M & A Rainmaker

I have recently talked to a lot of Makeup Artists ( MUAs ) and what a hard working, talented bunch of ( mainly ) ladies they are.

It’s a great job – making people look great – but it is also a very time consuming job. One MUA I know was recently up at 1.30 in the morning to drive to London to get a bride ready for her wedding then back to Birmingham to attend an event and then another private client. She didn’t finish until the evening of that day. A long day and while the pay is reasonable as a freelance MUA it is not brilliant.

Time and money are definitely connected in a strong way.

I personally feel that the objective should be for an MUA to get to the point where he or she can work with the clients that they want to – not the clients that they have to.

The way to do this is to .. Add ( Income )  and Separate ( Time from Money )..

Dealing first with ADD..

At the moment most MUAs only charge an hourly rate or a rate for their art/handiwork. Of course top MUAs can and do charge premium rates.

MUAs have a collection of product that they have assembled over time and know work. This might be in a suitcase or makeup carrier or at their salon. The client might not be aware of the products used – only the end result. If the client is inclined to buy the products that the MUA uses and recommends then it probably means a trip to the shops.

Whilst such a trip might not be an issue it might also be inconvenient and would have a cost to the client in time and money. ( Whether that matters to someone who can afford an MUA is another matter).

It could be that the easy provision of the products used to the client is actually an enhanced service.

If the client goes and buys those products from the shops then there is nothing in that for the MUA in financial terms.

If on the other hand the MUA could make say 30-50% profit on the products sold then this will have added to the income from any particular client appointment. In fact the product profit might be more than the hourly or set rate.

The MUA would need to have the product on hand in order to sell it or have some sort of online shop ( <<<Link here ) where the client can go. Having the product on hand is ok if you have a salon ( although stock is an overhead ) but means that you have to carry it around if you are mobile.

An online shop ( <<< Link ) is definitely preferable especially if it has rapid delivery times ( eg 24-48 hour delivery ).

Talking to MUAs recently I noted that many of them gave the client a summary of what they had done for them during that appointment and what products they used and also kept a record for themselves.

I took this idea and developed the idea of the Online Beauty Prescription ( <<< Link – thanks to a friend who is a Beauty Blogger for that description ) which is a blog post that can be written up afterwards and can be anonymous or name the client and will direct them straight to the place in the online shop where they can buy these products. ( Posting a blog actually has many potential benefits to the MUAs online marketing but I will not go into that now ).

Now, at the time that the client purchases these products the MUA may well be working with another client i.e. the MUA has begun to separate time from money or multiply the effect of that time.

We can imagine the client coming back again and again and the only time that the MUA will be aware of this is when they get an email saying ” You have another order placed from ( whoever ) , Value £x “.

Here’s another great thing about this.. If you have not already got the clients email address you will have when they register and buy from your shop.

That email address can be used to communicate with the client on an ongoing basis. The MUA can email them ” special deals ” or ” new products or services “. Such communication can be automated in an appropriate and tailored manner.

Once you have your own shop you will obviously be able to buy certain products at a ” Wholesale ” price yourself. With some companies ( e.g. Motives and Shop.com ) you can buy more than just beauty and cosmetics products at wholesale prices, You could for example buy multivitamins and isotonic products. Such purchases represent a clear saving to you on products that you are already going to buy. This is the online equivalent of having a Costco or Makro account in the UK.

Lets add another dimension to this.. Some of the MUAs friends, business contacts and work colleagues e.g. Hairdressers, Nail Technicians, Manicurists, Masseurs also recommend products off of the MUAs’ online site that are relevant to them. Again these sales come in without any direct effort from the MUA and they come in alongside the MUAs other work.

One or two of the MUAs friends decide that they would also like to have their own online shop and the MUA helps them set that up and guides them on it’s use. The MUA and the friend both get commission on the sales.

Time goes on and more and more friends are selling products off of the websites or have their own websites. The result is a substantial income for many of them that is independent of the number of hours that they put in and which allows them to select which clients they actually want to spend their time with.

Take a look at this video:

Which is about a product range that originated in the U.S. ( in 2010 ) and was conceived by Loren Ridinger and enhanced by LaLa Anthony ( if you are fans of The Kardashians then you may of heard of them ).

This is a high quality, affordable cosmetics and beauty product range which is endorsed by many Celebrity MUAs globally. ( <<< Link )  It is being sold direct via MUAs, Salon and Spa owners and other beauty related professionals. The reason that you can have high quality product at mid range pricing and give high commissions to resellers is that NO money is being spent on advertising or corporate fatcats – the profit goes to the people that deserve it – the MUAs and their business partners. There is a sophisticated 24 -72 hour global delivery system to support sales from the Online sites though.

The Motives business system is a turnkey system that accomplishes EXACTLY what I have said above. Retail profit is added to time for money ( the appointment itself )  and in addition there is profit sharing for group sales.

N.B. We have built a financial model spreadsheet ( mini business plan ) to support this blog. See what happens when you add this to your normal MUA income !!!!

Contact me @cwindley, skype chris.windley email chris.windley@gmail.com  or phone 07881 500002 to discuss this opportunity in greater detail.

How can you integrate the Motives Cosmetics line into your Fashion or Beauty blog or business ??

Are you a Beauty Blogger ?? Are you a makeup artist ?? Do you have a Beauty or fashion related business or website ??

Extending the success of Motives in the USA to the UK we are working with selected Fashion and Beauty bloggers to show them how to leverage the power of the Motives and Shop.com Internet Portals and integrate these into their existing business models.

Let’s just discuss the opportunity that exists for the fashion and beauty blogger and their network of related contacts – for example,  makeup artists, salon owners, health spa owners and fashion business owners.

Obviously bloggers have an Internet Presence ( web/blogsite and social media pages ) already. Their contacts may or may not have web or blogsites. It does not really matter whether they do or don’t. The Motives and Shop.com portals can be stand alone or integrated with existing web presences.

To get some ideas let’s look at some people already doing this ( this is just a random selection from Googling Motives Cosmetics ):

Here’s Lily & Vanessa Lewis  from Australia. Did you see the ” Shop in MY store button ” ??? What a lovely site.

Here’s another site from someone in America. See the advert on the right hand side at the top ?? Takes you straight to this person’s Motives Portal.

This one from Emily Eddington of the USA is a Blogger site and perhaps more typical of the ones that we have seen in the UK so far. Emily has written a review for Lauren Page so you’re are actually being directed to her Motives site.

So, the way you use the Motives and Shop.com portals is flexible and non-exclusive. – which means that you can carry on doing independent reviews and you can also carry on recommending other products from other companies.

What is important to understand is that these ladies have ” monetised ” their sites. This basically means that you are giving people the opportunity to buy the things that you like and recommend.

SO MUCH effort goes into reviewing and writing about products. Why not give them the opportunity to buy some of them from YOU ??

In this video here we are going to hear from Makeup Artists, Coach/mentors TO Makeup Artists and Salon owners and particularly from Ethnic, darker skinned ladies ( African American and Latino ) who love the line created specifically for them by La La Anthony 

Did you hear that phrase ” Trading Time for Money ” from Carlos ???? Your blogsite is on 24 Hours a day – people are looking at it from all around the world all the time. Why not have it so that, if they want to, people can buy from it all the time ?? Where will you be ?? Sleeping ?? On the beach ?? Shopping ??? When you get an email message saying that someone has bought one of your recommendations.

By the way – I know that most of the people that you are seeing here are in the U.S. ( Some of the web and blogsites I showed you earlier were, for example, in Australia ).

We are leading a Digital Marketing initiative into the U.K. but there are already people here that are doing great business as Shop.com and Motives partners and affiliates.

Here’s Kristina Thoedoris with Stooshe ‘s Alex Buggs:

Kristina is in London.

So,  Let’s see what else you can do with Motives by going to this website >>>>> HERE <<<<<<<.

If you are a blogger or journalist then we have a PRESS KIT for you here. This has this Autumn and Winters lines in it.

So, I hope you have enjoyed this information and if you have please contact me:

My Shop.com Shopping Portal is >>>> HERE <<<<

My Motives Shopping Portal is >>>> HERE <<<<

So please browse around them and let me know what you think.

Skype me : chris.windley

Call me : +447881 500002

email me: chris@mandarainmaker.co.uk

or just GOOGLE me and connect on one of the social networks.

TAKE SOME ACTION !!!!!!!