How to Know If It’s Really Time to Hire Your First Esthetician

Are you feeling overwhelmed and wondering if it’s finally time to hire another esthetician? In this episode of The Esthetician Podcast, Kari Jo explains why most estheticians don’t actually have a hiring problem—they have an operations problem.

Learn the simple order every esthetician business should follow before adding payroll: automate with technology, buy back your time with part-time help, and hire employees only when they’re ready to truly own part of the business. You’ll discover how better systems create more freedom, reduce overwhelm, and help you build a profitable esthetician business that doesn’t depend on you for everything.

🎯 Download the FREE Esthetician Weekly Numbers Tracker:
https://karijopatterson.com/start

This episode features Zolie, the AI receptionist built for estheticians, spas, and salons. Zolie answers your phone 24/7 in a voice that sounds like you, books clients directly into your booking platform — Square, Wix, Boulevard, GlossGenius, and more — filters spam calls, and sends automated rebooking texts, so you never lose a booking to voicemail while you're in the treatment room.Get 20% off: https://getzolie.com/r/KAR

Zolie AI Receptionist
AI receptionist for solo estheticians. Answer calls, book clients, and never miss an opportunity.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

If you’re booked but not making money, you need to start with your numbers.
Download my FREE  “Diagnose Your Business” tracker in the show notes and I’ll show you exactly what to track.

Are You Ready to fix this in your business?

Apply for a free Business Breakthrough Audit:

https://forms.gle/Jkr27yUb6n6PYcba7

Transcript

Welcome And Why Business Feels Stuck

Kari Jo 0:08

Welcome to the Esthetician Podcast, the podcast for estheticians who are tired of working nonstop, feeling stuck in their business. Hey, I'm Kari Jo and I'm an esthetician of 20 years. I built and I sold my aesthetics company after learning the business side that nobody ever teaches us. And each week we are going to figure out what is actually happening in your business and what to fix first and how to build a business that actually is going to give you more freedom, more profit, and most importantly, more peace. So let's get into today's episode.

Hiring Is Often Not The Fix

Kari Jo 0:47

So today we're going to talk about hiring. Well, I should, well, I should say kind of. Because here's what I think is I don't think that most aestheticians actually have a hiring problem. But the truth is, is most of the time I feel like it's an operational problem. See, one of the things that I hear all the time is someone is like, when they start getting really busy and they start having lots of clients, they start to be like, Kari Jo, I think I need to hire. Or sometimes they hire and then come and call me and they're like, I don't know what I'm doing, right? But what happens is people are like, I just need help. And and we think that if we could just get another esthetician to come in and help us, everything would be so much easier. Maybe, but also maybe not, because I have seen in cases where estheticians have gone to hire someone and then they end up feeling more overwhelmed than they felt before they even hired the person. And we don't really talk about that. And part of the reason why is once you hire someone, you now have like more questions coming in, right? It's not questions from your clients anymore. I mean, you're still always having those, but you're also getting your employee has lots of questions, right? And then you have their clients messaging in. And so now you even have more messages coming in, and then you need to order more product and communicate. It's just like you have so much more. So somehow when we tend to hire, what happens is we tend to have less freedom than we actually did before. So before you decide to go out and hire anybody, I want to talk to you about something that's really important. I want to ask you, what kind of help does your business actually need at this moment? Because sometimes the answer is you actually do need an employee. But sometimes it isn't. Sometimes the answer is actually maybe something technology could do. Sometimes we just need to pay someone like, you know, a few dollars to come in every once in a while. And sometimes we don't even need a person. What we actually need is better systems running. So that is what this episode is about today.

The Overwhelm And Frankenstein Business

Kari Jo 3:22

So I remember there was a season in my business when honestly I felt like absolutely everybody needed something from me. And I don't mean just inside my business because we are well-rounded people, right? We're not just our business. I mean everybody needed somewhere. My husband needs something from me. My house needed me to clean up and do wash the toilets and the shower. And my husband needed me to cook dinner and do his laundry because he didn't have any of it. And then uh my daughter, she needed, she was doing homeschooling and she's got friends and she needs something, and there's a birthday party, or and then I have employees and employees, they will always need something from you. They're gonna need you to educate them, they're gonna need to know how to do something, they're gonna have to build their clients, and then you have your clients, and they also always need something from you, right? And truly and honestly, it just felt like I had fires burning around me at all times of the day. Have you ever felt like that? Like one minute you're solving one problem, and then three more pop up because you were like concentrating on that one, and then after you solve that, you now have like two more emails that you missed. Or I guess, like I deal a lot with emails, you're probably dealing with phone calls. So, like you have a bunch of phone calls, and or all of a sudden you have a client and she's gonna be running late, and then there's another message in your DMs, and this person she wants to know how much it is for blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and it just never stops. And here's the difference with business: your family still exists even when you take a nap, even when you take a day off, your family is going to exist without you, but your business it depends on you for absolutely everything, it will not exist without you. It's like I heard this analogy about Frankenstein, like so. So there's this like now I'm laughing because I'm thinking of it in my head, but there's this analogy of Frankenstein. And Frankenstein, when he gets, you know, like the the guy invents Frankenstein, he comes to life, and in the actual old book, he kills his whole entire family, right? So this monster that you built and it and created ended up destroying the family, right? Doesn't that kind of feel a little bit like business sometimes? Anyways, I don't know. I just went off on a rampage about that, but I just remember I like kept getting stuck in this place where I was thinking, like, oh my gosh, there has to be another way out. Because the truth is, is like I was never tired of being an aesthetician. I loved my clients. I was not tired of my clients, I wasn't even tired of business. I love business, I could learn about it all the time. But what I was like ultimately really tired about was feeling responsible for absolutely everything. And maybe you have felt that way too. And here's what's so interesting is most people get to that place, and then the first thing that we think about is we're like, we need to hire. And that's where our brain goes. I need another esthetician or a receptionist, I need an assistant, I need another person. But like, can I just ask you a question really quickly? What would that person actually do? Seriously, though, if they walked into your business tomorrow morning, what would they own? What would they know exactly what to do? Or would you spend the entire day answering all of their questions? Because if it's the second one, hiring isn't going to solve your problem. It's actually going to make you busier. Because now instead of just doing the work, you're answering the questions about the work and you're also doing the work. So I coached this esthetician not too long ago who already actually she had someone helping her. And they both cared. They both wanted the business to succeed, and neither one of them was the problem, but they felt so frustrated because one thought that the clients were getting really quick responses, and the other thought that clients were waiting too long. One thought, like, oh yeah, our calendar is like absolutely working, everything's going great. And the other one is like, no, we have like a lot of problems. You guys, these guys were in the exact same business. But do you want to know what the problem was? It was an operational problem. See, they're both working extremely hard, but they both are working from two totally different operational standards. They have different expectations, they have different ownership, and they have different rules. And because of that, they were living in two totally different realities at the exact same time in business. See, that's what systems do. Systems create one version of truth. Without them, everyone just starts making their own version, and then it creates total chaos in your business. So let me ask you something. If you are thinking about hiring, what problem are you actually trying to solve? Are you trying to solve for more laundry? Are you trying to solve for phone calls? Do you have too many like appointment reminders, trying to follow up with clients? Do you have too many emails? Are you like you need help with dinner at home? Do you just feel exhausted? Because all of those are different problems and they all have very, very different solutions.

Buying Back Time Without Payroll

Kari Jo 9:24

I remember I listened to this podcast once, like a long time ago when I was in my business. It was on Shaylene Johnson. And I wish I could have it because I would totally put it in the show notes. But like, I mean, it was probably like eight years ago. I won't even know how to find it. But it was like the best episode because it was life-changing for me. Anyways, I was sitting there and I was thinking, you know, exactly probably like what we're talking about. Like I was overwhelmed, I was exhausted, probably much like you. And I was like, I need help, right? And in my head, help meant hiring employees. And hiring employees meant now I have to pay them forever. They're on my payroll, right? And I've got to make enough money to cover them. And I got to do taxes, and it's like this forever commitment. That's like what I was thinking in the this exact moment. And I remember Shailen said something on this podcast. She said, listen, you could hire someone to come and do your laundry. And she wasn't talking about hiring someone full time, and she wasn't talking about like building this big team out, right? She said, just hire someone for three months. And if you love it, at the end of three months, you can renew them. And if you don't, like you guys can just walk away from each other. And that's okay because it was only a three-month commitment to begin with. And I remember sitting there thinking, and I was like mind-blown, and I was like, wait, I can do that. I don't have to make this huge forever decision of like hiring someone on to stay with me indefinitely. I could just be like, hey, I need someone for three months and hire them for three months. And then at that time I could readjust. And then she actually talked about how the best thing she ever did was hire a cleaner to come in and clean and do the laundry and stuff. And I was like, Yeah, that's what I need, right? That's what I need. So I remember I did that. I hired that and I did it exactly the way that she did it. And I know it doesn't sound like an actual business decision hiring someone to do my laundry and clean my house for me, but it absolutely was. Because every single hour that I wasn't cleaning my house and having to do laundry, it was an hour that I could actually spend on building my business. Or it was an hour that I could spend relaxing or being with my family instead of having like this guilt and pressure that I need to get up and go do something and not fully be present. And that feeling of just being a normal person again, it was everything. And it literally changed how I looked at growing my business. See, getting help, it does not always mean you have to hire an employee. Sometimes it just means you got to buy back your time somewhere, anywhere, find a spot. So here's what I want to do. I want to show you the exact order that I think every single solo esthetician should follow before hiring. Because I think most people skip the first two steps and then jump straight into hiring. And then they end up overwhelmed, like we talked about. So, what is the right order? Here's the order that I teach first. Implement technology first, part-time help, second, employee, third. That's it. Now, let me explain what I mean because I think this is where estheticians get stuck. They start like feeling overwhelmed, and their brain jumps to I need to hire, but hiring, I don't believe, should actually be the first step. I think it needs to start with technology. And before you panic, I know you're about to tell you, you think I'm about to tell you that you need to go learn AI or some complicated software. And I'm not. I'm talking about simple things. Like, let me ask you a question: How many times are you doing the exact same thing over and over every single day? Like texting clients to remind them, or sending intake forms, or having your client fill out the intake forms, and then you have to go and schedule it, or answering a bunch of questions, sending postcard instructions, sending, will you leave me a review? All of those things they happen

The Right Order Before Hiring

Kari Jo 14:05

over and over and over again. So if you're doing them over and over and over again, then why aren't you doing them manually? See, that's where technology comes in and it can help you out. Because technology, the great thing about technology is it's never going to take a vacation and it's never gonna forget. And I see it happening all the time. People hire someone to do the work that software could have been doing all along. And now they pay payroll, now they manually do something that could have happened automatically, and that's actually not a people person, that's like an operational problem. So get that software to send the automatic, whatever it is, automate technology all that you can first. Do that now. Let's say you automated all of the easy stuff. Then what's next? Part-time help. Notice I didn't say an employee because those are different. Remember my story about hiring a house cleaner? I didn't hire her because, like I said, I hated cleaning, although I don't like it a whole lot. It was because I actually needed my time back. See, and there are things in your business and in your life that still actually need a person, but they don't need you. Think about it for a second. Think of all the things in your life. Does laundry actually require you? Does cleaning actually require you? Running errands, editing your social media videos, bookkeeping. None of those things actually require your expertise, your experience, your knowledge, right? They just require someone. Is every little thing that you actually take off your plate gives you a little bit of your life back. Now, eventually you get to the point where after you do that, it's not enough yet. It's still not enough. Now you're to the point where there's actually enough work, like you're busy enough with enough clients that someone actually needs to come in and own part of your business with you, right? And not own, but help you, right? And then that's when you start talking about hiring because you need that other person. Hiring, I don't believe, contrary to what everyone might be saying, I don't think that it's obviously the first solution for everybody. But I do think it should be your last. Because when you hire someone, you're not just hiring a person, you're like creating a role, and that is such a huge difference. However, let's jump in to owning because now I'm off on this other thing. When you hire someone on, the one thing that you don't want to do is you don't want to be sharing tasks with them. This is also where I see there's a little bit of like people can get stuck, is they hire someone on and then they want to share. They think, let's share all of this task. Can you do this today? Can you help me with this? And you think, and then what happens is we think that that is actually delegating, but that's not delegating, that's actually sharing a task. When you hire someone on, you want to make sure that you're actually truly delegating. See, delegating is completely different. Delegating is you own this client communication, right? You own this facial appointment, you own the communication before and after to make sure that this person has everything that they need. And it's really important when you start hiring people on that you make sure that they own something. They have to know that they're responsible for a certain outcome, not just sharing tasks with you. So when you hire someone on, what I want you to do is I want you to think, let me ask you a question. When you hire someone on, I want you to first decide what is it that they're going to actually truly own? Not, oh, well, they would help me carry all of these clients. Specifically, what is it that you're going to have that person that you hired on? What are they going to own? So breaking it down, you might need

Delegate Ownership Not Shared Tasks

Kari Jo 20:19

to hire. But your next step might not be hiring, it might be creating systems. Your next step might be doing automization. Your next step might actually be hiring someone for a few hours at your home. Because here's the one thing that I've learned after coaching all these aestheticians is the right person cannot fix the wrong system. Sometimes we put so much pressure onto employees and we expect them to come into our business, to read our minds, to figure everything out, and to somehow organize the chaos around us. And that's actually not fair. What they technically, when you hire someone on, they should technically be able to come into your business and step into your systems that you've already created. And that's a completely different experience. And that's what I mean by it's not people, person, it's like an organization, like and not an organization, an operational problem. Because when you actually fix the operations that your business is running in, the people when you hire them on, they actually have a chance to succeed. That's what you want. You don't want somebody who is asking a hundred questions. You want someone who can confidently own a certain part in your business because you made it crystal clear what success looks like to them and they own that. And then after you do that, right, that's when hiring starts giving you a little bit of freedom instead of giving you more and more work. So, how do you know if you're hiring too soon or if you're just waiting too long? I actually think it's easier than people actually make it. First, when you think about being stressed out, ask yourself could technology do this before I hire someone? If yes, don't hire, automate it. If software can remind your clients, and guys, I'm really big into this AI right now. I don't know if you read my email. I hope you're reading my emails. If not, you should go get them out of your junk box. But I just wrote how I'm going to be doing this class of how to do build an AI agent. Really great for like following up with like client, like automating all the things of reminder, I mean who you need to follow up with with your clients, your whole entire entire client journey. Where are they? What do they need? Who needs what? Like, use an agent for that. If software can remind your clients about the appointments, buy the software. If software can answer clients' questions, buy the software. You don't need to spend your time doing things that technology can do for you. Now, if technology can't do it, then you got to ask yourself the second question. Does this need a person, but not actually me? Because as business owners, a lot of times we feel like if it needs another human, then it just has to. Be us. It has to be us who does it, but it doesn't. Sometimes it's someone else folding the laundry. Sometimes it's somebody else editing all of your social media. And then after you've

Three Questions And Weekly Homework

Kari Jo 23:45

gone through both of those two questions, now you get to ask yourself the third question which is there enough work for someone who can actually own this? Not help me own it. There's a difference. Because if you're still caring, trying to get them booked, you're not getting your life back. Here's what I find so interesting is most aestheticians don't actually have too little of help. They just have help in all the wrong places. They're paying somebody when software could have done it, or they're trying to hire an employee when really they need like a virtual assistant. They're doing everything themselves because they're actually just terrified of just letting go. It's usually just that the order that we are doing these in is wrong. So when you get the wrong order, everything actually is going to feel a lot harder. I want to tell you something that I learned the hard way. I used to think that every single problem in my business needed me, every single one. If a client had a question, I had the best answer. Um, and I needed to answer it. If an employee had the question, I needed to answer it. If there was a scheduling issue, I was the right person for it, right? And friend, let me tell you, when you are the right person for everything, it gets so exhausting. It's because you literally have just taught your business and everyone around you that everything has to come through you. And so the business, it learns exactly what we teach it. Think about it. Your clients learn what you teach them. If you teach them it's okay to be late or no show and there's no problem, then they're gonna keep doing it, right? Your business learns what you teach it. So if everything comes from you, everyone will keep coming to you. See, once you start implementing systems, everything in your business is going to change. So here's the homework for this week. Grab a piece of paper, draw three columns, and at the top, I want you to write technology, someone else, only me, right? Now I want you to this whole entire next week, I want you to write every single thing that you do in a week. Every single thing. I want you to write it in one of those categories: laundry, cleaning, scheduling, inventory, all of it, social media, you know. And then ask yourself, could technology do this? Could someone else do it? Or does this actually truly require me? Here's the thing that I want you to remember from today's episode: don't hire a person to solve a problem that a system could actually solve. Fix your operations first, then the people become a whole lot easier after that. So thank you guys so much for hanging out with me today. And if you think another esthetician who is overwhelmed right now, would you like to send this episode to her? You never know. It might be exactly what she needed to hear today. And if you're loving this podcast, make sure that you're subscribed so that you don't miss next week's episode because I'm so excited, guys. I have on a really, really good guest. He's been on stages with Tony Robbins. You're going to love him. So stay tuned for next week. And I'll see you next Wednesday. Bye, friend. If today's episode hit home for you, the next thing I want you to do is go and download my free esthetician weekly number tracker. Most estheticians are trying to fix everything all at once. When really, it's usually one number that is quietly breaking the business. This tracker, it helps you figure out what number is actually hurting your business first. So when you know what to focus on, instead of feeling like you're all over the place, you can start changing your company. You can download it at KariJopatterson.com forward slash start. And remember, you don't need to fix everything at once.