Lets Grow! Scale that Beauty Business!
Okay -
I'll be honest. I didn't do it alone. I had help.
It was hard work, but I employed help for sure.
When I first started out, I had an esthetics license, a comical body art license, a one-room lease, and little else. I needed a lot of help. I had no clue where to start. I was on the hamster wheel: I need to buy another course to make better before and afters to get new clients for more revenue to buy another course to make better before and afters to get new clients for more revenue to buy another course to make better before and afters to get new clients for more revenue to .... you get it.
That cycle was doing two things: 1. Giving me imposter syndrome 2. Running me BROKE! For 2 years it went on this way. I didn't have any business education to speak of. I didn't know my numbers, I didn't have a business bank account or know how to pay myself, I was terrified of owing taxes because I wasn't even profitable... It was a nightmare. My poor husband carried all of the bills alone. I was able to pay for rent, daycare, courses and supplies. Then, nothing.
Finally, I started to open my eyes to community. I was watching what OTHERS were doing. How were they "famous" for PMU? What was the difference between me and them? Was my work THAT subpar (it wasn't that bad tbh). Should I spend more thousands training with these famous artists? Would that make my business more like their business?
I ran into Sheila! Sheila Bella was my first business coach! She told me, "Victoria, you could be the best artist in the world, but if no one knows who you are, they can never purchase art from you. You do no that a skills issue. You have a marketing issue. You do not have a bad business, you don't have a business. You have a hobby. You have a passion project. What you need is a business STRATEGY!" Our first strategy call was 100% are and free of strings, too. It was like she was auditioning for me.
(Side note: this woman was later written about in Forbes and tapped to become the PRESIDENT of the American Academy of Micropigmentation.)
In our first 6 months together, Sheila taught me lotsssss of things. For instance, when you advertise to everyone, you speak to no one. Everyone has an ideal client and once you figure out who yours is, you need got advertise to her and only her - full force! This serves a few purposes but one of the natural byproducts of niching down means less RED FLAG clients! Yes, life actually got EASIER! More profitable... Less late nights sweating about an anxiety filled client who was unkind or uncertain.
We mapped out my goals and reverse engineered them! Oh, you want to become an educator? Go out and educate. Again, life got easier! My clients were better informed. Potential students began approaching me. Sheila and I developed my course and I actually applied for and was granted Platinum Trainer status with the AAM --- the first and only in my state! (Sheila was not a board member at this time). It was amazing how much possibility in the industry was open to me.
Once I saw so much potential, I could never unsee it. My creativity was flowing and I felt there was no ceiling. I created The Microblading Institute and sold out monthly fundamentals classes... then sold them in Texas, too. Then students from all over the US wanted to take our course and we moved into the online hybrid version you now know. I got tired of spending oodles and oodles on student kits to promote other brands to new students. I found a manufacturing partner and created BrowSister, my permanent cosmetics product line! I created a podcast and have on those same famous guests I looked up to. I have a team working for and with me. I own my own 4300 sq ft commercial building. I have a ROTH IRS, life insurance, compound interest investment accounts... At this point, if I never touched another brow in my life, my bank account and family would never feel the difference.
I DO still see clients! Im fast, too, lol. Probably all those classes I invested in. Because I see client in about 45 mins, I can see 8-10 clients daily. I see clients the first 3 Tuesdays of the month. Why? Because its my hobby, passion project! I love it. I keep my skills sharp so that I can give the BEST of myself to students. So that I can relate to my coaching students...
Yeah- coaching students! Have done so much with the knowledge I learned from Sheila, she hired me ! I coach 40 hours weekly and help other small beauty businesses in the same way that she helped me. More on that program here.
If this sounds exactly like what youre dreaming of, I am living proof that mentorship and coaching WORKS! I cannot suggest it enough! It changed my life!
