Beauty Trainer - a rational choice in an irrational world
Background and idols
During the past decade, we have seen thousands of women who wish to become beauty artists and enjoy all the advantages of becoming financially independent, masters of their own time, enjoying larger income, more variety in life, and freedom in every sense of the word. The truth is: that it is considerably harder to do than many training providers make it look like. The following is the truth about the situation.
How is beauty training usually sold? There is one common denominator for various beauty training programs (especially brow pigmentation, microblading, eyeliner, lips, etc.) - those are sold by cultivating a fantasy that the participant can become successful as a result of the training. It is done by presenting the trainer and other artists as role models for such success. Obviously, it is essential to demonstrate the possibility of achieving tremendous financial success in the field; however, that makes the participant psychologically primed to believe that the same could happen to her. The truth is considerably harsher.
Let us focus on something other than the fact that the best beauty trainers have rare natural artistic talent. Why? Because it does not help us at the moment, as acknowledging the incredible singing and songwriting skills of Freddy Mercury or Lady Gaga does not make one a better singer. In often cases, the opposite is true. When one compares herself to a person who is naturally exceptionally gifted, one might lose the drive to try. Let us instead explore what can be done in the practical sense.
Key idea: While natural talent is undoubtedly important for top professionals, it shouldn't deter you from pursuing your goals or lead you to compare your current abilities to their years-long accomplishments. Success takes time and effort, so focus on your own journey.
Dream vs. Reality
What is also accurate and has objective value for a person's dream about the career of a beauty artist is that most trainers and role models had started at different times when the situation was very different. If the trainer has years of experience, the beginning of her career falls into an era that can hardly be compared to the present. If she is part of a larger system of some international brand, it can be compared to being one of the founders of multi-level marketing systems. Then one stands a chance of reaching the system's top tiers; if one joins too late, it is mathematically unrealistic to achieve such a position. There is nothing wrong with that - it is the essence of capitalism in the truest sense of the word. Namely, if you are at the top and have power in the system, then you can do what all good capitalists do - give permission for others to progress; however, clearly, you do it only if it is beneficial for yourself. In practical terms, the starting artist would have to invest more money in the system than she will ever get back. There might be better ways to start.
If the trainer, as a role model, made it on her own, not part of a larger network, she probably did it when the market situation was different. There are times when some beauty procedures become boomingly popular and can have a two-digit growth over months. That happened, for example, to microblading at the end of 2015. If one entered the field, she might have enjoyed tremendous success because of the insane market growth. There were days when active artists made thousands of euros per day just doing the procedures to satisfy the demand that exceeded supply in the region at that time. In such circumstances, even artists with relatively moderate skill-level could become successful, or at least they got an absurd number of chances to make it. The point of that argument is simple; it is implausible that those times will ever come back, at least not in the same shape or form.
So what exactly does it mean? It means that one should first and foremost keep a cool head when thinking about becoming a beauty artist and choosing her beauty trainer. The incredible success of role models has little practical value at the present moment, and in this sense, the world of beauty and life, in general, is entirely irrational. That objective set of reasons the success of the idols is based on is the first thing one should acknowledge.
Key idea: The paths to success taken by highly successful professionals often began under different circumstances in the past. Therefore, trying to replicate their strategies may not be fruitful in the present. Instead, focus on crafting a strategy tailored to meet the current demands and needs of the marketplace.
A real-life realistic scenario
However, it does not mean there is no way to become a successful artist today. There most certainly is, but the path to success is different than it was before. What is the realistic way today to get started? One should start with rather rational analyses: what probable demand is there for the beauty procedures one plans to provide locally? Honest research is often the best way to get started. Still, one should also take the initial results with a grain of salt. Namely, the imminent fact is that practically in every region, when it comes to profiting from beauty services, the Pareto principle functions live and well. That is nothing new, already hundreds of years before Pareto, that fact was phrased the following way: "For to everyone who has will more be given, and she will have abundance; but from her who has not, even what he has will be taken away." It means that 20% of artists make 80% of the money. Let us not stop there; out of the 20% making the most money, we also 20% making 80%; thus, we can say that four artists out of 100 take over 60% of the overall profit. That is insane, may one think now; however, that is true. Usually, trainers with huge experience and, therefore, in a sense of crude capitalism, those people have earned their success.
What to make of it? One should acknowledge two important facts: first, it might be at first unrealistic to aspire to become one of the rare ones who will become very rich in the beauty business, and if one does the calculations, there is no certainty whatsoever that one would make the same money as active local artists are making. There is no seat in the first 20% reserved for new artists that want to enter the business; there is no fair or equal distribution of clients. 20% of the artists take 80% of the money, and the sad reality is that nobody of those wants to give up their share for the newcomer.
However, the 20% who take the 80% is what one has to target to make it. The good aspect is that, at least to some extent, the potential customer base can be redefined when one begins her career - if one is willing to move around and cooperate, the chances of making it improve considerably. When it comes to potential clients, one has to accept the harsh forces of the marketplace. When getting started, it is realistic to get customers for lower fees, providing the same or better level of service than existing artists in the same market segment. Marketing costs for a stable inflow of new customers may also make up a considerable portion of client fees. All three aspects (how to evaluate the market, expand it, and build an image as an artist) are the basis of many of our courses.
Key idea: Estimating potential earnings based on equal distribution of income from clients is highly unrealistic in the beauty industry. The distribution of potential earnings is vastly unequal, and achieving success requires breaking into the top one-fifth of artists who earn the most. This can only be accomplished by out-competing your rivals in the market, using a unique approach tailored to your strengths and industry demands.
Choosing the right training
Nevertheless, that does not answer the question of how exactly to start and which service to start providing first. The honest answer is: that one does not know that beforehand to a total degree of certainty. There is no universal formula to knowing exactly with which service one can become successful beforehand. Even in the brow business, there is classic grooming, microblading, powder, ombre, cashmere, combo, etc. Some artists have started with classic grooming and worked their way up by building their brand grounded in experience and customer base; some have taken up a specific pigmentation technique and mastered it on artificial skin to perfection before even touching a model. There is no universal formula, the market potential of different services in different locations can be very different, and most importantly, people as prospective artists are very different.
Thus, what has often proven counterproductive is making a large investment of thousands of euros to learn a procedure that one may not want to provide in the future. That is allegorical to buying a ticket to a train that goes in the wrong direction and then, just because the ticket is already bought, jumping on that train, knowing well that it leads to where one does not want to end up. Thus one should not underestimate to what degree she might be willing to convince her in the future that the field one paid thousands of euros to enter is the right for her (that is not a problem if one already has absolute financial abundance and money does not matter, however, one still wastes time then).
In most cases (and we know this based on a large number of real-life examples), making the wrong initial choice just leads to extended torture - one just wastes time and additional money. That is also why we have comprehensive business sections regarding each service that help evaluate the pros and cons compared to others and save time deciding if that is the best thing for you. Taking a day or two to explore those may save months (or, in many cases, years) of your time.
Key idea: Diversification can be beneficial. It's crucial not to lock yourself into a single source of potential income by heavily investing in one specific skill without being sure you want to provide that service long-term. The sunk cost fallacy can lead to significant losses of time and resources. Success might depend on understanding the fundamentals of various techniques to make informed decisions about your future and the ability to transfer your "capital" (yourself with your skills and expertise) from one service to another based on personal preferences and market demand.
Strategy and skills, not just blind motivation
In addition, to not throwing all eggs in one basket regarding the exact service that is the best fit for an aspiring artist, one should also not imagine life to replicate Hollywood movies, where one packs the suitcases to leave a toxic relationship overnight or dramatically quit the job with a sudden decisive move, fireworks in the background. In the movies, the protagonist often finds true love and becomes happy and successful, establishing a new career, launching herself from rags to riches, and ending up in a fairy-tale-like situation (overcoming the difficulties, of course, but still). Unfortunately, life is not like that. Making an overnight decision to be a successful artist, manifesting that one has a new identity, and sending out the signals to all possible universes to be given financial abundance and prosperity is not the best strategy. On what basis are we able to claim that? Answer: experience. There are many more examples where such overnight turns eventually lead to depression, financial trouble, and therapy instead of tremendous success.
The best way to start is not to immediately give up all the certainty in life. In most cases, one can begin systematic training, sacrificing the time one waste (scrolling feeds, binge-watching series, chatting, or spending time with no specific purpose). No matter how supremely organized one considers herself to be, our practical observations indicate that practically anyone can find plenty of time each week to get started (usually, people tend to waste manifold more than is needed). That way, one can build the skills before sacrificing all the certainty and making sudden turns in life. Even more: in many cases, a student has already been able to test her skills at the marketplace and earn money before setting old ships on fire. That may be an optimal strategy in many cases, which is also why we have made full access to the BeautyTrainer platform much more affordable. One can change her life by combining motivation with strategy and skills.
Key idea: It's often unwise to put yourself in a high-stakes situation where success is your only option (although it may make for a motivational story for personal development training). Many successful artists have instead started developing their skills in a "moonlighting" fashion, building a safety net of skillsets and income before making dramatic changes in their personal or professional lives. The exception is, of course, leaving extreme toxicity in life (and for that, we have emergency plans).
Choosing Your Beauty Trainer
Our experience shows that if one has more information about what to learn and has set specific goals, all one needs is the best beauty trainer. What gives us the confidence to claim that one needs just one trainer? Why not take all the courses from different trainers? We have seen that when it comes to learning the initial skills or taking them to the next level, it is much like constructing a bridge - ten average engineers will not develop a better blueprint than one with great experience and skills. What usually happens is that you get ten average blueprints from ten engineers with limited experience, and to get the task done well, you still need to turn to a true professional. Sadly, many self-proclaimed trainers are just failed artists who do not have enough clients. Their psychological motivation to cultivate such illusions is enhanced when they have spent much money on training, hoping, wishing, and praying that yet another class would finally make a difference.
Unfortunately, nothing can replace experience; if the marketplace has demonstrated that the trainer's services are not demanded (or are not demanded the price she is trying to sell those for), then she ought to re-evaluate the whole strategy and become successful as an artist at first. Although large academies can be blamed for many things, one has to credit them for not letting artists with limited service-providing experience present them as trainers.
Still, in the end, game, there is nothing but the marketplace. On one weighing bowl, there is value, and on the other, the prize. Our mission is to provide the best value for the optimal price, giving one the best opportunities to succeed in the field of beauty. We encourage one to explore all possibilities and choose BeautyTrainer.com as a rational choice, based on experience and practical results, not on marketing alone.
Key idea: In learning a specific beauty skill, it's usually not the best strategy to take numerous trainings from average practitioners, hoping that their combined knowledge will be sufficient. In reality, students often achieve better results when learning from a top trainer who is also an active practitioner. Actual experience with clients is invaluable, and one should be cautious about trainers who can't find clients themselves (unemployed artists trying to rebrand themselves as self-proclaimed trainers). Choose your trainer wisely to ensure the best learning experience.