Introduce yourself to our readers / followers. Tell us a bit about your back story leading from Moving from LA to Denver.  What brought you here? And what led you to start Babe Mobile? 

Hi! My name is Jennifer Thomason. I am a 32 year old licensed esthetician from Santa Monica, California. My boyfriend Kyle and I moved to Denver this past January with our Golden Retriever named Bob. In August of last year, after interviewing with 16 different companies, Kyle accepted a job offer in Denver. It wasn’t just any job, it was his dream job. Of course I was on board with however I could support him, but had to define what that meant for my business in LA. Kyle began his new CMO role in October. Since he is originally from Colorado and most of his family is here, we found ourselves traveling back and forth a lot anyways. 

My business started as a student in esthetician school. While starting off in school, my part-time job was a concierge role at the salon I would hold my license at. Halfway through the program, it made sense to go to school full time in order to begin my career at the salon sooner. It was frightening to have no source of income. While in school, I took a lash extension course and decided it was an opportune time to perfect that skill. Instagram is a great tool to market your work and look for potential clients. It came by surprise that a good amount of people would be so trusting to let me practice extensions on them. It took practicing on about five people, until I felt comfortable charging clients. After school I would pack up my Black Jetta with my lash kit, Glamcor light, and hot pink table and would drive to clients homes. Soon, I found myself seeing multiple clients a night, practically every night of the week. I created a mobile business without even realizing it. Eventually my set up was at home to increase productivity levels. Before earning my esthetician’s license in just 11 months, my brand had a steady clientele built.

By January 2020, I was officially licensed. My career at the salon lasted about 2 months and then the pandemic hit. It was somewhat of a blessing in disguise because in my heart working for myself just felt right. My closest friends from esthetician school and I rented a shared salon space. Because of the frequent closures during the pandemic, it ended up being a loss to rent a salon space. In fall of 2020, my boyfriend and I moved into a house together where I turned our third bedroom into a salon space. There became a point where some of us just had to work. My at-home salon turned into the place to go for lash extensions and brows. It was of much fortune that new clients came in and were retained clients even post lockdown. 2021 was a very busy and successful year. 

With the move to Denver, came discomfort but a desire to figure out a smooth transition. Because a huge part of me wasn’t ready to let go of my amazing clientele in LA, that translated into flying back and forth every other week. It required trial and error to ensure that smooth transition. Step one required consolidating all of my return clients and getting them onto the same cycle. Typically for lash extension clients, they come in every 2 weeks. For brow lamination and lash lifts, every 6-8 weeks. A work week in LA looked like 4 days, every other week, seeing about 8-10 clients per day. This hustle lasted a solid four months. It definitely served it’s purpose. Those four months were necessary for me to figure out a commission based business model. I peacefully handed off my LA books to my close friend and fellow lash artist at the end of April. While spending one week working like crazy, the other week would be spent observing and digesting the beauty market in Denver. Getting my business started in Denver has felt so welcoming. My business in Denver is in the preliminary stages of building, however networking and meeting new clients has come naturally. It has been such a meaningful learning experience to run such a nomadic business and have things work out no matter the location.

My line of work is obviously different from working remotely anywhere. My job requires me to physically service clients, so the thought of moving and starting over left me feeling torn. How do you determine the perfect time to pick up and start over somewhere else? It felt challenging to know how much time is enough time to prepare for rebuilding a business. It was important to switch gears when fully committing to Denver. Being an outgoing individual has been the best thing for my business. Connecting with my clients on a personal level is one of my favorite takeaways from working in this field. 

One of the hardest parts about this move was that my boyfriend and I spent more time apart than usual. For about 2 months, we would spend every week apart and would see each other over the weekend, sometimes just for 24 hours. Then for 4 months we would spend every other week apart. Adjusting to this new schedule felt just as turbulent as flying in and out of Colorado! However, of course it wasn’t permanent. 

Lastly, something that has always felt like a struggle has been to figure out a space that works location wise and feels like home. It is important to find something convenient for you but also somewhere that is central for your clients. Even before moving to Denver, it felt challenging to be married to a location. It has been very valuable for me to take my time in finding the right home for my business.