¶ Meeting Kate at SugarCon
Oh , my friends , I was able to go to SugarCon this year , as most of you know , because you saw our socials like crazy and how much fun we had , and one of the most wonderful things that happened was meeting new people at the show .
So I'll tell you a little story .
I very first day we roll up in our Uber and it was a couple of educators and myself . We roll up in the Uber and I just started introducing myself to people in line because you know I'm not shy . And so I roll up and I walk up to this beautiful woman , so classy , pretty blonde Bob . I'm like , hi , I'm Shannon . She says , hi , I'm Kate .
And this is Kate . And this is Kate because she had brought some of her fellow sugar pros in Portland . So we get to talking and , I kid you not , I feel like I've known her my whole life . I feel like we were sisters in another lifetime . And I just connected with her in line before SugarCon , so fast forward to .
I was so impressed by the way that she runs her business . When I spoke in the afternoon I actually surprised her and called her up onto the stage and just had her share her journey , because she really does some really different things in her practice and she is just really a special , special woman . So Kate Sprouse with Sugar Me in Portland .
She has two locations . She is our guest today and she's like once you finish listening to the episode , you want to go to Portland and hang out with her , and in Portland she has two locations . She is our guest today and she's like , once you finish listening to the episode , you want to go to Portland and hang out with her and have coffee .
So I hope you enjoy this episode as much as we enjoyed filming it . And so , ladies and gentlemen , Kate Sprouse Sugar Me in Portland . Hey girl , welcome to the Sugar Show .
Hi , thank you so much for having me .
Oh my gosh , okay . So first of all we were like how are we not sisters in another life , I swear to God . But also just we have . We had to push record because we just couldn't stop talking about all the cool things in our industry . So I put pause on you and we need to have the microphones on so we can share this passion , because it's infectious .
Yeah so we're just going to jump right into it . And why don't you ? start with the story you were going to tell me , and then we'll backtrack to , like your , your , how you got here .
So yeah , so OK , You're going to tell me the story about ?
was it about sugar con ?
No , it was just about our industry in general , about sugaring and just something that is something that I'm proud of within my Portland market , where I am from , portland , oregon , um , but last year we do this big thing through Portland , where it's the best of it's like the best of you know , you name it Portland .
Where it's the best of it's like the best of you know you name it noodle house , the best of massage therapy , the best of anything , and it's done every single year and this last year it's you know it's under the realm of best hair removal , right ?
So this could be any form of hair removal and last year , in 2024 it hasn't started for 2025 yet , but last year in 2024 , the best of't started for 2025 yet , but it last year in 2024 , the best of hair removal in all of Portland , oregon was Sugar Me , which is huge to me because it was sugaring , was noticed and brought to the forefront versus we have
ample waxing salons that are here and salons as well , but I don't know . It was just really cool to have that experience last year , where I'm like they were seen , I'm seen , we're seen , my team is seen , sugar Me's seen , the sugaring community is seen . It was , it was a big deal . So yeah , it was pretty cool , I just wanted it yeah .
Changing are the days of what is it that you do ?
to oh you sugar .
Oh you , sugar , Cool , right , okay , so let's back up and talk about how you got here . Yeah , what ? Oh my gosh , cause it feels like a lifetime ago and yesterday all at the same time , right , when you think back on the last 15 years , cause it's been 15 for you , right ?
15 for me , yeah , 15 , 20 . And that's when I opened up my first flagship store yeah Over in Northeast Portland . And then , in 2014 , I did Southeast Portland . Okay , so let's talk about .
What were you doing before ? What was Kate's life pre-sugar ?
Yeah for sure . So before getting into solely sugaring , I had the opportunity to teach . I taught for several years at a holistic school for aesthetics it's the Euro Institute of Skincare .
We had a Portland chapter here at the time , and so I had the ability to teach and that was honestly one of my favorite jobs , and I think really the two me owning a business and also being an educator kind of go hand in hand , because it was the fact that I got to just kind of impart , like teach people how to take on this trade , and so that was
something that was super inspiring to me to be able to have all aged women walk through our door , be able to teach the education of aesthetics , and have them walk out the door with something that they could make money at you know , help their families with , do for themselves , and so that part was super inspiring to me .
Plus , that is where I got to theory sugaring along with threading and different modalities . But sugaring really caught my eye and it was before anyone was really sugaring here in Portland , and so I wanted to be able to demo it as an educator .
So I went up to Seattle and got certified this is like a million years ago and so got certified in it , and so I was able to bring it back down and be able to teach it at that time , demo it , and then we ultimately started to certify the students at Euro .
And then from there , I just once you touch sugar , at least for myself , once I held it , once I got certified , I started playing around with it at home . I sugared any friend or family member that would come around , and so I was like this is it ? This is the ticket ? Why am I not doing this all the time ? And so that's what sparked the interest .
And then , once I got that idea , there was kind of no stopping me and , yeah , I just kind of ran with it . I do feel like my friends and family were pretty supportive , but I think kind of like , what are you doing ? But that's okay , we're here now .
So , yeah , so that was being able to teach who came up with the name Sugar .
Bean Uh , it was me and two of my girlfriends actually . Um , yeah , that we were just kind of no-transcript . So really , at the beginning , when I first set my lease , it was basically just girlfriends of mine coming up with that , coming up with branding . They knew a little bit more about branding than I did , and so we kind of worked on that together .
And then , yeah , honestly , friends and family doing the build out and painting and , yeah , just opening the doors and just hoping that it would work , and I don't know , I went around the neighborhoods , my first location going door to door . You know this was 2010 .
There wasn't internet , there was nothing at all you know this was 2010 . There wasn't . There wasn't internet , there was nothing at all . So we talked about that at SugarCon . So , okay , so you open the doors , you're handing out flyers , you're hoping people will like , want to try sugar . Did you wax at all in your sugar ? Me space .
No , no , no , waxing . And I also knew that , opening this business , I wanted to be sugaring . Only I didn't have we don't do facials , we don't do anything . I just wanted to be really proficient at this one technique .
So I knew that myself , and then eventually , my staff members could really people could walk in the door and be like this is the place to go . They do this all day , every day . Just feel well , taken care of in that manner . So , no , I just sugared . But I will say I opened my doors . It was summertime of 2010 .
So there were a lot of moments where I had to breathe and not cry , because I was like , oh my gosh , what have I done ? Because I would definitely have moments of melting down . I was not a pro by any means at this point .
I was just going off faith and just kind of faking it till I made it and just knowing that I believed in the product so much and knowing that I believed in what could be , and I just you know , I don't know I just jumped and then figured it out .
So yeah , and it worked . A lot of us did in the beginning and now we're like we should have had a better business plan .
Yeah , for sure , for sure . It just was very like , yeah , done very much on a small budget .
I did not go big at the beginning , but you can do that , you know there's not a lot of pre and post , no A warmer and some pace and some knowledge and and knowing how to do it the right way .
¶ Kate's Journey Into Sugaring
Now I highly recommend if we were to go back 15 years and redo it , I would highly recommend you know a business plan and oh , 1 million percent .
I did have a business , I did have a business plan . I did have , like , my financials like in order . I just didn't , it didn't take a lot of money to get it started . It was yeah , it just yeah , definitely . And yeah , yeah it was . It was definitely still a leap of faith , that's for sure , Cause I had three treatment rooms in my .
I still have three treatment rooms , and it was just myself just in hopes that it would build so so what point did you decide ?
okay , it's time to bring on employees .
It was pretty fresh off the gate , there was one of my employees came on with me pretty early and that was the two of us for the longest time , um , working for pretty much nothing . Right For that beginning part , um , and then from there we started to build clientele .
I did run a special , like a coupon to special , and so that got people in the door as well , and then for that we just kept rebooking , you know , getting them back in the door , and then , yeah , it just started to grow , I think because also it was such a niche at the time I got featured . Our news channel came .
I got to you know , the local like morning show . We had a spot on that , which was always fun . Also , always kind of awkward when you're like doing hair removal on a news anchor and we did his back and you know it was like like there's no need to yell , come on now . So you know , but come on , come on . But yeah , it was great .
We had some good publicity at the beginning and and it started to roll through within that first year I was out of the red , so that was great . And from there we just did incremental growth , little by little and then by 2014 , you know , I had my second locations . What ?
made you decide to open a second location . The need , so many people yeah .
There was a definite demand and it's funny , portland , we're such niche neighborhoods and so we were in a Northeast pocket and even though we're just a few short miles away , in Southeast Portland , we definitely was a different clientele , different need , different market . So , yeah , it worked out well . They both are doing great .
Okay , so you do something a little different and I explained in the intro about how I met you , which was at SugarCon . I walk up the first day , everyone's in line and I'm like hey , I'm Shannon , you're like hey and I think two of the I'm Shannon , you're like hey and I think two of the girls that were with .
You're like hey and I'm Kate was like yeah , right , and so we know each other and what I came to learn about your business is you do things a little differently with your staff . It's just not a turn and burn . You work here for 15 years .
I grind away at you as an owner , Talk about your culture a little bit and what you do a little bit differently and how your employees kind of cycle through your business , that model .
Yeah , it honestly kind of happened organically . I think the core root of who I am as a human is education and really being able to gift upon . I'm no gatekeeper of anything and I also come from the place of there's always more right . I've never come from a place of holding onto .
I'm always trying to breathe life into just having faith that there's always more , there's always plenty . So with those two things in mind , I think ultimately what has been brought to my footsteps is that I have a business model that a lot of women come and they stay for a couple years and they get comfortable and on their own feet and feel well cared for .
I'm really proud of the work-life balance and kind of how I treat my employees . They're well taken care of because they are everything to me . But , once they feel comfortable and if they choose to , they end up ultimately , a lot of them go out to start their own Chagrin Studios , and this has just kind of happened organically .
But I've also curated a place that they know that they have a safe space with me and then there's open communication . When they want to go off and do their own thing , there's no , it's all love , all support . They go out , they do their own thing , yeah .
So basically I've kind of created a business model where they come , they work and if they wish to , then they can go out and do their own business as well . And that that cycle has kept rolling through . And that's funny because when I did meet you at SugarCon , I was there with three of my teammates that used to work for me that now have their own places .
But if that I mean we went together as a team .
That's incredible and that's all done with love and understanding about what this world is all about is is not gatekeep , and to not hold everything to yourself and to empower other women to do amazing things , and I love that you do that with love . So how does that work , like with your clients ? Do you end up losing clients when they leave ?
How do you work that ?
Totally when they leave . How do you work that Totally ? Yeah , it is . It is scary , right . When I say this out loud and I'm not going to lie , sometimes you do Through the 15 years , I won't say that I haven't been slighted , you know , and things do happen , but it's it's not . It's not every time , but with our clients .
The clients are sugar me's clients and that's done to where I feel like they feel very comfortable at my space and they know different technicians because I do run an employee format so they're not Commission based , so it is an employee format business that I run Hourly to do that in Oregon .
Mm-hmm you have to do that in Oregon right hourly .
You have to do that in Oregon , right ? You don't have to do that . You can either do hourly . You can do lease to spaces , you can do commission-based . Yeah , I think you can do lots of different formats .
It's different here in California and other states , like in California , you have to be an employee or you have to rent a room . That's completely separate business .
Oh yeah , okay , yeah , well , I've got I special to Oregon , you know , which is fine .
It's fine . It's just people all over the world that listen . So yeah , and countries like in Canada you don't even need to get licensed Like you can just sugar open your . I know it's crazy , All the differences , but so you have an employee model which is very clear .
Yeah , An employee model , and so I think what that does is lets people know they come in and they can get sugared by any of the employees and get a very proficient job done , and people do fall in love with people right . So at the end of the day , some clients do travel with their other technician , but some of them stay .
So I would say I haven't been burned so much to where I'm losing a lot of clients , to where it's going to make a difference to my bottom line , because there's more clients walking in the door and there's another esthetician that's going to come in and people are going to fall in love with , and then they're going to build their clientele and it just is a
cycle that has just worked out for us for sure .
So let's talk about the employee mentality on that , right . So , because I get a lot of people that kind of ask like how can you be an employee and not take clients from your boss but also build a clientele ?
It's like a sticky little spot , right , because you want to do well for Sugar Me as an employee , and so the idea is okay , let's come on as an employee with a model like yours . Let's do as much as we can to represent that business , as we should with any business . And then , okay , I've learned some skills .
I'm going to be very transparent with my boss , which is you , and what my goals are , what my dreams are , what I want to do . You know that's it's . It's huge to be really open and talking to you about that , and then you can help guide them to the next level .
The idea of the whole time and I want to make sure the audience is hearing this is that you don't go from school
¶ Growing a Sugar-Only Business
to three locations killing it , you know , without doing the work in the meantime , right , and so the it's the work , the dedication to the work , and it's also the love and the transparency and the respect for the space , and I think that's really critical If you're a student that's listening to this , or if you are new or you're just signing on with a spa , is
to say , okay , this is part of my journey . I have a boss like Kate . So any of her staff right now , if they're listening , you have a badass boss . But I have a boss like Kate who's going to nurture me through this . But I'm not going to stab her in the back because that's not good karma and I'm not going to .
I'm going to practice my craft and get good enough that I can move on , but I'm going to communicate the whole time . So what's kind of your message to that newbie that is coming on board ? What is your message to them ? Kind of an addition on that kind of scope , right ?
Like what is your message to them on on how to be , you know , obviously , a good employee , but yeah , I think you nailed it .
I mean coming out of school just really knowing that it's kind of a marathon , not a sprint , you know that it's going to take a gift and so really , if you hone in on those building blocks or those chapters that you're in and really do the best that you can in those chapters , you know eventually that page is going to turn and you're going to have your next
chapter . What that looks like you don't know in the moment , but it's like really taking in all the knowledge and all the expertise of those around you in that moment and just really settling in .
I feel like that's a lot of what I've learned through life and then also what I see what happens with my team members and I will say not all of them choose to leave . I have some great core team members that stay . It's not just let's get in , let's work , let's go . I mean , my team stays with me for five , six years .
You know they stay for a long time , especially before they go . So they , yeah , it's a really great work environment , so a lot of them don't leave .
But why would you yeah ?
yeah , yeah , the employees , I mean honestly my teammates , I don't even call them employees , I mean they are like teammates , my team members . They , yeah , they work really , really hard .
But yeah , I think , for the newbie coming in , I think , just really recognizing that , to do the best that you can in this chapter , that you are and know that there's always you know the next chapter and what that looks like we don't have to know in the moment , but just really be present and take in what you can in the knowledge and learn what you can
and experience what you can at that moment and , yeah , be open to the changes when they happen . But yeah , it's definitely , it's a definite , it's a slow , it's a slow build .
Yeah , yeah , you know , I think for those of you that are listening , that are new , there's there's two , there's kind of a tandem . Things that are happening right Is is you're a good practitioner , practitioner , you're getting building your skills there . It is not easy to sugar and to know how to troubleshoot and what to do in sticky , wink wink situation .
I haven't said that in a long time , um , and but then also the whole business piece of this that goes hand in hand . That is a whole different set of skills . Yeah , I think what happens is a lot of people say , oh , I'm going to go out on my own , but they've done zero research on what it takes to have this .
When we talked about business plan in the beginning , they're like a business what ? Um ? I mean , how many students have talked to you that don't even have a business bank account or you know ? I mean you have to understand payroll and one percent .
I don't mean to downplay when I said I did it on a budget , because I did do it on a budget . However , I did definitely utilize all my resources here . I had a definite business plan . I had my capital to last me for quite a I mean for quite a while because I knew I was not going to be taking any money home for my family .
I also , um , I set my family up . They knew , I mean , my husband knew I didn't have kids at the time Um , but we definitely pre-planned for our own personal finances on the back end too , not knowing that I wasn't going to be running like , bring money home .
Um , yeah , there was a lot of financial planning and a lot of business planning that came into play . Um , yeah , yeah , I met with my like , I had mentors through the small business association that we have here locally . I went downtown . Yeah , I definitely you have to have your ducks in a row before starting .
I just , you know I didn't have like millions of dollars . It was like you know it can be done on a budget , but you definitely need to have your T's crossed and your I's dotted , and that doesn't stop right .
I'm 15 years in and there's things that are always changing always , and I definitely organization and hard work , because it doesn't shut off , you know , it's constant .
So yeah , yes , your brain is swimming on the regular .
You know , I would like for staff members , team members , to think about what it goes into to be a boss you know some and for bosses to listen , because there's a lot that goes into that on our side , on our responsibility , that we have to have kind hearts and open minds for our staff , and they have us .
It's this reciprocity thing right , because we're all doing the best with what we've got right . So the owner is laying awake at night wondering how you're going to keep the lights on . You know , like , please , honor that . You know honor those owners . Like this isn't easy for owners . Like , just because you become an owner doesn't mean you've hit the finish line .
It's like it's a whole nother race , right , it's a whole nother race , right , it's a whole nother ball game . And then I think that owners have to respect the staff members who are coming in are being , you know , um , as amazing as they can be in a representation of you .
So it really is this nice reciprocity if you can do it right , like you have , um , and you know asking yourself am I doing the best in my role to benefit the other side and the other side of the fence ? Because then ultimately , the fence comes down and you're all in it together , right , and that's what I felt from you and your team was really .
You know what Fences are down . We're all in this , we all have a role , and some of them go off and start their own because that is what their skill set is , and a lot of times , people that go off and start their own , they stop being practitioners , yeah , you know .
And so if you really really love what you do with your hands in the treatment room with your clients , it might not make sense for you to leave because and to start your own thing , because you're grinding away at spreadsheets .
So many , so many numbers .
You know , and P&Ls and all of these things . People are like P&L , what is that ? Profit and loss statements , right , like , if you don't know what those are and that does not excite you , being a business owner might not be the path for you . Like , did you realize how much business you didn't know ?
15 years ago . It was interesting , I thought I knew , until you get into it , and as it grows , it just it gets more exponentially , Like I mean there's just more right . So , yeah , I think also , yeah , Once , yeah , just I asked a lot of questions and I asked for a lot of help and then , um , just deep .
There were a couple of years where I pulled myself fully out of the treatment room and just focused on backend Um , which I mean that's a whole job on its own . You know , yeah , what was the hardest piece .
do you think that you were surprised about I think I know my answer . I want to hear yours Like the hardest part about being a business owner , would you say ?
hardest part about being a business owner would you say , uh , I think one of the hardest parts , other than I mean , other than like crunching the numbers and Excel spreadsheets and um , I I just think honestly I don't know . I've kind of gone through periods . I just think it doesn't , it doesn't shut off Right Like it's .
I think right now , just where I'm at , is this constant , just it's always going in my mind . I think sometimes that part , that balance , is it's probably the hardest part that I because I'm an all-in type person .
So I think that finding the balance for me , which I preach to my staff all the time , is work-life balance , to make sure that they don't burn themselves out in the treatment room . But it's hard , it's like better said than done , right . So I think that that probably is the hardest part for me is knowing when to shut it down .
Yeah , yeah , I mean that's huge . For me it was payroll and state laws . So I'm in California and the laws change all the time . Yeah , the way that it not not so much how I was going to pay , but like knowing the proper taxes . I finally got a payroll system that works really really well , thank God .
But then , you know , one minute people could be commissioned . The next minute they had to be employees or else I was fine . Like that was a big thing . In California . You know they're constantly changing state board rules and you know one minute you can't do lash tinting , the next you can like it's it .
That to me was like it's a full-time job just keeping track of the state's rules so the state's rules are ever-changing .
Um , I do feel like my payroll company . They alert me on a lot of stuff , thank goodness . But if you don't have a good team of people that you trust and support you and the changes , you're like what is happening ? Yeah , like swirl your head around it's a lot , oh , yeah , it's a lot . And then you're like oh , that's right .
I need to , like keep up on my sugaring skills Totally , totally , yeah , yeah . So if you are listening to this , please don't be scared . It is possible , we've both done it , but it is something to really think about .
You know , and honestly , you can have a small space , just be solo , have , you know , a lot of work to do as well , but really have a rewarding career . And some of us do it . Just sugar . Some of us add sugar to our treatment menus , which is awesome . You don't have to be completely 100 percent sugar , like we are .
I do some facials here because the girls like they really want to do them . So some facials here . But really , the sugar is that thing that that brings in . Brings in the bacon , yeah .
Yeah , I , yeah , I learned pretty early on . Yeah , I learned pretty early on . I loved facials . I love receiving , I love knowing and educating myself about skin and ingredients , but I talk too much .
I learned that-teacher who was very blissful and zen and phenomenal and she loved all the aromatherapy and I yeah , I just ended up tackling all the like peels and hair removal . I'm like , well , here's a jam . I got it , yeah , yeah .
The eight clients in a row of facials . When I had my like , Tahoe Day Spa was like quiet for eight hours . I'm like I'm going to die . It's so quiet .
But that's a person I'm like trying to do a trapezius . I'm like tell me about your weekend .
Trying to like have a spa voice but talk yeah , yeah
¶ A Different Approach to Employee Growth
, yeah , totally get it , okay . So you know , there's you and I are going to do another one of these , because we could talk forever about different topics , but you know , we just came back from sugar con . Let's talk about that for just a little bit and give a shout out to sarah her , yeah , but let's talk about what that feels like 15 years later .
I'm 16 , you're 15 . There's a few of them that were in there longer than us , like their 20 year mark , know what that feels like to have walked around the auditorium and seen all these brands .
And I think the coolest thing for me was everybody that was in there already knew how to sugar , so they just like threw on a glove , picked up the page and got involved . You know that was so incredible and like how you felt at SugarCon and like how you felt at SugarCon .
So I went with zero expectations , right , I had no idea what to expect . I looked at the Wova app and I signed up for my classes , I locked it in and I was like , cool , cool , I'll find out more when I get there . That's the mentality that I went in there . I was super pumped , super pumped . I was like excited but had zero expectations .
So for me not really doing a ton of research , I was absolutely blown away . Like blown away . What Sarah did ?
I just what she did and what she put on on , and you could tell , if you've ever thrown an event , that was a top tier event and she worked her booty off , I'm pretty sure her team that she had behind her all late hours , long days and to navigate that many vendors phenomenal , this , every piece to that puzzle did not go .
It didn't get lost on me I that that was a huge surprise . Yeah , I , it was phenomenal .
Um , as a sugar and as an esthetician , um , and having a sugaring business , I honestly felt like I came out of the dark into the light and just um , having the representation of all the different sugar brands that were there that you know were so unique and just so phenomenal and had all this education behind them , I was just like eating it up .
I'm like what is going on ? This is the best ever , and just to be around our people right , when you talk to people , even you know , within our industry , it's , you know , sugaring still as it's growing . It's still one that's not as prevalent in other places , and so it was amazing to just be like , oh my gosh , this booth is geared towards me .
This booth is geared towards me . Oh , I want to learn more about this because I actually this benefits me Like , and all of us were in the same place . It was amazing . The education was amazing . Everybody that was there was so open and willing to talk and share and want to know it .
Just , it was really really good energy and palpable if that makes sense Like . It was just like filled with love and excitement . So it was great .
I will agree with you . I I didn't know what to expect you know , and I I was . I left there feeling like we did it as an industry and I don't mean we made money or we put ourselves on the map . We have put ourselves on the map because it really wasn't on the map before .
But I really felt like all the booths there were filled with love and kindness and support for one another and you could feel it in the room .
And I think we've all kind of just been on this treadmill trying to , like you know , get sugar to be a thing and convince our clients and convince our friends and our spouse like yeah , this is a smart move , you know and it was like ah , look at this our people , these are my people .
Yeah , yeah , it was just this , um , this piece about the whole thing , and and camaraderie , the amount of hugs and like kind of screams and like oh my god , you know , like I've never met you before and I was like , just because you sugar , I think , think you're cool , right , like yeah , I'm kind of like this , I don't know it's .
You know , I think Sarah said she was going to do them every other year , but I don't think the industry is going to let her skip a year . I think it's going to have to be next year as well .
If you're listening , sarah , I know she's , and I think that next time you know now that we kind of get it and get that it's a cool thing it'll be twice as big and that is wildly cool , because she did the first one really well . So kudos to you , sarah .
She knocked it out of the park . Yeah , I definitely think that , whether it be next year or the year after , I will definitely be in attendance . I will bring my team this time next year or the year after . I will definitely be in attendance . I will bring my team this time and it was just on .
You know my works like social media and stuff and different people that are in our industry . They're like we wanted to go . We missed it . Next year , next year , next year , like so many comments , yeah , everyone , now that it's out there , it's like all right , here we go , game on , yeah , yeah .
Okay , I have a cute question for you , because we could talk for hours and I'll wrap this up in a minute . But , um , so your kids have grown up with you only being a sugar babe . You know , like they , that's all they know . They know sugar . They've had probably tastes of sugar when they were little and they're , you know , on to being 12 .
Here she's got twins . They're going to be 12 soon , right , yeah , yeah , yeah . So what do they think of sugar ? Like how , how is that in their world ? I just , I , love . So . My kids watched me grow . In fact , I have their boys and I have video of their voices . Haven't developed yet .
They're like hey , I'm Mike , hi , I'm Ryan , so make sure you get videos of them talking about your business Cause now they're like I'm Mike , I'm Ryan , so make sure you get videos of them talking about your business , because another like I'm Mike , I'm right , do now right and they're like mom .
You know she's got a badass right . You know I . Do they any interest yet of what you're doing , or do you just go to work and they don't really care ?
They are the cool . I mean , everyone probably says this , but my kids are like the coolest humans . Um , they love it , they're super proud , they like that . Their mom does sugaring and they will give you the little 15 second elevator speech in about two seconds of what sugaring is versus waxing . Um , I have definitely brought them to work with me .
They've worked the front desk and they know how to greet clients . They just think it's the coolest . I think that they see the work that I do and I definitely talk about it and definitely work from home
¶ The Business Side of Sugaring
as well . Yeah , so they're really proud and they love the space and , yeah , they just I think they like to see , yeah , just I think me happy at the end of the day and when they see that there's growth and you know we're helping people out and sugar people , they just they're super pumped .
And , to be honest , my daughter is , I mean , almost 12 and my husband is Italian and , uh , she does have , um , she's gifted with a very strong hair follicle and so , uh , she's super pumped because she'll never and she'll tell anyone on the street that she'll never have to use a razor . So that's a big deal .
So she'll start sugaring her soon and , yeah , that's awesome , yeah .
I love it . I love the the example that you're setting for your children , you know , and their friends , of what it what it takes to build a business it's not just an easy thing , but what dedication is and what a boss babe means . And also like how to create people in a business . Like what a great example for your kids that having these businesses are .
And so I always encourage owners and even employees , like share with your children what it is you do . Share with your children like how you started from nothing and how you did this . You know , and I love it . My guess was that you were , that you do that . Yeah , for sure .
Yeah , they just they need to see that it's not all Um , I mean , there's a lot of hard work that goes into it , a lot of grit and a lot of you know the the base step that they do with the shops to the cleaning and all that . And yeah , I just they need to know the hard work that goes into it , sure , okay .
so last , question your two locations . Mm-hmm . Do you get to a place where you're like , all right , this is good , we're just gonna rock these two locations , or you have a stir in your belly that there needs to be a third .
Yeah , it's funny , I always have a stir in my belly for more . That is like a constant with me . We actually were slotted for the third location pre-COVID and before we signed , covid hit and so it worked out to be a gift to not sign that lease , to be , you know , a gift to not sign that lease .
So we've been writing out the two and we're kind of doing our thing now , but I do feel that there's something around the corner . Yeah , we're kind of I'm ready , I'm ready and I think , honestly , sugarcon re-energized .
I already had this like when you I don't know those of you who are entrepreneurs , are people that just have it in them this like fire , that you're not know that there's more and you're just waiting for it to go . I've been experiencing that for a while and so I know it's around the corner and I'm just ready to to just do the work and just let's go .
I'm ready . But yeah , there's something , there's something coming for sure . I love it . All right .
It all right , mama well , we will let you get back to your busy boss . Babe , mama life and uh audience . If you are in the Portland area , go to sugar me um and spend some time uh , not only with Kate , but with her amazing staff .
I met them uh , you know her , your team members and and former team members um at the show , and there's just something special about you all . So kudos to you and what you've built and your team , and I look forward to seeing what's next for you as well thank you , thank you .
Thank you , thank you so much . I appreciate this . You're welcome .
Okay , so for those , of you that are wondering about sugar con . We will link that and you can pester Sarah Herbst yourself as to whether or not she's gonna do it on next year and and then , if you are ready to open your own business or you are ready to start sugaring , we are there for you .
You can listen to other episodes of this podcast and you can also check a look at our website and we'll walk you through everything that you need , because we want you to be a part of our world in the sugar community just as much as you probably are thinking that you want to be . So cheers to you , and we look forward to seeing you in the next episode .