Need advice -- should I become an electrologist?

Professionals Only! Electrologist to Electrologist (pros only)
#1

I have had electrolysis done on myself and have been profoundly grateful to my electrologists for getting rid of the facial hair that has plagued me since I was very young.

Some of my electrologists have been extremely successful (one owns a spa that nets millions of dollars in my area), and some have been on the other end of the financial spectrum (another works out of her house in addition to her job as a grocery store clerk). They’ve all been wonderful, so I don’t think it’s necessary skill/expertise alone that determined their success.

Now I am thinking about pursuing electrology as a career, but obviously due to the economy, I’m hesitant because I don’t know what it’s like out there. How do you get clients when you first start out? Is it harder to find clients in a rural area vs. an urban one? How would one get the space needed to practice – by renting an office, working out of the home, or renting a booth at a salon?

Thanks.

#2

I don’t have time to write a book here, but I will say a few things briefly.

I am a big fan of the home office, or at least an office in a building you own, as the expenses are lower than a rented space. Although some customers may have some negative connotations to a home office, the pluses for both customer and practitioner are numerous. Not the least of these benefits would be that when someone is late, or blows off an appointment, you have not been left in the lurch, having driven across town, to sit in an empty office, miles and many minutes away from the other things you could be doing while you wait. In the case that someone simply doesn’t show up at all, you have not driven across town and heated a cold place, or cooled a hot place, for nothing, but you still have to pay for it.

This allows you to charge less, and your office doesn’t cost you much more than you are already paying for where you live now. Just the equipment, and office specific things like, client driven entertainment, and decor.

I like it best when the home office can be set up with a client entrance, to a client only space, that has a client rest room, and the family space of your home is not intruded upon by your business. This way, the spouse, kids, and pets, are less likely to encounter your clients. It would be nice if they also missed guessing what you are having for dinner by divining the smells coming from the kitchen.

If none of this can be avoided, so be it, but hey, if we all had a perfect world, we would all have that Marbled office with the water feature in the waiting room, and the big breasted secretary/greeter/hostess person keeping the schedule, and doing all consultations and sales functions. I can dream, can’t I? :wink:

#3

I love your answer James!
I work fro my own home and would have loved to separate the client entrance from the home entrance but sadly, ‘Architect says no’
I do worry sometimes that i may be ruling myself out for those clients who go for glamour and glitz - but we can’t have everything.
Over heads are a doddle compared to what i would pay for rental; I’m never far from work; my books and accounts etc are always ‘to hand’.
I am selling my house and am worrying a bit about where I’m going to work from whilst setting up a new clinic - life is never dull!
Starting out is just a case of putting one foot in front of the other - walk for as long as you need to and admire the view on the way, you’ll be running soon enough.
June x

#4

The clients that demand glamour and glitz are generally more difficult and tempermental. Electrolysis is meticulous and requires concentration. I recently finished my last “pampered princess” case and will refer any future self-anointed “royalty” to another electrologist!

#5

A close personal friend and, dare I say it, mentor to me, once had a conversation with me about “pampered princesses”.

The conversation got brought up because I had said something like, “I can’t believe you have never moved your office over to the right side of the tracks. You are just over the dividing line, and many high dollar clients simply won’t cross this arbitrary line to come see you though it is a distance many would walk.” My dear friend looked upon me with that knowing look that said, “Ah, the blissfulness of ignorance.” I was then told, “I am glad those people don’t want to come here. I try to convince the few who call not to come here. The money is not worth the aggravation. Keep in mind, while the client is choosing the person who they believe will give them the best work, for the best price, YOU are choosing who you will spend an awful lot of time with. I choose NOT to spend my time with people like that. It is just too draining an experience.”

I made sure to give my friend a call to say when I had the experience that knocked me out of my blissful ignorance. We shared a hearty laugh together.

Your office should be functional, but I never found the sense in adding extra expense for stuff that doesn’t serve the business. I twice paid for a place that was just dazzling, but in neither case, did I actually get more clients because of the location. So it just represented higher costs to the clients who would have seen me anywhere, just to impress some few who might have only come back for work at the big box flashy place, but might not have been all that much fun to spend tens or hundreds of hours with.

#6

Well said James. As a practitioners in a service industry we are giving of ourselves, there are some clients who are highly emotionally draining. We have to decide whether we want to treat these individuals, sometimes they are just too much trouble.

#7

If only we had pampered princess radar!
I posted in distress for help from this forum after my last ‘PP’ (and help, it did)
Luckily, I have had no repeats - at least I don’t think I have… maybe the ones that get away are PP’s in disguise…No, I think I can spot them really.

#8

Sometimes you can tell when they make that first phone call. The ones that worry you to death and try to micromanage their treatments do not last. Nothing is good enough for them. They are always looking for a problem and if they cannot find one, they will brood over it in front of a mirror and make something up! These situations usually take care of themselves. The client will eventually fail to show for an appointment and I never call to find out why.