Speaker 1: Now, CNA 938 rewind.
Speaker 2: So services at these home-based salons include anything from facials
Speaker 2: to eyelashes, manicures.
Speaker 2: You name it, you know, increasingly there are a lot
Speaker 2: more services as well right now, and customers, they like
Speaker 2: them apparently for the price, like you mentioned, flexibility and privacy. Yeah,
Speaker 2: but it doesn't come without risks. So there have been
Speaker 2: several cases in the news, right? In June last year,
Speaker 2: for example, a beautician was unfortunately jailed and fined for
Speaker 2: performing aesthetic procedures without a practicing certificate, despite being worn
Speaker 2: by a
Speaker 2: Authorities and then earlier this year, another one offered treatments
Speaker 2: outside of outside of her home and she was jailed
Speaker 2: for performing a medical procedure on a customer even though
Speaker 2: she was not a licensed practitioner. So these are quite
Speaker 2: severe cases, isolated as they are. So it begs the
Speaker 2: question still, right? How do home-based salons insure and assure
Speaker 2: potential customers.
Speaker 2: that they do observe high standards of hygiene, they have
Speaker 2: the necessary skills, qualifications. Let's find out more now from
Speaker 2: one home-based owner. Her name is Cleo Chang. She offers
Speaker 2: eyebrow embroidery services at her home. Cleo, good to have
Speaker 2: you on the show. Uh, I, uh, have to apologize
Speaker 2: for the state of my eyebrows. They're not they're not
Speaker 2: the best at this very moment.
Speaker 2: It's called drawing with a pencil every single morning. OK, so, um,
Speaker 2: I need to ask you, what made you decide to
Speaker 2: start a home-based salon? I mean, it's something that requires
Speaker 2: a lot of equipment, a lot of hygiene practices. It
Speaker 2: seems like a whole lot of trouble, so why did
Speaker 2: you decide to move to a home-based business?
Speaker 2: I think um from the start, I have always been
Speaker 2: in an enclosed area like I was a bridal makeup
Speaker 2: artist before, so then I had a studio space rental
Speaker 2: with a photographer. So it's by appointments only. So it's
Speaker 2: a space for me to do makeup trials and eventually
Speaker 2: I brought embroidery.
Speaker 2: So when during COVID, it sort of transited fully to eyebrow,
Speaker 2: so I decided with rental costs increasing, I don't want
Speaker 2: to pay a space that isn't mine, so I decided
Speaker 2: to buy my own house and then it's just a
Speaker 2: natural phase for me to go into a home-based business. Cleo,
Speaker 2: the services you offer, they require a lot of trust
Speaker 2: because the eye area, they're quite sensitive, right?
Speaker 2: You're handling chemicals as well. What kind of certifications did
Speaker 2: you have to obtain and how do customers know that
Speaker 2: you are trustworthy?
Speaker 2: Uh, certifications will be from the different teachers and different
Speaker 2: schools that I've been to. So I went to different
Speaker 2: teachers in Taiwan, Korea, Malaysia, and after every course, I
Speaker 2: will get a certification from the certified teachers. So that part,
Speaker 2: I think I'm quite safe. Then for hygiene and safety
Speaker 2: is really based on my own standards, so I will
Speaker 2: have I will clean, standardize everything and
Speaker 2: I will wear gloves, masks, and I make sure I
Speaker 2: use disposable needles for every single client, and I will
Speaker 2: prepare the needles right in front of them so they
Speaker 2: know that they get the new needles. And then because
Speaker 2: it's in my own house, so I keep my house
Speaker 2: really clean and tidy. So that's one thing I don't
Speaker 2: think you get in the shop. OK, OK. So I guess,
Speaker 2: I guess it's like a visual testimony, right? They come in,
Speaker 2: they see that, OK, she's doing what's right and what's expected.
Speaker 2: Uh, of anyone in that kind of role. So the
Speaker 2: other thing that I wanted to ask you, Cleo is
Speaker 2: the issue of security.
Speaker 2: So these are complete strangers walking into your home. I mean,
Speaker 2: your home is your private space. I I don't know.
Speaker 2: I have an ick about this. I'm so sorry. But I, I,
Speaker 2: I want to get your perspective on this because you
Speaker 2: run a business from your home and trust goes both ways, right?
Speaker 2: You are opening as much as the customers need to
Speaker 2: trust you, you are also opening your door to your home,
Speaker 2: to them. What do you do to ensure that they,
Speaker 2: these new clients are trustworthy? Do you screen them? Do
Speaker 2: you do any sort of thing like that?
Speaker 2: Oh, I think it's difficult to screen every client. I
Speaker 2: don't do that, but what I do is that before.
Speaker 2: Before they book the appointment, they do have to place
Speaker 2: a deposit with me to confirm the appointment, and it's
Speaker 2: not a really small sum. So I think if they
Speaker 2: are willing to put the money down, then they are
Speaker 2: serious to show up to do their eyebrows. So that
Speaker 2: is my security, yeah. And I don't allow men in
Speaker 2: the house. So if they are worried about their own
Speaker 2: personal safety, I allow them to bring in a
Speaker 2: Female companion to sit with them during the whole process.
Speaker 2: And for their part, because I'm quite active on social media,
Speaker 2: so you can see my videos. I do skincare videos
Speaker 2: with my husband who is an aesthetic doctor, so they
Speaker 2: actually know more about me before they come. Yeah, so
Speaker 2: I think they should feel quite safe. OK. Just out
Speaker 2: of curiosity, do you do these eyebrow treatments on men
Speaker 2: as well?
Speaker 2: I know. So after I got married that I decided
Speaker 2: just ladies only. OK, fair enough, fair enough, fair enough. So, uh, Cleo,
Speaker 2: there have been several cases of home-based salons having run
Speaker 2: into the law in the news. Andrew was mentioning it
Speaker 2: as well, you know, the few rotten apples. Sometimes also customers,
Speaker 2: they leave bad reviews, which may not necessarily be the
Speaker 2: fault of yours. How do you manage these?
Speaker 2: Um, I'm not so worried about the illegal services people
Speaker 2: are providing because, uh, I'm not doing them myself and
Speaker 2: it's quite clear cut what services I'm providing.
Speaker 2: Um, for some people, they do, um, maybe a little
Speaker 2: bit older people, they don't really have that much trust
Speaker 2: on home-based business. So I do have a lady who
Speaker 2: came and then she saw, Hey, this is Homebase. And
Speaker 2: then immediately I can feel her confidence levels just drop.
Speaker 2: And then during the consultation, it's just we are just
Speaker 2: not wiping.
Speaker 2: So then I told her, why not we just cancel
Speaker 2: this service, I return you a deposit, then you can
Speaker 2: find someone else you have more trust with. So this
Speaker 2: is the I guess the worst experience I have. OK,
Speaker 2: and and it's about managing their expectations as well, yeah, uh,
Speaker 2: because they don't necessarily know. So, um, you
Speaker 2: are not only competing with brick and mortar stores, you're
Speaker 2: also competing with other uh eyebrow embroideries out there on
Speaker 2: social media, on in home-based businesses. So how do you,
Speaker 2: how do you differentiate yourself? How do you market yourself
Speaker 2: to be different from the rest amidst all of this competition?
Speaker 2: I think for me it's quite unique because I started
Speaker 2: out as a bridal makeup artist. So that is my
Speaker 2: first clients are my brides who hired me for their
Speaker 2: wedding day and then they came back for their brows.
Speaker 2: So from there just word of mouth just took off.
Speaker 2: So
Speaker 2: So my clients are new referrals and as mentioned, um,
Speaker 2: I did a lot of social media reels. I'm very
Speaker 2: active there. So I guess uh a part of them
Speaker 2: just make them trust me a little bit more from there. Yeah.
Speaker 2: So, uh, and just really quickly here, how many clients
Speaker 2: on average do you get a month? New clients. New clients.
Speaker 2: I didn't count, so probably new clients, maybe 3. OK. Yeah,
Speaker 2: that's pretty healthy. OK, Cleo, uh, this has been really great. Uh,
Speaker 2: stay on the line, we'll get you to chip in
Speaker 2: at the end here. I want to bring in your
Speaker 2: customer apparently, uh, she
Speaker 2: It's Stacy. Uh stacy Cheng is one of Cleo's customers, uh,
Speaker 2: and there's a little bit of a surprise at the end,
Speaker 2: but we'll save that for later. Stacy, uh, good to
Speaker 2: have you on the show, by the way. Thanks for
Speaker 2: joining us. So what made you decide, what convinced you
Speaker 2: that it was all right to get your eyebrows done
Speaker 2: in someone's house? Hi, good morning, guys.
Speaker 2: Oh, so for me, uh, I got introduced to Cleo
Speaker 2: by our very good friend, Jeremy Jumanzi, who's a photographer.
Speaker 2: So he was very closely with makeup artists and he
Speaker 2: has a great eye for beauty. So when he recommended
Speaker 2: me Cleo.
Speaker 2: I trusted his recommendation completely and we're just curious, so
Speaker 2: your first time visiting Clio, what was that like? What
Speaker 2: was the biggest concern you had going in? I understand that,
Speaker 2: of course, you know, it was a recommendation, but I
Speaker 2: suppose you have a bit of, you know, like what
Speaker 2: to expect apprehension. I didn't think that much because I
Speaker 2: think it came from.
Speaker 2: My very good friend. So then I was, yeah, I
Speaker 2: trusted him completely and I went in, uh, feeling very
Speaker 2: confident that I'm going to have like really good eyebrows. Wow, OK,
Speaker 2: have you heard of experiences from friends or peers, other
Speaker 2: customers who may have had, uh, apprehension, maybe bad experiences
Speaker 2: as well?
Speaker 2: For me, I think I've seen like my friends or
Speaker 2: people online that like don't really have very good brows
Speaker 2: and then when I found out oh they went to
Speaker 2: another home base salon. So then that was a bit scary.
Speaker 2: So I think having a very good portfolio before you go, um,
Speaker 2: should be one of the the factors before you choose
Speaker 2: to choose a homebase. Are there any other home-based beauty
Speaker 2: businesses that you've patronized, since Clio.
Speaker 2: Um, so we did go for facial at a home-base salon,
Speaker 2: me and my friends, and it turns out very well,
Speaker 2: and then I also recommended my mom and my mom
Speaker 2: recommended her friends. Ah, the separation. So you only strictly
Speaker 2: go to a home-based business if it comes highly recommended
Speaker 2: by friends. Word of mouth is a very important testimony
Speaker 2: for you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure, because I don't know like uh you're
Speaker 2: going to someone's house and you know they're going to
Speaker 2: close the door behind you and you just never know
Speaker 2: what's behind that door, right? That is exactly my apprehension. OK,
Speaker 2: so here's the surprise bit here. We understand that Cleo
Speaker 2: has somewhat influenced you and motivated you to go start
Speaker 2: something of your own as well. Tell us more, Stacy.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, OK. Creo is like super supportive and encouraging
Speaker 2: about learning and always constantly upgrading herself. So she is
Speaker 2: the one that actually motivated me to take a leap
Speaker 2: of faith and start something new. So I am newly
Speaker 2: launching my lashli business. It's called Lash Mason. So it's
Speaker 2: newly launched. I'm pretty excited about that. OK.
Speaker 2: OK, congratulations. Are you operating based of your home out
Speaker 2: of your home or what is the model like? So
Speaker 2: right now my services is a house call, so I
Speaker 2: go to your house so we can be comfortable in
Speaker 2: our house, but then you would have a lot of
Speaker 2: gear to bring with you, right, every time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would have to, yeah, so I mean, I
Speaker 2: drive and I would just have to be a very
Speaker 2: good packer, I guess. And any plans to start your
Speaker 2: own home-based business? Maybe brick and mortar if it's successful.
Speaker 2: I would still go, I would still rather choose the
Speaker 2: home-based business. Yeah, I think it's just more convenient like
Speaker 2: time wise you get a lot of flexibility. You don't
Speaker 2: have to wake up that early. For me, that's like
Speaker 2: the biggest problem.
Speaker 2: Oh trust us, we know we know. So, we just
Speaker 2: want to bring you into the conversation now. Would you
Speaker 2: say that, you know, uh, one of the biggest takeaway
Speaker 2: or one of the takeaways rather, you know, uh, is
Speaker 2: that you are able to share your knowledge with your
Speaker 2: customers and build a bond. It seems you guys started
Speaker 2: out as a customer, uh business relationship and now you
Speaker 2: guys are good friends as well. Mhm.
Speaker 2: Uh, yeah, uh, actually our relationship, my relationship with a
Speaker 2: lot of clients started off that way.
Speaker 2: And uh from brides to eyebrow clients, so I get
Speaker 2: to meet them every year. Yeah, so it slowly blossom
Speaker 2: and we always keep in touch on social media. And
Speaker 2: would you say this is what makes it the most
Speaker 2: rewarding part of running your home-based business? Oh yes, because
Speaker 2: it's very personalized. I mean, some clients doesn't have to
Speaker 2: talk to me 2.5 hours procedure. sorry to me a lot.
Speaker 2: So that's why she broke me down and we are
Speaker 2: friends now. But a lot of my clients will choose
Speaker 2: not to talk and I'm totally fine with that. So
Speaker 2: we just sit in silence. It's OK. OK, so you
Speaker 2: have to ask, Stacy, so the first time when you
Speaker 2: went to Cleo, you pressurize you pressured as well to
Speaker 2: have conversation with Cleo, Stacy? I'm just a really chatty
Speaker 2: person and I didn't think that I wasn't supposed to
Speaker 2: talk my eyebrows, right?
Speaker 2: Because I think when you talk, it just moves the
Speaker 2: whole face. It just does. It does, it does. You
Speaker 2: know what, uh, we hope that we didn't break this
Speaker 2: friendship of yours, but ladies, you have been wonderful. Thank
Speaker 2: you so much for talking to us about home-based businesses,
Speaker 2: the ins and outs, and what to watch out for,
Speaker 2: especially just in case, uh, you know, you.
Speaker 2: End up with a botched job. You know what to
Speaker 2: look out for testimony always. Uh, thank you very much
Speaker 2: to you both. Uh, all the best to you, Stacy,
Speaker 2: and all you all the best to you as well, Cleo.
Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you. OK, that was, uh, Stacy Chung.
Speaker 2: She was a customer at Cleo Cheng's home-based eyebrow embroidery business.
Speaker 2: It's a home-based business.