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

Natalie, appreciate you joining us today. Can you tell us about a time where you or your team really helped a customer get an amazing result?

I had a client who was really struggling with her skin. She had already been on accutane and cleared her acne, but soon after coming off of it she experienced a terrible flair up of acne and she turned to me.

This girl had grade 4 acne, which to put it simply is really severe. She had new breakouts everyday and in addition to that her skin was beginning to scar and pigment pretty badly.

“Okay” I told her. “We can heal and manage your acne but it’s going to take a lot of trust from you, a lot of dedication and most of all, patience.

We started doing chemical peels on her every 3-4 weeks. Poor girl, every month she had a peeling face, but we soon began to see that her acne was clearing and her pigment was fading.

“Okay” I told her, “Now we need to get you on some good skincare because I only see you once a month and I need you working on your skin everyday”

So we switched her skincare routine and right away her skin started getting even BETTER ! She was ecstatic and honestly, so was I.

When you have a client that is suffering from acne and you see them not only struggling on the outside but on the inside too, it gets to you. You as their aesthetician want to do anything you can to help them.

When we finally got her skin to calm down (it took about six months) then we started in on getting rid of her scarring. We microneedled her, 3 times in a row, and then we did radio frequency resurfacing …and then IPL facials and then back to microneedling again…and then, one day …we both looked at her skin and we realized we had done it. Her skin was clear, smooth and all the pigmentation was gone, you couldn’t even tell this girl used to have severe acne.

Today we maintain her skin with medical grade skincare and treatments and/or facials as needed.

She is so happy now with her skin and loves nothing more than to show her before and after pictures. It was a win for her and a win for me and I think that both of us together really did something amazing.

Skin issues don’t have to stick around. Find the right aesthetician. Be dedicated, do what it takes, I promise I’d there is a will there is a way.

Natalie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I first got interested in being an aesthetician because I myself dealt with acne for many, many years. I honestly felt like it was just something I had to accept as apart of who I was.

I started going to estheticians without really even understanding what estheticians did. I originally went just to support a friend, but as I got more and more into it I would find myself reading about skincare and watching esthetician videos and finally I realized that this was something that. I really felt passionate about.

The moment I decided, I looked up schools and the very next day I dropped in at one to take a tour. I signed papers and paid the very same day.

I am the type of person that when I know I want to do something, I make up my mind and I go all in. I always give it my all.

After finishing esthetician school I went on to study medical aesthetics and work with nurses and doctors. Today I own my own medspa and continue to take courses whenever I can, I am truly passionate about my career.

We sell medical grade skincare (skinbetter, IsClinical, GlyMed plus, ColoreScience) and help many people get on a good regimen so that people can get results and also maintain their skin at home, not just with treatments in our office.

I am also a certified acne specialist and without a doubt love helping people clear their acne. It’s so rewarding and because I know the struggle of having acne, it feels great to educate people and help them learn to manage their acne.

I think though that in my career what I am most proud of is opening my business during covid and making it through it. I started my business in my living room, I didn’t have anything, but I was determined to work and to become a successful entrepreneur.

When I started I didn’t even have a towel warmer, I warmed my towels up in a crockpot and I only had about 7 products which was enough for me to do two different kinds of facials.

I used to take clients at ANY time of the day. I started at 7 AM typically and one time I even took clients at 10 PM at night. I was hustling as hard as I could to one day be able to open my own business outside of my living room.

Nine months after starting my living room spa, I opened my first brick and mortar business. I was so excited.

When I look back at the evolution of my business, I definitely made mistakes and I for sure could have done things better. I’m sure I’ll say the same thing in another five years when I look back at what I’m doing now…but you can only wake up everyday and try. You can only keep doing what you’re doing until you learn better and then you do that ! It’s just how life goes.

A lot of people don’t know the personal struggles of my business, they don’t know the times when I had my living room spa and worked 2 serving jobs on the side so I could invest in school and tools and products. I didn’t keep any of the money I made for myself, I always reinvested it into my education or my business. It was tough. It was like working overtime and never getting paid. However, eventually it started to pay off. People started to refer friends and my education was paying off, I was helping people with confidence and people started to notice that I really did know how to get clients results. It was amazing to see my business taking off. All my hard work had paid off.

To this day, I still invest in my business and education and I have more plans for the future.

I recently just had a baby and it definitely put a stall on things, but it doesn’t mean that anything is impossible for me or my business’ future. I still have the same plans, I’m just now going about accomplishing them a little bit differently.

If I could tell a new esthetician anything it would be that there is ALWAYS a way to get to your goals. You might make mistakes or it may take working three jobs at first, but if you really want to be successful then you will find a way. Don’t let slow starts or no money hold you back. Invest, work hard, invest some more, and keep repeating that cycle until you get to where you want to be.

And to anyone who doesn’t know where to start with their skin …homecare is everything ! If you get on a good skincare regimen at home, you will see results so much faster than just doing one treatment a month. I know it’s an investment but it will change your skin, no matter what you’re battling. Get to your local aesthetician, ask for recommendations and take those recommendations to heart. I promise there will be great results on the other side.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I don’t have a huge following, but I’d say I have some loyal followers.

My main tool for building my audience was just authentically showing up and being me.

Listen, if you ever come across my social media you might find a lot of funny (or weird, however you choose to see it) dancing and many videos where I’m just 100% being me. My take on things is that the right people will find you. People get embarrassed of acting silly or weird on social media but at the end of the day people will love you and hate you for the same dang reason so you might as well have fun doing whatever you’re doing.

I try to mix in fun with education and I also try and interact as much as I can. I often times get super busy but when I have a few minutes I like to I leave comments and swipe up on stories. It’s fun getting to know my followers just as I like them to get to know me.

My whole business has been built off social media (that’s how I promoted myself) and like I said, I don’t have a large following but it’s worked for me to build my business and I’m proud of that.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

One thing I personally do is that I really try to check in with my clients after seeing them.

I have been in the position of clients. I have gone with estheticians and done treatments to my skin and not known later if what was happening was okay or not. There were many times that my mind was filled with doubt and I had no one to reach out to.

I really try to be available for my clients, I encourage them to reach out to me in times of doubt or to ask questions instead of being worried.

I believe that opening up this line of communication between myself and my clients has been something that brings people back time and time again to my office.

Not every esthetician is going to be a good fit for every person, but even if I’m not the best fit for the client, I still try to be available and helpful when possible.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.luxnlavishesthetics.com
• Instagram: @luxnlavishesthetics
• Facebook: www.Facebook.com/luxnlavishesthetics
• Other: TikTok: @luxnlavishesthetics