We were lucky to catch up with Ariel Lowell recently and have shared our conversation below.

Ariel, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.

The beauty industry is wildly underrated and to me, feels like an incredible jackpot to land in. The beauty industry offers those who delve in it the ability to surround themselves with likeminded individuals, choosing from an array of services such as waxing – which can bring a very relaxing, chatty, and fun atmosphere, to facials – which can bring a soothing, calming, and relaxing atmosphere. The spa industry has the ability to create an experience, and take a customer on a true in person journey in as little as 30 min. A service as little as 30 min. A month can change a client’s life for the better, enhance their life experience, create more comfort, ease, and promote a sense of self love. The beauty industry has the power to rewrite a client’s inner story.

What sets me apart from the industry world is that I maximize on this feeling, this experience, this positive mental shift. With a deep sense of mindfulness, awareness and intention, Bloom Sugaring has an understanding that this is not just about a chatty conversation or a relaxing hour. This is so much more than that. Transforming services into experiences comes with a sense of empathy for the client, and recognizing that even the smallest details can make the biggest differences. Whether its how the room is set up, the confidence levels, positive conversations, or a true professional guide to enhance the experience as a whole, Bloom Sugaring naturally covers each of those bases, leaving clients refreshed, energized, and excited to come back.

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 Ariel Lowell and I am the lead sugarista at Bloom Sugaring. Sugaring is a natural alternative to wax, made up of just sugar, water, and lemon juice. That means that it is vegan, hypoallergenic, biodegradable, and in some cases based on formula, organic. Its biggest differences from wax are that it is not harmful to the skin and it is body temperature, where wax can be damaging and cause burns. The technique that sugaring uses is a more efficient and thorough form of hair removal, therefore truly removing hair from the root, in its natural direction of hair growth, disrupting the direction of the follicle.

I completely fell into the world of sugaring when a job was offered to me mid Brazilian soon after I graduated esthetician school. It wasn’t my main interest, but I thought hey why not give it a shot. So I did, and quickly fell in love with the fast paced environment filled with fun conversation and creating real authentic relationships with my monthly clients.

For one, the biggest problem I solve is rewriting the story of hair removal. So many clients have scary, painful and uncomfortable hair removal experiences. They’ve been burned, left with broken hairs and ingrowns, treated like a specimen, insulted, or just outright didn’t have the connection they deserve when spending their monthly cost for self care.

The technique that sugaring uses gives sugaristas the opportunity to create a more gentle and approachable experience, and while still removing hair, the conversation, energy, and stellar technique can truly change the game for each client. I believe that I have helped many of my clients heal from their bad experiences, and love so much that many of my clients refuse to see anyone but me.

Again, this is not just a service, it’s an experience, and what’s most important is that a client is looking for a way to enhance their life by swapping their daily shaving routine to a once a month hair removal experience. This act of self love deserves to be recognized and applauded, and I love to do just that at Bloom Sugaring.

Conversations about M&A are often focused on multibillion dollar transactions – but M&A can be an important part of a small or medium business owner’s journey. We’d love to hear about your experience with selling businesses.

Recently I decided to end my 10 year sugaring career in San Diego and move to LA to close the gap of my long distance relationship with my partner., This was no easy conversation – in fact, it was the longest conversation I have ever had in my life. For 2 1/2 years it was “what are we going to do, where are we going to go” and finally I decided that due the my infinite freedoms within my business, I wanted to embark on a new adventure. This meant that after sugaring for 10 years, and owning my business for 5, I was saying goodbye to clients that I had been seeing for up to 10 years. This was an incredibly emotional experience because of how deeply I care for my clients.

I care so deeply for my clients, that I wanted to set them up for success. I, unlike many other sugaristas, learned to sugar under the wing of my first boss for 4 1/2 years. I had an immense amount of training and guidance and knew that if I just left with a simple goodbye, my clients I held near and dear to my heart may end up in less professional hands, therefore, not having as great of an experience. I knew it would never be the same, because no one is me and my magic is uniquely mine, but I wanted them to be able to have something close enough.

So I decided to sell my client list. Different from selling my business, I wanted to offload my clients into great hands, and maximize on an amount to be made with this pot of gold of humans and business. I first started with booking appointments at different sugaring salons to test out the sugaristas. This crashed and burned, with accidentally booking appointments for the wrong day (thank you universe for saving me time and money) as well as a nasty response from a sugaring company that knew my name and thought I was up to no good. So two lessons right off the bat here: 1. This wasn;t the best approach but 2. Never turn business away, even from someone who may be in your industry. I truly believe that we all have our own magic, and who’s right for us will stay with us. There’s plenty to go around, and you never know what blessings may becoming your way. For that business, they missed out on a huge opportunity to add multiple 6 figures to their revenue stream.

So then I decided to go with a different approach. An anonymous Craigslist ad stating my goals that included a marketing campaign for the switchover. With a few responses, One landed that felt right. So I had her sign an NDA, and we scheduled a call. To make a long story short, we came up with a great deal that worked for both of us. Money down, and then a percentage of any of my clients that go to her salon for any services for the next 12 months. It was by far the best case scenario for me especially because I was moving cities and would need to start from scratch.

This decision and the journey was purely based off of good and bad energetic feelings. The first few experiences were yuck, but once I landed on this other professional sugarista, we instantly clicked. It felt right, and because there isn’t actually a timeline, we have the ability to do what feels best in the moment. Maybe it doesn’t quite work that way in the corporate world, but that’s how I personally like to operate. Though trial and error is a real thing, I always end up in the right place because I trust my intuition, gut, and thought processes.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

In lieu of my last question, the biggest lesson I’ve had to unlearn is that, just because I am wanted, needed, and demanded in one city, doesn’t mean I will be immediately in the next. In San Diego, I was booked and busy, and sometimes you couldn’t get in with me for 1-2 months. It was such an exciting feeling – running my incredibly lucrative business on my own, and actually loving my job, connecting with other likeminded and kind individuals who all saw a glimmer of self love inside of them which drew them to taking better care of themselves. An energy I love more than anything. I’m telling you – esthetics is so underrated.

So when I moved to LA, I’ve had to relearn so much, do a lot that I hadn’t done in a while, spend more money than before on advertising and partnerships, and pay the price of patience. I have had to unlearn my reputation and do some deep inner work on my ego. I do trust that everything happens in divine timing, but also, regardless of what a training says or how quickly some people may get their books filled, I am my own individual person and what’s meant to be will be. I have had to let go of what was my current success – put it on my trophy shelf, and look towards my future rebuilt success. It is still a work in progress, but daily affirmations, checking in, work, connections with the community, creating positive experiences for the clients that I do have are all guiding me in the direction of rebuilding something even bigger and better than before.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Www.bloomsugaring.com
• Instagram: @bloomsugaring
• Facebook: https://Www.facebook.com/bloomsugaring
• Yelp: Bloom sugaring
• Other: Google reviews – bloom sugaring

Image Credits

@soul_shine_effect