Finding Confidence in Community By Robyn 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 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 lives of their clients, but they feel they fall short in delivering it. This often feels like not feeling good enough, like second guessing yourself in your prescriptions and treatment plans and sometimes in your entire career choice.

But I can promise you this! You are in the right place. Your heart, soul and passion for this work makes you amazing at it. You just need a mentor. Someone who has built a bridge across the gap and will show you the way.

I’ve built that bridge. It was born out of a need to support the many DM’s, emails and messages from therapists across the globe who would seek out my help with tricky skin cases, advice on how to build a clientele, wanting to know how to use the knowledge they have and speak to a clients in a way that they could understand… all the questions, I realised I had many of the answers and for those I didn’t, I knew how to find someone who did. And this is where the Skinside Out Squad was born. A community of like-minded skin therapists wanting mentorship and career guidance that I can give.

It’s the bridge across the gap between knowledge and implementation. Its helping you become a well-rounded skin therapist that not only gives amazing treatments but backs it up with skin advice, product prescriptions and treatment plans that teach skin who’s boss! It’s like having a skin ‘big sister’ to give you advice and show you the ropes.

If you’re looking for a community, one where you’ll nurtured, cheered on, celebrated,

supported, and shown how to take everything you know and integrate it in the treatment room, this might just be the Squad for you. It’s exclusive to skin therapists so you won’t find sales reps or non-hands-on bosses in there and no one will be trying to convert you into their pyramid scheme (not on my watch!).

If you’ve been searching for community, sending good vibes to the universe to send you a mentor, this might just be the sign you’ve been asking for! You can find out more about the Squad at https://bit.ly/ skinsideoutsquad I’d love to see you there!

@expert_skin_therapist

robyn@skintifix.com

www.robynmcalpine.com.au