a story about my old peer. So it was her birthday, I was wanting to book a spa day for her. And you know, the area that we live in now we’ve lived here for less than a year. So we’re still trying to figure out our places. And for those of you who have recently moved or if you’re someone who moves fairly often, you know that when you move, it’s really hard to find your nail person, your hair person, obviously your aesthetician, it can take time to find the right people. Right? So I was googling, researching, trying to figure out okay, where do I want to send her because I wanted to send her for, you know, a nice spa day. And the place that I ended up calling couldn’t get me in for five weeks. Five weeks, you guys. Now did I book there? No, this was for her birthday I wanted to get in. And the thing is clients, especially new clients, if they’re wanting to take a chance with you, they want to get in that week, or at least the following week. If you’re booked out that far in advance that you can’t get people in for five weeks, it’s really time to start considering, you know, bringing on a team. And let me just give you this perspective, that spa, they didn’t just lose a facial and a massage. Right? They lost if they could have accommodated my au pair and she loved it. She could have come back and told me I could have said okay, well this is our place. And I’m going to go to that place every single month for a massage. My husband loves massage, he could go there every single month for massage or for skincare, whatever was his desire or Au Pair could decide that she wanted to continue to go there and frequent this location multiple times, right? It’s not just one service, it’s the lifetime customer value. So by not being able to fit us in, they lost not just that appointment, but also the potential of all future appointments for my opare for our family, and for any people that we would have referred their way. So you have no idea it can seem like this. Oh my gosh, we’re booked out and how great we’re doing so well that it. But what are you leaving on the table? How much money are you leaving on the table by not letting new people get on your schedule? 

 

03:07

Okay. Now, I know that hiring can be really scary, especially if you’re not paying yourself what you desire. And it can seem like, Oh, that’s the wrong move. But I want you to keep an open mind here because I have worked with spas over and over again. And I have seen the incredible growth that happens when you as the owner, truly step into the visionary role and lead your team. So what is the actual process? How do you even hire somebody like you’ve, you’ve come to that conclusion that Okay, I’m going to hire, I’m ready, I’m going to take that leap. But what the heck do I even do? What paperwork do I need to do? How do I make sure that I’m doing this legit, right. So that is a lesson in itself. And we actually had a Coaching Call instead of Spa Retail Rockstar this was a few months ago, this was like two or three months ago, something like that. And I covered some of the basics. So we talked about the employee versus contractor relationship. We talked about offer letters, we talked about registering as an employer in your state. We talked about how to make sure you know what documents you needed to make sure that you are putting yourself protecting yourself legally as you bring on employees. So all of that fun, administrative yet crucial stuff to operating a legit company a legit brand. If you are wanting to create a company, this episode is for you. So it’s one thing to create a job for yourself. Nothing wrong with that at all. I see tons of solos with the vision of creating a job, but I’m talking to you if you’re wanting to create a company. If you’re wanting to create financial freedom for yourself, you want to be able to work yourself out of the spa. That spa can continue paying you into your retirement. You want to make a big impact in your community, you have entrepreneurship in your blood. Okay? With a team, you can make that happen fast. Now, Andrea, she’s a Growth Factor student of ours. She went from solo to completely retiring from her spot in 18 months. And did I mention that that was during COVID? Okay. Now, I know that if you take the global pandemic out of the mix, she would have gotten there even faster. And what did she do? She hired a team. Okay, so she now has somewhere between 12 to 15 employees at the time of recording, I’m sure she’s going to be hiring even more. But you know what else she has? She has time freedom. She has lifestyle freedom, right? That’s amazing. How many of you want that right now that time freedom, that lifestyle freedom? So did she mess up? Yes. Did she fall in her face? Sometimes? Yes. Was it hard hiring people? Yes. It’s all normal parts of the process. Whenever you grow, whenever you are growing by leaps and bounds, you are going to mess up. And that’s okay. It’s part of the process. But you’ve got to have that courage to get out there and take action because the reward is so incredible. Okay, the coaching call that you’re gonna hear from Spa Retail Rockstar, again, it was a couple months ago. So keep that in mind. There are some small things that may have changed since the time of the recording of that call. But it walks you through the how of hiring. Okay, before we jump right into that, I do have a quick announcement. So we at Adam aesthetics, we have made the decision to do our aesthetic marketing seminar virtually this September. Okay, so we typically do this in person. But there’s still some lingering COVID guidelines. And we just wanted to play it safe, because there are people that fly in from all over the country, you know, sometimes different countries that we flying in to attend our events. So we decided that with some of these guidelines, we just wanted to keep it virtual just a little bit longer. The good news is that doing something virtual, we can get some pretty incredible speakers. And if you’re a student of ours in Growth Factor, in Spa Retail Rockstar, in Post with Purpose, or in our spa marketing funnels course you can attend for free. And we’re going to include the recordings from both days of the training in your members area. If you are not a student of ours, but you still want to attend the two day training. It’s happening on September 20. And 21st. Tickets are going to be available for only $97. That’s for both full days of no nonsense straight to the point training on how to grow your business. And yes, you do get to keep the recordings as well. We will have a link for you in the show notes. We’ll also have information inside of the spa marketing Made Easy Facebook group, so be sure to check it out there. Of course any questions you can always email our support team at Hello at Otto aesthetics, but save the date. Okay, September 20, and 21st 2021 aesthetic marketing seminar virtual again, if you are a student of ours, this is totally free. You don’t need to buy anything, you don’t need to do anything. We’re going to send the reminders and the Facebook groups, you guys will give you all the links to join. And the recordings will show up automatically in your members area. Okay, so save the date there. Now let’s go ahead and jump right into that training about hiring. Remember to keep an open mind and massive things can change for you. Are you guys super excited. And again, keep the conversation going over in the Spa Marketing Made Easy Facebook group. 

 

08:56

We have been getting a lot of questions about hiring, about onboarding about how to do the process. And so we wanted to do like this bonus call to walk you guys through so I’m going to go ahead and let me just dive in. And I will absolutely do q&a at the end for any of you guys that have questions. But I’ve got some notes here. I’ve got some examples of things that I want to show you. And really like this is such a timely offer or it’s such a timely training that’s going on right now because let me just ask you, you guys Raise your hands or type one in the chat. How many of you in the past month have really experienced a new growth or a new surge like you’re feeling the people come out of COVID the people like come into your office more so I have heard that from every single spot owner that I have spoken with and that is really a A big win also a good problem. And and it really aligns with what I’ve been saying for quite some time is that we, you know, after every recession, we experienced 10 to 12 years of positive growth. And if you just look back for the past 100 years, every 10 to 12 years, we have a recession. And then we have 10 to 12 years of positive growth. So, right now is the time you are in the moment that you’ve got to get all your ducks in a row. And hiring is one of the biggest pieces of that. So that can be for you, as the business owner, you really want to step into that space, where you’re doing the most revenue generating activities, you are able to outsource the things that you don’t need to be doing and pass that off. Whether that is, you know, if you’re hiring someone for the front desk, if you’re hiring a new provider, if you’re hiring someone to help you with social media, whatever that is, you want to make sure that you’re spending your time doing the things that are going to bring the most revenue into the business. So when you’re starting off, the step one is deciding if you’re going to hire an employee or a contractor. And I will tell you that 99% of the time, my recommendation is that you hire an employee. Now, if you’re in the US, I know we’ve got people from all different countries here on this call. So I would advise you to go to what your country’s you know, government, how they define it, where you’re paying taxes, and all that kind of stuff. But here in the US, it’s the IRS, and we have this website link, I’m going to post it here in the chat for you guys. But this gives you the definition of whether someone is an employee or a contractor. Now I am very much black and white, I do not ever want to do anything that is going to upset the government upset taxes like I want to do every I’m a rule follower, like just by nature, I do not like breaking rules. And so for me, like that’s a very important piece. So if there’s ever any gray area, I’m always going to err on the side of caution. But I would number one look at you know, is this person going to be an employee or contractor decide that for your business. If you are bringing on your first employee, there’s a lot of stuff that you have to learn about, you have to register as an employer in your state that can take anywhere between two to four weeks. How many people have employees, just give me a little emoji your hand raise?

 

12:51

Okay, so you’ve gone through that process before. So filling that out, you know, having, you know getting registered as an employer making sure that you’re doing your payroll taxes, etc, your unemployment insurance, or however your state defines it, you won’t need to get all of those ducks in a row first. And you’re going to need a payroll company to process payroll, we use gussto. We’re very happy with gussto. For our employees, they help with payroll processing, paying your taxes. We have employees in multiple states. And so it made it really easy to we had to register as an employer in multiple states, but it made it really easy to you know, pay those taxes, they help with HR. If you’re not sure where to go, you know, go to your CPA to your bookkeeper ask them, they may have a payroll option. But gussto seems to be the most cost effective and has a massive amount of other benefits with them in place. They help with HR, they make sure that you’re compliant with all the posters that you’re supposed to have up and you know, what’s supposed to go in your employee handbook because different states have different laws, etc. Right? So figuring that piece out. So that’s step one. Step two, is you need to create the job posting and description for the position that you’re looking for. Okay, and I guess if we really want to take a bigger picture view here, I am a big believer, I’m visual, right? So a lot of you guys I imagine are too Is it helped to kind of see the vision of what you’re wanting to create. So org charts are extremely helpful to understand the structure of your company to understand all the roles and who goes where I’ll just show you guys real quick. I have this on my cork board, but this is our addo aesthetics org chart. So we have I have a visual representation of like, here’s every In the company and the roles that need to be filled for what is going on now for a spa, you are likely going to have like your providers that might be like massage therapist. As decisions, you may have a lead aesthetician, you may have an office manager, you may have like a, we have a section called, like our growth, so director of marketing and growth. And so in there, we have our content, our podcast, our sales, our ads, like all of that kind of division, which you may be the person wearing all of those hats, right? And that’s fine. But it’s important to know, like, okay, here’s this part of the company, here’s this part of the company, here’s this part of the company, when you have a visual representation of what your business what you want your business to look like, by the end of the year, it really helps you to know who’s that next person to hire? Should I be hiring front desk? Should I be hiring another provider, should I be hiring someone for admin support. So having that visual really helps with that. Now, then you’re going to create the actual job description. And I’m going to just share my screen with you guys real quick, because we have a job description here for a business operations assistant. And this is an actual job that we posted for addo aesthetics.

 

16:28

And so just to show you how much detail actually goes into a job posting for our company, so we’re hiring a business operations assistant at addo. aesthetics, a fast growing high performance coaching company that serves the spa industry. So here we are qualifying. Who who this person is, are you a self starter? Who can work well, both independently and with a team? Do you have a strong attention to detail and impeccable follow up skills? Are you you know, like? It’s, we’re asking questions. If you answer yes, you could be the perfect fit for this role, we give a quick description of who we are as a company. We talk about requirements. So among other things, your responsibilities will include Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, the position requires these things, right ability to communicate and technical information in a simple manner, openness to learning new technologies and software’s positive energy, the ideal candidate will have knowledge of these things. Knowledge of all software’s above not required just preferred some clarifying this. Were 100% woman owned company. So given just another little snippet about who we are as a company, here’s some of our core values. Here’s some of the benefits. And here’s how to apply this is something that’s really important. And if you guys leave with nothing else, I want you to remember this. So write this down, okay? To apply, please email, hello at out of statics with business ops assistant, plus your MBTI and the subject line, please attach your resume to the email. If your applicant cannot follow those instructions, they do not have a strong attention to detail. The person that you are hiring to bring into your company is supposed to make your life easier, right? So you want to bring someone in obviously there’s a an onboarding period, a training period, right. But from the start, you need to make sure that that person, if they don’t know what MBTI is, they’re not sending you an email. There’s this thing called Google that they can figure it out. Right? So you want to you want to see like, are they resourceful? If there’s something that they don’t know how to do? Can they take action to understand what is MBTI? Right. Can I follow that I’m putting this in the subject line. That has been such a great thing. And one of the reasons that I think I have such an incredible team that has been you know, our team, we have very low turnover. And it’s because we focus very much on hiring the smile training the skill, we get the right person in the right personality. It’s very hard to teach integrity. It’s very hard because each drive it’s pretty easy to teach someone how to use a booking software. Pretty easy to teach someone a protocol, right? So thinking about all of those things. Okay, you guys still with me? Anybody have questions on the job description? That look really detailed to you. It’s, it’s quite a bit different than just saying, front desk position open, you know, like posting something on Craigslist, but you’re making the first impression of your company and the way that you do business in that first posting, right? Okay, so where do you actually post your job, you can post it on indeed, which I found to be one of the more reliable sites for finding qualified people, I would also reach out to your network. So reach out to any of the product reps, vendor reps, anyone that you have relationships with in the spa industry and say, Hey, we’re looking for this position. If you guys are in any type of networking, or mastermind group, I would put the word out there, put the word out with some of your top clients. And also post on social media, you can have a section on your website that says careers. And, you know, posted in your stories, sometimes your clients turn out to be the best people they already know and love your brand. Right. And they I have several spa owners and Growth Factor who their front desk peoplewere clients and just said, Hey, I love your business, I love your brand. I want to work for you. Right? So be open to that. Okay. So when you are doing the job posting, you want to recommend, like I recommend saying, okay, applications are open from this time to this time. 

 

21:47

So whether you’re giving yourself, you know, a week or two weeks, whatever that timeframe is, have a dedicated amount of time that applications are open, and then have a dedicated amount of time that you’ll be performing interviews. And the way that I like to do interviews, I initially we’ll do a phone interview. And I just want to find out and this is what I’m referring to now is when I was working as a spa director, and when I was hiring for brick and mortar. So when I would I would do an initial phone interview. Can I talk with them? Right? Can I have a conversation? I see? Like, am I able to have small talk? Do I like their personality? are they showing up as authentic? are they showing up as professional? And if the answer is yes, then I invite them in for an in person interview. I’m looking at are they on time? Do they look professional? And I don’t really care if they wear makeup or not. I know that for some people, that’s an issue. But you know, do they have beautiful skin? Can you tell that they’re taking care of themselves? Do they look professional? That is something that is important as an aesthetician And, you know, how are they just how are they showing up? And my main focus, like I will ask them where they see themselves in five years. I asked them, What got them into the industry, what attracted them to our company? those kind of questions, if they are a provider, then I’ll ask them about their numbers that their previous employer like, were they keeping track of retail to service percentage? Were they keeping track of their client purchase percentage? Like? Are they someone who is focusing on the business side of things? Or are they just, you know, like, what what was their experience? Like? Why did they leave their last position? I want to know those different types of things as well. And it’s, for me, never a good sign if someone is like, bad mouthing or talking bad about their previous position. The spa industries have very small industry. And, and you know, there’s there’s lots of reasons why people leave, they want to grow more, they want different mentor, like whatever it is. But it’s it’s, in my opinion, not super professional to talk bad about a previous employer. So I always kind of keep those things in mind.

 

24:26

As you go through the interview process, you decide that they’re the person that you want to hire. Here’s a piece of a lot of people miss out the offer letter. So for those of you guys that have employees, do you have like an offer letter template gussto provides one but you can always adjust this and I’m sure a lot of payroll providers or those kind of companies do but what you want to have documented is what is the position, right? What are the what are like The role that they’re filling, what are the requirements? So you’re kind of pulling some of the information off of the job posting, right? So what what are you bringing them on as? What is their compensation and benefits? What is the employment relationship so this, you know, if you’re an at will state, so kind of stating that So, your employment at the company will be at well, meaning that either you or the company may terminate employment at any time for any reason with or without cause. So just kind of that language having that in there, if there is any type of contingency offer, so the company reserves the right to conduct background and our reference checks on all prospective employees, your job is contingent, the job offer is contingent on clearance of such background and will be withdrawn, if any of the above conditions are not satisfied. So if you are someone that checks, references, or anything like that, you want to have that in their company policies and additional agreements. And so this is, you know, as an employee of the company, you’ll be expected to abide by and adhere by the company’s rules and standards. This is something that we’ll get into with the actual employee handbook, but you can put just a sentence in there about that continuing obligation. So by signing this letter, you confirm with the company that you’re under no contractual or other legal obligations that would prohibit you from performing your duties with the company, you further confirm that you will not remove or take any documents or proprietary proprietary data or materials of any kind, electronic or otherwise, with you from your current or former employer to the company without written authorization from your current or former employer, nor will you use or disclose any such confidential information during the course and scope of your employment with the company. That is a big one, right. So in spa, we do a lot of non disclosures, non competes, etc. But it’s basically stating from the beginning, that your clients, our clients have the practice. So they cannot download or export, client data, information, all of those types of things. So you want to have that all in writing, and something that they have signed. So you do your offer. If the offer is not accepted, it’ll expire at the end of business on this day. We look forward to having you join us no later than this day, your name signature, and then having accepted and agreed, signed by that person. Right? So brick and mortar spas, if you are, you know, you guys hear me talk a lot about beginning with the end in mind. And if you want to run a seven figure business, you need to act that way. Now, even if you’re bringing in $10,000, you know, like, whatever, you’re just starting out, right? You’ve got to show up and act in that way now. And acting in that way. See, I mean, what is Alexander’s day? Is there any way to have that written down to have it? So Alexandra, I pulled this offer letter as a template from gussto. So if you sign up with gussto, or whatever payroll provider you’re using, they will have an offer letter template for you. So whatever one you’re using, um, you adjust it based on based on your needs. Okay, so let’s move on to Oh, thanks, Christy. And you guys, I actually so they have I have a special link, that if you sign up with our link, it is like a referral link, but it gives you $100 off. So if you sign up with them and I think are the payroll is based off of I’ll put it in here. The payroll is based off of how many employees you have. So again, this is a referral link for us. But it’s cool because if you sign up using that, then you get $100 yourself. So it’ll give you they have like a trial period where you get your first for us it was like your first month of payroll free. And I think our payroll is like $89 we have for employees for contractors. So depending on what your company it just to get an idea of what the cost is.

 

29:42

But there’s a lot of different. There’s a lot of different payroll companies out there. Most entrepreneurs that I have talked with are using gussto and really like it, but I would go in and look at all of that ones, talk to your payroll or talk to your CPA. As a bookkeeper and find one that you can work with long term. Okay, so once you get through the offer letter, you’re going to start the onboarding process, this is super important. So when they first come in, you’re going to fill out your I nine form, if you’re in the US, you’re going to need either a passport or a driver’s license and Social Security, there’s a whole listing of like different types of identification that you can use. Other countries, you know, go to your government to figure out what you need for legal representation there. The first thing that you’re going to do after you get that IE nine, and passport and all of that kind of information is go through the employee handbook, you’re going to review everything with them, and have them sign it and you want to make sure that they have a copy as well. So I’m going to go I’m going to share my screen again, and I’m going to show you this is actually something that we have for our Growth Factor people. So we’ve have the employee handbook template. And so this is just giving you like a quick outline. Here’s the overview. But you can see everything that’s in here, right. So welcome to the spa family. Here’s our culture and core values, important contacts, spa policies and procedures. And we’re looking at like treatment cancellations and read bookings late arrival and no show policy refunds, gift cards, payments and gratuities client consent forms Spa Safety notices restrictions, right of refusal, right, so this is all just spa policies and procedures that we’re putting in the employee handbook. Section five is employee policies and procedures. So client consent form and chart notes, social media posting, employee appearance, employee professionalism, requesting and using time off covering shifts, no visitor policy, food policy, headphone and music policy noncompete, three strikes and employee discount, right. So we’re looking at all of those things. And I will tell you, I know if some of you are like, Oh, my gosh, this seems like overkill. The more the the more clarity in your communication on what expectations are, the better the ongoing relationship with your employee will be. Because so often what I’ve seen over and over and over again, is an employee issue comes up. And the spa owner is telling me about it. And I was like, well, was this clarified? Do you have a way to request time off in place? Do you have a policy that they can’t listen to their headphones while performing a service? Like, there’s all these things that come up? If you’re not clarifying what expectations are? You know, that is just an opportunity for you to say, Okay, well, we need a policy on this. Front Desk, customer service protocols, daily checklist and tasks, treatment protocols, legal forms and documents. So that’s kind of the outline, and then we go in here and put everything in. So for our template for Growth Factor, they just have to fill in, you know, the name of the spa and look at, you know, all these different little things here that they want to adjust to make it their own.

 

33:39

But I advise actually giving a copy to the employee, and also going through explaining the policy, having them sign off and asking giving them the opportunity to ask any questions that they have. And so this just really sets the tone. And it’s I know, so often, we don’t feel like CEOs in our business. We’ve we feel like, Oh, it’s a small business. It’s, you know, we but when I asked the question like, would the would the CEO with the owner of Starbucks, the dealing with this with the owner of target? Well, I guess target and Starbucks are public companies, but like, if you think of like a bigger company, right? Would this be happening? Or would this be a policy? Would there be something in place? So you have to think of yourself in that way? Like, how can we act like a seven figure company right now? Right? So they’re going to have clarity and communication like this? So in regards to employee handbooks, where are you guys at? Do you guys have employee handbooks, you have questions about employee handbooks? Does anyone go over the employee handbook? Yes, no, maybe? No. Well, It’s, it’s a fun project that you can add to your q2, q2 things to do. But it really is one of the most powerful things to have in your business just to even for yourself to go through and do and say, Oh, do we have a policy? Or do we need a policy on this particular thing? Okay. The other thing that you’re going to want to address in the onboarding process, when you’re going through the employee handbook, having them review having them sign, you want to then address how and when people will get raises and reviews. So what I typically recommend when bringing somebody on, I like to do a 90 day probationary period. So the 90 day probationary period, oftentimes, I’ll recommend having a flat rate of pay. And during that time period, you’re investing a lot of time and energy in training them. And then at the end of the 90 days, you can see what value they bring. And then you will, you can offer them compensation based on like, maybe someone comes in, and they just show up in such a huge way. And you want to offer them a higher compensation, because they’re doing so much more than what the original position required, or they’re not hitting the numbers that you want. And you want to make sure that you’re not that you can see that, Hey, there, they still are going to be a good fit, but they’re going to require a lot more training and development. So I’m not going to be paying them at this level until their performance hits these critical numbers, right. So you want to really address that and have it be crystal clear, like every time you have a review is an opportunity for a raise. But here’s our review schedules, you get a review at your 90 day probationary period, and then once a year, so it could be one year on their hire date. It could be you know, maybe you do reviews for the entire company in September, however you set it up, but you just want to have clarity for your employees to know

 

37:21

what what like when is their opportunity to get a raise? How can they get a raise? How can they get a review? And then I also am a big fan of having check ins with your team. And really asking them what do they enjoy doing? What do they not enjoy doing? Are they happy in their work? Because we might see something we might and I see this all the time with especially in med spas, they’ll be like a superstar aesthetician they’re like, Oh, you’re so great. You can do social media, and you can be the lead aesthetician and you can also be the spa manager, right? They’ve put all these hats on this person because they’re performing in such a great way. But then that individual gets overworked and overwhelmed and realizes like, Hey, this is not what I wanted to be doing at all. And it’s such a shame, because then you’re going to burn out and lose really good people by not checking in and seeing like, Hey, is this Are you happy in your work? Are you fulfilled in your work? And I do that regularly with our team? And say like, Hey, is there anything that we need to take off your plate that you’re just like, this makes me want to cringe every time I have to think about doing X, Y or Z? Right? It’s if you don’t know the answer to that question. It’s not like you can take everything off their plate. But if there’s one thing that it’s just an easy fix. That’s great. Right? 

 

38:54

So okay, let me look here. Is there any way we can purchase the template? Oh, for the handbook? Is that was it for the handbook? I think we have a package that Yeah, Christy, I think we like Annie put together. That new employee will look, Vivian I think we have a package of like some of our templates. We probably we have like hundreds of templates and Annie put together a couple of packages of like our most requested ones. But it’s something that we just we don’t ever promoted. It’s something that we have through our support channels. So I’ll have Christy look at that and find that link. 

 

39:46

Okay, so perfect. So what questions do you guys have because I want to now just open it up to q&a because I wanted to for sure cover the initial like hiring onboarding but how can Help you guys in where do you feel you’re getting stuck? Where do you feel lack of clarity? Is it understanding the role that you’re going to hire for? How to develop those people how to communicate with them? 

 

40:15

See, Felicia saying, Would you need a template for yearly reviews? Yes, you do. So you you, I always am a big believer in documenting every single review conversation every single, like, if you’re putting someone on a performance improvement plan, whatever it is, you want to make sure that every single thing is documented. And so that it’s, there’s like, a tangible, like a real life example of XYZ happened. And this is a pattern for this individual. This is like, we all mess up, we all make mistakes, right? That’s normal. When you hire employees, they will mess up, you just have to know that. But there’s, there’s a part of being human that knowing like, Hey, this is the learning process. And then there’s a part of where it’s a pattern, or it’s a misalignment with core values, you know, just not a right fit for the company. So, I think that having a template makes it easier, and just having everything documented in that employee file is going to be super easy. 

 

41:35

Okay, so Vivian, saying, I’d love guidance for pay bonuses commission, is there a structure, stimula that worked? Well, when you manage? Yes. So you guys know the company strategies. They’re like a consulting company, for spas, and kind of health and wellness. And they, what strategies does is they’re known for team based pay. A lot of people love team based pay, a lot of people hate to base pay. But what they do that I think is really great is they break down four core areas of value for an employee. So there’s going to be critical numbers and performance. So this might be something like your retail to service percentage, your client purchase percentage, your client retention, your client, prebook, so all those numbers that we care about. 

 

42:35

But that is not the pure value of an individual, if you so let’s say you have a team member, who is just average, with their numbers, maybe they’re just kind of baseline, but they’re always early to work, they always have a great attitude, they’re always helping to clean up. They’re going above and beyond with their customer service. You know, there’s all these other pieces that just make them a pleasure to be around. Right? You know, they’re extremely reliable. They have a great attention to detail all of those things, but maybe their numbers are not through the roof. But then you can have someone whose numbers are through the roof. But everything is a battle. Everything right? Like you have to you have to look at the whole person, and the strengths that they’re bringing to the company. It’s not just all about the numbers. I think that’s the only time that you will ever hear me say that because I talk about numbers so much of how important they are. Because they are right. But when you’re looking at your team, it’s what qualities do they bring to the business as a whole? And how do they create the culture of your company. 

 

43:58

And so as far as pay structure benefits, there’s a lot of different ways to do that. When I was working as an aesthetician, because I am a big time performer. I always wanted to be commissioned only. And because I knew I could sell, I knew I would go out and hustle and find clients and I made the most amount of money doing that and I was very money driven. But you really need to understand number one, what makes the most sense for your company? What makes the most sense for your people. I also am an entrepreneur, right? So there’s a lot of people that just want to come in do the work, but they don’t want to have to worry about marketing. They don’t want to have to worry about all of those other pieces, but they can give an excellent facial they are so good at following up with our clients. Right so you’re looking at those different types of things but the the main ways that we pay our commission only hourly only we’re out Plus commission, that’s most commonly what I see. I believe, personally that as a spa owner, you will be like, hands down, no question, you will be the most profitable. If you do hourly only, um, there’s Yes, you’re going to be paying hourly if you don’t have someone in there to fill those appointments. But, um, you know, a lot of people say, Oh, I want to do commission only because if they’re not doing treatments, then you know, I don’t want to have to pay them. But over like, longevity, you’re going to make a lot more profit as a spa owner of your having an hourly rate for them. And you can see that in the cost of treatment and profitability tracker that we have inside of spa, retail Rockstar. And then as far as bonuses, so with team based pay the way that strategies teaches it as they do, you know, let’s say that your goal for the month is to hit $20,000. And maybe you have three people on your team. So it’s two aestheticians, and a front desk. So if you hit $20,000, then there would be a team bonus, where you would do maybe 3% of top line revenue, to take 3% of 20,000, you divide it by three, and that would be an additional bonus that your team would get. And so that’s kind of the way that they do that. But there’s all different kinds of ways that like, you know, maybe if your membership based a lot of spa owners are doing like a flat $10 per every memberships sold to the front desk or to the provider as like an additional way to earn commission’s and then as far as retail. So I am a big fan of a tiered retail commission structure. So this is what they did at Bella Santa’s when I was there. And I felt like it worked incredibly well and was really motivating. So for retail to service percentage, if you were less than 30%, you got zero commission, like that’s 30% is like bare minimum, right? So you’ve got to hit 30%. If you want to earn commission, so 30 to 39, you would get a 10% Commission on products sold 40 to 49, you would get 12% Commission on product sold and then 50. and above, you would get 15% Commission on product sold. So when you’re doing 50%, retail the service, you know, you can be selling a pretty significant amount of product. So the more you’re making, the more you’re earning. And it really allows for some pretty significant add ups on your paycheck for the aesthetician and also on top of the fact that there’s in meta statics and a lot of other kind of industry journals and magazines. They’ve done studies that show that if a client purchases three or more retail products from you, there’s like a 90% likelihood that they’ll be returning for an additional service. So it’s really important for us as spa owners to you know, recommend skincare. We want to recommend those skincare products because we want them to use professional products. We want them to reach their skincare goals as fast as possible. But we also want them to continue to come back and see us as clients. Okay.

 

48:48

I had a question. Yes, Danielle. So this is the structure that you just listed out. For like the retail to service percentages, is that more on an individual basis when they use it in the review before one tire is breakdown?

 

49:09

Yeah, so each provider, so your, you should be tracking retail the service as a spa, as the entire spa. But you’re also going to be tracking each individual provider for what they are bringing in their individual retail the service percentage, and that’s how they’re earning their commissions. 

 

49:29

Now I have a question for you. Did you ever encounter any conflicts as I certainly have working at other med spas where you know, people will be fighting over clients or, or indicating that they are the ones who recommended those products prior and so, again, …gets caddies…You can find it ensure that that type of atmosphere doesn’t happen.

 

49:55

Yeah, it’s charting. So it needs to go in the notes. So the second that you recommend those products, your patient, then whatever EMR you’re using, you need to document here was our conversation. Like for me, every time I would chart and this goes, if you’re in a baseball or Med Spa, even the day spas, you have like a note section, right? So you’re going to document in there, we talked about, you know, here’s what we did, here’s what I saw in her skin. And here’s the products that I recommended. And then also, I would include personal notes, like, they’re going on vacation, or their kids names, or this or whatever, just so I would have a talking point when they came back, because they’re coming back in four to six weeks, I’m not going to remember every detail of our conversation, right? But if you have that written down, then you can go back and check. So this goes back to that employee handbook piece, where you’re clearly stating, here’s our policy for how you earn commissions. And the person that it’s either the person that recommends the product, or it’s the person that actually closes the sale. And, you know, you you get to choose as the business owner what your specific policy is. And then you also get to decide, does that provider continue to earn commissions each time they repurchase? So what I noticed is that we in a lot of the spots that I worked in, it was whoever closed the sale. So you can recommend something and that’s great. But if they’re not actually taking action to purchase, then it’s whoever gets them to purchase gets that sale, and then we’ll continue to have the the Commission’s earned every time that they repurchase. Does. Does that answer your question? Vivian.

 

51:58

Yes, it does and have another question to follow. Did you ever give options for clients to choose their provider?

 

52:08

It depends. So the spas that I worked at, and we would do consultations. And so we would just kind of they would come in for an initial consultation. And then we would put them with whatever the time, the provider that the time made the most sense for when that patient wanted to come in. And if someone was referred, and requested that specific person, then 100%, they can go with whoever they request. 

 

52:40

Thank you. 

 

52:41

You’re welcome. 

 

52:42

Oh, one more question. Sorry for the questions. So now with ease, in terms of charting has in the past, I believe just had separate file folders for every single client. But nowadays, do you find that the easiest thing to do is to do with electronically.

 

53:01

I think that’s a personal choice of the practice. And so I know in, in medical spas, you’re required, you’re required to chart and depending on your state, when I was in Hawaii, it was we had to keep the charts, I think for seven years. And so it just depending on the size of your practice, I mean, we’re a multi seven figure practice. And so that was a lot of charts, right. So switching to electronic, really created a lot more space and was a lot easier to kind of document different things. But I personally am such a pen and paper, kind of girl. That for me, I like to actually write notes, because sometimes I’ll draw little pictures. You know, if I’m like marking, we had like, a progress note that had the face and so we could mark like locations on the face and different things like that. That was really helpful personally for me, so so I don’t have a black and white answer for that. I think it’s going to be really what makes the most sense for how your team works.

 

54:17

I mean, awesome. Thank you so much. 

 

54:18

Yeah, yeah.

 

54:22

Okay, so Megan was saying, what would you suggest for training benefits? Is it customary to offer them a certain amounts of put towards ongoing training? 

 

54:32

Yes. And so I don’t know if it’s customary, but I definitely think that that’s, that is such a benefit and the things that motivate us as entrepreneurs is very different than what motivates people as employees. So a lot of times employees are looking for a place where they can get experience where they can get developed, where they can grow and in our industry, especially I’m like, gosh, I’ve been in this industry 14, 15 years now, I learned something new every day, every day, there’s something you know. And so there’s constant ongoing training that we have to do to stay on top of the game. And so I think that, even using that as a bonus, like, hey, whoever, um, you know, this quarter, if we hit our quarterly goal, I’m going to send the team to this spa show, or I’m going to do, you know, provide X amount of dollars for ongoing education, whatever it is, right? And when we all start going to spa shows and all those things again, right. And so I think that, that is absolutely an important and very motivating piece for people to join your team.

 

55:53

Okay, and then. Penny change in a handbook and resign after hiring. Yes, 100%. So, a handbook is a living document, which is why we keep it on Google Drive, because it can change every week, it can change every month. And I suggest getting the the main framework with all of your policies, all of your procedures, etc, kind of filled in and mapped out. And then what I want you to do is, it’s, you want to have it numbered, right, you want the pages numbered. And so if you find out like, oh, here’s a problem, here’s something that we have an area of opportunity for us to address, and we need to create a policy around this, then what you want to do is just go in and update that specific page, reprint that page, and then have them sign that. And then would you hire someone for front desk, also completing as decisions will assume 100%, 100%. I think that that, so I’m a big believer in, everybody should know how to do everything. And when you, the you guys, the front desk is one of the hardest positions in the entire spa. That is you want, it takes a special person to do a great job at the front desk. And they’re the first person that your client is going to see they’re the last person that your client is going to see. You want that person to be warm and friendly, and conversational and helpful and all of these things. And so having an aesthetician up there, they can understand how to do the booking, they can start to get to know the clients. Right? So then when they do go in and practice if something does come up, where you know, what if your front desk person calls out sick, what if they’re having to quarantine for a period of time, like whatever is going on? Right? You have a backup, you’re not saying oh man, now I have to go in and do the front desk or, you know, it’s gonna be crazy. You have someone as a backup. So I think that that’s awesome. 

 

58:18

And do I believe in hiring and choose? Yes. If your business financially can afford it 100% it’s going to save you so much time, you can do the entire employee handbook onboarding piece in one city, right? So you go so you’re not like explaining the policies and procedures, you have both of them there at the same time. And here’s another thing, I just did a facebook live in our free Facebook group about this. But use your vendors, like have the software company come in and do a training for that, that you’re using, have your product dress come in and do trainings for them. So because it’s a lot to really understand, like, what is this product line about? What are each of the skews you know, what is each thing do? What is our company believe is the best vitamin C what is our company believe is the best cleanser for oily skin because that’s another thing, right? Like, you don’t want to have different people in your business recommending different products. 

 

59:24

And so having the companies your vendors do an initial like high level overview training, and then you coming in and saying, Okay, great, you understood like the capacity, what this booking software can do and how to find reports and how to do the basics. But here’s how we also use it and here’s where we put the notes in and here’s how we confirm appointments and whatever you know, like giving them all of those pieces out there. But whatever you can do in twos. If you’re having them both do the vendor trainings at the same time. It’s gonna save you so much time.

 

1:00:08

Any other questions? 

 

1:00:09

Daniella. Yeah, I was speaking of because right now I have to I need a friend, this person. One of my ads was doing it on her days off, but she started doing more work. So I guess my question was about hiring too, I have two young ladies that are about to finish aesthetician school. They both have from this experience, but they can kind of work opposite days because of school. So that’s what I was wondering. And then I could see, you know, one may not work out, we may not mix well, or at least I still have one, that that’s what are kind of meant by that.

 

1:00:44

By that too. Yeah, I think it’s great. 

 

1:00:47

Okay.

 

1:00:48

 You’ll think it’s great. Because the front desk, I think that’s a really underestimated position, have the value people are like, Oh, I need another provider, so that they can do services. But look, guys, if you have a front desk person, they can be rebooking, they can be selling products, they can be calling clients, they can be creating SOPs for you, they can be cleaning, there’s so many things that a front desk person can do. And it also just brings a new level of professionalism to your business. So I’m a big fan of having a front desk, I think it takes a lot off of your plate as the provider and as the owner. And I also think that you know, with, with booking, like how we’re operating spas in COVID, with needing more time between appointments for sanitation, and etc. Like, if you have a precast person, you’re going to be able to, to shorten that a bit. Because think if you’re like having to book and check them out, and then go and clean, and then check in the person, you can, you can cut that probably in half, where you’re going and cleaning and sanitizing the room. The the front desk person is booking their appointment, talking with them not making them feel rushed, right, all of those things. So it’s it really is a huge benefit. 

 

1:02:14

Okay, so that’s probably where I’ve been going wrong, because all of my but I hadn’t had a front desk person for a while because all of my staff was checking their own client out. But I was providing extra time for that, that this taken away from treatments to. 

 

1:02:28

Yep, because you’re people that are already if you bring in a front desk person that just think if each person could see one more client per day, if you were able to tighten up that schedule.

 

1:02:41

Okay. 

 

1:02:42

Yeah, looking at it that way. 

 

1:02:44

Okay, so let’s see, Megan has another question. What expectations can I have on someone who’s paid hourly? To learn product information, etc? Should they be expected to do this on their own time? Or should they have time during work hours? 

 

1:02:56

If they’re an employee, they should have time during their work hours. So it is it that is definitely something that they’re required to, like, you cannot ask someone to do something in their own time without paying them. And does it happen 100%. But you can’t require it. So you can say, here’s all the information. And if you’re interested or eager and learning more about the line, this is, you know, what we expect. And like, I did stuff like that all the time, when I was still practicing, like, I would always read about things on my own time go to trainings on my own time. Because it made me a much better provider, it made me much better at my job. But you can’t require to do so someone to do something on their own time without paying them. Okay.

 

1:03:54

I have one question …so I just want to know your thoughts and everyone else’s thoughts on in terms of like boundaries of duties. So, previous med spas that I worked at, we all talk you know, half an hour to an hour, every morning and right after closing the clients are gone. She do some general cleaning duties like mopping and sweeping and putting things back. What are your thoughts on that? You know, if there was a professional cleaner coming in once a week but would you say that only my employees very unhappy if I expect that? 

 

1:04:33

I think you put it in the job description. 

 

1:04:36

Okay.

 

1:04:36

If that’s something that the role requires, when you’re creating the offer letter when you’re creating the job description. here’s here’s what we expect as an aesthetician you perform the treatments you perform the opening and closing procedures, our closing procedures includes laundry, sweeping, dusting, mopping, right so it’s it goes back to that clear communication from the beginning of what is the job description? What is required in the role? They have the opportunity to say yes or no, it’s not like you’re throwing something on them that’s unexpected. You’ve communicated what the job is from the beginning. So I think that, you know, if you’re in a position now that it’s like, hey, I’ve already got employees, I need to adjust, you know, the, the language, then you just in a team meeting, say, Hey, here’s some updated policies. You know, if anyone has any questions or concerns, please feel free to come to me. But this is what is expected as part of closing procedures, but I don’t think it’s unheard of at all, to have a close out of like, we’ve got a vacuum we’ve got to wipe down, especially in COVID. Right, that just like even more you know, we’ve always as an industry, I think, had exceptional standards on sanitation. were trained in sanitation. I’ve never met in a sufficient that’s like, I don’t care about sanitation, right, where we’re very clean people. And so now especially with COVID, I think that by just saying, Hey, this is what we’re doing to make sure that our clients are as safe as possible. Because if we number one don’t want to put any of you know, us at risk or our families at risk our clients at Red Sprite. So this is just an important part of doing of operating business. Alright, so we are at time for this call. Is there any other questions that I can answer before we sign off?

 

1:06:45

All right, well, you guys tag me in the group if you have any, anything related to hiring or any of that kind of stuff, and just I will go and look at your post here in a minute and give you a loom. But I hope that this helped. I hope that you guys found value and I’m excited to watch you grow. It’s an exciting time to be in spa. 

 

1:07:06

Hey, talk to you soon. 

 

1:07:09

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.

If the recent changes to the Facebook and Instagram ads landscape have left you frustrated, confused, and ready to throw in the towel, I want to encourage you to, first, take a deep breath. 

 

Next, plug in your earbuds because today we’re going to kick that mind mess to the curb and get real on what’s really happening with Facebook and Instagram ads.

 

And back with me on the mic for this episode of  Spa Marketing Made Easy is the Facebook Ads goddess herself, Tara Zirker! 

 

Tara is my dear friend, a multi-time guest here on the podcast, and the founder of Successful Ads Club. 

 

Tara has helped her clients and students generate millions of dollars in profit for their businesses, and what I think is most critical, is that she has helped her clients and students do this in the simplest way possible. 

 

So, put your woes at ease, Tara is here to give you the real talk on what in the world is going on in ads land plus some major encouragement when it comes to modern day online marketing and advertising. 

 

In this episode, we discuss: 

 

•  What the new iOS 14 changes mean for business owners looking to run ads and how it will shift your paid ads strategy moving forward
• The 4 key things to understand about the most recent changes Facebook has made with its advertising platform to comply with the iOS shift and what you need to have in your backpocket as an advertiser on the platform
• What types of creative elements are currently working best for ads and Tara’s top recommendations on where to spend your time, energy and budget on the Facebook and Instagram platforms 
• Where Tara sees the digital marketing and paid ads landscape shifting in the next 1-2 years and steps for how we can best be prepared 

References Mentioned in Episode #238: Finding Your Way in the New Facebook / Instagram Ads Landscape with Tara Zirker

 

• Learn more about and join The Successful Ads Club 
• Get Tara’s free download, “The Anatomy of the Perfect Ad”  at www.youradkit.com/freebie
• Connect with Tara on Facebook and Instagram 
• Listen to Episode #139 with Tara – 10 Ways to 10X Your Revenue with Facebook Ads
• Listen to Episode #003 with Tara – The Fundamentals of Facebook Ads for Spa Marketing
• 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! 

 

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 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. I am so excited to welcome back my dear friend and Facebook ads expert, Tara Zirker. She is the founder of successful ads club many of you in the spa industry, I’m sure have heard me talk about her have joined her program to learn about Facebook ads. She’s absolutely incredible and has a ton of knowledge in the spa industry. And she has one of our most downloaded podcast episodes to date. So we thought that it was time to bring her back to talk about these iOS updates to talk about how you can use that as a competitive advantage. And some different low cost ad strategies that you can be utilizing in your business. So tons of information, you’re definitely gonna want to grab a pen and paper, take down some notes, maybe listen to this episode again. So I’m just going to do this super short intro and let you guys just dive right into the good stuff because there is a lot of good stuff. Alright, let’s go ahead and play that interview. 

 

01:32

All right, Tara, welcome back to the Spa Marketing Made Easy Podcast. So excited to have you. Here you are. I think you’re in our top three episodes of downloads. 

 

01:44

Oh

 

01:44

How to 10X, 10 ways to 10X revenue with Facebook ads. So that was one of our like, most downloaded most love tongue, tons of questions, tons of actions taken from that episode. And when we asked like, Hey, who do you want to see on the podcast? We were getting DMS requesting to have you back on. So I’m so excited because there has been a lot that has gone on with Facebook and ads. Since that episode. A lot. 

 

02:19

Yes, a lot exclamation mark. 

 

02:21

So why don’t we just just dive right in and start off with these iOS updates? Oh, what is the deal with them? What’s going on? Why do we care?

 

02:32

Okay, elephant in the room, right? Let’s just look after it. All right. So iOS 14, basically, here’s why you care. 80% of people who access Facebook are accessing Facebook by mobile only meaning in a whole year, they’re not logging on one time from their desktop, it is on their phone. So you have to understand Facebook and Instagram. So many of us as business owners, we’re still accessing these things on our desktops, right? Most of the world is not 80% of the world is not 80%. Can you believe that? So now you have to consider if you are an aesthetician in the US in Canada, in the UK, you know all these big countries, most of your traffic about half of it? Well, most of your traffic number one is mobile, and about half of that traffic is going to be from people on their iPhones, people on their iPads, etc. So they’re running off of the iOS platform products, Apple products. And essentially what Apple said was, you know, we don’t really like all of these advertisers being able to chase people around the web with their ads. And that’s called, you know, third party tracking is basically what enables that. And so instead, we are going to ask people, they have to literally opt in, not opt out but opt in, if they want to be tracked by advertisers. So most people are saying no, and they’re clicking the no button. And it’s about 80 90% of people are opting out of the ability to be tracked. So means a few things. 

 

04:10

Number one, it means there’s going to be a huge shift over time in the strategy of retargeting.

 

04:15

Number two, it means there’s going to be new tools and techniques implemented in order to capture your own data, turn third party data into first party data that’s already happening. 

 

04:25

Number three, it means that you’re going to also see all the other big players following suit, right? So this is not once Apple does something everyone else is going to as well. So, you know, as these as this continues to evolve, you will see that this continues to change. You know, Android I’m sure will be next to go and then all you know it’s every single basically operating platform is going to follow suit to this change. So you have to know even though it’s only Apple, it is going to affect everything eventually. 

 

04:57

And what are we on number four, you know, the big thing to know is that they’re still effective, you just can’t see the exact data that you could see before. So if a sale happens if a lead happens if somebody puts in their email is still happening, it’s just that there’s now a curtain between you and your data. And Facebook is not allowed to report it. So they can say, you know, things are still happening, there’s still conversions happening. But unfortunately, with the iOS change, Facebook’s not allowed to report unless somebody opted in to being tracked, they’re not allowed to report that back to the ads manager back to your dashboard.

 

05:45

Now, the other thing that I knew I noticed for us, and I imagine this is true, I’m sure this is true for brick and mortar spas, we had to verify all of our page domain, so we would not be able to do ads, unless we owned those particular pages.

 

06:04

Exactly. So let me see if I can revoke that.

 

06:08

Looks like you were doing a Reel.

 

06:12

For everybody listening in my camera, just so that we go went out of focus, because I’m jumping around too much with about all of this I Oh, okay. Yes, exactly. So, in order to advertise now, on Facebook, it is mandatory that you do two things, number one, verify your domain. And I want to say something really important about that. And number two, that you basically prioritize which events are most important to you? Is it the lead capture? Is it the purchase? Because there’s, there’s, you know, a few little nuances and rules and changes to how Facebook can report the data that people are, if there is somebody opting in, then Facebook can report the first conversion event, they can report across nine campaigns, and they can report across eight types of events so they could report a lead, a purchase, etc. You just have to prioritize to Facebook, which ones are most important to you? Now, is this a good place to insert a really important detail? 

 

07:17

Yeah, go for it. 

 

07:18

Okay.  Here’s my IMO, in my opinion, I believe that this little, it’s a 30 to 40 minute chore, verifying your domain so that you’re able to advertise. Whenever you start seeing stuff like that. I want everybody to who’s listening to really listen to this, whenever you start seeing things like this, the most normal reaction is to freak out, and everything you’re doing and saying, Oh my gosh, I’ve got to hire someone. Okay. Oh, put it on my list. I’ll you know, go on Upwork find some ads person to do all my goodness, this is going to take me months. That right there. Okay, hopefully, this is what separates you, from everyone else. Because as soon as you see things like that, what should be clicking in your mind is, this is my competitive advantage. This is my opportunity. 

 

08:16

100% 

 

08:17

Right now, D , I know you this, I know you do you know you you train people this way too, because most people are backing off. And you’re going to say how long is this going to take me a 30 to 40 minutes, oh, I’m doing this. And I know that most of my competitors will not get around to doing this because of like their own mindset issues for months.

 

08:40

So they are not going to be even if you like, are following all the rules of Facebook, if your pages are not verified, you cannot run ads and they will not let you run ads. So all of your your competitors, I say that in quotes, right? But all of your competitors if they’re not doing that, and you are think about all the exposure to different people that you can have, and likely at a lower rate to write because yes, yeah, yeah, it’s Facebook is that kind of like supply and demand, whatever. For me, it’s amazing, right? Because I’ll go and do the work.

 

09:20

You’ll do the 30 to 40 minute chore, and you’ll keep going and you’ll keep getting better and better and better. Meanwhile, you know, so many people in your industry around you in your market, they’re like whoa, you know, they’re literally delaying their success by months. And I’m not even joking when I say sometimes this will take people a year or two, because they will back so completely off. Or they’ll switch you know platforms or they’ll go chase some other strategy. You know, the shiny object syndrome, right? Something that is easier, that looks easier, and then that will change too and then they’ll have to circle back around and speaking of that changing too, I mean, Apples really, they’re really on a rampage this year, because they also just introduced, you know, some email things that is going to, you know, people who are like, Oh my gosh, this is only affecting the ads, people and all the ads, people are just, you know, trying to figure all this out and whatnot and feeling like we’re pioneers in this whole new world of advertising. Guess what, they just changed the landscape with email. And over the next couple of years, you’re going to see that email open rates? Well, they’re, they’re doing away with the mechanisms that make it possible to really track that effectively. So Apple’s kind of leading the way in privacy in a way that’s really shaking up the entire marketing world. And, you know, if you’re a business owner, I know that your first priority never wanted to be to be a marketer. But I hate to tell you, if you’re a business owner, you have to know marketing, you don’t have to know all the nitty gritty, you don’t have to know how to do everything. You have to know the big picture landscape so that you can start to adjust your strategy because your role is the visionary, and to hold your team accountable. But you need to know like what’s changing, so that you can help guide and lead your business to success. And marketing is a huge part of any businesses, you know, success journey for sure.

 

11:11

I 100%. Agree, I think it’s so so important question on the tracking in relation to iOS updates. So we noticed on this past launch that we did. Typically, when we’re doing when we’re looking at our results from our ads, and then our results that we’re seeing in our CRM, they were way off.

 

11:38

For sure.

 

11:39

What like more like Facebook said you had X amount of sales. And then our CRM, we use Ontraport. Ontraport said you have this many sales. So it was like two different planets. Yeah, yeah. Is that from the update?

 

11:56

Totally from the update, and it will continue to get more dramatic as people keep updating their platforms, right, some people are still running, a ton of people are still running off of old, you know, iOS platforms and operating systems. So as they update, then they’re going to get these little messages, do you want to opt into being tracked? You know, again, we know 80 to 90% of people are clicking No. So it’ll continue to become, you know, more and more dramatic these differences.

 

12:28

As marketers or as business owners, how do we measure that Facebook ads, or whatever advertising we’re doing? You know, we talk a lot about cost per lead earnings per lead, like all of these, you know, return on adspend. Right? If we’re not getting the right metrics, how can we make an objective decision on where we’re going to put our money?

 

12:53

Okay, now, I want to preface this by saying I am not an attribution expert, nor did I ever intend to be, but I’ve had to become one. Thanks to all of these changes, right? It’s amazing. And I feel like in a spa world, I mean, everyone understands this, it’s amazing how you take one little platform like Facebook ads, and there’s so many experts that go into this, you know, there’s attribution experts, there’s data scientists, there’s people who run the ads, copywriting experts in video, you know, producers, and it’s amazing how many people can go into one tiny little feature. Or, and, and, and, you know, the same thing when you’re thinking about social media organic, or you’re thinking about the spa world, and how many different expertise is expertises exist there? You know, I don’t even know. 

 

13:44

It’s a word. That’s a word. 

 

13:45

We’re gonna we’re gonna go with it. 

 

13:46

Um, so the so a few ways that you can do this. Number one, there are software tools that will still help you track, okay, so think of things like wicked reports, it’s an investment. And honestly, if you’re just spending a few 100 bucks a month on your ads, it’s not one that I think that you should be making. But if you’ve got a sizable budget, and you really want to know exactly where people are coming from, how long it took them to convert all of these, you know, things then wicked reports is one that’s leading the way with this sort of attribution challenge that now exists more than ever before. 

 

14:25

Number two, here’s the thing. If you are spending $500 a month, 1000 bucks a month, and maybe you’ve got some stuff from social media, you know, but really, your primary vehicle of marketing is advertising. And maybe you’re a one, you know, you’re a one platform type of person. So it’s all Facebook ads, or it’s all Google ads, even if you can’t and Google Ads isn’t having this problem. Yet, although they will, even if you can’t attribute it directly to Facebook because there’s that curtain between you and your data, you can kind of make some really educated guesstimate right? You can say, Listen, I know that Facebook, you know, Facebook, by the way has always told us there’s a 30% over under situation. So they’ve always said they’ve always admitted to about 30% of the conversions are usually it’s, well, I should say, up to 30% of your conversions can be over or under reported. And now it’s just going to be who knows what it could be a 60% difference, you know, really, truly, especially as this continues to roll out. So if you are able to make you know, conservative and you know, pretty solid, like guesstimates, then I would just go with that. And I wouldn’t worry too too much about it.

 

15:43

And I think in spa, what most people are doing is running ads to a specific offer. So if you’re just doing that, you know, get a Brazilian wax, get your underarm wax complimentary. Like, if it’s, if that’s that what they’re booking, you have to know what came from that ad, right? 

 

16:01

Totally. So exactly do so. And by the way, so let’s say you do have, you know, a Brazilian, let’s say the offer is some sort of, you know, Brazilian bikini wax, get it, whatever it is, let’s say that that is the offer. And you’ve got Google and you’ve got Facebook running ads to that, well, you could just create two separate completely separate funnels, they get their own emails, they get their own, and then on your back end, you’ll be able to see it now maybe Facebook is telling you to sales and on your back end, you’re seeing eight sales? Well, that’s fine, you can say you know, with pretty much but nearly you know, 100% confidence. Well, this all came from Facebook, they’re just not allowed to live. They’re literally not allowed to report the data back to me. Because somebody opted out of… 

 

16:51

No, it’s making the CRM is that we’re choosing where we’re building our funnels, etc. Even more important. 

 

16:59

Absolutely. 

 

17:01

Absolutely. Okay, so let’s do a 180. 

 

17:05

Love it. 

 

17:06

That’s iOS updates. So let’s get into the creative. Because we’re seeing a lot right now, with Reels on Instagram. And, you know, I’ve been saying Reels are the real deal. You know, it’s Reels are the thing right now, there’s always some thing. And, you know, next month, it might be something new, like who knows, right? But right now, reels are the thing that you’re getting the most organic reach. How are people capitalizing on that? with ads?… what’s the deal? Like? How do we make the most of it?

 

17:45

Absolutely. Take your, your best Reels, obviously the ones so you want to think about in your your social media, social media strategy, you know, either creating Reels that are specific to your offers, maybe it’s your monthly promotion and evergreen promotion, whatever it is. And, by the way, I mean, Daniela, you could probably share some great tips Reels, the you do a few right, do a few and you’re gonna see how easy they become your mind starts thinking in Reels, you start realizing like a successful Reel can just be a little tour. I mean, literally like a five second tour of your facility. And you know, a couple seconds of showing somebody actually getting the service that you’re talking about, this does not need to be crazy. I do recommend… 

 

18:30

I think there more, like what I’ve noticed the ones that have done really well in spa are kind of funny. And but they are it’s like brand awareness and connecting people like I’ve seen a couple of spa owners in our Growth Factor program that do them there. They specialize in Brazilian waxing. And so they’re, you know, it’s like one that got over 40,000 views. And this is an account with under 10,000 I think she has like 2000 followers or something. And she got over 40,000 views. And it’s just what I’m thinking about before I get a Brazilian wax it was literally her like this and these different questions coming up. And then that one gal did the different types of in a Brazilian wax you know, we we wax everything front to back. And it was the different types of booty wax, right like the how you get the confused, the perfection is that like all the different ones. It was so creative and so cute. And it just shows her personality. It connects, you know, and she got over 40 I think she was at 42,000. 

 

19:43

Oh, it’s so good. It’s so good. 

 

19:46

Yeah, I mean, it can be. I think the intimidating part is just it’s something new to learn. It’s like and I don’t know if this is just now that I’m 40 I’m an old lady and It’s like, man, am I gonna have to start asking my four year old? How did you? Like, when does that start? Because as soon as she can just do my Reels for me, that’ll be great. 

 

20:13

Oh, literally. 

 

20:15

I mean, I’m guessing she’s on like a three year sort of

 

20:18

Three year plan. Yeah, your plan three year…

 

20:21

Totally. That’s gonna be so good when they can do that. And I have a daughter the same age. So trust me, I’m watching her skill set to like, let’s get this going.

 

20:31

But the thing is, they have to I know, it’s like, nobody wants to dance. Yeah, nobody knows what to do the editing piece, adding how do we do the video and then adding the text and then the timing. And you guys like, I get it. And I am the biggest proponent of make sure you’re spending your time doing revenue generating activities. 100%. But we are seeing insane, insane results 184% increase in website taps, people going to your website, from the Reel, that means they’re going to be that’s like, Oh, I want to learn more about this business, not just your profile. But clicking over to the website, how can I work more closely with them, right? That is what we want. From our social media, we don’t want people to follow us or engage with us, if they’re not the right ideal client who we’re trying to serve. But we’re just like, I feel like for me, when I switch to doing the podcast from blogging, there was this huge piece where people got to know who I was as a person more. And I feel like with Reels, it’s almost breaking it down that people get to see your personality and a different way. And they get to see like a more fun side or a more creative side of you and your team. And it’s just building a connection

 

22:02

100% this and you know, we’re saying Reels, right. But this is actually indicative of an entirely new type of marketing that is never going away. And that is short form video. And so really mastering this short form video is honestly probably one of the best skill sets that you can do to take your business into the next 3, 4, 5 years. And the other thing that I think will be on its heels will be you know, this audio revolution that’s happening. We’ve got podcasting, we’ve got, you know, live audio with clubhouse, we actually know…

 

22:36

Facebook is coming out with a clubhouse competitor. 

 

22:38

Totally. And in fact, this is actually very cool. Facebook is coming out with the ability to, they’re going to start featuring podcasts on Facebook.

 

22:52

So that’s why I heard about that, too. 

 

22:54

Yeah, so imagine that’s going to increase time on platform. So you got to be thinking about as you know, business owner, again, again, you don’t have to be the one executing on this stuff. But you do need to be aware of where the social trends are, where the marketing trends are, because this is how you take your business forward, you know, the next two or three years, and Daniela just gave this beautiful story of like, switching from blog, blogging to podcasting is kind of the primary focus and vehicle and just how it expand. I know Daniela, this is like, absolutely, you followed that, or you got ahead of that trend, actually, I think you were really, you know, insightful about where that was going. And very visionary of you, and you got ahead of it. And now look, you’ve got one of the top podcasts, the top podcasts in your niche, one of the top podcasts in business, I mean, it’s amazing. And so this is where you as a business owner, and so often we just need time to think, you know, thinking time to literally just sit down and say, Where do I see the trends in my community? Because your local, you know, spa owner, you really need to understand that. Who are the influencers in my community? Where do I see the trends on social media? Where do I see the trends going in marketing and how are we stacking up and usually, if you think through those questions, you’re going to unlock so many cool things and it doesn’t, it’s so cool, because it means you’re not copycatting anymore, right? You’re actually creating a vision for you that feels really unique to you, that’s your voice and, and then to watch your team execute that and, you know, unfold that vision is really quite a spectacular thing. 

 

24:32

And I think that so many brick and mortars think, Oh, well, podcasting is for online businesses or podcasting is, but like as a spa, I think podcasting is one of the greatest things that you can do. If you create a podcast that’s all about like you create a podcast for your ideal client. That’s local, like one of our gals in Growth Factor last year, was planning to do a podcast about aging, and then her city name, right. So she is coming up as searchable. She’s coming up, it’s local, she can talk to other business owners, other wellness experts, right. And so she is the host of this local podcast talking about anti aging or someone else that I was talking you wanted to do like fabulous over 50 in such and such city, right, brought to you by skin rejuvenation spa, the owner of skin rejuvenation spa, right? Like, it’s you have these pieces here that we have to think bigger than advertising and brand awareness is not just buy my thing, here’s an ad buy my thing. It’s building that brand relationship on a bigger level, becoming a name, a household name and your community. So that when someone does think, Oh, I need a wax, or I need my brows done or whatever, you’re the first person that comes to mind and and podcast, remember, are searchable now for SEO. So they are coming up in Google searches. So if you have a podcast titled, whatever in your city, and someone is searching for, you know, whatever insert that thing lashes in your city, or waxing in your city, you’re going to come up in a search result. So it’s I mean, there’s so many pieces of then creating the social ads that can go to this to build that awareness of who you are as a company.

 

26:30

Absolutely. And the more stuff you have like that, right. So taking this now to the ad strategy, the more stuff you have like that the more effective your ads will be. It’s really hard to run ads, when you have zero assets, you have to at least have a landing page and some good ad copy and things like that. But as you continue to deepen your reputation in your local community, now you’ve got some local media mentions, or some events, you know, some local events that you’ve been involved with, you can start running ads to that very, very cheaply. I mean, I’m talking $1 to $2 a day type of thing, raising that awareness. And then as people come to know your name, you can retarget those people into your conversion offers, right? So that’s where you’ve got your intro offers, whether it be monthly promotions, or evergreen promotions, whatever it is you’re focused on. That’s where people now have trust and rapport built with you. And your advertising can really take off. 

 

27:30

So let me just understand this. Yeah, I can do a Reel.

 

27:36

Hmm.

 

27:36

I can put some ad dollars behind it, and create an audio video view audience in this particular zip code. Right? 

 

27:47

Yep. 

 

27:47

And then I can retarget those people in that zip code with my ad. So if I did a Brazilian wax reel, and I want it to be shown to all the people in my zip code, I’m gonna throw 100 bucks behind it. Then I have an audience that I can target that anyone that watched this video for X amount of time, right? The three second rule, I think, three seconds, then I’m going to show them that ad, which is going to make my ad a lot cheaper. Yes. And people that are actually interested in Brazilian waxing, and they already know your name. 

 

28:23

Absolutely. Well, actually, this is kind of an advanced technique, what you’re describing Daniela, but really, it’s not it’s easy to do. Facebook has made it so easy, and it’s so effective, right. And the other thing that you can do is take some of your more popular Reels. Now, if it’s a Reel, that’s not relevant, but it’s super popular, that’s not going to be effective, right? If you’re opening your fridge, and it for some reason…

 

28:48

Your dog running around or something. 

 

28:50

Yeah, your kids like, even if it’s so like it was just so popular, it obviously needs to be relevant to whatever you are advertising for. So you can take some of these Reels that are really relevant to your offers, again, monthly promotions, something that you run all the time, whatever that offer is, and that can be your creative you can use those you can upload those videos as your creative so maybe it’s for you know, it’s a video type. It’s a video views ad or it’s a video conversion ad you can use you can reuse all of these creative pieces for your advertisements, which is pretty awesome. So just think about you know, how can you multipurpose this stuff. I’ve also seen people be you know, just thinking organically again have a lot of great results from putting their reels in their emails, and getting people to click over to whatever the thing is, you know, whether it be again a landing page with an offer back to your social media to follow you. So just really think about recycling these beautiful pieces of marketing collateral because they can be working for you so much harder.

 

30:03

Okay, so we have talked about a lot of information, I want to wrap up with one last question that might be kind of a long answer. But what do you see in the future? Like what’s coming with Facebook with everyone talks about the algorithm changes, like what is happening? What do we need to know, as business owners for the future?

 

30:23

And I don’t know how long this will be relevant for about tell you what I see in the very near future. Okay, so Facebook, who’s paying the bills at Facebook, it’s us, right? It’s advertisers, small business owners, etc. Their job is to keep us happy. And right now, they kind of have a little bit of a hornet’s nest happening with the updates with iOS not being able to track people are taking their budgets to all sorts of other platforms, right? They’re trying Tiktok and Pinterest. And what does Facebook want, they want to keep us on their platform. So I’m going to just I’m going to stake my my place in the ground, mark my words, I bet over the next six to 12 months, I’m going to give it a 12 month span, it might be a little bit less, it could be a lot more. I see Facebook, loosening the algorithm on a few things. 

 

31:11

Number one, I think that organic posts like on your Facebook page, you know how those have been dead for a long time, I see that having a major comeback, I would not be surprised if we see over the next few months, our posts suddenly getting more and more reach. I also wouldn’t be surprised if we see things. So I have always been a proponent of especially last few years conversion ads, right, you have to set up the pixel and do all the tracking and blah, blah, blah. What used to be super effective was boosting posts and website traffic ads used to be amazing. And then you had to learn all of these other strategies because of how Facebook kind of categorized all of us and learned our behavior. And, you know, they were going to say purchase ads for people who wanted to get purchases, and they were going to save traffic ads for people who just wanted more blog views or things like that, right. So I would not be surprised if traffic ads take off. Again, I would not be surprised if boosted posts were super effective again. So it would not surprise me if Facebook in kind of creating this, this new world of advertising, if they kind of go back to how things were two or three or even four years ago, when it was much simpler, much easier to do. There wasn’t as much advanced tracking with pixels and whatnot, while they figure out truly what will become the new solution, right. So I just would not be surprised if you start noticing. I don’t think there’ll be any announcements or anything like this. But as you’re, as you’re putting stuff out there, you’re boosting posts, don’t be surprised if you start to see these things be being like, Whoa, this is like taking off like Facebook is really prioritizing that. And the last thing I’ll say and this is kind of a trend that’s been happening for a while is groups have been hot. Facebook’s been very vocal about it’s all groups on Facebook. So if you’re on Facebook, I have seen so many local businesses be so successful with Facebook groups. And the way that you become really successful with a Facebook group is yes, you’re promoting your services in there. But you’re also promoting community events, you’re also promoting other businesses that are complementary to yours. And you’re getting a group, you know, you’re getting like a group of business owners in there who are really providing relevant local content, right? So it has to be local content. nobody really cares about you know, like, I don’t know, generic stuff has to be local, relevant content. But if you’re like, Hey, you know, who’s coming to yoga this week, yoga on the beach, like, I’ll be there, my whole crew will be there. You know, we’re partnered with the local community at yoga, yoga studio, and we hope to see so many…

 

34:00

We’re seeing right now that’s just working incredibly for brick and mortar spa, moms groups, so much. 

 

34:08

Sure. 

 

34:09

We all like you’ll see pretty much every town has like Moms of Bethesda, Moms, Moms of Potomac, you know, there’s like all these different moms groups, and they’re posting in there. Oh, I went to this spa, into this. I have one gal who’s getting 10 new clients a week for months from this group. And one group months. 

 

34:33

Yeah.

 

34:34

If they just keep going and going and going. So it’s like how can you even if you don’t want to manage your own group, how can you participate add value don’t be spammy and promotional, but how can you add value share information and people will talk about you, you know, in those groups, one of the best ways to that, that’s referral, like, right there.

 

35:04

Referral on a in such a hugely scalable, you know, way like, and that’s what I do all the time, like, Oh, I want to, you know, I want to find a new salad place, oh, I’ll go post it in the moms group, you know. So, think about moms groups, think about having your own group, the big thing to know, as groups is, that’s what Facebook is putting at the top of the newsfeed. So every day, we have 1500 posts, in any given day, new posts in our newsfeed. And businesses typically are the, you know, the bottom of the pile, the low, you know, five to 10% is all your business posts. But you know, what’s not, is the group post, group post go right to the top of the newsfeed. So be thinking about how can you leverage again, looking at whether what the trends are right now? And how can you leverage that for your business?

 

35:52

Okay, one last thing, Messenger ads you had mentioned, Messenger ads are working really well for brick and mortar.

 

36:01

Messenger ads. And I will also add in one more note, but I won’t talk about it lead generation ads as well, that’s where people stay on Facebook to fill out forms Messenger ads. So the thing with Messenger ads is you need to be on it with your backends. So somebody messages you, you really have a short window, I would say maximum four hours to respond to them, or they’re not going to be very interested. Now you can create little bots and things like that, to kind of make sure that they get an instant response. But you can also just do it manually. And I’ve seen so much success with this so easy. You have a great video or great image of you, your your studio, your team, whatever your services, whatever it is you’re promoting, right, so some image or video that’s relevant to that great copy. By the way, I recommend you go through a testing protocol, the way I teach it, you’re testing, copy imagery and your headlines. And then obviously your offers landing pages etc. If that if those apply. And then you’re just encouraging people message us, just message us and then you.. 

 

37:06

Something your front desk can be responding to. 

 

37:09

100% absolutely, you’re taking, you’re simply taking that conversation over to messenger, it could be messaged us to schedule your first appointment messages to schedule your free consultation, whatever it is, message us take that over to messenger follow up on that backend, make sure you’re following up plenty of times. And you know template, the response test, test, test, test, test all of your responses, template, the ones that work best for you and your team. Put that into a Google Doc make that you know your standard operating procedure and, and just scale it, scale it until you full capacity. I mean, really, that’s kind of the simplified, but actually it’s a really simple funnel. But that’s like a very simple explanation of it. But take that and run with it. Messenger ads are doing great right now.

 

37:56

You love that. Okay, so you guys, if you want to learn more about Facebook ads from the best of the best go visit Successful Ads club, Tara, where what is how can they find you? How can they learn more about ads?

 

38:08

Absolutely. Successfuladsclub.com is our main page. I also have a toolkit that I made from literally hundreds of conversations with business owners, I took the major themes of those conversations packed into a toolkit, you know, 21 words to avoid headline, swipe, headline swipe ideas that you can just steal from us and use for your offers. It has everything in there. So you can go to Youradkit.com, Youradkit.com and you can get that for free.

 

38:40

We all include these links. So yeah, we’ll include it all below to make it much much easier. But yes.. all of that out. You guys. I have built my entire business using Facebook ads. And Tara if you guys hear me talking about when I didn’t know what funnels were Taro was the one that I called. And I was like, What is the funnel? What is everybody talking about? I feel like I’m going crazy. Tara is the one that so patiently explained to me everything with ads with funnels, all of that stuff way back in the day. And here we are seven years later to…pretty well. 

 

39:20

Amazing. Daniela, thank you so much. It was so lovely to be here with you and your amazing audience today. You know, I just want to add one last thing like you were the real deal and people who learn from you are so lucky. And I know that you you change so many lives with how you serve your aestheticians and spa owners and you change their financial futures your change their family legacies and really I mean it goes such a hard thing for you and I know it goes so beyond the surface of what you offer which is absolutely amazing but it goes into trouble. really changing lives because you’re teaching them how to change lives for other women and I was one of those women that had their lives, you know, changed by the spa industry in such a profound way and that’s why I’ve been so passionate about it ever since. So yeah, you’re just you’re you’re the real deal and people who learn from you, I mean, just the way you teach them and the systems you teach them and how to create all this freedom for themselves. I just, I just want to say that you are absolutely incredible.

 

40:29

Thank you. I will receive that very much. All right, you guys if you want to keep this conversation going head on over to the Spa Marketing Made Easy Facebook group, right the group’s. So head on over to the group. keep the conversation going ask us questions, let us know how we can help and support you, and we will catch you on the next episode. 

 

40:51

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.

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! 

 

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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! 

 

 

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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. 

 

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! 

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. 

 

 

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! 

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!