How do I Start An Aesthetics Business?
The medical aesthetics market was estimated to be worth around £3bn in 2021 and has grown by around 8% a year. By 2026, it is estimated to be a £5.4 billion market. The increasing acceptance of aesthetic treatments, their relative affordability and the growth of social media, camera phones and video calls have all contributed to the growth of the industry.
This helps make aesthetics an interesting avenue for many entrepreneurial healthcare practitioners who are wanting autonomy and a diversified career.
But how do you get going? What are the pitfalls you need to watch out for?
10 Steps to Getting Started in Aesthetics
1. Research and Planning
We know that the UK market is buoyant, with plenty of anticipated growth, but your location, demographic and offering needs to be carefully researched, to ensure you know what you’re getting in to.
Market Analysis - think about the area/region you’re likely to base yourself in.
Look up local demographic information. You can use a consumer classification tool like https://acorn.caci.co.uk/ - this will give you a greater insight into your specific local area, summarising economic, demographic and lifestyle characteristics of your potential clients.
Research your competition. Local medics, non-medics. Mobile, salon-based, home-based, clinic-based. Premium, middle-of-the-road, budget. New practitioners. Established businesses.
Location - using what you’ve gained from market analysis, thing about where you’re going to base yourself. Consider accessibility, your target market and your budget.
Regulations - whilst there are currently no regulations in the UK, as a healthcare professional, you’re accountable to your Statutory Regulatory Body. Ensure that you are familiar with their stance on aesthetic treatments.
Services - Decide on the treatments you would like to offer. Consider that over 80% of all aesthetic treatments administered in the UK are injectables, this is a good place to start.
2. Qualifications, Training & Prescribing
It’s important that you choose where you train very carefully. Training courses are not cheap - so ensure that you don’t have to spend good money after bad.
Be mindful that there are NO mandatory standards of training and education in aesthetics - PLEASE do your research before parting with your cash.
It’s a good idea to choose a training provider that has been recommended to you by others. Research them fully. Understand what’s being offered on the course and ask to speak to previous delegates. Ask about ongoing support and access to online training materials.
You should also consider specific complications training.
If you’re not a prescriber, you will need to find a prescriber to work alongside for toxin (and ideally fillers too…for any potential dissolving requirements).
3. Business Setup
Legal Structure - choose a suitable legal structure for your business - sole trader or limited company
As a sole trader you are the business. Although it’s best to have a separate business bank account, as a sole trader you’re entirely responsible for your business.
Limited companies are a separate entity. You are a director, shareholder and employee of the business, but the business is not you. Any assets and debts belong to the company. The business cannot simply be stopped when you choose - it must be formally wound up or struck off by Companies House.
Many practitioners begin as sole traders, whilst they decide whether owning and running an aesthetics business is right for them.
Business Name & Registration
Choose a suitable business name.
Register your business with HMRC (and Companies House if you’ve set up a Limited Company).
Buy any relevant web domains.
Set up relevant social media accounts.
Set up a business email accounts.
Insurance
The types of insurance cover you will need depends on your business:
Medical malpractice protection – as you can potentially harm another person administering aesthetic treatments, you will be required to have adequate and appropriate medical malpractice insurance in place.
Public liability insurance – for your own premises and if you're working in other locations.
Employers' liability insurance – if you're employing staff.
4. Premises, Equipment & Products
You will need to decide on where you will administer treatments from.
Various options exist, from visiting clients in their homes to renting/buying your own clinic space. Whichever you choose, your space needs to be accessible, clean, clinical and welcoming.
Most practitioners don’t buy expensive equipment in the first year or so, instead, they focus on injectables, skincare and skin treatments. These have a relatively low capital outlay, as you’re paying for product and consumable, rather than financing equipment.
If you’re in Scotland, you will need to be HIS registered to administer aesthetic treatments. In England and Wales, there are a few treatments which require registration with CQC/HIW - make sure you’ve checked whether your premises need to be registered.
Set up accounts with a variety of aesthetic pharmacies - this allows you to shop around for your products and consumables.
Set up sharps and waste collection.
Reach out to local product and skincare reps.
5. Branding & Marketing
Very early in your business journey, like at the VERY start, you need to decide on your branding and positioning. This will influence EVERYTHING in your business.
Now you’ve decided who you’re competing with and who your ideal clients are, you need to decide how you will stand out from your competitors and appeal to your ideal clients.
Your brand is not your logo! It has three elements: how it feels, how it sounds and how it looks.
Feel - Spend time deciding on your purpose, vision and values
Sound - Think about how you’d like your brand to be described
Look - consider your logo, colours, typography and visual assets (look).
Combined, these should be cohesive, attractive and memorable. You should use them across all your channels and communications.
Once you have drilled down your branding, you can start to think about how you will market your business. This is an area of business ownership that the vast majority of practitioners find really hard.
Online Marketing
For this you will need a website and social media accounts (Instagram, Facebook, TikTok).
Content marketing - blogs, newsletters, podcasts, infographics and videos
SEM - Search engine marketing
SEO - Search Engine Optimisation
PPC - Pay Per Click marketing
Social media marketing - organic and paid
Influencer marketing
Email marketing
Text marketing
Affiliate marketing
Offline Marketing
These are more “traditional” marketing channels, but shouldn’t be overlooked.
TV
Newspaper/magazine
Radio
Outdoor
Promotional items
Flyers
Sponsorship
Direct mail
6. Pricing & Financials
A few things to note about pricing your services.
You need to price your services so you can make a profit
Pricing isn’t permanent
People aren’t as sensitive to pricing as you think
You probably have issues around asking for money
Setting your prices is HARD. Knowing when to increase your prices is HARD.
If you retail products, you buy them at a certain price, mark them up to factor in your profit margin, and that’s the price you charge. Easy.
Pricing aesthetic services isn’t quite as simple. So, how do you price your services?
There are 6 things to consider when setting your pricing
Your competition
Your value proposition
Your time
Your reputation
You should set up a spreadsheet which tracks your income, expenses, and financial goals and revisit this regularly.
Click here for 👉🏻 A Treatment Pricing Calculator 👈🏻
7. Admin
Setting up systems and processes from the start (when you have time) is far easier than setting these up when you realise you really need them because one more WhatsApp asking “Can you fit me in tomorrow?” will send you over the edge!
GlowdayPRO is an all-in-one platform for healthcare professionals offering aesthetic treatments, skin therapists offering skincare treatments & SPMU artists.
🗓️ Online booking & diary
💬 Text & email reminders
📑 Automated questionnaires & consent forms
🗂️ Secure patient records
✏️ Treatment mapping
📝 Automated pre- & post-treatment advice
📷 Before & afters
💳 Payments
8. Documentation & Consent
Your insurer will require that you keep thorough, contemporaneous aesthetic patient records securely for around 8 years.
Personal details
Medical history
Consultation notes
Treatment notes
Before and after photos
These all need to be collected, signed and saved for each treatment you administer. And you need to keep them for around 8 years. You should REALLY consider going digital from the start.
9. Patient Safety and Pre- and Post-Treatment Care
Patient safety will obviously be at the forefront of all you do.
Implement strict hygiene and safety protocols in your clinic to ensure patient well-being. Have detailed policy documents to refer to.
Provide clear, timely information to patients before and after their appointment to ensure optimal results and minimise complications and to ensure you’re covered from an insurance perspective. Ideally, this should be automated.
10. Continuing Education
What you learn in your foundation training courses will be a drop in the ocean compared to all you will need to learn to actually run and grow your aesthetics business. The learning curve is not only steep, but it is long!
You will have to continually attend training courses, have 1-2-1 mentoring, seminars and conferences to stay up-to-date with the clinical side of running your business.
But don’t lose focus on the fact that you have an aesthetics BUSINESS…sales, marketing, keeping an eye on costs, accounting and financial planning, retention, more marketing and more sales.
Click here for 👉🏻 10 FREE marketing courses 👈🏻
Starting and growing a successful aesthetics business requires a combination of clinical expertise, business acumen, and perseverance!
GlowdayPRO software is built to help you run, market and grow your aesthetics business. Find out more at pro.glowday.com