Five Reasons You Might Suck

This piece about reasons photographers fail is making the rounds and making waves in photography circles, and it got me thinking about the parallels in my business. As the article points out, self-employment isn’t for everyone. Being a good makeup artist isn’t enough. You also have to be a good customer service rep, marketing director, buyer, and CEO. If you aren’t succeeding as a MUA, here are five things you might be doing wrong.

1. Continuing to do free work for exposure. Sure, when you’re first starting out, TFP is a great way to build your portfolio. Once you have a solid portfolio, though, continuing to give away your services is just shooting yourself in the foot. You’re basically telling everyone you work with on those shoots that you’re not worth paying for. No one is going to pay you for something they know you’ll do for free. And by continuing to work for free, you are undercutting those of us who insist on getting paid, and that is bad for everyone in the industry. The more experience you have, the fewer TFP shoots you should be doing. Cap yourself at a couple per year, and save them for collaborations you feel passionate about.

2. Using cheap products. We’ve talked about great bargains before, but they are the exception, not the rule. It’s fine to use a few inexpensive products that work as well as pricier ones, but if you’re going cheap across the board, you’re doing your clients a disservice and they’ll know it. If you want a loyal clientele that hires you repeatedly and recommends you (which is the best marketing you can possibly get), you have to give them quality. Think of buying better products as a necessary investment in your business, because that’s exactly what it is.

3. Sucking at marketing. Speaking of investing in your business, you’re not going to have one if you don’t bring in clients. You can’t just change your Facebook status to “I’m a MUA and I want to put on your face!” and expect people to start lining up. You need a comprehensive marketing strategy. If you don’t know what that is or how to build one, it’s time to buy some books or hire a consultant.

4. Smack talk. Pro tip: Bashing other makeup artists doesn’t win you business. It just makes you look like a jerk people won’t want to work with. And Spaghetti Monster help you if you start throwing shade at photographers, models, designers or other people that could potentially ever need your services. You might as well just buy a billboard that says “I hate you! Don’t hire me!”

5. Criticizing a potential client in hopes of winning their business. Saying something like "OMG, did you let a honey badger wax your eyebrows? Gee, you ought to come to me instead." is no better than bad mouthing another artist. You’ll catch way more flies with honey. You can even say essentially the same thing, but nicely. Try “I think I could really do something gorgeous with your brows, if you want to give my services a try.” See? You’ve offered the same service without being a dick. Good job!