ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Andrea Wissing financed law school in Brazil by waxing, moved to the United States at 35, sat in an American classroom to requalify as a lawyer, and walked out. Eighteen years later Depil Brazil Waxing Studio is eight studios across Texas and Florida serving more than forty thousand clients a year, with a skincare line on top of it.
This is a service business with DTC mechanics, and Andrea runs it like one. She breaks down the rebooking math out loud: 52 weeks divided by a three, four or five week cycle, times clients per month, times average ticket. Her KPI is 70 percent rebooking. Her line is that a technician who books a client at four weeks when the cycle is three has left a lot of money on the table, just like a car mileage.
She is also mid pivot, and says so on tape. After fifteen years known for waxing, she is repositioning the whole business into intimate care, because the hair was never the product. Her words: it is not about the hair, the hair just needs to get out of the way so I can treat the skin that delivers the confidence. The product line moves from single products to protocols to support it.
The back half is the operator detail. Three marketing agencies, some of them in Brazil at a one to five exchange rate, because the ads became an auction. Meevo, a custom app with GPS reminders, Shopify and a partial Amazon listing. Why she outsources marketing even when she could staff it. Her most expensive mistake, which was not capital. And the 1 percent rule she learned the hard way at seven years old: if you are the visionary and the hands on, keep 1 percent more, so you stay the decision maker.
CHAPTERS
00:00 She sat in the classroom and knew she was not going back to law
00:54 Intro: 18 years, eight studios, forty thousand clients a year
05:33 Repositioning the whole business into intimate care
07:44 It is not about the hair, it is about the skin and the confidence
09:26 What caused the waxing boom, and what is causing the squeeze
13:10 If you are in a group, you are in the mediocrity
14:06 Why she built a waxing business instead of practicing law
16:16 Her father died when she was seven, and what it cost the family
18:53 The 1 percent rule: stay the decision maker
20:13 Rebooking, retention, and a 70 percent KPI
20:47 The math: 52 weeks divided by the cycle, times clients, times ticket
22:25 Forty thousand clients a year, and how many buy skincare
23:31 Selling protocols, not single products
24:30 She could not afford the $500 minimum. Now she orders $25,000 a product
28:43 Tab's Chocolate, zero to eight figures in twenty four months
29:44 Email, SMS, and what happens between visits
33:59 The stack: Meevo, a custom app, GPS reminders, Shopify and Amazon
34:13 Three agencies, some in Brazil, to stretch the budget
35:06 The ads nowadays became an auction
39:25 Hire internally or outsource: how she decides
42:17 Why three specialists and never one generalist
48:08 The most expensive mistake, and it was not money
51:19 Eighteen years in, why she is still doing this
53:54 Where to find Andrea
GUEST: ANDREA WISSING
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amissdallas/
Depil Brazil Waxing Studio: https://depilbrazilwaxing.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/depilbrazilwaxing
HOST: MOSOPE (SHOPÉ) ADEYEMI
Website: https://allofshope.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mosope-adeyemi-b5418a14b/
Instagram: http://instagram.com/allofshope
Agency: https://buildingblockdigital.com
ABOUT THE SHOW
The Margin Room is an ecommerce podcast for early-stage DTC founders building from zero to seven figures, presented by Building Block Digital, a world-class retention agency for 6-8 figure brands.
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