5 Mistakes to Avoid When Launching Your Beauty Biz
The beauty industry is competitive, and touches women’s lives — whether you shun makeup but spend on skincare, or you love watching online videos to learn every new trend. It’s no surprise the global beauty and personal care market is estimated at $48 billion — and female entrepreneurs are making their mark. 💋
As a skincare expert and educator, the resounding question I hear from fellow beauty entrepreneurs is what is the best way to attract more clients?
Here are the mistakes I see repeatedly in my business consulting that disrupt the growth of businesses.
Being the Jane of all trades 💃🏾
The beauty biz is exactly that: beautiful. There are shiny machines, comfortable facilities, aesthetically pleasing products lining the shelves, pops of color, a hint of fragrance, and eye-catching objects that sparkle. The treatment menu can burst with offerings: feet, hands, eyes, hair, and face.
If your focus is a day spa, then yay, you! Go ahead and do it all. But if you are a medispa focused on skin correction, I urge you to consider if pedicures — for example — make sense in your business model?
Being clear to clients about what your business delivers helps attract the right customers.
I, for example, prefer to be the master of corrective skin therapy and don’t dabble in being the “Jane of all trades.” I removed all grooming services from my offerings a decade ago, to hone in on my specialty while leaving other beauty services to people who specialize in them.
You can also have team members with diverse areas of expertise. Your team will engage if they provide services they love.
Not knowing your client 🤝
Let’s face it. Business training does not go hand-in-hand with aesthetics training and, thus, beauty biz owners often need to learn the hard way.
When I work with clients on planning to open a solid business, after establishing the vision and offerings, the next crucial step is identifying who their ideal client is.
Understanding who we serve helps create clear and intentional communication (marketing) to our target market, and allows us to focus on our goals. We start to magnetically attract clients and can deliver testimonial-worthy experiences.
HINT: It is not unusual to attract clients who are a bit like us.
Investing in expensive equipment too soon 📡
For clinic owners, the single biggest mistake is over-investing in machines, crippling your cash flow before your doors are even open for business. When these decisions come from a place of fear — feeling as if you must offer the latest technology to compete with other clinics, medispas, or salons in the area — I have seen businesses sink like the Titanic.
Grow at your own pace, have a strategy in place, and tie your equipment acquisition to milestone metrics (such as a certain amount of repeated monthly cash flow in the business) before scaling up.
Ensure you have a foundation of clientele who want the services you plan to offer — who are willing to pay for the equipment you’re implementing — by determining the services the equipment and your expertise will provide. Be realistic about how many services you’ll need to perform to secure a return on your investment, and what price your clients will pay for each service.
Not investing in continuing education ⏳
In an industry that is rapidly growing, skincare professionals must stay up-to-date with the latest trends and information.
It is critical to stay educated and pursue continued education in your area of interest.
As an international skin expert, my niche is in corrective skin therapy with corneotherapy (a treatment and skincare methodology where the primary objective is the repair and preservation of the epidermis) as my fundamental approach. I am always attending conferences and courses to continuously build my knowledge base, seeking to learn more about the anatomy, physiology, and cosmetic chemistry related to skin.
As a member of the board of education for the International Association for Applied Corneotherapy, I highly encourage skincare professionals to start with free resources that are non-product aligned. Also, create your own website to showcase your expertise, as I do here.
Undercharging 💵
There is no rule that says you must charge the “going rate” established by others. If you have a special skill set, investing in yourself can support charging higher prices based on results and demand. Here is your permission to charge what you are worth.
I pay my hairdresser whatever she asks. Her specialty is color, and I love my hair color, plus I have difficult hair. So when I found a hairdresser experienced with my hair type, I paid with a smile and booked three appointments in advance. Likewise, my clients understand my unique skill set (thanks to referrals) and value my expertise. Thus, they pay the price I ask and are satisfied with the results.
BONUS: 🗽
Say no! By nature, people in our industry are givers and nurturers. The problem is if you set no boundaries, no one can respect them. Learn to say no and mean it. Set clear boundaries for your clients and your team.
This expert produced this original thought leadership piece free of charge to SheVentures. This expert values educating female entrepreneurs and the SheVentures community. SheVentures is not receiving affiliate compensation from the author/expert. Questions? Contact social@sheventurespodcast.com.
