Catch the Latest Episode of Spa Marketing Made Easy
As a spa professional, one of the biggest keys to creating a life you love is getting more clients in the door. Easier said than done, right? With the Spa Marketing Made Easy Podcast, you can get all the tools you need. Join host Daniela Woerner, licensed esthetician, to get simple, proven strategies for marketing your spa business.
You became an aesthetician because you have a passion for skincare and there’s no better feeling than helping someone radiate with confidence.
But what doesn’t feel great is when the work you’re putting in isn’t generating the pay you deserve or even the pay you need.
I know this is a pervasive problem because it’s one of the main reasons behind why I started AddoAesthetics to help elevate the spa industry by sharing my experience and knowledge…
According to reports from the US Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average annual salary for aestheticians is $32,990 as of May 2013, with the top 25 percent of these professionals earning an average of $39,160 and the top 10 percent making $56,930.
Although everyone has their own definition of success and everyone’s number for what they need and want to take home is different, I know there’s greater potential beyond those numbers.
It is possible to make six figures as an aesthetician, and it’s entirely possible to do it in less than the 60 and 80 hours weeks you might currently be pulling.
In fact, it’s possible in less than 40, but that’s a whole other episode.
In this episode of Spa Marketing Made Easy, I’m breaking down the ins and outs of the most common payment structures for medical aestheticians, and how to navigate which one of those structures will best suit your needs, your goals and your skill set.
In this episode you’ll learn:
- The four foundational payment structures you’ll find in a med spa environment
- The pros and cons of each payment structure and key considerations when navigating various employment offers
- My top recommendations for what to consider, ask, and identify when negotiating your preferred payment structure
References Mentioned in Episode #024: Navigating Payment Structures as a Medical Aesthetician
- Join the conversation and make connections in the free Spa Marketing Made Easy Community on Facebook.
- Research aesthetician salaries in your region on Salary.com.
- Sign up for free trainings + business building resources including retail sales tips, marketing insights and helpful case studies that will help you increase your earning potential.
Work, partner, kids, maintaining everyday life, I could go on, but I think you get the point: we juggle a lot in the day-to-day.
And as an aesthetician, that juggling act only grows more chaotic if you add in back-to-back clients and/or running your own business, which makes it all too easy to move healthy eating habits to the back burner (pun intended).
Even in running and building my own business where I have a lot of time freedom to create my own schedule and don’t have to shovel down every scrap of food I can pull together and call it a “lunch” between clients, I still struggled with creating a cohesive, healthy eating plan.
That is until I found today’s guest on the podcast.
In this episode of Spa Marketing Made Easy, I’m joined by Jasmine Schmalhaus, the founder of Your Dinner Is Planned, to talk all about how we can get on track with maintaining a consistent plan of action for healthy meal-making that fuels our bodies and our businesses.
To say her program and recipes are helpful would be an understatement. They’ve completely transformed how I prepare food for myself and my family, and I can’t wait for you to discover how fun and easy meal planning can be when you’ve got a system.
And whether you’re only looking out for you, or you’ve got a whole brood to cook for, Jasmine’s tips are for everyone because the truth is we all need proper nourishment to give our best to our families, clients, our businesses, and ourselves so that we can achieve what we really want most out of life.
In this episode you’ll learn:
- How healthy eating doesn’t just benefit us personally, but also benefits our business efforts
- There’s no definition of “healthy,” but rather a spectrum, and how to examine it through the lens of your lifestyle
- Jasmine’s five foundational tips for quickly crafting a weekly healthy meal plan that’s delicious and easy to stick to
- My personal journey with struggling to make healthy meals while juggling life and how I’ve incorporated Jasmine’s tips into my family’s life
References Mentioned in Episode #025: 5 Steps to Healthier Eating for the Busy Aesthetician with Jasmine Schmalhaus
- Click here to learn more about Jasmine and Your Dinner Is Planned.
- Download Jasmine’s free guide to the “’6 Tips to Save Money on Groceries” by clicking here.
- Connect with Jasmine on Facebook and on Instagram.
- Join the free Spa Marketing Made Easy group where you can receive feedback, support and make real relationships.
Something I commonly see among aestheticians who have recently branched out to go solo or start their own spa is that they feel pulled in a million directions when it comes to their marketing.
Despite having tools, resources, and community, there’s still a piece that feels like it’s missing, and it’s this piece that would make everything click.
Well, there’s a name for that piece, and it’s called branding.
Without a strong brand as your foundation, your marketing efforts are going to feel hectic, cluttered, and ineffective.
That’s because your brand (despite what many think) is not your logo or your color palette. Your brand is the guiding force that drives everything you do in your business.
It’s the experience you provide, the deeper story and the collective experience you provide for your ideal clients.
And once you’ve drilled down on those core elements of your brand, it’s also the directional that drives the visual look and feel of how you show up in the world.
In today’s episode, I’m talking with branding expert, Chris Beltran, about how you can begin defining your personal brand so that you stand out from the crowd, compel and captivate your ideal clients, and have confidence in how you’re visually conveying your brand.
Beyond building the foundation that will help all your marketing efforts thrive, I think you’re going to have fun putting Chris’ knowledge into action with creating your brand’s mood board.
Don’t forget to share the results with me in the Spa Marketing Made Easy community!
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What “branding” truly is, and how you can begin crafting your brand story and visual vibe
- How defining your brand sets you apart and benefits your business in the long-term
- Tips for translating the verbal and psychological aspects of your brand experience into the visual design elements you use in your marketing
- How using a tool like mood boards can help you remain consistent in your visuals and why that’s critical in building a strong brand
Resources Mentioned in Episode #026: Defining Your Spa’s Brand and Crafting Your Mood Board with Chris Beltran
- Connect with Chris and learn more about defining your brand through his website, on Facebook and on Instagram.
- Join Chris’ Brand Your Influence group where you can gain feedback, collaborate and get access to his free Visual Vibe guide and brand board template.
- Use Canva’s free mood board creator tool to get started visualizing your brand!
Join the free Spa Marketing Made Easy community and share your moodboard!
When someone asks you what you do, do you answer with “aesthetician” or “business owner”?
Maybe you have a bit of a combination answer explaining that you own your own business as a solo aesthetician.
While there’s no “right” answer to that question, the label of “business owner” is unquestionably one you need to embrace, not necessarily in how you answer people, but without a doubt in your mindset and perspective.
The reason this is so critical is that when you view your work through the lens of a business owner, you make decisions that allow you to work smarter and not harder, which then enables you to stop leaving money on the table.
Take my guest on this episode for example. Kimberly is an expert independent hairstylist who also coaches other hairstylists to build thriving careers that fit their vision and values. When Kimberly started saying “no,” putting up boundaries and raised her prices, she was able to shift from working full-time to being part-time, but with double the income. I should also mention she did this in a year.
Now she has a business that fits into her life rather than the other way around.
That wouldn’t have happened if she didn’t begin thinking and acting like a business owner first, so in today’s episode she’s sharing with us the mindset shifts and action steps she made to take the leap away from everyday hustle to working just a couple of days behind the chair and a couple of days coaching each week.
In this episode of Spa Marketing Made Easy you’ll learn:
- The first steps for beginning to view yourself as a business owner and why that’s necessary for your personal and professional success
- How finding and knowing your why is critical to understanding your role as a business owner
- Common areas of your business where you may be leaving money on the table and how to reclaim it plus Kimberly’s “Table Money” Exercise to help you discover why finding this money in your business is crucial
- Navigating the art of raising your prices so you can find the life and work blend that works for your vision and stage of business
References Mentioned in Episode #027: How to Stop Leaving Money On the Table with Kimberly Kennedy
- Connect with Kimberly on her website and on Facebook and Instagram.
- Access Kimberly’s free resources library with business-building guides, tips, and videos by clicking here.
- Join the Spa Marketing Made Easy Podcast community where you can access monthly trainings, Q&As, tips and a community of like-minded business owners looking to grow.
Pens, notepads, totes bags.
Chances are you have one of these items in your home with a business’ logo on it.
For me, it’s all about pens since I’m always jotting down ideas or journaling or making notes as I interview guests here on the podcast.
Most recently after several weeks of hotel hopping with my family as we made our trek to move from Hawaii to D.C., I looked in my bag and found a plethora of pens all stamped with the logos and names of the hotels where we stayed along the way.
As I looked through them, I realized that each pen allowed me to recall memories from our stay and the experiences we had there, which got me thinking….this idea transfers so well to the world of spa!
So in this episode of Spa Marketing Made Easy, I’m giving some quick tips for how we can use customized gear with our branding to market and bring up the professionalism factor in our spas as well as ten ideas for customized products so you don’t get lost in the abyss of options.
But one thing to keep in mind, get creative!
You know your clients best, so as you tune in, let these ideas inspire you to think outside of the box and search for something that’ll get your customized product to stand out from the crowd.
In this episode you’ll learn:
- Why you might want to consider getting customized gear for your spa and how it can help boost your business
- 10 ideas for customizable gear that fit a variety of business needs and budgets
- How items customized with your spa’s branding can allow you to stand out and provide an extra polish of professionalism to your services
References Mentioned in Episode #028: 10 Items to Customize With Your Spa Branding
- For quality products at a favorable price point, take a look at:
- For feedback on your ideas or answers to your questions on customized gear for your spa, join and start a conversation in the Spa Marketing Made Easy community on Facebook.
To have a presence on Instagram is non-negotiable for an aesthetician.
It’s a powerhouse platform for connecting directly with consumers and potential clients who will invest in beauty services, and it’s also structured in a way that allows you to build an impressive portfolio of your work while also sharing your value as an aesthetic expert.
But while there’s no question that Instagram provides a plethora of opportunities for growing your brand simply by posting and engaging through your own account, there’s even more opportunity lying within the accounts of others.
What I’m talking about is influencer marketing.
Influencer marketing has been around for a while (if you’ve ever been an avid blog reader, you’ll be familiar with the idea of sponsored posts), but just in the last couple of years as Instagram has grown and influencers have amassed highly engaged and targeted audiences on the platform, much of today’s influencer marketing landscape takes place directly on Instagram.
Whether it’s sponsored posts in the main feed that compensate an influencer with traded services or sponsored Instagram Stories for monetary compensation, there are a variety of ways you can work with influencers in your community that allow you to leverage their audience (ideally filled with people who would be interested in your business and services) so you can increase your brand’s awareness and ultimately, your business’ base of potential clients.
And the influencer marketing opportunities don’t just stop there; there’s also the option of building your own brand as an online influencer.
Here to talk about how we can begin using influencer marketing in our businesses is Gwen Lane, founder of the popular blog, The LA Girl, and The Spark Society, an influencer training program and community.
Listen in as she shares why influencer marketing can be a game-changer for your business and what it takes to become an influencer yourself.
In this episode you’ll learn:
- What an influencer is and how they can play a role in your overall marketing strategy
- Gwen’s journey to becoming an influencer and online educator and her top tips for estheticians looking to work with or become a influencer
- How influencer marketing has the power to grow your brand
References Mentioned in Episode #029: How To Use Influencer Marketing On Instagram To Get More Clients with Gwen Lane
- Learn more about Gwen through her blog, The LA Girl, and check out her influencer membership, Spark Society.
- Connect with Gwen on Instagram.
- Take Gwen’s free 5-Day Influencer Bootcamp.
- Join the free Spa Marketing Made Easy Community on Facebook to ask more of your questions and to keep the conversation going!
Have you ever heard of the Pareto principle?
You might know it as it’s more common name, the 80/20 rule, which states that, for many events and scenarios, 80 percent of the effects come from 20 percent of the causes.
When it comes to the earning potential that solo aestheticians and spas possess, retail sales can absolutely be that 20 percent activity that contributes to a considerable proportion of your bottom line.
According to a career profile by the U.S. News and World Report, it’s stated that, “estheticians and skin care specialists made a median salary of $30,270 in 2016. The highest-paid 10 percent in the profession earned $59,780, while the lowest-paid earned $18,640 that year.”
You may be looking at those numbers and thinking that you’re happy hitting $30K per year, but almost $60K? That would be amazing!
Whatever is your version of success, by all means, celebrate it, but if you’re looking at $30K and want more, know that you don’t have to stop at $59,780 as your higher-earning cap.
We can do better.
In fact, with retail sales and the opportunities of the very lucrative skincare market in the U.S., we can do an extra figure better.
In this episode of Spa Marketing Ma
de Easy, I’m breaking down dollar-for-dollar how retail sales can massively grow your business and expand your take-home pay as well as dispel the common objections and hang-ups I hear around retail sales.
Yes, retail sales requires selling, but it doesn’t need to be slimy or pushy.
Listen in, and I’ll help give you a mindset shift that can help you grow your business by leaps and bounds (and maybe a couple of zeros, too).
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why retail is the quickest and easiest way to boost income as an aesthetician
- How selling retail can increase your businesses bottom line (I’m pulling out the numbers and math skills)
- The entrepreneurial mindset shift you need to see the power that retail holds
- How the U.S. market presents one of the best opportunities in the world to sell retail, and my top tips for leveraging those opportunities
References Mentioned in Episode #030: Smashing The Most Common Spa Retail Sales Hang-Ups
- Learn more industry-specific statistical information on esthetician earnings on Statista
- Join the free Spa Marketing Made Easy community on Facebook
- Unlock my free trainings and business-building resources including my retail sales masterclass
If you’ve been connected to AddoAesthetics for a while or been a listener of Spa Marketing Made Easy for even just a couple of episodes, you know I’m passionate about spa retail sales.
I consider it my zone of genius, which is why much of my work has centered around consulting with physician-dispensed skincare brands as well as working with solo aestheticians and spa owners to bolster their retail efforts.
But like most things we’re passionate about, retail sales wasn’t something I just magically became good at one day.
It took a lot of self-education and practice, but once I saw the results I was helping my clients achieve as well as the potential for growth that retail sales afforded me in my career (and later in building AddoAesthetics), I drilled down and refined my strategy and skills ’til I saw the results I sought out.
In this episode of Spa Marketing Made Easy, I’m going to walk you through that journey and show you how if you develop your retail skills, you have the potential to drastically grow your business (with plenty of my insider tips and insights included, of course!).
If you’ve been sitting on the fence with bringing a skincare line into your spa or feeling uncertain in your ability to sell retail, I urge you to give this episode a listen.
If it’s something you desire, it’s something you can acquire.
Key takeaways from this episode:
- My journey into retail sales and how it started from the perspective of the client
- How I came to love physician-dispensed skincare brands and my approach to creating custom regimens for my clients
- Why retail sales isn’t actually about sales
- How I looked at retail sales as an opportunity for the consulting arm of my business and educational component for my work with estheticians
References Mentioned in Episode #031: How Retail Changed My Life and Business
Not everyone can rock a name like Salt Freedom, but that’s precisely her point.
Your brand isn’t your logo, your color palette or fonts, your brand is YOU. Yes, even if your name is not your business name (don’t worry, we’ll get to that).
If you’re typically an earbuds listener and not a video watcher, for this episode, I’d love for you to pop over to our video recording, even if just for a few minutes after you’ve listened, so you can get a look at Salt.
This woman is her brand to the core, which makes it easy to understand why she’s a branding expert.
From what she’s dubbed as her “Salty Truths” as her messaging and her Why, which informs her brand visuals, everything intuitively and authentically ties together, and it’s because she is simply herself.
Of course, knowing precisely who you are isn’t always easy, it requires a fair amount of deep dive soul work, not to mention, you are ever evolving, but doesn’t that sound like a breath of fresh air?
That the best brand you could ever create is simply you being true to yourself? It sounds radically freeing to me, and in this episode, Salt is laying down the law on what it takes to truly be your brand so that you can stand out amongst the endless scrolling online and create the genuine connection your potential clients crave.
If your brand has felt boring or like it’s a bit of a sham because it’s just not you, this is the insight you need to hear to get crystal clear on your brand.
In this episode you’ll learn:
- How to craft a brand message and visuals that don’t get scrolled over
- The story of Salt’s name and insights on how to name your business or brand
- The most important thing you have to understand first before you can fully understand your brand
- How to reverse engineer the process of defining and refining your brand and your message
References Mentioned in Episode #032: Developing You as Your Brand with Salt Freedom
- Join the free Spa Marketing Made Easy Community on Facebook where you’ll gain access to a community with exclusive monthly trainings, tips, and business growth conversations.
Remember when Snapchat first appeared on the social media scene and you thought, “Oh great, another social platform I have to keep up with?”
Well, if you’ve been around me long enough, you know I’m a huge proponent of mastering one to two social media channels before moving on to a third platform.
For the majority of aestheticians and the audiences we cater to, our top two channels are going to be Facebook and Instagram.
And chances are if you’re keeping up with the marketing on those two channels, the thought of adding in a third will likely seem unnecessary.
But in any case, if you were intrigued by Snapchat, but found it to be a poor use of your time and effort, you’re in luck because Instagram Stories have rapidly shoved Snapchat off the scene because Stories are not only easier to create, but you’ve already got an audience on Instagram who love the platform. No need to build a new following!
In case you’re not familiar with Instagram Stories, they’re short photo and video slideshows that don’t appear on your main Instagram page or “feed,” but are viewable by clicking your profile picture or will appear at the top of your follower’s “home screen” feed.
When a viewer clicks into your Story, or automatically enters your Story through their “Story feed,” the pieces of your Story will automatically play in the order you’ve uploaded them to Instagram. Your Stories will be viewable for 24 hours and will then disappear from view for Instagram users.
This sub-channel within Instagram provides a massive opportunity for engaging with your followers and with many other users on Instagram who are not your followers…yet!
So, in this episode, I’m giving you six ways to leverage your Instagram Stories and create more opportunities to connect, engage and convert your Instagram connections into more conversations and clients.
In this episode you’ll learn:
- How Instagram Stories differs from your feed and how to think about the content you share in this sub-channel
- 6 ideas for content to share through your Instagram Stories that will get you connected and engaging with your ideal audience
- Some of my top tips for using the tools within Instagram Stories to increase interest, make creating content easier and maximize engagement
- How to determine what content is resonating most with your audience
Nothing irks me more than someone who views careers in the beauty industry as pure vanity, because as any aesthetician knows, beauty is so much more than skin deep.
In our experience working with our client’s skin, brows and lashes, makeup, or any other aesthetic avenue, the core of what we do is building confidence and bolstering the feeling of being beautiful from the inside out.
Our work may treat a surface issue of acne scarring or hiding hyperpigmentation, but the real thing we’re addressing is that voice inside that makes our client’s feel like they’re not enough.
Of course, we know that they are already beautiful and more than enough, but if our gifts in aesthetic artistry can help them see that in themselves, well, that’s why we do what we do.
If you’re anything like me, when I think of that deeper why behind our work as aesthetic experts, it really fires me up and gets my passion pumping for our industry even stronger than it already does.
So can you imagine how we can make our clients feel when in addition to treating the surface we can help them with discovering their inner beauty?
In this episode of Spa Marketing Made Easy, I’m talking with makeup artist, beauty expert, and self-love activist, Sara Drury, to discuss the role of inner beauty in our work as aesthetic experts and how her shift in helping her clients discover their inner beauty has grown her business and how it can change yours, too.
If you’ve been thinking of ways to go deeper with your work, expand your earning potential and revenue streams by leveraging your passion in a new way, you’ll want to give this episode a listen!
In this episode you’ll learn:
- Why Sara began her entrepreneurial journey, and she’s gotten to where she is now
- What she did to transition her focus from purely aesthetics to also encompassing inner beauty and how that has impacted her work
- The opportunities Sara identified in her business and how she adjusted her business model for greater scalability
- How to own your aesthetic expertise and incorporate it into new revenue streams
References Mentioned in Episode #034: Discovering Your Inner Beauty with Sara Drury
- Learn more about Sara’s work on her website.
- Steal a makeup artist’s secrets and sign up for Sara’s free video training, “Top 10 Makeup Mistakes and How to Fix Them”
- Connect with Sara on Facebook and Instagram.
- Join the Spa Marketing Made Easy community on Facebook for more marketing conversation, insights and tips.
Anyone who’s a working mom knows the struggle of trying to “do it all,” which also comes with the lesson that if you’re going to try to do it all, it’s difficult to do it all well.
Cue the mom guilt.
With a 17-month-old, I’m right there in the trenches of working out the balance between my family, baby and my business.
Some days everything flows smoothly, but with an ever-growing little one, those smooth days and ironed out schedules can quickly shift and it can feel like we’re back to square one on finding balance.
While those days are par for the course in the grand scheme of parenthood, chaos doesn’t have to be the norm.
As my guest on today’s episode shares, with a few key strategies and practices in place, not only can you take on the tasks your heart desires, but you can craft a mom life/work life balance that actually works and feels good (sans the mom guilt).
In this episode, Ashli Carnicelli, a mom of three (and two under two!), joins me to discuss how she balances her roles as mom, esthetician, and blogger so that she’s consistently present and productive.
If you’ve ever felt even a twinge of guilt about not being present with your kids while reaching for your dreams, or questioned how you’re dividing your time between home and work, I know hearing Ashli’s journey and insights will put your worries at ease and give you some tangible steps you can start putting into action immediately.
Whatever your personal family and work situation, the most important thing I think you’ll walk away with is there’s no “right” way to strike a balance.
What works for you won’t work for everyone, and it’s about time we start to lay down our guilt and dust off our capes because no matter what, I know you’re already superwoman. And this episode will help you see and feel it.
In this episode you’ll learn:
- How Ashli crafts her daily and weekly schedule to meet her and her family’s needs
- Her strategies and mindset to bring in balance, allow presence and excuse mom guilt from her life juggling multiple roles
- Why we need to open up this conversation so we can crush mom guilt and focus on the goals that are important for us, and thus, our family’s and kid’s futures
References Mentioned in Episode #035: Balancing Work and Life as a Busy Mom with Ashli Carnicelli
Read Ashli’s blog The Skincare Belle
Connect with Ashli on Instagram and Facebook.
Join a community of like-minded aestheticians and continue the conversation in the free Spa Marketing Made Easy community.