Season 5 Kickoff Niching Down, Beauty Biz Growth & Why Websites Matter

🎙 *What You’ll Learn in This Episode*✅ *Why Niching Down Matters*• Why trying to “do it all” burns beauty pros out faster than bleach on fragile hair• Case studies: from “Brows by Jez” @browsbyjez facials-only estheticians who built thriving careers• How niching helps you attract better clients and scale your business✅ *Websites vs. Just Social Media*• Why most estheticians and salon owners still don’t have websites (and why that’s hurting them)• Cristal’s revelation during Smooth Connections networking: “No website, no business credibility”• The truth about Google reviews, virtual addresses, and why Instagram isn’t enough✅ *The Outsourcing Lesson*• Why cutting costs on marketing and social media often costs more in the long run• Cristal’s real talk on canceling her social media service — and regretting it fast• The power of outsourcing so you can focus on what you love most✅ *Client Perception = Everything*• Why professionalism matters even in colorful, bold industries like beauty• The danger of venting “behind the chair” or in front of clients — and what to do instead• Real stories from salons, restaurants, and even grocery stores where professionalism slipped✅ *Season 5 Sneak Peek*• New logo. New music (shoutout to Briar!). New energy.• Teasers of upcoming guests — from holistic wellness leaders to salon & spa owners to teeth-whitening entrepreneurs• Why Season 5 is shaping up to be the boldest, most value-packed yet💬 *Fan-Favorite Moments*🤣 Cristal forgetting her own name in the intro👏 The ADHD banter between Cristal & Matt (“Beauty Brown!” anyone?)💥 Cristal calling out beauty pros who don’t have websites😬 Matt overhearing the most unprofessional workplace vent session at a diner👀 Cristal admitting she canceled her social media service — and instantly regretted it🎶 The excitement around the brand-new Beauty Bound beats👇 *Key Takeaways*🎯 *Niche to Grow*Stop trying to do it all. Pick one service you love most and go all in. The fastest-growing beauty pros specialize.💻 *A Website Isn’t Optional*Social media is borrowed land. A website is your digital home. Without one, potential clients (and collaborators) will question if you’re really in business.📦 *Outsource to Scale*Doing everything yourself is a recipe for burnout. Invest in marketing, social, and bookkeeping support so you can focus on your craft.👓 *Perception Matters*What clients see (and overhear) matters. Professionalism isn’t about being stiff — it’s about making clients feel confident in your services.🚀 *Beauty Bound is Growing*From new branding to new music and a killer guest lineup, Season 5 is a turning point. Expect more industry insights, more laughs, and more value.*INTRODUCTION MUSIC CREDIT:* Artist, Briar Powell🖥 *Follow Us for More:**Cristal Rubio* (Beauty Pro Bookkeeping): https://www.instagram.com/beautyprobookkeeping | https://www.beautyprobookkeeping.com*Matt Nelson* (Peachtree Rose Marketing): https://peachtreerosemarketing.com | https://www.instagram.com/officialmattnelson/*Connect with us on all our social medias*https://www.instagram.com/beautyboundtx/https://www.facebook.com/BeautyBoundTXhttps://www.tiktok.com/@beauty.bound

Episode Transcript

(00:10):
Hello everyone, welcome back to Beauty Bound Season 5.
I'm so excited to open up a new chapter of Beauty Bound, but I'm
here with a special guest because I cannot sit here and
just talk to myself for an hour,30 minutes or however long.

(00:32):
We're not, It's not an hour, guys.
But you know, I'm just saying I can't do that.
So I have Matt with Peachtree Rose Marketing, my editor in
chief or my marketing director or my editor or whatever you
want to, you know, call him because he wears many hats.
I've been called worse. I'll take it.

(00:53):
Matt Nelson with Peach Heroes Marketing here with Crystal
Rubio from Beauty. Pro book My I did not say my
name. Crystal Rubio from Beauty Pro
Bookkeeping. That was a hell of an intro,
though. Yeah, yeah, just without that.
I got my name. Yeah, that's awesome.
So we're here in Season 5. Season 5.
Year 2. Year 2, episode 100.

(01:16):
Is this episode 100? This is episode 100.
No way. Yeah.
Wow. Congratulations.
Thank you just. Kidding.
Is it 90? No, it's 90.
Believe you. Oh my gosh.
OK, well, beauty brown. Beauty Brown.
Beauty Brown. Yeah.
No, it's 9090. I don't know why.

(01:38):
I thought 100 to 89. Me too.
And then I realized. Doesn't matter at all.
No, it's episode 90, Season 5, episode 90.
Welcome back to Season 5 of Beautybound, or for the first
time to Season 5. For the first time yeah to
season 5 oh and that's what I said welcome back see there's a
lot of. ADHD.

(01:59):
Yeah. Oh my gosh.
So for those of you who are not familiar with Beautybound,
Beautybound is a podcast. It is with Crystal Rubio, former
hairdresser, now bookkeeper, niched in the beauty industry.
Yes, going for my CPA. Yeah.

(02:23):
Becoming really hard. And on this podcast, you've had
a lot of phenomenal guests from different facets of the beauty
industry. Some of them are your clients in
the bookkeeping realm and some of them are learning about
needing a bookkeeper. And you've you've had a lot of
value add in terms of best practices for beauty

(02:44):
professionals. I think it's kind of the target
audience. Yeah, I think there isn't.
And I've, I've always said it, Ifeel like there isn't enough
information that goes out to thebeauty industry and not just
like as far as finances go, but just in general, like the
different laws or regulations are different.

(03:05):
I can't even think of what like different bills that get passed,
you know, because now every state is obviously different.
I know most like the stuff that I know the most of is obviously
Texas and California because I was licensed.
Well, I'm still licensed in California.
So it's one of those things thatI feel people need to hear about

(03:27):
the things that happened. People need to hear about even
like the injectors, man. Like all that stuff is kind of
insane sometimes when you hear the things that are happening
and current events. Yeah, I think early year on in
year 1 for y'all is when they had huge news where there were
lawsuits and deaths related to injection or.

(03:50):
The IV. Therapy, IV Therapy.
So all facets of the beauty industry, I feel like you've
covered pretty well and I think we're still looking for certain
guests who are niched into otherfasts of the beauty industry.
Nailtex. Nailtex still waiting on.
You barbers, Yeah. But I I think it's been cool

(04:11):
because y'all have explored the current events around the policy
changes and how people in the beauty industry can best educate
themselves. Network and just grow in a, in a
more sophisticated manner. I feel like I think in terms of
the clients that we've dealt with in the marketing realm,

(04:32):
there's some who are more corporate or are in, you know,
certain other industries where there's a perception of
professionalism or something like that.
Whereas in the beauty industry you have the same
professionalism, it just wears. You know, different, different
makeup, colorful. Yeah.
Fun. But I think also you've you've

(04:53):
been able to under score that people in the beauty industry
are a great case example of that.
People have subject matter expertise, but that doesn't mean
that people have subject matter expertise and what they're
experts at. But where people typically fail

(05:14):
in entrepreneurship and businessownership is when they try to be
an expert at everything from dayone.
And that's one of the cool things that I like, that I, that
I like and that I want people tosee, especially students coming
out of beauty school that you don't need to do everything.
You know, as a cosmetologist, you're taught hair, nails and

(05:34):
skin. And a lot of the times when I
was one of those people who out of beauty school, you want to do
all those things because you enjoy them.
I did nails and I did hair like constantly.
And then while they were gettingshampooed, I would do brows, you
know, and it was at the brow waxing or the underarm waxing.

(05:55):
And it's like you can't do it all because then you don't focus
on the, on the one thing that you love the most at that
moment. I think I, I did, I was just
still trying to figure it out and I was burnt out from nails
for a long time because I was doing nails prior to BT school.
But I think if you have that understanding, and that's one
thing that I like to talk about,having that understanding of

(06:18):
niching down and, and being ableto just focus on the one thing
we have people who are just waxers, you know, who are just
do facials who only do hair color, no hair cutting.
And I, I hate hair cutting, you know, so I would have been
probably 1 because I like to be creative.
So I think being able to to teacher letter to talk about

(06:42):
that on the podcast has been really cool and that's what I
want to continue to do. Yeah.
I've you know, I've I've always I found that fascinating too,
because you and you all did you did an an episode on niching
down that had some good tractiontoo.
And you've you've interviewed folks and you've you've had, you
know, smooth connections when you Co hosted that event and you

(07:04):
had it was so fun. Browse by jazz, right?
You know, daughter Mother trio with Trisha and Bohemian
Bombshell. But jazz is a prime example of
niching down. And she only does brows and.
She's Megan Bank doing. It.
We all had a lot of cool case studies about that.

(07:26):
But I've, I've found not just from what Beautybound has
uncovered, but in the marketing realm too.
The folks who are quickest in business ownership and getting
started in recognizing they may want to be the Jack of all
trades and that's OK, But focusing on what they're either
best at and ideally best and youknow, enjoy the most at and then

(07:52):
outsourcing the rest, which is where kind of you and I come
into play. I feel like yeah.
And that that's 100% true because yes, at the beginning
you're just you're trying to figure out what are the things,
you know, social media wise. That's not my strong suit only
because I don't have time. Like right now, my social media
is lacking. It's I, I, I cancelled my

(08:16):
membership that I have with whoever posts my social media
and oh man, I hate it right now.There hasn't been anything on
there, you know, because I don'thave time.
And then it makes me realize This is why you were paying for
it. So it's there sounds that we
want to cut back on expenses andyou end up screwing yourself.
And that's what I'm doing right now.

(08:38):
But you know, even for I always tell all my clients you need a
good website. When I first started, that
wasn't something I would recommend.
It wasn't until I started, you know, working with you more and
seeing how important I, it was when I started doing the smooth
connections with Mercedes, that's when I realized how

(09:01):
important having a website was. Because when we were looking for
all these estheticians, none of them had a website.
It was very rare that we would find one with the website,
right? Like and it's insane.
So now I'm like you guys need a website.
And it's crazy because thank youagain for giving us the

(09:23):
opportunity and we got to help out with some of the marketing
on that. I can remember with the team.
And we as marketers scrutinize hardest when it comes to
marketing. Just like if I were to go into
skin experience by Pamela, whichI've got my my gents facial
appointment next week. Like if I go in there, I'm sure

(09:43):
she's going to be professional about it, but I'm sure she's
going to look at my skin and be like, what have you been doing
for the past 37? Years.
She's going to be like, bro, your skin's dry.
Like we as marketers will scrutinize it a little bit
harder, but I can remember us going through like direct mail
lists for when we were going to do a personalized mail out for
smooth connections and thinking and the team thinking like as a

(10:04):
group like are they in business and if.
And that's horrible. And if you're thinking to
yourself, you know, if you put your client hat on, yeah, is
that business? In business, why bother if
there's somebody else who's a perceived competitor, who has a
robust website, who has Google reviews, who has a phone number
listed or an e-mail? And there was none of that.

(10:26):
Yeah, it's great. It was crazy 'cause we, we would
get like a registered address oran agent for, for a business and
maybe a contact, you know, a name and stuff like that.
And we'd look them up and be like, are they in a suite?
Are they in a? Are they in existence?
Yeah, it was weird. Yeah.
And and that's, I think that happens a lot.

(10:46):
And so being able to bring lightto all those problems, I feel
like I'm finding a solution to them and being able to help
those who maybe are listening and don't know how to do a
certain thing. Like I just want to be able to
to help them with that. Yeah.
And I think, you know, outside of the the really valuable

(11:07):
insights for a particular, you know, problems that that recur
in, in every industry, but really focused on the beauty
industry. Outside of that, you've
uncovered a lot of other, you know, things behind the scenes
that people deal with, whether or not it's, you know, dealing
with 1099 versus W2 and how to treat employees versus non

(11:29):
employees. And, and if you are an employee
or a non employee and what that means, you know, things like
that. But even just for a mindset
thing and inventing and how to professionally vents behind
closed doors as opposed to doing, you know, airing out your
dirty laundry in front of other clients like a lot of good value
add content. Yeah, and thank you.

(11:50):
And I think that does happen a lot, though, even I feel like
even as especially as hairstylist, I think where the,
the ones that always hear all the drama that's going on with,
you know, your clients and then your clients become friends.
So then you start spilling the drama that you have going on
with either maybe another coworker or whatever.

(12:13):
So then it's like, where do you draw that fine line, you know,
and where do you stop doing that?
And that's kind of hard. It is so funny.
Side note, just got back from Rockport, TX, which is like
right outside Port Aransas, likeon the coast in Texas.
We did a quick family vacation and I got up super early, went
to this random diner that was supposed to be really good.

(12:34):
We got to go food so we can bring it to the beach.
And I'm waiting there to go at this little bar area where all
of the service professionals arekind of checking out and doing
receipts and all this kind of stuff.
But it's also kind of the convergence point for all of
them and the kitchen. And I could overhear one of them
just like, man, Can you believe Bill just asked me for money?

(12:56):
And then and then she's like, y'all make sure if he asks y'all
for money, he's not allowed to do that.
Employees can't ask employees for money.
You're allowed to draw from yourpaycheck.
But and I'm like. Bro I'm.
Right here. Yeah.
It was just crazy. Yeah, 'cause it's like, you know
that. Just a uncomfortable feeling as
a client, as a client, you know?Yeah.
'Cause you don't, you don't wantto hear that shit.

(13:18):
And I it's not that, I mean, youdo want to hear it 'cause you're
like, there's a. Little bit of like like.
Damn, like what's? Going on at the same time,
you're like, do they see me? Yeah, yeah, because and it's
true. Like I, I feel like it happens
at a lot of restaurants and not just anywhere you go, even at
HEBI think I heard it once wherethere was somebody complaining

(13:40):
and I think the the cash registers girl, she kind of
looked at the bagger and was like.
Just trying to address it silently.
Yeah, And the person walked awaylike, OK, you know, it's true.
Like, you don't want to. I mean, we want to hear the
Cheeseman. It definitely waters down a
business. So you know, it's just that

(14:02):
perceived lack of professionalism.
You know when when you're in theclient's mindset and you have to
put yourself constantly in the client's mindset and remind
yourself, how am I coming acrossas a provider of whatever the
service is versus how am I feeling in the moment as the.
Provider, Oh man, that's true. I mean, because as, as a

(14:22):
consumer, we want to hear the cheese man.
But at the same time, as a consumer, we're going to judge.
Yeah, that's a balance. For yeah, that's that's
definitely what's going to happen.
But also like having some reallycool guests.
Last season was awesome. You did have some awesome
guests, Bree. Oh my gosh, yeah.
That was. I think to me that was like the

(14:45):
the cherry on top. Yeah, Because it was so cool to
have her on and Pam to have her on as well.
Like it? It was really cool.
She had, she had such a cool case.
Yeah, I say a case study, like sort of.
Thing but like. She had such a unique problem
that she was going through, and I say unique, but there's so
many people who have gone through something similar in

(15:07):
business. And they don't talk about it.
And trying to scale deliberatelythe right way.
And it was just so cool to hear her over a two-part episode.
Yeah, you know, talk about that in depth and her experience and
what she's doing about it and how she's fixing that problem.
And you've had you've had some phenomenal gifts and unpacked a
lot of you know, their stories and their value to impart on new

(15:31):
and you know, beauty professionals who who may not be
new, but they might be just trying to better themselves,
which I think is cool. And this season?
This season you've got some coolones in store as well.
I do. I'm so excited.
Yeah, I, I have this season, I have prerecorded guys only
because I needed to work with the schedule of those who are

(15:55):
going to be on the podcast or who have been on the podcast.
So I've recorded with with a fewof them and I have a really cool
lineup that I'm very excited about.
I'm not going to throw out any names yet, but I'm very excited
for you guys to, to listen to the season and to hear all the

(16:17):
obviously I, you'll see there's a new logo.
I have a new music as well. I do want to give a shout out to
Breyer. That is Miranda's best friend
and he, he produced that is whatyou say, right?
Produced. Yeah, he produced music 3 songs
or three beats for for the podcast, so I'm very excited for

(16:40):
that. Very cool.
Yeah, so cool things coming website and the works
eventually. Woo woo.
I know a guy for that. Yeah, I have AI have a, a.
What is it? I have my domain for that
already, yes. And I've had one for like.
A hot minute. Yeah, so, and I have a new one
too, just, you know, 'cause it'scool.

(17:02):
Nice, but because somebody taught me that you should
probably buy the domains that matter to your brand, you know?
Before somebody. Else does, yes, because if
somebody else does it before you, they're going to try to
sell it to you. Very expensive.
So I did that. Yep.
Thank you, Matt. Yep.
True story. But yeah, those are, I think

(17:25):
those are the things, correct. Yes, so a lot of a lot of cool
stuff in store from holistic Wellness to salon spa ownership
and rental to teeth whitening, teeth whitening whole name
drops. My bad.
I started going down that road, but.
No, no, it's OK. It's.
OK, a lot of things in store from some very interesting
people in season 5 and I really love where this is headed for

(17:48):
Beauty Bound. Me too.
I'm very excited. Yeah.
And I'm very thankful because you've helped.
You've helped Beauty Bound grow from the beginning.
From the beginning, I I did horrible.
But you know. Slow and deliberate growth, but
now, now this is really where things are are picking up.
And I think, I think there's a lot of upside for what you got

(18:09):
going on. Yep.
So stay tuned guys. Cool things coming and you'll
hear the Jingle at the end or atthe beginning or whatever, but
thank you so much. Stay tuned.
And I'm not going to say it because he always makes fun of
me. Bye bye.