The VIP Suite at IMAGE Studios with Matthew Landis

Esther Oh, aka The Korean Esthetician, is on a Mission to Revive Skin and Restore Lives

• IMAGE Studios • Season 1 • Episode 3

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Esther Oh (aka The Korean Esthetician) is on a mission to revive skin and restore lives at Skin Revival Studio. As someone who has struggled with acne and various skin issues into adulthood, treating and healing skin has been a long standing passion of her. She specializes in acne treatment, age management, and crafting relaxing treatments while delivering results. Outside Skin Revival Studio, you can find her diving into her creative endeavors, including music, sewing, and painting, or cuddling with her goldendoodle, Teddy. 


Matthew Landis:

Welcome to the VIP suite. The podcast exclusively designed for independent beauty, health and wellness professionals. Brought to you by image studios the luxury leader in the Salon Suite industry. I'm your host industry expert and certified business coach Matthew Landis. Each episode will bring you insightful interviews with solo entrepreneurs who forge their own path to greatness. From sharing inspiring stories of triumph to practical tips and strategies for growing your client base. Building your brand. This is the place to thrive and take your business to the next level. I am sitting here with Esther Oh, the Korean esthetician from Image studios in Richardson, Texas, Esther, thank you for joining me today. Thank you so much for having me, Matthew, I'm really excited for this conversation. I know you're you're fairly new to the business, but you are already killing it. Your name was submitted by our image owners. They're in Richardson, Lonnie, and Tiffany McGowan who we absolutely love. So the first thing that I want to know is our podcast is for independent, beauty, health and wellness professionals. What made you want to go independent? This is big, a big question.

Esther Oh:

And we actually kind of have to go back to my previous job. Before I ever went into aesthetics, I was actually a worship and creative director at a church for about five years. So I did a complete one ad in terms of career path. But essentially, I was in a position where I was managing teams, managing projects, annual events, and a lot of other, you know, moving parts. But I came to the realization that I was actually in a toxic work environment with some broken leadership. I mean, it's kind of everywhere, right? You know, no matter what space you're in, you can kind of find that, but I've always been a person who has prioritize and valued healthy leadership, healthy systems, healthy teams. And when I saw this disconnect between my value, this value of mine and what I was in, I was kind of like none of though I can't be a part of this anymore. And if there's a way I was thinking to myself, if there's a way that I can create something healthy, for others to come and be a part of it join in on, I would love to be able to do that. And so even before going into settings go and finding my school, I knew that I was going to be slow, because I didn't want to go back into a different potentially toxic work environment, I had to do a lot of work processing through some of the stuff that had happened. And so I was like, we're just going to start with a clean slate start fresh and yeah, that was kind of the reason why

Matthew Landis:

be independent. You know, I think for a lot of us we've been in those environments before they can definitely push us to choose creativity freedom and success. Those are our values at image studios. And I think the word freedom is a really is a big one and and also living up to your it sounds like living up to your values and integrity. Yes, absolutely. And even finding image studios Richardson meeting up with Lonnie and getting the tour. There's just something you could just feel just a sense of like goodness in the space. Not to mention Lonnie is also a great person and it just felt like the right fit for me. When I found image. Lonnie and Tiffany are just incredible, amazing people. So we're so lucky to have them as part of the image studios collective. Um, tell me a little bit more about your business. So I am primarily focused on skincare and skin health, I offer traditional facials we're doing microdermabrasion I offer some age management treatments or firming peptide treatment. And then I also am focusing on acne as well. I am a certified acne specialist with based reality skincare. And it was really important for me to focus on acne because growing up it was a huge sore spot pain spot, if you will for me and so knowing how much acne influence my emotions and my mental state, I was like I've got to I've got to be a part of the solution for people and for me skincare is health care is what I like to say because our skin is the largest organ in our body or of our body. And so when we're treating it and managing it, we're actually doing a lot more than just physical care to I just love skin.

Esther Oh:

I love skin but also for me creating a space, a safe space for people to come and just be there's that aspect of self care when it comes to receiving skin treatments. But there's also an element of vulnerability. Because there's, I mean, you're just letting someone touch your face for an hour. And so for me, I love marrying the guests, we're treating the physical aspects of skin. But I'm also going to look at things holistically. And we're going to, we're going to talk about lifestyle factors. But I also want to care for you and your heart and your mind, in this face. And so it's a long winded answer for your question. But primarily, I am focusing on skin right now,

Matthew Landis:

I love the holistic approach. I'm a hairdresser by trade, and I know dealing with how people look puts them in a very vulnerable position. And there's, it's very difficult to hide your face. And who wants to, we want to put our best face forward. And with hair, it's, you know, we're framing the face. So it's all about that. And it's interesting, when I got started doing hair, I dealt with a lot of the same issues with people that would come in and people that I thought were so confident, and cool. And then when they had to talk about how they looked, it really got into like how they felt about themselves. And you get to see that vulnerability that people have. And it's a really important and special thing that we do creating a safe space for people to feel that way. And what an honor, and what a gift to help them see themselves differently to kind of do what we can and put them back out into the world feeling a little bit better.

Esther Oh:

Yeah, absolutely. I think it's such a gift that we are able to provide that for others, not to mention, clients are coming to receive services from us, and we create the space of safety. But also I love the other aspect of empowering my clients with tools with solutions to their skin problems. I've been in business for like about nine months now. And seeing my clients because in the skin, we're all there's the 8020 rule of 80% of it happens every 80% of your skin health and progress happens at home. 20% of it happens and within Studio treatments. But when I see my clients taking in my recommendation, using the products at home consistently, and seeing the transformation that they're experiencing, it's it's so cool, because they've gone from a place of confusion, not knowing what to do, you know, being at a total loss when it comes to their skin health. But now finding they're becoming more competent, not because not only because their skin is being transformed, but just even the act of like I've heard clients say, I did my routine, I was so consistent, you know, and seeing the joy emanating from them, as they're saying that it's just so cool. It's so cool to provide the service and the help, but then empowering them to also do some of the work at home. What a wonderful thing. That's interesting. I get so much out of it. I feel empowered by by doing this for people. Now, you said you've only been in business for nine months. Is that what you said? Yes. And you told me before we got on this call that you're already 70%, but roughly 70%. And you're thinking about hiring somebody else.

Matthew Landis:

So I and I asked this of everybody, but this is the best time to ask it. What is your superpower?

Esther Oh:

Secret sauce? That's a great question. I think for me, it's my drive for excellence. Like when I put my brain to a thought, like I'm going to build a skincare studio. I'm going to do it. But I'm going to think through all the little steps, all the little details and you know, even crafting the experience that my clients are going to have when they come in, I just I care so much about not just the details, but the client experience as well. I think coupled with my drive for excellence, I am also very empathetic, like I have a lot of empathy for people. And so for me in my business, the first time visit with any one of my clients is a consultation. And we have a lengthy discussion about their goals, their needs, and I'm very thorough. And so in those conversations, I'm hearing from them the details of their life. But I'm also able to go dig a little bit deeper like okay, you're experiencing acne, how is that? How has that been for you? It helps me to really connect with my clients. I really value my relationships with my clients too. And so I think just the to my drive for excellence I will not stop until things are the way that I want them to be. But also my care for people, I think most people don't often get the opportunity to be heard. And what I heard from you is that you listen and that you care for me. Like I've had a lot of doctors and other health care professionals and things. And the ones that I go back to are the ones who I feel like we're listening. And that's what it seems like for you, you genuinely care about them. And you want to know what's going on that curiosity? Yes. I never even thought of it in that way. But yeah, I mean, I would agree. I've had also similar experiences where I've seen health professionals or just professionals in general, and when I'm not feeling like I'm being heard, or what I'm saying, is it being valued? I don't want to be there anymore.

Matthew Landis:

Where's the door? Yeah, exactly. Get me out of here. You've built up a pretty good clientele. And in a short amount of time, can you tell me? How have you done it,

Esther Oh:

I'm currently only working in the studio three days a week. Now, that's very deliberate on my part, because I like my weekends. But also the other two days, my mind isn't Tuesdays, they are primarily for admin, any client communication, I do the bulk of my client communication, then and content creation, all those days are really, really important to me, and very intentional, intentionally focused. And I would say, for me, with my previous job, I was managing our communications department, building it up. And I've had some experience with social media in the past. And so I knew before going into school, once I start posting, I have to be consistent with my content. For me, I started in school, I said, Okay, I'm gonna post three days a week, these are my days, these are the times that I'm going to post. And these are this, these are the different types of content I want to create. I'm just going to start now, you know, and so I would post things like facials that I was learning, I would, once I was in the treatment room, I would get consent from my clients that were coming to see me and, you know, getting content there. And so I just started very early. And I also because I know social media is constantly changing. I also was doing my research and my education, and that as well, always trying to figure out, Okay, what's the algorithm doing now, you know, what's really working for me, and my page, I think, even with social media, the hashtags, just getting very specific, the hashtags that I was using was pretty key. I have one client, who, while I was still in school, and she was still living in Arizona, had found me and my page, and she hadn't seen an esthetician for about 10 years where she was at, she knew she was moving to Dallas and wanted to find somebody that was going to be a good fit for her. And she found me online before I ever got into my business. And so I think if you're really intentional, and when I say intentional, I'm not saying it's feasible for everyone to create content for three days a week, I'm not even doing that anymore. I'm really like leaning one to two at this point. It's a lot of work. But that consistency, and just showing up online has just been really helpful for me and starting early.

Matthew Landis:

That's fantastic. You know, in our image pro marketing course, we teach how to really plan and find your ideal client really knowing where to put your energy. And you know, one of the questions that I often get from esthetician specifically and people where privacy is concerned, what kind of content do you create? Or or what would you recommend for people where that is a concern? What kind of content advice would you give?

Esther Oh:

Yeah, concerning privacy with clients? Is that right? Yeah, you know, with hairdressing, for example. It's very easy, because it's visual, and you can show it off. And a lot of times with skincare and some of our other services that are provided at image studios. It's a little more difficult to show, what kind of content do you provide? You've built an incredible online presence, by the way her Instagram handle is at the Korean esthetician, so check it out. But yeah, what advice would you give? Yeah, thank you. I create different types of content. I do a good amount of education around skin skincare products. I also do some shots from like the different treatments that I do. Now before I ever film a client. Again, going back to that initial first time client consultation and treatment that I do I have everyone fill out a client intake form and then the intake form. I asked my clients two questions concerning footage. I asked them Are you okay with me taking photos for client history, and then I also have another question. Are you okay with me taking photos or video for social media slash marketing? Depending on that answer that will give me the green light or not? Which is totally fine. Yeah, the red light. And even when my clients say yes to the social media, question in person before treatment, I will always check in with them. Because you know, people can change their mind from the day that they filled out the intake. So I always like a verbal confirmation for that. And I also in my list of answers, they can either choose Yes, yes, with ice covered or no. And so in the instances where my clients want their ice covered, I'll use goggles, or I'll use, you know, if I'm posting something on my feed, I will do like a bar over their eyes in Canva, or something, or I'll use little stickers or something in my stories. But I always get consent before ever posting a photo of a client. Always, always, always.

Matthew Landis:

That's fantastic. And I love the way you said about education. I was speaking with an esthetician recently who had those concerns with some of her clients, but and she offered a lot of our pros that image studios offer extremely specialized services. And so part of it is educating the public about what they're doing and what it is. And I said, Well, what do you think's holding you back? And she said, you know, people are afraid of A, B, C, D, and E. And I said, Well, there's your content right there.

Esther Oh:

Yeah, let's let's address face to face, you don't even need a client and the picture, right, you can do a video or something else. And address, you've got five different topics for content that is so smart, I love that you're out the pain points, you can even like if you didn't want to show your clients face or if the clients are not wanting that, then you can always get a treatment on yourself and film that. And then you know, I'm just thinking of like a real, you can add like, this is what this step is great for, you know, I've done it. And even with the education piece with social media, we've seen this all over tick tock, Instagram, just a lot of influencers, sharing about what's worked for their skin, but it's what's worked for them. And there's also so much that goes into influencer, world and marketing and everything. But as licensed estheticians and professionals, we've done the research, we've done the work, we're constantly engaging in education. And so I think it's a great service that we can provide our clients, whether they're current clients, or even future clients, to say, hey, here's some free education online to just further help them along on their journeys, you know, whether it's hair, whether it's skin, whether it's wellness. And I do feel like not only does that bring value to the clients, or to the people that are seeing your content, but it's also building up your credibility as well. You know, I think part of what I've discovered is part of the whole point of social media marketing for professionals like us, is to show our work, but also to be recognized as an expert in our field. And I think that's important.

Matthew Landis:

You know, you're a marketing genius. So thank you for thank you for those words of advice. So a couple other things, two more questions before we go. And the first is what brings you joy and happiness in your life.

Esther Oh:

For me, I'm a big quality time person spending quality time with my husband, we do weekly date nights, our dog Teddy, who's a four year old golden doodle, I love him, he brings me so much joy. And I'm also I'm a very creative person. And so I love just doing things with my hands making stuff. I've done music pretty much all my life singing and playing various instruments. A new hobby that I picked up is sewing. So sewing my own clothes has always been a dream of mine. So I'm embarking on that. Anything creative. I have all four. I'm a huge musical theater person. I love musical theater, too. I love it. I love it so much. It brings me so much joy. And so those are just some of the little things that bring me joy right now.

Matthew Landis:

I love that I saw a tail go by so that was that was it. That was Teddy. That's right. All right. Well, one last question before I let you go and that is what does the future look like for Esther.

Esther Oh:

I am very interested in possibly hiring another part time esthetician we would be sharing my space and I want to be able to open up more opportunities for other clients to come in and start their skin health journeys with me or with us at skin arrival studio. I think that that's the next step and it it goes back to that initial inspiration, you know, part of it, you know, wanting to create a healthy work environment for others, I just really want to not only be able to create a healthy workspace for another individual, but really help to empower them starting solo. And being a solo esthetician isn't easy. Being at image Studios has been amazing because I've been surrounded by other beauty professionals that I've been able to connect with. But I've heard from a lot of people, you know, when they go solo, it's hard to connect with other esthetician and I would love to be able to provide a space where I'm able to empower and to teach and to help strengthen another esthetician and let them be come their fullest potential. Maybe we'll have a few more after that, who knows, you know? Who knows and, you know, continue creating a beautiful client experience for each and every one of my clients and provide solutions for them. That's that's kind of what we're looking at for the near future.

Matthew Landis:

I cannot wait to see what you do. And I can't wait to continue this conversation. Thank you so much.

Esther Oh:

Absolutely. Thank you so, so much for having me on that the it has been an absolute pleasure, joy and honor. Thank you.

Matthew Landis:

Thank you so much for joining me for this episode of The VIP suite. I'm Matthew Landis and I hope you found the insights and inspirations share today truly valuable for your journey as a solo entrepreneur, and independent beauty, health or wellness professionals. Don't forget to follow us on Instagram at image Studios 360 And if you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe to the VIP suite on your favorite podcast platform so you never miss an opportunity to connect with our vibrant community and to discover more incredible stories and strategies. We love hearing from our listeners. So if you have any questions, topic suggestions or want to share your own success story, feel free to reach out to me at Matthew at image studios three sixty.com Remember dear listener, you are the heartbeat of the beauty, health and wellness industry. Your dedication and passion make the world a better place one client at a time keep shining, keep growing and keep making a positive impact. We'll be back with more engaging conversations and valuable content in our next episode. Until then take care stay inspired and continue to create your own VIP suite. For more information about becoming a part of the image studios luxury Salon Suite community, visit our website at image studios three sixty.com