Embracing Discomfort: The Key to Growing Your Esthetician Business

In this episode, Brittany discusses the importance of embracing discomfort in order to grow a successful esthetician business. She shares her own experiences of feeling uncomfortable and pushing through it to achieve success. Brittany emphasizes the need to consistently put yourself out there, whether it's through social media posts, conversations, or networking. She encourages listeners to challenge their beliefs and mindset, and to be patient with the process of building a business. Brittany reminds estheticians that their work has a meaningful impact on people's lives and encourages them to keep going, even in the face of negativity.

⁠Book a free Discovery Call⁠ with Brittany, The Esthetician Coach, to learn more about my 1:1 coaching program. It's a no pressure call where she learns about your business and decides if you’re a good fit to work together: https://calendly.com/esthetician_coach/discovery-call-with-brittany

Want to work with Brittany? Learn more here: https://www.theestheticiancoach.com/work-with-me 

Get the formula for making 100k in Revenue for FREE: https://www.theestheticiancoach.com/100kmake

Follow Brittany on Instagram: @esthetician.coach

Brittany Hagemann (00:05.71)
You are listening to the Estheticians Ornament podcast with Brittany Hageman, episode number 162.

Hello, happy Monday, welcome back. I'm really excited to be back here talking to you today. I want to talk about something that my clients have been experiencing, that I have been working with them on, something that I personally have experienced this week that is an essential part of owning and growing a business. And that has been really uncomfortable.

embracing being uncomfortable or discomfort.

Brittany Hagemann (01:21.951)
I think back to even when I first decided to become an esthetician, which I shared on this podcast. And I was at lunch with one of my friends and he was a hairstylist. And we were talking about how I was going to quit my job and go to esthetician school and all the things I was doing. And the waitress who was serving us, was over, you know, eavesdropping on our conversation, overhearing, she was standing there, wasn't like, whatever.

She basically said to me, know, good luck. There are hundreds of estheticians in San Diego. There's no jobs. You make nothing. It's like, like good luck. Because it wasn't a like great, good for you, right? Which, you know, is not the best thing to hear when you have decided to quit your full time, highly paying job.

to go and do a completely career change. it was so great that that friend was the friend that I was sitting with because she was like, do not listen to her. She doesn't know what she's talking about. And I can think about different times being an esthetician, growing my business, growing this esthetician coaching business that has been incredibly uncomfortable for me. One of the things that comes to mind is when I started

learning how to talk on stories. There wasn't reels when I started as an esthetician business owner, but there were stories. That was like a new big thing. And I was so uncomfortable. I've shared this before on this podcast. I used to just talk about makeup as opposed to skincare because I felt that people had stronger reactions about skincare, like had stronger opinions and would get more upset easier if I said something that they didn't agree

versus makeup is much more subjective. It's kind of a more fun topic to talk about. There's not as much emotion that people have to carry with skincare. So was so nervous to talk about acne and skin on stories that I would just talk about makeup. If you go to my BLH Beauty Instagram, you go all the way back in my safe stories, you will see a series on lipstick and eyeshadow and all these things.

Brittany Hagemann (03:38.956)
and you will see my very awkward self, like barely breathing, talking on stories. And because I did that consistently and I had like three people that would see my stories. I had a very supportive friend that I used to work with at Target that used to watch. It was very encouraging. I had like a colleague that I had met, like an acquaintance I had met who also was very encouraging that like I had known when I lived in Sacramento.

and I think like a random person that I didn't know. And I would do these stories and no one watched them. I didn't get any business from them. I was very uncomfortable the entire time. I noticed when I would watch them back that my lower teeth are crooked, which I didn't notice because I don't normally see myself talking and I'm like, I should be wearing

So that would bother me so much every time I would see these stories. And so then I made a rule, I just wouldn't watch them back. And this is before captions. I would be like, I would just record it and send it. So I wouldn't even have to look at it again because I knew I just needed to practice being uncomfortable even if I wasn't getting any results from those stories. Same thing when I started posting regularly. I would be posting information.

I was learning how to market and crickets, right? I'd be posting, putting myself out there, nothing would happen. I would talk to people in my business all the time and those did not turn into instant bookings. So I consistently was putting myself out there and growing my abilities, growing my confidence in things and it was so, so, so uncomfortable. It so uncomfortable. So this is like 2017, 2018.

Brittany Hagemann (05:34.702)
In 2019, I really had this overwhelming desire, this like, it felt like a calling for lack of being dramatic. Sorry, that's really dramatic. To help women, particularly women, but I know obviously there's men, estheticians, make more money in their esthetician business because I could see it from my peers. I saw my esthetician friends that were making a lot of money and my esthetician peers that I would see in my salon studio that

hustling doing services after services working so hard and like not making any money and I really wanted to Change and elevate the industry and teach people what I had learned and I decided I wanted to create this business I initially called it a situation empowerment. I wanted to power institutions So I had my brand new Instagram account. I started doing videos on it like IG TV. That's when IG TV was a thing

And if you could go back to my Instagram account, all the way back and see all those videos. And was much more confident on camera by this point. I had been doing it for a few years on BLH Beauty. I was feeling really good and confident, but my views were low. I didn't have a big following. I didn't have hundreds of thousands of people watching my videos. And I remember being like, this again. I have to be

really uncomfortable again, putting content out again, and nobody is responding. I definitely had some wonderful esthetician friends that would respond and were very supportive, which was wonderful. But for the most part, I wasn't getting in front of new audience. I wasn't meeting new estheticians. It was my friends that I had already made in the industry that were being very supportive, but I wasn't really growing beyond that.

And then I finally had the time and energy for this podcast and started recording this podcast. And again, I've said this before, I had no listeners, like literally maybe 10 listeners for the first eight, nine months of the podcast. And I kept putting episodes out and I'd look at my stats of listeners and it was like 10 listeners, you know? And then it eventually grew. People started talking about it more and sharing it and it was growing, but it didn't grow.

Brittany Hagemann (07:55.49)
because I put a couple podcast episodes out and one happened to go viral and then it was just like easy. It was months of putting content out and getting no clients from it, no bookings, no one following me, like the same wonderful, committed, you know who you are people that were listening every week and nobody else. And each of these stages in my business,

is incredibly uncomfortable. you feel like you are putting your heart out on the line and burying your soul and no one cares and no one wants it. And it's so hard to keep going. It's so hard to keep putting out the content. Keep talking about your business.

It's really hard, but that is the part where people usually give up. And I've been talking about this a lot on the podcast lately because I've been seeing it so much with my clients and also just people online. But that being okay with being uncomfortable every single day in your business is what makes the difference between people who have not made any money in their business or have been working really hard for the money they've made and just feel like they cannot keep their head above water.

That's the difference between that person and the person who's making 10, $15 ,000 a month in their business, taking home a lot of that money, not feeling overworked, having lots of new clients come in consistently, doing really well in their business. That is the difference. The person who is in that spot, I got one of my clients I was just sharing on stories yesterday that is actually Olivia. I know she won't mind me sharing. She was on this podcast already,

From August 2022 to August 2023, her business did $58 ,000. And when she hired me in October 2023, her goal was from that. I think she started a business in August 2022. She wanted to do $100 ,000 from August 2023 to August 2024. That was one of her big goals. So I actually spoke to her yesterday. I was like, how's it going? Are you close to 100 ,000? I figured she was based on her numbers. And she looked.

Brittany Hagemann (10:20.622)
We haven't even had August yet, 2024, and she's already surpassed $110 ,000. So she's for sure hit her goal and almost doubled what she did her first year in business and her second year in business.

She did not do that by being comfortable. She was actually uncomfortable the entire time. She was uncomfortable when she, if you listen to the podcast with her, when she was telling everyone about her business and asking people to come in and get services, she was uncomfortable when I challenged her to develop an acne anti -aging scarring program, the programs that she developed, and when she brought on Procell and all the things that I was challenging her to do there. She was not

It was not just like easy breezy. She wasn't just like, this is so great. It was really, really challenging for her, but she pushed through the discomfort. Another client who you're going to hear from in a few weeks, same thing. So uncomfortable. Every time I talked to her, she would just be like, this is so hard, but she was still doing it. It wasn't, this is so hard and I don't want to do it. And

Do I have to really do this it was this is so hard and I'm just doing it no matter what like even though I'm not getting responses even though I'm doing this and this is what the result is I'm gonna keep doing

Brittany Hagemann (11:47.354)
Brittany would she was on a few episodes ago as well. She talked about her discomfort when she's building her business and how really that is the name of the game and I think what is hard Because I know I've experienced this so now I had two businesses When you see people who seem to be like rocking and rolling You don't know what they went through to get there. You just see the end

And you see me like this, it just seems so easy for them. They are so good at it. They're so good at being on stories. They're so good at making reals. They're so good at talking about their business. They're so good at networking. They're so good at all of these things. And you start to pick yourself apart from them like, well, they're just really outgoing and I'm shy, which is totally untrue. Some of my Esstian friends who've done so well are not outgoing people. My friend, Megan Wade, who was on the podcast a while ago, she's a sugarista at Indiana.

And she is like an introvert. Like introvert. And she is absolutely killing it. Her business and has been for a few years now. And she went from literally not being able to pay her rent to doing

Brittany Hagemann (13:03.308)
And so what happens is we start to compare ourselves to people. And that's one of the reasons I actually don't pay attention a lot to people that are other S edition coaches. I pay attention to other coaches and learning about trends and things that are important to be educated on and things like that. But my actual competitors, I don't pay attention to because I don't want to look at them and think, I should be there. And I'm not there. That means I'm not that great.

that comparison ourselves to people can often create more drama in our head than inspiration. Because you're like, why can't I do that? They did that. And as opposed to asking yourself the question, why can't I do that? I think the better question to ask yourself is how much more discomfort am I willing to have?

Do I want to stay comfortable and have the business that I have, whether you're making $1 ,000 a month or $10 ,000 a month, honestly, it doesn't really matter, it's all relative. Do you want to stay there and just be comfortable, which is totally okay.

Or do you want to go further in your business, make more money, help more people, and push yourself to do things and believe things that you don't currently believe? One of the things that I work on a lot with my clients is their belief systems and their mindset. It's a big, big part of what I do with my coaching. And I challenge my clients on their beliefs all the time. Because nine times out of 10, it's their

that is holding them back, not actually the action themselves. Because if they believe the action that they took will work eventually, you truly believed it, you would be doing it. That's why I was doing those videos on Instagram. Even though I had a very small audience, I knew that that kind of stuff helps people start to understand you, understand what you do. You're helping people, you're giving free advice, all of these things, you're giving lots of value.

Brittany Hagemann (15:19.128)
People like that. That is a wonderful marketing tool. That's what this podcast is about, right? Educating, giving value.

But if I believe that every episode I put out there I should have a client, I would be constantly disappointed. Because I definitely have more episodes than I do have clients. And that's okay. I don't need 162, I actually cannot accommodate 162 clients. That is not something I can accommodate.

I am great and very happy with my full roster that I have right now because I really can't accommodate anybody else at this current moment. Some clients are ending soon, so I will be able to accommodate more people. I think that we have to take the equation out of our head, which is I talk to someone, so it should be a booking. I put a post on social media and that should be a booking. I do this and then that should equal this.

Because when we continue to believe that, when it doesn't happen, which most of time is not gonna work that way, we have a lot of shame and feeling like we're failing and feeling we're bad at this versus this is just how it is. And the work is being uncomfortable, putting things out there, putting yourself out there, talking about your business and it falling flat. And I'm putting that in quotation marks because like we don't know if it's falling flat.

Just because it's not an instant conversion, an instant booking, it doesn't mean it's not layering someone. It doesn't mean that someone who just followed you isn't going to see your 10 next posts and then come in. They need 10 posts from you to see the value that you're giving out. Now, if you give out one, two posts a week, that's like five to 10 weeks.

Brittany Hagemann (17:23.278)
of slowly getting them to understand who you are, what you do, the value that you give. Versus if you do 10 posts in a week, they're gonna get there a lot faster most of the time. Sometimes they still take their time to get there, because whatever was happening in their life. But they aren't gonna get from point A to point B. They're not gonna get from learning about you to booking with you for one conversation usually.

or one post, one story. If you think about when you've ever bought something, whether it's a computer or something that you hadn't seen before and you were exposed to, usually you need to be exposed to it a few times. That's why advertising works. You need to see it. You need to see what it is. You need to see the value that it brings to your life. You have to see it again. You'd be like, hmm, I don't know.

Like if you're online shopped and just like had a basket full of things that you didn't buy because you're like thinking about it, right? Like you're like, hmm, I got to think about this. What do I really want? Do I really want this? Is this what I want? Not to say that we all don't like buy things instantly, of course that does happen. But sometimes it can take many exposures for someone's brain to be like, I need that. I'm ready. But if you give

at the very beginning, you have given up on those people who are interested. You have literally given up on

I really really really want to challenge you especially if you're slow right now if you're hitting that summer slump I want you to put the foot pedal on the The gas is that I don't know I lost losing myself a metaphor. I want you to put the gas push on I want you to go I want you to to go and If you've been posting three times a week, I want you to 12 times this week next for the next three months

Brittany Hagemann (19:31.438)
We already been posting 12 times a week, I mean, posted 24 times. I want you to go. If you have not talked to anyone about your business, I want you to talk to everyone about your business. I want you to do it. I want you to stop making excuses and be comfortable with being uncomfortable. Right? Because the way that you've been doing it, which is a post here,

conversation here, kind of just doing it as it feels kind of manageable. I think it's an important place to start, especially if you're a new business owner. That's why I like to start my new business owners. Like we kind of start slow, getting you comfortable, getting you used to saying the things. But once you've gotten comfortable, let's go. There's no more time

perfect it. You're going to perfect it. You're going to get better as you go. You're going to get better with your messaging. You are going to get better at understanding what sticks with people, what doesn't stick with people. But the only way, the only way is from posting. My esthetician coaching business messaging has improved tenfold over year. 2019 posts are considerably worse than 2024 posts.

I remember being confused about my messaging, but I still was posting. I was still engaging with estheticians. I was still trying to build relationships. I still didn't really know how I wanted to convey the value that I was giving people. It was still very hard for me, even though I had clients that were getting results. I still had a hard time bridging those gaps in my brain. It took me a while. It took me a lot of trial and error. So I started to be like, this is…

marketing that makes sense. But I didn't learn that from watching other estheticians, coaches or business consultants work. I didn't learn that by just not posting or not doing podcast or not going on other people's podcasts and Facebook groups and things like

Brittany Hagemann (21:49.582)
So you can't use the excuses that you don't know. That is not an excuse. The excuse is you haven't figured it out yet. The only way you can figure it out is by doing. My clients, when they do things, I give them lots of feedback. Like I feel like this, don't forget to do that, da da. But I can't give people feedback if they're not posting. I'll tell them all the time, like I'm watching. I'm watching your posts to give you feedback, to help you.

But you can learn it all on your own as well, but you have to do the work to get to that place.

Brittany Hagemann (22:27.874)
I want to end with this, and this is an important part of this, is sometimes you'll put yourself out

Brittany Hagemann (22:37.102)
and it is not well received, whether it's a post on Instagram, conversation, whatever. And I want you to remind you that all those that can be really uncomfortable and nine times out of 10, highly unfair to you, like someone, some random person on internet posts something on one of your posts that's mean, it's uncalled for, it's unprofessional, whatever.

The ability to brush yourself off and keep going and being okay with that bad review you got, let's say someone, someone crazy person wrote you bad review. What the heck, where did this come from, right? This happens sometimes to people. I want you to think about all the people who if you stopped because of a bad Instagram troll,

or bad Google review or whatever that you wouldn't be helping if you stopped because you let those crazy negative people change the way you believed about yourself and what you do. I want you to think about the people who you've already impacted, the people you will continue to

Even if you do hair removal, hair removal brings so much confidence to people. You don't have to do acne to be meaningful to people's lives. I just also want to make sure that's clear if you're not an acne specialist listening to this. You don't have to do scar removal. You can do any of the esthetician services and still be really impactful to people's lives. I love my lashes because I don't have to, I just, love.

it being done every day and I don't have to think about it. just is. just brush them and wash them, but I don't have to like put mascara on, take mascara off, all of it. It is such, I just love it. It makes my life so much easier. So I mean, think about like, if you stop giving lashes, cause some random person who's crazy, cause they don't like the way you did lashes, but everybody else really loves their lashes. Don't let that person stop you. Cause think about

Brittany Hagemann (24:49.23)
all the people who would be so sad if you stopped, the people who haven't even met yet. Okay, I want you just to think with that. I want you to embrace discomfort this week. I want you to post. I want you to get out there. I want you talking to people. And if you need help with overcoming the mindset around these things, you know where I am, link in the bio. It's a fantastic week. I'll talk to you next week. Bye.