How To Get Out Of The “Survival Trap” In Your Beauty Business

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how to get out of the survival trap in your beauty businessIf you feel like this past year had you running in circles in your beauty business, you are not alone. One of my favorite authors showed us how to get out of the survival trap and move our business forward.

Best-selling author, Mike Michalowicz, was our expert speaker in the Esthetician Inner Circle membership. He discussed why many beauty business owners are stuck in the survival trap due to the trying year we’ve endured. He explained how to tell if you are indeed caught in the trap and how to move out quickly.

It’s hard to concentrate on long-term business growth when you’re in “survival mode”. It’s difficult to move forward when you’re in a circuitous loop.

How to Tell If You’re Stuck in a Survival Trap (and the silver lining)

You may be stuck in a survival trap if you aimlessly jump from one problem-solving solution to the next. You solve one problem and another one emerges. It begins to feel like you’re not making progress or the right choices.

Or, you feel like you are continuously in crisis mode and keep having to “fix something real quick.” Just when you think you have gotten over the hump, the next issue emerges. You keep putting out fires — moving from one issue to the next but can’t seem to pull yourself out from what seems like a hamster wheel.

You may even feel like your business is a yoyo… one day, you have a full book of business, every client is purchasing retail, and you have money in the bank. The next day, you return to work and it’s a shit-storm all over again.

If this is you, don’t despair. We have good news!

If you have experienced the yoyo effect with a full book of business on any given day, your business is primed for success. You have demonstrated that your business can be successful! If you can make things happen once then you can make them happen again if you fix the weakest link.

So, how do you identify the one thing to fix?

How to Focus Your Beauty Business in a Destabilized Economy

What causes many of us to get stuck in the survival trap is a lack of focus. This is common when we feel desperate in an unstable economy. Here are some key steps you can take to break out of the vicious cycle in this “desperation stage”:

Don’t Freeze!

Many spas and small businesses froze up during the beginning months of the pandemic and had to close their doors. If you freeze and do nothing, you have no chance of surviving! So, keep moving…

Taking action is key but you can’t afford to spin yourself into a frenzy. Evaluate your situation and take deliberate causative actions that will position your business for a surge. If you’re going through a tough time, it’s not always easy to figure out what to do at the moment. But pick one thing and do it, because it’s way more productive than freezing up.

Stay Focused

Are you selling profitable products or services? During any challenging time, profitability is key. If you offer the right products or services, you can make more profits even if you’re generating fewer sales.

In addition, many of us feel disillusioned or confused by the stock market. Don’t! Focus on the mainstream economy — this is where your clients are and on which the reality of business is grounded.

Let Go of the Wrong Clients

The biggest tip from Mike Michalowicz is that 10% of your client base has always been waffling and Covid simply gave them an excuse to leave. These clients were never fully committed so it’d be a fool’s errand to chase after their businesses. Let them go. It will be ok.

If you’re reactive and try to do “whatever it takes” to keep those clients, such as heavily discounting your products and services — you’re digging yourself deeper into a hole and sabotaging your profitability.

Up Your Marketing Game

As you let go of clients that aren’t committed, you need to take action immediately and acquire new (and better) clients through effective marketing. Thanks to the many online channels at our disposal, there are now more ways than ever to reach potential clients and stay in touch with existing ones.

From email and SEO to social media and referral, our Esthetician Inner Circle members are upping their marketing game to get in front of a larger audience and convert prospects into profitable clients. They’re not only riding out the rough patches but also taking the opportunity to improve their productivity and cost-efficiency so they’re prepared for the future.

esthetician inner circle maxine drake

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