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DERMAL
FINDING CONFIDENCE IN COMMUNITY. By Robyne McAlpine
Have you ever felt a little alone in your skin therapist journey? Like everyone else seems to know what they are doing and you’re still feeling like you’re catching up and not quite doing it right? You get in the room, and you give an amazing treatment but if a client asks you to create a treatment plan, you freeze up, get clammy and you forget the names of the ingredients and cells and it all becomes a big word vomit and you leave yourself and the client more confused than when you started. I always felt like I never knew how to do a proper consultation. Yes, I’d learned all about the skin anatomy and knew what cells went where. I also knew that clients needed more than once facial but I wasn’t quite sure how to put it all together and have a client committed to a treatment plan. Asking for help felt a bit silly. I’d done the courses so I felt like I should have known. The trainers would tell me to just go and do it, that I would be fine. But do what exactly? Stepping out of a skin course classroom and talking to clients in the treatment room felt like they were worlds apart and like something was missing. I felt like I had slept through the ‘how to put it all together’ module. Like everyone else left the class knowing more than I did and that I needed a mentor to hold my hand and teach me how to integrate my newfound knowledge and be able to translate it into success in the treatment room. Being an amazing skin therapist is about so much more than the treatment we do in the room. It’s about being a well-rounded therapist but what does that look like? A successful skin therapist is able to take a client through an uncomplicated skin consultation, inspire clients with comprehensive treatment plans, retail with ease that focuses on exactly what clients need for results that will exceed expectations. Doing all of this creates a therapist that is in hot demand bother with clients and employers alike. Not to mention the career satisfaction that comes from knowing your creating a real difference in your clients lives but that you are also contributing to the success of the business you work in. But how do you get all that from a skin anatomy 24
Beauty Biz Year 15 Issue 3
course and some product knowledge days?? Well, you don’t. Sure, those things are foundational to your knowledge and skill as a therapist, but the understanding skin stuff is such a small part in what we do every day. But where do you go to learn about all of these things. There’s business coaches for the business owners, trainers and educators for the skin courses and content, social media experts for bringing in the clients but where can you learn how to take everything you know and put it all together in a way that makes sense? I know too well what it’s like to be on my own, feeling like I’m not quite getting it right. I found that by building connections with like-minded therapists, no matter what field you are in. If its skin, surround yourself with skin therapists you admire. If its nails, find the artists that inspire you, if its laser, find your people! This is the fastest way to nurture your career growth and development, by surrounding yourself with a collective of close confidants you can share your ideas with, ask for advice and direction, like a mentor. Having a mentor, someone you admire to follow and seek out for advice is how you can exponentially shift through the awkward training phase, from the classroom to the treatment room and really integrate what you’ve learnt. They’ve most likely been there, done that and bought the T-shirt. This is something I was so hungry for, for so much
of my career. What I know and do know was learnt from trial and error, jumbled up words, complicated and overwhelming consultations, clients who disappeared because I was overzealous in wanting to impress. I had to learn the hard way how to create a consultation that had a purpose driven outcome and how to segue way from one skin thing to another. They say your ‘vibe attracts your tribe’, that you are the sum of the 5 people you spend the most time with and that the level of success you achieve in life is directly correlated to those you surround yourself with. You want to make sure that you’re connected to some of the best in your area of interest. It can feel a bit lonely. And our industry has traditionally been one of keeping our cards to our chest, not one for collaboration though that is definitely changing and for the better. We’re not taught how to build relationships with clients, were just expected to do it. We’re not taught how to recommend skincare, but given sales tactics and targets. We are expected to be successful and be productive therapist for our bosses or businesses but up until now there’s been a missing link. We’ve just had to leap and hope we figured it out on the way down. I’ve watched therapists fall into this gaping hole and when they do, they free fall and lose their confidence and start to wonder if they are doing it right? These therapists are passionate about making a difference in the
