The author, Silvia Sanchez, graduated from the University of Alberta with a B.A. in Psychology and has over 15 years of experience in the career-consulting field.
Career Development is essential to a long lasting beauty career. With so many new services and the advancement of existing ones, it’s important to stay current.
However, work gets comfortable and it’s easy to forget about career development. Updating your skillset every couple of years increases the longevity of your career, in addition to your satisfaction!
How does ESG help?
Connect with our Career Consultants. As trained professionals, we can help you clarify your goals and organize your career path.
ESG can guide you through the ever-expanding world of beauty educators. Our experts can help you answer questions like, “Are there night classes available?” or “What’s the best course for my budget?” In addition, we can help you find loans or grants to pay for your education when applicable.
What happens AFTER training?
ESG can assist you in finding employment or starting a small business after completing your training.
Furthermore, ESG can provide other resources for every new step in your career. If you reach a point in your career that you decide to hire staff, we can help with that too. Contact us today!
EXECUTIVE SPA GROUP
(780) 604-2772 (Call or Text)
info@executivespagroup.com
Photo credit: Pixabay
Beauty Industry salaries vary greatly due to tips and commission. The chart below identifies the salaries of specific beauty occupations for 2021.
Occupation
Min. Education
Avg. Wage
Regulation
Esthetician
Diploma
$22.35
Not regulated
Hairstylist
Apprenticeship
$21.86
Regulated
Lash Technician
Module course
$22.35
Not regulated
Laser Technician
varies
$22.35
Not regulated
Massage Therapist
Diploma
$33.61
Not regulated
Nail Technician
Module course
$22.35
Not regulated
Nurse Injector
Degree
$45.40
Regulated
Salon/Spa Manager
varies
$32.63
N/A
Salon/Spa Receptionist
n/a
$15.40
N/A
Figures were collected from The Alberta Learning Information System.
Is Provincial Regulation a good thing?
Unregulated occupations, such as esthetics are ran by spas, schools, retailers, etc. The collective of all businesses and organizations with beauty services and sales as the common goal is what we call the beauty industry. Moreover, business owners decide the acceptable minimum education of their staff. While many are open to on-the-job training, many of them require at least the minimum training.
Likewise, educators can opt to award students with an acknowledgement of participation, or certificate.
Regulated occupations, such as hairstyling, do not have as many freedoms. As a result, the integrity of these occupations remains intact. Service providers working in a regulated occupation must be tested to ensure they meet standard technical skills.
In conclusion, there are pros and cons to provincial regulation.
Tips can make all the difference.
Don’t forget to consider the money you will earn from tips as “income”. Tips can take your wage from $15 to $30 per hour. Though tips do not provide a consistent amount, they are a constant addition to your bottom line.
Tips to increase your tips.
Salons and spas with good reputations usually attract higher paying clients that are likely to tip a bigger percentage on the service. In the same vein, these employers will have higher expectations of you as a Service Provider.
In addition, training in higher ticket services will increase your tips. Generally, clients tip their Service Provider 15% of the service. Therefore, the bigger the service price, the bigger the tip.
Similarly, you can also increase your tip percentage by providing excellent customer service. Dazzling clients with your skill and personality will earn you a long-lasting career!
Commission also makes a difference.
Like tips, commission can add a few dollars extra per hour to beauty industry salaries. Commission rates vary depending on your employment agreement.
All staff members can take advantage of making money through commission sales. For instance, a salon receptionist can take their wage from $15 per hour to $20 per hour in commission sales.
Increasing commission earnings
“I’m not a good salesperson.” We’ve heard this one time and time again! Don’t let the thought of selling products scare you away from your beauty industry career. The trick to commission is understanding your client and product knowledge.
Firstly, think of yourself, not as “pushing” a product on a client, but as “prescribing” a product to help your client achieve their goal. Secondly, setting an attainable daily sales goal will help you stay organized. Lastly, familiarize yourself with your available products to select the best solution for your client.
Other ESG resources…
We know beauty careers! In other words, talk to us about starting your career in the beauty industry. We can help you develop a career path that will lead you to your goal in time and cost effective manner.
Choosing a training provider can be overwhelming, the choices are endless! Moreover, you want a training provider that will prepare you mentally for your new career. Whatever your long term career goals are, we can help you design a career path that is right for you!
**VENUE RENTAL NOT AVAILABLE STARTING JAN 1, 2022 to MARCH 31, 2023.
Who are we?
Executive Spa Group (ESG) is a community beauty industry resource centre.
In the past, we have served our community with employment programs that helped individuals join the beauty industry. Our goal has always been to cultivate Alberta’s beauty industry by promoting skills training and work experience.
Our primary role with individuals is to provide solid career and employment plans, therefore, collaboration with educators and employers is key!
We collaborate with educators.
We connect individuals to educators using multiple methods , for instance, our TRAINING 411 directory. This is an online resource dedicated to inform individuals of their beauty industry training options. In addition, we can provide educators with recruitment services to help them fill classes.
A venue for educators.
We encompass 2,000 square feet of space equipped for classroom and technical training. Therefore, ESG is the venue of choice for educators. Take a virtual tour of the facility.
Our venue hours are Tuesday to Saturday, 9am-5pm. Extended hours/days are available.
While our venue is fit to deliver a variety of esthetics and medical esthetics courses.
Edmonton Venue Location
Executive Spa Group is located in the historical yet trendy neighbourhood of Old Strathcona.
Located minutes away from downtown Edmonton, Old Strathcona is a busy, centrally-located neighbourhood. Furthermore, it offers you and your students many amenities. For example, parking, transportation, restaurants, etc.
After training hours, you can enjoy the remarkable food and drink scene Whyte Ave has to offer.
Spend the night on Whyte.
Enjoy VIP treatment with our hotel partners when you choose ESG as your Edmonton venue. Ask us about special rates provided to our guests by the Metterra and Varscona hotels on Whyte. In conclusion, ESG is the obvious choice for your venue rental!
Things to do in Edmonton during your visit.
Take a stroll down Whyte Ave. Ten (10) blocks of shopping, dining, service and entertainment experience peeking out of every corner!
Visit The Muttart Conservatory– more than 700 species of plants in 3 climate-regulated biomes. Great for nature lovers!
Matt M., owner and operator of Practical Esthetics shares his advice on operating a beauty industry business from home.
So Matt, how and when did you decide to join the beauty industry?
I’ve always been interested and loved the beauty industry personally, I was known growing up for the only guy with flawless brows. I got my university degree, did that career for years but was really unhappy with my life and dreaded going to work. A change needed to happen and I needed to be happy.
Yes, you can change career paths even at 30 years old!
Matt M.
Do you have a specialty? If so, why did you choose that specialty?
A friend of mine told me about body sugaring and how she goes to a home business for it as well as how much she paid per session. The gears got turning.
Being part of the LGBT community, I know many men and trans people have a hard time getting hair removal services because many providers will not service men or people who were assigned male at birth.
I’m personally comfortable with accepting everyone so this was a HUGE demographic that was untapped. Along with a large number of men (as well as some women) simply aren’t comfortable going to a woman for their services.
What are your favourite benefits of having a home business?
WRITE 👏 OFFS👏 Home businesses drop your living costs significantly. Internet, electrical, gas, rent/mortgage, lawn maintenance… you name it, odds are it’s connected to your home business in some way and can be partially written off come tax time. Everybody likes keeping more of their money right?
Another benefit is I can work whatever hours because I’m always “at work” so accepting a client at 9pm on a Sunday night because her wedding is coming up and her photographer had to last minute reschedule… That can happen. I set boundaries but am also able to be a better service provider due to flexibility.
What challenges have you faced as a beauty Industry home business owner?
Biggest challenge of me being in the beauty industry… I’m a dude. I hate to pull that card but it’s been thrown in my face many times. Another hurdle of having a home business regardless of gender is being taken seriously.
There are too many people who fly by night and give home “businesses” a bad name. Keep yourself professional and treat your business as your business. Greet your clients in your uniform, make sure everything is spotless and try to remove the “home” atmosphere for a place of business.
What is your advice for beauty service providers considering starting their own home business?
Make yourself professional. Having a good website is HUGE! Make sure your SEO is optimized to the nines and the site is easy to navigate as well as interact with.
Make sure you’re registered, insured and inspected. Get your name out there any and ALL ways possible. If you’re not on a main road with lots of traffic, people won’t know you exist and you will flop. Advertise wisely, pinch pennies, get flyers and business cards made (I have little lexan stands to put flyers and business cards at other relevant businesses so we can work together).
Have 3-6 months of living expense money ready at hand or keep another job. It takes a while to build a client base to turn a profit. It will be slow but if you are persistent, you can make it successful.
Google reviews are priceless! Yelp is a waste of money and a trap. Always look for free/inexpensive ways to advertise and shamelessly plug your business whenever you can as well.
EXECUTIVE SPA GROUP
Beauty Industry Resource Centre
(780) 604 2772
Hiring apprentices in your salon can be beneficial. Here are some FAQs employers have when considering hiring apprentices versus licensed hairstylists.
Can I hire an existing staff member as an apprentice?
Yes, for example, you may choose to promote your receptionist. Some people may even say that its a good idea to promote your receptionist/assistant/etc. This is because taking on an apprentice is a long term commitment and investment.
How much supervision is an apprentice required to have?
The supervisor has to be a certified hairstylist. This person will be a mentor and should have the qualities to mould the apprentice with correct technical skills and theoretical knowledge amongst other things.
Your apprentice must complete 1450 hours during their first period (12 months) and another 1450 hours on their second period (12 months)
You can stretch this out how it best works for you, but this works out to 30 hours per week on average.
Can an apprentice offer services at my salon before being licensed?
Yes, they can offer the services you teach them as they practice their skills. Your apprentice will have to enrol in technical training at some point during each period (start dates vary), but you can teach them the skills you want them to learn in the mean time.
What is the application process?
Your apprentice must apply online. There is a $35 apprenticeship application fee. After, you will receive an email asking you to complete the employer portion of the application.
A contract will be created from there which will be signed by both of you and voilà, you have an apprentice.
Find your apprentice!
You can use our job bank to search for your next apprentice!
