The profession called make-up artistry has been a trade that most individuals especially females have taken up to help people look more beautiful and appreciative of themselves. The art of make-up, though a kind of tasking job, has been seen as a major source of income to self-employed workers. The make-up artistry has since helped alleviate people from the unemployment market, this form of business and profession is mostly done by females with a little percentage of males that are either in the university or out of the university.
However, this profession has its ups and down, also it is a profession that demands peculiar and adequate expert, in order to deliver a good service to customers or clients and remain in the business. The profession demands seriousness and hard work. Makeup artistry is a career that not everyone is brave enough to take. It is generally a rough path at the beginning, but don’t be discouraged. There is enough opportunity for everyone who is ready to be hardworking and make himself stand out among their peers.
WHO IS A MAKE-UP ARTIST?
Make-up artists are those whose medium of art is the human body, these are experts that use make-up and prosthetics on others in the theatre, television, film, fashion, and other similar production aspect and in the modelling industry with the aim of making the persons look beautiful.
CHALLENGES OF A MAKE-UP ARTIST
- CREATIVITY AND SKILLS – One of the major challenges of a make-up artist over time has been their lack of creative skills, such that most make-up artist does not know how to evolve or improve on their skills. This has brought a lot of setbacks to many artists as they tend to lose customers and their business folds up or gets a negative turnover. As a make-up artist, your creativity ought to be top-notch as that is what your services hover around and if you cannot possess such a level of skill, then you cannot do well as a make-up artist in the field, as your potential clients will leave and get to find a better make-up artist.
- FINDING THE RIGHT PLATFORM – Finding the right platform to start your business as a make-up artist has been one of the major challenges of most make-up artists, this is so because the labour market in the recent dispensation is already populated with the services, as almost 60% of the youthful females in our contemporary society has ventured into this form of business. Thus, in other for you to be a good make-up artist you must know how to create a great portfolio that you can use in selling your services out to the public and that can be achieved through different mediums such as networking and advertising your expertise to the public.
- BAD IMPRESSION – As you go along with your profession, it is also expected that people there will always be people out there who are more than willing to put you down in your career, and unfortunately, this scenario is real. The reality here is that your reputation is at stake. These bad impressions are one of the challenges being faced by the make-up artist, these often come from customers or clients with which you have rendered services in the past and they were not impressed with your skill, while less often it comes from a fellow make-up artist. However, these bad impressions can be prevented by developing your skills and making sure you meet the demands of your clients or customers. This is so because bad impressions bring about poor turnover in the business and loss of clients or customers.
- MINDSET – Mindset has been and will always be the first stepping stone to either a successful business or a failed service. As a make-up artist, you should always have a positive mindset. Some make-up artists venture into this form of business with the doubt in their mind if the business will yield a positive impact, if they can really do the business, if there is a market space for them to show their skill, and when they see a reason or two why the business will not be successful, then they start having a laissez-faire attitude towards the business and this already is a bad point for starting the business.
Challenges Resolved – HOW TO BE A SUCCESSFUL MAKE-UP ARTIST
Here are the ways on how to overcome your challenges with following solutions. Every single solution is worth penny.
- DEVELOPING THE RIGHT MINDSET – The mindset, in as much as it is one of the challenges of a make-up artist, it can also be the niche for a successful make-up artist, this is so because in the world of business owners and entrepreneurs it is said that mindset is the first stage of achieving success or failure in a business. So if a make-up artist must or ought to be successful in his expertise he must have a positive mindset about his venture. This is done and evident when you disregard all the setbacks or excuses that will make you see reasons for not being successful and rather see reasons why your expertise should bloom beyond measures and you will see yourself excelling.
- CONSTANT IMPROVEMENT ON YOUR SKILLS – Your skill is what proves your level or your professionality of service, thus if it is not meeting the demands of the target audience then you are sure of losing customers or clients. If you must be successful in your make-up artistry, then you must be constantly developing your skills and creativity to meet up the trends of the evolving society. Most times it is advised that as a make-up artist who is eager to be successful in the business you should enroll in make-up academies or schools and if available get a diploma in it, as this will help build your portfolio and thus give you a bigger opportunity in competing and getting yourself jobs from potential clients and customers. This is a hypothesis that has been tried by most make-up artists and has in time proven to be positive.
- FINDING THE RIGHT MARKETPLACE – Generally, as someone who wants to be successful in a venture, this point should be one of the primary considerations you should put in place while opening the business. As a make-up artist, after having the right mindset and improving your skill, you should be able to find a good marketplace for citing your business, where you know your business will excel. When finding a marketplace you should bear in mind some facts or questions such as; where is my service needed; how many make-up artists are within the environment; who needs my services etc. After carefully considering these options, then you will know the best marketplace to site your business and expect a positive.
- NETWORKING AND ADVERTISEMENT – In other to also make your brand sell out and be known for it to be successful, then you must be able to connect with people through different social platforms and physical. This helps expand your brand and make it to be known. Such social platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc. are very good platforms to connect and discuss your brand with people, also advertise your brand and services to people. This has proved fruitful to many make-up artists and has also made them achieve success because the more public your services are the more customers or clients you gather for yourself. Networking and advertising is one of the key points and will always remain a key point for business owners that want to make a great turnover in their ventures.
MEETING UP WITH THE EXPECTATIONS OF CUSTOMERS
Lastly, meeting up with the expectations of the customers or clients is one of the key points of a successful make-up artist, such that if there is an update in the trend, then you as a make-up artist should be aware and update your skills so that when clients demand your services, you will be able to give them the latest trend, without being disappointed. This also shows your clients that you are a professional at what services you render, thus they will want to come back to you next time and even go further to recommend you to others. This has been a key point in the expansion of the brand of most successful make-up artists.
CONCLUSION
In summary, for a make-up artist to be successful, he or she must know how to tackle his or her challenges such as wrong mindset, bad impression, and poor creativity and skill. The make-up artist must also know how to manage the key points already mentioned in this article. For a person to be a successful make-up artist, the person must be diligent, hardworking, and ready to be competitive in the labor market. The make-up artist must always be ready to update his skills with the evolving trends of the fashion world or the modelling industry. Lastly, when you are starting a career as a makeup artist, having the right knowledge, competitive skills, and dedication are just a few of the key ingredients to be successful.
