Things I Wish I Knew Before Going To Beauty School

Honestly, you feel like you learn a lot in beauty school but in reality you learn so so so much more once you're done.

I remember being in school and feeling so freaking talented and I felt that I knew everything there was to know about hair…….then I graduated and realized I dang I suddenly feel like I don't know how to do anything.

I wish I knew that beauty school teaches you the very basics and for in depth education I would have to go elsewhere to learn more complex things. I learned much much more from continuing education classes, Youtube and hairstylist Instagram education.

Beauty School taught me nothing about how to build my brand or my business behind the chair. I wish I had researched more about marketing and attracting clients before and during my time in school. Learning that takes so much time and effort and the more you can learn about it now, the better.

I wish that Beauty School taught me more about what potential clients want to see from you in order to trust you and want to invest in you.

I was not taught about the Tax side of the industry. As a self employed business owner, you are responsible for keeping detailed records of all industry related purchases, business expenses and all work related tax write offs. You are responsible for doing all of your own payroll & inventory for all of your business and if you have any employees. Also I wish I had known to setup my business as a SCORP or an LLC from the beginning. It saves you money on taxes! Also self employment tax is a real thing that sucks but I wish I knew about that before!!

Also when running your own business for me it is essential that I have an accountant because they help figure all the business side out and make it super easy and painless when it comes to taxes and budgeting.

Before going to beauty school I wish they would have taught me more about commission vs booth rent salons. Personally out of the 4 1/2 years I have been doing hair, only 1 1/2 years I spent doing commission. I went back and looked at some of the pay stubs I received during my commission days and a 2 week pay period pay check that I thought was such good money is now the amount that I make in about a day.

In reality you make wayyyyy more money working booth rent. I know it can be scary to have an extra expense of rent but in reality if you are making lets say $5000 a month in service totals, booth rent would be $650 let's say, then you'd be taking home $4350 before other business expenses. But if you did commission, let's say you made 40% - 50% then you would only be taking home $2000- $2500 before expenses.

The pros and cons of going booth rent. *Disclaimer* I do recommend starting commission for a few months until you feel a little more confident.

Pros:

You make way more money

You feel more motivated to get clients in your chair

You are more in control of what products and color lines you use

You have more control over your schedule

You get to charge your own prices

Cons:

If you don't have clients in your chair you aren't making money (true with commission too)

You have to purchase all of your own color and supplies ( I like this way better)

Honestly I recommend booth rent to everyone, maybe not right at first but if you are serious about growing your business then switching to booth rent will only motivate you more to find more clients.

So there is a lot that you don't learn in beauty school but you have to be prepared for that. You will learn the very basics of the skill set but in order to really succeed you will need to work your butt off marketing and building your business. Just because you graduate hair school doesn't mean that suddenly your books will be filled. It takes lots of time, hard work and determination.

But if you are determined to make it in this business, find out all you can about social media marketing, attracting clients, photography, continuing educational hair classes, self employment tax stuff and everything it takes to run your own business.

I hope this shed some light into some good things to know before starting beauty school. This would also be helpful to anyone in or recently graduated beauty school.

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Love you all so much!! Good luck in beauty school! This industry is really the best!

-Bec