Today, let's push the products to the side. I want to talk about our beauty industry, and how understanding the industry helps us all to grow and improve. I’m a firm believer that in this business we have to continually grow and learn! Let's talk about continuing education and how that helps keep you up with the trends, client retention and satisfaction, as well as understanding how to optimize your business. Alright all you lash and brow connoisseurs, let’s jump right into it!
Learn, Learn, Learn
The beautiful, but overwhelming part of our industry is just how quickly the trends come and go. This can be hard to swallow if you’ve ever spent time perfecting a new technique just to have the tides change and the hype go in a different direction. (If I shed a tear every time this happened to me, I’d be on my own private island by now). But on the flip side, this can be a great opportunity to continue to add new offerings to your clientele. There’s nothing worse than having a client ask for a technique or service that you don’t know how to do. To help ease this stress, I like to put away a budget that I’m comfortable with at the beginning of the year for continuing education. I’ll hold onto it until I see or read about a new and upcoming service or technique that I’m interested in and then I’ll make sure to jump on it and start offering it as soon as I can. This way I can be one of the first in my area, and therefore, be the go to girl in the neighborhood! I like to search around on lash artist groups online as well as read articles with research backed content from polls and surveys, like the 2021 Professional Lash & Brow Artists’ Industry Survey. Using tools like professional surveys gives you research based facts that can help you understand what other artists are doing and new up and coming trends that they may be seeing take off before you do. But, don’t feel like you always have to offer every service known to women, offer services that you truly love and have passion for and that you know will be beneficial to your business. This way, your love for the job will always shine through in your work!
Client Retention
Clients really do make the world go round, and keeping them happy (to a reasonable point) can be the make or break of your business. Understanding our industry plays a larger role here, as understanding the standard of care can ensure that you’re always going above and beyond to pamper your clients and offer the best experience possible. Understanding the industry pricing is important as well, as you want to retain clientele that can fit you into their budget, while pricing yourself according to your worth. You’ve put a lot of time, energy and money into becoming the lash or brow artist that you are today, so don’t sell yourself short! The clients who appreciate your expertise will continue to come back, no matter your pricing. Staying up to date with industry pricing for your area can also be helpful if you do have a hard to sell client who may be questioning your price sheet. If you understand the industry pricing you can easily explain it to them with confidence and give examples of others offering the same services if necessary. Knowledge is power in our industry, Lash Lover.
Optimize Your Business
Going along with my previous points, optimizing how you run your business is key to success. If you’re a freelance artist or work solo in your own studio it may be more difficult for you to compare how others run their businesses to ensure you’re on the right path. This is where participating in industry related surveys, and reading those findings, can be such an essential part of staying on top in the beauty world. An industry based survey like this can help you understand things like average time for a service, pricing, upselling etc. These are important parts of your business as they help determine how successful your business will be. When I first started off on my own, I went directly into working in my own studio, and because of this I wasn’t aware of the average time it took to do a full classic or volume set. Because of this I was spending WAY more time on each set than the average lash artist, so I was cutting my hourly wage down as well as upsetting my clients because they were used to an industry time standard that I just didn’t know about! Many tears and frustrated nights could have been avoided if I read industry based articles that explained the standards that I should have been implementing. Running your own studio can be extremely overwhelming at times, so take that stress off by soaking in all the knowledge you can about this beautiful and fast paced industry that we all love, and go out there and run the world. (Beyonce would be so proud)
Industry Survey
Understanding our industry can be a lot of information to take in at once. Because of this, GladGirl will be taking all our findings and giving them to you in easy to understand articles that will break down each section in the survey. Don’t forget to check back once the survey findings are complete to get all the up and coming information to help skyrocket your business to the next level. Have you taken GladGirl’s Industry Survey yet? If so let us know in the comments below, and don’t forget to check back soon for more tips, tricks and all things lashing from yours truly! XOXO- J
Janelle Greenstreet
After graduating with her cosmetology license and working in the hair industry, Janelle Greenstreet was introduced to the wonderful world of eyelash extensions and never looked back. Janelle lives in Colorado, with her husband and one year old son, has owned an eyelash extension salon and specializes in Classic and Hybrid lash sets. She loves to mentor up and coming artists, and also prioritizes her own continued education.
Today, let's push the products to the side. I want to talk about our beauty industry, and how understanding the industry helps us all to grow and improve. I’m a firm believer that in this business we have to continually grow and learn! Let's talk about continuing education and how that helps keep you up with the trends, client retention and satisfaction, as well as understanding how to optimize your business. Alright all you lash and brow connoisseurs, let’s jump right into it!
