If you are planning to work for yourself now or in the future, this lesson is for you! Learning about running a small business is a whole course in itself, so in this lesson, we will look at some basic factors that you need to consider when setting up your business. The information in the lesson is general in nature and will provide you with some ideas that you may like to incorporate into your own business.
Pricing your services when you are starting out can be a bit tricky. You need to think about all of the costs involved, such as all the materials and your time, but also fixed costs like your rent, electricity, phone bill and website costs. If you undersell your services, you will more than likely experience financial loss, whereas you want to return a profit.
Profit is the amount of money left once you add up all the money you have received and take away all the money you have paid on expenses. Setting your prices too high may prevent you from building your client base, especially if you do not have lots of experience and you are still refining your craft. Setting your prices too low can also have a similar effect because clients will likely assume that cheap makeup appointments equate to inexperience. Never be tempted to lower your prices really low to attract clients because this also makes it harder for all the other MUAs in the industry as it devalues our work.
When you are training, it can be useful to advertise the full price of services, but then offer a launch discount or a training discount. This way, your clients will see what usual pricing is and will feel like they are getting something cheaper. Then, once you have built your experience, it won’t be such a shock when your prices increase. Another pricing process you might consider could be a staged approach where you do some services for free. To begin with, you then charge for materials only, offer a discount on the full price and then start charging the full price.
A good place to start when determining your prices is to research prices other MUAs in your area are charging. This should give you a decent price range to work within, and it is also a great opportunity to see what they are doing well – How does their website look? What is their social media like? What information do they give to clients online? What looks do they specialise in? When forming your price list, you need to factor in:
If you are doing an entire wedding party, you might do a group price, and you might even need to hire someone to assist you. As a general rule, a standard makeup application will usually take one hour, so you need to think about what you want to earn in that hour (your pay) and how much you will be spending on product. For standard applications, you will be looking at starting price of $80. When you start to get to a ‘Guru level’ of makeup artistry, or if you work with celebrity clients, you can significantly increase your rates.
Did you know: Top makeup artists will charge at least $1,500 per hour for their transformational services—and when it comes to a celeb’s face, subject to intense scrutiny and glaring flashbulbs, top expertise is essential. (White powder disaster, anyone?) Celebrities will typically have a consultation and trial of their beauty look beforehand. This prep time, combined with the hour minimum it takes to create that camera-ready visage the night off, and you’re looking at around $5,000.
The majority of beauty salons in Australia operate on a 30-50% profit margin. This means that 30% to 50% of their sales equates to profit. When you are starting out, your profit margin will likely be a lot lower as you will have a lot of upfront expenses for tools, equipment and stock. However, once you have been in business for a while, you will see your profits increase.
As an example, let’s look at what you could earn if you did 6 makeup applications over 8 hours. That’s 6 hours for makeup and two hours for cleaning, setup, breaks and chatting to clients before and after the service. That equates to 6 clients each day. If you did this 5 days per week for 12 months straight, that would equal:
| Price | # of clients | Day total | Week total | Over 12 months |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $50 | 6 | $300 | $1,500 | $78,000 |
| $75 | 6 | $450 | $2,250 | $117,000 |
| $100 | 6 | $600 | $3,000 | $156,000 |
| $125 | 6 | $750 | $3,750 | $195,000 |
| $150 | 6 | $900 | $4,500 | $234,000 |
| $175 | 6 | $1,050 | $5,250 | $273,000 |
| $200 | 6 | $1,200 | $6,000 | $312,000 |
| $1,500 | 6 | $9,000 | $45,000 | $2,340,000 |
Makeup can be a super lucrative beauty area to be involved with, and it is a lot of fun! If you find that most of your services are for glam night makeup, then consider targeting your marketing efforts there or if you would prefer to be doing bridal, consider how you can better appeal to brides. Remember, if your photos consist of all Avant-Garde and editorial shots, you might be missing out on normal everyday clients.
In addition to targeting your marketing efforts, having strategies in place to encourage repeat business will help you to increase your revenue (sales) and will also help you to build a strong client base. Of course, the example above shows the gross revenue, meaning no expenses have been deducted. The example also doesn’t take into account the fluctuation of clients over the year and if different months. However, crunching the numbers using different scenarios and pricing in a similar way can really help you to accurately determine how you want to price your services.
If you would like to learn more about how to price your sets, access the resources linked:
Knowing how long various tasks actually take you will help you with planning your day, scheduling your clients, designing your service offerings and calculating costs. So, during your training, a stopwatch will be your best friend. Time yourself to determine how long it takes you to:
Knowing how long various tasks actually take you will help you with planning your day, scheduling your clients, designing your service offerings and calculating costs.
To manage your inventory (disposables and consumables) and your equipment, accurate record keeping is a must! You don’t need a formal inventory control system in place, but you do need to know at any given time the inventory you have on hand and the inventory you need. If there is a variance between these two numbers, then you need to order some more inventory. You also need to ensure you keep track of inventory you have on the way so that you do not over order. When you receive your products, it might also be useful to create a list of their expiry dates. This will help to ensure you are using the oldest products first and will prevent you from accidentally using expired inventory.
If you would like to learn more about inventory management tips and tricks, access the resources linked:
Of course, your clients are coming to you because they want their makeup goals slayed, but they are also coming for an experience. Have you ever had a massage treatment that was just so wonderful you left feeling beautiful and like you were walking on air? As a makeup artist, you want to try and create the best experience possible for your clients. Of course, you don’t have as much time with each client, but you can definitely do a range of things to make them feel special.
Especially when you are working for yourself, you are your brand. Everything you do and say is a representation of your business. Makeup artists who are bubbly, confident and passionate about their craft will always be more successful. This doesn’t mean you have to have a smile on your face for the entire service; it more means that you need to create a warm and welcoming environment for your clients.
To create an experience your clients will remember, think of ways that you can set yourself apart from the competition while still being true to yourself. There are loads of things you can do; maybe you have a range of yummy treats at your check-in desk, or perhaps you have really soothing music playing during all of your appointments. When thinking about how to keep clients coming back, objectively evaluate the service from the following perspectives:
In addition to the criteria above, when evaluating your services, you need to consider your own fulfilment in the work you do – are you doing work that you are passionate and excited about? Many beauty therapists start their careers thinking they will be doing a whole heap of services, but in reality, they might be waxing backs and cracks all day long! As a makeup artist, if you do the same old ombre eyeshadow using the exact same colours day in and day out for years on end, you will soon lose your passion. When we are not excited about what we do, it is really obvious to clients, even if you have good acting skills.
As you progress through your career, ensure that you have a lot of variety in the sorts of clients and appointments you book, as this will keep the momentum going. Equally important is to continue your education and always be on the lookout for new skills to practice or new products to try. Contouring and body sculpting are fascinating techniques to learn, and if you become a pro with an airbrush, you might even want to look at training in airbrush makeup applications!
The best way to keep clients coming back is to be your awesome self, provide quality makeup at reasonable prices. If you can include little extras like aftercare gifts, yummy treats or any other extras that can show your clients you care, you will see it returned to you in repeat business.
If you would like to learn more tips for how to build your business and keep your clients coming back, access the resources linked:
Before the final module of this course, let’s revisit the very first activity you completed. Now that you have developed your skills and knowledge, go through the list of key terms and concepts again and see how many you now understand:
How many new terms have you mastered since starting this course? If there are any terms you are still unsure of, or you want a copy of all these terms for future reference, you can download this glossary of terms: