When I listen to my friend Yesenia speak about her dreams of a future where people feel safe, heard, important, equal, and included I hear the passion she has for her calling as deeply as any esthetician who sees a client and knows they can fix someone’s skin. Just like we educate and create skincare plans, Yesenia educates and designs programs that foster and teach inclusion and diversity.
When I asked Yesenia to speak to us about how we could make clients more comfortable I came with a few questions. You know the ones we all have. How do we deal with asking clients about their genitals??? What are we doing about pronouns on intake forms when “other” is the only freaking option! And how can we educate ourselves?
As usual, when it comes to talking to my friend, I left this interview with far more insight than I ever expected. I’m blessed to have powerful, smart, and kind women like Yesenia in my life. I hope you take advantage of this opportunity. There are very few Diversity and Inclusion Experts in America right now, let alone ones with Yesenia Gutierrez’s background who are kind enough to take an hour out of their day to talk to us about dangly bits, bathroom etiquette, and the mindset switches we can make to help our customers feel more comfortable in the spa and salon.
Unless your a social media expert like our guest Jenna Warriner this is an episode you want to sit and listen carefully to. Both Alex and I were madly taking notes as our guest spoke! Social may be fun and cool, but unless you’re using it with laser focus you’re missing out in the real money…or should I say “reel” money!
Yes indeed Reels are a hot topic as well as strategies you can use to create content and the fastest ways of creating it.
I’m not going to say too much about today’s ep. Let it unfold and enjoy all the new things you’re about to learn!
“The New Normal” is anything but normal and to give exceptional customer service we need to do more than focus on PPE, we need to focus on what we always have, making the client feel good. In this espisode of Skinfessional we talk about what’s triggering us, our clients, how there don’t seem to be any safe conversations anymore, and ways we are all trying to navigate these crazy crazy times.
This episode, like so many, came right outta your needs listeners. We received your phone calls and DM’s. The thing is no one specifically had this question but when Alex and I started talking the common theme was this broader question of how the new normal is affecting us and our relationship with our clients.
Care givers are on the front lines of all this. We are the ones who are dealing with the trauma backlash. The people who are trying desperately to help our clients/patients find comfort and relief but it’s very hard to so when we ourselves are both limited in what we can do and spinning out of control.
I urge you to listen to this episode. I also urge you to find a group of people to support you. We are all in this together. We need others more than ever right now.
The days of staying out of politics with your social are over. BLM has spawned a revolution in the streets and on social media showing us that being silent speaks volumes. To say nothing means you are for whatever you aren’t speaking up against.
How does one post with purpose and take a stand? On today’s episode of Skinfessional we talk about ways to find your voice, craft your message, feel safe speaking your mind, and be sensitive to your ignorance. These are uncharted waters for many of us, but being uncomfortable is what entrepreneurs are all about, so let’s go forth and figure it out together because in the new world we must!
Writing email is hard. Keeping up with your newsletters is hard. It’s even harder to keep doing it weekly, monthly, yearly when people don’t open them and just plain ignore what your are saying! Some of that is just part of email life these days. Email boxes are full, but if you can write content that matter, content that YOU want to read, then the right eyeballs will start reading it.
On this episode of Skinfessional we talk about all things mailing lists, emails, newsletters, content creation, and pretty much Alex opens up about what’s worked and not worked in her five years of sending good and bad email marketing campaigns.
In a world where speaking to the right client and the right time is vital, we think this is one of our most important Skinfessional’s yet. Be sure to listen and maybe re-listen!
On this episode of Skinfessional Alex talks about how important it is to know how and when to surrender and how to be okay with it. As business owners and entrepreneurs we have a never say never and do or die attitude. But what about the things we can’t control? Sometimes the best solution is to just go with the flow and let things work themselves out. It’s hard for us control freaks, but we talk about the best strategies to go about it and how they can really save you time and anxiety in the long run.
On this weeks Skinfessional Alex and I go back to a pre COVID episode that is more relevant than ever now that some of us are going back to work and having to adjust to the new reality of that. If you listened last week where we talked about the things you should consider, one of them was raising prices. In this episode we go into all the details of what we’ve done both online and in spa to raise prices, change our menus, and create discounts.
In this episode of Skinfessional we are talking about if workaholic is a bad word, whether you have to hustle hard to be successful, and our own secrets for keeping healthy relationships – even as self-diagnosed Workaholics.
When we recorded this episode of Skinfessional I don’t even know if we had heard of COVID-19. I think there was an inkling that there was some form of illness in Asia, but we had no idea yet that it was going to hobble the economy and change the world.
It’s been hard to release these older episodes. Alex (being the we don’t waste content!) being the gal that she is has pushed me to release these. I, on the other hand, have watched and listened to these pre-recorded episodes with an ear to what I see the future holding, and if the information is still relevant to both now and the world after what I call, The Covid Revolution.
Nils sleeping next to me while I type this
It takes a lot to get a new endeavor up and running. As I listened to this episode I realized that my life as a #WFH, pivoting, out of work spa owner over the last (god it’s been eight weeks now) is more true than ever. I’m working more hours than I did as a spa owner with a side hustle. In fact, to take another lesson from the musical Hamilton , I’ve been non stop! My ultra supportive boyfriend is sleeping on the couch next to me as I type this post for two very good reasons. First, he loves me and wants to be near me. Two, he’s been working all hours of the day and night alongside me (he even took a two week vacation) to get my new Skin Fitness Club (talked about it last episode) launched and all my other websites updated.
So yeah this episode may have been recorded back in February before the world imploded, but the question of being a workaholic and how to deal with it in your relationship are still valid – maybe more so now that we are all trying to re-find our way in this new post Covid world.
It’s freaking hard for all business right now and small ones are really struggling. If you’re in a place where listening to someone even TALK business fills you with anxiety, save this ep. Understand that you will be in a place to listen to it in the future.
I’ve had some really hard days myself. My hair is falling out. I’m breakout out. And I’m just eating my feeling. These are all things that cancer, building a house on credit cards, and a friends death didn’t push me to. So yeah, these are some traumatic times. Give yourself some space to and some kindness. Know you’ll be in a head space to deal with all this again soon – or maybe in bursts.
On today’s Skinfessional episode we talk about how to get (or not get as the case is for so many) money from unemployment, where it isn’t (the PPP), and how you might have a goldmine sitting on your shelf already.
Making a business pivot is about a change in business strategy without a change in vision. In COVID times being nimble and rethinking strategy has become a daily event, but to keep the anxiety down and not stress out about all this change you have to focus on the vision of your business.
I share how doing weekly facials live on Instagram to feel connected to my clients and to keep myself accountable to my own skincare routine has spawned a pivot in my business and Alex reminds us that she’s actually the smartest girl in the room by reminding us to give people what they want!
Lori Nestore, The Wax Queen, Stops by to share her six figure selling secrets!
In this weeks episode of Skinfessional I desperately try not to fangirl too hard at the person I’ve been known to call “My Oprah,” Lori Nestore, The Wax Queen, owner of Eva’s Esthtics, Tuel, Berodin and probably the person who’s had the greatest positive impact on my success as a six-figure solopenuer and esthetician as she talks about the best ways to sell and get any client booked and buying. So pay attention because she can do the same for you!
I reached out to Lori a few months ago when I wanted to do an episode on converting cold calls. You see, I took a class from her one Monday morning in Vegas on how to essentially turn any customer who reaches out to you into a client. If you’ve ever been to the Las Vegas skin show you know that the Monday 9 am classes are…well…special. If you’ve ever gotten yourself up for one, they are either the best thing you and the eight other people in the room have ever taken, or some sad sales pitch by a company who couldn’t get a better time slot. I’ve been a super fan of Lori’s pretty much my entire esty career so I was in it to win it with whatever class she was offering – even one on what seemed like how to answer the phone.
This class changed my life. It changed the trajectory of my business. I took what I learned from that two hour session, implemented it, and started filling my books. This is when I realize that Lori Nestore was way more than just a Wax Queen, in fact, estheticians and beauty professionals everywhere were being done a disservice because Lori was a closeted Business Goddess and not nearly enough people were getting to learn from her.
I booked all of Lori’s sales classes, I figured if Lori could make me into a superstar waxer, she could turn me into a superstar businesswoman. Now I’ll be honest, I grew up in biz. My family owned a restaurant, I’ve been surrounded by sales reports, running P&L’s (if you don’t know find out NOW), checking cost margins, etc. Still, it blew my mind that Lori was the first class I had come across to really go over this part of the industry – the part where all the money is made, tracked, and often lost.
I honestly can’t remember how many classes I took with her over the next few months but I know it was all of them. It wasn’t until I was talking to Lori during this interview that I realized just how many of the sales techniques I use and teach are grounded in the things I learned with her. To this day I use, nearly verbatim three of the sales scripts she teaches. The reason? because they work! Just like in Vegas, when I went home and implemented Lori’s sales scripts my numbers increased.
The year I took Lori Nestore’s business classes, I went from making $10K to $100K. I’ve been making that and more ever since. Take a seat, learn the value in silence, and listen because the Business Goddess is about to lay down knowledge you can take to the bank.
