Throughout many parts of the world, businesses are slowly beginning to re-open. However, for just as many of us, social distancing is still the primary way of life for the foreseeable future. This doesn’t mean that your MUA business (or makeup artist salary) needs to suffer, though!
Over the past few months, we’ve looked at various opportunities for you to maximize your time at home in a way that benefits your career goals. For instance, we’ve examined:
- How to keep yourself and your clients safe during COVID-19
- Getting the most out of your makeup artist training while socially distancing
- Different ways you can work remotely as an MUA
- Ways to support your mental health during the pandemic
- 5 tips for booking freelance makeup artist jobs when social distancing rules begin to lift
- And much more!
QC’s executive tutor and celebrity MUA, Nathan Johnson, has shared tons of invaluable advice as well! Particularly, he’s offered tips for optimizing your makeup practice/education while at home, and even expanded on this topic in an eye-opening webinar!
Today, Nathan wishes to build on this momentum, and continue motivating you to follow your dreams! Yes, we’re still in the midst of a pandemic. But no, that does NOT mean you should allow it to discourage you! You, your career, and your dreams still all have room to thrive!
So, if stay-at-home orders are still prevalent where you live, fear not: Nathan’s got 5 ways that you can still work virtually, so you can continue to bring in an income for your MUA business.
Keep reading to discover how you can boost your makeup artist salary – even from home!
Online Makeup Consultations
This is a practice that more and more makeup artists are adding to their business as a standard practice. By offering virtual consultations, you’re not only providing clients a way to work with you, despite a pandemic… but you’re also no longer limiting yourself to strictly local clients!
Online consultations mean that you can now also work with long-distance clients, who reside practically anywhere in the world. Many makeup artists find this service to be incredibly beneficial for their business and provide it on a permanent basis. Definitely something worth considering, as it will absolutely help boost your makeup artist salary!
There’s also tons of wiggle room here, in terms of the types of remote consultations you can provide. Some popular examples could include:
- One-on-one lessons for a new look. This can be look-specific or general technique lessons.
- Seasonal makeup lessons. The purpose of this can be to help teach clients some new trends that are not only appropriate for the current season but are perfect for their specific features.
- Makeup kit makeovers. There are many beauty lovers out there who can probably benefit from Spring cleaning their kits and cosmetic bags! Through a virtual consultation, you can walk them through all of their products and advise as to:
- What works for them
- What doesn’t
- How to best use what they have
- Unexpected additional uses for products they love (and would prefer not to get rid of)
Group Party Lessons
Have the gals gather, and give them all a virtual makeup lesson! There’s a pretty big market for online group makeup classes, so why not capitalize on it during a time when it would benefit everyone the most?
Now that everyone is working from home and relying on virtual meetings, they’ll want to know how to look their best. This is an amazing opportunity to teach women and men how to create dimension and maximize their features on video!
Plus, this is another service that you can incorporate into your everyday business, even once social distancing rules eventually lift. It’s a convenient and fun way to boost your makeup artist salary while keeping things fresh!
The content of these lessons could vary week-to-week, or even month to month, depending on how often your clients want to gather in their online forum. Here are just a few ideas of topics you could cover with your audience:
- How to master a red lip and find the red that’s right for YOU
- Eyeliner 101: breaking down each variation, and what they all do
- How to effortlessly eradicate dark circles
- Maximizing the dimensions of the face through natural applications of blush, highlighter, and contour
- Quite literally ANYTHING related to a classic technique or makeup trend
- And tons more!
Because many of these topics are so broad, and you aren’t confined to the limiting space of a physical classroom, there would be no limit to the number of people permitted to sign up for your virtual classes!
Start Working with Your Favorite MLM
In general, online events are very easy and lucrative. Once provided with your favorite company’s products, you can then use them on yourself and rely on your makeup education and skincare training when marketing the products to others. The best part is that it can all be done from the comfort of your own couch!
When done right, this strategy can result in major sales, and positively affect your makeup artist salary. You can learn how to combine direct selling with your makeup training in this webinar hosted by Nathan Johnson!
Familiarize yourself with popular, trending videos currently online (via Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, etc. and see if you can utilize any of these platforms in a similar way to help market the products. When it comes to being a seller for an MLM, it’s all about personality. You need to sell yourself, as much as you’re selling the product.
If you’re charming, funny, knowledgeable, and learn the art of social media marketing, you’ll not only make sales—you’ll open yourself up to a global audience!
Pro Tip: Should you wish to get involved with an MLM, make sure to do proper and thorough research! Unfortunately, there are a lot of scammers out there, so you need to protect yourself. This article is a great read, and provides a very honest and objective breakdown of everything you need to know before getting started!
Social Media Presence
Here’s a fun fact: great YouTube videos can earn you cash. So can a powerful Instagram feed!
Nowadays, a very popular avenue for artists is to become an online influencer. Don’t get us wrong – such an endeavor will require lots of time, patience, and hard work. Unless you’re lucky enough to have something go viral, most people don’t become famous overnight.
Getting to the ‘influencer’ level and actually making a profit off of it will require you and your channel to acquire an extremely high number of subscribers. In order to do this, you’re going to need:
- A social media channel
- A strong brand
- A charismatic personality, or likable niche
- A regular posting schedule
- Decent (to high-quality) filming and editing equipment
- At least some understanding of marketing strategies, SEO, etc.
- Something to say – that is, you need to have solid, relevant, and original content
It’s also just as important to learn what NOT to do when marketing yourself (and your makeup business) across social media. This article looks at some helpful do’s and don’ts to keep in the back of your mind!
Want some additional tools to help you find SEO Keywords for your website and stay on top of your backlinks? Here are 3 resources courtesy of SPopli that might help get the job done!
Writing Articles for Beauty Blogs and Publications
Not to mention, it’s an extremely convenient way for you to boost your makeup artist salary. All you need is a laptop, somewhere cozy to sit for a couple of hours, and a WiFi connection… What could be simpler?
In reality, there are a huge number of freelancers, brands, and even accredited makeup schools that will pay you to write high-quality content articles for their beauty blogs! As an industry pro with proper training, education, and experience, you’re a fountain of knowledge. There are PLENTY of people out there who can benefit from your expertise.
Of course, another way you can work remotely, maintain your online visibility, and potentially attract new clients is by starting a beauty blog for your makeup business. That being said, you have more options than simply writing for your own blog.
That way, once life inevitably goes back to normal, you’ll be ready to offer ALL of your clients – near and far – these awesome, flexible services! At the end of the day, there are many lucrative ways to earn money and increase your makeup artist salary. Don’t limit yourself to believing they always have to be in person.
The best part about all of these suggestions is that they transcend the current pandemic. Yes, they’re extremely useful for you to utilize NOW – but they’re also just as beneficial on a regular day, too. By introducing these services to your makeup business presently, you’ll have the proper time to work out all the kinks.
