086: Should You Go Solo? How Estheticians Know They’re Ready

The Solo Readiness Scorecard to Avoid Burnout, Build Profit, and Start With Momentum”

Discover whether you should leave your employer to start your own esthetics business by understanding the concept of "personal equity" and how it determines readiness for entrepreneurship.

• Working for someone else vs. going solo both mean starting from zero with client books
• The reality: solo estheticians typically earn $30-40K while employed estheticians make $40-60K without overhead
• For every $100 facial, you only take home $7-10 after expenses, taxes, and overhead
• 82% of businesses fail due to cash flow issues, not lack of skill
• The industry average rebooking rate of 65% is unsustainable for solo success
• The Solo Readiness Scorecard: financial runway, niche clarity, consultation skills, and market demand
• Building momentum while employed allows you to perfect systems without paying overhead
• Success requires knowing exactly what problem you solve and being known for specialized knowledge

Leave a review to help this podcast reach more beauty professionals. Remember, survival is not the end goal—with the right systems and mindset, you can move into fearless prosperity.

To learn more about Kari Jo visit: https://www.karijopatterson.com

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Chapters

• 0:00 Working with Carrie Jo Patterson
• 1:36 Starting from Zero Either Way
• 5:24 Hard Truths About Money in Esthetics
• 9:25 The Reality of Solo Struggle
• 14:22 The Solo Readiness Scorecard
• 21:16 Building Momentum Before Going Solo
• 28:42 When to Make the Leap

Transcript

Phe: 0:00

Working with Kari Jo Patterson has been such a game changer for me as a soloist Esthetician, as someone that doesn't work under anyone. She helps me keep myself accountable with our one-on-one calls. She's put things in perspective for me as far as what I'm trying to do in my business. She helped me put into words what I'm trying to do and she also keeps me accountable with our one-on-one calls. Every time we implement something in my business, I'm like I have to do it because I'm going to have a call with her next month. So it really keeps me accountable. And she's just so sweet, she's loving and she has so much information and I can ask her anything. She's always available for me to message and she doesn't make me feel bad about it and, yeah, I just love working with her. She has just been such a blessing in my business.

Kari Jo: 0:48

If you are an esthetician and you are working for someone else right now, but you've been asking yourself this question in the back of your head should I finally go out and open my own business? Or let's say, you're in school right now and you're like I think I should probably just go open my own thing when I get out instead of working for someone else. And you want to know is this a good idea? Well then, this episode today is going to be for you, because here is the truth that I want you to know is whether you stay or whether you go, whether you stay working for the people you are with or whether you decide to open your own business. Either way, you are going to be starting from zero. You can't take all your clients with you. You have to build your own books either way, and the difference between every other struggling esthetician or building something that actually lasts it comes down to literally two things timing and preparation. It is about building personal equity. So stay with me in this episode, because by the end of this episode, you are going to literally have a clear path to know am I ready? Or if you should wait and still work for somebody else, and you're going to understand what I mean by. You need to have personal equity before you go out on your own.

Kari Jo: 2:29

So I came up with this episode today, guys, because I was on a call with an esthetician I don't know a few days ago and I was like I've got to record this episode. This is a really good question, because most of the time when I get on calls with estheticians, they're already starting their own thing and they're struggling. But this girl was smart and she was like I'm working for someone and I want to know, like I've been working for him for a while and now I want to know if I should go out on my own. And I haven't ever been like, honestly, go out on my own, and I haven't ever been, like, honestly, never been asked that question before. And I was like this is a really good question, you know. And so I had to really think about it and figure out what would be the most ideal game plan for everything.

Kari Jo: 3:19

And this is where the problem is. As you guys know, if you go out and, let's say, you go work for someone and you go work for like a massage and be a hand in stone, or maybe you go work somewhere else. More than likely, they're probably going to have you sign like a non-complete, a non-solicitation that basically says you can't poach their clients or take their client list when you leave. Sometimes there isn't, you guys all know in this industry sometimes, even if you don't sign anything formal, there is this unspoken rule, and it's the same that when you leave, you're going to leave your client book behind. However, with that being said, if a client wants to follow you on their own, that's totally fine. Businesses don't control clients, but you can't directly market to them. So the problem with what this question is again. So the problem with, like what this question is again, you're going to be starting at zero. You're basically starting at zero. Whether you go and work from someone for a while and then you go open your business, you're starting from scratch. Or when you get out of school and you go open your own thing, you are starting from scratch. So if you were to just look at that, you'd be like, well, if it's from zero either way, well then I should just start. Let's get there sooner, quicker, faster, I'll just go start my own thing. I mean like, if you're looking at it like that, but this is where personal equity comes into play and I want you to understand why I actually believe that going and working for someone first is the better option before going out on your own. In order to understand that, I want to give you guys some hard truths, first and foremost so that you understand a little bit. First off, with money, because money makes the world go around. Let's talk money. When you do a $100 facial, when you do a $100 facial, after your supplies, your rent, your taxes, your insurance, you are only in reality taking home $7 to $10. That is across the board in our entire industry, and I've explained this many times before on many different episodes that explained this many times before on many different episodes. That and this is how I know this when I went to sell my business when you go to a bank, when someone's coming in to buy your business, they're going to go to a bank to get a loan and when they go to that bank, the bank has to decide if it's a good idea to give their money, because the banks want their money back to this person to buy this business. So they have this industry standard where they can look up on average what is the profit across America, for how much someone in this industry brings what they should be making 7%, that's our industry standard. So that means, for every $100, you are only really making $7. $7. And also, let me put it this way, you also think that, like, oh, I'm making $7 for that hour, girl. No, because how many hours did you go make all these stupid Instagram TikToks and everything else? Like, you're getting paid $7 for probably 40, 50 hours of work. Is what you really are. Anyways, the point is that's not the point. That was a tangent, but what it actually means is, if you are only in this industry, if you are only making $7 to $10 for every $100, that means two things you need volume and you need retention in order to even survive Without high rebooks. The marketing cost of acquiring new clients is going to eat your margins and that is the truth that nobody tells you, which means you cannot survive on just services. You need to have rebooking, retail and other systems in order to survive. So there is a statistic and I know you've already heard it, but 82% of those that fail is because of cash flow. Guys, most estheticians don't leave this industry because they're not good at facials. They are leaving this industry because they can't pay their bills. So in this industry, I want to talk about the average pay for estheticians. If you average it out, so the average solo esthetician that opens their own business across America makes about $30,000 to $40,000 a year. Compare that to an employed esthetician making around $40,000 to $60,000, but they have no overhead. That's why I tell people don't assume that going solo automatically means that you're going to make more money, that you're going to make more money At first. When you go solo, you are going to make less for, honestly, two to three years before you start making more, literally. I want you guys to understand this. If you are working for another company right now and you decide you want to go open your own business this is a thing I want you to know is that you need to be comfortable with taking a pay cut because you are going to make less for a few years before you make what you are making right now working for somebody else. You guys are probably like she is not for going solo. That is not what I'm saying. I just want you guys to have the hard truth that nobody talks about when we glorify going out on your own and you should just go work for yourself. I think that is the worst thing that we've done in this industry, because you got to have equity first before you do that. Anyways, we're going to get into it, don't worry, I'm getting into it later. I'm just getting ahead of myself because I'm so passionate about this. Guys, also, I want to go into. So when I talked earlier going backwards, I was talking about how you're going to need a lot of volume and you're going to need a lot of retention in order to make a profit. The industry average for rebooks in this industry is 65%. To me, that is a complete failure. Failure is what I see that as If you are hitting 65% rebooks or below and you're going solo, guys, you are going to struggle because getting new client costs way too much money, way too much energy in order to get one client is so much work. So to only be booking 65% of the people that you see, that is not surviving. That is struggling. To me. I would say estheticians aren't pushing above 75% to 80% rebook. You are going to struggle the heck forever until you fix that. Now let's go to marketing, because I brought up earlier like how much time and effort is going into doing it. I would dare say that, like 70% of solo estheticians, they underestimate how much time and how much money is going to be needed to make content, ads, websites, seos, reviews. Guys, marketing is expensive. I can't even tell you, you guys, to run my coaching business just for the apps alone, because I track my finances. And you guys, I'm not even doing like a crap ton on Instagram. You have no idea. I hardly do anything on Instagram. I spend every month about $400 in just the little ads and all the little systems that I need my stand store, my mini chat or whatever, to edit photos or Canva. It's expensive. Marketing is so expensive and you don't think of all those little tiny costs so expensive, and you don't think of all those little tiny costs. The harsh reality, if we take a look at everything it comes down to the truth is, is estheticians. Many solo estheticians end up leaving this field within and there is a statistic it's about 70% of them end up leaving this field within five years. They loved the craft, but what they ultimately hated was the business side. Not everybody is made to build a business. It is struggle, grit, heart and you have to be super resilient and take a lot and you have to have a really good support system as well. Now that I gave you all the downer, you're probably listening to that and you're like, okay, that sounds. She's like obviously against it. Like I said, what does personal equity mean when I said earlier Well, to me, I believe, in order, before anyone should go out and start their own business and open as a solo, if you don't want to struggle and run out of money, you've got to build personal equity in the industry first. And so I developed. When I thought about this, I was like, okay, I'm going to really figure this out. I developed what I like to call the solo readiness scorecard. So this is what I would use to rate yourself for if you should open a business. Yet the first one is do you have financial runway? What I mean by financial runway is do you have six to nine months of expenses saved? If not, you are not ready. You will not survive the slow build. When I started out and I opened my own business, I was relying 100% on my husband. I did not have to pay for my car payment. My husband did that. I didn't have to pay for food. My husband did that. I had help. If you don't have anyone helping you, then you have to have some runway in order to survive. You are going to need someone to help pay these bills. The next one on the scorecard is your niche clarity. Oh my gosh, you guys, when I do my podcast episodes I kid you not, every episode that I have ever done on Niche I get at least three times the amount of listeners listening to it, because this is where they all struggle. You need to know exactly who you serve, what problem you're solving, and you can't go out there. This is what estheticians do. They go out there and they're like oh, I'm going to do facials, and I do facials and waxing and chemical pills. Girl, you're no different than everyone else. You're no different than the girl next door. Every esthetician helps with all that. You need to know what the heck it is that you're known for. When you are opening your own business and you're like opening the doors, you're basically coming in opening shop and you're from the day you graduate school you're, and you're opening your own business, you are saying I am better than every single esthetician that came before me, every other business here. None of them do what I do. Well, girl, all of them do facials. All of them do waxing, but there is something that you do that they don't do, or you need to know the market and know what they're not doing and be the niche of that. So you have to know exactly who it is and what it is, what problems that you are solving. The problem is not a facial. That's a service that you're doing. What problem are you going to solve and what are you going to be known for? Are you the pigmentation specialist? Are you the acne specialist? Well, and if you say that you're like a pigmentation specialist, then, girl, you need to know everything about pigmentation, things that you didn't learn in school in order to be able to rebook a client. Because I guarantee you, when I tell you like right now, if I'm like, okay, you need to be on a tyrosinase inhibitor if you're going to have pigmentation, if you don't know what a tyrosinase inhibitor is and you're telling me you're a pigmentation specialist, like, that's why you're not rebooking any clients. So you have to become a specialist and you have to have knowledge, and it's not the knowledge that came in school, it's the knowledge of research on your own and going to courses and experience. The next thing is your consultation skills, skills. You need to have a repeatable process that gets clients to rebook and you need to be selling retail. If you're working for someone and you don't know what your rebook is, that's what I would start tracking. I would start tracking right now, wherever you're working, even if you're in school, if you're seeing people come to school, what's your rebook in school? If you're at 65% rebook, girl, I wouldn't open your own business. But if you're above that and you're a rebook percentage and you're working on a company and you're at 85%, you probably have a system. There is something that you are doing that's working, documented, by the way but you have a repeatable process. Are you selling retail? Because you can't just survive off of your services, you need to also survive off of product sales. If you're not selling any product, I would say go start selling product, get good at selling product on somebody else's dollar and then, once you're like, really good at selling product, once you got your rebooks, girl, yes, this is time you have built equity Like. You have a system, you have a process and it works and it's showing. The last thing on the scorecard would be market and demand. Are there people already right now asking for you by your name? Are they DMing you? Are they saying I will follow you anywhere? If they are doing that, that's a sign. If you are getting a lot of those, then that's a sign that you should go. If you're not getting any of those, and if you're in school and you don't have a bunch of people that are saying that, that's a sign that it's not ready. You've got to have enough reps under somebody else's roof to know what your craft is and what you're good at in and out. You've got to have craft is and what you're good at in and out you've got to have. Sometimes it's good to go and get that rep under someone else's belt. Yeah, so basically, this is my scorecard Financial runway. Do you have six to nine months of expenses covered, niche? Do you know exactly who you serve and what problem that you're solving? Do you have good consultation skills? Is your rebooks incredibly high? If not, start watching it. And then, do you have demand? Are people asking you for a name? Guys, when I built my company and this girl she's like I want to know because I want to do what you did I started my company and I sold it in eight years, from the time I started my company to the time I sold it and was able to retire was like eight years. Do you know why I was able to do that in eight years? I didn't start right out of school. I worked for at least 10 years in the industry before I got my reps in. I got my personal equity. What I mean by that is what was I known for? I could out-consultation anyone and I would put me in a consultation with anyone and I can out-consult them because I have so much freaking knowledge on pigmentation, on acne, on sensitive skin. I know what the heck I am talking about. And so when I opened my business, what I was known for was my knowledge and I wowed every.

Kari Jo: 22:10

I could rebook, like you have no idea Like my rebooking was like 97% or higher, depending on the month, because I knew what I was talking about. When I hired employees, my employees loved me. They latched on to everything that I said because I was so freaking knowledgeable and they just wanted to learn from me. They loved what I was teaching and it made them smart. We were known for knowing what we were talking about. That's what I was known for. I was known for my knowledge. It wasn't for facials. I did a really good facial. I had years of reps of facials and I worked with massage therapists to even make my facials great but I was really known for the knowledge. I did great lashes. I'm not the best lash extension artist in the world. In fact, my employee was probably better than I was at lashes but I knew more about lashing than her. I was so knowledgeable.

Kari Jo: 23:16

The reason why I was able to open my business and build it and sell it within eight years is because I had a lot of personal equity. I had my niche. My niche was how smart and I'm not saying I'm smart, I'm saying I was so knowledgeable in all of those different things because I work for so many people and I learned so much and I had financial runway. And because I had so much knowledge, when somebody came to me with pigmentation, I could wow the crap out of them. So my consultation skills were fire, which meant my rebooking skills were incredible, which means that when I wowed somebody, they went out or were talking about me, which created the market demand. Do you see how that all works, okay? So here's my challenge for you right now. I want you to go rate yourself on each of these categories where you are right now in school, if you're working for somebody, and I want you to rate one through five. If your scorecard is under a 15, stay employed. Stay employed for a while, get more reps, get more in there, work on those things and then leave.

Kari Jo: 24:29

If you're at, like, a 15 to 20, well, you could probably go out. If you're at a 20, girl, you could probably start your own company. And are you going to be starting from scratch? Probably, but you're going to grow really quick. You're not going to struggle. You're not going to be out in three years because you don't have any money. So here's what I want you to know as a business owner is you are going to make less before you make more. Plan one to three years of making very lean, less income than if you're working for someone else. Two, you need a system before you scale. You need a system for your consult, you need a system for your rebooks, you need a system in order to sell retail. And also, policies are super important. So start putting policies into place.

Kari Jo: 25:24

And the last thing I will say is you cannot rely on aesthetics for ultimate freedom. When I said earlier, I built my company in eight years and sold it and was able to retire, it wasn't because of aesthetics alone. I had bought a building, I had bought an asset. I also started playing in Airbnb. So when I was able to sell my business, which was an access or an asset, I was able to use my business, sell asset to play off my other properties to give me ultimate income. So you've got to diversify your money.

Kari Jo: 26:06

And let me also say this guys to anyone in there and they are struggling and they are struggling don't trade your health or your family or time with your family for success. Success does come with a cost. So I want you to define right now what enough looks like for you, because that is something else that I'm super passionate about. Okay, so to sum this all up, the question that you probably are wondering what I said to this girl should she stay employed or not? Whether she leaves now or she leaves later, she can't take the spa's client list, but staying employed longer is going to give her the gifts of reps, and that's what I told her. I said she can perfect her consultation, she can perfect her protocols without paying the price of all the overhead of being a business owner while she's working for someone else. She can keep stacking cash while she's testing out her niche and getting more knowledge to be known for something and to clarify her message. She can do that under somebody else's overhead. She can also build her social media and her presence as herself, not as somebody else's company. And that way, when you finally launch, you're not just launching as an esthetician opening a room, you will be launching as Jessica, the pigmentation specialist that you've been following online for months.

Kari Jo: 28:03

The hard truth that most estheticians they don't face is that if you go solo too soon, you will be one of the hundreds of solo estes posting random facials onlines and you will be struggling to fill your books If you wait until you have a clear niche, a consult that rebooks, a small audience that's engaged, and a savings as a buffer. You will start from zero clients and a savings as a buffer. You will start from zero clients, but you won't be starting from zero momentum. So when should you go out on your own?

Kari Jo: 28:43

I would say when you've built your runway, chosen your niche, nailed your consultation and you have people asking for you by name. That's when you're not just starting from zero, you're starting from momentum. I hope that today's episode gave you clarity. I hope you share it with another esthetician who's been asking the same questions and, if you haven't yet, leave me a review. It helps this podcast reach way more beauty professionals. Just like you. Remember, survival is not the end. With the right systems and the right mindset, you can move into fearless prosperity, just like me.