Welcome to this week's episode of Beauty Babble. Today, we're talking about how to finish the year off strong. Hi, Suzanne. How are you? I'm fantastic, Darine. How are you? I'm good. I may, I may sound a little off because my children got me sick, but otherwise I'm good kids got to let the kids right. Welcome to the world and persevering through all of that. Hey, like everyone does almost. No kidding. No kidding. But I mean, our topic today, finish the year off strong and healthy, but we're focusing more on business on the business aspect of it. Why don't you kick us off and Tell us what you think, what you're thinking, How to finish a year off strong. Yeah, well, I mean, it's, it's going to be, of course, if you're in this industry, it's, it could be that you're self employed or you work for someone else. You're still developing a clientele, right? I'm trying to keep busy. And then there's also the personal aspect of it too. So, which correlates with it, it can affect us greatly in our everyday workplace. But I think, I think a lot of things to think about, I mean, I was just looking at the calendar and I think there's about six weeks left and it's more of, I know it's crazy, right? It's more of a reflection. This isn't about criticizing yourself, feeling bad about yourself. it's just looking at what, how can you finish your year on a positive note and learn from it. And. And then planning for next year, which is a whole other topic, which we'll get into. We'll, we promise to do that too, hopefully to help guide you into a more successful year, both personally and financially, if you wish. But I think, I think people can look at like a question I would have is when you look at your whole year, what was your biggest challenge or challenges and how did you overcome them or did you overcome them? And it's okay if you didn't overcome them. It's just reflecting. This is not like in a, in a negative note. It's just to look at things and could you have done it differently now that you reflect back? It's seeing it in a different eye set or different lens, because when you're in the moment. It's very hard sometimes to even figure it out and you just brush it to a side, but it's still there. Right. No, absolutely. And I think that part of reflecting. I like what you said about not beating yourself up about it because a six weeks is not a lot of time. So I think the point is to just recognize show yourself some compassion. We're all doing the best we can. And in this reflection, when it comes time to setting goals for the new year, you've already done the reflection work. So you're halfway there in terms of like how you're going to plan out your year. And when you're looking back, it's not to criticize yourself, but it's like to look at ways that you can make your life easier moving forward. And sometimes too, in that moment, is, was it really that important? That's another thing I think that people forget about is when you look back, it was huge for you in the moment, but when you look back and go, Oh, actually, it wasn't that bad. And I mean, it could be the other way. It's like a lot worse than you were thinking, Oh my God, I didn't even think about that. But this is just about reflection, right? You know, so I think it's like, you know, on that note, look at what, what were your achievements? So always try to figure out there's something we do every day. Like you mentioned, you know, your kids got you sick. You're up, you're working, you're here. That's an achievement. You're still persevering, you're going through, you're taking care of yourself when you can. Have your tea, rest as you can. Maybe it's a shorter day, right? You're breaking up, maybe you're strategizing your day today or your week and say, Okay, this is what I can manage today and be okay with that. Right? And I think that's a big thing to look at, you know, what were some of your achievements. I think what, what that made me think of, because I remember when I worked in aesthetics, you know, there's the ups and downs of the, the seasons, right? Like we're really busy right around Christmas, but you're not so busy summertime or whatever it may be for you. I think part of reflecting back is to take advantage of the time that it's not so busy to do more things for yourself. How, I mean, we'll talk about budget and stuff on another episode, but I think for this, like. Yes. There are times we're not busy. So how do we make the most out of those times to balance our work life and just be kind to ourselves? Yeah. And it is a little unpredictable. I think, I think this industry has changed greatly over the years and what was busy times. It's random now, like it can actually slow down because people are actually doing their own self reflection and saying, you know, I'm going to do this instead. You know, and they're not going to go and get their nails done. They're going to take them off. They're going to give their lashes a break. I'll wait until Christmas to put them back on, you know, like, or, or whatever it may be. I'm going to go do a massage this time. Cause this is what's in my budget. And maybe you're the lash tech and you lose out on that. But at the same time, you know, ensure that you're helping your clients as well as you help yourself and have that self reflection and self care. You don't take care of yourself first. Everyone else isn't going to have you. And there's only so much you can give of yourself and this is a service industry. And especially when you're so passionate, like, which most people are in this industry, they're passionate about it. Yes. They're for there. You want to make money, get it. Everyone needs to make a living, but really, why are you here? Why are you passionate about it? Can't just be the money there's got to be. I think. The energy that you put off like if you are in not a good space and you're doing services on people I don't think it's They might pick up on some of that like negativity, whereas if you're taking care of yourself, it's going to relate down to your clients too. Absolutely. It just makes a better environment all around. If you think you can, especially the people that have known you for a long time. Yeah. And if you're quite regular, if they're quite regular, have you never had someone say, Doreen, what's going on? Mm hmm. They can tell. And you're like, I thought I was hiding it. No, you're not right, but it's true. It's depending on the services you're doing on people. They can tell right away, just as you could tell with your clients. Right. It goes back and forth. It's a mirror, you know, like it's back and forth. I think, I think another one being that there's not a lot of time, however, there's still enough time to kind of tweak a few things. Like, are there any trends in the industry that's happening? This is when everyone's advertising for Christmas. You know, the holiday season, the Christmas or the holiday break that the kids don't go to school and everyone's on there. Is there something that you can, you know, jump on or tweak to work with your own business and your own clients or your own self care? Like, what is it that you can do, right? So I think looking at maybe you can capitalize on it before the end of the year. Is there a week that you could do a promotion or maybe it's your social media. What are you pushing self care, get a massage, go for a holiday, go for a walk, have a tea, like whatever you're doing with it. What is the trend? We talked about this before, especially in social media, looking at what are the trends and are you, you don't have to do what everyone else is doing, but you do have to notice what are some things you should be doing because I agree with everything. I think like around this time of year too, like if you had little kits for stocking stuffers I don't know, get a supplement and get this product with it. Like, it's just something that gives it a little bit of specialness, because sometimes people are going to be treating themselves, and I'm going to take myself on a spa day before a Christmas craze. Whatever it is, it's just that extra little bit. So finding ways to bring the holiday theme into your treatments and your retail. So I actually, that made me think back. I actually, one year, I did it quite often to be honest, but the first time I introduced it, it was wasn't the end of the year, I actually did it at the new year. Hello, welcome to the new year. I got a huge bag of Epsom salts and I love essential oils. So I looked and searched and figured out blends that I could put together and I made little baggies and little thatches. And a little note in each one and every client got it in the month of January. So maybe at the end of the year and cost wise, it's not that expensive. No, right. So if you don't want, maybe it's not in your budget to order little travel kits to give away or little bottles or, you know, maybe it's not there, but you can get creative and do your own thing. And that's one thing I've seen out there. People are so creative. It's crazy. You guys are amazing. Pinterest. Use Pinterest. I guess it's Pinterest. I didn't even do that. That's what I use. I had this big basket and I put the, I named flavors. Don't ask me what I call them now. Like, I don't know, orange bliss or citrus bliss. Let's just say I just made up names and I had staff help me. What do you think? This is the smell it, what, what comes to mind? Oh, the pina colada, the, you know, one night just soak your, you know, if they were nail ladies, like soak your hands in there, you know, push back your cuticles. It takes just a few minutes and then massage this cream in. I put a sample of a cream in and. It was our little takeaway through, you know, when you're all stressed out for the holiday season, because it can happen to a lot of people, or just time from work, you know, you could do little things like that. So we did a little kind of recipe ideas next to it and how you could use it. And there's a lot of things you can do at a reasonable price, but you're right, Pinterest, I forget about that all the time. So, you know, what can you do in a cost effective way that can give back and it's still, you know. Reflective of who you are. And it's part of you. I know some people that do it and they're like, yeah, I made this and I just, I love essential oils. And I love, I couldn't give away central as like expensive. Absolutely. Right. But I mean, there's a lot of things you can do. So maybe that's it. Maybe you're not, you know, doing a promo per se, but maybe you're doing a little thank you card. If you get a thank you card by hand. Get someone who can write well or get your lovely printer or your what's that what's that one circuit or something it's called what prints everything off yourself some people have those at home I can't remember what it's called but they do labeling and stuff and they put it on you do a label if you want put it on a card get your staff to sign or you do a little note to Dan thank you for a great year it's been lovely having you as a client I appreciate you whatever it may be and sometimes there's no value in money wise But that's a huge, huge thing for a client, that you spent the time and thought about them that way. There's a lot of things you can do. Yeah, that's like customer service. And there's still time. Yeah, and that's the customer service. That's going, the wow factor, the beyond type of thing. So, yeah. I think another idea, like going back to the product thing, is If maybe check your products and see if they're expiring or they're, you know, maybe you've had something that hasn't been moving and isn't doing as well as you thought it would. Is there a way that you can put those in a gift or something like that? Yeah, or gift with purchase kind of idea or I'm not a big fan about discounting, but package it. Maybe say with this spatial, you received this, here's the total value of it. Mm-Hmm. , you know, I was not one to always say, oh, 50% off clearance. Like, mm. It just cheaps it out and you know that what you have is not cheap. Yeah. So I think if you packaged together something, maybe you, like you said, purchased a product that you thought was gonna go well and it hasn't, is there a way that you can you know, put it together with a service and it doesn't have to match? It could be. A lash tint receive this exfoliation cream, whatever it may be, everyone can use it. Just make sure you put how to use it, you know, yeah, that's such a good, good thing to look at. And on that note, like the products didn't move, did you do a big investment or an investment in a machine or equipment, something that if you look back, this is a good time to reflect that, that investment that you made. What did you actually get out of it? So you can look at for next year. So a little evaluation both ways. What products, both professional retail and even equipment if you purchase. It doesn't even matter if it's a little handheld device and costs you 30. What did you get from that? And it's a good thing, just pick one thing or two, hopefully you don't have too much sitting around getting dusty, right? But yeah, definitely looking at your year end. The other side of that too, with all of this, it can't just be about product and that, as we mentioned about ourselves as people, you know, it's really looking at self care for yourself. If you have staff, I think this is a great time to bring that team aspect into it. And what are some things you can do to support your staff with the wellbeing? Because if you're feeling the stress of the end of the year and the pinch, I guarantee they are feeling it too. Right? You can hide as much as you want. But you still, you know, of course, you could be worse for sure, but I think two is the time to bring that team. What can you do for staff that you're something, you know, like, you know, taking stuff out for dinner like financially Can you afford to do that. If you can't, let's get creative and and do a little do a potluck together after hours, or, yeah, like, I don't know like I did one, one time where this one I had smaller stuff and I had time but I said, everyone's getting a facial for me. Here's the timeframe. You're going to book it a hundred percent like a client. I went out of my way to make sure, uh, some didn't want the facial. They weren't into facials. That's okay. I didn't change it. I said, this is what I'm offering. If you want it, take it. If you don't. And then I just, because they didn't do the facial, I looked at the cost of the product, what I used and I got them a coffee card and said, you know, you didn't do your facial. I wish you would have, but here, why don't you treat yourself to a nice coffee or something? It's not a lot of money. I know that, but it's the thought and, and I was blunt. I said, listen, I can't afford, I can give my time and the cost of this product, but when you're on a pinch, you know, I get it. I get financially, you've got to be looking at the, you know, overall. The end line, that bottom line, and if you can't get what you want, what are some things you can do, but giving something back to them is so important, like, maybe it's not busy, and you say, you know what, this won't work on commission base, but if it's an hourly plus commission, something you can offer and say, you know, why don't you get out of here a few hours early. I'll stay clocked in, don't worry about it, I'll deal with it later. Go home, get some Christmas shopping in for your kids or holiday time or whatever your groceries, like anything. Go have a coffee with a friend, call them up. Like those are things you reasonably can handle. Then giving them a hundred dollar gift or dinner out will be probably 50 a person minimum, you know, like, cause now you're doing groups of people. They charge a little bit more for the group thing, more tips, more, you know, but yeah, I think it's a good thing. And then what are you doing for yourself? You know, that's a big part too. Like we talked about that before. Yeah. I think it's just to keep it simple, like we didn't dive into a lot. I mean, there's a lot we could get into, but not with six weeks out. You know, or five, whatever, by the time you've listened to this podcast. Absolutely. Yeah. And I think like we said, the point is to reflect and like take note, even if you want to jot it down and, you know, journal about it or whatever it is. And that way when you go to set your goals in the new year. You've done that reflection time, and part of the reflection time is taking the time out of your day to just sit and think about things, which is sometimes a form of self care as well. Absolutely it is, because you're giving time for your brain to process it, acknowledge it, and maybe not deal with it, but at the time it's okay. Like when I, I teach yoga, and last night I was teaching and I, and I said to them, What can you leave at your mat today? And they looked at me and they're like, so yeah, what can you leave here? You're not taking it with you. Leave it here because that's, that's self reflection, right? It's the self care is the you're right. This happened. I'm not, I'm not, I'm done. I left it at the mat. It could have been work driving you crazy. They got deadlines. They're probably, maybe you're getting pushed on deadlines of something else, or maybe your partner is, or your adult children or whoever in your life, your best friend, like. Ask them, what can you park here in the treatment room when you leave? So, answer yourself. Yeah. Yeah, we'll keep it really simple. We won't go too crazy. There's lists and lists you could do. But we want to leave it on a positive note today, right? Yeah. And I think maybe on that note, you know, what can you leave behind after listening to this episode? I love it. That's so good. Great. Well, I think as usual, you know, we always welcome feedback. And Any kind of suggestions for future episodes, let us know you can reach out to us the form is in the description, and then you can also reach out to us on social media, the links are also in the show description as well. Yeah, and feel free if you prefer an email. Hey, we're here. No problem at all. Or next time, if you're actually here in Edmonton at the store, come reflect with us, we'd love to hear from you. That's great. Well, thanks so much for listening. We'll be back next week.