Shellie Pearson was faced with tremendous uncertainty when she had to close her skin-care clinic due to strict social distancing regulations.
But she has defied the odds and has continued to operate while keeping all her staff employed — by moving her entire business online in a matter of weeks.
Shellie has owned and operated Asthetique Skin Care in Shepparton for the past 14 years, where most of her business's income was from in-person skin consults and treatments.
This made it incredibly difficult when restrictions were enforced, as she was no longer able to be in close contact with clients.
“When I first had to close the doors, I had 24 hours where I was quite upset and unsure,” she said.
“There was no doubt about all of that.”
But her angst quickly turned to optimism, and with a bit of creative thinking, she began shifting her services to the web.
Shellie has now launched a store on her website, with delivery, and she has since received an e-commerce grant from the council to continue growing the platform.
“There’s certain things in the clinic that we sell that aren’t prescriptive which we can sell online, like body products and essential oils,” she said.
“We’re in the process of putting them online to sell, which we will continue after the pandemic.
“It’s something I had always wanted to do — it’s funny how these things force you to.”
Shellie has also begun to hold the in-person skin consults through video-streaming platform Zoom, and has grown her business’ presence on social media, where she has also been able to connect with customers out of town.
“Zoom consultations we’ll definitely keep, as we’ve reached out to a number of people outside of Shepparton,” she said.
“We’ve also done little videos and "how tos" for eyebrows and at-home facials for example, for people who will be looking to look after their skin at home after this.”
On the other hand, having the time and space to reflect has revealed aspects of her business that were not working so well.
“I ran all the figures on our services, and there will be some we won't perform when we resume treatments in the clinic,” she said.
“We’ll continue to focus on skin and wellness, and we’ve got the time to put even more attention and effort into it.”
But it has not all been good news — like many businesses across the globe, Shellie's bottom line has taken a significant hit.
However, all these changes, as well as the added help of JobKeeper, has meant she has been able to keep her staff employed and working, which has been unusual for a skin-care business.
“I wouldn’t say I’m making a massive profit, but I’m certainly keeping the business going and have definitely found new ways of being able to generate some income,” Shellie said.
“I also wasn’t interested in standing my staff down, which is what a lot of people have done in my industry.”
She credits the good relationships she has with her staff and landlord for making it possible to continue operations.
“I think the hardest thing for small businesses is upkeeping rent and covering the costs of your clinic while you’re not there,” she said.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to have a very understanding landlord where we can negotiate between ourselves.”
But most importantly, Shellie said these adaptations would not be possible without her clients, who have remained supportive throughout.
“As the business has been in operation for so long, we’ve got longstanding and long-term loyal clients,” she said.
“We could not be getting through this without them.”
As for staying positive through the tough months ahead, Shellie simply said there was no option other than to keep moving forward.
“We still have choices we can make every day,” she said.
“You can choose to do nothing, or choose to do something, and there’s always something you can do.”