We were lucky to catch up with Cecilia Smith recently and have shared our conversation below.
Cecilia, 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.
In a sea of booth renters, commission salons & spas, tiered pay, and glass ceilings – we pay with a system called Team-Based Pay. Team-Based Pay allows us to pay hourly, have team bonuses, 401(k) + health benefits, train with thorough training systems, break the ceiling of max pay, AND create long standing careers for skin care service providers.
I worked in the industry from 2009 until I opened my business in 2015. While working at various other spas there were so many injustices that I knew I wanted to course correct for anyone who worked for me:
+Commission pay is flawed (and I know I’m going to get a lot of push back for saying that!). Salons/spas make grand promises of how much money can be made in commission pay systems and those promises just fall flat. You don’t get paid for set up, cleaning/laundry, when your appointments cancel, or if you just have a slow day. Many salons/spas also don’t pay for the time you spend training or hourly minimum wage if their providers aren’t meeting the threshold. There is this mirage that you can make $40+ an hour…but that’s only when your hands are busy. In our pay system – you get paid for the entire time you are at work, shocking! I know ;).
+Careers & pay ceilings: Did you know the average esthetician only stays at a job for 1-2 years before job hopping? The average Esthetician only stays in this career for 3-4 years? That’s insane to me. The problems I see in our industry in regards to this are lack of advancement for higher learning/more responsibility and the pay ceiling. There are only so many hours a service provider can work; once a service provider is fully booked, they have hit the pay ceiling with commission pay; Which is why commission pay perpetuates a burn out culture in my opinion. Our difference is that as our company grows we continually have new opportunities for career growth; our current roles include: Lead Estheticians, Buyers, Social Media roles, Trainers – and as we grow our opportunities will continue to grow. We have rules against the standard practices that cause burn out and also don’t have a pay cap. We give raises every year and have Estheticians that have surpassed the national averages for pay.
Cecilia, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Hi! I’m Cecilia! I’m an esthetician by trade and have been in the industry since 2009. I opened my skincare company, The Facial Bar, in 2015 on a mission to revolutionize the skincare industry.
The Facial Bar is an open concept skin care clinic that providers medical grade skin care services & products at a fraction of the cost of traditional spas. I wanted to find a way to make really great skin care more accessible to more people, and I am really proud to say that I truly think we have done that and continue to find ways to improve year after year. We have been nominated a collective 16 times since 2018 in the ‘Best Of’ Kansas City categories including:
+Best Day Spa (We won this title in 2021!!)
+Best Customer Service
+Best Bachelorette Party Location
+Best Esthetician (One of our amazing Estheticians won this title in 2022!!)
+Best Brows
+Best Lashes
+Best Place to Buy a Gift for Your Wedding Party
+Best Places to Work Under 50 Employees
We now have two locations, in downtown Kansas City and south Olathe. We look forward to continuing to expand our reach to help more people!
Any advice for managing a team?
Managing people can be the hardest part of owning a business. Before opening my company, I never had any sort of management experience and truly underestimated how complex managing people can be. My management style is likely a bit off the beaten path – I believe in collaboration at my core and know that I wouldn’t be where I’m at today without the hard work, passion, and innovation of people I’ve had on my team along the way.
We have the best morale when our team feels taken care of, when they feel like their thoughts and ideas matter, and when they have the autonomy to do their best work. We believe in regular collaborative meetings where everyone, no matter how long they have been with our company, can share their thoughts and ideas on what’s working, what’s not and what could we do better.
Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?
You know, our near death moment was when we had a manager that wasn’t doing a great job. I personally liked them so I let too many things slide. The coaching I had been doing wasn’t helping and the rest of my team really couldn’t take it anymore. They put together, what I jokingly called an ‘intervention’ for me about the situation. I ultimately ended up letting the manager go but my lack of action when things were going south really affected my team and I unfortunately ended up losing a few key players in the wake of it all.
Even though I was absolutely emotionally wrecked by the situation, I notably learned my most valuable lesson in business – fire fast and hire slow. Having the right people make ALL the difference to how healthy and happy the company is. I’m proud to say that 2 years later, we have the strongest and best team ever!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.facialbarkc.com
- Instagram: @facialbarkc & @meet_cecilia
Image Credits
Imagery by Lifted Logic