How Do You Build a Skincare Business That Lasts 20 Years? with Rachel Lee Lozina

Welcome to She Built It. I'm your host,

Melanie Bar. Building a lasting skincare

business takes more than just great

treatments. It takes trust, clear

positioning, operational discipline, and

the ability to grow without chasing

every trend. Rachel Lee Lazena is the

founder of Blue Water Spa, a

resultsdriven skincare business with

locations on Long Island and in the

Hamptons. Over more than two decades,

she's turned clinical expertise into a

trusted brand and expanded while keeping

science and client results at the

center. Rachel, thank you for being

here.

Thank you for having me.

What is the moment, belief, or

frustration that made you think that

Blue Water Spa needed to exist?

As somebody that has worked in the

industry for 23 years, when I started

out, I was young. I didn't know

anything. I started out working for

other people. I had multiple jobs across

multiple facets of aesthetics. So, I

worked in a plastic surgery office.

office. I worked in a dermatology office

and I also worked in a day spa setting.

And after a while, of course, I had to

get my feet wet and I had to learn all

different aspects of aesthetics. I

always felt like maybe we should bring

this on, maybe we should do this, maybe

we can add that. And have you ever

thought about doing this? And I just

started really coming into my

entrepreneurial sense and I kept having

this sensation that I can do this better

and they don't really know what they're

doing and I'm the one that knows what

they're doing and therefore I should be

doing it. So it kind of happened

naturally. I never really considered

myself as an entrepreneur but I ended up

having a knack for it which is amazing.

And some of the best businesses start

that way when you when you think I can

do this better

or there's a need for this. you know,

the best businesses come from a need.

So, I think that that's another thing,

too, is

there's two sides of the spectrum in

aesthetics. You have your medical where

you get all of your lasers, your

dermatology, your your medical

aesthetics, your injectables, the

painful stuff, I like to say, right? The

needles and the lasers and the expensive

stuff. And then at the other end of the

spectrum, you have the resort spa,

right? the day spa, the resort spa,

where it's a very fluffy style facial,

there's lots of massage, it's a

glorified lotion application. And I was

like,

where's the middle? And that's what I've

set out to do is create something in the

middle, result driven, non-invasive

facials where there's no downtime, no

pain, but you're actually changing the

skin, physiologically changing the skin.

And that's really one of the things that

I'm super passionate about. Also, one of

the things that I'm determined to do in

my lifetime is change the way people

think about what a facial can do. A lot

of people think that facials are just

relaxing. Like, oh, I loved the massage

part. And I'm like, well, maybe just get

a massage next time because here I am. I

want to change your skin. I want I want

you to walk out and be like, wow, look

at my like, oh my gosh, look at my face.

And then the progression of actually

changing someone's skin. That's really

my focus.

That's so true. So, as a busy

entrepreneur, a busy mom, we want

everything done at the same time. We

don't want to have to go and do two

different things. So, the thought of

going in and having all of that done

is really appealing. As a mom, I have

three kids. You have two kids. I have

two businesses. And then I have my other

children, which are like my 15 to 25

employees that I have. To me, that is

something that I'm juggling all of these

things. And it's hard to go run, run,

run, run, run, stop, relax, enjoy, run,

run, run, run, run, stop, relax, enjoy.

And I know we're always telling

ourselves that we need to ease into

things, but it's really hard to kind of

start and stop. A lot of my clients are

there to Yes. It's very, you're laying

down. Somebody's working on you. You're

getting self-care, but at the same

token, it's not a dark room and very

quiet voices, which a lot of spas are

like. We're here to connect, which is

really the other aspect that I think a

lot of women are missing is the the

emotional connection part. So, it's part

therapy, part skin therapy, part

results, part transformation, and 100%

fun for sure.

I love that you took all of the knees

and brought them together. And I don't

know about you, but I have to schedule

in time for myself. And the thought of

putting something on my calendar and

knowing what I'm going to expect when I

show up and that I'm going to leave in

such a good headsp space and with a

mindset is so appealing.

Right. So, it's a little bit of therapy

and a little bit of a skin rejuvenation

allin one. So, I think that that's also

extremely appealing as well.

What part of the business lights you up

the most? What could you talk about all

day?

Of course, there's the aspect of the

skin science and the wise. I'm very big

on analogies and I can sit there and

give you 25 different explanations of

why vitamin A or retinols, retinolides,

what, however, whatever version you're

looking at is beneficial for you. That

lights me up. That's very exciting in

explaining to somebody why they need to

do X, Y, and Z in order to achieve

results. I could talk about it all day.

For instance, everyone loves micro

needling, but if you're not using the

proper home care and you just get micro

needling and you're using something over

the counter just like and you don't have

a real routine, you're not going to get

the results you're looking for. So, it's

also like eating cheeseburgers and

lifting weights. What do you you're kind

of not really getting where you need to

go. I could talk about that all day

long, but honestly, the thing that

lights me up is the emotional connection

that I have with my clients and the the

love that we share and the stories that

we share. I started out in this industry

when I was 22 and I feel as though

I've learned so much from my clients.

They're so smart and they're so they're

so wise and I've learned so much and I

feel like that's for me and of course

it's reciprocal too because then now I

have younger clients and it's the same

thing. I'm the wise one but when I first

started out I learned so much from my

clients and it was just such a like a

like I hate to say sisterhood but kind

of it's kind of like this connection.

You're working with each other. I they

bring something to the table, I bring

something to the table and we connect.

And it's also very unique because it's a

oneon-one and it's in a quiet room.

Whereas like everyone's like, "Oh, the

hairdressers know everything." I'm like,

"No, no, the estheticians know

everything." Cuz the estheticians are

the ones that they talk about what's

happening in their lives, their kids,

their husbands, their marriages. And we

really do have all the secrets. So to

me, that's really the most happy part of

what I do is, of course, making people

look good and feel good, but also the

love we share.

It's like going to get your hair done.

They know all everything, too. It's

great. You're building that sense of

community. And going back to the

knowledge, when I go in, my life is so

busy with travel and kids and growing

multiple businesses. When I go in, I

want someone to give me that

information. And it's great when you

leave knowing because then you don't go

home thinking, well, I also want to look

good and how do I achieve that,

right? And also making it palatable for

you to understand. And you may not

understand the hows and the wise, but if

I can explain it to you in a simplistic

way that makes sense to you.

I think that that's okay. I get I

understand that. And so when I talk

about antioxidants, people everyone uses

this word antioxidants. They throw it

around all the time. And antioxidants

prohibit oxidative damage. Well, what's

oxidation? That's rust. That's when you

open up an avocado, it turns brown.

That's oxidation in our skin. It turns

into wrinkles and brown spots. and using

things. If you took an apple and you

opened it up and if you squeeze some

lemon juice on it, like a vitamin C, it

prohibits it from turning brown. So,

that makes sense to somebody that isn't

a technical person in aesthetics. And

so, they're like, "Okay, I'm going to

I'm going to put this vitamin C on so I

don't oxidize my face and I don't have

wrinkles and brown spots." So, that

makes sense to most people. And that's

that's educating them in a palatable,

easy to understand way that isn't

overwhelming or like 25 steps.

Yeah. And just like going to a business

expert, I want to go to someone who's an

expert in skincare.

Right. Right. And I'm kind of an old

school esthetician because I've been

doing this for so long, but aesthetics

is wildly popular now. Everybody's an

aesthetician. Everyone's going to

aesthetic schools. Aesthetic schools are

almost more popular than hairdressing

schools now or cosmetology schools.

We're seeing like 230 girls a a year

graduating just in our county with

degrees looking for jobs. And so it's

hard to find jobs. So they all end up

going out on their own and they don't

get that real world experience of

working for somebody and the mentorship

that goes along with it. So you have a

lot of these young girls that think they

know everything and they really don't.

They don't have the real world

experience of understanding the hows and

the wise.

Yes, I'm seeing that in tech a lot, you

know, in all the social platforms. It's

go start this business, but is there

that foundation

to really go do that?

Right. It's kind of like the life coach

of skincare. Anyone could be a life

coach these days. And I I feel like

skincare is takes time to really

understand the hows and the wise. Years

of touching and whoops, that burns. Let

me take that off. That's kind of the way

it goes. Let me see. And if you don't

understand the skin, you can really,

really, really mess up the skin. And

even very professional estheticians

still can make big mistakes cuz you're

using acids. Sometimes you these girls

are using scalpels close to the face,

lasers. I've seen some terrible burns

with lasers. You really have to know

what you're doing because you can create

permanent scarring on somebody if you

don't do it right.

How are you using AI in your business

today? And where do you see the biggest

opportunity to support a service based a

service- based business like Blue?

I love AI. I think everyone I think

everyone that is an entrepreneur is

really leaning into AI. And I feel like

if you're not leaning into AI, you're

going to be left behind. I look at AI

and I feel like that's like our boomer

parents that were like, I don't care

about cell phones. I don't care about

computers. You do that for me. I'm not

it's they're not interested. I'm like,

you guys are going to be left in the

dust if you can't figure out how to use

a cell phone and even a computer. If

you're not getting with the technology,

because the whole world is being built

around AI, whether we like it or not, so

we better get on board. But I use AI

often. I try not to do too much artwork

with AI because it's so obvious. Like

you can see these liars that they make

and it's it's got the bullet points and

the little like lotus flower. It's it's

a little too you can tell right away.

Everything looks the same.

And everything looks the same, right? I

use AI oh god so much more than I'd like

to admit because it's a little

embarrassing. Sometimes I will use AI to

of course the standards, rewrite emails,

but I've even done some major things

where I've taken estimates for reworking

websites. I've taken statistics for my

ad spend for Meta and Google and I've

pumped that into AI. I've taken some of

the metrics and the reports that I have

from my business to really collaborate

and give a clear digestible view of

what's the biggest needle mover, where

the girls could improve that work for

me, where most of our money is going

because having some financial fluency is

really important. Understanding the hows

and the wise AI is incredible, but again

for art, I I don't really want to use it

for art. I want to use it for the

accounting stuff, the bookkeeping stuff,

the stuff that that doesn't require any

sort of creativity.

Yeah, it's great that you can use it for

the service piece, but in your business,

the in real life

will will not be replaced.

So, um I don't think this is sounds a

little morbid, but like I've I've I've

spent a lot of time looking into the

what the future of the world looks like

with AI, and I think that no one's going

to replace my job. No one's going to

replace a hairdresser. Nobody wants a

robot cutting your hair, dying your

hair, braiding your hair, doing facials,

doing extractions, doing laser, even I

know the robotic nails in the mall

airport that they have, that's like a

little weird. You're sticking your hand

in a box and it's, you know,

and massages, too.

Yeah. Yeah. But that that's a little You

can understand you sit in a chair or

that that big machine that comes down

and rolls on your back, but it's not so

much that AI is going to take my job.

It's just that AI is going to take every

other job and maybe people won't have

the money to even get facials. That's

like a kind of a crazy thing that I've

thought of. Any computer-based job might

might be gone eventually.

Yeah. It's so interesting to think that

far ahead. I'm always saying we're, you

know, we're not robots yet.

Not yet. Not yet. Until you have like a

robot that does cleans your house and

does your laundry and folds your

clothes. That's what I want my robots to

do. Fold my clothes, do my laundry, make

my bed.

I'm all for that.

Yes.

How are you thinking about visibility

and positioning in a world where so much

beauty content is trend driven or

algorithm dependent?

The big joke in my industry is the girls

will have to be funny or sexy or dance

in order to get the views and all of

that definitely gets views. But where's

the value in the view? If you a million

eyes are driving past a billboard that

doesn't relate to them, what's the

point? I know we live in this world

where views are everything, but I would

rather have 10,000 people that actually

follow me than a 100,000 that don't care

what I have to say and keep scrolling.

The value that you bring and the

education that you bring, that means

saying some things that are a little

controversial, some things that maybe

people don't want to hear. And really

kind of sticking to your views. I mean,

we all have views. You're just talking

about cleansing and moisturizing and

wearing your sunscreen. that's not

interesting to somebody. Sticking to

your guns, talking about what you think

is important and and holds value and

just staying the course is the most

value. And you know, the people that are

your people are going to find you. I'm a

firm believer in that. I've been in

aesthetics since before social media was

even a thing. I remember when social

media came out first and I was like,

"This is like a shrine to yourself."

Like that's what I said to my

girlfriend. She's like, "Yeah, I mean

it's a page with you and your pictures."

And I was like, hm. But now it's

absolutely necessary in this world. You

have to have social media. You have to

post. You have to chronically make

content. But it's it's it's exhausting.

Staying relevant, sticking to your guns,

talking about what you know, and rinse

repeat in different variations is really

the most important thing. And talking

about what's upcoming and new. In my

industry, everything keeps changing. So

having an opinion about the latest

machine or, hey, I tried this new

treatment called Zurf. That's the things

that people want to hear. They don't

want to hear the same old boring thing.

And listen, we can all laugh about the

girls that are with the machines that

are dancing and they're doing funny

things in the treatment room, but

there's educational content and then

there's brain rock.

Entertainment,

right?

I don't want to do the I don't want to

do the entertainment really. I mean,

maybe a little I have, but I I'd rather

just

talk about what I know, which I do know

a lot. So, talk about what I know.

And it seems your community would much

rather have the education. That's my

whole platform is I'm not here to make

you relax. I'm here to change your skin.

If you want to relax, go to go to the

resort. Go to the hotel spot.

Yeah. It's like you don't want to go to

the doctor that's going to give you a

hug. You want to go to the doctor that's

going to actually help you.

What is your biggest growth challenge

right now as you run two locations? And

how are you thinking about solving it?

The biggest growth challenge I find is

it's hard to say because there's so much

competition in my community. Nail

salons. It's like I don't know about you

in your town, but there's I have a very

very small town and there's three nail

salons within a block of each other,

right? Staying relevant, recapturing

clients cuz clients have the shiny ball

syndrome. Let's be honest. As a woman,

you're like, "Ooh, wait, there's another

eye cream. I want to try that." And it's

there's no magic eye cream. We get

bored, though. We have the shiny ball

syndrome. We're looking for something

new. We're chronically looking for

something new. reinventing yourself

isn't necessarily my strategy, but it's

making things that we do exciting and

bringing on new treatments, but also

reincorporating the old and trying to

stay relevant in a world where every

year there's six or seven new fancy

machines that are like in like I just I

joke around I say like in a Ferrari with

a big touch screen and they're $350,000.

And unfortunately, the doctors feel very

compelled to buy these machines to stay

relevant. They look like they're cutting

edge. And that's not my game at all

because I don't think that a lot of

those machines are really what's best

for your skin. They're very aggressive.

And when we're trying to improve your

skin, it's slow and low in consistency.

It's not wham bam remove the skin down

crazy downtime. And every once in a

while, sure, but as a rule, as a as the

only thing you do, that's not the

problem I find is telling clients, "Stop

doing that. Stop doing that stuff." They

go into the city and, "Oh, Mr. Laser

Guy, he's showing he's got the latest

thing." I was like, "You don't want the

latest laser on your face. You want the

old and the gold. You don't want the new

and the aggressive because we don't

know." For instance, have you ever heard

of the treatment called Morpheus 8? It's

a radio frequency micro needling

treatment where these needles are very

aggressive and they go very deep into

the skin and they use radio frequency

heat in the needles and now there's an

FDA blackbox warning on it that it

causes subcutaneous fat loss. I could

have told you that 5 years ago when it

came out everyone's chasing the the

shiny ball but it's like getting clients

to understand that that's not that's not

the be all end all. That's not what

we're looking for. It's it's just

consistency with products and facials

truly. And when you think about it, you

talked about vitamin C. That's from

nature.

Yeah, that's right. That's right.

Because what does your skin know about?

So, right now there's a really big

popular um thing called PDRN, which is

like salmon sperm.

And I think salmon is good internally

when you eat it with the omegas and all

of the nutrients inside of it. But when

you topically put salmon sperm on your

face, what does your skin know about

salmon sperm?

That's like I'm gonna take this salmon

water that the salmon's been sitting in

and I'm gonna start watering my plants

with it. You're like,

"So, but we have this like, do you know

what I mean?" Like,

I'm smiling when you say that. I do not

want to put it on my face.

But, you know, it's it's like we keep

finding this new hot ingredient because

at the end of the day, it's a marketing

ploy.

We have to remarket something new. Let's

take something old and let's make it

new. Right.

But when you say that, I think I do not

want to go put salmon sperm on my face.

You'd be surprised. Some people do.

I mean, I understand I understand the

thought of it, but when it's put like

that, no, thank you.

Right.

What has changed most in your leadership

over 20 plus years? And what has scaling

from one location to two asked of you

personally?

Leadership. I think that as you get

older, I think once you hit 40, you stop

caring so much about what people think.

And also, you start realizing that

you're not part of the it's not that

you're not part of the team, but you're

not part of the the friend group that

works for you. When you have a team, I

love the girls that work for me. They're

going out and they're doing things. They

don't want to hang out with their boss.

Once I kind of realized I'm not part of

the the fun crew and I'm the boss, I was

like, "Oh, yeah. I'm not cool. I'm their

boss. They don't they don't want to hang

out with me, you know?" But I think that

once you get to 40, you stop giving a

[ __ ] about many, many things. You got

kids or things that have happened. The

the es and flows of entrepreneurship can

really, I don't want to say, harden you,

but it can really make you feel, I can't

let this happen anymore. I need to sit

these girls down and talk about X, Y,

and Z. Also, when you realize that

sometimes some of the behaviors and some

of the things that are happening are

actually harming your business. That's

my child. That's like yelling at another

parent because they mistreated your kid.

This is my child. I have three actual

children and then I have two two spas

and those are my other kids, too. So,

don't mess with my kid. You guys are

messing with my kids. So, not being

afraid to actually bring up things that

are uncomfortable because either you're

uncomfortable or they're uncomfortable.

What What do you want to be and who's

the boss here? So, there's that. And

then you said something about the second

the second location. I will say that

opening up a second location is

absolutely one of the hardest things I

ever did. It's lonely. It's hard. It's

also for me it's an hour and a half away

from where I live. It's about 70 mi away

from where I live. And there's

absolutely no room for failure. So you

have to do whatever it takes. You have

to get up really early in the morning.

You have to start hitting the pavement.

You have to start calling people. You

have to walk into places. You have to

really, really, really work it. It's a

really interesting kind of humbling

experience.

because I've been in business for 18

years at my Oyster Bay location and then

I opened up Southampton and suddenly I'm

the new kid on the block and nobody

knows who I am and I have zero street

cred and I have to be like no no I'm I'm

I'm really good. Trust me. Like I've had

18 years to have market share in my

other location and everybody knows who I

am and now I'm the new kid on the block

and I have zero reputation. But it's

relentless marketing, connecting,

talking to this person, calling that

person up, cold calling, not being

afraid to be rejected because there's a

lot of rejection that happens. Reaching

out to other businesses, inviting them

in, working for free,

working for free. There's a lot of

working for free. There's a lot of me

giving people facials for free, which I

joke around is a lot like me taking

somebody out to lunch. I want an hour of

their time. I want to connect with them.

I want to build a relationship, right?

There was times where I would be out

there 4 days a week and I'd be away from

my family and my husband's like, "Go, go

do it. Like, do it now while you're

young. You're not going to be able to do

it when you're 50, 60." He's always been

a huge promoter and encourager. So, for

me, it's lonely and it's hard, but now

that I'm kind of at the other end of it

and I've been in business two years now

and things are starting to really the

momentum starting to start rolling down

the hill, I'm like, "Thank God I did

that." But it was it was incredibly

difficult. I'm not saying I don't

recommend it, but it's it's it's

increased my capacity for stress in a

way that I can't

I can't explain.

It's great that you had that family

support. And thank you for talking about

the struggles of entrepreneurship

because it is a roller coaster. Some

days you wake up thinking what am I

doing and the next day you could have

the best day you've ever had

and sometimes it's on the same day.

You know, sometimes sometimes on the

same day sometimes that's on the same

day. You wake up in a great mood and

then you're like, "What did I do?" Or

vice versa, right? And it's it's wild

because you can have one person

completely change your day. That's

really you remember why you're doing

what you're doing. Back to your original

thing. What's the point of the soul? The

point is to connect. The point is to to

it's love. Full-blown, full stop. It's

it's love. It's connecting and loving

clients and making them happy and being

like, I'm doing good in the world.

That's it.

Yeah. I'm sure when a client leaves

happy, that's the best feeling.

You hope, right?

You hope. But you never know. Some

clients are just determined to be

unhappy and that really

that really takes over, too.

Yeah. That's when I go back to letting

go of the things we can't control.

That's right. It's hard to do.

And that's what I'm saying. It's it's

the pressure changes you as a person and

you become this resilient diamond. It's

like that pressure. My capacity for

stress and then it's like it makes my

children look like a cakewalk. I'm not

even kidding.

Really does. True,

you know, because you love them

unconditionally and you do anything and

drop it drop the world for them.

Businesses, you have to rely on other

people and that's the other thing too is

trusting other people to help carry you

along. We're all rowing this boat

together. trusting other people that

they're going to be doing their share

and helping them out and the delegation

that goes along with that. That's

incredibly hard, too.

What is one lesson about owning and

operating a service-based business that

you wish more founders talked about

openly?

In my industry, in the beauty industry,

a lot of people are paid commission.

That's just always the way it's been.

And it's a horrible, horrible, horrible

way to run a business. I talked to some

girls and they're getting paid minimum

wage and then they're getting paid 40%

of whatever they do. I don't know how

businesses survive doing that. That's a

beauty industry. I don't want to say

it's a standard, but it's it's starting.

It's slowly deteriorating because how

can you survive when you're paying

minimum wage and then you're giving away

almost half of your income, plus you got

overhead, plus you have taxes, plus you

have liability insurance, overhead

insurance, the IRS taxes. I mean,

it's it's a lot more difficult than you

think. That's why a lot of businesses

fail. It's like it's like restaurant

businesses. It's like one of the most

difficult businesses to to take off.

Aesthetics is difficult because you

train somebody, you teach them, and then

they go off and do their own thing

because they think they know everything.

And if they have the ability to get to

the level at which I am, which is two

locations, multiple employees, it takes

a lot to get there. And it takes a lot

of um slow growth, consistent growth.

But what I would say is that don't pay

people commission. pay them hourly and

as they grow within your company, then

keep giving them raises as they deserve,

as they prove to you that they're

worthy. That would be one of my biggest

takeaways to anybody that's in my

industry.

We have talked a lot about business

today. What is one way that you make

sure to protect and cultivate your own

joy? That's a really funny question

because I don't really think about that.

But I've always I guess from when having

children when they were very young, I

used to have this habit where I would

come home after working on people all

day long and taking care of them. I

would go home and I would need to

decompress and I would take a bath and I

would read whatever book I'm reading.

And that was my little quiet

decompression time. I take daily baths

almost every single day with my Epsom

salts and my I do a face mask on my face

and that's like something I do for

myself and I've built it into my life

that this is this is what I do. Everyone

knows that every Mother's Day they'd be

like, "What's mommy's favorite thing?

Taking a tubby. That would be that would

be on the list." I have a scheduled I

own a spa, but I have a a a person that

doesn't work for me come to my house and

give me a massage once a month. That's

standard. Unfortunately, beauty for me

is it's necessary for my self. I have to

look good. So, I need to um regularly

get my hair dyed, regularly get my nails

done, and it's just you built it into

your life. And it's just like any other

appointment, you have to do it.

And I was smiling when you said baths.

Like, Epsom salt is so great for

recovery.

I'm always talking to my kids are so

athletic. Like, there's a lot of Epsom

salt baths going on in our house cuz

it's just so good for recovery and for

that relaxation. So good for you for

taking that time for yourself,

right?

Thank you for helping us have better

skin and educating us on how to take

care of ourselves. Please share with us

how and where we can find you.

You can find me on Instagram. It's

blue_water_spa

as well as I believe on Facebook we're

bluewaterpa New York and also we're

bluewaterpany.com

on our on the worldwide