The Surprising and Overlooked Way to Fully Book Your Lash Business with Paid-In-Full Clients

Legally zipping up your lash business is the #1 way to maximize a fully-booked calendar with clients that are polite, respectful, and pay in full every single time. 

Are you a bit overwhelmed by no-shows, last-minute cancelations, clients that are constantly wanting to negotiate your prices, and blowing up your phone at all hours of the day?

That shouldn't be your life as a lash artist and professional.

I'll let you in on the fact that every business decision has a legal impact and I want them to be positive for you. Legally zipping up your business is the #1 way to maximize a fully-booked calendar with polite and paying clients. 

Legally zip up your business in the time it takes you to do one full set.

In three hours, you can legally zip your client work agreement and that is the document that sets the tone and foundation for your lash business. 

I can already hear you asking, "How is a client work agreement going to fully-book my calendar with paid-in-full clients?"

The client work agreement doesn't hold the power. You do. When you sit down and intentionally address each of the issues that are part of your client customer agreement, you force yourself to think through how you are going to position yourself as a lash artist and that is where the power lies. 

Here are the sections that are a part of each and every client work agreement that I am involved with: 

• People Involved
• Your Acceptance of the Terms
• Services Provided
• Payment for Services
• New Client Reservation Fee or Existing Client Reservation Fee
• No-Shows and Cancelations, including Emergency Cancelation Clause
• Refund Policy
• Dissatisfaction with Services
• Waiver of Liability
• Warranty of Services
• Limitation of Liability
• Choice of Law/Venue
• Severability
• Entire Agreement

Can you see how you taking the time to customize a legal client services contract or client agreement (they mean the same thing and are often called different things) creates the power in you?

The client work agreement guides you and ultimately gives you the power by legally zipping up your lash business. 

• People Involved - the contract (yes, the client work agreement is a contract) is between clients and your business. This forces you to have a business which means that you take the steps to create a legally operating business. 
• Your Acceptance of the Terms - in contract law, the person or business on the other side needs to accept the terms. This provides the opportunity to clearly state each person or party's expectations at the beginning of the working relationship.
• Services Provided - you clearly state what services you provide. This is immensely helpful to business owners because we run the risk of being vague on what we are selling and most importantly knowing what we are NOT selling. If you decide to add micro-blading to your list of services, then you know to update your client agreement to include that service. If you decide to discontinue a service, you know to update your client agreement. 
• Payment for Services - you state what counts as payment, when payment is expected, and how payment is made. You know to never act as a bank (that's what banks are for!) and you know to never write down a client's credit card number on paper or via text. 
• New Client Reservation Fee or Existing Client Reservation Fee - reservation fees pay to reserve the time (totally different from a deposit which goes against a service or product). This one tweak can legally give you a way to handle no-shows or cancelations that are hindering your business. 
• No-Shows and Cancelations, including Emergency Cancelation Clause - here is where most lash artists report the greatest surge in their power. They think through what their policy is, they role-play it out, and then they enforce it in 100% professionalism. What are the specifics of each? Just answering these questions in your client agreement is helping to legally zip up your business and give you solid power as a business owner. 
• Refund Policy - What is yours? What are the specifics? Legally zipping up your business means that you know your specifics and most importantly you know you plan to enforce the policy. 
• Dissatisfaction with Services - no more needing to panic that a client will take to the airwaves of social media. Layout exactly how you ask them to handle the time when they aren't a fan of how their lashes turned out. Having this policy in place goes a long way to weeding out clients that aren't a good fit for your business. 
• Waiver of Liability - You have a high-risk service, especially for those in the industry that are watching a YouTube video and hanging out their shingle as a lash professional. Wouldn't it be great if everyone held themselves to NALA standards? Knowing what you're legally liable for, gives you power.
• Warranty of Services - Are you photoshopping pictures to make them even more "Instagram-worthy"? Did you know that you might be creating a warranty that you can't deliver on because you're not photoshop? Clients that want perfection you can't provide might be headaches you don't need. 
• Limitation of Liability - Are you legally limiting your liability? Are you sure?
• Choice of Law/Venue - This is so important because you don't want to unknowingly give away your power by making it so someone could sue you in a different state. 
• Severability - This protects the rest of the document by saying that if one portion, paragraph, or term is found to not apply by the judge, then the rest of the document is still ok. What you want to prevent against is having one paragraph ruled "not allowed" and then lose the rest of the document.
• Entire Agreement - "But you said this in that text!" Trust me the last thing you want to be arguing about is a string of text messages. Legally zipping up your business means specifically identifying what places the controlling information comes from and you want to exclude those middle of the night text messages. 

Now even giving you a bit more context about each section is still scratching the surface. 

The fact is that by taking time for yourself, the time that you'd spend on a full set of lashes, you can intentionally think about and plan how to handle the main issues you face as a lash business owner. 

When you know what your policies are, then you clearly communicate them and reinforce them as needed throughout the customer relationship with you and your business. 

Legally reinforce and remind in 2 minutes.

When you have your customized client work agreement, then you have the foundation for your lash business and (in my opinion) the #1 way to become fully-booked with paid-in-full clients.

Let's take a look at the life-cycle when you are legally zipped up:

• Initial Booking: The client is excited to have you do their lashes and books themselves through your availability calendar. You have your policies all set up as part of this process. Clients that are looking for loop-holes aren't going to complete the booking. 
• Confirmation: The client promptly responds to confirming or canceling their appointment well within your cancelation policy. If you have a reservation fee, they pay it in full because they couldn't have scheduled the appointment without doing so. You easily use the reminders from your online scheduler to remind and reinforce your policy - in a pleasant and respectful manner.
• On-time Appointments: The client shows up on time and has followed all your pre-appointment recommendations. Their lashes are in excellent health, they are free from distractions, and are pleased to see you. They make a point of telling you how easy you've made the process for them. 
• Booked and paid: The client books their next appointment with you as they are paying for the lashes you just did. They are looking forward to seeing you within the month. 

Every business decision has a legal impact. 

While this lifecycle of a client rinses and repeats over and over again. Legally zipping up your business makes it a seamless and quick process - much like the foundation of my physical home - it's there but I really never give it a thought because it was done well and at the beginning of when my home was built. 

Initial Booking - for loyal and brand-new clients alike, when they book their appointment with an online scheduler, they know you are a professional. To legally zip up your business you need an online scheduler because it allows you to hyperlink to your customer agreement, consent, photo release, and any pre-appointment guidelines you might have. 

• Client agrees to your client agreement,
• Client digitally signs the consent form,
• Client digitally signs the photo release, and 
• Client receives any pre-appointment information they need.

If you have opted to use a reservation fee, then no one can schedule your time without paying the reservation. You are taking intentional action to fully-book yourself with paid-in-full clients and those people agree to your policies and pay your reservation fee without hesitation. 

You have to have taken the time to customized your client work agreement, so you know what your policy is. But once that is done, you can rely on that foundation to hold the business you are building. 

Confirmation: "But I didn't know" this phrase has outlived its shelf-life in your business. When you legally zip up your business, your customers can no longer claim "I didn't know" because you have professionally told them and that information is a foundational part of how you operate every single day. 

• Client receives reminder email and text with hyperlinks to policies (should they have overlooked them when they booked),
• Client receives the location and time of their appointment,
• Client receives any pre-appointment information you need them to have. 
• Client has the option to confirm their appointment. 

Even if the client no-shows or last-minute cancels on you, you've thought through exactly how that is handled in your business. You may have a policy that - 

• If the client no-shows for the appointment that a fee must be paid before booking with you in the future;
• If the client last-minute cancels and it wasn't an emergency that a fee must be paid before booking with you in the future; 

I can hear you already, "But this is going to mean I lose clients!" No. 

This means that you are going to lose those clients that are never going to fully-book or pay-in-full for you. Legally zipping up your business makes you money. Let me say that again.

Legally zipping up your business makes you money. When you're legally zipped up you refer people to the policies and you know how to clearly communicate them because you took the time to create them. 

• You no longer waste repeated hours of your day texting back and forth;
• You no longer get angry with no-shows and last-minute cancelations;
• You no longer have to deal with unwanted distractions;
• You no longer ________________________________________ (fill in the blank).

On-Time Appointments: The client shows up on-time, prepared, and ready to receive their lashes. The policies you have in place are similar to a fenced-in backyard. The client knows your boundaries and you've been politely and professionally reinforcing those policies throughout the entire experience. The result is that arrival on-time for their appointment is what they prioritize. You've set the foundation for this appointment by legally zipping up your business. 

• Client is on-time and prepared.
• Client has paid to reserve their time (if you have decided to use a reservation fee).
• Client thanks you for making this appointment so easy and enjoyable. 

 When the appointment is done, as they are paying for their lashes, they are also booking their next appointment with you. 

Booked and Paid: The client knows that you mean business and you are operating a business because each step of their experience with you is relying on your policies - they don't know this but you do. They know if they want to receive your services again, that they need to get on the schedule. We all know, even if it's subconscious, that professionals are booked. Just listen to Marcia Kilgore of Bliss Spa, delightfully share how she fully booked paid-in-full clients for years!

• Client knows exactly what to do within the next 72 hours if they are dissatissfied with their lashes. 
• Client knows that you may share on social media and you have their permission.
• Client knows how to take care of their lashes between now and the next appointment. 
• Client is happy and feels taken care of because they are!

Legal Makes Your Lashes Shine.

One tiny little document gives you the power and that power gives you fully-booked paid-in-full clients time and time again. 

I've watched it happen thousands of times and lived it myself in my own business. 

Every business decision has a legal impact. 

Legally zipping up your lash business is the #1 way to maximize a fully-booked calendar with clients that are polite, respectful, and pay in full every single time. 

Take the free legal masterclass and then schedule your own set of lashes - lashing legally that is and customize your own policy from our Starter Package.