#15: Let's Get Business Savvy with Guest Claudia Aceves, Owner & Artist at Vanidosa Beauty Studios

You're providing a service just like you do in your business, just like we do in our business, where, you know what, I mean, when you get something, you got to pay for it.

A lot of times people think, hey, I'm going to go into opening my own business, I'm going to have more time, you know, on my hands. No, you work 24/7. Yeah, no more 14, 15-hour shifts. You're doing 24-hour shifts because it's another baby.

So I've made it my mission, in addition now to just being an artist, I've made it my mission to really teach, um, the truth behind permanent makeup.

We're Erika Radis and Marie Lifschultz, a San Antonio area realtor and lender, but most importantly, we're working moms.

The goal of this podcast is to provide support and a sense of community to San Antonio area working moms like us. So join us in trying to find a balance between career, family, and everything in between.

Welcome to this week's episode of the Working Moms of San Antonio podcast. We're here with Claudia and she's an artist at Van Diosa Beauty Studios and also the owner. So I'm going to turn it over to her and let her talk about her amazing business and all the cool stuff she does.

Okay, so hi everybody. My name is Claudia. As you heard, I'm the owner and artist of Van Diosa Beauty Studios and Van Diosa Beauty Salon. So at the salon we do strictly hair. I'm an esthetician, a licensed esthetician, and also a permanent makeup artist and an instructor. So we do hair in the salon area, and then in our beauty studio, we do lashes, we do, um, chemical peels, we do facials, um, and of course permanent makeup. So we have two separate locations. The second location, uh, we just had our grand opening for, uh, two weeks ago. I mean, all my days look the same now, but I'm pretty sure it was two weeks ago.

And if it is, that's so exciting.

Yeah, I'm super excited. We've only been here, um, couple of years, but San Antonio has been amazing to us, and it's been, it's been, I'm very grateful to be here.

Oh, I love to hear that. I love when people aren't from here, but they just like it here, you know. Um, and well, I've been here almost my whole life, and I like it here too.

So, right, this is a great place to be at. I love the heat. So, uh, usually when I go back home, because I'm from California, they'll say like, what about the heat? I'm like, what about the heat? It's amazing. Can it be 100 degrees every day, please?

Yeah. Yeah.

So Claudia, how did you get into the beauty industry?

So it wasn't— you know what, I didn't think I was going to be here. It kind of fell on my lap. I actually was originally a makeup artist. Wow. 13 years ago. My son's 12. So yeah, like, like 13. So 12 years ago or so. And then I opened up my first place just because, you know, as I started having children or had my first son, I kind of wanted to spend more time with him. And you know, for all of us working moms, it's kind of— we feel this need to be with our kids 24/7, but you still have to provide and you still need something for yourself, which is like a really hard place to be. So I kind of decided to open up my first location in California. And after that, it kind of snowballed into like, okay, what else is there? The beauty industry is huge. Huge, huge, huge. Most people, when they think about the beauty industry, they kind of just think hair or makeup, but it's aesthetics, it's permanent makeup, it's— now there's body contouring or whatever.

Contouring?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, so for your body?

Yes, yes.

They do like this. They have wood there, girl. They have all kinds of stuff.

Oh, I'm so like out of the beauty loop. I feel like, like I don't know any of that stuff.

Yes, I will find you.

Yeah.

So, you know, as I started getting a little bit more into the beauty industry, I saw that, okay, well, now I can do lash extensions and that's really going to keep me at home. I was doing makeup, but I was doing it on set. So when you're on set, your days, your full days are 12 hours and 12 hours, 14. It does not mean 12, you know, and your half days are not 5, they're 6 or 8 hours. Travel. Anyway, so I was away from my son so much, and I decided to open up the first one. And then I was like, what if I did makeup here? So then that went well. And then I said, what if I do lashes? So it kind of snowballed, I guess. Um, and I just, I love being around other, other women, and I love my clients, and I kind of, I kind of found a home there. Yeah, in the beauty industry. And so I just kept growing and kept growing. And, you know, like 12 years later, it's— I'm opening up Uh, this would be our 1, 2, 3, 4, so this would be actually our 5th location because we had 3 in California and now we're here and now we're opening up our 2nd one. So I've been doing this for a while and I feel, yeah, you know, and I feel honestly like after 12 years I'm, I'm barely understanding really what the industry is and really what it is to be a working mom and a business owner.

Yeah.

It's incredible. I mean, California and Texas, I mean, completely, you know, two different states and demographics, but I think it's amazing.

And you know what, Mary, it's so funny you touched on that. I think that was the hardest thing for me, understanding just because you do something well here doesn't mean everybody can do it well over here. So I had to find my target market again. I had to understand my marketing essentially all over again and meet all these new people with that look different. I mean, we're all, you know, it's all women, but in the beauty industry, it's, it's a trend. So whatever is trending here might not be trending over here, and whatever you do here might not work over here. So that, that was, um, it was scary in the beginning, a little scary, but I also kind of took it on as a challenge, and I was like, you know what, yeah, let's see if I can do it again completely from scratch. And I think I'm doing it.

I think you are. No, I think that's great. That's amazing. The entrepreneur spirit, because I mean, obviously you didn't bring for the most part clients with you to Texas. I mean, it's a, it's, you have to start from scratch and having it and being successful is great. And, um, a lot of times people think, hey, I'm going to go into opening my own business. I'm gonna have more time, you know, on my hands. No, you work 24/7.

Yeah.

No more 14, 15-hour shifts. You're doing 24-hour shifts. Yeah. It's, it's another baby.

Yeah, totally, totally. And, um, and so I, I, you know, I also, I also teach, and a lot of the women that come to me, they kind of do say like, I just want to spend my time with my kids. And I'm like, well, you may or may not be able to do that, you know. So now I'm finding it after so long. I'm a mom of 3 boys, so after 12 years, I'm barely finding my balance now where, you know, okay, so I decided I'm only going to work till 3 o'clock on Fridays. I'm going to take these 2 days and I'm going to go see my kids in karate and jiu-jitsu. And so it's a hard balance and I think I'm barely finding it now after 12 years.

Yeah, yeah, that is so hard. And but I really love the attitude, like the sort of like, you know what, I'm going to figure this out. Like, I'll work on this business and I'll find, you know, the clients and I'll do this.

I just—

that's very much my attitude as well. And so I relate to that where it's kind of like you'll often hear me say like, well, how difficult could it be, right? Like, I'll figure it out.

And it's like, it can't be that hard.

I can figure this out.

I mean, I do that kind of stuff in, in my personal life, you know, like I'll, I'll see, you know, something that needs like reupholstering or something and I'm like, I'll figure it out. I'll watch a video and I'll do it, you know, or whatever in my business. And so I just, I love just realizing and seeing other people realize that everything is kind of figureoutable. You know what I mean?

Like, you know, yeah, yeah.

Like, we're, we're going to get to it. I know. I'm sure it is. You know, that's not original.

I'm sure.

What is anymore?

You know?

Yeah. Yeah. So no, but I love that. I love that you came here to a new place and just kind of really did figure it out and you've had so much success so far. And so I really look forward to seeing what else you've got going on.

I think for, I think when you're starting a new business, kind of, it's kind of like you're saying, you know, you kind of do have to come in with some kind of attitude where like, I can do it, but also like, I don't know everything. And when you've been in the industry, any industry for so long, you kind of get to a point where you feel like you know a lot, but you still don't know everything. And it's really hard to open up yourself. So in California, you know, I was doing this. I've been doing this for 8 years, just the permanent makeup. So in California, I didn't really do too much marketing or too, too much of anything because I already had a bunch of clientele. So, um, when I got here, I, I really told myself, okay, this is brand new. You don't— you know some, but you don't know everything. So I really opened up my mind. And honestly, like, every, every time that I open or I have to rebrand or, uh, rethink anything in the business, it's, it's challenging. But at the same time, like, okay, you have to put that ego away and you have to say, okay, I don't know everything. Let me— it's very figureoutable.

Yeah.

Yes.

We start all over, you know?

Yeah. Yeah, definitely. I love it. So how long have you actually— I know that you've been a business owner for about 13 years. You started opening your business in California, but how long have you been doing like the— was the permanent makeup just clientele you had, like you've been doing that prior to that since you— I mean, I know you didn't know your shop, but were you doing that before that?

No. So I've actually don't— I've been doing permanent makeup for 8 years. Okay, yeah, so, so on my own with makeup and then lashes and then aesthetics and now the permanent makeup, um, so the permanent makeup portion has been 8 years and it just kind of took over my life. It was, um, it was great in the beginning. I wasn't, uh, I wasn't ready, I feel, for the business portion of it. Um, so I made quite a bit of money but I didn't know how to how to proportion my time properly and I was working too much. And it doesn't matter that money's coming in if you can't spend it or you can't see your kids, you know?

Right.

But yeah, I've been doing permanent makeup for about 8 years or so. And so now I feel I've gotten to the point where— because I also teach, I feel like I've gotten to the point where I can teach very, very well. And it just, you know, like every other industry, I'm sure there's a lot of stuff on YouTube and a lot of people that know everything. And so there's a lot of misconceptions. I mean, a lot of misconceptions in the permanent makeup industry just because it's fairly new. So, you know, a lot of the times it's called a semi— it's semi-permanent, but it's a tattoo. You can't untattoo somebody. It's permanent, you know. And I think that's one of the scariest parts that I've seen in the beauty industry. But like I said, any time any industry grows, I feel like there's a lot of misconceptions and a lot of lies and a lot of things that aren't true.

Oh, sure.

Well, I've made it my mission, in addition now to just being an artist, I've made it my, my, my mission to really teach the truth behind permanent makeup. You know, I myself have tattoos and I've had them for 15, 17 years and they're not semi-permanent. They're still here.

Yeah. No, same here.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. And I feel like, I feel like once you start sharing what you know and sharing your information and, um you, you're not gatekeeping. I think you grow as an artist and you also grow as an, uh, whatever it is you're doing in your field, just because it's kind of like relearning everything, you know, because the more you regurgitate information, the more you're learning and it's making more sense to you. So I've ever since I started teaching and like, um, disseminating information, I feel like I've definitely grown more myself because it Right. I take a pause and I'm like, okay, well, why am I teaching this and what makes this true? So every year it's, it's, our industry is huge. So every year I'm like learning something new and now I'm, I'm passing on that information to small business owners when they want to hear it. Um, you know, just business information that I, I wish I had 10 years ago.

Right. Yeah. I was gonna say, I mean, doing the teaching side of things now, you've probably got to stay super current and knowledgeable on all that stuff. So it's bettering other people people, but it's bettering you as well. So I think that's really good. That was a nice thing to implement, I think, because now you know all the top stuff and all the current stuff, and you can help share that with other people.

Yeah. And I feel like in our industry anyway, it's the information kind of recycles itself. So because it's our stuff is based on trends, of course. So what'll happen is that some something that didn't work 5 years ago, all of a sudden somebody thinks they're going to make it work. So it comes back.

Yeah.

And, you know, the thing is, these things have permanent repercussions, right? So, yeah, I've seen, I've seen, like, um, I don't know if you ladies have seen how they try to cover, um, the under eyes with permanent makeup.

No, I've not seen permanent. I've seen where they've done the highlighting with makeup makeup, but not permanent makeup.

Yeah. So that's insane. So that's so, so bad. Um, that, that specific ink has a certain molecular structure that never leaves your skin, but it turns colors. So, oh, it's insane. It's insane. But it kind of gets recycled every 3 to 5 years. And these people think they have— they finally, you know, made it work, but nobody's made it work because it just doesn't work. Yeah.

Yeah.

There's all this constant misinformation. And then on top of staying— and then so as an instructor, I have to stay on top of those trends and, and say like, hey, this doesn't work. It didn't work the last 10 times they tried to introduce it. It's not going to work now. Right. It's growing, man. Our industry is growing so, so quickly. It's great to see.

Yeah.

Well, with the beauty industry, trends change. I mean, like, you know, they first try this, do this, and a lot of makeup, no makeup, thin eyebrows, thick eyebrows, like, over, you know, and now, like, with, like, styles today, the— what is it? The '90s are coming with the high-waisted jeans and the—

yes, and the grunge. And the grunge. The grunge is back.

I love the grunge stage. But I mean, so obviously makeup changes. So when you go into doing, I'm assuming, something permanent, that's something to consider. And I'm assuming that's something you counsel your clients on.

I do.

I do. And one of the things I love to do is permanent eyeliner. Right. But our eyes change so much, you know, like they'll fall down a little bit. Yeah.

Yeah.

And nothing— unfortunately, nothing stays the same forever. So that's one of my main things that I do try to, try to explain to my clients like, hey, this is permanent, your face is changing. So this can't be out to here because, you know, in 5 years, 10 years, it'll be down to here.

Yeah.

So with the— it's the same thing with the brows. Brows are our most popular service. And yeah, so if we were— brows aren't done like they were in the '90s anymore.

No, but they're not thin and little.

I fix a lot of those. Um, but you know, also at the same time, when we counsel our clients, I do have to say like, hey, so I'm gonna use this type of ink that'll almost completely go away in 2 years. Hope you're cool with that because you don't— I don't think you want this like forever, ever, ever, because your face changes, your, your bone structure change, and not your bone structure, but where your eyebrows sit is going to change. You know, my eyes look like this. No, they're like, they're a little lower. They're a little lower.

Yeah, what isn't?

Yeah, really.

Well, I mean, working moms, I mean, you're out there doing the best you can. But I know I've seen the trends where a lot of people who maybe started doing permanent makeup way in the beginning didn't have someone counsel them like, hey, you might not want this. It's okay that it fades because we want to update that look in the next 2 years because trends change. Right, right.

And so one of the things that's really hard is explain just, just that, Mary, just what you said, like we have to say, yeah, things are changing. So this particular ink that you keep saying and using and that's super popular, maybe you don't want to use because it— just because you want your eyebrows like this today doesn't mean they're going to look good, you know, 10 years from now. So that's— I've taken that as part of my, my job. That's, that's going to be my— I decided a couple of years ago that's going to be my job. I'm going to give true information. And so when I teach, I tell my students, I teach them to be masters of the craft and not just do permanent makeup. It's not the same, you know. So I teach molecular size of specific ink. I teach the way carbon-based ink is different from non-carbon-based ink and why and how you should use this and that. I teach why we shouldn't— why you don't want so much opacity. And I don't feel like there's enough people in my industry anyway teaching that. And again, it's permanent. So you have to be really careful about anything that you're putting in the skin because it's kind of fresh.

Claudia, what would you recommend for a working mom who maybe doesn't have a lot of time and they're like, they're thinking about maybe doing something permanent, they're like, hey, this will save me 10 minutes in my day. What would be the one? Like, if they're looking at it, have never had permanent makeup done before, what would you recommend? Kind of their first step? What would be the first counsel that you would do with them?

So I would say a lot of my— a lot of most of my clients are working moms and actually a majority of that is small business owners as well, which is what I find really interesting. I think it's because of the time saving. Like, we all kind of want to save time. And yeah, no, I usually recommend that they start off with a brows. And what I like to do when somebody is really iffy about it or kind of scared, I just— I use a particular type of ink that has a lifespan of about 2 years, which I think is great because, you know, you might not— you might— you might not want to do them in 2 years anymore, you know? There's also a way to deposit ink into the skin with forever ink so that it's really not forever. So I usually tell my clients that come in, if they don't know what to do, they just kind of want to update a look, I say do brows. Do brows. Because brows really do change your face and they make you look a little younger. Anytime I see anybody with the pencil-thin eyebrows, it does age you a little bit.

It does, yeah.

You know, that frame around your eyes. Yeah. So I do a lot of brows because of that, because everybody's either trying to— we're all trying to save time, spend more time with our kids or running after the kids or yelling at the kids. But the kids are always as working moms, you know?

Yeah.

Now I'm, I'm very brow illiterate. And so I don't do, I don't do anything too. I don't even wax them or pluck them or do anything. And so, and but they're so pretty. Mine are so light, like it looks even a little darker here in this, but they're in real life, they're very light. And so sometimes I think to myself, I should go get them, you know, filled in a little bit so that they were a little bit more whatever. But I just am so, like I said, brow illiterate. I don't even know all the things you can do. So it's interesting to learn all of these things.

There's a lot of things too. We do what I mean, that's really more semi-permanent. It's we do henna on eyebrows. And then we've heard of that. So for you, since you have your lighter eyebrows, that would work. But for people that don't have any eyebrows but they want, you know, they want to shave, maybe they're going on vacation or whatever, the henna would work because it actually stains the skin. Yeah, I'm telling you, I'm telling you, Erika, there's all kinds of stuff out there.

Yeah, I know. I need to really keep up.

There's so many things I need to really just get with it. Yeah, get with it already.

I've been thinking I want the eyeliner. Because I'm like, I hate doing it. I just don't even— I rarely put it on. I'm like, oh, my baby sister loves permanent makeup. She loves it. She's done it. And I'm like, doesn't it hurt? Like, I have tattoos, but I'm like, on my face, though, the ones I have hurt.

Yeah. You know what? It's funny. It actually kind of feels kind of strange. So when I do eyeliner, I numb it for like 20 minutes, 20, 30 minutes. And so when I go in there, it's almost like a phantom pain. Like, it doesn't hurt. But you feel like somebody's touching you with an eyelash and you want to like scratch it because you can't feel it. And so what I'm going to do to myself that I usually kind of recommend instead of doing eyeliner is doing what we call a lash enhancement. So the lash enhancement just goes in between your eyelashes and so it makes your actual lashes look darker. So you don't have this— so you, you know, so you don't have this thick eyeliner. For me, that's what I'm going to do for myself. I'll probably go just above my lash line and into my lash line. I just haven't had time to tattoo my own face.

But yeah, well, I have to say, I tried to ask someone to do like eyelashes on me and it was— I don't think they were very experienced and I didn't know. I had someone gave me a gift certificate. It was very— I went to go do it, was in the chair for like it felt for like forever. But then when they started coming out, they pulled out my eyelashes. So I didn't have eyelashes for a little while because I'm like, oh, I didn't like that. I didn't like that at all. But I don't think I went to someone who maybe had been doing it for— it was part of a shop of a shop. Like, it wasn't what they specialized in.

Yeah.

So it was something I learned very early on when they started adding eyelashes.

But yeah, I mean, yeah, that shouldn't happen. You should be able to keep your own eyelashes.

Yeah, right.

Yeah, I agree.

You know, it's like everything else, as, as, uh, as an industry is growing, especially with ours, um, you get a lot of people that want to come in and make some quick cash, you know, like in every industry. But with us, you can cause some permanent damage.

Yeah.

You know, if when I, when I'm teaching, because I also teach lashes, so when I'm teaching lashes, we talk about traction alopecia on eyelashes, you know, and a lot of people don't talk about that. But that, that's a thing. It can actually happen. You can cause traction alopecia and permanent damage on the lash line if you don't apply them properly. If, you know, if they start pulling on each the— all the lashes start coming off together, it can cause functional effusion, and then you won't have any eyelashes.

Yeah, and it looks really weird. It looks very funny when you don't have eyelashes.

Yeah, it does. And I've done a lot of people that also have like these small gaps, and you can see them. It's the first thing you see because they're, you know, you have lashes, all of a sudden it's naked, like right here.

But I think that, like you said, people who come in to do, you know, quick buck, make a quick buck, and it's because it's trending We have the same thing in our industry, Erika, where people come in like, oh, this is easy. I'm going to jump in, make a couple of bucks. And then they're not professionals. They're not someone who finds value in educating themselves, continuing education, learning new trends and so forth. They just come and make a quick buck. And then, yeah. So you have to find yourself a real professional who is, you know, there and that would be available in a month, 2 months if you have questions, right? You don't go back to the same shop and that person's gone.

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's how you were saying, Mary, you guys had a, um, a guest a couple episodes ago where, um, she was talking about how she adds value because she's a travel agent.

Oh yes, yes, yes.

So, so I, I found that very poignant because she is— her, her, her— in her work she adds value and that's what she brings and that's what these big stores don't bring. And it's like you're saying, Mary, in any industry you have to add value. And so people, when people come in, they want to make a quick buck. They're not going to add value.

Right.

You know, it kind of seems like, oh, well, I'm just going to take a bunch of people, take a bunch of people, do a bunch of whatever and make some quick money. But you can add value like that. And I think especially now with the economy, with all this talk of this and that, The way to keep a client is to add value, right?

Correct.

There's no way around it. If you're just there for a quick buck, a client will sense it. I see it when there's blood in the water, the sharks come. Yes, you can really see who's who's who, you know. Yeah, they're to make a quick buck and then who's there really to add value to your life, um, even if it's just taking off, you know, 10 minutes from drawing in your eyebrows.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that and that episode I thought was interesting as well because She talked about how they almost feel guilty for asking for payment for their services. And I, I'm a big proponent of, and I've learned the hard way over the years, but that you kind of get what you pay for, right? So, you know, if it seems like really cheap or if it seems free, it's like, well, you know, what kind of services are you really— what quality of services are you getting? And so her and I kind of had a conversation where it's like, no, I mean, you're providing a service just like you do in your business, just like we do in our business. Um, yeah, where, you know what, I mean, when you get something, you got to pay for it. I mean, that's the deal, right? I mean, we're all— you wouldn't expect a doctor or a lawyer to sort of be like, okay, I'm gonna give you a discount. It's like, no, I don't know that I want a discount from my doctor, you know what I mean?

Like, well, no, but you're not just paying for that service, you're also paying for their, their experience. I mean, I got 20 years in what I do. You're paying for all the— all this, all the time and sweat that I put into it. To now have a better product for you, my consumer, whatever that is, right? You know, Claudia's been— she hasn't been just doing this for a few years. She opened the shop, was brand new, grand opening, but she's been doing umpteen years doing this type of work. So you're paying for her experience for that service. It's not just that service, it's the experience that comes with it, right?

Right. And with that comes value. And right, and I've met so many, um, so many women in our— in my industry who come and go, and then they can't stay because, you know, they don't add value. It's like you're saying, they come in, they make a quick buck, and they leave. Um, and nobody cares to do that anymore. Um, but also to what you were saying, and I, I talked to this, uh, I tried to talk to this, I tried to talk about finding your target market to a lot of my students. Not everybody's for everybody. You do not have to compete with pricing. You compete with your skills and with your knowledge. And how you're adding value. But then, you know, not, not everybody's for everybody. Not everybody's my target market, and I understand that, and that's okay. But when you speak to your target market, those people will pay for your skills, for your knowledge, and for the amount of time that you've been in, in your industry, right?

Yeah, I think so many— not just women, but just business people in general— they end up wanting, like, they want to get all the clients, right? We all want all the clients. And so it's like they talk broadly to everybody, but then no one feels like you're really talking to them specifically. And so then those people maybe don't get the desired clients that they were hoping for because it's too broad, you know?

Yeah.

So I think that's important.

It's, it's the, it's hard. Like for my industry, I see a lot of people on social media. Um, they get the clicks and the likes and the whatever because they're closing this or doing that there. I'm like, oh, I don't post a lot. Should I? I need to be doing that. And then I take my focus off what I'm good at. Right, to keep up with the industry. I'm like, wait, wait, wait, wait, I'm great at what I do. I know I am. So whomever I work with is very blessed to have me work with them. Like, I know that I am, but it's hard because you see, um, a lot of things out there that are— they're picture pretty, like it looks great, but that doesn't mean it was a great service.

Yeah.

So you have to kind of step back, and as a woman in any industry, you have to sit back and say, okay, you know what, I value myself. And I don't have to compete with the people who are doing my job. I just— you're basically, you're competing with yourself.

You really are. Yeah. And it's so funny that you say that because I feel like us women, we kind of do that thing where like, oh, I feel bad for charging. And I— yeah, like, that's a, that's a woman trait.

It really is.

Let's do it for free. No, no, we, we also have value, you know. I, and I tell everybody, um, there's this funny story that I always tell people when they ask me because— so I do a lot of corrections., right? So people who have previously worked, they went somewhere really cheap and they kind of go, well, maybe I shouldn't have done that. So in California, I fixed $1,200 eyebrows. So this particular woman, I fixed, um, I don't know, maybe 5, 6, 7 brows of hers. Um, so this woman, she has a lot of the likes, a lot of the follows, a lot of picture perfect, but she never posts, um, full on. Because I had a client whose eyebrows were black, black, I'm telling you, blacker than my hair, and they were like this.

Oh no.

And she paid $1,200, and then she had her car towed because this is LA. In LA, you just can't park anywhere, they'll tow your ass. So, um, she paid for the tow, she paid for her eyebrows. The lady was like, I mean, it was a, it was a mess, this poor girl. And then her eyebrows horrible to the point where I kind of told her like, listen, there's very, very little I can do. Um, so I'm gonna try my best, but I mean, they're still crooked, but you know, she had all the likes and she had all the follows and stuff. And yeah, going back to what Mary was saying, it's you, you gotta speak to just your people. NH Down, we're not for everybody, you know, but yeah, target market will find you and you'll find them. It's, it's a huge city. I don't want all the clients. God, no. I don't want all the clients because not all the clients are for me, and that's okay.

Yeah, yeah, for sure. Um, well, we always like to ask our guests, um, what's their favorite thing or a few of their favorite things about, you know, the career and industry that they're in. And so I'm curious, you're obviously very passionate about it, and so I'm curious what your, um, favorite things are about what you're doing.

So my, my favorite thing has always been the amount of growth in, um, in what I do. So there's, there's just so much information to consume and so much information that's coming out. That's honestly my favorite thing. When I find out that somebody is doing something and I haven't heard of it or I haven't tried it, I will obsess with it until I understand it. And I love that obsession, that crazy part of me that says I have to know this and I have to understand it to a T. That's my favorite thing, honestly. Like, there's so many trends coming out because like we were talking about, it is, it is a trendy thing in the beauty industry. My favorite part is consuming knowledge in our industry. And so I can talk to anybody that has been doing this for 20 years or 3 years and talk about everything in our industry just because I'm such a consumer of knowledge. So that's my favorite thing.

That's a good favorite thing.

Yeah, well, it's nice seeing it because, I mean, here she's right, her industry, it does grow and change almost daily. I mean, you see trends change all the time. And then there's new products, new ways of doing things that you've done forever, and there might be a better way as you grow, you learn better ways of doing it and people share that. So in your industry, I'm assuming, I mean, networking with you was awesome. I love meeting you, it was so wonderful. But I feel like in your industry, a lot of people do share their knowledge. They do share what they're doing. And like you said, you don't want all the clients, you want the ones that fit Jeez, there's so much business out there to share for everyone, so you don't have to compete with each other.

Yeah, and I, I wish it was more like that. You get to a point where there is not— women that have been doing it for this long, as long as I have, for some reason not all of us like to share our knowledge. We kind of try to— a lot of us try to gatekeep.

Um, that's how our industry is as well.

Yeah, you know, honestly, and it can get kind of catty.

You know, and it's strange.

Yeah. And, you know, there's— our industry is still changing and growing. So I feel like there's, there's enough for everybody. It's okay to exchange information. And I've done that. And sometimes it's not reciprocated, which I, you know, you kind of learn and you move on. Sure. But yeah, the best way to get to grow your industry, if you're really passionate and you love it, is just to share information.

Yeah.

What do you say, Erika? Throw it out there in the universe.

Yeah, I'm big on that. I'm big on just putting positive stuff out there, and I just feel like positive stuff ends up coming back one way or another, you know? Um, and so I think that's really good that you're doing that, and it's obviously working for you, so I feel like that's great.

I like it. And I'm— we're opening up our second location. We have a lot of plans here. We have a 2-year plan, a 3-year plan. A 5-year plan. So it's, it's our, it's our home now, and we love it here, uh, for our kids, for ourselves. Um, it's a really family-friendly, um, city. There's a lot of stuff to do, and I love the heat, and I love the rivers.

Yeah, when you're in fiesta— we're in fiesta season right now.

So I haven't gone to my first fiesta event. My first fiesta event was yesterday, and they got canceled because of the freaking rain.

Oh, we weren't canceled. We had a fiesta thing. It was cold and rainy. We were still out there.

Oh man, I should have done that.

Yeah, there's a lot to do at this time of year specifically, and it's all super fun.

We got a whole week of it coming, so get ready to party.

Yeah, you know, I still don't, I still don't understand what fiesta really is or why it is.

Big party.

It's just, it's just a big party.

Yep, a party for 10 days. Actually, they extended it. It used to be 10 days. Now it's 10 days, 10 full days of just events celebrating our city. So we have a beautiful city here and lots of people should come, right? But yeah, a lot of fun. Yeah, not too many. Then I get— Yeah, that's right.

Well, Claudia, and then at the end, we usually sort of just have our guests let people know how they can reach out to you for all of your services.

Okay, so you can find us on Instagram and Facebook as Vanidosa Beauty, V-A-N-I-D-O-S-A. You can also find us on our website at vanillosabeautystudios.com and our salon, Vanillosa Beauty Salon.

Oh, perfect. Okay, well, we'll put all of that stuff in our show notes too when this comes out and we'll tag you and do all that cool stuff so that everybody that is, you know, wanting your services can hopefully reach out.

Yes. So yeah, perfect.

Okay, well, thank you so much. I learned a lot about the beauty industry. I learned a little bit about some of these, um, business practices and, you know, all of that stuff. I feel like this was super informative, um, and I, I'm gonna take— like I always say, I say this every time, but it's so true, and we talk about this, um, every time we have a guest on here, I feel like I can take something from these guests and use them in my own business.

In my own, yeah, yeah.

And so that's the best part, I think, um, about having these conversations with these women. Um, it's just been super informative to us as well. So yeah, Definitely. Thank you for being here. And I'm going to say thank you to our listeners for tuning in to this episode of the Working Moms of San Antonio podcast. And we're just going to catch you guys next week.

Bye, guys.

Thanks so much for tuning in to the Working Moms of San Antonio podcast. Be sure to follow us on social media at our respective Instagram accounts, or join our Working Moms of San Antonio Facebook group. Those links can be found in our episode description. If you have an episode topic suggestion or question, please email us at office@radisagent.com, and be sure to subscribe to the podcast and leave us a review. See you next week.