Genevieve Santos-Bann is one of my all-time favorite students - she’s determined, stubbornly optimistic, and super smart - and she’s had crazy success as a solo esthetician since she struck out on her own in 2021.

Genevieve is the owner of Gen Santos Beauty in Long Island, NYC. She grew her clientele from 10 steady clients to over 200 by running ads on Facebook and Instagram. Today we’re gonna dig into exactly how she did it - from how much money she started out with, to how she kept the momentum going over time. Over her 9 years of experience as an esthetician, she’s learned so much about how to run a wildly popular salon, and today we get to learn from her.

How to take steps toward running your own salon if you’re just starting out

Even Genevieve herself has a hard time believing how far she’s come from the beginning.

“It's just been a wild journey. If you told me in January 2021 that I would be starting my own spot I’d be like, no way, but luckily the stars aligned.”

“I saw an old college friend who owned a salon in Long Island…and when you know that you need to start something for yourself, it just keeps nagging at you. And…she luckily was looking for somebody to occupy a room in her salon.”

Genevieve had dreams of running her own skincare salon but felt she needed to build up her clientele slowly without the added pressure of ownership, so she started small.

“So I said [to my friend], ‘I'm not ready to commit to a room yet, but can I do popup facials so that I could see what the demand is for my services?’ And then I had that flexibility. I paid her a percentage. And then from those two months of doing popup facials, I was able to start and run my own spa officially and move into the space.”

Genevieve had worked as an employee for others (at places like Ulta and Hand & Stone) and her clients liked her so much that she followed her when she moved to a new location.

And when she was ready to make the big move to her own salon, she let those loyal clients know it was time to move again.

“When I told them, ‘Hey, cut your membership, I’m gonna start my own spa’, they followed me there.”

Genevieve, who is also an esthetics educator, says that she often tells her students not to depend on previous clients to move with them when they move on. It’s good to mention that you’re making a move but it doesn’t always work out for clients to make the journey with you.

“I tell my students, ‘If you're going to move from a place of employment into your own spot, do not assume that your clients will follow you.’ And you know, [you] don't want the karma to spread to you either [of ‘stealing’ clients]. But I didn't feel guilty because Ulta had stopped doing facials, so I had no problem.”

So how can you foster relationships you’ve built with clients if you have to move on, but can’t straight up ask them to move with you?

“I stayed in touch with a lot of my clients through Instagram. I text some of them. I was in touch with them through text message [too.]”

Genevieve’s new popup facial studio was in Long Island, a 25-minute commute from her previous booth. But thanks to the reputation she’d built with her clients, a handful followed her and made the commute.

“It was about 10 to 20 people that I stayed in touch with - maybe 10 ended up following me.”

After two months of renting a room from her friend in Long Island, she was able to save up enough money to buy a few machines of her own. She also invested in a few small product lines, got a really good handle on her finances, and set her sights on moving to her own location.

Standing out as a solo esthetician in a new location: niching down

The biggest fear that most solo beautypreneurs face when they strike out on their own is how to market themselves as unique and worth investing in - especially if you’re starting out in a new city and don’t have a reputation to rely on.

And Genevieve knew she needed to grow her clientele base in order to thrive as a solo esthetician - so she did what I often recommend my students to do: she niched down to become an expert at just one service.

“I just really wanted to keep my focus on facials. I didn't really have the room for doing Brazilians or other services.”

At the same time, Genevieve’s focus is in the right place - providing the best service she can without stressing about the competition too much.

“I'm not too concerned about what outside people are doing. I just try to focus on how can I make my facial experiences better each time for my clients.”

Since Genevieve decided to focus on providing top-notch facials for her clients, sending a clear message about what she could offer was easier - she just needed to figure out the best way to get the message out there.

Using Facebook and Instagram ads to grow your clientele as an esthetician

I’ve used Facebook and Instagram ads to grow Sunnystorm Marketing to a 6+ figure business. I’ve advertised my courses, speaking engagements, collaborations with other beauty professionals and marketers, and my webinars over the years.

Genevieve was searching for an effective way to grow her salon in a new location when she saw a Facebook ad for a webinar I was running.

Unironically, the topic was how to use Facebook and Instagram ads to grow your beauty business.

“I came across one of your Facebook ads and I was just like, ‘Right, let me sign up for this webinar.’ I'm a webinar junkie and personal development junkie and I've signed up for so many online courses, but this one, I told myself, has to work because I have a business on the line here.”

“What I liked about your webinar was that you took outside ads that didn't really work and then you just gave feedback on [what did and didn’t work] in the ad. I get so many ads for advertising for aestheticians and hair stylists and makeup artists and it's so true [what you said]. I [would think], ‘Yeah, I don't feel compelled to sign up for this ad. So I felt like what you were offering was different.”

Genevieve was at a point in time when in-person marketing wasn’t the best option - at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic when lockdowns were the norm. She knew she needed a way to get her salon in front of a lot of people in order to increase bookings, but it wouldn’t be as easy as going to a marketing event or handing out flyers.

So when she heard about The Ad Lab through my webinar, she was ready to take a chance on it.

“I needed to do something different. And I had just gotten started with my booking platform, which offered email and text marketing. I used Gloss Genius. My clients were coming in once a month and the moment that [they’d] say, ‘I'm gonna skip this month’, I’d think, ‘No! Come back to me.’”

The Ad Lab teaches estheticians, nail artists, hairstylists, waxers, spray tanners, and other beauty professionals how to run irresistible online ads that bring them the bookings of their ideal clients through specific messaging and images.

“What I liked about your course was that it was in bite-size chunks. I didn't have to watch an hour webinar. I was able to watch it in less than 10 minutes. And then the implementation - that's the key. You have to take the time out to watch it, but then it's so short that you go straight into implementation.”

Genevieve stuck by the book and followed all of the instructions in The Ad Lab to create an irresistible facial package and ad, and was stunned by the results.

“The total revenue generated was over $3,000, and the campaign was for two months - November into December.”

Genevieve followed the advice I give all my students for creating a great service package for first-time clients: a primary service that’s popular and in your niche, a few small bonus services or treatments to go along with it, and an introductory price that’s both a steal BUT doesn’t discount your services.

She filmed a video on her iPhone introducing herself and her salon and a clip of her performing a facial.

“I loved the tip you gave about being extra bubbly on camera,” she mentioned, about the tip I give students to be as warm, inviting, and friendly as possible during their ad videos.

Genevieve received 25 bookings from her ad and said that she often got compliments on the video she filmed for it.

Her success with her ad made her feel confident that she’d be able to keep up the momentum into the new year.

“Going into January, I just felt like, ‘Oh my god, this feels really good.’ There was one month where 90% of my new clients that month were from my Facebook ad.”

In 2022, Genevieve has continued running ads on Facebook and Instagram for between $50-300/month and typically brings in 5-10x that amount in revenue.

And once a new client hits her chair, she’s developed a solid plan for getting them back in again and again: creating a maintenance plan with each client before they leave the salon.

“It's called a skin fitness plan. I printed it out on card stock. Basically, it goes over their skin analysis results, product recommendations and treatment recommendations. And I felt so naked when I didn't have this with one of my clients. [I’ll say], ‘I have a skin fitness plan for you. These are your recommendations for products. And I would recommend coming back within four to five weeks for this type of facial. I actually have this open at this time. When would you like to come in then?”

Ultimately, Genevieve has learned the most important lesson for any business in any sector: always be providing extra value to your clients, and they’ll keep coming back.

“They shouldn't be just there for that one facial and that's it. You want to give them an experience that they felt taken care of by the end of the treatment.”

But she’s also become a huge fan of Facebook ads and plans to use them far into the future - and teaches her own students to do the same.

“If you're concerned about growth, especially when you're starting out, it's worth doing the Facebook ads. [Now] I don't have to dance online to get people to come see me. And to be honest, when I look back up my sources, none of my new clients came from just posting on Instagram. [They] came because I did the advertising.”

Wanna find out how Facebook and Instagram ads can bring happy, glowing new faces to your salon or spa? Take my free class right now: How To Build A Full Appointment Book Using Facebook and Instagram Ads.