Table of Contents
Overview
Managing finances in the beauty industry—where costs are split between labor, diverse product usage, and overhead—can be complex for sole traders. 70Lives addresses this by offering a tailored bookkeeping solution that prioritizes simplicity and tax awareness. Developed by Jennifer Drew (known as “The Hair CEO”), an accounting professional with extensive experience in beauty business finance, the app aims to eliminate the “tax season panic” for lash technicians, nail artists, and MUAs. It provides a real-time view of profitability and tax liabilities, ensuring that professionals can price their services accurately and save for year-end obligations. Originally built as Ireland’s first dedicated beauty finance app, it has expanded to support global users with a focus on intuitive, non-accountant-friendly interfaces.
Key Features
- AI-Powered OCR Receipt Scanning: Uses optical character recognition to instantly extract data from physical receipts and digital invoices, automatically logging expenses and organizing them for tax compliance.
- Voice-to-Text Sales Entry: Enables busy professionals to log income on-the-go by speaking directly to the app, reducing the manual effort of typing in treatment details between client appointments.
- Smart Treatment Pricing Calculator: A specialized tool that factors in product consumption, overhead costs, labor time, and desired profit margins to recommend optimal service prices.
- Real-Time Tax and VAT Estimation: Automatically calculates estimated tax liabilities (including VAT for applicable regions) as income and expenses are logged, providing an up-to-date view of take-home pay.
- Treatment Profitability Insights: Breaks down the actual profit earned per service type, allowing users to identify which treatments are most lucrative and which are costing more in supplies than they earn.
- Organized Financial Reporting: Generates clean, accountant-ready reports for year-end filings, ensuring all deductions are captured and records are stored securely in one location.
How It Works
The app functions by centralizing a user’s financial inputs into a beauty-specific dashboard. When a professional performs a service, they can log it via voice or text. For expenses, they simply snap a photo of their receipt, and the AI categorizes the cost (e.g., “Backbar Supplies” or “Rent”). The engine then cross-references these figures against the user’s pre-set tax rules and treatment costs. The resulting dashboard provides three key numbers at a glance: Gross Income, Total Expenses, and Estimated Tax Due. This continuous calculation ensures the “Tax Awareness” mentioned in the founder’s methodology is maintained throughout the year rather than just during filing season.
Use Cases
- Independent Solopreneurs: Nail technicians, lash artists, and mobile therapists who need to manage their own bookkeeping without hiring a dedicated accountant.
- Booth Renters and Salon Suites: Professionals who rent space within a larger salon and must track their individual business expenses and profitability separately.
- Small Salon Owners: Boutique owners who need to monitor treatment costs across a small team and ensure product usage is being priced correctly.
- Tax Preparation Efficiency: Users who want to avoid the year-end stress of sorting through a “shoebox of receipts” by maintaining a digital, organized audit trail.
Pros & Cons
Advantages
- Industry-Specific Logic: Factors in “hidden” costs like product waste and treatment-specific consumables that generic accounting software often misses.
- Simplified Tax Preparedness: The real-time tax estimate prevents overspending of money that belongs to the tax authorities, a common pitfall for new freelancers.
- User-Friendly for Non-Techies: Avoids complex accounting terminology, making it accessible for professionals who find traditional bookkeeping overwhelming.
Disadvantages
- Specific Regional Focus: While expanding, the app’s initial focus on Irish and UK-style tax structures means users in other jurisdictions should verify local compliance.
- Limited Booking Integration: Primarily a finance tool; it does not currently replace full-service booking and client management platforms like GlossGenius.
How Does It Compare?
70Lives occupies a niche as a “Finance-First” beauty app, whereas most competitors are “Booking-First” platforms.
GlossGenius
GlossGenius is an all-in-one management platform that excels at booking, client relationship management (CRM), and marketing. While it includes expense tracking, its primary value is in its beautiful booking interface and automated marketing. 70Lives is often used as a more specialized financial companion for those who find the accounting side of all-in-one apps to be too basic or not focused enough on tax estimation.
Fresha
Fresha is known for its free subscription model and its consumer marketplace where new clients can find salons. It offers robust POS and inventory features. However, Fresha’s focus is on driving appointments and managing the salon floor. 70Lives differentiates itself by focusing on the “back-office” accounting and personal tax awareness for the individual professional, rather than just the transaction at the front desk.
Vagaro
Vagaro is a massive enterprise-level platform with features for everything from payroll to live streaming classes. It is highly powerful for large salons with many employees. 70Lives targets the opposite end of the market: the independent solopreneur who needs a lightweight, focused tool specifically for their own bookkeeping and pricing confidence without the complexity of a full salon management suite.
QuickBooks Self-Employed
QuickBooks is the global standard for general bookkeeping. It offers superior bank feed integrations and established tax filing connections. However, it is a generic tool. It cannot tell a lash technician if they are undercharging for a “Mega Volume” set based on glue and lash consumption. 70Lives provides the beauty-specific “Smart Pricing” and treatment logic that QuickBooks lacks.
Final Thoughts
70Lives represents a shift toward specialized fintech for niche industries. By providing tools like OCR and voice entry that fit into the high-speed environment of a salon, it lowers the barrier to financial literacy for beauty professionals. While it may not replace a dedicated booking system for those who need online scheduling, its specialized pricing and tax tools make it an essential secondary tool for anyone serious about the long-term profitability and legal compliance of their beauty business.