Booth Rent firsts
Hello! First, let me just say how happy I am to have found a forum for estys that actually has knowledgeable people posting! It took me a while to find my way here. Not enough can be said about people who can form complete sentences on the internet.
I've been licensed and working since 2009, and just started renting my own room in June. My first few months have gone better than expected. A lot of my clients have followed me, and I've been able to pay my rent, my bills, and eat. I am pretty limited as far as services go. I currently do basic European facials and PCA peels, but would like to expand with some machinery. I was considering a Microderm machine or LED, but after browsing the forums here, I'm wondering if I could make a smaller investment with the Dermafile and Ultrasonic Spatula for now, and make those larger purchases down the line.
Has anyone gotten a small business loan to help cover the expenses of those initial purchases? Are there other ways to get your hands on larger ticket items? Do you think starting small would be a waste or a good baby step towards larger investments?
Tags: dermafile
Views: 305
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Marty Glenn on
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Kim
The business side of what your doing is counter to the passion side so talk with your accountant and get a monthly budget going. I cannot stress enough how important this is. It will answer all your questions about what you can do and what you cannot when it comes to your monthly revenue vs what you need to survive.
My advice:
Expand your chemical peel experience instead of the machines. Start off with (Look at State License) 30 -50% GA at 1.0 - 3.0pH (Fan brush or Cotton Pad) and then go to 5% TCA 2 coats only (Cotton Swab application and NOT Fan Brush) and stay inside of Fitzpatrick 3 and 4 then progress to 10% TCA 1 - 2 coats. If your uncomfortable with 30% go find 20% GA.
When you get more experience and understanding introduce Fitz 2 and Fitz 5. For your first year with glycolic acid stay inside of 3 minutes not matter what a client says and stay with 5% 2 coats and for the first year stay away from seeing frosting with TCA. You want to avoid all Post Peel Complications and that comes from being too aggressive (i.e. GA at 5 minutes and TCA at above 10% with 2 or more coats). If your pushed by your client to go deeper. REFUSE SERVICE. It is your license and reputation that is on the line.
Peels that have multiple acids maybe stay away from for now so you know exactly what ingredient and percentage and pH is doing the work. Multiple ingredient peels and products confuse the process and the work your doing. Think skin problem and one proven ingredient to solve that skin issue. If you have 2, 3 or 4 or 5 actives how do you know? Yes some products do perform better with multiple actives, so I am not discounting, I am only trying to give a point of view that will keep it simple.
This advice is not training and you should take it as advise to be confirmed by your product mfgr but I am giving it so you will see just how easy it is to expand your services without spending a lot money and offer your clients real results with minimal investment and time.
PRACTICE & TIP: Doing a peel is not easy if you have not done a lot of them so either fan brush practice or cotton pad application with a timer and saline as liquid with a model will be a great help to you. Do it for an hour and set the time each time. You should be able to apply GA inside of 1.3 minutes +/- 20 seconds. Oh and a great tip: As you read the peel (level of redness) - (Don't ever rely on your client 100%) - also watch the toes? Are they moving? Buckling? I know it sounds funny but when a client feels pain on the face the toes will move. Or I should say the blanket will be moving.
Back in the 90's is when the real milestones and work was accomplished with regards to results oriented skin care. The machines came along in about 2001 to go along with all the fluffy skin care lines that claim the world but deliver almost nothing and require no education and training and just GO!!!!
I am making broad strokes here but fill in between the lines and I hope this helps.
Marty
SkinCareScience.com
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Permalink Reply by coldsalineplexus on
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I agree with Marty that there is a lot of ground you can cover with peels. While I'm not a fan of Glycolic, I do a lot of blended Salicylic peels, and the occasional TCA, and my clients love them. Another great exfoliation method with very little investment required is dermaplaning, however you want to be sure to train with someone who knows what they are doing. Perhaps an esthetician in a neighboring town who would trade training for a couple facials?
I disagree that the machines are all fluff, however. I love and get a lot of great results from my microdermabrasion, sonic spatula, microcurrent, LED, high frequency, and radiancy machines. If I were going to spend money on ONE piece of equipment, in terms of value/results added per investment dollar, it would be LED lights. Currently I believe Prolightaesthetics is the best bet for high-quality handheld units at a good value price.
I disagree that you need a strict budget for your business. I've been in business 5 years growing and doing well, and have never had a set budget because things are always changing. What I DO make sure to do is cut myself a paycheck for a reasonable commission (same commission rates I pay my employee estheticians) on the services and products that I personally perform and sell. (Sidenote - it really helped when I went S-corp because now I can withhold on my payroll along with my other employees, instead of having to save for quarterly taxes). I consider my business still to be in the growth phase, so I'm comfortable with reinvesting any leftover profits that are in my business account after overhead/payroll/product orders. I do this by transferring money in the amount of my known expenses (rent/bills/estimated payroll) over to the business savings account until it's time to pay those things, and operating out of the business checking account for product orders, supplies, marketing, and investing in new things for the business. For example, we needed a real nail drying table with fans and lights built in (we had rigged some small tables with tiny fans and there were wires everywhere and it looked tacky), so a couple months ago, I had one of the manicurists do the research to find a nice one at a good value. I let money build up in the business checking account, separate from regularly anticipated expenses, until I had enough to make the purchase.
So, my system works super well for me... I think the point is to find a system that works really well for you, too, and allows you to conceptualize the financial health of your business at a glance. I don't have an accountant yet (will have one this year), but it does really help to have a great bookkeeper who produces very accurate profit-and-loss statements that outline all of my expense categories. It's also super helpful to have MindBody, where I can run reports to see what services and products are doing really well, and what things are less popular at any given time, and adjust promotions to suit.
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Oh, and the BEST way to get your hands on larger ticket items is to buy them used. Estheticians and spas are forever going in and out of business. I have gotten some incredible deals on used equipment on Craigslist.
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Permalink Reply by Tracy on
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I agree with Christine, LED from ProLight was a great investment. I add it in to all my facial treatments and the results are great with a fairly minimal investment. I also have the Ultrasonic Spatula which I loved as an intro to ultrasonic. Thankfully the salon I rent from had a Dermasound and since I'm the only esthy it is all mine so I am one happy girl! I got a Demafile but honestly in 8 months I have not used it on a client yet. It wasn't a lot of money but clearly it hasn't paid for itself yet.
If you want to add more peels I highly suggest choosing a line that offers support and education. Personally I use Glymed (whose local distributor offers a ton of classes) and Rhonda Allison (great online education/manuals and lots of class options). I'm sure there are many great companies but those were my first choice. Also look into your state requirements. In MA I had to take a seperate chemical peel class even though I have the higher level license. That class had a lot of great info.
My small business loan was a gift from my nana:) I didnt talk to an accountant, I just did a lot of research and made sure I spent the bulk of my money on things that would offer a good return. In the end you need to spend on things that will bring clients back over and over.
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Permalink Reply by mk on
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Haha, If only I was a member at the Bank of Nana! I did actually purchase a dermafile, and I like it. I've never used any LED lights, and had minimal education on them in school. Looks like I will be researching a bit on the different LED products out there.
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Permalink Reply by Cindy Greenwood on
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...I did not have a good experience with the Prolight LED.
On another forum I have heard similar disappointing results. So IMO - go for a better quality LED when you are ready. Shelley Hancock has the Celluma panel that has a lot more LED bulbs for a very reasonable price - plus it has red/blue/infrared in one unit.
But I totally agree with looking at an Ultrasonic Spatula - it's very affordable! (Dermasound is higher price - so lucky Tracy!)
Tracy also makes excellent suggestions in using professional peels - both companies that she mentions are great choices!
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