Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Eleysia Costa. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Eleysia thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you scale up? What were the strategies, tactics, meaningful moments, twists/turns, obstacles, mistakes along the way? The world needs to hear more realistic, actionable stories about this critical part of the business building journey. Tell us your scaling up story – bring us along so we can understand what it was like making the decisions you had, implementing the strategies/tactics etc.

When a person decides they want to start a business, it can seem over whelming. People think you have to invest thousands of dollars right away when that isn’t always the case. When I first started, I was in a small tiny room, Probably about 7ft by 8ft and I had a steamer (about $150), a massage table (about $100) , a towel warmer (about $100), and my product kit from esthetician school. I promoted myself on instagram and got a few clients here and there, but it was super slow in the beginning, until I had a friend of mine who struggled with severe acne started to. come to me. I got him on a new routine and we did consistent treatments and completely transformed his skin. Once I posted his results they got a decent amount of attention and then a bit later girl named Sophia found me. She had very severe acne and we got amazing results from the treatments and routine. Once I posted that, the traction started to build and I would continue to post results. I would say the key things that really helped me grow was reasonable prices, doing giveaways to catch attention, and of course delivering results. From there I would slowly upgrade my tiny room and purchase new things for my business, maybe a new tool or even a new machine. I grew with my business. With the money I made I took it and re-invested in my business and my next focus was my product line. Once I released my first products and everyone loved them and their results, I grew even more. Then I decided I wanted to also offer body services as well, Which is how I started doing body contour. Again, the results I gave were amazing and that’s when I really started to gain attention. I was getting so booked it was almost too much to handle. So I rented another tiny room next door to my own and had one room for facials and one for body contour. At this time I also hired my first employee which helped drastically. Eventually I knew we would need. more space and these tiny rooms wouldn’t cut it anymore. We were already crammed and had no more room to grow. This is when I made the decision it was time to get my own location for a store front. I would drive around and start trying to rent vacant spaces, but nothing was working out until I found the perfect spot. Its like it was meant to be and I instantly knew this spot was the one. I signed my lease, got approved for construction permits, and began the renovations. It took about 6 months and lots of hiccups, but NALU was finally able to open March of 2022. Since then, we’ve added many more services like hair removal, teeth whitening, and more as well as adding to our team and expanding our product line. The support from the community has been amazing and I plan to continue to grow. So my advice and what I think worked for me is starting small and creating the work before you decide to grow. You have to grow with your business or else you could bite off more than you can chew. All the expensive equipment isn’t going to bring clients in, its about working with what you have then upgrading as you go. Growing as you need to. With that being said, a lot of people think if you start a business, especially in the Beaty industry, it just quick easy money and that is not the case. If you go into it with that mindset, it will not work out. So remember patience, handwork, and consistency is key.

Eleysia, 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?

I started NALU in 2019 after graduating esthetician school. I went the untraditional route and after I finished high school I knew I wouldn’t be attending college so I went to study esthetics right away. At NALU we provide many different services such as skin treatments/ products, body contouring, teeth whitening, and hair removal. Our goal is to make people feel beautiful and better about themselves. I’m most proud of the results we deliver and at a reasonable price point. I want people to know we genuinely care for each of our clients and want everyone to be satisfied to receive quailty products and services every time. We love to hear feedback and how much we’ve helped our clients.

Any advice for managing a team?

With building a team, I believe in quality over quantity. Currently I only have two employees, but they are both so amazing and I value them so much. I think its important to reward your team when their doing good, both big and small. When they do something good, acknowledge it. Let them know how much you value and appreciate them. When they make a mistake or do something wrong, make sure to correct them in a kind way. There is no need to belittle someone or make them feel small when something goes wrong, because every one makes mistakes, even you as the owner. I make sure I’m very aware of how I speak to my team and my wording, I never want them to feel like I think I’m better than them just because I’m their “boss”. I treat them the same way I want to be treated and I do my best to make them enjoy working at NALU. I love to do extra things for them, like buying them lunch, giving bonuses, doing celebratory dinners, raises, etc. I want them to love working here. I also make them feel important and listening to their requests and suggestions. My girls know I appreciate their hard work. They are quality employees so I treat them as such. Which is why when I do bring someone on the team I have to make sure they are solid.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

The first step in starting my business was going to school for my license. So to pay for esthetician school I received a small grant and had to take out a loan for the remaining balance. I worked at CVS while doing school full time (40 hours at school and 20 hours at work). I saved up my money because I knew I wanted to start my business immediately after school. Luckily I’m blessed that I was able to live at home with my parents which allowed me to be able to save money. I did have a car payment, insurance, and other expenses but I didn’t have to pay rent, utilities, or anything big which helped a lot and I’m so grateful for. While in school, mostly toward the end, I would slowly buy equipment. First a massage table which was around $100, then a bit later I would get a towel warmer (also about $100), and just kept going even though I was still in school and not taking clients for my business yet. I did this so I wouldn’t have to drop so much at once to start. Then once my business started to make money I was saving as much as I could and just re-investing in my business. I wasn’t going out and purchasing big items for myself (new car, designer bags, etc) only what was needed. Everything went back into my business and once I felt that I was out growing the two small rooms that I rented I knew it was time to open my own location. Nalu was super booked and busy so I was able to save enough money up and started looking for a new location. I poured all my savings into renovations, and upgrading equipment/ adding new things.

Contact Info:

• Website: Naluskinbody.com
• Instagram: @nalu.skin

Image Credits
Nalu skin and body