TIRES
One winter, a lot of years ago when I was newly divorced and struggling financially as a single parent with two toddlers, the weather forecast in the coming days was for a huge hit of snow. I was driving a beat up old car that a friend had given me. The tires, I knew in my heart, were not going to keep my children and I safe in any kind of adverse condtions. I went to a local tire shop
and asked the
owner’s opinion. He looked and told me my tires were bare; I needed new ones. In fact, he told me that mine we
re so bad he didn’t even feel comfortable with me driving on them in good conditions. I broke down crying. I had no money to replace tires. He excused himself from the room. I sat trying to figure a way to get money for tires. Twenty minutes later he returned, handed me my keys and told me I had his best used set of winter tires on my car. He told me to use them in good health and if it ever came that I could afford them I could come pay for them then. And, then he showed me the door and told me to take care.I left crying, in gratitude, knowing I’d find a way to be that good of a person too.
OVERHEAD
Lift Laser and Beauty is not a huge posh location; it’s a small and quaint space. What that means is that there aren’t big expensive fixtures that my business needs to pay for, nor is there a huge lease. I don’t have uniforms that need to be provided to staff, huge signs, displays of expensive products to stock and sell. My doctor that comes for injectables isn’t in-house so there are no medical doctor salaries that need to be paid for. My overhead is low in comparison to the typical medical aesthetic spa. While I could charge the same rate as everywhere else, it would be strict greed that compelled me to do so. I’m not so inclined. In my opinion it’s fair to pass the difference on to you instead of charging the premium for the sole benefit of bigger personal profit.
IMAGE
It's importand for me to be able to deliver the same service and results that you can get anywhere else, in my own
personal comfortable way, to more people and for you to not let cost and optics be what holds you back. I don’t want you to be intimidated by the environment; I want your aesthetic services to be as mainstream to you as getting your hair cut. I have purposefully created my business image and access to my services in a low-key casual way because that’s who I am; and if that’s what you would like, I’d love to be the place you come to.
HUGE disclaimer: I am in NO WAY calling down any business that chooses a different image and offers all the fine touches that come with it. I admire them and know with all my heart that their clients expect and appreciate every single aspect of their business model and image. IF that is YOU, please, in all sincerity take your business there. Make the experience of your service precisely what suits your style. The entire point is that I want every person, at whatever their comfort and style and image expectation level, to have a place to go to access the services they want at a fair and relative price.
LEVEL PLAYING FIELD
As a solo parent since my children were three and four years old (they are now both adults) I found a lot of things just out of reach. Simple extras like permanent hair removal, which would have made my time so much easier: saving all that time in the shower shaving or feeling embarrassed when I stepped out in shorts having literally forgotten I’d not shaved in days. It’s my promise to myself, with what I offer, to set my rates where I need to serve the needs of my business and family and to also remain accessible. It’s my promise to other women to keep these beauty ‘extras’ within reasonable reach. Whether you are a dual income family, a high income earner, a young couple just trying to figure things out or a solo parent who doesn’t deserve to be excluded from services like this just because you chose to not live with someone who didn’t feed your soul; I’VE GOT YOU.
My rates are intended to level the playing field, with love.
WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE TIRES?
I paid for the tires, in full, two months later by making homemade soap and selling it to friends. I bought every set of tires from him for almost 20 years. He never recognizes me when I come in and I always appreciate what he did for me.
I now run my business in the same kind of heart-led way that on that winter day so many years ago he showed me makes a difference.