How To Price Your Beauty Services When You're Just Starting
Pricing your services can feel incredibly uncomfortable when you're new.
You look at other beauty businesses and think:
"Should I charge the same?"
"Am I charging too much?"
"What if nobody books?"
If you're searching for how to price beauty services, the answer isn't simply to find what another artist charges and copy it.
Your pricing needs to make sense for your business.
Start With Your Costs
Before deciding what clients should pay, understand what each appointment costs you.
Think about:
- Products
- Disposable supplies
- Equipment
- Rent or workspace costs
- Insurance
- Booking software
- Payment fees
- Education
- Marketing
- Your time
Even if you're working from home, your business still has expenses.
Knowing these numbers gives you a much clearer starting point.
Your Time Has Value
A 60-minute appointment isn't just 60 minutes of work.
You might also spend time:
- Preparing your space
- Cleaning
- Messaging clients
- Ordering stock
- Taking photos
- Posting on social media
- Managing bookings
- Doing admin
When learning how to price beauty services, it's important to consider the time that happens before and after the client walks through your door.
Don't Automatically Be The Cheapest
When you're starting out, you might think keeping your prices really low will bring in more clients.
It might attract price shoppers, but that doesn't necessarily mean those clients will stay.
Instead of asking:
"How cheap can I make this?"
Ask:
"What does this service need to earn for my business to be sustainable?"
That's a much healthier question.
Look At Your Local Market
It's still useful to research other beauty businesses around you.
Look at businesses offering similar services.
Pay attention to:
- Service prices
- Treatment times
- What's included
- Their location
- Their overall client experience
But use this information as research, not as a rule.
Your business doesn't need to be identical to someone else's.
Review Your Prices As You Grow
Your first prices don't have to be your forever prices.
As you gain experience, improve your skills, increase demand or change your costs, your pricing can change too.
That's normal.
You should be able to look at your prices and know why you've chosen them.
Pricing Is Part Of Being A Business Owner
Learning a beauty treatment is one part of becoming a beauty professional.
Learning how to run the business around that treatment is another.
If you're building a beauty business and want help understanding the business side, the Uplift Business E-Book covers areas including branding, finances, booking systems, business structure and more.
Link: https://www.regalbeautyco.com.au/products/uplift-business-e-books
Final Thoughts
If you're wondering how to price beauty services, don't start with what you think people will pay.
Start with your costs, your time, your goals and the type of business you want to build.
Your prices should support the business, not make you resent running it.