085 – Success is a Journey with Stephanie Laynes of Smooth Skin Supply

You're listening to gift biz on rapt episode 85.

I'm doing it.

I wish I would have done it in the beginning because

I think my business would have been a lot faster.

Hi, this is John Lee,

Dumas of entrepreneur on fire,

and you're listening to the gift of biz unwrap.

And now it's time to light it up.

Welcome to gift bears on wrapped your source for industry specific

insights and advice to develop and grow your business.

And now here's your host,

Sue Monheit.

Hi there.

I'm Sue and welcome to the gift biz unwrapped podcast,

whether you own a brick and mortar store sell online or

are just getting started,

you'll discover new insight to gain traction and to grow your

business. And today I have joining us Stephanie lanes of smooth

skin supply.

Stephanie has had the unique opportunity to travel the world,

teaching her famous seven minute Brazilian wax technique.

and since then has worked in every possible job within the

field with this extensive knowledge of all aspects of the industry.

Stephanie identified that her true passion is in creating hair removal,

waxes, and skincare products.

This led to the creation of her own wholesale distribution company

called smooth skin supply.

Welcome to the show,

Stephanie, Thank you so much,

Sue. It's the great being on the show.

I'm very excited to talk with you and share my wonderful

and diverse education with everyone who's listening.

I am so excited to hear your whole story.

We've had a little bit of conversation in the back in

the prep for the interview,

and I wanted to stop you because I'm like,

Oh my gosh,

this will be so great for our listeners to hear.

So I look forward to sharing all of that.

But the first thing I always like to do with our

guests is get to know you in a little bit of

a different way.

And that is by having you describe your ideal motivational candle.

So if you were to help us envision what that would

look like,

what color would your candle be and what would be the

quote on the candle?

So my color would be purple.

I love purple.

I always have.

And my motivational quote on my candle would be,

you are enough.

And I have had that on my mirror at home.

I've had that on sticky at my desk just to say

that I'm enough,

no matter what the situation is,

I'm doing enough.

I'm a good enough mother.

I'm a good enough person.

I have a good heart.

I mean,

all of those things,

I need to be reminded on my basic core.

And I think a lot of us in business,

we get to the point where we're demanded by so many

people that sometimes if someone says something negative or they don't

like what we're saying,

or they don't like what we're doing,

we question our ability as a human,

not what we're doing in business,

but we take it so personally.

So I'm enough.

Anything that I do is enough and I love the purple.

I mean,

I've been loving purple since purple rain came out.

When Prince died,

I was devastated,

but purple has always been my color.

And the candles I have at home are purple.

They're lavender.

So my daughter has one in her room.

We keep one in the living room.

We keep one in my bedroom.

Yes. I love that.

And you know,

it's so crazy because you can get so many people telling

you how much you've helped them,

you know,

with whatever you do in your life and give to his

listeners, whatever it is that you're doing.

But isn't it crazy how it's just that one person who

says something negative or challenges you or all of that,

it wipes away,

all that other stuff.

And you focus on that one thing,

isn't it crazy,

Crazy. And I think the problem is,

is that we allow people and I've learned this over time

because I was always a knee jerk response.

When a customer was upset or when someone was upset with

me, I would jump in the same energy that they were.

So you come at me crazy.

I'd come back at you crazy.

And I've really gotten to the point in my business and

in my life that I allow people to stay what they

want to say.

Cause they're going to say it any way,

whether it's in written word,

whether it's over the phone,

whether it's in a voicemail message,

they're going to say it.

So I allow people to see what they have to say,

but I have learned to really take a step back and

say, I appreciate what your concerns are and your comments.

And thank you so much for that.

I'm going to respond to you tomorrow.

Instead of me immediately responding back because I respond with the

emotions first.

I never take a step back to look at it,

listen to it,

really take down the points and then come back the next

day and respond to it.

And I've been doing that a lot more.

And what I find is people don't have an issue with

what I'm doing.

There's something going on in their personal life that they've found

outlet to release that energy to me.

Right? And usually the conversation goes to,

well, what's really going on in your life to lead you

to this place where you feel that this is the kind

of energy you want to carry and release to other people.

And you know what,

80% of the time it's really that it's not even what

I've done or what I've said.

It's really,

they have something going on in their life.

And I find that responding in that way,

especially in business has gotten me to the point where a

lot of people take me even more serious because even in

business, as you know,

business to business can always be,

if there's something you don't agree on,

if they're not making your timeline,

if they're not getting it to you,

the way they promised yelling back and forth never gets the

product or get this the solution.

So I'd even tell other businesses I'm going to get back

to you tomorrow.

I appreciate you saying that.

I appreciate you coming with your concern,

but let me go ahead and table that and proceed on

what I was doing today,

but I will get back to you no later than three

o'clock. Yeah.

And I mean,

it gives you a little bit of breathing room and I

really like,

I like how you consciously say I've identified that it used

to be,

that I would respond in kind and now you're going back.

And I think when you give that time and then you

respond in the way that you feel is appropriate,

it helps them reset themselves as well.

It also,

I find gives them an opportunity to really come back and

say, you know,

I didn't really mean what I said,

what I meant to say was right.

And then I said,

Oh, okay.

Because the way I took it was you were upset about

that. And then I know it was more of this,

but that came out and it gives a bigger dialogue Communication.

So much comes back to just communicating,

right Communication with energy and effort towards what you need and

not the emotion of what you didn't.

You know what I'm saying?

And that for me has been an eye-opener.

And even in my personal life,

I've held my tongue a little bit,

really found myself when I'm holding my tongue a lot more.

I can really listen to you and really focus on you

without my heart rate and blood pressure going up.

But I just kind of give you the side-eye like,

okay, and how are you expecting me to respond to this?

Let me know how you want me to respond.

And that catches people off guard.

Yeah. So once the op guard is gone and once the

energy and the anger is gone,

then we can have a conversation,

but you're coming at me all loud and yelling and hollering

that, that,

that doesn't work for me.

And it doesn't work for me giving it either.

I've really learned that in business,

that people,

especially in my industry,

because I call them,

they're very,

they're very emotional.

You know,

I had people that need something yesterday,

right? And I tell them,

in order for you to get it yesterday,

you still got to pay for it.

Or you got today.

You still have to pay for it.

So, you know,

I, I want to help you,

but at the same time,

it's not my fault.

You waited till the last minute.

It's not my fault that you didn't see,

or you didn't go over your inventory.

I have a girlfriend who has a saying that ever since

she said it to me makes so much sense to me.

And it's your lack of planning does not become my emergency.

Absolutely not.

Good. I love that.

So thank you,

Glenda. If you're listening to this podcast,

I love that.

Yeah. Let's go back Stephanie.

And I want to hear the story of how you found

your way.

You know,

we have so many listeners who maybe are working a nine

to five or they have a hobby or they're thinking they

want to do something and they're not even exactly sure what

it is.

So stories about how people have evolved to what they're currently

doing is always so enlightening.

You know,

even if it's a totally different field,

right? So take us back to your history and kind of

the journey of how you've gotten to where you are today.

So Bonnie journey has been very interesting.

So I come from a military family.

Both of my parents were in the military and they came

from the South and transplant it to California.

And that's where they stay.

They fell in love with it.

They fell in love obviously.

And there's three of us.

So the expectation was always that we were going to work.

And let me tell you,

my family's understanding of what I do is I don't work.

So I'm going to keep,

keep that little nugget because that's what the stigma of entrepreneurs

are, is that you go and you sit and you look

or you get up late or whatever.

So, you know,

I did everything I worked for non-profit I worked for corporate

right out of college.

And I call,

I graduated from college at 22.

And I had my first job as soon as I graduated.

So I've been working way before that,

but I've worked.

So then I went a nonprofit.

I was there for a few years.

I went to profit and then I went and worked for

politics. I worked for a city.

I was the recreation director for the entire city.

And this was outside of San Francisco.

And if you know the Bay area,

if you're familiar with it,

the Bay area is very expensive.

Anything for your children extracurricular,

you pay for.

So if you don't pay for the education,

which most people do,

anything you do outside of that is very expensive.

So I have always battled with skincare.

I've always had just skin issues.

None of my family members,

my sisters,

my mother,

none of them have skin problems at all.

I was always the ugly duckling.

No one knew what to do with my face.

I went to doctors,

I did all of the normal things.

They prescribed me drugs.

That didn't work.

I had a very good friend when I was teaching.

I've been teaching aerobics almost 22 years.

And she was working at the gym that I was at

and we became good friends.

And she says,

Stephanie, you're so beautiful,

but your skin is absolutely horrible.

And I just looked at her like,

Oh, very nice to say that to me.

Like, I love you,

but you need help.

I see you around here.

You're beautiful.

Your energy is great,

but your skin is not,

Oh my gosh,

I would have gone in a corner and started crying.

Probably I sat there like,

she's like,

I have this really great friend.

I think you should go see her.

And she helps with skin conditions.

And I said,

well, what would I take it from you?

She thought,

trust me.

I go to her.

It's fine.

Just go.

And I'm looking at her,

like I thought you were my friend.

And it's so funny.

And we're still friends now,

but I went.

And so Ms.

Ida, who is still doing services,

she is in Oakland.

Her business is called the skin studio and she is a

nurse. She does everything,

lasers, injections,

everything. However,

her business is set up just like a doctor's office.

So you have a 30 minute appointment.

You come and you come out,

she runs six rooms by herself.

I'm looking at everything that she's doing,

all the products that I'm buying.

All, I'm seeing her every two weeks,

I'm doing all this stuff.

And I said,

what did it take for you to get all of this?

I said,

I understand the nursing part,

but what did it take for you to start treating people

and helping people with their skin?

She said,

I went to beauty school.

It was about six months.

I did it at night and now this is what I

have. And so I'm adding it up.

I'm like,

okay, I dropped $300 every month.

I, every time I see her as $80,

she runs six rooms every half hour,

you know,

that's one 60 an hour.

I mean,

I'm really like going through the numbers in my head.

Like I can do this.

And the thing that also What's interesting is you came from

a place of a need of something that you already know.

And it also,

I got to say that your friend was a very dear

friend to just say something to you because so many people

wouldn't because they don't want to hurt your feelings.

But I think we can accept that type of thing from

our close friends.

We can't,

it's still took me a little bit.

Cause when I went and when I started looking at what

the myths Ida was saying,

I kept saying,

you know,

I've tried everything.

And she said,

you really have it.

She's said,

that's the thing in the myth about skin conditions that have

issues, you do need help.

That's outside of your doing.

It will never come from you.

And you could really relate to the pain,

the need someone,

because you had been there and look at how beautiful you

are now.

Clearly she was fabulous.

Oh, she's beautiful.

I mean,

she really got me on a great in narrow.

So I continue with Ms.

Ida for a few years,

but I started really thinking,

I went to school at night.

So I went and worked all day.

I went to a school that's no longer open,

but miss Marty's was open for like 50 years in San

Francisco. And I commuted from biz brain where I worked all

the way into the city.

Every night I went to school from Monday through Thursday night

from five to nine.

And then I would go all day,

Saturday. And I did that,

still working my full-time job.

And I did that for six months and I just loved

it. Now,

mind you,

I was,

you know,

at that time I was making 85,

90,000 a year.

My mom and dad were just over the moon.

I was living in the Bay area.

I could afford living there at that time.

What were you doing at that point?

I was the recreation director for the city.

So I was in charge of everything.

I had someone above me,

but I was kind of the middle person.

I was the liaison between all of the schools and the

city sports.

And I organized everything.

I organize events and parades and all this stuff for the

city. So I did politics and city and all of that

because it was drama,

but I was paid very well.

And I got my license.

My mom was the model for me when I went before

the state board.

And I got it.

You know,

instantly now mind you,

I have a college degree too.

So you know,

my, as a science background as well.

So, you know,

all of this was very easy for me and I was

going to work and I'm like,

you know what?

I just don't like this.

It's not fulfilling.

I think I really want to go into skincare.

So I'm just going to put out some resumes and see

if I get a job.

If I don't get a job,

that means it wasn't meant for me.

After a month,

I got a call back from a major nationwide company that

does everything.

So they sell hair products,

skin products,

and they offer skin services and hair services all under the

same roof.

I went in there and it was in the downtown San

Francisco in the Embarcadero center,

lots of money.

And I walked in there and they said,

we need an esthetician.

Can you be full-time if you're here,

four days a week is considered full time.

You'll get benefits.

You'll make very good money is 50% commission.

We provide everything.

So I was like,

okay, well,

how busy are you?

They're like,

we're extremely busy where we have people waiting for us at

night. And we have to put people out at seven when

we closed.

And so at that location is at the bottom of the

mall. The mall is above us.

And then we were at the bottom.

So ground floor.

So it was perfect location,

always people everywhere.

I was like,

ah, I don't know about commission.

I don't know because commission is not guaranteed.

I'm making,

you know,

$2,000 every paycheck.

Oh, that's a tough choice.

Huge, tough choice.

But I did.

I chucked it.

I let it go.

I went in and I gave my right to the nation.

I was excited.

I went into this new job.

First paycheck was $400.

I said,

Oh, I'm not going to make it.

I can't do it.

$400. I mean,

that's yeah,

that's not you pay my car.

I mean,

do it.

So what to do,

I just,

I turned everything on.

I knew I started studying nails.

I started studying hair and I just sold and sold and

sold. And they came out with this one promotion that changed

the business for everything they gave each person that ever came

in there,

a coupon to use the service of their choice.

And after that it was golden.

I mean,

I stayed there for a year and a half and I

started asking for more and they couldn't give me for more,

but I really became reputable.

I was interviewed on TV for StriVectin.

When StriVectin came out,

I did a commercial for them.

I'm talking about it.

Cause we were selling it there.

They came in and brought a camera crew and more people

came in to see me.

So I had a lot of opportunities to really get out

there and make a name for myself in a location.

It was the location.

I always say that the location was perfect.

The timing was perfect.

The money was perfect at that moment.

At that time,

had I waited a little bit longer educated yourself first in

something that you were passionate about.

And then you took a big risk too.

I did.

So did so.

It was all of it coming together at the same time.

It was,

it was,

then it came to a plateau where I was making the

store a lot of money.

I was making them at least 25,000

a month just by myself.

And I got no commission on any product that I sold.

I only got commission on hands that touched the face.

So I was like,

can I get a 5%?

Oh no,

no, no,

no, no.

I'm like,

you do realize that I make by myself 25,000

in the store,

I'm one person.

We have 10 people in here.

I make more than all of those 10 people on skincare.

You do know that.

And I sell hair and I sell nails.

And I upsale,

I said,

I do more than any of the people here,

including your manager,

but I don't make that much.

I'm not getting any,

you know,

I didn't even get a bonus.

I'm like,

can I get a bonus?

Can I get a reward?

Can I get a gift certificate?

And they're like,

no, we really don't have a structure for you.

So I left and I went and worked for a company

that I sold most of the products for.

And I met this wonderful woman who I'm still very good

friends with now.

And she does what I do.

She has a distribution and distribution.

She's really,

she supplies,

salons and spas for the estheticians to do the services.

So she's on the back end.

So what I'm doing is on the front end,

which means I have a limited amount of people I can

see. I have a limited amount of income I can make

every day on the backend is very different because I can

make lifetime of money all 24 hours.

Not when I'm seeing someone or not.

When I'm touching someone's face.

And she really taught me the back end and said,

you know,

I did what you did.

She's like I did it.

I started doing the same thing.

I went back to school when I was 55.

I hustled and I did all of that.

And I just realized you can only see a certain amount

of people a day.

You're always going to limit yourself on your income.

What I do,

there is no limit on the income.

You should really think about it.

And I kept looking at her like,

no, I,

you know,

I think I really want to open my own.

I want to be my own owner.

I don't want to really work for anybody.

And I'm still working for you,

even though you're showing me this and she's like,

it's not going to work out the way you think it

is. I've done it.

And you know how it is when you have your mind

made up,

no one can talk you out of anything,

you have to experience it.

And so I left her and I went and opened up

my own office.

I shared it with an OB GYN and he let me

have one wing of his entire office.

He saw patients every 15 minutes and they were always specialty

women, women who bleed for no reason.

And they don't know why women who can't concede women who

have just issues.

So every 15 minutes he had a new person coming in.

He let me advertise in his waiting area.

They saw everything that we had going on.

They smelled my oils,

they smelled lavender.

They saw,

you know,

they could hear the music when they walked in and they

were like,

Whoa, what is this?

And this was way before med spa even came out.

So I really just integrated with him and he was great.

And of course,

when you work for an OBG and your shared office,

somehow some way you get pregnant too.

So I got pregnant.

I was pregnant with my daughter and I had a full

staff. I had a massage therapist and I had other estheticians

working for me.

I set everything up.

So by the time I was ready to have her,

I was going to be able to just,

you know,

have a little bit of a break.

They run the office,

they run the business and then I come back.

It didn't work out that way.

I worked all the way up until I had her because

I didn't realize I was having her until I went to

my appointment.

And they said,

Oh, we're having some problems.

We're going to need to put you in now.

And I'm like,

but I'm not ready.

Now I have appointment.

Well, sometimes that just doesn't work.

Life takes over.

It never works,

never works.

So of course I have her and I get a call

the next day.

I'm still I'm on my way back from the hospital.

And I don't know if my employees fought with each other

or they didn't get along.

And it came to a head I will never know.

But anyway,

both of them quit at the same time.

Okay. And you just had a baby.

I just had a baby.

So I'm like,

I have all these people waiting,

you know,

I'm not supposed to be on my feet.

So it happened on a Thursday.

So I,

you know,

let everybody know Friday where we close.

We will reopen on Tuesday.

Cause we only are open Tuesday through Saturday.

So I haul myself in there after having a C-section mind

you with my baby and my dad and my mom alternates.

So my dad came in and stayed in the back with

the baby.

I breastfed in between clients.

I breastfed at lunch and I saw everybody and I worked

there because it was an hour from where we lived.

I did that for two years.

Oh my word.

So I've had,

when I say struggle,

struggle, I've really struggled.

Two years,

I did that.

And then it's,

my daughter was getting older.

I was getting scared because I,

if something happened to her or me,

we were always an hour away.

So I decided to close that area where I was.

And I moved it up to where I was living with

my family and I reopened.

And of course,

moving a business that far away kills business.

Anytime you do a service-based business where people are used to

coming to you,

you had to start fresh.

I had to start all over.

So I went in and did that.

I opened it up and I only did it.

Part-time I went to work for a doctor who had a

full medical spa,

full time and same thing.

I go now,

but now I got commissioned.

So whenever I sold,

I got commissioned.

I still got 50% on services.

I got percent on product.

I worked for her for two years.

I did all the consultation for lasers.

I did all the before and afters.

I worked on acne clients.

She was an internist.

So she did an internal medicine.

So she started doing the Botox.

She started doing the rest of the land,

the Juvederm.

And I learned a lot on the injections.

I learned a lot about laser hair removal.

A lot of people don't really realize it is not permanent.

I did,

you know,

before and afters on a lot of people who just had

skin conditions.

So I did that at the same time while still working

at night,

still having my daughter.

So I,

like I said,

I I've done many,

many, many things and many aspects of what I do and

what I love.

And because I love skincare so much,

I knew that I could work for her in the daytime

and still go and see my clients in the evening afternoon

on weekends,

and still be able to have my hands in what I

was doing and enjoy it.

Now, the money was not there.

I will say I was really,

really struggled.

You know,

when you have a child,

a lot of your expenses change when you're by yourself,

it's very easy.

You can start to live on top of the ramen,

but when you know,

you bring children into the situation,

your children always comes first.

And you know,

California is very expensive to live.

Not only just to live there,

but everything is high.

Insurance is high.

Medical insurance is high.

You know,

it's just very,

very high.

So my parents being in the military,

I have a great plan.

They added my daughter to their medical plans.

So that kind of helped me up until about two years

ago. So that was a big chunk that took off,

you know,

and I lived at home with them.

So that was another issue that I didn't have to worry

about as far as rent.

But once I,

the doctor kind of closed,

she mishandled some money and wasn't able to float the business

anymore. She closed,

I went full-time back into my spa,

which I had already had already.

I got another opportunity from the same woman that I worked

for. When I left pure beauty,

she asked me,

did I want to do some training for her?

And it was in waxy.

And I said,

you know,

I don't see why I couldn't do that.

They would pay me pretty well.

I usually charge five to $600 per class.

I said,

sure. So I went in there and I did a class

for her.

And I said,

I said,

what would you,

how would you feel if I started doing classes where I

was, cause I was about two and a half hours from

her. And I started selling the products that I'm doing.

And she said,

I don't think that would be a problem.

So she sold me the products.

I brought them back to my spa.

I started doing classes there.

And I started figuring out that these people who are coming

to me are coming to me because I'm in a location

where number one,

they can't get any professional products because going to Sally's and

Cosmoprof, that's not really what we like to do.

We like to be able to get products that our public

cannot get.

So I started selling it out of one of my rooms

and I was having other people come in saying,

Oh, I heard that you have products here.

Can I look?

And I'm like shipper.

So I'm getting more revenue from these other professionals coming in

than I was from people coming in to get service.

So I said,

you know,

she was right.

Oh my gosh,

we'll see people,

but I can also make money all the time because they're

coming in and getting basic things that I can Mark up

70, 80,

90, 110,

120%. I'm like,

wow, what?

Oh, wow.

So I called around to other businesses and other companies and

said, would you be okay with me selling them?

And they were like,

sure, we don't have anyone in your location.

That would be perfect.

We would love to refer to you.

So I had six different lines that I was selling out

of my spa.

And I'm like,

Oh my gosh,

this is paying my rent.

It's not my people that I'm seeing it's this,

this is she's right.

Mary was so right.

Mary was like,

you cannot,

you know,

make enough money because you can only see a certain amount

of people being as tissues were calling us.

We were shipping.

I mean,

it just blew up.

So you were making money off the product you were selling?

Absolutely. And it was because I was having classes.

So whatever I used in the class,

people want it.

Right. And is that how the technique started to form?

The technique was before I actually started selling products,

I was always fast at waxing.

I didn't want to do it.

I didn't want to do Brazilian waxing.

I just thought it was,

I didn't like it.

I didn't want to see people naked,

to be honest.

I didn't want to see them in that position,

but the demand was starting to really take fold and I

could command the amount of money I wanted.

So I would charge a hundred dollars at least for you

to come in And time let's face it.

I mean,

seven minutes.

The time everyone is time strapped.

Right? Very much so to be able to go in and

get things taken care of quickly and be out could be

a big niche.

It's a huge niche and it didn't start that way.

It took me three years to perfect that technique.

And I did it all by giving away free services.

So I didn't charge people for me to kind of practice

what I needed to do to get faster.

I did,

it was Brazilian Fridays.

So once a month I would put an ad on Craigslist

and said,

I need models.

If you want a Brazilian,

you don't have to pay for it,

but I'm going to practice.

You may still have hair when you leave,

you know,

give us a call.

And I did that one Friday,

every single month.

And that's how I became faster in three years.

So wasn't on people that were already seeing me.

It wasn't on people who were paying me.

I did that for by free because I knew if I

was messing someone up or if I was going to enter

them, I couldn't necessarily charge them.

So once I perfected it and I stopped giving it away

for free as a hundred dollars for you to come and

even make an appointment,

because you're going to get in and out,

you're going to get the best products,

but I'm not going to be there torturing you for an

hour. Like it's,

some people will.

And some people still are,

even to this day,

they're still people who don't know what they're doing.

And they're still trying to charge a lot of money.

And that's where a lot of discrepancies come in.

Now, remember,

this is before Yelp.

This is before Google review.

This is before you know,

anything wouldn't be social.

This was way before that.

Right. You can never go on and say how bad it

was or what your experience was.

It wasn't like that.

Right. Okay.

So you were seeing,

so you were testing on a lot of people to perfect

this skill of speed and result.

Obviously I had to.

And so then you had people,

you got it down.

So it was something that was really working.

And then now move forward to what you're doing.

Like how you're teaching it,

like what you're doing now.

So from there I spun off because everybody that I was

selling products,

didn't like the way I was doing it,

or they wanted me to just do it their way.

And so I kind of let that go.

And I found someone who was able to make the waxes

the way I wanted them.

So with the technique,

that technique was always there before I even created my waxes.

So I did that technique on multiple different products.

And that's what people,

I think kind of draw to me because it's not just

my product that I sell,

but I can do the same technique on other people's products

as well,

because not everybody's going to use my product,

but they want to use the technique.

I really wanted to perfect it with other products other than

my own.

But once I created my own,

I had a lot of control over what I showed.

I've had three DVDs out.

So the first DVD was on a product that I didn't

tell anyone who it was,

it was just a technique,

but people kept saying,

what are you using?

What are you using?

And then I was kind of like,

well, I'm gonna have to come out with a second DVD

showing what I use,

but it's going to have to be mine because I want

money on the front end of that.

Right. Money watching it.

And I want money on them so they can use it

so they can kind of perfect and see what I'm doing

and use it.

So once I created my product line,

which took a while to get the waxes the way I

wanted them to get the technique down with the wax and

make sure it was the right wax with what I wanted

to show.

That's when I really blew up very quickly.

I put out my second DVD and it was the second

version. I showed everything that I did.

I had people calling me all over.

I had distribution expanded to Canada.

I had distribution and expanded to Australia.

It really kind of took off after that second DVD.

And then I did a third DVD where it was all

things that go wrong.

So I decided,

and I had a counterpart.

Her name is cricket.

She also has her own wax brand,

all DVDs that come out and training.

They're all with.

No troubleshooting is always perfect.

So the client has perfect hair length.

They have a perfect flat tummy.

They don't have any cellulite.

They're not big bone.

They're not large size.

They're petite and tiny and cute.

What we wanted to do was show the other side of

waxing and that's with everyone.

So we wax with men.

We did plus size.

We did people.

Who've never had a wax before.

So we showed them jumping.

We showed them bleeding.

We showed the wax not coming off.

We showed every single thing that could ever go wrong in

a treatment room.

Once that video hit the sky's the limit.

I mean,

I blew up even bigger because people were like,

that's happened to me and I never figured out how to

get out of it.

Or you really,

you know,

you showed us reality.

My first one was nice.

The lighting was nice.

She was,

you know,

petite and cute.

Her hair was perfect.

I mean the whack,

her hair just came off.

There was no resistance,

anything. This video though,

show when we were having issues and we didn't cut anything.

It's four hours long Video was meant as a training video

to people doing the services to show them,

okay, this is what can go wrong.

Here's what you do about it.

Absolutely. When we did talk about any products at all,

so it was not product specific.

It was very much about technique situations.

You know,

when your client is sweaty,

what do you do when you have a man who's never

had a wax before?

What do you do?

What does it mean when they bleed?

Okay. Gift biz listeners.

I want to stop right here because this is a great

learning for everybody.

You may not be anywhere near,

related to this industry,

but listen to what Stephanie did.

She, first of all,

experienced it herself.

She did free services so that she could learn and perfect

a very more specialty craft because it's a seven minute technique.

So she learned all that.

She got it down.

She saw that there was an opportunity to create her own

product and then even from there.

So this is the point I want to get at for

any of you who are creating products of any type.

She even saw the opportunity to expand it further by training

videos. So what is it that you're doing if you're a

jewelry designer or you're a Baker,

is there any opportunity in your industry to create training videos,

technique, demonstration,

love, love,

love where she's talking about like,

Oh my gosh,

here's all the things that can go wrong.

And here is your solution.

Can you apply that to your business?

And is there anything that you could be doing that could

lead you to the success that Stephanie's now seeing?

Because she has multiple areas of revenue now,

because she's got all these different streams of services and products

that she has.

So Stephanie,

I'm sorry.

I just had to jump in there and say that because

I think that could be very eyeopening to a lot of

people who are listening here right now.

Absolutely. And I think part of it is,

is that we get it entrepreneurs,

we get so,

so focused on one thing and I'm learning,

you know,

and I learned very early on,

I have to have multiple streams of income.

I also can't be everywhere all of the time.

I can't travel all over.

When someone wants me or a company wants me or a

person wants me,

I really can't do that.

So the training that we offer and all of our training,

we've gone away from DVDs.

About three years ago,

all of our training is online.

I have classroom portals.

I have opportunities where people can rent videos.

If they don't want to buy it,

they can just rent it.

They can be in our group,

which is a private video room where they can watch all

the videos that I have as many times as they want.

And that's all done virtual.

So whenever someone has a problem,

they either email us or they give us a call,

but that is a huge revenue stream for us.

Because if you want more training outside of the basic training,

because I do basic training kind of teasers on YouTube.

So I have a huge YouTube following.

I have over a million views.

I have over 200 videos,

but I have a section that's just training on my wax

is only so that's kind of the intro,

but there,

they can get even more training with me on their iPhone

or iPad or on their computer.

And I'm talking to them and that's all done virtual.

So as soon as they sign up and they pay their

money, I pop up right on the screen and I'm talking

to them,

telling them what they need to do.

So it's,

it's really become multiple streams of income.

So we have our training aspect,

we have the products available.

We also have,

you know,

one-on-one, I have a storefront where people come in and talk

to me and they spend money with me here.

And then I have a company that buy our wax in

cases, I'm actually looking at two pounds right now that's over

2000 pounds of wax that we're getting ready to ship out

to them.

So it's become an opportunity for me to expand,

not only myself and the,

but I also have gone to distributors.

So I,

people below us who sell our products,

but who also sell our training.

So that's kind of the second tier to my whole little

pyramid here is that our distributors are located in areas that

I'm not.

So I'm in Texas.

So we have a distributor that's in Boston.

They also have a school.

So they train in their beauty school on all of my

products. So when those students leave,

they're already trained and then they go to salons and then

they're excited and they bring our product to the salons as

well. So it's a very interesting dynamic of how my parts

get out there,

especially when I start from the beginning.

So when people walk into that school,

they see my brand already.

Sure. So talk to us a little bit about how the

whole distribution started.

We know,

when did you identify that and how,

like, what were the steps that you took to get that

established? So distribution is very difficult.

I will say.

And, and in the beginning I was not very particular about

who sold the product,

but now I am,

because I find that people just don't respect it.

If they don't know that it's very important distribution because they

are not me specifically.

It's not my baby,

but they also want to generate income.

It can be hard on two folds.

I liked someone in a company that's already educating.

I've gone with companies that don't educate and all I do

with sell and their sales,

aren't very high because I want that environment of education and

excitement is that now a prerequisite.

I did the prerequisite.

Yeah. You have to have a training platform already for us

to go into,

you have to have the opportunity to have someone on the

phone that actually knows about waxing.

So we have lots of aestheticians that come up to us

and they kind of,

they hear my story because I have a wonderful series.

So if you ever,

you know,

those of you are listening,

everyone is listening to my story and a little bit longer.

I have a YouTube channel and it's called Stephanie wanes,

but my it's called the wax class.

And I do it in the same style as Oprah does

that she does.

And then I can't remember what she did,

but it's just a black screen and I'm just talking.

And each segment is on my journey from what I talked

about in the beginning of this podcast,

all the way to where I am now.

So I talk about situations where I've had inappropriate clients,

how I've gotten out of that,

how I've had a man approach me for something other than

waxing. So I really spell it out in each episodes and

there's six episodes.

So you can watch it.

And they're about 30 minutes long,

but I really share my story,

but I also share my passion for what I do because

I still do the service.

And I find that when I meet entrepreneurs who have stepped

away from what they love to take more of the business

side of it,

they become very antsy.

They're not very social.

They're very short,

they're very snippy.

And I have to kind of go back and say,

well, what was it that got you into this in the

beginning? Weren't you doing it?

Well, yeah,

it didn't find time,

but you know that now that you're so far removed,

you, you really don't know what's going on in the industry

and what you're doing really good.

A disconnect.

Yeah. You,

you do,

you get very disconnected from your customer.

So you really don't know.

Plus, you know,

things change other products come on the market,

or there are other needs based on just the world changing

or whatever.

So if you don't stay in touch with your customer,

that's a really risky situation.

So I'm glad you brought that up.

Stephanie really good.

And the thing is,

She was at,

you know,

it's not that I have to wax every day.

I still whacked when I go to trade shows and still

wax when I do training.

But I find it,

the balance has to still be there.

People trust me because they see me using it.

I don't have a spokesperson.

I don't have anyone,

but I do my Periscopes sometimes to see my daughter weren't

around in the background or you hear my husband over there,

coughing and choking.

So I really make it very,

and he does it often,

but I make it very realistic when I'm speaking to them

and encouraging them and say,

you know,

if I had someone like myself,

when I was at the point that you were,

I went out and made the same mistakes,

I would have wasted this amount of money on something that

I knew wasn't going to work.

I would not have done the things that I've done.

And so when I do my Periscopes,

I make it very realistic.

I bring them into the shop and say,

this is what it looks like behind the scenes.

This is what it looks like.

When you make your company makes a million dollars.

You don't see a million dollars.

You don't have a million dollars.

You know,

people get stuck on the dollar amount.

Oh, we generated this much.

No you didn't.

Right. You didn't do that.

So my thing,

this, my theme this year for our Periscopes has been how

much money are you really making?

Are you paying yourself?

We as entrepreneurs do not pay ourselves,

we are so bad at the business side.

We really are.

I really,

at early onset,

I have to have money that doesn't have anything to do

with the business.

And once I started paying myself,

I was not as stressed.

I was not as freaked out.

I wasn't all obsessed about that next dollar coming in.

I really was okay,

because Stephanie Lane's big account has money in it.

Now smooth skins apply can go to negative,

but Stephanie Lane's account has money.

So it really became a different aspect for me.

You know,

I'm always encouraging entrepreneurs,

pay yourself.

You go,

if you don't know how to do taxes,

you get a company and you pay them to pay you.

They take care of your taxes,

your social security,

your disability,

all those things that we don't know,

pay them that because you can write off at the end

of the year,

but get a check.

Whether it's once a week,

every other week,

once a month,

pay yourself from the beginning.

Don't wait until you think you have enough money in the

bank. Nope.

Nope. Nope.

Pay yourself first.

And that's been something that I've always been passionate about,

but I didn't do,

now that I'm doing it,

I wish I would have done it in the beginning because

I think my business would have been a lot farther.

I would not have been robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Right. You know,

I did the credit card thing.

I wrapped up my credit cards.

You know,

I've been audited by the IRS.

I mean,

I have had a lot of financial issues and it wasn't

until I separated and really paid myself and wasn't snatching money

out of the business account that I really started to grow.

Because you know,

you have to think about it.

If you don't know how much money you're making,

if you don't know your margins,

if don't know how much your bills are,

if you run everything on a credit card,

but never paid the credit card,

your business will never succeed.

And that is something that I love Marcus Limonus.

And you know,

we've talked about this before and when we taught it before,

I love what he says.

And he always asks every business that he's in.

Part of are you paying yourself?

Because it's important when you have the mindset of I'm not

worried about the money.

I'm not worried about bills on my personal side because there's

money in that account.

I can focus a hundred percent when I'm in the office

on the business,

because I don't have to focus on the money part of

it. You're absolutely singing my song because so many people,

you know,

the, the viewers or listeners of this show are all artists

creators. And it's so easy for us to diminish the value

of our time.

And we don't,

we don't necessarily price our products correctly.

And I mean,

that's a whole,

this is a whole other bucket of information that we could

be sharing,

but I'm glad you brought that up because it is,

you have to think of pain yourself as just another business

expense. That is a necessity and not something that you can

just dive into and say,

Oh, I just won't pay myself this month because all of

your passion,

all of your energy,

all the time and commitment and money that you've put in

to create something isn't going to last long-term.

I mean,

at some point,

if there's no money,

you're going to have to stop doing what you're doing.

So you need to look at a salary for yourself as

a business expense.

And I say,

even if it's a hundred dollars and I think that's the

thing with us,

we get so stuck on money and we get stuck on

the value of money.

Meaning the more money I make,

the bigger my company is,

and that's not really what it's about.

We go into business because we don't want to be told

what to do.

We don't want our ideas taken from other people.

We don't want to have to justify what we want to

do as being successful.

We want to be and feel and do everything that we

want with no restraints.

However, when you include yourself as part as income and you

don't price things,

right? You pay the price for it down the road.

And that's something that I have done.

I didn't realize I could go to my manufacturers and demand

a lower price.

I didn't start doing that to,

after I watched the profit,

I was like,

how is he going to walk in there and give them

a number?

And so last year I tried it with one of my

manufacturers and I showed them the numbers.

I said,

I want this number down for this product to this.

Can you do it?

We went back and forth.

We went back and forth and they were like,

well, no,

we can get it to this.

Nope. If you can get to that,

you can get to that.

We're talking 30 cents.

Right. Right.

And they came back and they said,

well, you know something about minimums.

I said,

I don't want a minimum.

I don't,

I don't need a minimum.

I have distributors.

We're growing.

They're buying more.

But that's the number I want.

I got it.

Good for you.

So surprised.

I was like,

Oh my God.

Yeah. And you know,

you never know what their limit is until you push it,

you know,

once you,

and once you see,

let's say,

let's say they couldn't have gone to that.

Right. Then maybe would have negotiated something different.

Maybe you wouldn't have,

but unless you try,

you just don't know.

And the thing is,

is I wanted to stay with them and I was looking

at other manufacturers.

But as you know,

when you manufacture it,

there's a relationship.

There. I,

it took me 10 generations with three products.

So 10 generation means when I give it to them,

I don't like it.

I send it back.

I tell them to change it.

I did that 10 times on one product and I have

three. I really did not want to take that same product

to another manufacturer.

And it may not be the same.

I wanted to continue to work with them.

Right. So I told them that I said,

but I'll have other options I can go to,

you know that.

So just know that upfront before you say no again,

I don't have a problem with,

with, you know,

canceling my orders that I have now and going with this

other manufacturer.

And that kinda got them like,

Oh, she's serious.

I'm very serious.

All I'm asking for is 30 cents different.

And you can't give that to me because if you can't,

we're done,

you lost all of that revenue that you've been making these

last few years.

So it became eyeopening to me when I started going back

to them and saying,

okay, what can I do to get it cheaper?

So that my margins are bigger.

Once I started looking at my margins,

like I have a certain products now that my margins are

three and 400%.

And you know,

you look at it and you're like,

why didn't I do this in the beginning?

Why did I never not sit down and know my numbers?

Why did I never quite not get that?

You know,

I've been working for free.

Okay. And I want to stop here to now give biz

listeners understand that when Stephanie's talking about margins on her individual

products, that is not all the business expense.

So her margins of 300% per se,

out of that down the road comes rent,

cost of travel cost of trade show.

So that's not all,

I mean,

there's so much more than just what your PR,

how much your product costs to produce,

and then what you sell for,

because there's all these other business expenses as well,

which is why you want to get your margins on your

product as high as they can,

because it's not just pure pass through,

right into an account of money that you can spend.

You know,

because we have some people who are just in the beginning

of their journey.

So I just wanted to point that out as well.

Stephanie, we could go on and talk about so many things.

You are just a wealth of information,

but I think we're going to have to start winding it

closer to the end here.

And I want to evolve into our reflection section.

This is another look at you,

also, how you work your business,

what types of things you've done that have helped you to

get to where you are right now.

If there is a trait that you see yourself calling on

time and time again,

that applies to your business,

what would that be?

My tree has been really balanced and I save it.

And a lot of people can't do it,

but I'm gonna be very honest.

It took me a little while to do it.

I had a business mentor.

Coach told me you're going to have to let the emails

go off your,

your phone.

So you're not doing any business on your phone,

outside of the office.

Everything emails,

phone calls,

all stay here.

So when you're here,

you're here,

but when you're home,

You're home.

You mean personal emails,

No business emails,

business emails do not go to my phone.

Nope. I have no idea what's going on when I'm at

home. I don't answer emails.

I know that's not to say that I pop up on

my laptop and I'll refresh and then I'll close it back,

but I don't do any business at home.

And that's a trait that has really helped me because I

was not a mom at home.

I was not a wife at home.

I was Stephanie Lane's business CEO at home.

And once I cut off from my phone,

I don't answer any emails at home.

I don't do anything business.

I may look at something,

but I cut it off my messenger on my phone,

on the business.

Cause I have two separate Facebooks.

I have a personal Facebook and then I have a business

Facebook, which was great.

I separated them out.

So I get messages on that business line all day,

long, 30 to 40,

I turn it off.

Begins is completely off.

I don't answer any messages,

nothing. How far into your journey were you able to start

doing that?

Because what I,

what I find is is that I did not have any

turn off time.

I was working at home 12 hours in a full day.

So I would leave here after working six hours and go

home and work another six hours.

I wasn't functioning on both ends.

It wasn't best for the business.

And it also wasn't really great for my personal life.

So the balance for me has been great.

Now in the beginning as new entrepreneurs,

you're going to work all of the time.

It's just finding that balance.

You know,

if you can't let go of your emails at home,

can you not answer your emails until the next day?

Is it,

is it have to be answered at 10 o'clock that night?

No. So is there a tool or something that you're using

to help you be as productive as possible?

I calendar everything.

I used to plan out every hour and I can't do

that anymore just because things happen,

but my calendar is great.

My reminders are great and I use the iPhone.

So I'm always on my iPhone,

scheduling everything.

And that's a Google calendar.

I will schedule if I need to come in and do

a brainstorm on a project that has to be done.

I scheduled out an hour.

I put it in.

So scheduling my day has been something that I love to

do. I always go to that schedule,

but I always need reminders.

And I love to do 30 minutes before an hour before

I even had payroll reminder,

just making sure that it's on the calendar,

because if it's on my calendar,

that mean I'm going to do it as a task.

I'm going to get it done.

If it's not on my calendar,

out of sight,

out of mind,

if you're a paper calendar person and you need a scheduling

your hands,

keep a schedule in your hands.

If you need to have it,

have it for a year and not have it for a

month, organize tasks,

writing them down.

I agree because it also reduced,

This is your stress because you don't have to remember it

anymore. It's in the calendar it's written down.

Absolutely. Is there a book or any guidance that you've listened

to that helps you to stay motivated and be energized and

learn more about your business?

It's not even about my business.

I find I'm very fascinated by learning.

What other business people do.

I love to read Forbes.

I love to read there's another interview magazine and I'm on

magazine. Not necessarily books,

cause I don't really have time for books like that,

but I love reading articles about other businesses and what people

do who are very successful.

That may not be the normal.

I don't know if it's the norm,

but I'm right with you.

I love hearing what other people do because if they're successful,

then they have some clues for us.

That's for sure.

Definitely. I would like you now to dare to dream.

I want to present you with a virtual gift.

It's a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future.

This is your dream or your goal of almost unreachable Heights

that you would wish to obtain.

Please accept this gift and open it in our presence.

What is inside your box?

Time is inside my box And what is happening with that

time? That time is unlimited.

There's no limit on time.

The focusing on not what I'm doing yesterday or what I

am going to do,

but being able to focus on the time that I have

right now,

because I'm always a year or two ahead,

but I'm not here today at nine 16 on November 14,

You tend to drift into the future for goal setting and

all of that.

So you want time to live in the day in the

moment. Absolutely got it.

And that to me is something that I think a lot

of entrepreneurs do.

We dream ahead.

We dream.

When we already have that success,

we already dream where we're able to pay a bill and

not even have to worry about it or not look at

our bank account every hour,

right at our big Academy,

You know,

and let's face it so much of our time is spent

in building towards a goal.

We should be enjoying the journey because the Mo the majority

of the time is in the path to your goal.

And guess what happens when you get to the goal?

You set another one right.

Far, even farther out.

So enjoy where you are.

Every step along the way,

even people who are just starting,

that's such a fun place to be because there's no groundwork

laid. There's nothing happening yet.

And you can really dream of what it is you want

to do.

And then when you get started,

reality sets in,

but you've started,

you're creating something.

So there's something positive and there are challenges every step of

the way.

So once we get comfortable with that and just live in

the moment and enjoy and be grateful for what we're doing,

it really helps your mindset.

They really does.

That's a great question.

Okay. Gift biz listeners,

you all know that there was a show notes page.

I'm going to have all of the links to Stephanie's different

places, her website,

YouTube, social media channels,

all of that.

So if you want to learn more,

just jump over to the show notes page,

and you'll be able to link up with her any way

you'd like to.

But Stephanie,

for those people who are not near a computer or who

are out jogging or in their shop,

or at a nine to five job and listening on the

side, what would be one single place that you would direct

someone to,

if want to know more My YouTube channel that has everything,

every single link where I'm at for my Instagram,

my Facebook,

and you can see anything in there.

I have Periscopes in there that I have recorded that I

upload to my YouTube channel as well.

So you can go into my YouTube channel,

which is my own channel and do a search in there.

And you can find whatever you want.

You can start at the beginning where I did my Berry

So you can see me all the way up until now.

So eight years worth of information is all on my YouTube

channel. Wonderful.

And your YouTube channel name is smooth skin supply.

Right? Got it.

Perfect. All right.

Gift biz listeners.

Now, you know all about that.

It's been a little bit of a longer podcast,

but Stephanie has done such a great job in really laying

out her path and her journey.

So I want to keep all of this in here.

I'm not editing anything out because I think the really important

thing for us all to learn is one step leads to

another leads to another leads to another,

and having the experience and learning along the way is so

important and really lays the groundwork to being successful.

So, Stephanie,

I, I so appreciate your just,

you know,

you can hear your honesty and your enthusiasm and your sincerity

to help people,

not only achieving nicer quality skin,

when that was what you were doing,

the waxing technique,

helping people be successful in their businesses,

in your field,

that honesty and the passion totally comes through.

So for that,

I appreciate your sharing,

everything that you have today,

and may your candle always burn bright.

Thank you so much.

It's been a pleasure.

It's always fun sharing my story.

Where are you in your business building journey,

whether you're just starting out or already running a business,

and you want to know your setup for success.

Find out by taking the gift biz quiz,

access the quiz from your computer at bit dot L Y

slash gift biz quiz,

or from your phone like texting gift biz quiz to four

four, two,

two, two.

Thanks for listening and be sure to join us for the

next episode.

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