The 10 Biggest PMU Mistakes I Made

Recently I asked the beauty professionals in my email list what their biggest problems in their business were in a questionnaire so that I can help you work through them in my content, ( if you didn’t get it, you can answer it here) and the same themes run through the answers all the time. 

And it was absolutely the same for me when I started out in permanent makeup too, and finding a solution to this problem involved a massive shift in perspective to solve. But once I did it, I became a booked out artist. 

So let me explain how. I came from a beauty background and I had grown my previous business to capacity in a couple of years. I was the highest rated in the area and booked out weeks in advance. And honestly, that wasn’t that hard to do. 

The reason why, was that I did treatments like nails, brow shapes and massages, so if I had 5 clients a day, that would be 25 a week, 100 clients a month, but what happened at the end of that month was that the nail, massage, and brow shape clients needed to come back, and once I got booked out, they made sure they came back. They secured and guarded their appointments with their lives. 

So I needed to find 100 clients give or take to have a maxed out business with just me in it. , and if any clients dropped off the radar then there would always be another to take their place because of how in demand I was. 

The problem was, I wasn't earning good money and I was physically exhausted and I ended up under a neurosurgeon because of how bad my back was. I was constantly exhausted and in pain and had numbness in my legs because of a bulging disc. My maxed out business was killing me, all for no money. 

So when I decided to make the transition to permanent make up, it was because I really wanted to do it. I absolutely loved doing brows, and could see that if I could focus on the area that I loved the most with a higher ticket product, I could save my back and also make decent money. 

So I became the most dedicated student of permanent make up you have ever seen. I put every spare hour I had practising and learning, trying to become the best artist I could possibly be so I could make the shift from poor beautician to successful permanent make up artist. 

And I know we all know how stressful that time is trying to perfect your craft, but I practiced so much, there were piles of latex all around my house and I was always filling my head with pigment knowledge and trying to understand what needles were the best for what. I was dedicated to gathering as much knowledge as I could to turn me into the best artist I could possibly be so I could be as successful as possible. And I became really good, and when I had breakthroughs, I would share that knowledge on YouTube to try and help as many artists who were in the same position as I had been, so they didn’t have to struggle like I did. 

But I still had a major problem that nearly made me quit in the early years. I was still acting like a beautician and running my business like a beautician. I may have gained all the practical skills I needed to do amazing brows on people, but I was ignoring the huge business- killing problem that was staring me in the face, that I just refused to look at.. 

I decided to make the leap full time in permanent make up in 2019 after burning out completely still trying to run PMU alongside my traditional beauty treatments. So I made a promise to myself that I was going to make this business work and I was going to be a fully booked, successful artist. 

But the problem I couldn’t see was that if I had a week full of clients, 4 new clients a day over 5 days, that was 20 new clients a week. Then 20 the next week and 20 the week after. So I needed 80 clients a month, 20 less than my beauty business. But once their treatments were finished, I wouldn’t see them for maybe 2 years for a colour boost. 

That means to keep my business full, I would need TWO THOUSAND CLIENTS! 

Now I don’t know two thousand people, do you? 

So how did I fix this problem and get to where I had a four month waiting list? I had to switch up my priorities. Hours on latex became hours on social media creating content. Learning about pigments switched to learning about how to cold message people on instagram. Swotting up on needles had to give way to learning sales processes, not because those things aren't important, they are, but my business was a hungry baby and needed feeding constantly. 

I switched my attention to focusing lead generation and lead conversion and as the old adage says, you get what you focus on. 

The main resistance that came up from this, as does for so many people, is that we don't get into permanent makeup to make content, and send messages. We do it to be creative and to help people through our art. But once I realised that I could also put my artistic flair into content and conversations, and that consultations were just another step to helping people get great brows it became something I enjoyed. 

So many people came to me because my content had spoken to them and they felt a personal connection with me. And eventually it turned into a finely tuned process that became easier and easier to fit into my days and consistently brought me results. And teaching that to people, showing artists how they can free themselves from the endless hamster wheel of empty schedules, not knowing what to post, panicking at messaging people, not understanding following up, and feeling defeated is what gives me the greatest joy. 

Because I can teach you all day about pigments, but that won't bring 2000 people into your schedule. 

So if that has resonated with you, and you are sick of guessing about your business, then there’s a link to join a waitlist to work with me later in the year. It won’t be happening just yet, I’m creating something extraordinary to blow up your business. It will be strictly limited and on a first come, first served basis, and I’ll be hand picking artists I want to work with who I feel I can transform the most.