#1 of 6 Important Questions: Who?

I will assume you have read the opening article in this blog series, 6 Important Questions to ask yourself before opening a business, so you are familiar with the 6 questions even though you may not have any idea what I’m talking about! 

Because this is going to be a 6-part series, I have a lot of room to get into the most important questions you’ll need to ask yourself before you start your own skin care business. The first question is: Who?

• Who is your client?
• Who are you as an aesthetician?
• Who are you as a business owner?
• Who are your vendors?
• Who will do your taxes?
• Who will be there if you get sick or incapacitated? 
• Who can you turn to for help and/or advice?

Who is your client? What is her income level? Where does she live? What services is she looking for? Does she work at an office? Does she stay home with children? Is she busy or bored? Is your typical client female—only? Or perhaps you are going after a mostly male clientele? Do they want a private boutique experience or a hustle and bustle salon? And the most important question: have you asked yourself these questions yet? Knowing the answers will help you in several areas of your business.

The question of income (your client’s) is an important aspect of knowing who your ideal client is. If she is not made of money, you don’t want to charge exorbitant prices for your services. Not everyone is catering to the well-off, so kudos to you. If you are looking for clients who live in the nicest part of town, that will be a determining factor when it comes to finding a location as well as pricing your services. You’d better know your stuff, however, because many times affluence means a client is used to upscale service providers.

Who are you as an aesthetician? Do you prefer giving private, highly personalized services or are you the get’em in, get’em out type? (Both do exist!) Are you the type who wants an individual practice or do you want to work in a busy salon environment? How long have you been working? What is your area of expertise—do you know? Are you good at what you do? There are many aestheticians who may not be the world’s greatest facialists but still run successful businesses. They can do this because they excel in some other facet of their business, be it sales, amazing customer service; there is something that creates trust with their clients and keeps the clients coming back.

Know who you are as an aesthetician so you can put emphasis on your strengths. We all have weaknesses, but when you’re opening and running a business you don’t want these lesser qualities to shine for all to see.

Who are you as a business owner? Are you organized or on the sloppy side? Do you have a clear vision for your venture? Who do you want to be as a business owner? And do you even want to be a business owner? That might sound like a ridiculous question, but perhaps in your heart of hearts you really don’t want to open a business on your own. Know this now so you don’t have to clean up a mess later on. Some people make better employees than they do business owners. It’s not easy having the responsibilities (all the responsibilities) of running a business. As an employee, you may not have a lot of freedom, but you have very little on the responsibility side. Be sure owning a business is truly want you want to do. Once you’re sure this is for you, think about the qualities you want to possess as a business owner then take those attributes and become them.

Who are your vendors? Figure out what supplies you’ll need—there will be many. Some of those will be listed in What you’ll need before you get started—Part III: odds & ends. Source out vendors for the supplies, and establish positive relationships with their customer service departments. In many cases you can buy supplies at Target or another big box store or even Sally Beauty Supply, but in some cases you’ll need to find vendors for certain items.

Who will do your taxes? This is the part of my business that I have never liked. Even so, when I first started out I used to do a lot of my taxes (not federal) myself. On the days I did this work, I was a frenzied emotional mess.

Eventually I incorporated, hired a payroll service (even though sometimes I was the only employee in my corporation), and I always have a CPA do my end-of-year state and federal income taxes. This is not my forte, and I gladly employ someone else to do this work for me, someone who is an expert in their field.

If you sell products, you will have sales tax (you need a license for this) and sales tax forms to fill out that are required by your state; then there are the quarterly reports (depending on how you are filing your taxes); and of course, end-of-year state and federal taxes. I highly recommend getting help with these—taxes are an area you don’t want to screw up!

Who will be there if you get sick or incapacitated? The answer to this question may be “no one.” Even if the answer is “I have someone in place to take over if something happens to me,” you need to plan and budget for unforeseen occurrences.

If you’ve read this blog, you have seen more than one mention of my dislike for a client who comes in sick to get her facial, something that happens a lot more than you would imagine. (See When a client comes in sick and Letting go of clients.) Perhaps now you can better understand why. If you are sick and can’t work and you own your business, there is no income on the days you are home recuperating. Zero. Ouch. Planning, by having savings put aside, is essential to running your business.

Have you thought about what would happen if you sliced your hand open while making dinner one night? I have! I’m not paranoid, but thoughts do cross my mind when I’m doing something that could have a potentially devastating effect on my business. If I break a leg or sprain an ankle, I can still work, but my hands are my money-makers. These may be areas of thinking you haven’t ventured into, but maybe they should be. Injuries are something you want to avoid at all costs, including getting sick. 

Who can you turn to for help and/or advice? Family members? Fellow business owners? Organizations? Start now to create a broad-spectrum support system. If your family isn’t in favor of your business venture (not all families are supportive), find people who are supportive and keep them in your corner. Ask fellow business owners if you can take them out for coffee or lunch and ask them questions about their businesses and how they run them. You don’t have to ask other salon owners per se; running any business has certain commonalities, and you can glean information from just about anyone.

There are organizations that help potential business owners iron out the details. Research groups in your area and go for an interview or attend a class or two or three. Here you may find people you can add to your core support system.

Don’t go it alone. You will need help, even if it’s just a sympathetic ear, all along your way to opening your business. Gather your support system. At some point you will need it!

The next question you want to ask yourself before opening a business that has its own series of questions is: #2 of 6 Important Questions: What?