#2 of 6 Important Questions: What?

If you haven’t already, please read the opener to this series, 6 Important Questions to ask yourself before opening a business, as well as #1 of 6 Important Questions: Who? The next question in this 6-part series is: What?

• What type of business will you open?
• What products will you use?
• What kind of product training is available or required?
• What is the product’s opening order requirement?
• What will you charge for your treatments?
• What forms of payment will your accept?
• What is your business plan?

What type of business will you open? Will it be a boutique salon with just you running the whole show? Will it be skin care only? What about other services? These are important questions to ask because this will determine what type of office space you will need and what your basic business model looks like.

I have always preferred to have a private, by appointment only, type of business. This is what I prefer when getting treatments, and it is what I offer to my clients. I have had facials in larger salons and spas where there is a locker room, a robe and slippers waiting for me, and perhaps even a steam or sauna room available to use while I’m there. I simply don’t enjoy this environment as much as being the only person in the office besides the aesthetician or massage therapist or acupuncturist. This is my preference, it might not be yours. No matter what you prefer, you still may go the opposite way and open a large salon when you prefer private appointments yourself, or vise versa. I touch on this in both Where to look for a great facial and What to expect in a facial treatment, which posted on my layperson’s blog, ageless beauty, timeless skin.

As far as what services to provide, I hope you already know what you want to do in this area. If not, you need to really think on this and come up with your initial plan. When I worked at a spa, I was required to provide waxing services; services I didn’t like performing and was totally uninterested in. Naturally when I opened my own business, waxing was never a part of it. Don’t get me wrong, waxing can be and is a lucrative service that I don’t recommend you leave out of your business plan necessarily. Unless of course you hate waxing! And that was the case with me. I not only didn’t like doing the actually service, I have always wanted to hone my skills in one area.

When I first started out as an aesthetician in 1985, I wanted to go to massage school, which I did. After I got my massage license I practiced both vocations for a few years. Then I decided I didn’t want to be jack-of-all-trades, master of none. And I wanted to master skin care. So I stopped massaging clients, put 100% of my effort into becoming the best aesthetician I could be, and now 30 years later I do believe I have achieved my goal. You can perform many different services, this was just not the course I chose to take.

I will say, going through massage school gave me skills I didn’t have after I graduated from skin care school. I have a much better understanding of the body, anatomy and physiology, and my hands are more sensitive to touch along with being strong in the facial department. Ask any of my clients and I’m sure they’ll tell you—I give a great facial massage. Along with massage school, I studied (back in the 80s) polarity therapy, acupressure, and took special courses that focused on facial massage in particular.

What products will you use? This goes back to who are you as an aesthetician? Do you know? You will have to do research if you aren’t set on a product line yet. And if you have to research, how will you do it and where will you go for it? Without knowing what product line you want to carry, you are basically walking on only one leg.

The product an aesthetician uses is something that is completely tied in with who the aesthetician is. That is the case for me, at least. Without Yonka products, I would basically have to find a product as identical to it as possible. Aromatherapy is what I have studied most of my career and Yonka, an aromatherapy skin care line, has always tied into my philosophy on how to treat skin. Take that away and I am still a skilled aesthetician, but I wouldn’t be able to recommend products if I don’t believe in them.

When you work for someone else, especially at the beginning of your career, you may have to settle for using a product you don’t love for the security of a paying job. Once you open your own business, that all changes and you can chart the course that you want. (See future post: My life at the Spa at the Crescent—start to finish.)

What kind of product training is available or required? That, of course, will be up to the product line you select, unless you decide to go the private label route. Get all the available training the company offers. Some companies require you to come to their headquarters to train for a few days so they are sure you will be a good representative for their product line. Sometimes a rep will come to your salon and train you there. If both situations are available, I would again recommend doing both; getting all the training on the product line you will be married to is imperative.

What is the product’s opening order requirement? The answer to this question can be the biggest deterrent to opening your business. Or at least for using a particular skin care product. Some companies have low dollar amount opening order requirements. I’m sure there are companies that don’t make you meet a certain order amount. However, most lines do. Knowing this information before you get your heart set on a particular product may be important for you.

I will say this, if cost is what is your determining factor for what skin care line you decide to use, I would have to question that. I think it should be the absolute love and devotion to a product that will determine which one you use. You might have to stretch yourself if the opening order requirement is high for the line you love, but without the product you believe in, your treatments simply won’t be as effective. It is the marriage of the aesthetician and the product she uses that are the main ingredients for a great facial.

What will you charge for your treatments? When I first opened my business I set my facial price just below the going rate that my clients had been paying at my former job. I didn’t undercut myself, but charged maybe $5-$10 less for the same facial. I could have opened and charged the same price—or more, but I wanted to do everything in my power to encourage people to visit me at my new office. Once I was established, I did raise my rates to reflect what I felt was right for the service I was providing. See Raising your prices for more details.

For almost my entire career, I had one facial at one price. As you can read in Website ideas: Services explained, after the economy tanked I began to offer a one hour facial at a reduced rate. Prior to that, however, it was always one facial for one price. My facial is all-inclusive, using all the products and procedures a client needs whenever she sees me. I am not a big believer in service menus, but I also am unique in how I run my business. And I don’t necessarily recommend you follow my lead.

As an aesthetician and a business owner I have always had a very clear vision for my work. Throughout the more than 21 years I’ve been in business, I have not really wavered. Some people might not be so clear or simply have a different vision for their business. Having a menu for the services you provide is the norm, and it is something that I actually recommend. But don’t make your offerings so complicated that a perspective client doesn’t have a clue as to what she wants.

This is where I veer away from what is normal in this business. I think that I should be deciding what facial procedure a client needs. I know skin, she knows her symptoms. I always roll my eyes when I go to a salon with a long list of services. If I was just a layperson, how am I supposed to know what is best for my skin? I’m coming to you the professional—aren’t you the best person to decide what my skin needs?  

The bottom line is you will want a list of your services, and you will need to do some research before you set a price for treatments. Call or look online at what other salons in your area are charging for similar services. I highly recommend getting facials around town to see what is being offered and at what price. If you keep getting bad facials at places that charge what you are thinking of charging, you might reconsider (now or later once you’ve opened) how much you will charge for your facials.

What forms of payment will your accept? Cash only? Cash and personal checks only? Credit cards? If so, which ones? As you can read in Forms of taking payment, I’m not a big believer in not accepting credit cards. In this world as it is today, most people prefer using plastic. Don’t make it hard for people to pay you—it may be a few dollars less you’ll earn due to merchant services charges, but in the long run it might pay off.

What is your business plan? Perhaps this question needs a separate article all to itself, but if you don’t have a business plan, you are not ready to open a business. A written plan, whether it is a “regulation” business plan or simply a plan you have on paper, is not only essential to moving forward, it is imperative.

Wikipedia describes a business plan as “a formal statement of business goals, reasons they are attainable, and plans for reaching them. It may also contain background information about the organization or team attempting to reach those goals.” Without a plan (written down), you are going to lose your way. It’s as simple as that. Start now if you don’t have a plan in place and use that as another step forward on your way to becoming a legitimate business.

The next installment in this 6-part series is #3 of 6 Important Questions: Where?