5 Ways to maintain a Positive Mindset by Joy Crossingham

If you have worked in the beauty/aesthetics industry for even a short time, I’m sure you will agree with me when I say that working with clients can sometimes be quite draining mentally and emotionally.

If you are good at making your clients feel comfortable, you’ll often find yourself listening to all of their latest drama and problems. As one of my lash & brow stylists used to say, “my clients close their eyes and open their mouths”, and this is so true.

Please don’t get me wrong, I actually really love this part of working with clients because I feel very honoured and grateful that my clients are so comfortable and have that much trust in me. But listening to people unload on you day after day can be draining, and it can be tough to maintain a positive mind and attitude. You deserve peace of mind too, and you don’t need to carry around the burden of your clients’ problems for the rest of your day. The following are some of my favourite techniques to help maintain your positive mindset, both in salon and in your own time, too.

1: Practice Meditation

Even just for 10 minutes a day, practising meditation can give you the skills to see your thoughts like passing clouds in the sky: acknowledge that they’re there, and then let them pass on by. The ability to, in the words of Queen Elsa, let it go, will give you the power to not dwell on dark or difficult thoughts that may occur to you in any part of your day. You may like to include some breathing techniques as part of your daily meditation practice. These can be hugely beneficial for your health in many aspects. To help you meditate, try listening to some guided meditation podcasts on Spotify, or even some sound healing tracks, such as those using Tibetan Singing Bowls, or, my personal favourite - healing HZ frequencies on YouTube.

2: Allow Enough Time to Refresh

We all know the importance of cleaning your space between clients for hygiene purposes, but I think it’s also important to clean and reset the energy of your space as well, both for your next client but also yourself. Make sure you are allowing yourself enough time for this practice between clients – you might need five, ten or even fifteen minutes. I like to complete my cleaning tasks and then give my space a little spray with some energy clearing room mist, which I can breathe in and use to re-centre myself while I set up for my next treatment. It only takes a moment to stop and take three deep breaths, and that moment can make a big, positive difference to how to respond in your next interactions. My current go-to misting spray duo is an Activation Mist + a Sanitise Shield produced by a local Australian brand called “Shemana Crystalline Elixirs”. We also stock these in our salon and they’ve become quite popular with our clients, too! For those of you who are into burning essential oils or sage, make sure you research very thoroughly as some of these oils and herbs can be contraindications for pregnancy or health concerns.

3: Plan your Day

If you see mostly regular clients, you will already know which clients take more from you mentally, and which clients fill your cup. If you manage your own bookings, try your best to guide your clients into times that work for you – the last thing you want is to accidentally book yourself a whole day of energy-zapping clients. I like to try to start and finish my day with my cup-filling clients. This really helps me stay balanced. You can also make notes on your clients’ profiles – as long as they can’t see them. Some clients might need more ‘Refresh’ time afterwards than others, to give you more space to re-centre. You could even book these clients immediately before or after a break. For all my scheduling needs I use BookJoy, an online scheduling app which I designed from the ground up (with the help of a super talented team of software developers, of course) to specifically to meet the unique needs of beauty professionals worldwide. Stay tuned as we plan to launch BookJoy to the public later this year!

4: Take Charge of the Conversation

I wrote an article for this magazine last year, in which I spoke about the art of client conversation. In the article, I discussed the importance of choosing appropriate topics for conversation with your clients, and how to redirect the conversation back to these safe topics when necessary. If you can feel that the conversation is going down a path that isn’t serving you, it’s totally ok to try to change the subject. Don’t feel bad if you don’t want to talk about the C-word for the tenth time today – we all get it! Try to start the appointment with some exciting news from your life, or maybe an update on something new in the salon, or even your favourite TV show. Bridgerton Season 2 has just been released on Netflix – that should keep us all talking for a while!

5: Schedule in Your Own Appointments

We spend so much of our time treating and looking after others, but it’s so important that we find the time to look after ourselves, too. Whether it’s massage, floating, acupuncture or even therapy, make sure that you are regularly giving yourself the opportunity to relax and release any negativity that might be lingering. It’s absolutely essential that you allow time in your busy life for this kind of self-care, where we actually let someone else care for us for even just a short time. I love my regular acupuncture sessions, which help keep me healthy in body and mind. When you feel happy and well, it is so much easier to care for others. As the saying goes, you can’t pour from an empty cup, and I really believe in this. Take the time to fill your own cup, and you will likely find that your interactions with clients are overall more positive and more fulfilling, too.

Joy Crossingham. Lashjoy CEO + Lead Educator. Founded in 2015 by Lash Industry pioneer, Joy Crossingham, the LashJoy Professional Beauty Group is a provider of the highest quality lash products, educational courses and business solutions to more than 12,000 lash professionals worldwide and growing. Learn more about LashJoy at www.lashjoy.com