Esthetician Podcast; Business tips for Beauty professionals

053: Mastering Boundaries as an Esthetician: How to Scale, Set Policies, and Protect Your Time with Ashlyn Freitas

• Kari Jo

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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:

All right, everybody, welcome back to the Esthetician Podcast, and I'm your host, Kari Jo, and today I have an incredible guest who is about to drop some serious wisdom on a topic that every esthetician needs to hear, which is boundaries. Ashlyn Freitas is a licensed esthetician and the co-founder of Teve Medspot. She is killing it, guys. You are not following her. She is a powerhouse in the world of aesthetics Incredible introduction, by the way.

Ashlyn:

Thank you so much.

Kari:

Yes, oh, I'm so excited to have you here. She has like over a decade of experience in luxury aesthetics and wellness and she has built her career with a deep passion for skin health and patient care, natural aesthetics, and we are so excited to have you on the esthetician podcast, so thanks for coming on.

Ashlyn:

Thank you so much. I'm actually really excited for this. I've been looking forward to it. I got my coffee. I'm like we're going to dive in Carrie Jo.

Kari:

Oh my gosh, I love that you. You are so easy to talk to.

Ashlyn:

first and foremost, hey, when you got, when you got kids at home and you're running a business, you're like we got this right. There's no such thing as a fire, just solutions right.

Kari:

Absolutely so. You are the powerhouse when it comes to boundaries, and I'm so glad you're here, because what I did wrong when I was building my company was I did not have any boundaries, and it was the biggest regret I ever had. And so I want to start with the struggle that I feel, like everybody knows all too well, which is working past the hours and taking last minute clients. Working past the hours and taking last minute clients what was your breaking point when you realized, like I can't keep doing this?

Ashlyn:

anymore? That is a really good question. I would say. For me this is a two part, two parter. I think when you're early on in your career you've got to be gritty and adaptable and flexible and really accessible to your consumer who you're trying to market to. So you know, I think when you're in the early stages like you got to earn your tiger stripes a little bit right and so, but navigating from that early point of your career to your point of I've established my point, tell, I've um, maybe the, the financial goals I want to hit or the scalability goals that I want to hit, something's got to change.

Ashlyn:

And I would say for me the biggest breaking point is is, honestly, when I became an executive several years ago, I went from being, you know, you know, a regional director and you're making all these micro decisions and you kind of get a lot of decision fatigue. When you become an executive, you cannot get decision fatigue because you're making really few high, high risk, high scale decisions and you've got to be clear minded. And so you know, for me that's kind of where that originally started. And then again, when I opened my business partner, I opened up team's doors, right, it's really easy as a founder when you know when you're working for somebody else, if you make a mistake or a mistake happens it's on someone else's dollar, but when it's your business and your books and your capital, there's a different level of pressure and so it's really easy to just blow through your time. And I think, as a founder, or just as a person, your two biggest assets are going to be your capital and your time, right. And so, as a founder, you know, for me, I just knew right away that those are my two biggest assets that I have is capital or time. And if I, if I don't have time, then I need to find the capital to give me more time, whether that's people, whether that was acquisition and talent, or processes or systems, or you know, um, how do I give myself more time? Right.

Ashlyn:

And so I think you know, for me there wasn't necessarily a breaking point, but I think that started really when I became an executive. And if you're out there and you're an esthetician or you're a business owner, you're an executive of your space, of your life right, of your business, and you have to decide. You know what, you know what's important to you, and you can't do it all. You're going to get decision fatigue and you need to make fewer really high quality decisions.

Ashlyn:

Is that hiring an accountant? Is that hiring a virtual front desk, an in office front desk? Is that, you know, getting a better EHR CRM system? So I know that's a pretty long-winded response, but I think for me it's been more of a journey versus like an a la carte moment, and the more that you get better at setting that boundary I hear this saying all the time but the more that you say no to the things that no longer serve you, you're saying yes to the right things, right, and so the better that you get at doing that and understanding that sometimes investing into a people or process to alleviate your time will get you actually more capital in the future.

Kari:

Yes, oh my gosh, I totally agree. I love that quote about you know, the more you say no, you're saying yes to what really truly matters. How do the estheticians find you know it truly matters to them and how to like, set boundaries around that? How would you say someone needs to go about figuring out? What is it that estheticians need to do to figure out what is purposeful for them?

Ashlyn:

You have to get really serious about what's important to you, right? So is that you know spending more time with your family? Is that spending, you know, more quality time with your patient care? Is that you know wanting to be in the treatment room for 30 minutes and churn and burn through patients and have a high volume practice? Or do you want fewer patients that are maybe spending more money? You have to get really serious about the style of practice and the style of environment that you want.

Ashlyn:

This is a really saturated space, right? And I see you know high volume accounts that are. That's their whole business model is. It's quick, it's down and sturdy, there's very little to no experience associated to it, and that works and it's great, right. And then you know there's the other token, where you're talking about luxury consumer market, where that patient or that client is with you for an extended period of time, but they're spending a higher premium in order to be there, but there's maybe a deeper experience associated to it.

Ashlyn:

So I think you have to get very honest about who are you as a business. Where are you a waxer? Is that where you specialize in? Are you an esthetician? Are you an injector? Are you or is admin. Your thing is running the business, your thing. You have to get really serious of where are you, where are your strengths, and be really honest about that. So I think that's step one. I would say step two time is your best asset. It really is your best asset and as founders and, as you know, you have to understand that the more controlling you are and trying to be this octopus that has trying to control every micro decision, you are limiting yourself, right, you're limiting your ability to scale your business in any capacity and the more that you can delegate to trusted resources again, whether that is, you know, a 1099, whether for your social media, whether that is an accountant, whether that is a virtual assistant, whether that's a front desk anything that is going that is bottlenecking your time from the ability of you doing something that you're really good at.

Ashlyn:

For me, personally, I'm really great at scaling the business and being with my team, right, like those are. I love team development. I want my team to be better than me. I want them to be better estheticians, I want them to be better in any capacity possible, whether that's the consultation process, the front desk, my general manager and you know her ability to kind of, you know, lead the pack. It's if my team is more proficient and better at it and I can give them the tools and resources to succeed, and if I can do that and alleviate my time and spend my resources there, that is where my business can then thrive, right, that is where teeth can thrive.

Ashlyn:

And so you just have to get really honest of what are you good at, where do your strengths are and what do you see yourself doing every day? Right, and then you can start to navigate those decisions around that. And if you know the admin part is not really your thing, you can hire assistance for that. So you can be in the treatment room, right, or maybe you're trying to step out of the treatment room and maybe you need some more help. You know, maybe you can mentor somebody to do what you do and do it really well, and you know. And so I think you just have to really get serious about knowing the essence of your brand and the direction that it wants to go and then supporting those processes around it, whether that is people and acquisition, talent or process those processes around it whether that is people and acquisition, talent or process.

Kari:

I love that you are like my team. I want them better than me because, like that's the true sign of a good leader is I want them better than me. I am interested. What was the first position that you hired out when you were like okay, my time is so valuable? What was the first position where you're like I'm going to hire this out, my time is so valuable? What was the first position where you're like I'm going to hire this out because my time is better spent here?

Ashlyn:

Honestly, it's my creative director, which sounds wild because most people are like, oh, it's front desk and oh it's my accountant. The first person I hired at Tebe was my creative director, shelby Harvey. She is absolutely incredible. She's like the yin to my yang. I'm so process driven and she's like this creative powerhouse and it's not my wheelhouse.

Ashlyn:

I cannot do social media. I know what I want things to look like. I know what I want them to feel like. I know what I want the patient experience to be. I knew what I wanted the essence of tea to be, but if you asked me to creatively articulate that, I would have royally failed and there's probably no way that tea would be where it's at.

Ashlyn:

To be totally frank and I knew that about myself I knew that I'm not a highly creative individual, and so I needed someone that was that can translate the vision and the mission and the essence and the direction of the brand in a really synergistic and strategic way. And so she was actually my first person, because I knew listen, medical spas are dime a dozen, they're. We're in Costa Mesa on 17th street. There's probably 200 med spas on the street alone there's. They're endless. The beauty industry is booming out here, right, and so consumers can go anywhere, and we knew that Right, and so we knew how are we going to differentiate ourselves and how are we going to tell that brand story and say this is who we are and this is what we stand for, and this is why, and this is why you should choose us as your aesthetic provider. Um, and so she's really helped us do that. So she was my first really big hire and, um, it was the best investment I made.

Kari:

Yeah, I love that. And I love how you were talking about how you have to hire. I always say, like you're hiring outside of your working genius, like you were saying, you got to know what you're good at and then hire for what you're not Absolutely, Absolutely, I mean.

Ashlyn:

And then and then right after After, that was front desk and be stuck at the desk and processing transactions and you know, sending invoice or whatever the heck it might be. You know it's like you. As much as I can do it, Right, I'm good at it, but it's not the best use of my time, Right, and I'm better served elsewhere. It's not where my max talent, my max potential is and that's what's not going to move the needle in our business, Right. So yeah, to your point, you have to get really honest, I think, as a as an owner, and not to segue too much. You have to get really comfortable.

Ashlyn:

It's like that comfortable thing, uncomfortable but you have to get really comfortable of looking at what you're not good at or the deficits are in your business. Every single day is like what are we doing great and what are we not, and how do we? How do we improve that? How do we? You know whether that's retention, whether that's new client acquisition and as simple as what is inefficient for me as a leader, for for my process, for my business, from a KPI perspective, and you got to get really comfortable at that. It's an it's a very egoless place to be. I think a lot of times people think entrepreneurship and being a founder is this like sexy thing?

Ashlyn:

I think every single person can agree that it is the freaking hardest thing that you will ever do, and you question yourself and your abilities all the time, and so you have to get really confident and making decisions and looking inward and looking around you, okay, what's what's not working? And again, like to my point earlier, it's not so much of a fire if you're, if you're responding proactively versus reactively, and that's really easy. An easy space to get in as a business is to constantly having to react to all these fires that are being, you know, coming out. Or you can get really honest and look at what's not working, what's working, and start to make proactive decisions, and so now you're working in the future and not so much in the past. You're working in the future and not so much in the past, and that's where you start to really win as a business and as a brand is when you can start to make forward thinking motions and board making decisions, versus trying to put out yesterday's fires 24 seven.

Kari:

Yeah, I agree, being strategic is so stinking important. Now I want to pick your brain. You talked about how the next person that you hired was your front desk, so I'm wondering what is your best advice that you have for someone in setting boundaries especially when it comes to like your staffing and even cancellation policies with clients? What do you think about that?

Ashlyn:

You need to set very clear expectations from the beginning. You know you can be I don't know if anybody's ever heard this like kind versus nice you can be kind and you can be warm and you can be inviting, but I'm not going to be a pushover. I, at the end of the day, I've got, you know, hungry mouths to feed at home and you know, and I've got a staff. I've got a big, hefty payroll I've got to pay and lights that I've got to keep on right. So you know the best thing that you can do is set strict boundaries in the beginning. So, whether that comes from a staffing perspective, if I'm hiring talent, that training and that expectation is so blatantly clear from the beginning of what the expectations are. We're not skipping a beat, we're not missing anything and we're making sure that throughout that training journey, do you have questions, do you have feedback? Is there something within this that you foresee can be difficult for you, difficult to understand? Maybe you need more support and training on. And then whether that comes from like a cancellation perspective with your patient patients that are no showing, I mean day zero. At team we said we have a if you give us a late cancel or you no-share appointment, you get charged 100% of your service, not $50, not $25, 100% of your service. People don't want to pay $1,000 for something that they're not going to receive right, and so they just start to respect your time, and you have to remember that it puts you into a higher caliber. If you're constantly being walked all over, people are not going to respect your time, your service, your experience, your product, whatever that you might be offering Cause it's easier to be accommodating on the backend than being too accommodating on the front end and then trying to be stricter later on. Do you get what I'm saying? So, if you can, you want to set clear expectations early on and from the beginning and really uphold that. You know, from a staff perspective, we do monthly team meetings, we do monthly one-on-ones, we do every Tuesday, we do an operational weekly call, and so the communication is so abundantly clear, even after the fact, that we're able to sort through problems immediately before they become, you know, anything too difficult.

Ashlyn:

But I'll say, you know, if somebody has not, maybe they didn't put a strong expectation in the beginning with staff or with their clients, because you know in the beginning, when you're either solo or you're just starting. You are desperate for every dollar, right? Because you're trying to keep the lights on, you're trying to pay for your inventory, your laundry, whatever you know, whatever that might be. So I call this the Starbucks method. And if anybody remembers, like 10 years ago, you're going to have a latte just to cost you like $3 and 75 cents, and now it's like $7 and you and you still pay it, right, you don't even bat an eye. So, because they created slow and steady changes over time, right To the point where it was 25 cents here, 50 cents here, you don't even notice it anymore, right? And you just you put it on your app and you scan and that's that.

Ashlyn:

So I think, if you didn't do it early on, it's okay to say create a slow and steady change. You know my no-show cancellation policy is going to be $50. And it's going to be. You know it's going to be in 20 for 24 hours. I'm going to give a one time grace period and then after that sorry, I've got your card on file. You know what I mean. So it's okay to do the Starbucks method and do a slow and steady change over time if you need to. I mean and we still do that as a business we had strong foundations in the beginning, but of course we're evolving and of course our time is becoming more and more valuable and limited and so we have to, you know, do things to protect the schedule and the business and the staff and the patient experience.

Kari:

Yeah, I'm so impressed by your guys' cancellation policy. Do you what? Cause? I feel like a lot of estheticians they're going to be like well, I don't want to upset a client. Obviously you have probably encountered that somebody being like, well, gosh, I don't want to, but like, how do you overcome that?

Ashlyn:

you have to be very, again, clear of disclosing the information. You can't have this policy and no one knows about this policy, right? So upon booking, our system gives a text and an email of like very clearly stating what our policy is. They get a notification 72 hours prior, 48 hours prior, 24 hours prior, same day prior, and it restates that policy over and over, and over and over again, right, and so there's really no excuse. It's stated so many times and we just require a 24 hour notice.

Ashlyn:

At least give me a heads up so I can, you know, pull somebody from my wait list or modify the schedule in some way, right? So I think if you're worried about hurting your client's feelings, they're well. To me that is kind of a two parter, because, one, you have to be very clear, but also you have to make sure that your time and experience is worth it for that client. Are you a business owner that is constantly late to your patients, cuts corners, changes thing up some clients or staff last minute, or you someone that's reliable and consistent and goes above and beyond an experience? And so I think if you're someone that you got to take an honest look at yourself, that is not upholding your end of the business practice and then you're trying to sit here and be strict with the client. Yeah, that's probably not going to go over so well, but if you are really you know, you know you respect the patient's time, you're timely, you have a great experience and you're watering your garden and upholding your end of the deal, absolutely you need to protect your time and your assets Because, again, time and money is your best asset as a business. And so, as long as you're doing that and you're disclosing the information, you can't control how somebody reacts.

Ashlyn:

And if you're going to have a client that is puffing and puffing and stomping, okay, I'm happy to send you a referral for down the street. They're lovely, they're great and maybe they're a better fit for you and I've had that conversation before is this is what we've done to you know. You know to try to uphold your experience. This is the best that I can do. I'm happy to give you a referral. And then half the time, they're like oh, no, no, no, no, no, I'm actually, I want to know, actually I want to. No, I just I want to stay with you. I just, you know, whatever. And I'm like, okay, sounds great, let's have you come in next week. You know what I mean. So people respect your time, they will. You just have to create that boundary.

Kari:

Yeah, I love how you were saying it's just so important to do it from the beginning because we really are training our clients how to treat us, and so you know, and it's harder to go back after we've been like, oh yeah, I'll come in at 10 o'clock to do this treatment for you, and then all of a sudden to be like you know, or yeah, you can cancel, and then you never do anything, or yeah, you can cancel, and then you never do anything. And then all of a sudden you're like I'm going to cancel an appointment, or now you're going to get charged, like if we did it in the beginning it wouldn't be so hard. And so I love how you're like it's important, just like, start now, don't wait yeah.

Ashlyn:

And it's hard because, again, in the beginning you're so desperate to for any client and so I get it. You know, I mean I remember having that same sense of anxiety in the beginning where you're just like, okay, where are these clients going to come from? And you're, and it's like you have these visions, you're like this is gonna be amazing. And then you're like sitting there like where are all the clients? You know? So I understand that fear, but you know people will come to you. If you, especially if you mark yourself well and you have a great experience and you are really treat every situation, every client interaction is our make or break. People will come to you and people will return, especially if you've got good, you know retention processes in place and things like that. So don't be afraid to set those boundaries.

Kari:

Yeah, well, you have built something so incredibly amazing. And so my biggest question, because you talked a lot when we were talking about like it's so important that training, that you give your staff and I believe that that is probably one of the keys to your success is you've given such good training. I have a lot of listeners that are in that process of building a company, building a team. What does your training process kind of look like?

Ashlyn:

No, absolutely no, please. I yeah, I'm an open book. You have to really, I think, first and foremost, really understand the essence of your brand. What, what do you stand for? So at team actually our name we took the first two letters of timeless and the first two letters of everlasting and we trademarked to you. And so, because we wanted to create a timeless experience to aesthetics that really kind of stood the test of time, helping you age gracefully, making skin health a focus and we really wanted to create an everlasting experience that stood beyond that 30 minute, that one hour plus treatment within the facility, and so that we always go back to that.

Ashlyn:

And who our core values are? One of the first things we did is we have very clear fundamental core values, you know, like practicing responsible medicine. You know keeping things simple. You know the patient journey is number one. The patient is in the driver's seat. We want them to know that. You know they are in control of their treatment plan. We're here to guide and educate, but at no point am I going to put my preconceived expectations of beauty onto you, right? So I think, get really clear on your vision, your mission and what does your company stand for? Right, because everything will go back to that.

Ashlyn:

And then, beyond that, people underestimate an SOP. People underestimate an SOP and I know it sounds silly and I know it sounds like it's a piece of paper that nobody cares about. But again it goes back to setting clear expectations from the beginning of this is how we do things, and then you can support them through that process. So get really clear on what the standard procedure is. So here at T we say I don't care if you're saying so and so or so and so. You might personally love one person over another, but the experience is going to be the same and it's going to be very reliable and it's going to be very consistent. The patient journey is going to be the same every single time. And when you think about your favorite restaurant, right, what do they do? It's good food, it's consistent every single time and it's reliable. They remember your name. There's all these little things, right. There's all these little touch points, and so that's I think you know, don't underestimate the power of a good SOP and a process.

Ashlyn:

And then I would say, beyond that is you have to really tap into your team's strengths and areas of opportunities. And so when you're onboarding somebody, have that one-on-one, identify where their strengths are, identify where their areas of opportunity, and how do you, as a leader, how can you fill in those gaps right? My biggest job at what I do at Teave is figuring out where my team needs support and fulfilling that so that way they can continue to thrive and be better than me. And that's how you make compounding motion and movement as a business right. It's not by you doing everything. It's by having a really sophisticated, incredible team around you that can make big motions together where they're both autonomous and synergistic amongst each other. And so you know having those multiple touch points as well.

Ashlyn:

For that training and training shouldn't just be onboarding it's how can I develop your career, how can I help you thrive in your role? What do your next steps look like? And you know my team knows listen, if Teeth is doing really well, that's only going to give them more career growth, opportunity and higher compensation pay and more perks and more benefits and and all of those things. And so we have a really strong why. Together we know what their individual why is. And so you know you we've set that expectation, we've created a really clear process and we're developing that training and we're individualizing it within our systematic process as well.

Kari:

Yeah, I love that. So how often are you meeting with your team to have your checking in and seeing how they're doing and planning their future with them? How often are you having those?

Ashlyn:

meetings. We do a monthly one-on-one every single month, and then we do team meetings every single month and then every week we do what's called like a big team huddle or like our operational meeting, and it's a 20-minute touch base. Half the time it's five minutes, sometimes it's 10 minutes and we're just doing a quick run through of, like, what's most pertinent to this week and what are things that you guys can look out for. And those team meetings are so great because half the time we set aside for a T we call it a T creative brainstorm and so it allows me to get tactile feedback from the team of what is, what do we do? We have two columns what are we doing really well, what could we improve on?

Ashlyn:

And so it takes the ego out of the conversation and now it's not you versus me as a problem. It goes okay, there's maybe processes or systems or something's not working, and how do we work together to sort through this problem, using all of our different roles and experiences to make this more efficient? And then you know, with our monthly one on one this week, it really individualized and so the conversations, you know, are for the most part really positive and really productive and we're always leaving something with tangible objectives to go home to, and so, even as down to our success plan it's, we have three objectives and our what are one to three ways that you can get there. So it's not how do we do 1000 things one time? Great it's. How do I do one to three things a thousand times? Really great, cause that's how we become an expert in it. And so, to answer your question, it's every month and it's every month.

Kari:

Yeah, and I love that because I always say to people I'm like how do you expect to have your team put some numbers up on the scoreboard if you guys aren't ever meeting? But I feel like so many estheticians, they like don't want to have the meetings and don't want to schedule the time because they they're like well, we're not making money. You know, how did you get over that? Like no, this meeting is way more important than them working on clients, cause I feel like that holds people back a lot.

Ashlyn:

Yeah, they don't want to block out the schedule Cause they're like, well, that could be an exit, an X dollar figure. You have to remember that and I fundamentally believe this your people and your marketing are your best investment. That's where you're going to get the strongest ROI right. So if I'm throwing money at ads and things like that, I know I'm going to get an ROI right. But same thing goes with my team. The time again, time and capital, the time that I spend with my team is going to be the best use of my time, because it's going to compound later on, because it's no longer me as a single person making motions in the business and I'm burning out and I have no boundaries of work-life balance. I have no boundaries with my team and you're disempowering them, right. You're no longer allowing them an opportunity to thrive. People want to be important, people want to feel like they have a decision and they feel a sense of entitlement and power and that they're making these great decisions. And so if I can give them an opportunity to be empowered and us to connect and to collaborate and to unify, then now I just compounded the decision, my decision makers, I just compounded my ability to do, maybe, whether that's customer service experience, patient care, consultations, whatever that might be instead of one person doing it, I now have a team of 15 doing it and we're all doing the same thing and that voice is the same. And one of the biggest compliments that we get at Teave is they're like I don't care who I go to, whether that's I'm talking to somebody in the DMs, the front desk, the consultant, the injector, the doctor you guys all say the same thing, you guys all sound the same, and that shows synergy, that develops trust with the patient, that develops reliability and it shows that you're organized right. And so you know, one of the things that team is, our retention lifetime is 80%, if not higher, which is huge for a business, especially in our service based industry, right, I think. Like industry average is like 40%, which is so sad. It's so sad because it doesn't need to be that way.

Ashlyn:

And so my best advice to people who are not taking time to make it productive and to host those team meetings and to host those one-on-ones I'm not saying it has to be two hours make it a lunch and learn. Make it, you know, have lunch for the team and you guys get to eat and creative dump and all of that stuff, because it will be a better source of your for your business. It will start to compound and it's no longer just you and you cannot get mad at your team for not executing the expectations that you set forth and you don't take the time to set those expectations and train upon it and constantly be developing it. No one's going to care as much as you at the end of the day, right, and so you have to sit with your team and encourage them and and finding ways that, like how do I align my business visions and goals and lies with their personal right?

Ashlyn:

Like whether that's to travel more, whether that's to have a family, whether that's to go to MP school, and they want to be able to financially afford that, I mean, whatever that goal is for them. Or they want to be in a high leadership position, great, let's come up with a path to get there, right? Yeah, and you're not gonna be able to do that if you don't set time aside. And it's, you know, like I said in the beginning, it's super scary, but it's the best investment that we did. I mean our first year in business. We we hit over seven figures easily, you know, because, again, I can't do it alone. I have to do it with a solid team around me. Um, so that would that would be my best advice.

Kari:

Yeah, you are an inspirational leader. I love what you're doing and I love how you really empower your team. I always say, like you go further as a team than you'll ever go by yourself, and you are like walking proof of exactly what that is. And you empower your team, you find their strengths and and you find your weaknesses and you guys, like, have created this whole circle. That just works, you know, and everybody's like all headed towards the same thing and I think that's outstanding, how you've created that in your business, and I think it's so hard for people to get it and you obviously like, get it.

Ashlyn:

Well, it's like, yeah, it took me a long time to get to that point. I listen if you, if anybody's listening, and you worked for me over 10 years ago. I'm so sorry, I used to be such like an authoritarian like this is what we're doing. And you're going to listen Cause I said so and I'm your manager, right, and you're like, oh God, gross, you know. And I'm your manager, right, and you're like, oh God, gross, you know.

Ashlyn:

Um, I think one of the biggest things and to interest, even harp on myself is I'm a flawed person, I'm a flawed leader. I'm going to fail and I'm going to make mistakes, absolutely. And I think, as a leader, my team knows I am constantly admitting to my mistakes. My business partner and I are constantly joking like, like that was a dozer and I'm like, oh yeah, we messed that one up. So how are we going to fix it? You know what I mean and get comfortable with just own up to it. What are people going to say if you own up to it?

Ashlyn:

And so, with my team, because I allow an opportunity to go sorry, guys, not the best decision that I made, my bad, this is what we're going to do to rectify it.

Ashlyn:

You know what feedback do you guys have, that how we can make this process better? Right, and so it allows. Again, you're taking the ego out of the business and we're providing solutions and so, as as ownership you've got to, you got to be okay with admitting when you're wrong and you've got to create a space where feedback is seriously welcomed. Right, because your team is the one that's doing it all day, every day. The best pulse check I'm at an audit I will ever get from my business is my team right and that's how you protect your patient experience? Is my team right and that's how you protect your patient experience, your retention, your you know standards of practice, your quality control all of that comes from your team, not just you right and so the only way to maintain that and keep up that hygiene I call it like your business hygiene is by your team and admitting where there is, opportunities are.

Ashlyn:

So our team does that really well and my business partner, dr Goodman, and I, we are like the first to have really honest conversations and that's even how we built the business is. I mean him and I sat down and we just had the most abundantly honest conversations of how we wanted the style of the business to run, how we wanted the operations, how we wanted the style of the team, how we wanted our team to feel. I mean all of it. We just had so many, so many honest conversations and, again, because there was clear expectations, it's so easy to make decisions and also checking with each other right, him and I check in with each other 24 seven. How do you feel about this decision? We call it gut checks. We're like how's your gut feel about this? And you know, and he's like I don't know and I'm like we're not doing it. If anybody's gut is all that, we're not doing it. You know, and my team does it too. I was like, if their gut is screaming, I'm like why tell me, like what's going on? We're pausing until.

Kari:

I hear more about this, you know. Yeah, oh, I love that so much. Well, we are coming down to kind of a close, and one of the things that I built my whole brand on is I believe you have to be fearless in order to get the prosperity that you want, to build the empire that you really want. So I am wondering because I love asking this question at the very end what was your greatest fear that you had when building your company and how did you get through it?

Ashlyn:

Honestly just starting, let you know, honestly just starting. Let you know it's just starting. I think my biggest philosophy is time is moving, no matter what Six months is going to happen, no matter what Five years are going to happen, no matter what. That's the one thing that is going to forever be inevitable is time.

Ashlyn:

And so, when you know, when Teeves stores opened, I was four months postpartum and I had just I was a new mom, I have this new business and I was scared shitless. How am I going to take care of this tiny human? And I'm now financially responsible for a big thing? And I've got all of these people underneath me that I've. I'm responsible for their bills and their livelihood and I know their families, and it's underneath me that I'm responsible for their bills and their livelihoods and I know their families, and it's such a huge responsibility. It scared the absolute shit out of me.

Ashlyn:

But you know, the one thing is again, time is moving regardless and life is happening, whether you want it or not.

Ashlyn:

So you might as well just dig down fricking deep and keep your feet moving and be, be a doer, be it, figure it out and get good people around you. Listen to your gut, be really clear on your vision and your mission and stick true to that. Um, I can't tell you how many times especially our first six months where we wanted to like detour from it because it was scary and you know things weren't working out the way that we wanted to like detour from it because it was scary and you know things weren't working out the way that we wanted and nothing was felt like it was going to plan and we were like, holy hell, what are we going to do? And you, just you dig deep and you stick to your values, you stick to your expectations, you stick to those processes. You have really good people around you and you will come out on the other side.

Ashlyn:

We have this really honest conversation. So I would say opening Teeth's doors as a new mom was so terrifying but looking back now, it was the best thing that I ever did. You know I love being a mom and I love being a part of Teeth and the vision and the mission that we're going for and it's something that I do not regret for a second.

Ashlyn:

And you, and it's something that I do not regret for a second. And you know it's funny, because now that time has passed I'm like, oh, thank God I made that decision. You know, like, imagine if I would have. I've imagined if I would have let those self-limiting beliefs stop me from opening teeth stores, I would have regretted it a hundred percent.

Kari:

Yeah, ashlyn, you are like so amazing. How can my followers like connect with you, like if they're struggling and they need some advice, or like you are such a phenomenal business owner, how could they connect with you?

Ashlyn:

Absolutely. We can always follow Teeth Med Spa that's T-I-E-V Med Spa on Instagram, facebook or TikTok and you know Instagram, facebook or TikTok and then you can also follow me personally my Instagram my personal Instagram is not as exciting. You're going to see a lot of dogs, beach and babies. You can follow me at Ashlyn Freitas on Instagram. Feel free to send me a DM and I'm happy to to connect with you and and mentor and provide you know, give back in any way I can. There's people that poured into me early on in my career and I'm happy to give back in any way.

Kari:

Yes, ashlyn, you are the best, and I think that is what the industry needs. I feel like sometimes we see so many estheticians going to like group chats and asking for advice, but I feel like there's what they really need to do is find somebody who is successful, who has done it, and that would be the best advice that they can get. And you are definitely someone who has done it. You know how to do it, you led, and I just feel like there is nobody better that someone could get advice from. So I want to thank you so much for joining on today's podcast and I'm so sorry. It was like a little bit of a mess getting on, but like you are, so go with the flow and I think that's why your team will like loves you is. You understand, mistakes happen sometimes and so you are the best, and thank you so much for coming on today.

Ashlyn:

Thank you so much for having me. This was so fun and, honestly, I'll come back anytime. And I have a new friend in the industry, so it works out beautifully.

Kari:

Yes, I love it. Thanks so much. All right, guys. We will see you next week with another business tip. Bye, guys.

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 Keri's fearless prosperity mastermind group one-on-one VIP visit wwwcarijopattersoncom. That's wwwcarijopattersoncom. See you next week for more insights and strategies on the Esthetician Podcast.

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