We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Melissa Avila a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Melissa, thanks for joining us today. Have you ever had an amazing boss? What did you learn from them? Maybe you can share a story that illustrates the kind of boss they were or maybe you can share your thoughts on what you think made them an awesome person to work for?
My first boss out of Esthetics school taught me a lot! In the interview with her at the age of 21, I told her “I know I know nothing and I’m just here to learn”. These were my own thoughts and words, I didn’t pick this saying from anyone, it’s truly how I felt and I was excited and scared. She was no nonsense and very direct and serious about making sure I was trained properly.
She had me practice the face massage on a styrofoam wig head and she drew the pressure points on the face and said “while you’re watching tv, practice your massage without looking at the face”. She mentored me to be great.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
In 1992 I went to school to become an esthetician because the admissions director convinced me I’d learn how to do makeup on others which is what my goal was. Of course we did very little but I ended up loving doing facials and waxing so makeup took a back burner until many years later.
After graduating and getting my State license I got a part time job working for an amazing woman who mentored me for a year. Eventually in 1994, I moved onto a premier day spa in the PNW for a full time position. I learned so much from my 10.5 years spent there.
In 2004 I decided to go out on my own and I had 150 clients follow me. I started with waxing because that’s all I could afford and eventually brought on lash services, facials and makeup over the 20 years of being self employed in Seattle.
I attend a film and tv makeup school in 2002 and added Bridal makeup for about 5 years and then I put that aside to focus on waxing and eventually took on clients of all genders and all body parts which helped scale my business quite a bit.
In 2018 I opened a second location and hired one esthetician to work for me. When COVID hit I ended up working both locations by myself until I could find new estheticians.
I had a lot of challenges over the years from building a core group of regulars to finding the right bookkeeper, accountant, sourcing supplies from vendors and staying up on education. The housing crash almost took me out but thankfully my core group of Nurses Doctors and Teachers that had been established clients still came in and kept me going.
The connections I’ve made with clients and their families has been the most rewarding part of being in this industry and I feel so blessed to have gone to work everyday and left happy and fulfilled.
I’ moved from WA to AZ in 2024 and wanted to stay self employed but with no client base it’s been a challenge. I’ve decided to make the brick n mortar a concierge based business so I can go to clients home or offices to do waxing and makeup services. I’m hoping this new business model and pivot will bring me the same joy and success that my original company did that I started in 2004..
Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?
I had no money but I had a credit card with 1.5 interest for a year. I gave myself a $5k limit to start my business and I took out another 5k from my retirement account to subsidize my income for a year. It was tough and I had to really budget but it made me stronger and tougher than had someone helped me or gave me a loan.
How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?
I used to do birthday and referrals rewards. I dislike the word discount because it sounds like you’re cheapening and cheating your worth.
I also have $10 off of Brazilian Bikini wax return clients if it was within 4-6 weeks to incentivize them to stay on routine and be loyal to me.
I started sending out a newsletter after the housing crash to keep in touch with clients and let them know of specials, new services or products, my vacations and anything else that was important to communicate.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thewaxflinger.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thewaxflinger
- Facebook: https://www.Facebook.com/TheWaxFlinger
