What's up besties? We are in for some spicy tea today. Some spicy, hot, I don't know, whatever the hell you want to call it. But we are here with Letitia and she is the scandalous esthetician. And I'm so excited because we have so much stuff to talk about today. Some of the things that have been going on in the industry, of course, we're here for tea time. You're here for the tea. That's the purpose. We're going to give it to you. And I actually have some tea to spill for you today. that you don't even know about yet. So I'm, I'm anxious and excited to see, I'm excited to see your reaction raw on video and podcast here. So if you're listening in, make sure that you stick around and I'm so excited for this episode today. So welcome besties. I'm Athena, AKA the EstieBestie and we have, yeah, so you have a studio space and we were just chatting about this, so you have a studio space where you do your services and then you also have more of like a skin influencer space, I would call it because you are sharing your perspective on the industry. for aestheticians to follow you there, right? Can you tell me why you separated the two? Yeah, I, I agree wholeheartedly with that. And I love that you put it so simply too. It's like, you're not my clientele. You don't need to hear this, but aestheticians need to hear this. So it's like you're split in two as a business owner, but also like you're saving them from wasted time either way. I love that. The honesty is here. I love that. That's true though. Like If you want a copy, go for it. Like, you can't, you can't ever be you. Yeah. Yeah, be inspired. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think that's one thing that I kind of struggle with, too, because I moved out of, like, seeing clients. So, like, my business page used to just be for, like, clients and for products that I would sell to aestheticians, so it was very, very murky. Um, now I've transitioned to just being the Assy Bessy platform. And you can see, you can see the difference in the change of my even content. Now, like, I'm not going to educate you. Like you said, on vitamin C, you already know about it. Right. But like, if you need to know something about trademarks or like what's happening, like, yeah, I'm going to educate you there on that platform. And then if we, if we want to really get into it and like, have tea time and like spill the tea, like this is the place for it. Cause I don't want to turn off estheticians from learning from me education wise or whatever else I'm sharing on my page. From this. So it's like, it's like different audiences. Love that. I love that. Yeah. Mm hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You're gonna get more estheticians. Mm hmm. Yeah. Me! I want all the estheticians. Come over here. I want, I want all of y'all to come to the Estee Bestie. Yes! Right. Let's get some tea. We'll, we'll share in the DMs. Like, let's do it. But yeah, like, if I'm gonna do a service on somebody, like, no, I'll probably not. change, do something different, not use that page for that. But yeah, for sure. So, okay, I also want to kind of chat about like how you and I kind of met because we kind of met during a high tea time, right? We, well, not only for me and I was even thinking about that, but like, I was introduced to you actually through Lauren. With all of that stuff happening with her, um, beds and stuff, right? So I actually, so she was like, oh, this is a person that, you know, I feel like you would totally rock with. Like you guys, you guys would vibe together. And I was like, oh, yeah, let's, uh, let me reach out and be like, hey, how you doing, right? Cause like, I want like minded estheticians around me. I don't I don't care about anything else. Like if you think like me, we think the same, we have the same values. Good. You're on my team. I'm, I'm great. Um, so then I went to your page and I was like, I'm blocked. And she was like, no way. And I was like, yes way. I'm, I'm blocked. I was like, can you like, yes. And I was like, Yeah, I know and I was like maybe but you also yeah, that's what I'm saying Like that's how I am Unless you're in my DMS and you're doing something shifty like if you make a nasty negative defaming comment that I know is completely false I'll block your ass. I don't care. That's fine But like I don't just go out there and just like look for people to block either So I was like she blocked me. She hates me. What did I do now? It's like shit Yes I thought it was funny. So that's kind of how we kind of were like. I don't know, introduced to one another. And then I feel like over the past couple months, like you allowed me to speak my truth and you heard me out and you listened to like the situation that was happening with me and I appreciated that and you didn't judge me for it. And I feel like we've had multiple conversations. Even if we don't see like completely eye to eye, I feel comfortable enough to approach you with like what I'm seeing and what I've got for you not to judge me and just be like open minded about it and be like, well, what about this perspective? Have you thought about this way? And I appreciate that about you. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Absolutely. And most people don't want to. Yeah. No, I agree. That's, that's why I feel like, I feel like you and I will do great things in our approach in the way that we think about situations, but also being very humble. Like knowing when like you fucked up, you fucked up. It's okay. Everybody fucks up. Right. It happens. Right. Complacency is like weakness. Right. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Agreed. I agree a whole, a hundred percent. Speaking of giving grace, how do you feel about companies that I have, you know, had situations with, situationships with, and continuing to do things that they know are not legal or ethical? How do you feel about that? Yeah, yes. Exactly. Yeah. It's everywhere. Yeah. It's everywhere. And that's like, I feel like it's so important to start educating on being an informed consumer, to start being able to like make educated decisions as just business owners in general and aestheticians. Absolutely. Because what we do affects our clients. It's, it's, right hand to left hand, what we do, the products we use, they affect our clients. We're getting paid to do services on them. We're getting paid. We're paying for products. First of all, secondly, we're selling products and then we're applying products. Like we are the, we're the middleman, the top man in the lower man in that situation, but we're the one that's going to go down for it. If something happens, when do we know we're not, we're not educated enough in in our scope of practice. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's where we're hit by so many different angles and that's something that is So I don't want to say like hard because everything's hard in life like it's fine but I want to say it's so conflicting because When we enter into the aesthetic space, at least for me, it was with the intention to build a brand, to bring quality products ethically. And I feel like a lot of us all start with that mindset and we enter into school and we get into school and then we join these groups and we're like, wow, these laws apply here. They don't apply there. So it's very, very confusing to be an aesthetician, to understand your own scope, to stay on trend with. new procedures and, and services and even, you know, chemical makeups and formulas. Right. They get better. You got to keep learning. You're not going to go back to your school to keep learning. No, you have to, you have to invest in advanced education. So like, I feel like the beauty industry is so complex. Yeah, yeah, no. Yeah. Yeah. That's the hardest thing. Yeah, without the bonus commission, without the benefits, without any of the credit, I mean, what? They're going to bring you on as an ambassador and as soon as, as soon as your views drop or your engagement drops, they, you want the pink one like Mary Kay? Am I allowed to say Mary Kay? Right? Yeah. Yeah. FTC. FTC. Yes. Yes. Yeah. And then they sell it on Amazon. And then they sell it on Amazon. I know, and it's like, you know, I just wish, I wish, and I know a lot of us wish, that like, there was An actual, like, honest, integral relationship to build with estheticians instead of using us to build their platform without really compensating us. Like, I'm sorry, calling me an ambassador is not paying my bills and it doesn't satisfy Even the basic level, it's not, it's not extraordinary to be an ambassador of something anymore, to be a hundred percent honest, it's not extraordinary to be able to be like, Oh, Hey, I'm up on stage speaking, whatever. It's not, it's not that we want more than that. Now we want real relationships. And I think that companies that. Recognize that we actually want to build real relationships for quality and with integrity. Those are the ones we're going to see succeed in the next couple of years. And we're going to see a lot of things changing, especially after this year. Yeah. They're at that line, toe to toe. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Yeah. They see us as glorified sales agents for them as well. Free sales agents. We're handing it to them. We're handing them the free education. We're telling them how much we're making doing the services we're, we're doing. We're they see that they want that. Of course they're going to want it. So what are us the titians going to do to get a piece of the pie for themselves? Yeah. Right. Yeah. The desk. Yeah, I agree. I feel the same way. I've said this for, I mean, honestly, like after the experience that I had with my school, I was like, What the hell is this industry doing? Not only just at the skincare and the education level for basic, like licensure with our States. It's like literally everything else that you learn. Like you said, you're 15 years in, I'm about five years into owning my own business being an esthetician license, right? But I've been in the industry for 10 years and I've seen so many changes from. Let's say five years prior to me being an institution to now that it is, it's wild. I know what, what lack of schooling you guys got. And when, let me tell you, it wasn't any better when I went five years ago. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because they don't factor in the cost. Like, yeah, you can do revenue, but what's your actual bottom line? People don't know that they don't educate on the business. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, we're changing skin so much that we are changing social media about skin. We're changing so much and educating so much that people at home now think that they can do what estheticians do, and they are severely wrong. But also, like, can we blame them? We're educating, right? We're, we're educating the same way that we're, we're, that's what I'm saying. Like, estheticians are so stupid. Like we're so stuck between a rock and a hard place with, like you said, medical wanting to jump in on us, companies wanting to jump in on us to use us for sales, for profit, for revenue. Right. And then we have the educated clientele that we've spent years. Trying to educate to make sure that they come back and trust us to build a trusted relationship. Now thinking like, oh, I'm just going to bypass you because this company over here is now selling direct to public. So like, this is the aesthetician just boggling between forcing education on our clients to make sure they trust us. And then take being taken advantage of by larger companies. It's like, where do, where do aestheticians win? How can we win? Do we stop educating? That's not in our hearts. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay, wait. What's one service you would say that, as long as you are properly educated, I mean, come on, like, re Yeah. Right. Yeah. Oh my god, yeah. Yeah. I think, like, nano channeling. Like, nano channeling without actually puncturing, like the SkinOne Pro, I feel like that's a great at home device that you can do. Yeah. Come back to me. Come back. Yeah. Yeah. And yeah, exactly. Repairing and everything like people don't understand like, yeah, you can do these treatments, but like one of the biggest things in doing, you know, advanced treatments is the healing process after it's almost like that is more valuable. That's, that is the most valuable thing is the, is controlling the healing process, speeding up the healing process after these treatments. And people don't understand that. They're like, Oh, Yeah, they're like, Oh, I'm going to go get a 50 percent glycolic off of Amazon and like they put it on their face. And then they're like, Oh, I did something, help me fix me. Well, it's going to take six months to rebuild and fix that at this point. What influencer was it? Okay. Oh no, no. I'm about to like run to TikTok right now. She's scabbed. Oh no. I feel bad for her. You can burn yourself with that. Those products guys. Absolutely. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're good. I think you hit the mute. You're good now. So you read it through the comments? Girl. Well, that too. Fuck that, I need a video for that. Ikea should come with videos now. Yeah. Yeah, no, everyone thinks, oh, that's the thing, everyone thinks they can do it themselves. DIY is like the new, you know, YouTube University is the new new We're, we're literally losing faith in everything. Right. I've done two build outs. I could probably change a toilet out. Am I going to do it? Hell no. I'll probably mess something up even though I've seen it. Right. Exactly. Yeah. There's, there's, there has to be a respect for education. Within the parameters of like your scope, right? But then also finding someone you can learn from. I know, I know, I know. How do we get out of it? That's it. Guys, if you have, if you have advice for us here, if you want to share some tidbits, like put them down below because we need to know how the heck about what. I feel a lot of things, girl. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of us. Yeah. Mm hmm. Yeah. And I've seen that argument, too. I've seen people arguing about that, like, oh, and I think in like Utah or Washington State, like, there's something called a master institution. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm like, okay, that's okay, but like, what, this medical term, like, and like using aesthetics A E instead of E S T, like, aesthetics, like, what, I mean, I've seen it multiple times. I think it's a way for people to like, yeah, yeah, but like, what's it, what's the difference between, you know. Yeah, right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, no, I've seen that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's wild over here. It really is. I like that. That is anatomically correct, first of all. Secondly, I mean, I think dermatologists would get really angry here. Because dermatology is literally the study of the skin. Like that's like what the medical terminology, derm and ology. We know this, you and I know this, people probably don't know this that are listening, but like, I feel like dermatologists would pitch a fit if we started calling ourselves dermatologists. Dermotherapists. All my dermatologist friends, pipe, pipe down in the comments, okay? Yeah. Yeah. I think we've all been recommended the same book for ingredients, M'lady Ingredients Book. That's it. Yeah. It's not enough. Yep. Yep. Yeah. Agreed. Agreed. And, and, I had something happen. The other day that I wanted to share with you because this is like this is where like I feel like How could we as estheticians like you said like we are into the rock in a hard place? Like how can we actually make an impact without impacting? Our own finances. It's going to be hard. There's going to be hard conversations that need to be had and there's going to be, and until people are willing to do that, which I feel like some people really are niching down in the products that they're using and the companies that they're going with, I feel like until that happens, we are not going to be able to force that change. We're not going to be able to have a piece of the pie when it comes to the beauty industry. We're just going to be looked at as like, you know, How we're looked at right now is, Oh, we're great sales agents. Oh, we don't know enough about skin, blah, blah, blah. But I feel like this is something that we can do. And I had a company literally yesterday. I was going to tell you this before, but I saved for the podcast. I had a company reach out to me and ask me if I would be interested in testing their device. Well, this device looks very similar to a device that I have tested in the past. And I know has patents and I know has. And I was like, um, by any chance, do you know if you have any licenses for this device? Like, are you licensed to use this device? And they were like, how so? I'm like, well, um, are you allowed to be selling this device? With the technology that it has, with the tools that it has, with the method it has that I know are patented. And they were like, silence, no, nothing, nothing back, nothing like that. And I was like, um, guys, I'm going to decline because I know there's patents and I'm not an attorney, but let me tell you, like, I cannot support something that I know might be a conflict of interest or possibly infringing on the industry just because it's 20, 000 cheaper does not mean that I would feel comfortable. One, promoting it, two, being affiliate for your company, or three, actively giving you my money, knowing you're ripping off another company. And I feel like that is a conversation that aestheticians can have with companies when they see these things happening. That's something that we can do. We can impact the industry that way. Um, the device is the, it's the Jeneo. It's the, um, oxfoliation. So, Polygen, also owned by the parent company is Lumenis. Yeah. So they have, they have like 30 patents and they have specifically, I want to say seven for the, um, Jeneo device, the Polygen, right? So this other company approached me. And they're like, Oh, do you want to try out this device? And I'm like, um, if it's licensed, I'd be happy to, as long as you have a legal contract, like to be able to sell this device. Cause sometimes, sometimes larger companies will do that. They will literally be their biggest own competition. Right. Most of the time they won't, but if they see a resistance for a high ticket item, they'll create another company that's a lower ticket item, but license that to that separate company. If that makes sense. So, of course I'm going to ask that question, like, do you have licenses, right? They had no idea what the hell I was talking about. And I was like, oh, hell no, I'm not going down this road. One, you're not going to come at me for my platform. You clearly don't know me. You clearly haven't been listening or, or, or know what I'm about personally. Cause you would never even asked at that point. So, yeah, so it wasn't the Jeneo. It was a company trying to rip off the Jeneo. Oh, it's very similar. It looks like it, it, it walk, like it walks, like it, it talks like it. And, and, you know, something that I learned by searching up the actual patents, cause I never want to assume anything, um, I looked up Jeneo patents. I, I pulled it up and I looked at the. Um, the way that they do their oxfoliation, which is also trademarked by the way it went through in February, um, I looked that up and I was like, there's no way that they can actually use even this hand piece to do that process because the process is patented. So, I know red flag right there, like, there's no way there's no way this device, if it's not licensed, it's an infringement. So, yeah. Mm hmm. Yes. Yeah. Oh, absolutely not. It, it is. Yeah. It is. Absolutely. It's the manufacturer's fault as well as the company needs to put a stop to it. Like, you have legal responsibilities to protect your, your assets, right? Mm hmm. Mm hmm. No. Right. Right. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Yes. Yeah. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. It falls on the company. Yeah. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Yeah. World market. Yeah. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. If the results are the same. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mm hmm. Yes. Mm hmm. Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly. And that's, that's the hard thing too, because well, you know, I, like, I have a patent, I have products and like, yeah, I've sent, I've sent cease and desist. And I've sent in the proper paperwork through attorneys to companies, to manufacturers overseas. And they really just don't give a shit. Like they'll take it off the market for that country temporary temporarily, but then you have to keep going. You have to keep saying, Hey, knock it off, knock it off, knock it off. Are they going to meet you here for court? No, it's international law. It's it's so hard, but one of the biggest things too is like, I feel like that's where, you know, I feel like these companies that have the patents and things like that, like they need to make things more affordable and realistic. Like people aren't paying just for the brand anymore. They're paying for. They're paying for the message. And like, we can say, Oh, the brand, the brand, the brand. But like, if Gucci just slapped something on and says, Oh, this is Gucci. I'm going to charge 700 for it. Like, what does that even mean anymore? Like, what is, what is Gucci about? You know what I mean? Like that, that branding, that just label that you put on a product does not make you a brand anymore that people want to be a part of. I'm sorry, but like Hydra facial. I am not going to speak bad about it. The cost was way too high for me. It didn't make sense economically for me to bring that device in. It didn't even make sense for me to bring in Janayo with the cost of the device now at 25, 000 plus. Right. But that just means that I'm choosing not to utilize those things and not go into debt as an esthetician, as a solo esthetician to try to do that. But am I going to bring in a cheaper device that I know is infringing for me? Morally, I can't, even if I had people knocking on my door for the service, I can't because I've seen the other side of it and I know how hard I personally work to protect my inventions, right? So for me, I can't, but I think that these companies like Hydrafacial, like Jeneo, I think that they really do need to look at a different business model to access the people that are selling the crap out of their products or services and their machines. They need access to that, or they're gonna keep fighting that low dollar, low ticket. Meet 'em in the middle. Yeah, they do. I know people that have gotten, I, I know a lot of people that have gotten cease and desist over those Mm-Hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mm-Hmm. agreed. Right. The reps. Mm-Hmm. Yeah. Mm. Yeah. Mm hmm. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. I tried it out. I liked it. Mm hmm. Dun dun dun! The tea! Mm hmm. Yeah. Mm hmm. Yeah. Yeah. It's helping the estheticians get the message out because we're the ones doing the services, which is great. That's going to make, if more people want the service, more people are searching for a service in the area, they're going to need more estheticians to do the service. It makes absolute marketing sense. A hundred percent. Agreed. It's so high. Yes. Yeah. And if it's the same technology, I mean Yeah, we'd like it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Yeah, but isn't ZOE skincare now being sold directly to consumer? Or is it only through med spas, though? Yeah. Really, like, all you gotta do is go to the store. That's direct to consumer. Right. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Ugh. I could talk, I could chat about this for days. People don't know that. Oh, wait, where's my, if I had my tea, I already drank all my Celsius. So I'm like, I'm gonna get up and do the round. I know there's so much. Yeah. Oh, I think I heard about that because what about is clinical? There's something about is clinical too, or I as clinical. Yeah. They, they, they required a director for a while. That's crazy to me because a lot of these companies like, well, they're owned by L'Oreal now. We knew that was going to happen back in 2021 when they sold. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. I saw that. Uh, they sold, Oh, I got the email for that one. I could literally pull that up right now. They sold to something with an N I want to say. And that, and like, that's totally fine. But like, if they're going to sell like keeper values and keep it where like the people that made your company, where it is like good for them for exiting, no, no, their world, they want worldwide. And they're just going to, they're just going to copy paste, rebrand, whatever. I think, I think with skin better. And I don't know this cause I don't know the line and I don't know much about them other than the fact that they sold. I never got into it. Um, it was just way out of my price point for, Me wanting to host Backbar as well as sales. Like I just, I couldn't, you know, it just wasn't my vibe. Um, but I feel like they kept the director and the chemist or the owner on as like a COO or something. Yeah. Mm hmm. Do you sell them? Are you a rep? Are you? Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah. I mean, okay. So here's, here's what I'm going to say about that. My goal for my business is to build it up to a point to where I can sell it for hundreds of millions of dollars, right? How can you do that without having product? You can't. Right. You can't build a hundred or 300 million or 843 million. Shout out to drunk elephant for doing that. You can't do that by just having a service based business, a coaching business. You need, you need products. The products are what's going to get you to that point. Right. And I feel like. Solo aestheticians, you're creating jobs for yourself. Yeah. You have a career, you've created a job for yourself, but like, you're not creating a business. You, you created a job and we hear this over and over again. And I feel like people are finally starting to get it, but like, that's, my goal is to sell. Can I control what they do after I sell? No, no. Is it going to be a little bit of a heartbreak if I see it go south? Yeah. Am I going to be able to have any control over that? No, exactly. So like I see, I see both sides. Yes. Yeah. Mhm. Mhm. On top of the laundry. It is. It's hard. Yeah. Right. Right. Right. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Exactly. But like at what point do estheticians, what point can estheticians as, as a collective, as a career, as a just you unit that moves around between this rock, you know, the rock and the hard place, how can we actually have an impact? Because we're, I feel like we're doing the most, we get the least credit and I'm not saying like, oh, what was us at all? But like, come on, like we got to start educating ourselves on business. To actually be a real player in this game. Cause it is. It's a game. And you gotta, you have to seek education. You cannot be fearful of the answer or response you're gonna get. And you have to be willing to put in, like you said, the blood, the sweat, and the tears. It's cliche, but it's the damn truth. And you're gonna, you gotta, you gotta get some thick skin out here too, because this is not, this is not an industry for the faint of heart. And this is not an industry where you can sit here and be like, Oh, I'm going to, I'm going to, you know, act a certain way or be a certain way one day. And then, and then be another, another day, like you got to figure out who you really are. You can't just go on social media and think you've got a business. Okay. I have a piece to say about that too, because I literally just watched A video and it was of Mark Cuban and it resonates with me because I feel the same way and it was like If you are taking out a business loan to start a business, you're a fucking idiot because nothing is guaranteed. Did you do that? Okay. Well, 99 percent of businesses fail, especially small businesses that don't have capital backing, right? Even with capital backing, the only thing that's guaranteed is, this is what Mark Cuban said, is the fact that you are going to owe That establishment money, you are not guaranteed sales. You are not guaranteed any of these things. So he said, start a business with the capital that you have and do not get a fucking loan because you don't know how to market. You don't know your industry. You don't know these things when you're first starting out. I'm four or five years in and I'm still learning shit on a daily basis. So I'm, I'm no loans. I have no loans. I have no bank loans. I never took a bank loan. I've never done any of that for my business. You are opposite. You took a loan. So you felt more of the responsibility. Obviously you had that knocking on your door every month. You had, you had to get it. You had to get out there and do the work. Do you a motivator for you? Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Your experience. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But for like solo estheticians that have never had a business before, would you recommend getting a loan? Yeah. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Live and learn, right? But when you see these estheticians, but when you see all these estheticians out here and they say, like you said, quote unquote, I'm doing everything. What do you have to say? Like, really, are you? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Same. 100 percent same. Mm hmm. I would think that I could come with the receipts and say the same thing. 100%. Uh, mentorship. Um, learning how to, learning how to emotionally sell, how to connect, how to tell my story. How to do those types of things that are actually what are marketing and advertisement. I mean, really, like I, I've spent more, I spent more on business guidance and coaching than I think anything else other than the basics of aesthetic school. Right. Yeah. Yeah. We didn't learn anything. We didn't learn anything on business. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I look back and I see like these like 20 year olds, 19 year olds, and this is not to say anything on, on age or anything like that, but I'm like, you haven't had a full level job where you could learn the things that you need to know, at least how to operate a business. They can't even write like an opening and closing procedure. And I get it. Like they see. They see, they're sold the pipe dream, like you said, they're sold the pipe dream of making 100k a year. Yeah. That's true. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Exit plan, baby. Exit plan. Yeah. It's constant. See? And that's where mentors and stuff come in, because you can't learn from people who haven't done it, right? So like you couldn't, you had to figure it out yourself. You couldn't, you didn't have anybody to learn from in that moment, which is why you had to, yeah, you had to seek out, you had to seek out somebody who had done it. And that's one thing that I feel like It's so important, especially when it comes to like the amounts of education and coaching and things like that, that people can get in this world through easily online access. Literally you have to learn from someone who's done it. You cannot just go buying these stupid courses from these stupid people that say, Oh, I've made X amount of dollars. Oh, I made that amount of dollars. They haven't showed you the receipts. They haven't showed you how much they really made. They haven't showed you like dates, numbers, times, nothing on it. Why are you believing them? You have to actually see somebody in it that's doing it to be able to replicate it. And if you're paying them to coach you, they should be giving you every single piece of information that they know. And when they find something new, they should be sharing that with you too. So it's like, if you don't know, you don't know what you don't know. It's the biggest theme of 2023, 2024 other than FAFO. Yeah. And then once you do realize what you need, you need to find it and absorb it as fast as you can. Fast as possible from the right people, because learning, if you learn something the wrong way, it's going to take you 10 times longer to undo and relearn how to do something the right way, especially when it comes to business, when you're implementing systems into your daily practice and your operations. It's wild. It's wild. Yeah, you're right though. You're right though. They do. The new estheticians, even, even I feel like older estheticians that have been in for 20 years plus, like, they're learning so much too from the new generation of Estheticians, like they're learning business stuff and social media stuff that they never did before from the younger generation. So it's like, it's, it's beneficial on both sides too, but it's just so much, it's so overwhelming. This industry as an esthetician is so overwhelming. And then everyone being a business owner is even more overwhelming. Yeah. Same. We get it. Exactly. Yeah. You created a job for yourself. Exactly. Exactly. But it's also, it's so hard too with like, you know, the manipulated marketing and the, you know, ability to just put a random ass testimonial somewhere. And it's like, are you really going to take the time to get to know somebody before you give them your money? You should. Absolutely, you should be asking the hard questions like you just said. If you can't answer those three things, why the heck would I ever give you a penny? I don't have time to even waste on the nonsense and the bullshit you're gonna throw at me. To let alone give you money that I, I am struggling to work for, and literally working my hands to the bone esthetician. I know that was a good one. Yeah, absolutely. Sell it, girl. Yeah. Yeah. 100%. 100%. Well, okay, that's one reason why I shared what I actually bring home and pay myself every two weeks. Because I think people think it's like, oh, you're 15 something, 1570. Oh, look! You got the balloons! Boop boop! Balloons just popped up on screen. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There you go. You're married too, right? You just got married too, right? Did you, did you get married last year or this year? Okay, and you have a child, so you have like dependents, right? And your spouse works too. Okay, so you have, oh, amazing. Okay, perfect. So she's on payroll too. Perfect. So you can control what you bring in. You can control, which is good, but yes, let's be realistic here. Like as a business owner, I'm the last to get paid. My employees make more than me. And honestly, I haven't even done, I have not done skincare. I have not taken a client since last July. I focused a whole year stepping back, taking a break from my business. That's okay too. You guys will have a whole talk about that on another podcast, taking a break from the Essie Bessie. Building, building my program for permanent jewelry, which took off, it's still taking off. It's amazing. Everything that I wish I could have done for bestie. I did it with flashing fuse off the bat, going back and having to fix all the systems and stuff that I didn't do. Cause I learned from the wrong people, or I didn't know how to do it. It's taken me longer to get that business to a million dollar business in itself. When this one was a million dollars within the first eight months. Insane. I know all the stuff, but going back to implement that, but guess what, guess what I took home last year off of a million dollar business. And I dropped it this year. I took home 92, 000. I had to pay myself more only because we are a military family. We thought we were going to have to relocate and I was going to have to use my salary as a solo business owner. As a W2 employee of my business, right? I had to prove my numbers. I couldn't just. Say, oh, I make X amount of dollars. I had to put it on paper. Kicked my ass in taxes for sure, but I had to. This year, I don't have to pay myself eight grand a month. I can pay myself 1, 500 every two weeks and I'm happy and I'm fine with it. So that mine will be right about 45, 000 for my salary this year. Same. Absolutely. Oh my God. I drive a crusty little like. Whatever the hell my car is, I don't even know. It makes me think of Vampire Diaries. See, I knew we were gonna be dating! I'm so thankful for I've had a, you know, well, okay. I'm so thankful for the ability to have an impact. I'm so thankful for the ability to To meet people. And this is why I say like Instagram friends are real. I'm a wholeheartedly, I believe in that. Um, but I just feel like you, like, there's so many things that we can do to make a huge impact and you do not have to be big to do big things. And that's what I love about this industry. You can really, even if you impact one business owner, that is going to. Radio effect and affect the next business owner. That's knowledge that they can take from you as a mentor, from you as just a human being and perspective and give. It's like, there's a never ending opportunity to encourage people to do better, to be wiser, and it actually does make an impact and that's what I love. What about you? No ceiling. Yes. That's like a whole nother podcast we should do too, because having no limits. and limiting yourself as a 100k aesthetician, right? People do it all the time. They, they don't realize what they can do. Yeah. Same. Yeah. And you realize you're still only taking home 45. Yeah. Yeah. What, what now? Mm hmm. Right. 100%. Yes. Yeah. Mm hmm. It's not, it's very expensive. Yeah, our margins are smaller. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Truth. I've done it. And, and you, you need to hit the million dollar mark to actually take that 10 percent home. Yeah. Yeah. I've read it. It's on my nightstand. There's another one too. Um, I want to say Gary V's book to, um, the 12, crap. What's it called? I'm going to Google it really quick. Cause I can't remember off the top of my head. 12. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 12 and a half. I want to say, yeah, that one's a really good one. Um, especially for marketing. But yeah, I've read those. I feel like, I feel like there's a few books. Absolutely. Yeah. Uh, when you send me your show notes, make sure you drop those like your little links there so people can see what you're talking about over there and then tell people where they can find you, how they can book with you, how you can consult with them for their aesthetics business to learn from you directly. I love that. I, yeah, absolutely. I feel like that is a true, a true mentor is going to do what's best for you. No matter what, they're not just going to take your money and say, Oh, I'm going to be your mentor and I'm going to make you think just like me. No, like you have to vibe with your mentor. I have hired people in the past that I just didn't vibe with and I didn't get the most out of it. So like that to your mentor. So listen to Latisha, make sure you're in the show notes here. You're clicking all of her links, everything. And once she does get her mentor program up, With her opt in page and everything. She's going to share it with me so I can tag it and I'll put it in the show notes below. So, um, you might see a little update on our show notes, um, in the future. Thank you so much for hopping on and sharing some tea. I, I feel like I have a whole nother podcast we could do. Um, I didn't even get to share some of the other tea. Why not? Well, you know podcast. How about that? Okay. Love that. I love that. Thank you for spending your time with me today. Bye. I know we are going to chat more and listen, besties, make sure you follow, make sure you're hanging out, make sure you're learning from people that you vibe with, and that you have the same values with, and make sure that you're doing something every day to make an impact of positivity and make sure you remember skincare first, kindness always. We'll see you next time on the Estie Bestie Tea time.