JoElle Lee Inspires Attendees to Stand Up and Stand Out

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The second day of Face & Body Midwest 2017 started off with a rousing keynote speech from celebrity esthetician JoElle Lee. Her hour-long discussion focused on “5 Tools Every Esthetician Must Have to Be Successful,” which opened to a standing ovation from the crowd. 

Lee received laughs, applause and tears as the audience listened to her story and her keys to success. 

"If you find a niche that you are passionate about, love and serve, it will serve you right back and give you long-term dividends.” JoElle Lee

“I’ve been an esthetician now almost over 20 years, and I can honestly say that the No. 1 question I’m usually asked by estheticians is how I’ve been doing this for so long without stopping all this time,” she said. “One thing I told each and every one of them is finding a niche is a must at how to gain long-term success in this industry. If you find a niche that you are passionate about, love and serve, it will serve you right back and give you long-term dividends.” 

Life Gives You Welcomed Sidetracks

Lee also attributed her 20 years in the industry to perseverance. Two years ago, Lee was in the midst of speaking engagements and promoting her product line, JoElle SkinCare Products, when she was sidetracked by a welcome distraction—she was pregnant with a son after being told by doctors she could never have children. 

“As thankful as I was that he was even here, that showed up in my life and my priorities changed,” she said. “That’s when I knew I had to change my course; I had to make an adjustment. I said now it’s time to get back out there, and Face & Body called.”

Think F.A.C.E.S.

Lee created a five-step approach to success: Find a niche, Action, Commitment, Educate, Stand out (FACES). 

“Commitment is the main ingredient in the recipe for long-term success,” Lee said. “You’re going to need creativity, tenacity, perseverance, stamina, endurance and therapy! Things are going to happen on the journey. You’re going to have obstacles along the way.”

“You’re going to need creativity, tenacity, perseverance, stamina, endurance and therapy!"  JoElle Lee

Creating a niche can be as simple as pinpointing what your competitors lack. Or, create a niche-within-a-niche by not just developing a great facial but by creating a signature acne facial or anti-aging facial that your clients want. 

“You can take that niche, do some market research before you invest in the training, before you invest in all the money it will take to have it up and running and find out if there’s a demand for it with your clientele,” she said. “You can do informal marketing, you don’t have to have some big market research company come in. Poll on Facebook or start asking your followers on Twitter.”

Find Your Groove

Lee warned of falling trap to the “esthetician life expectancy:” getting frustrated and returning to a former job before finding their groove in skin care. 

“All you have to do is that one more thing and you’re going to reap the rewards but you turn around,” she said. “It’s getting over that moment—that’s when you’re going to get it. Stay the course; stay committed.” 

Education can be a major component to staying up to date on the latest in the industry. Lee recommends taking a hard look at where your time is going. If one hour a day is spent on Facebook, you can easily spend 10 minutes to create a list of three tangible goals for the month. 

“Everybody on earth has a face! There is enough for all of us” said Lee. “I tell people all the time, you could be in the back of McDonald’s in the stall, but if you were good, there would be a line out the door.” 

Lee emphasized the need to stand out by finding what the clientele is missing and filling that gap. Be the person everyone names as the go-to for a particular service. 

“When I got to Maryland, in two years I was in every magazine as ‘The Best Facial in Maryland,’” she said. “I came there with one client. How did I do it? I stood out.”

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