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10 Steps to Kick Start Your Aesthetic Career

It’s been a challenging couple of years for many with a rise in people looking for different career directions. If you have reached a point in your professional career where you are looking for a new challenge or seeking some new skills the aesthetic industry could be the next step that you are looking for. 

It can be daunting entering a new sector or starting up a new business. You need to consider your options and know what you are entering into.

Here is our 10 step guide to kick start your aesthetic career:

1.Researching – is there a demand/ much competition in your area?

In order to succeed within your aesthetic business, you need to make sure that there is a demand for your services. It is crucial at this point to conduct market research and use the collated data to inform your business strategy. It is also a good time to look and see how many other businesses exist and what they are offering to give you that competitive edge.

2.Training in the correct field

In order to avoid no further delays, it is best to make sure that you have completed as much training as you can beforehand. When getting started within the aesthetic industry, we recommend that you start with our introductory Foundation Botox and Filler course  and then build on your skill set and portfolio with more advanced treatments.

3.Business Structure

You need to decide if you will operate as a Sole trader, Partnership or Limited Company. Each with their own set of pros and cons it would be up to you to decide which structure would be best for your business going forward. Now is a good time to get an accountant and decide with him the best way to set-up your business (this can save you money in the long run).

4.Creating a business plan

A business plan is the most important part of setting up a business, as this is the vital document needed for securing the investment to get started. This plan should include your business objectives and will provide you with the clear direction. In addition to this you will need to consider a time frame to plan out how long you want to take to reach your end goal. This plan can also assist you in thinking about the worst case scenario and can allow you to devise a contingency strategy for any unforeseen events that may occur.

5.Naming your business & creating a logo

It is important to ensure that you have an effective name and appealing company logo. This should reflect and portray the type of business that you want to be. A unique name and logo needs to be thought about carefully to ensure that there is no confusion with competitors. If you have the same name or a logo that is similar, this may result in legal action and loss of sales. When creating the logo, it’s a good idea to name the business so that people know what you do. Make sure that you research different designers and shop around to ensure you are getting the best for your business and allocated budget.

6.Funding your business

Many people tend to use their own savings when starting up their own business. In some cases there are grants available, or you may look to take out a loan from the bank (this will require a business plan) Alternatively, you may know someone that is looking to invest their own money into a new business.

7.Finding a location

It is important to consider where your business will be based. How easy is it to get to for your clientele? Is there plenty of parking? Does it fulfil your requirements? Can you look at expanding when the time comes? Do the costs fit in with your budgets? When choosing the correct location and place, it is always worth taking along a trusted friend, colleague or family member with you – two heads are always better than one and it can help you to visualise the final look.

8.Registering your business

You are legally required to register your business with either Companies House or HMRC before you can start trading. Depending on the type of business structure that you decide will depend on the documentation that you will need. There are certain deadlines that you will need to meet when completing this and all the information that you will need to know and the relevant dates can be found on the Government website.

9.Registering your domain name and website

It’s now common practise for many of your potential customers to research online before contacting you. Your website is therefore very important as it will become the key source of receiving enquiries. Use your website to give potential clients all the information they need about your business, your employees, treatments and services that you offer. You will need to register and purchase your domain name for your website first, and then pay for this every year after.

10.Gaining the correct insurance

To be able to practice in Aesthetic Medicine and kick start your aesthetic career, you must have medical indemnity insurance, public liability insurance, building and contents insurance. If you practice without the correct insurances and end up with a claim, this can result in heavy fines and your business may not be able to continue.

Aesthetic Training with Cosmetic Courses |  kick start your aesthetic career!

Here at Cosmetic Courses we offer support right the way through your aesthetic career from choosing which course to start with, creating tailored training packages to meet your requirements and business support to help you become a successful practitioner. But what makes us stand out from other training providers? We are one of the only aesthetic training providers led by a Consultant Plastic Surgeon, we have been training delegates since 2002 so we know what it takes to become a safe and competent injector and we place a real emphasis on practical-based training.

If you would like more information on the courses that we offer to help you get started in aesthetics then please feel free to contact one of our course co-ordinators: 01844 390110 / [email protected].

Find out more about delegate’s most frequently asked questions on Aesthetic Training in our Aesthetics Knowledge Hub.

Aesthetics Knowledge Hub Slide

The perfect course package to get started in Aesthetics

To help you begin your new career into the world of aesthetics we have developed an ‘Introduction into Aesthetics package’.

Intro to Aesthetics Slide

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How to set up Facebook for your Aesthetic Clinic

Since starting out in 2001, there are now over 1.65 billion active Facebook users across the world. Speak to your friends, your family or your colleagues and the chances are a lot of them will be using Facebook. So how does this apply to your aesthetic practice? We take a look at the importance of having a Facebook Business Page for your aesthetic clinic and outline some tips and tricks to maximise your efforts.

What is a Facebook Business Page?

A Facebook Business Page allows you to extend your clinic services to a wider audience as well as engage with your current clients. On your Facebook Business Page you can add your contact details, create a portfolio of before and after photographs, gather reviews from your clients and much more. It’s purpose may be slightly different depending on your circumstances:

  1. If you are just setting up your aesthetic practice and don’t have the money to invest in building your own website, a Facebook Business Page can act as a website on your behalf making it a great place to start connecting with potential clients.
  2. If you already have a website but are looking for ways to boost your marketing efforts and reach a wider audience, Facebook may be just what you’re looking for.

Benefits of a Facebook Business Page for your Aesthetic Clinic

In an industry obsessed with talking about our looks and the latest celebrity treatment Facebook becomes a fantastic platform to discuss, inform and advertise our services. The main benefits include:

  • Brand Awareness – Allowing your clinic to be discoverable on Facebook means you can build your brand and reach a wider audience
  • Engagement – Stay connected with your current clients by asking them to like you on Facebook. The people that like your Facebook Page are interested in the services you provide so it is an extremely targeted form of advertising
  • Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) – We won’t go into this in detail (we’ll leave that for another blog) but we do know that Google takes social signals into account. So if you are seen to be active on social media this will help your business rank in Google when someone is searching for your brand
  • Know your audience – Integrated into your Facebook Business Page is Facebook Insights so you can begin to understand what your customers are interested in, what they’re liking, sharing and talking about. This means you can adjust the content you’re posting so that people become more engaged over time.

Creating a Facebook Business Page is a cheap and easy way of marketing your services to potential customers. If you’re not tech-savvy then don’t panic because Facebook has a fantastic support network meaning you’ll be able to get your page set up in a matter of minutes.

Click here to see Facebook’s guide to setting up your business page

So you’ve set up your Facebook Business Page, you’ve entered in your clinic information, now what?

Build your Audience

As we said, Facebook allows you to reach a wider audience but most importantly, it allows you to reach the people who are actually interested in having cosmetic treatments.

Your first step is to like your business page yourself and share it on your personal Facebook account (if you have one). This means if your friends are interested in having non-surgical treatments they can like your business page and stay up to date with what’s on offer.

The second thing to do is invite your current customers:

  • Add links from your website to your Facebook page
  • Include your Facebook page in email correspondence with clients
  • Include your Facebook url on all print advertising
  • Basically just shout about it!

Top Tip

If you have a list of clients’ email addresses you can actually upload these into your Facebook Business Page so that they get notified that you are now on Facebook. Nifty, eh? Find out more here.

Now for the fun part…

Start Posting!

Start posting updates, before and after photos, client testimonials, treatment videos, upcoming events, offers, news articles, anything you can think of! Just test a few different types of posts and see what works and engages your customers. We’d recommend posting a couple of times a day so you’re consistently reaching out to your audience.

Importantly, it’s not purely about the content that you post. The aim of your Facebook posts is to engage your audience and start a conversation. That means you need to make sure you get notified when someone comments on a post or sends you a direct message. We recommend downloading the Facebook Pages app on your mobile device and turn on push notifications so no matter where you are, you can respond to your clients.

Top Tip

Use the 80:20 rule. You don’t want to bombard your potential clients with information about you. You want to be informing them about treatments, the benefits they can get, any informative blogs you have and industry news: ‘What’s Kim Kardashian had done this month?’, ‘Has Katie Price had any more procedures?’ This is what people are actually interested in. So try and keep 80% of your content informing your patients and 20% of your content about your clinic directly and the services you provide.

Facebook Advertising

If you notice that a particular post you’ve sent out is receiving a lot of engagement you can do something called ‘Boosting a Post’. This means you pay a set amount of money to reach a larger audience such as friends of those who liked your page. It’s inexpensive, extremely targeted and you can turn it on and off with the click of a button.

Facebook advertising is an amazing tool to reach a specific client base. You can create targeted adverts that reach people based on things like gender, age, location and interests. Let’s go through an example. Say I wanted to advertise that my Birmingham-based clinic now does the 8 Point Facelift.

First thing I would do is choose my objective which in this case I want to be clicks to my 8 Point Facelift website page. I would then work out my audience, let’s say:

  • Gender: Female
  • Age: 35 – 60
  • Location: Birmingham + 40km radius
  • Interests: Beauty Treatments, Skincare, Facial, Anti-Ageing

I would then set a budget and a timeframe for my advert. So I want to spend a maximum of £3 per day and just run it continuously until I decide to turn it off. (You can adjust all of these settings at any time so they’re not set in stone).

You will then need:

  • A compelling image – in this case it could be a before and after photograph
  • Some text describing the treatment
  • The url of the page you want them to click on to

Then voila! You now have an advert that will appear in the Facebook newsfeed of potential clients who fit your 8 Point Facelift profile in your local area. And hopefully that will start generating traffic to your website! Easy as that!

Important

With Facebook there are a few things to be careful of. If you are posting Facebook adverts, they will decline your ad if you can see the injection in the picture. Also be careful when advertising the word Botox. As it is a POM you can get reported for discounting and advertising Botox treatments. So just be vigilant.

We hope if you’re considering setting up a Facebook Business Page this has offered you some insight into how it can benefit your aesthetic clinic and some tips on how to maximise these benefits. If you have any questions on setting up your page or any other elements of marketing your practice please don’t hesitate to contact us.

P.S If you’d like updates on what we’re up to here at Cosmetic Courses you can like our Facebook Page here!

 

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What Business Insurance do I need?

The Importance of Business Insurance

Regardless of the size and industry type, all businesses will deal with risk on a daily basis. Business insurance is there to help you manage these risks and keep the costs of any unexpected risk or accidents to a minimum. Examples include theft, fire, accidental damage and equipment breakdown to name a few. Those that choose not to take out business insurance risk losing their business should the worst happen.

Business insurance is made up of a group of insurance coverages that are in place to protect the business against work related risks and lawsuits. Within the Aesthetic Industry, the following insurances need to be considered:

– Public Liability Insurance

– Employers Liability Insurance

– Professional Indemnity Insurance

– Medical Malpractice Insurance

Public Liability Insurance:

As a business owner, you can be liable for all kinds of accidents to either the property or a member of the public. Public Liability Insurance is there to protect your business against any costs of defending or settling claims for property damage of bodily injuries to a member of the public, including trips, falls and slips. This type of insurance is for businesses who have customers visit their premises or if they visit customers in their own homes and for those that employ members of staff.

Employers Liability Insurance

Your employees are one of your greatest investments, and as an employer you have an obligation to provide safe working conditions for them to work in. Employers Liability Insurance is there to protect your business against any employee claim, whether that is a bodily injury or Illness caused by the work your employees do for you.

Who needs Employers Liability Insurance?

In order to safeguard all employees in the UK, it’s a legal requirement* for most businesses with employees to have at least £5 million of cover in place. If you’re self-employed, liability insurance will also, in most cases, be a legal requirement if you employ one or more people.

Professional Indemnity Insurance

Also know and ‘PI’ insurance, this can help to protect your business if there is a claim made against the work that you have done for a client. PI will offer you cover if you need to pay compensation to correct a mistake, and cover your legal costs if you are settling a claim including; negligence, infringement of property rights and breach of confidence.

Medical Malpractice Insurance

This Insurance is designed for anyone working within the healthcare industry, and provides public liability and professional indemnity cover to safeguard claims of negligence and medical malpractice.  This cover will cover you for legal costs of defending action as well as bodily and mental injury and illness cover.

Insurance Providers

Here at Cosmetic Courses, we work with a number of insurance companies who will be more than happy for you to contact them if you’re looking at, or have decided to have a career within the aesthetic industry.  The medical professionals that we train will already be aware of the necessary insurances that will be needed to ensure they are covered, but will incur extra charges when mentioning that they wish to start in the aesthetic industry. Here is a little more information on the insurances companies that will be more than happy to discuss your needs:

HPPB: cosmetic courses hppb logo

Cosmetic Courses are proud to partner with Healthcare Professional Protect (HPPB) to offer our delegates comprehensive packages of support and insurance for aesthetic treatments. Giving you protection and support at a fixed price. 

Once you have completed your training it is time to obtain your insurance. HPPB have teamed up with an underwriter at Lloyds of London to offer competitive fixed price insurance based on the treatments you perform. You can apply through their online application process by clicking here. 

As a member of the Healthcare Professional Protection family you will have access to 24/7 advice and support from peers and their specialist claims handlers with decades of experience in protecting healthcare professionals.

HPPB are specialists in supporting practitioners through every sort of complaint or claim if things go wrong.

They believe that you should not be harried by complaints of dissatisfaction which are more related to a desire to reduce costs. HPPB care about all aspect of the cost of complaints and claims.

Website: www.hppb.co.uk/healthcare-professional-protection

If you would like to find out more about how you can get in contact with any of the above insurance companies, or you would like to discuss anything mentioned with any of our team, please call 01844 390110 or email [email protected]

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