Thoughts About The Beauty Pro's Challenge In Today's Economy
I downloaded the new Google browser Chrome and reorganized my bookmarks, somewhat due to the import feature alphabetizing everything, yea yea I know Chrome has security risks--be careful or stick to IE. Anyhow while updating my favorite links I found a page that I marked from Entrepreneur.com about Makeup Artistry as a business idea. It got me thinking about exactly what makeup artists, along with many other beauty professionals for that matter, are up against to earn income utilizing their skills in a high drama field with limited or modest income potential....unless you're a superstar!
Everyone knows that most jobs out there are salaried for things like a receptionist, clerk or secretary but beauty professions tends to be about how many clients one sees & can be commissioned. Stylists typically rent a chair at a salon to reduce overhead to the owner and make the beauty pro hustle & MUA's freelance from client to client and/or run a beauty boutique at a salon. That is really like "piece-work" as my husband calls it from his Steinway & Sons factory days where there was a miniscule base pay and the rest is dependent upon how much work you can accomplish. Talk about a high stress environment and very competitive!
Doctors today are experiencing the same phenomenon by squeezing in as many patients as possible to earn the most daily income to try to cover their expenses. Seems that everyone complains nowadays that they wait an hour or two to see their physician, only to get a ten minute exam. Where's the satisfaction in that? There's no passive income doing it like that either and they can never stop working or retire without making major cutbacks in their lifestyle. The medical field is gradually finding that there are options like Nutrametrix from MA to resolve that issue.
What Market America brings to the table with the Motives collection for beauty pros is the ability to add revenue to what they are already doing, much like Nutrametrix, its essentially a solution for developing extra cash & future income with partnerships. An applicant simply commits to represent MA & all they need is product to demo and get the certifications, such as the proprietary system for our custom blend foundation & grow the business thru contacts. Makeup artists already have to put a beauty kit together & Motives has it so that they can customize it to contain what they want then promote it to clients. Its really a Win-Win situation but "start up capital" seems to be the ongoing challenge that I'm hearing from prospects.
The article I mentioned has a Makeup Artist start-up estimate at $2,000 but it doesn't say if that's for the MUA's set up and supplies, like brushes, a box or the actual cosmetics or if they mean to cover a beauty school certification which can be several thousand. Many, if not all, of the makeup artists I've met did not even go to beauty school, they honed their skills as sales clerks at the beauty counters for the major department stores brands like MAC, Prescriptives & Estee Lauder. They also tell me that they are taught to apply product for the purpose of SELLING as much as the customer's purse will allow! Working at a beauty counter is all about sales and sometimes its done unethically just to move product and not what looks best for the person. Its my understanding that MUA's that are in the union are in the entertainment world doing tv, movie sets and really high profile events, I can't imagine what they do to get there & maintain those credentials. I wonder what they earn?
On another note, I can't wait for the new Motives mini-site to go live sometime this month. Consultants will be able to have their own specialty site just for online beauty sales which will be great for re-orders. It will also help consultants that are beauty professionals by trade to have a tailored site for them to showcase.
Today I received an email about The Artist Summit!! Its a new event from the organizers of the trade show The Makeup Show that we were vendors at in NYC earlier this year. This particular show is aimed at both the beauty pro AND the beauty consumer!! Its going to be a beauty addicts dream come true. I want to go check this out and see the workshops and enjoy the show instead of working it, although having Motives there would be an awesome opportunity. I think corporate should arrange for that. Well.......either way I'm going!
BTW, here's the original bookmark link that sparked my beauty rant:
Posted by Lisa Moffa at 9/4/2008 9:25 PM 
Categories: Motives Cosmetics and Skin Care, Personal Thoughts
Categories: Motives Cosmetics and Skin Care, Personal Thoughts
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