So, you want to start your own brow business but don't even know where to begin? What comes first? How do you make a name for yourself? How do you compete with all the others? What do you charge? DON'T FREAK OUT! We are here to give you some helpful suggestions and get you on your way to making brow magic in no time.
Let's be honest, the brow industry is a booming and crazy-growing field nowadays. If you even search for brows in your area, you see that there are most likely tons of salons already offering services with the latest brow trends! Let's not even get started with social media, as you will encounter millions of posts geared towards startup business and newbies promoting their work, services, etc. This doesn't mean that you can't/won't succeed and should get in any way discouraged! On the contrary, you should see it as inspiration for a successful and booming industry that awaits your own personal touch! So, let's get started:
1. Get certified
First things first. You need to know what you're doing. No matter how comfortable you feel working with brows, lashes, etc. You need to have that credibility and education to work with such a critical and sensitive part of the face. You need to remember that when you are working with someones brows--this is literally one of the most important features of their face and can really define their entire look, expression, etc. They are entrusting you with that and that's a big responsibility! You must knows the ins and outs of shaping, colouring, and being able to decipher whether certain treatments are correct or even possible for different hair/skin types as well as deciphering whether a client is sensitive or has certain allergies that don't allow for colouring/perming/lifting, etc. You must first seek out a credible beauty academy that offers professional courses in whatever you plan on focusing on primarily. Once you go through the proper training, you can then proceed to build a business plan. Depending on what it is you want to focus on, the courses could be quick and simple or more in depth and thorough.
2. Building a clientele
Clientele is EVERYTHING. We can't express how important it is to build a loyal, trusting client base that will keep coming back and also helping you gain more and more customers! Your clientele is the foundation of your business and helps it both grow from the start as well as maintain it throughout.
One way to make sure you maintain a loyal customer base when starting out is unfortunately including discounts. Although this may not be your favourite course of action, when first starting out--you have to differentiate yourself and offer something different from the competitors. Even a slight discount could give you a huge advantage and help customers keep coming back while also providing you with referrals, which is CRITICAL for growth and recognition! What you can also do is create a rewards program for customers! You can provide stamp cards for discounts or a free treatment after a certain amount of appointments or even for referring a friend. This is a great way to create a loyalty program and make yourself memorable.
One other important factor when first starting out AS WELL as when continuing your business is a follow up. People LOVE feeling appreciated and getting attention. A pre-made text/email following any treatment that says thank you and perhaps even asking for any feedback/tagged photos if they are happy and reposting customers every now and then can make all the difference.
Side tip: Choosing a name:
Have no idea what to call your brow business? It's a critical part of people remembering you and making a name for yourself! If you are really stuck try to use this generator for some inspo:
https://businessnamegenerator.com/brows-business-name-generator/
3. Advertisement
Advertising yourself is vital in any business--starting or existing for years already. Of course you should start a website for your new company with some imagery (you can purchase these on shutter-stock if you really have nothing to start off with). Branding and identity are a whole different topic we plan to cover in a separate article! You should keep it simple, customer friendly, and clear. But if your business isn't ready for a site yet, you can always begin with social media and create a link where customers can find you and book your services.
You just keep your social content uniform and CONSTANT! Posting on Instagram, Facebook, as well as creating paid ads (if it's in your budget its a huge advantage!) and target your marketing to a specific audience rather than keep it broad. Example: if you live in Toronto and want to target women in that area--really zoom into the neighbouring towns and cities where your salon/services are based and minimise the target group as much as possible to gender, age, industry, interests, etc. This will help filter out a larger audience that isn't as relevant and help you get more effective results out of the money you invest in ads. You can also send out weekly/monthly emails to your client base once you form a list! Keep them updated with your business, people are more interested than you think! Let them know what you're up to, what services you are offering, any promotions, holiday greetings, price list, beauty trends that they could be interested in and whats going on in the industry!
Basically, the top 3 important things to keep your advertisement at an all time high:
- Good content - is really key, whether its organic or paid--you must create good content to keep people interested. This doesn't always need to be complicated, even a simple brow shot--make sure its good quality, clear, and eye-catching. This is why it's important to invest in a good camera/phone. Even iPhone 8 and up is doable, just make sure you invest in this aspect as its worth it!
- Lighting - We all know that angles and lighting literally change a photo from flab to fab. Something as simple as a ring light from Amazon is a key investment in creating better ads and content, as well as using it with your treatments! Double yes!
- Consistency - This is probably more important than the other two in all honesty. You MUST maintain an active online presence, especially when first starting out. Being consistent in your posting and creating tons of content is a key factor in getting more exposure, staying more memorable, as well as beating the annoying Instagram algorithm.
4. Pricing
This is a tricky one. If you are first starting out, its actually not advisable to overprice as you still need to get used to the treatment itself and let's be honest--we all make mistakes in the beginning. It's definitely not the wisest to price as much or more than a skilled professional of several years would and then deliver less than perfect results. If you already read through our suggestion of lowering the price a bit when first starting out and you thought to yourself, "hell no." Then, our next suggestion would be to do a competitor analysis of other salons in your area and compare the prices, when you see the average price--you can definitely decipher what you feel comfortable with and base your prices off of that. Unfortunately, we cannot give you a definite number as all service prices vary based on location, salon, and treatment specs--always.
5. Never forgetting yourself
That's right. You are your biggest asset to your new brow business. You have something unique and creative that no one else can replicate in the business because no two people are the same. There are always differences in techniques, energy, prices, branding, environments, etc. But the most important thing you can offer someone that no one else can is their experience with you. So after you start your business, you can't ever forget what brought you there in the first place. You must always uphold and spread bits and pieces of yourself in every aspect of your business--that is what will keep you inspired, motivated, and ready to tackle whatever comes your way!
