Is small beautiful? With solo therapist mentor Kerry Beavis

Hello, hello, hello, my salon friends. Phil Jackson, your queen of salons, coming in your eyes and ears again with another dose of Wise Old Owl Wisdom, but not my wisdom this week, you lucky people, because every two weeks we have a special guest on the Build Your Salon podcast. Kerry Beavis is the founder of The Abundant Therapist and believes that anything is possible for the solo, holistic, and beauty therapist, as long as you believe in yourself and take inspired action. I can't wait to hear what she's got to share with us. Let's get her on the show. All on Build Your Salon Kerry, welcome to the Build Your Salon podcast. Hello, Phil. Hello. Thank you for having me. This is exciting. I'm thrilled to have you on. It feels like we should have spoken a long time ago and haven't. I know. So you're the founder of The Abundant Therapist, so really the first question has to be, what does abundance mean to you? Well, abundance to me isn't just money. I mean, it is. It's part of it. But abundance just means like living in a really abundant life and having yourself surrounded with joy, things that feel aligned. So you're living a life where your cup feels full as much as possible. That's the aim. So you're just surrounding yourself with feel good vibes as much as you can. Fantastic. And tell me a little bit or tell everybody who may not have come across you already a little bit about your journey in your career as far as being a therapist concerned. OK, so I've been in the industry for probably 20 years now, which I can't quite believe, sort of in denial about that one. And I started sort of think, oh, my gosh, I'm that old. So I started off working for free, cleaning the lids of nail varnishes and then gradually worked my way up. I always knew I wanted to work for myself. And actually, I was a really bad employee because I would go somewhere thinking, what can I learn from this place? So I've worked in spas, London Fashion Week, high streets, salons. I've been teaching for years. So I've gradually worked my way up, learning all the stuff, knowing I wanted to work for myself. And I've had many failed flops from before with the Internet. You know, the social media existed, trying to get mobile work and renting a room that really wasn't that great. But I was like, I need my own business. I'm going to do it. And I let I sort of led with my heart rather than my head discounted all silly prices. And I've learned from my mistakes. And so I set up my home salon, had great success with that one professional beauty therapist of the year. And that was in 2016. So it was a while ago now. And so now I'm I champion the solo therapist to learn from my mistakes.

So they don't they don't make as many as what I did. I mean, you got found forward. But that's my that's my aim now to show other center therapists that you don't have to give discounts galore. You don't have to be bargain basement. You can really charge a premium work alone and have a really great balance as well of work. So let me throw some challenging questions your way then. So you've come to I mean, you said that you always knew that you wanted to work for yourself. Yes. So the first question is, was that always work for yourself by yourself or did you toy with the idea of perhaps having a salon and having a team yourself? Oh, always. It was always I wanted the equivalent of a Champneys. So I want and that that vision is still kind of there. But at the minute I'm juggling this at a seven year old. And to be honest, I wouldn't want the stress of a team right now. It just wouldn't work well in my life. But it has been my goal to have a bigger establishment. But it's kind of it was maybe the next step and so I don't know. But I just knew I had to work for myself. My business, my way. Oh, I've worked in some awful places and I just. Oh, no, it's just not for me. OK. And then the next challenging question, and then we'll talk about some easy stuff, I promise. But you've come to being a solo therapist through working in salons. Yes. Now, more and more these days, we're seeing people that go straight into solo therapy without. Yeah. Solar beauty therapy and holistics. Without having that salon experience first. So what's your opinion of that route into working for yourself by yourself? My opinion, it might be and people don't want to hear it, but I learned my most, most when I did work for other people. When I was trained in Elemis, Clarins, a spa, when I had to be commercially acceptable timings and had to do things a certain way. I had I had a great boss that really nurtured me and she because it was a high street salon. She really nurtured me to be the best because it depended so much on her. And then working in a spa, I learned how to be quick. And, you know, all of all of that wasn't so nurtured so much.

So for me, I don't think you can go wrong getting out into the industry, learning from others and then applying it into your business, because I think at college you learn, you do learn the basics. Like you learn the fundamentals and you have to go on to learn more personally. My belief. I don't know. But we've now got a situation where 70 percent of hair and beauty in the UK is self-employed. Yes. So who does that nurturing and that training if we've got less and less employers to go around? How do we get that experience? I think then it is up to the person that is self-employed to go on more. I don't necessarily mean you've got to do more courses to bandage your marketing if your business isn't going well. You need to learn marketing for that. But actually, like work more on your training, not to just know the basics, but enrich your knowledge, go on courses, speak to mentors. And I think that's your responsibility, really, to to be the best and to to learn from others still. But yeah, if you're not going to be getting a job and you don't want to go and work for somebody else, it's still you still need to be enriching your your mind and your skill set. And that's a tall order, isn't it? If you're on your own working by yourself, a training budget is suddenly quite extraordinary. And what might be quite affordable for a salon team is hugely expensive. So I guess then how do we how do we see an improvement in standards if the training feels very expensive? How does that work? True. Oh, this is a good question. I think I think learning from other mentors and asking in Facebook groups, asking other people that are doing it like, how can I amplify my treatments to make them premium? It doesn't necessarily if you don't have the funds. I totally understand that. So getting yourself out there and then sitting a little pot of money if you can to try and fill that up to then go and invest. Don't buy Netflix. Sometimes you've got to sacrifice all the the Netflix and all of that to be able to invest in your business. To me, that makes no sense. Like, look at where you're spending your money as to whether have you really not got the money or you're spending on things that actually aren't going to help you. But there are a lot of free resources out there to help as well. And you said and I touched on your bio that you believe anything's possible for the for the solo therapist.

Do you believe that anyone can thrive as a solo therapist or does it take a certain type of person? I think you have to be prepared to put the work in. And if I think it is, it goes a lot deeper than just learning the treatment, because I see so many people going, I can't get myself out there. I'm not confident enough. Then your priority should be to work on your confidence, deal with your demons. I love a bit of therapy, go to therapy, work out why you aren't able to get yourself out there and work at that sort of level as well. It's a skill. Confidence is a skill. Marketing is a skill. Getting good with money is all skills, social media. Oh, gosh, that's a big skill. So it isn't just, you know, it's changing your mindset as to what's possible and investing, reading the books, going on YouTube and immersing yourself in that. I think I do think anyone can do it if you're willing to be open to doing it. And if I was to push you into giving me maybe the top one or two things that you think solo therapists struggle with, what do you think they would be? Number one, it's self worth. So charging, charging enough. So they're worried. It's the confidence. It's definitely a confidence thing. And I don't know where I think I don't know if it's because we're all empaths and we just don't want to be seen as pushy and salesy and kind of this big ego that you feel that comes with getting yourself out there. But if you don't cheerlead yourself, no one else is going to. So you have to work on that. So definitely confidence is a huge thing. And this feeling like we have to give things for free or not charging your worth and that awkwardness of someone paying for what you've done and just call it 20 when it should have been 23. We do that to everyone. That adds up. It does. It does. And I think there is this kind of, I think there's this inherited attitude that somehow solos and particularly mobile therapists need to be cheaper than the someone equivalent. So how do we get past that? Well, my thing with this is if I wanted a personal chef to come to my house and cook me a nice meal, I would have to pay a premium for that. So why do we think being mobile? Yes, you don't have the overheads, but you're still going to someone else's house.

You can still create an amazing experience, be high end, be premium and charge accordingly for it. But we feel I haven't got any overheads. Oh, I'm just going, just going to someone's house. You're not getting the full experience that we have to be like bargain basement. And I don't think that's true unless you want to be like that, but you don't necessarily have to be. That would be my take on it. And OK, you haven't got the overheads, but you've also, by definition, I guess, if you're mobile, you've got a limit on the number of clients that you can see in a day because you're traveling from place to place. So if you're going to make a good living, it has to be charged. It has to be charged. And it's, I've been mobile, getting stuff in and out of your car. It's hardcore. It's like going to the blooming gym. So, yeah, you deserve money for that. Definitely, definitely. It's hard work. I did it. We had a radius clause when I left my last salon before we opened up. So we had six months where we were doing mobile and I just hated it. It was just because I was so used to those little upsells and being able to squeeze a client in while there's a color taking and things like that. I could get so much more money packed into a column. So I couldn't wait to get back into a salon environment. But equally, I appreciate there's a lot of flexibility in there, too. Yeah, yeah, this is it. Yeah. It wasn't for me. I mean, I did it, but I didn't enjoy it as much. I found it really hard going. I like a base that I can make all perfect and lovely. So having seen both sides of the coin, then you've worked in salon environment, spa environment, and now you're specializing in working with solos. Is there you talked about putting yourself out there and that being quite a key skill and a fundamental skill in building that business. Is there a difference in how you market yourself as a solo? I think people buy from people. And as much as they hate it, like getting your personality, your expertise, your energy out into the world is like one of the biggest things you can can do. But again, that does take confidence. I can remember when I first started doing lives. Oh, used to hate them, do them at silly o'clock when I thought no one would watch and that little eye would come up. And I think, oh, no, someone's watching me. But practice, as I think, practice makes progress. It's just keeping on doing it. But you have to, you can't hide behind a logo and a stock image of someone laying on a couch because it's not enough nowadays. People buy from you and sharing your value and knowledge. That's what I would say.

And you've already touched on social media being quite a fundamental part of that. So do you want to do you want to talk a little bit about how that plays into the solo business? Yeah. So, you know, social media is a fabulously fabulous free tool. Like we don't need to be scared of it. I don't think it should be your only marketing strategy, to be honest. You need to word of mouth. You can't go wrong. But while you're building, it's going to take time and getting out into your community and speaking to people in the flesh. You can't be an old school marketing. But social media, I think we put such pressure on ourselves that it's got to be beautiful. You've got to add it, have, you know, posh cameras and but actually just being consistent, sharing your expertise and your values and your energy and going into it thinking, how can I help people every day? It doesn't need to be hard. I think we overthink it, but stop with all the quotes and the stock images because they don't get people in. They just look free, but that's about it. It's it's it's a way to get yourself out there. So you're being terribly, terribly polite. And I am fishing because you do help people with social media, don't you? So why don't you tell us a bit about that? So, yeah, I do help people with social media. Yeah, so I help. So I'm actually trained as a social media manager as well, because I saw so many people struggle with social media. And so I help people like with the basics, you know, not necessarily all of the fandangled stuff. But actually, this is how you set up a bio that's going to call people in without silly emojis and wasting time on that. You always need your call to actions. You need branding. So it's not all over the place. It's got to you've got to step into your social media as though it's your business, your brand. And it's your show. It's your shop window for those that work alone. It's like a mini website. So, yeah, that's an engagement as well. Got engaged on social media. Who's the title? And so how do you help people with that? Is that is that through training or are you doing the work for them? So I have so I do do actual social media management for people, Instagram audits. I do an Instagram 101 course. So you literally learn the fundamentals step by step on creating reels, how to create stories, selling in the DMs without being icky and, you know, bro marketing. And we don't want any of that.

So that's another thing that I do with the online course and one to one power hours. So I can actually sit down with people and say, right, let's look at your social media. Let's get a content strategy rather than throwing stuff and hoping it sticks. So there's a there's a plan of action around creating content that then sells. It's not all vanity metrics. And then you get to see lots of people's businesses, which I always think is really fascinating. When I get when I get someone on the show who gets to nose into quite a few people's business, I always think they've got a slightly higher view than perhaps somebody who's just in the trenches all day, every day on their own. So so what's going well, what are people getting right to when you when you look at the most successful solo therapists that you've helped, what are they doing? The ones that are doing really well are the ones that create more program. So rather than little tidbits of treatments here and there, they're creating whole experiences and focusing on the transformation of people, not just a quick fix here and there, but actually the progression of cross selling up selling, not getting you in for a massage and then saying toodle pip and then never seeing them again. It's the journey and getting people into into programs that's going very well. And the retail, there seems to be a block about retail, but it's it's part of the party service. I don't want someone coming to me and then use an imperial lever on their face. So as well, that's another thing, getting people used to actually retailing and seeing it as a disservice, not doing it, not not a money grabbing thing. It's actually that's where most of the results come, isn't it? Through home care. And is retail more of an option now for solos? Because it used to be a lot of these brands asked for a huge opening order, which felt very restrictive. And then there was, you know, dusting the stock more than selling it. And some won't even look at you if you've only got one room. It's like, no, not for us. They are becoming more open and there are brands out there that are much more open to the solo therapist now mobile home and great results. None of the fluffy stuff. It's you want great skin care or body care. There are definitely product houses out there to to help the solos, which is good. You don't have to just settle for the, you know, the supply. What are they called? Sally's and things. You can actually go with a product house if you choose to.

It's out there. Okay. And then how do we, if people are operating on their own and we've already alluded that training can be quite a big expense when you're operating your own. How do we make sure that the standards stay in place? Because you've already convinced me that we need to make sure that solos are charging properly. But that does mean that the work has to be at least as good as a salon team standard. So how do we make sure that those standards stay high? How do we make sure? I mean, that is a good, I think, first of all, it fundamentally starts with this kind of training that you're going on. Having been a tutor myself, I know like some of these online courses, I used to teach waxing and the thought of not seeing someone in the flesh do a real bikini wax actually scares me. Because I had to help many a student, myself included, when I first started, pull that first strip off, you know, it's so I think that fundamentally the level of training that you get. And the level of tutor that you get as well with the fundamentals. But I think it just doesn't it just come down to pride, like pride of what you're doing. Like, why would you want to do shoddy work? It's beyond me. Like, I can't. Why would you want to come into this industry and not give your best? And if you're thinking like that and you're not really care, then I don't think you should do it. No, I think you're absolutely right. I think what's missing for me. And actually, I'm because I'm going back into the salon only a couple of days a month because I'm lonely and fed up with talking to screens all day, every day. So I've been doing some training because I haven't cut hair for over 10 years. And so I'm just doing some refresher training. And even now, there's no business in there. So they'll teach you a new skill, but they don't teach you how to make any money at it. I know. I think we'd be much more likely to keep investing in our own training and keep raising those standards. If we could get that money back quickly, then I'd book the next course. And it's still missing even now. I find it so frustrating. And I'm just ranting now. Just shut me up in a minute. Rant. It's my show. Do what I want. But it's the same with our NVQs and our college education. No one teaches you any business skills, really. No. You know, beyond a bit of reception work and, you know, how to retail a product. And that's kind of it. And it's just not enough. And it even starts at schools, doesn't it, really? Like that management of money. Like, you know, you're not taught it.

And I do think, I think they're missing a trick. Not teaching people that want to know that. The business, that business side and the marketing side is fundamental. I think people get very misled, don't they? You put so much work into creating a logo and a website. You've done all your training. And then you tell Facebook, I'm here. And then it's like tumbleweed. And it's so disheartening. And you don't realize how long it's actually going to take you to get out there. It's such a shame that you're not taught this stuff in your training. So we've talked a little bit about the way that you help people with Instagram marketing. How do people work with you in that slightly broader sense as solo therapists? So I have my free Facebook group, The Abundant Therapist. There's a theme here. So I have that where I sort of do little mini trainings. Then I'd have mentoring programs. So people can come and work with me on a one-to-one basis. So whatever you need help with, I've recently just helped a therapist launch their first online course. So that was really exciting. Wow. So we're going down that route. I've done a lot of online things over the years. So I mentor people with that, but actually just creating programs and packages. I'm going to be doing a group program on raising your prices and creating a client experience. So it's a lot of little online courses and a membership as well. So lots of different ways for different price points and also what you feel you need in your business. I can pretty much help with. Fantastic. I think that's really interesting that you're talking about helping someone launch their first online course. And is that, do you think that's important to have a different way of making income if you're a solo? I think so. It's the way the world's going, isn't it? Lots online. I don't think you can get away from that in-person thing. But having that as a semi-passive, to create an online product, it does take a lot of work. There's no getting around it. It does. But once it's created, there's so much scope. You can go global with it if you wanted to. It's a nice addition to give to clients for extra revenue. Once it's created, it's created. It is another way for you to bring in money, give your hands a bit of a rest, and reach a wider audience as well.

And just to get those little gray cells snapping for people, what kinds of things have you seen people put courses together on? Okay. So we've done recently, the one that I've just helped her with, we created a free ebook on stress management. And so it's creating like a funnel. So people sign up to an email list for a freebie, and then that leads on to something else to then lead on to something else. So we've done her ebook. Then we've created a three steps for mastering your stress. So she's given lots of information about stress in there. And then that then leads on to her mentoring for stress and chronic pain. So it kind of like flows really nicely. We've done, what other things have we done? Meditations. People have just created like a series of meditations to give to clients or to the world wide web. I'm helping someone now as well with skincare and the menopause. We're starting to create a course around that. That's going to be huge. That's going to do really well. Yeah, that's exactly what I said to her. So loads of things, even, what else the other one, chakras and the energy and sort of more, I'm all about the woo woo. So a bit woo woo as well, dealing with the chakras and energies, creating a little mini course on that. So there's so much, the scope is massive online. It really is. I love that. I love that. So one of my particular drums that I keep beating is some on memberships. And I used to feel that you had to be in a team to make a successful salon membership. But what I've realized over the years, actually, as a solo, your income is extremely vulnerable because it is dependent on one person. So by definition, you need that stability as a solo, probably more than somebody is working in a salon does. And I love the idea that you're bringing in alternative revenue streams. And I guess alongside the retail as well, that works really well. Yeah, exactly. Love it. So to finish off, I have three quick fire questions. Everyone looks stressed at this. They're easy. Three quick fire questions that I don't warn anybody about. So firstly, what is the best thing about the salon and wellness industry? Oh, what's the best thing? I think it's just helping people realize just how precious like your body is and your wellness is.

And when people leave you and just feeling so great after they've left that you kind of transform this person to go into their life to like, you know, live life better and pain free or feeling better. You can't beat it. You can't beat it. The job satisfaction is amazing. That's what I like. Do you know, I'm going to put a compilation together at the end of this year with everyone's answer to that first question, because almost everyone talks about that transformation and helping people feel better. Such an amazing tribe, aren't we? It's fantastic. It's lovely. The second question. What's the best piece of advice you've ever been given? Oh, gosh, best piece of advice is I think of a quote, right? There's a quote that I think it's Henry Ford, whether you think you can, or whether you think you can't, you're right. And that always, that's quite a, you know, it's a mindset thing. You know, that's the one that always sticks with me. And I think, right, okay, we're in charge. We've got a choice to make. It's only on us, isn't it? Definitely. Definitely. I've always felt, and I say quite frequently, everything in your life is there because you put it there, or you allow it to continue to be there. And that's how I live my life. Final question. If you were speaking to someone way at the beginning of their career, and they were inspired by your journey and wanted to follow in your footsteps, what advice would you pass on to them? Oh, okay. Okay, first of all, definitely work on your confidence or anything that you feel that might stop you from being a success. You need to work on that. Without doubt. Read the books. Watch YouTube. Get a therapist. Do whatever you need to do. EFT. Whatever it is. Get rid of that. That would be my first thing. And then you just have to really just step out of your own way. I feel like you're given this vision, this dream for a reason. You've just got to go with it. And if you fail, I'd rather fail trying than just sit there and think, what if? So just, what's the worst that's going to happen? That's what I think. Love it. Love it. Thank you so much for your time today, Kerry. You're welcome. What is the single best way for people to reach out and get in touch if they want to find out more? I would probably say either Instagram's always a good one. It's a bit of a long, it's not long-winded. But it's at the underscore, abundant underscore therapist, either on Facebook or Instagram. I'd look for those. And all of Kerry's links will be in the show notes for your reference as well.

So thank you very much. Can't wait to get you back on the show again and feel like we've got lots more we could be talking about. Oh yeah. I love that. Thank you. So there we have it. My interview with Kerry Beavis. What an amazing person. I love it when people are so keen to pay back into our amazing industry. Just seven short days until our next episode. If you would like to appear on the Build Your Salon podcast, or you know somebody who would make a brilliant guest for us, reach out. Let me know. Phil at buildyoursalon.com. I can't wait to hear from you. And until then, take care. Sit down and see what's going on with the queen of salons. Hair, beauty, and more. Successful tips for business owners. All on Build Your Salon.