E17. Red Flags to Watch For Before You Book a Course

Ever finished a course and felt more confused than when you started? You're not alone and it's not your fault 🫶

In this episode I'm getting into the dark side of beauty education, the red flags to watch for before you invest in a course and why so many students end up feeling ripped off. I'm sharing my own experience sitting through overpriced, under delivering courses so you know exactly what to look out for before you spend a cent ✅

Here's what I get into:

✨ The fast track courses that promise the world and deliver overwhelm instead
 ✨ Why an expensive course isn't always a good one
 ✨ The support red flags most people don't notice until it's too late
 ✨ Misinformation and gatekeeping to watch for in the industry
 ✨ The real signs of a good educator, before you ever purchase anything

If you've ever invested in a course that left you feeling defeated, this one's for you. It's not your fault, and this episode will help you make a better choice next time 💌

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey everyone, welcome to Blossom in Business, the podcast for beauty business owners who are ready to treat their business like a business, not just a hobby. My name is Monique and I'm a Melbourne-based salon owner and educator and I'm here to help you grow your income, attract the right clients, and build a business that's actually sustainable. So if you're in the beauty industry and you're ready to level up your mindset, your marketing and the way that you run your business, this is the podcast for you. I hope you love this episode, and let's get into it. Hey everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the Blossom and Business Podcast. Today I wanted to talk about something a little bit controversial, and that is the dark side of beauty education. Now I'm sure we've all invested in a course that was shit, like just to say the least, it was sh. Maybe it was not meeting our expectations, maybe it wasn't the right course for us, maybe the support was just horrible. There is a dark side to basically anything, really, I guess. Now that we're thinking of it, there's a dark side to everything. But to the education in the beauty industry, there is quite a lot of things wrong with it. There are a lot of courses out there that are overpriced for the value that they're delivering. They're under delivering, I guess. So today I wanted to talk about the red flags in beauty education. From overpriced courses, underdelivering, lack of support, just the dark side of beauty education. So as I've mentioned in I think it was the first episode of the podcast, I've done so many courses. I actually can't remember what number it was. I don't know if I said 16 or 40. Those are very different numbers. But I remember I counted them one specific day and then I wrote it down for that episode, and now I just don't remember. But I've done a lot. And this is because I offer nails, lashes, and brows. So of course I wanted to be skilled in all three, obviously, but upskilled in all three consistently. And I've definitely completed courses in these areas that weren't the best in the earlier days, and then I had to buy another course and another course, you know, all those things, and also just like expanding like nails. Like I did courses on different techniques and different products and things like that. Same with lashes, like I learned how to do a lash lift, and then I learned through a brand course, and then I did with this educator. Like I did like I've done a lot and a lot basically. And I don't know if I mentioned this in the first video, but I know I did mention makeup. I did actually start with makeup. I did my certificate 3M Beauty, and that ended up doing a diploma of screen and media, which is like specialist makeup. And I was doing like makeup when I first started, and I did courses around that. But I think I actually forgot to mention this in my initial video, like my initial podcast episode, because I honestly just forgot about it. But I actually did teeth whitening back in the day, like probably like three years ago. I did teeth whitening, maybe four years ago, actually, now that I'm thinking of it, and I literally forget about it all the time because I only did it for such a short period of time. And the reason I stopped doing it is because I just couldn't be bothered marketing it to be honest, and everything that does not get touched in this salon just collects so much dust. So I was like, bye. I do wish that I kept some of the stuff because my partner would love if I did teeth whitening, and I know so many of my clients now were like, oh my gosh, like I would totally get teeth whitening done. But back then I didn't put any effort into marketing it, and because it's a more higher cost service, I just didn't have the time of day back then. Now I'm just like, oh I should have done it, that would have been a really good, profitable service to have. But yeah, I used to actually offer teeth whitening. So basically, I've done so many different courses from your standard beauty certificate, TAVE courses, private courses, makeup, nails, lashes, brows, teeth whitening. Like I've done everything. So I know a thing or two about good and bad courses because I've done both. I've done in-person beginner courses, in-person upskill trainings, I've done in-person masterclasses, I've done online beginner courses, online masterclasses, online short courses, all different things basically. I've done I've done it all. So I've kind of seen the good and bad. And I feel like in a way that actually helped me a lot make my own course. But this I really like, so we're gonna implement that. So I feel like in a way it was really good. But I wasted a lot of money on the wrong courses. So first I want to talk about choosing the right course. Now I did actually go over this a little bit too much in detail in the last episode, but it was actually meant to be for this episode. But basically, when it comes to choosing the right course, you do want to make sure that it's the right course for you and where you're at right now. So for a beginner course, you're gonna have to make sure it covers the fundamentals, hygiene, skin conditions, if it's nails, nail conditions, anatomy, all those things. Ideally, if it also has something about business setup, that's something that I make sure to include, but have business setup so you actually know what you're doing, so you can at least start. I feel like business knowledge should be a whole nother course or program in itself, but at least some of the basics, like registry and ABN, how to get clients, how to keep them coming back. Like you don't need a certain like super detailed strategy, but some sort of information so you at least know what you're doing once you finish the course, what to charge when you first start out, and how to kind of figure out your pricing later down the track. It doesn't have to be like a perfect like business strategy, like super detailed, personalized, included in that initial course. But the more you can get out of that beginner course, the better. But you also not only need to consider the inclusions to make sure like the lessons itself are suitable for beginners if you are a beginner in this certain thing, but you also need to consider the support, how the course actually works. And I mentioned this last episode, so I'm sorry to repeat myself, but this was meant to be in this episode. But you need some sort of assessing because as much as you can think that you're replicating the nails, the lashes, whatever it is, from the video that you watched, the demonstration, or the photo that you've seen, there are little things that you may not even realize that are really impacting either the safety of your work, like gel on skin, that's a safety concern, the look of your work, this will impact whether or not a client wants to come back, and then longevity of your work as well. Again, impacts clients, but it's just so many factors that you might look at the set and then look at the photo and be like, oh, they look close enough, you know. But having someone that can actually look at your work and give you detailed feedback on where you can actually improve means that your sets aren't just going to be mid. They're not just gonna be meh, they're gonna be actually good. That's what we want. Like, as much as a beginner, you're gonna have I wouldn't say horrible skills, but you're gonna have very growing skills, expanding skills, you know, like they're not gonna be like 10 out of 10, but we want to get them as close as we can to that. That's why feedback is so important. So you don't just start with like mid, you start with like growing and improving. So a form of assessment is crucial when it comes to any sort of beginner in particular training. Or if you're learning a completely new skill, like maybe a new system, new product, new technique, I would highly recommend looking for a course that also has that assessment process in it. Because again, you can think that you're following the demos as best as you can, but there may be little things that you don't actually see that someone that's seen it a thousand times over will be able to pick up and recognize. And ideally, they should be actually giving you feedback with steps on how to improve it. Like I know for me when I get work from students and it's like say they got gel on the skin, right? I'm not just gonna be like, oh well, you got gel on the skin, don't do that, you know. Like, yes, that's helpful in the sense that like they need to know not to get the gel on the skin, but like why don't they need to do that? Which it's covered in the course, but why should they avoid that? How can they avoid that? Because if you just tell them yes, no, maybe, like, there's no actual critiquing and feedback going on. There's no guidance into actually how to improve. And I say all this, but I know it's really hard to see if the course is going to include this from the outside. You kind of just figure it out once you enroll. But maybe that's something that you can ask about when you're inquiring about a course that you're looking into. Do I get feedback on my work? How extensive is that feedback? Is it just one set you get maybe horrible feedback where it's like you did this badly, this badly? Or like even maybe the feedback is good and is helpful, but they don't give you the opportunity to submit more work, you know? Like your new improved work and then get feedback on that. Like, can you actually get feedback on your work continuously during the period before you get your certificate or the period after, but you've still got like access to the course? Like, is it just like you submit one set and that's it, or you submit one set that's bad, they give you good feedback and then you don't know what you're doing next. So feedback and assessing is absolutely something you should look into. Next, I feel like one of the areas that so many courses and masterclasses are lacking is support. You can't advertise this support, but you're not replying to anyone's messages. I enrolled in a masterclass myself not too long ago, and I'm still waiting for a reply to my message from like four months ago. I have friends in the industry that have enrolled in other courses by really big names in the industry, and they haven't heard a response. Like, to all the educators out there, don't advertise support if you're not gonna give it. Like, come on now. I know DMs can get crazy, emails can get crazy, but if you're not gonna look through it, at least get like an assistant to go through it and make sure there's nothing left unopened. I know for like the bigger accounts out there with like 100k plus followers, you're probably getting a bunch of messages, but outsource, get someone else to go through and make sure none of them are your actual students with questions. Or maybe set up a designated support chat for your students. That way you don't have that situation happen. I actually introduced this recently for my now course because not that I was missing DMs or anything like that. I'm really on top of my DMs. But I was like, I want to not go on Instagram sometimes, but not feel like students are waiting in my inbox, or I've even had a student's message go into my spam in my emails. So I was like, we need a whole different platform for this. So that's something that if you're an educator watching, I would probably do that is have a whole separate platform that you check every single day or every workday or every two workdays or something, I don't know, whatever times you want, so that every student that actually sends a message or asks a question can get the support from you that they're paying for. Because even if you have every single thing in the course, some people are gonna forget things, they're gonna miss things, they're gonna misunderstand things and maybe need more clarification. So that's where support really comes in handy. And also, like, even once they've completed an assessment, like they might still want to send extra work for feedback, and that's exactly the place to do it. So we've covered looking for a course that's designed for the position that you're in right now. So if you're a beginner, you want to begin a course. So not only in the way that it's got the assessment, but also like the lessons that are included, fundamentals, things like that, maybe some business setup, that's good as well. We want the feedback and assessing process, especially if it's a new skill, new technique, anything like that. Support, because questions are gonna happen, you're gonna get confused. So having the support available is super important, and it's gonna be support that they actually deliver with. But there are some red flags and problems that you may notice in the beauty industry with education that seem really good from the outside perspective, but actually very, very, very suspicious and usually aren't the best courses. So one of these is those fast track courses. Learn lashes in one day, learn nails in two days. Like, let's be real, how are you learning such a deep, I guess, skill that has so many layers involved in one day? In two days. Now, just to clarify, I do have a two-day now course. And before you throw shade and call me a hypocrite, because I know how these fast track courses don't actually work, my course is a blended course. So what happens is they actually enroll to the online course first, and then we just do the practicals in two days. So it's not like you're learning everything from scratch in two days. They actually do the online course first, the whole online course first, and then we just do practice work in two days. That's just like a little bonus to like actually learn in person the practical side, but they're not learning nails in two days. Just to clarify, because I know how it can seem a bit like confusing, like two-day in-person nail course. It's not a fast track course. Your fast track courses are the ones that promise you that you can learn nails in one day, nails in two days from scratch, from scratch, complete beginner, no prior knowledge. And it sounds good, right? Like learn a skill in one day, easy done, start making money, right? But really, not only are you getting overwhelmed trying to learn the entire skill and all its layers in one to two days, but also there's probably not enough time to work on that many models because like lashes, like maybe a lash lift, you could probably get like maybe three, four models in like a one-day training, maybe depends how long the theory takes, maybe even less. Who knows? I don't know. I just know nails, but nails-wise, most in-person courses you're probably doing one model, two models over the entire course. That's not a lot. And I mean, yes, it can be great if you do get the opportunity to submit more work after that and get feedback on those other sets, but if you're just stuck with just what you've done on the day, there's no online course to refer back to, there's no future sets you can submit for feedback, it's not really the best way to learn. And I find a lot of students that do leave these more fast-track courses, they end up feeling just as confused as when they first started because it's information overload in like all in one day, all in two days. And it takes a lot of repetition to get used to doing the skill and understanding the skill. You kind of need to hear it a lot of times, you need to do it quite a few times. So just doing it once is like you know, it's in one ear, out the other. And I can say that from doing a course like this first hand. Next are the courses that are overpriced but under delivering. So these are courses that can be quite costly. I want to say expensive because if they're under delivering, they're expensive. They're not costly, they're not like a high price, but worth it. They're expensive, right? They're under delivering, they're expensive. So these are courses that are $1,000, $2,000, $3,000, but the price doesn't actually match the value. So they've got a very high price, but it's not worth it. You're probably just a number. They're not even checking in on you. And that's why a lot of girls that start beauty that do these really big high-ticket courses that don't have the support to match end up feeling so defeated. They're like, oh my gosh, I just wasted all this money. I spent thousands of dollars on this course, but it's not because you spent thousands of dollars on a course, it's because you spent thousands of dollars on the wrong course. So there is a huge problem with not only those fast track courses, but also the courses that are overpriced but under delivering. Next, we of course have those options that are lacking support, especially ones that are like, you've got your certificate on your way, that's it, you know? Especially in those fast track courses as well. It's like you finish on the day and then that's it, like nothing else from there. Because you can complete the assessments for your course really well, but then you're still gonna have questions along the way. You might even want to submit other work for feedback along the way. Things are just gonna naturally come up. So it's important to still have support after you've gotten the certificate. Another thing is misinformation and gatekeeping. So, misinformation, especially in the nail industry right now, it can be a bit hard because everyone's saying different things, right? Everyone's saying different things. Especially when it comes to UV lamps and gel curing and what's a safe manicure to perform in regards to cutting skin, like there's so many controversial things. We would be here all day. But at least in my experience, I try to make sure it's as accurate as it can possibly be based on what I've learned through actual TAFE and what I've learned from courses I've done since. But there can be a lot of misinformation out there, and again, it can be quite hard when there's so many voices in the industry. But one of the biggest issues is that some courses are teaching things completely wrong and unsafe. Also, gatekeeping and trying to like sell you into something more. If it's a beginner course, it should cover everything the beginner needs to know. It might not need to cover like extras, like luxury treatments or for nails, like nail art, things like that, but it should cover everything they need to know to get the result that you've promised them to get that outcome. So for me, with my nail course, I call it a gel course, manicure course. They can do gel manicures. I do teach French in it as well, and I give some nail art tips and tricks, whatever. But it's not gonna be like, oh, now you want to learn how to make the sets actually last. Go buy this thing, you know? That's all included in the course. And I feel like that's also why I wanted to put business basics in my one, like getting clients, because yes, something's coming that like I go into a bit more detail with strategies regarding getting clients, keeping clients, but the student should know how to like at least get started, at least get some clients, at least get some of them coming back, at least price their work, you know, get models, you know. There should be at least a good head start. Not everything needs to lead to another offer, not everything needs to sell. Like, yes, there's going to be offers that I'm gonna come out with in the future that are going to be really good for those people that have done the course, but they shouldn't have to, I guess, rely on purchasing 10 different things to get the outcome that you promised them in the original course. Like for me, my outcome is gel manicures, right? Doing nails, running a business is a whole nother thing, but having those business basics, I feel like it gives you an idea just to start, you know, it just gives you a good head start. But like maybe you have a lash course that's like learn lash extensions, classic and volume. But again, even with that retention example, like you want to learn how to actually make the lash extensions last. Well, you have to do a whole nother course and buy this one when like it should be in the training because that's literally part of the procedure, you know. It's not like you're doing a whole course on like wet look styling and wispy styling that should be extra, but the actual basics should be in that original course. There shouldn't be any gatekeeping, especially to try and get more money. It should cover the whole service. Now, this is what some good education should look like, and I know it can be hard to see if a course or an educator is gonna be good quality until you actually buy the course. So some of these things are gonna be things that you probably don't realize until you join, and some of these things you're just gonna be able to tell before you even purchase anything. That way you can make much more informed decisions about where you're going to train because I don't want you to waste your money. If you want to start a brow business, slash business, now in the business, I want you to put your money in the right place. So these are some signs of a good educator or a good course. They care more about your results rather than your payment. So that kind of goes back to the part where I'm like they're trying to upsell you into learning stuff that should be included in the initial course, like the basics, like the actual process, should be in the initial course. If they care about their results, they're gonna put that in the course and not make an additional purchase for you. They're going to provide ongoing support and feedback. So ongoing in the sense of like there should be a period involved, of course, because like what if you don't want to teach that thing anymore? Or like maybe depending on the level of support, you might not be able to maintain doing that for so many students forever. But having like for me, I know I like to have a 12-month priority support period. And if people message me outside of that 12 months, I'm still gonna reply, I'm still gonna help them, but my priority is gonna be the students that are in the access period, they have the separate app that they can message me on, all of that, and then I will review sets and things like that. 12 months is a long time, anyways. Like, ongoing support can be really good, but most courses don't even have that priority support during the course. And I feel like a telltale sign that you'll be able to tell if an educator is going to help you is that even before you've purchased the course, they're going to be so willing to help you and give you advice, not only about their course, but also just how to get started. Next is they're going to be super transparent about the expectations. They're gonna tell you from day one, like your sets probably aren't gonna look the greatest, you know, this whatever it is, they're going to set your expectations and keep them realistic. They're not gonna give you the learn nails in one day, become an expert, become this, become that. Next is they actually do what they teach, and I don't mean they have to still have a salon and do the service full time, but they still actually need to do the service at some point. Whether it's on models to film content or on themselves, they still need to do it at some point because otherwise those skills that they have, they're gonna start deteriorating and then they're not gonna be able to teach you properly. Next is they update their content regularly because things change, like even though a lot of those fundamentals, like hygiene and stuff, don't change very often, like they've kind of been the same for probably like 20 years, probably. I don't know. But like skills change, techniques improve, new products come out. So making sure that courses are up to date and they're not made like 10 years ago or even five years ago, even three years ago, like just making sure that they're super up to date is super important. But I know what it feels like to have completed the course and be like, uh, like what was that? Like that wasn't good, that wasn't giving, like you feel more defeated than you do accomplished. But I really want you to remember that it's not your fault. The problem is with the courses, and yes, there can be some ways to try and make sure you make the right investment before you spend the money, but sometimes you just don't realize until you're actually in it. Because the course can have glowing reviews and have the most gorgeous website page and things like that, but it might not be the course for you. And I think I mentioned this in the last episode, but some courses could have really good reviews from someone that's really experienced and they learned a lot from that. But maybe it's a course that doesn't have the beginner fundamentals, and you do it as a beginner, and you're like, ugh, like I didn't get anything from that, you know? If you've chosen a wrong course in the past, it is not your fault. It just happens, and that's kind of the problem with it being so easy to start selling courses and start offering education, is that some of them aren't going to be good. And that is entirely the problem of the educators and the industry, not you. So I feel like through experiencing that so much, I've done so many courses in nails, lashes, brows, makeup, teeth whitening in TAFE. I did waxing and like tanning and all that stuff. I've done so many courses and I've experienced so many f up courses. So it was so important to me when I made my own training that everything that was bad that I experienced, I was like, okay, how can we change this to make it good? How can we make the already good even better? And I think that especially if you do go into education one day, I before I even launched my course, probably the same year or the year before I launched my course, I did more courses myself just to see what it was like being a student again and also to make sure that my students. Skill set was like fresh. Like again, upskill training, making sure the content is relevant. I want to make sure that the content I was delivering in my NAL course was relevant. Not based on the course I learned five years ago or six years ago, whatever it was, but relevant to now. I did two more courses myself the year before I launched my course to make sure that my NAL skills were top tier and to also experience what it's like being a student again so I can see the good and bad from those courses in regards to the student experience. And for the educators out there or anyone that's considering doing education, as annoying as that damn course was, I do recommend the certificate for in training and assessing because that way you kind of learn the skills on how to actually teach. Because a topic for another day, you can be really good at the skill, but not really good at teaching it to someone else. And you have to remember that when we're doing beginner courses, we're kickstarting someone's entire career. So the way that we teach is so important. We don't want to just give people certificates, but like, hey, I showed you a tutorial I filmed on Nails, here's a certificate. Like, and I feel like I could do a whole episode on like the commitment of like becoming an educator from my experience, and it's definitely not as shiny as it seems. There's a lot of stress involved. There's a lot of like things that I've like probably messed up and I've learnt from. Not in regards to like my students, but like in regards to like just the way that I've set up things. I've learned a lot, so I feel like that could be a really good episode. Maybe I can get another educator on the pod and we can talk about that. I hope you guys enjoyed this episode. I just really want to let you know that every time that you've completed a course and were just unhappy and felt like you didn't get anything from it, it's not your fault that it was a bad course. It's purely just a problem with the industry. It's too easy to start education, it's too easy to make a course, and not everyone has the right intentions. Not everyone's going to make a course in order to actually help you. Like, yes, we make courses for money, like it is a business. Some people are purely doing it for money. The quality of the course does not matter to them, the support does not matter to them. So I really want you to understand that it's not your fault. You will find the right course, and there are some signs that you can see from the outside before you invest a cent how to tell that it could actually be a really good course. If you're looking to learn further in your skill, in your business, whatever it may be, I highly recommend you to do your research not only on courses, but on the actual educators themselves. Chat with them, ask them about the course, see what they say, see if they're open to supporting you before you even spend a cent on them. The more that we talk about these issues in the industry, the more that we can help change them and make sure that the aspiring beauticians out there can make better decisions when they first start the industry. And we can get rid of some of these really bad low-quality training providers. Because by the time we're done with them, by the time we're done informing everyone on how to make better informed decisions, they ain't gonna have a business left. Like they're gonna be like, oh my gosh, why aren't people enrolling anymore? Because you're under delivering. That's why. I hope you guys enjoyed this episode. I tried to keep it not too negative, but I guess it's just again the dark side of beauty education, and I have experienced all of this firsthand, and it triggers me so much. I'm just like, oh, I wasted so much money on these horrible courses, and it's just a nightmare. I really wish everyone the best who's watching this episode. If you're an educator, I hope you learned something. Make some changes in your education system, please. For the sake of everyone that wants to join in the beauty industry, please make these changes to make your courses better, make the systems better, the support better, the customer experience better. If you've done a course that was horrible and you're like, oh my gosh, I relate to this so much, let me know in the comments if you're on YouTube or send me a DM. I'm happy to chat. And if you're someone that is looking to join the beauty industry or maybe do another course or learn a new skill, I really hope this gave you a bit of insight into what to actually look for when it comes to courses. I also recommend checking out the last episode I did because I'm pretty sure I touched on this in there as well. I hope you guys have a good rest of your day wherever you're watching this, and I'll catch you guys in the next episode. Thank you for listening to this episode of Blossom in Business. If you enjoyed this episode, I would love if you could give the video a thumbs up on YouTube or rate the podcast 5 stars on Spotify and Apple. If you don't want to miss an episode, make sure to hit the notification bell so you get notified every single time a new episode drops. If you want to follow along on my journey, I've put the links to all of my socials in the description. If there's any topics you'd like covered on the podcast or you would like to apply to be a guest speaker, you can find the links in my description. Stay tuned for the next episode.