Defining Success in Your Lash Business
The first thing I do personally, and with every lash artist I coach, is establish goals. Whether it’s for the next 90 days, 6 months or 5 years. Being clear on what you ultimately want your business to look like will help you to navigate decisions and opportunities that come knocking on your door. Saying “yes” to everything and everyone does not a happy lash artist make.
Defining your goals and knowing what success looks like to you is essential to growing your business, and yet it’s something that very few lash artists I’ve worked with have stopped to take the time to really map out.
Figuring out Your First Goal:
My first goal (and how I would deem myself as “successful”) was having 4 clients a day on -most- days. I worked 4 days a week and that meant success for me was having at least 4 clients a day at 3 days a week. The 4th day would be an added Bonus. That meant when I started to get client after client beginning to pre book out, if there were 4 clients already booked on that day, that day was no longer available to be booked so that the rest of my days that week could start to fill up as well to help me reach my goal. Figuring out your first target number of clients helps to break down the overwhelm most of us struggle with when we’re first starting out. You’ll gain momentum as you start to see that goal come within reach as you get 1 day with your target number of clients…and then you’ll have 2 days in a week …and then all of a sudden you look at your schedule and there it is! Your goal has been met! It’s a thing of beauty I tell ya!
Celebrate the wins when you get there but don’t just stop there! Once you’ve knocked one goal out of the park and you’ve done your happy dance, it’s time to reevaluate your lash biz and set your next big goal to strive for.
LASHPRENEUR LIGHTBULB: It's likely if you're just starting out or just starting to really pay attention to the growth of your lash biz, your business today will look vastly different in 6 months and maybe unimaginably different (in a great way) a year from now! As you start to figure out your business, your target customer, and your preferred hours of lashing, your goals and priorities will shift and change and you'll set newer goals to continue growth.
Growing your Goals as Your Biz Grows
My next vision for my business was to start being booked out consistently and see what running 5 clients a day would be like. It also meant being consistent on my service times and start booking appointments at consistent times and less haphazardly or having client’s schedule themselves at whatever time they wanted. My time was starting to become more limited and thus more valuable. I needed to start regulating my schedule to maximize the number of clients I could fit in a day.
I reached this goal within 2 months of my first goal, the momentum and demand was already there and I was just trying my damnedest to keep up with it!
Last Growth Goal Then Decision Time
Reaching my final goal for the growth phase of my business meant that I was capping out my income. There were no more hours in the day to fit any new clients (at least no more hours I was willing to take clients….I refused to work the 12 hour shifts like I’ve seen a lot of lash artists do) and my current clientele, who had become so loyal and devoted to me, were now facing a "Where's Waldo" type situation for available appointments should they have to change any of their pre-booked appointments. It was becoming problematic for them to keep up with their lashes and I had zero flexibility in my schedule and no ability to take a day off. Burn out was on the horizon.
Being fully booked with a waitlist is a wonderful, albeit stressful, point in your Lashpreneur journey. You get the option of choosing your own adventure at this point as the demand for your services has become great enough that the sky is the limit.
Option 1: Close your books, Maintain and Stay consistent
Nobody ever said an “empire" meant a chain of lash salons with dozens of staff. If you worked hard to get to this point and you're happy as can be with your solid core of clients who you love and can't wait to serve every day you work, then this is the sweet spot for you. Not everybody is cut out for or wants to take on increasingly more responsibility and I applaud you for reaching this level of success.
Option 2: Raise Prices and Make More, Work Less or Both!
This is the first path I chose. I had a long enough waitlist and enough of a long term clientele that I knew was committed to stick with me (I basically outsold my competition on value and thus my clients refused to go anywhere else.) There is definitely a purpose and a tactic to raising your prices and "because I want to" is not a valid reason. You need a strategy and an understanding of both the pros and cons. So I raised my prices $15 across the board. I essentially gave myself a raise and knew if I lost a few clients (which is expected anytime you change up anything in your business) that I would be working less and still making the same, if not more than I had prior to the price raise. I knew how many clients I needed to maintain at the new pricing and would start to accept new clients if I got within 2-3 clients of that threshold.
Option 3: Expand your Brand and Bring on Staff
This is a fabulous long term goal and it's a great option if you see yourself in the management/owner role and less in the service provider role. There's definitely a huge pay off once you've got it up and running. It can take a lot of paperwork and systems in place to replicate the lash magic you’ve already become known for, but if this is your dream, then I would start to research the labor laws in your state territory as far as minimum wages, additional insurance, breakeven costs, and all that entails bringing on someone else to work in your business.
If you need help in mapping out your goals, or you’ve hit a crossroads in your lash career and want some guidance in which path will help you to reach your goals, I encourage you to Schedule a FREE “Hello Call” with me so I can get to know your Lash biz dreams and see if coaching might be the answer you’ve been looking for to take the guesswork out of the right next steps in your lash biz!
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