Ep 334 – Beauty and the Budget

Summary

ASCP Esty Talk: Episode 334 – Beauty and the Budget

Release Date: July 16, 2025
Host: Maggie Stasik
Guest: Ella Cressman, Licensed Esthetician and Content Contributor for ASCP

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Episode Overview

In Episode 334 of ASCP Esty Talk, hosted by Maggie Stasik and featuring guest Ella Cressman, the discussion centers on a vital yet often overlooked aspect of the beauty industry: financial literacy. The episode delves into the challenges estheticians face in managing finances, setting prices, budgeting, and building long-term financial stability. Through personal anecdotes and expert insights, Maggie and Ella provide actionable advice aimed at empowering estheticians to take control of their financial futures.

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The Importance of Financial Literacy in the Beauty Industry

Maggie opens the conversation by highlighting the scarcity of financial discussions within the beauty industry. She states:

"Today we're diving into something that doesn't always get enough attention in the beauty industry. Financial literacy."
[01:44]

Ella concurs, emphasizing that financial management is often relegated to the background for estheticians, who primarily focus on their craft:

"I think for estheticians specifically, when it comes to finance, it's not in the forefront of our mind. Except for how much do I charge."
[02:10]

This sets the stage for a deeper exploration of why financial topics are uncomfortable and frequently neglected among beauty professionals.

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Common Financial Challenges Faced by Estheticians

The hosts discuss various reasons why money is an uncomfortable topic for many estheticians. Ella attributes it to the nature of the profession:

"We're artists, we're healers, we are creative, if you will. We're not necessarily that business major."
[02:31]

Maggie adds that passion often overshadows the need for financial planning, especially in the early stages of a business:

"Our passion often outweighs financial planning, at least in the early stages of our business, I think. And avoiding financial talk doesn't make our financial problems go away. It usually makes them worse."
[02:47]

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Personal Experiences and Lessons Learned

Ella shares her personal financial missteps, offering valuable lessons for listeners:

"I didn't have a plan and know that I have a business degree. So that sucked... I bought a bunch of back bar and then I bought a machine that I didn't really need also at the time."
[04:02]

She reflects on the importance of strategic planning over impulsive business investments.

Maggie opens up about her own financial oversight regarding tips:

"What was one lesson that I learned the hard way? I never counted my tips... And then my now husband at the time and is saying to me, where's your tips? How much money did you make? We're gonna go and file your taxes."
[05:22]

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Budgeting and Managing Income

The conversation transitions to budgeting, a critical component of financial stability. Ella explains how budgeting became essential after experiencing financial anxiety:

"The budget thing for me came later and it came from this nail biting. I was sick of the nail biting of like, am I going to have enough in my account?"
[09:47]

She discusses the difficulty of maintaining a budget, especially when income can be unpredictable:

"We have busy seasons of the year, but we also have busy and slow seasons of our career. Like things change. I'm in a slower. A lot of people are in a slower season of their career."
[19:19]

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Incorporating Financial Literacy into Beauty Education

Maggie and Ella highlight a significant gap in beauty education—financial literacy. Maggie remarks:

"What we wish we learned in aesthetic school or beauty school. And common denominator seems to always be business or financial literacy or something in that vein."
[15:18]

Ella agrees, pointing out that curricula are traditionally focused on passing state boards rather than preparing estheticians for the financial realities of running their own businesses:

"Not at all. And like you said, it's a huge bone of contention... and it's just continued before this was a real consideration, before this modern trend of majority being solopreneurs."
[16:02]

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Innovative Approaches to Teaching Financial Literacy

The hosts discuss modern initiatives aimed at enhancing financial literacy among younger generations. Maggie introduces E.L.F. Beauty's collaboration with Chime on Fortune Island, a financial literacy game on Roblox:

"They partnered with Chime and launched what's called Fortune Island, Earn, Learn, Flex, and it's a financial literacy game on Roblox... it's meant to engage the Gen Z audience and teach them financial literacy."
[11:59]

Ella praises this approach, noting its effectiveness in meeting young people where they are:

"This is fantastic on a lot of ways. Do you know I do a lot in instructional design. And this is meeting somebody where they are. Yeah, that's great."
[12:34]

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Top Financial Lessons for Estheticians

Ella shares her top three financial lessons, providing a clear roadmap for estheticians seeking financial empowerment:

1. Setting Prices Based on Costs and Value

   "Set prices really based on costs and value and demographic."
   [16:49]

2. Tracking Income and Expenses

   "Track what you're bringing in and then what you're spending, even if it's just on an Excel spreadsheet."
   [16:49]

3. Budgeting for Slow Months and Retirement

   "Saving for slow months, saving for taxes. And then another thing in the savings is retirement, which is so important."
   [16:49]

These lessons underscore the necessity of proactive financial management to ensure long-term success and security.

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Actionable Steps for Financial Empowerment

Towards the end of the episode, Maggie provides listeners with practical steps to begin improving their financial literacy:

1. Open a Separate Business Account
2. Track Income and Expenses for One Month
3. Review Service Pricing Regularly
4. Allocate a Small Percentage from Each Check for Taxes or an Emergency Fund
5. Follow Financial Educators or Beauty Business Coaches Online

She encourages listeners to engage with the community by sharing their experiences and seeking support:

"Have you struggled with the money side of aesthetics? What's helped you feel more empowered? Drop us a message on Instagram or email [e-mail]."
[19:19]

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Key Takeaways

• Financial literacy is crucial for estheticians but often neglected due to the creative and healing focus of the profession.
• Personal experiences highlight the importance of strategic planning, budgeting, and proper financial management.
• Educational curricula need to evolve to include financial training to better prepare estheticians for entrepreneurship.
• Innovative solutions, such as gamified financial education, are emerging to engage younger generations.
• Practical steps and ongoing education are essential for estheticians to achieve financial stability and growth.

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Conclusion and Engagement Invitation

Maggie and Ella conclude the episode by reiterating the importance of financial empowerment for estheticians. They invite listeners to connect and share their own challenges and successes, fostering a supportive community aimed at bridging the financial knowledge gap in the beauty industry.

For more information on this episode or to connect with Maggie and Ella, visit the show notes or reach out via Instagram and email.

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Listen to the full episode of ASCP Esty Talk here.

Empowering estheticians to thrive financially and professionally.

Transcript

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[Maggie Stasik]

Hello and welcome to ASCP's eStatee Talk. I'm your co host Maggie Stasik and ASCP's program director.

[Ella Cressman]

I'm Ella Cressman, licensed esthetician and content contributor for Associated Skincare Professionals.

[Maggie Stasik]

Ella, I'm kind of excited for this topic and I want to share a little bit News Edition later. But first, today we're diving into something that doesn't always get enough attention in the beauty industry. Financial literacy. So from managing money behind the treatment room to building long term stability, we're talking real talk about budgeting, pricing and everything in between. So why do you think money is such an uncomfortable topic for so many estheticians?

[Ella Cressman]

I think for estheticians specifically, when it comes to finance, it's not in the forefront of our mind. Except for how much do I charge.

[Maggie Stasik]

Oh yeah, I think you're right. Also, my perspective is, you know, we are artists, we're healers, we are a creative, if you will. We're not necessarily that business major.

[Ella Cressman]

Yeah, Nurturers. Not necessarily. The practical part. The practical part sits in the background for a lot of us. Not for all of us, but for a lot of us. And I think there is a lot of more psychology tied into that as well. But I think that's probably the number one reason. Yeah.

[Maggie Stasik]

And our passion often outweighs financial planning, at least in the early stages of our business, I think. And avoiding financial talk doesn't make our financial problems go away. It usually makes them worse.

[Ella Cressman]

It's so funny because I feel like this is Something not unique to a few people. But I feel like this might be a common sentiment. I want to start my business. I'm going to go on and get the most beautiful, most trendy thing possible. And I've got all these things and now I'm ready to start my business. But you're not thinking about a plan to acquire said things or ways to strategically bring them in once you have X amount of money, that the strategy portion isn't always at the very beginning unless you're using, you know, like maybe SBA or something like that. But definitely not a first thought because we just want to get in there to your point. We want to be healing, we want to be nurturing, we want to be. We want to get there already. So whatever it takes to start.

[Maggie Stasik]

Yeah, I think you're right. We were so excited and we're putting the cart before the horse.

[Ella Cressman]

Yeah. A hundred percent.

[Maggie Stasik]

What was one financial lesson you learned the hard way?

[Ella Cressman]

Oh my gosh. You wanna hear what I did wrong? First of all, I didn't have a plan and know that I have a business degree. So that sucked. Was like, same thing I wanted so badly to get out of the career I was in that I'm like, I did that. I got my things, I took out a loan for my back bar. I picked the product for my back bar that the salon I was renting a room in carried for retail because. Cause that was the arrangement. Like, oh, this is gonna be great. I didn't do research, I didn't have. I. And I bought a bunch of back bar and then I bought a machine that I didn't really need also at the time. And I bought the wrong kind of marketing. The things that were important to me were my business cards. Didn't have the right plan to how to get out there. It was. I did it wrong. I did it backwards. So that's one financial mistake I made. And because I financed all of that at the beginning and I didn't need that. I didn't need all of the back bar that I had. I paid for it triple by the time it was all said and done. So I think if I. I could go in and do it a little different, I would start niche and then build out my services. I did the opposite. I started with like just a net of all of. I'm going to do everything I possibly can. Because if I can do everything, I can get anyone. You know that mindset.

[Maggie Stasik]

I do.

[Ella Cressman]

Yeah. And instead I was just getting crumbs where when I started to refine Once I started to realize what was gonna make me money in the demographic I was in, in the city that I was in, and the surrounding that I was in, that's when it started to really take off for me.

[Maggie Stasik]

You know, what's one lesson that I learned the hard way? I never counted my tips. I didn't even account for my tips, if you will. I thought, oh my God, I've got all this cash in my pocket and I would go and spend it every week, go to the coffee shop, go and get pedicures. I never thought this is part of my income, or perhaps I need to be filing this as part of my taxes. And then my now husband at the time and is saying to me, where's your tips? How much money did you make? We're gonna go and file your taxes. You know, all the things. And I'm like, what tips?

[Ella Cressman]

I still say that. Just kidding. If you're the IRS and you're listening, I don't get tips.

[Maggie Stasik]

Yeah. What do you mean? You see my pretty toes? They're the tips gone, man.

[Ella Cressman]

You got French tips on my fingers. No. That's funny.

[Maggie Stasik]

So according to a recent study, 60% of beauty pros report anxiety around money. Do you feel like that applied to you when you were first starting out?

[Ella Cressman]

I'm surprised it's not a hundred.

[Maggie Stasik]

Could be, yeah.

[Ella Cressman]

I had to take out a loan to pay off, like to take like I had to take out a different loan to pay off the loans that I was. That I started out with just to kind of consolidate and then that's a ding. I mean, mind you, I was in my early 30s at the time, so it's since resolved myself. I mean, my reputation, my financial reputation. But I'm surprised it's not a hundred percent of people have this. We don't have this guaranteed income. It's not for sure. There are so many things that affect our livelihood. Like the consumer confidence is really big. So whenever consumer confidence slows, we feel that ripple effect. And then also cost of goods that is changed significantly over the last six years, 10 years, 15 years, of course. But whenever those fluctuations, it changes our livelihood. Where someone who has a job, let's just say a corporate job, you don't have, you show up, you have the confidence that you're going to get paid X amount at X interval, and you have health insurance and you have benefits and you probably have a 401k match or there's a good likelihood of that. And as a solopreneur or someone who doesn't have that same experience. We have to do all of that. So we have to almost become the expert in those things. What I've learned over the tenure of my career is I've had to be my own hr. I've had to be my own wealth management. As far as Roth, Ira, 401ks rolling over from previous jobs and such. I've had to be my own advocate. I have to understand health insurance, where do I buy it from, how do I get it, Dental. I've had to do all of those things that is so much, so far removed from a chemical peel. And that sucks. Oh, now thanks to your challenge social media too, you loop all of those things in and we have to become experts in all of those types of situations to at least know enough to make a decision instead of just assuming that's done for us. So we come back to how much do I charge for this treatment that I'm going to do? We, we have to think of those things and roll those components into it. And it's a lot and it's overwhelming and it's scary when we don't know. We know kind of what our fixed bills are, but we don't know what our fixed income may be.

[Maggie Stasik]

I think that is very well said. And it's a lot that the esthetician does not consider as well as even the consumer. And I think just the factor of you are playing all these roles and, and there's a lot that goes into it, not just your time, but that needs to be factored into then also your prices. And you covered a lot of things. But even just the basics like saving and budgeting and all of that is of course then setting your prices strategically. If you are not even just the smallest amount skilled in all those things, it's hard to then grow your business.

[Ella Cressman]

Very hard. Yeah. So it's. The budget thing for me came later and it came from this nail biting. I was sick of the nail biting of like, am I going to have enough in my account? You know, So I put my head down, I just served, served, served, Just did all of these treatments and I didn't buy the extra things until my. This was my gauge. My bank account had a threshold in it, not knowing what the transactions were. Like, I still wasn't going to take a peek because I'm also my own accountant again. I have a business degree. My previous life I was in accounting and I did payroll. I did all these things in a previous life and I'm intimidated by it. Accounts payable, accounts receivable. So I didn't know the details of what was going on. I turned off to that. But as long as I could log in and see that it was above X thousands, like, it had to be above X thousands, I'm like, cool, yeah, I can get my nails done. I can go out to dinner or, yeah, I can buy this. I can take this work trip, whatever that was. But it was that threshold. Then fast forward to. Or let's rewind to a couple years ago when I broke my leg and I wasn't able to work. And that threshold. I got below that threshold for the first time in, like 10 years. That was scary. It took me a long time to have the confidence to get back to that, like the. To feel like I could draw from those accounts again. It's not easy. The budgeting was the hardest part.

[Maggie Stasik]

I think budgeting is a challenge for a lot of people, whether you're in this industry or not. And one thing I think estheticians also don't consider is that there is a slow season in the industry and you have to factor that into your budget as well.

[Ella Cressman]

Okay, thank you for bringing it up because here's a shout out. You know the seasons that we talk about. Oh, it's peel season or it's waxing season. Here's a tip. You know what summer season is? Microneedling season. There's three treatments recommended, minimum. Three. There's three months in the summer, by the way. You guys can take it and do whatever you want. But it just came to me recently when I was talking to a client who leads a very active, like a very social, we'll say lifestyle. And I'm like, great. Well, you're the perfect candidate for microneedling over the summer then.

[Maggie Stasik]

So, you know, E L F Beauty, E L F Cosmetics. They partnered with Chime and launched what's called Fortune Island, Earn, Learn, Flex, and it's a financial literacy game on roblox. I think that's brilliant and crazy all at the same time. So this game is aimed at Gen Z and it's gamifying, saving, budgeting, investing, and it's meant to engage the Gen Z audience and teach them financial literacy.

[Ella Cressman]

This is fantastic.

[Maggie Stasik]

Isn't that so interesting?

[Ella Cressman]

This is fantastic on a lot of ways. Do you know I do a lot in instructional design. And this is meeting somebody where they are. Yeah, that's great. I love it. Yeah.

[Maggie Stasik]

This is not the first game that ELF has come up with. They had a previous game that was Elf up and it had.

[Ella Cressman]

I really Elf that up.

[Maggie Stasik]

Yeah. It had 22 million visits. And the point of this was proving. Well, it did prove beauty brands can educate and inspire, but the point was to empower young entrepreneurs to build their.

[Ella Cressman]

Dream business, which we see way more of now.

[Maggie Stasik]

We do. And also in this industry, in the beauty industry, I think I don't know what the percentage is, but I feel like majority of people entering this industry, they say, I want to go solo. They that's the ultimate goal, is that you want to be an entrepreneur.

[Ella Cressman]

And then look at what that has spawned also off of this. And we talk a lot of elf about these different, like, TikTok shops.

[Maggie Stasik]

Yeah.

[Ella Cressman]

Or influencers. That has spawned new sides of this industry, new revenue streams, new entrepreneurial opportunities, if you will. Yeah. So I think that mind shift. I wonder, do you think it might have started back with Zuckerberg? Oh, I don't know. Like, the potential was there. Yeah. Like, I think to our generation, and we learned or we may have been conditioned that you go to work for somebody.

[Maggie Stasik]

Yeah, I. Okay, that's a really good question, because when I was in the industry, you quote, unquote, went to work for somebody. But you were a contractor.

[Ella Cressman]

Okay.

[Maggie Stasik]

And I feel like the industry very much has shifted away from that. You are an employee work or you are solo booth renting, owning your own business, you know.

[Ella Cressman]

Oh, they will come at you if you're a contractor anymore. Yeah. What are you doing? That's illegal. Like, I see it all the time on social, and I'm just taking notes like, wow, that's crazy. I had contractors before too, legitimate contractors. But it's shied me away from having that opportunity for people anymore. But I think now this generation that's. Well, these Gen Z's, so on Gen Alphas, they may have come up in a time where entrepreneurial things weren't as rare as when we did. Yeah. It wasn't as common when we were. I mean, just think about all industries.

[Maggie Stasik]

You're right.

[Ella Cressman]

Yeah, you're right. And now this seems like so many ideas have been sparked by younger people. Lots of really cool things have happened. So when we take that to the beauty industry, I wonder who came up with this Fortune island idea? Like, how old they were. They were probably like, you know what? I just wanted to play this video game, and so I'm gonna learn. I think that's really cool. That's awesome.

[Maggie Stasik]

This name, Fortune island kills me. But anyway, yeah, totally. I agree.

[Ella Cressman]

Better than Fire Island.

[Maggie Stasik]

Yeah. Yeah, you're right. The thing that I hear all the time is, like, what we wish we learned in aesthetic school or beauty school. And common denominator seems to always be business or financial literacy or something in that vein. And honestly, at least for me, I can say beauty school did not prepare you for money management. Even if you had a course on business development or owning your own business, or even if you had to do a business plan, really, you were not prepared for the things that we've just talked about.

[Ella Cressman]

Not at all. And like you said, it's a huge bone of contention, if you will. There's more geared to passing state boards.

[Maggie Stasik]

Yes.

[Ella Cressman]

Right.

[Maggie Stasik]

Yes.

[Ella Cressman]

I think there's a duality to that. Like they think the number one priority is past state boards. Make sure you're holding the public safety in. In priority. The other part of that is I believe that these curricula were designed before. I think, I think it was designed so long ago and it's just continued before this was a real consideration, before this modern trend of majority being solopreneurs. I wouldn't be surprised if that didn't change in the next couple of years, though.

[Maggie Stasik]

It could. Yeah.

[Ella Cressman]

I think they're hearing, I think the schools are hearing, I think the powers that be that write those curricula are hearing that we need to incorporate it somehow because it is statistically so important.

[Maggie Stasik]

Yes, I agree. What would be your top three lessons?

[Ella Cressman]

My top three lessons would be how to set prices really based on costs and value and demographic. When I was teaching for brands, that was the top question that we would talk about. This peel or this different, a new product. And it's like, how much should I charge for this? And we're talking to people in Montana, Nebraska, Texas, Miami, Los Angeles. That's a totally different answer in all of those. So how do you price it based on your expenses, your area, your value, Considering all these. I recently went through a price increase. It was really hard for me. But anyways, the other one would be to track what you're bringing in and then what you're spending, even if it's just on an Excel spreadsheet, because that gives you real metrics to understand. The next would be budgeting. So saving, saving for slow months, saving for. If you break your leg, saving for taxes. And then another thing in that savings is retirement, which is so important, you don't think about it. You think, I'll deal with it later. And then later comes and you have to. I mean, you're going to. You need to think about it for a couple reasons. One, it's like our, our reportable income is a lot less. So your Social Security might be a lot less if it's still around. And otherwise you don't really want to be working your entire life. You want to be able to enjoy. So prepare for those things.

[Maggie Stasik]

Yeah, you said this basically earlier. Being an esthetician is more than just the service, the hands on work. You are a brand, a business. You're the strategist. And so you have to have this mind shift and then, and I think this applies even if you are an employee. I'm not just working in the business, I'm working on the business. You can't just open the doors and think the clients will come. Right?

[Ella Cressman]

Yes. Like RuPaul said.

[Maggie Stasik]

Right.

[Ella Cressman]

You better work. It's constant. Yeah. And it doesn't go away because you said we have busy seasons of the year, but we also have busy and slow seasons of our career. Like things change. I'm in a slower. A lot of people are in a slower season of their career. And so how do you get through those? You have to bring that skillset back in. You have to rehang your shingle. I just went through a rebrand myself to try to really reimpassion myself but then remind the community that I'm here. And it those are that's what works. So you have to keep doing it too. It never stops.

[Maggie Stasik]

If this feels overwhelming, here's where to start. Open a separate business account. Track your income and expenses for one month month. Review your service pricing, not just annually, but even maybe on a quarterly basis. Have a small percent from each check for taxes or emergency fund and maybe even follow a financial educator or beauty business coach online. Now listeners, we want to hear from you. Have you struggled with the money side of aesthetics? What's helped you feel more empowered? Drop us a message on Instagram or email [e-mail] thanks for listening to ASCPSDtalk. For more info on this episode or to connect with Ella and myself, check out the show notes.

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