Jenna: Thanks for joining us on another episode of Elevate Yourself podcast.

So today I wanted to talk about what you should do after completing your lash course. We've had a couple of girls going through the Classic lash program lately at Elevate and so I thought this would be timely in addition to touch base with them, things that they might do after obtaining their lash certification.

There are many options for a fulfilling and wonderful career. So at your career, as a lash technician, you might be wondering after you get certified, what can you expect? Usually it can result in the most obvious career choice, a lash technician becoming a lash technician does a well-worth the initial investment in training and certification.

The average lash technician makes around between $16 and $24 an hour, depending on your situation. Skill level. This doesn't include tips, which generally average 15 to 20% of the service. The scheduling is flexible much like other jobs in the beauty industry. The average lash extension appointments range from a 30 minute infill to two plus hours for a full set of recurring clients will return every two to three weeks for a fill.

So once the clientele is built up, the rotation of fills will supply a steady stream of income and you'll have a consistent clientele. It can be a really great choice for you. You can also be a lash technician, like literally everywhere. Everyone has eyes. Everyone likes long lashes. And if they don't know it yet, like then they're about to find out once they meet you.

So it's a really great thing because you can go anywhere and do this job so you can travel, you can pick up, you could even like go somewhere where you don't speak the language. I got my lashes done in Costa Rica, not a single girl in there spoke any English. And we were able to communicate and she was able to do a fantastic job on my lashes.

This is like the kind of service that will transcend different languages. And so it makes it really easy to pick up and like go traveling or something. Just always know that you have that in your back pocket, which I think is amazing for like, say you're fresh out of high school and you don't know what you want.

And you might want to travel. You might want to like study. You might want to do a bunch of different things, but you know, you love like the beauty industry and you're a details oriented person. That could be a really great match for someone. And it's just always something to know you have that to fall back on is a really great thing while you're trying to figure out, I think like what you really want to do in your life maybe, and just being a lash artist can be really beneficial, too.

There's so much that can come out of it. And so many different services you can add on to help your clientele in the future and stay engaged with your career. Anyways, back to what to do after completing your lash course, you're first going to want to practice practice, practice, practice, practice makes progress.

And your course is condensed because obviously it just would not be economically feasible for a student to pay for a huge chunk of a lash artists time. So we try to really make these trainings. As concise as possible, but very effective with as much out of studio mentorship as possible, so that you can really hone in your skills afterwards with the guidance of a really educated mentor and so likely for your classic lash course, it's only going to be like one or two days in person or there's some online courses.

Like we were coming out with an online course to make it accessible for people, especially through COVID because right now COVID. Having a big impact on trainings, because if you are set up for training, it's a big chunk of time from the studio. And it's also a big chunk of time from the artist, with all the people that are getting sick lately and having to reschedule things.

It just is making it a little bit impossible for in-person trainings to go on with being economically feasible for a studio and for upcoming artists as well, because. The time has to be accounted for. And if you're sick, you obviously can't be in a class. And also you can't give any notice. And then that's dead time in a studio or with like a lash artist.

And it's also time that has to be rebooked into a really busy schedule, because if you're training with someone who's experienced, they're going to be freaking busy. And that means that their days off or few and numbered, and they're very precious to that artist likely. And. It means that in order for them to still service their clientele, if they're taking clientele or their other students, it means that they're going to have to reschedule that at another time in person, a lot of courses like ours are going to be morphing into online because it will make it much more accessible for the student.

It will make it more comprehensive for the student because you can do a lot more direct one-on-one communication versus in a class. Sometimes you might not have time to let things settle in. You might not have the questions like queued up that you're wanting to talk about, but when you were at home studying and going through the things and digesting it and applying it with your mannequin or a model, then you really will have time to digest these questions and really process the course in a way that you might be a little bit more comfortable with. And in you'll be able to unpack the information at your own speed too, which will really let it sink in better in a lot of different ways.

So I'm really excited for this. I actually did a full training from someone who had never touched a tweezer before over COVID. Was starting in the studio over, locked down, like, so we had zero personal contact at all and was, she was trained straight from theory to practical. And by time, the first time we actually met up after lockdown, she did my lashes and she did a freaking amazing job and in a very timely manner.

And it was all through Zoom and online mentorship that I had done with her. And so I know that this is possible for everyone else, and I'm so excited to really adapt this program and put it out to the public as well, because there are some things about working in a smaller town or styling in like the Kootenays or not the big cities that are unique to like the interior area, especially if BC and just like a different take on business to like customer service, sometimes that you might get in course directed by someone who's got more of a small town experience, building a business and a clientele and their portfolio, rather than someone who's worked in a big city, which is like kind of a different monster its own.

The next thing that you're going to want to think about after you've practiced and you feel comfortable just getting back to what to do after completing your lash certification is you want to gain work experience.

So once you have practice on your mannequin and possibly with friends and family, you want to go out there and try and get paid for that work. And oftentimes it will start with actually getting paid by like friends and family first, and then gaining the speed and the muscle memory and your technique down, if you are lucky enough to get in with a studio right off the bat.

I think that that is like an amazing situation for you to grow, because that is. A really good chance for more mentorship. And it also just like accelerates your career. Cause you're just right in the thick of it. Right? So you could work in a salon or studio working out of a location that offers another beauty service is the best place to gain experience for clients looking to bulk up their lashes or who are going to be already interested in your.

I've seen some other stuff. I don't know. Like if you set up in the back of like a video store or like some other place that has nothing to do with beauty industry, you're going to be kind of floundering around by yourself and it's not going to be as great for you when you work in a beauty salon or studio, you're going to be able to meet others in the beauty industry and networking.

All about, they're going to give you advice on how to start out. There's a lot of positive things that can happen when you're a part of a team. And so I'd really encourage you to seek out a really nurturing environment. If you are working in a studio where everyone is chair rental or not, every studio is going to be like that.

There are very competitive studios out there who will not share any of. With each other. Everyone is like, kind of like caddy, bitchy enemies to each other. And that's definitely watch out for that toxic environment. That's not a great place to work and it's not a good place to learn for sure. This is generally, I feel like the old school beauty industry.

So try to stay away from that. I think nowadays it's much healthier to be a part of, especially a nurturing environment. Be aware of that and really try to sort of the vibe before you jump on. And the owner will definitely be leading that vibe if they're really nurturing and invested in. Success and really interested in helping you you'll get that sense.

And you'll kind of feel it like at home and it will probably feel really good. And you'll just know some salons me already offer eyelash extensions services like we do at elevate. And so don't be afraid to find out if they're looking to hire anyone new, know that when you're new. You stand a lot to gain from being in that situation and try to approach it with a attitude of gratitude instead of entitlement.

I think that this is some things sometimes that can be a stumbling block for newbies. Sometimes people will finish their course and they'll be doing really good. And they'll think that they are kind of like guaranteed or like they are doing someone a favor, but really. Sometimes you just don't know what you don't know and if you're new.

So there's a good bet that you are actually standing a lot to gain from being in a situation like that, approaching it with an attitude of gratitude is gonna really go a lot further for you and for your situation. So I would just really recommend, even if you are doing so epic in the beginning, just approach your beginning in the career with humility and really like gratitude.

And open-heartedness because it is like when you're green, you're growing and when you're ripe, you rot, as soon as you start developing that attitude of entitlement. Even if you are an experienced slash artists, things are going to go sour for you. And they're going to start to get rotten and things are not going to be feeling as good with everyone and including yourself.

So really try to harvest that feeling an essence of like gratitude and just being green and growing always. And just look for a situation that's going to nurture that for you, for sure. When you're new, I recommend taking on as many new clients as you can. I would also challenge you that if you are hating lashing, someone, maybe you'll have the wrong attitude.

I'll tell you the hardest clients, when you start out are the best learning opportunities. They are gold. So the person with the weak, small lashes that you have to take way longer to do that maybe has retention problems. You have to coach, and you're struggling like with like someone with like really curly lashes.

Those are your gold clients when you were. You are not going to make as much money off of them, but you are going to reap the rewards and experience. The more you can morph your attitude from entitled and money seeking person to someone who is grateful for a learning experience and really just.

Enjoying their career and enjoying a challenge and being able to conquer that, if you can keep yourself in that place where you are green, you are hungry to learn, and you're able to accept the positive out of a negative situation like that. Then you are going to be golden and you're going to be successful for sure clients see that.

And they appreciate that because. Clients who have maybe difficult lashes in one way or another. We'll totally appreciate when you take time to really approach it from a positive mindset and really give the time that takes to do a quality service rather than making it a negative experience for you.

Not every client is going to stay at your regular client and that's just going to be a part of being new to you're probably going to have a lot higher turnover. So you don't get to pick and choose exactly every client that you might vibe with the most or someone who has like perfect retention all the time or something like that.

So it's wise to meet as many new clients as possible in hopes that some will stick with you for the long haul. And when you. It would develop a long lasting relationship with a client. They will be with you for a long, long time. So that's really invaluable and you'll develop a connection with them too.

And it's going to be it's, I'll tell you. It's like way more rewarding. Have a relationship with someone over time and like, just watch how you positively impact their life and how they grow as a person. It's just really wonderful to have that relationship rather than just not cultivating those relationships and just being like one and done with your clients.

The longer that you're in the industry, the more that you're going to get those beautiful little relationships, it just takes time. So you will have people in and out. More when you're new, but it also really helps to hone in your skills. So you might want to start your own business instead of working at another spa or salon.

So there's a lot more involved there. Honestly, if you are feeling overwhelmed after your course, if you are feeling scared, starting your own business might not be the right thing for you. You really have to have. The right personality to be able to tough it out and it's going to be more expensive and you just have to like really lean into it.

And so for if someone is in a situation where they're not that confident, they just want to start out and have support. I would really recommend working in a studio and you just have to be really. Willing to fail kind of N willing to struggle through things yourself and put out a lot more money. If you are going to start your own business.

But if that is who you are, then that is who you are. And if you start working in a studio, honestly, you might not be. Fit for a studio either. Cause you really do have to be a team player when you're in a studio and you can't just be that one girl who's just out for herself because when everyone else is playing on a team and for each other, it doesn't work that way to be having a me attitude in a team environment.

You just have to decide where you're going to be on that side of the fence and starting your own business could be the best thing for you too, because sometimes when you have maxed out all your credit cards, trying to open your own business, financing yourself, you have no option, but to really fucking grind it out.

So you just have to really decide what you're going to do and what your, what kind of risk you're willing to take. So let's look at what starting your own business. So choosing a location is the first thing that you're going to want to do when you're opening your business pretty much. Where do you plan to conduct business?

You'll want to decide, are you going to rent a space or convert into a salon? There's a variety of different options available, including chair rental. If you do a chair rental, you will be responsible for your own insurance. So sometimes that can be not the best thing. If you're first starting out. It's going to be kind of expensive.

If you don't already have a clientele. If you jump on as a employee somewhere, they're gonna, you're going to be covered by their insurance. But if you are chair rental, you are actually not in Canada. Most of Canada, you're not covered by the salon's insurance. The salon needs to have you separately, insure yourself so that you can be covered.

I'm not sure if that's very widely known. I don't think it is, but that is the real way. It works to protect yourself with insurance. When you're chair rental versus working as an employee in a spot, that's definitely a factor in whether you're going to do chair rental, or you might choose to be in an employee before doing chair rental.

If you don't already have a fixed clientele, but if you are the person that needs to work for your. Then you should just start with chair rental and bite the bullet, get your insurance. You'll feel much more fulfilled that way, because you're just not the kind of person who wants to be an employee. So sometimes there's always more risk involved with owning your own business, but it will probably pay off if you're the kind of person who has that entrepreneurial.

So you'll have to set up your workspace, determine if you want to work from home or open your own salon. Working from home is definitely a lot less risk in a lot of different ways. Cause it's not going to be as expensive, but it also is kind of riskier in some ways, because. You have a bunch of people walking through your house tends to be a lot more of a casual environment.

So when you are doing your safety and sanitation, you just have to be a lot more diligent. I feel like if you're working out of your home, because clients will be a lot more relaxed around you and it might not appear. Much of a professional, strict environment, depending on how you set it up. And then you could be risking a lot of contamination into your house or just different things.

You know, just lots of different people coming in and out of your houses kind of can be a weird thing. But if you decide you work, want to work out of your house, be sure that it has a clean professional appearance. If renting a commercial. Consider sharing with another business owner in the industry like hairstylist or nail artist or something to help with the rent and the sharing of clients is if you're by yourself, it can be hard when you have zero clientele starting off.

But if you're with someone who's like experienced beauty professional, then they might already have a clientele that you could kind of piggyback off of. Maybe. The next thing, that's going to be super important. And almost like you have to do this at the same time as getting your space is sort out your licensing, permits and fees, as well as getting your health inspection.

So you'll need to see what licenses and permits you need to operate your business. Lots of the times it's a business license. I'll also insurance. Of course, let's not forget. Insurance. Insurance is very important. Things can happen product irritations and you have to be prepared for that because you're working with an.

There's a lot of different things that could happen and you don't want it to be responsible for that, especially if something could happen, that's completely out of your control and. If you don't have that reassurance that you are covered in your business through insurance, it's just not a good place to be in.

So I would really, really recommend, especially as an eyelash technician working so close to eyes, always, always, always be insured. I had a client one time, fall asleep, and just like wake up like crazy spasm and have lightning fast reflexes now because. How long I've worked in this industry and how many times I've seen weird things like this, but when you are new, you do not have that right.

You will not be anticipating those things and you're going to be so stressed out, just like trying to make sure that you are fast with your lashes and accurate that don't have as much of a reaction time for other random things that happen. So this client just like, kind of woke up in a crazy dream and.

If I did not move my hands super, super fast from her eyes, she would have stabbed herself with a tweezer, not me. Like I just had to remove everything. And not only that, like someone could grab the glue tray or something and put it in their face, or I don't know. There's so many different things that can happen that are not even your fault, but being insured is just going to make you sleep well at night.

And. You're just going to know that no matter what happens, it's not going to ruin the business that you've built, that you've spent so much money and worked so hard to build. So make sure that you're insured, please, please, please. And even if you're in your house, be insured, the healthcare inspector is going to want to see a sink inside of your room too.

So that is another thing. If you're a home-based business, that sink really should be in your room and. It's really important for hand washing and sanitation. If you have to go into another door or another area to like carry your tools or to wash your hands, there's a lot of more possibility for contamination.

So when you're looking for the space, always make sure that you could have a sink inside of that room with you and the health inspection to you will have to book sometimes a month in advance. So make sure as soon as you have your space, you're booking that inspection and getting ready on that because you don't want to be delayed in your open.

You're also always going to want to research any requirements by the health boards in your areas. So in BC where we are, there are different requirements than say, like Manitoba, or if you're in the states, sometimes you have to get a cosmetology degree. Actually, you can't just take a lash certification.

So you really do need to make sure that you are prepared to satisfy the requirements of your government agency. Wherever you are for whatever licensing or courses you need to take. So make sure you do a little research on that before you plan on opening and make sure you have the right certification.

Your insurance company often will tell you that as well. So set up a budget, a variety of startup costs are associated with establishing a new small business and Eilish extensions are no exception. So consider everything you need to start your business, including costs for your salon or your location, employees, insurance equipment, and supplies.

As a new small business owner, you'll want to consider your financial resources so you can save money where it's necessary, but also you don't end up spending on a lot of things that you don't really need. So the last step would be buy the necessary equipment, a small business owner, launching an eyelash extension business.

We'll also want to invest in the following equipment. So lighting you'll need bright, high quality, portable lighting to ensure that you can see clearly each and every individual lash without straining your eyes to. You will want to have a reclining chair, lash bed so that people can relax. Also make sure it's sturdy.

The worst thing is when he climb up onto a lash bed and you feel like you're going to break the bed and you're just nervous the whole time, you're there. Make sure you invest in a really good quality of one that your customers are going to want to spend time on and feel relaxed. So linens and sanitary cover.

So I would recommend not investing in a bed that needs Le linens and sanitary covers. This is going to be really expensive for you and pretty much unnecessary after the whole COVID situation with the cleanliness protocols. Definitely like our trends. To lean more towards a sterile environment that can be fully sanitized.

And the fact is that linens and sanitary covers it's always disposable or you have to wash single use. So it creates a lot of waste and it creates also a lot of extra expense that is really not necessary. If you go to like a dental office or something, they have like the same coding that can be used in conjunction with a medical disinfectant can guarantee that you have a safe and sterile environment for your clients versus linens and sanitary covers, which could possibly hold bacterias, et cetera.

We just have like these really super sleek, clean beds that are really cushy, but they can be fully wiped down and sanitized between. Which I think is really important. And then you just ask your client to bring their jacket or a blanket if they need to keep comfortable. And that's like really generally the what's accepted nowadays.

I wouldn't advise investing in any linens and sanitary covers invest in a really high quality disinfectant spray that's like medical grade and upgrade upholstery or something like that, so that it can be used with the medical grade sanitizing. You'll also need a comfortable chair. I love saddle stools, but whatever works for you works for you.

You'll be spending hours in your chair and you'll apply many lash extensions. So make sure you're comfortable while you're doing it. You'll need shelves and storage to keep organized and you will need sanitation equipment as well. You'll need a lash card. The Lashkar can be equipped with your various extensions of other lash supplies for convenient access.

Remember everything on the top of your cart needs to be enclosed. So you can usually go to a dollar store and find these awesome little containers that are glass with like a metal lid and fully sanitized bubble. And that way everything is like nice and clean on the top of your card. Your sink and sterilization area is going to have to be clean and sterile all the time.

You'll need a paper towel holder for sure. Okay. Like a soap dispenser, of course, and a disinfecting tray, probably a timer would be a good idea to all these different things. And if you have any questions about this too, we go into depth so much in depth in the elevate lash extension course, and any student can contact me at any time with any questions about this.

I love to help my students and make sure that they're going to be successful in the industries. Don't be afraid to reach out if you are having a hard time putting things together. I really have a collaborative attitude. So I just want to see you succeed. I'm already doing super awesome myself. So I don't really have that competitive bitchiness.

That's gonna like prevent me from giving you good advice, just because you're setting up your own business. I really want to see you succeed. And that's really why I've opened a school. And now I've got the professional product line too, just to help really make awesome lashing easier for everyone in the areas where it wasn't for me.

So, yeah, if you have any questions, just please reach out. So next thing you're going to want to set your prices. You're going to want it to determine your pricing schedule and look at your competition. Sometimes in this area, you might want to match your competitor's pricing, or you might want to look launch with a promotional pricing.

I would really, really recommend you don't heavily discount your pricing because you're going to have more costs than you think you do in the beginning. Generally, when you start a business, you think you are making at least 30% more money than you actually are right off the top. Like, even if you think you were really good with numbers, you probably aren't as good as you think when you first started business and you were probably down 30, like you probably aren't making.

A third of what you think you are, because there's going to be hidden costs in there really price yourself appropriately, because if you price yourself and you're losing money and you don't realize it, it's going to be so discouraging and detrimental, and you really need to be able to pay off any debt that you're incurring.

You need to be paying yourself to be able to survive and support your family and to be able to stay in this. There's your doing your clients, no service. If you go out of business because you can't afford to be doing it anymore. And because you've put yourself in a place where like, after a year, you go through your financials and you find out you actually are broke and you have to really grind it out.

And, and it's so much harder to raise your prices after something like that than to just start with a reasonable price that is in line with the costs, because generally. There's probably a reason why that things cost the way they do. The majority of businesses are really fighting hard to keep a tight profit margin to make profits.

So I would really warn you against heavily discounting your prices because you're probably going to need to build up more. Anyways for paying off your debt, her reinvesting in training for growing your business. So if you start at a disadvantage with that, then you're just going to, it's going to be really hard for you to build at all or maintain, and it's going to be really discouraging.

So I would recommend starting with like a little bit of a promotional rate in the beginning, and then. Trying to stay in line with what the market is doing, because probably the market knows a little bit better than you after your first year, then take a look. Once you get your books done, make sure you get your books done by an accountant.

I would recommend a book keeper for sure or an accounting software. Don't leave that to the last minute, because you could be handed a huge bill in the end. Generally, I think like bookkeeping is probably can be like up to 10% of every dollar you take in the first year. You start a business depending on how your business has started, because there's a lot of extra fees with keeping track of your startup costs and stuff like that.

So you, it's going to be a lot higher than you think the first year for bookkeeping and. Just really important to start your business legit too. If you ever want to have a mortgage, if you ever want to like build your credit rating, if you don't want to be afraid that the tax people are going to like come and audit you and you could owe them a shit ton of.

You want to make sure that you are ahead of the game with that, and you are building and also so important to know exactly where you are. If you're the kind of person who does not pay attention to these things, you will not know whether you're gaining or losing money until you just wake up one day and you're so super broken in debt.

And you're just like, why am I so broken in debt? So keep on top of things. If you were opening a business of your own, start with bookkeeper and have a good handle on that. Before you let it go out of control. So just to wrap that back, set your prices, I would recommend staying in line with your competition, do a little discount pricing or promotional pricing in the beginning, but don't do it first.

Don't discount yourself too much because you really are having higher costs than everyone else. In the beginning, it's going to be a struggle to like reinvest in yourself and compete or grow your career. If you are heavily discount. Ways you can generate business are handing a business cards.

This is kind of old school, but it can be really effective officially leaving your cards in places that you, your ideal clients would be hanging out. So maybe like fitness studios or shopping areas, stuff like that. Or either like hairdressers and stuff, like. Posting on social media is golden to the best way.

I think to promote your business nowadays is by posting on social media, you can ask any of your family or friends also to share with people that you know, there is lots of, we could do a whole podcast on social media. For sure. Just starting as a good thing in the beginning, because you can have so much to think about, so practice on friends, nothing beats word of mouth, so offer to do your friends lashes for a low price and give them a small stack of business cards.

Ask them to give your name anytime they talk to someone, looking to get eyelash extensions, and just really encourage word of. There's going to be a lot of like you scratching someone's back and someone else scratching your back in the beginning because it is a give and take thing when you're learning something new.

So yeah, if you're not booked, you might as well be practicing on some friends and your bottle of adhesives is going to expire in six weeks, whether you use it or not. So you should probably focus on doing it as many lashes as you can or want to in the beginning and trying to get your name. No, your target market too, as with most businesses, your market won't include everyone.

What type of customer do you seek for your aesthetic services? Consider the demographic and characteristics of your target audience. When you determine who you will market to your business, think about what's going to make you happy. Like what kind of people do you like hanging out with? If you don't like hanging out with a certain type of person don't market towards them, you're going to hate your life.

If your whole clientele. One type of person and just make sure that you are really finding like your tribe, because that's the group that you're going to serve the most to. And we're going to keep you inspired and wanting to keep coming back to work. So don't just think about money. When you think about your target market.

Think about happiness too, and happiness is going to give you longevity in your career today, which gives you more money, because if you're not happy in your career, you're probably not going to do a great job either. So. You probably won't make as much money, so know your target market, but try not to think about it only for financial reasons above all, always look for opportunities to build your skills.

Keep expanding your skillset and your mind. There's always more to learn. Remember that even the most experienced eyelash technician doesn't know everything. So even if you're fully established and having blossoming list of clients, it's important that you take time to continue your education by attending conference.

Trying out competitions or taking up courses to upskill or doing things like listening to podcasts as well. I love listening to podcasts and you can get so much information and it's free, so what's better than that. And so if you guys are looking for ways to build your. Elevate BD education and elevate beauty supply are going to be launching in a much more serious way in the next month here.

And we are going to have a lot of different ways for experienced professionals to build up their skills, but also new professionals. And so keep checking back on our post. And instagram@elevatelash.ca. We're going to be launching a bunch of online courses right away here and our product line, which I am so excited about is going to be launching too.

So if you've ever thought maybe you have something that you're working with that you don't love so much. I am almost going to guarantee you that you are going to really love checking out our product line because it's absolutely everything I love about. The lash industry made into like our own product line.

And though it's awesome because instead of ordering from like 2, 5, 10 companies, all your different favorite products, these are like all the favorite products that I have that are just like curated and directed towards the style of lashing that we love, which is like favors promoting healthy lashes and integrity and service and making it easy for the 'cause sometimes it doesn't have to be that hard. Sometimes you're just working with shitty lashes or a shitty adhesive, and sometimes you're working with something that's giving everyone allergies and you don't really know that there's something out there. That's way better. I used to work with an adhesive when I first started that made everyone's eyes red.

We have an adhesive that we're so happy to be launching on our professional line that barely anyone gets red eyes. And we have like maybe one reaction out of like two years. Yeah. Stay tuned for that. Keep learning, stay green and keep checking back for updates on this stuff. That's so exciting because I know it's going to be able to help a lot of people up there.

Thanks so much for joining us on another episode of Elevate Yourself podcast. I can't wait for the next episode. And if you have any questions, feel free to check us out on instagram @elevatelash.ca shoot me a DM. And I'd love to talk to you about anything beauty or lash related.