5 things to outsource as an esthetician to free up time
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Between managing clients appointments, folding endless piles of laundry and trying to carve out time to market your business. Being an esthetician can often feel like a never ending juggling act. We are always wearing so many hats that it's easy to wonder, how can we possibly do it all? But in the several years of being an esthetician and lots of trial and error, lots of mistakes, I have a secret. I guess it's not really a secret, but I'm here to tell you you don't have to. The truth is, just because we can do everything doesn't mean that we should outsourcing certain tasks can free up your time so that you can do things that you truly love, whether that's a hobby, spending time with your family, or even scaling your business. But I would be naive to think that the outsourcing is available to everyone right away, because outsourcing isn't always an option, especially if you're just starting out, or maybe you're currently working within a really tight budget, and that's okay. The key is to think strategically about what tasks offer the best return on investment, also known as ROI. It's also important to remember that ROI isn't always about money. It can be about gaining time. It can be about energy or even just peace of mind, of knowing something is being taken care of. So today I want to share five areas that you may want to consider outsourcing, and also how they can be game changers for your statics, business or even your life. And by the way, these don't have to be employees. They can be apprentices or 1090 nines. In fact, I would recommend that. And for all the control freaks out there, I want to address the elephant in the room, because letting go of control can be really hard. If you built your business from the ground up, you're probably doing it all you like it a certain way. You've got a system, a standard and an expectation of how things should be done. And I know firsthand that the thought of letting someone else come in and step on that can feel really overwhelming and daunting. But I want to address some of these fears, some of the most common questions or fears that I hear when I've spoken to estheticians in the past about outsourcing, or even conversations I have with myself are, you know, what if they don't do it as well as I could, or what if something goes wrong and I have to fix it anyway? Or what if I just end up wasting money? Because all of those things are totally possible. They're very valid concerns, and when we've poured our heart into our work, it can be hard to challenge these beliefs or these questions. So let's start with the first one, which is, what if they don't do it as well as you would, while nobody cares about our businesses like we do, we have to remember that we're hiring professionals, and so they're bringing a level of expertise that potentially and hopefully we don't have. A great example is a bookkeeper. A bookkeeper might catch financial details you'd overlook, or if you have somebody that comes and cleans your studio, they may notice things that you've been blind to. It because you see your space every day. And again, we're not looking to hire Joe Schmo off the street. There is a vetting process. Ideally, we're looking for someone who can do the job better than us. The second question, what if something goes wrong and I have to fix it anyway? It's important to remember that mistakes happen whether it's you or somebody else doing the task. And this is really where patience is going to come in, because nobody is going to get it perfect the first time. So start small. Communicate your expectations clearly, and if it's not working out, be quick to let them go. Do not light yourself on fire to keep others warm. We don't need to babysit. We don't have time for that. Again, we should be looking for professionals who know what they're doing and actually who can teach us a thing or two. The third fear is, what if I'm just wasting money paying someone to do something that we're totally capable of doing, can be a really hard pill to swallow, but I think it's important to realize the potential ROI. So if you spend $100 on a task that saves you hours, what could you accomplish? In that time, could you book more clients, develop a new service, or maybe just like, have a day off to recharge. So sometimes that investment is less about money and more about what it frees you to do. All right, now that we got these fears out of the way, let's dive into the five areas of outsourcing that can really make a difference in your business. I'm going to start with one that I think is the most important, which is bookkeeping. Because if you didn't become an esthetician because you love spreadsheets, you are not alone. I am horrible with numbers. I am horrible with mathematical equations, all of that. I can't do it. So bookkeeping is one of those necessary evils of running a business, and if you're doing it right, it can be a huge time and energy drain. So when you have a bookkeeper, they'll be able to handle tracking your expenses, managing your invoices, and also obviously preparing you for tax season, not only will this, you know, help you stay organized, but it'll also save you money by catching any errors or potentially identifying any tax deductions that you may have missed if you did it yourself. Bookkeepers do not have to be super expensive. In fact, I found my bookkeeper on a mom to mom Facebook group. She wasn't expensive, and she is, I mean, just incredible. She keeps everything so organized for me, so that peace of mind of knowing that at tax season I'm going to show up, I have my P and L, all of my accounting is organized and makes sense. It just feels really great to be able to pass that off to my CPA if you're not ready to hire someone, even though I highly recommend doing so. There are user friendly bookkeeping apps like QuickBooks or wave, and it can automate a lot of that process for you. The goal here is just to kind of get you out of the weeds so that you can focus on building your business. So whatever works if you want to use QuickBooks or find a bookkeeper, but bookkeeping should be a top priority if you're thinking about doing your own bookkeeping or taxes. Taxes really are not anything to mess around with. My CPA has told me multiple times that the IRS really looks for small businesses to audit because they know they don't have the resources to fight back. Whether that's true or not, I'm not sure, but I'm not willing to find out. So if you're doing your own taxes, make sure your deductions are legit. I will never forget, years ago, I tried to claim all of my nail appointments because I was like, Well, I have to have nice nails for my photo shoot. But I was sadly mistaken and was not able to write those off. Alright. So let's move on to email marketing, and more specifically, newsletters. Newsletters slash emails. They're an amazing way to keep your clients engaged, and you don't need to send weekly emails to see results from email marketing, although I highly recommend you do that just to keep your business at top of mind. With a little upfront work, you can actually create automated email campaigns that practically run themselves. Okay, so imagine this, your client gets a welcome email when they book their first appointment, you don't send it. It's automated. And then after their appointment, it triggers the flow to then send them a series of follow up emails thanking them, recommending personalized product recommendations, all without you lifting a finger. This is totally possible. Setting up these email flows might feel overwhelming, especially if you're not familiar with email marketing or Klaviyo or MailChimp, but this is the perfect task you can outsource to a professional, and I highly recommend checking out Upwork. It's usually a one time expense and it is on the pricier side, but it's something that will continue to deliver value for months and even years. If you don't think you can afford to have this done for you, there are a lot of do it yourself guides on the internet or within Klaviyo or MailChimp, whatever email marketing system you decide to go with. But again, I want you to remember that once you complete the content and set up those triggers, your nurture sequence will do all the heavy lifting. And aside from updating your links or, you know, changing content within that funnel, you are good to go. So it's like a one time fee that you pay for somebody to set these up for you, and then they just continue working on the back end. Also, I just want to mention that in this era of AI and automation, automation does not have to be impersonal. Make sure you're using your client's name and the emails and make the email feel like you're talking directly to them. I once heard the saying that AI should be used to automate, not alienate and. I absolutely agree and love that the third is photography. I know there are so many subscriptions, photography subscriptions, or free stock photos like Canva or stock photos.com In fact, we have one of our own photography subscriptions that you can purchase on our site. It's specific to estheticians, but I still always recommend having a branding photo shoot. It's important to remember that the photography that you use on your website and in your social media marketing, this is an important part of your brand, so using your own photography for your marketing purposes, will help create a unique and authentic identity that will help resonate with your audience and build trust. Stock photos are super convenient. I've been known to use them as well, but it definitely does lack that personal touch and the specific representation that sets your brand apart from others. I know photography can be a little bit expensive, but there are often small business packages that won't break the bank and you don't have to do one every month. You could do one yearly or seasonally, and also you could always consider trading with your photographer. That's how I actually started. Was doing facials for a mini photo shoot. Fourth laundry this task is never ending. Between sheets, towels and robes, it can feel like you're spending half your week in a laundry room, but it doesn't have to feel that way, and I think outsourcing laundry is one of the hardest things to kind of wrap your head around, because it's something that you know we just do, like it's part of the job, but outsourcing your laundry can save you many hours a week, and those are hours that you could be spending Working on your social media strategy, developing new treatments, you could be developing a new skill, or just taking a break. In Michigan, we have an app called poplin. I don't know if that's nationwide or if it's just in Michigan or the Midwest, but I've tried several different laundry services. This was by far, by far the best. I remember the first time I used them. I was just blown away. I mean, they quickly picked it up. Everything was folded. They used a little ribbon. In fact, I had one lady that would do Reiki on the towels. I just thought that was so interesting. But if you're interested, we do have a discount of $10 off in our show notes, so make sure to check that out. And if you're not sure where to start, just do a local laundry search near you. I'm sure that there are other affordable plans for small businesses wherever you live. The last is cleaning. Some really love cleaning, and I cannot relate, but I do love living in a clean space, or working out of a clean space. And when we're talking about, you know, esthetics in our business, well, any business in general, really a clean space is really a non negotiable, but it's a non negotiable. But also, let's be honest, when we see the same space every day, it's really easy to overlook things. So by hiring a cleaning company, even just for a couple hours a week, it can be a total game changer, because you have a fresh pair of eyes that will notice the dust in the corners or the cobwebs, and they will make sure that it is up to professional standards. Again, this is one of those tasks that you know we could be doing ourselves. So it's kind of hard to wrap our minds around, like, why would I pay someone to do something that I can do? But let's say you spend $100 a week on cleaning, if that frees up time for you to create a promotion that brings in $500 in bookings that is well worth the investment. If you are worried that cleaning isn't in the budget or you don't know where to find somebody, just ask other local business owners. We have a wonderful woman who comes in and cleans our office that was recommended to us. She doesn't work for a company, she does an amazing job, and she's actually super affordable. So those are five areas where you could potentially outsource within your business. But again, I realize that outsourcing may not be in the cards for you at this moment. It is so very true that in the beginning stages of running a business, there isn't a lot of money left over, and it can often feel like we have to, you know, pinch every single penny. But if you've been in business for a couple of years and you find it hard to find money to outsource one or two tasks, I want to challenge you to get familiar with your number. Dollars. There are always areas where we can cut costs, and there are always ways that we can increase our revenue. It should be your goal and top priority to get your business running like a fine oiled machine, so that you can work on your business and not in your business. And I know that is a great area for estheticians, since technically we are in the treatment room, however, getting to a place where you can outsource is going to ultimately free up your time to work on things that actually help grow your business or give you the time to recharge your battery and hopefully avoid burnout. How I started outsourcing is I looked at my schedule and I asked myself, what's draining my time, or what are tasks that I absolutely dread doing? And I'll be honest with you, there were quite a bit, but I then sat down and I kind of prioritized them where I needed the most help. Bookkeeping was number one, because I'm horrible with numbers, but again, as a business owner, that is a non negotiable, and then second was laundry. I already have a family to do laundry for. I do not want to spend any more time folding clothes towels. I don't care what it is, I don't I don't want to fold anything else. So I started small, and I didn't outsource everything at once. I took my time, and honestly, I've canceled a lot of contracts and partnerships because I was really unhappy with their work. So you have to be prepared for that as well. I'll give you a quick example, which is hilarious now to look back on, but in the moment, I was really furious because I paid her money. But I once hired someone to create some email funnels for me, and I'll never forget, I opened up the post purchase email that was sent to customers after they purchased products, and it said, Thank you for your purchase, Santa. Elves are busy getting your order ready, like what I was below. She was recommended to me number one. So it's not like I just found her out of nowhere, and the email content was so horrible. I literally kept the flows, but then I had to change every single email, and I was really stressed out about it, but I've since found somebody else, and it's all good. So as I wrap up today, I want you to remember that outsourcing doesn't have to be all or nothing. Even delegating one task can make such a big difference, and sometimes the ROI isn't financial, remember, sometimes it's just about getting back time when you free yourself from tasks that drain you, you can focus on things that truly matter. So take a look at your to do list. What's one thing that you can let go of today? You might be surprised by how much it changes your business and your life. If you get a moment, I would be so grateful if you would like this episode or share it with a fellow esthetician. Thank you so much for tuning in, and I'll see you next week.