We caught up with the brilliant and insightful April Rojas a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi April, thanks for joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
I had been working for a multi location Brazilian waxing boutique for about 5 years. On the surface the job was great and I loved connecting with my clients. Waxing can be perceived as being superficial or vain, but getting to share experiences with my client quickly became the best part of the job. I started to intentionally create space for my clients to feel empowered about their choices in removing their body hair. I never thought that a job at a waxing salon would allow me to create trusting and valued relationships with my clients. Unfortunately, the company was using some questionable practices that ended up ended up negatively affecting many of the waxers they employed. The branding of the company also reflected less and less of who I was and what my clients looked like and what I believed in. It became increasing more difficult to sell services in a way that felt damaging to people’s self esteem. Toward the end of my career there the stress of keeping up with the high volume demands of company I had made several visits to the emergency room for what would later find out were severe panic attacks. The pandemic hit just before my 5th anniversary with the company and the time I had away from it gave me more perspective on what I wanted my life to look like moving forward.
I wasn’t quite sure of the details, but I knew I wanted to have a better work/life balance and to do work somewhere that represented myself and my community. I am a Queer, Latinx woman and in my previous work space the branding was aggressively “girly” and featured skinny, hairless, white women. While all bodies deserve to be celebrated, there is a huge underrepresentation of bodies that are outside of Eurocentric standards. And many of the people in my life, many of my clients looked different than those skinny, white bikini clad models the boutique used in their marketing materials. There was also a huge lack of representation and availability of safe and accessible spaces for LGBTQIA+ folks in personal care services. Specifically, in the intimate waxing space. The waxing boutique I had worked for only offered Brazilian waxing for people with vulvas and in the 5 years I had been there and the decade the company was open there was very little conversation around that changing. So, if you want something done “right” (as a cis women I can’t say that I know what right is for everyone, but I wanted to do better by those who are often underserved and use the privilege I had to do so) do it yourself!
One of my coworkers that I was close with and shared similar values had suggested we open up our own space and provide the space we had been dreaming about. At first I was reluctant, I had worked for folks who owned small businesses and they were all miserable and very vocal about how hard it was to run a business. It was still unclear if our industry would come back as we knew with the ongoing pandemic and money was tight. I couldn’t begin to imagine how I would be able to support myself starting over and leaving the perceived security of working for someone else. My soon to be business partner did her best to calm my nerves and give me a lesser anxious perspective. Eventually, it worked! She scouted salon suites and I started building our brand aesthetic. We choose a location that felt like it was made for us, the colors matching our mood boards and launched Sage Wax Lounge in September of 2020.
We were intentional for the jump about our messaging and branding, selecting verbiage that encouraged people to make informed decisions about grooming their bodies and images that reflected more diversity in bodies sizes, shapes, color and orientation. As a woman with a lot of body hair myself, being able to promote that having body hair was not “gross” or “bad”, but if you wanted to remove it- we can do that! When clients started to book and come in for services the feedback we received spoke to more clients feeling seen and safe in our space. I taught myself how to wax folks with penises to be able to open up my service menu to a more inclusive market on a gender inclusive menu!
Seeing my vision of inclusivity and visibility manifest right in front of me while also creating employment for myself is something I am not only proud of, but so grateful I have had the opportunity to do.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
My name is April Rojas (she/her) and I am the owner and waxer at Sage Wax Lounge PS, INC. in Palm Springs, CA. I have been a licensed cosmetologist since 2014 and have been practicing body hair removal, specializing Brazilian waxing since 2015. Sage Wax Lounge offers Brazilian and Body waxing services for all gender identities and expressions, My priority is to continue to create space and conversation around more inclusive and affirming body grooming spaces for Queer, Transgender and Non Binary folks.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Sage Wax Lounge may be located in Palm Springs currently, but my first location was in Redlands with my former business partner and colleague. We spent nearly 3 years building a brand and a community of clients in that space. In the earliest days of opening up our business, my partner was vocal about wanting to expand someday and would occasionally send full storefronts available for lease. Opening a salon suite was scary enough that even thinking about expanding 6 months in felt wild! But it was fun to dream and we even bounced around opening up a second suite in Palm Springs ( I was living their part time when we opened and shortly after moved there full time) for me to run, while my partner would keep things running in Redlands. This scenario felt much farther off, but after a few years of sharing a space and growing client base we felt ready for more.
In December of 2022, I started looking for spaces in Palm Springs keeping in close communication with my partner. It was an exciting time, but in that excitement and because of our lack of experience in owning a business we had a very loose agreement about what operating two spaces would actually look like.
I had found a great spot, signed the lease and invested countless hours and resources to the project. Things got up running in February 2023 and I quickly began to realize that we missed a crucial step. We had no clear structure for what sharing a brand, but operating in two separate locations looked like. My financial and energetic investment in our original location was not being funneled into our new location. My business partner absorbed a significant amount of my client base without any compensation. Leaving me to have to rebuild my client base with little to no support from our first location. This created a significant strain on my resources and well being. By summer, I was running out of money to support myself and the business. I had confided in my partner a few times and was met with emotional support, which was appreciated, but in that moment I needed support from my business partner.
This brought us to having a tough conversation about our future. After connecting with some small business organizations and connecting with fellow small business owners I had gained some insights on what the crucial missing steps were. One of the most valuable thing about our business is our clients. Without them we would have no business. The second was our branding, something that I had spent hours of intentional energy curating, while my partner leaned into her strengths of organization and admin duties. Now here I was with the original location and shared branding thriving and nothing to show for the continued success.
Using the knowledge I gained from a wonderfully supportive community of local small business owners and advisors, I was able to articulate that we should have set up some structure around me being compensated for the client base I left behind. This compensation would have supported the opening of this second location. I knew something was missing and felt confident that my partner would open up dialogue to create support for me and success for both of our locations moving forward. That was unfortunately not the case and our perspectives were very different. It was in this moment I knew that our partnership was over, the safety and support I had experienced was gone and I was now solely responsible for what was a new, struggling waxing studio.
We parted ways with an agreement that since she would keep the clients she absorbed I would keep the name and branding. After many delays, we announced our split to our client base and I immediately got to work in establishing Sage Wax Lounge as the sole owner. The whole experience pushed me to step up and step into my power, advocating for my needs and showing up in my business as a more authentic and present version of myself.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
Social media offers a super accessible source for marketing. It can cost some time, but monetarily speaking it can be incredibly low cost.
When I took over running my waxing studio solo, I started to do a minor revamp of the branding I had initially created. I added some new things to the interior of my studio and then started focusing on the branding on the business’s social channels. I had very minimal knowledge of how to be a proper content creator and always felt insecure on camera. I reached out and connected with some friends who had their own waxing spaces and social media presence about their strategies. I followed content creator accounts that posted tips and tricks. I also took a few webinars offered through local small business organizations. I learned how to use the algorithm to target my desired clients, from what keywords to use to the optimal length a reel or tiktok should be to have the best response from potential clients.
I implemented the new strategies and started making content in batches. I would sit down and create a week or two of content at a time, using automation software to have post schedule to post at prime times and days. The feedback I was receiving from my followers was so positive and encouraged me to make more. Being able to express my sense of humor and be a little silly built an even better connection with my clients. My strategies were working, a few weeks after implementing them my local reach had increased by 50%. The content I was making to advertise my services was making it to the right demographic and I began to see bookings come from those channels. While content creation can be a great way to advertise and build a brand, it comes with challenges.
It felt like the algorithm was constantly changing, other waxers were pumping out content like it was their only job and I was trying to keep up with them while also waxing clients and running a business full time. Even with the automation software it was taxing and slowly I started to put less effort into my socials. I was burnt out. Fortunately, I was still getting consistent booking and with time started to release some of burden of needing to keep up with what everyone else was doing. I created better boundaries around my personal social media usage to help preserve energy for my business socials. Keeping a healthy balance was key in allowing me space to be creative and intentional with my content.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sagewaxlounge.glossgenius.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sagewaxloungeps or @sagewaxloungeps
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/april-rojas-3057a61b8/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SageWaxLoungePS?app=desktop
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/sage-wax-lounge-palm-springs
Image Credits
head shot credit Elise Apffel (@eliseapffel on instagram)