Esthetician Expects to Make $180,000 a Year Working 3 Hours a Day – NBC Bay Area

The Miracle Worker quickly realized college wasn’t for her.

At the end of his first semester at Mat-Su College, a small school in Palmer, Alaska, Workman found he couldn’t bear the hours or the loans needed to earn an associate’s degree.

So in December 2013, as Workman, then 18, waited for a cosmic signal to help her choose a career, she returned to work at a pizzeria in her hometown of Wasilla.

A few months later, inspiration struck in an unexpected place: an orthopedic surgeon’s office 3,000 miles from home. Workman and her now-husband, Tim Workman, were visiting his mother in Scottsdale, Arizona, who surprised him with laser treatments to help with his acne.

“The esthetician walked into the room, and she explained the procedure very calmly and confidently, then operated the equipment, and I just remember thinking, ‘Whatever this is, I like it, I want to do it,'” Workman said. The 28-year-old told CNBC Make It.

Nearly a decade later, Workman has turned her interest in skincare into a six-figure career: She owns Studio Sol, a hair and beauty salon in Wasilla, and is on track to earn $180,000 this year working as a cosmetologist. See how he does it here:

Become a Beautician:

As soon as Workman got home, she Googled cosmetology schools near Palmer and Wasilla.

The requirements to become a cosmetologist are strict: In Alaska, you must complete at least 350 hours of government-approved courses and pass two exams to be licensed as a cosmetologist. Other states, such as New York, require more than 600 hours.

In March 2015, Workman began taking classes at the MetrOasis training center in Anchorage, an hour from her apartment. For 10 weeks, he attended classes Monday through Friday and worked at a pizzeria on weekends.

“It was tough, but I loved all the classes, so it never felt like work,” she said.

Workman took classes in makeup, hair removal, brow art, chemical peels and more. He estimates he spent about $7,000 on tuition, supplies, exams and license fees.

Workman graduated from beauty school in May 2015. Although she eventually wants to build her own beauty business, she makes building clients and experiences a priority first. She worked at a hair removal salon, then at a medical spa (a hybrid of a traditional day spa and a medical clinic), and started working at a day spa in 2018.

Then came the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, and Alaska imposed a statewide lockdown in March 2020. At first, Workman thought the pandemic had disrupted his career, with the day spa where he worked temporarily closed, but then he took it to be another sign from the universe: He could use his new free time to write about his business plan.

create a six figure business

When the day spa reopened in May 2020, Workman quit his job at the spa and rented the back room of a hair salon in Wasilla for $500 a month.

“I wanted to start working with clients right away, so I decided to rush in and do whatever it took to get the store open,” he recalls. He got a credit card to help pay for his start-up costs, which included a domain name, wax, brushes and other supplies, which totaled about $10,000 — an amount Workman said he was able to pay within two months of opening.

At the time, Instagram was their best marketing tool. “A lot of my clients follow my page and message me directly to book appointments, so once I opened I was sharing daily photos and videos of the behind-the-scenes space and the types of services I provided, just to get people’s attention,” he said .

Some of Workman’s most popular services include brow shaping, light chemical peels and aqua facials (combining a microdermabrasion-like treatment with a serum-infused treatment). Prices range from $25 to $329, depending on the amount of product used and the duration of treatment.

According to tax and financial documents reviewed by CNBC Make It, Workman made a net profit of $115,000 in the 12 months it opened. Most of her clients, she says, are repeat clients from her previous jobs who also refer her to their clients. friends. Other clients drop by without an appointment, or find him through Workman’s Instagram.

2022 is a big year for Workman: In January, he bought Studio Sol, the hair salon in front of the building, and in August, he hired his first commission employee, another beautician. Two months later, she was on maternity leave: She and Tim (whom she married in 2019) welcomed their first daughter, Navy, in November. He returns to work in January 2023.

“Sometimes I only work 3 hours a day”

One of the perks of being a cosmetologist is flexible hours, Workman said. Even before opening his own practice, he was working fewer than 40 hours a week, adjusting his hours to clients’ availability.

After opening, Workman quickly realized that he could double his income and reduce his workload by offering specialty skin care services such as lymphatic facials and scalp treatments. To learn how to perform these services, such as Hydrafacial’s Keravive Scalp Treatment, attend a hands-on training session taught by a skincare product representative.

“I usually work 15-20 hours a week, but sometimes it’s only three hours a day,” he said. “I’ve had a lot of clients come in during lunch or have more flexibility because they sometimes work from home, so I’m able to keep weekends.”

“That’s the great thing about working in this industry. I can make my work fit with my lifestyle. It gives me the freedom and flexibility to live my life exactly the way I imagine it to be…it’s really a a blessing.”

But Workman added that the most rewarding part of her job is helping her clients feel safer and providing them with a “safe space” to blow off steam or relax.

“It’s an insane and humbling feeling to be able to be a part of some of the most intimate moments in people’s lives,” he said. “It’s hard to beat having that kind of meaningful networking when you’re working on a fun job that you also enjoy.”

This article was originally published in English by Morgan Smith for our sister network CNBC.com. For more on CNBC, visit here.