[00:00:00] Hello everyone, welcome back to the Artist to Artist podcast. If you've been listening for a while, you know I keep things real when it comes to working as a makeup artist and today's episode is no different. I'm going to be talking about something that every artist will face at some point in their career or What happens when business slows down?
I'll be honest, this year has not started off great for me, and if I'm being even more honest with you, last year was not great either. I think it's been the hardest two years for me, both personally and professionally, that I've had in my entire career. And one of the biggest challenges I've been facing is client retention, not because of anything I did, but because of how the market is shifting.
Toronto is expensive, more expensive than ever. I'm seeing offices close, businesses relocate. companies downsizing. And when that happens, the people who normally book me for work aren't always going to be in the same position that they were before. And that's not just me, it's happening to a lot of people who work in the industry in Toronto who are self [00:01:00] employed.
It's really part of the reality of just working in this industry. Losing clients, again, is not unique. to me, and if you've been in this industry for any length of time, you've probably already experienced it. It's something that happens over and over again throughout your career. Sometimes you see it coming, sometimes you don't, sometimes you can prepare, and sometimes the rug just gets pulled out from under you.
I have always operated with a mindset that nothing is permanent, nothing is promised, and I think for me that's the only way I've been able to survive long term in this business because thinking like that helps to keep you on your toes and it always helps me think about the bigger picture. Right now, I'm just in a wave where I'm losing clients, and it's not because of my work, it's not because of my rates necessarily, but because of economic shifts that are just really out of my control.
And that's an important distinction to make, because so many artists take client loss personally, when in reality, it's often just the nature of the business. There is something else that happens when [00:02:00] you become more established. You hit a ceiling and this is something that I want you to hear loud and clear from me because it's not something I realized until I was well into my career.
No one that I had ever spoken about this industry with had ever talk to me about this or mentioned it, at a certain point, and this could be, you know, 15 years from now for some of you, could be 10 years, five years, at a certain point you can't raise your rates anymore. You either become too expensive to book for the market that you're in, or the other thing that happens is you max out the number of hours that you can physically work, because for myself I'm just one person.
Even if you are fully booked, you might realize you're still not making enough money to live comfortably and that's Not a great spot to be in and this is kind of where I'm at right now I can't keep increasing my rates because I'm reaching the point where I'm not going to be charging What market value is for someone with my level of experience and I also on the other hand don't want to be working [00:03:00] every single Hour of every single day just to stay afloat.
That's not sustainable for me at this point in my life You So what do you do when you hit that ceiling? You adapt. You diversify. You figure out how to continue growing your career without working yourself into exhaustion. Being a makeup artist isn't just about doing makeup. If you want to have longevity in this career, you have to start becoming more business minded.
For some artists, that means running a bridal team. For others, it means getting into teaching or education. Some people will pivot into more production work, marketing, even photography. The point is, you have to think about ways to build additional income streams. Because if you only rely on clients, you are going to eventually hit a wall.
I do want to say, this is not necessarily going to be the truth for everyone, but this is something that I do want you to think about. I know a lot of people who are unionized makeup artists, and I'll use this example specifically, that have [00:04:00] worked a ton when they were younger, did a great job at managing and investing their money, and now as they're getting older, don't have to work as often because they have a ton of money in the bank.
So it's not that this is going to happen to every single person. This is what's happening with me right now and a lot of you who are listening are going to be in this situation eventually. I'm talking about it because I want you to kind of see this coming and know what to expect.
I think one of the smartest things you can do as a makeup artist is find ways to diversify your income. I'm gonna throw out a couple of ideas just off the top of my head. So teaching and education is one. You do have to be good at the job to be able to teach others.
It's a specific skill set that not everybody has and that's okay. You don't need to put together a full blown course, but you can offer things on a smaller scale, maybe workshops, one on one lessons, in person classes, smaller size perhaps, or maybe you have enough of a following and you're connected enough to do a masterclass for additional income.
That's going to be helpful for you. [00:05:00] There's also affiliate marketing, which we've talked about on this podcast. And I talk a lot about it on social. So partnering with brands you actually use and trust. And if you're recommending products anyway, you might as well make some commission when people purchase through your links.
You can think about downloadable resources that you can sell, maybe eBooks. , If there's something that you have figured out in your business, and that has made a big impact on how you run your business, maybe you've found a way to make things easier to run your business, chances are others will pay for the knowledge to be able to do that with their own business
monetizing your social, very similar to affiliate marketing, if you're already creating content, you may want to look into options like YouTube ad revenue, Instagram subscriptions, or sponsored content with brands.
Creating your own products could be another income stream. For those of you who work in events or work in bridal, a team expansion. Maybe you're maxed out, you might want to think about hiring other artists to work under your brand, implementing the [00:06:00] methods behind how you like to work and the specific style that you bring to the table teaching this to other artists who can work for you. you take a cut obviously of the bookings from your team, you'll also help them build their own experience and you can build out your brand that way. The goal here isn't to stretch yourself too thin, but to build income streams that work with your career instead of making you work harder.
And again for a lot of you listening you might not be in this phase right now and that is Great, and you may never be in this phase But if you can see this coming and you're getting the feeling like you want to earn more money, but you do not want to work more hours or you physically can't work anymore.
These are things that you have to think about because we're business owners and there's going to come a time where our business needs to grow and expand. And it's okay to do this just because you want to make more money. I definitely want to make more money and I think that's a good enough reason to diversify your income streams.
[00:07:00] With that being said, I wanted to announce on this podcast that I'm bringing back the Artist to Artist membership. A couple of years ago I had a membership where artists could get access to exclusive content, it was something I really enjoyed doing, but at the time I was juggling too much. My client work was actually picking up at the time, I was creating my courses, I was doing everything at once it felt like, and I wasn't able to give it the attention that it deserved, so I put it on pause.
Fast forward to now and after really paying attention to how makeup artists are learning, I pay attention to how my students work through my courses, how they use the resources that I'm selling, I really pay attention to what the learning patterns are, what my students need, and the challenges that they're facing.
And it's clear that at this time, I think, a membership model makes the most sense. And a big part of this membership isn't just about improving your makeup skills, even though there's going to be a lot of technical [00:08:00] Tutorials, it's about building your business. I've built different versions of my own career over the years And I know firsthand how hard it can be to navigate everything from networking to portfolio building to getting steady clients when you join this membership I mean right now i'm in a phase of regrowth myself and I want to share what i'm doing in real time So if you're in the early years of your career or looking to grow your business or refine it This is a place where we can kind of do this together.
In terms of how the membership is structured, I want to run it down for you here. The monthly fee is going to be 15 US dollars per month, and once you purchase the membership, you'll have access to everything right away. You will get access to in depth, professional makeup education that goes really beyond what you'll find on social, what I share on social.
You will get very detailed tutorials and technique breakdowns that help you improve your application skills. Business and social media guidance to help you actually build a career, not just do really pretty makeup, even though that's [00:09:00] what I love to do. We do need to do more than that.
Strategies for networking, building a portfolio, and attracting the right clients. I'm going to be adding new content weekly, so you're always going to be learning and growing and there will be something new for you there every single week. And this is also going to be a space where you can get feedback on your work because let's be honest, real feedback and honest feedback is very rare in this industry and it's one of the ways that you can get better a lot quicker.
The reality of working as a makeup artist is that things will change. Clients come and go, the industry shifts. You're going to have great years, you may have some hard years, and what matters is how you adapt, how you set yourself up for longevity. how you build something sustainable so you're not constantly stressed about where your next booking is coming from.
So if you're ready to build your business alongside me and make some real progress, definitely check out the Artist to Artist membership. I will link you to more information and how to join the membership in the show notes. Thank you so much for listening. I will talk to you next week [00:10:00] and hopefully I will see you inside the membership.
