SkinBoss Stories: the beauty surgery

What inspired you to pursue a career in skincare?

    "Do what you love, and you will never work a day in your life" – I think it’s very true.

Being pressured from home I studied law, but skin care has always been a passion of mine, even from quite a young age. After moving to the UK, I followed my dream of opening a beauty salon. At first as the owner, I was only managing the business side of it, but it quickly became clear that I wanted to be a therapist myself. Skin treatments are very advanced in Eastern Europe, I knew if I would implement the European approach into skin therapy, I could help customers of all ages suffering from real skin problems. 

  How did you discover The Skin School and what made you choose our training courses?

  I started my journey as a beauty therapist by completing an NVQ beauty therapy college course. I must admit, I found it very basic and outdated, offering superficial knowledge. 

So, I started looking for a targeted skin course, that offered in-depth knowledge.

I found The Skin School on-line, then looked at the social media page, and after contacting you for further information, I signed up to a derma plane course. It was exactly what I was looking for. At the end of that training day, I booked the next one, an advanced and more extensive package. 

The training courses at The Skin School offer deep understanding of good, up to date skin practices, product knowledge, latest methods and techniques and continued support after completion. 

Tell us a little bit about your business including how you chose your business name. 

The business and my services are focused on specialised, luxury skin treatments. I pride myself in being knowledgeable, experienced and highly educated in skin treatments. As I mentioned before, it was very important for me to have the best training possible. 

 The Beauty Surgery’s facial treatments are highly personalised and completely tailored to each customer’s individual skin concerns and skin goals. A treatment plan will be set up after a detailed consultation and skin analysis, after which the facial or a course of treatments is caried out by combining multiple techniques and using the highest quality products. 

When I chose the business name, I wanted the word “surgery” to reflect that we are not just a beauty salon, we have taken skin treatments to the next level, offering advanced skin treatments, medical grade products, world leading anti-ageing electrical treatments and much more. 

What challenges did you face when starting your skin care business, and how did you overcome them?

In my opinion, starting any business comes with serious challenges, especially financial ones. I have now been in the industry for 8 years and experienced everything from becoming a single mother to surviving through Covid. There has been issues with employees and moving to a completely new location, which meant having to rebuild my client base.

I think the hardest part for anyone starting out as a beauty therapist is to not to give up during that first period. It is a very overwhelming time when you are not earning a great deal and still learning to understand customer needs. That can be tough, it’s hard to work with people. 

The key to overcome these challenges is to be consistent, be reliable, show up every day and ensure your customers realise that they can rely on you. You can then rely on your customers coming back to you for treatments. 

Can you share a success story from your skincare business that makes you proud?

I measure my success in the satisfaction of my customers.

I feel very lucky to say that over the years I have been able help a lot of women suffering from various skin concerns. I could share numerous stories about cases when clients have come to me with not only a skin problem, but with the consequence of mistreatments caused by inadequately trained therapists. Unsuitable and poorly executed treatments using cheap products seems attractive, but good skin care, especially corrective ones, is not cheap and it’s a big commitment. For example, in acne cases, it takes a lot of patience, painful procedures, diet, aftercare, etc to achieve desired results. 

What qualifies as a success story for me are the customers who have trusted me after being incorrectly treated by previous therapists, followed my advice and we achieved marvellous results. As an added bonus we became friends over time. There’s no better feeling than that.

It makes me truly proud of them too, for completing that journey.

Looking back on your experience with The Skin School, what specific aspect of the training stands out as the most valuable in helping you achieve your current level of success?

Beside the courses being detailed, covering both the theory and practical very well, to me the support from Natalie after completing the course to this day really stands out. The advanced skin care treatments can be intimidating at first and the risk of complications is high. She made sure that any insecurities were discussed in detail during the training days, she was standing next to each of us one by one, correcting our movements and explaining every detail. 

To this day, whenever I contact her with a question she always replies almost instantly and she’s happy to help.

What advice would you give to aspiring skincare professionals who are considering enrolling in a training course with The Skin School?

Can’t emphasise enough how important correct training is. 

If you are considering a career in skin care, my advice would be to start at the very beginning. Sign up to the basic courses and build up your knowledge and skill set from there. It takes time to become a good skincare therapist, but The Skin School is the perfect place to learn everything you need to know, and to get the support you need to achieve your goals. 

How has becoming a skincare entrepreneur impacted your life personally and professionally? 

It depends how many pages would you like to dedicate for this question? 😊

Being an entrepreneur can be very challenging both personally and professionally.

On a personal level, having my own business is both a blessing and a curse. One of the most appealing aspects of being and entrepreneur is the flexibility to adjust your work hours. It also gives you creative freedom, opportunity to grow and making a positive impact. But the most important part is that I love what I do, and it makes me happy. I’m a lot more content with myself and my achievements make my family proud of me. 

Professionally, my biggest challenge was to believe in myself when at the beginning  no one around me did.  As a business owner you take on significant responsibilities, such as managing the cash flow, hiring and managing employees, marketing etc. which results in a lot of stress. 

How do you stay innovative and keep up with the latest trends and advancements in the skincare industry to ensure your business remains at the forefront?

The beauty industry is constantly evolving and I am absolutely loving the results we can achieve now days with various methods. Although it’s a fast paced, constantly changing industry, it’s never been easier to keep up. Thanks to on-line marketing, every innovation is instantly out there. I personally enjoy going the beauty shows and networking as well, but not just in the Uk, all around Europe.