Ready to transition from a beautician to a trainer? Here’s everything you need to know to get you there!

There are many reasons to become a trainer in the beauty industry – to progress in your career, to expand your business and expertise or to pass on your knowledge and experiences to others. Making the decision to take the next step is a big one and you should understand the exact process of getting there before you start – as it does take dedication!

Making the decision

When making that initial decision, you need to consider your motivations in becoming a trainer. Are you passionate about the industry and the treatments you will be teaching? Do you want to share your knowledge and expertise with others? Do you feel that there is a need for better quality training in your industry/area? Having the right motivation is what will get you through the training and preparation required to become a trainer – as it isn’t something you can do overnight.

Knowing your motivations is important, but it’s also good to consider your doubts/concerns about starting the next step. Do you need to improve your current knowledge by taking some extra courses before starting the teacher training course? Do you have enough industry knowledge & experience to teach? Your students will be expecting a level of experience to be passed on to them, so it’s important to be confident with your level of knowledge and experience before you start teaching. You want to make sure you have experienced enough types of ‘different’ clients, and some that have problems occur, so that you can advise your students based on your experience when they have similar problems arise.

Another concern may be the time and commitment required to become a trainer. Most courses will take you at least a few solid weeks to complete, whether they are in-person or online. In some cases, it may take longer – so ensuring you are aware and prepared for this is important before starting. Once you have qualified, it also takes a lot of time and dedication to prep your courses too, so make sure to consider this when making your decision.

Preparing for the role

It is important to understand the journey you are about to embark on before starting, as it isn’t as easy as one might think! However, with a bit of determination and dedication, there’s no reason why you couldn’t take the leap to become a trainer.

So firstly, you would need to consider whether you are ready to train people with your current level of knowledge. Do you feel prepared to answer most questions about the treatment that students could throw your way? Are you confident in your knowledge? If the answer is no to these questions, then that is ok! It just means that you should look at building your current knowledge with some additional courses/masterclasses. Increasing your knowledge and industry experience will only make you a better trainer. With things constantly changing within the industry, it is key to keep your knowledge current, and taking masterclasses or accredited courses will help you do this.

Pinkfishes has a few different e-learning online masterclasses that you can use to top up your knowledge or take a look at our in-person courses and mentoring sessions for a more in-depth session.

Once you are happy with your level of knowledge and feel confident to start passing this on – it’s now time to get your teaching qualification. Here at Pinkfishes, you can book our online Level 3 AET training course to complete the qualification at your own pace. This course is 120 credits, which means it will take you around 120 hours of studying to complete. With our course there’s no time limits, and you will have access to the content as soon as you purchase the course. So, you can work through the content at your own pace, when it suits you, with no pressure to hit any deadlines.

Our Level 3 AET (Award in Education and Training) course is a nationally recognised accredited course (accredited by ABT). Once passed, you will be able to gain teacher insurance cover within the UK and teach 16+ aged students anything that you have a qualification in within the beauty industry (nails, lashes, waxing, hair, makeup etc….).

So, what can you expect from our AET course?

Firstly, you will have all the content to work your way through, which will give you all the knowledge and information you need to teach and assess effectively and plan your lessons. This section will give you everything you need to answer the essay questions. The ‘essay question’ section isn’t as scary as it seems – there are 28 questions in total, and each answer needs to have around 200 words. So, you don’t need to worry about writing lots of big, long essays – just make sure you are getting across the information required within your answers.

Then you will need to complete a mini lesson plan that you will use for your micro-teach session. This is a teaching session that you will record and submit to us, lasting around 15-30 minutes. You will need to plan this out like you would a normal lesson, and there are templates and information to help you do this. It can be on any topic you wish but just make sure it is something you feel confident in teaching. You will need to find 2 friends/family members for the microteach session, and you will be expected to record the whole session (all 3 of you on camera). So, make sure you are prepared for this before starting the course!

Finally, you will need to complete some evaluation forms (2 peer & 1 self) which means that you and the ‘students’ from your session will be answering some questions about your session/performance. The questions will get you thinking about what things you did well, and what you could improve on.

You will be required to submit;

• X1 Essay Question document
• X1 Lesson Plan
• X1 Micro-teach video
• X1 Self-evaluation form
• X2 Peer-evaluation form

After submission, you will receive feedback on all elements you submit. You’ll never be ‘failed’ on the course – we will work with you, providing feedback and extra support on making improvements until you pass. There are no deadlines, so it can take as long as it takes.

As much as this is an online, individual learning course, our trainers are always on hand to provide extra support and guidance throughout the course. You can call us anytime, or for more in-depth support, you can schedule a video call with us to go over information in more detail.

So, now you have all the information – are you ready to get your teacher training qualification?

Developing your course

Now you are a qualified trainer, it’s time to start thinking about developing your course. There are a number of elements to think about to ensure you can provide a high-level course for your students.

Manuals

When developing your course, a manual is a crucial tool to give out to your students. It includes all the information required for the course and is a great tool to have your students refer to when they are at home. Make sure to check with your accreditor if there are specific requirements that your manuals need to include for the course. These will need to be approved by your chosen accreditor.

If you are unsure how to make a start, white-label manuals can be a useful tool to help you to make a start on your manuals. There are a lot of different ones available out there, and it can give you a great starting point to base your manual from. Just make sure to leave your own stamp on them. You can add your own branding, and different tips and tricks that you may have learnt along the way that will make your manual specific to you as a trainer, as well as your course.

Lesson plan

You will also need to develop a lesson plan for your course. Think about the different courses you have been on, the content you want to cover throughout the lesson, and how long you want the course to last. Make sure to be realistic with your timings to allow yourself enough time to cover the required content for the lesson. Remember that after your first lesson, you can tweak and improve your lesson plan based on how the lesson went, continuously improving it until you have a session that works well.

Materials

Think about what materials you will need for the course. Your students will need pens to write notes with. Then depending on the course you are teaching, you may need; beds, tables, lights, couch roll, mannequins, gloves, spare tweezers etc. You need to take this into account when planning your course, to make sure that you are well prepared to provide your students with the equipment they need to sit the course.

Kits

Some courses on the market provide kits included within the course price, others ask their students to purchase the kit beforehand and bring it on the day while some others will provide everything needed on the day and then recommend some products for your students to purchase afterwards. The decision is completely yours and you need to weigh up which option will be more desirable for your students as well as what will work better for you.

If you did decide to provide a kit for your students, Pinkfishes offer customised kits at discounted rates for trainers – so make sure to consider this when making your decision on kits. The process is super easy – you can choose exactly what you want in your kit, meaning that you give your students all the products that work best for you. It’s always easier to teach students to use products you are familiar with, so make sure to bare this in mind when selecting your kits!

Along with choosing your kit contents, you will also be set up with a discount code that you can pass on to your students so that they can get discounted products when they need to top up their kit. This discount code is linked to you and will earn you commission on each order placed using your code – so is a great side earner too.

Once you have chosen your kit, only you will be able to access this through the customised kit section on the website – there are no minimum orders so you can order your kits as and when your student’s book with you.

Accreditation

You will also need to get your course accredited with an accrediting body – they will ensure that you are meeting specific industry standards and requirements for your course. There are a lot of options out there in the beauty industry, so its important to get as much information as possible to ensure you are choosing the one that is best for you. Some examples are ABT, Professional Beauty Direct, and The Beauty Guild.

Most accreditors will have an initial sign-up fee (sometimes per course) and then a yearly fee to keep your accreditation with them. It isn’t usually too expensive – but make sure to take this into consideration when figuring out what your initial set up cost will be.

Course Price

Finally, you will need to think about what price you are going to charge for your course and there are many things to consider: Are you providing a kit?; What sort of qualification are you providing?; What is the duration of the course?; What overheads do you have?; What costs have gone in to developing the course?

Remember you aren’t just charging the student for your physical time for the duration of the course, you also need to consider the time taken to mark case studies, to develop the course, and all the time you spent building your knowledge and experience that you are passing on to your students. It’s important to get the pricing of your course right; too expensive and you will outprice yourself in your local market – meaning no bookings, or too cheap and it won’t be worth your time!

Rewards and Challenges

Becoming a trainer isn’t for everyone, and that is the honest truth. You must have a level of passion for the topic you are teaching, and a lot of patience to pass your knowledge on to complete beginners. There are so many rewards and positives that come with the job, but there are also a lot of challenges too. So, let’s run through some of them to give you a better idea of what you might be getting in to…

Rewards

• Seeing students succeed in their own business
• Building a supportive community of aspiring beauticians
• Expanding your own expertise through teaching and feedback
• Helping someone start a new career or change careers
• Seeing people happy to achieve a new skill
• A very social job

Challenges

• Managing difficult students & misunderstandings
• Managing expectations and maintaining professionalism
• Continuously updating curriculum and industry knowledge
• Imposter syndrome

Advice

So, if you are still looking to become a trainer in the beauty industry, here is some advice from us here at Pinkfishes…

1. Gain solid knowledge and a good amount of experience before starting. Make sure you are highly confident in your field before developing your course to ensure it is high quality knowledge that you are passing on.
2. Develop communication skills – practice teaching methods and how to explain things. Talking from experience, knowing how to do something and explaining how to do something are two completely different things. So, make sure to practice this before your first course, to ensure you are getting your points across to your students effectively.
3. Be patient, encouraging and open to learning from your students. Learning a new skill can be so daunting for a lot of people, so being patient and encouraging to your students can make the biggest difference when starting their career. You want your students to feel comfortable in their environment, as this is when the best learning takes place.

Hopefully this blog has helped you to understand what you would be signing up for if you are wanting to become a trainer in the beauty industry.

If you have any questions, make sure to get in touch by calling us on 01245475912 or emailing us on training@pinkfishes.com for more information!