Then why are most Estheticians teetering on the brink of poverty? The answer to that question is attitude. Its not that the majority of Estheticians have a bad attitude its just that they have the wrong attitude.
To succeed big time an Esthetician must have the attitude of an entrepreneur not an employee. This is the root of why so many who earn a beauty license find themselves working for pennies. Think about it. If we have a set of triplet girls who all wish to spend the same amount of money and time on a vocation, one becomes a medical assistant, one a flight attendant, and the other an esthetician, the only one of these three who has the potential to earn six figures in their chosen vocation is the esthetician. Though the flight attendant and medical assistant would probably find an easier time getting a job immediately after school, and would instantly command a decent wage, but the esthetician is the only one of the three who can venture out on her own, start a business and hire employees. The medical assistant is dependent on a doctor, and the flight attendant is dependent on pilots and airlines, but the esthetician has the option to act as the journeyman and spend five years working for experts in the field of esthetics and then venture out to start a mega business based on what she has learned.This in a nutshell is the key to six figures.
Most estheticians are women and unfortunately most women simply don't think of making the most out of their careers. I believe that if you are going to do something, do it big!
Its a matter of looking ahead and seeing the big picture. To be a business owner one must be willing to work extra hard and make sacrifices along the way to a six figure income. If you were to take two estheticians and had one start a business and the other work for somebody else, the business owner would probably start off broke, saddled with a lot of work and lacking in free time, while the employee esthetician would have a little bit of extra money to spend, and have a lot of free time, (basically all hours off the clock would be hers to do with as she pleases) but after approximately 5 years those tables would turn drastically, assuming the business is successful, the two estheticians would be more equal as far as time physically working, and having free time, but the business owner would have at least three times what the esthetician who has chosen to remain an employee has. Also, during this time, when its all said and done, it will take the employee just as much energy and time as the business owner to earn pennies so that they can pay their landlord as it would the business owner to pay for a mortgage on their house and the rent/lease on their business.
Fast forward 10 years and provided the business owner is truly focused on success, she will not be obligated to go to work on any set schedule, will be making a comfortable six figure income, and will not be doing any of the physical work herself. But, the esthetician who remained an employee will be making very little money, will be a slave to the time clock and will her income will depend on her ability to get out of bed and into work every day.
Chances are the employee esthetician will be quite bitter and resentful in 10 years, while the business owner esthetician will be contented.
During my training as an esthetician, I talked to many new estheticians. Not during my schooling, but my training, as I call the years before opening my own spa. I worked for other professionals and learned from master estheticians, gained experience, and used the income I was pulling in to take more in depth courses in esthetics. I made many esthetician friends and would naturally ask them what their goals were. I can't remember any of them saying, "to own and operate a highly successful spa." Not one!
In fact, I would usually get weak responses such as, "I just want to be good at this", or "I would like to learn eyelash extensions." Its nice to want to add services to your repertoire and be very good at what you do, but these responses are classic examples of thinking small. When you think small, you get small paychecks all the time.
While studying esthetics I was never discouraged when I would hear the complaints from estheticians that they could not make any money because I knew that I was thinking in a successful way and that most people simply do not.
When I enrolled in esthetician school I was already a nurse and a real estate executive. I had enjoyed my careers but was now focused and getting the education in esthetics to open my own spa. During this time a close friend of mine was trying to point out my own stupidity, or so she thought, by telling me that a friend of hers who was an esthetician, could not make any money. This friend of hers gets jobs that pay minimum wage, and then moves on to other jobs in which she is paid commission, leaving her with huge gaps in her schedule every day. Gaps that she is not paid for. I had read similar stories about being an esthetician online but this scenario did not frighten me in the least. I knew that this girl was thinking like a typical employee. She wanted someone to provide her with benefits, stability and a lot of money, but she was not getting it, which made her unhappy. The fact that no one would give her more money led her to become a flight attendant, making a decent and reliable paycheck which made her feel more secure. She's not doing anything that she is passionate about, she has no freedom to grow her profession into a six figure income, but she has the regular paycheck handed to her every week, and for a brief time in life she will be satisfied. If surviving on the habitral for a weekly paycheck sounds good to you then not only are you in the wrong business, but you will probably never achieve a six figure income.
If you are truly passionate about success then I can tell you that I believe this business to be one of the most rewarding and fun ways to build enormous wealth. Not only that, but it is growing, and the focused estheticians will become very rich while the estheticians who think as typical employees will become discouraged.
In a time where spas are popping up all over and just about every middle class woman has a spa service that pays for on a regular basis, there is plenty of business out there. If you want to truly be inspired and awed by women who had the odds stacked against them read the lives of Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden. These women made millions in a time when the average woman would never go to a spa. There was no such thing as a Brazilian wax, and services were considered to be for the rich. Somehow these savvy women became rich by self promotion and the operating of a beauty spa. These women truly had the right attitude, and no matter how hard it seems to be to get a spa started up, you have it easy compared to Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein. They have paved the way for you, and its up to you to take advantage of it.
