Esthetician Podcast; Business tips for Beauty professionals

017: Crafting a Clear Mission: Transform Your Esthetician Business with Purpose and Direction

• Kari Jo

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Crafting a mission statement might sound daunting, but what if I told you it's the compass your business needs to thrive? Join me, Kari Jo Patterson, on a journey from my first cringe-worthy mission statement—crafted with the help of Google and a husband's challenge—to a clearer vision that propelled my esthetician empire to success. We'll laugh together as I recount those early days and share how identifying your mission can transform your everyday hustle into a purposeful pursuit.

This episode is all about giving your esthetician business the directional boost it deserves. Without a defined mission, you're like a boat adrift at sea, wasting energy without ever reaching your destination. I'll help you sidestep those early pitfalls by sharing the lessons learned from my own experience and explain why a mission statement isn't just a piece of paper—it's the heart of your business. Prepare to be inspired and equipped to build your own empire with confidence and clarity, all while enjoying a good laugh at my initial business blunders.

To learn more about coaching please visit: https://www.karijopatterson.com

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Links You May Want to Check out:

Join the Client Building for Estheticians group to go deep in learning all the latest tips and strategies https://www.facebook.com/groups/clientbuildingforestheticians
Check out Kari Jo’s courses here https://esthelaunchacademy.com

announcer:

Welcome to the Esthetician Podcast, where passion meets prosperity. Your host, Kari Jo Patterson, transformed from a solo esthetician into a successful business owner, achieving ultimate time and financial freedom by the age of 38. Kari is the author of Fearless Prosperity, empowering estheticians to build their empire and achieve financial freedom, and the creator of the Empire Growth System for Estheticians. Get ready for some empire building wisdom Now. Welcome your host, Kari Jo Patterson.

Kari Jo Patterson:

Hey there, beautiful business builders, welcome back to the Esthetician Podcast. I'm your host, Kari Jo, and today we're going to dive into something that is so essential for your business, which is your mission statement, and you really need a mission and a vision statement. But really, what we're going to concentrate on this episode is your mission, because you need both elements. They're both foundations for every successful company there is, and if you don't have them clearly defined, it's basically like you're trying to row a boat nowhere. Nothing's going to happen. You're just going to sit there and you're going to be stuck. Trust me, I have been there and today I'm going to help you avoid that. So you have direction and clarity and you know exactly where you are going. But before we get into that, I just want to send a quick reminder that I offer the free strategy sessions every week. I only keep a few spot open and they do fill up really fast, but if you're serious about getting your business on the right track, make sure to check out if there is an opening. It's my way of giving back and I can't wait to help you with these actionable steps to get your business moving. Let's dive in to today's topic, which is on your mission statement and why your business cannot survive without it.

Kari Jo Patterson:

I'm going to kick off this story with a story, and honestly, it's one that still makes me laugh to this day. When I was just getting started, my husband came to me and he said Kari Jo, if you want to take all our tax return money and start your business, you're going to need to write a mission statement and have a business plan, and I want to see it. Of course, I had no idea how to do one. What did I do? I did what any smart person would do. I went to Google and it was business plan. What do I need? I had to do this. I went through. I kept all my paperwork. So I went through all my paperwork because I wanted to read you what I actually put, which is so funny. But I have all these little tabs, questions, competitors, the plan, the cover, banking, you know, because I just had to learn how to do it. So I'm sure I googled how to make a mission statement. So I'm going to flip that in my book. And there was an introduction to my mission statement. I don't. I didn't know there needs to be an introduction. I've never heard of that before, so it must have been something I read. But the introduction says get this to provide relaxing, productive aesthetic services. Okay now my mission statement when I first opened you guys, this is great to provide the most relaxing treatment in town while promoting results and friendships. That was my mission statement. I know totally cringy. You should see the other stuff that is on here. It's pretty funny.

Kari Jo Patterson:

I might start sharing my stories on Instagram because it's pretty entertaining. The thing is is I didn't actually know any better and I thought I was nailing it with what I did, but honestly, I had no clue why I was even showing up every single day. I had no idea what was actually driving me and that lack of clarity really reflected in my business because I was really everywhere and because I had no mission, no clarity. I didn't know what I was doing and I probably could have saved me a lot of time and effort maybe if I did learn this in the first phase of building my company and actually really understand it. But then, at the same time, I really didn't understand until I got deeper into my business and I kept hitting challenges that I was oh why? And then I started realizing why it's important to have a mission.

Kari Jo Patterson:

If you don't know why you are doing what you're doing, it is going to be so hard for you to keep on going when things get tough, because you will have days when you are not making any money and you are questioning absolutely everything and, if you're like me, you might even face major events. I was about to have a baby, I wasn't making any money and I was going to have to leave the chair. At that moment, I invested $10,000 in a mentor when I wasn't even taking home anything and I was about to leave the chair. Why would I make that decision? Why, when I'm not even taking home a paycheck, there's a reason why, and that why ultimately becomes your mission. At some point you're going to figure out your mission and when you figure out why it will carry you through the rest of your challenges, when you figure out why it will carry you through the rest of your challenges, if your business feels really directionless, you can't lead a team effectively because you don't even know where you are going, and that is a big problem, which is why, in order to build a culture, you have to nail this part down. So I want you to imagine because, again, if you listen to the last episode.

Kari Jo Patterson:

The best teams create results and I like to use in this culture building phase, I like to use a lot of sport teams, because sport teams are like the best definition of great culture, because they can create such great results. So I want you to think of your team as like a football team and nobody knows where the goalposts are and one person is trying to kick the ball, one person is going to the right side of the field, one person is going to the left side of the field, somebody else on the football team. They just think the goal is just to tackle and it is like pure chaos because nobody understands the mission of what playing football looks like. It's the same thing in business. When everyone knows the goal and what the goal is and everyone understands the mission, that's when you win. So when everyone knows the goal of the football is to get the ball over there, you know you're going to achieve results.

Kari Jo Patterson:

Here's where most estheticians get stuck. They don't know how to craft a meaningful mission statement and if you don't know how, how can your team win? How can you lead them towards a goal if the goal isn't clear in the first place? There's a challenge. I'm going to challenge you guys right now. Here's a challenge for you. Go to one of your team members right now and I want you to ask them what is our mission statement here at the company? If they can't answer that, that is your first problem in creating the culture in your company. It's a sign that your team is not aligned. They don't know and your business is going to struggle until they actually know what will happen.

Kari Jo Patterson:

Let me see and I see this all they actually know what will happen. Let me see and I see this all the time what will happen if your employees don't understand the mission of your company. Is the boss? You'll end up feeling victimized by your entire team. I see it happen all the time when I go. I went and got my hair done the other day and I walked in and you know we're sitting there and she's like talking to me about her employee and how she doesn't do anything, like all these different things, and yeah, she feels like a little victimized by her employee and she you just can't find good employees anymore. Or she says things like no one is motivated to work. But here's the truth. If you didn't give them clarity, then they can't thrive. That's on you.

Kari Jo Patterson:

Your mission statement isn't just a fluffy sentence that you're going to throw on your website and everything's going to be fine. No, it is your, why. It is the heartbeat of your company. It is why you show up every single day. It is why people decide to join your team. It is something that your whole entire team, they all believe in it, and they need to know why they're there. They need to know why they are working so hard and they need to know the impact that they are going to be making. They need to know how do you are going to be making. They need to know how do you craft a strong mission statement and a vision. If I was working with you, this is one of the things I'm going to have you do.

Kari Jo Patterson:

Run down this in the beginning. Why does your business exist? What is the heart and soul of what it is that you're trying to achieve? Are you helping clients feel more confident in their skin? Are you empowering women to take control of their beauty journey? I want you to dig in really deep into the why. Why do you exist? Two, I want you to write down who are you serving, who is your ideal client and what is their need? How are you going to solve their problems in a way that no one else can? You're different. How are you going to help them? And the last one that I want you to write down is what is the impact that you are making? Your mission needs to inspire your team and it needs to be able to attract talent to your business. If your mission statement does not get you excited, guess what? Your team ain't gonna be excited either.

Kari Jo Patterson:

Once you've nailed down your mission, I want you to focus on the how. How are you gonna achieve this mission? What steps are you gonna take every day in order to make this happen? You need to make your mission statement very short. You need to make it very clear and easy to remember. I like to think of it if you watch Shark Tank. They say the people that win on Shark Tank have the best elevator pitch. The best businesses in this industry are going to thrive if they have the best elevator pitch. The best businesses in this industry are going to thrive if they have the best elevator pitch.

Kari Jo Patterson:

For a mission statement. You should be basically like team has to be able to recite it at any given moment. I don't know if you saw, I wish I could record my snap At any given moment. Snap they got to recite it, this mission statement. I want you to think of it. This is basically your playbook, and if they don't know the plays, how can they help you win? They can't.

Kari Jo Patterson:

For example, let me show you how this can work. I read this book one time about how you get everybody to join in on your mission statement and it was genius, and I did it in my company and I feel like you should do it in yours too. What I did is I would randomly, just throughout the year or month, whenever, more so in the month when I'm trying to train people I would randomly walk around and what's our mission statement? And if the girl could recite it right there without any mistakes, I'd give them like five bucks or I'd give them a gift card to Starbucks. You want your team to be able to recite that the drop of a hat and you want your team to be able to take that mission statement and use it in public to represent your brand.

Kari Jo Patterson:

Let me give you an example of how this can work to grow your company as well, when you have an employee that's working for you and they go out and they're talking to people meeting new people and someone comes up and they're like hi, who are you? And you're like oh, I'm Jessica, hey Jessica. So what do you do? And she responds I'm an esthetician. Oh, that's great, yeah. Or it's going to be like oh, what's that? Because you know, some people are like what's an esthetician? Although I feel like most girls nowadays know what an esthetician is, I don't think hardly anyone knew back 20 years ago what an esthetician was. But they say I'm an esthetician and it dies and it's like wah, wah, wah. But now visualize with me someone walking up and is oh hey, what's your name? Jessica, hey Jessica. So what do?

announcer:

you do.

Kari Jo Patterson:

I'm an esthetician and I work at JC Penney's I can't think of a name at Deluxe Aesthetics or whatever your business is and we're on a mission to empower our clients by transforming their skin and giving them confidence that they deserve. Isn't that going to wow that client like 10 times more than just I'm an esthetician? No, you basically just sold your company to whoever she's talking to. We're on a mission to empower our clients by transforming their skin and we're going to give them the confidence that they deserve. That right there. Empowering your statement has an impact and if you can train your team to say this when they're out, it will actually bring you in more business. Here's what I want you to do this week Take a good hard look at your mission statement. If you don't have one, now's the time to write it. If you do have one, I want you to ask your team if they know it. I want you to make sure it's in line with your goals and it reflects the heart of your company.

Kari Jo Patterson:

And if you're feeling stuck, you're overwhelmed I'm here to help. Like I said earlier, I have a few spots open. I can do a strategy call with you. You can also check out my website. I do have blogs available with more written out descriptions. And let's grow your empire. Thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode. If you found this episode helpful, please, please, please subscribe. I want lots of subscribers. That's what I want. Guys, help me subscribe and leave a review and share it with your fellow estheticians. We're all in this journey together and I can't wait to help you grow your business, one step at a time. Until next time, keep building your empire, stay focused on your mission and let's make magic happen.

announcer:

Thank you for listening to the Esthetician Podcast with Kari Jo Patterson. Each week, Kari brings you real-world lessons on how to grow your empire. To learn more about Kari Fearless Prosperity Mastermind Group, one-on-one VIP coaching opportunities and more visit Kari. That's Kari. See you next week for more insights and strategies on the Esthetician Podcast.

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