When Yap Yann Fang started up her co-sharing spa in The Gardens Mall, she didn’t actually do any prior market research.
“It was a vision that I saw when the coworking space economy sprung up. I was thinking to myself, how can this be applied to the beauty industry?” she wondered.
Based on the idea, she imagined a place where beauticians could provide their services at a strategic, beautiful location with high-tech machines and resources to share.
“That’s how Beauty & Co coworking space was born,” she said.
Co-Sharing For A Fairer Industry
Beauty & Co’s coworking space is essentially what it sounds like.
A shared-economy business model where beauticians can use the space, its equipment, and products to serve their customers.
This cuts out the step where a usual beautician would have to start their own space with high capital expenditure.
The coworking space is an expansion of their beauty parlour which has been running for 2 years with 7 outlets around the Klang Valley.
For now, The Gardens Mall is the only outlet with the coworking space.
And the team already has plans in their pipeline to open a second one next year in Bangsar South.
Yann Fang’s using this concept to tackle a few problems in the beauty industry.
Firstly, she shared that many experienced beauticians who start a family tend to leave their jobs because of its long working hours.
So, the coworking space model allows them more flexibility where they can work on clients based on their own schedules.
Next, the current industry is in a disorganised state full of price wars, unethical practices and unhealthy competition, according to Yann Fang.
Hence, their space aims to implement a standardised pricing with transparent practices.
You’ll Train And Work There
Since the coworking space opened in March 2020, it already has 40 to 50 beauticians.
They range from multiple disciplines of beauty, consisting of freelance beauticians, makeup artists, image consultants, fitness instructors, and even MLM agents.
Yann Fang shared that Beauty & Co is open to anyone who’s willing to learn.
This is unlike HIPSALONS which only allow established hairstylists with an existing customer base to work at their co-sharing salon.
“All beauticians who are interested to join our coworking space will have to sit through our training, ranging from servicing to the operations of machines that we have,” she said.
Then, they would need to go through a test for each of the training that they attended.
Once they pass the evaluation, beauticians can officially use the Beauty & Co coworking space and its supplied machines.
To me, the amount of training and testing required is justified as the machines used for beauty services can cost exorbitant amounts of money.
It would be best to make sure that those using it actually know what they’re doing.
This is contrary to Bakebe’s co-baking studio, where most would’ve used such kitchen appliances at least once before.
Yann Fang shared that despite launching just before the MCO, putting a pause to their operations worked to their advantage.
The silver lining, though, was that despite the lockdown, we’re blessed with the response from the public and we’ve actually conducted many online classes throughout the MCO period.
Yap Yann Fang, founder of Beauty & Co.
This gave them time to train up new beauticians who also signed up as Independent Beauty Advisors.
Cutting Down On Expenditure
Based on their records, Yann Fang shared that beauty-preneurs would serve around 8 to 12 customers per week each.
Their average monthly revenue? A whopping RM8,000 to RM12,000.
Of course, Beauty & Co does take a cut out of their profits, which will be determined on a case-by-case basis.
“In comparison to if they own their own beauty parlour, it would be a while before they earn such amounts because there are many other expenses and investment that they will need to take care of,” she said.
In worse cases, they might have to put in more resources into their business to sustain and survive.
The rates to become a member of the coworking space start at RM499.
This fee accounts for the training courses, so the price will depend on what kind of classes are chosen.
Beauticians won’t be charged to use the space or machines after paying for the initial classes and membership fee.
Beauty & Co’s space has a maximum capacity for 26 beauticians to work at the same time, and there’s no limit to the number of hours they can occupy the space for.
They have the flexibility to book the machines and rooms as and when they need it for clients.
We’re now working very diligently in building our community of beauty-preneurs that can support each other, share and collaborate to achieve a healthy ecosystem of the co-sharing economy within the beauty sphere.
Yap Yann Fang, founder of Beauty & Co.
As a short-term goal, the team aims to have at least 100 beauticians registered in their space by the end of June 2021.
“As for long-term goals, I aim to create a platform that further level up the beauty and wellness industry in terms of integrity, expertise technology and education,” said Yann Fang.
- You can learn more about Beauty & Co’s coworking space here.
- You can read more about other Malaysian startups here.
Featured Image Credit: Yap Yann Fang, founder of Beauty & Co
