Let's talk about the importance of investing in yourself and your career. I recently saw a beauty professional speaking in a forum on how they saw on social media a fellow beauty professional doing a video on how they buy their product supplies at TJ Maxx. In the video, the professional said they buy it there because itâs cheaper.
Similarly, I commonly see professionals looking for beauty or wellness professional products on places like Amazon. There are many issues with this situation. One problem is you donât know the source of where that product comes from. Many people donât realize that there are companies that drop ship products that they sell on Amazon. These could repackaged, spoiled, old, stored incorrectly, etc⌠Sometimes the actual company is selling their products on Amazon or similar markets, but not always.
Another issue with purchasing your products from Amazon is that your clients also have this same access. It is important to protect your career and our industry by choosing not to support companies who will sell to the general public professional items. This is especially true if they are selling for less cost than we can offer our to our clients. There have been companies who charge extra on Amazon in an effort to push them back to the professionals, while still holding a space on Amazon for brand exposure. By choosing to work with companies exclusive to professional use only, you can create more loyalty and income through your retail products.
There are many companies also selling devices and equipment or products on these platforms, that quite honestly, the general public doesnât have the education, training and knowledge to be experimenting with. Itâs quite scary what is available sometimes.
But whenever you consider purchasing those products, equipment, or devices you are not only supporting and encouraging those companies, but you are also purchasing what you are clients are purchasing. Ideally you will be providing a service, products, and an experience they canât just get their hands on.
It is important for us as professionals to use proper equipment and products. We want to be sure of the sources and safety of what we use with clients. This also goes for training, especially a technical treatment. As a former lash lift trainer, I would hear other professionals tell each other to âjust learn on YouTubeâ. It made me cringe. I know that may be you, but please remember that is what our clients do. If your client wants to experiment and try things on themselves that is up to them. They seek you as a professional, believing that you were properly trained. They have entrusted you. By not having proper education on such treatments, you can put yourself at risk for doing bad work and them leaving bad reviews while tarnishing your reputation or worse hurting someone with the possibility of getting suited and losing your license. In a larger picture, if many professionals take on such poor practices and injure people or have lawsuits, this is a red flag for the government and provides them with fuel to ban such treatments from our industry.
While you may not agree with my opinions here, I ask you to be consider the value of your profession and our industry. I ask you to consider investing in yourself through purchasing good products, equipment, and education. There are ways to save money, but this is not the place to do so. Treat yourself and your clients with a higher standard and the respect you both deserve. We are an amazing industry and can do so many great things for our clients. Letâs provide them with the best we can.
