How to avoid over-investing as a starting artist?

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1. Background

This article draws upon insights from 45 interviews with top PMU (Permanent Makeup) artists between 2020 and 2022. These artists, who excel in lip blush and other pigmentation techniques, rank in the top 18.7% of earners in their regions. The group includes 29 artists from the EU, nine from the UK, and seven from the US.

Transition from Other Fields to PMU

A notable trait among these artists is that over 80% shifted to the lip blush and pigmentation industry from unrelated fields. This meant building their customer bases and reputations from scratch. Their experiences offer practical knowledge as they have independently overcome the challenges of starting a powder brow and pigmentation career.

The Article's Goal

This article aims to guide newcomers to the lip blush and pigmentation industry. We aim to provide a clear understanding of the essential initial investments needed to launch a successful career.

Identifying Unnecessary Investments

The first part of each section addresses common initial investments by beginners that have proven non-essential. These often costly investments have a limited impact on career advancement. This segment will help new artists avoid unnecessary expenses and strategically use their resources.

Highlighting Productive and Effective Investments

The second part of each section focuses on consistently proven valuable investments. These expenditures have been crucial for the career growth of successful lip blush artists. Through this analysis, we advise new artists on allocating resources effectively for career growth and success.

2. Why Over-Investing Happens

Understanding the Psychological Motivations

New lip blush and pigmentation artists must understand the psychological factors driving unnecessary initial investments. These can be broadly divided into internal insecurities and the pursuit of external recognition.

Internal Insecurities

Many new artists, uncertain about their skills and ability to consistently deliver flawless services, may over-invest in tools and supplies. This often stems from the belief that high-end equipment will compensate for perceived skill gaps. However, while quality tools are helpful, they can only enhance performance somewhat. Over-reliance on such investments usually doesn't significantly improve results and may exacerbate the artist's insecurities, contradicting their initial expectations.

Desire for External Significance

The second reason for unnecessary investments is the desire to stand out from competitors and impress potential clients. This approach is often misguided. While such investments might visually distinguish an artist, they rarely lead to increased client attraction or higher sales and revenue.

The Guiding Principle

Experienced artists often suggest a guiding principle based on their initial errors: a new artist should critically evaluate whether an investment addresses their need for security, confidence, or recognition or if it truly contributes to increased earnings. Many initial investments made by beginners tend to fulfill only the former needs. Hence, discerning the real value and potential return on investment is crucial for the industry's long-term success and financial stability.

Next, we will look at examples of potential over-investing situations and how to avoid them.

3. Huge Selection of Pigments

Navigating Marketing Strategies

Many new artists in the PMU industry, especially those specializing in lip blush, are influenced by the marketing strategies of pigment producers. These companies often promote extensive ranges of pigments, claiming to be specially tailored for every skin type, age, and ethnicity. While aggressive marketing is a standard practice for sales, artists should critically evaluate these claims.

Understanding Basic Pigment Composition

It's essential to understand that all pigments are based on the same fundamental colorants: black, yellow, and red. Some formulations might include orange, but this is a mixture of red and yellow. The primary difference among various options is the ratio of these colors.

The Dangers of Over-Purchasing and Mixing

New artists can get carried away with purchasing too many pigments. Furthermore, following the trend of creating complex “secret formulas” through mixing, often promoted by sponsored artists, can lead to inconsistent results. These mixtures, particularly when involving multiple pigment bottles, can result in undesirable grayish hues or inconsistent brownish tones that are challenging to replicate.

Efficient Use and Avoiding Wastage

Even without extensive mixing, many new artists use only a few colors from their large collections, leading to wastage as unused pigments expire.

Guidance from Seasoned Artists

Experienced artists often advise that all necessary colors can be achieved using primary pigments: predominantly black, yellow, and red. Warming up pigments is often more necessary for clients in the US, EU, and UK, so adding an orange enhancer or modifier is beneficial. Beginning with hybrid pigments with an inorganic base is usually the safest option.

Gaining hands-on experience in pigment behavior - understanding how they implant in the skin and heal - is crucial before expanding one's pigment selection. Demonstrating the ability to mix appropriate colors from base pigments is more professional than relying on a vast array of pre-mixed pigments with attractive names. This approach enhances the artist's skill, ensures financial prudence, and reduces waste.

4. Expensive Photo Equipment

Reassessing the Need for High-End Photography Gear

Many artists, particularly in the lip blush and PMU fields, invest significantly in photography equipment under the impression that it is crucial for enhancing their portfolio quality. However, delving into professional photography can lead to endless and expensive upgrades, with newer and seemingly superior options always on the horizon. Although acquiring high-end gear may seem like a victory, it often doesn’t bring the anticipated advantages.

The Limitations of Professional Cameras

Research and practical evidence consistently show that such investments rarely yield the expected benefits. The issue isn't just the minimal technical difference in results for the average audience or that most beginners can utilize only a small portion of a high-end camera's capabilities. The primary challenge is often the beginner's lack of experience and business acumen.

Perspectives from Experienced Artists

Veteran artists point out that a great portfolio is more than just high-quality photos; it's about presenting exceptional transformations on aesthetically pleasing models and refining the images to perfection. This includes correcting imperfections like skin blemishes or pixel inaccuracies. Therefore, the camera’s role is only one part of a larger process.

Importance of Professional Retouching

If the model looks great and the transformation is striking, many professionals use retouching services or apps to polish their images. Professional retouching, capable of producing magazine-quality results, is surprisingly affordable, often costing between USD 5 to 10 per image.

Understanding Retouching Practices

While many artists maintain that they only retouch facial features and not the actual results of their work, such claims should be approached with caution. The competitive nature of the industry and the artists' exclusive access to raw images sometimes lead to alterations in the lips as well.

The Formula for a Perfect Portfolio Photo

Based on experienced artists' insights, the formula for an ideal portfolio transformation photo is the following.

30% Actual Quality of Work
30% Aesthetic Beauty of the Client (Model)
30% Professional Retouching Quality
10% Everything Else, Including Photography Equipment

This breakdown suggests that investing heavily in photo equipment should not be a priority. Instead, the focus should be on the quality of work, the model's beauty, and professional image retouching. This approach allows artists to create stunning portfolios without over-investing in photography gear.

5. Fixed Costs and Salon Rent

Reconsidering Expensive Salon Rentals

Many new lip blush and PMU artists, driven by the desire to establish themselves quickly, opt for salon spaces in high-profile, city-center locations. They often believe that a prestigious address will automatically draw more clients. However, this results in a significant fixed expense that can become a financial burden, reflecting a misinterpretation of the dynamics of the brow business.

Risks Associated with High Rental Costs

Securing a high-rent salon space can seem appealing, but decisions, often made hastily, can lead to more financial strain than success. The ongoing fixed costs can deplete an artist's resources, particularly if their client base is not yet established.

Strategy by Seasoned Artists: Flexibility Over Fixed Spaces

Experienced artists frequently recommend a different approach: collaborating with multiple salons. This strategy involves offering salon owners a financial incentive to promote the artist's services, like a share of each client's fee. This approach diversifies income opportunities and minimizes the risk associated with fixed costs.

Advantages of Short-Term Rentals and Leveraging Social Media

Artists employing this flexible model avoid fixed costs and often experience increased business turnover. With social media being a powerful tool for client acquisition, the necessity for a permanent salon space diminishes. Artists can arrange short-term rentals of workstations, often in private rooms within established salons, for their appointments when needed.

The Importance of Financial Flexibility

While short-term rental costs might be higher than long-term leases, this should not deter artists at the beginning of their careers. The ability to select locations and adapt to business fluctuations is invaluable. Crucially, this model ensures that each procedure is profitable for the artist, unlike situations where significant, constant rental expenses weigh down artists. This financial flexibility is especially important in lip pigmentation, where client volume and preferences vary.

6. Buying Services from Agencies

The Role of Branding in Building a Business

New artists in the PMU industry, particularly in lip blush and brow artistry, understand the critical role of branding and differentiation for success. However, the path to achieving effective branding is crucial.

High Costs Associated with Branding Agencies

Opting for professional branding services, such as those offered by digital media, branding, web development, and digital PR agencies, can lead to substantial, sometimes ongoing, expenses. This is especially true for branding agencies, where the costs often outweigh the benefits for new artists due to several factors, such as the following.

Agency Pricing Structure: Branding agencies often take a one-size-fits-all approach to cost, whether the client is a large corporation or a new brow artist. Processes like background research, competition analysis, and image building are similarly expensive, regardless of the client's scale.

Lack of Industry-Specific Insight: Many agencies lack deep knowledge of the brow or lip blush business. This can result in branding that doesn't fully resonate with the specific needs and nuances of the PMU industry.

Seasoned Artists: Cost-Effective Branding Strategies

Experienced artists recognize the importance of branding but recommend against heavy initial spending. They suggest beginning with more accessible online branding resources like brandsnap.ai and educational platforms like powderlipblush.com. These offer tailored guidance for the brow business, helping new artists take initial branding steps without substantial financial commitment.

The "One Girl Army" Approach to Branding

The consensus among successful artists is to start with a self-reliant approach, using professional tools independently. This method allows artists to evaluate their business's income generation potential without significant financial risk. As the business expands, artists can selectively collaborate with specific professionals, avoiding the higher costs and commissions of full-service agencies. This strategy saves money and helps artists maintain control and authenticity in their branding, which is particularly important in the personalized field of lip pigmentation.

7. Conclusions

Avoiding Unnecessary Costs in the PMU and Lip Blush Industry

Starting a career as a brow artist in PMU and lip blush often involves facing temptations to make significant investments. However, many of these expenditures can be unnecessary, leading to financial burdens without contributing to success. The urge to make these investments typically stems from a desire to compensate for internal insecurities or impress potential clients, which can be misguided reasons for financial decisions.

Practical Insights on Investment Choices

High-End PMU Machines. Expensive, high-end PMU machines are not essential for success. This misconception can result in substantial financial strain, especially when needing specific, costly cartridges. Overemphasizing these tools on social media might backfire by creating doubts about an artist's skills. Starting with a moderately priced machine that meets basic professional requirements is a more practical approach.
Wide Range of Pigments. It is crucial to understand that all pigments are composed of basic colorants. The temptation to purchase an excessive variety of pigments and create complex mixtures can lead to waste and inconsistent outcomes. Experienced artists recommend mastering the art of mixing basic colors and starting with essential pigments, including modifiers for warmth if necessary.
Expensive Photo Equipment. Investing heavily in professional photography equipment rarely enhances a portfolio to the extent that justifies the cost. A holistic approach to creating a portfolio involves more than just the camera. Professional retouching can be a cost-effective and impactful way to refine images.
Fixed Costs and Salon Rent. Securing an expensive salon space in high-profile areas doesn't automatically translate to more clients. Seasoned artists advise adopting flexible strategies, like partnering with multiple salons or negotiating short-term rentals, to avoid the burden of fixed costs and maintain financial flexibility.
Buying Services from Agencies. While branding is important, new artists should be wary of expensive services from branding or digital media agencies. These agencies often lack industry-specific knowledge and charge high fees. In the early stages, a self-reliant approach using accessible online resources and educational platforms is recommended. Collaboration with specific professionals should be considered only after establishing a stable income.

By understanding these aspects, new PMU and lip blush industry artists can make informed decisions, focusing on investments that contribute to their professional growth and success while avoiding unnecessary financial burdens.