How to Improve Your Skin Care Business

Do you ever find yourself in a rut but don’t know how to get out of it? Chances are you’ve already set some personal goals to eat better, exercise more, reduce stress, and enjoy life. But what are you doing to get out of your career rut? Let’s create some growth strategies for your business. And let’s do it right.  

First things first. Before you can effectively set goals for how you want to change and enhance your career, you need to analyze it to see what’s working and what needs to be tweaked, overhauled, let go of, etc. 

The Business Assessment Wheel (BAW)—adapted from popular life wheels—will help you take a balanced look at all aspects of your esthetics career and help you determine which areas of your skin care business need the most attention. Here are segments of your business (and the Business Assessment Wheel) to consider:

Wheel Segments 

• Client Experience—this includes all aspects of customer service, from appointment scheduling to payment and rebooking. Are there any areas where you can improve communication or efficiency? 
• Marketing—examine both your marketing efforts to gain new clients and marketing to current clients to maximize retention.  
• Business Management—this includes all aspects of running your business, from client information management to ordering supplies.  
• Physical Space—examine safety issues (from cords to candles), client comfort, reception area, parking, etc.  
• Continuing Education—have you done research to see which new techniques and trends are interesting to you and helpful for your clients? Do you save money for course or conference registration fees?  
• Finances/Accounting—this covers everything from bill paying and income/expense tracking to tax prep and payment.  
• Self-Care—do you take care of yourself as well as you take care of others? 
• Other—personalize the wheel for your own career and add your own category here or break a larger topic—like marketing—into two segments. 

Why use the Business Assessment Wheel?

Oftentimes, estheticians only want to evaluate the areas of their business they enjoy most and are most comfortable with. Customer service? Sure, let’s take a deep look at that and set some goals! Finances? Hold on, I think I hear someone calling me, I’ll be right back. This creates imbalance and has a negative impact on your overall success. 

How to Score the Business Assessment Wheel 

To begin, rank where your esthetics business currently stands in each of the wheel segments from 0–10:

• 0 signifies you do absolutely nothing in this area of your business, or what you’re doing isn’t effective or has negative results.
• 10 means you’re knocking it out of the park in this area of your business and don’t see any need for improvement.
• 1–9: Create your own definitions for numbers one through nine so you’re using a consistent rating scale.

You’ll end up with a visual guide to help you prioritize your goal-setting process; it will be easy to see the areas of your career that need immediate change. And remember, this is a judgment-free activity. Your skin care business will never be performing perfectly in all areas of the BAW all the time. If yours is, please contact me immediately; I want to know your secret! 

How to Use the Business Assessment Wheel

The BAW will help you set goals and highlight areas for improvement and growth. For example, if your overall goal is to score between 8 and 10 on each segment of the wheel, you may set goals and growth strategies within every segment up front. This will give you a blueprint to work from for creating change on a larger scale. Or you might choose a more methodical approach and take it one segment at a time, analyzing and setting goals for one segment a month, working your way through the wheel over eight months. This approach may allow you to take a more thorough look at each area of your business. 

Ultimately, you want to have a to-do list of items for each segment of your skin care business. Choose the strategy that works best for you to create that list and implement the changes.  

I truly hope the BAW is an effective tool for you to evaluate your business and that it helps you identify areas that are ready for improvement. Please don’t just focus on the areas that need work, though—also use the wheel as a reminder to celebrate your successes! 

Looking for more great esthetician career resources to boost your skin care business? ASCP Career Toolkits is an amazing business resource created exclusively for ASCP members. Not a member? Join today!

The skin care industry is fiercely competitive. Skin professionals need every tool they can find to attain and maintain success. Whether you work for yourself or an employer, we stand with skin care professionals. ASCP’s goal is to empower our members to thrive in their dream career.
Career Toolkits are a comprehensive career planning and support resource that includes articles, tools, videos, and podcasts to help you chart your course for a successful career in esthetics. ASCP Career Toolkits include compensation calculators for employees and business start-up calculators to help evaluate the cost of starting your dream business.