September 24, 2023 • 24 mins
Imagine a world where businesses thrive not on competition but on community and collaboration.
That's the reality we're painting in this illuminating discussion. As a veteran of the beauty industry, I've discovered firsthand how crucial it is to form professional connections and engage with our community. This synergy doesn't just drive business growth, but it elevates the entire industry standard, benefiting everyone in it. Like a rising tide that lifts all boats, this collective effort has helped many of us weather even the toughest of times, such as the recent pandemic shutdown.
Our conversation today is not merely theoretical; it's practical, with tangible strategies that you can implement in your business. The power of community is further discussed through my involvement with Sugar Tribe, an online community where members help each other progress in their careers while fostering a positive space to love our job. The importance of networking is also underscored through my experiences, where new relationships and referrals can be built.
So, join us as we navigate the power of community and collaboration in business, and let's create a rising tide together!
If you’ve connected with or been inspired by this episode in any way, leave us a review and let us know your biggest takeaway - I’d love to hear how you embrace Sugaring For All!! And while you've got your phone out, make sure to follow us on Instagram @Love2Sugar.
If you are interested in learning more about Radeq Lab's Premium Prebiotic Sugar Line of products, you can find them at www.radeqlab.us.
If you are interested in our business planner you can find the SugarBoss Planner here --->https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/love2sugar
The link to our Monthly SugarBiz Blueprint: https://www.love2sugar.com/offers/cMhp76LA/checkout
Cheers to your Sweet Success!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello and welcome back to this episode of the
Sugar Show.
I always, always, always,always, love to talk about the
sweet success in your businessbecause, as most of you know, if
you have been listening to mystory for years, you know that
really I have been at the bottomand I've been at the top and
(00:21):
I've been a day spot owner.
I have been a solo esthetician,I've been an employee, I've
worked the front desk of a bigbeautiful spot in Las Vegas.
I've pretty much doneeverything, and one of the
things that I've noticed in thebeauty industry is we need to
really work on working with eachother in order to create
(00:44):
success for all.
And really, you know we're nostrangers to competition, right,
like, we want to make sure thatwe have the best place, we get
the best reviews.
We get, you know, yelp or anyof the online review sites that
they're saying the best thing.
Google reviews things like that.
We want to be the best, havefive stars, have everyone think
(01:07):
of us first, and what I want todo is really talk about the
community that you can createwhen you choose to work with
people in your area instead ofcompeting with people in your
area.
So I had the great honor ofwriting an article for Skin Inc
(01:28):
Magazine and it was called thebenefits of choosing community
over competition.
So I highly suggest that youread that article because it
really does kind of dive intothe intricacies.
But I want to take that a stepfurther and talk specifics,
because you know it's one thingto say, oh yeah, I get along
(01:50):
with everyone.
But the actual question is, doyou really get along with
everyone?
Now, not everyone's going tolike you.
Not everyone is going to wantto work together and you're
going to quickly find outthere's plenty of people that
don't want to work with you.
But if you can work in yourcommunity together to build both
(02:12):
of your businesses or all ofyour businesses, I am promising
you that it is just betterenergy to put out, it is just a
better vibe.
You're going to love your jobmore because you're spending
your time in a positive spaceinstead of a negative space and
wondering what everyone else isdoing.
If you can just release thatfrom your heart and say to
(02:35):
yourself you know what, if Ijust have some gratitude for the
town that I'm in, for theclients that I have and I work
together with some of theseother companies, we actually
might be able to work smarterand stronger and not as hard.
So let's dive into that andreally talk about what you can
do in your community liketangible things that you can do
(02:57):
to take your business to thenext level by using your
community.
Welcome to this sugar show.
I'm Shannon O'Brien, bodysugaring expert and licensed
esthetician, who's taken my ownskincare business from zero to
multiple six figures and hashelped over 3000 students learn
how to do the same.
Now let me tell you it wasn'tall that long ago that I lacked
(03:19):
the time, budget and knowledgeneeded to grow my small business
as a body sugaring pro.
If we were to press rewind,you'd see the many failed
attempts and lessons learnedthat have helped me build the
profitable business that I havetoday, one that runs on its own
and gives me the lifestyle andfreedom that I only used to
dream of.
I created the sugar show tohand you my secrets and give you
(03:42):
the simple, step-by-stepstrategies to help you do the
same.
So if you're a cosmetologist oresthetician or wax professional
who's looking to fill yourbooks, make more money in your
business and enjoy greaterbalance between your work and
home life, you are in the rightplace.
Let's dive in.
So let's talk about.
(04:14):
I put a quote in that articleand it says a rising tide lifts
all boats, and that was by JohnF Kennedy.
Oh, I loved him, but I'm datingmyself.
I didn't really.
I wasn't really alive then, butI love really just everything
about that era and about reallyworking together to just rise
(04:35):
everyone up.
So what that means is if thetides rise, it will lift all the
boats up, instead of just oneboat here and one boat there.
If we can rise our standard ofexcellence, everyone benefits.
And let's talk about that at alocal level, because a powerful
(04:56):
synergy can be unleashed, Ipromise.
Great example is the pandemicwhen we were shut down.
For all of those months, myshop is in California, we're
here just outside of Sacramento,and when we shut down the
community that I'm in the beautyindustry, very quickly
California especially veryquickly realized that we were
(05:20):
going to be shut down for a longtime and we needed to work
together in order to think ofideas that would really help us
up and out of this pandemic.
We were told to paper up, wewere told to be outside, we were
told to mask up and taketemperatures and all the things
that we had to do and we had toreally work smarter together so
(05:42):
that we could make sure that weweren't hurting each other.
So there were some companiesthat went ahead and still did
their skincare services anddidn't really care and didn't
mind if they get a fine.
And then there were others thatwere very, very strict and it
was really difficult to say,gosh, I don't want to lose my
business if I don't open.
(06:03):
So there was a lot of strugglethere and in our community we
actually got together via Zoomand we worked together to really
really try to figure out asolution so that we were able to
rise the tide together and openall at the same time and have a
(06:25):
united front.
And I can promise you that inthe long, I think California was
probably the longest shutdown.
There's probably one otherstate was it Minnesota?
But the shutdown was thelongest in California, at least
close to the longest and we allwere able to come out the other
side because we worked togetherto think about ways, for example
(06:49):
, having to go boxes, doingonline consultations, being able
to have drop bags of skincarefor folks, just giving people
suggestions on how they couldbuild their business and really
encouraging each other along theway, because those were really,
really tough times.
(07:10):
So let's talk about what we cando now, because we're way out
of the pandemic.
We're not going to harbor onthat, but if you can share your
knowledge, your experience andyour resources, it really opens
up opportunities for growth foryou and for other businesses.
And what I mean by that isstart networking together, start
(07:33):
going to events or co-creatingnew products.
Working together, for example,you can be super supportive of
your fellow estheticians.
We mostly do sugaring in here,right?
Well, there's plenty of otherestheticians that specialize in
acne treatments, for example.
We absolutely work with otherestheticians in our area that
(07:54):
specialize in the things that wedon't specialize.
We're working on the sameclients, right?
So if you're working on aclient that it's very sensitive
skin and she's getting sugaredbecause of it, why not introduce
her to another esthetician inyour area that does beautiful
facials on sensitive skin?
Or if you do lashes, forexample, why not learn how to
(08:20):
sugar so that you can sugarpeople?
And if you don't sugar, whydon't you refer someone to a
business like mine?
I'm not going to do lashes, butwe can absolutely code network
that beauty space for yourclients.
For example, if you have agirl's night out, say, if I was
to have one in the shop.
(08:41):
I know that I don't do lashes.
I'm not a Botox girl, but thereare plenty of people that love
to do it.
I don't do spray tans.
There's lots of things I don'tdo.
We don't have time because allwe do is sugar in here.
But what would be wise is toinvite all of their databases to
come to your host, your girl'snight out, right?
(09:03):
So we might be demonstratingsugaring.
Someone might be demonstratingmicroblading or lashing.
Someone else might be talkingabout spray tans and how those
work together.
So now we can take ourcollective clients and work
together to rise the tides.
Do you see what I'm saying?
So if you're going to besuccessful at this and you're
(09:25):
going to achieve those goalsthat you've written down and
elevate your business, it justcreates that ripple effect
throughout your local beautycommunity.
If you can work together andsupport each other, I'm going to
encourage the lash girl tostrive for greatness.
And if she's feeling down, youknow, start to really talk her
(09:46):
up and see if I can get her newclients.
Same for sugaring.
If that spray tang girl isspraying these folks, she's
going to see that they needtheir hair removed and she can
refer them to us.
So, really, the overall growthof your business depends on how
much you reach out to others.
Now I will tell you that I havehad moments in the sugaring
(10:09):
industry where I've really triedto reach out and I've tried to
be super supportive of othercompanies and when they were
closed and really not open towanting to work with me or work
with other sugar companies, itreally was just a detriment to
them.
Because the sugar industrywants to work together.
We want to share ideas.
(10:30):
They want to come on thispodcast so that they can share
their information with you andif they don't, it's just going
to hurt their business.
If we are in constantcompetition with each other,
then how can we grow as anindustry?
But we are not in competitionwith each other.
In the sugar industry we are.
I don't think we're incompetition with anyone, to be
(10:51):
honest, but our competitor, forexample, is a wax place, is a
laser place, is a threadingplace.
Our job together is not tofight each other, but to get the
word out so that everyone wantsto switch to sugar.
In these times, it is alsoreally, really important to get
wise with your business as faras marketing and physical
(11:16):
location.
So I hear lots of estheticiansthat are working smarter by
combining forces in, for example, in a salon space.
So maybe someone will packtheir days three days a week,
someone else will pack the daysfour days a week.
Someone works in the morning,someone else works in the
evenings.
The other thing is variousboutiques, for example, my shop.
(11:40):
We have a 1600 square footspace.
We have just really gottentight with less treatment rooms.
I actually reduced thetreatment rooms and we packed
them tight six days a week andthen I leased the other space
after the pandemic to a big,beautiful boutique.
So that's another great waythat we can really identify new
(12:02):
avenues to be smart with ourexpenses, our overhead, and
really make sure that we areadapting and not having so much
expense that we just can'tafford it and we're not able to
pay ourselves and make a profit.
So, thinking about jointmarketing initiatives, you can
absolutely work together to dotanning and sugar lashes and
(12:27):
brows.
We have a brew house that'snext door and we do brows and
brews.
Work together.
We don't have to be a beautyindustry company, but work
together to have a fun girlsnight.
We do Girls Nights all the time.
In fact, over at Out of BoundsBrewhouse that's next door they
actually have the Sugar Mamadrink, which is really fun.
(12:49):
It's almost like a Cosmo, butit's fresh blackberries and
raspberries and then like alemon drop, so it's kind of a
berry lemon drop kind of thingwith a sugared rim.
It's the number one sellingproduct of there because they
love the name Sugar Mamas.
So what we do is when they talkabout the Sugar Mamas on the
(13:12):
menu it says go visit SugarMamas and get 10% off your
services over there.
And when they are in here wesay, hey, go visit Out of Bounds
and try the Sugar Mamas andthey'll give you a little extra,
something special over thereand they'll give them a little
extra appetizers or 10% offtheir bill or whatever it is.
At the moment it depends on themanager and who's there, but
(13:33):
it's a way to cross brand whatyou're doing.
So people love the name SugarMamas.
They're going over and gettinga Sugar Mamas drink and coming
back and after their meal andsaying, my gosh, that drink was
so great, I loved it.
They buy a dress, they booktheir sugaring appointment and
everyone wins.
So three businesses there theboutique, my Sugar Space and the
(13:56):
brew house.
That actually really, reallybenefit.
It really helps to getstrategic in those ways.
You're seeing now lots ofboutiques that are just doing
pop-ups.
Right, you can have people dopop-ups for beauty in your space
.
For example, behind me you'llsee a mirror and we actually
(14:16):
will take that table and createit into a makeup station and
offer our clients Brow Sugar andmakeup lessons.
Great for the makeup artist,great for us, brings traffic in
and what's wonderful is all ofthose people that are on her
mailing list or her email listto get marketing from her will
(14:39):
also now come into my Space, theout of bounds brew house.
When I tag them on socials, asyou know, they're gonna promote
me.
Now all of the women that havebeen out of bounds but maybe
haven't come into Sugar Mamascan get a little sneak peek
inside.
So cross promotion, crosspromotion, cross promotion.
It just raises us all up andreally helps our clients to not
(15:02):
have to go from place to placeto place.
So, just like a pop-up forretail that sells earrings or
maybe dresses or cowboy boots orwhatever, why don't you invite
someone in the area to come inand do a special night or a
special day all day for you.
Have them invite their clientsin, or vice versa.
Go to a salon that's in yourarea.
(15:23):
If you don't have enoughclients, go to a salon that's in
your area and ask them if youcan do some sugaring demos.
Maybe you sugar in trade, yousugar the owner in exchange for
doing that and have heradvertise that you're teaching
people about sugar in theirspace.
Really, it's about workingsmarter together and not putting
(15:46):
yourself on an island, cause ifI sat in this space and didn't
get the word out, this placewould be empty all the time.
Now sugaring, as you know, doesa lot of the work for you,
because as soon as you sugarsomeone and the results are
amazing.
You know the word of mouth iscrazy with what we do, but
really it's about workingtogether to make sure that not
(16:10):
just the hundred clients thatyou have come in every month,
but you can get someone else'shundred clients to come in as
well, and now you're jam-packedand you're really making the
money that is going to help youwith that, that life that you
have been hoping for, andhopefully you can grab some
work-life balance, because oncethey come in and get sugared,
(16:30):
they're hooked, as you know.
The last thing I will say isabout the strategies is get to
know the people in your chamberof commerce.
Get to know the otherbusinesses that are like yours
in the beauty industry.
Get to know the real owners inthe area.
They like often give gifts whenpeople come into town that are
(16:53):
new and they wanna you knowthey'll put you on their list of
preferred vendors.
Get to know the bankers in thearea and the insurance brokers.
Those people all have hair andthey all need you to service
them.
So don't be shy.
Go to a chamber mixer, put thename of your business on there
(17:13):
and if you're an employee, go tothe chamber mixer as well.
Ask your boss if you can go andsay, hey, I'd really like to
drum up some business.
All of those people can beclients, right?
So you'll have a room of ahundred different people and I
promise you the icebreaker ofsaying well, actually I do body
sugaring and they kind of lookat you and think it's body scrub
(17:35):
, right.
I know some of you that havebeen sugaring for a long time
know that and it really is kindof fun to talk about what you do
and I kind of end up holdingcourt in having.
You know, I start with one ortwo people that I'm talking with
about sugaring and next thingyou know, other people are
coming and wanting to talk to meabout sugaring and they always
(17:56):
want to book.
And if they aren't necessarilygoing to book with you maybe
there's a guy who doesn't getsugared or a woman who doesn't
get sugared Honestly, thinkabout ways that you can work
together.
There's, if you go to a chambermixer, there's probably 50
people in the room that can allwork with you in some way.
(18:17):
Even if it's just to featureyou in a newsletter.
Make sure that the chamber isfeaturing you as a small
business.
Make sure you do the ribboncutting.
If you have a business, if youare an employee, encourage your
boss to be a part of the chamber.
It's, I think I pay $250 a yearand it's some of the best
marketing that I have ever beenwise enough to do.
(18:39):
Obviously, they're socials, butreally having that local hand
in hand mentality is going to donothing but great things for
your business.
So really, my loves, please,please, please, think about ways
that you can get out of yourfour walls.
Think about ways that you cansupport other people in business
(19:02):
and I promise you it will comeback to you in spades.
And if you're someone who, likeI've got Michelle out in the
Carolinas and she is killing it,she is packed in her business.
But wouldn't it be lovely ifshe, like, assisted another
someone in her solar salons toher independent salons and help
them build their business, orshe had someone to refer for
(19:25):
brows or tanning?
It really only helps yourbusiness if you are that
resource for people and theywill want to do more with you as
well.
So I find that people that getsugared by me if I say, oh, you
can tan over here, but let'smake sure that you're exfoliated
first.
Let's give you this scrub,right?
You know, hey, you want to getyour lashes done, no problem.
(19:46):
But when we have a lash growthserum that you'll really love,
that's great for sensitive skinand then get your lashes done
and they'll be nice and strong.
So there's ways that you canretail before your person goes
to another company to do theirservices and the appreciation
will, like I said, it will comeback to you tenfold.
And really the goal is to makesure that socials are fine.
(20:09):
Socials are great.
Love, socials, love, hatesocials, to be honest.
But honestly, it's getting yourboots on the ground and holding
the hands of the people insideyour community, getting to
understand who is around you andhow you can benefit them and
they can just synergisticallybenefit you In our industry.
(20:32):
When you are at a trade show,please, please, please,
introduce yourself.
When you're sitting at thelunch table you know sometimes
you'll share a table, there'llbe a giant round and you're just
sitting down for a sandwichIntroduce yourself to everyone
at the table.
Find out ways that you can sendthem clients or what they do.
It's fascinating to see and hearall the different folks that
are in our beauty community thatare just right in your area
(20:55):
that you can work with.
Maybe someone specializes inoncology aesthetics and you
don't, so, a, you can learn fromthem and, b if you have anyone
that needs to get a facial withsomeone who's oncology certified
oncology aesthetic certifiedthen you can have those people
in your back pocket and that'show I've met some of my most
(21:17):
wonderful friends.
Shout out to SpaBiz board girls, because back in the day we
were from all over the countryand we, before Facebook, had
threads together where we reallyjust helped each other and it
did nothing but benefit not onlymy business, but my heart and
my career and it helped me tonot have burnout is to just have
(21:37):
my sisters and brothers aroundme.
That really could help me takemy business to the next level.
So I hope that was of interestto you.
I hope that you understand thatthis isn't just like yeah, yeah
, yeah, maybe I'll do this.
This is absolutely critical foryour business.
Your mentality, your work-lifebalance is to make sure that you
(22:01):
are a part of a community inyour personal life and in your
business life.
So surround yourself withpeople that help you raise the
bar.
Surround yourself with otherpeople, like the Sugar Tribe,
that can answer questions andyou can.
I'm telling you when you can bea part of that community and
help raise people as well.
If you can be in the Sugar Tribeand say hey, tribers, I'm gonna
(22:24):
help you with a technique thatI use that might be something
different than they're used to.
If we help the rest of thetribe out, we will only benefit.
So I want you to let me knowsome of the things, jump in the
community, the Facebookcommunity, and let us know some
of the ways that this has workedfor you and really engage with
each other inside that Facebookcommunity and work together to
(22:49):
just rise all of us to thesweetest level of success
possible.
I look forward to seeing youlive sometime soon.
We will be in your city verysoon, if not.
I look forward to seeing youinside the business coaching or
the.
If you're learning how to sugarinside the perfection classes.
We have lots to offer andeverything is down in the show
(23:11):
notes.
So have a beautiful, beautifulday, and I look forward to
seeing you in class sometimesoon.
Hello and welcome back to this episode of the
Sugar Show.
I always, always, always,always, love to talk about the
sweet success in your businessbecause, as most of you know, if
you have been listening to mystory for years, you know that
really I have been at the bottomand I've been at the top and
(00:21):
I've been a day spot owner.
I have been a solo esthetician,I've been an employee, I've
worked the front desk of a bigbeautiful spot in Las Vegas.
I've pretty much doneeverything, and one of the
things that I've noticed in thebeauty industry is we need to
really work on working with eachother in order to create
(00:44):
success for all.
And really, you know we're nostrangers to competition, right,
like, we want to make sure thatwe have the best place, we get
the best reviews.
We get, you know, yelp or anyof the online review sites that
they're saying the best thing.
Google reviews things like that.
We want to be the best, havefive stars, have everyone think
(01:07):
of us first, and what I want todo is really talk about the
community that you can createwhen you choose to work with
people in your area instead ofcompeting with people in your
area.
So I had the great honor ofwriting an article for Skin Inc
(01:28):
Magazine and it was called thebenefits of choosing community
over competition.
So I highly suggest that youread that article because it
really does kind of dive intothe intricacies.
But I want to take that a stepfurther and talk specifics,
because you know it's one thingto say, oh yeah, I get along
(01:50):
with everyone.
But the actual question is, doyou really get along with
everyone?
Now, not everyone's going tolike you.
Not everyone is going to wantto work together and you're
going to quickly find outthere's plenty of people that
don't want to work with you.
But if you can work in yourcommunity together to build both
(02:12):
of your businesses or all ofyour businesses, I am promising
you that it is just betterenergy to put out, it is just a
better vibe.
You're going to love your jobmore because you're spending
your time in a positive spaceinstead of a negative space and
wondering what everyone else isdoing.
If you can just release thatfrom your heart and say to
(02:35):
yourself you know what, if Ijust have some gratitude for the
town that I'm in, for theclients that I have and I work
together with some of theseother companies, we actually
might be able to work smarterand stronger and not as hard.
So let's dive into that andreally talk about what you can
do in your community liketangible things that you can do
(02:57):
to take your business to thenext level by using your
community.
Welcome to this sugar show.
I'm Shannon O'Brien, bodysugaring expert and licensed
esthetician, who's taken my ownskincare business from zero to
multiple six figures and hashelped over 3000 students learn
how to do the same.
Now let me tell you it wasn'tall that long ago that I lacked
(03:19):
the time, budget and knowledgeneeded to grow my small business
as a body sugaring pro.
If we were to press rewind,you'd see the many failed
attempts and lessons learnedthat have helped me build the
profitable business that I havetoday, one that runs on its own
and gives me the lifestyle andfreedom that I only used to
dream of.
I created the sugar show tohand you my secrets and give you
(03:42):
the simple, step-by-stepstrategies to help you do the
same.
So if you're a cosmetologist oresthetician or wax professional
who's looking to fill yourbooks, make more money in your
business and enjoy greaterbalance between your work and
home life, you are in the rightplace.
Let's dive in.
So let's talk about.
(04:14):
I put a quote in that articleand it says a rising tide lifts
all boats, and that was by JohnF Kennedy.
Oh, I loved him, but I'm datingmyself.
I didn't really.
I wasn't really alive then, butI love really just everything
about that era and about reallyworking together to just rise
(04:35):
everyone up.
So what that means is if thetides rise, it will lift all the
boats up, instead of just oneboat here and one boat there.
If we can rise our standard ofexcellence, everyone benefits.
And let's talk about that at alocal level, because a powerful
(04:56):
synergy can be unleashed, Ipromise.
Great example is the pandemicwhen we were shut down.
For all of those months, myshop is in California, we're
here just outside of Sacramento,and when we shut down the
community that I'm in the beautyindustry, very quickly
California especially veryquickly realized that we were
(05:20):
going to be shut down for a longtime and we needed to work
together in order to think ofideas that would really help us
up and out of this pandemic.
We were told to paper up, wewere told to be outside, we were
told to mask up and taketemperatures and all the things
that we had to do and we had toreally work smarter together so
(05:42):
that we could make sure that weweren't hurting each other.
So there were some companiesthat went ahead and still did
their skincare services anddidn't really care and didn't
mind if they get a fine.
And then there were others thatwere very, very strict and it
was really difficult to say,gosh, I don't want to lose my
business if I don't open.
(06:03):
So there was a lot of strugglethere and in our community we
actually got together via Zoomand we worked together to really
really try to figure out asolution so that we were able to
rise the tide together and openall at the same time and have a
(06:25):
united front.
And I can promise you that inthe long, I think California was
probably the longest shutdown.
There's probably one otherstate was it Minnesota?
But the shutdown was thelongest in California, at least
close to the longest and we allwere able to come out the other
side because we worked togetherto think about ways, for example
(06:49):
, having to go boxes, doingonline consultations, being able
to have drop bags of skincarefor folks, just giving people
suggestions on how they couldbuild their business and really
encouraging each other along theway, because those were really,
really tough times.
(07:10):
So let's talk about what we cando now, because we're way out
of the pandemic.
We're not going to harbor onthat, but if you can share your
knowledge, your experience andyour resources, it really opens
up opportunities for growth foryou and for other businesses.
And what I mean by that isstart networking together, start
(07:33):
going to events or co-creatingnew products.
Working together, for example,you can be super supportive of
your fellow estheticians.
We mostly do sugaring in here,right?
Well, there's plenty of otherestheticians that specialize in
acne treatments, for example.
We absolutely work with otherestheticians in our area that
(07:54):
specialize in the things that wedon't specialize.
We're working on the sameclients, right?
So if you're working on aclient that it's very sensitive
skin and she's getting sugaredbecause of it, why not introduce
her to another esthetician inyour area that does beautiful
facials on sensitive skin?
Or if you do lashes, forexample, why not learn how to
(08:20):
sugar so that you can sugarpeople?
And if you don't sugar, whydon't you refer someone to a
business like mine?
I'm not going to do lashes, butwe can absolutely code network
that beauty space for yourclients.
For example, if you have agirl's night out, say, if I was
to have one in the shop.
(08:41):
I know that I don't do lashes.
I'm not a Botox girl, but thereare plenty of people that love
to do it.
I don't do spray tans.
There's lots of things I don'tdo.
We don't have time because allwe do is sugar in here.
But what would be wise is toinvite all of their databases to
come to your host, your girl'snight out, right?
(09:03):
So we might be demonstratingsugaring.
Someone might be demonstratingmicroblading or lashing.
Someone else might be talkingabout spray tans and how those
work together.
So now we can take ourcollective clients and work
together to rise the tides.
Do you see what I'm saying?
So if you're going to besuccessful at this and you're
(09:25):
going to achieve those goalsthat you've written down and
elevate your business, it justcreates that ripple effect
throughout your local beautycommunity.
If you can work together andsupport each other, I'm going to
encourage the lash girl tostrive for greatness.
And if she's feeling down, youknow, start to really talk her
(09:46):
up and see if I can get her newclients.
Same for sugaring.
If that spray tang girl isspraying these folks, she's
going to see that they needtheir hair removed and she can
refer them to us.
So, really, the overall growthof your business depends on how
much you reach out to others.
Now I will tell you that I havehad moments in the sugaring
(10:09):
industry where I've really triedto reach out and I've tried to
be super supportive of othercompanies and when they were
closed and really not open towanting to work with me or work
with other sugar companies, itreally was just a detriment to
them.
Because the sugar industrywants to work together.
We want to share ideas.
(10:30):
They want to come on thispodcast so that they can share
their information with you andif they don't, it's just going
to hurt their business.
If we are in constantcompetition with each other,
then how can we grow as anindustry?
But we are not in competitionwith each other.
In the sugar industry we are.
I don't think we're incompetition with anyone, to be
(10:51):
honest, but our competitor, forexample, is a wax place, is a
laser place, is a threadingplace.
Our job together is not tofight each other, but to get the
word out so that everyone wantsto switch to sugar.
In these times, it is alsoreally, really important to get
wise with your business as faras marketing and physical
(11:16):
location.
So I hear lots of estheticiansthat are working smarter by
combining forces in, for example, in a salon space.
So maybe someone will packtheir days three days a week,
someone else will pack the daysfour days a week.
Someone works in the morning,someone else works in the
evenings.
The other thing is variousboutiques, for example, my shop.
(11:40):
We have a 1600 square footspace.
We have just really gottentight with less treatment rooms.
I actually reduced thetreatment rooms and we packed
them tight six days a week andthen I leased the other space
after the pandemic to a big,beautiful boutique.
So that's another great waythat we can really identify new
(12:02):
avenues to be smart with ourexpenses, our overhead, and
really make sure that we areadapting and not having so much
expense that we just can'tafford it and we're not able to
pay ourselves and make a profit.
So, thinking about jointmarketing initiatives, you can
absolutely work together to dotanning and sugar lashes and
(12:27):
brows.
We have a brew house that'snext door and we do brows and
brews.
Work together.
We don't have to be a beautyindustry company, but work
together to have a fun girlsnight.
We do Girls Nights all the time.
In fact, over at Out of BoundsBrewhouse that's next door they
actually have the Sugar Mamadrink, which is really fun.
(12:49):
It's almost like a Cosmo, butit's fresh blackberries and
raspberries and then like alemon drop, so it's kind of a
berry lemon drop kind of thingwith a sugared rim.
It's the number one sellingproduct of there because they
love the name Sugar Mamas.
So what we do is when they talkabout the Sugar Mamas on the
(13:12):
menu it says go visit SugarMamas and get 10% off your
services over there.
And when they are in here wesay, hey, go visit Out of Bounds
and try the Sugar Mamas andthey'll give you a little extra,
something special over thereand they'll give them a little
extra appetizers or 10% offtheir bill or whatever it is.
At the moment it depends on themanager and who's there, but
(13:33):
it's a way to cross brand whatyou're doing.
So people love the name SugarMamas.
They're going over and gettinga Sugar Mamas drink and coming
back and after their meal andsaying, my gosh, that drink was
so great, I loved it.
They buy a dress, they booktheir sugaring appointment and
everyone wins.
So three businesses there theboutique, my Sugar Space and the
(13:56):
brew house.
That actually really, reallybenefit.
It really helps to getstrategic in those ways.
You're seeing now lots ofboutiques that are just doing
pop-ups.
Right, you can have people dopop-ups for beauty in your space
.
For example, behind me you'llsee a mirror and we actually
(14:16):
will take that table and createit into a makeup station and
offer our clients Brow Sugar andmakeup lessons.
Great for the makeup artist,great for us, brings traffic in
and what's wonderful is all ofthose people that are on her
mailing list or her email listto get marketing from her will
(14:39):
also now come into my Space, theout of bounds brew house.
When I tag them on socials, asyou know, they're gonna promote
me.
Now all of the women that havebeen out of bounds but maybe
haven't come into Sugar Mamascan get a little sneak peek
inside.
So cross promotion, crosspromotion, cross promotion.
It just raises us all up andreally helps our clients to not
(15:02):
have to go from place to placeto place.
So, just like a pop-up forretail that sells earrings or
maybe dresses or cowboy boots orwhatever, why don't you invite
someone in the area to come inand do a special night or a
special day all day for you.
Have them invite their clientsin, or vice versa.
Go to a salon that's in yourarea.
(15:23):
If you don't have enoughclients, go to a salon that's in
your area and ask them if youcan do some sugaring demos.
Maybe you sugar in trade, yousugar the owner in exchange for
doing that and have heradvertise that you're teaching
people about sugar in theirspace.
Really, it's about workingsmarter together and not putting
(15:46):
yourself on an island, cause ifI sat in this space and didn't
get the word out, this placewould be empty all the time.
Now sugaring, as you know, doesa lot of the work for you,
because as soon as you sugarsomeone and the results are
amazing.
You know the word of mouth iscrazy with what we do, but
really it's about workingtogether to make sure that not
(16:10):
just the hundred clients thatyou have come in every month,
but you can get someone else'shundred clients to come in as
well, and now you're jam-packedand you're really making the
money that is going to help youwith that, that life that you
have been hoping for, andhopefully you can grab some
work-life balance, because oncethey come in and get sugared,
(16:30):
they're hooked, as you know.
The last thing I will say isabout the strategies is get to
know the people in your chamberof commerce.
Get to know the otherbusinesses that are like yours
in the beauty industry.
Get to know the real owners inthe area.
They like often give gifts whenpeople come into town that are
(16:53):
new and they wanna you knowthey'll put you on their list of
preferred vendors.
Get to know the bankers in thearea and the insurance brokers.
Those people all have hair andthey all need you to service
them.
So don't be shy.
Go to a chamber mixer, put thename of your business on there
(17:13):
and if you're an employee, go tothe chamber mixer as well.
Ask your boss if you can go andsay, hey, I'd really like to
drum up some business.
All of those people can beclients, right?
So you'll have a room of ahundred different people and I
promise you the icebreaker ofsaying well, actually I do body
sugaring and they kind of lookat you and think it's body scrub
(17:35):
, right.
I know some of you that havebeen sugaring for a long time
know that and it really is kindof fun to talk about what you do
and I kind of end up holdingcourt in having.
You know, I start with one ortwo people that I'm talking with
about sugaring and next thingyou know, other people are
coming and wanting to talk to meabout sugaring and they always
(17:56):
want to book.
And if they aren't necessarilygoing to book with you maybe
there's a guy who doesn't getsugared or a woman who doesn't
get sugared Honestly, thinkabout ways that you can work
together.
There's, if you go to a chambermixer, there's probably 50
people in the room that can allwork with you in some way.
(18:17):
Even if it's just to featureyou in a newsletter.
Make sure that the chamber isfeaturing you as a small
business.
Make sure you do the ribboncutting.
If you have a business, if youare an employee, encourage your
boss to be a part of the chamber.
It's, I think I pay $250 a yearand it's some of the best
marketing that I have ever beenwise enough to do.
(18:39):
Obviously, they're socials, butreally having that local hand
in hand mentality is going to donothing but great things for
your business.
So really, my loves, please,please, please, think about ways
that you can get out of yourfour walls.
Think about ways that you cansupport other people in business
(19:02):
and I promise you it will comeback to you in spades.
And if you're someone who, likeI've got Michelle out in the
Carolinas and she is killing it,she is packed in her business.
But wouldn't it be lovely ifshe, like, assisted another
someone in her solar salons toher independent salons and help
them build their business, orshe had someone to refer for
(19:25):
brows or tanning?
It really only helps yourbusiness if you are that
resource for people and theywill want to do more with you as
well.
So I find that people that getsugared by me if I say, oh, you
can tan over here, but let'smake sure that you're exfoliated
first.
Let's give you this scrub,right?
You know, hey, you want to getyour lashes done, no problem.
(19:46):
But when we have a lash growthserum that you'll really love,
that's great for sensitive skinand then get your lashes done
and they'll be nice and strong.
So there's ways that you canretail before your person goes
to another company to do theirservices and the appreciation
will, like I said, it will comeback to you tenfold.
And really the goal is to makesure that socials are fine.
(20:09):
Socials are great.
Love, socials, love, hatesocials, to be honest.
But honestly, it's getting yourboots on the ground and holding
the hands of the people insideyour community, getting to
understand who is around you andhow you can benefit them and
they can just synergisticallybenefit you In our industry.
(20:32):
When you are at a trade show,please, please, please,
introduce yourself.
When you're sitting at thelunch table you know sometimes
you'll share a table, there'llbe a giant round and you're just
sitting down for a sandwichIntroduce yourself to everyone
at the table.
Find out ways that you can sendthem clients or what they do.
It's fascinating to see and hearall the different folks that
are in our beauty community thatare just right in your area
(20:55):
that you can work with.
Maybe someone specializes inoncology aesthetics and you
don't, so, a, you can learn fromthem and, b if you have anyone
that needs to get a facial withsomeone who's oncology certified
oncology aesthetic certifiedthen you can have those people
in your back pocket and that'show I've met some of my most
(21:17):
wonderful friends.
Shout out to SpaBiz board girls, because back in the day we
were from all over the countryand we, before Facebook, had
threads together where we reallyjust helped each other and it
did nothing but benefit not onlymy business, but my heart and
my career and it helped me tonot have burnout is to just have
(21:37):
my sisters and brothers aroundme.
That really could help me takemy business to the next level.
So I hope that was of interestto you.
I hope that you understand thatthis isn't just like yeah, yeah
, yeah, maybe I'll do this.
This is absolutely critical foryour business.
Your mentality, your work-lifebalance is to make sure that you
(22:01):
are a part of a community inyour personal life and in your
business life.
So surround yourself withpeople that help you raise the
bar.
Surround yourself with otherpeople, like the Sugar Tribe,
that can answer questions andyou can.
I'm telling you when you can bea part of that community and
help raise people as well.
If you can be in the Sugar Tribeand say hey, tribers, I'm gonna
(22:24):
help you with a technique thatI use that might be something
different than they're used to.
If we help the rest of thetribe out, we will only benefit.
So I want you to let me knowsome of the things, jump in the
community, the Facebookcommunity, and let us know some
of the ways that this has workedfor you and really engage with
each other inside that Facebookcommunity and work together to
(22:49):
just rise all of us to thesweetest level of success
possible.
I look forward to seeing youlive sometime soon.
We will be in your city verysoon, if not.
I look forward to seeing youinside the business coaching or
the.
If you're learning how to sugarinside the perfection classes.
We have lots to offer andeverything is down in the show
(23:11):
notes.
So have a beautiful, beautifulday, and I look forward to
seeing you in class sometimesoon.
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