I recently asked some of my friends, family and mentors what some of my strengths were to see if there was a common theme/strength that maybe I wasn’t aware of that I should be using more in my businesses and personal life. Do you happen to know what the overwhelming response was from pretty much all of them?

Straight-forward. No BS. The Right Way. Honest.

I take that as a huge compliment. I mean, I never park in expectant mother parking at the mall unless I’m actually expecting! So glad that trait is recognized and acknowledged by those who know me ?

The next best compliment that I received was from a fellow lash artist friend of mine (Hi Olga!) who has been gracious enough to take on some of my clients while I was out sick for an extended period of time. She told me “I am amazed of how well your clients are trained. They are the best clients I’ve ever had. They have so much respect for you and your work.” Seriously!?! I know I’ve worked really hard to build an amazing clientele who I love to go to work for and be around, but to hear a veteran lash artist and fellow business owner say this about my awesome clients, and to know my clients expressed their respect for me outside of my shop, leaves me at a loss for words to how grateful I am and for how worthwhile building my business has been. It’s not always easy to have conversations about boundaries with clients, and it’s even harder to enforce them, but business boundaries are what brings your business long-term stability and gives you the ability to earn a consistent income. My clientele is proof that respect is given when respect is earned. I have earned their respect and I’ll give you the top 3 Tips on how I did that.

It’s a very hard transition from “Service Provider” to “Business Owner”, but the second you are no longer someone else’s employee, you are a business owner and you need to start to act the part.

Top 3 Tips to Establish Business Boundaries in your Lash Business

1). Educate, Educate, Educate

Here’s some examples on the what and why of common lash biz policies:

POLICY: “No makeup on your lashes when you arrive to your appointment.”

EDUCATE: “Your retention is maximized by the cleanliness of your natural lash. If there is any residue on your lashes, the adhesive will not bond properly and your lashes will not last as long.”

POLICY: “Arrive 5-10 minutes early to your scheduled appointment time.”

EDUCATE: “Our goal is to have you leave each and every appointment with a full lash line of amazing lashes. Any time taken away from your appointment will impact this goal and leave both you and I a little underwhelmed with the end result.”

POLICY: “We require a minimum of 24 hours’ notice to cancel, reschedule or change your appointment.”

EDUCATE: “This is to protect your time that has been set aside especially for you, as well as to protect our time which books up quickly. In turn, we promise to keep appointments on time, give you our full attention and, of course, provide you with the best lash work (your city) has to offer!”

2). Communicate, Communicate, Communicate

There’s nothing worse for a client (and nothing more damaging to the reputation of your lash biz) than blind-siding an unsuspecting client with a new policy that you are enforcing immediately that they have not been made aware of. Communicating your policies and ensuring you have personally made all new and returning clients aware of your policies is ESSENTIAL to creating healthy business boundaries.

If a client fails to follow a policy you have in place, or you have the same issue occurring time and time again, then it is either due to a lack of communication of your policies or the fact that you don’t have any in the first place. Recurrent issues with 1 or more clients is due to a lack of policies or your enforcement of them.

3). Follow Thru

“The fortune is in the follow thru”. If you do not enforce your lash business policies, then they are no good to you and the health of your lash business. You have to be ok with having the “tough” conversations with clients when they don’t respect your policies. If you have done the leg work in educating and communicating your policies with your clients, then they are most likely aware that they “goofed” and should offer at minimum an apology but also accept the outlined consequences that come with their slip up.

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If a client does not play by your rules, they do not get to play.

The bottom line is that policies are in place to protect your business and to set the expectations for clients to follow so you can keep your doors open. Too many lash artist’s approach their lash businesses from the service provider prospective, thinking they have to bend over backwards and be walked all over by their clients in order to build a clientele. I challenge that way of thinking and take the business approach. The ability to have a profitable lash business should be your number one priority. This allows you to keep your doors open and provide for your family, otherwise you can’t offer your amazing lash services and nobody wins.

Running a business is not easy and it’s not glamorous, but it can be very worthwhile. Part of running a business is more than just talking the talk, but walking the walk and that means having rules or policies in place to protect your ability to run your business efficiently and profitably. Anything (or anyone) that gets in the way of that is a non-negotiable and needs to be addressed immediately so you can get back to business!

Need some help getting your lash biz policies set up or updated?  Check out the customizable policies I’ve created just for your lash business!  Enter your info below and get instant access to get your policies set up asap!

Have a Good One!

Tara Walsh, The Lashpreneur