Find Your Esthetics Niche to a Happy Career

Finding Your Passion in Esthetics
(Dedicated to Gladys--one of my former student-readers that makes me see how passion can slowly bloom beautiful careers!)

Everyone in esthetics school has big dreams. I remember having this super fun project in esthetics school where we had to design and create our own dream spa. It had to include statements as to why we thought it would be successful, how we would advertise and rough price ranges to get started. I loved this project, it helped me and other students wish upon of star and hope BIG!

Now the problem with this project as much as I loved it is it almost sets students up for failure. The reality is most estheticians will never own their spas, in fact, many estheticians struggle just to find work in decent spas. Only the crème of the crop estheticians get good spa jobs, and even then many estheticians can't find their ways. Whether your goal is to make it big and own a high-end spa or you just want to be a working esthetician, there is one common ingredient among successful estheticians (success to me=happily working-everyone's idea of good income varies) and that is a NICHE.

Do you know someone in school who is fantastic at waxing? They can speed waxing off those ugly hairs and they can create a brow that celebrity artists would be proud of? Do you remember someone in school that knew how to transform ordinary into extraordinary with makeup? These are niches, it is a specialized area of esthetics that you are really good at and it can carry you through your career.

You need to know what you are really good at and run with it. Your career might take you many places, you might wind up with many experiences good and bad, but some how you always end up back doing your specialty more and more. For me, well let's just say I ended up doing a variety of things. Obviously if you are reading my blog you know that I like to TALK and bring my experiences to people, but I took my love of creating, organizing and my love of children ( I am a proud momma) and decided to off spa parties to girls and moms. Life leads us in funny ways sometimes because if you ever asked me if I would do additional birthday parties I would have said a flat "NO!" My life began and ended with esthetics--everything esthetics--I worked at med spas and traditional spas before even getting into spa parties, and I certainly didn't have regular kids' parties in my business plan, but sometimes life gives you an opportunity and you at to look at the whole picture and make a decision about your career. 

What changed for me? What catapulted me into becoming more than just spa parties?  My most popular party is still my girls' spa party and my doll spar party, but I was approached by a clubhouse to offer boys' parties. My initial response to them was a unequivocal "no" and I didn't look back. Again I was approached about doing boys' parties and other types of parties, and finally I decided to give it a try. Why not? At first, I didn't want to do this because I am an esthetician and that is my first love, but then I realized I have a gift that people want to use. I am really good at putting things together; I can handle many kids at once (I've handled 31 kids at a party); and these people trust me with spa parties and they wanted me to create something special for their other parties because they trust in my ability to create them the perfect venue. So my career has changed significantly, I used to be just an esthetician who had a couple parties on the side, then turned into a spa party business and then now I am focused on the parties as a whole.
Why does this matter to you when you just want to be an esthetician? It matters because you need to know what you are good at and what you are passionate about because those driving forces can lead you towards an unexpected career path. Back to when I was in esthetics school, my spa project we did in class was the polar opposite of the career I have today. Never once, not in a million years did I ever think I would offer spa parties to little girls nor did I think I would branch out and offer other venues. My point is you don't know where you career can take you, but if you can figure out what your passionate about and what you are good at it, it will help you find your way to success and happiness.
I love what I do. Sure there are bumps in the road, no job is a 100% perfect and if anyone tells you that being an esthetician in any job from spa esthetician to Medical Aesthetician to Brow Bar Expert to a Sales Person to a Spa Party Owner they are sugar coating it! My job is not perfect, it is not easy running my own spa party business and it takes a lot flexibility, creativity and patience to keep it going, but in the end I couldn't think of anything else that would make me happier. I love it!
I don't know who said this, but whoever said "Do what you love, and you will never work a day in your life (author unknown)" truly knew what they were talking about.

Author of
Jump Start Your Esthetics Career: A Guide for Newly Licensed Estheticians

Spa Divas: A Place to Hang My License

Spa Party Business: A Plan for Success