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Smart Investments: Where Beauty Entrepreneurs Should (and Shouldn’t) Spend Money
9 Plays1 month ago
In this episode of the Beauty & The Business Podcast, hosts Damon Rourke and Renee Leone dive into one of the biggest challenges beauty entrepreneurs face—knowing where to invest in their business. They explore the two common money mistakes: spending too much on the wrong things (like image-focused expenses) or not investing enough in the essentials that drive business growth.
Renee shares her real-life experience navigating financial decisions in the beauty industry, from investing in the right tools to avoiding the pitfalls of unnecessary spending. Damon provides insights on how smart investments improve client experience, increase retention, and create a solid foundation for scaling a beauty business.
If you’ve ever wondered where to put your money to grow your beauty business effectively, this episode is a must-listen!
💡 What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
✅ The two biggest financial mistakes new beauty entrepreneurs make
✅ How investing in client experience creates repeat customers
✅ The right time to spend money on branding, marketing, and expansion
✅ Why mentorship and business systems can save time and increase profits
✅ How to build a business that retains clients without overspending
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Transcript
Introduction and Invitation
00:00:05
Speaker
Welcome to Beauty and the Business Podcast. I'm Renee Leon, a beauty entrepreneur, coach, single mom who built a six figure beauty business straight out of school. Now I'm here to help you do the same. If you're ready to stop struggling and start scaling, you're in the right place. Let's turn your passion into profit. Now hit play and let's build your beauty impact.
Investment Costs: To Invest or Not?
00:00:33
Speaker
Let's talk about investing. Welcome to Beauty in the Business podcast. My name is Damon Rourke joined by my friend and business partner, Renee Leon. um I think today I wanna start it off with what what's the cost of not doing it? The cost of doing it and the cost of not doing it. And this is part of our series of mistakes that we see young entrepreneurs make specifically in the beauty industry um of of of not investing in the right places.
Avoiding Common Investment Mistakes
00:01:02
Speaker
I would agree 100%. This is a key component in the mistakes that I see women make, especially early on in the beginning. They either do one or two things. They spend money in the wrong areas.
00:01:15
Speaker
which is creating you know massive debt, which is harder to get ahead. Or they are not spending enough and investing in the things that are going to make their business flow better, take away like some of the guesswork of what to do, whether that be coaching or good website design or um you know even paying for like a monthly app membership to to help grow their business. So there's usually two schools of thought. They either have a scarcity mentality, or they have the exact opposite where they are just making this a money pit. And it makes it so much harder to get ahead. So what we do here at Beauty and the Business is we developed a course to take that guesswork ah out for you. And it's very reasonably priced.
00:02:02
Speaker
um It's less than a gym membership every year. It's less than your Starbucks trips every month.
Prioritizing Client Experience
00:02:09
Speaker
And you can have the tools readily available to you to plan on your day, plan on your week, plan on in your month, set your goals, get into action orientation.
00:02:20
Speaker
and then also plan for the future that you want to build and have the community support you in the process. Yeah and you know one of my biggest pet peeves when we're talking to young entrepreneurs or even people just in the beauty industry is is the client experience. Like guys I've never personally I've never been a provider in the beauty industry. I sell products but I've never actually had to book clients and service clients in a chair.
00:02:44
Speaker
um But it's just one of the most shocking things to me when we're talking about the client experience specifically booking appointments. You have to know your calendar and this is just one thing. It's very this is very very small, but it does go in with investing in the right places. I hate seeing people overspend when they get started like I really especially in the wrong spots, but but and it's usually where overspending happens, but You know, one thing I think you can make a great investment is how is the experience for your client and then how does that free up your time to do your job, do your job when somebody's in your chair, but also build your business, go out and network. You don't want to be answering texts about what you're like comparing schedules, right? Here's the three spots I'm open. Well, none of those work. Well, here's three more spots. Here's when I can do it. Could you do it now? No, I can't do it now. I'm booked.
00:03:32
Speaker
but it's It's just one of my biggest pet peeves. And it's like, we we have stuff that we recommend for like $15 a month or something crazy.
Tools for Client Management
00:03:39
Speaker
Yeah, like super simple. And it's just yeah it's just one of my biggest pet peeves is is first of all,
00:03:46
Speaker
Don't spend too much money when you get started. Spend money in the right areas. But that client experience is so, so important to where like your business card doesn't matter nowadays as much as the actual client experience, right? You can you can send your number virtually. People can go to your Instagram and contact you. They can go to your TikTok. They can contact you on your socials. but not having a good client experience from the very start. Yeah, it's just one of my biggest pet peeves when they're booking that initial appointment. Is it easy? Do they have to go grab their car? Can they use Apple Pay to to book their deposit? Whatever it are the terms clear. Those are the areas that will detour people right away.
00:04:26
Speaker
if it's not clear, a clear path to get what they want. People have a 0% turnaround rate when it comes to losing interest. And and so that they're just complete 180, like, oh, this is too hard. I'll do it later. And then they forget. Yeah. So one of the areas, my personal, and this is not a plug, I'm not paid, but gloss genius is my absolute favorite
Strategic Business Spending
00:04:46
Speaker
booking app. And it's a small investment. I think they have a free version for a certain amount of time. And then there's a small investment if you want. to some, you know, higher end parts of the app. I don't know how else to describe it, but the amount of money that I've saved on not having to worry about cancellations, being able to collect deposits easily, getting my Google reviews up, things like that has been
00:05:09
Speaker
so pivotal in my business. um But also, you know, just those small areas, it's we got to you got to figure out how much it it's going to be to run your business from the very beginning. So even when you're in school, do you know how much product you're going to have to have on hand?
00:05:25
Speaker
to be able to have a full list of services. Let's say you're an esthetician. Do you have product to do provide your services? Do you have towels? All the things. Have you made the list? Do you know what you need? That's where you need to spend your money. Because if you can't spend your money there and you're going and hiring a huge marketing person to to go run all these super expensive ads for you for
Mentorship and Growth
00:05:47
Speaker
$1,000 a month, well, you're already in the hole before you even are able to provide a service. And I know that sounds crazy, but it's very common. They focus, they want the dream of, well, this is what this person did business wise, right? They did that when their books started to fill up, when they got the process down from start to finish from booking the client to providing the service to checking them out on repeat, be a master of the mundane, start like getting your business flow down, then
00:06:15
Speaker
When you are confident in your skills and how your business runs, then you can ask for some outside source and help. But you know that's why we created Beauty and the Business is to have that free printable planner that everybody has access to at beautyandthebusiness.vip.
00:06:32
Speaker
um also the instagram that we have for beauty in the business just tips daily that can keep you plugged in and you know tasks daily within the planner but then the course that is really what is going to kind of let you recognize immediately where does the investment need to be in my business what are my goals okay do i know how to allocate my time and money and and that kind of gives you a clear path of where you need to go, where you need to invest your money, etc. You can't really put a price on mentorship, but it is there is a definitely a cost to not having mentorship. right there's so there's it it it it cost i mean It costs to have mentorship generally, but there's also a cost associated with not having it. you know that that We look at our course, we look at our membership group,
00:07:22
Speaker
um You get one more client a month, it's paid for itself.
Efficient Client Management Systems
00:07:27
Speaker
oh yeah And so what what is the cost in not having that mentorship, not having ah not learning from mistakes of other people? but It's just, it's incredible. me And then we get back to like a gloss genius, we get back to a booking system.
00:07:41
Speaker
How much time are you spending going back where your time is all you have? And you're an entrepreneur. And so what is that costing you when when you look at it and say, well, it only takes me you know five minutes to schedule an appointment. How many clients do you have and how many clients do you want to have? When you have three clients, you have to operate or at least have the same systems or the ideal system in the place when you have 300. And right now, you might have three clients. So it only takes you 15 minutes. But when you have 300, it's going to take you 1,500 minutes.
00:08:11
Speaker
Right, so you have to you have to be ready to scale in that way. Whereas, you know, if you go from three to 300, of course, you're going to be investing more, you're going to have more to invest, like you just said. But you really you have to think about these things. And and you don't want to have to because you don't want to go from three to 30 and then then say, oh, I got to figure something out. And I got to take all of these people and now get them to use gloss genius when they've been texting me this entire time. yeah Right? It's just it's how are you setting up your business from the very beginning? Yeah, I think that's crucial. And then you know, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. So if you're constantly finding
Focus on Client Retention
00:08:52
Speaker
that you're struggling in this area with booking or retention or whatever, okay, we'll have you sat down and sometimes
00:08:59
Speaker
Third party is the best. I don't know how many times Damon and I have sat down with individuals and I have said something 800 times and he says it 801 times. It's a breakthrough. And it's the one time he says that it's breakthrough and noise me every time, but It's a I mean it's it goes down to my mom will listen to you before she listens to me and your mom will listen to me before she listens to you. Absolutely and that's why it's so important to be engaged in a community where you're not just hearing from yourself which is kind of sometimes the most dangerous mentor that we have is the thoughts that go on between our own two ears and the you know the fears that we fill ourself with you've got to have community around you if you want to be successful in this industry and you know
00:09:43
Speaker
Like I said, we've got different tiers, different levels of coaching, that they're all affordable. Our goal here is to help as many people as we possibly can. Both of us are, you know, financially stable, but we have a desire to help others. And that's why we created the program. Yeah. And that's what when you're looking at mentorship, you know, where do you want to go? If you're looking at if you want to be making if you're making three figures, and you want to make four figures,
00:10:07
Speaker
You need to know you need learn something that's made four figures. If you're at four and you want to go to six, you have to learn from something that's made six, right? If you want to go to six and you go to set and you want to go to seven, you have to learn from something that's making seven figures. it's why It's why millionaires pay billionaires for their advice. It's mentorship. It's mistakes that you don't have to go and make.
00:10:30
Speaker
And so along the lines of investing, when somebody's getting started, so we're talking about investing time, we're talking about investing money. Renee, what are some of the mistakes that you'll see people invest
The Power of Referrals
00:10:40
Speaker
in that you just rather they wouldn't?
00:10:43
Speaker
Um, I think investing in the image, um, the, that they want it for maybe their own wounds that they want to appear successful. They want to appear like they have the best, the biggest and nicest, you know, paying expensive photographers and, you know, grabbing a building that is way too much overhead for them to sustain or, you know, paying for, um, just silly stuff like on Instagram or whatever it may be just to build that image because they want to appear that they are successful when so many times in my mind the successful ones that that really take off long term and have longevity in the industry are the ones that focus at the task at hand get really good at booking managing and ah retaining your clients.
00:11:39
Speaker
because if we don't have a good client relationship, a good client experience, great. you You paid all this money for these Instagram ads to bring in clientele for whatever it may be, but they had a crap experience. Well, you're always having to then go find new, go find new. If you're not retaining business and focusing on what builds retention and not understanding what builds retention, then you are just always treading water, as you say,
00:12:09
Speaker
Um, because and that's what it feels like. It just feels frantic all of the time because I constantly have to fill your books with new clients instead of. loving on your clients, while building strong relationships, building good foundations, having a good client experience, and making them your army of referrals. That is free 99. And that's how I built my business was the art of referrals. And we will go over that more in the course on how to engage with your ideal clientele and then how to multiply your ideal clientele, how to get behind that mindset of
00:12:44
Speaker
targeting your ideal clientele and you can do that yourself. You don't have to pay and target ads and do all these expensive things. It really starts with you making sure you're taking care of yourself.
Growing Your Client Base
00:12:57
Speaker
that that bleeds into your business, your client experience, and all and everything after that as well. Yeah, and that's, ah you know, you go back to the business of of what the how you build a business in the beauty industry. of Of course, having referrals, but then having those clients come back. I saw i've sold a few different things over the last 20 years. A lot of the sales, up until I got in the beauty industry, was one time. It was, I sign up, I sign up the client, I get paid once, I'm on to the next client.
00:13:24
Speaker
And honestly for me, that's exhausting. yeah The product that I sell now, I love it because I can get a customer and I keep that customer and I get to build up on top of that customer. I get to layer these customers on top of each other and therefore grow my income and grow my business by maintaining that book of business.
00:13:41
Speaker
yeah and so it's just a if to me it's just a To me, it's easier. yeah It is easier to build a relationship, to keep a customer, to continue to work with somebody and get to know them and and they that you grow to love them and they grow to love you and and you're both you can serve each other and give mutual referrals um rather than just turning and burning and working so hard.
Authenticity in Branding
00:14:05
Speaker
and along the Along the lines of also investing like investing in the right way, so when you say When you say some of these things, I don't want people to get confused because yeah you you do a great job on branding, right? You walk into your boutique salon and you feel at home, right? You have that homey feel. um I always joke when I'm at your place that it really does feel like a clubhouse or a sitcom yeah where it's like you see the same people going to these different professional different professionals all the time. And like just for me being here once or twice a week,
00:14:37
Speaker
yeah Like I get to know, like I'm building relationships that way. yeah it's It's just, it's an incredible way. The branding's there, right? Like you're, you're, you're, you're definitely down with branding. What's the difference between branding and overspending for your image?
00:14:57
Speaker
It goes back to what we discussed before. Consistency is the most important part of branding. So being consistent in how you carry yourself. What, you know, we talk about it's more than a logo. It's more than your color scheme. It's more, it's how you interact with people, how you engage with people. um It's, you know, like you said from the moment they walk in the door, how I designed my space was to look like a home.
00:15:20
Speaker
And so that's kind of the brand that I want them to focus on. And that comes with my attitude, my mindset, how I care for them. They know they feel like family. I still have boundaries. there That's another episode where you feel like your clients, you know, they want to be around you too much, or there's like a ah breach of boundaries. But you know, a lot of these clients have become some of my best friends. Yeah.
00:15:44
Speaker
and you know just being authentic to who I am and always making sure that they feel taken care of that's the easiest way that that's the most overlooked part of branding and it's um the most important part of branding is how they feel when they're around you or how they feel when they walk in and it costs again zero dollars to do that that's just a mindset shift that's just are you taking care of yourself so you can take care of others Yeah. And I think that's a big reason why we focus in the course. why When we do focus on branding, it has to be a part of you because naturally you're just, you're very loving, you're very caring. You want everybody to be comfortable. you You want to have people at your home, right? And so it fits with your personality. But when we go over it in the course, that's a key concept of it has to be somewhat personal. Like it has to be a part of you because if it's fake, you won't be consistent. Correct.
Wise Investment Strategies
00:16:33
Speaker
And something I tell the women that I train and
00:16:37
Speaker
is the second that client feels like a paycheck and you lose that connection you you you lose that special experience and they just they can sense it that that you're just there for the money you just want an exchange of cash or whatever it is the second you start treating them like a paycheck, they will discard you like a receipt. How many times do you show it? You forget about it, you throw it in the backseat and crumple it up, throw it away. And that is so true in this industry, in this business, because people can sense that. They they know they if you really want to be here, are you letting everything that you've got at home you know affect what you've got going on in this chair?
00:17:20
Speaker
and just they want to feel heard. They want to feel that you're interested in them and not the other way around. Are you trauma dumping on them? Are you you know oversharing? All those little little things that we go over in the course on how to present yourself for the market that you want, the clientele that you want.
00:17:37
Speaker
yeah Well, you guys, make sure you're investing in the right spots. Make sure you're not overspending on your image. Make sure you do know what your brand is, but you move forward with that brand. Again, we started with investing and started talking about branding and and building your business, but that's what this podcast is about. And so make sure you're investing your your time in the right spots. Make sure you're investing your money in the right spots. And more importantly, you know exactly what you're investing in and not investing in.
00:18:03
Speaker
And I think, you know, go over to the website, beautyandthebusiness.vip. We're hosting right now free webinars that are going to get you set up for success. And that again, is free 99. You're investing your time and time is money, but there are, and we have the free printable planner there also. So those are two ways to start out.
Conclusion and Resources
00:18:23
Speaker
If you're feeling like you don't know where to start or you need a little refresh, those are some tools that we've provided to you for free that you can kind of take advantage of.
00:18:31
Speaker
We will see you guys on the next episode.
00:18:36
Speaker
Hey everybody, if you like what you heard today, join us over at beautyinthebusiness.vip. Again, that's www.beautyinthebusiness.vip. That's where we have our courses, that's where we have our community group, and we look forward to interacting with you over there, beautyinthebusiness dot.vip. We will see you on the next episode.