Sasha- your Indy coach.
The Estie Bestie: [00:00:00] Hey besties, welcome to The Estie Bestie Tea Time.
I am your host, Athena, a. k. a. The Estie Bestie. And this is a podcast where I share All of my tips and tricks and spill the tea on the beauty industry woes and foes and help you grow your business individually as a solo esthetician.
Welcome to the Estie Bestie Tea time. I am here with Sasha. She's amazing. She has her own aesthetics, essentially education center, and you specialize in coaching and mentoring and lash extensions. And in Indiana, you are one of the only schools that can actually provide a license because you are accredited.
Am I correct?
Sasha: Yes, so we are recognized by the state. [00:01:00] It's really exciting. The law changed here a couple years ago and we are on a very short list of schools that are accepted.
How does that feel?
Um, it feels like it was a long time coming because I wish that they had done this a while ago, but um, you know, our goal has always been to really set the standard and we're definitely, um, being in Indianapolis and like the middle of the state, we have so many students come to us from all over. Um, we've always been.
Highly sought after but just now the fact that we have like that stamp of approval from the state. Oh, it's awesome
Athena: it probably feels amazing. Like so good. Like nobody can touch you. You're like, I know what I'm doing. I know what I'm providing for my students. I know that they can trust me. I'm not just like creating something and calling it like, Oh, you can go do this service. You're actually providing like state regulated education and an actual credit, like accredited license.
That's amazing.
Sasha: Yeah, [00:02:00] so it's it's a certification not necessarily a license, but it does hold legal. It holds legal value. That's the most important part
The Estie Bestie: Yeah. Talk about that a little bit, because for me, like, I mean, for aesthetics. So in Florida, we have like the most level of requirement needed for our license. And in Florida for lashes, we only need to hold an aesthetics license. Is it different in Indianapolis than let's say for Florida?
Sasha: Yeah, so it's kind of like a hybrid you can have an aesthetics or cosmetology license and legally do lashes But like what's the difference? so messed up about that is you don't have to have formal training and it's just like it is there, right? So then on the flip side you have people like myself that went to aesthetic school solely to do lash extensions and of course we didn't learn it in aesthetic school, right?
So then we have this certification that's through our department of health, through the state department of health, and this certification lets you do [00:03:00] lash extensions legally without having that beauty license. So, the thing about that is, we have so many, um, licensed professionals actually that still take this course.
Simply because, I mean, it's so robust, it's, I wish it could be longer to be quite honest. But, they don't get that type of experience or education when they're taking these online or one day, one day courses.
The Estie Bestie: mean, that's gotta be like a love hate too, because you have estheticians, like even, even myself, like I went to school thinking I was going to do lashes and brows and I have literally never done lashes. I did like a couple sets practicing and I was like, this is not for me. So bless your heart. Um, and like, I noticed in a couple of States, like, you know, like in your state and in Texas, there's different certifications that they can get without going to a static school.
And I feel like that's gives you so much more opportunity. one, make revenue, [00:04:00] but also, two, not, like, inundate students with unnecessary information that they don't need in aesthetics for just doing lashes, vice versa.
Sasha: Yeah, absolutely. And what's really cool about it too is we have a lot of students that come to us that they're thinking about getting into the beauty industry, but they don't know if they want to invest, you know, 700 hours to go to aesthetic school here, or they don't have the time or money to go do 1500 hours for cosmetology.
They get a little taste of it, they build their clientele, and then they're able to decide if, you know, they want to end up going to beauty school and pursuing things further to expand their service menu.
The Estie Bestie: Oh, that's amazing. That's almost like a gateway. I wish, you know, I wish there was an opportunity like that here. I wish that that was something that we could do or implement or get qualified to do here. because I feel like, like I said, like we don't, we don't end up specializing in anything. We don't end up learning.
I mean, I can tell you like my, my kit [00:05:00] from school, I found it like a year ago. The lashes that were in the kit, you would literally, you would, you would laugh. You would be like, what is this?
Sasha: I'm, oh my gosh, I'm, I'm sure they're probably like 20s, they're probably like loose in a pot, it's probably devastating.
The Estie Bestie: We didn't even know,
Sasha: I can imagine.
The Estie Bestie: what that meant like at all. Like, I didn't even know what that meant. No, we got like clusters and like,
Sasha: Oh gosh, even worse.
The Estie Bestie: the dollar store
Sasha: Love that. Love that for you. Yeah
The Estie Bestie: we didn't put them on each other. Cause we were like, I'm not putting that on my eyes. I don't know what's in there. We put them on mannequins. It
Sasha: Perfect. That's great practice. Yeah, and then just go turn your loose. No problem at all, right?
The Estie Bestie: We didn't even have lashing tweezers. Like, I don't even know, like, how we put these. I can't even remember. I think it was just, like, standard regular tweezers. Like, pulling out, like, you know, ingrown hair tweezers. Just flat, plucking tweezers. It was insane.
Sasha: That's wild that that's the reason though, too Why like [00:06:00] so many students they'll go to aesthetic school They'll get like that little few hours of training and they're like, oh, I know how to do lashes Then they're out here and that's why Lash extensions get like a bad rep.
The Estie Bestie: Yeah.
Sasha: There's
The Estie Bestie: I
Sasha: more bad. I don't want to say bad.
I would say You undereducated lash artists than there are properly educated.
The Estie Bestie: I could say that about, like, skincare and things like that, too. Like, for sure. Oh.
Sasha: Oh 100 percent all of it like that stuff you've touched on in other episodes, too It's just it's kind of the wild west out here But going back to what you were saying about like being hopeful to have that in florida I'm hopeful for that because even just within the last year I've seen other states start to adopt this, you know specialty license for lashes Texas and connecticut are a couple states that have had it for a while, but I know utah just adopted it um, arizona Minnesota, so it's definitely spreading but that's kind of the weird thing, you know being in the states is [00:07:00] You have to get you know 50 different jurisdictions on board to do the same thing.
The Estie Bestie: that wild like I feel like I don't know I was talking about this with somebody else too about like having Like sadesco because like in the in the uk and like in europe, they have sadesco. It's literally like two years. It's almost like um community college but like for all things skincare, I feel like Yes, you can be qualified for SEDESCO here, but is there a SEDESCO program in the United States that is universal?
I don't think so. I think you can apply to get approval and recognition from that, which would be great. However, there's nothing across the board, like, across each state border that is simultaneous. That is, you know, and I think that's why we have a hard time when we're in groups and we're talking to people, we're like, oh, that doesn't apply to me.
And we're like, what? What do you mean? Well, the laws are different. So we need to know 50 laws, 50 different places for all of these laws for a single license. Absolutely. Yeah.
Sasha: And that was something that I found all the [00:08:00] time, you know, as I do business coaching too, for, you know, beauty, beauty business service providers. And they're telling me, you know, Hey, this, that, and the other, what's your advice on that? And I'm like, well, let me look into that because 50 different rules it's craziness.
And there's so much along with that though, too. Misinformation that's spread because it's not universal across the board Yeah, and you know how that is in our industry. So
The Estie Bestie: I do. I do know how that is kind of crazy. And mean, that's another thing too. I mean, I have really. Personally, I feel like I have really been like reignited in my passion for like justice Because it's just so I've been on the back end of so many things that are such BS and I'm like, oh heck No, I am so done If you're coming for me I'm coming for you and I'm gonna give you the handbook and like that is it and I feel so bad for Newbies that don't know the [00:09:00] options, like, they don't know that they can come to you and try out lashes.
They don't know that that's an option a lot of the time. Or, know, they don't know that they're not learning what they're supposed to be learning when they sign up for school. So it's like, there needs to be like some sort of communication there where there's like, you know, the best for the actual student to provide for the clients that we're going to be touching.
Sasha: Yeah, absolutely and you don't know what you don't know and I really wish that schools. Um Would bring in more of us that are actually working in the industry to talk to the students And I mean, that's, that's something that I've done and I'm passionate about doing, but there's not enough of it. There should be requirements for, um, in person apprenticeship, shadowing, all of those things, as well as I really wish that like aspiring aestheticians, aspiring anyone in the beauty industry knew that like, we don't bite.
We [00:10:00] love giving out advice and information and There's so much because like, I don't know about you. Like I am feeling old. We're not old, but there's this whole like next generation coming up at a beauty school. We're like veterans now. It's crazy. And we had to figure so much out on our own.
The Estie Bestie: so
Sasha: So much.
The Estie Bestie: the millennial
Sasha: And I'm,
The Estie Bestie: here. We're like, we literally had to go through COVID.
Sasha: I swear though, but we are so happy just to share our knowledge so that they don't have to go through like the same stuff. And that's what I always felt like I have students that I'm huge on. I will not just sign anyone up for our programs. It has to be right for them. So there's sometimes where I'll point them in another direction.
But even if they don't take our courses, I let them know, I'm like, hey, reach out to me if you have any questions or, you know, you're not sure [00:11:00] what direction to go. I am a complete open book because I would rather them not waste that time or waste their money, you know? Um, it's all about just bringing the industry up.
And yeah, there's the cattiness in the industry. There's still some gatekeeping, but I think overall Six seven eight years ago. It was all gatekept, right?
The Estie Bestie: gatekept, which is why I think we're seeing such a big influx of like courses, like, and I call it courses rampant because we're seeing such an influx of people being like, well, you're not going to tell me how to do it. And I'm not going to be able to learn how to do it the right way. So like, I might as well make something up that works for me. And I think that's the
Sasha: Yeah
The Estie Bestie: It's not a bad thing, but it's also not like it's not regulated.
Sasha: Yeah, and that that goes back to the whole yeah, not regulated thing back to the whole it's all the wild west out here And then it's like oh, well this trainer said this and this other person said this so which one's right or wrong I told my students all the time. I said, I don't claim to know everything i'm teaching you, you know, what works for me however You [00:12:00] There's no rules.
My biggest rule is, well, there are rules. My only number one rule is, as long as you're not hurting the client. Like, that's what it comes down to. I say, Yeah, like, you are a lash artist. That means that you might do something completely different. Then, you know, the other artists it's artistry, but safety first.
And as long as you are not harming your client or practicing negligently, there's so many different paths to get to that end result. And there's no single educator or influencer within our industry. That's like the know all be all by any means.
The Estie Bestie: mean, I've taken multiple courses from multiple trainers over the last five years, more than that. I mean, you learn different styles and techniques. Some people, you know, they just prefer different techniques, even in business, like having different mentors and, and having different people to look at and ask questions and like, see how things are working [00:13:00] for them or being intrigued by like what and how they're doing things is okay.
Like always reach out and ask me like, Hey, I like what you're doing here. Like, where did you learn that? Maybe they have a course or someone that you can mentor with like you.
Sasha: Oh, what do you know? Yeah, absolutely. And that's just the thing though, too, is. You know everyone although we all do have our own different ways of doing things I think when you're looking for a coach or you're looking for an educator or even a mentor Finding someone that is humble enough to say I don't know at all I am open to learning new things because i'm sure just like me like i'm sure you have had Beliefs within this industry that maybe you had a few years ago completely flipped upside down on its head And that's just to Having an open mind, you know,
The Estie Bestie: Yeah. That's one of the biggest things too. I feel like people are so, I don't want to say close minded, but I feel like they're not given the opportunity to be [00:14:00] open minded. When they start on a path of like just focusing on the end goal and not appreciating the growth that it takes to get there.
And I feel like that's the, I want it now. I want it here. I want, I want the money, money, money, everything right now. When like, sometimes that's not the best way, like slow growth. I would rather grow slow and learn everything inside out with people that are ethical and have integrity, rather than just skipping the line and trying to it fast. And I think
Sasha: it's not sustainable. It's not.
The Estie Bestie: That's exactly where I was going with that. Like you may have success in the front end, but you are going to miss out on all of the education and the true path that you should be on in the long run.
Sasha: Oh, absolutely. I've had so many students that they have what appears to be a bangin business from the outside. [00:15:00] They do the trainings, they've got the team, they, you know, all the things. And when I get into their business and start to audit it, I'm like, holy shit. Can I, can I even say that on here? I'm bleeping out, I guess.
I'm like, you know what? I, fuck it. Perfect. That's my favorite word. Great. Glad we're here. Alright, so I'm like, you know what? You built this thing. On like no foundation No foundation and now you're watching it start to crumble You're coming to me. You're coming to me because you're in a complete tailspin You're panicking you built this monster and a lot of the times it does require Pulling things back and they'll see revenue decrease because we take time to Have to go back and build it right and then we build it back up and it's better than before, right?
But if you just do it, right the first time You can avoid that and you're going to be able to have longevity and I think the other thing too within our industry Um, we have people that [00:16:00] really bring it to light like yourself And um, we just have I don't know. I I don't like saying like woke but that's really what it is We have this whole generation
The Estie Bestie: yeah,
Sasha: beautypreneurs that are just more woke now and We're not putting up with the, the BS.
We want ethics. We want things done properly,
The Estie Bestie: yeah,
Sasha: We're not taking everything that we're being spoon fed anymore, just for what it is, what we're told it is we're willing to question, and we are also willing to raise our voices to make change happen and to bring awareness. And that's something that I love so much about what you use your platform for is, you know, To bring awareness to the entire industry and to call people out because a lot of the crap that you call out it's it's not right and Unless someone calls them out.
It'll just keep spreading
The Estie Bestie: you
Sasha: like wildfire like the rest of it.
The Estie Bestie: I think, I think it's funny too. Like I, it's [00:17:00] not like ever my intention to just like go and call somebody out. Like I keep quiet. I stay in my damn lane until somebody cuts me off and tries to like literally derail my car from my lane. I have
Sasha: Oh, yeah
The Estie Bestie: I think I said this in the last episode, but like I have never.
gone out of my way to talk bad, to make sure that I am slandering or saying anything that is untrue. Like if I'm speaking about something, I promise you, one, I have the receipts. I'm not afraid to share with them. And three, they came at me sideways one way first or another. It
Sasha: percent and at that point I mean, there's no the truth always comes the truth always comes to light
The Estie Bestie: does, but it may not come out. It may not come out like right now. It may come out five, six, seven months later, maybe even a year later. But it always comes out.
Sasha: Whether you're the one that brings it to light, [00:18:00] it's going to come out regardless.
The Estie Bestie: exactly. Exactly. And unfortunately, unfortunately and fortunately, am not the one.
Sasha: I wouldn't want to be on your bad side.
The Estie Bestie: It's not even, it's not even like a bad sign. Like, I have no malice towards these people. I'm just like, I don't want anything to do with you. I want you away from me and I hope you, I hope that I can do something to make sure you never do this to somebody else. That's like where it
Sasha: Yeah, it's, yeah, it's, it's about not only having that personal boundary, but standing up for just what's right.
The Estie Bestie: Yeah.
Sasha: that literally brings it full circle, though, to what we just talked about is when you operate in business that way, that's how you have longevity.
The Estie Bestie: yeah, exactly. And, and that's another point that you made was like, start from the beginning, start from the beginning, ask those hard questions, get with, ask people like yourself, if you are a movie artist, if you are thinking about getting into the business industry, the beauty industry and business [00:19:00] industry, because it is, we're in a business industry. Our end goal is not to sit here and do. You know, duty services for the rest of our lives. Our goal is to build something up so that we can be managing people to do services and we can keep creating bigger business outside of just our studio, at least in my eyes. to reach out to people, is a good quality that you would suggest?
Like, what are things that you would suggest somebody to ask a mentor, a business coach? What are good questions they can ask to know if they're getting somebody who's real and what should the response be from a business owner or a mentor?
Sasha: Wow, that's a really great question. So, wow, what a great question. I would say, you know, if they are not willing to share their truth, or if there's any dancing around any topics, or just, first of all, like, listen to your gut, right? [00:20:00] You can always tell if something's a little bit off, but I really feel like I got asked a great question of over the weekend We're in session right now for a course and one of the girls asked me She said what do you wish that you knew when you were first starting and it's such a simple question But what that did was it provoked such a larger conversation Right, and I always tell them though too in the beginning.
I think that a lot of beauty business. Um You You know, aspiring entrepreneurs, they really want what you were just talking about is all of the things. Run the team have the other sources of revenue this that and the other And that is you and I do share a lot of you know The same goals and we've achieved so much that we set out to do but also You don't necessarily have to have those things be your goals.
Some people really enjoy Working for someone some people really enjoy just having their suite and calling it a day But when [00:21:00] you're reaching out to mentors and you're reaching out to educators You Go with someone that they've already done it. They have what you want. Don't listen to someone that doesn't have what you want or hasn't experienced it.
Um, they'll, they could lie and BS you, but if you listen to someone that's been there before, they're probably going to save you like 10 steps along the way. Right.
The Estie Bestie: 10 steps, 10, 000, maybe more.
Sasha: At minimum, at minimum, literally at minimum.
The Estie Bestie: Yeah, exactly. I love that. I love that. I love that response. I think, I think that's one of the hardest things, like you said. And I have very, very much felt this in the last couple of years. You don't know what you don't know. And
Sasha: Oh, facts. Yeah.
in business. I feel like in every point that I have been on my business journey, I have felt like, okay, I know I can always learn more, but I feel like what I'm doing is right.
And then I'm hit with like a side train or a freight train. And I'm like, Oh, I didn't know that. [00:22:00] Now I have to go educate myself on what that is and see how I can make changes over here in my business to make sure that that doesn't happen again, or that I can skip over that and get to the next level.
Yeah, it's a constant pivot. And I had someone that she said, you know, my goal is I want to be like you. I just don't think that I could handle it. And when you are Running a team and the courses and kiddos and all of the things. Yeah, it takes a lot mentally It takes a lot from you emotionally, right? And that's the other thing I tell people I say you can have all of these goals I think they are great aspirations, but also you have to understand what it takes physically mentally Emotionally because you can have the best mentors.
You can have the best educators. You can do all of the things but if you don't have what it takes because It's going to keep trying to knock you down, knock you down.
The Estie Bestie: punching bag. It feels like sometimes and like at the end of the day, it's like [00:23:00] you have to start to love those punches or you're not going to make it.
Sasha: I think I do love them. It's like getting a tattoo. It's like a good pain because if there's like not a fire to put out,
The Estie Bestie: Yeah.
Sasha: I'm like, this is too, this is too calm. This is kind of boring.
The Estie Bestie: Right.
Sasha: As twisted as that sounds, you know, literally though. And that's why I always have to have, you know, different projects going on.
And if I don't have a little bit of chaos, I'm, I'm probably seeking it, but it's, it's a good chaos, right?
The Estie Bestie: Yeah.
Sasha: And what comes with the chaos though, is a learning experience. And I think that's why we seek it is we know that there's growth on the other side, right? And so whenever anyone in our industry or any industry period is going through something in business, just know that on that other side, there's so much growth and that you get to look back and either next time that you're hit through that punching bag, that you get to, you know, pivot and make a different [00:24:00] decision.
Or that you're able to use that knowledge and that experience to help someone else It's yeah, it's literally a punching bag. You, you nailed that.
The Estie Bestie: Makes it, it makes it worth it. Cause it's like, and I feel like that's a certain personality type too, about like, I would rather it be me than anybody else. And I've always been like that. Like I would rather it be me than somebody who is going to lay down and take it. Rather than stand up and fight against it. Because for me, I don't know if this is just like a twisted mentality that I have, but like, there is nothing that is going to derail me completely. And like, I know that if I'm going through something, if something is coming my way, there is a reason for it and whatever is coming out on the other side, maybe this is the Delulu in me. It has to be good. It has to be good. The harder, the harder of a hit, the bigger the reward.
Sasha: Oh, yeah, absolutely. And it really is as cliche that is to say this a journey [00:25:00] because there's no end game to it. So what you win the game of business. No, there's there's absolutely no end. So you might as well.
The Estie Bestie: what's
Sasha: Exactly. I mean,
The Estie Bestie: You're up on stages. You're invited to events. Woo. Like we've done all that.
Sasha: I don't,
The Estie Bestie: spoken on stages. It was that, that was the end game at one point for me. Now, now that I've reached it, I'm like, that's not the end game. What's next? Like, what, what is next?
Sasha: yeah, I'm good off of that. I'd rather be taking a nap. Um,
The Estie Bestie: Schedule nap.
Sasha: really, everyone has, you know, their own, their own parts of the game that they love and I've, I've really enjoyed, you know, every hit, every growth that comes from it, but mostly just being able to take those and pour them into other people so that they understand, you know, what we went through, so they don't have to go through it.
Um, but then they, they might realize that their goals, you know, look different and that what we, what we do is we get to, okay, you get on the stage or [00:26:00] you hit that dollar mark in business, that revenue, whatever you were looking for. Now what?
The Estie Bestie: Exactly.
Sasha: Now what? Now I'm like, as long as everyone's healthy and happy and I'm still out here helping people, I'm good.
But it really, truly turns into a game, and Alex Formosy says it best. Business is the game, and it is a video game that I just, I just keep adding zeros to it. And it's so fun to play because I
The Estie Bestie: semicolon.
Sasha: knew we were going to get along. I love the fact that you said that
The Estie Bestie: Late Sims!
Sasha: cheat codes for life, but there's
The Estie Bestie: was
Sasha: no,
The Estie Bestie: money. I'm like, where's my cheat code for this? See, you
Sasha: what I'm saying.
No, there's no. It's the
The Estie Bestie: code, but like, there's gotta be a way to have, like, infinite happiness. Relating that to Sims, like, it's Rosebud, semicolon, colon, whatever the heck it was. Exclamation point.[00:27:00]
Sasha: millennial in us, but we just think that this is The Sims, so. But yeah, it's just the fact that, um, Cheat codes, that's so funny. It's just the fact that so many people think that there is an end to the game, and then they're grasping at nothingness,
The Estie Bestie: Yeah,
Sasha: and they really are looking for that Rosebud cheat code.
The Estie Bestie: exactly. Exactly. Sasha, tell everyone where they can find you, where they can ask you business questions if they're in Indianapolis, where they can sign up for your course, and where they can find you on the gram or socials.
Sasha: Absolutely. So it's Sasha Han and you're not show notes, right?
The Estie Bestie: Absolutely.
Sasha: Okay. Yep. So at Sasha Han on Instagram and everything on there to be able to connect with me for any coaching, consulting, my course links are on there. I'll have online courses in the very near future. We are doing a [00:28:00] large, a large pivot right now.
I've been a little busy with the in person, so looking forward to that, but everything, um, Pretty much just at Sasha Hahn.
The Estie Bestie: Yeah, we'll have to bring you back for that story later. We'll have to spill the tea on that later, once we're through
Sasha: you, you've had, yes, you, you've gotten to listen to some of the behind the scenes of that, so I think that's gonna be a good episode, once we can spill the tea.
The Estie Bestie: Thank you so much for joining me. I hope all the tea we've spilled and perspectives that you've given Sasha and that I, you know, I always put my two cents in, allows somebody to find, you know, what they're looking for. The path that they're supposed to be on, whether that be with you or taking a lash course or finding a good mentor, creating a group, something like that, that helps them just do better and be better in the aesthetics industry. So until next time, we'll see you later.
Sasha: Thanks for having me.
The Estie Bestie: course.
[00:29:00]