Why Marketing is Hard for Spa Owners

Last week I had the privilege of joining 60 women from all over the world on the four-day Rise Sister Rise retreat. We tuned in and tapped into what’s “rising” and “falling” within us and began to unbind the fear of stepping fully into our Light.

I consider myself a pretty “aware” human when it comes to personal growth, but this experience sparked a deep knowledge of the subtle, yet incredibly powerful abilities a woman who is standing in her power is capable of; trusting and following her intuition, collaborating instead of ruling and transforming lives instead of seeing them as transactions. In a world that is going crazy as the traditional masculine structures break down, it was abundantly clear it’s time for the feminine voice to rise to balance the scales of humanity.

I had too many takeaways from my time with my new Sisters to get into here, but one, in particular, helped me connect the real reason why you, my dear spa owner, dislike marketing your spa business so much.

Marketing is about being visible, right? Showing up publicly; loud, proud and confident to share your spa promise to your community.

Duh. Well, there it is.

NO WONDER spa owners hate marketing! Being visible? Publicly?? OMG.

Just, NO.

The connection between marketing + your True Self.

When my coaching clients are struggling with their business growth, I've been known to remind them their business will be the BEST life coach they could ever have. Almost always, the first part of getting a growth strategy right is having a healthy dose of personal awareness to work through the mindsets that are no longer serving you.

The mindset of someone who is struggling to boost their visibility for their spa business is usually struggling with the fear of their True Self being seen. And as the reality is, you can’t build your spa empire on a shaky foundation that’s built on fear.

However, marketing your spa business means you will be vulnerable to judgment, even from those well-meaning people close to you.

This is quite a juxtaposition, yes?

And to top it off for most women, stepping into the public eye in their community is steeped a historical pattern of women turning on one another in a subconscious effort to keep everyone quiet and safe. For thousands of years, it’s been risky for women to step into their full confidence.

We’ve been conditioned to keep quiet, and it shows up in our consciousness as horrible nagging when we feel the urge to shine our Light; “Who do you think you are?” “What makes you the expert?” “Why should they listen to you?” “What makes you so special to be visible like that?” “WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?”

This narrative is crippling.

For some spa owners, there gets to a point in their career where the desire to share their gifts overcomes their fear of being visible and they’re willing to get comfortable with being uncomfortable for the sake of the greater good. The fear to stay small is overcome by the drive to be a place of healing self-worth within the community and a catalyst for the ripple effect that happens as a result.

But more often than not, many spa owners become paralyzed by their fear of being seen and are more comfortable staying in the treatment room with one-on-one connections, even when they desperately need more clients. Sadly for both entrepreneurs and potential guests, these owners are doomed to never fully share their transformative abilities while they’re stuck in their own judgment (ironic, huh?)

The world is shifting, and it needs YOU.

You’ve seen the craziness of what’s happening in the world. Just when you think it couldn’t get any worse, it does; racism rearing its ugly white head, women’s health initiatives being stripped away, and leaders who value transactions over transformation.

It’s pretty clear, trust in governments and big corporations have been broken, and humanity needs a different approach to operating; one of compassion, love, and celebration of our true selves, despite our differences.

And whether you know it or not, as spa owner you are in a prime leadership position in your community to effect this kind of change. Make no mistake...you have a profound influence on the self-worth and lives of your guests. It’s been fascinating to look back on the past 25 years in spa industry to see it’s been shifting and repositioning itself to become what it is today: moving from superficial beauty messaging to a boots-on-the-ground transformational self-worth revolution.

Which is why you love being an esthetician so much that you choose to heavily invest your heart, soul, sweat, tears, and finances into this career path! You wanted to make a difference.

Most of you probably want to assist in more of those transformation experiences...which means you need potential clients to see you to find you.

But...oh...there is again....marketing. And the fear creeps back in.

Moving past the fear of being visible.

When we’re working on our personal growth, awareness is always a huge light which in itself is helpful to drive out the negativity that dwells in dark thoughts. Just acknowledging your fear of speaking up and being publicly visible is enough to move you to the next phase...inquiry.

It’s not as important to figure out why you’re afraid of being visible (the history of dimming and extinguishing women in their power is enough for any of us to be fearful of speaking our truth!) but, it’s critical we challenge the narrative we’ve believe if we're to step into our full potential.

There is a second piece to the visibility puzzle.

Whenever we’re activated emotionally (rational or not), we quickly move into our reactive brain where logic does not prevail most of the time. However, when it comes to business growth strategies like marketing, having a logical step-by-step structure greatly helps to ease the emotional pressure by activating your thinking brain.

It’s not about covering up your visibility fears with a blanket, hoping they go away (because that never works). It’s about acknowledging the fear, remembering the deep soul WHY you became an esthetician and pairing it with logical marketing tactics to start awakening and nurturing your public voice.

It’s time to step forward and become visible. It won’t be easy, but it will be life-changing for you and your business. The world needs you.

If marketing and being seen is a struggle for you, I invite you to check out The Simplified Spa Marketing Solution that starts Wednesday, Sept 20th, 2017. This is the LOGIC of spa marketing basics infused with coaching and support to help you work through any fears of being visible.

Here’s what’ll be happening over the next 5 weeks in The Simplified Marketing Solution...

●     Ideal Client Online Workshop: When you deeply connect to her hopes & fears, you know how to position your services and products.

●     Copywriting Online Workshop: One of the weakest links in spa marketing! Learn how to communicate with so much clarity, your Ideal Client takes immediate action.

●     Email Marketing Training: Build on last week's copywriting class to make sure your emails come across as valuable, rather than bothersome...which boosts sales! Includes 7 templates email templates.

●     Website Strategy Training: Turn your website into a marketing assistant rather than a passive online menu.

●     12-Week Spa Marketing Strategy & Implementation Plan: Clear directions & coaching on how to build your very own custom marketing plan to finish 2017 strong.