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| Photo courtesy: Theresa McDonald |
It didn’t
take Miracle Workman long to realize that college wasn’t for her.
By the end
of her first semester at Mat-Su College, a small school in Palmer, Alaska,
Workman decided she couldn’t stomach the time, or loans, it would take to get
her associate’s degree.
So, in
December 2013, as Workman, then 18, waited for a sign from the universe to help
her choose a career, she returned to her high school job as a hostess at a
pizzeria in her hometown of Wasilla.
Inspiration
struck just a few months later in an unlikely place: a plastic surgeon’s office
3,000 miles from home. Workman and her now-husband, Tim Workman, were visiting
his mom in Scottsdale, Arizona and his mom surprised him with a laser treatment
to help with his acne.
“This
esthetician walked into the room, and she was so calm and confident explaining
the procedure, and then handling the equipment, I just remember thinking,
‘Whatever this is, I love it, I want to do this,’” Workman, now 28, tells CNBC Make It.
Fast-forward
almost a decade later, and Workman has spun her interest in skin care into a
six-figure career: She owns Studio Sol, a hair salon and esthetic studio in
Wasilla, and is on track to earn $180,000 this year from her work as an
esthetician. Here’s how she did it:
Becoming
an esthetician
As soon as
she returned home, Workman googled esthetician schools near Palmer and Wasilla.
The
requirements to become an esthetician are rigorous: In Alaska, you have to
complete at least 350 hours in a government-approved course of study and pass
two exams to obtain an esthetician license. Other states, like New York,
require upwards of 600 hours.
In March
2015, Workman started taking classes at the MetrOasis Training Center in Anchorage,
about an hour’s drive from her apartment. For 10 weeks, she went to classes
Monday through Friday and worked weekends at the pizzeria.
“It was
gritty, but I loved all of my classes, so it never felt like work,” she says.
Workman took
courses in makeup, hair removal, brow artistry, chemical peels and more. She
estimates that she spent about $7,000 on tuition, supplies, exams and license
fees.
Workman
graduated from esthetics school in May 2015. Though she eventually wanted to
establish her own esthetician business, she prioritized building her clientele
and experience first. She worked at a waxing salon, then a med spa — a hybrid
of the traditional day spa and a medical clinic — and in 2018 started a job at
a day spa.
Then, the
Covid-19 pandemic hit, and Alaska issued a statewide lockdown in March 2020.
Workman saw the pandemic as an interruption to her career at first, when the
day spa she worked at temporarily shut down, then decided it was another sign
from the universe — she could use her newfound free time to draft her business
plan.
Building
a six-figure business
Workman quit
her job at the day spa once they re-opened in May 2020 and rented the back room
of a hair salon in Wasilla for $500 per month.
“I wanted to
start working with clients right away, so I decided I was just going to hustle
and do whatever I needed to do to open shop,” she recalls. She got a business
credit card to help cover her startup costs, including a website domain, wax,
brushes and other supplies, which totaled about $10,000 — a bill Workman says
she was able to pay off within two months of opening.
At that
point, Instagram was her greatest marketing tool. “Many of my
clients follow my page and will message me directly for appointments, so as
soon as I opened my business, I shared daily behind-the-scenes photos and
videos of the space as well as the types of services I had, just to get on
people’s radars,” she says.
Some of
Workman’s most popular services are brow shaping, mild chemical peels and Hydrafacial, which
combines a hydradermabrasion treatment with an infusion of serums. Prices range
from $25 to $329, depending on how many products are used and how long the
treatment takes.
Within 12
months of opening, Workman earned a net profit of $115,000, according to tax
and financial documents reviewed by CNBC
Make It. Much of her clientele, she says, has come from repeat customers at
her old job, who will also recommend her to their friends. Other customers are
walk-ins or find Workman from her Instagram.
2022 was a
big year for Workman: In January, she bought the hair salon in the front of the
building, Studio Sol, and in August, she hired her first commission-only
employee, another esthetician. Two months later, she went on maternity leave —
she and Tim (who she married in 2019) welcomed their first daughter, Navy, in
November. She returned to work in January 2023.
‘Sometimes,
I only work 3 hours a day’
One of the
benefits of working as an esthetician, according to Workman, is the flexible
schedule. Even before she opened her own practice, she was able to work less
than 40 hours a week and adjust her hours around clients’ availabilities.
After
opening her business, Workman quickly realized that she could double her income
and reduce her workload by offering specialized skin-care services, like
lymphatic facials and scalp treatments. She takes hands-on training courses
from skin-care product representatives to learn how to perform these services,
like Hydrafacial’s Keravive scalp treatment.
“I typically
work 15-20 hours a week, but sometimes, I only work 3 hours a day,” she says.
“I have a lot of clients who will pop in during their lunch break, or have more
flexibility because they work from home on certain days, so I’ve been able to
preserve my weekends.”
“That’s the
beauty of working in this industry. I can make my job whatever it needs to be
to fit my lifestyle. It’s given me the freedom and flexibility to run my days
exactly how I envision them ... it’s been such a blessing.”
But the most
rewarding part of her job, Workman adds, is helping her clients feel more
confident and offering them a “safe space” to vent or relax.
“I get to be
a part of some of the most intimate times of people’s lives, which is such a
crazy, humbling feeling,” she says. “Having that kind of meaningful human
connection, while you’re at a fun job that you love, too, is hard to top.”
You
can read the original article in CNBC
Written by Morgan Smith